Fall 2023 Anime Season Preview

Ah shit, it’s already September? I haven’t written a post in almost 3 months? Well at least I got this post out on the very first day of September, before new anime started airing. What’s that? They already started airing anime in August? Motherfucker, that’s illegal! That’s banned under the Geneva Convention! Shit, I’ve got to get everything together, lest I break my 15 year streak of never missing a season preview. Good thing this season is probably bad and has only like one or two things worth watching, just like this recent summer season, right?

*looks over fall season*

Oh. There’s a lot of good anime here. Right, let’s get started.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Studio: Madhouse

The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about. Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her? Decades after their victory, the funeral of one her friends confronts Frieren with her own near immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure…

Let’s start with what’s probably the biggest anime of the season with Frieren. I’m not sure if I’d have been that hyped for this based off the plot description alone. Yeah it’s a somewhat unique take on the medieval fantasy RPG story, but I’m so very tired of medieval fantasy RPG setting with heroes and mages and demon lords and adventurers taking quests from taverns with their parties. But I’ve been hearing about the source material for this one for ages. Plus it’s got the director of Bocchi the Rock on it – a director who took a fairly samey cute girl 4-koma and made it into one of the breakout hits of the decade. Trailer looks well animated, and the elf girl’s head is pleasingly round in a way I appreciate. My only worry is my entirely personal dislike of overly sentimental dramas that I could see this series becoming. But I’m definitely going to watch it for at least a couple of episodes. Which I’ll have to, considering they’ve done one of those hour and half long premieres.

The Apothecary Diaries

Studio: OLM

Apothecary Maomao was just out collecting herbs when she was kidnapped by procurers for the Imperial harem, an easy way for unscrupulous people to get money by having “relatives” go work in the Rear Palace. Hiding her skills and knowledge, Maomao hopes to just glide by, earning as little as possible for her kidnappers during her term of service, but such is not to be: when royal infants begin dying, Maomao can’t resist letting people know the cause. This catches the eye of the far-too-handsome Jinshi, who elevates Maomao from laundry maid to poison taster to the Emperor’s favorite concubine. So much for flying under the radar

Another adaptation of source material I’ve been hearing about for ages. Also another one where plot description alone may not have necessarily piqued my interest. Becoming part of the imperial court as a member of the prince’s harem and having to politic your way to safety is a genre of fiction you see reasonably often, especially in josei titles. And then you see the trailer for this one and go “oh, this one is special”. I’m still not used to OLM being a good studio now. I can’t get over how they decided to not just make Pokemon and start putting out some of the highest quality anime today.

Staff are good too. Director did Ancient Magus’ Bridge, a series I have problems with but none of those problems have anything to do with the adaption quality. Also Kevin Penkin on music – fella behind the Made in Abyss music, which is always exciting. Another series where they’re starting with three episodes at once because that’s the new thing to do if you think your anime is special. Although at least Apothecary Diaries is waiting until October 21st instead of airing in fucking September like Frieren and coming out before I got this season preview finished urgh.

Pluto

Studio: Studio M2

A murder occurs in an orderly world where robots are unable to kill humans. The robotic Europol investigator Gesicht takes the case, but the mystery deepens when he finds no trace of a human at the scene of the crime. As he pursues the truth, Gesicht uncovers the most evil manifestation of hate that history ever seen, one that is bent on bringing destruction to the world 

Back when I was doing fake seasonal charts, Pluto was one of the easiest includes. Monster was still in the fandom’s general consciousness and Naoki Urasawa stock was high. I’d say its time has passed since fandom was clamouring for a new Urasawa adaptation, but that overlooks the fact that Urasawa’s work is essentially timeless. He’s considered one of the best manga authors of all time for a reason. I guess some exec at Netflix walked in, said “wtf why has nobody adapted Pluto yet” and here we are. Feels like it would fit in at with the kind of anime Netflix look for too, where it’s not necessarily about general anime fans but normies. Although I don’t think I’d describe anyone who likes Baki the Grappler as a “normie” yet Netflix viewers seems to fucking love that for god only knows what reason.

Anyways, Pluto won’t air until much later in the season, which puts it in my good books, instead of these darn anime airing in September and ruining my season preview. Unlike the previous two hyped adaptations, I’m less sure on the staff and studio for this one. Director has been around forever and worked on various Ghibli movies and Evangelion, but very little he can claim to have had a leading role in. Studio M2 is a black box of a studio with little to their name. Trailer looks good, but I’m not fully sold at all on how they showed visual effects and movement. While the last two I wasn’t enamoured on the plot descriptions but trailers sold me, this one is the opposite.

Undead Unluck

Studio: David Production

Fūko Izumo is known as a woman cursed with “Unluck.” Fūko brings misfortune to anyone who touches her and the scale is proportional to how long they had physical contact. She’s saved by Andy, a man who cannot die (“Undead”). He hopes to figure out a way to use Fūko’s misfortune to finally bring him death. The unlikely pair team up to complete missions given to them by the Book of Revelations, but if they or any of the other negators in their union fail, the book can punish humanity.

I’m so used to the latest Jump manga getting hyped to the ends of the earth no matter how mediocre they are that when a new Jump manga is being adapted to anime and I haven’t heard about it, my eyebrows shoot into my fringe. Why have I seen very little talk about Undead Unluck? It’s not like the premise isn’t eye-catching. Dead guy who rockets around by slicing off his legs and catapulting himself by shooting blood everywhere is definitely a hell of a sight. From reading the manga, I’ll say it makes for more of a sight in animated fashion. Something about being able to see the guy shoot off the ends of his fingers in fountains of blood as miniature torpedoes just catches the eye much more in movement than on paper.

The manga is quite rough though. It feels like a first draft. There’s absolutely something to the madness under here, and maybe a good adaptation could bring it alive. The trailer definitely caught my eye. Studio is David Production, who are generally pretty good too. It’s the staff from Fire Force, who did an incredible job with very shitty source material. Am I missing something on why nobody is interested in this? It’s going to be stuck in a Hulu jail, which is arguably even worse than the Disney+ jail since who the fuck even knows what a Hulu is anymore, so it might be destined to be unwatched either way.

Ragna Crimson

Studio: Silver Link

Dragon hunters: warriors armed with special silver weapons who kill their prey for bounty. Lowest among their ranks is Ragna, who forms an improbable partnership with the young genius Leonica, a master dragon slayer with more kills to her name than almost any other. All Ragna wants is to stay by Leonica’s side, but his dream is shattered by an attack from the deadliest dragon imaginable.

There’s a couple of what I’d dub “hyper edgy dark fantasy” anime airing this season. In the past they may have caused me to roll my eyes. In the year of our lord Madoka 2023 however, yes please give me edgy dark fantasy. I’ve had it up to here with relaxing happy slow life isekai fantasies. Give me death and suffering and murder and struggling to find hope in a bleak and unforgiving world. So I’m ready to meet you on your terms Ragna Crimson, what are you offering? Judging by the trailer, bad CG dragons. Silver Link have felt like a very workmanlike studio lately, making mediocre isekai adaptations. Also possibly overworked, since they’re also doing Tearmoon Empire this season, plus a Next Life as a Villainess movie.

Well maybe the staff is better? Director has done animation for some very well animated stuff, like Kaguya-sama and Jujutsu Kaisen. Granted his most senior roles have been for Prisma Illya but let’s not hold that against him. Maybe Prisma Illya is really well animated? I wouldn’t know, since watching that anime puts you on a government watchlist and spent the past few years going through the green card application process.

The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess

Studio: Project No.9

Shut-in vampire Terakomari, or Komari for short, awakens from her slumber to find she’s been promoted to a commander of the army. The thing is, though, her new squad has a reputation for being violently insubordinate. And although Komari was born to a prestigious vampire family, her hatred of blood has made her the picture of mediocrity—scrawny, uncoordinated, and inept at magic. With the odds stacked against her, will the help of her trusty maid be enough for this recluse to blunder her way to success.

This trailer was one of the biggest whiplash trailers from source material to trailer I’ve experienced in a long time. The source material is a light novel, but reading words with no pictures gives me a rash so I read the manga adaptation instead, and it was an aggressively unfunny lesbian-for-dudes comedy. Then you watch the trailer and it’s a string of blood and violence and death and what have you. Is this another dark, edgy fantasy? Heck yeah, dark edgy fantasy is my new jam! I will watch all the dark edgy fantasies this season. Even the ones with character designs that will instantly become the pfps of every anime chud on the internet. Something about the designs triggered a “I must perma-ban this user from my discord server” fight or flight response.

I started doing more research for this anime and jumped into this image, which is what I was expecting this anime to be like. Maybe it still will be? Studio and staff are thoroughly mediocre. But I’ve already made my vow to watch every dark fantasy, so I’m stuck at least trying this one.

SHY

Studio: 8-Bit

Earth was on the brink of a third World War when super-powered individuals came forth from each country around the globe, ending the conflict and ushering in a new era of relative peace. Among those heroes, Japan is represented by a timid young girl known as “Shy.” She may spend more time worrying about her own shortcomings than she does battling villains, but she’ll show the world that despite it all she still has the heart of a hero!

The best part about the Shy manga was the Russian superhero who flies around with giant shoulder pads while drinking vodka from a hip flask and giving motivational lessons to our hero Shy. She’s great. The rest is…ok? It’s a very earnest superhero story about trying your best no matter how nervous you are. Staff and studio are fine. 8-Bit did a very good job with Blue Lock recently, and the director did some decent stuff like Astra and School Live. It’s just that I’m personally not looking for earnest, good-natured superhero stories right now. I’m looking for edgy suffering, death and misery.

Tearmoon Empire

Studio: Silver Link

Surrounded by the hate-filled gazes of her people, the selfish princess of the fallen Tearmoon Empire, Mia, takes one last look at the bleeding sun before the guillotine blade falls. Only to get another chance as a twelve-year-old. With time rewound and a second chance at life dropped into her lap, she sets out to right the countless wrongs that plague the ailing Empire. Hard work and Mia don’t mix, so she seeks out the aid of her loyal maid, Anne, and the brilliant minister, Ludwig

You know what my problem with all these anime about princesses in royal courts are? It’s that I’m always cheering for them to lose. I can get into the royal courts stories when it’s about the lower class in the courts who have to navigate their surroundings as a commoner, like Heike Story or this season’s Apothecary Diaries. I blame it on my Irish-ness. I was able to enjoy Rose of Versailles, but even that series made it very clear by the end just how wildly out of touch the royalty were. You spent the entire series by Marie Antoinette’s side and yet felt no sorrow at her death. Or at least, I did. Sorry for spoiling for Rose of Versailles. Also spoiling the French Revolution.

Oh right, Tearmoon Empire. It’s an intriguing setup certainly. When I saw cutesy anime Robespierre direct our main character to the guillotine, I thought: “heck yeah get her babyface Robespierre”. To then go back to her as a squeaky-voiced kid with servants was a real urgh moment. But also given the whole shtick is her realising she needs to change to not get guillotined is interesting and might be enough of a hook to keep me going. The wife likes the source material so perhaps it’s worth a shot. So long as it ends with her realising there was fundamentally never any chance of her saving the entire concept of the royal family and that the proletariat will always rise up and her only hope is to abandon her royal roots and join babyface cute anime boy Robespierre. Viva la Revolution!

Under Ninja

Studio: Tezuka Productions

A high school loner is given the part-time job of a lifetime as a modern-day ninja tasked to perform international assassinations. After World War II, Allied Command in Japan developed a new agency to help manage terrorism and violence within the Pacific region. The agency was staffed with ninja and they were initially tasked to handle domestic affairs. Eventually that program grew to its current form, managing 20,000 ninja across a range of domestic and international affairs. One of those ninja happens to be Kurō. The seventeen-year-old high school loser is now poised to be the next line of defense against a potential surge in foreign assassins invading Tokyo.

I quite liked that trailer. Felt like it did a really good job of capturing the vaguely depressing, down-to-earth feel the manga was going for. I wasn’t sold on what I read of the manga, and reviews of the manga aren’t glowing, despite the author being quite well-known mostly for I am a Hero. But it’s definitely very different tonally from everything else this season. I guess it doesn’t technically fall under my new rule of “watch all edgy dark fantasies” since it’s contemporary and the only fantasy part is ninjas. Also when the director’s most notable listed directorial role is Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions, it’s not like we’re working with the most illustrious staff. But ya know, it looks like everyone in it is having a miserable time. So I’m on board.

Bullbuster

Studio: Nut

A young engineer named Tetsurō Okino who has developed the new robot Bullbuster is transferred to Hato Industries, a company that exterminates harmful animals. There, the company and its president Kōji Tajima are up against a mysterious lifeform named “Kyojū.” As a small business that is always finding itself short on money, Hato must always account for every expense such as fuel and pilot labor. And of course, missed shots are not tolerated. The company is always stuck between their ideals of Kyōju extermination and the reality of the economy.

I will not go for the obvious joke. I will not comment that an anime called Bullbuster is being done by Studio Nut. It’s too easy. I can’t. Anyway, Ballbuster DAMNIT sorry Bullbuster is an anime original story that looks like it’s trying to emulate older workplace mech stories like Patlabor. I actually really like Studio Nut. Tanya the Evil was their first anime and they did an incredible job on that. OK their other stuff hasn’t really panned out like Deca-Dence or those completely misguided FLCL sequels, but I hold out hope! I need to pay extra attention to the staff when it comes to anime original projects, especially as the trailer tells me very little. Story is being done by something called P.I.C.S, which appears to be an artist house of sorts? However the last time this artist house did an anime, we got Odd Taxi, so evidently something good is being produced out of there. The director hasn’t really worked in anime before, mostly working in live action. But wait, there was one anime he worked on in the past: Abunai Sisters. Oh no!

The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch

Studio: A-Real

Alissa is a witch who lives alone in a forest. One day, she finds a human baby, and she names her Viola. Alissa raises Viola for 16 years, but Viola grows beyond even Alissa’s imagination. The comedy series focuses on the parent-and-child relationship where appearances are deceiving as to who is the parent and who is the child.

At first I came for the big titty witch lady with dark skin and a massive hat. This is objectively Good Character Design. But then I watched the trailer and saw the cute orc man in love and suddenly there became an even better reason to watch this anime. This is the perfect Scamp anime right here. And by that I mean anime that Scamp watches all of for some god only knows reason before giving it a 7/10 and saying “yeah it was OK” but acknowledge that if it actually makes the top 10 list at the end of the year, then it was a pretty weak year for anime. Staff and studio are complete nothing-burgers, but it’s a mediocre Scamp anime so I’m used to these having shite production values. Nothing will ever be quite as bad as Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department in shite Scamp anime that I watched because idk the anime ladies were hot. That one didn’t even have a cute orc.

Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange

Studio: Brain’s Base

The story of how three young firefighters destined to save Japan grow in spirit. Daigo Toake burns with remarkable talent and unparalleled determination. Shun Onoda struggles against the walls blocking his own path. Yuki Nakamura hopes to become one of the few female members of the special rescue corps known as “Orange.” When these three young firefighters who share the goal of becoming members of Orange come together, the story of how Japan will one day be saved begins… and what looms before them is a crisis that endangers the entire country.

I genuinely can’t tell from the trailer if this is about actual firefighters or Anime Firefighters. One of my favourite anime of all time is about Anime Firefighters with Promare so it’s not like I’m opposed to Anime Firefighters. Rescuer in Orange though looks like there won’t be any aliens or mechas. The manga is a spin-off/sequel of a much older firefighter manga. The anime sees the staff behind To Your Eternity teaming up again. Honestly idk what to say on this one. The first episode has already aired so go watch that I guess? Season previewing is hard when it’s no longer a preview.

Good Night World

Studio: Naz

In the online game “Planet,” there is a powerful team of four players. This team goes by the name “The Akabane Family,” and its members are a pseudo-family that only exists in the game. Although they aren’t aware of it, these four players are actually a broken family in real life. A shut-in older brother. A high-achieving younger brother. A father who is not respected by his own children. A mother who neglects her own household. They do not know the warmth of family. They also don’t know that the warmth of their online family is only a passing feeling. And most of all, they don’t know they are a real family. Centered on the deeds of the Akabane Family in the online game “Planet,” the story features battles against monsters, clashes with other guilds, and the machinations surrounding “Black Bird,” the final objective of the game. The tale takes a major turn as it entangles the real world and this real family.

Blah blah blah de blah escaping into a video game. At least, that was my first reaction, but then they showed the twist in the manga: It’s all the same family and they’re a disaster. Not a fun disaster, but a miserable, depressing disaster. Like the son is a neet who hates his failure of a father whose wife has disappeared and so on. There’s even something to the staff. Michiko Yotoke is one of the most under-appreciated script writers in anime. Leave aside all the originals she’s worked on like Bebop or Shirobako. It’s her ability to get the best out of source material. Call of the Night, Genshiken, Gintama, Saiki K, Prison School, Squid Girl, all of which were about as good as they could be from the source material. She’s genuinely brilliant and I’ll at least give anything she’s worked on a chance. Which is good, because oh dear Studio Naz are….well, remember Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer? Yeah, that was them.

Migi&Dali

Studio: GeekToys

The boy’s name was Hitori. A stork brought the angel into the lives of a middle-aged couple who were not blessed with children. His parents were kind, his house spacious, and his meals hot. But to protect the happiness he had received, Hitori continued to hide an important secret from his parents

If you’re like “man those twins look creepy”, yes that is the point. Mig and Dali is an odd horror-comedy thing about a creepy twin hiding the other’s existence from his very friendly adoptive parents. It’s quite odd and I’m unsure if I liked what I read, but it wasn’t bad by any stretch. The author is the same person who wrote Sakamoto desu ga, who made the news this year due her dying of cancer. Only 36 years old too, which considering what a hit Sakamoto was, she likely had a long career of making manga still in here. They had already announced an anime of Migi&Dali before her death, which adds a complicated layer to this anime. Definitely makes me uncomfortable covering it, since I don’t have much positive to say about the staff or studio. The trailer did get the tone right at least, but the animation looked pretty bad. Also while I’m talking about the trailer, can we talk about anime OPs completely not fitting the anime they’re supposed to be about? The music started with a creepy horror movie tune, before suddenly hopping over into bland j-rock.

16bit Sensation: Another Layer

Studio: Silver

Meiko Uehara is a college student who begins working part-time at a PC shop in 1992. However, this shop is a front for its actual business: an erotic game developer for bishōjo games. Due to the sudden departure of the staff, Meiko ends up as a sub-graphic artist — even though she has never drawn an adult illustration before. Her life as a creator begins as she strives to make an erotic game without snafus.

The last time an anime was set in the era of 90s otaku culture, we got the absolute gem of an anime that was Akiba Maid War. Please go watch Akiba Maid War. It’s absolutely incredible. 16Bit Sensation is not, unfortunately, about combining yakuza crime stories with 90s eroge culture. Instead it’s about a character with the most insufferable voice on this planet accidently starting work on an eroge. The voice is genuinely what keeps me from watching it. I don’t blame the voice actress either. It’s Yui Horie. She’s just about one of the most experienced voice actresses there is. She’s perfectly capable of not sounding like this.

You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story

The story centers on the relationship between Ryuuto Kashima, a gloomy social outcast, and Runa Shirakawa, a popular girl at school. Their relationship begins when Ryuuto has to ask Runa out as part of losing a game, and she ends up going out with him after saying “Well, I’m free right now, after all.” They have completely different social circles, and completely different hobbies, but as they hang out with each other, they begin recognizing and even accepting those differences as something to bond over.

I am a noted enjoyer of the Kogal Revolution. But to understand why, you must understand what we came from. Anime regularly featured infantalised women who make cute uguu noises, or are literally your younger sister. Coming from that, yes please give me more women who are sexy and they know it. Let them be in the position of power. Panty Anarchy is an icon and a hero. Do I actually want to watch all these kogal anime? Heck no. This one is extremely sappy and earnest in a way that would likely bore me to tears. But as is my motto: Better a slut than your own sister. Yes that is my motto shut up.

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

Studio: Bibury Animation Studio

Aijo Rentaro tried and tried again, but after asking a hundred girls out on a date, he was rejected every single time. In desperation, he prays for guidance…only to be told by a god that his rejections were due to some cosmic error! Now the god is going to set things right by making sure that Aijo gets one hundred dates. Except, as things often do with gods, the dates come with a catch: one hundred girls are destined to be Aijo’s soulmate, and unless he returns their feelings each and every time, they’ll die in horrible accidents! Sure enough, girls start confessing their love to Aijo left and right. But how is he supposed to choose?! He doesn’t want to kill anyone! When he looks at each potential soulmate, it feels like a bolt of lightning. Can someone really love a hundred other people? This hilarious romantic comedy takes the harem concept to a wild extreme!

Remember way back earlier in this season preview where I mentioned that I’d heard zero buzz about Undead Unluck despite it being a Jump title? That Jump titles get lots of buzz no matter how mediocre they are? This makes for a nice contrast with 100 Girlfriends. A wish-fulfilly manga about 100 pretty girls falling for you that I have nevertheless heard a lot about. Most of it has been positive too. I even tried it for myself and it’s very silly, which is about where my praise ends. Between this and Girlfriend Girlfriend though, it appears the editors at Jump have discovered the secret to improving the birthrate in Japan: Promoting polyamorous relationships. Which hey, it’s a better solution than what Darling in the Franxx came up with: Teenage pregnancies and denying the existence of gay people.

Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective

Studio: Diomedéa

This unusual duo brings the hidden truth into the light! Ron Kamonohashi, a private investigator with serious issues, and Totomaru Ishiki, a pure-hearted but dim police detective, team up to solve the most baffling mysteries

This falls into a now familiar category of slightly cute, innocent, earnest office worker guy having to team up with a misanthrope and their misadventures together. It’s often detective, or at the very least police work. Possibly assassins or criminals. Maybe blurs the line between the two. You know, everything from Buddy Daddies to Billionaire Detective. It’s not exactly a new dynamic given, you know, Sherlock Holmes. But it’s funny that I saw the earnest guy’s character design in the trailer and instantly knew everything about him. I don’t have much to say beyond that unfortunately. Staff and studio are nothing to write home about. Author wrote Hitman Reborn back in the day if that’s your jam? I started reading the source material for this but got distracted remembering how hot the guy from Billionaire Detective was.

The Kingdoms of Ruin

Studio: Yokohama Animation Lab

Humanity long lived in harmony with witches, but an advanced scientific revolution has made the powers of a witch unnecessary. Succumbing to resentment and fear, the greatest nation in the world begins a brutal witch hunt and eliminates all witches from the land. After being forced to watch his beloved teacher die, Adonis, a witch’s apprentice, swears revenge on the empire that took everything away from him.

Yes! Dark, edgy, gritty fantasy. Completely unapologetically edgy. World is out to get our hero. His mentor is a hot lady who the opening chapter ends with her clothes being ripped off before being decapitated to a cheering crowd. It’s pretty garbage, but I’ve made my statement about watching all the dark edgy fantasies, and I can’t back down now. Even if this is being done by the unholy combination of the studio that brought us Miru Tights and little else, with the director of School Days. It’s a dark edgy fantasy so I must consume.

I’m in Love with the Villainess

Studio: Platinum Vision

Ordinary office worker Rei Oohashi wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. To her delight, the first person to greet her is also her favorite character, Claire Francois–the main antagonist of the story. Now, Rei is determined to romance Claire instead of the game’s male leads

Here’s our token villainess story of the season. Interestingly this is one of the only isekai of the season. I know! At least two of the remaining anime are just “guy plays video game”. There’s a few reincarnation stories, but they’re all reincarnated back into their own world, like Tearmoon Empire. This one though she pops into her favourite otome game and delights in being bullied by the haughty villainess with blonde ringlet pigtails and a laugh that goes oooh ho ho ho~! It’s quite silly and trashy and there’s very little beyond the premise, although I’ll give kudos for how hard they commit to the gag. We’ve long since gone past the part of the season preview where anime get good staff and studios. Now you’re stuck with the studio that made Servamp, Devil’s Line and Dr Ramune and the director of Love of Kill and some 90s kids anime.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy

Studio: Passione

One thousand years ago, Leonis Death Magnus, undead sorcerer and the greatest of the Dark Lords, entered magical stasis during a climactic battle. When he awakens, he finds a beautiful silver-haired young woman named Riselia standing before him. More shockingly, Leonis has been transformed into a ten-year-old boy! Now he’ll have to adapt to this strange era and deal with the twisted monsters called Voids—all while keeping his true powers a secret from his lovely new guardian.

A title that feels like it was spat out by an ai-generator. Character designs that look like they come from a hentai game. Yup, it’s light novel adaptation season here! It may have been that I drank my night time hot chocolate with a quadruple shot of Baileys before reading the manga version, but I thought it wasn’t horrible. As in it had a hook. And pantyshots. Which felt hilariously out of place. Speaking of hilariously out of place, you know what this director previously did? The Cat Returns! Also Bokurano! What the hell happened? I love The Cat Returns! Awww man. Look, maybe I can pretend this is a dark, edgy fantasy, so I have to watch this one too.

Shangri-La Frontier

Studio: C2C

“When was the last time I played a game that wasn’t crap?” This is a world in the near future where games that use display screens are classified as retro. Anything that can’t keep up with state-of-the-art VR technology is called a “crap game,” and you see a large number of crap games coming out. Those who devote their lives to clearing these games are called “crap-game hunters,” and Rakuro Hizutome is one of them. The game he’s chosen to tackle next is Shangri-La Frontier, a “god-tier game” that has a total of thirty million players. Online friends… An expansive world… Encounters with rivals… These are changing Rakuro and all the other players’ fates! The best game adventure tale by the strongest “crap game” player begins now!

This one utterly baffles me. The story is just about a guy playing a good video game. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. He liked to play shit games so he could bitch about how bad they were to the people at the video game shop after. Which was honestly kinda entertaining from what I read and thought I could probably go for a slice of life version of a club doing this. But then the shop assistant suggests he plays a not shitty game. So he plays it. And has a good time. Compliments the lack of issues with collision detection and no enemies clipping through walls. It’s not bad per se, but I just on a very basic, fundamental level, do not understand the draw. There’s absolutely nothing interesting to say about the staff or studio. Wait no never mind, he directed 3 episodes of War in the Pocket. Why does this keep happening? God, it’s a rough world out there.

I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness

Studio: Zero-G

Allen Crawford is a misanthropic sorcerer known as the “Dark Lord.” When he comes across Charlotte Evans, a noblewoman exiled on false charges, his memories of being betrayed three years ago come rushing back. He decides to teach Charlotte about all the pleasures, vices, and joys of naughty living. Can a broken heart be mended with riotous living? These two are bound to find out!

This one almost feels like a kid show if it wasn’t for the fairly risque joke it’s playing off. Essentially the main guy is all “oh ho ho I’m going to make you do all sorts of naughty stuff” to this innocent runaway princess, with the joke being the naughty stuff is like eating too much cake and staying up past your bedtime. Or, to give it the official full title of the light novel: I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I’ll Spoil Her with Delicacies and Style to Make Her the Happiest Woman in the World! To me it reads like a young teenagers first foray into anime and the sorcerer is their embarrassing first anime crush. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the catgirl postal workers, I’d say it would be more popular amongst teen girls than boys. Nothing interesting to say about staff and studio again unfortunately. Just wanted to reiterate the part about the postal workers all being catgirls. Sometimes anime can be good you know.

Overtake!

Studio: Troyca

Haruka Asahina is a 16 year old high school boy racing F4 cars while staying at Komaki Motos, an auto-body shop in Shizuoka prefecture. Komaki Motors ia family-run shop that regularly competes in F4 with the team comprised of: owner Futoshi Komaki who is also a mechanic,his daugter Mako Komaki and now Haruka Asahina. Because this is a family-run business, they receive no support usually from any major manufacturers. Haruka Asahina boldly confronts the top teams head-on to get the attention of these revered companies in hopes of making it to the podium himself.

lol Troyka

…

OK fine I’l write more. Overtake is an anime original property about F4 racing. Which sure, fine, it’s a sports anime judging by the tone of the trailer. It’s just Troyka existing that drives me away. The anime industry’s luckiest man Ei Aoki failing his way to making his own studio of the blandest anime original properties known to man, yet they keep getting new stuff made. Shinobi no Ittoki was their last one and my god it felt like a joke the level of blandness this anime original property had. That one I can’t technically blame on Ei Aoki since he didn’t direct it, but it’s his studio. I blame all of you for claiming Re:Creators was good. I blame the incredible fortune he had to get picked to direct Fate/Zero at the perfect meeting point of popularity that was Fate/Verse mania and Butch Gen at his height. I recognize my dislike of Troyca is in excess to what they deserve, but then I see how aggressively unexciting this trailer for an anime original project is and I get mad all over again.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer

Studio: Typhoon Graphics

The young adventurer Belgrieve retires to a quieter life after losing his leg to a beast. While gathering herbs in the woods one day, he rescues an abandoned child. Angeline trains with her father and later achieves S-Rank in the capital’s adventurer guild. Five years later, she decides to return home. Will Belgrieve get another chance at being an adventurer? Will Angeline return home unscathed?

When this was licensed into English, all the promotional blurbs loudly exclaimed “THIS IS NOT INCEST DON’T WORRY HE DOESN’T FUCK HIS DAUGHTER IT’S VERY CHILL AND HEARTWARMING”. Which something something says a lot about society etc. There isn’t actually anything else interesting to say about this. Thought the manga was pretty bland. First episode has come out already and the reaction has been similar to my own. Not bad, just bland.

A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special

Studio: Arvo Animation

Shadow Realms have ravaged the earth and decimated almost everyone in their way. The survival of humanity hinges upon the success of just six mages, including analytic fighter Desir Herrman. The remaining heroes make one final stand to end the bloodshed…but to no avail. Desir closes his eyes on what should be the end of his life—only to open them and see the beginning of his school days?! Desir has returned thirteen years back to the past, where he’s been given another chance. A chance to see the loved ones he lost, a chance to meet his fellow warriors again, and a chance to save the world…!

I was reading the first chapter for this, as I do with every manga being adapted each season. Except this is a Manhwa, or a Korean comic. Or to put it differently again, it’s a webtoon. A specific style of manga made for scrolling on a screen. Which theoretically should work better than manga for screens. They even incorporate the speed at which you can scroll into pacing for dialogue. Yet every time I’ve read a webtoon, I’ve been struck by an overwhelming sense of ennui. There’s something so…manufactured-feeling about every webtoon I’ve read. Like they’ve been spat out by an ai. The stories have that self-referential within its own genre nature that rubs me the wrong away about isekai and villainess stuff.

But it’s deeper even than that. There’s this nagging sense of unease that there’s no original ideas even considered within the sphere. It’s all just mashed together from existing parts. Then I learned many webtoons use pre-generated assets, and it started to click into place for me: Webtoons are proof that ai-generated stories are coming for us. The otaku checklist quality of webtoons fits the bill of what ai generation can replicate – an unoriginal mish-mash of existing art with no thought put into why they work well individually or how they work together. Any perception of quality is accidental and fluke. Ai cannot currently compose a story, but I don’t think we’re actually that far off ai-art generating a convincing webtoon. It will start with porn, because it always does, before it starts coming for the bland, formulaic webtoons you read. Webtoons terrify me because they reveal the truth beneath what we consider art.

What’s that? Oh, yeah idk manga seemed bland and the trailer was meh.

Berserk of Gluttony

Studio: A.C.G.T

Fate Barbatos has never tasted real power. Born with the magical skill Gluttony, he constantly hungers in a way that can’t be satiated, and has been shunned and looked down upon his entire life. One day, while working as a gatekeeper for a noble family and fighting a trespassing thief, he discovers Gluttony’s true power: when he kills someone, he devours their skills and feeds his gnawing hunger at last. In that grisly realization, Fate is awakened to his true potential. How many lives will he feed on to satisfy this hunger, and is the world ready for the frightening warrior he’ll become?

Awww fuck I did say I’d watch all the dark edgy fantasy. Why did I make that rule? Can I have a secondary rule that it doesn’t count if someone opens a fucking stat screen to read about their skills? Maybe if I claim I don’t want to watch anything by the director of Highschool DxD? No that’s a weak argument, and also Highschool DxD had that one ED with pole-dancing so it automatically is raised above true bottom-tier nothingness. Maybe the rest of the staff is shit and aahh damn the script writer from Ascendance of a Bookworm. Curses, this wouldn’t have happened if they just made more science fiction anime! Then I wouldn’t have had to get selective about the genres of fantasy anime I would support!

I Shall Survive Using Potions!

Studio: Jumondou

Nagase Kaoru, a 22-year-old office lady, suddenly finds herself reincarnated in another world. To help her survive in this new world, a being that amounts to its god gives Kaoru a younger body and… the ability to make insanely overpowered potions?! The reincarnated Kaoru must use her knowledge and cheatery to survive!

I don’t understand why this author’s work is popular. Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, and now this. They’re popular novels, but they feel so bland and poorly written and lacking in character or original thought. They’re a special kind of depressing. I already went through my existential crisis with A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special so there’s no need to go through it again, but suffice to say this is the light novel version of my webtoon crisis.

Youth Story of a Family

Studio: Shuca

The Yuzuki family consists of four brothers: Hayato, Mikoto, Minato, and Gakuto. The eldest son, Hayato, happily lives every day to the fullest. There are tears, laughter and excitement at home, at school, and in the neighborhood!

Normally the anime I toss down here that are garbage, but honestly this one isn’t complete trash by any stretch. Shuca are an OK studio, formed as a split off from Brains Base a long time ago. Did stuff like 91 Days, the Natsume sequels, and Richard the Jeweler. Director did Outlaw Star way back in the day and more recently did Ascendance of a Bookworm. Personally I don’t think he’s great, and Bookworm in particular is carried far more by the source material. The bigger sign is World Trigger, one of the worst directed shounen anime I’ve seen perhaps ever? Honestly the reason it’s down here is my complete lack of interest in the source material. It’s too cutesy sappy bollocks for my lacking. Grrr edgy fantasy grrr or at least science fiction please I’m begging you please or at least pole dancing, I like pole dancing wait I mean grrr dark edgy fantasy death suffering etc.

My New Boss is Goofy

Studio: A-1 Pictures

26-year-old office worker Kentarō Momose recently changed jobs after his previous boss harassed him. He’s worried his new boss will also use power harassment to make his life miserable. Momose is trying to hide his anxious stomach when he first meets his new boss Yūsei Shirosaki, however he’s surprised to find his new boss is such a natural airhead that he eliminates all of Momose’s anxiety.

The wife keeps insisting this isn’t actually yaoi, but idk I saw a lot of office men blushing at each other. Seems pretty gay to me.

Stardust Telepath

Studio: Studio Gokumi

Konohoshi Umika is a high-schooler who is very bad at communicating with others. Feeling almost like an alien trapped on Earth with nowhere to belong, one day she meets a girl who claims to be an actual alien!

This is the most Manga Time Kirara anime ever. From the magazine that made its name with K-ON comes another 4-koma adaptation that features cute girls being clutzy and acting like they’re 6 years old and the jokes are mostly about being cute and maybe being lesbians. What threw me about this one was when the trailer talked about them going to make a rocket and I was all like “wait why is there no rocket in any of the promo art”? If I was in charge I’d shove all the girls to the background and replace them with 4 giant rockets. And maybe a giant robot. And an older lady with dark skin and purple hair that flops over one eye and big tits who has a devilish grin and a big hat and she’s pole dancing using one of the rockets as the pole. Yeah, now we’re talking! Now that’s anime!

A Girl & Her Guard Dog

Studio: Project No.9

Isaku just wants to live a normal life. But as the granddaughter of a yakuza boss, that’s a pretty tall order. For years, it’s been difficult for Isaku to make friends and find love. So, she decides to enroll in a high school far from her hometown in hopes of a fresh start. But her plans take an unexpected turn when a worried member of the yakuza, Keiya, enrolls in the same school to protect her.

Normally I’m the first person to call foul over yet another goddamn shoujo or josei that features the main girl fucking her father figure. However my problem is more that it takes what is otherwise a nice story and ruins it by dropping the chili pepper of fucking your dad into it. But that complaint evaporates when you literally promote your story as being “a forbidden age-gap romance”. Suddenly now it’s like “sure, go ahead and fuck your not-dad”. Who am I to yuck your yum. Go wild. Eat that forbidden chili.

Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig-

Studio: project No.9

An unappealing otaku awakens in the body of a pig after he passes out while eating raw pig liver. Pig finds himself in the company of Jess, an innocent girl who can read people’s minds, and she accepts him despite his boorish thoughts… although she does plan to eat him. When Jess is in danger of succumbing to a dark destiny, can Pig save her using only his quick wits, wisdom, and refined sense of smell?

This is the third show Project No.9 are doing this season. Gosh, do you think perhaps their staff might be overworked? It’s not even like the animation for their stuff looks bad. Also this is one of the only true isekai anime this season, which is to say isekai that aren’t just people playing a cool video game. But by that criteria, Sword Art Online isn’t an isekai, so perhaps I need to rethink that definition. On the other hand, I refuse to call Shangri-La Frontier an isekai. That’s like calling a Let’s Play an isekai. He can just turn off the game.

…you can really tell I’m reaching the end of the season preview.

Paradox Live the Animation

Studio: Pine Jam

Avex and GCREST’s hip-hop-themed multimedia project takes place in the near future, where rappers wear accessories that contain a metallic substance called Phantom Metal. Through the Phantom Metal’s chemical reaction with the rappers’ own DNA, the rapper can create illusions linked to their emotions during their performance. The result is a new type of spectacular concert.

I love how utterly insane these plot descriptions for hot music boy anime projects are. Nothing will ever be quite as insane as Hypnosis Mic, but few anime reach that level of brilliance.

KamiErabi GOD.app

Studio: Unend

Goro, a first-year high school student at a private high school in Tokyo, has no hopes, no dreams, and no ambitions. The world is indifferent to him, and he has a faint longing for Honoka, a classmate from the same school. He and his best friend Akitsu live a boring, unchanging life. One day, Goro receives a strange notification on his smartphone: “You have been chosen. Breathe into me your wish.” Thinking it malicious spam, Goro types, “I want to have sex with Honoka, the woman of my dreams.”

Did you watch the trailer yet? Oh, you just scrolled down to read this first? Well then, let me tell you this is being written by Yoko Taro, the fella who wrote Nier. Got you interested? Great, now go watch the trailer. Don’t worry, I’ll wait………ok, you’re done? Have you just had your hopes and dreams of a good anime dashed over horrific CG animation? Fantastic, we can move on.

Protocol: Rain

Studio: Quad

The story centers on Shun Tokinoya, a second-year high school living with his mother and younger sister. After his father’s death in an accident and his sister’s injury, he quit the game he was passionate about, and now works at an esports café called “FOX ONE.” He spends all his time studying and working part-time while hanging out with his childhood gaming friends. Suddenly, he learns that “FOX ONE” has a huge amount of debts. In order to repay the debts, Shun and his friends aim to win the “Xaxerion Championship” and win the prize money. With a sense of guilt, Shun jumps back into the world of online games, and is confronted by Bakuretsu-kun, who used to play the game with him.

Guy must play esports to save his sick sister’s life. From the studio that brought you My Life as Inukai’s Dog and Miss Kuroitsu, an anime I’ve mentioned before due to me having watched all of it despite it being one of the least animated-anime of the decade.

A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life

Studio: Maho Film

A new type of VRMMO called “One More Free Life Online” is out. He logs in as a young boy avatar called “Earth”. Taichi Tanaka (38, single) has a regular office job and enjoys playing video games in his free time. In a world where the player is free to do as they wish, he decides to master a skill that’s been deemed to be useless! He makes potions that are too much of a hassle to make, cooks food that is excessively too good, and uses bizarre original weapons to hunt monsters…

No. No you are not allowed to do this. You are not allowed to call your anime “guy plays video game” and have people actually watch this. I refuse. You can’t be allowed to get away with this. It’s not even a bait and switch. It’s literally just a boring story about a guy playing a boring MMO. Society has gone. There is no saving us now.

Sequels

I fucking love Dr. Stone. No other anime is out here excitedly promoting their new season with the main character proudly declaring he’s made sulfuric acid.

Anyway, as per usual I won’t be going down through every sequel since you already know if you’re on board. Instead I’ll list all the anime getting new seasons and drop comments where necessary, bolding anime I’m actually going to watch myself.

• Rising of the Shield Hero (seemed like people didn’t like season 2 that much, so maybe we can live in a world where Shield Hero isn’t an important anime anymore? One can dream)
• The Eminence in Shadow
• Tokyo Revengers
• The Faraway Paladin
• Spy X Family (I’m so relieved this season is going to have some Yor assassination. It was like they forgot she was suppose to have a job too)
• Goblin Slayer
• Girlfriend Girlfriend (the polyamorous future is fast approaching)
• Dad Mount Death Play (I really wanted to like this since it’s by Narita, but it just wasn’t well written or well animated. It had hooks but none of the characters were interesting, which is exactly the opposite I’d expect out of Narita)
• The Saint’s Magic is Omnipotent
• After-school Hanako-chan (I’m shocked it took this long to get more made, and shocked again that it’s only 4 short episodes, given how incredibly popular this was)
• MF Ghost (only a tangentially related sequel to Initial D, but it’s still a sequel and the character designs are terrible so my patience is so not there for this)
• The Ancient Magus’ Bride
• Seven Deadly Sins
• FLCL (I shall continue to pretend these things don’t exist)
• Arknights
• Pole Princess (everyone’s favourite idol anime where the idols are actually pole dancers. It’s not horny in the slightest, which makes it a very odd thing altogether. The pole dances themselves are in 3DCG and are more like idol routines combined with aerobic pole dancing while also wearing idol outfits. Yes I did watch the first season, how could I not, I love pole dancing)
• Uma Musume (the wife is very excited about this one because she has bad taste and likes horse girls and will likely mock me endlessly if she reaches this far down in the season preview because me mocking her horse girls will have come directly after I revealed that I watched Pole Princess)
• Girls und Panzer (how are they only on the fourth of six films for this thing my god, I personally lost interest after the first one, and I loved the first season of Girls und Panzer)
• Attack on Titan (Final part 3 part final for real final this time last season final. Yeah Obviously I’m watching this, Attack on Titan is probably one of my top 10 anime of all time at this stage, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to mock their very silly naming conventions for the end of the series)
• HypnosisMic (please read the plot description for this one day)
• Rail Romanesque
• Dropkick on my Devil (how this keeps getting sequels is one of those feel-good stories since they’re all fan-funded via kickstarters and other fundraisers, it’s very bizarre)
• Kizuna no Allele (aka the NFT-pushing anime)
• Precure

…ok the Precure one might need some explanation. It’s a sequel to Yes Precure 5 and to Splash Star, two Precure series that aired in the 00s. Except now they’re all grown-ass adults. So it seems like its aimed at the kids who grew up on those Precures and are primed for nostalgia-bait? Which means it should be DARK and EDGY MAGICAL GIRL ANIME YEAH blood and violence and suffering and fucking. I want Precures to get into messy relationships with men they shouldn’t be involved with and then overdosing. I don’t understand why Toei aren’t answering my emails.