Pondering which anime series of Winter 2019 are worth watching?

Then look no further as Seasonal Prattle has sunk deep into the thick sea of Winter anime, watching everything from Mob Psycho 100 season 2 all the way down to Virtual-san wa Miteiru, to provide you with a tier list to guide your viewing choices to more successful grounds.

Bottom line: If you’re looking to see how all the anime this Winter stacks up for your watchlist, then read on.

 

 

With that said, let’s dive in!

 

 

Tier List FAQ

 

 

 

A-Tier

The cream of the crop this season. These anime tend to demonstrate greater acuity in their visual craft, narrative fundamentals, and written structure in relation to their respective genre spaces. They have a large range of attractive features and are highly likely to be an entertaining pickup to a wide patch of audiences. Very safe choices to add to your watch list.

 

Mob Psycho 100 II

Much like its first season, Mob Psycho’s second season has been turning heads early on – springboarding off an elite production effort with a mix of propulsive action and well-timed comedic beats. The series structurally is very tight, there are not a lot of gaps to Mob’s approach and it completely takes advantage of that with an underrated ability to gracefully switch tonal gears as it pleases. Mob Psycho 100 II is a true blue chip prospect for a variety of anime viewers – one that can match its physical gifts with plenty of entertainment value to keep your time enjoyable.

Dororo

Here’s an anime that’s been steadily drawing attention all season long and for good reason. Dororo isn’t going to wow you with its script’s intricacy or overt flashes of visual glitz and glam. It’s plenty capable in those departments, but that’s not where it gets you and ultimately creates separation from the rest of the Winter anime. The series’ knack to reliably fall on charming character writing, where even Dororo and Hyakkimaru’s mundane interactions are a pleasure, coupled with a no-fuss delivery of its story, are all very welcomed attributes and viewer magnets in their own right. Dororo’s vision for action-heavy sequences is just icing on this delicious cake. You should highly consider eating a piece if you haven’t already.

The Promised Neverland

If you’re even remotely interested in seasonal anime, you’re likely already aware of this title’s lovely set of strengths. If you aren’t, let’s quickly fix that for you. The Promised Neverland has a gorgeous toolkit to absolutely be dominant in today’s anime scene: Marrying a cared for directorial effort with the thorny, immersive brand of writing that makes a horror more than just an emotive piece, but a truly engaging experience. And that’s just where the fun starts. Turn your attention to The Promised Neverland’s underrated sound design and factor that into a bedrock of source material that’s surrounded by overwhelming praise, and it becomes easy to see why this is consistently mentioned with the best of them.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War

Rarely fumbling on its narrative transitioning, understanding its shot framing and plot fundamentals are sturdy enough to guide viewers with little assistance, strong grasp of situational comedy and how to land that with snap – Kaguya-Sama is a not so low key psychological comedy pleasure. There’s a lot to love about how it tackles its material both textually and visually – with the joint effort of the two keeping this anime’s core comedic gimmick fresher than it appears on paper. An easy standout choice for those who have space on their watch list.

 

B-Tier

Not as strong or safe as the previously mentioned titles, but still worthwhile choices for the right individual. The following anime have their limitations, be it textually or visually, however, those limitations aren’t blatantly detrimental.

 

Kakeguri xx

Kakegurui xx has a similar skill set as the first season: The show’s firm understanding of how to build and release tension through its nuanced presentation, tag-teamed with an overall fine grasp of the facilitation and maintenance of atmosphere, keeps it an engaging psychological work. With that, however, its level of predictability in its scripting can rob its thrill at times and limit its episode-to-episode payoffs On a whole, the strengths so far have outweighed the weaknesses and its narrative is a more intriguing prospect in this latest incarnation. It’s worth a look, especially if you were lukewarm on the first season’s handling.

 

C-Tier

Mileage will certainly vary. The following anime either unashamedly ride on tropes and cliches, often struggle to really stand out among their genre spaces, or just flat out lack the toolkit to consistently accel beyond a reasonable watch. All in all, these are “fair” shows that carry a decent risk of coming away with a mediocre experience. We’ll discuss a couple and let you explore the rest at your own discretion.

 

The Quintessential Quintuplets

Little on innovation and intrigue, big on tired trends and thoroughly average writing – if you were looking for a harem complete with one-note characters, a paper-thin narrative, and a level of storytelling and delivery that operates completely by the books, The Quintessential Quintuplets is truly the ideal candidate. This is a stubbornly basic harem anime by all accounts, but if you’re thirsty for one, then this is for you.

 

The rest of “C-Tier”:

Ueno-san wa Bukiyou
Boogiepop wa Warawanai (2019)
Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue
Endro~!
Fukigen na Mononokean Tsuzuki
Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!
Piano no Mori (TV) 2nd Season
Kemurikusa (TV)
Date A Live Ⅲ
BanG Dream! 2nd Season
Manaria Friends
Kemono Friends 2
Domestic na Kanojo
Meiji Tokyo Renka

 

D-Tier

Not even worth describing individually. Just be aware that the following anime are heavily limited in their structure and pose a fairly high risk of being underwhelming. Do take caution in adding these to your watchlist.

 

3D Kanojo: Real Girl 2nd Season
B-Project: Zecchou Emotion
The Rising of The Shield Hero
Ame-iro Cocoa: Side G
Hulaing Babies
Circlet Princess
Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale
Egao no Daika
Mini Toji
Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai
Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan
Grimms Notes The Animation
Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka

 

F-Tier

Blatantly atrocious in at least one aspect and complete dumpster water in others. The following anime are better off being avoided outright for the sake of your mental health and time. 

 

Virtual-san wa Miteiru

W’z

 

Girly Air Force

 

Pastel Memories

 

Dimension High School

 

 

 

Here’s What’s Next…

This list doesn’t end here. Seasonal anime is consistently evolving with each passing week; What may have looked to be a poor series unworthy of your time can eventually show signs of value, and of course, the exact opposite can happen too.

With that in mind, one of the biggest issues with content like this is that creators often don’t update them.

There’s plenty of articles, guides and videos out there to the tune of “Best Anime of Winter 2019” suggesting a handful of titles for you to watch. However, most of those pieces of content tend to be outdated and based upon an extremely limited amount of episodes (sometimes as few as only one or two) in the first place.

Thus it’s easy to get a lot of old, out of favor suggestions that swear titles like BoogiePop, The Magnificent Kotobuki, and Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka are straight up must watches this Winter.

When it comes right down to it, that’s the last place we want to be. This list isn’t perfect or definitive by any means, and there’s bound to be readers out there who disagree with certain rankings – which is perfectly fine. Be that as it may, we would still love to keep this updated. So follow us if you haven’t already and stay tuned for future updates!