Definitely watching: ascendance of a bookworm, Kaguya, spy X family, your boy kongming
Kind of curious: fanfare of adolescence (I'm curious about the girl character since the setting seems to be an all boys school even though she's not the protagonist), executioner and her way of life (not usually a Yuri person but the dynamic in the story interests me even if some of the designs frustrate me)
I absolutely cannot help but adore handsome 2D boysLotta stuff this season comes with ~pedigree~
- Aharen-san is from the creator of Denki-gai no Honya-san
- Black Rock Shooter comes to us from a generally good director and the guy that did the script work for the parts of Psycho-Pass that people actually liked (and a bunch of other fairly well-liked stuff)
- A Couple of Cuckoos is from the same person that made Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches
- The Dawn of the Witch is in continuity with Grimoire of Zero
- Estab-Life is promoting Taniguchi being involved, but he's really only working on the movie version. This version has the director of Is the order a rabbit? and creator of Full Metal Panic! on board instead
- Healer Girl has the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood director... and the writer of AMAIM and Build Diversnote
- Heroine Tarumono is part of some music story franchise thing that also includes Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.
- In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki is, unsurprisingly, from the same person as Teasing Master Takagi-san
Other comments:
- With BRS and Virgin Road we've got edgy lesbians is both SF and Fantasy flavours. Almost expect a surprise Murcielago announcement to get a modern day take
- Lotta 3DCG. BRS and Estab-Life are almost entirely that, and Skeleton Knight is using it for the MC
- The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Spy X Family, and Summer Time Rendering all come to me highly recommended
- Black Rock Shooter and Summer Timer Rendering got picked up Disney for some reason. Probably not going to be on Disney+ proper, though
Edited by Hylarn on Jan 21st 2022 at 11:26:10 AM
This looks like a fairly good season for me.
Spy X Family is something I'll certainly be watching.
Demon Girl Next Door S2 I've been looking forward to for ages.
Love Live! Nijigasaki S2 is another I'm looking forward to. I didn't expect to enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did. Interesting to see if Yandere Ayuma shows up again or if that just gets ignored.
Not sure about The Executioner and her Way of Life the descriptions I've read of it rub me the wrong way. Most of the time I'm not a fan of Isekai that gets too meta about it. So I might give it an episode or three to see how it goes.
Not sure about The Executioner and her Way of Life the descriptions I've read of it rub me the wrong way. Most of the time I'm not a fan of Isekai that gets too meta about it. So I might give it an episode or three to see how it goes.
From what I've read of it (the first arc), "meta" is not how I'd describe it. The isekai element is... not unimportant, but only one part of the broader story. Not a mean-spirited attack on isekai, if that's what you're worried about
So far Shikimori and Spy x Family is must watched for me, especially Shikimori since it's one of my favorite currently running manga. There's also the Netflix anime movie, Bubble, which has a rather stacked staff. Other than that, maybe Kaguya season 3, Summertime Rendering and Kakkou no Iinazuke. I can't wait for Summer, Futo Tantei time!
Random thoughts:
- Still a bit funny to me that Disney picked up BRS and Summer Time Rendering.
- Spy X Family is looking fantastic from the previews I’ve seen, tempted to also watch the anime.
- A Couple of Cuckoos has messy writing and confused characterization. Right now I am telling people not to watch it.
- There’s several sequels there I really wanna see but Tiger and Bunny has to be the biggest one.
Of all the upcoming spring anime, I'm of course looking forward to Spy x Family (which I'm going in blind), but I'm also looking forward to Tomodachi Game (because I'm a sucker for thrillers) and Fanfare of Adolescence (because it has seiyuu I like).
This too is interesting! Sweets, seinen, Kansai-ben...
Edited by thuse on Jan 28th 2022 at 2:38:40 AM
Tiger and Bunny was a good superhero action series. It really dives into the concept of corporate-sponsored superheroes (there’s even a guy who made it his gimmick to photobomb media shots/footage to show off his sponsors). Also thought it was interesting that one of the protagonists, Tiger, is a middle-aged has-been. The CG was also pretty good for something from… 2010? 2011?
Comedy
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
It's basically a CGDCT series, except the main character is a bland boy
Deaimon
Starts out as a goofy comedy, but pretty quickly moves into being a drama with occasional comedy. Doesn't really try to educate the audience on wagashi
Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time
Slice of life comedy with a bit of a food focus. Comprehensible without familiarity with the main work, though I'm not sure it gives much reason to care on it's own
In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki
Not really sure what to make of this one—The girls are in fetish wear, but there's no fanservice to speak of; it's about a girl discovering she's interested in boys, but there's no males; it's a comedy, but it's not funny
Kono Healer, Mendokusai
The joke is that the fighter is weak and the healer has a sharp tongue. It's alright, but I can't see it working well in full-length episodes (I'm not sure what run time to expect)
RPG Real Estate
Cute girls doing cute things, and house-hunting, which I guess is the new comedy micro-genre? From what I read of the manga, it's mostly CGDCT, and a fairly standard take, at that
Shachiku-san wa Yо̄jo Yuurei ni Iyasaretai
Unsurprisingly, it's one of those "I want to be healed by a cute girl" series. The manga leans towards the comedic side of the genre, though the anime's promotional material is emphasizing the relaxing elements
Spy X Family
Oh hey, it's the latest Big Deal Series. Part spy spoof, part domestic comedy. And there's some actual action
Ya Boy Kongming
Fish out of Temporal Water: the series. There's more to it, of course, but from what I've read (all pretty early), much of the entertainment values comes from the title character acting out-of-place
Sports
Aoashi
It's a sports series, on the more shounen, big emotions side. Not sure how well this'll adapt to anime; the manga has a distinct style that gives it much of it's charm
Birdie Wing
Looks like it's going to be pretty bombastic; larger-than-life characters being very serious about golf. Like, I guess undergroundnote golf is a thing in this series?
Dance Dance Danseur
First and foremost a drama
Fanfare of Adolescence
Looks like a pretty standard youth drama, just with more bougie trappings than usual
Love All Play
Uh, it looks like a fairly run-of-the-mill sports story? It's based on a novel, so you'd expect something more drama-focused, but the promotional material has been very sports-standard. ...Also none of the PVs so far have much animation to speak of, which concerning
Action
Black Rock★★Shooter DAWN FALL
So, Black Rock★Shooter started as a series of loosely connected drawings. Then someone made a music video about it, and it really blew up. The first adaptation was a (very good) OVA, which seemed to be an attempt to add context and narrative to the fight, while still keeping everything mysterious. Then there was a TV anime, which was basically an adaptation of the OVA, though it did pull from the original drawings when appropriate. The game, ...The Game, seemed to be an attempt to adapt Black Rock★Shooter as a character— It's the only version that gives BRS her sword, cannon, and bike, but also the only version not to include any of the other characters. Innocent Soul, a manga, was rather transparently the mangaka using the assignment as an excuse to tell a story they'd had kicking around in their head for a while. DAWN FALL's main drive seems to be... having an identity distinct from the other animated versions? I'd say that this is dumb, but since I've already seen people assume it must be connected to The Game purely on the basis of being a sci-fi take, I can see their point
Anyway, the director's done a wide variety of things, generally fairly well. The writer is pretty good, and has a more narrow band of interests: near-future SF, yuri, and general trashiness. So, uh, probably going to be fairly gay, and probably fairly edgy
The Dawn of the Witch
Related to Grimoire Of Zero. I think it's a sequel series with new main characters? Might be a bit difficult to follow, depending on how much they explain. Anyway, it's a decent enough fantasy adventure. Does a kind of odd thing where the main viewpoint character is a mildly interesting dude, but the main character is definitely this lolibaba witch
The Executioner and Her Way of Life
Involves isekai, but is absolutely not the standard narou-kei, nor really commentary on it. The best point of reference might be PS2-era JRPGs? Lots of worldbuilding, magitech, characters with big personalities. I quite enjoyed what I read of this one
The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody
Generic power fantasy
Skeleton Knight in Another World
Pretty standard isekai. People who are into isekai say it's a bit better than usual
Summer Time Rendering
The official summary is... uninformative, so this is about a bodysnatcher invasion of sorts, with time loops. It's pretty fun! Something of a Genius Thriller, with a fair amount of horror and action as well
Tomodachi Game
It's... very seinen. Kinda ugly, edgy but not in a chuuni way, the works
Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs
Okay, so, first, this is mostly a standard narou-kei isekai with some mild otome isekai trappings. From what I've heard, it starts off seeming kind of pathetic and sexist, then works it's way past that into something decent... then just turns into a generic isekai
Yuusha Yamemasu
It's mostly what you'd expect from the premise. Fairly tropey, a bit more serious than comedic. Biggest surprise to me is that the main character is kind of scummy
Romance
A Couple of Cuckoos
Harem comedy from the creator of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. Mild drama, not much fanservice
Heroine Tarumono! Kiraware Heroine to Naisho no Oshigoto
An adaptation of part of one of those vocaloid song series. A really long one, focused on romance and idols. There's already been a couple of movies and another TV anime for it (Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart.)
Love After World Domination
Sugary-cute romance. Really too much so for my taste. Also has some okay comedy
Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie
It's about gap moe. The main girl is capable of being both cute and cool, so each chapter tends to be her being in one mode for most of it, until switching a the end. It is... very twitter manga. It did pick up a bit of continuity in serialization, but still doesn't have much plot or supporting cast, to the best of my knowledge
????
Estab-Life: Great Escape
It looks like they took the basic concept of those teen dystopias that used to be all the rage ("Oh no, the evil government dividing people by their traits!), and then went full-on anime camp with it. Anyway, while the much-hyped Tanigushi isn't particularly involved in this version, the staff is still pretty good. Worth keeping an eye on
Healer Girl
Has a good director and arguably the industry's worst writer. There is a wide range of realistic possibility for the quality of this anime
Sequel stuff
Date A Live IV
Staff got changed. Shares the director with the Date A Bullet spinoff, and the writer has done good work elsewhere. Should be fine?
Shin Ikki Tousen
Based on a sequel manga, but I don't think the anime will be skipping anything? Provided you've been keeping up with the OVAs, of course
Tiger & Bunny 2
It's a sequel to the movies, though I hear they don't really change the status quo. Has a new director, and that might matter. Not much experience with comedy
Edited by Hylarn on Mar 2nd 2022 at 6:41:12 AM
I wouldn't call Mob Isekai sexist, more like the MC got trapped in a game that he didn't like and complain a lot about it setting. Imagine a game where it try to appeal to it demographic fantasy and then someone who has clearly not the target demographic got trapped in it.
E.T technically is a Isekai movie

Anime continues to happen
Lotta big name sequels, some new stuff of note... and twitter manga
Edited by Hylarn on Apr 6th 2022 at 3:36:07 AM