Binging Anime

Now, this is something I 100% couldn’t have done this year without the pandemic, as odd as that sounds. Because I’ve been working from home, I’ve been able to throw on animes as background noise for a while, and I’ve come across some pretty good ones, and some pretty bad ones. But it’s a fun thing that I wouldn’t have been able to do. Normally I watch a handful of new anime a year, but this year I probably watched 10 or maybe more, which is a lot. Some of the highlights were Sword Art Online: Alicization and Food Wars! as two really great anime.

A New D&D Campaign

I think this one would have happened no matter what, but I’m really glad that it did. Because we couldn’t do the board game club idea that I started up just before the pandemic, D&D sounded like a fun idea. I got zoom, found three players, we’ve added a fourth, and got the gaming going. It’s been a fun time and it’s worked well enough over Zoom. And the fact that we’re doing it digitally and one of the players is moving, we can continue it even after they move. I’d love to play in person, but it’s been a great time running a game online and makes it so much easier for everyone.

10 Minute Marvel Podcast

It’s weird to think that this has been a highlight, and I won’t lie, it hasn’t always been a highlight, nor did I complete my goal of getting an episode out every week. I missed two weeks, one when my computer died, and one with a toddler who was under the weather. But it’s been fun doing that podcast and seeing the podcast grow. At the start of the year, I was maybe getting 100 listens a month, and now it’s normally around 200, so it’s grown quite a bit, and I hope to keep it up and keep it growing in 2021.

The GloryHoundd Community

It’s odd to put something on the list that I didn’t see or meet any of these people in person, but it’s been very meaningful in 2020 joining in on the “I’d Back That” live streams, watching their play throughs of games, and chatting on their Discord with them, and other people who watch the live streams or catch their videos. It’s been a part of the community that was lacking for me for part of the year because I couldn’t have game nights in person, it’s given me another area to have a nerdy outlet and it’s been a very welcoming place for so many gamers. Only warning I’ll give is that you will back more games on Kickstarter if you watch their “I’d Back That” videos.

Board Game Club

Now, this only happened once, but it will happen again. We played Lords of Hellas which has rocketed up my games list near the top 10 because of playing it. It’s a great game, and it was fun to think about setting aside an evening a month to play some bigger or heavier game that might not get played at a normal board game night. This is one of those things that I’m really looking forward to getting back to sometime in 2021.

Now, I did more nerdy things as well, but these are some of the highlights for me. I did GenCon digital and that was mainly a “meh” for me. I did back one of the games I played on Kickstarter and picked up another from the Board Game Geek Store, but the experience was lacking. Besides obviously not having the people around, it was just different because you couldn’t go booth to booth and browse games.

What were some of your favorite nerdy experiences in 2020?

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5 – Toradora

A cute anime about two classmates who form an accidental friendship. Ryuji freaks everyone out because of how intense he looks, and Tiaga is tiny but makes up for it by being fierce. Will this unlikely duo be able to find happiness in their life or will fate conspire against them? This anime is just cute and a feel good anime that is not super new, but definitely worth checking out. The story is predictable but in a good way and the two main characters are just extremely enjoyable.

4 – Fire Force

Fire Force is more of a standard anime, I would say, in a lot of ways, but it’s still a lot of fun. Spontaneous human combustion is a thing, and when people combust they turn into monsters. There is a special series of Fire Forces who deal with these fires, and these people tend to have powers as well. Fire Force 8, where Shinra, the main character, ends up, is a bit different than the rest. While all of them fight fires and investigate the phenomena of spontaneous human combustion, Fire Force 8 has been tasked with investigating the other Fire Forces in hopes of finding out what secrets they might be hiding.

3 – Fruits Basket

Now, this one isn’t one that I purely watched in 2020. But there was a new season, and Fruits Basket has been climbing up my anime rankings. This is another feel good anime, or at least a peaceful feeling anime. It isn’t about the over the top action, instead it’s about the Chinese Zodiac animals and how they work in the real world, and about Tohru Honda who finds out their secret and it is taken into their family. I think that this anime just gets better as it goes and as the world that they are creating, which is basically just the normal world, grows and is fleshed out. The characters are very likeable and it just works.

2 – Food Wars!

And now we’re back to an anime that is just completely goofy. Food Wars! is about food, and being the best and most creative chef possible. Soma transfers into the most prestigious culinary school in Japan where food wars happens, and he doesn’t make himself any friends by saying that he’ll end up at the top of the class. Much absurdity ensues from there as this school has a weird student hierarchy, even odder personalities and teachers, plus multiple tests and challenges focused on getting people to fail out of the school. I really enjoy this one even with all of the fan service in it.

1 – Sword Art Online – Alicization Part 1

Finally, the best thing I watched thus far this year, and I’m sure that I’ve missed some anime along the way, is Sword Art Online Alicization. There is more of it out, but it’s not on Funimation yet. This continues the world and story that was created throughout the first two seasons of Sword Art Online and through the movie. It still focuses around the same characters, but the twist on what is happening is really good. I think that it successfully takes what could feel like a premise where they are just stretching it out for its popularity and sticks with a really good story. Sword Art Online I think when I do a Top 10 Anime overall list sometime next year will have creeped even closer to the top of that list, it is just consistently good.

What are some of the best anime that you’ve watched this year? I can think of two, A Wise Man’s Grandchild and Gun Gale Online (the SAO spinoff) that I wouldn’t consider that good that I’ve watched, but it’s been a long year and I don’t remember them all.

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