Back in the mists of time, when I was starting J-List, our first hit product was used JPOP CDs/ There were fans of JPOP music all over the world, but because new music CDs cost $30+ at the time (and still do), a site offering used CDs for less than half that price could make its mark. The second hit product we found to sell was…awesome anime calendars.
I still remember that first calendar season back in 1996. I’d just found a distributor to buy the calendars from, and was selecting which calendars to throw up on the site. Back then JPOP and actresses were better represented than anime, which hadn’t become the mainstream thing it is today. As this was during the late 90s Internet JAV boom, all the top porn stars had calendars too.
The Top 18 Anime Calendars of 2020
The new crop of calendars this year is awesome. It’s almost like they asked me what anime series had been especially beloved by the Internet all year long and took my advice on which ones to make calendars for.
How are Japanese calendars printed? Japanese calendars are positively beautiful, printed on giant poster-sized sheets of paper that are brilliant and glossy.
How are Anime Calendars shipped? They’re shipped safely in shipping tubes. Smaller desktop calendars ship inboxes. Some flat calendars, like the large Studio Ghibli one, are shipped in flat sheets of cardboard for protection.
Why don’t you show us the internal pages? These are never published ahead of time, and fans, unfortunately, need to trust that the animation studios will do right by them, giving them great art inside each calendar. If fans wait for the actual calendars to come in, allowing us to post digital photos internal pages, it will be too late in the season to get the calendars you want. Thanks for your understanding.
Why should we buy anime calendars? Obviously, it’s a way to support the studios who made the awesome anime we’ve all loved, and thank them for their hard work. A lot of fans watch anime through less-than-legal means, and I believe buying the calendars to the shows you loved is a good way to balance that out.
So here we go with my picks for the best 18 anime calendars of 2020…
What would a new year be without a One Piece calendar? This one looks great, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the anime. Pick up yours now!
One of the most adored anime seasons of recent years has been YuruCamp, about five cute girls discovering the joys of camping in the winter around Mt. Fuji. Celebrate the upcoming second season with the YuruCamp girls all year long!
My own top anime of 2020 was Kaguya-sama: Love is War, about a boy and a girl at a high-grade high school who are in love with each other, but each wants to force the other to confess their love first. A genius anime, and now you can enjoy the 2020 calendar!
The epic recently ended Golden Wind arc of Jojo, and it was really incredible. Enjoy large original art of all the characters in this large poster-sized calendar. This is a rare gem since not that much Jojo merchandise gets released.
The final Evangelion movie is coming! And you can celebrate with the new Evangelion 2020 Calendar. This will be quite a year, I can feel it already…
What’s the best isekai anime? It’s really hard to pick just one, but we were thrilled with the outstanding That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Enjoy all the great characters with this huge poster-calendar all year long, while you wait for the next season!
Another really fun isekai show was The Rising of the Racoon Girl, I mean the Shield Hero, which charmed us with its characters and action. The 2020 calendar is one you should totally pick up!
Need another isekai anime on your wall? The Konosuba calendar looks like it’ll be a great one, the same as every year. Enjoy having Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, Darknesss, Yunyun and all the others on your wall, in vibrant glossy printing.
See what I mean about this being the best anime calendar season? We even got a calendar for Wataten, an anime about a university student who develops an attraction for one of her sister’s friends. Such a fun show!
We even get a Helpful Fox Senko-san calendar this year! It’s like Christmas! Make sure to order Senko-san’s calendar now!
Re:Zero is getting a new season soon, and you can celebrate with all your favorite characters in this large, glossy calendar.
There’s also new Strike Witches coming, which means we’ll need large illustrations of our favorite characters on our wall to help us get in the mood.
Attack on Titan has impressed us as a really outstanding show that has constantly told a quality story. Make sure you pick up the calendar!
We waited so long for more Danmachi, aka Is It Wrong To Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, but finally got that beloved second season. Now thrill to all the characters in large visual form in the new calendar.
Who would have thought that a great anime like Fruits Basket could be re-made from scratch, and have it be this good? I’ve loved every episode, and I love having a large calendar to sell on J-List too.
Hatsune Miku is was doing the virtual idol thing but all those virtual YouTubers came along, and we’ll love her forever. Order the Racing Miku calendar now! (Yes, we know Hatsune Miku is not “anime.”)
Another calendar we’ve sold for years and years has been the Yotsubato 2020 calendar, with art that always manages to make us smile. Pick up your Yotsubato calendar now!
Finally, the calendar that I always get for myself, every year, the massive Studio Ghibli calendar which shows 12 separate pages, each with an original illustration from a Ghibli film. Because these illustrations are original, created by the company for the calendar, they are real treasures, as they sometimes expand the official canon of our beloved films by showing the characters from slightly new angles and in new situations.
Thanks for reading our round-up of anime calendars! Browse and buy the ones you want on the site now!
