The Great Anime Marathon of 2020! #46 – #50: Under Siege

It’s been quite a while since I posted the last entry for this series. I’ve been pretty busy lately and it’s been hard to find the time to work on multiple things at once. However, we’ve still got a long way to go and we haven’t even reached the halfway point of the great anime marathon!

This entry focuses on anime where the enemy is all around us and sometimes… among us. One way or another, we have to find a way to fight back and survive.

The following is a spoiler-free list of anime I’ve seen this year in no particular order:

#46: Attack on Titan

• Seasons 1 – 3 Part 1 and 2: Complete series to date (dub)

What the hell can I really say about Attack on Titan? It has an extremely well made story, the progression is crafted beautifully and it’s hard to poke holes in any of it. I can’t wait for the final season to wrap up the story because it’s going to be so good.

The best part is that this series evolves in very interesting ways as the story progresses and it takes its time to build up all the characters along the way as well as the world they inhabit. They’re all trapped behind giant walls, but the enemy that they fight isn’t so obvious as the ones that burst through those walls and devour people.

If you haven’t seen Attack on Titan, you should really give it a go. Hopefully that final season comes out sooner than later.

#47: WorldEnd: What are you doing at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?

• Season 1: Complete series to date (dub)

I didn’t quite know what to expect from this series, it’s like an isekai but it’s not an isekai. The main character is the last living human on the planet after a cataclysm that destroyed the world below. Now, everyone lives in floating cities in the sky and the species that exist are all “demi-humans” of all kinds. Below, the monsters that destroyed the world still thrive and still threaten the citizens above.

So, did I expect to be sent to an orphanage where the main character helps take care of small children that are also weapons used against the monster below? Nope, but that’s where this series goes.

Like with a lot of series these days, its only the tip of the iceberg in terms of adapting the source material… meaning it ends before anything big can really happen or continue to happen to spring the story forth. It’s still alright, though I hear that the light novel series goes on longer than it probably should have…

…also, did I mention this anime has THE longest title out of every anime I’ve watched so far? It’s nuts!

#48: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

• Season 1: Complete series to date (dub)

This series probably has some fans… unfortunately, I’m not one of them. To be perfectly honest, while it’s pretty damn obvious that a large amount of money went into its production, it’s a series that’s far too short and goes far too quickly to really communicate anything of worth.

You’re in one location, then you’re zooming on a train, then you’re at another location in the blink of an eye, you don’t get a sense of who the character are, why you should care, nothing. Then, once it actually starts to slow down at the end of the series, you still have a good sense about why you should care about any of these characters, things just happen.

Kabaneri has been compared to Attack on Titan quite a lot and the big difference I can see between the two series is that Attack on Titan takes more care with its characters and is 100% character focused while Kabaneri is just one climactic event after another with no substance.

Didn’t feel very “under siege” with this one, just bored at the constant moving around and lack of focus.

There are movie adaptations and a sequel movie for Kabaneri which I have, but I haven’t really been motivated to watch those yet… maybe later.

#49: High School of the Dead

• Season 1 including OVA: Complete series to date (dub)

With my scathing words about Kabaneri, it’s going to seem really strange that I’m about to praise this anime, particularly because of how ridiculous it is if you’ve ever seen any of the clips/animated GIFs related to the series.

Yes, it’s filled with fan-service, yes, it’s pretty out there in terms of how ridiculous it can be, but damn is it a fun series to watch. I think the best part of the series is how it embraces its stupidity and just rolls with it but genuinely has some good character moments to actually make it all work.

It also does a pretty good job at showing some good hints of the reality of human nature during times of crisis among all the fan service and ridiculous moments and does a hell of a lot better job at giving the characters… you know, character, than Kabaneri.

In terms of feeling like you’re stuck with no way out, High School of the Dead does it pretty well despite the characters constantly moving from place to place… why? Because this series actually knows how to create quiet character moments between the moments of action… unlike another series… Man, I’m picking on that series a lot in this entry!

#50: From the New World

• Season 1: Complete series to date (dub)

This… is where you really start to feel like the entire world around you is oppressing you in one form or another. Not just the wilds outside the village, but the village itself.

From the New World takes place long after our time, on an earth that has changed much over the years. We follow the lives of a number of young characters over the years as they learn the truth about the world around them and discover some extremely uncomfortable truths.

The best part about this series is that, despite everything the characters go through, they do nothing substantial to change the world. For the most part, they just have to learn to live with the one they have, for better or worse.

Like Attack on Titan, there is very little about this series that you can pick apart and criticise. Everything is put together really well and there is a hell of a lot of excellent world-building throughout the series.

It’s not an easy watch, though. You really gotta be prepared for the themes shown within because it goes places… and that’s good. It’s not shy about doing what it must to tell a compelling story.

A huge recommendation for folks who want to see the most bleak of post-apocalyptic futures.