Welcome, everyone. It is me, the lame guy who writes regularly, but once an anime season, takes over this persona of an award show host. My name is Jacob, Ov, whatever, by the way.

 

Each season, we host this incredibly professional award show to celebrate the wonderful medium that is anime. We’ve also done one for both Spring and Summer this year. This time around, we’re hosting the Fall one. By we, I mean me, by the way. I am the judge, voter, and host. You’re all my prisoners forced to read my correct opinion. You may have your own opinion, but all of mine are backed by science and are factually correct.

 

Despite that, I must say for legal reasons that all of these are just my opinion, even if my opinion is more correct than yours. So please, don’t get upset, and if you are, you’re welcome to comment your favorites below. I think that’s everything done now. Let’s get this show on the road.

 

 

I was worried about Komi’s anime adaptation. I made a whole post talking about why that is. I was worried that the anime wouldn’t be able to nail a lot of the humor the manga does. While I was somewhat correct, I was mostly wrong.

 

It was clear from the very first episode that Komi was firing right out of the gate. The first episode was stunning. It was beautiful, it was paced really nicely, and it just nailed adapting the manga, especially the special scene that is still my favorite. I loved it, and so I award thee.

 

 

As you’ll see with the next few winners, Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut was one of my favorite series this season, and I was not suspecting that at all. For as weird as it is, it’s absolutely beautiful, and I really enjoyed it a lot.

 

What I enjoyed perhaps more than anything else was how perfect the ending is. I know the story continues on in the light novel, but with how perfect this ending is, you would never believe that.

 

It brought everything in the series to a close in a much happier way than I originally expected, and while some people may say that’s selling out, I absolutely loved it. I award thee!

 

 

From beginning to end, after all 12 episodes, I really have nothing but good things to say about Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut. So many good things that I think it’s pretty easily the best story I’ve seen this season. If you told me before that it would be about a vampire going to space… I would probably believe you. Anime is weird.

 

But in all seriousness, Irina is really good. For what seems really weird on the surface, it’s actually a story about following your dreams, learning to accept people that may look different from you, and even love. It has some beautiful imagery as well that pulls the whole thing together that much better.

 

I was incredibly surprised with this one, and I think just about everyone who watches it will get something from it. If you love love, space, weird-ass plots, vampires, Russia, I guess you’ll like it. There’s a little something for everyone, and it’s so good. I award thee.

 

 

Irina doesn’t only have the best story; it’s also the one that had me thinking the most. And that’s not only because it has such a weird premise, though that’s partly it. It’s just that the subject matter is so fascinating.

 

The space race is already an interesting point in history, and it’s somehow made even more so by throwing a vampire in, with a little sprinkling of racism to boot. It’s weird, it’s intriguing, it’s charming, and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

 

 

Ranking of Kings came out of nowhere for me. I heard nothing about it at all, and then towards the end of the season, I heard it was good. I watched it, and it was stupendous. It still is. When I saw this beautifully bubbly Bojji boy, I knew he would win this immediately.

 

Bojji is our little deaf boy that tries his hardest to prove himself to his friends and family and one day become the king he deserves to be. I have cried for Bojji far faster and far more than most other characters. He wiggled his way into my heart immediately, just like he likely did for everyone that’s seen him.

 

 

Mieruko-chan is a really good series. It’s about a high school girl that can see horrifying monsters. What’s not to love? Yeah, Miko goes through literal hell every day for our amusement, but I’m giving her best girl for it. Also, I gave Irina too many awards.

 

This series is far more horror than I originally expected, and that’s what made it such a good time. And I appreciate Miko for suffering through everything, crying multiple times, and all-around being a trooper. She also has a really good voice actress, which definitely gains some points. I award thee.

 

 

I really try to get a variety of series on these seasonal posts. That’s the whole point of doing them, even more so than discussing my favorite. These started out as just a seasonal round-up anyway. Despite that, I am now going to give the second part/season of 86 the same award I gave the first season earlier this year.

 

Season 2 has been interesting. It’s been riddled with delays just like the first season, but the delays have now gotten so bad that the last two episodes aren’t airing for another two months. Despite that, 86 is incredible, and its second season is no exception.

 

While the first season was a good introduction, season two really dug deep into all of the characters and relationships that were established before, especially with the best character, Shin. Everything I loved about 86 was made even better, and I fell deeper in love with these wonderful characters, so much so that I went out and bought the light novels. I love you to death, 86, as I do everyone who worked on you. You deserve best characters once again.

 

 

Banished from the Hero’s Part was weird for me. It’s a series I heard about before the anime, but I didn’t really know anything. I thought the name was interesting, and I figured it was some generic Isekai. What I didn’t expect is that it wouldn’t be an Isekai, that it would have pretty interesting world-building, and I really didn’t expect these two.

 

Red and Rit absolutely make the series. It’s not bad, but it goes from alright to decent and really freaking cute. It’s not an action-packed anime; it’s straight-up this guy who used to fight to save the world chilling in a small town with a girl he used to adventure with. They start living together and develop feelings for each other that actually go places pretty quickly.

 

It’s not at all what I expected, but it’s most certainly what I wanted, even if I didn’t know it at the time. If you’re looking for a cute fantasy slice of life series, give this a try. I award thee, Red and Rit. Take your award, you love birds.

 

 

Ranking of Kings doesn’t only have best boy Bojji; it also has the best art of the season pretty clearly. It’s incredibly unique and really charming. I mean, just look at these characters. I love them all.

 

It honestly reminds me almost of western-inspired art, but with a little bit of that anime flair to it. It’s beautiful, it really is. It’s almost like Ranking of Kings is just really good all around. I wonder?

 

 

The World’s Finest Assassin was odd. I didn’t dislike it as much as I was expecting. There were actually a few good moments and all and all it was decent. Not bad in the realm of “blank gets reincarnated as blank series.”

 

One thing that was better than decent was the opening. Not only is Dark Seeks Light a good, fitting song for the series with a badass name to boot. Not only that, but this opening has some equally badass art. Seriously, go watch it just to see that, if nothing else. Really cool. Really good. I award thee.

 

But honestly, 86 had a perfect opening. I wanted to talk about other series as well, so really this is 2nd place, but it isn’t getting on the list otherwise.

 

 

Mieruko also had a pretty good opening; I could definitely see giving that the award, but unfortunately, Takt op and Finest Assassin, and 86 had better ones. But Mieruko has a really good ending, so everything is fine.

 

I’ll be honest, the main reason I like it is for the visuals. “Mita na? Mita yo ne?? Miteru yo ne???” is really good, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something really charming to me about all of these cute visuals of Miko and the gang with random jumpscares of horrible monsters in between. It’s basically Mieruko in a nutshell, and I really enjoy that. I award thee.

 

 

Takt Op has received mixed reviews, but I, for one, think it was really quite good, even if it did have its shortcomings. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that this anime centered around music has some pretty good music.

 

There’s just something about hearing classical music in time to some of the fights in the series that’s mesmerizing, really. While you can argue that Takt Op didn’t do a lot of things right, you’re not taking music away from it. It’s really good.

 

It makes me so excited for the eventual game and sequel to the story that will be out at some point. I can only hope that they actually released it outside of Japan. I award thee.

 

 

In actuality, Kaginado wasn’t bad; I just wasn’t the target audience. I haven’t seen enough Key stuff to really get a lot of the jokes. The main reason this is here is that I needed to fill this category, and this was a pretty amazing season, and nothing I saw really disappointed me. I kind of award thee.

 

 

I have not watched any of Jobless Reincarnation/Mushoku Tensei or what have you. Not a single episode. However, I know that if I did, it would likely have gotten one or two or three awards of its own. To make up for that, here’s an award for existing.

 

An award show where I don’t mention this second part/season that had everyone up in arms would not be a real award show, and I’m nothing if not legit. So for the sake of legitness, I created a loophole in my own rules to not put series here I haven’t watched. I hope you’re happy. And yes, I’ll do it for the year-end awards too with the same image because it matches my emotions right now.

 

 

Let’s give 86 and everyone who worked on this wonderful adaptation a round of applause. Do it. C’mon. Go on. It’s not hard. Did you do it? Good. Even with the abomination of a schedule, this second season has had, the staff has done the right thing and didn’t cut any corners. And if they did, you can’t notice it. 86’s second season is beautiful regardless of the mess that it has been. I award all of thee again.

 

 

This is Yoshida Katsuko no Yabai wa! SDGs: Araburu! Trouble! Sustainable! Yeah, that. As usual, I go to the lowest anime series for the season on My Anime List, and this is the one for Fall. I’m pretty sure it has to do with score and how many people have watched it. No, I haven’t watched it, and I’m ok with that. I don’t think I want to.

 

The most interesting thing I can say is that the director is someone called FROGMAN, in all caps, yes. FROGMAN has his own page on MAL where the comments are a bunch of people just typing “FROGMAN.” That’s it. I mean, there’s one person who said, and I quote, “Why you kill my familly Mr.FROGMAN ?” Truth is, I don’t know why Mr.FROGMAN would. I don’t know anything that just happened, really.

Standings:

Banished From the Hero’s Party: 1

Jobless Reincarnation: 1

Kaginado: 1

Komi Can’t Communicate: 1

Takt Op: 1

Worlds Finest Assassin: 1

Yoshida Katsuko Whatever: 1

86 – Eighty-Six: 2

Mieruko-chan: 2

Ranking of Kings: 2

Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut: 3

 

 

I have to say, Ranking of Kings was a surprise. It came out of nowhere, did amazing, and I’m honestly speechless with how good it is. It is one of the easier 10/10s I’ve ever seen. It knows exactly what it wants and tells the story perfectly, with amazing art to boot.

 

It’s unique, and it looks incredible. Bojji will inspire you one moment and make you cry the next. It’s an epic journey that I’ll remember for a long time, and we’re not even halfway done yet. 

 

For that reason, I will not be reviewing this series until its 20 something episodes are over, so look forward to that in a few months.

 

That’s all, folks!

Wow, Fall 2021 was a crazy season. Definitely the best of the year, though I didn’t see Winter, so I can’t really speak to that. I picked a really good year to start watching seasonal stuff, that’s for sure—what a crazy good year. Anyone picking anime of the year is going to have a hard time.

 

Speaking of that, I’m planning on also doing an awards for 2021 as a whole too, but that won’t be for a little bit. Probably a month, but it will happen. Anyway, that’s about it. Live long and prosper or something. I have no clue why I said that. I’m literally just typing whatever comes to mind right now.

 

Thank you very much for reading

 

Go on prospering!