1. BNA: Brand New Animal (Season 1) – Netflix
As you can tell from the last couple of picks, I had an absolute blast exploring Netflix’s animated offerings this year and nothing compared to the newest anime from the quickly rising Studio Trigger – BNA: Brand New Animal.
The series brings viewers into a world where a new species of humanoid animals, called beastmen, seek asylum from human persecution in Anima-City – a safe haven for beastmen whose criminal underground and corporate corruption seek to destroy the ability for beastmen to live freely. Just like Blood of Zeus, BNA features a delightful amount of anime action that fits within the world it builds that’s reminiscent of Disney’s Zootopia with a more grounded, adult, anime twist.
With beastmen having the ability to shift between their human and animal forms at any moment, there’s a lot of great surprises and game-changing moments that can happen in an instant turning simple human conversation into heated, animalistic action that’s incredibly fun to watch. The animation is even more imaginative with how it showcases the animal changing powers of series protagonist Michiru (voiced by Sumire Morohoshi/Cherami Leigh) – a newbie to Anima-City. With her being a tanuki, she actually has the ability to utilize the abilities of multiple animals as well as manipulate different parts of her body and there’s great imaginative moments that highlight her abilities and show her potential.
BNA’s greatness doesn’t just end with the action and animation though, as it contains excellent world-building and storytelling that builds with each episode. Each episode sees Michiru and Shirou (voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya/Ben Diskin), a prominent force for good within Anima-City, interact with a different area of Anima-City that builds on the great lore and world-building while also influencing the main story of corporate corruption. While Michiru and Shirou attempt to deal with new problems that spring up in Anima-City, they also deal with growing tensions between humans and beastmen that are seemingly connected to the growing influence of the shady Sylvasta Pharmaceutics and their mysterious leader Alan (voiced by Kaito Ishikawa/Robbie Draymond).
It’s actually incredibly surprising how effective BNA’s themes of self-acceptance, social responsibility, and accepting differences in people lands and there’s a deeply emotional and horrific story of ethnic cleansing that really sticks with you. Not to mention, Michiru and Shirou are great characters and it’s easy to connect to their personal growth. Michiru’s initial innocence and ignorance makes the journey of self-discovery and acceptance feel incredibly genuine and Shirou dealing with his inner demons and his own role in protecting beastmen is very touching. Also, Shirou is a total badass and it’s fun to watch him do anything on-screen.
Brand New Animal’s not only a flawless showing of Studio Trigger’s ability to create great animes, but it touches on relevant topics in a way that really connects with you and builds a world that’s a total blast to explore. It’s really that diamond in the rough of 2020 that’s made this year end on an incredible high note for me and it’s more than worth anyone’s time to check out.
