Autumn Season 2024 Preview
Autumn has arrived and with it all the new and returning series, spread between Crunchyroll, Netflix, Disney+, HIDIVE, Amazon Prime and even Channel 4’s Adult Swim. Which new series are really worth watching when there’s so much to choose from? And have some returning series outstayed their welcome? Our writers have selected a few titles to recommend – read on and see if you agree with our choices!
Ian Wolf
Hotly Anticipated
The thing about series that are “hotly anticipated” is that such series have the potential to disappoint. By the time this article goes out, one of the most hotly anticipated anime of the season will have finished, and for many viewers the series has somewhat failed to live up to expectations.
Fans have been waiting for years to see the long-awaited adaptation of Junji Ito’s classic horror manga Uzumaki. Originally announced back in 2019, the story is set in a town which has been plagued with a curse involving spiral shapes. Animated in black-and-white, Ito’s trademark body horror has so far depicted a man curled up into a barrel, a woman cutting off the skin on her fingertips and boys turning into giant snails.
However, there have been some problems. First, UK viewers only have access to the English-dub, released over here via Adult Swim, which is part of Channel 4’s streaming service. The dub isn’t bad; it’s just annoying that we don’t get a choice unlike just about everywhere else. Many more complaints arose after the second episode was released, which witnessed a distinguishable decline in the quality of the animation. The director of the second episode, Taiki Nishimura, claimed on social media that the reason the episode ended up the way it did was because he wasn’t being paid properly. Whatever the reason, as I write this the final episode has yet to air, so let’s see how it ends.
On a more positive note, another series which has only just debuted is one that I personally have been interested in ever since I started reviewing the original light novels for AUKN.
Some viewers might be put off by the basic premise of Demon Lord 2099. For starters, it is an isekai story which many people say they are too many of already. The central character of a villain entering into a new world which he plans to conquer might also feel overdone.
As someone who has read the books, I would encourage people to give it a go, partly because of the way it tries to deal with different genres. The series is partly a reverse isekai with the central character, Veltol Velvet Velsvalt, awaking on Earth 500 years after he was slain in battle by a great hero. However, the series is also partly cyberpunk. During Veltol’s time away, his magical homeworld of Alneath merged with Earth. The series is set in the year 2099, by which time Alneath’s magic has merged with Earth’s engineering to create a science fantasy world, where magical beings appear alongside punk computer hackers.
I, for one, am looking forward to see how the series adapts Daigo Murasaki’s books. Having said that, there has already been a bit of criticism regarding the first episode, in which Veltol’s friend Machina explains what happened after the worlds merged. A scene in which Alneath’s magical beings are being kept behind a barbed wire fence akin to something you find in a concentration camp felt rather uncomfortable among some viewers, particularly given that the episode debuted on Yom Kippur.
Hopefully, things will progress more evenly as we get more into the story, and with the third novel in the series being released in English by Yen Press this month, perhaps more people will be tempted to try it out.
Uzumaki is available on Channel 4. Demon Lord 2099 is available on Crunchyroll.
Returning Champion
One of the great manga classics has made a return, with Rumiko Takahashi’s martial arts romcom Ranma ½ being given a new adaptation on Netflix.
Ranma Saotome is one of manga’s great enduring characters. A boy being made to become a girl’s fiancé in order to carry on a dojo in 1980s Japan has got enough on his plate, and that is before we get into that trip to China he and his father Genma undertook which ended up badly for both of them. When they fell into a pair of cursed springs, both of them ended up undergoing drastic changes whenever they get splashed with cold water – Ranma transforms into a pink-haired girl, and Genma into a panda. Only being splashed with hot water reverts them back to normal.
Since the manga debuted, it has attracted a big following, not just in Japan, but abroad as well, and these days some people see Ranma as something of an early transgender icon. Of course, the series has had its fair share of criticism too in terms of how different kinds of relationships are depicted, and it will be interesting to see how modern audiences feel about the show. Then there is also the fact that such an icon is appearing on Netflix, a place which is also home to just about every transphobic stand-up special around.
It appears that the makers are happy to make some changes with this new version. In the original scenes set at the cursed Chinese springs, the local guide speaks in a cod-Chinese accent, which in terms of offense is at best a bit off when it comes to Japan mocking a Chinese accent (a bit like the English mocking the French accent or vice-versa), and at worst downright racist when that dodgy accent is performed by an English voice actor. Happily though, they got rid of this accent in both versions. The quality of the animation is also good, and many of the fight sequences pay homage to the original 1980s anime.
Let’s hope that not only this series will introduce Ranma ½ to a new generation, but perhaps we might see new releases of the original series come out in the UK.
Ranma ½ is available on Netflix.
Unexpected Diamond
When it comes to unexpected shows that might attract an audience, you can’t help but feel that there is a certain group of people in Britain who would like the prospect of Negative Positive Angler.
Put it this way: given that one of the best comedy hits in the UK of recent years is Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, in which two people with major health problems bond over angling, people may want to keep an eye out on Negative Positive Angler, in which a person with a major health problem bonds with people over angling. I’m in no way suggesting anything untoward, but if at some point the anime series features a dog looking for a briefcase, I think the BBC might want to sue over copyright infringement.
Negative Positive Angler’s central figure is a student named Tsunehiro Sasaki, for whom everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. He’s amassed a mountain of debt, he hasn’t attended university in ages, and he has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, having been given two years to live. While on the run from debt collectors, he accidentally falls into a river and is saved by a group of anglers who take him under their wing, teaching him the basics of fishing. He soon develops a taste for it, but as for how much he can like fishing, that very much depends on all the other things life throws at him. For example, at the end of the first episode, he finds that his flat has been demolished.
Obviously, this show will not appeal to everyone, particularly to those who consider fishing to be cruel to animals. One or two people have also criticised some of the character design. However, if you already have developed a taste for angling, whether it being trying it out for yourself or seeing Bob Mortimer falling numerous times on a river bank, it may be worth sampling.
Negative Positive Angler is available on Crunchyroll.
Demelza
Hotly Anticipated
This season is heavy with sequels to shows I’m already fond of, but some hot new titles are also airing. Perhaps the one I’m most excited about Magilumiere Co. Ltd. which is available through Amazon Prime Video. The series follows Kana Sakuragi, who’s been struggling with job hunting. She’s intelligent and soaks up knowledge, but always fails at the interview stage, leaving her anxious about her future. It’s during one such interview that she’s saved by a Magical Girl, Hitomi Koshigaya, who’s been dispatched on a job to defeat a Kaii (monsters that naturally appear). Hitomi works for a small start-up company called Magilumiere, which just so happens to be looking for someone new to join their team…
I’ve been following this series since the manga started on Manga Plus back in 2021 and it has quickly grown to become something I am incredibly fond of. Rather than lean into fantasy, Magilumiere is quite grounded and explores the concept of Magical Girls being another career option. Like police or firemen, they’re required to defeat the Kaii that cause problems throughout Japan and it’s become a whole industry between those who fight on the front lines and the programmers who build the magic the Magical Girls fight with.
With an older cast of characters and a more realistic story, this one aims to stand out from the crowd and offer something new to fans of the genre. Brought to life by a combination of studio Moe and the dependable J.C Staff (DanMachi, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest) this has proven quite the feast for the eyes too. The action scenes do make use of 3D CG, but nothing that looks bad enough to pull you out of the scene. I’m not sure this is the adaptation I dreamed of, but it certainly captures the charm of the original story well enough and I hope people will check it out, despite it being stuck on Amazon.
Returning Champion
To the surprise of no one, my returning champion is Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? which is back for a fifth season. Having spent the entirety of Season 4 in the depths of the dungeon, now Bell is back aboveground and spending some time relaxing and recovering. Meanwhile, the city is preparing for the Goddess Festival to which Bell finds himself invited on a date by Syr (one of the girls who works alongside Ryu), but when Freya Familia get involved, Bell realises he may be getting into all kinds of trouble…
For those of you following the original light novels, this season begins with Volume 16, having skipped past the Volume 15 short story collection. From the opening, it seems like we’ll see #17 and #18 adapted as well, which may mean some content being trimmed down to fit (these are all quite thick books at this point!), but having watched this series for so long now, I’m not terribly concerned about that. We’re in safe hands with the team who have worked on the franchise since 2015.
If you’ve enjoyed the series so far then there’s certainly nothing to complain about here. It’s refreshing to have a change of pace from all the dungeon diving as of late, too. I only wish it was available on Crunchyroll rather than HIDIVE with its poorer video quality.
Unexpected Diamond
I was already vaguely familiar with 365 Days to the Wedding thanks to the author’s other work, The World God Only Knows, but I haven’t read more than the first volume of this, so I’ve been looking forward to the anime to properly experience the story.
We follow co-workers Takuya and Rika who work in a travel agency and largely keep to themselves in and outside of work. Takuya goes home to his beloved cat and Rika goes home to read maps and dream of distant horizons. Their lives are peaceful and trouble-free, that is until their workplace announces they’re looking to open a new office in Alaska and those who are single will be prioritised for a transfer! Takuya hopes having his cat will be enough to get him out of the running, but unfortunately, his feline companion is of no concern to his boss and does nothing to change his odds of being selected. Rika desperately wants to avoid being picked as well, which leads her to approach Takuya a few days later with a crazy idea. What if they pretend they’re getting married?
The news comes as a shock to their co-workers, but so far so good in that everyone believes them. This is where their introverted personalities work in their favour as no one knows much about Takuya and Rika’s lives outside of work. But can they continue to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes in the long term and what happens if they really begin to fall in love?
There’s a lot of charm to this romance series brought to us by studio Ashi Productions. It’s a bright and cheerful series that doesn’t let itself get bogged down by drama or anything too heavy. Rika and Takuya are perfectly sweet and relatable characters, it’s easy to understand why they wouldn’t want to be transferred overseas and leave their daily lives behind. There are eleven volumes of the original manga (which is complete), but I doubt the anime will adapt the whole thing – I just hope it doesn’t leave us with a cliffhanger of any kind! Whatever happens, I’m looking forward to watching over these two characters for the rest of the season and highly recommend it if you’re looking for a new romance. I did also discover that Amazon Prime Video has the live action adaptation…
Magilumiere Co. Ltd. is available on Amazon Prime Video, DanMachi S5 is on HIDIVE and 365 Days to the Wedding is available on Crunchyroll.
Cold Cobra
The new Autumn season has arrived and with it new episodes of my two favourite Shonen Jump properties, including an entirely new show, so let’s take a look at that first!
Hotly Anticipated
Dragon Ball DAIMA was conceived as a way to celebrate Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary and it swiftly caught the attention of series creator Akira Toriyama himself, who dived head-first into the production of the show, taking over story direction, character designs and even vehicle and landscape designs too. Tragically it’s Mr. Toriyama’s big finale, and so far it’s certainly looking good, especially the actual visual and animation; this is no weekly ‘Dragon Ball Super crunch leading to less-than-stellar episodes’ situation, that’s for sure. It’s set just after the defeat of Buu at the tail end of Z but before the time period Dragon Ball Super takes place in (which is technically between the defeat of Buu and the actual last chapters/episodes of Z… it’s a long time skip, so it makes sense, trust me!).
Most of the first episode is focused on a new set of characters who live in the Demon Realm, a dimension mentioned off-hand a few times in the original series, most notably during the Buu arc where character Dabura was said to be the “King of the Demon Realm” without any further exploration into the idea. It’s Dabura where we start things off as a short jester-looking character called Gomah is watching the happenings on Earth with someone who is soon revealed to be the Supreme Kai’s brother, Degesu. They make various comments about Babidi and Buu as well as the surprising strength of the mortals before they see Dabura killed, which apparently makes Gomah the new Demon King. He’s thrilled with this idea but is soon shocked when the mortals defeat Buu, a demon creation thought to be unbeatable. They also see the Earth’s Dragon Balls and casually reveal all Namekians to be originally from the Demon Realm and that their own Dragon Balls are too well guarded by special, well, guardians called Tamagami. After a visit from a somewhat busty scientist called Dr. Arisu (Dabura was apparently “funding her research”, so I guess even demons need a currency system!) Gomah and Degesu hatch a plan.
They decide to head to Earth and make a wish on their Dragon Balls to weaken the powerful mortals who defeated Buu by wishing them to be the age of children again, then use the second wish to gain some sort of powerful object that Dabura’s father “Abura” had lost. Degesu wants the third wish but that’s left ambiguous. They take a Namekian called Neva with them, the man who apparently created the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls, and soon they arrive on Earth (“in Universe 7” specifically, which is at least a nice nod to Super) and… do just that! Neva summons Dende’s Dragon Balls, reactivates them and we see the usual cast of Dragon Ball, who had minimal presence in the show at this point, get reverted to children to end Episode 1. It was just one long lore dump by Toriyama, admittedly one part of the episode contradicts Super, but then Super contradicted GT and the manga version of Super contradicts the anime version of Super, so this isn’t a new issue to deal with. Hell, the original manga contradicted itself, Akira Toiryama’s memory of his own work, or lack thereof, is legendary.
Episode 2 then focuses on our now child-bodied main cast, complete with a good number of original Dragon Ball call-backs, Goku wielding his old Nyoibo/Power Pole again, plus the weird sight of a child Master Roshi (who was apparently always bald, which must have made for an awkward childhood…) The Supreme Kai gets Bulma to try and repair the ship he came to this universe in but while she’s doing that, another Demon Realm native called Glorio arrives and recruits Goku to help him take down Gomah. Supreme Kai goes with them to stop his brother and there we have it. Next episode Glorio, Goku and the Supreme Kai will arrive in the Demon Realm via Glorio’s ship (which only seats three people), while Vegeta, Piccolo and, judging by the end credits, Bulma herself will follow shortly after in Kai’s ship.
So overall, it’s been a fun start. If I had to guess. as well as fighting the Tamagami and Degesu, I’m assuming Dr. Arisu is probably creating something that will end up being very much like Buu as the last few times Toriyama was this directly involved in Dragon Ball projects, we got a Goku vs. Frieza rematch and a Gohan vs. Cell rematch (sort of), so he may as well have completed the trilogy of sort-of-remakes of his classic Z villains. Either way, I can’t wait to find out, its always so much fun to get new official Dragon Ball content, it’s just a little bittersweet knowing it’s the last time it can really be called “official” given Mr. Toriyama’s passing.
Returning Champion
As for returning series, I’d like to talk about Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War, which sees its third cour having more involvement from original manga author Tite Kubo than ever. The first episode of this batch actually kicked off with roughly nine minutes of the previous episode, making it even more clear that they sadly ran out of budget at the end of cour 2, the final episode ending rather abruptly and then featuring a bunch of still image gag skits, and that this episode was in reality the second half of that episode. At this point the Soul Society has been pretty much decimated by Yhwach (“Yu-Ha-Ba-Ha”) and his Sternritters and he’s made his way to the Royal Realm to kill the Soul King, the lynchpin that connects all worlds together.
There he met the oldest and most powerful Shinigami of them all, Ichibei Hyosube, and was seemingly defeated by his opponent’s ability to not only weaken someone by removing half or the whole of their name (“names hold power” taken very literally) but by writing the phrase “black ant” on Yhwach he gave him the strength of a black ant as well. Sadly for Ichibei this is the part of the story where the remaining Quincy Sternritter just reveal one crazy, over-powered ability after the other, starting with Yhwach’s “Almighty”, which allows him to essentially see all futures and pick the one he wants to see happen. Unsurprisingly Ichibei falls to this power, and soon the remaining Royal Guard Senjumaru is also defeated by our “traitor” Uryu’s ability (which wasn’t revealed, so I won’t spoil it for non-manga readers).
Episode 2 has Ichigo and allies arrive in the Royal Realm and head to Yhwach, who shows them the Soul King, a man encased in a crystal with no arms or legs. His backstory is a weird one, mostly revealed in the light novels Can’t Fear Your Own World based on Kubo’s unused notes, but given this adaptation has seen Kubo re-insert ideas he never used and generally extend everything, I’m sure that backstory will be revealed here eventually. Speaking of Tite Kubo extending things, in the manga Ichigo confronts Yhwach and their battle only lasts a few pages, but here it’s fully extended to be a bit more exciting and show off Ichigo’s new-found power a bit more… before Yhwach activates Almighty and wins easily, obviously. He then tricks Ichigo into killing the Soul King, causing the three worlds of the Living World, Soul Society and Hueco Mundo to start tearing themselves apart…
In just two episodes (or one and a half, really) there are just as many new scenes as adapted, but unlike most shows like this, where filler is the sign of the devil, this filler is the original author greatly expanding what was frankly a really weak finale for the most part (especially the actual finale, though that won’t be until the fourth and final season…) so fingers crossed that trend continues. It does adapt manga panels beautifully though, and still matches the manga’s Title Cards and poems and general visual style well, and of course the music by all-time great Shiro Sagisu is still hard to fault.
While it might be a bit too late to “jump on board” the series, given it’s heading to its conclusion, it’s safe to say that those already invested (or those who have the time to binge-watch it, I guess!) will see that the anime version is hopefully heading to ending on a high note, unlike its pen-and-paper counterpart.
Dragon Ball DAIMA is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix, while Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is available on Disney Plus.
HWR
Returning Champion
My choice for returning champion is The Prince of Tennis II U-17 World Cup Semifinal, the latest entry into a franchise spanning many seasons, OVAs and a film, dating all the way back to 2001. As such, I can’t exactly fill in all the details for 23 years’ worth of tennis goodness, but I can try my best to discuss what this latest iteration has had to offer so far.
This season acts as a direct sequel to the preceding U-17 World Cup from 2022, which saw Team Japan taking on various countries in order to compete for a place in the semi-finals. That season ended having some ups and downs but can be viewed as being the preliminary conclusion to a long run of back-to-back tennis binging.
This current season has been fairly enjoyable so far, though the second episode had some pacing issues owing to a flashback placement, I’m hoping the series can improve itself and perhaps avoid some of the issues with power scaling seen previously.
The Prince of Tennis II U-17 World Cup Semifinal is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Noemi10
Hotly Anticipated
I found out only a few months ago that A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! was being adapted for the screen, with a release in Autumn 2024. I’m not a patient person and waiting for the first episode really tested my patience as I’ve been obsessed with the manga for years. And as we all know when we love a series so much and it gets turned into an anime, it can go one of two ways: either good or bad.
The story introduces Haruaki Abe, a teacher who is afraid of everything—even children make him cry—and who ends up at a school full of monsters from Japanese mythology. It takes him a while to get adjusted and into his role as the homeroom teacher of what could also be considered a misfit class, but thanks to his students and colleagues, he grows into himself and his powers. In fact, Haruaki is the incarnation of a shaman who lived hundreds of years ago and had a peculiar relationship with monsters.
As to whether the anime will live up to the manga, it’s still to be decided. With only two episodes out so far, we know that the many mishaps that Haruaki and his class fall into are bound to make its viewers laugh, but it’s the outcome of those ‘adventures’ that at the moment differs from the manga. I wonder what the producers’ reason was to change parts of the story, as in my opinion, the original had a touch more of comedy.
Another highly anticipated series for me is Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga li. From a quick glance, the series might give you a shojo vibe, projecting to its viewers’ expectations of a cutesy love story, but the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ can completely be applied here.
With a rating of 16+, it covers quite a few mature topics, including sex and violence. Yoshino is the granddaughter of Kansai’s yakuza, and she ends up transferring to Tokyo to meet Kirishima, the grandson of another yakuza clan based in the big city. So far, all good it would seem…but Kirishima has a somewhat masochist personality, and no matter what Yoshino does, she can’t seem to get rid of him. I can envision quite a troublesome future for Yoshino.
This series also only has two episodes out so far, but it’s been captivating. Compared to some ‘traditional’ shojo stories, in this one you don’t know what to expect next or even if you want the two main characters to fall in love and have their happily ever after. It’s been a pleasant surprise and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Returning Champion
Delico’s Nursery started on Crunchyroll in the middle of the summer season and after a short break, it has just kept going, so while not literally a returning series, we’ll count it as such this time. Dali Delico is a noble vampire who also works for the Vlad Agency, a sort of police for vampiric crimes. The latest case assigned to him sees him and his co-workers dealing with murdered vampires. Dali initially refuses the case as he wants to be at home with his two young children after the passing of his wife. However, he accepts to work on the case on one condition—his co-workers will need to balance taking care of their own children and work at the same time as well!
The preamble might make it seem like a comedy or slice-of-life story, but it gets quite dark. While the producers don’t shy away from the violence (murder after murder), the taking care of their own children is not as easy as the detectives originally thought. The children are still young but they have their own issues—from missing a parent’s attention due to their younger sibling to trying to grow up fast to imitate their fathers. The children’s behaviour and feelings show a reality mixed with fantasy elements (they are all vampires).
The art for the characters is stunning, and the story takes place against a gothic background. I’d highly recommend the series to anyone who loves a good mystery, crime shows and where for once it’s not the mother who’s the parent that has to struggle to juggle work and personal life.
A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School!, Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga li and Delico’s Nursery are available on Crunchyroll, and episodes are released weekly.
Sarah
Returning Champion
I’m a sucker for a detective series – but the first season of Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions left me conflicted; the murder investigation that took up several episodes at the end introduced elements that screamed ‘Moriarty!’ and suddenly we were all in a different detective mystery than the one we thought we were watching. There’s no denying that the partnership between rookie detective Totomaru ‘Toto’ Ishiki (Junya Enoki) and troubled genius Ron Kamonohashi (Youhei Azakami) has been set up by mangaka Akira Amano to emulate a kind-of Holmes and Watson friendship. The shtick here is that Ron was expelled from the top detective training academy BLUE and is forbidden to carry out investigations (for complex reasons). So he makes the crucial deductions but the two pretend that it’s all airhead Toto’s doing. This all dates back (as revealed in the first season) to a terrible tragedy which has left Ron with a bizarre tattoo on his neck and a strange penchant for interrogating the corpses of the murder victims. In the first episodes of the second season ‘The Case of the Shibuya Apocalypse Serial Murders’, Ron becomes aware that he’s being targeted by ‘The House of M’… and there are not one but two ‘M’ s involved…
On the one hand, it’s always entertaining to see how convincing writers who insist on bringing Holmes and Moriarty into their work can be; in anime we’ve them appear in Moriarty the Patriot (2020-21), Case File no. 221: Kabukicho (2019) and more recently, Undead Girl Murder Farce (2023). But on the other hand, if the parallels don’t work well, it soon becomes another tired piece of Conan Doyle cosplay, relying on fictional stereotypes rather than inventing something genuinely new and original. It’s a little early to tell which way Ron Kamonohashi will go. The crime-solving is always interesting to watch although there’s more than a little of a conjuror’s sleight of hand in the way the deductions are presented. It’s an engaging watch – but disbelief has to be suspended!
Unexpected Diamonds
Perhaps one of the most surprising facts about Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is that Uoto, the original mangaka, was only twenty-two when it was first published. It then won Grand Prize for the 26th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize awards in April 2022 (and is available from Seven Seas). Now that Madhouse are bringing a TV anime version to Netflix (twenty-five episodes!), what makes it stand out from the other autumnal offerings?
It’s set in a version of fifteenth century Poland and pitches the struggle between the church (and the inquisition) and the ‘heretical’ astronomers who are being burned at the stake for daring to suggest that the Earth orbits the Sun and not vice versa. Heliocentrism versus geocentrism. In the early episodes, we follow Rafal, a prodigiously gifted boy scholar who is about to go off to study theology at university, although he’d rather study astronomy. Then a chance encounter with a mysterious scholar called Hubert sets him on a different and dangerous path. We also meet (from the deeply disturbing opening scenes) the inquisitor Nowak at work, ‘interrogating’ a suspected heretic (sensitive viewers be warned!). Nowak, impressively portrayed with quiet but chilling menace by Kenjiro Tsude, is ‘just doing his job’ but from the moment he sets his sights on Rafal, we fear for the brilliant boy. Rafal is given a pendant – an orb – by Hubert but as yet we don’t know what significance this will hold as the story unfolds.
If you appreciated the historical sweep of Vinland Saga, you’ll certainly be interested in following Orb, even if some of the details are a little sketchy.
And only just starting on Crunchyroll (why so late?!) is Blue Miburo from Maho Film, also based on an historical manga, The Blue Wolves of Mibu, and also boasting a half-year run. The manga is by Tsuyoshi Yasuda (and is available from Kodansha US). As Shinsengumi fans will have guessed, the title is a reference to the ‘Wolves of Mibu’ and is set in Kyoto at that turbulent time in Japan’s history. It’s 1863, the shogunate is in trouble, the old order is changing, and Nio, the white-haired boy at the centre of the story, joins the Miburo Roshigumi (which will become, in time, the Shinsengumi) after a life-changing encounter with Toshizo Hijikata and Souji Okita. One episode in and, in spite of it not being especially stellar in looks or animation, it feels as if its heart is in the right place. It still can’t compete with the raw power of the opening episode of Nanae Chrono’s Peacemaker Kurogane but I’m invested enough to stay to see how it develops.
Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions and Blue Miburo are available on Crunchyroll. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is available on Netflix.
Onosume
Hotly Anticipated
At first glance, DAN DA DAN is… weird, but when I saw the first three episodes of it at the cinema, it was its weirdness that really caught my attention. It takes what could have been a fairly standard shonen plot of two unsuspecting young heroes battling monsters to save the day, and gives it a shine that wouldn’t be too out of place in something like NISIOISIN’s Monogatari series.
The story follows classmates Momo Ayase and Ken Takamura who end up challenging each other because they believe in completely opposite things. Momo believes in ghosts but not aliens, while Ken believes aliens exist but not ghosts. While they both explore the opposite side of their paranormal beliefs, things start to go just a little bit wrong: Momo is abducted by a race of solely male aliens who are looking to steal human genitals so they can reproduce in a way other than cloning, while Ken encounters the fearsome yokai Turbo Granny, who is not only super fast, but likes to chop people’s bits off. (You can see a theme here…)
Anyway, Ken is cursed and loses his manhood but, possessed by Turbo Granny, ends up somehow saving Momo, who then unlocks her latent psychic powers to defeat the aliens. Now tied together as her powers are the only thing keeping Turbo Granny in check, the pair have to find a way to break the curse put on Ken, while taking down a whole load of monsters, ghosts and aliens along the way.
As much as some parts of the first episode are pretty sketchy, I’ve really enjoyed this so far due to its high velocity script and the instant chemistry between our two protagonists. The pair have some great banter, and they have to learn to trust each other really fast if they want to make it out of their predicament in one piece. The lack of a big supporting cast has also helped focus the initial development on them which helps too, with the only other meaningful character being Momo’s grandmother, who doesn’t get introduced until Episode 3. She’s just as crazy as the evil beings our heroes are trying to fight!
Coming from Science Saru, the series looks pretty great too and has a similar sort of style as some of their past works like Yurei Deco or Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!. It’s quite outlandish, but in a Japanese way, with superb use of colour, or lack of it in some cases.
While they’ve told a wide range of stories as a studio, this one definitely feels like a perfect fit for them and if this continues in the way it has done so far, they could be on for a winner.
Returning Champion
With the first battle against the Illuminati wrapped up, Blue Exorcist returns for its fourth season, the Beyond the Snow Saga, where the events of the previous arc are starting to catch up with The Knights of the True Cross.
As the Illuminati’s work causes the lines between the human and demon worlds to blur, demon attacks become more common, putting a strain on the exorcists’ resources. More exorcists are needed, therefore the final exams for Rin’s group are moved up, placing a lot more pressure on them. While Rin is clear on becoming a knight class, for others it’s not so simple, as recent events have made them rethink their original decision on where they want to fit in the order. Shiemi has to deal with her mother not wanting her to fight, while Bon’s changing priorities see him become the apprentice of the order’s ace in the hole, Lewin “Lightning” Light.
Meanwhile, Yukio attempts to unlock the secrets of Satan’s blue flames for himself, until Shura suddenly goes missing and Mephisto despatches the gang on a rescue mission to Aomori.
As much as I have loved sticking with Blue Exorcist over the years (having first picked up the original series in 2011), I felt the Illuminati arc was a bit too much on the weird side, as much as it made sense for them to be involved somehow in driving humanity over to the darkness.
I guess what I’m hoping for in this latest season then is for it to be a little more grounded and get back to focusing more on Rin and Yukio as characters, as they’re really the ones who captured me into the story way back in its first season. With Yukio exploring the dark side here, it looks to be doing more of that, even if the scenes in these first couple of episodes are pretty harrowing. You know as part of the main cast he’s not going to come to serious harm, but the suicide scenarios are very uncomfortable to watch.
Elsewhere though, it feels like very typical Blue Exorcist, there’s lots of Rin earnestly goofing off, a good mystery to get stuck into, and the presence of Mephisto who once again feels like he’s trying to manipulate something behind the scenes.
I’m not reading the manga for this one right now (having not picked up any since Volume 5 many years ago), so I’m very interested to see where this ends up, and if it can pull itself up from the less impressive Illuminati arc.
Unexpected Diamond
Nina the Starry Bride paints an interesting picture of a fantasy world where people are split between the haves and the have nots. Our protagonist, Nina, is an orphan girl struggling to get by on the things she steals with her two friends, Saji and Colin. Things go from bad to worse for the trio when Colin falls ill and ultimately passes away. Unable to face her any longer, Saji sells out Nina to two people who are looking for someone with beautiful sparkling blue eyes. One of them turns out to be Prince Azure Seth Fortuna, second in line to the throne, who is looking for a replacement to cover up the accidental death of Princess Alisha, the country’s head priestess.
With no choice but to go with him, Nina reluctantly takes on her new role, posing as the real princess. Plunged into an unfamiliar world, Nina must cast her old life aside if she wants to survive in this cruel political world, with not only a cutthroat queen but an impeding arranged marriage to deal with too.
I really liked the beginning of this one, and it really packs a lot into its opening couple of episodes, as it must not only deal with Nina and her situation, but also has to set up the world and its politics. Both of these it does really well, with the opening segment showing her scrounging as a street urchin setting her up nicely for this turnaround where it wants you to think that being born rich or noble doesn’t always mean you’ll be happy. It goes in hard on the political themes, showing the complete lack of social mobility for the poor and how manipulative you have to be in the nobility, and I think it pulls off the medieval feel really well.
Of course, this being an adaptation of a josei manga, there’s plenty of romance to go around and already you can see Nina becoming smitten with Prince Azure, which is sure to set off fireworks when the arranged marriage comes around!
All in all, this does look promising and reminds me of some recent series like 7th Time Loop that not only focus on the drama and romance, but also have a keen political edge. If that’s your sort of thing, then you’re probably going to get on well with this one.
DAN DA DAN, Blue Exorcist -Beyond the Snow Saga- and Nina the Starry Bride are all available on Crunchyroll.
