One of the changes to the anime industry over the past decade or so was the standardization of the cour system, in which anime series are divided up into 12-or 13-week seasons rather than the old days when anime series showed at various intervals randomly, and some lasted for a full year. While it seems that every anime fan is constantly asking for a new season of their favorite series to be made, no matter how satisfying the ending might have been, it’s the destiny of most anime series to get only a single season. Here’s a list of 12 excellent 1-cour anime series you should watch!
What Makes a Good 1-Season Anime?
The word cour — which is a French word meaning flow, like the course of a river, or a segment of time, and may have been created from the practice of abbreviating “quarter” as “qr.” — started being used in Japan in the 80s as a way of standardizing prime-time drama series so that productions could more easily schedule popular actors for their shows. The word was first used in English in 2007.
One thing I’ve noticed as an anime retailer is that it’s quite common for a 1-cour anime series to be forgotten quickly by fans the minute the final episode airs, while shows that run for 2-cours (24 episodes) tend to remain in the minds of fans for longer, resulting in more figures being made. The exception, I’ve often noticed, is that if a 1-season anime can manage to make fans cry, or otherwise leave an intense emotional impression, then a single-season show can still make its mark on fandom.
J-List Picks 12 Great 1-Season Anime Series!
In this list of the best 1-cour anime series, I’ve tried to stick to the following criteria:
- Was the series significantly enjoyed by fans?
- Did it have a reasonably good resolution, or at least avoid open-ended questions that never got resolved? *cough* Highschool of the Dead *cough*
- I’m counting a 1-season anime as a show that got a single 12- or 13-episode run, and no additional full seasons. I’ll generally ignore whether the series was followed by OAV episodes or a movie.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
A girl named Chiyo is in love with her handsome classmate Nozaki-kun, who is secretly working as a professional girl’s manga artist. Chiyo confesses her love, some misunderstandings happen, and she ends up as Nozaki’s art assistant. A similar — almost identical — show is This Art Club Has a Problem, by the same creator, featuring the exact same romantic set-up, and even the same voice actress for the main heroine.
Recovery Of An MMO Junkie
An adorable show about a 30-year-old former career woman named Moriko Morioka, who becomes obsessed with an online game to the point that she drops out of society…and about her journey back to society where she tries to find love. A sleeper anime you might have missed, but I recommend it!
Erased
A great 1-season anime about a man with the power to timeslip into his past who must return to his boyhood to prevent a classmate from being murdered. This was a very tightly-scripted series that was great fun to watch. The mother is also one of the most stoic, awesome anime mothers I can think of.
Denki-gai no Hon’ya-san
One of the most enjoyable 1-cour anime series in a while, it was a slice-of-life about employees working in a bookstore in Akihabara, clearly Toranoana. Between the lovable characters and the fun otaku jokes, this series is a real gem.
Sabagebu — Survival Game Club
One of the freshest shows in a while, it’s about the members of the school’s “survival game club” who are always blowing each other away with guns…but the on-screen blood we see is part of the fantasy world of the characters, and not actually real. It’s loaded with fanservice too.
Read my full post on Sabagebu here!
Slow Start
A “cute girls doing cute and sexy things” slice-of-life series that some might have missed, it had adorable characters and surprised fans of the yuri genre with some really pleasing lesbian drama.
I’ve got a full post on Slow Start here.
Papakiki: Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father!
Another gem of a series told in a single anime season, Papakiki is the story of university student Yuuta who has to raise his sister’s three daughters when she and her husband died in a plane crash. It’s hard going, but eventually, they’re able to move forward and form a family. I especially liked the OVAs to the series, which tied up everything nicely, especially the ghosts of [redacted] come to witness the marriage of [redacetd]. You can’t ask for more closure than that!
Amagi Brilliant Park
There are so many amazing offerings from Kyoto Animation over the years, it can be hard to pick just one. AmaBuri was a really fun show about the efforts of characters so save a nearly-bankrupt amusement park populated with supernatural creatures.
A Place Further than the Universe
The distance up to space is just 100 km/62 miles, about the same as taking a drive from Tokyo to Hakone. But from Japan, the distance to Antarctica is a whopping 13,000 km/8000 miles, making it literally “a place farther than the universe.” This is well-told 1-cour anime series about four girls’ efforts to travel to the Japanese research station in Antarctica.
B Gata H Kei (Yamada’s First Time)
A fun show about a girl named Yamada who’s obsessing about losing her virginity, Yamada’s First Time might be 12 of the most entertaining anime episodes you could watch. It’s so good, even the English dub is good.
Interviews with Monster Girls
A thoughtful 1-season anime about a world in which monster girls exist, and what kinds of social institutions we’d have to create in order to provide for their needs. It follows Tetsuo, a high school teacher who yearns to understand his demi-human students better, and does a great job exploring the physics of how and why monster girls might exist in our world. It also has the most adorable succubus teacher in the history of anime.
AnoHana: The Flower We Saw On That Day
An example of a 1-cour anime that makes its fans cry like babies, and thus ensures that it will never be forgotten. When the ghost of a girl who died years ago comes back to visit her now-high-school-age friends, drama ensues as they try accept why she’s returned. Written by Mari Okada, who keeps making great anime for us to watch.
Bonus Entry: Jinsei
Another forgotten anime you might have missed is Jinsei, about a boy and three cute girls helping other students with solving various life problems. It’s great, with some fun fanservice along the way!
Thanks for reading! Did we miss any really outstanding 1-cour anime series? Tell us below, or on Twitter!
Great news! In addition to our special “Nutvember” sale on naughty products, we’ve got two new J-List Box snack boxes for you to browse and buy now! Lots of great snack items in the snack boxes this month!
