Even in a less than stellar year for yuri(ish) anime, the show must go on, and we still had to roll out the red carpet for our annual awards ceremony. As usual, this post will hand out awards for the best this year had to offer, but if you were hoping we’d hand out awards to the best of the decade instead, don’t worry. Coming very soon, we’ll publish our Yuri Awards: Best of the Decade, which will even include a few extra categories not found in these awards.
Oh, and since I’m currently a YR army of one, this post will just consist of my choices for the year, which means no yuri manga or visual novels (hence the post title change). Sorry… 😛
If you want to jump ahead to a specific winner, just click on one of the awards below. And with that out of the way, let’s begin~
Best Non-Yuri Anime
Best Yuri Anime Character
Best Non-Yuri Anime Character
Best Yuri Canon Pairing
Best Unofficial Yuri Pairing
Most Pleasant Surprise
Biggest Disappointment
Best Antagonist
Guilty Pleasure
Best Anime OP/ED
Most Anticipated Anime of 2020
Most Anticipated Yuri-ish Anime of 2020
HARDY’S BEST YURI ANIME |
Since we haven’t actually watched Flag Time yet, it seems like we shouldn’t be giving it an award, but as the only yuri anime of 2019, it wins by default. That’s just sad to think about. 2018 was arguably the Best Year in Yuri Anime History, and this year was closer to the worst than the best. From the few journalists who have watched it, they all seem to agree that Kase-san. this isn’t, but at this point, we’ll take whatever we can get. 😛
HARDY’S BEST NON-YURI ANIME |
There were some good shows this year, but when all is said and done, I had to go with Yakusoku no Neverland. The tension you could cut with a knife, the adorable kids who also happen to be amazingly capable, the story that sometimes felt like a rollercoaster ride, this anime set the bar insanely high, so it’s no huge surprise that no other anime this year could match it for me. As much as I want to go ahead and read the manga to find out what happened after the events of the anime, I don’t want to spoil the awesomeness that I’m sure will come with the second season, so just give it to me already!
Honorable Mention: Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 Part 2
HARDY’S BEST YURI ANIME CHARACTER |
This race was a tad bit tougher than the one for Best Yuri Anime, but I’m going to go with Kurumi from Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka. Not only does she have it bad for Asuka, but Kurumi is really at her best when she’s doing what she loves to do… torturing people. Yeah, Kurumi is actually a little crazy, but the best characters are all a little crazy, aren’t they? A yandere gay nurse?! She earned this award! 😀
Honorable Mention: Miyako (Wataten!)>
HARDY’S BEST NON-YURI ANIME CHARACTER |
How can you not love her? While Kaguya and Miyuki were busy trying to win each other’s heart in the most sneaky ways possible, Chika was busy winning the hearts of all who watched. In addition to being adorable and hilarious, Chika was the wild card that always seemed to lay waste to Kaguya and Miyuki’s best-laid plans, and it just never got old. And I haven’t even mentioned that ED. If you haven’t already, you need to go check it out. I’m giving it an honorable mention later, and it’s so good! BTW, Kaguya-sama is getting a second season, and I’m hyped.
Honorable Mention: Bocchi (Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu)
HARDY’S BEST YURI CANON PAIRING |
“But Hibiki and Miku aren’t canon!” I know that, but since I literally have no other option and this is the closest thing to canon for me this year, I have no choice but to include it. Even though they came close to doing it this time, Satelight really needs to just make these two official already, because it’s super obvious at this point, and they’re not fooling anyone into thinking otherwise. At least they were as cute as ever together, and amongst all the explosions of Symphogear XV, we needed that cuteness to balance things out.
HARDY’S BEST UNOFFICIAL YURI PAIRING |
A few years ago, Pikari and Teko nearly made Amanchu! must-see TV for yuri fans, but this year saw another pairing take the baton and take things to the next level. Of course, I’m talking about Grea and Anne, the stars of Manaria Friends, which felt like the yuriest non-yuri anime in some time. There was just sooo much subtext in this show, so I don’t even mind that we didn’t get a kiss or a love confession. Now, just give us another season!!!
Honorable Mention: Mangetsu x Ernesta (Granbelm)
HARDY’S MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE |
There are roughly a million magical girl anime that premiere every year, and Granbelm was supposed to be just another one, but nobody told this to the creators. Instead of another generic throwaway title, we ended up with surprisingly good magical girl x mecha mashup. The story was easy to follow, yet it was pretty dman entertaining, and this anime benefits greatly from having some really good villains. I don’t typically like mecha anime, but I had no problem with this, and this show ended up being one of my favorite anime of the year.
Honorable Mention: Manaria Friends
HARDY’S BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT |
My biggest disappointment has to go to the entire anime industry. Why do I say that? You need look no further than some of the choices we made on this “best of” list. Because of the lack of choices, there are honestly some less than deserving winners on this list, and that should never be the case. The disappointing year in yuri anime becomes even more pronounced when you compare it to last year, one of the best ever. I know it’s unrealistic to think that we can have a year like 2018 every year, but this year was arguably just flat-out bad. Say it with me, “We deserve better!”
Honorable Mention: One Punch Man 2nd Season
HARDY’S BEST ANTAGONIST |
There are some antagonists that you don’t care about either way, and then there are some antagonists that really strike a nerve with you. For whatever reason, Suishou from Granbelm really did that for me, and I absolutely loved to hate her. Not all evil characters are that believable, but I thought Suishou definitely was, and you can also give an award to Aoi Yuuki for the job she did voice acting Suishou. It was such a great performance.
Honorable Mention: Anna (Granbelm)
HARDY’S GUILTY PLEASURE |
For a while now, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Symphogear, but even I can’t deny that Symphogear XV was quite the adrenaline-fueled good time. It’s like the creators said: “You know, it would be awesome if we added…” and then they proceeded to add all of those ideas. I could’ve used more Kirika x Shirabe (and Tsubasa x Maria. and Chris), but other than that, this was the anime equivalent of one of those popcorn movies that just entertains the hell out of you.
Honorable Mention: Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!
HARDY’S BEST ANIME OP/ED |
Honorable Mention: Chikatto Chika Chika (Kaguya-sama: Love is War ED2)
HARDY’S MOST ANTICIPATED ANIME OF 2020 |
I loved Made in Abyss. It’s probably in my top five or so anime of all-time, and I’m crazy hyped to see where the story goes after the events of the original TV anime. Even though I haven’t picked up the web manga, I’ve seen some fan art that suggests what’s coming up in the story, and I’m super excited to see that, as well as the inevitable fight between Reg and Bondrewd. It’s coming next month, so the wait is almost over, and I couldn’t be happier.
Honorable Mention: Shingeki no Kyojin The Final Season
HARDY’S MOST ANTICIPATED YURI-ISH ANIME OF 2020 |
Princess Principal was probably one of the most pleasant surprises of the last few years, so I’m super excited to see what the sequel has in store. Actually, the sequel is comprised of six movies. How crazy is that?! I’m guessing these are going to be short “movies” similar to the 50-minute Kiniro Mosaic: Pretty Days movie. Basically, just two glorified TV episodes sandwiched into one film. I wouldn’t mind. I just want more espionage and more Ange x Charlotte.
Honorable Mention: Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden
YuriReviews and More 
This year in anine could have been a lot better , about manga i have been reading a few good ones (so far , i hope they don’t end as trash too)
I just want to say that the biggest disappointment to me was Granbelm , tried to be Madoka too hard and failed horribly , the action was good , but the two main characters were so bad , and i don’t even want to talk about the ending. I actually liked the side characters more , sad that it ended with 3 billion plot holes , i have no idea why a few series i saw are like “yeah it is totally fine” when a character gets ERASED , not dead , ERASED , far worse than dying.
2020 seems A LOT more promising.
On another note , i don’t consider Suishou as a 100% evil character , she was an artificial being made to counter humans and got stuck on 1000+ years loop because magicosomething , kinda logical she would end up crazy
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Can you add an edit button?
And edit: Granbelm was also the best surprise due to the yuri tendencies and amazing combat
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I would if it were possible, but WordPress only allows admins to edit comments…
Best Surprise AND Biggest Disappointment for Granbelm? It wasn’t perfect, but I liked it a lot. I’m still hoping for a second season, so maybe the ending would make more sense? 😛
Yeah, but even though it’s understandable why she turned out the way she did, she’s still a villain. 😛
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Yeah , both for me 😂 , the final scene was clear hinting to a sequel , made me want to throw my phone
I wish they would resurrect the side characters , i liked them a lot
And i want to see them making explode magicosomething because that thing was the real villain (made more than 1 character go crazy and Ernesta parents got magically killed , etc)
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Yeah, I was hoping Magiaconatus would manifest itself as a physical person, but maybe in the future…
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For me it was:
Besy yuri anime – Yeah it has to be Flag Time by default, still waiting to watch it too.
Best non-yuri anime – Hmm, It’ll have to be Hitoribocchi for me. Honorable mention is Kaguya-sama and AoT, I still need to watch Neverland though since people are saying it’s the year’s best anime left and right.
Best non-yuri anime character – Bocchi, duh. She is absolutely adorkable. Chika was also a great character btw so she’s second.
Best yuri canon pairing – Yeah, idk what to put here sooooo.
Best unofficial yuri pairing – I’ll just name a few off the top of my head cus I have quite a bit. ShamikoxMomo NakoxAru HinataxNoa KanonxKoyori GreaxAnne LilyxMajime or LilyxLoli.
Most pleasant surprise – Wasteful Days of High School Girls by far. Honorable mention is Demon Girl next door.
Biggest disappointment – Yeah I agree 100% that it is the whole year of 2019.
Best antagonist – Can’t think of one right now, so pass.
Guilty pleasure – Wataten, the age gap is way too big but I love Noa crushing on Hinata.
Best anime OP/ED – The Chika ED of Kaguya-sama. Honorable mention is both OP and ED of Wasteful Days of High School Girls.
Most anticipated anime of 2020 – Adachi and Shimamura, no contest here. Magia Record is also high on the list and we may get Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid season 2 but with everything that happened to KyoAni I won’t complain if it’s not coming next year.
Most anticipated yuri-ish anime of 2020 – Magia Record.
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I can’t believe I skipped Best yuri anime character but it has to be Lily From Wasteful Days of High School Girls(god damn these long titles). I just love the fact that she is 100% gay and is like a carnivore when she likes a girl and NO she isn’t attracted to just a certain single person, she likes many different girls including fantasizing about their moms too.
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Those are all some pretty nice picks. I kind of wanted to include more categories (or at least more honorable mentions), just so I could have an excuse to include Hitoribocchi… 😀
And considering how many times it’s been mentioned, I really need to see/review Wasteful Days! Hopefully next month! 😛
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I haven’t seen Flag Time yet i hope it is good
The wasteful days of high school girls pairings are good haha , also Shamiko x Momo , the manga of The Demon Girl next door is further and gets better on the yuri side
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*: Honorable mention
Best Yuri Anime: Uhhhhhhhh……I don’t know since I haven’t watched FragTime yet BUT the anime I find most entertaining and wholesome is WATATEN! (please don’t call police)
Best Non-Yuri Anime: Vinland Saga, *Dr. Stone
Best Yuri Anime Character: Lily Someya, *Miyako Hoshino
Best Non-Yuri Anime Character: Askeladd, *Senku Ishigami
Best Yuri Canon Pairing: Momo x Shamiko (say what you want but it’s canon to me), *Hinata x Noa
Best Unofficial Yuri Pairing: Lily x Majime, *Shingetsu x Mangetsu
Most Pleasant Surprise: GRANBELM, *NullPeta
Biggest Disappointment: The whole year, we didn’t get many quality yuri anime this year
Best Antagonist: Hakamada Suishou, *Askeladd
Guilty Pleasure: Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, *Sounan Desu ka (it’s so bad it’s good)
Best Anime OP: Wild Side (Beastars), *Dark Crow (Vinland Saga)
Best Anime ED: …………., *Happy Happy Friends (WATATEN!)
Most Anticipated Anime of 2020: Adachi to Shimamura, *Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu
Most Anticipated Yuri-ish Anime of 2020: Revue Starlight Movies, *Magia Record
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I like the way you think, just how are Momo and Shamiko not gay??? They’re definitely canon in my book too.
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Thanks for including your choices~
Seeing it mentioned it a few times, I feel kinda bad for dropping Vinland Saga, but six months is a long time to have to watch an anime, and there were lots of other shows to review, so that makes it a little easier. 😛
Besides that one, there’s a lot of variety in your picks. I like that.
And I totally forgot about the Revue Starlight movies! I’ll have to add them to the Yuri Anime 2020 post, so thanks for the reminder. 😛
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By any chance would you be looking for more contributors to this blog? I stay pretty up to date on yuri goings on, and am looking for more opportunities to practice my writing!
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After consulting with my blogging partner, we’re always open to guest reviews/posts.
If you’re interested, here are the general guidelines you should try to follow, and since Lena probably wouldn’t be able to reply that quickly (or at all… :D), it might be better to send your finished post to my email instead: rockthevogt@gmail.com 😛
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The best Yuri anime for me has been the Yuru Yuri ova, if that counts. Jet girls has also been good
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That Yuru Yuri OVA was really good. I love me some YY~
And I’m looking forward to binging Kandagawa when it finishes airing next week. If I had watched it as it aired, maybe it could’ve been in the running for Guilty Pleasure… 😛
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