Wooper: A few weeks ago, I messaged the other Star Crossed writers and signaled my intent to return for the start of the upcoming spring season. The reason? It looked like a promising crop of shows! Sure, there are five titles containing the dreaded I-word (the same number as last season), but there are also a plethora of new manga adaptations from sources both popular and acclaimed. They include two big-name shounen properties (one running in WSJ, the other in Jump+), a teenage romance set beneath the stars, a post-apocalyptic adventure series, an idol-themed revenge tale, and a uniquely compassionate take on high school life. There are plenty of sequels and spin-offs to look forward to, as well – we’re talking Demon Slayer, Dr. Stone, Gundam, KonoSuba, Ousama Ranking, and… Pokemon without Ash Ketchum?! I really am too old for this whole anime thing, huh? Still, the stuff at the top end of this season’s lineup was intriguing enough to rouse me from my slumber, so I’ll be helping out for the first half of April. First impressions will begin soon – in the meantime, let us know what you’re excited for this spring by voting in the poll below.

Going to be a Dumpster Fire

Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu

Studio: Elle
Director: Motoki Nakanishi
Series composition: Yukihito
Source: Light novel

The Premise: Standard isekai…and then the reverse! Hero gets sent back to his original world, then resummoned!

Amun: Wooper is really complaining about 5 isekais this season, but I – resident isekai enjoyer – am actually excited. Why’s that? Because some of these isekai are evolving! (Sort of like Pokemon without Ash Ketchum, but I digress). “Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu” is the first outing. In a way, we saw this last season(-ish due to the delays) with “Isekai Ojisan” – an isekai where the sent comes back to earth. I consider this a different vein from “Isekai Ojisan”, since that show focused more on the effects of the timeskip and the awkwardness of an older hero. “Isekai Shoukan…” seems to be focused more on….being a bit of a meme. Turns out our hero is lowkey a sadist and everyone around him is a masochist. I’d say the best way to describe the premise is having someone who’s beaten a game playing through it once more. The source definitely introduces characters at breakneck speed and the reader really shouldn’t try to make too much sense of the proceedings. Let’s see who’s doing this…oh. Oh, no. I’ve made a terrible mistake. This is the studio who made the atrocity, the truly awful, still makes me regret watching the first episode, “Gibiate”. Lads, it’s time to run. Rookie director (and honestly pretty new to the industry) Motoki Nakanishi gives me absolutely no confidence, and I can’t really find anything on the composer (except an OAV of Nekopara?). This…this is going to be a disaster. I’ll probably peek the first episode and then regret it.

Middling Expectations

THE MARGINAL SERVICE

Studio: 3Hz
Director: Masayuki Sakoi
Series composition: Kenta Ihara
Source: Original

The Premise: Super Sentai public service employees protect Japan from weekly monsters

Lenlo: The Marginal Service is the first up in the air “This could be anything” of the season for me. From the looks of its PV, it’s a super powered “Hunt down the weekly monster into an overarching villain” sort of deal. Dress everyone up in some kind of public service outfit, color code them like Power Rangers, and you have a pretty standard, if dull, shounen series. The only thing that really caught my eye about it was the fact that it’s directed by Masayuki Sakoi, who also did SAO Alternative: Gun Gale Online”, which I personally believe to be the best version of *Sword Art Online. If the man can take something like that and turn it into a series I actually enjoyed watching, then he has earned a bit of faith from me for his first completely original project. Now I just wish I knew what it was about.

Ao no Orchestra

Studio: Nippon Animation
Director: Seiji Kishi
Series composition: Yuuko Kakihara
Source: Manga

The Premise: A disillusioned child prodigy rediscovers his love of the violin after teaching one of his middle school classmates how to play.

Wooper: If I’m being honest, my expectations for the Ao no Orchestra anime are very low. It first came to my attention through a comparison with Your Lie in April, since both series have gloomy protagonists who rediscover their love of music due in part to the influence of a cute girl. There are plenty of differences between them, even within that framework; for example, Orchestra’s female lead is initially disparaging toward the main character, while April’s is all sweetness and light. But the most significant difference, at least where their TV adaptations are concerned, lies in their level of polish. Actually, let’s not keep comparing these two titles, as Ao no Orchestra is bound to be visually underwhelming even in a vacuum – just look at the CG musicians in this PV, or some of the awkward cuts like the shaky cam zoom at 0:31 or the stiffness of Akine’s wave just past the one minute mark. It’s a shame that the writer/director team who collaborated on Tsuki ga Kirei had to reunite under these circumstances, but I suppose there’s a chance that Ao no Orchestra’s story saves the whole production. I couldn’t make it past the first chapter’s boilerplate “brooding protagonist has no plans for his future” setup, but maybe the manga takes on a life of its own after a while? For the sake of music anime fans everywhere, I sure hope so.

Fly Me to the Moon S2

Studio: Seven Arcs
Director: Hiroshi Ikehata
Series composition: Kazuho Hyoudou
Source: Manga

The Premise: Guy named Nasa (like the space agency) manages to marry a girl who I’m pretty sure is Princess Kaguya from the moon….and lives a decently normal life.

Amun: Our most aggravating married couple is back! And still as dumb as ever…but it wouldn’t be much fun if they were sensible, would it? I must say, I was a bit disappointed by the 2 OVAs. They were really just fluff and service, so I’m hoping the source material gets back to moving the story along – although, honestly, that’s probably a bit tricky. Looking ahead, I’d say this season will be characterized by three things: a cat, some additional characters (looks like a Yakuza lol), and some travel/different environments. Which, come to think of it, are really the three ways to develop your plot in a PG manner. Staff seems largely the same, so no surprises there; I do think it’s a bit odd how little Seven Arcs puts out. “Fly Me to the Moon” is the flagship though, so I imagine the production quality will be the best it can be. Overall, I’m worried that the premise might start to wear thin in the second season, but I think the original idea is strong enough to carry through at least one more cour. I need to see some real development though from our leads or this rocket’s going to be crashing back to Earth.

Dead Mount Death Play

Studio: Geek Toys
Director: Manabu Ono
Series composition: Manabu Ono
Source: Manga

The Premise: An ancient evil necromancer is defeated, only to reincarnate into the body of a young boy in our own world!

Lenlo: So right from the premise you can see that Dead Mount Death Play seems pretty stereotypical as far as Isekai, or reverse Isekai in this case, are concerned. But there are 2 things that stood out to me. 1) The author of the original manga is Ryougo Narita, who also wrote Baccano, a pretty good series if you ask me, as well as Durarara. To many, that’s a pretty good resume. 2) This time it’s the villain being reincarnated. So between both of those, as well as the powers being necromancy related, I’m hopeful this will be a bit of a darker, more “serious” sort of reverse-isekai. At least as “serious” as these isekai can be. At the very least it has my attention and is worth keeping an eye out for as we move closer to the new season.

Oshi no Ko

Studio: Doga Kobo
Director: Daisuke Hiramaki
Series composition: Jin Tanaka
Source: Manga

The Premise: A gynecologist is reincarnated as the child of his favorite idol after walking her through a secret pregnancy.

Wooper: Oshi no Ko is one of spring’s most hotly anticipated shows, and the reason why is clear – it’s based on a manga by Aka Akasaka, who created Kaguya-sama: Love is War. What gave that romcom series its edge was its focus on deceit and manipulation, and its follow-up does something similar right away, paying lip service to the idea that the entertainment industry, especially as it relates to idols, is built on lies. But lies aren’t the only ingredient in Oshi no Ko’s foundation – there’s also murder, reincarnation, and a vow of revenge, all which play heavily into the first volume of the manga. I’m not sure whether I should explain how these topics factor into the overarching story, especially since anime-only watchers won’t have to wait long to find out; apparently the first episode is 90 minutes long, meaning it likely adapts all of volume one. That’s a big display of confidence from Doga Kobo, for whom this show seems poised to become a massive hit (maybe the biggest they’ve ever had). Personally, I’m not as convinced of its future excellence – part of my doubt stems from the whole reincarnation thing I mentioned earlier, seeing as its context in Oshi no Ko makes it one of the dumbest narrative devices imaginable. Odds are this series will become a juggernaut with or without my support, however, so I might as well shut up and wait for the movie-length premiere like everybody else.

Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers

Studio: Bibury Animation
Director: Ikehata Hiroshi
Series composition: Daishirou Tanimura
Source: Original

The Premise: A trio of magical girls are led by an Otaku in a barren future.

Amun: ”Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers” is definitely a wildcard. Will it be “Akudama Drive” (very good) or something more along the lines of “Takt.Op” (very okay)? Hard to say – but I must say I’m intrigued by otaku + post-apocalyptic; I’m having trouble thinking of a similar comp…maybe “Shimoneta”, just less gag oriented? Apparently the director said he was inspired by “Madoka Magica” and “Club to Death Angel Dokuro-chan” – so take from that what you will (I have no idea). Bibury Animation doesn’t have a lot to their name (“Quintessential Quintuplets 2”, “BRS: Dawn Fall”, and “Azur Lane”) but their projects seem decently well produced. I’m worried about the director, Ikehata Hiroshi. None of his series are particularly well managed (“Seton Academy”, “Tonikaku Kawaii”, and “Management of a Novice Alchemist”) – I’d say the shows succeeded in spite of the direction, not due to it. Series composer Daishirou Tanimura has never helmed his own show before, but he was heavily involved with “Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet”, which I adore, so I’m hopeful on that front. As with all originals, it’s hard to predict how it’ll go, but I see enough good signs to keep me hoping.

My Home Hero

Studio: Tezuka Productions
Director: Takashi Kamei
Series composition: Kouhei Kiyasu
Source: Manga

The Premise: Liam Neeson’s Taken, except it’s an anime about a girl getting harassed and a salaryman daughter’s quest to punish those responsible.

Lenlo: So on the surface, this doesn’t look terribly interesting. The production doesn’t excite me, I don’t know the original writer, and Kenji Kawai has been phoning it in recently. But it’s also Takashi Kamei’s directorial debut and I can’t help but be at least a little interested in what is basically an anime Taken. I have very low expectations for what is going to happen here, but I can’t help but be at least a little bit curious.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2

Studio: Kafka
Director: Kazuaki Terasawa
Series composition: Aya Takaha
Source: Manga

The Premise: After surviving a string of supernatural ordeals, Chise enrolls at the College, a place of study for English mages.

Wooper: It’s been six years since Chise and Elias first graced our TV screens, and a year longer than that if you count the three episode OVA that detailed the former character’s backstory. If I’m being honest, I’ve forgotten a large chunk of the first season – it all started to blur together around the third or fourth time Chise had to be rescued after falling into a river or lake. I recall my main disappointment being that the magical world of Magus’ Bride, while beautifully rendered, felt as though it were precisely assembled to serve Chise’s evolution as a mage. But that’s based only on vague remembrances, and besides, this sequel is going to be a whole new beast. The writer-director responsible for the original anime is no longer attached to the project (he’s moved on to The Apothecary Diaries adaptation airing later this year); the new staff closely resembles the one that worked on last year’s Knight of the Blue Storm OVA, so if you enjoyed that side story, you’ll be in good hands here. As for the plot of the new season, Chise is set to attend a magical university, with her future husband serving as the professor of magecraft and half a dozen of her new classmates taking on supporting roles. I can’t say that Magus’ Bride will rank particularly high on my to-watch list this spring, but I respect the fact that it’s trying something new, so I’ll give it a peek at the very least.

The Dangers in My Heart

Studio: Shin-Ei Animation
Director: Hiroaki Akagi
Series composition: Jukki Hanada
Source: Manga

The Premise: Loner fantasizes about killing his hot classmate…then discovers everyone in his class is odd in their own way.

Amun: Let me help everyone who doesn’t want to read the manga: this premise is relevant for what looks to be the first chapter only. After that the manga seems to devolve into a slice of life with an eccentric class and loner who saves the day. Honestly, this seems caught in no man’s land between a high school simulator and something more ecchi. I think “Dangers in My Heart” is really going to come down to adaptation, since I think the source material is fine to make a good anime, but not great enough to guarantee it. Director Hiroaki Akagi has directed a few shows very similar to this: “Takagi-san” and “Combatants will Be Dispatched”. The wildcard here is series composer Jukki Hanada, whose work is….not consistent to say the least. “Level E”, “Granbelm”, and “Beyond the Boundary” do not inspire confidence in pacing or consistent vision – the highs are great, but each of those shows has uneven stretches as well. Studio Shin-Ei is meh – “Couple of Cuckoos” is what I’ve seen from them most recently, and the production quality was passable, but nothing to write home about. Forecast for “Dangers in My Heart”? It should be alright, but probably fade in the second half.

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts

Studio: J.C. Staff
Director: Chiaki Kon
Series composition: Seishi Minakami
Source: Manga

The Premise: The King of Demons and Beasts falls in love with his yearly sacrificial maiden.

Lenlo: If I can be totally honest here… My only interest in this show is Kouta Yamamoto, the man in charge of the music. The man has worked on Kaina and the Great Snow Sea, Attack on Titan, 86, Thunderbolt Fantasy. He’s basically Hiroyuki Sawano’s right hand man. And now he’s finally getting a series all to himself to strut his stuff, which feels pretty exciting if the music can be used half as well as some of those other shows. As for the show itself, eh? I’m really not into this weird slave/master power dynamic so many romances have, especially when the age difference between the characters is so bloody large. Combine that with J.C. Staff in charge of the production and I really think King of Beasts will be carried by its OST, assuming that even manages to get off the ground.

Insomniacs After School

Studio: Lidenfilms
Director: Yuuki Ikeda
Series composition: Rintarou Ikeda
Source: Manga

The Premise: A pair of students with insomnia grow closer after fashioning their high school’s unused observatory into their own secret base.

Wooper: Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia is receiving a lot of comparisons to last year’s Call of the Night (Yofukashi no Uta) in the lead-up to its premiere, which makes sense. Both series focus on a pair of characters who can’t (or don’t) sleep at night, and consequently decide to explore the city where they live after dark. But they’re pretty different in how they approach that premise; Call of the Night makes those nightcrawling scenes central to its story, rarely going a full episode without including at least one such sequence, while the Insomniacs After School manga did it only once in its first eight chapters. Insomniacs has a far more grounded tone, as well – there are no vampires or moments of off-kilter humor, just two teenagers joining their high school’s astronomy club and slowly falling in love. That might sound boring to some, but to me it sounds lovely. What’s stopping me from wholeheartedly recommending it, however, is the attachment of a first-time director without a lot of significant work in the industry, along with a rather plain-looking PV that substitutes heavy compositing for legitimate animation chops. Some people think slice of life series can get by on that sort of production, but I happen to disagree – still, I’m looking forward to this show based on the strength of its source material.

Kaminaki Sekai no Kamisama Katsudou

Studio: Palette
Director: Yuki Inaba
Series composition: Aoi Akashiro
Source: Manga

The Premise: Dude gets sacrificed by his cult parents to summon a deity, gets reincarnated, then accidentally brings said deity with him.

Amun: Alright, I’ll admit, I struck out on my first isekai of the season, so let’s try again! Ho-hum, what have we here…a cult leader tosses his kid into the sea to summon some deity and the kid reincarnates as a normie farmer? Alright, that’s pretty normal. [15 minutes later, and having read all of the manga that’s been translated]. Wait, this is not bad! I’ll be honest, I didn’t totally follow the plot, but it seems very explosive to say the least. Source material is at least passable, so I’m thinking this will come down to production again. Let’s see – ah, Studio Palette. I really liked “World’s Best Assassin Gets Reincarnated”, so that’s a passing grade from me. Unfortunately, that’s all they’ve done, but at least it was pretty good, right? Rookie director Yuki Inaba doesn’t fill me with confidence, but the more interesting story is Aoi Akashiro, composer and series original creator. “KamiKatsu” was released around 2 years ago in “Monthly Hero” before it shut down. Since then, the series has moved online to Comiplex for its 6 volumes…and has a spin off series. And now an anime, with the creator as composer? The sequence of events is honestly a little strange, but the industry as a whole seems hungry for content, so maybe this is the new reality where anything remotely decent gets a season or two. I am a little worried Akashiro got this greenlit through industry connections instead of merit, but we’ll see. I’m giving this one 50-50.

Edomae Elf

Studio: C2C
Director: Takefumi Anzai
Series composition: Shougo Yasukawa
Source: Manga

The Premise: A videogame obsessed otaku elf moves into a traditional Japanese shrine looking to be left alone so she can geek out in peace. What the fuck is this concept.

Lenlo: Let’s be honest, the only reason this is on the list is because the concept is so fucking out there I had to talk about it. Well that and a little bit of horny posting for those designs, but mostly because the concept is stupid! Anime must seriously be running out of ideas if we are resorting to just “Hot girls with geek hobbies in fetishized outfits”. Still, I do know a few people looking forward to Edomae Elf purely because the director, Takefumi Anzai, was also responsible for a personal favorite of theirs: Hitoribocchi. Now I wasn’t a fan of Hitoribocchi myself, but for those of you looking for a slap-stick style comedy on the light end of things, this might end up being up your alley.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Punch!

Studio: EMT Squared
Director: Hisashi Ishi, Yuu Nobuta
Series composition: Takashi Aoshima
Source: Light novel

The Premise: Cute girl in bear costume is overpowered and does cute stuff with cute friends.

Amun: On the list of shows I didn’t expect to see a second season of, “Kuma Kuma Bear” was…probably somewhere in the middle (why can’t I get a remake/second season of “Kamisama No Memo Chou”?!) I kind of forgot this was an isekai (well, sort of a VRMMO isekai), but it makes no difference – this is cute, overpowered girls doing adventure things in a bear suit. Seriously, don’t think too hard, and just enjoy! EMT Squared has had okay production quality (“Assassin’s Pride” and “Yuusha, Yamemasu”) but nothing spectacular. We have the same staff returning, so no major changes there. Basically: this show has a pretty low ceiling, but I imagine it’ll be fun escapades…and there’s always room for a show like that on my docket!

Loving Yamada at Lv999

Studio: Madhouse
Director: Morio Asaka
Series composition: Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Source: Manga

The Premise: A high school girl begins to fall for a member of her MMO’s guild after discovering how handsome he is in real life.

Wooper: As a video game-themed romcom, Loving Yamada at Lv999 is the sort of anime I would typically spot on a seasonal chart and immediately file away as “not for me.” That’s doubly true now that I’ve seen the way the manga begins – in an early chapter, the lead character wakes up in her future love interest’s room with a hangover and incorrectly assumes she’s had a one night stand, then accidentally leaves a piece of jewelry behind so the author can arrange another meeting between them. It’s cliché after cliché from the very start, so why am I actually looking forward to the anime? Simple – the staff list is packed with people whose work I admire. Writer Yasuhiro Nakanishi has been responsible for guiding the Kaguya-sama adaptation since it began in 2019, so I’m optimistic about his ability to squeeze comedy from Yamada’s lightweight source material. The duo who composed Wonder Egg Priority’s off the wall soundtrack are making this their second collaboration, and I’m hoping they bring even a fraction of that musical imagination to this new project. Then there’s director Morio Asaka, who has been cranking out shoujo hits for decades, with titles like Nana, Chihayafuru and Ore Monogatari decorating his filmography – if there’s anyone I trust to transform a premise like this one into something watchable, it’s him. Is it possible that my faith in the Lv999 team is misplaced? Definitely, but until the first episode airs, I’m opting for optimism.

The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up At the Duke’s Mansion

Studio: Typhoon Graphics
Director: Junichi Yamamoto
Series composition: Mitsutaka Hirota
Source: Web manga

The Premise: A girl gets hit by a bus and is isekai’d into a novel as a side character, and must work to forge a new story for herself.

Lenlo: Please, dear lord, tell me it’s true. An isekai in the modern era without some kind of OP fantasy MC. Can it exist? Sure, Raeliana has absolutely no reason to be an isekai other than cashing in on current (?) trends. It would probably be better served as just a straight medieval romance if I’m being honest. But I’ll take what I can get, and in this case what I can get is probably nothing more than a trite romance. Still, the premise of becoming an existing side-character in someone else’s story, and then trying to avoid that plot/forge a better one, has some promise. It’s akin to Princess Tutu in a lot of ways, a series I deeply love. I doubt this will be anywhere near as good as Princess Tutu, but if it can approach even a fraction of its quality, Raeliana won’t be to bad.

KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!

Studio: Drive
Director: Yuujirou Abe
Series composition: Makoto Uezu
Source: Light novel

The Premise: One year prior to the events of KonaSuba, our favorite useless explosion fanatic is a student and finds a cat.

Amun: I’m a bit torn – on the one hand, I’m happy that there’s more Megumin…on the other hand, I really wanted the next KonaSuba season already. I’ll take what I can get though, and that appears to be some student life of the Crimson Magic Clan! Looks like the main topic here is how Megumin became so enamored with the occasionally useful Explosion magic. I get the impression this will be mostly comedy, but I worry about having Megumin as the lead. In KonaSuba proper, the ensemble really worked as a unit; “Explosion on This Wonderful World” now has one of the quietest members trying to carry her own show. Will it work? We’ll have to see. Production…this is where my concerns begin. Studio Drive seems to have taken on the KonaSuba mantle going forward, and this will be their first foray into the series. Other works by them include “Fumetsu no Anata e Season 2” (which seemed decently well received) and…“Vlad Love” (which I enjoyed, but wasn’t really that impressive). The director situation is a little confusing, but it looks like newcomer Yuujirou Abe will be heading it up. He doesn’t have too many titles to his name, but composer Makoto Uezu has more than enough experience to make up for it (“Assasination Classroom”, “KonaSuba S2”, and “Scum’s Wish” to name a few). Spin-offs are tricky to get right, but I’m hoping “Explosion on This Wonderful World” is a warmup for KonaSuba’s as of yet unscheduled season 3. Please be good!

Shows We’re Anticipating

MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Director: Tomoya Tanaka
Series composition: Yousuke Kuroda
Source: Manga

The Premise: In a world of magic and wizards, one man attends a wizarding school with the greatest magic of all: A gym membership.

Lenlo: To get this out of the way from the start, Mashle is a comedy. There are bits and pieces of a “serious” story, but they really don’t matter all that much. At its core, this is a comedy in the same vein as One Punch Man only set in Hogwarts. Is it a good comedy? Sometimes. I remember laughing at a number of the early jokes. And with A-1 Pictures involved I’m confident that the production/presentation of these jokes won’t be where it falters. But over time Mashle started to shift from a comedy to a more serious drama, and I don’t think it really succeeded. So depending on how far this season gets, Mashle will either start as an amusing side-piece that you can tune in and laugh at each week, or end as an overly serious riff on Harry Potter. Personally, I’m hoping for the former, so we can have at least one decent-ish comedy in the season.

Mix: Meisei Story S2

Studio: OLM
Director: Tomohiro Kamitani
Series composition: Atsuhiro Tomioka
Source: Manga

The Premise: Two brothers, one a pitcher and the other a catcher, attempt to lead their high school baseball team to the Koushien.

Wooper: Four years ago I blogged Mix’s first season, and though I won’t be returning to cover its second, I’ll certainly be watching along at home. I wouldn’t want to miss a modern adaptation of a Mitsuru Adachi manga, after all – the man is one of the deftest writers in the history of sports manga, with many of the anime based on his works from decades past serving as proof. Mix’s prequel series Touch, in particular, has many fabulous passages, but you don’t need to have seen that mammoth series to follow the baseball careers of Adachi’s newest protagonists, the Tachibana brothers. Mix’s first season took us through the summer tournament of the Tachibanas’ first year in high school, where they lost in the semifinals, so I’m hoping we’ll get a decent amount of school life and romance (especially if it features girl next door Haruka) before it turns the clock forward to next year’s spring tourney. Manga readers already know what’s coming, of course, but only to a point – the scanlations are stalled at chapter 81, while this second season is set to take us beyond the events of chapter 100. It’s not as though we’ll be entering uncharted territory, however, since all of Adachi’s baseball-themed works tend to tread familiar ground. The Mix anime will too, but in spite of that familiarity (or perhaps because of it), I can’t wait for it to return and remind us all how a sports show is meant to be written.

EDENS ZERO S2

Studio: J.C. Staff
Director: Toshinori Watanabe
Series composition: Mitsutaka Hirota
Source: Manga

The Premise: Space Fairy Tail….Season 2!!!

Amun: Oh man, I really love the “Fairy Tail” reboot in space! “Fairy Tail”, for me, kind of lost its way after the timeskip and bogged down under the weight of the accumulated story. “Edens Zero”, at least so far, allows a slimmer cast a clean start with the same underlying themes in fresh settings. Season 2 starts around Chapter 69 of the manga as our crew deals with the surprising loss of a core member from last season’s finale. Honestly, that kind of surprised me, since “Fairy Tail” was pretty reluctant to kill major characters – definitely makes the story more interesting, in my opinion. Source material is looking strong for the upcoming season, with our big baddie of Draken Joe and co. being the primary antagonists. The development of the crew and the addition of the new Shining Star are all compelling enough storylines to keep the season interesting, so I have no worries there. The biggest question mark is the change of directors, as Yūji Suzuki tragically passed away in 2021. Toshinori Watanabe steps in as kind of a strange choice, to be honest – his main directorial works have been “Tokyo Ghoul:re” and “Mix: Meisei Story.” (Why is he not directing the current season of “Mix”, by the way?) He certainly has worked on a lot of projects, but I’m worried about his ability to keep the tone and vibes of “Edens Zero”. Fortunately, Watanabe worked on the first season, and the rest of the staff seems to have stayed the same, so I’m hopeful this change won’t disrupt the feeling of the show too much. Overall – I feel good about this sequel, and I’m ready to get back to the space hijinks!

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc

Studio: Ufotable
Director: Haruo Sotozaki
Series composition: Akira Matsushima
Source: Manga

The Premise: Season 3 of Kimetsu no Yaiba, the current premier Shounen.

Lenlo: You know what this is. Don’t act like I need to give you a rundown of what to expect here, it’s Kimetsu no Yaiba, even if you don’t watch it you’re at least aware of it. The real question here isn’t what Kimetsu no Yaiba is about, it’s a battle shounen, but rather can we expect anything to change from Season 2 to Season 3? Last season we got one of the flashiest, most post-processing effect driven multi-episode fights I have ever seen. And it was kind of annoying, because it felt like the writing wasn’t able to support it properly! Well from what I remember of the manga, that gets even worse for this arc. Neither the primary antagonists nor the new supporting Hashira deuteragonists have nearly as much going for them as Uzui and Gyuutarou/Daki. There’s no solid familial theme holding the arc together, nor are Kanroji/Muichirou particularly compelling. The best we can hope for is a small bit from a character we have yet to properly meet, though even he isn’t very interesting if you ask me. Suffice to say, the Swordsmith Village arc is probably going to be nothing more than one big sequence of flashy lights. Will I enjoy it? Yeah, probably. Will it leave a lasting emotional impact? Probably not.

Skip and Loafer

Studio: P.A. Works
Director: Kotomi Deai
Series composition: Kotomi Deai
Source: Manga

The Premise: A country girl moves to Tokyo and attends a prestigious high school in preparation for her meticulously planned-out career path.

Wooper: Remember that bit in the Insomniacs After School preview where I said slice of life series shouldn’t get a pass for mediocre production? I have a feeling Skip and Loafer is going to make me eat my words, because I just blitzed through the first three volumes of the manga, and they were so charming that I’ll end up watching this adaptation no matter how it looks. That’s not to say it’s destined to get hit with the ugly stick – director Kotomi Deai, who cut her teeth working under Shinichiro Watanabe on Kids on the Slope, has led successful projects before (Silver Spoon being my favorite of the bunch). The pair of PVs out right now make it look like a modest effort, but my disappointment at that is far outweighed by my admiration of Skip and Loafer’s effortless school life narrative. The series has a clear protagonist in Mitsumi, a small town transplant at a Tokyo high school, but the way it spotlights its secondary cast and incorporates their inner thoughts into its presentation gives it true ensemble potential. And the characterization is so unexaggerated – there aren’t any students whose attractiveness makes them unapproachable, or anyone who’s so withdrawn that they become invisible to their classmates. If the anime retains this sense of naturalism, along with the manga’s dorky humor and general good-heartedness, it could end up as one of the year’s best slice of life shows.

Highest Expectations

Ousama Ranking: Yuuki no Takarabako

Studio: Wit Studio
Director: Yousuke Hatta
Series composition: Taku Kishimoto
Source: Web manga

The Premise: 2nd Season of Ousama Ranking.

Lenlo: So I, for the most part, remember Ousama Ranking fondly. The first half remains great, while the second half primarily suffers from the nonsensicalness of its climax. If this new season can fix the whole Daida/Miranjo situation, hopefully by just pushing them to the back seat and letting the much superior Bojji take over the show, then I think it can be successful. After all, it’s not like we need to worry about the production at all. Ousama Ranking has a beautiful art style, and the same team as Season 1 is handling the animation. Keep a healthy schedule, as healthy as you can get nowadays anyway, and Ousama Ranking will probably be one of the best looking shows of its season.

Hell’s Paradise

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Kaori Makita
Series composition: Akira Kindaichi
Source: Manga

The Premise: In Edo period Japan, criminals sentenced are sent to a mysterious island to find the secret to immortality for the Emperor. Succeed, and they are set free. Fail, and their sentence will have been carried out.

Lenlo: I only got into/read Hell’s Paradise last year after learning it was getting an anime adaptation. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it, aside from a few hot guys/girls. I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up getting not just a solid action series with an interesting power system, at least for the villains which is part of what makes it good, but also a legitimately emotional story about damaged people figuring out if life’s worth living. I won’t say Hell’s Paradise is high art, there’s definitely some agonizingly slow moments across the series. But by and large I’m looking forward to what MAPPA can do here. I’m especially interested in the director, Kaori Makita, as this is his first full length project. Hopefully he can take an existing work known for its art style and paneling and find a new voice for it in animation. Of course this being MAPPA I’m a bit concerned for its production health, and the PV doesn’t do a massive amount to alleviate that. But I didn’t see anything too concerning, so I’m still going to look forward to it for now.

Tengoku Daimakyou

Studio: Production I.G
Director: Hirotaka Mori
Series composition: Makoto Fukami
Source: Manga

The Premise: A group of kids are raised by robots inside an idyllic nursery, sealed off from the outside world. Elsewhere, a pair of teenagers wander through the ruins of post-apocalyptic Japan, likely in search of the same nursery.

Wooper: Tengoku Daimakyou, or “Heavenly Delusion,” has a lot to live up to based on the impressive PV that dropped a couple weeks ago. The environmental detail in some of those shots alone makes this anime something to look forward to, never mind the mouth-watering animation and unnerving design work. Series director Hirotaka Mori is a first-timer, but he’s previously taken point on standout installments of shows like Erased and 86, and he’s got an army of veteran art designers and an industry-leading composite director behind him. In short, this show is going to look fantastic. But what about the story? That I’m less sure of, since I read a mere two chapters of the manga, but only because it was so intriguing that I wanted to save any major plot developments for my experience with the anime version. What I know from those two chapters: Tengoku Daimakyou runs two post-apocalyptic storylines in parallel, with at least one character in the first appearing to be a sibling, or even a clone, of a character in the second. Questions about their relationship and the nature of the calamity that befell the outside world will likely power the series’ larger plot. What I know from a bit of googling about the series’ future is more troubling: the manga goes to some seriously dark places, involving suicide and even rape, which I can’t say I’m looking forward to. Still, I’m going to steel myself for whatever Tengoku Daimakyou has in store, because the anime version is shaping up to be virtually unmissable.

Dr. STONE: NEW WORLD

Studio: TMS Entertainment
Director: Shuuhei Matsushita
Series composition: Yuuichirou Kido
Source: Manga

The Premise: The 3rd Season of Dr. STONE, now with boats!

Lenlo: OHAIYOU SEKAI GOOD MORNING WOOOOORLD. I’m ready. I’ve long loved Dr. STONE, which you can no doubt see from my coverage elsewhere on this site. Now admittedly I wasn’t huge on Season 2, but that’s more to do with that being the weakest section of the entire series in my eyes. Dr. STONE is not built for action-y combat. Its strength has always laid in its presentation of technology and the human experience with said technology, what it means to us. Will there still be some combat? Yeah. But by this point in the manga Boichi and Inagaki had figured out a much better way to present the conflict. To me, New World is where Dr. STONE should finally be able to crack the formula and nail that perfect mix of shounen and “Humanity Fuck Yeah”, bringing to the forefront the special spice that’s always made it feel special but never quite lived up to its full potential.

Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury S2

Studio: Sunrise
Director: Hiroshi Kobayashi
Series composition: Ichirou Ookouchi
Source: Original

The Premise: The 2nd Season of Gundam: Mercury, now with war crimes!

Lenlo: I’m going to lay this on out clearly, Gundam: Mercury was my favorite anime from the Fall 2022 season. More than Mob Psycho S3, more than Blue Lock, more than anything else, it was great. So I’m going into this 2nd season with massive expectations. The finale of Season 1 shattered the high-school paradigm that so many were annoyed about, but which I loved, because I knew that Gundam wouldn’t let that stick around. This is a series about giant robots committing genocide and shit, no way highschool lasts. So when the finale proved me right, and shit started going down, I was ready. And I’m still ready. I want my red-headed naive little mech pilot Suletta to commit some more war crimes for the love of her rich girlfriend Miorine. Give me gay giant robot war crimes and I will be happy. That sounds really bad out of context, but I swear to god it was great when I watched it/thought this line up.