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.

Continue reading “Spring 2022 Season Preview” →

Wooper: Let’s be honest with ourselves. This season is going to be remembered for two things: the long-awaited conclusion of Attack on Titan’s TV run, and the continuation of Demon Slayer’s story beyond the material of its record-breaking film. Those two properties will attract nearly as many eyeballs as the rest of this winter’s offerings combined – titanic sequels aside, it’s not looking like the strongest start for 2022 in terms of anime. There’s the usual assortment of isekai and MMO-themed fantasies, a stressful three CloverWorks series airing all at once, and a trio of shows about lesser-known (and in one case, fictional) sports. Personally, none of that really speaks to me – my hopes are pinned on a pair of series that aren’t likely to make waves in otaku circles. One serves as the return of an acclaimed director and master animator after a 14 year hiatus; the other is an adaptation of a batshit insane light novel by a studio handling their first full production. Read on for more thoughts on those and a bunch of other anime, and let us know what you’re looking forward to in the poll below.

Middling Expectations

Hakozume: Koban Joshi no Gyakushuu

Studio: Madhouse
Director: Yuuzou Satou
Series composition: Ryuunosuke Kingetsu
Source: Manga

The Premise: A disillusioned policewoman decides to stay on the force a while longer after meeting her beautiful new boss.

Wooper: Hakozume is destined to draw a lot of comparisons to You’re Under Arrest, the female-led police comedy from the mid-nineties, but having skimmed the manga and watched the PV, I doubt it will have the action focus that YUA did. We’re probably looking at a ‘moving manga’ adaptation here, not on par with 2021’s Way of the Househusband but definitely on the low end of the animation spectrum. Workplace comedies can make do with that sort of stiffness, though, as long as the characters are strong and the stories give insight into the occupation in question (2006’s Hataraki Man is perhaps the ultimate example of that possibility). Policewomen Mai and Seiko may well fulfill that first criterion, as their understated banter will probably be just as fun to hear as it was to read. I’m less sure about the second part, though a large percentage of Hakozume’s civilian population seems to view the cops as a blight on Japanese society, which is something of a unique angle. This series isn’t anywhere near the top of my watchlist for this winter (it’s not on the list at all, to be honest), but it features adults in the real world rather than teens who get transported to a make-believe one, so I figured it was worth a mention.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 Season Preview” →

Wooper: Summer’s barrage of trend-chasing fantasies and midseason disappointments has nearly reached its end, which means it’s time to look ahead to Fall 2021! This is one of the longer previews we’ve written in recent years, owing to some much-needed diversity among this season’s offerings. We’ve got fewer isekai adaptations airing than usual, and more original series (including a cluster of mecha titles that feels like a limited time revival). There are a handful of tentpole shows to ensure mainstream engagement, including new seasons of Kimetsu no Yaiba, 86, and Lupin III, with JoJo Part 6 beginning this December. Vampire fans will be eating (or should I say drinking?) good this fall, with three bloodsucking series to choose from. And there’s potential for an all-time classic in an adaptation of feudal Japanese literature, the first episode of which has already aired. If you’re intrigued by any of the above, read on to see what the upcoming season has in store (and drop your watchlist in the poll below!).

Middling Expectations

Deji Meets Girl

Studio: LIDENFILMS
Director: Ushio Tazawa
Series composition: Akane Marubeni
Source: Original

Short synopsis: An Okinawan hotel receptionist witnesses supernatural happenings after meeting a handsome tourist from Tokyo.

Wooper: I ended up overhyping last season’s “Ore, Tsushima” before learning it was a series of one minute shorts, and I’m not going to make the same mistake twice; I made sure to confirm that Deji Meets Girl had super small episodes before including it in the Fall Preview. There’s something pure about watching a director’s vision boiled down to such short runtimes – less anime bullshit to deal with, probably (unless you’re watching Teekyuu). This new show comes from occasional Makoto Shinkai collaborator Ushio Tazawa, who’s clearly taken some inspiration from his boss if the concept is anything to go by. Girl meets boy and starts to witness supernatural happenings? Sure, I’m down for some light romance paired with weird phenomena. I like the approachable solidity of the character designs (also provided by Tazawa) and the lifelike animation given to ordinary tasks like mopping and using an air pump in the PV. Deji Meets Girl is highly unlikely to imprint itself on the memories of more than a couple hundred people, but it does have a lot more promise than the average anime short, so I’ll happily give it a whirl.

Continue reading “Fall 2021 Season Preview” →

Lenlo: Spring 2021 had a lot of hopes riding on it, from sequels like My Hero Academia S5, Zombieland Saga and the final season of Fruits Basket to new adaptations like Super Cub, To Your Eternity and Shadows House. Even originals got a chance to shine with works like Odd Taxi taking everyone by surprise! Sadly Summer 2021 has none of that and might in fact be one of the emptiest seasons we’ve seen in awhile. Sequels like Higurashi are going unnoticed as the remake appears to have fallen flat, though some might be excited for another season of Slime Isekai. Meanwhile adaptations feel like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel with works like Bokutachi no Remake – the lone hope there perhaps being The Detective is Already Dead. And originals? Well originals are my sole hope for the season as Sonny Boy has me all kinds of excited.

Think I’m being pessimistic? Well read on, take a look and let us know down below what you think is worth keeping an eye out for this summer! You have no idea how much I want you to prove me wrong and point out some good anime to me. Please, I can’t have Throwback Thursday be the only good thing I watch this season.

Middling Expectations

Peach Boy Riverside

Studio: Asahi Production
Director: Shigeru Ueda
Series composition: Keiichirou Oochi
Source: Manga

Mario: The Peach Boy Riverside manga is written by Cool-kyou Shinja, a creator involved in two other adaptations this season: Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon and Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi (though they only did character designs for the latter). Now, if you’re expecting Peach Boy to be in the same domestic comedy style as Maid Dragon or I Can’t Understand What My Husband is Saying, you couldn’t be more off the mark. From the little I’ve read of the manga, this is going to be a straightforward fantasy shounen show with slightly darker and more twisted characters. Asahi Production is not a big studio name, and the same goes for the director, whose first series in the big chair aired just three years ago. Series composer Oochi is more prolific, having written for comedies like Hinamatsuri and dramas like Oregairu’s recent third season. Will he be able to pull from his experience in both of those genres to elevate Peach Boy’s middle of the road source material? The odds aren’t great, but only time will tell.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 Season Preview” →

Armitage: Allow me the opportunity to be the resident hype-monger this time around and say that, in terms of the quality on offer, Spring 2021 is looking to be the biggest season of anime in almost a decade. Which I know sounds like a clickbait-y exaggeration and a notion that gets thrown around every other season just so fans can feel better about the sheer number of shows we end up watching each year and justify it by saying that “s’all good man!”.

But I have personally never subscribed to that notion. I have always held my head up high and never fallen so low as to put an anime season on the pedestal occupied only by the mythical spring seasons of 2007 and 2011. But you know, what?! This time, I’m doing it. And you couldn’t stop me even if you tried! Because this is my intro paragraph! Hmph!!! [composes herself]  Sorry about that. Fell into a tangent there. But yeah, the rest of the writers here on Star-Crossed and I are hella hyped for the upcoming season of anime. And if you’re not, then maybe reading about some of the shows we are looking forward to would help change your mind. Come get a taste of the good stuff!

Middling Expectations

Zombieland Saga: Revenge

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Munehisa Sakai
Series composition: Shigeru Miyakoshi
Source: Original

Mario: Zombieland Saga’s first few episodes got off to a quick start by satirizing both the idol and zombie genres, but then it lost its footing just as quickly by becoming the very thing it poked fun at (and then there’s Koutarou). I certainly don’t think it has enough meat on its bones for a second outing, and while some plots remain open you could just as easily leave them as they are. From the look of the trailer, this second season promises to offer more of the same: shenanigans from the group with some interactions between the idol girls and some character-focused episodes. I’m actually waiting for more backstory for Tae (the one idol who still hasn’t awakened yet). If you’re a fan of the first season then there’s nothing that should stop you here, but others might want to approach it with caution.

Continue reading “Spring 2021 Anime Season Preview” →

Wooper: 2020 may be on its last legs, but the tradition of milking anime franchises to death is still going strong. That’s right ladies and gents, it’s Sequel Time. We’re getting second, third and fourth helpings of some of the most popular series in recent years – so many that we couldn’t cover them all in this preview. Attack on Titan’s ongoing conclusion and Re:Zero S2’s continuation are massive events, of course, but at least one other isekai sequel went unmentioned here, along with a handful of shounen offerings. In their place we’re covering a few original projects, of which there are a surprising number this winter (half of them involve idols, though, so we opted for the other half). As always, we haven’t commented on every new show, but all of them should be listed in the poll below, so let us know what you’re most excited for this winter. Enjoy the rest of your December, and we’ll see you on the other side!

Middling Expectations

Tenkuu Shinpan

Studio: Zero-G
Director: Masahiro Takata
Series composition: Touko Machida
Source: Manga

Mario: As the first output from Netflix’s batch of original anime in 2021, Tenkuu Shinpan looks middling at best. It’s the kind of title that has an intriguing hook but once it wears off there isn’t much beyond it. It’s based on a manga by Tsuina Miura, the creator of Ajin. While I like some aspects of Ajin, here’s the interesting part: Miura actually left the project after the first volume and some fans sarcastically say that his departure is the reason why the manga stays good. The PV looks unintentionally hilarious from what I saw, with a shirtless masked murderer with an axe chasing a girl in broad daylight. Director is a newbie, and the gal handling Series Composition was behind some oddly-paced shows such as 7 Seeds, Runway de Waratte, and Caligula. I won’t hold my breath over this.

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Anime Season Preview” →

Wooper: The arrival of this particular fall season is significant less for the cartoons it’s bringing to our screens, and more as a prelude to the end of this ruinous year. Even for creatures as cloistered as anime fans, pandemics, hurricanes and wildfires easily outrank the new crop of fall series in our general consciousness. Star Crossed hasn’t missed a season preview in years, however, and we’re not about to break our streak now. The all-star sequels like Attack on Titan, Beastars, and Re:Zero S2.5 might not be airing until 2021, but there are still a few shows to look forward to this September. (EDIT: Attack on Titan S4 is now set to premiere on December 7th of this year.) Among them are a nicely-staffed Shounen Jump adaptation, a reboot of an iconic horror anime from the 2000s, and another season of Volleyball Boys, which is always a good thing. You’ll also want to prepare yourself for the appearance of anime’s godliest MC when he returns to television early next month. I’m sure most of you have heard his gospel by now, but if you don’t know which stone-faced power fantasy protag I’m referring to, you’ll have to read on to find out!

MIDDLING EXPECTATIONS

Taiso Samurai

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Hisatoshi Shimizu
Series composition: Shigeru Murakoshi
Source: Original

Wooper: There’s not a lot of info available about this original gymnastics series, but as our resident sports anime guy, it’s high on my list of things to check out this fall. The synopsis actually makes it sound like MAPPA’s attempt to recreate Yuri on Ice, with a fateful encounter changing the course of a flagging athlete’s career. What makes Taiso Samurai stand out is its setting – the story takes place in 2002, and is set to depict a low point in Japanese gymnastics (presumably making the main character’s turnaround that much more impressive). The other reason I’m interested is the horizontal bar animation on display in the PV. It’s obviously rotoscoped, but that doesn’t disqualify it from looking awesome, much like Hanebado did a couple years back. Of course, Hanebado’s mess of a main character wrecked its chances at a gold medal finish, but Taiso Samurai might fare better with the writer of checks notes Zombie Land Saga on board? Ehh, we’ll see how this one shakes out.

Continue reading “Fall 2020 Season Preview” →

Lenlo: Time passes, leaves grow, allergy season fades and first world nations descend into civil war. Yet still my barber is closed due to COVID-19. Hard times, huh? He isn’t the only thing closed though, as studios continue to postpone series, with only 19 new anime airing this season, 6 of which are sequels. But oh, what big sequels they are. We have two of the biggest Isekai currently on the market, the return of literal fire fighters, and everyone’s favorite high school based romantic drama. Needless to say, just because there aren’t many series airing doesn’t mean we will be lacking for good choices. So strap in, as we here at Star Crossed Anime break down the 2020 Summer Season.

ALREADY AIRED

Great Pretender

Studio: Wit
Director: Hiro Kaburagi
Series composition: Ryouta Kosawa
Source: Original

Wooper: What if I told you that fansubbing isn’t dead? This Netflix Japan series made its way online at the start of June, and a whopping 10 episodes have been translated at the time of this writing. I’ve seen only two of them, but they were good enough to make me optimistic about the show’s expected run of 23 episodes. Actually, “good enough” is doing this thing a disservice, so let me rephrase; Great Pretender’s first pair of episodes was an unqualified success. From the hard bop jazz score to the multiple layers of its con artist-centered story, this is a series that never takes its foot off the “style” pedal. Director Hiro Kaburagi has attracted a bunch of the industry’s top talent to the project, including Yuusuke Takeda (of Eccentric Family fame) as art director and Gainax legend Yoshiyuki Sadamoto on character designs. This thing looks and sounds like an absolute dream, and the characters are all career criminals whose banter and one-upmanship give them undeniable personality. Honestly, Great Pretender is the whole package. It’s ten whole packages. And if you’re still on the fence about watching it for some reason, look for its OP and ED on YouTube (the latter of which is performed by Freddie fuckin’ Mercury), and prepare to groove harder than you’ve ever grooved before.

Continue reading “Summer 2020 Season Preview” →