Wooper: Thanks for clicking on what may be Star Crossed Anime’s shortest season preview ever! We’ve got just one author handling things this time, and he is looking forward to shockingly few shows this winter. Of the dozen sequels that will begin airing in January, none of them are of interest to me; only one two of the eight nine upcoming isekai series look remotely watchable; and all the school-based rom-coms seem bound for the dustbin of anime history. These opinions stem in part from my time-weathered perspective as a fan, so maybe you readers can salvage my early 2025 by voting for some gems in our quarterly poll, which you’ll find at the end of this post. And hey, if the season turns out to be truly irredeemable, there’s always our backlogs to work on!

Middling Expectations

Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan

Studio: Ajia-do
Director: Tetsuya Takeuchi
Series composition: Shingo Irie
Source: Manga

The Premise: A middle-aged civil servant is reborn as the villainess of an otome game his daughter used to play.

As mentioned above, there are nine isekai anime airing this season, but “From Bureaucrat to Villainess” is one of only two that interest me. Rather than some high school loser, the subject of its reincarnation plot is a 52 year old man, and what’s more, he’s trapped in the body of a teenage girl, whose previously arrogant reputation he works to reverse upon his rebirth. I haven’t sampled the manga, but it seems clear from the PV that all the usual otome trappings will appear here: a student council full of beautiful boys (all of whom will fall in love with the newly possessed villainess), a kindly but not particularly charismatic heroine, the aforementioned villainess sporting massive blonde ringlets, etc. Whether or not the comedy of the protagonist’s body/mind mismatch amuses me, I’ll still be interested due to the involvement of director Tetsuya Takeuchi, who’s played critical roles on recent series like Hinamatsuri and Tengoku Daimakyou. This is his first time heading up a TV anime, but he previously occupied the director’s chair on the Yuri Seijin Naoko-san OVAs from the early 2010s, which are still revered in Japan for their ambitious animation. My guess is that Takeuchi’s name has enough pull to attract a solid team for Akuyaku Reijou’s production, so I look forward to some visual flourishes here and there in the opening episodes.

Baban Baban Ban Vampire

Studio: Gaina
Director: Itsurou Kawasaki
Series composition: Itsurou Kawasaki
Source: Manga

The Premise: A vampire employed at a public bathhouse strives to protect the virginity of the bathhouse owner’s teenage son.

Studio Gaina hasn’t produced one work of note since its establishment in 2015 (under the name Fukushima Gainax), and I’m under no illusion that Baban Baban Ban Vampire will snap their losing streak. The title, poster, and premise have conspired to earn my attention, however, so onto the season preview it goes. A vampire protecting a target’s “purity” until they reach adulthood can hardly be called a fresh concept, but if executed with a satirical slant, it could be a funny one, and a quick perusal of the manga’s first chapter indicates that this series doesn’t take itself seriously. The central character is open about his vampirism, but his employers at the bathhouse don’t believe him – nor do they buy his claims of having met (and possibly killed) Oda Nobunaga, Osamu Dazai, and Kurt Cobain over the course of his nearly 500 year lifespan. The BL element also seems to be comedic in nature, with Mr. Vampire getting a Hisoka-style boner while imagining the delicious blood of the bathhouse owner’s 15 year old son. No doubt most of you who just read that sentence just crossed this show off your to-watch list, but depending on its direction, I think there’s room for BBBV to provide some amusement before it hits one of the dozen landmines it’s laid out for itself.

Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku

Studio: Bind
Director: Ayumu Uwano
Series composition: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Source: Manga

The Premise: A teenage girl who loves reading to children is convinced to join her tiny island high school’s broadcasting club.

The most promising thing about this show, at least in my mind, is that the source manga’s story was written by Ayano Takeda, who also penned the Hibike Euphonium novels. That’s no guarantee that Hanashura (“Flower and Asura”) will be worth a watch, of course – it’s a school club show, and those are hit and miss – but at least it comes from an author with a real interest in human drama. The first PV reflects that interest nicely, with an emotional reading from the main cast member, plus a piano-forward musical accompaniment and an abundance of evocative symbolism (including a mass of vines that restrain the reader as she struggles to break free). I’m also curious about how the small scale setting will factor into the story – perhaps the club will eventually broadcast to the mainland, prompting faraway listeners to visit the island and help revitalize their economy? This will be my first Studio Bind anime, and while their other TV work has been too risque for my tastes, they certainly have a reputation as a strong production house, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they (and first time director Ayumu Uwano) can do.

Honey Lemon Soda

Studio: J.C. Staff
Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori
Series composition: Akiko Waba
Source: Manga

The Premise: A high school wallflower falls for a popular classmate after he accidentally soaks her with his soft drink.

There are a handful of shounen-oriented romcoms airing this season, but I’m not previewing any of them because their premises are overly familiar: two high schoolers get married in secret, cute girl tries to amuse stoic classmate, boy crushes on girl with difficult dialect, etc. So why am I bothering to draw attention to Honey Lemon Soda, which looks to be a by the numbers shoujo romance? Good question – to be honest, I don’t really have an answer. As a shoujo fan, I’m just hoping for it to be better than Hananoi-kun, that underwhelming entry in the same subgenre from last spring. The schlocky boy band soundtrack in Lemon Soda’s second PV, combined with the female lead’s instantaneous adoration of her protective crush (whom she declares to be “everything to her”), have me doubting that the show will survive my weekly rotation. Veteran director Nishikiori is well and truly over the hill, compounding my cloudy outlook. Still, as long as the audience response is sufficient to keep the demand for shoujo adaptations alive, I’ll be satisfied.

Sorairo Utility

Studio: Yostar Pictures
Director: Kengo Saitou
Series composition: Yuu Satou
Source: Original

The Premise: A high school girl gets into golf in an attempt to stand out from the crowd.

Like last season’s Mecha-Ude, Sorairo Utility began life as a one-shot OVA before making the jump to a twelve-shot series. Having seen that standalone episode, I can tell you… basically nothing that you couldn’t already glean from the show’s promotional material. We’re dealing with cute girls hitting cute balls here, with an emphasis on the two older girls’ golf education of the younger protagonist (she’s the scribbly-eyed one pictured above). I like both sports shows and shows that center female friendship, so I’m down to give this one a try, though the OVA was quite lightweight in its presentation, needing multiple montages to get through its 15 scant minutes, so I’m not expecting a whole lot from the TV version. First time director Kengo Saitou has a background with Studio Trigger, though, so maybe he’ll make a few calls to talented buddies of his during the series’ production? Then again, that seems like too big an ask, so I’ll settle for improved 3DCG golf balls during the long drive shots.

Sequel Showcase

Top left: The Apothecary Diaries
Top right: My Happy Marriage
Bottom left: Solo Leveling
Bottom right: Dr. Stone: Science Future

The Premise: Did you love these anime the first time around? If so, here’s more. If not, too bad!

There’s no point in pretending that I know anything about the upcoming seasons of these four anime. I watched a full 24 episode order of Dr. Stone when it first came out, but having missed multiple arcs since then, the series’ tech has surely progressed far beyond that of my stopping point. Apothecary Diaries fell off my watchlist precisely halfway through its first season, and based on the sequel’s PV, it doesn’t look like the status quo has changed much since then. (I know Amun will be watching, though, since he was sufficiently enamored with season 1 to push it onto our Top 10 list for 2023.) As for the other two shows pictured above, I watched a single episode of each and dipped, though I’m glad they’re getting continuations, since their demographics are so different that many fans will enjoy one or the other. I also want to mention the new installment in the off-the-wall Aquarion mecha franchise, subtitled “Myth of Emotions” – I was originally planning to preview it, but the super-deformed character designs put me off that idea. I’ll still watch the premiere to see what it’s all about, but given the show’s visual style, I doubt it’s interested in replicating the dumb fun of something like Aquarion EVOL.

 

Shows We’re Anticipating

Sakamoto Days

Studio: TMS Entertainment
Director: Masaki Watanabe
Series composition: Taku Kishimoto
Source: Manga

The Premise: After settling down as a family man and convenience store manager, a legendary former hitman must avoid getting sucked back into the criminal underworld.

There’s a fair bit of negativity surrounding this adaptation, despite Sakamoto Days being a well-liked Shounen Jump property. The Japanese comments under the most recent trailer, for example, bemoan its lack of impressive cuts, forecasting an “ordinary and boring” anime despite the source material’s “interesting and attractive action scenes.” Similarly pessimistic comments can be found on English language boards, but surely there will be a major comedic component to the show, given its ‘assassin works at the local conbini’ premise, right? If so, perhaps unspectacular visuals will be able to carry it for a while – I certainly hope so, since this season has few other watchable prospects. Looking closer at the PV linked above, it’s the compositing that has me scratching my head, rather than a dearth of sakuga; the off-balance color gradation and ugly texture filter used for shadows make me think I’ll be disappointed for a different reason than the fans with Jujutsu Kaisen-sized expectations. I’ve dealt with hundreds of goofy post-processing choices in plenty of prior series, though, so I’m choosing to approach Sakamoto Days’ premiere with positivity. If it truly ends up being hamstrung by “ordinary and boring” animation, feel free to rub my nose in it.

 

Highest Expectations

Zenshuu

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Mitsue Yamazaki
Series composition: Kimiko Ueno
Source: Original

The Premise: An up-and-coming anime director dies and is reincarnated in the world of her favorite animated film.

When information about Zenshuu first made its way online, the show’s (rather ordinary) synopsis made it seem like a Shirobako-esque peek behind the anime industry curtain. The first PV supported this reading, featuring an unsociable director taking on far too much work in the production of an animated film. Then the second trailer dropped, and the director character was nowhere to be seen – instead, we got footage from an in-universe fantasy movie with a sword-wielding hero, epic choral music, and monsters aplenty. Select scenes from this fictional film could be glimpsed in the first PV, but the reason for the sudden shift in focus still wasn’t clear – until the third PV, when Zenshuu laid its cards on the table. What we have here is an isekai series (hence the “edit” to this post’s opening paragraph) where the protagonist is an anime director rather than a teenage loner or a comedically ill-suited candidate for reincarnation. And it seems as though, by using her drawing expertise, our heroine has the ability to alter the film within whose plot she’s now living, which is a promising plot device. As far as the show’s production goes, there are morsels of mouthwatering animation on display across its multiple trailers, and art director Akio Shimada’s affiliation with Studio Pablo means the backgrounds ought to be top notch. I’ve enjoyed some of series director Mitsue Yamazaki’s output over the past decade, as well (most notably Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Maou-jou de Oyasumi), so Zenshuu is my number one pick for the winter season.

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