I've learned absolutely nothing about my taste, preferred genres, or anything else from the over 200 friggin anime series I've watched in my life that could save me some precious time. Only watch the anime that look like they're my cup of tea? More like brew a whole pot of of tea to help me get through the first episode of pretty much every new series to drop this season. I dunno, maybe this is how I keep myself from an actual gambling addiction - instead of saying I'll win on the next set of lottery numbers, I tell myself the next series will be a gem I would never have found otherwise that I can introduce to the world. At least it's cheaper. Probably. Here are my quick reviews to help you find the cream of the crop... or just because, I'll admit it, sometimes the suffering I bring upon myself is funny.
Here's my thoughts on the first batch of first episodes I sampled in Spring 2024 sorted by whether I'm hooked and excited for the next episode, willing to give them one more episode to grab me, or straight up gave them the dreaded insult of a first-episode drop.
Feel free to comment with which shows you'd like me to write about next, because I'm still working on this, I have zero planned order, and the sheer variety of options is making me dizzy. Just don't get on me for ignoring the three episode rule - there's a half-finished draft about why I don't care for it around here somewhere, but the short version is there's like 40 new shows every season and I have a full-time job.
Highspeed Etoile - One More Episode
It's the racing of the future! At least, that's what the exposition tells us.
As far as actions go, the race in the first episode of Highspeed Etoile does little to distinguish itself from today's NASCAR events besides there being some digital anime waifus creating a small opening spectacle and desperately trying to make the straightforward track sound exciting, some of the cars being powered by AI (they behave no differently except for the writers not needing to give them characters with motivations or voices), and the pit crew being replaced with a fully automatic system which is, hilariously, noticeably slower than a traditional pit crew.
That said, I have to give this first episode some credit for having - gasp - good CG animation. Nothing is particularly special or experimental about it like in shows such as Kamierabi, mind you, but the animation looks smooth, inoffensive, and organic: High marks for anime. Also, bonus points for getting actual companies for the sponsors - maybe it's how they're paying to make the show, but it also adds that bit of realism. Granted, more realism may not end up being what a show trying to make its sport seem upgraded and exotic needs.
And towards the end of the episode, I did find myself starting to get a bit invested in the story being laid out, at least enough to give it one more episode to see if it starts to really go anywhere. One of my favorite elements of a good Sports Anime is when it can make someone who doesn't care about the sport being portrayed in the slightest care about the story, players, and world it encompasses - when it lands that interpersonal drama of sports in a condensed and refined way. If this show can do that, I'll forgive it being "NASCAR but with more holograms" and spending too much of its first episode on exposition about why no, really, this is totally different. If it can't, there's nothing else of substance here to hold onto.
Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai - Dropped
Look, I love me a good, classic shoujo romance, and am fully aware a little bit of allonormativity comes with the territory. It's normal for characters in this genre to overemphasize romantic love and occasionally do things that wouldn't be considered healthy in real life, but make your heart go doki doki in fiction, in pursuit of said love.
But A Condition Called Love is next level bullshit, so actively insulting to asexual and aromantic people and made this a-spec weeb physically ill.
Hotaru Hinase is one heck of an aromantic coded protagonist, and that doesn't mean she couldn't be in a romantic relationship - see Bloom Into You for a fantastic example of an aromantic heroine who still chooses to have a romantic relationship - but it's the way the show gets her into said relationship by invalidating Hotaru's feelings every step of the way. Hotaru is pursued - even after she blatantly tells him no, he continues to follow her around insisting she "get to know him" first - Hananoi, and confides in him that she has never felt romantic love, comparing herself to a robot (a common and deeply harmful stereotype thrust upon many an acearo person). While out with a friend, she comments that she doesn't get why people consider romantic partners more important than friends or family members. All of this seems like the potential setup for a thoughtful conversation on allonormativity, but everyone around Hotaru simply tells her she'll grow up and change her views one day, and they are painted as completely in the right for doing so, even romanticized for the "patience" they are having with her.
Kimi Ni Todoke 3 can't come soon enough.
Yozakura-san Chi no Daisakusen - One More Episode
And so it begins: with the success of Spy X Family, it was only a matter of time until more shonen series came around that wanted to play with similar concepts, and Mission: Yozakura Family is... one of those.
Yeah, I don't really have a ton to say about this one, neither good nor bad. It's a decent enough setup for an action series, and the first episode makes sure not to waste time bogged down with explanations of tropes that people who watch this sort of anime already understand, and Taiyou is a likable enough protagonist with a strong motivation that anybody who has unexpectedly lost someone can relate to, but the production value - the bread and butter of a good, dumb shonen action series - is just serviceable.
That said, shonen anime is my bread and butter, so I'll be giving this apparent paint-by-numbers series a little more time to hook me, but if you want something with off-the-walls Shonen Jump flair and directing that arguably takes it beyond its source material, I am begging you to go watch Undead Unluck before bothering with this - it just ended and if it never gets another season I'll be sorely disappointed.
Jiisan Baasan Wakagaeru - One More Episode
I was immediately hooked on the concept for this one - an elderly couple, still deeply in love after 60 years of marriage, finds they have turned young again and sets out to do all of the things they never got to do together as a young couple scraping by to make ends meet. But after that promising setup, everything about the way the show is actually handled ranges from boring to downright creepy.
The first half of the episode is mostly spent making the same... joke? over and over about how now that the grandparents are young and attractive again, their kids and grandkids are uncomfortable in how attracted to them they are. Yikes. Thankfully, the second half of the episode gets away from this, but is split between them using their youth to win a bog standard sports derby and telling their granddaughter stories about their past like any typical elderly couple is want to do.
The opening and pre-opening scene both seem to be playing with the concept of the two going on the honeymoon they never got to have, using their reclaimed youth to travel about, taking in how much the world has changed in their lives, but nothing do interesting ends up happening in the actual episode, and neither the direction nor animation bring anything special to what ends up being one weak joke laced into some very standard slice of life scenes. I like the concept enough that I'll give it one more try, but if it's still not going anywhere next week, I don't think it's going to go anywhere at all.
Tadaima, Okaeri - Hooked
Masaki and Hiromu are two men deeply in love, married and raising an adorable baby boy. Overall, their lives are the stuff of domestic fluff at levels we haven't seen since School Babysitters, but occasionally, we're reminded of the difficulties they face borne from discrimination. They have to keep quiet about their relationship around their co-workers, and both have severed ties with family to have this relationship.
After all, one of them is an alpha, and the other is an omega.
What, were you thinking of another reason?
I usually love a fantasy twist weaved into my otherwise realistic romance anime, but in its first episode Tadaima, Okaeri suffers from the rare case of the fantasy element taking away from and over-complicating an otherwise straight forward story about queer joy in the face of homophobia. It doesn't ruin this first episode for me - it's still painfully sweet and adorable - but I kept asking myself why? What did the author feel was improved by making a mystical allegory instead of just talking about the very real issue right in front of them? I guess I'll find out, because I'm still totally here for the two dads and their adorable kid rotting my teeth this season.
Kaijuu Number 8 - Hooked!!
God, it's been a long time since I've seen kaiju animation this good. And to boot, I always love when stories where the battles make giant messes take the time to ask who cleans up afterwards, who handles property damage, and other "reality ensues" questions about the nitty gritty behind splashing a monster's guts across 7 city blocks. Long-time followers of my other socials will know exactly what story made me fall in love with this idea, but the cleaner doesn't become the villain in this one. Well, not in his own eyes anyway.
The strong opening for this Shonen Jump series - easily the strongest opening of any anime I've watch so far this season, and arguably one of the strongest shonen openings I've seen in a long while - only makes the mediocre directing and animation treatment given to poor Yozakura Family more blatant in comparison. Kaiju Number 8 is the whole package and feels like a classic in the making. The second episode is already out, and I know what I'm doing the second I'm done writing this.
Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? - Hooked
Oh, we've got a weird one here - just the way I like it. It doesn't feel like anime has been doing as much Weird Shit(tm) lately, especially without a previously proven manga, game, or light novel to reassure investors, but maybe I've just gotten far too used to the tropes I used to see as weird when I was in high school anime club.
In a world ravaged in avant garde ways by a technological marvel gone wrong, four teenage girls living in a town where the adults have all turned into animals commandeer an old train and set out to find a lost friend who has inadvertently gotten involved in the mess that reshaped Japan. I know I'm saying a lot of vague stuff here, but really, this is one of those series you watch the first episode of and immediately know if it's your thing, and it's definitely mine. I have no idea where this one is going, but it feels like somewhere special.
Henjin no Salad Bowl - One More Episode
If nothing else, A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics can't be accused of lying with its title; a young princess from another world gets reverse-isekai'd directly on top of a 29 year old private eye with a focus on the less glamorous side of investigation. The princess is soon followed by her knight, who finds herself stranded in the middle of nowhere and assisted by a random homeless man. If the opening is anything to go off of, the cast of quirky characters is only going to grow from here in this reverse-isekai... mystery? Maybe?
Nothing about it has been particularly mysterious so far, but the princess tries to liken her new father-figure (dear god, please let him stay a father figure) to Detective Conan, and the first episode seems to be about how the two of them officially team up to be PIs together, but despite what sounds like a clear setup when I put it to paper, the actual first episode seems to waffle about and not seem entirely sure what it wants to do with these characters. Henjin no Salad Bowl feels like a series that is either going to go absolutely nowhere but boring harem comedy hell OR end up being one of the wackiest sleeper hits of the season with absolutely no room for it to be "just okay." I'm willing to give it one more shot to hint at which it plans to be.
Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote - Hooked
I've never gotten really into idol anime, but I find myself enjoying anime that satellite around it; series about related areas of show-business with a little more depth and a look into the grit behind the scenes of the seemingly happy-go-lucky stars people enjoy. Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote is nowhere near as realistic and dark as shows like [Oshi no Ko], but deals with an issue I think a lot of content creators can relate to - just how much of our real selves we show vs. how much we hold back both to please our audience and protect ourselves.
...Okay, I'll be real: this is all me trying to justify what was just an okay first episode because MAL says it's going to be girls' love and I can't afford to be picky when I see sapphic romance that isn't immediately extremely toxic, incest, or underaged porn. This is definitely my most self-serving "hooked" of the season, but yuri fans will understand. We gotta take what food we can get, and this seems alright so far.
Blue Archive the Animation - Dropped
Why is it than any time a series has "The Animation" in the title it is either hot garbage or, at best, only made to serve the fans that already exist? Blue Archive seems to be the later - it puts very little effort into explaining its desertified world or what exactly its cast of high school girls is doing. It's simply cute girls fighting with guns because reasons, and while there can be merit in showing viewers the action first and answering questions later, nothing about this media en res grabbed me enough to make me care about those answers.
But does that mean Blue Archive is a bad show? It's not my place to say, since it's clearly made for people already invested in this world and these characters from the game its adapting. There is some nice animation and several little character moments, so I can only assume fans of the game will enjoy this for the fanservice it is, but personally I'm going to mark this as "not for me" and move on. If you're a fan of this game, do let me know what you think of this tie-in series.
Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi - One More Episode
Mysterious Disappearances is an episodic occult "mystery" series about a mysterious young man and his co-worker: an aspiring writer going on 30 who longs for her youth when her level of talent was considered special and she had all the energy in the world to imagine new stories.
No personal attacks here.
An older writer protagonist is immediately going to grip me because, well, look at me, but that hook can only go so far, and it's hard to tell at this point how much more this series has to offer. I put "mystery" in quotes earlier because there's nothing all that mysterious going on in this first episode until the teaser for the next episode comes around. I'm willing to give this show another shot, but there's going to need to be a bit more meat to the second episode for this show not to get boring fast.
Kenka Dokugaku - One More Episode...?
Viral Hit (10/10 pun title, by the way) is my first watch this season based off a Korean webtoon. Hobin, a chronically bullied high schooler stuck working to pay for his mother's cancer hospitalization, accidentally gets caught on stream standing up to one of his bullies with his fists and some weaponized kimchi. Naturally, the video goes viral, and the duo decides to work together to strike Youtube Newtube gold, all while secretly continuing to hate each other.
God, this one was bleak.
Kenka Dokugaku is a rare case where I'm hesitant to continue a series not because of any technical failures - it has strong animation and a compelling premise - but because a world where social media is a violence-oriented feeding frenzy populated by people desperately trying to make ends meet is... a bit too real right now? I want to continue this one, but if I do, I'm going to need to sandwich episodes of some cute, hopeful stories between it or I'm going to end up depressed.
More to come! What series are you most interested in my first impression of? Do you feel I did a show you're really enjoying dirty or overhyped a show that isn't really going anywhere? Discuss in the comments!