In a year where I actively chose to experience the anime of yesteryear the anime industry seemed determined to meet me halfway. This year had an awful lot of reboots and long after the fact sequels. So that was neat.

It helps that most of these revivals have managed to stand on their own two feet. Digimon’s reboot has managed to incorporate elements of previous series while still feeling like it has its own identity, it’s not just a rehash. The level to which it uses iconic things from the original series while bringing in stuff from later itterations helps to make it feel like a celebration of the franchise’s history rather than just a straight reboot.

Probably the biggest deal for me personally; Higurashi is a mystery again, which is particularly wild (I am still trying and failing to piece together the logistics of how the third arc ended last night). When they were still pretending it was a straight remake before the second episode aired I was maybe a little ambivilent about it. Happy to see a more accessible entry point into the series for newcomers but not necessarily all that excited for them to run back the same story again. That they gave us something way more was one of the more pleasant surprises I’ve had this year.

Even surprise sequels managed to work out. Is the Order a Rabbit had its third season pop up after five years absence from tv anime (although it has had a handful of specials and a movie in the meantime) and it feels almost like a time capsule. It’s very much the same as it always has been, but in 2020. It feels like it could have aired back in 2016 without missing a beat, but at the same time manages to avoid feeling stagnant, moving the status quo onwards just enough to feel fresh as well as familiar.

This year has been a lot to deal with so it’s been nice to have a bunch of old favourites resurface in ways that didn’t feel like they were just retreading the same ground. Familiar things are comforting after all, and that they’ve largely been fresh new spins on the existing works has definitely been a bonus.