Looking Forward to Winter 2021

Well, so long as we get out of the dumpster fire known as 2020, I’m fine with any anime.

Underline is Crunchyroll, bold is Funimation and friends (Wakanim, AnimeLab etc.). I would think most of the unclaimed ones are going to Crunchyroll, actually, due to the entire “Sony buys out Crunchyroll” thing that happened in recent months causing HiDive to lose out…

From most to least hype, as per usual:

• Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!: It really says something when a short series takes out the first spot on my list. This is a series that I scanlated when I went a bit berserk doing that stuff before I came to WordPress, circa 2015 – 6. For that reason, I know and love how wacky Wan! is, but also consider it a skeleton in my closet I can only redeem myself for by supporting the industry legally and/or translating things (maybe as a job, maybe not). I’m obviously not the current scanlator, but I do know the current scanlator in this case – it’s Slug, who also does HypMic translations – and Slug level (read: standards such as “churning out (mostly) accurate translations within 24 or 48 hours of release”) is a level I should aspire to if I want to go pro. The important thing you have to remember is I have the passion to go that far, but I’m not that far yet.

Sidebar: I was also responsible for creating the minor fandom meme of “Chuu-Chuu” being the fan nickname of Chuuya as a kid, due to the kindergarten chapter that happens early on.

• Dr Stone: Stone Wars
• Cells at Work: Code Black: Rated this above the OG due to the fact this could show us a side of the series that’s never been delved into before.
• Cells at Work!!
• YuruCamp s2
• Heaven’s Design Team: It’s got a bit of buzz around it and a pretty solid-sounding manga and cast to work with – it basically can’t go wrong. (<- no experience with the manga)
• Kumo Desu Ga Nanika?: This also has a bit of buzz around it due to the source material, although it being a Crunchyroll production means it coud go south pretty quickly.
• Kemono Jihen: This is a Jump series (not Weekly Shonen Jump, but Jump Square) and it actually sounds quite interesting. However, the art looks a little plain, which could drag it down.
• Sk8: There was an article in Animage Jan. 2021 about this anime, so I wonder what’s going on in it, aside from what’s already being advertised…?
• Skate-Leading Stars: An anime that was supposed to run alongside HypMic, but then got the dreaded COVID bonk. Not much is known about it even now (even after an article showed up in Animage Jan. 2021), so I ranked it lower. Also, Ume.
• IChu: Another day, another mobile game adaption…thank goodness for Ume. (It’s ranked lower because Twin Engine is in the production pipeline, which means it could be relegated to being behind a paywall I don’t have access to.)
• Praeter no Kizu: It sounds like it’s up my alley, but…GoHands? The last time I watched an anime from them was Hand Shakers…
• Mushoku Tensei: I seem to remember Ume was on the cast of this at some point, although I don’t know if it was a drama CD or something else that was animated/voiced…
• Horimiya: This seems to be the most popular romance this season and I added the manga to my PTR based on how much it was being talked about (…that, and I think I spotted a Chinese copy of one of the volumes at the library pre-COVID). That said, you know I generally don’t hold out much hope for romances and that’s true here too.
• Ramune: I discovered this series’s manga on Magazine Pocket shortly before it was announced to have an anime. It’s actually…kind of weird, based on what I know of it.
• Back Arrow: It’s a bit of a miracle a mecha is on the list at all. Obviously, I have my eye on some nice-lookin’ dudes in this cast, including Back Arrow himself.
• Suppose a Kid from the Boonies…: There’s always that one anime these days that has a really long name and it’s possibly an isekai – and this is it. That doesn’t bode well for it.
• Wonder Egg Priority: Weird-sounding premise aside, this could be pretty good, based purely on how colourful it is.
• Jakuchara Tomozaki-kun: It sounds…mildly interesting, but I’m not holding out too much hope for it.
• Hortensia Saga: Ume’s in the cast…but last time I had something like this, it was Grancrest, if I remember correctly…and that didn’t succeed.
• 2.43: It’s because Ume is in the cast that I want in.
• Ex-Arm: Got up at 6 am for Saito Soma in September, only to find out this anime is a darn trainwreck from early signs…

To catch up on

• Yakusoku no Neverland s2: There’s now even Kamio (voice of HypMic‘s Riou) on the cast.
• Re:Zero s2 pt 2: Obviously watching pt 2 requires watching pt 1 first.
• TenSura s2
• Shin Chuuka Ichiban 2

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So what are you guys looking forward to in winter 2021? This season’s rather sequel-heavy, so basically anything new is going to have a long road ahead to win people over…

Update: Skate-Leading Stars also has Ume in it…

Update 2: It turns out Skate-Leading Stars also had an article in Animage Jan. 2021, but I didn’t see it until I looked at the table of contents properly. That said, for an anime that’s been postponed half a year from its original airdate, it certainly hasn’t gotten a lot of press…Also, by this point Heaven’s Design Team was confirmed for Crunchyroll.