October - December • 223 anime
Fall 2023 felt like a season of endings and experiments. Attack on Titan's final chapters landed with real weight, while PLUTO offered a quieter, more cerebral counterpoint.
My take: fall 2023 was memorable because it balanced big send-offs with a ton of new voices. Attack on Titan: The Final Season — Final Chapters Part 2 actually closed a decade-long story in a way that stuck with people; the animation and tonal shifts were often brutal and purposeful. PLUTO adapted Naoki Urasawa's material into something slow-burning and intense, leaning on mood and design more than spectacle. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was a fun surprise — it leaned into playful editing and soundtrack choices that made the familiar material feel fresh again.
Beyond those, originals like maboroshi and Good Night World showed how many creators used ONAs and music projects to experiment; the season's heavy ONAs and music releases gave room for ideas that wouldn't fit a standard cour. Studios like LIDENFILMS, Studio Kafka, Telecom Animation Film and Arvo Animation popped up in projects that earned attention for craft. All told, the season stuck in memory because of a few knockout finales plus a scatter of originals that really committed to their tones.
