2017 really did seem to fly by so quickly…compared to the craziness of the previous year, that is. I mean we don’t all get the news of Trump, Brexit, countless celebrity passings, and rabid Yuri On Ice fandom all happening in the space of 12 months. Well, a new year is coming, and I am about to get very busy doing other stuff as well as being here on this column.

For the first time in a while, actually, a lot of shows in this season that look interesting to watch, and the fact that I had to pick out of a list I had already drawn up is quite shocking (in a good way, I…guess?). For TheOASG, I will be watching the following this season:

Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-San

Begins: Thursday. January. 04.

(Available on Crunchyroll)

I don’t really know what draws me to some cooking/gourmet shows. Food Wars! is now in its third season and is shounen through and through now, and I still remember the connotations I had to describe when I reviewed Koufuku Graffiti a while back. I just regret missing out on Wakako-zake and Sweetness & Lightning. Anyway…

Yes, this appears to be another slice-of-life show; like I say, it’s like a ghost that will forever haunt me now. This show follows the life of Koizumi, a classy and beautiful high-schooler who has a unusual passion for ramen and ramen stores. A part of me is hoping that this show might go down the Wakako-zake route and go into detail about food, in turn educating the audience.

Citrus

Begins: Saturday. January. 06.

(Available on Crunchyroll)

Oh-ho-ho…it’s finally here (I use that line about a lot of upcoming shows, but humor me at least…).

The adaptation of this really good yuri romance manga (yes I do occasionally read manga) has been green-lit for a while, and now we finally get to see how the relationship between Yuzuko and Mei is portrayed on the screen. This will either be truly amazing, or truly terrible, like that other recent yuri schoolgirl show was.

In case you don’t know the plot, Yuzuko is your average Japanese fashionista gal, who has to transfer to a strict all-girl’s school when her mother remarries. There, she immediately makes enemies, mostly student council president Mei who, as we later realise, is to be her future step-sister and her new housemate. Having read the first few volumes, I can’t really give anymore away in terms of plot. Sorry. But if I was a gambling person, I would put money on this being a hit. A big hit at that.

Takunomi

Begins: Thursday. January. 11.

(Available on HIDIVE)

Given how little praise I showered on the most recent short show I reviewed here (Tsurezure Children), you’d be forgiven to wondering why I’d do something like that again. Well when I first read about Takunomi, I actually thought it was going to be a full-length show, but now I’ve seen the promo videos and read a bit about the show, I can see that it would work so much better as a short show. Well, as this is another slice-of-life show I’ll be tackling, please don’t despair if this one ends up being the one I drop first.

20-year-old Michiru moves to Tokyo to live in the women’s dorm house Stella House Haruno, filled with all kinds of other women of all ages and occupations, and all of whom like their fine meat and fine alcohol after work. If it sounds like a ‘girls-get-drunk-and-do-drunk-things’ show, then that’s most likely what this is. I see no real story in this 4-koma adaptation and so you’d think that this would be dropped after episode…say…2 or 3. Well, we’ll see…

Darling In The Franxx

Begins: Saturday. January. 13

(Available on Crunchyroll and Hulu)

Set in the near future (because they all are) in a world where the land is in ruins and humanity has housed itself in Plantation, a mobile city. The pilots who are raised from birth and trained there know nothing of the outside world, or anything beyond the city’s walls for that matter. This theme sort of touches on Evangelion, as these child pilots see piloting these ‘Franxx’ mechas as the only reason for living. So when Hiro, a former prodigy, falls behind his teammates, he begins to lose the will to live. Then out of nowhere, a mysterious girl named Zero Two arrives.

Even though this is a co-production with A-1 Pictures, this show has the Trigger signature written all over it. I’m going into this pretty blind, but I’m actually looking forward to the unknown. I had this same feeling when I began Land of the Lustrous, as I knew nothing about the manga whatsoever. Darling In The Franxx, however, is an original show (see Kill La Kill, Inferno Cop and Little Witch Academia, other original Trigger shows), so we are all going into this blind.

As usual, I watch a show that’s not in-season, and after watching some heavy classics like Haibane Renmei and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, I have something more recent, and more jovial and amusing.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun

(Available on Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Hulu, Yahoo View and home video)

Art club member Chiyo Sakura confesses to schoolmate Umehiro Nozaki, but he misreads her signals by giving her his autograph instead. She soon learns he his a shoujo manga artist operating under the pen name of Saikiko Yumeno. Despite drawing and writing about romance, he has zero experience in it, and as he decides to let Chiyo be one of his manga assistants, they both learn more about each other. Rather simple, but at the same time, rather funny.

Since I saw this last, people are saying that this is one of the best rom com shows of recent years, and I am actually very inclined to agree with them.

I’m being optimistic about this season. There are actually a couple of other shows this Winter that have caught my eye, but I know I’d collapse if I reviewed them all here, but that won’t stop me from actually watching.

What will you be watching this season? Feel free to leave comments below on your thoughts for the Winter 2018 season.