Lenlo: And so ends the first season of 2022! Will it be remembered as the strongest season in a while, bringing us the ending of Attack on Titan, Ousama Ranking, Sono Bisque Doll and more? Or did all of those fall flat for you like they did for me? Only time will tell. But the ending of one season brings us the beginning of another! And with it a whole new slew of series. Some are exciting, like the long awaited Spy x Family adaptation or the third season of Kaguya-sama. Others… Well lets just say we have a lot of “Middling Expectations” and leave it for you to find out. So without further ado, lets take a look at the Spring 2022 season!

Middling Expectations

Ao Ashi

Studio: Production I.G
Director: Akira Satou
Series composition: Masahiro Yokotani
Source: Manga

The Premise: An unruly striker from a rural town catches the eye of a visiting soccer coach, who gives him an opportunity to try out for a J-League youth team.

Wooper: Ao Ashi isn’t the most hotly anticipated soccer anime of 2022, but it’ll be the first to hit the airwaves, giving it a temporary leg up on its chief competitor Blue Lock. The other advantage it possesses, and this one is far more significant, is that it’s being animated by Production I.G, whose track record with sports series is nearly untouchable. Haikyuu, Run with the Wind, Kuroko’s Basketball, Welcome to the Ballroom – all of these adaptations have been well-received by audiences, and I see no reason why Ao Ashi should be any different. The series director’s ears are still a bit damp, but one of the chief ADs handled half a dozen episodes of Haikyuu’s first season, and head writer Yokotani has prior experience on several sports shows. It’s the story that will likely determine whether Ao Ashi can leave a mark on this season, and I’m somewhat intrigued by its setting: a youth league with ties to Japan’s pro soccer scene, rather than yet another extracurricular middle or high school team. Will it eventually settle into traditional athletic rivalries and speeches about teamwork? Probably, but I’ll give it at least three chances to impress me before then.

Tomodachi Game

Studio: Okuruto Noboru
Director: Hirofumi Ogura
Series composition: Kenta Ihara
Source: Manga

The Premise: After 2 million yen goes missing from his class trip fund, a high school student participates in a series of twisted games to determine the thief’s identity.

Wooper: To be honest, I don’t have much hope for Tomodachi Game’s adaptation. It’s been consigned to a nameless animation house, none of its primary staff have held major roles on anything I’ve enjoyed, and its threadbare PV didn’t release until late March, which is a red flag in 80 percent of cases. It’s only being written up because of the manga’s reputation, which makes it out to be another in a long line of psychologically driven survival game stories. We’ve had Liar Game, Ousama Game, Darwin’s Game, and now Tomodachi Game – the fourth installment in the Game Cinematic Universe. Numbers two and three in that list received anime versions within the past few years, and both were awful, but maybe this new one will be oh who am I kidding it’s just more of the same. Start with a focus on friendship, put the characters in debt or physical danger, reveal the protagonist to be an expert strategist, kill off an expendable cast member or two to raise the stakes, etc. I’m unlikely to watch beyond the first episode unless somebody peels back my eyelids Clockwork Orange style, but hey, I’ve done my duty and alerted the GCU devotees in our audience of this series’ existence. Go nuts, guys.

Kakkou no Iinazuke

Studio: Shin-Ei Animation, SynergySP
Director: Hiroaki Akagi, Yoshiyuki Shirahata
Series composition: Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Source: Manga

The Premise: If you’re going to fake having a boyfriend to get out of an arranged marriage, check first that it’s not your mystery fiance who you were switched at birth with.

Amun: Alright, as far as a contrived premise goes, this one takes the cake. The sheer number of coincidences required for this situation to happen is astronomical. From the first chapter, we have the typical high school genius and the outgoing, airhead pretty girl who are linked by fate and funny circumstances. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Only…I don’t hate these characters – they’re not all bad. This story is loosely based on a real life occurrence (although the babies switched were the same gender, and the parents just moved in next door to each other), so there are some interesting avenues to explore there. I think there’s some decent source material, let’s look at the studio and staff. SynergySP was purchased by Shin-Ei, but they’re most recent work includes Taisho Otome Fairy Tale, which was…average I guess. I never like seeing two directors, but I would guess Hiroaki Akagi is the head given the huge disparity in experience. Which would normally be a good thing, but his most recent project was “Combatants Will Be Dispatched” – a subpar action comedy with a few bright spots. Composer Yasuhiro Nakanishi (not to be confused with the mangaka) hasn’t done a full series since Toilet Bound Hanako-kun (which was handled fairly well, given iffy source material). All in all, this seems like decent source + mediocre staff = average show.

Love All Play

Studio: Nippon Animation, OLM
Director: Hiroshi Takeuchi
Series composition: Tomoko Konparu
Source: Novel

The Premise: A promising young badminton player is recruited by a prestigious high school, where he trains to win the inter-high tournament.

Wooper: Can you imagine a less exciting premise for a sports anime than the one you just read? Me neither. Why bother writing it up for the Spring Preview, then? Probably out of sheer amusement that, due to the belated start of Ryman’s Club last winter, there’s going to be a one week window in early April where two badminton anime will be airing on Japanese television. That’s double the potential for shuttlecock jokes! The fact that Love All Play is being adapted from a novel piqued my interest for a second, but digging into the staff list revealed almost no one of note, unless you count composer Yuuki Hayashi rehashing his Haikyuu score for the tenth time. Tomoko Konparu is wasted on a story like this, too, given her talent for melodrama. Still, of the four sports anime airing this season, I’m guessing this one will end up being second best (third at the absolute worst). Given my soft spot for the genre, that’s enough for me to give it a shot, though I can’t imagine watching the whole thing unless it surpasses all expectations.

Onipan

Studio: Wit
Director: Masahiko Oota
Series composition: Takashi Aoshima
Source: Original

The Premise: Three demon girls try to strengthen human-demon relations by transforming into humans with the help of magical underpants.

Wooper: This is the least excited I’ve been for a Wit Studio series in a while, as it’s a short series of indeterminate length, but its concept is nuts enough that I want to see how it shakes out. Right off the bat, there’s potential for its pantsu-themed plot to veer into uncomfortable territory, as director Masahiko Oota was responsible for 2018’s predatory UzaMaid, so I’ll be watching the premiere with minor wariness. On balance, though, the concept of magical underwear that lets you change your appearance sounds like something that would exist in a series of mildly irreverent children’s books, so Onipan will probably be safe for life. I’d like for Oota to bounce back with this one, as he has a unique comedic voice (see Sabagebu and Gabriel Dropout) that might be what this original anime needs to turn some heads. Both its plot synopsis and PV are vague, but ANN says there are two characters whose names reference the Japanese folkloric figures Momotaro and Issun-Boshi, so the show looks to have classic mythology on the brain as well as more modern supernatural hijinks. Best case scenario: Onipan ends up being weird and fun, like a less perplexing Sarazanmai. I’m willing to roll the dice on that.

Dance Dance Danseur

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Munehisa Sakai
Series composition: Yoshimi Narita
Source: Manga

The Premise: After quitting ballet as a primary schooler, a teenage boy is dragged back into the dance world by a cute classmate.

Wooper: I know what you’re thinking: “This is Welcome to the Ballroom 2: Electric Boogaloo!” Well, yes, but also no. That show was about ballroom dancing as a competitive sport, rigidly defined and meticulously scored, whereas Dance Dance Danseur is about ballet dancing as performance art, allowing more room for personal expression and interpretation. That may work in the series’ favor, allowing it to trade the stiffness of its 2017 cousin for a less technically demanding approach (and matching the looser character designs in the process). I jumped ahead in the Danseur manga and saw that the main character’s company put on Swan Lake for their first performance, which is ripe for translation into anime’s heightened style – that’ll be the make-or-break episode for this adaptation. Even outside of the dance scenes it’ll set itself apart from Ballroom (which immediately sold dancing as a badass sport) by depicting the protagonist’s struggle to reconcile his love of ballet with the opinions of his dad and his peers. Do I expect Danseur to be a Grade A character study? No, but it’s aiming to be more than just one thing, so I’m at least a little bit interested in whether it’ll succeed.

BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls’ Story

Studio: BN Pictures
Director: Takayuki Inagaki
Series composition: Yousuke Kuroda
Source: Original

The Premise: Two women from different backgrounds and with completely opposing styles of play take the golfing world by storm.

Lenlo: The more I look at Birdie Wing the more convinced I am that it’s going to fall flat. The director, Takayuki Inagaki, hasn’t been in charge of anything I would call especially good. Meanwhile the studio, Bandai Namco Pictures, have only been around since 2015 and in that time they also haven’t made anything I would call good. Though some might disagree since they were involved on some Gintama. And the cherry on top of this concerning pie? It’s a show about golf, perhaps one of the most boring spectator sports ever created. If I’m being honest, the only reason I’m even looking at this at all is because the blonde chick in short shorts with a midriff looks kind of hot. And if there is anything anime has taught me, it’s that the most boring ideas in the world can be watchable with a hot enough cast. Is that a good reason to watch Birdie Wing? Not really. But for a show with no designated creator, seemingly made by committee, about one of the dullest sports in the world, I think it’s a good enough reason to at least check out the first episode. Hopefully from there it’ll be good enough for me to watch for a second.

Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de

Studio: Project No.9
Director: Kazuya Iwata
Series composition: Satoshi Sugisawa
Source: Manga

The Premise: In a battle for world domination, two members of opposing factions must see each other in secret after falling in love.

Wooper: The first connection I made here was Astro Fighter Sunred, a very funny sentai spoof from the late 2000s about an ill-mannered hero and his lovable nemesis. Having read the first chapter of the Koi wa Sekai Seifuku manga, this series is poised to fulfill the romcom version of that premise, with a thick-headed hero who’s surprisingly perceptive and a sexy villainess who secretly longs to be a normal girl. The character art is simple, as befits such a silly, discount Romeo and Juliet sort of story, but it was only a dozen pages before I believed that they were sincere about each other, and that the artist was sincere about them. Character designer Akemi Kobayashi has a history of altering visible traits in the move to animation, but this is the type of art that’s tough to screw up, so I expect the show to look alright, even if the sakuga factor will be absent. Beyond its cute concept, one of the main reasons I’m interested in Sekai Seifuku is its second-time director, whose first project was the short series Youjo Shachou (which I thoroughly enjoyed). The warmhearted goofiness on display in that show would give a big boost to this new one if Iwata is able to bring it across once more, so I’m crossing my fingers for him.

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai

Studio: Felix Film
Director: Yasutaka Yamamoto, Tomoe Makino
Series composition: Takao Yoshioka
Source: Manga

The Premise: A peculiar high school girl who lacks the ability to gauge personal space becomes friends with a boy twice her size.

Wooper: In a season packed with high school comedies, Aharen-san is going to need a remarkably good adaptation to stick around in people’s memories, but there’s an outside chance it happens. Though I only cracked a single smile while reading the manga’s first eight chapters (the ‘meatballs for eyes’ gag was what got me), it did approach the title character’s quirks from a nonjudgmental angle that I sort of admired. Series like Komi-san and Hitori Bocchi tend to treat their shy heroines as odd women out, at least at the start, but Aharen falls into an easy camaraderie with her new friend Raidou by the end of the first chapter. There’s none of the blushing, stammering or sweating that you might expect this sort of anime to feature, but neither it is a deadpan depiction of the world’s weirdest friendship – it’s just a simple comedy, which is nice. Director Tomoe Makino recently finished work on Kotaro Lives Alone (a well-regarded web anime), which makes her the brightest spot on a rather dim staff list, but a series as laid-back as Aharen-san won’t require fireworks to succeed. Good comic timing, a pleasant atmosphere, and an appealing performance from seiyuu Inori Minase will be key here. If the show can deliver all three of these elements, it might have a shot at sneaking out from beneath Kaguya, Komi, and Shikimori’s shadows.

Shows We’re Anticipating

Kawaii Dake ja Nai Shikimori-san

Studio: Doga Kobo
Director: Ryouta Itou
Series composition: Yoshimi Narita
Source: Manga

The Premise: Cute girl gets called not cute when she handles business for her useless boyfriend and reverses gender roles (seems a bit unsporting).

Amun: I guess I’m a bit late to the Shikimori-san train, as this season was the first I’ve heard of this series. Judging from the reception online (and #4 anticipated on Anichart), there seems to be plenty of fans. Reading a few chapters of the manga gives me the impression this is a very skit based series, and I’m sure the anime will follow that. Doga Kobo is the right studio for this, following how well they adapted “My Senpai is Annoying”, with the same director Ryouta Itou joining. Composer Yoshimi Narita is a bit more concerning, although they did work on “My Senpai is Annoying” and 10cm…but also a lot of pretty terrible projects. Bottom line – this seems pretty hard to screw up: keep it simple, cute, with some funny hijinks and the eventual role-reversal conclusion and this is a winner. This staff and studio did it with Senpai – I have faith they can do it again.

Tiger & Bunny 2

Studio: BN Pictures
Director: Mitsuko Kase
Series composition: Masafumi Nishida
Source: Original

The Premise: Corporate-sponsored superheroes star in a crime-fighting reality show set in a knockoff version of New York City.

Wooper: I am not qualified to have written the paragraph you’re about to read, because I dropped the first season of Tiger & Bunny back when it first aired in 2011. I haven’t seen either of the movies either, so I don’t know how far the series strayed from its original design of logo-slathered heroes battling evil on camera. Apparently this sequel will begin shortly after the events of the second film, which is great for longtime fans – I just happen not to be one of them. But I am going to give the show another try, working under the assumption that it will be friendly to newcomers because of the eight year gap between the second movie and this second season. The 3DCG used for the heroes’ suits ought to have improved in the intervening years, and the fact that director Mitsuko Kase has never been involved with the franchise is a plus in my mind. The original season seemed a bit too scattered when I first watched it a decade ago, with both silly comedy and blunt drama disrupting its commentary on the superhero genre. Now that it’s returning in 2022, the show seemingly has no choice but to prioritize that commentary as a response to the post-Marvel hellscape in which we live. Or maybe it’ll do the opposite! Either way, the return of Tiger & Bunny will certainly be an event (especially in Japan, where the series boasts a massive following).

Summer Time Render

Studio: OLM
Director: Ayumu Watanabe
Series composition: Hiroshi Seko
Source: Manga

The Premise: Helpful ghost haunts childhood friend to solve her murder.

Amun: I’m pretty much committed to trying any OLM show at this point (although the reincarnated genderbender one wasn’t great). A quick reading of the manga….actually turned into a long reading of the manga. So without major spoilers, I would say this is light to medium horror with a few other genres thrown in. Normal bland MC, and a cast of varyingly useful female archetypes – all thrown into an interesting (and deadly) situation. There will be fanservice, no doubt, but the story was interesting enough for me to read more than I expected. The staff choices are a little weird to me though; I don’t think director Ayumu Watanabe (“Komi-san”, “After the Rain”) has ever worked on horror/suspense before? However, Hiroshi Seko has such a wide range of experience (“Titan”, “Darling in the FranXX”, “Mob Psycho”) that it should be fine. This might get a little dark – or a little muddled, but “Summer Time Render” seems to have the ingredients to be the season sleeper. Or it could devolve into “Gleipnir”, we’ll see.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic-

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Director: Shinichi Omata
Series composition: Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Source: Manga

The Premise: Season 3 of anime’s number 1 “Will they, won’t they” romance where Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane attempt to make the other admit they like them.

Lenlo: Look, you all know what Kaguya-sama is at this point. You know what A-1 Pictures and Shinichi Omata, the director of prior seasons and great shows like Rakugo, can do. The only question is if the season’s content will be more of the same rom-com we’ve had for two seasons. Up until now Kaguya-sama has done a pretty good job of mixing in actual character drama with its gags. But from what I remember when I read this portion of the manga years ago, this is when the series starts to transition more and more into a legitimate romance. So the question becomes: Can the animated version of the series continue to walk this careful tightrope? Or will it fall too far to one side, ruining the character drama that makes it stick in your heart or the comedy that makes it fun? My hope is that as the show reaches these more drama-focused arcs, continuing with Ishigami’s stuff as well as actually furthering the romance between our leads, we will see the same level of quality we always have. If it can do that I fully expect this to be one of my favorites for the season. However low that bar might be right now.

Yuusha, Yamemasu

Studio: EMT Squared
Director: Yuu Nobuta, Hisashi Ishii
Series composition: Shigeru Murakoshi
Source: Light novel

The Premise: Hero changes careers and joins the re-structuring Demon King’s army…that he previously defeated.

Amun: I complained about contrived premises before, but this is a plot summary I am very interested in. The whole genre of post-fantasy war conclusions is an emerging market in anime that I want in on – titles like “Devil is a Part Timer” led the way and hopefully “Yuusha, Yamemasu” can follow in that path. Reading a few of the light novels – this looks right up my alley. Hero with a flawed personality has to make professionally nice with his former enemies. Fantastic. Looking at the portfolio of EMT Squared shows (“Assassins Pride” and “Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear”), I’m expecting average animation with decently engaging characterization and storytelling. Yuu Nobuta did “Saihate no Paladin” (decent), but also “Shuumatsu no Harem” (bad); co-director Hisashi Ishii did the previously mentioned “Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear”, but seems to work with others most of the time. Composer Shigeru Murakoshi did “Zombie Land Saga” and “Murenase! Seton Gakuen”…which doesn’t really inspire that much confidence. It’s a shame, because I’d love to see the “One Punch Man (S1)” treatment applied here (incredible animation carrying a mediocre script), but I think the best we can hope for is an average fantasy comedy. Which is fine by me!

Highest Expectations

Spy x Family

Studio: CloverWorks, Wit Studio
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Series composition: TBA
Source: Manga

The Premise: James Bond, Black Widow and a psychic toddler all agree to become a fake family without letting the others figure out their secret identities. Hijinks ensue!

Lenlo: I can’t believe I’m about to say this but… I think I’m excited for an anime comedy. The only reason I fell off Spy x Family as a manga was because the pacing didn’t work for me. It wasn’t because of the content itself, I found that to be amusing and wholesome. The series has set up a lot of different story threads and lines of comedy for each of the characters so whenever one gets stale they can switch to the next without much trouble. It was just the storyline/jokes being split across a weekly serialization made the entire thing too slow for me. So my hope is that because of anime’s naturally faster pacing, adapting 2-3 chapters a week, I won’t have that problem anymore. Combine that with CloverWorks’ recent string of successes and Kazuhiro Furuhashi as director and I think there’s a winner here. This man did Dororo and the Trust and Betrayal OVA of all things! He clearly has the talent for dramatic storytelling. We just need to see if he can do comedic timing as well.

Anime Movie Previews

Wooper: There are upwards of a dozen anime movies releasing over the next three months, which would ordinarily result in a bunch of previews here – the catch is that nearly all of them are franchise films or recaps of TV series. In the latter category, the most interesting entries are Odd Taxi’s “Into the Woods” and Penguindrum’s “Re:cycle”, both of which are set to include some new footage (potentially resolving the post-credits cliffhanger from Odd Taxi’s recent finale). As far as franchise films go, the only one that grabbed my interest was “Cucuruz Doan’s Island,” a full-blown movie version of a single, widely-disliked episode from the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV show. (The story behind that episode is worth Googling if you like behind-the-scenes feuds between staff members.) Putting these curiosities aside, however, there are two standout pieces of theatrical anime dropping between now and June, one of which you’ll be able to see as early as next month. Take it away, Helghast.

Bubble

Studio: Wit Studio
Director: Tetsurou Araki
Script: Gen Urobuchi
Source: Original
Release date: April 28 (Netflix)

The Premise: In a future where gravity-bending bubbles have reshaped the world, a member of a Tokyo parkour team is saved by a mysterious girl.

Helghast: Coming in hot with an absolutely stacked staff of Tetsurou Araki (Attack on Titan, Death Note), Gen Urobuchi (Madoka Magica, Psycho-Pass), music from Sawano and the backing of Netflix, this looks to be the biggest anime movie for mainstream audiences this season. The premise and colors remind me of a cracked version of Weathering With You, and the story seems novel enough to pique my interest. I do have my doubts that prevent me from being fully hyped for this project, as all of the staff have had their stinkers and Urobuchi has strayed from the anime path to do 3D Godzilla shit and Taiwanese puppetry TV shows in the past few years. At the very least, though, we’ll get a movie that looks good in motion considering that Wit Studio always delivers on the animation.

[Breaking from the typical anime release schedule, the movie comes out for international viewers on April 28th before releasing in Japanese theaters two weeks later.]

Inu-Oh

Studio: Science SARU
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Script: Akiko Nogi
Source: Novel
Release date: May 28

The Premise: A masked dancer and a blind biwa player captivate audiences with their performances amidst the political turmoil of 14th century Japan.

Wooper: It’s finally here. Masaaki Yuasa’s final anime project – for the foreseeable future, anyway – is just two months from its Japanese theatrical release, and hopefully just a few additional months from going global. Billed as “a 14th century rock opera,” Inu-Oh seems to mark a partial return to the legendary director’s trademark balls to the wall style. He’s enlisted Norio Matsumoto, the human weapon responsible for Naruto’s most famous fight scenes, as the film’s main animator, and Fullmetal Alchemist all-star Yoshimichi Kameda is on board as Chief Animation Director. In their hands, the film’s musical sequences are guaranteed to thrill, especially because Yuasa already demonstrated his gift for the form during the guerilla theater scenes in “The Night is Short, Walk on Girl.” It’s the historical element that I’m less sure about, as the film’s emphasis on spectacle may have the unintended effect of hushing writer Akiko Nogi’s commentary on the Muromachi period. But she does have source material to work from, and viewers of last year’s Heike Monogatari (also by Science SARU) will have a loose knowledge of the events that led to Inu-Oh’s chaotic setting. I’ve got a large portion of my hopes for 2022 pinned on this film, so while I can see the potential for it to stumble, I’m counting on Yuasa to close this chapter of his career with one final triumph.