No OVAs/Movies/Specials included cuz that’s too much effort. Oh, and most of the ONAs are the typical Chinese no-effort garbage, so I’ll be passing on them too.
I included sequels/reboots in this one because y’all ask for them every time and you deserve a bit of fanservice. Not saying I did it just for you, but I started this preview post a month ahead of time, so I was able to catch up on most of them.
My taste is superior. Figured you deserve a lick. <3
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (2020) – Great
(When the Cicadas Cry) / (When They Cry) / (Casey and Friends: Rebooted)
tl;dr: When Casey moves to a town in the Japanese hinterlands, he finds himself in a school surrounded by nothing but pretty girls! Which cutie-chan will take his heart? Would it be a spoiler if I said, “all of them”?
Spoiler:
Visual Novel: Steam / MangaGamer (first ep is free on both platforms; currently the question & answer arcs are translated, TBD on all the side stories)
Manga: I mean, it exists… but the VN’s right there, fam.
Director:Keiichirou Kawaguchi (Galko-chan, SKET Dance, and a whole bunch of garbage)
Animation Production: Passione (Ishuzoku Reviewers, Rokka no Yuusha, Citrus)
Every fall when I hear those beautiful bugs outside my window, it reminds me how much I fucking love this fucked-up series.
When the Cicadas Cry is a masterwork media franchise anchored by arcs that don’t make sense at first (the question arcs) that are then proceeded by those that will help you make sense of the universe (the answer arcs). But this ain’t a Sherlock story; even to this date everything ain’t fully solved.
This is a supernatural mystery that’s steeped in sexy elements of horror and paranoia. If that’s not your scene, then there are enough other options this season to sate you. But if the concept interests you, and you’ve never gotten into Higurashi, give this one till the first arc ends before deciding whether to continue or not. Shouldn’t be more than a 4-episode commitment.
For those of us who are already familiar with the universe, the main question here will be how good of an adaptation we’re looking at. I think Passione as a studio is criminally underrated, however the staff attached to the series don’t exactly inspire confidence. But goreweebs, we gotta be honest with ourselves, Higurashi’s original anime adaptation wasn’t really good. The series could just be cursed.
Going off the website, we’re getting a 30+ person cast. Normally that means you could expect a bunch of dead girls, but seeing as all of them have $100 figurines for sale, I’m thinking this will be a rather bloodless affair. Must be all pre-teens.
tl;dr: Imagine a romcom without any harem bullshit and where the two main characters are married and have a happy, committed relationship.
Oh god, don’t pull the trigger just yet, friend; that shit’s fictional – no one actually lives like that. But, like, imagine if it could be real. Better than liquor, huh? Almost, maybe?
Director:Hiroshi Ikehata (FLCL Progressive, Akiba’s Trip, Sore ga Seiyuu!)
Animation Production: Seven Arcs (Dog Days, Arte, Sekirei)
I love me a good romcom, so much so that I stopped reading the manga after the first chapter because I didn’t wanna spoil any of the magic of the anime for myself.
tl;dr: You know that dude who made Re:Zero? Yeah, well he’s got a fetish for fighter planes, and you’re about to find out that Re:Zero succeeded entirely in spite of him.
Director:Yuu Nobuta (A Good Librarian, High School Fleet) & Hisashi Ishii (A bunch of the Ame-Iro series)
Animation Production: EMT Squared (Kuma Miko, Renai Boukun, Assassins Pride); tl;dr: they’re a budget studio
Isekai is good when it gives the characters an excuse to kill shit. Slice-of-life is not an element I have any interest in joining that mix.
After watching the pre-air of the first episode, I’m confident in saying I’ll never watch another ep. People who are inherently boring may have a different take.
Animation Production: Maho Film (Just this and UchiMusume)
Series seemed tolerable, if a bit generic. Then I got to this scene where MC-kun and his gaggle of gals encounter a bunch of dudes with mad murder-rape energy:
Oh, and don’t let the drama in the trailer confuse you; everyone literally has respawn timers. There are no stakes here. I mean, other than the psychological impact of –getting fucking raped-.
Majo no Tabitabi – Good
(The Journey of Elaina…? Didn’t realize “Majo” translated to “Elaina” but okay.)
Animation Production: C2C (WorldEnd, Hitoribocchi, Oneechan ga Kita)
Kino’s Journey without the politics and with only 10% of the depression is still like a 7. And Flying Witch is an 8. So we’re looking at 7.5 here, roughly?
Assuming manga order is what we’re getting, if you like episode 2, I will forever consider us friends.
Note that episode 1 had a pre-air, but the quality of the subs available is abysmal. The kid responsible for the only release currently available took a French translation, tried to translate it into English, and then filled in the gaps with a scanlation.
Manga: https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/titles/100034 (Mangadex directed me here cuz they’re sellout cowards. I don’t recommend reading the manga, cuz it sucks, but the link is here if you need it.)
Director:Seong-Hu Park (Garo, The God of High School)
Animation Production: MAPPA (Zankyou no Terror, Kakegurui, Dororo)
From episode 1, the adaptation looks faithful to the manga, yet significantly better than it. And by that, I mean there’s way more blood and titty jiggling.
Animation Production: Production I.G (They were never good.)
Chihayafuru is the only good sports anime, yet Japan still insists on turning out garbage like this.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Every Haikyuu plot: “Oh no, we’re up against <good team>. But a-ha, we have the ability to (only ever) improve our gameplay during matches against strong opponents! Plot: advance!”
Granted, I’ve never given a Haikyuu release less than a 7/10, but that’s not so much an indicator of how good it is than how much I like Hinata going full tryhard mode and somehow coming out ahead no matter how the facts indicate the Japanese are a non-factor in the sport.
