The Vermouth Arc was the best Era of the Detective Conan Anime.

Interestingly I could almost argue that this Arc’s Kishotenketsu structure correlates to its episodes that aired in Gregorian Calendar years 2001-2004. 

Of course 2000 can be argued to already be part of the Vermouth era.  The character of Vermouth is technically introduced in episodes 176-178 Reunion with The Black Organization in January of 2000. And then 188-193 The Desperate Rival can be considered connected to it. But that's all stage setting, you could follow the storyline of the Vermouth Arc proper without really having seen them. Heck a 1999 episode is arguably more relevant to the plot 170-171 The Blind Spot in the Darkness. 

I will be mentioning some episodes I like from this era that aren't part of the Arc, but I still haven’t seen every episode even in this area so my knowledge is incomplete. 

2001 contains the Ki of the arc.

226-227 The Battle Game Trap is perhaps still just stage setting like the 2000 episodes, but the character it introduces is very important. 

Not relevant to the arc but 228-229 The Murderous Pottery Class is one of the show’s best Columbo episodes. 

2001’s film was the first and for a while only movie featuring the Black Organization, Countdown to Heaven.  Neither Vermouth or any other distinctly Vermouth arc characters are in it, but it’s also the best Haibara movie and does a good job at setting up where she is as a character when we enter this saga.  

230-231 The Mysterious Passenger is the episode that properly initiates the storyline, it establishes a key aspect of how Vermouth operates we didn’t know about before so it can then introduce three suspects for who among those the main cast interacts with she could be. It’s also one of only three Cases from this arc included in Netflix’s Black Organization Collection and thus with an official Dub.

253-254 Metropolitan Police Love Story 4 is the only chapter in that ongoing storyline also tied into the arc since two of the suspects appear in it. 

258-259 The Man from Chicago introduces another relevant character. Putting all the pieces finally on the board. 

The 2002 episodes are the Sho, further developing what the Ki introduced. 

271-271 The Secret Rushed Omission.

275-275 Truth of the Haunted House features characters but is perhaps not too relevant. 

277-278 English Teacher vs Great Western Detective.

279-280 Hooligan’s Labyrinth is an often overlooked important episode to Hiabara’s character development. 

284-285 Chinatown Deja Vu in the Rain sets the stage for the following episode. 

286-287 Shinichi Kudo’s New York Murder Case is the second case of this Arc included on Netflix. 

That’s all the key Vermouth Arc episodes of 2002.  301-302 near the end of the year is a neat informal continuation of the Sato and Takagi storyline. Episode 303 is a TV Original but I like it as a stand out Mitsuhiko episode. 

The movie for 2002 was The Phantom of Baker Street which I have mixed feelings on. I ultimately rank it among the lowest but there is stuff I like in its first half. It’s interesting in how it was the last film to be Cel Animated and is an early example of a trapped in VR Video Game from the same year as .hack and the original SAO web novel.

2002’s OVA was the second one, 16 Suspects. Which is a neat relic of how Shiratori was characterized early on that I think has maybe been forgotten. 

I began writing this just as an argument for 2003 being the best year of the Detective Conan Anime. The year began with episode 304 The Trembling Police Headquarters: The 12 Million Hostages, which was a special two hour long episode. During this era Detective Conan began most years with a 2 hour special so that isn’t unique and this isn’t the best of them, but it’s also far from the least which is impressive since none are bad. 

Remember those rants I did on how much of the Vermouth Arc was skipped by the Netflix collection?  Well it turns out a lot of the most important stuff that should have been included aired in 2003. The important plot developments here are the Ten. 

To list them again those episodes are.

307-308 On The Trail of a Silent Witness.

307-311 Contact with The Black Organization. 

329-330 A Friendship can’t be Bought. 

335-336 Secret of the Tohto Film Development Studio

338-339 The Four Porches. 

340-341 Hidden Bathroom Secret. 

343-344 The Convenience Store Trap. Which were also the last episodes to air in 2003. 

So basically Netflix skipped an entire Act of the storyline.

I haven’t even seen every episode from 2003. It looks like there were some Heiji cases, and an Eri appearance and some other fun filler episodes. 

331-332 The Suspicious Spicy Curry is on my probably still incomplete list of Columbo episodes. 

The movie for 2003 was the 7th Crossroad of The Ancient Capital. It was the first to be Digitally Animated and the last directed by Kenji Kodama who did all of them before this. It’s the first movie where Heiji and Kazuha are co-leads for the entire film. It’s pretty good. 

The Annual OVA for 2003 was also a Heiji and Kazuha one. 

And then the two and a half hour finale of the arc that opened 2004 is the Ketsu.  Episode 345 Head-to-Head Match with the Black Organization: Dual Mystery on a Full Moon Night. This episode is dubbed on Netflix, and it’s Dub is great, you should watch everything that’s on netflix. 

The next episode 346-347 Find The Buttock's Mark served as a bit of an epilogue to the arc in how it opens at least. 

361-362 Teitan High School’s Ghost Story also serves as a bit of an epilogue. 

2004’s late Winter-Early Spring had a lot of Kaitou Kid material. 

The 4th OVA in March was Conan, Kid and the Crystal Mother which adapts a chapter of the Magic Kaitou Manga but writes Conan into it as he wasn’t there originally. 

A TV Special to promote the next few examples titled Time Travel of the Silver Sky. It’s kind of a Kid focused Recap episode with a framing device starring Agasa. 

His fourth appearance in the TV Anime, but arguably second proper Kid episode, 356 Kaitou Kid’s Miraculous Midair Walk. 

And his second movie, Magician of the Silver Sky, which I rank as an A tier film. 

There is also more epiloguing of the Vermouth Arc in Kid’s 2005 appearance 394-396 Big Adventure in The Electric Mansion. 

Which is in turn followed up on in 398-399 The Strange Family’s Request. 

I wish BangZoom would Dub more of the old Lupin III TV Specials.

Now that the Koike Petnology is all Dubbed and no new Lupin projects seem to be in development. 

Most of my personal favorite Lupin III adventures were among these specials.  But there are many I still haven’t seen because I’ve chosen to remain strictly Dub only with Lupin. 

First priority should perhaps go to the Dezaki directed specials not yet dubbed, the first and last of them are Dubbed but not the ones in between. Hemingway Papers sounds like the most interesting premise to me personally. 

According to an old article by Ben Ettinger which I know about thanks to Caribou-kun, Dezaki was only nominally involved in Napoleon’s Dictionary. That one tends to be considered by those who have seen it one of the worst.  I often like what others don’t but for franchises like Lupin on how things rank at least my opinions often line up mostly with common opinion. So yeah this one can remain at the bottom of the priority list.

From Siberia With Love should be a solid outing though. Dezaki plays an important role in how I define Anime. 

Next the 2001 Special Alcatraz Connection was the first Lupin Anime to be Animated Digitally, the transition from Cel to Digital is an interesting topic to Anime historians so this landmark in one of Anime’s oldest and most consistent franchises is important.  And it turns 25 years old this August. 

But the special that turns 20 this year is Seven Days Rhapsody in September.  I’m developing a thesis that April 2006-March 2007 was the best year in Anime. So it’d be nice to see if that year’s Lupin special can live up to the hype. 

The Last Job from February 2010 is famous for how it was the send off of 3 long time members of the Japanese voice cast.  You can’t really translate that meta significance into a Dub unless maybe you saved it for when the current BangZoom cast eventually retires?  I doubt they’re thinking that far ahead though. 

Anime from 2001 turns 25 this year.

Given the 2000s are my favorite Decade of Anime, we’re entering a period when what turns 25 a given year might start interesting me more then what turns 20. But of course I might become more nostalgic for the late 00s and early 2010s as they turn 20.

For these 25 year anniversary posts I want to start including some discussion of material in other mediums that became source material for future Anime, or haven’t yet but should. But my knowledge on those subjects is not as deep as my knowledge of Anime, which is itself far from comprehensive or complete. 

Type-Moon’s first Visual Novel Tsukihime was initially released at Comiket at the very end of 2000 but I feel it’s safe to say 2001 when it really spread. The proper founding of Type-Moon as a company is considered to be in 2001. And January 21st 2001 was the release of Tsukihime Plus-Disc which included the first four chapters of the Kara no Kyoukai LN series. 

For Detective Conan this year opens with an episode that was at the time celebrating the show’s 5th anniversary and is now one of the Episodes with a new English Dub on Netflix, the last episode of the Rivals collection. Episode 219 The Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudo vs Vaitou Kid.  The show during winter went on to have some Heiji appearance I might have seen, 226-227 The Battle Game Trap which introduced an important recurring character and 228-229 The Murderous Pottery Class which is one of the show’s Columbo Episodes and perhaps among the best of them.  

There is no TV Anime to start in Winter 2001 I’ve watched to completion yet. Arjuna I’ve seen a few episodes of and keep considering watching more of, my feelings on it are mixed. For notable stuff I haven’t seen there’s Tales of Eterinia The Animation which I should check out since I’ve liked other Tales Of series Anime but there seems to be no Dub. And Ojamajo Doreme, a notable Nakayoshii/Toei Magical Girl series airing in the future PreCure timeslot, switched from its 2nd to 3rd series. 

The Manga being serialized in the Nakyoshi magazine during 2001 were Mink, Ojamajo Doreme, Little Cute, Tokyo Mew Mew, Zodiac PI, Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts and Musume Monogatari.  Elsewhere the Manga for Nana was also running this year. 

February 2001 had the Light Novel Boogiepop Paradox: Heartless Red.  None of the Boogiepop Anime have gotten this far, I have no idea what happens in it. Later in December was Boogiepop Unbalance: Holy & Ghost. 

In the OVA department March had the last episode of FLCL which is probably my “I don’t care for The Godfather” Anime opinion. But also the first episode of Puni Puni Poemii which wasn’t as funny as I was hoping it’d be, it’s 2nd and last episode was in December. 

Spring 2001 has a number of great shows, starting with Noir, my absolute favorite Anime of all Time.  Also Pretear, which I consider one of the most underrated classic Magical Girl shows, it was directed by Junichi Sato who was the Series Director for the best era of Sailor Moon. Angelic Layer might be my favorite of every proper Clamp Anime I’ve seen.  Comic Party which I consider the Lucky Star of the early 00s.  Sister Princess is a great forgotten Gem and Galaxy Angel was also a fun comedy. For shows I haven’t completed, SoulTaker is a notable Akiyuki Shinbo Anime which looks neat.  And SuperGals is an underrated Shoujo Anime I intend to watch more of, it’s free on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube Channel.  

The 5th Detective Conan movie, Countdown to Heaven, came out in April. I still consider it one of the 4 best movies, and I know some consider it the absolute best.  Metropolis came out in May, it’s a movie I have mixed feelings on but ultimately recommend people check out. 

Back to the Detective Conan TV Anime.  April has 230-231 The Mysterious Passenger which is the formal start of the Vermouth Arc and among the episodes you can watch both Dubbed and Subbed on Netflix. This is what I still consider the best era of the show, so much of 2001 has I'm confident pretty good episodes even though I haven’t seen most yet. Metropolitan Police Love Story 4 and The Man From Chicago are also from 2001. 

In June was the annual Lupin III: Alcatraz Connection this year’s annual TV Special.  I haven’t seen this one since it doesn’t have a Dub and I’ve chosen to be strictly Dub only with Lupin. But I know from asking about the topic once that it’s the first of the specials to be Digital Animation rather than Cell Animation. So it’s an important artifact of this transitional period that people researching should check out.  The same studio, Toho, wouldn't fully switch to digital for Detective Conan till next year. 

For Pokémon this year was deep into the Johto Era, which for the TV Show I don’t have as much nostalgia for as other eras.  But it was the US release of the 3rd movie Spell of the Unown which I still consider the best  Pokémon movie, as well as Mewtwo Returns which is a personal favorite of mine..  In Japan this year’s movie was the Celebi movie known to the West as 4Ever which is flawed but still good, and the Legend of Thunder special which was neat. 

What was different for the Western Fandom is something I need to keep reminding myself to get into more.  Pokemon was usually a year behind, but some shows we didn't get till five years later.  It was in 2001 that Toonami finished Dragonball Z and started Dragonball.  Sailor Moon was also still broadcasting its Cloverway Dub era material S and SuperS. Gundam fans got both the 08th MS Team and 0080 War in The Pocket. Also The Big O and more Tenchi Muyo. 

I literally haven’t even started any TV Anime since Summer 2001.  Something like this seems to happen most often with Winter and Summer.  I think back when multiple Cour shows were still more standard those were the seasons getting fewer new Shows because so many slots were filled by second cours. But one of those Spring shows I talked about was single Cour. It looks like the most popular Anime from Summer 2001 was Fruits Basket which is a Shoujo. 

In the VN department July had the full release of Air, the second Key Visual Novel. And in August Age’s Rumbling Hearts was released. Both produced some very good Anime later, but Rumbling Hearts I’d recommend more strongly though.

In the OVA realm August had the preview episode of the upcoming TV Anime version of Clamp’s X which was interesting but I don’t think necessary. 

Also the first episode of the non Hentai OVA series for One Kagayaku Kisetsu e.  I found this 4 episode series garbled and confusing, the Hentai version is legitimately a better presentation of the story. It’s based on a 90s Visual Novel the Key founders made before they started Key. 

Another OVA from August was Jikuu Ihougin Kyoko: Chocola ni Omakase! (it has no official localization but that seems to translate to Time Stranger Kyoko: Leave it to Chocola).  It’s interesting, I checked it out once because it's the only other Anime based on a Mangka from the same author as Kamikase Kaitou Jeanne. 

The two episodes of the Pure Mail Hentai OVA that I talked about before came out in September and December of 2001. They are in the same universe as School Days. 

And Fall 2001 has the TV Anime version of Clamp's X which I recall really liking but I can’t describe it right now. The original Hellsing Anime which I still prefer to Ultimate aesthetically.  Mahoromatic and Najica Blitz Tactics. I’m also just now realizing as I write this that I had neglected to add Kirby Right Bat At Ya to any of the watabase websites even though I have watched a few episodes of it. 

One of the last things to come out this year was the Overflow Bishoujo Game Snow Radish Vacation!  It’s the chronologically first game of the universe that School Days and Pure Mail take place in. 

Video Games and Anime that turn 30 this year

I’ve kind of already talked about the importance of 1996 to Video Games when I argued it’s the start of the Silver Age of Gaming.  

But to sum it up the original Pokémon Games in Japan, the Launch of the N64, Super Mario RPG, DKC3 and Kirby Superstar as a trio of swan songs for the SNES and in the world of Japanese Bishoujo Games the birth of the Visual Novel with Shizuka and Kizuato from Leaf alongside Welcome to Pia Carrot and Kakyusei and to end of the year Otaku Culture’s Princess of Mars turned John Carter in YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World. 

Remember that Commercial for Super Mario RPG about the Elderly man rambling about the plot of the game to his Grandchildren? I was 10 for most of 96 and I consider myself possibly on the younger end of people Nostalgic for this game.  So we’re now halfway to the point of that commercial becoming real.

For Anime that turns 30 this year, due to what my focus has been lately Detective Conan is what I’ve been hearing about and talking about the most. Netflix has the earliest important episodes streaming both Dubbed and Subbed, the two part pilot at the start of the Black Organization collection and then the first five episodes of the Rivals Collection.  But there are still many important 96 episodes not there like the Moonlite Sonotata Murder Case, Kogoro’s Class Reunion Murder Case, and the Mountain Bandaged Man Murder Case. They can all be watched on Crunchyroll, and they do have English Dubs for those who know where to look. Episode 42 or 43 of the international count was the last to air in 96. 

It looks like that’s the only TV Anime to start in Winter 1996 I’ve even partially watched. Looking at what shows have their second or last cour during Winter of 96 could cement an argument for viewing Spring 95 as the start of the year that begins the Bronze Age of Anime. Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam Wing and Wedding Peach. 

For Sailor Moon this year ends SuperS in March and then airs most of SailorStars. 

For OVAs we have Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team, the Sonic The Hedgehog OVAs which became localized as Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie, Fire Emblem which I don’t remember the details of right now, it stars Marth and I think is the first time he was voiced by who still his voices him in Smash, but that’s the Japanese VA in the English Dub he’s Spike Spencer.

I like Inma Youjo enough to break my usual resistance to mentioning Hentai in these kinds of posts.  Its second and 3rd episodes came out in 96 and the 2nd in January is possibly the one I like most,  I have a sneaking suspicion Maya’s character design from the first two episodes influenced Utena. 

In Spring we got Escaflowne, Kodocha and Slayers Next and the first Shamanic Princess OVA on a date that’s technically Summer already, the birthday of John The Baptist, I can’t find dates for its other episodes.  That exact same day is also the release date of the 2nd of the Magical Girl Pretty Sammy OVAs which is the wildest one with its early Internet plot.

For movies we have Tenchi Muyo In Love which was good and Lupin III Dead or Alive which is probably fun but I don’t remember it all that well as other lupin movies I’ve seen, Lupin’s TV Movies were better during the 90s, which we see in August with Lupin III: The Legend of The Twilight Gemini which I consider a personal favorite. The film version of Clamp’s X/1999 came out this year, but I’ve only seen the TV Anime version. 

Summer’s OVAs include the Maze OVA which is another fun hidden Gem of 90s Isekai.  But I’ve seen no TV Anime that started in Summer of 96, just continuations of prior shows. 

Fall had the Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy TV Anime once localized as Magical Project S which I do highly recommend. Another anime from Fall that’s notable but I haven’t seen yet is Martian Successor Nadesico. Those who Hunt Elves also aired out this season. 

In the OVA department the year ends with Galaxy Fraulein Yuna and Wedding Peach DX and 08th MS Team reaching its halfway point.

For Western Weebs, this year is I’m pretty sure when Sailor Moon first aired in America after the DiC Dub initially broadcast in Canada in late 95. I’m pretty sure catching broadcasts of Sailor Moon in 96 was my very first exposure to any Japanese Animation. 

Shirou Emiya is characterized just fine in the UFO Table Anime

Before I talk about anything else, I realize the main thing that vindicates the narrative that the Anime adaptations have butchered Shirou’s character are all the Anime only people who hate the character and make fun of him. 

You are giving those haters too much credit by charitably assuming they’d like or even get Shirou more if they read the VN.  The Anime community simply is filled with people who are going to hate that kind of character no matter what, they think the standard Anime Protagonist is boring and dumb, they are the Anime community counterpart to thinking Superman is unrelatable.  No amount of Fantranslated Inner Monologue Naus Prose is going to change their minds.

But I’m not gonna say there are zero people for whom this would make a difference, because I already know that this minority of people are over-represented among the kinds of people who make Fate youtube videos, they keep saying they didn’t like Shirou in the Anime but got him when they played the VN. And that makes sense, that is exactly the kind of experience with Fate that would most motivate one to want to dedicate their lives to trying to advocate for the VN to Anime Onlies. 

But I’m pretty sure those people never hated Shirou as much as the people I was mainly referring to before. 

There is an impression to many that even the majority of people who like the UBW Anime as Anime onlies hate Shirou, but I feel this is just another product of the actual majority opinion among casual Anime watchers having no representation in online discourse. Clearly lots of people unironically enjoy Solo Leveling and Rent-A-Girlfriend, but they aren’t interested in trying to push back against the hate those shows receive on YT and Twitter and Bsky.  

I watched the UFO Table TV Anime version of Unlimited Blade Works first of any Fate/Stay Night adaptation as well of any UFO Table Anime, I had no spoilers. But everything these VN fans keep saying the Anime failed to convey about Shirou’s character I got just fine.  I always liked the character.

I recently saw someone on Reddit say, and I’m paraphrasing, “Anime onlies think Shriou has some Batman level no kill rule which is clearly not in the VN” and I”m like, the Anime clearly showed Shirou being mad when Archer didn’t kill Caster.  Anyone who thinks Shirou is deadset against killing bad guys simply wasn’t engaging properly with the Anime.

The main thing however is Shirou’s survivor’s guilt, everyone insists this is something completely absent from the Anime versions of the character. To me this was an incredibly obvious aspect of his character in the Anime, it’s the last thing I even think of as even remotely benefiting from further elaboration. 

However, what I’ve noticed time and time again is that people who critique something only as an adaptation and not as a stand alone piece of art within its own medium/artform. Is that they will repeatedly confuse not conveying something in the exact same way as the source material with not conveying it at all. They aren't even considering the ways this new medium has to convey information that the source material didn’t.

The main reason I consume mediums like Anime over mediums like Manga, LNs, and most VNs and even more so generally prefer Dubs to Subs, is because I appreciate Acting as a skill and a talent and an art. VNs sometimes have voice acting but I’m pretty sure Fate didn’t originally and has still never had an English Voice Over track. It’s not impossible for me to get immersed in a performance done in a language I don't understand, but it is more difficult and with my ADD I prefer not to have to try. 

The difference between Voice Acting in a standard VN and Voice Acting in an Anime is that in an Anime the non vocal parts of an acting performance as provided by the animating of the character the voice is being projected onto. So what Anime specifically can add to Fate/Stay Night in place of all the lost Prose is not just flashy Sakuga heavy fight scenes but actual Acting. It’s because of that acting that this artform can convey with how one line is delivered as much meaning as a page of prose.

So to me to claim that Shriou’s Survivor’s Guilt is flat out not in the UBW Anime is to disrespect and insult all the work done by those artists and animators and by Bryce Papenbroke, and I’m going to optimistically assume Sugiyama Noriaki did a good job as well. 

I don’t make these videos defending Anime Adaptations of Visual Novels because I don’t respect what Visual Novels are uniquely capable of as an artform.  But because of things like my ADD they are an artform I simply can’t engage in and appreciate as intended. But I do have endless respect and appreciate how they’re responsible for such Anime I love. 

Decade Anniversary of 2016 Anime

2016 happens to be an important year in my personal history with Anime. Even though I’d had some interest in some Anime for 20 years previously, and at the end of the year still had only seen a fraction of the Anime I’ve seen now (maybe even specially a minority of what had existed up that point), it was during this year I feel I truly became an Otaku, became someone whose interest in Anime and related media took priority over all the older Nerdy interests I do still have. 

For Winter 2016. 

Grimgar of Ashes and Illusions is an Anime I didn’t finish but it’s notable to some as what a lost potential of what Isekai could have become if it’d been Darker or more Realistic and or just generally taken itself more seriously. 

Knosuba is the opposite yet also a show I never finished even the first season of as the ultimate Isekai parody.  This season also had the second cour of Gate which I’ve talked about before.

Erased is a show I’ve watched twice and I like it, yes even its ending. 

And it had the last season of Durarara! Which was excellent. And also the last cour of Lupin III Part IV which was also good. 

Aokana is a show I’ve seen and consider pretty okay. Also the last part of Code Geass: Akito of the Exiled and the Selector Destructed Wixoss movie. 

Spring 2016 had Re:Zero, Netoge, season 3 of Sailor Moon Crystal, High School Fleet, Flying Witch and the second part of Concrete Revolutio an Anime I only very recently became a fan of. That's six very solid shows right there. It also had the 20th Detective Conan film Darkest Nightmare which was good and the movie version of Gundam Thunderbolt December Sky which was very good. And the third Gundam The Origin OVA, the fourth would come out in December. 

Summer 2016 had the second half of Re:Zero season 1 but also the first half of Tales of Zestria which is a great example of how the Fantasy Anime adapted from specific Video Games often feel the least Gamey. 

New Game! was great, Prisma Illya 3wei is as well. 

The separate Anime listed on the database Websites as different Danganronpa 3s should not be watched separately but in the episode order they are placed in on Crunchyroll.  In that form they are The Godfather Part II of Anime and in my opinion even better, a true masterpiece.

For movies Summer 2016 has two of the biggest of all, Your Name and A Silent Voice, both of which are great movies. It also has the Accel World movie which I enjoyed and Pokémon: Volcanion and The Mechanical Marvel which was okay. 

For Pokémon this year was the end of the X and Y Generation which I really like, probably the last Generation of Pokémon I really got into. That also means it’s the start of Sun and Moon which I’ve always found the art style off putting.  But the Pokémon Generations ONAs were pretty good. 

Fall 2016 is a fascinating season, one of it’s biggest I’ve still never watched but conceptually do respect and want to give props to, Yuri On Ice. Another show from that season I know of but haven’t seen is Keijo. Of the six shows from this season I have watched to completion, all are shows I like.  I also recall that the second season of Sound Euphonium aired this season.

What’s special about this season is it’s my first time really following Seasonal Anime as they aired. Earlier in the year I had heard of both Re;Zero and Konosuba and maybe also Erased but didn’t follow them. I had watched Crystal season 3 on Hulu (which was Free with Ads back then) as it aired where I was also following the finishing of SailorStars being uploaded there, but I’ve always compartmentalized Sailor Moon from general seasonal Anime. 

Those six Fall 2016 shows are Izetta The Last Witch, Flip Flappers, ViVid Strike!, Lostorage Incited Wixoss, Occultic;Nine and Magical Girl Raising Project which is the only one I’ll qualify, as a defender of so called “Dark Magical Girl shows’ in general this isn’t one of the best of them but I like some of what it does.  The first two of those are the ones I actively followed at the time.

When talking about 2017's importance I have sometimes mistakenly referred to that Winter as my first time following seasonal Anime.  This is because of  three things.  I didn't watch much of Fall 2016 at the time.  I kinda just happened to be following these currently airing show not registering that this was an Anime Fan practice I was doing for the first time. And 2017 was my first full Gregorian calendar year following Seasonal Anime. 

This year was the 20th Anniversary of Detective Conan’s Anime just as current year is the show’s 30th. Which is why this year had the Episode One OVA which was an okay way to get the gist of how it started with more modern Animation, but I’d more recommend just watching the early episodes which are currently on Netflix.  

For the show proper 2016 began with two 1 hour TV Original special episodes (804-805) written by the same guy who wrote movie 11 and was pretty fun. The Darkness of the Prefectural Police (810-812) was a fun episode that introduced a new character important to the Rum saga. The Shadow Chasing Amuro (813) was a tie in episode to the movie I mentioned before. The Actress Blogger’s locked room (814-815) is the next appearance of that new character. The suspects are a Passionate Couple (822-823) is a fun episode, one of the rare modern DC episodes I’ve watched 3 times already. Ramen so Good it’s to Die For 2 (827-828) is another fun episode, it has Sera in it. The Unfriendly Girls Band (836-837) is another fun episode I’ve seen 3 times, it’s a K-On reference and builds on some important lore and has one of the most memorable ED which I suspect Yuki Yuna is A Hero fans will get a kick out of.  If I’ve seen more from 2016 I don’t remember for certain, but those are already more interesting episodes then I was expecting a single year from the Rum era to have when I started writing this. 

And the year ended with the Fate/Grand Order: First Order OVA which was fun. 

Going back to an observation I made at the start, even most Anime from 2016 I hadn’t seen at the time.  Most stuff from the first three seasons I didn’t even know of at the time, for the movies and some shows their Dubs didn’t exist yet, and even for that last season there’s still some I didn't watch till later. 

I got into to Anime during this year watching stuff that wasn't new at the time, or at least wasn't brand new, like Yuru Yuri, Lucky Star, Haruhi, Future Diary, Selector Infected Wixoss and Selector Spread Wixoss, Fate/Zero and Stay Night, and then Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and it’s sequel A’s on Thanksgiving, and possibly some more that I’ve forgotten exactly when I first watched them. And also revisiting some of the Anime I’d already been a fan of (including being the year I watched my favorite Anime Noir Subbed for the first and still only time). I didn’t realize at the time how for some of those Anime this year was their 10th anniversary and are thus turning 20 now. 

So perhaps it’s a little silly to celebrate the Anime that actually aired this year alongside it being the anniversary of my becoming an Otaku. But every time I find out something I watched more recently is from 2016 my brain goes “that makes sense” it’s like this was meant to be the year that got me to go full Weeb. 

There is none Anime stuff from 2016 I like in a similar way. I’m still a Suicide Squad apologist with mixed feelings on both BvS and Rouge One and all the American TV shows I was watching at that time. I may have even still been reading BlackCoatPress books. But Anime became my priority and it’s stuck. 

Sub Eras of The Isekai Era

I feel like I have a unique perspective on understanding this timeline of events. 

First I’m aware there is a long history of Anime that can be described as Isekai before this era.  This is about the distinctly modern trend of Isekai as we currently know it being one of the most prolific and defining genres of the current state of Anime. 

Winter 2013 through Spring 2017 is a time when there is already a visible increase in Anime that can be described as Isekai, as well as non-Isekai Fantasy Anime becoming increasingly more beholden to JRPG Gamer logic. 

But from what I recall the English speaking fandom wasn’t using the word “Isekai” all that often yet, all the AniTube videos talking about shows we now call Isekai that I’ve seen did not use the word, it wasn’t in videos on relevant shows from TrixieTheGoldenWitch, Mother's Basement or Gigguk.

This was also an era when there not only were still Fantasy Anime without this Gamer Vibe but they weren't inherently less common either. Spring 2017 has two highly underrated Fantasy shows I would not even remotely classify as even Quasi-Isekai, Grimoire of Zero and WoldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?. It’s not that those kinds of Anime ever stopped, some like them still get made, but I do think this was the last time we got two in one season.

And almost every proper Isekai from this era is among those that most who’ve seen them consider among the good ones, whether it’s the highly popular instant classics like, Log Horizon, No Game No Life, Overlord, Konosuba, Re:Zero, and Tanya The Evil, or very distinct hidden Gems like Problem Children, Outbreak Company and Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions.  The most disliked Isekai from this era is Gate, which was so not for being seen as “generic” but for its politics, and even then Gate was still a very popular show. 

Summer 2017 was the beginning of the Isekai era in full force, In Another World With My Smartphone is the first Anime to truly have all of the vibes of a "generic Isekai” which I say as someone who unconditionally loves it. And it was while it and Restaurant to Another World and Knights and Magic were airing that I recall the English Speaking fandom first really started using the word Isekai. And that is when the state of discourse about Isekai entered the form we now know it.  

And I find it fascinating how quickly during that season the narrative became that Isekai is an overused premise people are sick of even though earlier the same year no one was complaining about it. 

I started writing this thinking Fall 2017 was the last season without an Isekai, nor did it have anything I’d call a Quasi-Isekai.  So for that reason you could argue this was still a transitional period and Deathmarch to a Parallel World Rhapsody in Winter 2018 was the start of the full non-stop Isekai bombardment. But the early part of an era can have some stumble in getting off the ground so I was still willing to start this era in Summer 2017 regardless of that.  

However I’d forgotten about Ancient Magus Bride, that show is an Isekai but is like the pre 2017 shows in how pretty highly regarded it is, though I still haven’t watched it. It’s also a Shounen Manga adaptation rather than starting as a Light Novel, so it does still feel like part of the modern Isekai discussion purely by technicality.  There was also Recovery of an MMO Junkie which is part of the undeniably connected yet distinct trend of Anime about playing an MMORPG.

And then double checking myself saw that there wasn’t an Isekai in Spring 2018, at least not among what I watched, just the somewhat JRPG like Fantasy show Last Period. 

Either way Summer 2017 was still the turning point in my opinion.

And I’d say this era continued into the start of the Pandemic.

About 2021 is when the discourse mutated into a state where some were hoping the trend must be finally almost over while others entered resigned acceptance that this being a consistent part of each season is here to stay.  It’s also in this era that Isekai’s own Sub Genres started being defined in common use even if some of the roots of them were already there.