The 2020 Anime Shows That Got All of Us Through Lockdown

I don't have to remind you about what happened to the world in 2020. It's a time that most of us would probably prefer to forget. No matter what corner of the world you resided in, you were most likely shut into your house for weeks, maybe even months. Japan was especially strict in its COVID-19 lockdown, as then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the closure of schools nationwide on February 27th, 2020. As a school teacher in Japan at the time, I was suddenly confined to my tiny apartment with nothing else to do but watch anime. Because of COVID-19, many anime experienced delays through out the year, but that also gave us time to go back and watch older shows.

With people worldwide staying home, it allowed more time for people to explore old hobbies and start new ones. Many flocked to anime for nostalgia, comfort, or a new-found curiosity for the medium. The internet exploded with discussion on current running anime like never before, from TikTok to Reddit—even individuals in my life who I didn't know were "anime people" started getting into the discussion. In early 2020, there were some anime shows that I remember getting seemingly the most discussion—for better or for worse. Here are the anime shows that got us through 2020's lockdown and are somehow already nostalgic despite airing only five years ago.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken aired in the Winter 2020 season, just before the world stood still. Based on the manga of the same name by Sumito Owara, the anime ran for 12 episodes, and the internet fell in love with the main trio. The story follows Midori Asakusa, an avid anime lover who starts an animation club at school with two fellow students.

The show has a zany animation style and unique world design, setting the stage for the bizarre adventures these three high schoolers go on every episode. We've all heard of the "cute girls doing cute things" subgenre of anime, but Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken feels more like an "odd girls doing odd things" show. It stood out among other anime airing that season so much so that it won the Grand Prize at the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival, competing with Violet Evergarden: The Movie.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken was a much-needed anime during the lockdown, as it explored accomplishing your goals in the face of impossible hurdles in the funniest and strangest ways.

Tower of God is a South Korean manhwa released in 2010 and written and illustrated by S.I.U., or Lee Jong-hui. The anime adaptation came ten years later, in Spring 2020, and its fluid animation and soft use of colors had many curious about the show early on. Tower of God tells the story of a boy named Bam as he climbs a mysterious tower to reunite with his friend, encountering dangerous trials and making allies along the way.

The anime was one of the first "Crunchyroll Originals," which got anime fans curious about what that even means. Viewers tuned in weekly, and I remember much discussion centering around the character, Rachel—especially near the end of the series. Tower of God was nominated for several Crunchyroll Anime Awards but unfortunately didn't win anything.

Tower of God was the first manhwa-to-anime adaptation I had personally watched. Since 2020, it's been interesting to see the rise of anime that started as Korean comics. Korean stories are still going strong in anime today, as Solo Leveling Season 2 is one of the most popular anime of the Winter 2025 season.

Reincarnation and isekai anime were nothing new in 2020. But My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! was a key series that kicked off the popularity of the "villainess" subgenre of isekai anime we see today. The main character, Catarina Claes, was reincarnated as the antagonist of an otome game (games usually aimed at young women in which you romance men and make decisions that spring into different routes in the story). She uses her knowledge of otome games in her past life to help her with decisions in her current life, all to avoid impeding doom. During the lockdown, this series was a favorite among avid otome game players, as they could easily relate to Catarina.

The light novel of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! by Satoru Yamaguchi was published in 2015, and the story is still ongoing today. Isekai themes dominate the light novel world, but this series broke a few of the tropes that some anime fans may have found overdone. While it may not be the first villainess series in the genre (especially when it comes to webcomics), it certainly sparked other similar series into getting anime adaptations.

Cringe and anime have gone hand-in-hand for decades. But Rent-a-Girlfriend fully embraces that cringe, and I think many newcomers to anime in 2020 might have been surprised by just how weird anime can get. The story follows Kazuya Kinoshita, who rents a girlfriend to heal the pain of suddenly and bluntly getting broken up with. He then has to keep paying his fake girlfriend, Chizuru, after his sick grandmother finds them to be a cute couple and wishes for them to marry.

Season one of the anime adaptation only ran for 12 episodes back in Summer 2020, and I remember so many watchers immediately flocking to the manga after the season ended. And it's a good thing that the Rent-a-Girlfriend manga is quite long, as 17 volumes were already out in Japan by the end of season one. Lockdown gave people plenty of time to catch up on the over 100 chapters that were out at that time. Now, Rent-a-Girlfriend volume 40 has been announced for an April release in Japan, and the fourth season of the anime is slated for Summer 2025.

The wait between Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World season one and season two felt like forever, despite it being just a four-year wait. Season one was immensely popular in 2016, and was nominated for several awards at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2017. Anime conventions were filled with Rem and Ram cosplayers, and several figures featuring the two maids were released ever since the anime's debut. Waiting for season two in 2020 was rough, but well worth the wait as many fans seemed impressed by the sequel.

The main character, Subaru Natsuki, is transported to another world where he discovers his ability to reset time anytime he dies. He encounters allies and enemies throughout his journey and often needs to "die" to reset time and change fate. Watching season two during lockdown felt oddly nostalgic, as I was reminded of season one back in 2016 - oh how we took those times for granted.

Re:Zero continues to be one of, if not the most popular anime in the isekai genre. The light novel by Tappei Nagatsuki is still ongoing after 11 years of publication, so there's possibly a lot more of the Re:Zero anime to come.

One word to describe 2020 could be "controversy". Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! became controversial in online discussion as soon as the first episode aired in Summer 2020. Some viewers didn't like the portrayal of Uzaki's body, mentioning that her short size and huge breasts are "unrealistic". I'm not sure if this is because there were so many people getting into anime for the first time that they'd never seen short anime girls with big honkers before, but opposers to the critics took to social media to explain that Uzaki's body wasn't all that unrealistic.

The short-lived controversy of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! fizzled out almost as quickly as it appeared, and I ended up enjoying the humor and light-heartedness of the show. The anime follows student Shinichi Sakurai who reunites with Hana Uzaki in college. Uzaki-chan notices that Shinichi is more closed-off and lonesome compared to their high school days, and takes it upon herself to annoy him into hanging out with her and dealing with her shenanigans.

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! made me laugh out loud so many times during a year that wasn't really funny at all. We all needed a good comedy anime to get us through lockdown, and for me, this was the one.

2020 was a scary time full of uncertainty, but anime was there for us throughout all of it. Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater was especially there when I needed it. This cozy "cute girls doing cute things" anime follows a group of high school girls in the countryside of Japan who are in a fishing club, or rather, the Breakwater Club.

The main protagonist, Hina Tsurugi, was just looking to enjoy her new life in the countryside when she is suddenly reeled into (no pun intended) the fishing club, despite her hatred and disgust for bugs, worms, and slimy fish. Hina slowly learns to overcome her fears throughout the series and find the joys of fishing. As someone who is also terrified of bugs and anything gross, I related to Hina throughout the entire show and felt at ease whenever I watched it. Unfortunately, Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater was one of the unlucky series to hit a major delay in 2020, stopping at episode three in April and not continuing again until July with episode four.

Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater's manga has been running since 2017. There hasn't been a season two announcement yet, but I'm holding out hope as I need these comfy episodes back in my life.

While 2020 wasn't fun for most of us, anime was definitely there despite the delays and uncertainty of the industry's health throughout the pandemic. Many people went back to pick up anime from years prior such as Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer. People flocked to Netflix to rediscover anime or jump into it for the first time, and, to me, that's a beautiful thing. I remember visiting the United States from Japan for the first time in years in 2022 and being shocked at the accessibility of anime merchandise and the availability of manga compared to when I was last in the States in 2018.

There's something to be said about anime's influence in the West pre-2020 and post-2020. It is now bigger than ever before and impacts more people than ever before. Even through the plethora of delays hundreds of anime experienced in 2020 including Haikyu!!! season 4, One Piece season 20, and even the over 2,000 episodes and running show, Sazae-san, anime continued on, bringing joy to millions around the world.

Anime has been there for many of us through hard times, whether it be through childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. And despite the rocky times the industry can encounter, we will always have anime, old and new, to binge in our hardest times.

Featured image:
Rent-a-Girlfriend, © Reiji Miyajima / Kodansha / “Kanojo, Okarishimasu” Production Committee
Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater, © Yasuyuki Kosaka, Akita Publishing / Umino High School Fishing Club
Tower of God, © Tower of God Animation Partners