A variety of new anime is released every season, so there’s never a shortage of never-before-seen shows to watch. There’s usually at least one or two good choices for everyone, no matter your preference. We’re about halfway through 2020 now, so here are the best new anime of 2020 so far.
Tower of God (13 Episodes)
Best Anime 2020
“At the top of the tower exists everything in this world, and it can all be yours”. At its core, the majority of Tower of God‘s plot revolves around one thing: climbing the tower.
We follow a young boy named Bam as he enters the tower while chasing after a girl from his past, Rachel. She wishes to climb the tower to see her dreams become reality, while he dreams only of being with her.
That may sound simple, but this show is one of the best new anime of 2020 thanks to its great cast characters, engaging storyline, and the mysterious lore surrounding the mystical tower itself.
Id:Invaded (13 Episodes)
Best Anime 2020
Id:Invaded is a strange, yet creative sci-fi show that happens to be another one of the best new anime this year. The story revolves around the Mizuhanome System — new technology that allows people to enter the human subconscious through “id wells”.
By collecting “cognition particles” left at crime scenes, a special police squad uses this new tech in order to enter the minds of dangerous criminals in attempts to locate and apprehend them. Strange, right? It gets stranger.
Diving into the the minds of murderers to solve cases is no easy task, so the police enlist the aid of Akihito Narihisago, a brilliant cop-turned-criminal.
Dorohedoro (12 Episodes)
Best Anime 2020
Dorohedoro deals with a bit of mystery too, but in a completely different way. Most of the time, its characters use some serious violence to solve their problems. I’m talking faces being peeled off and eyeballs popping out. It can get rough.
This new anime follows a man named Kaiman and his friend Nikaidou who live in a dank, hellish place known as the Hole. The two friends are trying to figure out who turned Kaiman’s regular head into a lizard one so that they can change it back.
It’s a pretty basic premise, but you’ll get sucked into the world immediately. Magic-wielding Sorcerers often visit the Hole to experiment on its unpowered inhabitants. Kaiman seems to be a victim of this, and he’s responding by hunting down the Sorcerer responsible.
BNA (12 Episodes)
Best Anime 2020
While Dorohedoro’s Kaiman hates being part lizard, the “beastmen” in BNA celebrate their animal DNA. BNA is a new Netflix original anime by Trigger, so you can expect some pretty over the top animated sequences.
This studio brought us Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, and Promare, among others. BNA shares that same vividly colorful, expressive Trigger art style. It also manages to balance lighthearted comedy with a few serious themes.
In BNA, there’s tension between beastmen and humans that often escalates into violent encounters due to discrimination and racism. In an attempt to avoid these situations, Anima City is built.
It’s a haven for beastmen that seems perfect for them in almost every way. But is it? Michiru Kagemori is a girl with animal DNA that ventures to Anima City to find the answer to that question.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (12 Episodes)
Best Anime 2020
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! is one of the best new shows this year for a few reasons. First of all, it’s an anime about creating anime. It immediately reminded me of Bakuman, an anime/manga about creating manga.
Midori Asakusa, Sayaka Kanamori, and Tsubame Mizusaki are three high schoolers looking to make their own anime, and this is their story.
Asakusa loves drawing detailed, creative backgrounds, while Mizusaki is more focused on character art. Kanamori is the extremely relatable friend who’s simply along for the ride.
It doesn’t sound like this show has much going on, but you can really feel the creators’ love for anime in this one. As the trio plans out concepts and ideas through sketches, the world comes to life in beautifully animated sequences that draw you into the minds of the characters.
New seasons of already established shows like Kaguya-Sama and Haikyu!! were purposely left off of this list to shine a light on some brand new anime. If there are any other great new ones from 2020 that we missed, let us know below!
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