A new year is ahead of us and with it a new season of anime. Winter is truly here and we’re just going to have to stay warm and enjoy some new shows. This time of year is always the busiest since we’ve got holidays, a new season to look forward to, and of course a top 10 list that I should have up around the time this is posted. So hopefully everyone enjoys both of these things. I love looking forward to a new season even if I can’t bring too many deep insights into these shows. Just my first glance opinions based on what I’ve read or seen about them going in. But if that means something to anyone then I’m glad to keep on doing it.

The Fall season was certainly an interesting one. I had a blast with Banished from the hero’s party and can’t complain about spending a season talking about that. Pride of Orange was certainly more of a mixed bag than I expected going in. That’s going to happen when a show about women’s hockey has an idol performance within the first five minutes XD. Still the season had a lot of high points from Senpai ga Uzai to the return of Isekai Shokudou. Fall is rarely a weak season. Even if this wasn’t the strongest fall season ever for me, I can’t say it was all that bad.

As always the preview will be referring to information listed on LiveChart and AniList. 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.

Before the first season aired, I wouldn’t have bet on a second season of this being one of my most anticipated shows of a season. But there’s no doubt that I’m excited to see this. The first season had a great mix of comedy, action, and likable characters. That it was based on a mobile game never even mattered. Since the game was released globally, I got into it. But the anime really is its own thing and hasn’t tried to be a 1:1 adaptation.

The first season ended with some emotional reveals and triumphs. So, I can’t wait to see what they do with the situation of that world, Karyl’s difficult position, or Yuuki’s continued growth from this childish amnesiac into a pretty good hero. CygamesPictures nailed it with the first season and I expect nothing less from the second. Nothing is certain, but it would be a shock if I wasn’t covering this for the winter season.

This show has had an interesting journey from my perspective. The first season felt a bit bland for me. It was mostly just Nishikata coming up with plots to beat Takagi and Takagi simply beating him. There didn’t seem to be much back and forth or much actual development. But season 2 picked it up quite a bit and things got increasingly enjoyable as the show went on. Thus, I have season 3 in this high tier since I’m really looking forward to how things should play out. This young love relationship is starting to pick up and it feels more possible that they’ll take steps forward. And this is coming off a string of ‘teasing girl’ series that we’ve gotten over the past few years. Might as well go back to the first one that really stood out for me. 

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.

Now the scenario here could be pretty fun. You have someone who was playing a game as an old sage character, he then created a cute female avatar for the heck of it, and then he wakes up in that younger body…literally within that world. And it’s years in the future…because of course! We’ve definitely got another isekai on our hands. But this does seem like a fun way to tackle things. There’s a good bit of mystery of figuring out what is going on, dealing with being in this different body, and just getting established in that world. The preview seemed pretty fun.

I’m a bit unsure about studio A-CAT. They haven’t exactly done…any shows that I thought were fantastic visually. But that doesn’t mean it can’t turn out well. And the director (Keitarou Motonaga) handled the Digimon Tri movies…Ok, I’ll admit that the stuff behind the scenes has me concerned. But the premise is good and first look trailers seemed nice. They just have to pull it together.

This show just gives me the feeling that it will be a surprising amount of fun. You have the creator (Shinobu Ohtaka) behind Magi and a more recent show like Back Arrow. On top of that the premise seems prime for a lot of action and showing a good struggle against evil. Can even throw in the voice work of Rie Takahashi who seems to be cast in a fair number of shows within this preview. I can definitely get behind characters wanting to overcome demonic rule. The preview looked good. That’s no guarantee, but it does give me some hope. I’d say Avex Pictures has done a fair mix of good and bad shows, so there’s no guarantee how this one will turn out. But I’m definitely willing to give it a shot.

Series of Lower Interest

Now, I’m bringing this one back. These are the shows I’m still interested in, but it’s a lot weaker than the tiers above. Either the previous seasons were mixed bags for me or I just don’t have enough to work. They still get mentioned because I still think the potential is there to really surprise me. Which is more than the shows I’m not going to mention at all.

This one is a bit lower on my preview for a few reasons. The first season was a bit of a disaster in all honesty. Whether we talk about pacing, animation, cgi, or anything else. It was just a bit of a mess. Now we have Asread still on board, just with a different secondary studio along for the ride. Although studio MOTHER has little for me to work with compared to White Fox. What story I read from the source material was pretty good. Although the first season showed that the originally strong start (with one main girl) did quickly turn full blown harem with just about every pretty girl he meets getting a seat at that table soon enough.

So, there’s a few reasons I’m really hesitant on this one. But, I’ll at the very least check out the first couple episodes. If they actually give it a budget this time, lean less on horrible cgi, and manage the story better then it could be one of the better shows of the season. It’s just something that could go either way from strong to total disaster. Fingers crossed since I think it has nice potential.

Certainly, a connection formed between doll artisan teen and gyaru isn’t one that you’d normally ever think about. But in this case it could really work. Especially since said gyaru is also big on cosplay and it seems she’ll be dragging the protagonist into that with her. Seems like the setup for a cute romance as well. But just one where they both cosplay and he’s cosplaying as female characters with her. We’ll see how their dynamic plays out. Since it seems like the female lead Marin will mostly be spurring character development for the male lead Gojou. But of course, the best thing is when both parties influence each other so we’ll have to see how that works out for him. Overall Cloverworks does pretty good work so I’m not overly worried on that front.

There are more traumatic ways to end up in an isekai situation. But certainly ending up in a virtual world (or a world similar to one) after life support starts to fail is a bit grim. Good for the main character that she at least gets a chance to live a life after hers was cut short. All the more so since what life she lived before death was clearly spent in a hospital. With time of course spent within a game. The preview had a great feeling of adventure to it. The main character seems likable and I want to see how her journey through this world plays out. I don’t expect it to be a huge favorite of the season. But I think it will be a pretty sweet show.

Am I the only one that looks the main character (Bisco) and sees Natsu from Fairy Tail? That’s probably the one thing that keeps coming to mind for me. The setting seems like one that could lead to a good journey. There’s a strange plague and the main character is off with his companion to try and find a cure. The preview gave off the feel of a show that will be pretty action packed and entertaining. There’s a lot of mystery to it honestly. You have a pretty fresh animation studio adapting material from a creator that doesn’t seem to have a lot in their history either. So it’s almost as mysterious as a full blown original series. Fingers crossed that it will be good. 

I think what caught me in terms of this show is just the cute premise. You need a few calming shows in a season and this could be one of them. A nice girl that has worked to get into a school she wanted to attend and seeks to make a ton of friends. There doesn’t seem to be much more to it than that. From the preview the girl seems pretty sweet and likable. So I’ll be curious to see how the story itself will actually work out. Unlike other “got to make 100 friends” shows it doesn’t seem like she’ll have major obstacles to that. The only thing that stands out is that she won’t have any friends going into it and she’s from the countryside. Shows don’t always need to be particularly busy or complex. I hope this will be fun enough to keep up with.

This show could be very hit or miss. The premise is actually pretty fun. A genius that wants to bail on his poor and struggling country, but can’t because he’s too good at what he does! The comedy should be really solid to start. The question of course will be how the story plays out and if he ever changes his mind on wanting to give up on that country. It’s a bit lower on my list because it is so much up to whether the comedy works for me or not. Still, the premise itself has my attention and my fingers are crossed that it will be a lot of fun.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes winter can be one of the strongest seasons of the year. But most of the time Spring and Fall are the heavy hitters while Winter and Summer are a bit on the lean side. It does seem like we’re going to be working off the latter this time around. Not to take shots at the shows we’re getting. I’m really hyped to see Princess Connect come back along with Takagi-san. But there isn’t a lot else here that I’m cleanly hyped about without concerns. Part of that just comes from the fact that we’re not swamped by too many sequels here. Or at least there aren’t many sequels that I’m personally excited about.

I suppose one good thing is that it isn’t all isekai series. That’s a touchy subject each time and I can’t ignore it. I like a lot of isekai shows, but they don’t have to dominate an entire entertainment medium either. The mix of comedy, fantasy, isekai, action, and romance seems pretty good. The mecha roll we’ve been on seems to have run out of road for this season. At least I think there should be a show for basically everyone this time around besides those purely here for mecha.

Of course, I’m always glad to hear about what others are looking forward to. I can only give a small insight into shows that haven’t actually started airing yet XD. So many have their own source materials that I simply haven’t been exposed to. So, if people have thoughts on these shows or ones I didn’t even mention then I’m all ears. This season will be one where I’m starting pretty fresh with my shows all ending heading into 2022. My honest hopes is that this year will be better than the ones we’ve had to deal with. But all we can do is look forward and enjoy ourselves as best we can.