Favourite Fantasy Anime (30 Days of Anime – Years 1 to 5) – Day 7
It’s day 7 of the 30 Days of Anime, so I’m going to dive into my favourite genre – fantasy. I absolutely love swords and sorcery-style stories, which have seen a bit of a resurgence thanks to the Isekai genre.
Favourite Fantasy Anime (30 Days of Anime – Years 1 to 5) – Day 7
Fantasy is my top genre. I used to think it was science fiction for the longest time, but fantasy is what I want to write. I love the possibilities available but also the reality of the situation despite the magical and fantastical worlds. Sure, you can get that with science fiction too, but I’m a sucker for heroes with swords. In fact, strong women with swords is one of the most prominent criteria when it comes to selecting waifu… I digress. Let’s get back to looking at my favourite fantasy anime!
Year 1 – Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? (Season One)
I had been planning on watching Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? ever since it was released, but the availability was causing problems. Then, I went on a family vacation to Florida and decided to grab a free trial of Crunchyroll. I watched the entire season in a couple of nights. I loved it. I loved everything about it, but then I knew what I was getting into since I had read nine volumes of the manga beforehand. Regardless, this is a fantastic tale of the underdog rising up and proving to the world that they are special. The story incorporates lots of ancient mythology around the gods to create a rich and fascinating world. If you are familiar with any of those stories, particularly the ancient Greek gods then this becomes that much more exciting. That said, it never relies on you knowing anything about them beforehand. This is a thrilling adventure.
Year 2 – Goblin Slayer (Season One)
Admittedly, I could have easily selected Akame ga Kill! for this year, but I decided to go with Goblin Slayer because of the Dungeons and Dragons elements. Obviously, that means that I loved this series and rate it as highly as I rate Akame ga Kill! Goblin Slayer opens with a dark and sinister episode that perfectly sets up this world. It’s horrific, but that’s the point. It shows us that the work Goblin Slayer is doing is very important and also incredibly dangerous. I loved how solemn this series was. It took its time to do things right but also was able to crank things up to eleven when it needed to. I’ve seen Goblin Slayer several times and each time, I end up enjoying it a little bit more.
Year 3 – The Rising of the Shield Hero (Season One)
Even though the rise of Isekai anime has been good for fantasy anime, I had planned on only looking at pure fantasy stories here. However, I decided to make an exception for one series that I think really focused on the fantasy side of things. Even with four heroes summoned from another world, their past lives aren’t really that important other than to have made them into the people they are. Another thing that this series does so well is to connect the audience to Naofumi. We see how he’s been cheated by Myne. We feel the rage that he does. We get to see just where that may lead and how it influences his decisions. I loved writing about The Rising of the Shield Hero because it gives you so much to talk about. Simply fascinating.
Year 4 – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Series Review)
I was late to the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood party, and while I maintain that it’s not fair to compare a regular anime season of twelve or twenty-four episodes against a sixty-four-episode series, this is an absolutely fantastic series. It’s clear that they took a completed story and delivered an incredibly satisfying adaptation. It makes me wonder how many other stories would benefit from waiting for the source material to be completed before trying to make an anime. I know that Akame ga Kill! overtook the manga and that definitely made the second half weaker. This is how I’d like to see all anime adaptations handled. Pick a complete story and tell it the way the author meant it to be told. No filler, no guessing what happens next. Do it right from start to finish. You can instantly tell the difference.
Year 5 – Delicious in Dungeon (Season One)
This was an incredibly hard decision. On the one hand, there was Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and the other was Delicious in Dungeon. Both are fantastic fantasy anime. Both have delightful characters who question their reality and in turn our own. If I could, I would pick both, but that’s not the way I set out to do this. So, I decided to go with Delicious in Dungeon because I watched it more recently. I think that’s the only way I could split them. I loved the way Delicious in Dungeon slowly added to the story. It didn’t bombard us with information at the beginning. In the beginning, all we knew was that Fallin had been eaten by a dragon and they were on a quest to save her. Other than that, they had no money and had to survive by eating the dungeon monsters. From there, it added layer after layer of intricate lore and world-building. Admittedly, Frieren also did this. Seriously, just watch both – they are both incredible!
Final Thoughts!
As my favourite genre, it came as no surprise that I had a lot of shows to pick from, which ended up with me making (or not) some tough decisions. Seriously, just watch all of them, and the others that I mentioned in my explanations. You really can’t go wrong. Tomorrow is Christmas Day, so I’ll be back with my favourite horror anime… because why not? Grab a cushion and get ready to hide from all the big, bad, scary things. Thanks for visiting.
Other Posts in the Series
30 Days of Anime (Years 1 to 5)
I also like Shield Hero and Goblin Slayer. However, both kind of upsets me in some respects: Stockholm Syndrome in Raphtalia’s case, and the violence and gore in Goblin Slayer. I guess I’m getting a bit too sensitive on my age which is making me see things differently now, or I’m just becoming weaker… like a snowflake.
Agreed. I hated it when Raphtalia had her slave creat put back on. I don’t mind the violence and gore of Goblin Slayer as it serves a purpose. I hate it when shows use gore just to be edgy.
Excellent choices! Heh, I can understand being torn between Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon, though Frieren always comes out ahead in my book. 🙂
They are both equal for me, and easily the best fantasy shows out there. I would have liked to pick both but if I started doing that then I’d end up doing top tens for each year and who has the time for that?