Anime Roundup - Fall 2023
There are too many good shows this season.
We feared that this day would come. We actually couldn’t finish them all in one sitting. But, how could we???
There were 37 new shows this season, and that’s after doing our darndest to really stretch how far we take the “no spinoffs or sequels” rule, leaving out two potentially great shows (Pluto and MF Ghost) in the name of keeping the marathon to a humane length. But despite that, we decided to end the marathon with a whopping 10 shows left!
But of course, I already watched those ten as well, and will do my best to give my own quick thoughts on those at the end.
For those of you reading one of these for the first time, being kind of confused about what I’m talking about: each season some friends and I get together to watch through the first episode of each new anime show airing, to marvel at the great series together, and laugh at the bad ones. No sequels or spin-offs; the idea is that you shouldn’t need to do any “homework” before starting any of these. This post is a quick summary of the shows with some added commentary of what we thought of each, listed roughly in order of what we watched.
At the end, I’ll also try my best to make a “short” list of the ones that are worth keeping up with. Let’s go!
Kawagoe Boys Sing
An anime about boys singing, but they couldn’t even let the VA’s sing the OP themselves.
Seems like perfectly serviceable trash, but there are way too many better shows this season. Skipping.
The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons
Cute slice-of-life about four brothers and their daily lives after their parents death some years ago.
With the eldest brother working hard to support and take care of his three siblings, the second youngest attempts to take some responsibilites on himself to prove that he can be useful as well. Things doesn’t quite work out like he had planned though…
Seems like it’s going to be really cozy, and probably a good watch.
Paradox Live the Animation
Mixed media project about a battle-of-the-bands tournament hosted at a legendary venue, suddenly returning along with a legendary band after both mysteriously vanished ten years ago. Set in a sci-fi world there “phantom metal” allows wearers to produce hallucinations which they ended up using to make flashy music productions?
This was plastered all over MAL leading up to the season, and the production sure seems like it has a lot of money behind it. Not sure the actual show will be any good though. Skipping.
Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange
I keep saying “no spin-offs or sequels” at the start of these, but this one this broke through. However, the connection to the related parent story seems more like flavourful character backstory than having any real significance on the overall plot.
We start following a group of young firefighters in the midst of their training to become special rescuers in the Tokyo Fire Department - training they’ll need as wide-scale disaster is seemingly about to spread in their near future.
Very grounded series that will likely be a good watch for those of you looking for more realistic shows, which good animation and overall production to boot. Can recommend.
The Apothecary Diaries
The first of several standout shows this season.
Funny. Engaging. Heartwarming. Exciting. Beautiful. This has it all.
A fictional historical anime set in ancient Chine, mainly within the walls of the emperor’s palace. We follow Maomao - the young daughter of an apothecary, with a deep interest and extensive knowledge in the field herself. While on an errand in the city, she gets kidnapped and unceremoniously sold off as a helper in the rear palace where only women and eunucks are allowed.
Maomao very quickly accepts the situation for what it is, and plans to not draw any attention to herself so she can serve out her two years and return home afterwards. But with a “curse” afflicting the Emperor’s courtesans, Maomao’s conscience doesn’t allow her to just sit back and do nothing…
Animation, music, EVERYTHING is on top in this, with characters as engaging as the are endearing.
A Must Watch.
The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch
Alyssa the witch finds an abandoned human baby in the woods, and decides to raise her as her own. We follow their daily lives years later, where the now teenage Viola does her best to protect her mom from doing dangerous things like dating or not being with Viola.
Moderately funny vingette-based comedy show with absurd elements. A good laugh at times if it’s your cup of tea.
A solid maybe.
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You
The harem comedy anime.
Imagine all the tropes, but the characters all have their settings at 11.
After the god of love “mistakenly” makes it so Rentarou not only gets the already lucky One Soulmate in life, but One Hundred Soulmates, the soon-to-be highschooler who has already been rejected 100 times prior will now have his pick among partners.
There’s just one catch: if your soulmate rejects you, you die from heartbreak, so now he has to figure out a way to prevent that from happening (after all, he really does/will love all of them).
Spoilers: The solution doesn’t involve decieving them.
If you’re into this type of show, this will likely be one of the BEST shows of the year.
I'm in Love with the Villainess
An otome-game isekai comedy show, but main protag-chan is in love with the villainess and couldn’t care less about the love interests!
Apart from protag-chan seemingly being a bit too devoted, the overall style and production seems to be on par with most other recent otome-game shows. WYSIWYG.
A solid maybe.
The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess
Terakomari Gandesblood is vampire princess born into one of the most powerful vampire families of this world, and “a beauty that occurs once every 100 million years”. but she hates the taste of blood and can’t use magic. Or can she?
Per the orders of her Empress, she is given command of a company of soldiers and tasked to use them to win 100 battles, so she can become eligable to succeed the throne in the future. A new maid - Vill - is hired to protect Komari from harm, but Vill has an unhealthy devotion to her new master (cue ecchi for laughs).
Then also something something magical world where beings don’t die thanks to McGuffins, but dark powers are attempting to destroy the McGuffins something something.
Too good and sometimes funny to be called trash, but not good enough to be called ‘good’.
Good trash?
Can recommend.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
Potential Anime Of The Year candidate.
The Hero’s Party has already slain the Demon Lord, and are back in the capital to celebrate the end of their epic ten-year journey.
“But it was just a mere ten-year quest?” questions the elven mage.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is about the story after the usual fantasy heroics, about traveling the world to rediscover memories, traces of ages past, and to search for minor miscellaneous spells with often mundane effects.
It’s also a tale with time itself front-and-center, how differently it can be perceived when you have an extended amount of it, and attempts to convey how important it is to embrace the many moments that often are at the risk to just slip by if you let them.
This series has amazing imagery, impactful music, and a grand sense of adventurous serenity that is rarely present in TV-produced animation works.
It is simply a treat to watch, and the very definition of a Must See.
Ragna Crimson
Ragna has spent his life so far being all but powerless, teaming up with a child prodigy who can effortlessly slay the dragons that roam this world. While he does try to take care of her as someone a few years older, everyone around him only sees him as leeching of the success of her.
But when disaster strikes, and a premonition warns of her impending doom, his desperate feelings to protect her traverses through time, giving him unimaginable powers - but at what cost?
Very edgy trash, but there might be a nugget of something in here?
Will likely skip. Too much other good stuff this season.
Berserk of Gluttony
More edgy trash!
In a world where everyone has a Skill, our protag-kun has lived his life so far thinking that he doesn’t have one. After a run-in with a thief, he manages to kill him, unlocking the use of Gluttony which steals the skills from those he kills to use for himself.
Throw in a talking sword named “Greed” who also hungers for blood, a sprinkle of overly evil “holy knights” and the one girl among them that is actually good and definitely the love interest of protag-kun, and you got yourself a series.
I’ll be skipping this one though.
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness
Allen just wants to live alone out in the woods in his moderately sized house, but when he one day stumbles upon a group of knights seemingly hunting a defenceless woman nearby, he steps in to save the day. Through magic, he sends the knights home thinking they found evidence of her getting eaten by wild animals.
After bringing her home and healing her wounds, he starts learning just how innocent and virtuous this woman in, and can’t stop himself of wanting to teach her all the naughty things in the world; like indulging yourself in tasty foods, spending a day shopping without remorse, and more.
Seemingly incredibly wholesome overall, and very cute.
Can recommend.
SHY
A different take on the kinds of super heroes you normally only find in western stories.
In this alternate universe, there are no wars thanks to heroes keeping people safe across the world. “Shy” only recently became one of these heroes, and is now struggling with not only crippling anxiety, but also with trying to come to terms with not being able to save everyone despite the powers she has.
But just as she can come to grip with these feelings, a new evil has started to emerge in the hearts of humans over the world, and a mysterious group is trying to bring this evil to the surface in order to set the world into a state of true chaos.
I freaking LOVE the visuals in this - there are a lot of interesting editing choices they make throughout the episodes so far that remind you of comic book panels, and a clean visual production style that sets it apart in a good way. Wether or not the story will turn out to really hook me is yet to be determined, but for now this is definitely on my watch list to see where things go!
My New Boss Is Goofy
100% the cutest show this season.
After a long time working under an abusive boss, Momose has now started working at a new advertising agency, and placed under the watch of his new boss, Shirosaki-san.
While super capable in his own right, it turns out that his new boss is just a total dork, and unconsciously does things that are super cute all the time.
Prepare to “Squee~” and “Kyun~” throughout every episode while you watch this.
Highly Recommend for healing your soul.
16bit Sensation: Another Layer
Tired of her day job as a sub-illustrator at a games company only trying to churn out middling ero games, and dreaming of a life where she can make art for a truly magnificent bishoujo game instead, Konoha stumbles upon a treasure trove of old classics in the genre in a mysterious second-hand game shop which vanishes overnight, just as quickly as is appeared.
When later opening up one of these classics, she is transported back to 1992, and is taken pity by a small games company trying to make bishoujo games in this era.
But how did she get there? And how will her 2023 skills translate to a time before styluses and polished visual interfaces?
A MUST SEE if you’re in gamedev (like myself and a lot those attending the marathons are), but otherwise still seems like a good time for anyone stepping back in through time alongside our heroine.
A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life
It’s a dude playing through a VRMMO, but while he’s actively trying his best to not stand out by picking skills no one else wants, the results of those skills suddenly start getting sought after, and he repeatedly finds himself in more excitement than he bargained for.
A decent watch, best enjoyed in moderate amounts, just like the main character who only plays for a few hours a day after his regular salaryman job.
Shangri-La Frontier
In a world where VR gaming is commonplace, “Kuso-game hunter” Sunraku has just obliterated another buggy mess of a game, and while looking for what to play next gets the recommendation to pick up “Shangri-La Frontier”, the 30-million-player strong “God-tier Game” that is all the rage, just for a change of pace.
Sporting some incredible visuals and animations, in a regular season would easily be in the top 3 shows, but with the fierce competition this falls to maybe top 5 for many instead, and that’s before you count in continuing series.
An easy recommendation for anyone still itching for some of that shounen game I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-isekai goodness.
Good Night World
Even more games and VR!
This has a more than slightly darker tone than the previous two though; we follow one of the top guilds in the game world, The Akabane Family.
They make a point of not prying into each others real lives, but while being a cheerful family in the digital realm, signs are pointing towards them being a broken mess in the real world, with much more in common than they realize.
A solid maybe? Will need to watch more to know exactly how much I'd want to recommend this.
A Returner's Magic Should Be Special
Time leap I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-isekai!
After facing the destruction of everyone he holds dear as part of the final few who face down a powerful dragon, for reasons unkown he is cast back in time to when his academy years started. With only a few years of preparation now regained, can he help set history on a new course with the knowledge he has for this second try?
A decent trash show in any normal season, but likely going to struggle to find time for this with all the other shows I’d rather watch.
My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer
Former adventurer “The Red Ogre” finds an orphaned girl and takes her into his home. Years later, the same girl has now risen through the ranks at the Adventurers Guild, and cannot wait to get back home to see her dear dad after a few years of not being able to return.
She does however quickly find that being one of the strongest adventurers around, luxuries like “vacation days” don’t come easy, and as soon as she’s prepared to leave, another situation arises that needs her help. She really really really wants to see her dad again, but also people are dying.
Meanwhile, Dad is in the quiet village just taking care of things.
Moderately cute and funny; an easy recommend if you have time for it.
Seriously wondering if she will make it back home or not this season…
Under Ninja
The wierdest show of the season.
“Throw a stone, and you’ll hit a ninja. But you won’t know which one.”
In this alternate world, ninja are still very much prevalent and relevant for the governments and secret societies of the world, still hidden from the public’s prying eyes.
We follow Kuro, whose clan has seemingly fallen from grace as he undertakes Genin missions to get by. In his free time, he leeches off of the fridge beer from his neighbour in the apartment next door, and lives a generally slobby lifestyle. There’s some russian guy looking for ninja to kill/fight, a set of gyaru ninja that fight dirty for some evil organization, a seemingly homeless guy that keeps offering his breast milk to children nearby, and a ninja hoodie that only makes your upper body invisible.
Did I mention this show is weird?
Can recommend.
Overtake!
A very grounded view into Formula 4, a racing tier where both companies and wealthy individuals alike can race as long as you have the equipment and a regular driving license.
We follow a photographer, Kouya Madoka, who discovers this world while on a shoot for a Super GT event, where he stumbles upon the small team at Komaki Motors and their young driver who is trying his best to win. After seeing him and the team’s passion, he decides to try to support them in any way he can.
There’s a lot of underlying trauma in these characters as well, and I’m looking forward to see more of what this original story with largely good visuals and audio will tell.
Can recommend.
Undead Unluck
The Shounen Jump series of the season.
Bombastic visuals, a decent amount of plot-relevant ecchi, and an increasing amount of characters with special abilities in the form of “Negators”.
We follow Fuuko, who brings misfortune and Bad Luck to whoever touches her, and Andy, a seemingly immortal person who wants to use Fuuko’s ability to finally end his own life once and for all.
There’s a lot of death and blood and comedy in this, and most likely you’ll find a very good time while watching it.
Highly Recommend.
I Shall Survive Using Potions!
As a result of a mistake from Earth’s god, our protag-chan is mistakenly summoned for reincarnation, and as an apology for this misshap is given a few extra favours before her proper summoning begins.
After getting time to say goodbye to friends and family (who are all just very accepting of the situation “eh, knowing you, you’ll be all right.”), she proceeds to haggle her own special abilities from her new world’s god, able to magically create any potion of her liking, into whatever container she wishes (along with some other bonus powers).
Potion-isekai is a fun and cute isekai that doesn’t seemingly do much new for the genre, but subverts some of usual tropes for laughs.
You’ll likely have a good laugh with it, if you’re not already sick of the Isekai genre as a whole. Can recommend.
Tearmoon Empire
Another time leap “second chance” anime this season!
This time we follow the highly arrogant princess of Tearmoon Empire who is beheaded by a revolutionary army.
Next thing she knows, she wakes up eight years earlier next to her diary detailing the events that led up to her eventual demise. Determined to change her planned date with Guillotine-kun, she begins to slowly make changes to her behaviour in hope to not only save herself, but also the stability of the empire in the process.
A decently trash show with some darker-than-usual elements sprinkled into what’s normally a very lighthearted genre overall.
Can recommend.
Stardust Telepath
Umika has crippling anxciety and can barely talk to other humans around her. In her head, she instead dreams of the day she gets to meet an alien from outer space instead, because surely they would understand her where her fellow humans do not!
After wishing upon a star, the next day at her highschool entrance ceremony she ends up in class with a self-proclaimed bonafide alien who can use telepathy when pressing her forhead against others (cue several doki-doki moments and lots of blushing and smiles).
this alien can’t recall why she’s there though, and Umika promises to help her get back into space, any way she can.
A very cute slice-of-life yuri show with great visuals.
Highly recommend if this is your cup of tea.
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me
Not your typical highschool romcom anime, but it also kind of is?
The nerdy Ryuuto-kun wants a girlfriend and wants to approach Runa, the super popular girl in class, to ask her out. He’s convinced the “nasty rumours” about her cannot be true, so he’s taken aback a bit when she responds to his request to date her with inviting him to her bedroom to do the deed.
Essentially ignoring every ounce of hormones in himself, he firmly says no and tells her that he wants to get to know her first, and asks if they could instead take things a step at a time.
A bit confused, she agrees, and after discussing how to go about this, responds with “This is kind of exciting. I’ve never felt this before!”, and the two begin a relationship in earnest.
The premise will be very sketch at times, but from what I’ve seen it seems like this will be an otherwise mostly regular highschool romance show, with a sprinkle of dealing with people trying to get between the “socially mismatched” new couple.
A cautious recommendation.
The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy
Fantasy scifi trash.
The Demon Lord is timeskipping to 1000 years in the future, a world that has all but lost knowledge of magic, and where humanity now fights against extinction from the powerful beasts that attack them.
However, having been sealed for a millennia, his body has reverted to that of a child. He’s found by a high school girl who mistakes him for a lone survivor in a sealed off ruin. On their way out, she is attacked and killed, but with the Demon Lord takes pity on her and resurrects her, for a price. The girl and her teammate then takes him back to humanity’s last remaining fortress, where they attend Excalibur Academy; a place to hone their Holy Sword skills - unique magical powers which are used in the fight against the monsters.
Mix in some ecchi scenes, some past trauma, some power struggles, etc etc, the usual trash stuff, and you have yourself a show.
Skipping.
Heat the Pig Liver: The Story of a Man Turned Into a Pig
Viewers discretion is adviced. This show is very much what is commonly referred to in the anime community as “Degenerate.”
Man reincarnates into a literal pig, and is found by a slave girl who can seemingly understand and hear what he’s thinking. This girl, Jess, is seemingly of a [race? class? species? The series hasn’t detailed it yet] of humans called Yethma, and to not get into too many spoilers, they’re not treated well.
Jess is however very accommodating to protag-kuns inner thoughts (he is a pig in more ways than just his new-found body), and the two decide to try to help eachother; Jess with helping protag-kun transform back into a human, and protag-kun with accompanying her to the Capital where she is headed.
This is the trashiest of trash of the season with better visuals than you’d think, and I cannot give this a blanket recommendation.
KamiErabi GOD.app
The first project of a new studio seemingly born out of former Polygon Pictures staff. A fully 3D anime about a Death Game between mostly highschoolers.
The characters are a bit stiff, but the effects are at times amazing.
Show overall seems very trash though.
Will likely skip.
Migi & Dali
A creepy thriller seemingly about two twins who trick an eldery couple to adopt them as an only child, with one of them always creeping just out of sight during their daily routines.
But to what end? What is the overall story here? It’s all highly unclear, so unless you’re very into creepy shows then I don’t know if you’re really missing out on anything by skipping this.
A Girl & Her Guard Dog
*exhales in frustration*
Protag-chan is the only daughter of a yakuza boss, and so gets a “guard dog” to protect her at all times.
On a surface level, this seems to be a run-of-the-mill cute shoujo series where a girl gets feelings for a protective guy in her life, but then this feels like maybe grooming? And the clearly 20- or 30-something guy tries to pose as a high schooler “to protect her from the boys” during day time when she starts high school.
I don’t know where they’ll take this relationship, but I’m also not curious to find out. Skipping.
The Kingdoms of Ruin
“Hey, how do we show that the evil people are evil?”
“Let’s have them violently multilate a main character with plenty of blood and gore, and also have an audience point and laugh at this happening, cheering on louder and louder the more pain they inflict on the victim.”
“Oh, so just slapping on some cheap writing then?”
“Yep, cheap writing.”
…
For the first 33% or so of the first episode, this had POTENTIAL. Possible cool adventure with “the last witch alive” on the run with her human apprentice, fleeing the scientifically advanced humans trying to exterminate witches out of fear? Amazing premise!
But then it just devolves into an ever escalating contest of who can shed the most blood and revenge the other side harderer and angrierer. Then there’s a time skip, some of the tech used isn’t good and safe actually (no way!), more deaths etc…
More like Kingdoms of Boring.
Skipping.
Bullbuster
A very grounded hard scifi mecha show, where mechs are basically big utility robots that happen to be useful for “extermination of pests”, where the pests are a couple of meters tall.
Definitiely one for the mecha nerds out there, but I wouldn’t expect space flight and giant laser swords in this one.
Can recommend.
Protocol: Rain
Esports, and internet cafés, and overcoming past traumas.
Sprinkle in some intermittent bad definitely-not-CS 3D gameplay, and you have yourself a show!
Need to watch more to know whether or not to really recommend this, but from the first episode it does have a slight stench of trash over it.
A maybe.
Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions
Sherlock Holmes, if he had a tendency to telling the culprits that they’re worthless trash that deserve to die, and also has some sort of ability that brainwashes them into thinking the same.
Has a lot of potential as a buddy-cop mystery thriller sort of series.
I’m told the manga is well-liked, and the production here isn’t exactly doing anything to hold it back, so consider this a strong Maybe!
There we have it.
37-odd series that just started airing. This took waaay longer than usual to write up, with so many things I wanted to write about more than a few of the series airing.
An overwhelming amount of them are definitely watchable, so it’s hard to do a shortlist justice, but I’ll try.
Before we do the shortlist though, a quick shoutout to Pluto and MF Ghost which, while both being spinoffs of older series and thus weren’t added to the marathon, seem to be worth a watch, especially Pluto! Go check them out!
But
Our shortlist recommendations for this season:
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
The Apothecery Diaries
100 Girlfriends
Undead Unluck
Shangri-La Frontier
Shy
16 bit Sensation: Another Layer
The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess
My New Boss is Goofy
I Shall Survive Using Potions!
Overtake!
Feel like we’re missing anything? Like something else should be added or mentioned? Let me know!
