Although winter is typically a pretty great season to watch anime, not everyone has the time to lounge around on the couch and give each anime of the season its fair shake, especially when there are so many established shows out there to tempt you away. However, if you want to know what anime series from the winter 2019 season was worth your time, look no further.
*Note: As always, this covers original series. So any second seasons won’t be counted.
Best Winter 2019 Anime
The Rising of the Shield Hero
The stories tell of four heroes summoned from another world – the sword, spear, bow, and shield heroes who will prevent calamity. With darkness bearing down on them, the Kingdom of Melromarc summons these heroes from modern day Japan. For otaku Naofumi Iwatani, unfortunately he is labeled the shield hero, the weakest of the group. Worse yet, betrayal sees him labeled as a criminal and oucasted. With hatred and vengeance consuming him, he sets forth to grow strong.
Why It’s Worth the Watch? – It seems like having an isekai is mandatory for every anime season these days. While that’s not always a bad thing, a lot of them are just irritatingly the same. They go in all powerful, everyone likes them, and they take down big bads. Not in this one, The Rising of the Shield Hero starts off a touch differently by having everyone metaphorically kick the main character in the ribs until he becomes too angry to die.
My Roommate is a Cat
Subaru is a novelist, and not very good with people. He’s been alone since his parent’s death, but one day while praying at their grave, a cat comes and eats his offering. Deciding to take it home, he now is shouldered with a cat, and this stray is shouldered with caring for a human who can barely care for himself.
Why It’s Worth the Watch? – Every season needs that super chill and wholesome series that you can just unwind with. In this season, it was My Roommate is a Cat. Half the episode is told through the recluse novelist’s eyes, and the other half is told through the eyes of the cat. Through this design, you learn that two broken souls come together to find comfort in each other. It’s really just super cute all around though, even if you don’t have a cat.
The Quintessential Quintuplets
As his family is in some serious debt, Fuutaro Uesugi is a serious penny pincher. However, his great grades have landed him a higher than normal paying tutor job. The problem is that his five wards, all sisters, are dumb as door nails and think he is a complete idiot. However, to get his pay, he has to think of a way to get these five unique girls to study and learn.
Why It’s Worth the Watch? – This show seems like harem trash, but it is really just a best girl simulator. It starts off with a challenge – it shows him marrying one of these girls, but it doesn’t show who. You spend the rest of the show guessing and placing bets. It starts off looking pretty obvious, but it gets increasingly more difficult to guess as things go on. Except for with Yotsuba. We all know the genki girl never wins.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Considered a genius, Miyuki Shirogane leads the student council in his prestigious school. Alongside his beautiful and wealth vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya, the two are regarded as the perfect couple despite no romantic relationship. The truth is, however, they both have feelings for each other, but neither can confess. This is the battle of two people trying to get the other to confess first!
Why It’s Worth the Watch? – Lots of romance series cover falling in love, but this series is about two people that already like each other, but have too much pride to confess before the other. It really is a war of supreme wits and wondering whose emotions will cave first. This isn’t your standard rom-com, it really is a tactical war.
Domestic Girlfriend
Natsuo is in love with his teacher Hina. In order to try and forget his feelings, he goes to a mixer and meets a girl named Rui. Oddly enough, she asks him to do her a favor – to have sex with her. He does so, but soon he is faced with a unique problem. His father has remarried and he now has two new stepsisters that he knows too well – Rui and Hina
Why It’s Worth the Watch? – I personally enjoy a romantic drama that mixes sex and all its complicated emotions into the equation. While the guy seems to have magical woman-attracting powers that remain unseen, Domestic Girlfriend is like a car crash you cannot look away from. It is going to end in tears for someone, that is for sure, but you are left wanting to watch the carnage.
