Most Popular Anime Shows

By Samantha Cerezo

Feeling burned out from the second semester of the school year? Miss hanging out with and talking to your friends face to face? Just finished a show and don’t know what to watch next? Don’t worry: if you’re in any of these situations, I got you covered—anime edition.

For romantic comedy lovers, I highly suggest keeping up with Horimiya. The show is set in modern times and focuses on the growing relationship between two polar opposites: an intelligent and friendly high school girl—Kyouko Hori—and an introverted high school boy—Izumi Miyamura. Despite their outward attitudes, both of these individuals have things to hide. With Hori’s parents being away most of the time, it is her responsibility to do the chores and look after her younger brother, leaving her no time to socialize and make friends outside of school. On the other hand, despite his reserved personality, Miyamura has multiple ear piercings and a tattoo, which he hides from the public.

“I find the [show] really entertaining and funny,” junior Laith Chowdhrey confesses. “[The writers] take their time exploring the characters’ relationship without being too slow.” As for animation, Chowdhrey has no complaints. The show is animated by Cloverworks Studio, which is home to popular shows such as Darling in the Franxx, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, and Fairytail. Horimiya started airing January of this year and airs every Saturday with six episodes already out. If you prefer to watch completed series, you won’t have to wait long for the show to be finished as it is currently arranged to air for only thirteen episodes. If Horimiya is your type of show, you can catch the new episodes on Hulu!

Next up is Sk8 the Infinity: a show set in modern times that focuses on skateboarding. It centers around two boys who get tangled up in an illegal skateboard race. One of the boys is Reki Kyan, who is a high school student that is passionate about skateboarding. He becomes friends with Langa Hasegawa, a boy from Canada, who has a potential for skateboarding despite his lack of experience.

“Seeing that [the show] features competitions for skating is super entertaining since I love skating,” shares junior Stella Mirkovic. “The characters and the conflicts that are brought up towards the end of each episode is what makes me come back every week to watch it.” As for pacing and animation, Mirkovic has no complaints. Personally, I think that the color theme for the show is very eye-catching as it is full of bright colors. The show is animated by studio Bones, which is a very prominent studio that has worked on shows like Ouran High School Host Club, Noragami, My Hero Academia, and Bungo Stray Dogs. Like Horimiya, Sk8 the Infinity also started airing January of this year and puts out new episodes every Sunday. The series is planned to run for twelve episodes and currently has six episodes out. You can keep up with Sk8 the Infinity on Funimation!

The last one on the list is my favorite show at the moment: Jujutsu Kaisen. It’s set in the modern world and is full of action and the supernatural. After an incident with a Curse (a monster that is birthed from negative emotions and cannot be seen by most of society), Yuuji Itadori is forced to transfer to Jujutsu Tech: a high school with a façade. In truth, the facility is home to students training to become sorcerers, or people who exorcise the dangerous Curses to prevent them from causing great harm to the rest of the world.

“The characters are so well written and each have a really charismatic personality,” says freshman Nina Knezevic. “My favorite character is definitely Nobara”—a close friend of Yuuji’s—“because she’s confident in both feminine and masculine aspects of herself and very loyal to her friends.” As for the pacing of the show, Knezevic adds that it went a little too fast in the beginning, but it balances out as the show progresses. Jujutsu Kaisen is animated by studio Mappa, which has worked on other shows like Yuri!!! on Ice, Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Kakegurui, and Banana Fish. Unlike the two previous shows, Jujutsu Kaisen started airing in October 2020. It will be airing twenty four episodes total with eighteen episodes already out. Be sure to catch the new episodes every Friday on Crunchyroll!

Hopefully, at least one of these shows will keep your spirits up during these tough times, and remember to take breaks! If you’re feeling stressed, consider watching an episode or two of any of these shows to help you relax. Maybe you can even set up a virtual viewing with your friends as a hangout idea. Happy watching!