Spring 2024 Preview Guide

Final Update: 6:56 p.m. EDT Saturday 4/13/24

Welcome to my seasonal Guide! (For the debut schedule, see here.) I expect to cover every full-episode series that will be debuting this season and most of the sequels/returning series, including Laid-Back Camp 3, The irregular at magic high school 3, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime s3, Mushoku Tensei s2p2, Date a Live V, KonoSuba 3, and The Misfit of Demon King Academy II. (Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc debuts much too late to make this Guide, but I may include a write-up for the first episode based on the theatrical release on a slow day. Also, the new Spice & Wolf series is a reboot rather than a sequel, so it will be covered as normal.) I will not be covering the sequels for The Duke of Death and His Maid, since I am not current on that franchise. Sound Euphonium 3 may or may not be covered, since I’m not sure if I’m current there.

Debuts are listed below in oldest to newest order and may be added multiple times per day on busier days.

Note: Where simuldubs are available, previews are based on the simuldub.

Note #2: With the posting of Whisper Me a Love Song, the Preview Guide is complete!

Whisper Me a Love Song

Streams: HIDIVE on Saturdays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

Himari is a high-spirited, newly-minted high school student who falls in love at first sight and listen with the fill-in lead singer for her best friend’s sister’s all-girl band. Yori, the singer, likes to sing on her own but isn’t keen about singing for others and had to be bribed into the fill-in performance. She’s blown away when Himari confesses to her by the shoe lockers the next day and instantly smitten with Himari’s cuteness, but their next encounter leads Yori to misunderstand that Himari was speaking in terms of being a big fan instead. She resolves to be a cool upperclassmen to win over Himari’s heart, too, much to the amusement of the girls in the band. Will it give Yori the inspiration she needs to write a love song?

The first episode of this manga adaption doesn’t really do anything too special, but its execution is nearly flawless. It captures the spirit, energy, and (on one side at least) the nervousness of first love and makes it convincing both that both girls are genuinely in love and that there were distinct factors which attracted. It also works in humor and playfulness without it being distracting. The production values also shine on all fronts; Himari is appealing cute in her design, Yori is convincing as the cool older girl with her own style, and the softer color scheme sets the mood just right. The songs so far are also fitting. This is one of the strongest debuts I’ve seen for a romance (much less a clear yuri romance) in quite some time, and that makes it a likely keeper for me.

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

Steams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

This series originally debuted on Saturday 4/6, but due to some kind of behind-the-scenes delays, it did not become available on Crunchyroll until 4/13. As a trade-off, we got two episodes as a starter. I half wonder if this may have been a deliberate move, since the story makes considerably more sense with a two episode debut instead.

This is a story which takes place in a Chinese-themed land where ravens take on human form and “horses” are giant birds which transport carriages through the air. The land is divided into four sections centered around a central mountain, where the Imperial house sits closest to the almighty Mountain God. The current crown prince is soon to undergo his Rite of Ascension, and the ruling house each of North, South, East, and West have submitted a consort to be his prospective bride. The second son of a noble family from the North has also been selected for a year-long stint as one of the Prince’s attendants, partly as a way to learn proper manners. But there are all manner of twists and intrigues, including the new attendant being cleverer and more capable than he lets on, the Prince being a bit odd himself, and one consort feeling out of place in an environment she was not prepared for. (She was essentially an emergency fill-in.)

In other words, this novel-based fantasy story gives all the hallmarks about being a complicated tale of palace intrigue, with its setting being somewhat reminiscent of The Twelve Kingdoms and its actual mystical elements being only minor background factors. Whereas the recent The Apothecary Diaries was a more character-focused story with the intrigues in the background, the reverse seems to be true here, but it’s still too early to tell. Certainly the first two episodes don’t fall short on the lavish costuming and character designs, but with so little time spent on any of the characters so far and so many potential plot threads, it is yet hard to get a grasp on the overall story. Still, this one feels like it might be worth the time investment to sort out.

The New Gate

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

Shin, along with tens of thousands of other players, became trapped in the cutting-edge VRMMO The New Gate, with death in the game translating into death in real life. When he finally beat the game, thus allowing everyone else to log out, Shin instead found himself transported to a new world which seemed like it was based on the game but too realistic. He eventually discovers that he is in the game world’s setting, but a few hundred years into its future, and many things have changed. While seeking out someone who may be a former support NPC from his time, Shin decides to become an adventurer and live the life for real.

Wow, this light novel adaptation could only be a more naked rip-off of Sword Art Online and In The Land of Leadale if it used more similar character names. The SAO part of the premise is pretty much hand-waved in the first few minutes, as the story seems uninterested in explaining how and why a VRMMO death game could happen. (And honestly, it doesn’t seem much relevant anyway.) It waste little time in jumping to the Leadale-inspired part and showing how OP Shin is and how much the setting has changed. The problem here is that Shin is as generic a protagonist as can be; Leadale’s Cayna may not have been a ground-breaking character, but she was at least interesting. The setting is also as generic as can be, with nothing shown so far providing even an ounce of creativity. Pair that up with a substandard artistic and animation effort and you have not only one of the season’s weakest debuts but also one which offers little prospects for getting better.

Kaiju No. 8

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

This manga adaptation was easily the most-anticipated and most-hyped new title of the season, and its debut episode mostly justifies why. While I have some definite quibbles over certain style points, it lays a solid foundation for what should be one the season’s big action series.

In Kafka Hibino’s world, kaiju are a regular problem, so much so that task forces are assigned both to fight the kaiju and dispose of them afterwards. While Kafka dreamed of being in the former, he wound up in the latter, unlike childhood friend Mina, who has gone on to become an ace Kaiju hunter. A newcomer intent on eventually making it into the Defense Force helps spark Kafka to not give up on that goal himself, but that may end up happening in a way he never foresaw: a small, flying kaiju specifically sought him out for some reason and flew into his mouth, transforming him into a human-size kaiju.

The first episode offers some pretty good (though not stellar) action sequences, but I actually found the most interesting part to be the work being done to dispose of the giant kaiju afterwards, an aspect of kaiju titles that tends to be glossed over if not ignored entirely. On the downside, the artistry isn’t the prettiest at times, and some of the attempts at humor seem too over-the-top. Still, the episode does a satisfying job of establishing main cast member and their situation, delivering the central hook, and evoking a sense of mystery about how and why said hook (i.e., Kafka’s transformation into a mini-kaiju) happens. This one’s definitely a keeper.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy 2 s2 (ep 13)

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Now that Anos is widely-known as the rightful Demon King, he can’t very well attend school anymore, so he transforms himself into a six-year-old genius with a suspiciously similar-sounding name so he can continue to attend classes. Some of his more clueless classmates don’t seem to figure this out, which allows Anos to infiltrate the Royalist faction which opposes him and give them a good lesson. He also dreams of a time in his earlier life when he interacted with Militia, the Goddess of Creation. Meanwhile, Lay and new sword instructor Shin come to blows over Lay dating Misa.

Honestly, even though I’ve continued to watch this one, I have lost all track of what’s really going on in the plot, but this has never much been a series where the plot mattered all that much. Watching Avos (badly) pretend to be a six-year-old has its amusement value, and his smug confidence is still as entertaining as ever. This return gets only a middling grade because it doesn’t do anything special.

Viral Hit

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5

If you’re looking for the most timely and provocative new series of the season, this one may be it. Based on a manwha webtoon, it melds bullying and Vtubing into one ugly combination. It looks at monetizing video streams, the way Vtubers and influencers can carry their endeavors to intrusive levels, how videos of brawls can quickly become sensations, and how those with a bit of savvy can take advantage of any situation; in the latter respect it’s somewhat similar to Oshi no Ko, but much more physically brutal. It may be a difficult episode for some to watch despite generally pretty solid technical merits, but it will definitely make an impression.

The premise is that Kota/Yu (CR’s subtitles use the Korean names even though you can hear the Japanese names in the Japanese dub) is a down-on-his luck, bullied high schooler whose mother is hospitalized long-term and whose part-time job just isn’t cutting it. He’s pretty much at the mercy of a thug in class who’s a successful Vtuber, but after a slugfest with the thug’s producer which accidentally gets recorded and posted goes viral, Kota starts to wonder if making money off of videos might be a solution to his problems. He winds up teaming up with the producer and, apparently eventually, they will work with a girl shown prominently in the closer as well.

Though a lurid look at slugfests looks like it will be a staple element, there is definitely some room for social commentary here, and that makes this interesting. It’s also got a kick-ass opener in “Wild Boy” by hip-hop unit MA55IVE THE RAMPAGE; check that out even if you don’t watch the full episode.

KONOSUBA s3

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

Last year’s An Explosion on This Wonderful World! series fell well short of capturing the verve and level of craziness which have been hallmarks of this franchise. That’s not a problem for the first episode of season 3. It ventures full-throttle back into the familiar setting and characters, easily making it the most fun debut so far this season.

Seeing the movie Legend of Crimson first is a necessity here, since this episode is a direct follow-up to that movie. Kazuma is shaken enough by some recent bad encounters with lustful women (some of which were in the movie) that he’s decided to retire from being an adventurer and become a monk. He’s even serious enough about it to go check out a monastery, with the girls in tow. An encounter with an especially cloying monster along the way helps change his mind, but he returns home in time to get an invite to visit the Royal Family, much to Darkness’s horror. Nope, nothing can go wrong there. . .

The second season earned a reputation for using a looser art style, and that is exaggerated even further here – and I don’t mean that as a compliment. The artistry is almost too rough in places, and that’s the main reason I am not giving the episode a maximum grade. It’s still a very satisfying return to form for long-time fans of the franchise and offers a lot of promise for the rest of the season.

Date A Live V

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Though I have seen all (or at least nearly all) of the animation in the franchise, I’ve never been a big fan of Date A Live, so this wasn’t on my highly-anticipated list. Even so, this sequel is overdue, since the end of part IV left viewers with a couple of startling revelations: who Phantom really is and the full extent of how far Kurumi has gone to keep Shido alive. The beginning of part V is a direct follow-up to that, with no recap, so I highly recommend reviewing at least the last couple of episodes of part IV first.

Essentially, this episode involves drawing the battle lines between DEM and Ratatoskr. Isaac has figured out how Kurumi has been consistently thwarting DEM’s attempts and is planning to use that against her, while Shido and his harem (and sisters) try to come up with a way to get around Isaac’s Beelzebub. Shido also attempts to unlock his forgotten memories to try to figure out who Mio Takamiya is, though that doesn’t work so well. Meanwhile, Shido and his allies are completely unaware of how close at hand Phantom is.

While the series hasn’t entirely set aside the tomfoolery that has always been its trademark, it is at least mostly taking itself seriously at this point. That’s a mixed bag , since the silliness and ridiculous scenarios have always been one of the series’ big draws. However, that does also make its drama aspects more effective, and Kurumi is enough of an increasingly compelling character to be show’s true star at this point.Technical merits are on par with previous installments, so this is a necessary set-up episode.

Mysterious Disappearances

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Sumeriko Ogawa is a tall, very voluptuous woman who’s just turned 28. She debuted as a writer as a child but has had frustratingly little success as adult, though she has a big fan in Ren, a seemingly-young bookstore coworker who loves her writing and constantly flirts with her, though he doesn’t seem to talk to anyone else. The night she turns 28, reading a mysterious book under the moonlight causes an initially-exciting but also dangerous transformation, and Ren seems to know way more about this than he should.

So goes this adaptation of a manga which originally streamed on a seinen website devoted mostly to supernatural tales. (Seven volumes of it have been released in print.) It is clearly aiming to be a dark-edged supernatural mystery tale, and the first episode largely succeeds at that. The twist that there are health consequences for being reverted to a younger age is an interesting one that I have rarely seen dealt with before (where did all that extra mass go?), and Ren certainly has all sorts of secrets to unravel. The visual and animation quality is surprisingly good, too. The camera never lets you forget how full-figured Sumeriko is in adult form, but there is somewhat of a point to it, since it’s used to contrast to her physically immature self. (Still a bit fan-servicey, though, especially in the opener.) Overall, this one is well-enough constructed that it has at least a chance to be good.

The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

We’ve seen series about the behind-the-scenes reality of voice actors a few times before, including series where the characters host radio shows. (This is something that’s long been popular in Japan but never caught on in the States.) However, this light novel adaptation offers a fresher twist: both the main characters, who wind up doing one of these talk shows together, are voice actresses whose public and private identities are so entirely different that they’re initially unaware that they are classmates. The cutesy Yuhi (nee Chika) is actually a quiet, somewhat shy loner who doesn’t understand the appeal of the professional persona she displays, while pure girl Yasumi is actually the gyaru Yumiko. Though they act as chummy classmates in the radio show, they don’t initially get along in real life; Yumiko is envious of Chika’s greater success, while Chika is envious of how comfortably social Yumiko is.

Honestly, this series isn’t much to look at, but the characters have a lot of potential, the premise is strong, and there are already hints a good, somewhat combative dynamic between the two leads. The two characters are so starkly contrasting in personality, appearance, and build (Chika’s the classic cute petite girl, while Yumiko is the classic fuller-figured girl) that it helps keep things interesting, too. This one wasn’t on my radar coming into the season but it might be worth following.

Blue Archive the Animation

Streams: Nowhere legal (as of 4/9) on Sundays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Blue Archive is a Korean-originating mobile app game which has been available internationally for the last couple of years. Based on the first episode, the anime version seems to be starting by playing out the games first volume; whether it will continue to cover other volumes, too, is not clear at this point.

The setting is Kivotos, an academy city somewhat in the spirit of Asterisk from the series The Asterisk War. The city is ruled over by a General Student Council, but with the Council’s President now mysteriously absent (which may have something to do with the bloodied girl on a train at the episode’s beginning), the city is in chaos. The handful of remaining girls at Abydos High School struggle to maintain the school despite a massive debt and attacks from outside gangs. That is, until a male teacher (the player in the game version) is sent to help them.

There are a lot of unexplained details here, such as why all of the girls (but not the teacher or other furry-type humanoids) have halos, why some of them have animal ears and at least one has elven ears, and so forth, but I get the sense that this is one of those “don’t fret about the details” situations. This is clearly meant to be a “girls with guns” scenario, and everything else is just cutesy affections. (According to details I’ve looked up elsewhere, the halos grant super-human capabilities and at least some regenerative capability, but they’re not fully understood in the game, either.) Lots of bullets fly in the action scenes, but the combat doesn’t seem to be deadly, and plot be damned; just watch the girls, each with her distinctive idiosyncrasy, and enjoy it! While the girls do look attractive, the world-building is weak, the action is more interested in showing off the girls and guns than being intense, and in general there’s not much sense of logic or cohesion. Maybe this gets better as the story progresses, but right now I can’t see this series amounting to much more than a game advertisement.

Oblivion Battery

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

This new baseball series, which adapts a shonen manga, stands out for two reasons, one of which isn’t a good one: it pulls the interesting trick of being about an ace pitcher-catcher combo (hence the “battery” part of the name) but told from the viewpoint of another character, and it has easily the most obnoxious character introduced to date this season, in (former and possibly future) catcher Kei. The gimmick, you see, is that Kei was actually always a screwball, and leaving behind baseball and its disciplined mindset caused him to revert to his worst base tendencies. The reason why that matters is because Kei was apparently in a serious accident that left him with amnesia, and thus no memory of his baseball play with Haruka, a tall, lanky pitcher with such dominating power that only Kei can catch for him at full strength.

While I’m not generally a sports anime fan, I have been known to make rare exceptions, including for baseball. This won’t be one of them, almost entirely because the unleashed Kei is just that irritating. His antics thoroughly overshadow the potential drama of the situation, and the episode’s other attempts to lighten things up are similarly over-the-top. The art style, especially in the character designs, also doesn’t suit me much. I could see this one having some good moments, and Haruka is interesting as a possibly-autistic individual willing even to go to a non-baseball school to be with his catcher/best friend, but I’m not convinced it’s worth putting up with the less agreeable content.

Unnamed Memory

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

I may be slightly overrating this light novel adaptation, but based on its stated premise, this was probably my most-anticipated new series of the season for me, and the first episode gets it off to a satisfying start. In some ways, the base concept is similar to Spice & Wolf: a young but adult man will be traveling and cohabitating with a pretty, young-looking woman who’s actually centuries old. More specifically, Oscar is a prince who’s been cursed to not have any progeny and seeks out a witch who promises to grant the wish of any who successfully climb her tower and endure its challenges. But Tinasha, despite living apart from society by choice (she doesn’t want to unduly influence human society) is actually a kind soul, so no one dies in her challenges and she’ll sometimes help out those with pure motives even when they fail. When Oscar succeeds, she reveals that his “curse” is actually a deviously twisted Blessing, one which so strongly protects any fetus he sires that it would kill any ordinary woman carrying his child. Since that may be impossible to remove (even for the original caster!), Tinasha suggest instead finding a woman capable of enduring that Blessing. And one good candidate sits right in front of Oscar. . .

Essentially, the story looks like it’s going to be about Tinasha coming to live at Oscar’s castle for a year (under the guise of being the witch’s apprentice) while he tries to win her over to the idea of becoming his wife. While hardly a brilliantly original idea, it’s still a neat one, and Oscar being a strong personality rather than a wishy-washy type certainly helps. My one slight concern here is that Tinasha, unlike S&W‘s Holo, doesn’t at all give the impression of being as old and wise as she’s supposed to be; maybe she’s still young by witch standards?

Character designs are pleasing and overall technical and artistic merits are solid, if unspectacular. (The visuals don’t have a particularly distinctive style so far.) The lovely, somewhat melancholy ED could end up being one of the season’s best, so the series will compete with S&W in that sense, too. In some ways it’s kind of unfortunate that this series is airing in the same season as that one, as the character dynamic in that one will be so strong that this one will have a tough time keeping up, but in other ways this one could make a nice counterpoint to Spice & Wolf. I will definitely be following it and don’t rule out episode-reviewing it, too.

Tadaima, Okaeri

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

The first episode of this manga adaptation unequivocally proves one thing: a charming, cutesy slice-of-life show about a loving gay couple can be ever bit as bland and boring as a charming, cutesy slice-of-life show about a hetero couple. To be sure, it has plenty of charm and cutesiness working for it, but if that and the tender relationship between the male leads doesn’t have you going gaga then there’s little else here to hold interest.

Actually, there’s one odd twist: in this seemingly-normal world, both genders have people broken into alpha, beta, and omega designations, and there’s prejudice towards out-of-category pairings. (It’s somewhat like a caste system, I think.) The bigger twist is that omega males can still get pregnant, so little Hikari is the biological son of both male leads. An exploration of that aspect of the setting, and how it affects things big and small, might be more interesting, but that doesn’t seem to be the direction this is going. With flat coloring, middle-of-the-road character designs and artistic merits, and the annoying sparkly effects all over the place, this one doesn’t have anything visual to draw audiences, either. Still, I can see this working quit well for the right audiences.

Chillin’ in Another Worth with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

I will give the debut of this light novel adaptation a little credit: instead of snatching someone from the modern world, protagonist Banaza is borrowed from another fantasy world, with mechanics (though not necessarily culture) similar to his new one. Otherwise, this is a very standard set-up about someone who’s a reject summons to be a hero but still ends up being super-powerful – much more so than he has realized to this point. Exactly why he suddenly becomes ridiculously OP at level 2 (his stats go from single-digit numbers to infinity symbols, and that’s not all) isn’t at all explained in this episode, but given the title, he presumably got some skill that makes him vastly more powerful than the actual summoned hero.

If there’s a reason for all of this then this series might have a chance of being interesting, but otherwise everything about the opener is bland. Unimpressive character designs, ordinary backgrounds, bland personalities, completely standard world structure all are features; even the all-female adventuring party which gets involved with Banaza just ticks off boxes for standard RPG-style fantasy adventures. There’s nothing specifically bad about any of it, but it will need to show a lot more than it has so far to be memorable.

Shinkalion Change The World

Streams: Nowhere legally (as of 4/7)

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Shinkalion is a mecha anime from the 2010s aimed mostly at young audience and connection to a long-standing toy train. (The mecha is essentially a train-type Transformer.) This anime seems to be set ten years after the original (or at least it refers to the enemy having previously appeared 10 years earlier), but no familiarity with earlier installments seems to be necessary. This first episode plays just fine for a newcomer.

That’s because it’s a very generic introduction about a young man discovering that he’s a perfect match for a train-based mecha designed to combat the enemy mecha from before – and hey, they have started to pop up again just as protagonist Taisei joins a Train Club at a new school, a club whose members are secretly part of ERDA, the organization which exists to fight the enemy mecha. Naturally, he’s also got a famous, genius older sister who’s currently missing (and that probably has everything to do with this situation).

Really, the only slight twist here is the train motif. Otherwise this is a fairly blatant Evangelion rip-off, one done with very ordinary-looking technical merits. It does what it does competently, but nothing about it sticks out beyond a banging OP that’s worth listening to even if you don’t watch the episode. (It’s on the end of the episode.)

Girls Band Cry

Streams: Nowhere legally (as of 4/7)

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

This is an original anime produced by Toei Animation that is being done in conjunction with a live-action act that has already released five singles. For reasons beyond me, it has yet to be licensed for any U.S. streaming service. It is done all in CG of varying quality, and that gives it a visual aesthetic that some viewers may not be comfortable with. If you can get around that, though, then you’ll find a story which features both a storyline and character interactions with the potential to be quite engaging.

In the story, 17-year-old Nina has come to Tokyo on her own in protest of her family, where she feels she doesn’t belong. (And yes, that means she’d dropping out of school.) She doesn’t have any goals yet, but she does run across the singer whose song helped reassure her during a crisis and winds up hanging out with her after a street performance. But that singer is about to get out of performing because she lost out on royalties when her band broke up. Their meeting sets both on a path to finding new purpose. More members should be joining in future episodes, but people at loose ends finding purpose in a meeting is one story element I’ve always appreciated, and Nina and Momoka do have a good chemistry. I am cautiously optimistic here.

Mission: Yozakura Family

Streams: Hulu on Sundays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Taiya lost his family in an accident, which has left him painfully shy as a high school student, with only long-time friend (and school idol) Mutsumi standing close by him. But Taiya is unaware that Mutsumi comes from a family of spies, and her obsessively overprotective elder brother has decided that Taiya is now a threat. The brother is so strong that even the rest of the family can’t reliably stop him, so there’s only one way out: for Taiya to marry Mutsumi and thus join the family, which has a strict “no killing each other” rule.

So yeah, this manga adaptation is an exercise in a young man getting drawn by circumstance into a family of weirdos. One of the siblings is all-white, another sits in a trash can outfitted with weapons, another wears a bucket on her head but has the body of a male pro wrestler, and so forth. All sorts of zaniness will undoubtedly ensue. The problem is that this series has some of the weakest artistry and technical merits of any series to debut so far this season, and struggles in quality control show even in this first episode. The quirky characters and their specialties aren’t enough to offset that. I might try one more episode to see if this one’s going to do anything, but right now I’m not hopeful.

Go! Go! Loser Ranger!

Streams: Hulu on Sundays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

This manga adaptation was one of the most hotly-anticipated new series of the season, and its debut episode shows why. It features the super-sentai team Dragon Keepers who fight off an evil organization of monsters in a suspiciously-staged-looking weekly battle, as they have been for many years. The problem is that one of the immortal evil henchmen has fully had enough of the current arrangement: the bad guys have to come up with a weekly monster that will be beaten by the Dragon Keepers as part of a long-arranged truce, presumably to help the heavily-marketed Dragon Keepers continue to look good. But the fed-up Fighter D is determined to change that, so he is going to infiltrate the Dragon Keepers’ training program.

Director Keiichi Sato showed with Tiger & Bunny that he knows how to handle super-hero series, and his Rage of Bahamut: Genesis was one of the great action series of the 2010s, so expectations were running high for this one. He delivers again, providing sharp, stylish battle scenes to go with the quirky premise and interesting behind-the-scenes content on the enemy organization. (The “Monster of the Week” is just one of the evil fighters temporarily taking on a new appearance, which is apparently often decided on the spur of the moment.) There’s a lot to like here, enough so that it should be one of the season’s big hits. I look forward to seeing how the plot plays out.

Mushoku Tensei s2 p2 (ep 13)

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

The first half of this season took a lot of guff for some of its content (some of it deservedly so), but I ultimately thought it finished strong, with Rudy and Sylphie’s relationship being affirmed. This episode starts off with Rudy acting completely with Sylphie in mind. He’s serious about both marrying her and doing right by her, and in this world that apparently means getting a house first. That gives him an opportunity to team up with Cliff and Zanoba to clear out a “haunted” house, and what they find raises a minor mystery that I could see coming up again later on. Rudy wooing Sylphie remains the main thrust of the story, though, and seeing Rudy genuinely happy is a nice change.

Despite some still shots as the trio is investigating the haunted house, the animation and technical merits in general are still a grade above the norm. This is ultimately a fairly bland episode by series standards, but nothing in here suggests that the franchise’s quality control is dropping off. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the season will progress.

As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Boy, this could be the big surprise of the season. I came into this isekai show expecting it to be one of the season’s bottomfeeders, and based on the concept, technical level, and all of its story elements (including the MC being able to evaluate everyone in terms of game-like stats), it should be. But execution still matters, and damned if this series doesn’t pull off an unexpectedly involving opening episode.

In this light novel adaptation, Ars was a stressed-out salaryman who likely died of a heart attack before being reborn as the son and heir of a country noble. He’s living a good life but also has realized even by age 3 that the empire he lives in is not in good shape. So he decides to use the Appraisal skill he’s been gifted with to start gathering skilled people around him in order to weather the challenges he sees coming ahead. His first acquisition is a teenage foreigner living on the streets whom he sees as being incredibly skilled, and he’s not about to let prejudice against the young man’s race stop him from making the young man his retainer. Fortunately for Ars, his terribly strong father also appreciates that an “instinct” for evaluating talent is a valuable skill to have.

In other words, Ars isn’t terribly strong himself, but he’s going to get ahead by finding the hidden talents of others, no matter their background. That’s a legitimate and very practical path to success, the kind of thing that can make someone a good leader. And if Appraisal is a bit of a cheat, well, Ars still has to have the will and savvy to use it right. The first episode works because it approaches this seriously and with sincerity and shows characters responding intelligently. The technical merits aren’t anything exciting, but a stirring musical score makes up for that. I’m plenty willing to watch more to see how this concept plays out.

Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

The title to this manga adaptation tells you everything you need to know about the premise, but for a little more detail, Shozo and Ine are an elderly couple who have been married for more than 60 years but are still referred to as “lovebirds” by their peers. The morning after they find a golden apple on a tree in their orchard (one originally planted to celebrate their marriage), they awake to find that their hair is still gray but they have otherwise physically reverted to their 20s. What’s more, they’re both considered hotties by everyone around them – including family members.

If you were expecting a serious look at a couple getting a second chance at life, this isn’t it. This is, instead, a fairly rapidly-paced sketch comedy, one which features a number of short bits. This time around they’re mostly centered around everyone reacting to Shozo and Ine getting your again and how that helps the locals in a sports festival, though there is also one bit about the granddaughter and the grandson of one of Shozo’s longtime rivals and how there’s a possibility of them becoming a couple. A lot of it is pretty funny, even if some of it does stray into typical romcom gags. The soft, subdued color scheme and limited animation aren’t going to dazzle anyone, but I found the first episode funny enough to recommend this as a light comedy option for the season.

Vampire Dormitory

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

What if the boys in Ouran High School Host Club were all vampires? That’s not exactly what this adaptation of a shojo manga is, but comparisons are inevitable. After all, the protagonist is a virtually destitute girl pretending to be a pretty boy, she does break a vase at the work place of male co-protagonist Ruka (a vampire who’s looking for a thrall because it’s a necessity for an upcoming power struggle), and she has to continue to pretend to be a boy for practical reasons. Ruka is also clueless about Mito’s real gender, even though he probably shouldn’t be. (I have to think a vampire’s senses would be keen enough to tell.) The biggest difference is that this series takes itself much more seriously, even with all of the sparkly vampire effects going on, and there’s an actual plot to the story here.

Not that having a plot necessarily makes this good. The series does throw out some intriguing concepts, such as how the taste of blood can be affected by how loved the victim is and how much they love in return, and the quirk that a vampire called Founder is pretending to by Ruka’s butler raises big questions about what Founder is up to. Despite a few too many static shots, it also doesn’t look bad artistically. Those factors buoy this up to a mid-range grade, but the series has a ways to go to make itself as compelling as it wants to be, even with Mito contemplating suicide at one point. (Her life situation really does suck even before the vampires come into the picture.)

Sound! Euphonium 3

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

This sequel was originally announced in June 2019, but it quickly became a victim of the devastating July 2019 fire at Kyoto Animation’s main studio. But this was too beloved a franchise for a sequel to be permanently nixed, and now, five years later, it finally makes its glorious return.

In this case, “glorious” means “back to the animation quality and story beats fans have long adored.” Previous installments were among the best-looking series of their respective seasons, and this one looks like it will be no different. This time around, Kumiko and crew are the third-years and leaders of the band, and it’s their job to recruit new members for the band and their chosen task to aim for the gold at Nationals this year after falling short last time. Looks like the bass section is getting a bunch of new, somewhat eccentric recruits, including a possible ace transfer student who’s also a euphonium player. Meanwhile, all the familiar faces get re-introduced and the comfortable relationship between Kumiko and Reina continues.

Honestly, this episode doesn’t do anything special, but that’s perfectly fine. One of the hallmarks of this franchise is that the ordinary flow of events still feels special and entertaining. My one quibble here is what it’s always been with this franchise: the very low boy-to-girl ratio in the band, which hasn’t improved at all over time. Granted, this does mean more opportunities for cute girls, but it’s not reflective at all of my own school band experience (where the genders were evenly mixed or perhaps slightly favored boys). But that’s a minor, personal issue. If you’ve liked previous franchise installments, there’s no reason you won’t like this one, too.

Tonbo!

Streams: Amazon Prime on Saturdays

Rating: 1.5 (English dub), 2 (overall)

Wow, how long has it been since Amazon Prime nabbed a new release? And why did they bother to pick up this title? It’s certainly all-ages-friendly, but it has next to zero chance of finding mass appeal among normal anime fans even if it wasn’t on a service little-used by anime fans. I have to think they’re aiming for non-traditional anime audiences here.

The series, which adapts a long-running golf manga (it has a whopping 49 volumes in Japan), features an ex-pro golfer who, it’s implied, has come to the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture (southwest of Kyushu) in order to get away from things. There, in such a remote place, he’s shocked to discover an island-made links course and a precocious girl, Tonbo, who seems to have unusual talent with a golf club. Since Tonbo is both an orphan and the only middle school-aged student on the island, presumably she and the ex-golfer will bond over golf.

Sadly, the first episode has nothing else going for it beyond premise, some decent (CG) golf animation, and the fact that a golf magazine is listed as a technical supervisor, so you can be assured that the gold content will be at least somewhat realistic. Technical merits are very mediocre, character designs lean on the cartoonish side, and the English dub is awful; most of the dub actors sound like newbies to voice-over format, and given how off the timing is in place, I’m guessing the ADR director has little or no experience, too. Really, I can’t even recommend this one for golf fans at this point.

Tonari no Yokai-san

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

In the mountain valley town of Fuchigamori, humans have lived peacefully alongside yokai for ages, so a crow tengu as a neighbor is nothing odd, a family cat transforming into a nekomata is an event to be celebrated, and the ghost of a grandfather reappearing is something to look forward to. Mutsumi is a young girl who lives mostly-happily in such an environment. But a lingering concern about what happened to her absent father also weighs on here.

In some senses, this manga adaptation is exactly the kind of supernatural SOL fare that I fully expected it to be. However, I was surprised by the ominous undertones present when the matter about Mutsumi’s father comes up towards the end of the episode. That add an enticing element which may draw viewers in beyond just those looking for relaxing SOL fare. Buchio is also adorable as the fledgling nekomata who’s a bit on the shy side and hasn’t quite adjusted yet to now being a supernatural entity. Both the character attitudes and the artistry promote a feeling of warmth and comfort, so the series should play well to its style and audience. Not for me, but I can easily see this one gaining a devoted following.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night

Streams: HIDIVE on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

This is an original animation from the director of Eromanga Sensei and the creator of Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki, set in Shibuya City, the heart of youth culture in Tokyo. In this set-up, Mahiru is a teen who was once an award-winning artist, but she couldn’t handle the lack of approval from her friends and so stepped away, seeking to be a “normal” high school girl. Her world gets shaken up when she encounters Kano, a former idol who pretty much got forced out after an incident and now anonymously posts her guitar playing online as a sort of revenge. She loves Mahiru’s jellyfish mural and seeks to partner with her. Mahiru is uncertain at first, as Kano seems special to her and represents someone who didn’t back down from adversity, but a spirited performance in front of Mahiru’s mural helps win her over.

This is certainly one of the most visually striking debuts so far, especially in the way it uses color and lighting to contrast to the nighttime settings in Shibuya. The conversations have a smooth, natural-flowing feel to them, and the main characters and their interactions are engaging. The possible negatives here are that the first episode gets a little repetitive in showing where the characters stand and may be a little too on-the-nose with some of its symbolism. Still, there’s an appreciable energy to all of this and the concept is potentially engaging. I am cautiously optimistic about this one, enough so that I’ll probably watch more.

The Fable

Streams: Hulu on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In this manga adaptation, “The Fable” is a name given to a particularly skilled hitman (though he doesn’t care for it much himself). He’s killed too many people, though, so he’s assigned to lie low with his female assistant (who will be posing as his sister) in Osaka for a year. He’s got such a one-track-mind for his job that his boss has to couch it in terms of it being part of being a pro to get him to go along with it, and a “no killing” restriction may be the hardest part of the assignment for the new Akira Sato.

In other words, this looks like a classic “fish out of water” dark comedy scenario, though it does start with the graphic elimination of a human trafficking group. There’s clearly something mentally off about Akira, but his assistant is at least a normal person and the two do have some decent banter as they go through a sequence involving all the odd places he hides guns and gun parts. The almost-too-dark artistic overtones do convey a certain mood but are a bit hindering in places, but the more grounded and gritty look is also less subject to typical anime style points than normal. I could see this one playing well for those who aren’t anime fans, and it’s certainly more mature adult-oriented than most anime fare. Not for me, I think, but this series should find an audience.

Highspeed Étoile

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

This is an original anime series first announced in 2022 about next-gen auto racing, using vehicles with AI assists and power boosters which can accelerate the cars to speeds over 320 mph for short bursts in straightaways. The first episode here is almost entirely an introduction of the sport in general and a couple of its dominant racers showing why they’re dominant in the final race of a season, with the series’ actual protagonist – the pink-hair, pink-suited, and pink-car-driving Rin – only being barely referred to (much less actually introduced) until the episode’s final couple of minutes. She’s not the only female driver in the sport, either; at least three of the drivers in the race actually shown are young women, including the second-most-dominant one, and there are other young women in the support staffs, so this is much more gender-mixed than most racing is these days.

That being said, character designs which strive to hit just the right mark between cute and sleekly sexy are nearly as much of a focal point as the car designs, so their presence here feels much more like an exercise in fan service than an actual attempt to make any kind of gender statement. This is also all-CG animation, which looks fine when the cars are racing but comes off as stiff when animating people. A musical score mostly composed of classical music numbers is an interesting choice, though. The first episode offers up hints of potential backstories, but if car racing isn’t your thing then there probably won’t be much here to hold your interest.

The Irregular at Magic Academy s3

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 3.5 (0f 5)

With everything that’s happened so far in the story, it’s crazy to think that season 3 marks only the beginning of the second year of high school for Tatsuya and Miyuki, but that’s exactly where the story standards. And a new year of school means new characters. Freshly-graduated Mayumi is back for a guest appearance, another flirt with Tatsuya, and to introduce her twin little sisters Izumi and Kasumi, who will apparently be regular cast members. Takumo Shippo also joins the cast as the incoming top student and a young man ambitious enough to potentially cause problems. They aren’t the only introductions, either.

Unlike with the season debut of Slime, though, the series wastes no time in firming up a major plot thread for the arc that’s just starting. It offers the first magic-fueled action sequence and a plot involving a guy who looks like he’s undead who was apparently behind the tower assault last season and is now involved in some kind of media manipulation. Between those, the familiarity of the old gang, the faint romantic tensions, and the family tensions, it’s pretty much business as usual for the series. And that’s not a bad thing.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime s3 (ep 49)

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

This episode is a direct follow-up to the events of season 2, so no familiarity is necessary with the two franchise entries which have come out since then (i.e., the movie Scarlet Bond and the short ONA series Visions of Coleus). However, since 2½ years have elapsed since the last series ended, either reviewing season 2 first or watching the recap episode 48.5 first is strongly recommended if you haven’t watched/rewatched s2 recently. This episode directly continues from the end of episode 48 and assumes complete familiarity.

The first couple of minutes conclude Walpurgis with a meal, but after that the entire rest of the episode is about the fallout from Walpurgis and Falmuth’s attack on Tempest. It mostly involves the way Diablo deals with Falmuth and forces them into a compromising position where Tempest is concerned, and he does it (mostly) without violence, too. (Am I the only one who thinks he’s doing all of this because it’s fun for him?) That’s really about it; no hint of a future direction is offered, leaving us anime-only viewers to assume that future plot developments will be built on the loose ends from last season. That and the awful visuals and animation in the new OP and ED are the reasons why I can’t give a better score here.

Astro Note

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

This original comedy series features a pretty standard sitcom set-up: a young man seeking a new job as a chef after being laid off becomes the live-in breakfast chef for Astro Lodge, due in part to being lovestruck on first sight with Mira, the lodge’s manager. (The anime describes it as a “shared house,” but a boarding house might be a more accurate description.) Naturally the lodge hosts a passel of quirky residents, including an indie idol, a jobless man and his precocious son, an old geezer, and a seeming poodle who really doesn’t like protagonist Takumi (and also, curiously, really doesn’t like to be walked). But Mira has a secret: she’s actually an alien princess, who’s come to Earth to look for a key critical to ascending to the throne of planet Wid. (Exactly why this key is on Earth is, of course, not explained in the first episode.)

In other words, this is basically the Rumiko Takahashi classic Maison Ikokku with some elements borrow from Alien Princess series for good measure, complete with Mira being a horrible cook and an opening spaceship-chase sequence borrowed from To Love-Ru. This is a more mature-leaning series in look and feel (all of the characters except the son are adults), and is fairly well-animated, but even with the supernatural flavor this is still mostly a standard wacky sitcom set-up, and not an overly funny one at that. I might watch one more episode to see how involved the sci-fi elements are, but I can’t see it making the cut for my viewing list with so many other high-priority titles available this season.

Wind Breaker

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

In this manga adaptation, Haruka is the rare individual who actually looks forward to joining Furin High School, a school full of delinquents, because he intends to fight his way to the top. But he soon finds out, to his dismay, that some things about Furin aren’t what he expected. A gang of Furin students have taken it upon themselves to police the local area and eliminate troublemakers, something that local citizens are firmly behind. They – and in particular restaurant operator Kotoha – also look favorably on Haruka for his efforts to beat down bands of thugs, something that he’s not at all comfortable with, since he’s had such a long history of not being accepted (due to his mixed hair and eye colors) that he’s come to expect that.

I am not a fan of delinquent shows, so the fact that this isn’t getting an even higher rating should be taken as a partial prejudice against this kind of title. But this debut is just that effective at driving home where Haruka stands mentally and what kind of environment he’s getting himself into. And oh, yes, it has some fantastic fight sequences. This is some of the best-designed pure brawling action I’ve seen in a weekly series since Ben-To, and I’d recommend watching for the fight scene which starts around the 13 minute mark even if you don’t watch the rest of the episode. (In particular, a sequence where he runs through some guys to drop-kick a guy holding a knife on Kotoha stands out.) Not a keeper for me, but this one will find an audience.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics

Rating: 4

This light novel adaptation is a reverse-isekai tale featuring 13-year-old Sara, a princess from a fantasy realm who escaped through a portal to a new world (i.e., modern Japan) when her empire was sacked in a rebellion. She winds up becoming the guest of Sosuke, the poor private detective who unwittingly broke her fall when she emerged from the portal. She adapts to modern Japanese life quickly and also proves that she won’t necessarily be a freeloader, since she has magic which can help him greatly on her cases. Meanwhile, Livia, a female knight who was Sara’s last defender in the other world, has also made it through the portal and is quickly (and surprisingly enthusiastically!) adapting to the life of a homeless person.

The first episode shows all of the spunk necessary to make this a fun little view. Sara has the sharp, quick wit one would expect in someone who’s been raised amongst palace intrigue and prepared from a young age to possibly eventually rule, and her long-time love of new things means that little fazes her. Couple that with engaging enthusiasm and it’s not hard to see how she can pretty much run over Sosuke. Livia (who looks like she going to be the series’ fan service bait) also shows potential as a fun character in briefer appearances, one who can get down and bloody when need be but is normally high-spirited in her own way. The OP suggests that at least one or two others from the other world might eventually show up, too. Technical merits aren’t the strongest, but the character designs are appealing and every factor promotes the tone well. This one’s a keeper.

A Condition Called Love

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In this shojo/josei manga adaptation, Hotaru has live a whole (nearly) 16 years without romance. She has good friends and family, but doesn’t really understand romantic love. Her first real opportunity to explore it comes up when Hananoi, a popular guy, declares her his soul mate and asks her out. She’s uncertain, but he’s clearly serious about it and doing everything he can to appeal to her, so she eventually decides to give dating a try and see if she can learn about this intense emotion for herself.

In other words, this is about as standard a set-up for a budding romance as they come. That Hananoi’s behavior borders on obsessive is a little concerning, but I could easily see that being interpreted as desirable devotion and honest commitment, too. At the very least, Hotaru seems like a girl who has her head on straight, and she’s got plenty of cute appeal working for her, too. She’s a likable enough lead to carry the series. Technical merits aren’t bad (the screenshot is the worst the artistry ever gets), the artistry isn’t a slave to shojo style points, and the musical score hits the right notes for the tone, so this is a decently well-constructed first episode. I just don’t see anything here that’s going to win over those not normally into shojo romances, though.

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

I waffled a lot on how to grade this one, as in some senses this light novel adaptation represents one of the more unsavory trends in fantasy anime in recent years – i.e., the Sexy Slave Girl trope. In this case, the socially awkward badass is Zagan, a powerful, friendless sorcerer who offers an outrageous sum for the elf Nephy after falling in love with her at first site during a slave auction. Naturally, he has no clue how to talk to her, and she seems convinced that he intends to use her as a sacrifice for his experiments. (He indicates that he sees little net value in using sacrifices like that, so we know he won’t even if she doesn’t.) That makes their initial interactions possibly even more uncomfortably awkward for Zagan than they are for her. There’s also a mystery about Nephy being a “cursed child,” too.

The Sexy Slave Girl trope usually goes hand-in-hand with the girl’s life becoming better under her new master, so he is effectively “saving” her, and this series – for better or worse – seems to be going down that route. That will definitely not set well with some audiences, though I do see something noble in the way it looks like Zagan’s first task is going to be convincing Nephy that life is worth living. The execution of the episode’s first post-OP scenes is also incredibly awkward. Despite all of this, I found a certain amount of charm developing as the episode progressed and some genuinely funny moments in the episode’s latter half, enough so that I may actually follow it even though I’m not expecting much from it. Though the premise has some elements of The Ancient Magus’ Bride, the tone is much closer to I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness, and I did find that one to be a fun view.

Laid-Back Camp s3

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

I was tempted to just say, “Yuru Camp is Yuru Camp” for this one, because that’s an apt description: if you’re already a franchise fan, the first episode of this season is exactly in line with the tone, spirit, and flow of the previous seasons, so there’s no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy this, too.

This episode is a direct follow-up to the send of the second season, so seeing the movie first is not at all necessary. (Familiarity with the characters is expected, though, so this is not a good jumping-on point for newcomers.) The episode is split between Rin and the rest of the girls. The former is reminiscing about her first “camping” outing with her grandfather while on another solo camp, while the latter are up to normal silly antics while crafting homemade alcohol stoves and planning a “day camp” in the yard at Ena’s house. As usual, the episode has its share of scenery porn and plenty of attention to detail, and young Rin is adorable. Nothing too exciting, but this relaxing weekly view is very much welcome back.

BARTENDER Glass of God

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

This series adapts a 2004 manga which was previously adapted into a 12-episode anime series back in 2006. While it changes up a few details compared to the 2006 version, it follows the same premise and progression: a bartender is being sought for a bar set to open in a new hotel, and employees of the hotel are feeling very put-upon with the vague requirement be able to pour a “Glass of God.” After several failures, they finally get the break they’re looking for in the small, private bar Eden Hall, where a man who had seemed inept in previous encounters with the employees proves to be impeccably skilled behind the counter.

This marks the second series this season (after Spice & Wolf) where the reboot seems unnecessary. Since the manga had only been out for about two years at the time of the first version, I can only conjecture that this version is going to adapt additional content as well as doing some minor technical updates. It is using real liquors and mixed drinks, and plays like a foodie series for drinkers, so I could see some appeal here for the drinking crowd. It also looks pretty good and is rich in detail. As a non-drinker, though, it’s just not something that I can get enthusiastic about.

The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

Extra-length or dual-episode (or longer!) releases have become more common over the last year or so, but not every series which has had them has actually needed them. This light novel adaptation definitely didn’t. Sure, the second episode introduces what will apparently be two major recurring characters and elucidates more on a plot angle suggested by the first episode, but absolutely nothing in episode 2 is going to change anyone’s initial impression about the series: that this is a near-bottom-of-the-barrel OP protagonist reincarnation tale.

In this case, Allen is a Duke’s son regarded as such a failure that he’s disowned in favor of his younger brother, but he’s fine with that because he’s been hiding the fact that he’s a reincarnated hero, who retains all his previous powers and fighting skill, and wants to live the ordinary life he couldn’t in his previous one. (There’s no indication that he was a hero from this world or a different one, so this may or may not qualify as isekai.) He meets up and starts traveling with a princess who used to be his betrothed and is secretly a saint, one who is being targeted for elimination by Allen’s father. He also meets a young woman who’s the current hero and a female elf blacksmith and beats a dragon. All of this is nice, inoffensive, and unremarkable to a fault, and some of the season’s weakest technical and artistic merits don’t help. Honestly, I can’t think of a single reason to recommend this series to anyone.

I Was Reincarnated as The Seventh Prince

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

Lloyd, seventh (and by far youngest) prince of Saloum Kingdom, is secretly a reincarnation of a commoner magic student who adored magic but was unable to stand up against the bloodlines of a noble with far stronger magic, and so died. In his new life, though, he has the mana he needs to be able to delight in analyzing and developing magic, including forcing a demon sealed in a forbidden library in the castle to become his familiar.

The two minor factors this series has in its favor (and the reasons I’m not giving it a minimum ranking) are some eye-pleasing female character design and a training sequence that makes for a respectable action piece. Beyond that, though, this is an utterly forgettable light novel adaptation about an obnoxiously OP protagonist. It doesn’t even have the guts to go for anything more than undefined nudity in a bath scene where there’s plenty of opportunities for it, and what is with the outfit that no self-respecting 10-year-old boy would ever be caught wearing? I’ve been known to watch out low-grade isekai series just for brainless entertainment, so I may give this one more episode, but I can’t see it being a keeper in this packed season.

Re: Monster

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 3.5+ (of 5)

I almost rated this light novel adaptation even higher, but I’m going conservative on the rating to start because its action scenes take substantial animation shortcuts. Even so, this is an isekai title which makes a quick stylistic impression, and not just because it’s one of the bloodier and more viscerally violent examples of its genre. The pacing, style, and especially keen use of musical score all make this one a grade above the average. Director Takayuki Inagaki had a critically-acclaimed hit with his last outing (Birdie Wing), and while I don’t expect this title to be as big, it has potential to be at least somewhat memorable.

In the story, Goburo was a human who got brutally stabbed to death by a woman in a high-tech, battle-strewn world where esper powers exist. Rather than get a special ability on reincarnating as a goblin, he carried over a previous ability akin to Fate Graphite’s Gluttony skill in Berserk of Gluttony: he gain skills from what he eats. (And eating is a big thing in this setting, which is stressed heavily in the visuals.) He uses that to rapidly evolve himself into a hobgoblin and effectively become the leader of his cave. And he intends to make his cave flourish.

The one possible negative for some here is that goblins in this setting appear to be much like in Goblin Slayer: though there do seem to be female goblins, they keep human women for breeding stock. This is just barely touched on and then forgotten, though, so the story doesn’t obsess over the point like Goblin Slayer does. Also, that it’s quite violent should not be underestimated; the artistry loves its blood splatters. Still, I’ll definitely be watching more of this one.

Spice & Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

I’ve got waaaay more to say about this one than will fit in a Preview Guide format, so I’m taking this series straight to episode reviews. Will put that out later on Monday 4/1, once the other debuts for the day have been cleared.

Gods’ Games We Play

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

In this light novel adaptation, gods have been challenging humans to games for an apparently very long time. To give humans a sporting chance, certain humans – who are called Apostles – are granted super-powers which can mostly only be used in the alternate realm where the games are played. Apostles lose their powers if they register three losses, but if they get 10 wins first, they get a “Celebration.” No human has ever accomplished that feat, but genius Apostle Fay, who’s won his first three games, just might. He winds up becoming the supervisor for recently-discovered “former” goddess Leshea (who looks uncannily like a woman he knew in childhood that he’s been looking for), who’s gotten stuck in the human realm and is looking to use the Gods’ Games to get her way back to her home realm. And she’s determined to make Fay her partner in that endeavor.

Essentially, this is a Creative Challenges series mixed with a Genius Shows Off trope. There are a couple of interesting bits of world-building in play here, such as the implication that humans mostly don’t dominate their own world. That raises the somewhat intriguing possibility that the human realms could be artificial, too. That seems outside of the far less interesting focal point, however, and that’s the main problem. Neither of the main characters introduced so far is all that compelling, but the first episode is also saddled by a musical score which sounds like it’s borrowed from a second-rate VN and very shaky production values; a couple of scenes have some distorted body proportions, for instance. Stuff like that wouldn’t be unusual in a mid-season episode where the production is struggling to stay on schedule, but it’s a bad sign for a first episode. I might check out one more episode of this, but don’t see much promise here.

Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included

Streams: CR on Saturdays (1st episode debuted a week early)

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

The Supernatural/Alien Girlfriend trope has been a staple of anime romcoms for more than 40 years now, and the first episode of this manga adaptation shows it to be as pure and generic an iteration on the concept as they come. Really, the set-up could not be any more ordinary: Shintaro is living alone in a studio apartment while attending high school and working at a restaurant (his family, who is paying for the apartment, is not present but in the picture). One morning he finds a sexy girl sleeping on his balcony, who turns out to be an angel named Towa sent to Earth on what essentially amounts to a study mission. Naturally, they’re both such good-natured people that they start cohabitating despite Shintaro’s limited space.

If you’ve seen Oh! My Goddess, you’ve pretty much seen this, with the slight exception that this one much more distinctly leans into (mild) fan service. Aside from Towa’s character design, absolutely everything about it so far is as generic as can be; Shintaro could be the long-lost identical twin to Nasa from TONIKAWA (another series which has some very similar vibes) and nothing else is exceptional about the production values. The OP (given at the end of the episode) indicates that more girls will eventually enter the picture, so this could eventually be a harem-type series, too, but again, nothing even slightly fresh there. The first episode is competently made and paced, so I can’t give this too low a grade, and this series may work fine if you’re looking for something comfortable and familiar. If you want a bolder or fresher viewing experience, though, look elsewhere.

Train to the End of the World

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

In this original anime series from the director of Girls und Panzer, Shirabako, and Another, the advent of the brand-new 7G network sure changed the world, all right – to a reality-altering degree. Two years later, all adults have turned into sentient animals, as does anyone who ages past 21¼ years, and the physical environment has warped in places, too. Electrical grids are limited and non-local transportation is difficult. In this environment, four girls from a rural village set out on a train to seek a friend who left town before the accident. Their destination is Ikebukero, where a newspaper picture places her only a month earlier.

Really, haven’t you ever wondered if the advent of some new communication network might upend the world more literally than the pitch for it claims? Essentially, this series takes that idea and runs headlong with it. Advertising trailers were very coy about exactly how weird this one was going to be, as they focused almost entirely on the girls and only included animals in innocuous ways, but the end result is satisfyingly different enough that this may be much more than just a “cute girls do xxx” series. The series also works quickly; in just 23 minutes it sets up the concept, distinctly establishes the core cast and the various weirdnesses apparent from the girls’ perspective, and gets its central premise of a train journey rolling. The animation effort from studio EMT Squared is unexpectedly strong, too, the background art is sharp, and character designs – both human and animal – are appealing. The pacing feels a bit frenetic, but otherwise this is a solid opener for a potentially intriguing concept.