Winter 2024 Anime Season - Anime Fan Revival!

Happy new year, welcome to 2024... and I am welcoming myself back to anime fandom. ;-)

I’m back in the groove of watching weekly anime episodes. I didn’t plan for it to happen, but certain winter season anime series have proven appealing enough that I’m in the game again.

But first - the leftovers from 2023.

I finished up the last few episodes of Heaven Official’s Blessing’s first season. A number of commenters were wondering if Xie Lan and Hua Cheng might actually get, uh, physical, as in maybe at least kissing each other?

Alas, it’s Chinese danmei. Despite some suggestive cover art for the novels, I fear we’re never going to see any direct romantic activity between the two. I am hopeful though, if only on the basis of the lovely covers on those sequel books:

And I still have to watch season two, which aired last fall.

I thought I’d finished Bureau of Paranormal Investigation last year but it turns out I didn’t. So I watched the final few episodes of season one… and was honestly impressed. It finished strong in terms of plot, action scenes, and character development.

Well... I could complain about a certain character who basically disappeared for most of the season, only to reappear at the climax like the ultimate DEUX EX MACHINA to save the day.

But even with that, it was a very good finish for this series and I hope more seasons are on the way.

Which brings us to the Winter 2024 anime season. I’ve picked an old familiar series as well as three new series to follow this season.

I’ve been out of the loop for a while, not even visiting Anime News Network every day like I used to. So I didn’t know Blue Exorcist was coming back.

Blue Exorcist is one of those series that I put in a certain tier. It’s up there with Haikyuu, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Durarara, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Polar Bear’s Café, among others. These are anime series that I enjoyed a lot and if I see that they have a new season, I’m like, “Oh, Blue Exorcist. Good.” It goes on my watchlist and I definitely watch it. In other words, it’s not “I’ll try this out” but a definite watch.

As opposed to the tier above it, which would be Gintama, K, The Unlimited/Zettai Karen Children, Hakuouki and certain others which would precipitate an immediate scouring of the internet for when the series will start airing and does it have the original seiyuu and what story arc will the season cover, etc., etc.

(And before you start... I know Gintama is technically finished, but hope springs eternal.)

In other words, I have a god tier of anime that I would drop anything I was doing in order to watch. Blue Exorcist is not in that tier, but it’s on a high-enough tier that it went on my watchlist without question.

The setting is a magic academy and the main character Rin Okamura is the son of Satan. Uh, yeah. It’s a long story, but he is a positive and good-hearted protagonist. What keeps me hooked on Blue Exorcist is the complicated relationship between Rin and his younger brother Yukio. There’s history there and a lot of tension, but also love and friendship. It’s the element that anchors the story with emotional resonance and depth.

On to the new additions.

Well, this is an unusual choice for me given my anime viewing history. I don’t normally go for cutesy kids or animal shows. Sometimes I’ll make an exception for stories like Shirokuma Café (Polar Bear’s Café), but that series tempered its cuteness with some adult perspectives and sensibilities.

Akitsu Midori, a 27 year-old office worker, dies of karoshi (overwork). In heaven, she meets Kami-sama (I don’t need to see the credits to recognize Shinichiro Miki and his breezy tone), who asks her how she wants to reincarnate. Akitsu only has one condition: she wants to be able to pet fluffy animals!

So she is reincarnated in a fantasy setting on another planet as Nema, the young daughter of a duke and duchess in a kind and loving family that stands next in line to inherit the kingdom. And magic exists. And there are fluffy animals... many fluffy animals.

I’m liking Fluffy Paradise so far because - while it’s definitely more cute than serious - there’s also the beginnings of an adult storyline. As we are introduced to the royal court politics, we can see there are some potential villains around.

But the fluffiness appears to be the main factor still. Maybe I just need some fluffiness in my life...

The comments under the first episode of Demon Prince of Momochi House were comparing it to Kamisama Kiss and... Fruits Basket. I never watched Kamisama Kiss so I have nothing to say about it, but Fruits Basket is another matter.

Back when I was first an anime fan, I was totally and completely into shounen anime. Whenever I watched shoujo anime I would get irritated at the girl characters’ high-pitched whispery voices, and their submissive/passive natures irked me. I found nothing to like or admire about these characters and so I turned away from shoujo very early on in my anime fandom, including Fruits Basket, despite it being a favorite of many.

I wanted to see Ed and Al battle Envy and Greed, and Ichigo fight the whole Soul Society to save Rukia, and Naruto and Sasuke duel to the death at the waterfall in the Valley of the End. I found no excitement in watching teenage schoolgirls and their petty fights, their jealousies and scheming.

Later, I found this prejudiced opinion of mine contained a lot of holes. I loved Noir, for example, and even a series like Madoka Magica could hold my interest with its strong plot and characters. I never saw the original Sailor Moon but I did watch Sailor Moon Crystal and enjoyed it.

Still, I’ve always leaned towards the shounen and - of course - yaoi and boy’s love. But I realized something when I watched the first few episodes of Momochi House. And that was... REVERSE HAREM.

Of course, I already knew what reverse harem stories were before this. Hakuouki could absolutely be considered reverse harem, as well as a show like Hiiro no Kakera. I’ve enjoyed reverse harem animes in the past like Ouran High School Host Club and others.

But Hiiro no Kakera in fact highlights the reason why I stopped seeking out reverse harem animes to watch. There’s a tendency in reverse harem to have all the bishounen protect the sole female protagonist... who then remains passive and more of an observer in her own story than an active protagonist with agency. Hiiro no Kakera was especially an offender in this regard since the protagonist had immense paranormal powers of her own, but she always hung back and let her boys fight to defend her (and get severely injured), which irritated me to no end.

And if I’m being honest, Hakuouki had the same story dynamic... but with absolutely gorgeous male characters - so I let it slide. ;-) (Plus... the Shinsengumi as vampires. Who could resist that?)

Back to Momochi House. Himari Momochi discovers that her late parents left something for her in their will: a house in the countryside.

Once in the house, she finds that it’s already occupied by Aoi and his two retainers. Aoi is a wispy, delicate teenage boy with paranormal powers and the other two are similarly gifted spirit beings. The three try to convince Himari to leave but she’s determined to stay, despite the house being attacked by her family line’s spirit nemesis.

As it turns out, Aoi came to the house as a boy and was gifted with his spiritual powers. However, what came with the ‘gift’ is that he is unable to leave the house and its grounds, and the memory of his existence has been erased in everyone who knew him in the outside world.

So the plot twist - and motive for Himari to continue living there - is that she wants to free Aoi from his paranormal curse and be able to leave the premises again. That works for me, and also Himari is pretty spunky. She’s very active and determined, not passive at all. And of course... there are already hints of romance between her and Aoi.

This was a roundabout way of saying that maybe I was too hasty in rejecting Fruits Basket all those years ago. It is, after all, a reverse harem show. I’ll have to consider putting it on my maybe-watch list.

Finally, there is Meiji Gekken.

The Bakumatsu is my favorite Japanese historical era and my second favorite is a tie between the Warring States era and the Meiji era.

Meiji Gekken 1874 is a political thriller. I’ve only seen the first two episodes but I’m already loving the art direction. The Meiji era was when Japan started incorporating some of the architecture, technology, and clothing of the outside world, and the juxtapositions of the two worlds makes for fascinating visuals.

The thing is... from the first episode it was violent... like, really violent. As in, the first time we see Shizuma Origasa, the main character, he’s literally killing someone. Granted, it’s a flashback to a battle in the Boshin war, but still.

It’s a new era and Shizuma, a former samurai, is offered a job on the police force after stopping an assassination attempt on a government official. Much political intrigue (and scads of violence) ensues.

This show is like watching the Meiji era come to life. We’ll see how it goes. I may not stick with it due to the violence, but the visuals are truly captivating.

Happy Holidays 2023!

Happy Holidays! Just a brief check-in before the year’s end.

I’ve been catching up on odds and ends from previous anime seasons and finished Heaven Official’s Blessing and Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. I’ll have some things to say about both series in my next post, plus I’ve already picked out the Winter 2024 series I want to watch.

Enjoy the holidays and I’ll see you in January!

Another Year Around the Anime Sun

It’s a new year and I keep adding new anime series to watch.

Some of it isn’t technically “anime.” As in, I’ve found another Chinese series to watch.

This is the Chinese animated series or donghua called Bureau of Paranormal Investigation, not to be confused with Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation which I’ve discussed before.

This donghua... is kind of a mixed bag. I haven’t researched donghua and how long the Chinese have been doing animated series, but this one feels like it’s going for a Ghost in the Shell look, which it succeeds at... sort of.

The story appears to be set in contemporary mainland China. Shen La is a special forces operative. During a mission to capture a drug lord, the special forces team enters a cave of ancient spirits. The spirits attack and Shen La has a phantom-like spirit invade his body through his eye. Only Shen La and Sun Desheng, the mission’s undercover agent, survive the attack with the aid of a tall, mysterious white-haired man.

Both men are initiated into a secret paranormal investigation bureau and, as it turns out, the white-haired man Wu Mian is one of the bureau’s directors.

Shen La develops paranormal powers after the spirit enters his eye. Most of the bureau’s agents also have paranormal abilities, in particular Wu Mian who is actually over 2,000 years old.

Here’s the official trailer, courtesy of Crunchyroll Collections.



While watching this trailer you may have noticed that the art style is kind of... well, strange. Sometimes it looks awesome, and other times it has the appearance of having been hastily thrown together at 2 a.m. under a tight deadline.

Crunchyroll viewers definitely noticed. Here are a few of their comments:

-- When the animation is both incredible and shit at the same time.

-- 2D or 3D. Pick one!

The character designs are well-rendered and the background art is often intricately detailed, but the CGI is sometimes off to the point that you’re not sure what they intended.

For example, these yellow fields of grass, which have the look of crafting felt:

The style is inconsistent in other ways, too. The bureau’s main female agent is Bai Lu. Her design looks like a hot Japanese anime girl, which is jarringly unlike the look of the other characters.

A more pressing problem is the distasteful treatment of the overweight character Sun Desheng. He’s called “Fatty” by the others and is made to serve as both comic relief and object of derision. He’s originally an undercover police officer so he’s not without skills, but he’s always the one who acts cowardly and stupid in dangerous situations, including pushing that mysterious button on the wall just as someone screams not to push it.

Despite its issues, Bureau of Paranormal Investigation has kept me hooked so far. There are twelve episodes in the first season. I don’t think there’s a second season forthcoming as of yet.

The real surprise since the turn of the new year is Boruto.

Sasuke Uchiha is the second most important character in the Naruto universe. Simply put, he’s Vegeta to Naruto’s Goku, but his rivalry with Naruto is more intense and germane to the overall story.

The Naruto anime story universe consists of three series: Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Naruto covers Naruto and his friends when they were kids, Naruto Shippuuden when they were teenagers, and Boruto is about the children of Naruto and his friends - i.e., the “next generation.”

It all began with Team 7.

In the first series, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are the members of Team 7 at Konoha’s ninja academy.

Naruto and Sasuke are rivals from the beginning.

Later, Sasuke leaves the village on a mission of revenge related to his clan. Sakura begs Naruto to stop him. The two boys fight nearly to the death, but in the end Sasuke prevails and walks away.

In Naruto and its sequel series Naruto Shippuuden, Sasuke disappears for huge swaths of time but his absence is always felt by Naruto and Sakura, and by the audience. He winds up on a path of darkness seeking power over others, while back home in Konoha, Naruto gains power and abilities in order to help others and to defend Konoha and the entire ninja world.

In the story’s climax, Sasuke returns to help Naruto save the ninja world from destruction. However, following the successful outcome of the battle, he challenges Naruto for leadership of what’s left of the world. Sasuke is still coming from darkness and his final fight with Naruto - which mirrors their earlier fight when Sasuke left the village years before - is one of anime’s most memorable fight scenes. It culminates in a shocking conclusion:

Sasuke finally recognizes that his path was wrong and reforms. Naruto, due to his lineage from the First Hokage, is able to have a new arm constructed. The Uchiha lineage is also special, but like the irritating little cuss that he is, Sasuke leaves the village on a journey of atonement and redemption before the possibility of a new arm for him can be researched.

Throughout the three series - Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, and now Boruto - we’ve followed Sasuke’s journey as much as we have Naruto’s journey. He began as a simple shonen rival, a foil for the main character, but the story wouldn’t have worked without him since Naruto wouldn’t have grown as much without Sasuke challenging him as his dark counterpart. In a story universe with literally hundreds of distinct characters, Sasuke Uchiha is unquestionably the second lead as well as a fan favorite.

The big news is that a new manga story featuring Sasuke is being animated as part of the Boruto series, and in fact, the episodes are airing right now.

The story is called Sasuke Retsuden (English title: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust). It’s set four years after the events in Naruto Shippuuden.

Sasuke goes on an undercover mission to track down a cure for Naruto’s sudden illness. To his surprise, Sakura later joins him on the mission. The two are already married at this point. What’s fun and new about this is that we have never seen what led up to their marrying each other. They were in Team 7 together as children, and Sakura - along with Naruto - hunted Sasuke when he was a rogue ninja. They were teenagers then, as they were when the main Naruto story ended.

Then there was a huge time skip. When the Boruto series began, Sasuke and Sakura’s daughter Sarada was a pre-teen already.

The Sasuke Retsuden arc is our first glimpse of the early days of Sasuke and Sakura’s marriage and longtime Naruto fans are losing their minds over it. The manga debuted in Japan last October and was immediately greenlit to be animated.

For the first time in ages I’m excited to watch Boruto every Sunday. The now “older” generation of Naruto and his friends are still my favorite characters and to watch an arc that is centered on the adult Sasuke and Sakura is simply a joy.

Another year around the anime sun has passed, and even a series I've been watching forever can still surprise me. I'd say this bodes well for the coming year. ;-)