What are some of your favorite anime released in the past few years?

[auntwitch]

Gotta be honest, I have no idea what's popular with anime fandom anymore. I am more of a manga reader these days, though I do delve into magical girl anime when they pop up. 

Personally, my favorite anime from the past few years is probably Hugtto Precure from around 2018.  I was really intrigued by Precure introducing a villain with a motivation akin to 

Spoiler

Homura from Madoka Magica, except in the form of the protag's future husband.

As for things more recent than that, I'm honestly not sure if I've watched anything recent.

What are some of your favorite new series?

[HataVNI]

I want to recommend this trip of an anime. The writer (Otaro Maijo) creates insane avant-garde stories, so this anime is no exception. You will not even get what is going on for half the time, but it is so exciting all the time. Truly a masterpiece.

I also recommend this to everyone who likes Anime, but this anime itself likes Anime. As in the medium and uses its total strengths.

 

[Hiromi]

9 hours ago, auntwitch said:

I have no idea what's popular with anime fandom anymore

When I go on Twitter, I see that the trending seasonal anime always receives a torrent of fanart. Last cour was Lycoris Recoil. Some time ago was Spy x Family. But yeah, I experience a similar feeling of detachment from the larger community too.

For quite some time I haven't been able to get as excited about anime as I was in school age. I can think of various reasons why, but I think a huge part of it is pessimism caused by caring too much about what happens in the outside world. It sapps away attention and energy, which could've been invested in enjoyable, creative hobbies. As long as we live in a society (lul) we can't really isolate ourselves from current events, but we have the choice where to direct our attention to. The more we direct it outwards, the more negative feelings we get. The more we direct it inwards, the more positive feelings we get. At least that's my hypothesis for the time being.

A nice short series I watched recently is This Ugly yet Beautiful World. It's from Gainax (Series Director: Saeki Shouji), produced some time after Evangelion, back in the days where the company still was about anime and not fishing young girls for sexual favors in dubious voice acting competitions (Would be a good eroge plot but disastrous when practiced in real life). Character designer is Takamura Kazuhiro of Strike Witches fame -- also the main reason I picked up the series since I'm a huge fan of his art. It's basically a cute girl anime, in the way that Strike Witches is a cute girl anime too despite the accessory aspects like military gear and the Neuroi. This Ugly yet Beautiful World has sci-fi elements too like super powers and alien monsters, but that's not really what the show is about, but rather the inner conflicts of the characters, and how they overcome these in the course of the story. The anime makes me think of a video essay I've watched on YouTube about the concept of human consciousness, that we only start to achieve understanding of ourselves and the outside world through seeing ourselves reflected in the eyes of other people. The human subject achieves recognition of itself as a subject only through coming into contact with other human subjects, and so on and so on. Anyways it's a nice anime if you like cute girls and psychology.

^ Opening sequence. Theme song by Takahashi Youko, most famous probably for Cruel Angel's Thesis.

Edited September 20, 2022 by HataVNI
Edited to show the embed video

[Nemesis]

I tend to have different taste than what's popular out there. A lot of the popular animes are just outside my taste. But here are what I've found good in the last few years:

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash

Fruits Basket (Remake)

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season Part 2

Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu

Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

Yuru Camp△

Non Non Biyori Nonstop

Summertime Render

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen 

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan

Golden Kamuy

Vinland Saga

Mix: Meisei Story

Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note

Chihayafuru 3

Grand Blue

Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai

Amanchu! Advance

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai

Mahoutsukai no Yome

 

And so on, I tend to watch a mix of different genres, so just checkout whatever fits your taste.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Nemesis

[laeahkora]

Both have great action and storytelling. I love Hugtto Precure too