The spring is here, and considering the winter season I had then I know for certain that anything I pick to watch for Otaku Theater will be make me a happier person. I’ve gone in a slightly different direction this time, seeing that some big name sequel seasons are coming out this Spring. And so my three seasonal picks are all sequel seasons of shows I have really enjoyed watching.
I want the ‘Winter Curse’ to be behind me, and have deliberately picked shows that won’t depress me or make me despair. While other anime lovers will be looking forward to a new season of The Rising of the Shield Hero, the return of Tiger & Bunny, and the final season of Magia Record, here’s me with my ‘refined’ taste. Okay refined is the wrong word; let’s just say that I’ll leave the big franchises to the people who are eagerly awaiting them. Netflix are also doubling down on their shows this spring too; mostly their own original stuff that doesn’t air on Japanese TV though. Some of these original shows of theirs actually look interesting, and I might check them out.
So what are my sequel picks? Well let’s have a look…
The Demon Girl Next Door Season 2
Studio: J.C. Staff
Begins: April. 08.
(Available on HIDIVE)
I covered season 1 of The Demon Girl Next Door in a review post, and I remember saying that I would welcome a second season very much considering how it ended. Well here it is, and I’m sure we’ll get a little more on what happened then, maybe in some flashback or something.
If you don’t know, Yuko began to enter Momo’s dreams in order to know more about her, only to find out that Momo’s sister, Sakura, interfered with the family curse for Yuko’s ‘wellbeing’. It gets a little more detailed after that, but by the end, Momo agrees to become Yuko’s vassal once she defeats her. However they won’t ignore the time they spent together, and have thus become good friends.
Well the second season leads on that, and introduces some new characters…just like pretty much every sequel season does. From what it looks like so far, the story will begin on the two of them working together to look for a magical girl who has suddenly gone missing. And there’s not just this, it seems; a whole new mysterious force in the form of another demon girl might appear to ruin their fun. It also looks like Yuko’s father, who vanished himself when she was little, might resurface. But why at this point in her life? Surely there must be a reason…
In my review post, I said that the show left us wanting more, and so I was happy when I heard a second season of this was green-lit. I won’t expect it to be as awesome as season 1 was though; in fact I’m choosing to go in without any grand expectations. I made the mistake of overanalyzing a cutesy show last season, and as I have three comedy shows for this Spring season, I most definitely won’t be making that same mistake again.
To be honest, I’m just looking forward to catching the same gags that I saw in season 1; if I get that much, I’ll be a happy person. Who knows though? Maybe it’ll turn out like season 2 of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, where it almost surpassed the first one. Well, I’ll be seeing with that show is third time lucky too.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Begins: April. 09.
(Available on Crunchyroll)
I know the sub title of this season is Ultra Romantic by the way, but I’ll still be calling it season 3 for Otaku Theater since…well…that’s what it is.
Now to be honest, I don’t know that much about what season 3 will bring. Kaguya and Miyuki still haven’t confessed to each other yet, meaning their little war is still going on. Chika is still being a mischievous little muffin. Our other two characters saw some real changes in season 2 though. New addition Miko, who has her own firm form of justice, adds a lot more to the motley crew, while time in the cheer club meant Yuu has a whole new look on life now. And from what it looks like, his cheer club might play a bigger role in this season, but I’m going on wild speculation here. We’ll get plenty more of the gags I loved in past seasons, that’s for sure.
In season 2, A-1 Pictures received a little help from some staff at SHAFT for some episodes; the student council president election one, and Yuu’s backstory one. Instead of relying on the slapstick comedy that Kaguya-sama is famous for, those episodes were told from different perspectives (Miko’s and Yuu’s respectively) and contained far more emotional drama. Both of these episodes completely blew me away and helped me decide on season 2 taking the top spot on my top 5 of 2020.
It’s possible that they got outside help because of the anime industry as a whole trying to work around the pandemic; SHAFT did the same thing for Assault Lily Bouquet when they got some help from Kyoto Animation staff. A semi-related fact though, it was only whilst writing this post that I discovered the director of all Kaguya-sama seasons including this one, Shinichi Omata, is SHAFT alumni himself (if you can call it that), having played a part in making Madoka Magica, Hidamari Sketch and Arakawa Under the Bridge. Now I don’t know if A-1 Pictures will do the same for season 3; would certainly be interesting if they did. But with the anime industry getting its feet back together, they may not need to. Guess we’ll see.
I’ll have you know that I had a couple of shows on that ‘to-watch’ list of mine. One of them was Spy x Family, which looks decent enough, but to be honest I’m not really up to covering a 2-cour show right now. There was also the fact that the other two on the list, Summer Time Rendering and Black Rock Shooter: Dawnfall, turned out to be Disney+ exclusives. Yeah, I was surprised that Disney want to get into the game too. They haven’t even announced how and when they will be released overseas either.
But all’s well that ends well, as I found something else that I just knew that I needed to get back into…
Komi Can’t Communicate Season 2
Studio: OLM
Begins: April. 07. (Japan), April. 27. (Overseas)
(Available on Netflix)
Well…she’s back. I didn’t expect a second season of this to come so quickly after the first one either. Did they just pick up straight away where they left off once season 1 had come to an end? Hey who cares. I know for a fact that many people will be happy to see Komi Can’t Communicate return. Maybe the show even netted Netflix some more subscriptions. And yes, of course the show is a Netflix exclusive.
As for what these dorks will be up to next? Just like with The Demon Girl Next Door and Kaguya-sama: Love is War, I don’t really know what to expect exactly. Komi got herself a bunch of friends now who look beyond her ice queen looks and see someone with severe social anxiety, which is great. As for Komi herself? Well she’s battling with how she herself feels about Tadano, the one guy who approached her first to help her with her anxiety.
What I do know is that some new people are coming; two I know for sure are the narcissistic Shisuto Naruse and the obsessive note taker Chushaku Kometani. And with a sequel season of a rom com being what it is, the show will be adding some more developments to their relationship. Especially as the beginning of the season leads on a winter field trip the class go on.
I remember back in the first season, I had a lot of trepidations about Najimi, and how they were portrayed in the show. Since then though, those thoughts have all but vanished, as I’ve seen that the show does not make their gender fluidity one great big joke. And that’s something I am very relieved by. The first season had a small number of other characters who appeared in one or two segments of the show, so it’s very possible that they will return and perhaps make a bigger appearance. Alongside the brand new people who’ll appear of course.
Instead of a two week delay, it will be a three week delay for this season. There may be a reason for this though. The show did get a dub eventually, but only until after it was finished. So could a dub be hastily put together and be released alongside the main sub? Who knows?
So…three sequel seasons, and three comedy shows at that. Very different than what I had in the winter. But what about my out-of-season show? Will it be another comedy too? Ehh, not this time.
Iroduku: The World in Colors
Studio: P.A Works
(Available on HIDIVE)
This is the one P.A Works show that I initially was not that interested in, and it wasn’t just because it was hidden away on Amazon Prime before moving to HIDIVE. P.A Works have done a lot of shows with fantasy elements, and while some really work and flourish, others don’t and crumble. So what kind will Iroduku be?
The show is about Hitomi Tsukishiro, a colorblind girl from the future who descends from a family of witches. It appears that her colorblindness came as a result of shock after losing people she loved. Being so afraid of losing her grandmother too, she is sent by her into the past to meet her 17-year-old self. It is in this time in her past she meets kind people along the way, joins the art and photography club at school, learns a lot more about life and all of its wonders.
From what I’ve seen from screencaps and short videos, Iroduku will be very graphics heavy and reliant on colors. Our main character being colorblind is a little interesting though, and her being sent into the past appears to serve as a life journey of her own, to be able to ‘recover’ from her mysterious ailment. When it originally came out, I just looked over it and moved on, but now I’m just so very curious and interested in what kind of P.A Works fantasy show this is.
I feel way more optimistic about the shows I picked for this Spring season. The winter season was not a great one for me whatsoever, and My Dress-Up Darling was its only highlight. Now these sequel seasons are for franchises I really enjoyed in the past, and so I think this one is really going to counter what I had for the winter. Outside of what I’m watching, the spring looks really stacked with shows that are going to win a lot of anime follower hearts. 2022 may have started off with a hitch, so could this season turn it around? I hope so.