Sending in Spring 2020

Hey, people! Where’d you take winter 2020?

In amongst all the Fate/ stuff, it feels like it’s been nothing but Fate/ this entire season and the simulcasts were happening on the periphery…until Iruma-kun came to an end. The people who normally alert me to the end of the season started, for me, about 3 weeks before its end (meaning 2 weeks for you people with subscriptions or sailing the high seas), so I’m doing something different by compiling this post first and then making my usual list from that, rather than the other way around.

The key for this post (all details correct as of the post’s publishing):

• Bold: Funimation (or its equivalent in my region)
• Underline: Crunchyroll
• Strikethrough: Netflix, Amazon, HiDive

Also note there are some that didn’t make the list because I’m really hesitant to add them, such as Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou! (The 8th Son?! Are You Kidding Me?), but they may make the final cut later on…if the coronavirus doesn’t stuff with the production schedule on any of these…I’ve also axed BNA because it’s Netflix.

Already Confirmed

• Idolish7 Second Beat: This takes ID:INVADED‘s spot as “anime confirmed one season too early”. See my thoughts on it here. (Also, I can now access Silver Sky via Spotify…and it’s awesome.)

Catch up on…?

• Kaguya-sama s2: I have this on the back burner for Ishigami, who I took a bit of a liking to once I encountered him in the manga.

The List

• Fruits Basket 2 (dub only on Funimation): Back with the Froob hype train. I didn’t really talk about it while s1 was airing, but any chance to watch an anime for a manga I finished is a good one.
• No Guns Life 2: NGL was enjoyable, but a bit wonky. That’s not to say it’s bad – it does use some interesting ideas and the cyberpunk noir feel is always appreciated – it’s just less capable.
• Bakarina (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta…): In comes the first of our otome game overlord-er, ladies…? I hope for this to be popular enough this specific variant of isekai allows for Ursch-kun to be animated (aka “I want that Villainess Wants to Marry a Commoner!! anime“), so there might be some vested interest involved…
• Appare Ranman: Original anime are some of the most interesting anime out there, full stop, bcause of their untapped potential. It seems Appare is about to do that for me in this list.
• Namiyo Kiitekure (Wave, Listen to Me!): I remember hearing about this title somehow, although I associate it with the SigIkki vibe that comes from works like Dorehedoro…Now that I think of it, back in the day where SigIkki advertising was coming to me via the inside cover of Detective Conan volumes, Sexy Voice and Robo was one of the advertised series. Sexy Voice and Robo is from Viz but Wave is Kodansha, but the two series – about ladies who use their voice for personal gain – are superficially quite similar.
• Listeners: Gimme Mekakucity Reload already!…In the meantime, I can settle for this.
• Kitsutsuki Tantei Dokoro (Woodpecker Detective’s Office) – For some reason, there’s a bit of a BL vibe to this one, although that doesn’t stop me from putting it above Fugou Keiji. Unfamiliar with the source.
• Fugou Keiji: I’m unfamiliar with the source, so…I dunno. For some reason, “rich detective” makes me think blackmail is involved somehow, which is why it doesn’t appeal to me so much…
• Arte: This manga’s licensed by a mostly unknown publisher, Sol Press. I took a peek at it (sample chapter) and it’s what I would call “feminist-friendly”, but “feminist” has quite the bit of stigma itself. The problem I could see is that it seems to be the type of series that gets thrown to the sidelines despite (or maybe because of) that.
• Bungou to Alchemist: Shinpan no Haguruma: Another DMM Games thing only I’ve tried…well, my holy trinity back in the day was this game, Touken Ranbu and Shinken, although I gave the most attention to my sword boys. I always thought the designs in this one were more period-appropriate but weirder than its closest manga equivalent, Bungou Stray Dogs. As for whether it’s serious or laidback…it’s anyone’s guess, as of this post.

Sidebar: While I was researching this post…it turns out Shinken‘s been terminated. Guess it couldn’t compete against all the other waifu collection games, huh?

• Yesterday wo Utatte: I don’t really know what to make of this one. It could go either way, really.
• Argonavis from Bang Dream: Mudamaid introduced me to thse f***ers called Gyroaxia. The reason I cuss is Miyuki always draws me in with his looks, but he’s not my type, and I keep rolling Nayuta for some reason (Nayuta is also not my type, being a Bakugo kind of guy who headlines a band). Jury’s out on Fantome Iris…all I really remember about them from rolling them is bassist Haru’s crossdressing game is far too strong. The title band, however, seems pleasant in much the same way you call the title group of Idolish7 “pleasant”, so here’s hoping they can compete with their progenitors.
• Kakushigoto: Here for the wordplay and the confirmed fact Funi got it.

Notable Absences

• Gleipnir: Tried the source (sample chapter), dropped it like a hot rock because of the ecchi component. I was looking forward to seeing how Kagaya’s transformation worked, too…
• Digimon Adventure (2020): Okay, someone’s trying to bring back the 90s. After watching Reunion, I realised I mostly missed the hype train back in the day, although I hear I would like Frontier due to the same things that brought me to Gleipnir.
• Ometeotoru Hero: I’d be on board for it…if it weren’t 1) an Anime Tamago project, meaning it may or may not ever surface on the English side as a full project (its progenitors include Death Parade and Ongaku Shoujo, after all), and 2) in potential coronavirus limbo (because it was meant to debut somewhere and that got cancelled). Update: It got put online for free with some roundtable talks in between. It’s only there until April 30th 2020, though.

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Anyways, what’s on your docket for spring 2020?