Why a short preview? Because I don’t have time to do those absurdly long season previews I did in the past. As fun as it is to mock 15 different isekai slop anime every season, getting pictures and trailers and synopsis for all of them became draining. But I also don’t want to stop doing season previews because I enjoy them (and I can’t break the streak).
So welcome to The Cart Driver’s Anime Season Preview for the Fall 2024 season, with an all-new and shorter format! I’ll highlight a few anime that I think are worth talking about – not always for good reasons – and give em a once over so you know what’s worth watching (or at the very least, laugh at me when I get everything wrong).
Dan Da Dan
The obvious big hit of the season. It can be easy to get jaded when the Big Shounen of the season shows up and is depressingly safe despite the incredible animation quality they get and potentially interesting set (why yes I am still salty about Kaiju #8). Dan Da Dan though is very clearly extremely different. The weird horniness of it all reminds me more of FLCL than anything else. Also being a big hit shounen anime being made by Science Saru of all studios is very interesting, and given the source material, quite fitting. The trailers have all looked incredible and the reviews of the preview episodes showed at events have been very positive. The worst you can say about it is the fear that it will be “just another battle shounen”, which is a real fear. But I have just enough of a fondness for shounens in my heart that something going wild like this looks like it will do is exciting.
Uzamaki
Oh my god they’ve finally done it. They’ve made a good-looking Junji Ito anime. I was sceptical of the monochrome manga panel style when they first showed it, but having watched the trailer now, damn yes ok that works incredibly well. It’s clearly not a budget-saving technique since the animation looks good, which is what this style can often come across as. Hiroshi Nagahama is the director, the guy who did Mushishi as well as some rather….odd artsy anime that didn’t quite work visually, like Flowers of Evil (yes Flowers of Evil looked awful, it’s been 10 years you can stop pretending you liked it). But this is exactly the kind of thing he would do, so it should be a good fit.
You are Ms. Servant
Look, I’m not going to say this is good. It’s a wish-fulfilment fantasy about a hot maid dropping on your lap. The studio, Felix Film, is thoroughly awful and the staff is…actually the staff is fine, the director did stuff like Space Bros, Komi Can’t Communicate and Summer Time Rendering. I’m just amused by the premise. It’s like someone watched the Roberta arc of Black Lagoon and said “damn, I want a story about her just being a maid without any of the murder”.
Ranma1/2
I don’t have a good grasp on how well the Urusei Yatsura remake did. It must have been at least somewhat successful in Japan at least given how much of it they made. Didn’t seem to have any impact outside of Japan though, which was sorta expected. Ramna, on the other hand, left a big impact when it was transported abroad, so a remake of it was always on the cards. Some people seem to think it will be huge though, and I just don’t see it happening. The people who watched Ranma originally are in their 40s now. Yes this looks visually neat, but content-wise it feels so dated and I just don’t think the new generation will jump on Ranma like their parents did. Maybe that’s just my general dislike for Rumiko Takahashi’s work shining through though.
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
The setting is 15th-century Poland. It was a time when heretical ideas lead those to who possessed such a mindset to being burned at the stake for their beliefs. The protagonist, Rafał, a child prodigy, is expected to major in theology, the most important subject at the time, at the university where he plans to skip a grade. One day, however, he comes across a mysterious man, and is now studying a possible “truth” in the midst of heretical thought!
I haven’t been doing plot synopsis for this preview, but I had to drop this one in because it starts with the banger “the setting is 15th-century Poland”. Yes yes, give me more medieval Europe anime! I’m the person who heard about Maria the Virgin Witch being set during the 100 years war between France and England and instantly knew I wanted to watch it. Madhouse have shot themselves back into the anime spotlight after their genuinely astounding work on Frieren. The trailer looks a lot like Vinland Saga visually except not as good, which is disappointing. But the manga has been showered with praise and awards ever since it started, so I’m extremely excited for it airing. Give me sad medieval anime boys discovering the earth orbits the sun!
TsumaSho
What’s that Crunchyroll? Are you too cowardly to use the real title? You know? “If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student”. Yeah, I can see why you wouldn’t want to use that, especially given Japan gets absolutely zero benefit of the doubt on this subject. Interestingly, this is a case where the source material is completely safe and not creepy in the slightest, despite the extremely dodgy premise. Not that I can bring myself to actually watch it though. Not because it could be bad, but because it could be good. Then I have to go around the rest of my life saying “no really, If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student is actually good no I’m not a creep”. I already feel that whenever I talk about Made in Abyss.
Kabushiki Gaisha Magi Lumiere
Look, I’m not saying this will be good. There’s nothing really exciting to find behind the staff or studio. All I’m saying is “magical girl as a corporate office job” is a fantastic premise and it deserves a chance based entirely off that.
Negative Positive Angler
This is part of why I do season previews. This may have slipped under my radar without a bit of research. Studio NUT, apart from having the objectively best worst studio name in anime, is a very good studio and relatively new studio. Tanya the Evil was theirs and it was fantastic, but everything since then just sorta hasn’t worked, like Bullbuster and Deca-Dence. I want them to be good though! This is another anime original project by the director of Tanya the Evil and the scriptwriter from Frieren coming together to make something about a…guy who will die in two years taking up fishing? Yeah they really know how to pick the exciting premises huh. The trailer looks genuinely good and the staff are fantastic, so it’s just a matter of whether they can do enough to make the kinda boring synopsis work.
Mecha Ude: Mechanical Arms
This started as a kickstarter project one-shot OVA that’s now getting a full anime. Which is cool! What is basically an arthouse project becoming a full anime with music by Sawano is neat. I just wish the trailer did more for me. Yes it’s impressive how they mesh the 3D with 2D in a way that anime is usually fucking awful at, but the main character looks super bland and the story very cliche.
Trillion Game
This is by the author of Dr Stone. I love Dr Stone. It’s a pile of joy and hope with a unique cast that makes it stand out a lot amongst its peers. So I should be excited about this manga, right? I wish I was, but man are the reviews of it not great. Plus there’s the art style. Ryouichi Ikegami may be an iconic manga artist, but I kinda hate his art style, and have done so ever since I read Sanctuary. Everyone is made of molded plastic and looks the exact same, barely able to change their facial expression. Sanctuary has a great reputation but I feel those who claim it’s great haven’t read it in like 20 years.
Sequels I’m Watching
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3 – damn, we’re on season 3 already? I haven’t watched season 2 yet! Re:Zero was one I gave up on a few episodes in when they introduced the otaku-bait maid characters, but eventually returned to after it maintained so strongly in fandom consciousness and ended up enjoying it – including the otaku-bait maid characters. It’s just about the only “standard” isekai anime I completely enjoy.
BLUE LOCK Season 2 – my favourite sports anime by ways of psychological horror is back! I honestly wish it was more psychological horror. Even if the setup is Battle Royale with Soccer (I live in America now so I’m legally obligated to call it soccer) and it uses a lot of the visual language of psychological horror, it’s still very shounen. I did enjoy it quite a bit, so definitely here for season 2.
