January - March • 266 anime
Winter 2021 was packed — 269 titles across TV, movies and ONAs — and it left a weirdly strong mark thanks to a few big releases. Demon Slayer's Hashira Meeting Arc landed like an event, and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 felt cinematic in a way that kept people talking.
I remember winter 2021 as the season where movies and big-name franchises took center stage. It wasn't just volume — there were actual appointment-viewing moments: theatrical-quality work rubbing shoulders with long-running series and a ton of originals from smaller studios. You could tell a few releases were meant to be talked about loud and long.
Demon Slayer's Hashira Meeting Arc gave fans reason to tune back in, with character moments and animation that emphasized the cast more than flashy plot twists. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 arrived like a fully-formed film — tight choreography, a killer soundtrack, and an accessible entry point for newcomers. Slime Season 2 broadened the world and leaned into political stakes, so the scale felt bigger. And Gintama: The Final closed a long-running run on a surprisingly heartfelt note that hit the right nostalgia beats. Studios like CloverWorks and David Production showed up with solid work, while a handful of originals kept the season feeling fresh rather than repetitive.
