October - December • 241 anime
Fall 2017 landed as a season where theatrical entries and small, thoughtful TV shows stuck in people's heads. Haikyuu!!'s movies and Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel were the obvious attention-grabbers.
My take: fall 2017 felt like a season that rewarded patience. There were a ton of originals, but the things people kept talking about were mostly the big-screen projects and a few quietly great series. The two Haikyuu!! theatrical releases gave fans jaw-dropping match animation and a sense of culmination — they weren't just extended episodes, they were full-on set pieces that treated the sport like cinema. Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. Presage Flower set a darker, more intimate tone for the route adaptation and showed why Ufotable's movie work was a step above in detail and choreography.
On the TV side, Girls' Last Tour offered a stripped-down, melancholic ride that landed because it trusted small moments and its soundtrack. Just Because! and Children of the Whales leaned into character-first storytelling — one with quiet high-school chemistry, the other with striking worldbuilding and visuals. Overall, fall 2017 stuck in memory for its contrast: a handful of polished theatrical pieces paired with modest series that earned attention by staying focused.
