A Quick Look at the Fall 2024 Anime Season

The Fall season, normally one of the best times for new series, looks pretty sad in comparison to the glut of fantastic titles over the Summer.  What we do have though, are 4 solid titles, 3 of which are continuations and a mixed bag of new shows that may or may not last the entire run.

Uzumaki

     The long awaited anime adaptation of the classic Ito Junji horror manga.  The fact its in black and white is even better!  Embrace the spiral and let it drag you down into a world of bliss.

Tying the Knot With an Amagami Sister

    I am not even sure why I am going to watch this...it seems like a terrible male orientated harem...but here I go, at least watching some of the first episode.  So we shall see if my preconceived notions prove correct or not.  Its about a loser who ends up staying at a shrine and then for some reason having to choose among the three, archetypal sisters, which one he wants to marry.

 

Blue Box

    Not sure how long I will watch this sports themed shonen romance but...I'll give it a try.  Of course as with more titles out of Jump, the animation is pretty solid.  But the story may be too hallow for me, especially given the quality and quantity of romances in the Summer season.  Its about a boy who wants to get closer to a girl in his school who is passionate about badminton.

 

365 Days to the Wedding

    A work place romance about two people avoiding being transferred to Siberia by getting married to each other?  Could be fun, worth a few episodes at least!

 

Is It Wring to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon season 5

    I have surprisingly enjoyed this series since the beginning.  I am hoping that this new season will wash away some of the disappointment that was the 4th season.  One thing that I have enjoyed with the story is the progressive quality of the world building.  But season 4 brought us back to a closed world centered on the dungeon its self, something we hadn't had since the first season.  It took too long to tell the story it wanted to and just wasn't as interesting as season 3 was.  Hopefully season 5 will be better!!

 

Magilumiere Co, Ltd.

    Based on the synopsis this sounds like a goofy work place comedy about a woman ending up getting a part time gig for a magical girl agency.  The previews make it seem like its more action than comedy...so we shall see...it might not make it past episode one.

 

How I Attended an all Guys Mixer

    A guy gets invited to a mixer only to find the women attending it are drag kings!  Not sure how much meat this story will actually have but it at least is worth checking out the first episode.

 

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth 

    This is a historical tale set in Europe or an analog of it just on the cusp of the age of enlightenment as a curious young burgeoning scientist butts up against the oppressive theological society.  I don't typically get into historical stories like this but its an interesting enough subject for me to dip my toe into.

Ranma 1/2

    A fundamental anime from my early years of anime fandom.  Ranma has been near and dear to my heart for a long time.  Its not with out its faults though, as I stopped enjoying the show halfway through season 3.  This is the second Takahashi series getting a remake, following the recent remake of Urusei Yatsura.  The artwork looks great and we have a lot of the main voice cast returning.  I hope this reboot keeps it streamlined and top notch...either way, I am quite excited for this series to find new fans.

Tsuma, Shogakusei ni Naru

    Based on the title and a short synopsis this seems like it could be a terrible pedo-centric story.  But the previews really strive to sell it as a heart wrenching story about loss and reconciliation with emotions.  Plot...middle aged mans deceased wife returns to his life ten years after her passing, reincarnated into a grade school girl, who remembers her past life.

Tower of God Season 3

    I suspected we wouldn't get a single cour with this series return.  The second part of the story is way to long to fit into 12 episodes, we may not see any more past this 3rd cour for a while, if at all, so enjoy it while we have it.

A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School

    Comedy about a teacher getting a job at a school for yokai?  I don't see this doing more than having jokes centered around the common yokai types but this may still prove amusing.  Not sure if it would be better served as a short or full half hour programming.

 

DanDaDan

    One of, if not the most anticipated show of the series...at first glance it looked fun but the closer I look at it and with each successive preview that comes out I am beginning to think this isn't going to be new or original.  At first glance it looked like it was going to be an off kilter comedy about two weirdos being weird, but with each new trailer as more gets shown of the primary boys transformation into a character who looks like an amalgamation of a few things I really dislike...it looks like its going to be annoying and rote shonen garbage.  It pains me though...as I love Science Saru.

Bananya Around the World

    The return of a cute and lovable short form kids show about a group of unlikely cats.  I am super happy this is back after what...10 years?

 

Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary

 Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary (小市民シリーズ) is a 10 episode slice of live drama based on the Shoshimin novel series by Yonezawa Honobu.  The anime aired during the Summer of 2024.

    Kobato Jogoro and Osanai Yuki are high school students who strive to blend into the background and live ordinary lives.  They met in middle school and formed their pact/friendship after suffered peer rejection due to their personalities.  Jogoro in particular is meddling and conceited, interjecting himself into everyone's lives, proud of his intellect and abilities of deduction.  Osani on the other hand is calculating and withdrawn.  As they enter high school together they renew their resolve to resist attracting unnecessary attention through their actions and behavior.  This ruse only lasts so long as a fellow student and childhood friend of Jogoro's, Dojima Kengo, actively courts his abilities for the greater good.  Kengo is an upstanding and respected student, imposing in stature and countenance.

    After Dojima whets Kobato's love of investigation he can't help himself as more and more mysteries demand his attention around him.  Osanai attempts to distract him by focusing on touring their small towns many confectioneries, including a summer long quest to eat the best limited available deserts possible.  While they try to remain simple people the draw of the mystery and the rush of correctly solving them continue to push Kobato to stick his nose where it may not always belong.  Unbeknownst to him, something has been brewing in secret around Osanai that will come to define their summer of sweets and alter their relationship.

    I've come to enjoy a good mystery anime from time to time and this one seemed like it would be a nice return to that format.  I wasn't prepared with how mundane the mysteries themselves would be.  The meat of the story truly revolved around Kobato's uncanny deduction abilities, akin to Sherlock Holmes, yet the things he was putting so much effort towards were mundane and largely inconsequential.  I can't say for sure how long I would have stuck with the series if it was not one of the shows being reviewed for the 2024 Summer season of the Otaku Network Podcast.  But each week I watched every new episode and discussed it at length for the podcast.  I welcomes the mundane aspect of the show though and the final arc of this series brought everything into focus with a quality pay off and a non-ending that will lead us into the second season in the Spring of 2025.

    The writing isn't bad, with interesting is detached main characters.  Based purely on how well the animation and directing lent to the story being more interesting, I am not sure if I would ever be interested in reading the source material.  The artwork is fantastic and the atmosphere of the show is...rare.  There is little background music, no tropes or gags.  It is a straitlaced and by the number slice of life series that leans heavily into realism.  The must unbelievable aspect of the series though is how goddamn calm and collected the main characters are.  They have little joy in their life...well outside of Osanai's concerning addiction to sweets.  Kobato himself seems more like an android than a hormonal imbalanced teenager.  By the end of the show I was glad I watched it, even if that was due to the podcasts content.  While we don't plan on revisiting the show when the second season airs for the podcast, it will be on my watch list when it comes out.

    The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll.

Rascal Does Not Dream Of Santa Claus - light novel

     Rascal Does Not Dream Of Santa Claus (青春ブタ野郎はサンタクロースの夢を見ない) is the thirteenth volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keeji.  The thirteenth volume was originally release in 2024 and in English in 2024. 

     The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first twelve novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.  

Book Twelve: Rascal Does Not Dream of His Student here!

 

    Sakuta finds himself at a concert, the crowd swelling with anticipation after a surprise appearance by Mai.  She announces to the gathered throng that she is the mysterious Kirishima Touko and she and the band kick into one of Touko's songs.  The entire event spirals Sakuta into a state of confusion and he flees the venue, reaching for a cell phone to call Akagi Ikumi.  After asking her to meet him in Yokohama did her realize he was in the middle of a very realistic dream.  He wakes up to find himself still in the hot spring inn he and Mai are visiting during Christmas.  Sakuta tells her all of the details of his dream, concerned for what it may mean.  He is keeping Touko's warning about imminent danger to Mai in the foreground while he combs over the details.  It is only after Mai gets a call from her manager about making an appearance at the same festival he dreamed about that he begins to think about the dreaming hashtag and how this may be prophetic.

    Sakuta soon finds out he was not the only one that dreamed about being at the concert and Mail claiming to be the elusive internet songstress.  There is so much buzz around other people having it and the dreaming hash tag that the news even covers the subject, bringing a lot of public scrutiny on Mai and the possibility of her being Touko.  Sakuta meets with Akagi to talk about his dream, seeing he called her in it.  To his partial surprise what she dreamed that night was her side of the events, further causing him to question if this was really seeing into the future or not.  Much to her displeasure, she is now involved in his investigation.  First step, talk with the real Kirishima Touko.

    In early January he his junior and coworker, Koga, pulled him aside to talk abot the dreaming hashtag and everything surrounding Mai.  She didn't experience the concert event, instead she told him about how Mai was badly injured at an event earlier in the year where she was made police chief for the day.  The accident lead to her being in a coma for a prolonged period of time.  Even more concerned about Mai's safety, with a potentially understood event that put her in danger, he redoubled his effort to reconnect with Touko...but how does one go about looking for a woman who nobody can see and doesn't exactly like being seen when she doesn't want to be?  She came looking for him.  After classes resumed at his college she pulled him out of one of his lectures to ask him to accompany her on a date.  He decides its in his best interest as he can the time of having her attention to pressure her about her real identity and what the dreaming hashtag has to do with the danger to Mai. 

    The date ends up being a shopping trip as she seems to randomly wander through the area using him as her personal assistant.  He and Akagi have been doing some investigating and have learned that prior to Mai attending college, the woman who claims to be Touko was an aspiring model who maintained a healthy internet presence.  The conclusion they draw is her self esteem was obliterated by the arrival of a the most loved young woman in her vicinity.  Sakuta believes the danger to his girlfriend is related to Touko wishing to regain the spotlight and restore herself to visible status.  During the date Sakuta learns that someone close to him knew her very well prior to their life as college students.  Armed with this knowledge he bets on that person to be the key to unlock her 'adolescent syndrome' and keep Mai safe at the same time.

    Unlike the high school arc of the story, the college arc has kept Kirishima Touko as the primary focus for all of the problems surrounding Sakuta.  This volume dives deep into the antagonist herself and see's Sakuta tapping into resources he hasn't leaned on before.  While we are still dealing with a version of 'adolescent syndrome' we have dealt with in two prior occasions, the scope and gravity around Touko's invisibility does not feel like retread territory.  There is even a brief return to Koga's problems year ago with her ability to dream up simulations of the future.  Everything is starting to coalesce around the central threat that is the mysterious Touko and the problems that generate around her, causing Sakuta various levels of mental anguish.  We are edging closer to the conclusion of this fantastic series and all of the cows are coming home to roost and with two more volumes until the conclusion, the story is growing stronger.  The hardest part now is waiting for the next volume to come out...at least we have the return of the series to TV in 2025!  I may have said this with the past few novels, but this one may have been the best so far.  With each addition the story grows in quality and enjoyment.