Yes, yes, I know, it’s absurd. It feels like the summer season just began, and now we’re already looking towards the fall? Well, in spite of 2020 largely feeling like a torturous repetition of the One Eternal Day, the calendar has indeed been moving forward, and we now find ourselves with only three weeks until fall premieres descend. Whether we are ready or not, a new season is coming – so all we can really do is assess the far horizon, and gird our defenses for the storm to come.

As usual, my selections here won’t cover every single show in the new season – you can find a resource like that at anichart, along with straightforward summaries of everything that’s coming. Instead, I’ll be focusing just on the shows I think have genuine potential, and explaining precisely what about their staff or source material or whatnot got my attention. Without further ado, let’s explore some upcoming cartoons!

Taiso Samurai

As an anime-original with a refreshingly grounded premise, Taiso Samurai feels like something that MAPPA are trying to frame as a prestige production in the style of Yuri!!! On ICE. Unfortunately, director Hisatoshi Shimizu has nowhere near Saya Yamamoto’s remarkable catalog behind him, and though Taiso Samurai’s early PVs have an alluring atmosphere, they also seem to rely heavily on CG for their performances. Taiso Samurai could be great, and is certainly worth checking out, but between its so-so staff and MAPPA’s generally overbooked workflow, I’m keeping my expectations in check for this one.

Here’s the PV.

Higurashi: When They Cry

My feelings on the original Higurashi are similar to my feelings on Fullmetal Alchemist: I never actually watched it when I was twelve years old, and though I’ve tried to check it out since, there is simply no way to recreate the feeling of being twelve years old and first seeing some crazy shit. Opinions on the work vary between “it’s mindless ultraviolence and I love it” to “it’s actually a rich drama that is perpetually overshadowed by the ultraviolence,” but either way, the fact is that Higurashi has maintained significant cultural cachet all these years, and is enough of an institution that I’m intrigued to give it another try, and finally see what all the fuss is about. With shiny new designs courtesy of Akio Watanabe, it’s looking like this will be the best chance in quite some time to get acquainted with one of anime’s most enduring video nasties.

Here’s the appropriately bombastic PV.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Based on a popular manga, Jujutsu Kaisen is looking to be the “prestige action” pick of the fall season. Director Sunghoo Park has already demonstrated a distinct understanding of action storyboarding and choreography, both through prior works like Garo: Dividing Line, and more recently through this very season’s God of High School. Early trailers are already demonstrating Park’s frenetic approach to fight scenes, which make for an intriguing combination with the source material’s monstrous designs. Accomplished veterans on series composition and character design mean this is likely another production that will come down to the source material; if this is a story worth telling, this team can probably accomplish it.

You can check out an illustrative PV right here.

Tonikawa: Over the Moon For You

Fly Me to the Moon looks to be a fluffy romantic comedy by all accounts, with the minor twist that its central couple are already married. That alone wouldn’t get a show onto this list, but the director being Hiroshi Ikehata certainly caught my eye. Ikehata is both a comedy specialist and also one of the more creative modern directors out there, handling both imaginative but messy spectacles (Akiba’s Trip), as well as fundamentally sturdy, crisply edited farces (Mahoujin Guruguru, Space Battleship Tiramisu). His works haven’t gained the most acclaim, but he has a very appropriate skill set for a show like this, so I’m intrigued to see how it turns out.

Here’s the PV.

Moriarty the Patriot

Moriarty’s PV frankly looks a little underwhelming, but I’m still holding out hope for this one, largely due to its talented director. Kazuya Nomura is one of Production I.G.’s most reliable veterans, having contributed key animation and episode direction to accomplished properties across the industry, and most recently directed the outstanding Run with the Wind. Moriarty feels like somewhat of a long shot, but Nomura at least has earned my respect and attention.

Here’s the PV.

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon

Even if Yashahime’s production looked like an absolute disaster, I’d still probably be highlighting it here, solely because the existence of a direct Inuyasha sequel in 20-goddamn-20 is such a strange, surreal experience. I used to watch Inuyasha on Adult Swim during summer vacations, staying up late to catch secret cartoons alone at home. Yashahime thus feels a bit like a direct sequel to my adolescence, complete with a director who handled a good thirty or so episodes of the original production. It’s doubtful I’ll stick with it, but I certainly can’t avoid checking out this strange piece of anime history.

Here’s the PV.

Akudama Drive

As an anime-original collaboration between Danganronpa’s lead writer and character designer, Akudama Drive is certainly one of the fall season’s most unpredictable properties. The director is pretty much the definition of workmanly, haven directed the adaptations of both Persona 3 and Persona 4, but the PVs are already demonstrating plenty of style, and the ceiling seems high for this mysterious production.

Here’s the early PV.

Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Ikebukuro West Gate Park falls into an extremely well-populated anime subgenre: urban action dramas centered around one of Tokyo’s many districts. These shows tend to be largely unremarkable, but Ikebukuro West Gate Park is being produced by Doga Kobo, with a great deal of the Sing “Yesterday” For Me team transferring directly over. In spite of its narrative issues, Yesterday was a visual stunner, and so I’m at least keeping an eye on Ikebukuro.

Here’s one of the PVs.

Iwa Kakeru! Sports Climbing Girls

I don’t actually think this show will be good at all, I just know everyone would yell at me if I didn’t mention this season’s horny slice of life after school activity show. So here it is: Ika Kakeru, a show about girls who do rock climbing, and which harnesses the inherent fanservicey potential of a pastime that mostly involves staring upwards at someone’s butt. Do your best, Sports Climbing Girls.

Here’s the PV.

And that about covers it for me! We’ve actually got quite a wide spread of potential shows next season, though I have to admit that basically all of them are tentative hopes, rather than sure bets. But if worst comes to worst there’s always backlog, and for now, it’s nice to have a bunch of wildcards to look forward to. I hope you’ve been alerted to a show or two by my picks, and let me know what you’re all looking forward to this fall, as well!