I know that the Fall season is typically the one season when anime studios like to showcase most of their best shows. I mean, so many big franchises ended up returning or starting then. I have never been one for those kind of shows, and instead go for the lesser-known ones…usually. 2020 will be no different, although the only big franchises that’ll be returning in this season are Haikyuu!, A Certain Scientific Railgun, and Madoka Magica, none of which I’ll be watching…especially not Madoka Magica.
I watched a lot of shows in the last 2 seasons, and so I’ve decided to be a little more easygoing for this Winter season. Given the fact that my tastes in shows are now leaning more into ones that don’t really have deep and meaningful plots and story lines, I think taking it easy might do me some good. Here we go for 3 more months…
Asteroid in Love
Studio: Dogakobo
Begins: Friday. January. 03
(Available on TBA)
Dogakobo. Can’t usually go wrong with these guys…usually. I mean, they did do that bizarre dumbbell show in the summer that was more about muscles and naked girls than actual exercise. At least this show looks like it’ll have some kind of story to it.
When she was younger, Mira Kinohata met a boy called Ao while camping. As the two of them look at the night sky, they look at the stars and notice that while there is a star named after Mira, there isn’t one for Ao. These two young children make a promise to pursue the hobby/interest/pastime of astronomy together in the future.
Fast forward to high school, and the two meet again, under some strange circumstances. The school’s Astronomy club and Geological Research society are to be merged into a larger club called the Earth Science club. Also, to Mira’s surprise, she discovers that Ao is in fact a girl.
Another show about cute girls doing cute things? Well, maybe I am a bit of a sucker for them. I am at the very least very curious about the theme of this otherwise atypical school slice-of-life show: astronomy and Earth science. It is this same curiosity that I felt when I picked Houkago Saikoro Club last year, and while that show had a few flaws to it (it just wasn’t really that exciting of a show), I’m still looking forward to this.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Studio: Science SARU
Begins: Monday. January. 06
(Available on Crunchyroll)
I see a show like this and think to myself: oh boy, what am I getting myself into? One look at any of the show’s trailers will give you a clue that this school show about a club in trouble won’t be your average kind of school show.
Three first-years, Midori, Tsubame and Sayaka, are all rather enthusiastic in their dreams to make an anime. They are all part of the school’s Video Research club, and they each believe they can bring their unique skills to make something rather spectacular, and get rid of the humdrum in their school lives.
Not much has been revealed about this show; whether it’s intentional or not remains to be seen. The fact that Masaaki Yuasa is directing this should turn a lot of heads, though. This is the very same guy who directed Devilman Crybaby, Ride Your Wave, Ping Pong the Animation, Mind Game and The Tatami Galaxy. Given his resume, I think a lot of anime fans will be expecting this show to have a surreal tinge to it. Last year’s Ride Your Wave showed that Yuasa could make a ‘normal’ movie, and so I’m actually expecting this show to be relatively normal – emphasis on relatively, there.
Anyway, I mentioned earlier that I’m staying firmly away from this season’s Madoka Magica spin-off; there’s a very good explanation for this. When I watched the original show back in 2011, I became a bit of a crazy and obsessive fan. I would analyze and go through every single aspect of each episode (as well as the movies). So much in fact that I lost a few friends in the process. It took a show like Madoka Magica to show me what being totally obsessive to an anime franchise is capable of doing to your otherwise average fan. I actually wrote a blog post about this here in my blog (that I should really update more often), so you’re welcome to check out how bad it got for me.
I don’t want to reignite old memories by watching and reviewing this spin-off, whatever it is about. If these new Puella Magi end up getting killed off early, like Mami Tomoe, then so be it. Heck, I only just found out (as I’m typing this) that this spin-off is to be a 2-cour show. All I’ll say is this: if you choose to follow this spin-off show then good luck to you, and please don’t become the crazy fan that I was oh so long ago…
Right, onto my third and final Winter season show, something that looks like it might become extremely popular.
In/Spectre
Studio: Brains Base
Begins: Sunday. January. 12
(Available on Crunchyroll)
In a modern-day world filled with monsters, spirits and youkai, two people who have been touched by the supernatural meet.
17-year-old Kotoko Iwanaga is a ‘God of Wisdom’. This is what is used to refer to people who can communicate with spirits and youkai…be a mediator of sorts between the spirit world and the human world. This role, however, came at a great cost: the loss of her right eye and her left leg. 22-year-old Kurou Sakuragawa is a college student, recently broken up with a girlfriend after encountering a kappa creature. His life is a mess, and he doesn’t really see any direction in life. Can Kotoko, the girl who has crushed over him for a long time, help him find some meaning to his life?
Why did I choose something like this, when all I wanted was some easy-going shows to start 2020 with? Well, I’m not sure if I have much of an answer to that. I mean, this show does look cool, and Kotoko looks like a smart and capable main character who doesn’t let her disability dictate her life. I think I might end up pleasantly surprised by this show, but only time can tell, and considering I wanted to stay away from the huge franchises, In/Spectre looked the more promising one to watch this season.
Time for something easy going, to counter the potentially violent and gory action show…my out-of-season pick.
Flying Witch
Studio: J.C. Staff
(Available on Crunchyroll, HIDIVE and home video)
Oh, I am really looking forward to rewatching this. Flying Witch was a show I caught in the past casually, away from Otaku Theater. Now I get the chance to analyze and review this oh-so-quaint little work.
City witch Makoto moves to the north Honshu countryside to continue her training with her non-witch cousins, bringing her cat familiar, Chito, along with her. Here in the easy-going town of Hirosaki, she enrolls into the local high school, spends her time with her relatives (one of whom, cousin Chinatsu, seems extremely interested in her life as a witch), and interacts with all sorts of magical creatures and items around town.
This is a no-nonsense school slice-of-life that combines good character design with a plot and story we are all very keen to follow. True enough, this anime adaptation only covers a small part of what the original manga has to offer; I mean, I only found out, through researching this, that cousin Chinatsu does end up developing magical skills in the end, through a magic ring. I’m very glad you guys picked this for me, and now I’ve chosen to watch less shows this season (3 season shows instead of 4), I’ll be putting my all into covering this little gem from 2016…
…although come March, I may end up being a little busy. The first weekend of March is Minamicon in Southampton, a coastal city on the south coast of UK. After going to so many UK anime cons in the last 10 or so years and not enjoying most of them, I have decided to make Minamicon 2020 my very last UK con. I have spoken in other platforms about how I feel about the UK anime community, a good portion of it rather negatively, plus age might be a factor in why I’m choosing this to be my last ever con. Minamicon has never been the type of convention to invite special guests or have exclusive events however; it’s just a gathering of anime fans being anime fans doing anime fan things – nothing more and nothing less. But there is a 24-hour McDonalds right next door to the venue, so at least we won’t end up hungry…
Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about Kandagawa Jet Girls either. That ridiculous ecchi water sports show from last season that’s so-bad-its-good. Considering it started late and had an early recap episode, it played havoc with my schedule and lagged behind other shows I was watching that season, but I couldn’t ignore it or dismiss it; it’s just that good, or bad, or something in-between. So I’ll be covering the final two episodes of it in the first Winter 2020 post…in case you guys missed it. Oh come on, I know you missed Misa being a disaster lesbian to her Jet Race partner Rin.
I always say I’m looking forward to what each new season has to offer, and sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised, and sometimes I just want the shows I picked to watch to end early. So what kind of season will the Winter 2020 season be? We’re all a little older and wiser, so we should be able to make some more…mature decisions, right? But what have you picked to watch this season? Have you been bitten by the Madoka Magica Side Story bug? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below!