Favourite New Anime (30 Days of Anime – Years 1 to 5) – Day 30

I’ve been lucky enough to watch several new anime shows each year that have blown me away. Unfortunately, for this list, I have to narrow it down to just one from each of the last five years. Should be easy enough…
Favourite New Anime (30 Days of Anime – Years 1 to 5) – Day 30
Yesterday, I looked at my Favourite Rewatched Anime with Highschool of the Dead taking Year Five as was expected. With this post, I’m looking at shows that I watched for the first time in that year. Luckily, all were released during that year or very close to it. Some even overlapped two years, but I’m going with the year that I published the season review. Let’s dive straight in.
Year 1 – Gleipnir (Season One)
Gleipnir was a huge surprise for me. It features a character who can transform into a giant mascot. That alone didn’t fill me with confidence coming into the show. However, after one episode, I was desperate to keep going. Unfortunately, I had a full schedule already, so I decided to wait until it finished and then review it. That way, I wouldn’t have to wait a week for a new episode. I was extremely grateful for that as there were times when I went straight into the next one. This is a dark and mysterious series with some wonderfully interesting characters. I have also reviewed the manga, which is one of my favourite manga series. Give it a go! You won’t be disappointed.



Year 2 – Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Season One) – Part 1
The first season of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is a masterpiece. It deals with flawed characters in a flawed world. Some of the topics it tackles are tough ones to do justice, let alone in a fantasy world, but Mushoku Tensei seems to handle them with ease. On top of the fascinating story, the anime is superb. I also loved how it would use the OP to maximise the story by showing sweeping vistas of their location, setting you up for the episode. I recently read the first two light novels too, so I’ll probably continue with those while I wait for the third season. I can’t wait to see how this ends. It’s a true fantasy epic!



Year 3 – My Dress-Up Darling (Season One)
My Dress-Up Darling is one of my absolute favourites. I own all twelve volumes of the manga (so far) and have reviewed all of them. There is so much to love about this series from the wonderful messages about being supportive and understanding of other people and their interests while also being incredibly insightful about what it takes to truly master something. There are so many wonderful quotes that I was inspired to write three bonus posts along with the episode reviews. This is an incredible series.



Year 4 – Summer Time Rendering (Season One)
Summer Time Rendering appeared in my life by accident and then took over. I was at my local bookstore when I saw the hardback omnibus editions of the manga. Not wanting to instantly buy them despite how beautiful they were, I reserved them at my library. I read them all in a week and then bought them. It was seriously that good. So, when I saw that there was also an anime, I had to check it out, although the fear of it not living up was very real. Amazingly, I think this is one of the best adaptations that I’ve ever seen. It was perfect. I watched all twenty-five episodes in nine days. If this had been on a mainstream anime channel, it would have been the talk of the season.



Year 5 – Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Season One)
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End was the other reason that I decided to split my favourite anime into new and rewatched. The first season was twenty-eight episodes long and that still wasn’t enough. This is another masterpiece of fiction with cleverly crafted characters who deal with issues that we can only imagine. I’ve never been hit so hard by an opening episode and as if that wasn’t enough, they released the first four at once. Just amazing. I loved the way it looked at time and how quickly the world moves. It really made me think about what I will leave behind and whether anyone will remember me. In that sense, it’s also incredibly humbling. This is a must-watch for every anime fan.



Final Thoughts!
This was a really hard list to put together as I’ve seen a lot of great shows. Hopefully, that will continue into Year Six. I’m sure it will. I just need to make sure that I have enough time to watch everything I want to. The old to-watch list seems to grow faster than I can clear them off. At least, I’ll always have something to work towards.
Amazingly, I have now finished my 30 Days of Anime challenge to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Otaku Author. I will do one last post tomorrow to finish this challenge properly. After that, I’ll be back to reviewing anime and manga, while also trying to write that novel that I keep putting off. This challenge has been a blast. Thanks for visiting.
Other Posts in the Series
30 Days of Anime (Years 1 to 5)

I even believe Frieren series is a recommendation for those who are newbies in watching anime. Visual humour don’t look so exaggerated that will turn into mood whiplash though I’ve still got halfway to finish completely, but it’s got a very high score from me.
It might be a little slow for those not familiar with epic fantasy, but it’s definitely a series I would be prepared to recommend to anyone.
Gz on the 30 day challenge Lynn!
Thanks. It’s been a lot of work, but also so much fun.
This reminds me that I really need to finish ‘Frieren’ 🙂
Definitely!!!
Once I go premium again with CR, it’s on 😀
I feel very uncouth for not watching Frieren yet…
You definitely need to up your game here… so uncouth!