Lenlo: It’s time for another season folks! A bit of a more relaxed one I think, no huge returns like Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach or Mushoku Tensei to take up everyone’s time. More like a bunch of small things for everyone to pick and choose their favorites and just relax, with a few sequels and standouts to spark some conversation. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some worth keeping an eye on however. Dr. STONE and Mahoutsukai no Yome both return to finish off their most recent arcs, while newcomers like Apothecary Diaries and Undead Unluck arrive to try and steal the show. Will they pull it off? We have no way to know just yet. One things for certain though, I’m going to be keeping an eye on them. Curious about what else is airing? Then read on, and see what else caught my eye this season! And if you think there’s something I missed? Make sure to put it in the poll below so everyone can know what you’re watching!

Going to be a Dumpster Fire

Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro

Studio: project No.9
Director: Masayuki Takahashi
Series composition: Hitomi Mieno
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: An Otaku reincarnates as the pet pig of a beautiful innocent girl named Jess. Can she accept a man with the body, and mind, of a pig?

Lenlo: I’m just going to say it, I swear to god if she fucks the pig I’m out. I give up. Not on this show but on anime. I just can’t do it anymore if that happens. Jokes, or not so jokes really, aside… This looks stupid. And not in the Vending Machine Isekai kind of way, which is actually kind of funny in how much it commits to the gag. This just seems like pitiful wish fulfillment for Otakus who somehow think a pig getting stepped on, insulted, or threatened to be cooked is somehow sexy. The only things that make this even worth putting on this list and talking about at all is the presence of Kenichirou Suehiro and Masayuki Takahashi on the staff list. One does some pretty decent music, having worked on stuff like Shadows House and Golden Kamuy. The other meanwhile is the assistant director on the aforementioned Vending Machine Isekai, which means maybe this will be funner than I expected. Personally though? I might not even bother trying it.

Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai

Studio: Passione
Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Series composition: N/A
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: One of the most powerful demon lords in history has been sealed away for a thousand years. When he finally awakens, he is reincarnated as…a 10-year-old boy?! Now under the care of the girl who released him, the demon lord Leonis must navigate the perils of Excalibur Academy!

Lenlo: We’re really going in on the Shouta thing huh? Even the PV has our lead girl immediately bathing with and falling for a 10 year old child while her good friend teases him by lifting her skirt. Let’s be honest, for all of its struggle to prevent itself as some kind of “serious” action show with the lead saving the girls life and some big bad monsters, this is just going to be ecchi-bait. Like hell, look at the author, Yuu Shimizu’s, other works. After-School Bitchcraft? Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance? These are all ecchi! They’re borderline porn! If that’s what you want then awesome, go and have fun. But personally? If I want porn them I’m damn well just going to google some porn, not watch some soft-core shit with poorly rendered CGI monsters!

Middling Expectations

Berserk of Gluttony

Studio: A.C.G.T.
Director: Tetsuya Yanagisawa
Series composition: Mariko Kunisawa
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: Fate Barbatos was born with the skill of gluttony, a hunger he could never fill, and has been shunned his entire life for it. That is until one day when he finally discovers the terrible truth of his skill. Will he succumb to it? And is the world prepared for if he does?

Lenlo: Honestly this looks like a pretty generic MMO RPG fantasy series. Visually the PV doesn’t impress, the staff list is unassuming, and the last notable work by the studio is Kino’s Journey almost 2 decades ago. About the only saving grace Berserk of Gluttony has is that it isn’t an Isekai, for which I am thankful. Well that and the possibility for our lead to legitimately become a villain because of the nature of their unique ability, but I’m pretty confident that won’t actually happen. It’d be interested if it did, Death Note proved a long time ago how compelling it can be to have our lead be a villain, and I mean a legitimate one not that “I’m the bad guy but actually the good guy” shit we get so much of. All in all color me unimpressed by Berserk of Gluttony, but I’ll still keep an eye out just in case.

Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijou

Studio: A-Real
Director: Masahiro Takata
Series composition: N/A
Source: Manga

The Premise: The Witch of the Forest, Alissa, finds a baby out in the woods. Unable to just leave her, Alissa takes this child in and raises her as her own, naming her Viola. However at some point as Viola grows up it starts to become unclear which is the child and which is actually the parent in this relationship.

Lenlo: This seems… Cute? It’s a pretty straight forward situational comedy centered on a girl mature for her age and an adoptive parental figure who never really grew up. Spice it up with some magic shenanigans, other witches, elves and orcs, and you have a recipe for an amusing-ish family comedy. And judging by the PV it looks decently produced as well. Some expressive faces, nice designs, and a broad cast of characters. While it isn’t really my speed, I’m not huge on family comedies with even this season’s Vending Machine Isekai being middling amusement, I think this will probably be a good time for a lot of people. Something light hearted to take the edge off after a long day, not too heavy but still some familial heart. So yeah, keep an eye on it if that sounds like it’s for you.

I’m in Love with the Villainess

Studio: Platinum Vision
Director: Hideaki Ooba
Series composition: Ayumu Hisao
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: Ordinary office worker Oohashi Rei has just woken up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite girls’ otome game, Revolution. To her delight, the first person to greet her is her favorite character, Claire Francois–who just so happens to be the main antagonist of the story. Now, Rei is determined to do what the game never allowed: romance Claire instead of one of the male leads

Lenlo: You know I wasn’t too enthused when I first heard of this one, but right away it has 2, maybe 3, things going for it that pique my interest. Number 1 is the fact that our reincarnated Otaku is actually a woman to begin with, a nice change of pace from the wish-fulfillment sad sack boys we so often see. Number 2 is that, because of number 1, this is actually a straight forward yuri romance from the start. We get a fair amount of yuri-bait, and even our real lesbian relationships like Gundam Mercury get down-played or denied by people because they are bigots, so having it out in the open from the start is nice. And Number 3? The main target is the villain rather than the heroic boys. All these together make Villainess something I’m tentatively paying attention to. If it can nail the first few episodes, I might have some fun with it.

Atarashii Joushi wa Dotennen

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Director: Noriyuki Abe
Series composition: Masahiro Yokotani
Source: Manga

The Premise: 26 year old office worker Kentarou Momose left his previous job due to “power harassment”. How will he handle it when his next boss treats him similarly, not out of malice but rather due to being a complete airhead?

Lenlo: Just like we have Villainous for the yuri loves, Atarashii Joushi seems to exist for the yaoi lovers. Visually it’s nothing impressive, but the designs are nice enough and I like this fading linework. I also appreciate the characters being actual adults working in an office rather than some highschool romance. The real question is whether or not Atarashii Joushi will actually commit to being a male-romance or if it will just toe the line with the comedy, baiting fujoshis (Wow Google Docs recognized this word) along the way. I wager the latter, and thus I’m not terribly interested in it. But hey, maybe it’ll surprise us.

Our Rainy Protocol

Studio: Quad
Director: Yasutaka Yamamoto and Daishi Katou
Series composition: Katsuhiko Takayama
Source: Original

The Premise: A young man quits his passion for gaming to support his family after his fathers death. With the debts piling on he sees a way out through winning a gaming tournament. But can he afford to risk his family’s life on a video-game? And what about those he left behind so long ago?

Lenlo: Welcome to our first original of the Fall Season! I’ll admit, I wasn’t too interested when I first saw the PV. It doesn’t look particularly interesting on that front, with lots of neon lights and generic designs. Still, I’m intrigued by this story. I’d love it if eSports could get some proper respect and a real story out of this. Not just some “I’m a video-game playing Otaku har har” but recognition that this is some people’s livelihoods, that it’s a valid career for those at the top, but that getting to the top is a struggle and many fall along the way. If Rainy Protocol could give me the same feelings that Player did, a show following a fictional League of Legends team fighting for the championship go watch, it’s great, then I would count it as a success. A big ask I know, but dead god would I love it. So for now considering me “aware” of Rainy Protocol.

The Kingdoms of Ruin

Studio: Yokohama Animation Lab
Director: Keitarou Motonaga
Series composition: Takamitsu Kouno
Source: Manga

The Premise: Witches once blessed the human race with wisdom and peace. But the Redia Empire’s “Gear Expansion” brought about a culture of science that far surpassed magic, and witches were viewed as enemies impeding the progress of civilization. Thus began the witch hunts. One human named Adonis, who was raised by a witch named Chloe, swears revenge against the human race that took his beloved mentor from him.

Lenlo: Magic vs Science? Jets and guns vs one sad boi and his magic? I could get into this. Much like I said before, I’m down for anything that presents a lead as a legitimate bad guy. However good his intent, just let our lead legitimately go too far in his quest for revenge. And from the looks of the PV, that’s exactly what Kingdoms of Ruin is going to give me. Now sure, the Kingdoms of Ruin’s pedigree isn’t exactly sparkling, it’s being made by the Miru Tights people. But the director did Katanagatari, which gives me hope it’ll do at least a few interesting things during its run. My major concern is whether or not it can ride that line between pointless edge and legitimate tragedy. Right now I’m not too sure where it will go, we only have the one PV. But I’m at least going to keep my eye on it during First Impressions.

The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess

Studio: project No.9
Director: Tatsuma Minamikawa
Series composition: Keiichirou Oochi
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: A loli shut-in vampire is appointed as the commander for a roughhousing squad of belligerents. Will this recluse be able to blunder her way to success? Or will court machinations spell the end for our vampire NEET?

Lenlo: Shut-In Vampire seems at odds with itself. From the synopsis you would think it’s a situational comedy about a cute girl getting forced to go outside, a lighthearted thing. Yet the PV paints it as some kind of court intrigue with murder, abuse and regular vampire bloodsucking shenanigans. Personally, the latter sounds more appealing. But at this stage it’s hard to figure out which is the real show. Hopefully the premier will clear some things up.

Hoshikuzu Telepath

Studio: Studio Gokumi
Director: Kaori
Series composition: Natsuko Takahashi
Source: Manga

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

Lenlo: Ok so this is ET but with cute socially awkward girls. It seems light hearted and cute enough, just a bunch of girls hanging out and making toy rockets and shit. The exact sort of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things thing I personally find boring but I know many others find wholesome and heartening. It seems like the director, Kaori, has some experience here to, having directed ENDRO!, Quints S2 and some episodes of Yama no Susume. If that’s what you’re looking for than I think you could do a lot worse than Hoshikuzu Telepath this season. Just remember: The Yuri tag isn’t serious, this isn’t a romance, don’t go into it expecting anything meaningful on that front or you’ll get burned.

KamiErabi GOD.app

Studio: UNEND
Director: Hiroyuki Seshita
Series composition: Jin
Source: Original

The Premise: Another one of Yoko Taro’s wild rides.

Lenlo: The PV for KamiErabi does not look good. The CGI is bare bones with everything looking plastic, the setting is a stereotypical highschool thing, even the on-screen text looks like it’s in freaking Calibri or something. Everything about KamiErabi just screams “I’m a Persona knockoff”. The only thing catching my attention whatsoever is Yoko Taro being credited for the original plan. Even that comes with a caveat however, as “Original Plan” is different from “Script” and “Series Composition”. I suspect this is going to be a RWBY: Ice Queendom situation with Gen Urobuchi where they tack on a famous writer’s name in some capacity to generate buzz but they actually aren’t all that involved. Hopefully that isn’t the case, hopefully the first episode proves me wrong. But I’m expecting very little from KamiErabi at this moment.

Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective

Studio: diomedéa
Director: Shouta Ibata
Series composition: Wataru Watari
Source: Manga

The Premise: Ron Kamonohashi, a private investigator with serious issues, and Totomaru Ishiki, a pure-hearted but dim police detective, team up to solve the most baffling mysteries!

Lenlo: Looks like a pretty standard Sherlock Holmes style “Eccentric detective and dimwitted companion solve crimes” style show. This is a dynamic we’ve seen a lot of, and like usual it’s going to come down to the chemistry of our two leads. If they bounce off of each other well, have an interesting relationship, than they can make even the most boring of mysteries engaging. Just look at Aya and Tsugaru from Summer’s Undead Murder Farce. And judging by the author, Akira Amano’s, past works such as Hitman Reborn! and eIDLIVE, I don’t have much hope in the mysteries themselves being interesting. Maybe Watari, the author for My Teen Romantic Comedy who is helping with the script, can tighten up some stuff and make the character interactions work. I think he’s actually pretty good at that. But for now at least I’m hesitantly curious about Ron Kamonohashi, I don’t have a lot of faith in it to be legitimately interesting.

Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me

Studio: ENGI
Director: Hideaki Ooba
Series composition: Hiroko Fukuda
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: A social outcast and the school prima donna end up going on a date because he lost a bet and she had nothing better to do, a romance classic.

Lenlo: This is pretty straight forward manic pixie dream girl wish fulfillment fair. The social outcast looks perfectly normal, only being considered “weird” because the show told us so. Meanwhile the girl is a big-titty blonde that falls for his milquetoast personality for absolutely no reason at all. The only reason I’m even giving this a chance is because I’m still suffering from My Dress-Up Darling withdrawal and the idea is similar enough. Still I don’t expect much of anything from Our Dating Story. Maybe, maybe, it can find some real heart if it explores peer groups and social classes ala The Breakfast Club. But that’s a long shot if I’ve ever heard one.

Mahoutsukai no Yome SEASON 2 Part 2

Studio: Studio Kafka
Director: Kazuaki Terasawa
Series composition: Aya Takaha, Youko Yonaiyama, Chiaki Nishinaka
Source: Manga

The Premise: Part 2 of Season 2 of Mahoutsukai no Yome.

Lenlo: Mahoutsukai no Yome is in such a weird place for me. Somehow the school-based Harry Potter stuff from last season was better than I expected while the actual external plot/threats such as that one creepy grandma, Chise slowly succumbing to her curses and the random assassins, weren’t all that interesting. I don’t know how that happened, maybe Mahoutsukai no Yome just can’t handle that kind of tone well, I don’t know. Whatever the case, that’s not a good thing as it appears that Part 2 is going to focus heavily on that same central plot stuff. If that’s what you’re looking for then great, I think you’re about to get a whole season of it. But for me, I’m going to miss the casual interactions Elias and Chise had before everything went to shit. Hopefully this season can still give me some of that.

MF GHOST

Studio: Felix Film
Director: Toshihito Naka
Series composition: Kenichi Yamashita
Source: Manga

The Premise: Initial D but against/with Self-Driving cars. Who is the better racer, man or AI?!

Lenlo: GAS GAS GAS. I’ll be honest, I’m watching this almost entirely for the chance of some absolutely wild Eurobeat tracks. The actual driving still looks like a CGI mess, and I’ll admit complete ignorance as to Initial-D’s story. As the self-titled successor to Initial-D though this may be a good place to get into the series for people looking for a racing anime. The director, Toshihito Naka, has been working on the series since the early 2010’s so he should have some idea what Initial-D is meant to feel like. And from what I’ve heard the series has always been one to really respect racing as a sport. So yeah, this will probably be my introduction to the Initial-D scene. Hopefully its fun!

A Girl & Her Guard Dog

Studio: project No.9
Director: Yoshihiro Takamoto
Series composition: Aya Satsuki
Source: Manga

The Premise: A 15-year old daughter of a crime syndicate goes to a country school to try and have a normal life. The overprotected 26-year old young leader of said crime syndicate lies about his age, enrolls and comes with her, ready to scare off all the boys.

Lenlo: Does… Does this premise sound creepy to anyone else? The guy is a decade older than her, she’s 15, he’s a mob-boss, this is a highschool. This sounds like grooming! This is like the most concerning version of Age-Gap romance out there! Does this bother no one?! The guy knew her when she was a child! Hell he even joins as a teacher, further pushing that weird power dynamic. Like the romance itself seems cute and slow burn, the designs have that long neck, tall body sort of structure I really enjoy. And putting a Yakuza in a highschool has been a good idea ever since Great Teacher Onizuka did it. It’s just… I can’t get over this 11 year age gap and how absolutely weird it is. I think that’s probably going to break this show for me, but I’ll at least give it a shot and see if I’m just overreacting.

Shangri-La Frontier

Studio: C2C
Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka
Series composition: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Source: Manga

The Premise: In a world of VR games those that still use display screens are looked down on. But some hunt those games specifically, looking to clear them all. Shangri-La Frontier, an MMO with 30 million players, is the next such game for Rakuro Hizutome!

Lenlo: I mean… What is there to say? It’s an MMO isekai light style thing. The only thing to really catch my interest is the sheer energy of the PV. The way the names get announced, the visuals, it just seems like they are having fun with it. No overly serious plot about saving the world, no “If I don’t clear this my family goes into debt”. Just some people playing a game and having fun, with the staff and VAs doing the same. Maybe that isn’t representative of the entire show, but it’s enough to get its foot in the door and make me check it out. Hopefully it can keep that energy up throughout its entire run. I’d like to have at least one “For fun” show this season.

Under Ninja

Studio: Tezuka Productions
Director: Satoshi Kuwabara
Series composition: Keiichirou Oochi
Source: Manga

The Premise: Even in this day and age, Ninjas walk among us, hide within plain sight, still waiting for their mission orders. However, for some, it takes much longer to receive orders than others! Meet Kumogakure Kurou, a NEET and a Ninja. After being a long time without work, he finally receives orders from the higher ups!

Lenlo: Jesus some of these CG soldiers look like PS2 era renders. If nothing else it’s clear Under Ninja won’t be a visual powerhouse. It’s really going to live or die by the wackiness of its setting I think. Will it embrace the idea of a NEET Ninja who waited too long to get their orders and is out of practice? Or will it go super serious and ignore the absurdity of it all? Personally I don’t think we have to worry too much about that. The PV has plenty of small jokes, dudes wearing bras, female ninjas with silly face paint, that sort of thing. Under Ninja feels like one of those One Punch Man style “The characters taking it seriously is part of the joke” sort of shows. Hopefully that proves true, because I could have some fun with that.

Ragna Crimson

Studio: SILVER LINK
Director: Ken Takahashi
Series composition: Hitomi Mieno
Source: Manga

The Premise: Dragons reign terror over the earth, sea and sky. If sworn dragon hunters like Ragna are to have any hope of dealing death to these seemingly invincible, fire-breathing beasts, they must find a way to level the odds. Ragna teams up with a mysterious man named Crimson who has likewise sworn to stand against the dragons menacing the world. But although Crimson’s motivations may be mysterious, his goal and Ragna’s perfectly align, and together they’ll fight to vanquish the dragons once and for all.

Lenlo: Not much to say about Ragna Crimson. It looks like a fun little action romp that will live or die by how engaging its action is. I’m a little curious just because I feel like I’ve heard the name a lot, making me think it has a bit of an existing fanbase. Some of the designs from the PV look pretty interesting too, making me hopeful. Overall though it looks like a pretty standard action series.

Shows We’re Anticipating

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

Studio: TYPHOON GRAPHICS
Director: Takeshi Mori and Naoki Murata
Series composition: Yuuichirou Momose
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: An S-ranked adventurer takes an arrow to the knee, adopts a child he found in the woods, and raises her as his own until the day she becomes an S-rank herself. And now, after all those travels? She just wants to visit her father again.

Lenlo: What immediately strikes me about Left the Nest are the character designs. On first glance, and in still shots, they don’t seem like much. But just in this PV we got a lot of great faces and reactions, great full body emotions, that really caught my eye. I have no idea if it’ll be any good, the PV and synopsis don’t reveal much. Is this about a girl journeying to see her father again, with seeing him the end goal? Or does she get home right away and then the two go out on an adventure together? Or maybe he tries to find her as she’s caught up in all of this madness? I don’t know! Some are better than others, and whatever it does I hope it plays up the family aspect of the narrative. For now though I’d say it’s caught my attention in a way few other non-sequels have.

Goblin Slayer Season 2

Studio: Lidenfilms
Director: Takaharu Ozaki and Misato Takada
Series composition: Hideyuki Kurata
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: Season 2 of Goblin Slayer.

Lenlo: Goblin Slayer is a weird one. I’m almost certainly going to be watching it, because it generally has some good action scenes and this whole idea of a terminator dedicating his life to screwing over one particular kind of monster is amusing. The way Goblin Slayer approaches combat has, generally, been more technical than a lot of other fantasy series, using stuff like traps and the environment. At the same time though… It’s predilection for rape, sexual assault, the treatment of female characters, and general edginess is… Well it leaves a lot to be desired. If this season can pull back some some of the stupid pre-teen edge it had in Season 1, while focusing on the actual action and fun premise of Doom Guy dedicating his entire life to killing goblins, then I think Goblin Slayer will actually be a good time. But that’s a damn big “if”. Either way though, I’m certainly watching it, so it at least deserves to be placed this high.

Migi to Dali

Studio: CompTown and GEEKTOYS
Director: Mankyuu
Series composition: Mankyuu
Source: Manga

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

Lenlo: Migi to Dali is sort of my “Hidden Gem” of the season. There’s a sort of odd horror to the whole thing, something not even the PV is giving up too much on. The idea of a pair of twins hiding each other’s existence from the house, using that to get around and do things they otherwise couldn’t, is interesting. If it leans more towards actual horror and not just silly pranks, like hotsauce and such, then I think Migi to Dali could be a darkhorse of the season. However if it’s more of a jokey sort of revenge then I’ll be very disappointed.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – ADDED IN EDIT

Studio: MADHOUSE
Director: Keiichirou Saitou
Series composition: Tomohiro Suzuki
Source: Manga

The Premise: The Demon King has been defeated and the heroes return to a peaceful land with their entire lives before them! But for some members that life is longer than others. How will Frieren, an Elf Mage, handle the slow deaths of all those she holds dear, all the while she never seems to age a day?

Lenlo: So this is a late one, mostly because for some reason I thought this was happening in Winter 2024. My screwups aside, Frieren looks good. I’m automatically wary of anything with a high-fantasy bend, just because I can’t trust anime to play that straight after being betrayed so many times. Still, the idea of what happens after the grand adventure is really interesting to me. Not many series really explore what the different lifespans of fantasy races do to their relationships, and the ones that due are typically pretty good. Add on to that MADHOUSE and the Bocchi the Rock director and I think Frieren has all the makings of a strong contender this season. As for why it’s not higher up on the list, mostly ignorance of the source material. I want to give it an episode one to really get to know it and see if it’s going to be able to nail the right emotions. So consider it “On my radar”. It was on my radar for Winter 2024 but well… Apparently I can’t read lists properly.

SPY x FAMILY Season 2

Studio: Wit Studio and Cloverworks
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Series composition: Ichirou Ookouchi
Source: Manga

The Premise: Season 2 of SpyXFamily

Lenlo: Look you all know about SpyXFamily at this point. Telepath, spy and assassin form a family together and get up to hijinks. It’s generally well produced, well shot, and on average it’s probably going to be a good time. So why is it down here in “Anticipating” and not “Highest Expectations”? Simply put, SpyXFamily has a great average but not so great highs for me. Unless Yor gets some more focus, gets to be a character instead of relegated to background female cast member, and the actual “Spy” plot gets some more attention, then this is mostly going to be the Anya show. And while the Anya show is fun, I wouldn’t call it particularly memorable or affecting. Hopefully that changes, hopefully this season is nothing but a step up in every way. But I’m not convinced and the PV reveals basically nothing, so for now it goes here.

Highest Expectations

Dr. STONE: NEW WORLD Part 2

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

The Premise: Part 2 of Season 3 of Dr. STONE

Lenlo: Part 1 of Season 3 was a big success in my eyes, Dr. STONE pivoted from action to science-based conflict really well. It also started working towards the actual plot, the whole petrification beam and such, for the first time in years. It wasn’t perfect but it was still a great time. And I think this Part 2 will do even better, as the stakes are already established and we can jump into the conflict right away. There will probably be some bumps along the way as Dr. STONE continues to struggle with action/combat, it’s just never been a well animated series, but I’m confident it can still make them interesting as it focuses more on how science can support the fights rather than the fights themselves. Suffice to say, I’m looking forward to this one.

The Apothecary Diaries

Studio: TOHO animation STUDIO and OLM
Director: Norihiro Naganuma
Series composition: Norihiro Naganuma
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!

Lenlo: I’ma be real, Maomao is girl of the season and she hasn’t even aired yet. I remember reading this a while back and everything about Kusuriya, from the court intrigue and politics to Maomao’s navigation of them and dodging of romance, was done so well. The only concern I had when I heard it was getting an adaptation was whether or not the production could live up to the beautiful art and direction of the manga version, which solidified a lot of the designs for the series. And while the PV is short, not giving us much, so far at least I think it looks good. Nice colors, nothing to garish, pretty standard “moe” style with the big eyes but it seems to know when to change the detail in a shot. Plus Kevin Penkin is doing the OST, and the guys pretty damn good. All in all this is shaping up to be a joy to watch.

Undead Unluck

Studio: David Production
Director: Yuuki Yase
Series composition: Gakuto Haishima
Source: Manga

The Premise: A man unable to die and a woman with the worst luck imaginable set off on a journey to fulfill their respective dreams: To die and find a boyfriend. In the process they get caught up in a conflict with the fate of the world on the line.

Lenlo: Undead Unluck is a really, really weird show. Not in its subject matter, though that’s weird too, but rather in its history. The original manga started… Not well. As if the author had no idea what they wanted the series to actually be. And because of this it suffered for like… a good 20 chapters. But as it continued, as more and more chapters came out, it became more and more confident in what it was. The story got more focused, the characters more nuanced and interesting, the conflicts more engaging, until it became one of my favorite series currently publishing in Jump. Seriously, it looks like a jokey Shounen romp, but I teared up for some of these characters!. But that’s the issue for this adaptation. Will it start off with the same rocky foundations, wasting 5-6 episodes on content everyone knows is mediocre? Or will this team be able to take what the author learned and skip over all the weird sexual jokes and poorly thought out plot? If Undead Unluck can do that, can either skip or update that material, then we might be looking at an anime of the season contender. And if it can’t? Well… Maybe David Productions and Yuuki Yase can give us a fun action romp at least.