Bananya: Fushigi na Nakama-tachi

Whereas the first season of bananya was, although very refreshing, only a ccdct (cute cats doing cute things) its sequel, Bananya and the Curious Bunch, turns out much more ambitious than anyone could've expected it to be. The first important thing to notice is that this time the story doesn't happen on Earth but on the bananyas original planet, the small moon ! As if it didn't think it was mind blowing enough, the very first scene of the first episode depicts the birth of the first bananya from the bananya tree, as if to challenge creationnism and the different religious practices exerced around the world. Thefollowing episodes are in a similar style to the first season following the bananyas in their daily life, the twist this time is that it revolves around how their society is affected by different elements of our world sent to them in the form of shooting stars. In the span of only 3 minutes, Bananya and the Curious Bunch manages to produce an elaborate critique of the danger our technological innovation can have on innocent creatures (it offers an interesting counterpoint on genetic engineering and robotic technologies). Of course some other episodes on only focused on the bananyas having fun with a random object which is always rendered beautifully with its gorgeous pastel art that never misses its soothing effect. Now where I think this second bananya season is a genius moves lies in its last 3 episodes (stop there if you don't want to be spoiled). It's precisely in these episodes where the connection with the first series is clearly explicit. To satisfy his wishes, our main Bananya is allowed to encounter Rainbow Bananya (the equivalent of God in the world of bananya) who send him to Earth because he was so eager to discover it in its complete prism. Of course you would expect all of it to go well for him but he almost gets crushed and discovers that people there EAT bananas in all kind of flavors ! This is right after that scene that the other bananyas decide to join him aboard their rockets and explains why they became so numerous on Earth. From cute slice of life to an anticipation series simulating the Great Replacement, this season defied my expectations and unironically became one of my favourite anime of the year 2019.