Fall 2024 Wrap-Up

With the last handful of titles for the Fall 2024 season having now aired, let’s take a summative look at what did and didn’t work well this season. In addition, I will have some wrap-up commentary at the end about a certain Spring season series which finally got around to finishing. . .

Because of the high volume of titles I followed, covering every one of them here would make this post cumbersome. Hence I am only covering those titles for which I have updated my grade since the Mid-Season Reports and/or have additional commentary to offer. I will also not be covering DanMachi here, since I have covered that one thoroughly in episode reviews.

Series from Fall Mid-Season Report part 1 which don’t get additional coverage here include Good-Bye, Dragon Life; Let This Grieving Soul Retire; Mecha-Ude (which I eventually dropped); and Re:Zero (only one more episode has aired since Mid-Season p1).

Series from Fall Mid-Season Report part 2 which don’t get additional coverage here include Arifureta 3, Ranma ½, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 2, and Shangri-La Frontier.

Best of Season: Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Rating So Far: A

Calling this the best of the season may be understating the case; this is easily one of the best of the year. Few series can get away with being every bit as brutal as they are thoughtful, but this one can, and it accomplishes this while delivering on wonderful character arcs (especially Oczy’s transformation from being a depressed common thug to a man of conviction) and impactful looks at what it means to learn and seek the truth, all while delivering some sly commentary on modern-day issues. With support from strong technical merits, design elements, and background music, it delivers on the production front, too. Certain torture elements may be too harrowing for some to handle, and this is definitely not suited to younger viewers, but it is a joy to watch each week and I’m ecstatic that it will be continuing.

Runner-Up: DAN DA DAN

Rating: A-

Honestly, I’m nowhere near as enthusiastic about this one as some are, but I also can’t deny that this is a robust, well-made series. It revels in its outlandish animation spectacles while also presenting a very messy portrait of teen relationships, and it proves with episode 7 that it can deliver one hell of a tragic backstory when it needs to as well. However, none of its merits are stronger than Momo, who rivals the powerhouse leading ladies from earlier in the year for how fun and captivating a character she is. Sure, Okarun has his own appeal, and his interactions with Momo (and her fantastic grandmother!) are big contributors but she’s the true star of the show, and enough different from typical action heroines to truly stand out. This one’s also a definite keeper.

THE REST

2.5 Dimensional Seduction

Rating: B

The artistry and technical merits still, to a degree, hold the series back, but its last few episode get credit for landing the series’ emotional beats, especially in its character development. And while the potential romantic elements haven’t been completely resolved by the end of the season, they have at least progressed. The last couple of episodes give all the girls plenty of opportunities to show off in swimsuits, too, though this ultimately feels less fan servicey than you might expect. This series is apparently doing substantially better in Japan than it is in the West, to the point that a second season has already been confirmed to be in production. While its continuation may not be a high-priority title for me, I will be back.

365 Days to the Wedding

Rating: B

Despite a final episode that, in some sense, feels a bit rushed and overly convenient in how some circumstances get resolved, this series delivers on making its fake couple real in the end, all while maintaining the distinctive idiosyncrasies of both of its leads. Though nothing about the series was flashy or overly dramatic, I still respect it for its thoroughness in examining the pros and cons of marriage, and it regularly gave mild chuckles for the absurdity of how far both of them (Rika in particular) went with their hang-ups; I especially enjoyed the episode where Rika plans out a date with Takuya where she shows off all of her (in her opinion) boring interests in the hope of driving Takuya off, only to have it all backfire. In the end, both are quite likable and appreciable both individually and as a couple, and that’s exactly what a series like this requires.

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

Rating So Far: B

Some series improve once they get beyond their “assemble the cast” stage and more decidedly advance with the plot, but this isn’t one of them. That’s not to say that things have turned bad, and watching Ars navigate through the complexities, strategies, and dangers of a military campaign can be quite satisfying. However, the series never quite recaptures the peak charm of its first half. But Ars is moving up in the world, with both a promotion and a wedding awaiting him at the end of the season, and season 3 has been greenlit, so the series is being successful overall. I will definitely be back, though this probably won’t be a highly-anticipated title next time around.

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War 3

Rating: C+

Have to give the series at least some credit: it looks great and has interesting new powers, and getting to see some familiar characters truly go all-out (especially Yoroichi) is a real treat. However, the series is hobbled by a predictable plot (including mostly predictable reversals), several key characters being largely useless, and the unshakable feeling that we’ve seen this kind of progression before. In a surprise to no one, the fourth and supposedly-final part has been confirmed, and I suppose I’ll be back for completeness’ sake. Just not sure I’ll have any enthusiasm for it. Oh, and the last episode of this part has one of the dumbest and most worthless post-credit scenes in a franchise known for its dumb post-credit scenes.

Demon Lord 2099

Rating: B-

Technically there is a plot to this series, as its second half forms a second distinct story arc, where Veltol, Machina, and Takahashi go undercover at a magic school in Akihabara, but I’m not sure that matters. The fun with the second arc is much the same as with the first: watching Veltol be Veltol. That’s not to say that the series can’t pull a bit of gravitas when it needs to; characters do die, there’s a very put-upon new regular cast member, and a goddess from Veltol’s previous era returns with regrets, all of which contributes to a slightly stronger story arc than the first half. And there are still plenty of flashy action scenes, with the most fun ones coming when Veltol works with Graham, and some strong musical backing. By no means is this one of the season’s prestige titles, but it was still an enjoyable view. I’d likely watch more if another season gets made.

I’ll Be a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

Rating: B+

The last episode had some significant artistic issues (body proportions were all over the place, among other things), but that doesn’t detract from this being a remarkably clever series featuring one of the year’s best leading heroines (er, villainesses, yeah). While it’s not an entirely original twist, I very much liked the revelations behind how the Saint’s power actually worked, as well as the reveal about who Will really was. Both were set up by details that have been revealed throughout the series, too. The way Duke flirted with Alicia was gosh-darn cute as well. No telling if we’ll ever see more animation for this series, but it’s been a fun ride if we don’t and I’ll eagerly be back if we do.

Loner Life in Another World

Rating So Far: C

This one didn’t significantly improve overall from what I said about it in the Mid-Season report, but I’m including it here because of its last episode. The series mostly spends that resolving the case of the person Haruka met at the bottom of the dungeon, and in doing so produces an effort that is, by a mile, the series’ best. In Haruka’s interactions with Angelica, the series achieves the message which, to at least some degree, underlies all of it: being a loner doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be alone. If the rest of the series had even come close to living up to this potential then the series might not have finished as one of the season’s bottomfeeders.

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Rating: B+

This series earned a couple of Best of Season nods in the Anime News Network’s Best of Fall 2024 feature, and I can definitely agree that it’s worthy; it’s probably my #3 pick for the season. It takes a fantastic concept – making a business out of being a magical girl – and executes it beautifully. I particularly loved the look at different styles of doing the magical girl business and how much Magilumiere’s adjust-on-the-fly approach is an oddball maneuver with the potential to shake up the industry, and a couple of great guest stars from other companies certainly don’t hurt. The series looks good, has a solid cast, and a lot of plot potential, and apparently it has been quite successful on Japanese TV, too (it was in the top 10 rated anime shows in a recent week), so it earning a second season is not a surprise. I’ll eagerly be back.

Nina The Starry Bride

Rating: B-

Though I still like the titular character a lot, a mess of a final episode forces me to downgrade its rating by a notch. It’s entirely too rushed and exacerbates a plot which was already starting to rely on faulty logic and incomprehensible motivations by its (female) king. A poorly-executed reveal of the true gender of one character doesn’t help, although the English dub also telegraphs this way too clearly. Nina is still an inviting enough character to carry the show, and I’ll certainly be back if more animation is made, but without a promise of a follow-up, the ending is much too open.

Sword Art Online Gun Gale Online 2

Rating: B

Like with Loner Life in Another World, this one is being commented on here mostly because of its last episode. After the end of Squad Jam 3, the season finishes with an arc where various prominent teams work together in a test battle against new, advanced AI designs defending a fortress where a poison gas weapon is tucked away. This mostly involves the series’ usual battle shenanigans, but are the foes that the alliance of teams are fighting actually AIs? Various discrepancies call that into question, and the reveal at the end of the last episode on this point is both quite interesting and quite thought-provoking. Otherwise the series is just up to its normal VR battle game mayhem.

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor

Rating: B-

Of the season’s lower-tier series, this is the one that I most want to see a sequel for. Its plot whipsaws around some, and the writing doesn’t do the best job of smoothly transitioning Hadis between his serious and silly modes, but Jill’s strength and determination carries the series through its weak points right up to the end. The supporting cast is also pretty solid and the series does better than most about establishing interesting backstories and myths and integrating them into the storyline. The series also gets a plus for dodging the potential squickiness of Jill’s current age by keeping “when I’m old enough” implicit anytime references to building a family come up, and that allows Hadis and Jill remain a cute rather than unsettling couple.

The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party Is, in Fact, the Strongest

Rating: C+

The later stages of this series feature a number of twists, the most interesting one of which is that Narsena having blue hair is actually a plot point rather than a design affectation. Unfortunately, the series struggles to use that effectively, resulting in a last quarter which suffers from generally weak execution on all fronts. There’s just nothing all that exciting about the driving conflict in the later stages, and the story suffers from being too similar in concept to Loner Life in Another World on that front. (Even if the dungeon uprising here is confronted differently, it’s still too frequent a use of that plot device for one season.) Ultimately, the weakest point is that Laust just isn’t interesting at all as a co-protagonist, and not even Narsena can make up for that in the late stages.

Bonus Coverage: Whisper Me a Love Song

Rating (for episodes 11-12): B

The long-delayed final two episodes of this Spring ’24 Season series finally became available on 12/28 – in other words, just as I was wrapping this up – hence this bonus report. The limited animation issues which plagued much of the rest of the series are still very evident throughout episode 11 in particular, though this gets somewhat better for episode 12; the major performance pieces even actually have some animation! These issues are still a significant drag on the overall quality of the show, but on the plus side, the final two episodes do bring a satisfying resolution to the key secondary romance between Aki and Shiho, as well as to Aki’s lingering feelings for Yori, with Himari acting as the middle woman as usual. If you watched the rest of the series then these two episodes are a must for bringing the main story to completion.

In Conclusion

That’s it for now! Join me back here in a day or two for my end-of-year wrap-up.