“Forever Crush” is the superlative given to our favourite character from the past season! Straight-forward in theory, but difficult to decide when there are many lovable characters from the past season; however, a decision must be made. “Forever Crush” goes to…

Mizuhara Chizuru from Rent-A-Girlfriend! Her stern yet caring personality and constant grace when dealing with the wasteman protagonist, Kazuya, Chizuru has so many great one-liners and speeches that can soothe and inspire the loneliest of people into trying to be a little bit better.

Even though her relationship with Kazuya begins as one that is purely transactional, Chizuru’s treatment of her clients, in general, is awesome, but being a rental girlfriend is but a stepping stone for Chizuru, who is a talented actress about to embark on a stellar career! If only we could have seen more from Chizuru’s perspective rather than Kazuya, but from we’ve been blessed enough to see from Chizuru, we think she’s Summer 2020’s “Forever Crush”.

Straightforward, unlike most romantic pairings in anime, this award goes to the Summer 2020 couple who we think romanced the best! With a plethora of possibilities this season, from the awkward love-triangle of Oregairu to the stolen glances between Kusakabe Shinra and Sister Iris of Fire Force, we had our work cut out for us trying to decide on any one pair! However, with all things considered, we thought it would be best to honour a new relationship several years in the making! “Cutest Couple” goes to…

Yukinoshita Yukino and Hikigaya Hachiman! We have been waiting years for something to blossom for these characters and despite all the times we had to see Yui cry because she knew about the inevitability of this pairing, it was a different kind of chill running down the spine when Yukino told Hachiman the three magic words! Despite having her heart shattered, even Yui was happy for them, what kind of people would we be if we weren’t?

Will they, won’t they? Well, they didn’t, and that’s okay. The “Cutest Couple that Never Was” goes to a character pairing that seemed to be heading in the direction of a romantic relationship but never really arrived at that destination. With a few romantic situations coming out of anime this season, there have been a couple of… couples that could have become couples but didn’t couple together, for whatever reason! So, the “Cutest Couple that Never Was” from the anime of Summer 2020 is…

Yuigahama Yui and Hikigaya Hachiman from Oregairu! It really is unfortunate for us to make a bit of fun of Yui’s pain; however, it has to be said that the losing side of that particular love-triangle would have been an interesting direction for Oregairu, and Slice of Life anime by extension. The chemistry that Hachiman has with either Yukino or Yui is unmistakable; however, it is Yui’s valiant efforts to express her true feelings to Hachiman despite knowing that it was never meant to be. Slice of Life anime tends to go with the longer-haired girl in romantic pairings involving an unseemly male main character and Oregairu is no different; however, the ending still managed to be very satisfying despite Yui’s romantic disappointment.

“Class Clown” goes to the funniest anime of the past season. There were a few Slice of Life anime titles in this past Summer season; most notably the previously-mentioned Oregairu final season, Rent-A-Girlfriend! and Uzaki-chan to name a few! The anime that gets this superlative is one that has been fairly popular this season and it’s given us some funny, some cringy, and some sweet moments too! “Class Clown” goes to…

Rent-A-Girlfriend! Deceit and a strange transactional relationship turned into something more? Sign us up! Rent-A-Girlfriend is an awkward comedy not unlike anything we’ve seen before; however, it was a welcome title in this past season, with the main characters Kazuya and Chizuru getting into all sorts of awkward situations as a result of their complicated relationship! Misunderstandings and white lies galore in this slice of life comedy, which earn it the title of “Class Clown”!

The most intense anime of the summer 2020 season gets this award! In a season with all kinds of shows from returning virtual adventures in Sword Art Online to the intense post-apocalyptic landscape of Deca-Dence or even the angsty romantic awkwardness of Oregairu, there have been all kinds of shows coming out of Summer 2020! However, we think that there are some shows that have held the proverbial mic of conversation for a long time this season, with each week being more exciting than the last! “Life of the Party” from this past season is…

Fire Force Season 2! With intense battles and a storyline that continues to heat up with each new episode, Fire Force’s second season has delivered on many fronts: action, animation, soundtrack, and even comedy! The multiple ways in which this show has strutted its stuff make it one of the most exciting to come out this season, as well as the most deserving of the title of “Life of the Party”.

This superlative is given to the show that could’ve had something going but didn’t quite execute the ideas too well. That happens sometimes, things aren’t as great as we expected and it can be really disappointing; however, if it can be done, it can be improved, right? The anime that gets the “Try, and Try Again” is…

Gibiate! With time-travelling samurai, giant bugs, and an apocalypse, this seems to be something interesting for easy viewing as we deal with a real-life pandemic! Be that as it may, Gibiate didn’t quite meet expectations on many different fronts. The animation is perhaps the most disappointing as the characters don’t look too bad despite the occasional stiffness in their movement; however, the titular monstrosities of Gibiate, the Gibia, look pretty bad, and we don’t mean it in the way you’d expect monsters to look bad! CGI use in anime is a bit of a point of contention for fans because of how it can make certain things look and feel, and for Gibiate, it’s not the best look.

Gibiate also loses out on the execution of its multiple plot points, which seem mashed together in an incoherent fashion. We love the Drifters-esque basic premise, but we’re sad to have to say it could have been better.

“Most Unique” is self-explanatory. This goes to the anime from the summer 2020 anime season that we felt was the most unique. There are lots of fresh ideas that never really make it into mainstream discussions because we gloss over them for things that are rather familiar. This summer season had several returning titles, so none of them are being considered for this particular superlative. “Most Unique” goes to…

The God of High School! This breakout adaptation of Park Yong Je’s super popular WEBTOON follows hot on the heels of Tower of God, another WEBTOON adaptation that came out earlier in 2020. The animation and character designs are very close to the original work and as a result, the still visuals are incredibly bold and eye-catching! The animation is fluid with a very, very dynamic camera for added intensity during fights. The biggest part of this anime’s uniqueness lies in the fact that it is a WEBTOON adaptation, in the beginning of what seems like a turn towards more adaptations of famous WEBTOON titles.

This one is pretty simple – we’re giving it to the show that we think is the best of Summer 2020! Looking through the season’s catalogue, there were a few strong contenders for this position as a few popular titles were in their second season or later, wrapping up some incredibly good runs as far as the shows themselves are concerned. So, which anime is our favourite from Summer 2020? And the Oscar goes to…

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikastsu 2nd Season! This season of Re:Zero has been an incredible ride and we’ve been shown an incredible amount of struggle and pain for Subaru very early on in the second season. The developing plot and main issue with the antagonist apparent, the Witch of Envy, Satella, has reached many critical points and we have been introduced to a lot of lore in a very short of space of time.

Re:Zero has an icy hold over its viewers from the very first episode, a vice-grip of confusion, contortion, death, hope, despair and perseverance; but also a pleasurable audio-visual experience as far as art, animation and soundtrack are concerned. These characteristics make Re:Zero 2nd Season the proverbial book you cannot put down – the best show out of last season – because everyone loves a good tragedy, right?