Looking Ahead to Anime I’m Interested In For 2022 (12 Days of Anime 9)
This may be confirmation bias, but especially the second half of 2021 felt like it was filled with sequel series. While several of these were for shows that I did want to watch, this in part contributed to my “lighter” watchload this year. But let’s take a look ahead to see what at least the first half of 2022 appears to have lined up for me.
Welcome to “12 Days of Anime 2021”, a writing challenge in which I look to have an article a day for 12 days leading up to Christmas, all centered in some way on anime or anime-related topics. You can find last year’s stories at this link over on Anitay, as well as re-posts of my 2018 and 2019 series here on Medium. Big, big thanks to Stanlick for creating the header image outline template.
Note: All titles and synopses taken from MyAnimeList.
Winter 2022
Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu (Police in a Pod):
Female police officer Kawai had enough of a career she wasn’t even that into and was about to hand in her registration, when the unthinkable happened — she met the new, female director of her station! And after spending a little time with this gorgeous role model, Kawai realizes that maybe she isn’t quite done being an officer after all.
So, a slice-of-life / comedy series. Not sure if there’s possible yuri-baiting. Could be worth a try.
Slow Loop
When Hiyori — a young girl whose deceased father taught her the joys of fishing — headed out to sea for some alone time, she never thought that she would encounter another girl there. After a while, this girl — named Koharu — and her end up fishing and cooking together, and they get to know each other a bit in the meantime. During their brief time together Koharu finds out that the reason Hiyori went out to sea that day was because she’s hesitant towards meeting her new step family that same evening. But what a coincidence! Koharu is also meeting her new family tonight! “No. It can’t be a coincidence…” Follow these two ‘sisters’ and their new life together!
A slice-of-life about girls fishing again? I enjoyed Houkago Teibou Nishii, so I think I’ll give this one a go as well. Not quite the same, but it has the look of a possible iyashikei to chill with.
Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku
Akebi Komichi lives out in the countryside with her family. She’s won entrance to the prestigious Roubai Academy middle school for girls and now she wants only two things — to wear the school’s sailor uniform and to make a hundred friends!
Hmm. This one’s much more of a maybe. We’ll have to see what distinguishes it from other “make X friends” shows like Komi Can’t Communicate or Hitoribocchi.
Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru
Traumatized by a childhood incident with a friend who took exception to his love of traditional dolls, doll-artisan hopeful Wakana Gojou passes his days as a loner, finding solace in the home ec room at his high school. To Wakana, people like beautiful Marin Kitagawa, a trendy girl who’s always surrounded by a throng of friends, is practically an alien from another world. But when cheerful Marin — never one to be shy — spots Wakana sewing away one day after school, she barges in with the aim of roping her quiet classmate into her secret hobby: cosplay! Will Wakana’s wounded heart be able to handle the invasion from this sexy alien?!
Slice-of-life school romance? Weird hobbies? Yeah, I’ll take a look.
Kaijin Kaihatsu-bu no Kuroitsu-san
Touka Kuroizu is a research assistant who belongs to the Monster Development Department of the evil organization Agastia. However, the enemy she has to fight right now isn’t the heroes of justice, but her boss. So long justice exists, evil too, will exist. This is the story of those who fight secretly in the shadows of justice and evil’s confrontation.
Listed as a fantasy comedy. Sounds like potentially another goofy workplace comedy, possibly in the vein of TenDeBu. A good one to keep my eyes on.
Other:
So, I see various action / adventure / fantasy shows, not really my bag. At least 2 isekais involving gender swaps that don’t particularly sound interesting (one sounds like it’ll be trash, honestly), and another that appears to be a “stuck in the game” as well, but while I’m not isekai’d out, I’m definitely being more picky. Also, speaking of trash, Shuumatsu no Harem was moved from this season to I think here in 2022, so we’ll have to see if it’s fun trash, or just trash.
Spring 2022
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
Reina Aharen, a small and cute student with a quiet voice, is quite bad at determining distance and personal space. Sometimes she’s inches away from your face, and at other times, miles too far! The only one who tries to understand her antics is Raidou Matsuboshi, who is seated beside her in class. He has a menacing face, but in reality, he is a kind boy with an imagination that can run wild at times. Aharen-san wa Hakarenai follows the peculiar pair as their odd friendship starts to blossom when Raidou picks up Aharen’s eraser for her. She misinterprets his gesture and now believes them to be best friends, showing how the simplest of things can prove to be the most complicated of challenges for them.
School comedy. I’m often up for those. At least we’re not (obviously) trying for another harem romance comedy, anyway.
Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu
Office worker Leon is reincarnated into a particularly punishing dating sim video game, where women reign supreme and only beautiful men have a seat at the table. But Leon has a secret weapon: he remembers everything from his past life, which includes a complete playthrough of the very game in which he is now trapped. Watch Leon spark a revolution to change this new world in order to fulfill his ultimate desire… of living a quiet, easy life in the countryside!
I’m not sure if it was Anitay here on Medium, or back in the Kinja days, but I remember reading a blurb on other light novel adaptations that should be made, and this was on the list. Sounds interesting enough to be worth a shot, anyway.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3
Yeah, this is on my list. I was a little “meh” on Season 2, but still, I stan Chika.
Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san
Shikimori seems like the perfect girlfriend: cute, fun to be around, sweet when she wants to be… but she has a cool dark side that comes out under the right circumstances. And her boyfriend Izumi loves to be around when that happens!
A slice-of-life comedy romance from Doga Kobo? Yeah, I’ll take a look.
Machikado Mazoku Season 2
I’m on the fence. The first season was fun, but in retrospect… I’m not sure if it was fun enough that I cared to keep going.
Others:
Yatogame-chan season 4 is coming, but as I noted elsewhere, after season 3, I’m done. Tate no Yuusha season 2 is also coming, but I’ve kind of gone off on that series as well.
So, that’s about 5 series each season to work on. Still pretty low. I have plenty of backlog, but… I’m still kind of okay with this.
In other news, we’ll have to see if the FGO movies become more easily available — they were in theaters over here this year, I think, but with COVID, I’m still not ready to return to a theater yet. Finally, still have to keep our eyes on how the Funi-CR merger continues, and if that brings changes or mergers in their streaming services.
