It’s my favorite time of the season baby, when new anime are just gearing up and you never know what’s going to come out and make a name for itself. Or alternatively what will come out and completely waste everyone’s time and end up being known as a terrible anime in the history books. Either way after some of the horribly boring/average anime that I stomached last season, my expectations were down to dirt low. Thankfully we have some interesting contenders making their way onto the scene this time around. As always, I won’t be covering the big boi recurring anime like Boruto that go on for a ton of episodes cause everyone has pretty much already made up their mind on whether they’re watching it or not. 

Komi Can't Communicate

After the national tragedy that was Uramichi Oniisan last season, my hopes for the comedy genre were at an all time low. Thankfully this one has introduced me to a strong start with incredible animation and comedy that actually made me smile a few times. So far the biggest word I’d use for this show is “cute”, though thank the heavens it actually managed to be serious for a bit while establishing the main goal of the series. And hey, at least it’s a comedy that has a fucking goal and plot at all, unlike some of these others who skimp out in that department to focus on jokes that don’t land. Overall it’s way too early to know if this will be dropped or not, but the animation and writing have made a solid first impression.

Demon Slayer... Kinda

Okay I’m more-so writing this section to explain to anyone who’s still confused as to what’s going on. While Demon Slayer is airing right now, it’s merely airing the Mugen Train arc that was already released a while ago originally in movie format. Some new content has been added, as the entire first episode was new content about Rengoku. As to whether there will be continuous small changes and updates throughout the season, I’m not sure. I’ll be skimming through to see if there are any major differences, but other than that I don’t plan to rewatch the entire movie again episode by episode. Once we’re caught up to the movie, the anime will continue with fresh content that progresses the story and that will be a hype day for me I assure you. Hope that clears things up. The only thing I can really review is the new first episode, and yep, I loved it. So there ya go.

Blue Period

Man these slice of life shows can really go down the shitter fast, but so far I’m thoroughly enjoying what Blue Period is bringing to the table. The story revolves around our young artist Yaguchi as he discovers what it means to create art and refine his craft with the hope of being accepted into an art college. I know next to nothing about art, at least in terms of the drawing and painting mediums, so I’m learning a lot without feeling overwhelmed. Really this show is shining so far in the character department. We’ve got a cast with varying personalities and varying issues. At this point there’s plenty we don’t know about everyone, and it’ll be interesting to see how each person develops their own style and technique as we approach the time for art competitions. Recently one of the characters had enough and threw out some insults, and man it feels good to be watching a slice of life with some real tension and conflicts instead of just… a group of people growing potatoes or something. At the moment this is probably the anime I look forward to the most each week, but I’m still on my toes ready to walk out the door and leave it behind if it fails to keep this quality moving forward.

Mushoku Tensei Part Two

Man we’re a couple episodes into the new season now, and the most recent one was an absolute banger. The animation and excitement were sky high for the series and I was rooting like hell for the good guys to win. This isekai does a great job of throwing the MC into a new world where murder is pretty epic in many places and isn’t a paradise by any means. At the same time the world doesn’t feel overly edgy or anything, simply more “wild” in a word. Which is appropriate considering we’re currently in a beast people village. I digress. If you enjoy isekai, or even if you’re a bit skeptical about the genre, I still say give this a try if you enjoy character-focused stories. My only character problem is that the MC is a pervert, and no not because I hate that aspect all day everyday, but lately there’s been a few moments where I tilt my head a bit. Such as when he saves some children from being raped/killed and then still manages to get flustered by almost seeing some BOOBA from a survivor he saved. Like, damn we’re out here saving kids from being raped during a serious scene and seconds later you’re still excited to see, no ALMOST see, boobs? Jesus Christ. If you hate pervy characters then steer clear, otherwise despite what I mentioned this series does have engaging cast members whom you root for (the MC included most of the time). You simply have to know what you’re signing up for.

Takt op.Destiny

Madhouse and Mappa going in on a joint business venture? Welp, sign me up. The animation in the first three episodes has been marvelous in my opinion. The choreography can reach some epic heights, especially when the second Musicart is revealed. Let me backup a bit. The story is about three “people” trying to reach New York after the world has been fighting back monsters for several years. Music allows creatures known as Musicarts to power up and fight said monsters, thus reclaiming the land for humanity. In other words, our main cast is on a road trip. So far the cast and their interactions has been a  major selling point for me. It’s clear that they don’t really get along (for various reasons, some of which have been explained already) and it’ll be interesting to watch how their relationships develop over the course of the series. All I can do is hope and pray that the series amounts to something meaningful as it’s clear that the studios want this to be an anime that touches the audience. If it reaches two goals, I think I’ll be a happy boy: 1) have fight scenes where it’s Musicart vs Musicart instead of anime girls fighting low IQ monsters 2) continue to make me care about these characters. If those criteria are met, I surmise this will be quite the success. I’m keeping my eye on you, Takt.

Platinum End

With an anime from the creator of Death Note airing, you know it’s in the spotlight. For those of you preparing to ask if it’s anywhere near as good, uh… well I’m a bit on the fence. Basically a tournament is being held to decide who shall become the next god of the world. 13 angels choose 13 humans to be god candidates and assist them in battle. In some ways it’s very reminiscent of Death Note in that there’s certain rules and conditions, and the characters are using their brains to try and manipulate their newly found angelic abilities to their benefit. But man we have some issues. Number one, some of these rules come out of nowhere man. Shit will just happen and an angel will say “oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about that rule” whereas with the Death Note the majority of rules were explained and set in stone early on. I’ll admit that we’re early in the series so perhaps that random rule appearing aspect will quickly die out as we move on. However what I don’t think will dissipate, is so far the characters don’t hold a candle to Death Note. L and Kira will go down in anime history, meanwhile as I sit here I honestly don’t know the main character’s name in this one yet. Everyone we’ve met so far is much less interesting, much more of an anime stereotype, or both. As mentioned these are only first impressions but I’m sensing a disturbance in the force with this one. Only time will tell.

Only six anime? Yeah I know man, listen life keeps getting busier, I don’t know what to tell you. If you guys throw out some suggestions in the comments I might take a look, I know some have generated some attention such as Mieruko-chan. Honestly though with my schedule as it is, I much prefer a small amount of quality over a large quantity of okay anime. Here’s hoping the six mentioned here don’t end up shitting the bed. Are you excited for the new anime? Is this a small season for you too, or is your watchlist packed? Dodge the pumpkins and say hello to fall anime 2021 in the comments below!