I think I speak for almost everyone when I say that 2020 was a fairly terrible year. Between the Covid19 pandemic, the American presidential election, and California and Australia bursting into flames, it’s hard to look back at this year fondly. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the MURDER HORNETS! 2020 has been an absolute doozy.

With that said, there have been some bright spots this year. Biden won the presidency, the New England Revolution didn’t suck for the first time in like five years, and I was able to get a ton of writing done thanks to lockdown orders. There was even some damn enjoyable media that came out this year, which is what we are going to look at today! So sit back and enjoy my personal opinion on the Best of 2020!

Best Movie – Love and Monsters

Let’s face it, this year has been a nightmare for the movie industry. Every major release was pushed off until next year or forced to release onto video on demand. I for one love the movie theater experience; it is one of the few things that my old group of friends and I still do together when we have that rare bit of free time. The only benefit to this year’s lack of quality films is that next year is stacked to be one of the best movie years ever. Assuming that we can go to theaters again that is.

Love and Monsters was a pleasant surprise for me this year. I am a sucker for creature feature films so I was immediately intrigued by the premise of an Earth overrun by massive, mutated creatures. Love and Monsters didn’t disappoint in the monster category at all with some truly creative creature design. Where the movie truly shined was the message of love and acceptance. Sprinkle in some environmentalism and learning to coexist with nature and you have yourself a very enjoyable way to spend two hours.

Runners Up: The New Mutants, The Invisible Man, The Old Guard, and Underwater

Best Television Series – Star Trek Discovery Season 3

Before everyone immediately loses their mind, the only reason the Expanse season 4 isn’t in this spot is because the season just started. While I am sure that it will finish out as amazing as previous seasons, it didn’t seem right to put in here without even being half way through the season.

The best thing that ever happened to the Discovery crew was being launched a thousand years into the future. While I personally enjoyed the first two seasons, especially Anson Mount’s take as Christopher Pike in season 2, Discovery was too locked in with what it could do by being stuck in the timeline leading up to the original series. Every time that they made a change to the the established canon of Star Trek, be it big or small, a part of the fan base would lose their mind. Now that the show is free of those canonical bonds, it is producing some of the best Star Trek in decades. I have loved every minute of this season so far and cannot wait to see where the show goes from here.

Runners Up: The Mandalorian Season 2, Lovecraft Country, Picard, Upload, Raised by Wolves

Best Anime Film – Weathering With You

I’ll be honest with you; when Makoto Shinkai releases a movie, that move is my favorite one of that year. There have been countless comparisons between Shinkai and Hayao Miyazaki, and for good reason. Shinkai is an brilliant artist and knows how to weave intricate, emotional stories, and Weathering With You is no different.

Not only does the movie tell a beautiful love story, but it is also stunningly gorgeous to look at. Shinkai’s love for the cities of Japan is so evident in all of his works, especially in Weathering With You. The version of Tokyo that Shinkai recreates in the film truly feels alive, and creates such a great backdrop for the love story at the heart of the film. As always, the music in the film is top notch as well. Add in some stellar voicework (both English and Japanese) and you have all the makings of an international blockbuster. I just wish that more Americans would pick up on how good Shinkai’s films are!

Runners Up: Promare, Burn the Witch, A Whisker Away, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising

Best Anime Television Series – Deca-Dence

Anime has been in a weird place the past few years. Unfortunately, ever since the success of Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, the isekai genre has dominated the anime scene. While some people may enjoy isekai, I personally find most if it to be complete and utter rubbish. On top of that, many of these isekai were adapted from light novels and saddled with absolutely horrible names, like “The hero is overpowered but super cautious” or something equally as obtuse. That’s a description, not a title; get your crap together, light novel authors! Also, just like The Expanse, Attack on Titan Final Season is not on here due to it having just started a few weeks ago.

However, swimming amongst the sea of isekai garbage, there were a few gems. While many were continuations of established installments, 2020 did see a few really high quality original titles. Of those, Deca-Dence really stood out the most to me. Part of its appeal was that it was essentially a reverse isekai where for some characters the world was nothing but a game and for others the world was very real and very deadly. The most appealing part of Deca-Dence was the father/daughter relationship between the two leads, Natsume and Kaburagi. It was a pleasant departure from the “will they, won’t they” romance that is so prevalent in anime. Quality action, brilliant animation, and great characters; Deca-Dence was easily my favorite anime this year and renewed my faith that some studios can still produce quality series.

Runners Up: Dr. Stone, The God of High School, My Hero Academia Season 4, Jujustsu Kaisen, Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045

Best Song – Jessie’s Girl 2 by Coheed & Cambria ft. Rick Springfield

Coheed & Cambria is my favorite band of all time so it’s no surprise that the only song they released this year is my song of the year. What is surprising is that they chose to revisit the 1980’s classic Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield. Even better was to include Rick in the entire process, including giving him an absolutely brilliant verse of the song. It’s brilliant and fun and exactly what this year needed in music. Take a look for yourself!

Jessie’s Girl 2 by Coheed & Cambria ft. Rick Springfield

Runners Up: No Time to Die by Billie Eilish, Godzilla by Eminem ft. Juice WRLD, Caution by The Killers, A Letter to Ashley by Your Broken Hero

Best Video Game – TIE – 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim & Final Fantasy VII Remake

This year was an interesting one for video games for me. I am usually pretty on top of new releases over the course of a year but this due to the pandemic spending a LOT of time writing, gaming fell a little to the wayside. I also found that when I was gaming I was mostly playing games from previous years, like Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers and Remnant From the Ashes to name a few. Fortunately, there were a few games that I ended up picking up when they came out.

I cannot say enough about how amazing Final Fantasy VII Remake is. Aside from being a massive nostalgia hammer, it is an excellently made game that revisits the classic and improves upon it in every single way. The combat is fun and challenging, the side stories flesh out the characters even more so than the original, and the visuals are stunning. When I received this game for my birthday earlier in the year, I don’t think I left my couch for like four days straight as I couldn’t get enough of it. I actually wrote an entire blog post on why the game was such a success.

My other game of the year was released to far less fan fair but was just as enthralling. 13 Sentinels was one part visual novel and one part Real-Time Strategy with giant robots. The story is basically every single science fiction cliché packed into a brilliantly presented package. The combat is fun and rewards creative thinking. Add to that the signature 2D visuals of studio Vanillaware and the result is one of the best games I’ve played in years.

Runners Up: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, XCOM: Chimera Squad, Iron Harvest

Best Book – Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2019)

I want to preface this section these are the best books that I read this year, not necessarily the best of what was released this year. When I revisit this topic next year I’ll be sure to limit my selection to 2021 releases.

I’ll be honest and say that I did not read as much as I wanted to this year. Part of that was due to being buried in my own writing work and part of it was just due to pure laziness. However, of the books I read this year I was able to take in some really high quality science fiction, including a few classics.

The highlight of this year’s reading list was definitely Adrian Tchaikovsky’s wonderful sequel to the equally as brilliant Children of Time. However, where the first novel was a great story about the evolution and the degradation of mankind, Children of Ruin brought in a taste of the horror of the unknown. Like its predecessor, the story focused on the uplifting, or forced evolution, or a lesser species, although this time it was Octopuses instead of the Portia Spiders of the first one. Where this really shined was the introduction of the body hijacking organism that was inadvertently capable of destroying worlds in its quest for learning more. I will personally never be able to hear the words “Let’s go on an adventure” again without a chill going down my spine.

Runners Up: Legend of Galactic Heroes Vol. 1 – Dawn by Yoshiki Tanaka (1988), The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (2019), Kindred by Octavia Butler (1977), Every Sky a Grave by Jay Posey (2020)

And there you have it, my picks for the Best of 2020! Despite it being such a terrible year for humanity as a whole, at least I was able to keep entertained through it! What were your favorites of 2020? Let me know in the comments!

I hope everyone has a safe holiday season and here’s to a great 2021!