Summer is coming to an end as time continues to roll along. I’m as amazed as ever that we’re at this point. Summer feels like it just raced on by. This past season as much as any has reminded me how important it is to be a bit stricter with myself. It used to be possible to keep up with all the new shows, but there’s only so much time in the day for that. Summer was tough since I had to whittle it down and let go of shows that were good, but I just didn’t love them as much as others. Deciding what shows to cover was also pretty tough. Had to make some sacrifices in holding off on talking about the Idol Precure to focus on other series.

It’s interesting to look back at the previous season. All my top picks were shows that I kept up with and did enjoy. But the shows I enjoyed the most either came from the less highly anticipated categories like Silent Witch. Or ones I didn’t even think too much about going in such as The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity. It’s just a good reminder that you never know what a season will bring. All the more so with new series that you don’t have any experience with. It’s good to give as many shows a chance as you have time for and enjoy whichever you can stick with.

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. Everyone can feel free to talk about the shows they are hyped about in the comments, even if I don’t mention them here. There will 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 Highest Interest

These are the shows I’m the most excited about. Odds are that’s because I’m familiar enough with a previous season/source material. But I may just have gotten excited by the summary or trailer. If these don’t turn out to be good that will be rather disappointing.

This is a show I’m hoping lives up to the hype. It’s been a couple years since season 2 and now we get to resume with the story. At this point the series and the characters are well established. We’ve got the super spy, the super assassin, and the physic child. Throw in their pet dog that can see the future and you’ve got all you need for an entertaining show.

I’m curious to see what will happen with the cast now. Yor had some moments of crisis in terms of deciding her future, so she should be pretty stable. Loid has plenty of mysteries that could be explored. And you can always expect Operation Strix to run into hiccups since Anya is an absolute goofball. This show should be one of the safest of the season since there’s no reason to expect any less entertainment than the previous two.

A couple years after Ghost Game ended and Digimon is back! Good timing with the new game also dropping this fall. I don’t want to repeat my thoughts on Ghost Game, but it was a show that I kind of lost interest in due to how lacking the main plot was. But at least the feel from the trailers here is that plot will be far more of a focus. Humanity’s actions either creating or drawing in a connection to Digimon and now people have to deal with that end result. The initial feel is the main character being drawn into a Digimon bounty hunter squad, but I have a feeling the plot will go well beyond that. Gekkomon seems like a pretty entertaining partner Digimon. I also like the looks of the various main characters and their partners.

Digmon remains one of my favourite franchises. It has the potential to tell any given story it wants since it’s not set in one location or world. This story likely won’t have any connection to either older shows or games. The concept of Digimon are the binding force here, but where they go with it is what we get to look forward to seeing. Toei can do great work so I’ve got no problems with being excited about how this show could deliver in terms of action.

Series of Moderate Interest

These are 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.

While this show has a lot of elements that are very classic isekai, it does have some things about it that leave me hopeful. I have confidence that Sunrise can produce some good looking shows so at least it should hold up visually. And Akira does seem to have a good connection with the main heroine of this story. If their dynamic is strong enough it might overshadow what looks to be a pretty standard setup. You have a clearly suspicious king that summoned a bunch of kids into another world. There’s some conspiracies and the MC is likely to end up on the run.

If it can hold up as a solid action series with enjoyable leads that should be more than enough.

There are elements of this show that would normally leave me less than hyped. Guys who think they aren’t all that great, but are secretly OP are all over the place in anime. And this could have been that kind of show. But at least from the summary and trailers it looks more like a show where the MC really did reach a powerful level through pure effort. No gifts to make him OP, just the results of doing everything he could in a world that didn’t give him any skills or a class to lean on.

What has me hopeful here is the MC’s competitive streak. He is someone with a bone to pick with the world around him and has a desire to prove his ability.

The only potential worry is the studio. Studio A-CAT‘s efforts with The Beginning After the End is pretty infamous. But if they can pull it together and put out a good looking show then I’ve got little reason to be uneasy about this one.

This seems like the right kind of cute and goofy show that I can get into. A nice romance with a vampire who’s a bit troubled in certain ways, but is adorable in her failings. The only risk with a show like this is whether the main dynamic between the leads will be enough to carry it for a whole season. But the trailers were solid so I think it’ll be alright there. It’s a fun setup with two characters sharing a secret and working to help Luna become the vampire she puts up a front of being.

This looks to be a pretty cute romance. Oota is walking right into it with trying his best to get a big reaction out of Kashiwada. I do like the fact that even in the trailer we’re getting good emotional stuff from the two of them. Kashiwada won’t have big reactions, but it’s clear that she’s got some feelings pointed Oota’s way. And he’s the type that wears all his emotions right on his face. There’s just something about this setup that has me expecting to really enjoy this one. Sometimes all you need is a cute premise and to not drop the ball. Here’s hoping this is good.

Original shows are often full of mystery since you just don’t know what you’ll get. The setup for this show isn’t a bad one. Society has seemingly collapsed and reformed after that collapse. You have someone waking up in that changed world and struggling to adapt to that. Throw in an android girl that is 100% into him and there’s lots of room for a nice story of traveling in that setting and learning about it. The trailers leave me hopeful that there will be a good story to be told in this.

I’m actually fairly hopeful with this one. The first season was better than I expected. You have a MC that knows how weak he is, but also has an absurd ability for things to warp themselves in a way that it works out for him. And yet all he wants to do is stay away from danger and enjoy his addiction to magical artifacts! The best part was how truly unhinged his party members are. It’s partly due to his influence, but even just the members we did meet were pretty nuts.

The supporting cast is a reason I really enjoyed this. Sitri is pretty darn evil and is only held back from fully flexing that due to Krai’s presence. Liz is a truly brutal teacher to poor Tino, but is as strong as they come. If we get to meet more of his party members that will make for an epic sequel. Even though they are all so crazy strong that if they do meet up it probably will lead to an apocalyptic event.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of this show yet. But I do want to watch it and see what happens! It looks to be over the top in the right kind of way. If nothing else it appears to have a main character that will turn into a jacked Santa Clause beating the crap out of enemies. That’s at least worth checking out! The Santa Clause anime we always wanted?

The concept of this show has me hoping for it to be really good. A main character with a stutter is a good place to start in terms of giving him something concrete to hold him back. But same goes for providing a beautiful female lead who inspires a desire for freedom in him. His initial desires to avoid standing out giving way to wanting to be able to embrace that kind of freedom without shame. We’ve had some good sports related series this year and hopefully this dance focused show will hold up.

The one concern…it’s been banished to Disney+. So good luck seeing a whole lot of discussion about it! A lot of good shows have kind of…disappeared into that streaming platform. Here’s hoping this one still gets some eyes on it.

Series of Mild Interest

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 show is kind of a mystery box and that’s why I don’t have it higher. One Punch Man is a series that’s worth being excited over. It has very over the top characters with insane levels of power. But the mystery is how good will this season be? The material is apparently good, but there’s been almost nothing seen from this show. I’m working on this in September and there hasn’t been that much shown in terms of trailers. Will the show be good? I hope so, but we’ll have to see. If they nail it then it could be a top contender for the season. Hopeully J.C.STAFF has got this…

Feels a bit weird to put from big deal seasons this far down the preview, but it’s what I’ve got to do. Boku no Hero has been a crazy ride from that first season back in 2016 until now. Almost a decade of anime superhero fun. And I did have those early seasons near the top of my top 10 lists on a regular basis. They were amazing series. But I haven’t quite loved some of the story decisions made the past few seasons now. And I’ve got an idea where this is going (was hard to miss the reactions to the manga’s ending). So, I’m not as absurdly hyped for it as I used to be.

But I’m still going to watch and I’m still excited to see things play out. Bones does incredible work and has done that for years now. The action is going to be good! It’s going to be a crazy ride that tries to wrap up so many episodes of buildup. I hope it lands and is something we can all look back on with a smile. But I a bit apprehensive about this season so I can’t go higher than this.

This is another banished story, but I like the base premise. A court mage that was stuck babysitting the crown prince is freed from that duty and able to rejoin with old friends to chase greater heights. Doesn’t look to be a harem either with there being a nice balance in that new party. I’m hoping from that trailer that the MC isn’t the type that has badly misjudged his own abilities and instead will have to really work on reaching the level of strength he wants. This sort of story does regularly have me worried if it’ll hold up. But here’s hoping it does.

This is a show I’m either going to love or completely fall off with within a few episodes! The setup isn’t bad for a romcom. Have a (presumably) fake relationship that sparks a lot of romantic hijinks into motion. And there’s a pretty obvious main girl that isn’t the one in that relationship and is constantly pushing her luck with the lead. I think said younger girl (Iroha) is going to make or break this show. Will her antics be the right kind of entertaining or just incredibly annoying? There seems to be plenty of potential with the girlfriend Mashiro.

It’s a hard show to gauge so I’m going to have it on the lower side of my anticipated series list. Here’s hoping that really diving into it is just pure fun.

The first season of this remake wasn’t bad. The concept is good for silly hijinks with a main character that keeps flipping sexes due to hot/cold water. I still haven’t forgiven the show for the loss of Akane’s long hair! But as a whole it was a good dose of silly while being pretty cute. It’s a show that I mostly treat as an action comedy. That can be fine and good for unwinding after a busy day. But not sure how excited I really am for another season.

Honestly though, the trailer just kind of leaves me wanting to just rewatch Inuyasha instead! That’s probably due to Ranma being voiced by Inuyasha’s VA (Kappei Yamaguchi) and Akane by Kikyou’s VA (Noriko Hidaka). Seriously, is this some weird “if Kikyou won” story!? Will I keep up with this show or just rewatch some Inuyasha while waiting for that to also get a remake? Who knows!

I do kind of love that we’re getting multiple weird family comedies in this season. The setup just works. You have two geniuses that create a hyper intelligent robot girl and she treats them like her parents which creates all sorts of silliness. Hardly the first time in fiction that geniuses create a whole new form of life and have to now deal with the realities of that. But this looks to be a wholly cute setup that just explores this new “family” as it forms. Alma looks to be an adorable bundle of curiosity and should keep her “parents” on their toes.

It could end up a pretty nice and relaxing watch. Not a show that I’ll get too excited about, but one that will be enjoyable to watch week to week.

This could be a pretty cute workplace romcom. It’s kind of nice to get these now and then too. An awkward female boss trying her best while falling for a nice subordinate. That’s a good setup and the trailers make it look like a fun time. There’s something fun about a lead struggling against themselves while doing their best. It probably won’t be my favourite show of the season. But it could be a cute show.

It’s going to be interesting to see where this story goes. I had an up and down time with the first part so this continuation is lower for me in terms of hype. But Uma Musume is such a big deal, especially now with the global version dropping. Oguri Cap’s story is just getting started. She had some big moments in the first part, but clearly there’s a lot more coming. It’ll be fun to see various new characters enter the picture and Oguri regularly going into beast mode during races.

Conclusion

This is certainly a season with some big sequels rolling through. Boku no Hero is heading to its finale, Spy x Family is back, One Punch Man is back, etc. Some of those aren’t my most hyped shows for various reasons. But it doesn’t change that they are big names that are coming back. There’s a good mix of romcoms, only a few isekai, action, and plenty of comedy. You can always count on each new anime season to bring a good solid mix of shows to the table.

For me it’s not looking the most intense though. I am hyped for Digimon coming back with a series that looks good. But I was reasonably excited for Ghost Game and that didn’t quite work for me. But I think Digimon has been doing well the past few years with Digimon Survive, this new show, and Digimon Time Stranger coming out soon. Beyond that though, I’m banking on some real surprises from new series. It’s a common thing that some of my favourite shows will be ones on this preview (or ones I didn’t talk about) that blindsided me. But I’m also kind of hoping that’s the case since Fall might be a bit thin for me otherwise.

It’s going to be a fresh slate for me regardless. The only ongoing shows I’ve got to watch are Princess-Session Orchestra and Idol Precure. Ironically I might end up coming back to finish Idol Precure if the season doesn’t really grab me! I hope this gave people something to think about. As always I’m happy to hear about any shows people are looking forward to this fall.