Time keeps moving along and another fresh season of anime is ahead of us. Summer has been an interesting ride in how I’ve whittled down the shows I’ve been watching to a handful. It hasn’t been a powerhouse season, but the good ones have definitely been worth following. For better or worse my slate is going to be extremely clean going into the fall season. Boku no Hero has wrapped up a somewhat tumultuous season. While at the same time I really enjoyed covering Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu and Kobayashi-san. Those latter two I’ll definitely be missing while moving into the fall season.

As a whole I’d say the Summer season wasn’t overly strong. But that is how it goes sometimes. Not every season is going to blow you away. Thankfully a new season allows for all sorts of possibilities. Hopefully I’ll be able to dive in happily with shows that I’m completely sold on. Fall is usually a pretty big season along with spring. If anything is going to allow the year to finish strong it should be the shows we’re getting in the next few months.

As always the preview will be referring to information listed on LiveChart and AniChart. This certainly won’t be a comprehensive preview of what is coming up. It will just be a list of the shows I’m interested in. As always everyone can feel free to talk about the shows they are hyped about even if I don’t mention them here. And there will definitely be shows I don’t know that much about their source material so any discussion on what can be expected there (minus spoilers) sounds good to me.

Series of High Interest

These are the shows I’m the most hyped to see. Odds are that is either because I’m familiar enough with a previous season/source material or just because the previews and summaries look really good. If these don’t turn out to be good that will be rather disappointing.

I’ve seen some shows push the limit of what a title should be. But I’d say this one takes the cake. Regardless of the title, I am quite interested in this one. The setup is refreshing in a way. This guy was totally ready to do his part on a heroic journey. But he just couldn’t keep up and was effectively tossed aside. We’ll see exactly how that ended up playing out in the show itself. But either way I like the idea of this guy having to find something to do with himself after he couldn’t keep going on that journey. The PV was pretty nice and I’d say the main girl seems likable. Not like they aren’t making a good mark on the world either. This should be a nice and comfortable show.

The second season absolutely restored by interest in this franchise. The original season was alright, but it had some real ups and downs. There was a real step up with the second season to give a more concise season that was of higher quality. I fully expect an action packed season coming our way. Things were just getting exciting when the season ended. The challenge is picking up for Osamu and company to reach their goal. Whether they can get there or not is going to be worth seeing. It will likely be another single cour season, but that is fine. If they can bring the same high quality to each episode that will make it worth it.

Jojo is back for another ride. No complaints there as the franchise has overall been a really good one. It has some oddities in terms of the comedy and some moments are hit or miss. But overall I’ve enjoyed following the adaptations to this point. It should be fun to see how this one plays out. The setting seems good and intense. No complaints either about changing things up with a female protagonist this time around. We’ve even got Jotaro along for the ride so it isn’t as if it is only a bunch of fresh faces. If nothing else we can be guaranteed some excellent action this fall season.

There’s no way I’d avoid talking about this one. I’ve waited my whole anime watching life for a hockey anime. Well maybe I haven’t been waiting that intensely since I never believed they’d actually make one. Hockey is kind of a tricky sport to cover. The team sizes are pretty large (although baseball tends to make it work) and it isn’t exactly a sport I imagine is hugely popular in Japan. Bare minimum the cast has to be 6 just to cover the basic positions for a single line (three forwards, two defense, and one goalie). What gives me real hope for this show though is the tone from the previews. It actually feels like a sports drama. I would have been happy enough with just a simple anime just because it could open the door for hockey a bit. But this could be legitimately good. I’m definitely excited.

Series of Moderate Interest

Now to the shows I’m somewhat excited for. While not as excited about these as the category above, I’m still pretty interested in watching these. Some have intriguing premises that if done right could make for great shows. While some have source materials that I’m sort of familiar with, but not extremely interested in. Some of these could easily turn into my favorites. That uncertainty factor can turn into a positive surprise.

This makes me think of Natsume Yuujinchou in some ways. Just if Natsume had to keep pretending he couldn’t see what he could see. The situation Miko is in certainly can’t be understated. Being able to see shocking things that no one else can would make life rather difficult. All the more so depending on how problematic the spirits themselves actually are. Of course this is looking to be more comedy than drama. So I’m guessing things won’t be all that dangerous. The key will be the comedy. But I’m feeling pretty positive about it.

It’s nice to see this show coming back. It wasn’t one of my favorites of all time, but I have good memories of the first season. A pretty straight forward episodic show where each one focuses on different denizens of another world stopping by this Earth restaurant to be blown away by the food. There were some nice reveals about the chef which surprised me. But overall I just liked the little things like Aletta finding her place in the world or Kuro getting comfortable around others after such an isolated existence. It won’t be my top show of the season. But I expect to enjoy seeing what new characters are added to the mix.

I just have a feeling this will be a rather cute show. A pretty wish-fulfillment type of situation, but one that can definitely play out well. You have this main girl who has all this popularity from appearing aloof, but she just wants to make actual friends. Too awkward to do it herself and so needs a bit of help. Things could play out in a pretty enjoyable way. Be it the likely awkward budding romance between the leads or just seeing how well Komi can actually break out of her awkward shell and build legitimate friendships. Feeling isolated sucks and it’d be nice to see her a great deal happier by the end of this show than she’s likely starting it. Throw in some laughs and it might be a great deal better than I’m expecting.

For an original show this seems like a pretty fun concept. An invasion by an alternate timeline is actually kind of interesting. Makes me think of Star Trek a bit although I’m sure other franchises have covered this kind of thing. It allows for an interesting kind of rebellion story. Japan vs another version of Japan. I suppose this could technically be more of a global issue since a hyper advanced and aggressive Japan is moving into their dimension, but I suspect this will be a pretty focused story. But so far I like the character designs and the setting. So hopefully it will turn out to be an enjoyable series.

You can sign me up for more mecha series being made. All the more so since we’re talking about Sunrise who can certainly make some good ones. Kind of ironic that this isn’t the only series this season with Japan being invaded and conquered. But I suppose that one isn’t exactly unique as a whole. I think the potential is pretty good here. The cutesy AI being part of the picture is certainly a different way to go about it. But it makes sense with machines like these having that kind of extra support. No complaints about jumping into a kind of “fight for freedom” series with mechs being the main vehicles for that battle. I really hope this is good.

If there is any show that I’ve got mixed feelings about it would be this one. This show can be awesome and impactful. But in a sense it reminds me of the general idea of a sequel to Higurashi. Nothing good happens to the characters in this show. These characters tend to go through a physical or emotional hell each time something happens. The action will be great, but I can fully expect to be hit with emotional gut punches along the way. Fingers crossed it isn’t as painful a ride for them. Even if I expect they’ll have a very difficult time.

This might seriously be the season of mecha. And yet again we’re talking about invasions on Earth. But this time it is just straight up alien horrors. This isn’t the first Muv-Luv anime so the kind of threat posed by the BETA is pretty well understood. Here is another show that I expect to be rather emotional and possibly gruesome at times. But I’m definitely up for more mecha series to be made since it is a genre that deserves more love. Only have a general idea of what to expect from the summary. But what I’ve seen from the trailers appears good so far.

The setup for this show honestly got my attention pretty quickly. Not exactly a common thing to have a father/daughter combo doing anything together in anime. Parents are often a hindrance to adventure and are often either absent or killed off. Nothing wrong either with this kind of distant future series. It seems like the kind of series that could be a definite hit if things come together right. A family partnership trying to seek out the truth and picking up a rather dangerous occupation in the process. Plus considering my love for Symphogear I’m definitely willing to give Satelight a chance to impress me with this.

I’ll admit to having a soft spot for anime based on fighting using music. It isn’t likely to be Symphogear, but it could at least be pretty entertaining. Plus we’re talking about a collaboration between Madhouse and Mappa. If nothing else this show is going to look good. The concept isn’t anything too unusual. But if they handle it properly then it could work. I just like the potential this has to be a fun adventure. And I can support the idea of the cast both trying to take down these enemies and bring some music back to the world.

Conclusion

My biggest takeaway so far is that we’re not getting overwhelmed with isekai this season. There is obviously still some since that just isn’t going away completely. But honestly a lot of shows catching my eye this season are either set in our world or some fictional version of it. I’m not going to say there is a major change in focus or that we’re suddenly entering the age of mecha anime. But it is nice to see a bit more variety. Isekai can absolutely work, but it doesn’t have to be forced. If you just need a fantasy setting…just make it a fantasy setting.

This season has a nice mix of shows I really want to see work (Puraore) and sequels to franchises that I still have trust for (Jojo and World Trigger). If I end up with my hands full of shows to talk about it will only be because I just found too many that I loved. I really hope the mecha anime hit this season since we just don’t see this many in one season anymore. And this time around I put less focus on the movies. There were simply less that I was excited for this time around. Honorable mention for Macross Δ though. But beyond that I simply had more shows that made me care enough to talk about them. Which is good since I’m more likely to see shows airing on tv rather than movies that I’ll see…eventually.

I hope this was at least somewhat interesting for people. It just doesn’t make sense for me to try and talk about every show in the season since I won’t have much to say about them all. And of course there is a strong chance a show I just missed out on here will actually still be a hugely enjoyable one for me. But this is just where my head is at right now with the coming fall season. I’m excited to see how this season will turn out and I hope the same goes for everyone else.