I hadn't heard of this one, but the visual had me thinking it was a manhwa. I just looked up the synopsis and it makes the series sound quite ominous: "At first, Kirishima seems amiable and polite–but when he shows his dark side, he proves to be more disturbing than any gangster Yoshino has ever met." Also looks like the series has won several awards before as well. I haven't taken a good look at the Fall season yet, but this sounds interesting.
Is it bad? I remember reading a bit of the manga and dropping it because it didn't hold my interest. When I saw this I thought that maybe the anime adaptation was somehow better if they are getting more seasons.
Yeah, I think Sherlock is the best comparison and it is what I kept referencing in my head when I watched the series. Excellent Sherlock-type story with an Imperial China flavor to it all.
As I am catching up on news from Anime Expo while also on vacation, I happened to notice this reddit thread about season 2 of Chained Soldier changing studios to Passione. I can't find any confirmation on a news site, but thought it was interesting. A common refrain from the discussion threads with @MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz in this community for season 1 was how lackluster the production was.
Passione has a history of ecchi series including titles such as "Interspecies Reviewers" and "Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World." Hopefully they can bring their expertise to bear in order to spice up the adaptation going forward.
There have been a flurry of announcements coming out of Anime Expo today, so I am doing a bit of catching up. I think this will be the last one I make a post about today unless something else big comes through as I don't want to flood the community.
Premieres October 2024. The first PV is here, the second PV is here. Check out the Anime Trending article for more information. Synopsis of the first part of TYBW from AniList:
> Was it all just a coincidence, or was it inevitable? > > Ichigo Kurosaki gained the powers of a Soul Reaper through a chance encounter. As a Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo became caught in the turmoil of the Soul Society, a place where deceased souls gather. But with help from his friends, Ichigo overcame every challenge to become even stronger. > > When new Soul Reapers and a new enemy appear in his hometown of Karakura, Ichigo jumps back into the battlefield with his Zanpakuto to help those in need. Meanwhile, the Soul Society is observing a sudden surge in the number of Hollows being destroyed in the World of the Living. They also receive separate reports of residents in the Rukon District having gone missing. Finally, the Seireitei, home of the Soul Reapers, comes under attack by a group calling themselves the Wandenreich. > > Led by Yhwach, the father of all Quincies, the Wandenreich declare war against the Soul Reapers with the following message: "Five days from now, the Soul Society will be annihilated by the Wandenreich." > > The history and truth kept hidden by the Soul Reapers for a thousand long years is finally brought to light. > > All things must come to an end as Ichigo Kurosaki's final battle begins!
Premieres sometime in 2025. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis for the first season from AniList:
> Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!
Premieres October 2024. The new PV is here (only posted to Twitter as far as I can tell). Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:
> Do these sports-crossed lovers have a chance? > > Taiki Inomata loves badminton, but he has a long way to go before he can reach nationals. When Taiki sees upperclassman Chinatsu Kano practicing her heart out on the girls’ basketball team, he falls for her hard. After an unexpected turn of events brings the two closer together, sports might not be the first thing on their minds anymore!
Premieres Fall 2024. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis for the fifth season from AniList:
> Goddess Festival—A fruit festival that brings the labyrinth city of Orario to life. Goddesses symbolizing fertility are enshrined on the altar, and among them is the Goddess of Beauty. Bell Cranel, who has survived and returned to his daily life from the dead depths of the dungeon, is here and ready to enjoy the bustle of the Goddess Festival until he receives a letter from a girl at a small bar in a corner of Orario—"To Mr. Bell, please go on a date with just the two of us at the upcoming Goddess Festival. From Syr." Syr's single-minded determination will drive both Bell and the labyrinth city crazy. Meanwhile, the Einherjar, the warriors who claim to be the "strongest," are now suddenly on the move...
The adaptation that everybody knew was going to come at some point. ORV is one of the few manhwa I have read regularly in the past and it is pretty good. I remember getting caught up to what was current at the time and then stopping; planning to let the chapters build up again and binge once more. If you are completely unfamiliar, then Gigguk recently did a video on the series to provide some more insight.
No date announced yet. Check out more in the Crunchyroll article as they are co-producing along with Aniplex. Series synopsis from AniList:
> Back then, Dok-Ja had no idea. He had no idea his favorite web novel 'Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse' was going to come to life, and that he would become the only person to know how the world was going to end. He also had no idea he would end up becoming the protagonist of this novel-turned-reality. Now, Dok-Ja will go on a journey to change the course of the story and save humankind once and for all.
I somehow knew this would be the image for this episode even though I haven't been able to watch this yet. This series has absolutely nailed the marketing.
I know this episode hasn't become widely available yet (that happens tomorrow), but it does release a couple days early on Abema, a Japanese streaming service. I have had a couple people reach out, asking about this thread and where it was, so I thought I would go ahead and create it.
Premieres October 13, 2024 and will run for two consecutive cours. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Source manga synopsis from AniList:
> Second year high school student Rakuro Hizutome is interested in one thing only: finding "shitty games" and beating the crap out of them. His gaming skills are second to none, and no game is too bad for him to enjoy. So when he's introduced to the new VR game Shangri-La Frontier, he does what he does best—min-maxes and skips the prologue to jump straight into the action. But can even an expert gamer like Rakuro discover all the secrets that Shangri-La Frontier hides...?
That's a really good question. From looking at the rankings for different sites for a little while now, I think that AC tends to be a bit biased toward romance. For example, last season saw Date a Live near the top of the chart most of the season while it wasn't on the other charts (reddit karma or Anime Trending).
Looking at the reddit karma for this past week, Oshi no Ko is running away with things with about 2x as much karma as Alya. Other shows are higher up as well with solid showings from Spice and Wolf as well as Slime.
Oshi no Ko and Tower of God are probably my most anticipated. Pseudo Harem is one of my favorite manga, so I enjoyed the first episode a lot. Out of the other premieres I have seen so far, probably Dungeon People was my favorite.
The true wildcard this season is going to be Nokotan.
Yeah, I was surprised as well. It's important to remember that AC is just one audience though. Alya ended up #2 on their most anticipated list. So, I guess it delivered what AC was looking for while Oshi no Ko must not have to the same degree.
I am curious if Alya will stay on top as the season goes or whether the audience moves on.
First week of the new season! This means that all the shows get marked as new entrants despite some of them continuing from last season. Many shows have yet to premiere for this list as there are only 23 shows listed (usually a full season is 50-60). Still surprising to see something come out on top over Oshi no Ko. We'll see if Alya's smug is enough to hold onto the top spot as the season gets going proper.
The administrator did mention cursing Clay to alter her memories, so it is something that is possible. Time will tell I guess.
Are you like me and miss Dungeon Meshi? Looking for something to plug that "diving into a dungeon to search for a lost family member" shaped hole in your heart? Well, look no further! At least, based on the first episode it seems like this will be a bit of a blend between light-hearted, silly fun and "my father has been missing for three years and might be dead" serious.
One thing I am not sure about is why Clay didn't ask about her father directly even after she lost the fight? In any case, this show has been fun so far.
Premieres January 2025. The new PV is here. I haven't found an English article yet, so here is the Natalie source (edit: ANN article). Synopsis from AniList:
> Rumors stir throughout the land: when the wielder of the black sword draws his dark blade, all who stand in its path are torn asunder…! > > Köinzell, the mysterious young boy who carries the black sword, undeniably wields it with exceptional skill, but can he truly be responsible for the bloody rumors? Pursued by the Traitorous Lances, four powerful warriors who were thought to have been defeated by the Seven Heroes, the strength of the young swordsman will be tested to its limit. At battle’s end, only the shocking truth of Köinzell’s quest will stand above the corpses of his enemies… > > An epic fantasy on the grandest of scales!
Premieres October 2024 and runs for two consecutive cours. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Source manga synopsis from AniList:
> Raised by Father Fujimoto, a famous exorcist, Rin Okumura never knew his real father. One day a fateful argument with Father Fujimoto forces Rin to face a terrible truth—the blood of the demon lord Satan runs in Rin's veins! Rin swears to defeat Satan, but doing that means entering the mysterious True Cross Academy and becoming an exorcist himself. Can Rin fight demons and keep his infernal bloodline a secret? It won't be easy, especially when drawing his father's sword releases the demonic power within him!
I worry with adaptations of series with short chapters like this, that the constant cutting and transitioning will turn people off. Sometimes the transitions can be quite jarring and pull viewers out of it. This episode wasn't too bad about it which gives me hope that people will stick with it. One of the worst at this I have seen was probably "The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch" where they would have transition scenes and then cut back right to the exact same scene.
I love how the VA delivered that line. She dropped her voice like two whole registers to say "zenbu."
Are you me? I agree with basically all of this (though I do have some foresight as I am up to date on the manga). Last season, Aqua was edge-lordy for sure, but he was also quite extroverted when it suited him, like when he was on the dating show. The on-camera vs. off-camera personas of Aqua were quite different. In these rehearsals though, we only ever really see the off-camera version of him where he fashions himself as an avenger of sorts.
Himekawa is listed as 19 iirc in his intro text when he shows up at first, so it's not too bad since I think Kana is 17 or so here. He is simply such a good actor you fell for his 30-something year old character!
Also agreed on the OP and ED. It is just the first episode though. I can't say I was sold on the ED last season until they started to use it to great effect for dramatic outros. So, time to grow on me yet.
Premieres sometime in 2025. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for more information. Synopsis from AniList:
> In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: she wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch … until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem...
I am so on board for this. I adore the manga for this series, so I was a bit nervous about seeing it be adapted. However, the leads do a great job. Eiji is a remarkably goofy person and it comes across here well. The short manga chapters means that you get so many quick little scenes to inject that romance into your veins. I am guessing due to how quickly they knock out chapters that we are likely to get a complete adaptation this season. I am really looking forward to it.
Premieres sometime in 2025. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:
> Nobody asked to be a cat! > > After dying in a fight against the forces of evil, a knight is shocked to discover that instead of being reborn as a hero of humanity, he starts his new life as a behemoth-one of the most powerful monsters in the world! The only problem is that a baby behemoth looks an awful lot like...an adorable house cat?! Things grow even more confusing when a beautiful elf adventurer rescues him from the brink of death rather than finishing him off. This house-cat-slash-knight's baffling journey is just getting started...
Alright, so, this edge case popped up on a show last season too. Basically, AniList had the release date scheduled for Sunday (which is still the broadcast release date), then they later revised the release date to a point in the past. Because rikka is only looking forward in time for episodes, she missed the revision of the episode 1 release time, so she still is planning on making the thread on Sunday. I have worked a little on how to address this edge case, but decided to knock out the requestable and wiki modules of rikka first since keeping the wiki updated was taking much more of my time.
As for the show, I am unable to find it available yet (even on the high seas). I see on AniList that it is available on abema, a Japan-only streaming service a couple days prior to general release. They must have revised their release date from the broadcast date to the abema streaming date. So, I would prefer to keep the post scheduled for Sunday when it is generally available if that is when people are actually going to be actively watching it.
However, for episodes 2+, that means the post will get created a couple days early. So, either we live with early episode threads or I commit to making threads manually on the general release day (they should be requestable by anybody as well). I will think about the best way to handle this going forward.
Premieres October 2024. Check out the Crunchyroll article for additional cast/staff information. Synopsis from AniList:
> Rookie teacher Haruaki Abe is as cowardly as they come. It's hard enough for him to handle human students without whimpering-and now he's going to be teaching at a school full of monsters?! It's a classroom of horrors for Haruaki, as his mischievous students use every means at their disposal to prank him! Will this poor teacher be able to get his group of ghouls under control, or is this class destined for failure?
No date or PV released yet. Additional information will be announced this Fall. I haven't found an English language article yet, so here is the Natalie source (edit: ANN article). Synopsis of the source manga from AniList:
> Though Ayase Yuu is the son of a renowned and talented actress, he is below average in anything he does. He is entrusted to live under the care of his mother's friend and later discovers that he will also be rooming with the three sisters from his school who possess both beauty and talent. Though Yuu thought that an understanding would be impossible to reach between an ordinary person and those blessed with talent, the three sisters are surprisingly...?!
No date announced yet. The new PV is here. Check out the Crunchyroll article for additional cast/staff information. Synopsis from AniList:
> The story centers on the the titular Clevatess, the lord of all magical beasts, who wields both uncanny intellect and destructive power. Frustrated by the 13 heroes tasked to destroy him, he has decided to be rid of humanity once and for all. However, he has been charged with one nuisance: the care of a newborn human baby. Now the world stands upon the brink of Armageddon, with the obligation of raising one child holding it all back.
Premieres July 9th, 2024. Check out the Crunchyroll article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:
> The story centers on Mira, the clever brains behind an evil organization that invades and destroys everything in its path. One day, a magical girl named Byakuya Mimori decides to stand up to the organization, and Mira falls in love with her at first sight.
Premieres January 2025. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:
> "At this rate, I'll just graduate as a plain background character A!" > > Minami Aoba was troubled. She had no particular strengths or things she wanted to do. Is it okay for her high school life to end as such an ordinary supporting character!? > > Leaving school behind, Minami searches for her own "special uniqueness." She stumbles upon the nearby golf practice range by chance. Approached by part-time worker Haruka Akane, Minami grasps the golf club—the "utility." > > And thus, it was the encounter between Minami and golf. > > Winning is not the only thing in golf! Everything related to golf is enjoyable! > > Together with the genius golfer Haruka and Ayaka Hoshimi, who aspires to be an influencer, they seek the moment when they can become the "protagonist"! As a super beginner, Minami swings her club once again today.
No date announced yet. The new PV is here. This was announced to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original anime adaptation. No English source yet, so here is the Natalie source (edit: Crunchyroll article). Synopsis of the source manga from AniList:
> Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, girls from separate schools, find themselves linked together as they fall through the floor during a field trip to the Tokyo Tower. They land in a place called Cephiro, where their will controls what happens. They meet with Guru Clef and find out that they were summoned to save Princess Emeraude who has been imprisoned by High Priest Zagato. They learn magic and acquire weapons on their quest to save Cephiro from the evils of Zagato.
Premieres sometime in early 2025. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis of the source manga from AniList:
> Oscar François de Jarjeyes is a young noblewoman raised as a son by her father. As commander of Marie Antoinette's palace guard, Oscar is brought face-to-face with the luxury of King Louis XVI’s court at Versailles. Joined by her servant André, Oscar is privy to the intrigue and deceit of France's last great royal regime.
Premieres October 12, 2024. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:
> It's 1863, the twilight of the shogunate, and Japan is on the cusp of monumental change. The streets of the nation's capital are soaked in blood as political upheaval and rising tensions between masterless, wandering ronin and government samurai set the stage for one of the most turbulent times in Japan's history. Young orphan Nio is no stranger to the harsh realities of the world, and yet he can't help but cling to his burning passion for justice and desire to change the world for the better. > > One day, he crosses paths with two men who will become central figures of the coming revolution: Hijikata Toshizo and Okita Souji, two of the founding members of a group of hated ronin known as the Miburo—who would later become known as the Shinsengumi. Inspired by the efforts of the so-called "Blues Wolves of Mibu," Nio decides to join the ranks to help carve a path to the world he wishes to see. But with new betrayals and reversals every day, will Nio be able to stay true to his conscience?
