Damn – another frickin’ year gone already?

There are actually a relatively decent number of interesting series confirmed for 2022 for this far out. Not the ones I’ve been agonizing over (like BokuYaba or Kemono Jihen S2), but quite a few. Mostly sequels (two from my “Best of the 2010’s” list, and one that barely missed), but a few tantalizing new shows as well. It’s just that none of the really standout ones are on the docket for winter. It tends to be the weakest anime season in a given year, and if that doesn’t end up being the case in 2022 it almost certainly won’t have been a very good year.

I’m actually previewing a slightly higher percentage of the schedule than usual this season – 13 series out of 36 (making this one of the smallest modern anime schedules on record) is (just) above my normal one-third clip. But out of that group there isn’t a single series that I could honestly call a likely bet to be a classic. The sequels fall more in the good category than great, and none of the new ones are obvious standouts. As usual these days there are a fair number of originals, and who knows, one of them could shock the world and be great. If not, it’s going to be pretty lonely at the top apart from Ousama Ranking carrying over.

Actually, there is one Winter 2022 project that would have checked all those boxes – Iso Mitsuo’s Chikyuugai Shounen Shoujo. But because Iso couldn’t get backing even for a one-cour series, he’s releasing Chikyuugai in two theatrical blocks. This is quite an indictment of the production committee system and the state of TV anime as a result of it – an auteur like Iso has no place in this environment. It’s very reminiscent of what happened to another anime great, Kazuki Akane, with Hoshiai no Sora. The difference is that the system failed Ito before the project ever aired – which makes him fortunate when compared to Kazane and the utter betrayal his project suffered mid-stream.

That leaves us with a bunch of question marks and not a lot else. I think it’s a matter of digging our snow cave and hunkering down through the deep freeze, because given what’s already announced 2022 almost has to pick up after that. If I’m looking for positives there don’t seem to be as many isekai LN adaptations, and LN generally, as has usually been the case lately. The feed corn section of the schedule is slanted towards CGDCT this time. The schedule seems fairly eclectic if nothing else – a smattering of shoujo, standard battle shounen, a few sports series (“sports with a twist” seems to be the current fad) and the usual modern “street crime” Durarara-wannabes that every season seems to have a few of nowadays.

Once again this season the LiA preview comes with a video companion (also embedded at the end of this post).  If you enjoy that or any of my videos I would be enormously grateful if you’d consider subscribing – helping me reach that magic 1000 number is a great way of helping out LiA that doesn’t cost a red cent. I look forward to your feedback as I fine-tune the video productions – please share your thoughts either here or over on YT. And as always, my sincere thanks for your support.

 

Let’s move on to the preview.  As usual, the poll is in the sidebar – please go vote!

 

Highest Expectations:

None

 

Mid-table:

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 3 – Shin-Ei: (PV) I can’t think of another season where my highest-expectations series was this modest, but there you have it.  It’s not that I don’t like Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san quite a bit – the second season snuck into my year-end top 10 (in 2019, a year without much depth), after all.  It’s just that it’s the definition of a very good series rather than a great one, and that’s not what you’d prefer to have at the head of the list.

Be that as it may, Season 2 was indeed very good – much better than S1 in fact.  Why?  Partly because the anime did such a good job reordering chapters and weaving in original material that was, frankly, often better than the manga.  But it’s also because the manga itself improves substantially as it progresses, because the characters – and crucially, relationships – change and grow.  Nishikata and Takagi’s dynamic gets far more interesting as it evolves (mostly) beyond the childish teasing that dominates early on.  For that reason (and I am current with the manga) there’s no reason to think Season 3 won’t meet the standard set by S2.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru – CloverWorks: (PV) Sono Bisque Doll in the joint-most intriguing of this season’s non-sequel crop for me.   I’ve never read the manga (I’d never even heard of it before the anime was announced) but these days any seinen adaptation is worth a look.  And by reputation, Fukuda Shinichi’s manga is quite well-regarded.

My Dress-up Darling is the story of a shy guy who loves traditional Japanese dolls, and a not-shy girl who drags him into the cosplay world.  By reports this apparently gets a bit ecchi but doesn’t descend into relentless bullying and mean-spiritedness.  The staff looks decent if unexceptional, and I’m flying blind for the most part – which only goes to show you just how weak this season looks at the top.  I have reasonable expectations that this series will be pretty good, but it’s no sure thing.

Baraou no Souretsu – J.C. Staff: (PV) Historical shoujo this time, a genre littered with mediocrity but capable of producing genuine brilliance (rarely).  This one is a reimagining of the legend of Richard III, casting him as a hermaphrodite – something which, as far as I know, has absolutely no basis in the historical record.  Richard III’s tragic story has been chronicled in fiction many times, of course – most famously by the Bard himself – but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him show up in anime.

In real life R3 was the last of the Plantagenet monarchs, and his death marked the end of the middle ages.  This is obviously a pretty fictionalized account – Joan of Arc is somehow tied in, and there are apparently fantasy elements.  I don’t know the manga but as with Bisque Doll, the reputation is a good one.  And as with that series there’s nothing especially notable about the staff.  This season, that’s enough for a pretty high ranking.

Vanitas no Carte 2nd Season – Bones: (PV) This was a split-cour, so whatever changes we see are likely to be the result of evolution in the source material.  The first season of this adaptation was generally pretty solid – not Bones’ best work (or Mochizuki Jun’s, so far) but well-produced and consistently entertaining.  Things got a little SHAFT-y for my tastes at times, but that seemed to ease off as the season progressed.  Mochizuki’s manga are typically slow-burners that get more interesting over time, so I’ll be hoping that’s the case with Vanitas no Carte.

 

 

Modestly Interested:

Sasaki to Miyano – Studio Deen: (PV) There seems to be some confusion about whether Sasaki to Miyano is a BL series, or a BL-themed comedy.  Seems like a small thing but in this corner of the fandom, that matters.  The premise is that a 1st-year high schooler (Miyano) who considers himself heterosexual is a big fan of BL, and desperate to hide it from his classmates at his all-boys school.  Sempai Sasaki finds out, and hijinks ensure.

I’ve read quite a few chapters of Harusono Shuu’s manga, and it can be quite charming (though I actually prefer Harusono’s drama club-themed Butai ni Sake!).  My main issue is that Sasaki is kind a creeper, and if he pulled the stuff he pulls with Miyano (who’s very innocent despite his interests) on a girl, he’d be seen as downright predatory by many.  My favorite in the cast is actually the side character Hirano, who’s gotten his own spinoff manga.

Ryman’s Club – LIDENFILMS: (PV) We’re at the point now where everything from here downwards is a total stab in the dark (and way too early in the preview for my tastes).  This is a weird one – a story about a bunch of salarymen who also play competitive badminton.  It’s an original so nothing to go on there, and writer-director Yamauchi Ami has nothing in their resume to strongly suggest whether Ryman’s Club will be any good.  At least it’s different.

Futsal Boys!!!!! – Diomedéa: (PV) Another sports original (delayed from this year), an increasingly common sight on anime schedules these days.  And most of them are clearly targeting the Haikyuu!! audience – if you see exclamation points (especially multiples) you can pretty much assume that.  Futsal Boys has no less than five of them, so you know it’s gonna be good, right?  Futsal (5-on-5 arena soccer, basically) has never been the subject of an anime that I know of, though it did briefly appear in Ginga e Kickoff.  This is actually part of a massive game-driven multimedia project, and the anime looks CG-heavy.  The gimmick here is that the cast members (all of whom are new seiyuu as far as I can see) portraying the boys from the various schools will play actual futsal matches, with the results being written into the anime.  That alone is worth two exclamation points at least!!

Tokyo 24-ku – CloverWorks (PV): Another original, this time the story of three friends in the fictional Tokyo 24th Ward who each receive a letter from a dead friend telling them to “change the future”.  You know how sometimes you feel like you’ve heard a plot before, even if you haven’t?  This is one of those times for me – Tokyo 24-ku just sounds like a generic anime premise created by a bot account on twitter.  Director Tsuda Naokatsu did do the interesting Inu x Boku SS, at least.

On Air Dekinai! – Space Neko Company, Jinnai Studio: (PV) How in the world did a one-volume manga from 2017 land an anime adaptation in 2022?  I have no clue, but the premise kind of interests me.  A 23 year-old goes to work as a production assistant in television and soon realizes it’s not the glamorous gig he imagined.  Looks like a “how the sausage is made” kind of deal, which maybe has a bit of potential.

Orient – A.C.G.T.: (PV) Primarily of interest as an adaptation of Magi creator Ohtaka Shinobu’s follow-up manga.  I thought Magi was decent until it wasn’t, and while Orient generally doesn’t seem to be regarded as its equal it’s worth at least a look.  The heroes are two aspiring swordsmen in a world where demons are revered and samurai are shunned.

Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu – Madhouse: (PV) Madhouse brings us a manga adaptation about female cops in Tokyo.  I know nothing about the source material, but a story about a massively sexist quadrant of a massively sexist society has a certain boom-bust allure to it.  Director Satou Yuuzo is a Madhouse veteran who’s been around the block and back a few times (he directed the first Hunter X Hunter movie, Phantom Rouge).

Kaijin Kaihatsu-bu no Kuroitsu-san – Quad: (PV) I’d never heard of Quad Studio before this season, if they even existed.  Billed as a “comic fantasy” Kaijin Kaihatsu-bu no Kuroitsu-san is a story about an evil organization’s “monster development division”.  OK, whatever – it sounds odd at least.  The staff here is actually quite experienced and pretty solid, which is mostly why this series is in the preview.

Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season Part 2 – MAPPA: (PV) Isayama Hajime’s full-on descent into fascistic wish-fulfillment is as close to a guaranteed train-wreck as you’re going to get.  But I’ve soldiered through for this long that I just can’t stomach the idea of bailing this close to the end.  The comments section figures to be more entertaining than the series itself.

 

Hors catégorie:

Link Click (Japanese dub) – bilibili, BeDream: (PV) While I never formally blogged Shiguang Dailiren, I have made my feelings about it quite clear – this donghua was one of the best shows of 2021 in any medium.  A second season has already been announced for sometime in 2022, but in the meantime we’re getting a Japanese dub of the first – and with some pretty big-name seiyuu, too.  This is a perfect opportunity for anyone who didn’t watch this time-travel crime drama to rectify that oversight (and for me to re-watch it).  Assuming, of course, someone streams or subs the Japanese version.

I normally find Mandarin a bit jarring for animation, as the acting style and rhythms of the language are so totally different from Japanese.  If that was a factor for you this version rectifies the problem – though it must be said that the acting for Link Click in the original version was easily my favorite of any donghua.  I think you’re fine watching it in either language, but please watch it.

 

Will Definitely Blog: Karaki Jouzu no Takagi-san 3, Vanitas no Carte 2nd Season, Link Click. 

Sleepers: Barren.  Tokyo 24-ku or On Air Dekinai! at a stretch, maybe?

 

OVA:

As is all too often the case of late, bupkis.

 

 

Theatrical:

Fortunately winter does have some genuinely interesting prospects on the theatrical front (including the at long last release of the oft-delayed Shika no Ou).

Chikyuugai Shounen Shoujo – 01/28/22: (PV) Akane Kazuki wanted to make a two-cour series with Hoshiai no Sora, only to have funding pulled halfway through production.  Iso Mitsuo wanted to make Chikyuugai Shounen Shoujo a series, but could only get funding for a two-part film.  The shameful treatment of these anime auteurs is a shining example of how the production committee system is creatively strangling the medium.  Kazuki and Iso love TV anime and want to work in it, but there’s no place for challenging and iconoclastic old-schoolers like them in this brave new world.

Anything new from Iso (Dennou Coil) is certainly worth our undivided attention – it’s been a long time coming.  It’s the story of a group of children stranded alone on a space station in 2045, and another exploration of Iso’s fascination with technology and how it impacts our daily lives.  In fact there are suggestions in the preview (which is glorious, by the way) that there may even be a Dennou Coil continuity, though I’m not certain of that.  Either way Extra-Terrestrial Boys and Girls is easily one of my most-anticipated anime projects of 2022.

Fruits Basket: Prelude – 02/18/22: If you wanted more detail on the backstory of Tohru’s parents, your wait is over.  Takaya Natsuki wrote this prequel, which will also feature some scenes set after the end of the anime.

Goodybye, DonGlees! – 02/18/22: (PV) Goodbye DonGlees! is an intriguing one.  It’s a boys-adventure story set in Iceland, written and directed by Ishizuka Atsuko, a considerable talent who’s been at Madhouse since the mid-2000’s.  In a pretty busy stretch for Madhouse, this is by far the most interesting prospect for me.