Holy shit, strap in everyone. This season is a true struggle to keep up with for the anime enthusiasts, definitely to the point where I had to say goodbye to some anime I wanted to check out simply to preserve time for others. I’ll go ahead and ruin the suspense and say no, I didn’t drop Chainsaw Man in order to watch Renai Flops. Apologies. Anyway, there’s a ton of new anime to dive into so let’s get going shall we? As always, long running series won’t be touched upon despite me desperately needing to catch up to My Hero Academia.
SPY X FAMILY Part II
If you enjoyed the first part, then I shouldn’t even need to convince you to come back. Anya’s dumb antics combined with the Forgers’ unique family situation continue to make for an entertaining, light-hearted anime about the meaning of family. The animation is still consistent enough and everyone is still loveable. I have however developed one pet peeve with this anime. At this point, it has tried so many times to convince the audience “OH MY GOODNESS! A bomb might go off, there are stakes here!” or some similar problem. And yet every single fucking time, the day is saved perfectly with no casualties. Therefore, now anytime a situation is supposed to have an ounce of suspense, I’m basically sitting here without a worry in the world because I’m convinced the show doesn’t have the balls to actually hurt a character or innocent person. This makes for a lot of scenes of “We have to stop the terrorist!!! It’s so important!” feel like going through the motions rather than a threat to be taken seriously. Still outside of that complaint I’m loving the show overall thanks to this goofy cast.
Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
This is my first ever Gundam which means I don’t have anything to compare the show to as a point of reference. Supposedly a lot of people are upset as this has a more generic school setting than past Gundams and has some yuri, but fortunately I get hard as rocks at yuri so I personally haven’t had any complaints so far. It’s not like the entire story is focusing on it constantly, so far we’ve already had a good bit of political backdrop established combined with some gundam dueling action. Characters that I immediately wanted to punch in the face are somehow developing and slowly winning me back over, a rare tactic in the anime landscape. At this point I think they’re doing a good job making the viewer want to root for a wide variety of cast members, for what I can only assume will later be some very sad episodes. But for right now, if you like giant robots fighting with a bunch of politics in the background, you may as well give this a shot. As a Code Geass fan I couldn’t say no this time around to the older robot series with a similar atmosphere.
Uzaki Chan Season Two
I’m not sure if you noticed how long this article is, but this season my watching is stacked to the brim. Someone had to get the fucking boot to protect my sanity, and Uzaki offered her ass right up to be kicked. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed her antics in season one, but when I was sitting there trying to watch season two, it felt like watching the same shit over again. The jokes were the same. The characters were the same. Obviously it was new content, but nothing felt fresh or enticing. At this point I’d seen enough Uzaki to predict most of the jokes. The whole time I watched her tease senpai in the exact same way as season one I was thinking to myself “You know Chainsaw Man is out, right Snooze? To Your Eternity? Gundam? SPY X FAMILY?” And after sitting there to see Uzaki tell a similar joke to the last 200, I finally cracked while forcing Kinky to watch it with me and we both dropped the series. Let me be clear if you’re a DIEHARD Uzaki-chan fan, please don’t skip out on this as it will likely be a fun watch. Simply beware that it’s more of the same from season one without any new twists or turns, at least from the first couple of episodes I watched. It’s not a horrible anime, but in this season of stacked godlike content, I just could not keep up with it.
Blue Lock
Soccer, but sicko mode. This anime is shaking up the sports formula by introducing a soccer training facility where the best players are the most selfish bastards in the room who are ready to score points. Fuck the team, just play to make a name for yourself baby. There’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the basic idea. I have to say after every sports anime in existence being about loving ya homies on the team and playing your best together, this does feel fresh and ambitious. So far I only fear for two things: 1. Since everyone is encouraged to be a selfish asshole while playing, most characters aren’t easy to like and 2. How long can that go on for and not feel stupid? I mean at the end of the day we all know soccer is a team sport, and even the anime itself has already hinted that saying “fuck teamwork” may not be the best strategy. I’d say if you like sports anime already but are tired of the same generic formula, this series could absolutely bring some new life into the equation. On the other hand if you don’t care about sports already so far I haven’t seen anything crazy enough to warrant watching anyway.
Akiba Maid Sensou
Maid gangs. Gang wars for maid cafes. That’s it, that’s the show. Who the fuck thought of this, I don’t know. But I’m glad they did. Let’s first make it clear that this is a brain off, dick on type of media. While there are certainly heartfelt moments here and they’re sprinkled throught the first four episodes, the vast majority of time has been used for over the top antics, pure maid on maid violence, setting up dumb situations that the girls have to work their way out of, and jokes. I for one think that the show’s lack of seriousness adds to the experience and while I couldn’t recommend this for anyone on the hunt for a cerebral narrative, it’s been interesting to see what gang-related activity the girls will get themselves into each week. I fear their ability to keep this story interesting as we arrive deeper into the season, but I’m definitely committed to finding out.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
Ah, at last the Big Three member whom I actually watched from start to finish (at least to Aizen’s finish) has returned from obscurity to dominate the charts once again. This time with amazing animation that’s doing a bussin’ job of bringing the series to life. Well, of what you can bring to life. I don’t think Orihime will ever feel like a lifelike or important character, no matter what is done in her favor. Regardless this is basically a must watch for me considering my history with the franchise so I’m tuning in to see how the Quincy operate. It started later than the other anime so I don’t have much to gain impressions of so far, but I doubt anyone cares about a first impression at this point. You either know the series and want to see this new installment, or never cared in the first place and don’t now either.
To Your Eternity Season Two
This show got a late start returning back, so I’ve only seen one episode so far. Regardless I felt perfectly capable of writing impressions because the first season was so damn good that it would take the writer being mauled and suffering brain damage to fuck up what this series has going. Sure enough the first episode got us right back into the swing of things without wasting any time. At this point if you haven’t caught up yet I would say now is the time, this shit is an emotional rollercoaster and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I mean we got Utada Hikaru on the opening, that’s how you know it’s worth a watch.
Bocci The Rock
Are you ready to ROCKKK?!? In the closet of course, because you’re too socially afraid to go on stage or anything. This anime follows guitarist Bocci who wants to play live on stage alongside a band, but her social anxiety gets in the way of her dream. While that sounds super dark, it’s actually played off for laughs most of the time which helps prevent things from feeling too slow. Bocci has already started her development a few episodes in, and so far it’s a realistic slow burn of someone coming out of their shell. The animation has a very relaxed, playful feel to it and the cast are very charming so far. While I’m not sure that this will change the life of anyone dealing with anxiety or end up being a masterful commentary on the relationship between music and culture in Japan, so far it’s a fun ride with the right amount of comedy and character building to get you invested quickly. I’m planning to stick with it so hopefully they don’t drop the ball as we approach the second half of the season.
Do It Yourself
You know for a show about DYI, we sure haven’t done very much four episodes in. I picked this up because I think learning about crafting and what not is pretty interesting even though I don’t engage in it much myself. And if that’s what you’re in this anime for, you won’t make it long. Very little crafting has been done as most of the screen time has gone to very generic and one-note characters building relationships with each other. Now I will be the first to admit that the latest American girl character is trying her damndest to save the anime from being a complete snooze fest, and she’s doing a pretty good job so far. However, I’m not sure how long we can keep going at this pace of craft 1 thing (if that) then spend 18 minutes talking about the meaning of joining a club and hanging out with friends. I’m still here for now, but so far I don’t recommend this unless you’re on the hunt for a relaxing watch with little brain power required.
Chainsaw Man
OKAY COCKSUCKERS, COP A FEEL AND STEAL A DEAL CAUSE THE BEST ANIME GOD HAS EVER CREATED HAS ARRIVED. At least, that is what the manga readers would have you believe. The hype for this series has been unreal, and I’m excited to finally see what all the commotion is about. So far the amazing action that MAPPA’s known for delivering is present and popping off, as long as you don’t mind a little 2D/3D animation mix. While a few nitpicky scenes could be labeled as “jarring” for sure, I think the majority of the animation style looks fine or better. Lord knows the anime has its own artstyle to set it apart from the rest. Apart from the animation and action, the characters have immediately been set up with a ton of room to grow and plenty of foreshadowing to keep the watcher interested in future events. While I don’t understand the manga hype JUST yet, I see everything in place with the potential to explode and make for a series worth shilling for. Whether or not I’ll be joining the hive mind will likely depend upon how far we get in the story this season but I have high expectations.
BONUS: Cyberpunk Edgerunners
Kinky and I finally had time to sit down and burn through this show together, and I’m happy to report it’s a masterpiece just like everyone already said. Most of the time a hype train can lead to severe disappointment, but this short series accomplished so much in so little time. By the end of it I was an emotionally devastated man, and even now I still go back to the OST and AMVs to remember the good times. Well, and the shit times there were a lot of those. Regardless, as long as you don’t mind some crudeness and over the top action in your cyberpunk romance, this could be a contender for your anime of the year. Hell I think it IS my anime of the year. From animation to OST to plot to characters, this anime is one wild project that did what the game never did: make you fall in love with the world of cyberpunk and the people in it. Recommended for anyone who loves anime, which is about the highest praise I could give a series.
Holy FUCK that may be the longest article I’ve ever done. Everyone knew this season would be stacked, but it wasn’t until I dove in myself that I realized how shit my schedule would be. Keep in mind I didn’t even include the longer running series and the list was still this thicc. Plus I still saw a couple of anime that looked interesting like Koukyuu no Karasu that I ran out of time to check out. Well, I’d stay and chat but I need to hurry up and get back to watching. What are you checking out this season? Is your watchlist packed? Did I miss anything cool? Throw on a sweater, break out the blankets, and don’t slip on any leaves as you say hello to Fall Anime 2022 in the comments below!
