Category: Previews

A new year, a new quarter, a new anime season. I like to tell people that there are always great anime worth anticipating, some of which we might not even be aware of. I’ve been around long enough to know what I like and follow some creators whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past. Here are a few things I’m anticipating this season!

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department

The unique, complicated political climate that serves as a backdrop here would be enough to get me interested, but I’m also an enthusiastic follower of Natsume Ono’s other works – I own all of her manga that’s been published in English, and I’m a very big fan of both the Ristorante Paradiso and House of Five Leaves anime adaptations. I like her focus on more mature, adult-focused stories, and her somewhat European aesthetics, which is unusual for anime. Her character designs are also very unique and identifiable, eschewing overall cuteness for sharper angles and lankiness.

The series’ director, Shingo Natsume, has a lot of Key animation work under his belt, so one would hope that those sensibilities would translate to a pretty end-product (it worked for his One Punch Man adaptation, obviously). I would love to watch the PV, but for some reason YouTube is not loading well at the moment, so I will have to go on faith. In any case, this is definitely one of my top picks for this season, sight-unseen.

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu S2

Did I have any idea before watching the first season that Rakugo is a very funny, engrossing theatrical art form? Not really, though being a student of Japanese Culture I had certainly been exposed to it before in a more academic sense. Sometimes it takes that pop culture media connection to fan the flames of interest, though.

The first season of this series was definitely an emotional ride that I voluntarily took multiple times (sometimes you just have to sit your friends down with you and force them to watch an anime about an unfamiliar storytelling art that they probably don’t know or care about otherwise). Perhaps the only thing I felt it was missing was further exploration of Konatsu’s character as an adult, which I expected to appear in the first season based on pre-broadcast summaries of the story. I certainly wasn’t dissatisfied in learning about the history of Sukeroku and Yakumo’s relationship, which was rich and complicated and emotional. But obviously women’s stories are of interest to me, so I’m hoping that Konatsu will get her due this season, even if the focus is more on Yotaro.

Little Witch Academia TV

Ever since the original LWA OVA, I’ve been hoping for a TV series adaptation. The second OVA was great in its own right, but the world in which the story takes place has always seemed so much richer than what could be crammed into a mere forty-five minute chunk. I’m so glad that Trigger decided to go forward with this project, especially since I haven’t been quite as pleased with their output as of late (though Space Patrol Luluco was definitely very fun).

My one major worry is that director Yoh Yoshinari’s perfectionism will get the best of him and cause delays and perhaps less-good initial animation quality (I’m not sure what kind of development schedule Trigger was on for this, so it might not be as much of an issue as I’m thinking). My other sort-of worry revolves more around characterization – the one big downside of LWA: The Enchanted Parade was the fat character whose defining characteristic was that she ate constantly and spoke in a stereotypical deep/dumb-sounding voice. I was left feeling glad for the body-type diversity, but sad about the choices made in her character portrayal. I’m hoping that will be minimized this time around (but the hope isn’t strong, I know how Japanese creators can be).

Scum’s Wish

I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m looking forward to this series, but I’m cautiously interested to see how it handles the kind of emotionally-fraught and weird relationship between two teenagers who are kind of using one-another to fill their emotional emptiness. I’ve heard the story compared to Inio Asano’s The Girl on the Shore, which is a tough book to read; explicit, sad, and filled to the brim with characters who are truly lacking in self-esteem. It’s not a fun read, but I did find it to be an compelling window back into that depressed and directionless teen mentality, and it was one of the few manga I’ve read where the visual explicitness was actually used to proper effect (I anticipate that there are people who would disagree with me on that, and I totally understand it). I think many adults might brush off this kind of stuff as overly melodramatic, but as someone who had kind of a tough go of it as a teen it tends to resonate with me a bit more.

In looking towards Scum’s Wish I think I might be hoping for something akin to The Flowers of Evil, which I enjoyed despite the fact that it tore my guts out and stomped on them; emotional rawness and, even beyond that, truthfulness about the badness and goodness of people. Life is hard, we all put up fronts to guard our position in society, and this is especially true in high school when we’re still concerned about fitting in and holding up appearances.

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

I like monster girls, okay? I keep hoping there will be an anime series focused on those types of characters without being overly sexualized (at least in the creepy, uncomfortable manner that most anime tends to be). This one sounds lighter and goofier, and features a woman as the main character, rather than Loser Anime Dude #437 who doesn’t know how sex works, so in that sense it’s at least slightly fresher. I’m anticipating it in a “probably-bad-but-might-be-funny” sort of way. The nice KyoAni animation can’t hurt, either.

I should mention, as always, that I tend to be pretty cold on most anime comedies. I’m not into humor that involves a lot of yelling back-and-forth; instead, I prefer really sharp visual comedy, and comedy that escalates well. I have a small hope that this series might replicate a little bit of that Nichijou magic that seems so difficult to capture, so here’s to hoping, I guess.

Onihei

I forgot to add this initially, but thought it deserved an edit.

I’m definitely a fan of serious historical drama. I’m not as big a fan of the part-fantasy, pseudo-romance stuff like Hakuouki and its ilk (not that they’re bad); I’m truly kind of a nerd and love to see different time periods brought to life, so I generally stick to fare that’s closer to reality. As far as this series in particular is concerned, I’m still not entirely sure what to expect – plot synopses are vague and don’t give a strong sense of the actual tone. But I’m kind of hoping for a historical police drama, as the main character is purported to be trying to crack down on arsonists and other criminals in Edo-era Japan.

Another curiosity about this show in particular is that it’s being animated by a newer studio (M2), which can be good or bad. I tend to think good, usually; generally newer studios seem to be less concerned with the financials at the moment of their inception and can pour their effort into whatever their first project is before realizing that they’re not making enough money and deciding to take on some adaptation that’s bound to sell copies but might be more lacking in the creativity department. It’s maybe not a great thing in the long run… but the end product has some freshness and ambitiousness, so it’s nice for the anime viewing audience in that sense.

So how about you? Is there anything you’re looking forward to? Winter season tends to be smaller and more subdued, with fewer “big-name” series, but I tend to think there’s always at least a couple of things worth making time for. Let me know if you have any potential favorites!

Normally I don’t write a lot about upcoming anime because even things that look really cool from a blurb might be disappointing, and anime that looks goofy or pointless could very well end up being totally awesome. The involvement of certain studios and staff can inform those opinions, but it’s still a guessing game that I can’t win with 100% certainty. But there are a few things I’ve been keeping my eyes on as this season has come into view, and I’d like to at least throw them out there. Feel free to offer up your most anticipated new series in the comments!

Ajin: Demihuman

Synopsis: Kei, a high school kid, is alarmed to learn that he is one of very few “Demi Humans” in existence. While being a Demi Human affords one immortality from injury, it also means that the Japanese government is very interested in capturing you and performing terrible experiments on you for the rest of your awful life.

Why I’m interested: I’ve read part of the manga on which it’s based, and while I feel like its subject matter can sometimes put it in the same category as stuff like Future Diary or Deadman Wonderland (by which I mean violent and gross for no good reason other than to be “edgy”), I did like how the manga gave the perspective of several different Demi Humans with different viewpoints. Some of them just want to live their lives without fear of being imprisoned for the rest of it, but there are also some who wish to respond more violently to the injustices that they’ve experienced.

I still can’t say that I’m fully onboard with the full-CG treatment, though. I’ve got Knights of Sidonia from the same studio on my “to-watch” list (I didn’t catch it on Netflix but I ended up just buying the disc during the recent Rightstuf holiday sale) so it’s not that I’m totally opposed to the idea, but it still looks really weird to me. I like the look of hand-drawn anime precisely because there’s just such a variance in look and quality throughout the episode – yes, I’m congratulating inconsistency here. When everything is animated smoothly and consistently, it takes away the opportunity to be “wow-ed” by a moment of really great animation.

Snow White with the Red Hair 2

Synopsis: Shirayuki left her home and her job due to the advances of an uncouth local prince, and has taken up residence in the neighboring country of Clarines. She’s in the service of Zen, the Second Prince of that country, as a court herbalist. In this role she gets to have many shoujo adventures with a lot of dreamy dudes.

Why I’m interested: I think what I like about this series so far is that it’s differentiated itself from the pack by just being a very solid, classic shoujo fantasy. A lot of the entertainment created for the ladies lately has involved either groups of male idols, or groups of vaguely-creepy supernatural guys (or guys on sports teams, but I’ll let everyone keep pretending that Haikyuu, Kuroko’s Basketball, and Yowapeda are actually shounen anime).

Shirayuki is just well-made with an interesting heroine and, yes, cute guys. So I’m definitely looking forward to this continuation of it! More seriously I appreciate that the main character is hardworking and gets to have a job rather than just taking on a purely “princess” role in the story following Zen’s introduction. There’s more of a partnership dynamic, and Shirayuki gets her own character progression as she learns her job role and interacts with other denizens of the upper-class/royalty. And I really have to mention the animation/color scheme, which, while not over-the-top amazing, is truly polished and shows the care that went into bringing the anime series to life.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi

Synopsis: A manga author has the ability to go back and time and prevent deaths from happening. When he himself is framed for murder, he tries to go back and time in order to stop the death from occurring, thus clearing his name in the process. Instead, he goes back as far as grade school, one month before a classmate of his goes missing. He chooses to use his talent to prevent her disappearance.

Why I’m Interested: This is one of those cases where I just don’t exactly know why I’m drawn to the show, I’m just really interested in seeing this story unfold and I think it’s a unique way to try and tackle a mystery (and I do appreciate that – I was one of maybe three people in all of anime fandom who didn’t hate Subete ga F ni Naru, so a mystery not quite being a “mystery” doesn’t bother me).

Besides that, the director (Tomohiko Itou) is pretty hit-or-miss for me (he’s been involved with shows I like, like Silver Spoon, and shows that I really didn’t like at all, such as Sword Art Online) and so I can’t really make any predictions as to how his influence will affect the quality of the show itself. But I do know that I appreciate series with adult characters, and despite the main character returning to his life as a child I feel like he’ll likely retain his perspective anyway (at least, that sounds like what the mechanic is), so that’s another plus.

Gate Season 2

Synopsis: Itami Youji, an otaku, is on his way to a doujin event when a huge gate opens in Tokyo and all sorts of fantasy creatures, as well as a foreign army, pour through and attack the populace. Youji, who is also a member of the Japanese Self Defense Force, uses his skills to help defend the public. Several months later, he is chosen as a member of a military recon squad sent through the gate to make contact with the other world.

Why I’m Interested: The first season of this show was far from perfect and had a tendency to get a little bit too silly and fanservicey at times. Through it all, though, what I appreciated was its ability to even make any sort of assumption as to how the appearance of this gate and this entire other world would affect our real world. One of the things that stuck out to me was a discussion between some diplomats or politicians from another country commenting on the fact that now Japan would have access to an entirely new source of natural resources, putting the country at a distinct advantage which it might not otherwise have. That kind of thing is really intellectually stimulating to me, and I can overlook some irritating side characters and such for the opportunity to indulge in the show’s good qualities.

I’m not quite done watching season 1 (split-cour shows tend to go on the backburner for me and I’ve been busy otherwise), but I expect that I’ll dive right into season 2 when that finally occurs.

Haruchika

Synopsis: Haruta and Chika are two members of a foundering wind instrument club that is in danger of being shut down. Their days are spent practicing together and also trying to recruit new members so the club can stay in business. One day something happens in their school, and the two childhood friends decide to work together to solve the mystery.

Why I’m Interested: P.A. Works has a sort of spotty record (I’d say more good than bad, but I’m sure there would be people who’d disagree with me), but their more recent anime seems to have sat well with me, so that was one reason I was keeping my eye on this upcoming series. One of the other reasons is that I’m a former band geek and had a very good time with Sound! Euphonium so I’m hoping at least some of that same music drama will show up here. And, of course, I’m also interested in the “mystery” aspect. I don’t exactly know how prominent or straightforward that will be, but I’m curious to find out. I’m hoping there might be a bit of a Hyouka vibe to it, if I’m lucky enough.

Also, I have a friend who works as a translator for Funimation, and she’s working on this simulcast, so I’m definitely excited to watch it for that reason, too (I like her translations a lot!).

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Synopsis: A convicted criminal has served his time, and upon release from prison knows exactly what he wants to do; after seeing a rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) performance, he seeks out that performer and asks to apprentice with him. Named “Yotaro” by his master, he learns the art of performance and also meets his master’s acquaintances, including a woman who is a great performer in her own right, but cannot perform as the profession is not open to women.

Why I’m Interested: Adult characters? Interesting time period? Weird subject matter? Potential discussion of gender discrimination? It’s like someone reached into my mind and constructed a series just to appeal to me alone. Seriously, though, I’ve had my eye on this anime since it was announced at some point last year, and anytime I learn something new about it I get more and more excited to watch it. In fact, assuming it is picked up as a simulcast (c’mon, Crunchyroll!), I’ll be writing weekly simulcast reviews of it over at The Fandom Post.

I’ll be interested to see what the director brings to the table as he’s a former member of SHAFT and worked on a few things I liked as an episode director (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Madoka). In my opinion, any time someone can work their way up and leave their mark somehow in anime, it’s a good day.

So that’s about it. I’m sure some of these will suck and others that aren’t listed will rock my entire world, but that’s always the fun of a new anime season, right? Let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’re really looking forward to!