Science-obsessed boy-genius Senku and his best friend Taiju are just going about their usual high school lives one day when just as Taiju is mustering up the courage to confess to his long-time crush, a green flash suddenly passes over the earth and turns every human into stone.

Thousands of years later, Taiju wakes up and breaks out of his stone shell to discover he is alone and confused. Or so he thinks! Senku has actually been awake for months now and was just waiting for his friend to come back to life. The biggest scientific challenge that Senku has ever encountered faces him: Restore humanity and restart the development of science and technology from scratch. Of course, this excites him to no end! However, not everyone who wakes up has the same altruistic vision for the future as Senku does and so the challenges multiply.

The setup of Dr. Stone alone is unique and exciting for those into science fiction. On top of that, there’s plenty of learning in the anime as well as Senku explains every experiment and the audience gets to learn a little bit about how technology has evolved and, like any good shounen, there’s drama, comedy, romance, action, and so much more. Don’t let the shounen label deter you, Dr. Stone is a great sci-fi anime for all ages!

The Berhüren Corporation has released the technology needed to create war-grade cyborgs known as Extended which were once used in battle. Now with no war, Extendeds are feared, discriminated against, and many have turned to crime to survive. Juzou Inui is an Extended with a gun for a head and he has no recollection of his past but he deals with Extended-related cases in the city and is allowed to do his thing.

One day, Juzou is involved with an Extended boy who is being chased and seems to be wanted by everyone. Juzou, being a great detective with a strong sense of pride and work ethic, gets the feeling something’s off so he decides to help the mysterious boy and figure out why everyone is after him, especially when Juzou becomes the next target for getting involved.

Without giving anything away, No Guns Life is one of the best Sci-Fi anime out this year. Being a seinen anime, No Guns Life deals with darker themes—reflected by the dark, grimy art which pulls you right into the anime’s world—, there’s mystery throughout, and the plot and story keep you wondering what is going to happen next and who all these characters are really. Definitely, a Sci-fi anime not to miss!

It’s the year 2063 and technology is at a point where space travel is so common that school kids get to go to literal space camp. Composed of 9 members, Caird High School’s Group B-5 is set to depart on a camping trip to McPa led by Astra, an athletic and charismatic leader. The students are getting to know each other on the trip when, on McPa, a black sphere appears, sucks them in, and transports them into the void of space! But, against all odds, and thanks to Astra’s leadership skills and strength of mind and body, they are able to reach an abandoned spaceship and survive. Once there, they realize that they have been transported thousands of light-years away from home!

With Astra at the lead and a group of very intelligent high schoolers, they set up a course to get back. But, what was that sphere? Things get even more mysterious and shocking the more things keep going wrong and the more the kids learn about each other, the ship they found, and themselves. There’s way more to this high school space-camping trip that meets the eye!

Kanata no Astra is beautifully drawn and animated and the plot twists never cease! On top of that, it is a fully-contained series! There’s drama, romance, friendship, suspense, and comedy. And, on top of that, it has an ending! Definitely one of this writer’s Top 5 in general this year!

When a race of mutants called Burnish suddenly appears, half of humanity is lost to the fire-wielding creatures. Thirty years later, Burnish attacks still randomly happen and are controlled by firefighters known as the Burning Rescue. Galo, their newest recruit, is a young, passionate man who was saved by Kray Foresight, leader of the Republic of Promepolis, who Galo now idolizes.

A group of terrorists calling themselves Mad Burnish and their leader Lio are the latest threat to the country’s safety and so Galo makes it a point to find out the truth about the organization, the mutants, and their reasons for violence. Going down the rabbit hole, Galo faces things and finds out truths that will make him question everything.

Brought to us by TRIGGER, it is no surprise that Promare made big waves in 2019. The topics are relevant to the current state of the world, there are plenty of twists, and the art and action sequences are all one would expect from TRIGGER. There were also two other prequel ONAs released in 2019 that take place before the events in the film and they are focused on Galo and Lio respectively so there’s even more to Promare than just the hit film! We certainly recommend all of it.

Humanity has terraformed Mars and life on the red planet is just like it was on Earth. In this futuristic world, even music is made and performed by AI, but this doesn’t stop rich girl Tuesday from running away from home to pursue a life playing her oldschool acoustic guitar. The runaway has a fateful encounter with Carole, who plays the keyboard in the city, and the two girls decide to make beautiful music together and beat out even the robots whose sole job is to make music. But it won’t be that easy...

Created by the sc-fi loving Shinichirou Watanabe (Cowboy Beebop, Ergo Proxy, Samurai Champloo… you get the idea) and Studio BONES, Carole & Tuesday was unsurprisingly a hit anime in 2019. The music and lyrics are professional grade, the sci-fi plot is interesting, the storyline is moving, and the art and animation are just plain flawless. If you like sci-fi, music, beautiful art, or just want to watch Watanabe and BONES’ most recent masterpiece so you don’t miss out, we urge you to check out Carole & Tuesday!