Unless you’re a (mild degenerate) and spent your whole night tuned into several different steams, scouring the internet for hints at PVs (or follow a news account that’s active overnight NA time), there’s likely quite a bit of information you’ve missed out on for largely the summer and fall seasons of anime this year. And believe me when I say that these two seasons are looking to be heavy hitters (though fall typically is, but this is an incredibly strong summer season). So, let’s chat about the (good) trailers and news that you might have missed from Anime Japan Day One.
Delico’s Nursery
In the past, the vampire race that ruled over the land had the power of immortality. In the present day, this power has been lost and the world has been divided into two groups: the now-mortal vampire race and the human race that coincides with their limited life-span. However, it is said that somewhere in this world exists one sole Vampire that still has eternal life. TRUE OF VAMP: The originator of Vamps. Connecting the first and last letters, people called the origins of the vampire race “TRUMP.”
Anilist
Staff
Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori
Art Direction: Kentarou Izuki
Character Design: Youko Itou
Color Design: Miho Kimura
This trailer effectively seals the deal, Delico’s Nursery is now the best J.C. Staff anime for 2024. Having an old guard at J.C. Staff like Nishikiori as the director has always been good sign, but the first PV really didn’t move much, and that was a bit concerning. In this second preview though, the characters are impressively expressive and surprisingly lively, erasing any such concerns. Instead, it’s replaced with just how damn beautiful it looks. Character designer Youko Itou has put forward by far their best work here, and art director Kentarou Izuki is given their chance to truly shine alongside Miho Kimura’s best work. Izuki did incredible work on Requiem of The Rose King, but was ultimately limited by the brutal production and creative failure of every other aspect. Here though, it’s almost like a perfect storm between the pair of designers and directors to create a visually stunning series. I genuinely cannot wait for this to air in Summer 2024.
The Grimm Variations
Once upon a time, brothers Jacob and Wilhelm collected fairy tales from across the land and made them into a book. They also had a much younger sister, the innocent and curious Charlotte, who they loved very much. One day, while the brothers were telling Charlotte a fairy tale like usual, they saw that she had a somewhat melancholy look on her face. She asked them, “Do you suppose they really lived happily ever after?”
Netflix Anime
Staff
Director: N/A
Script/Screenplay: Michiko Yokote
Original Character Design: CLAMP
Character Design: Naohiro Oosugi
This is a very interesting one. Very interesting. It’s a six episode ONA and it doesn’t have a series director. Whether or not that means that the episodes were produced entirely independently though I can’t say, but it’s a very curious setup all the same- especially considering this is the first bit of real information we have on the work, and it’s set to release on Netflix in less than a month. All the same however, it does look quite good from an objective standpoint, which is to be expected from CLAMP character designs. What’s unexpected however is Oosugi’s adaptation of those designs. As a first timer it’s really solid work. As for story (since it’s an “original”) there’s really nothing to worry about with Yokote as they’re a prolific writer. The most concerning aspect of this is just how homogeneous and, well, lazy Wit’s composition and styling has become. With a turning point somewhere between Vivy and Ousama Ranking, Wit’s catering to its partnership with Netflix has seen it vastly generalize a great deal of their “international” works, and introduce a much higher degree of CGI. For the future of the studio, it is somewhat concerning, but as long as that lack of creativity sticks to its Netflix projects and spares its other series I won’t complain too much.
BEASTARS Final Season
Following the battle with the culprit who devoured his classmate at school, Legoshi decides to drop out and begins living alone at Beast Apartments. Rouis has entered a prestigious university and resolves to face his father, Ogma. Haru also deals with many struggles as she tries to enjoy campus life. Meanwhile, the city sees an increase of devouring incidents. The fangs of the heinous criminal who is pulling all the strings begin to close in on Legoshi and the others…
Netflix Anime
Staff
Director: Shinichi Matsumi
Netflix anime are a pain because they resolutely refuse to give staff information in the slightest. The odds of the high level staff of the previous season returning are all abut 100%, so their stinginess is confusingly stubborn. Regardless, Orange continues to stun with their impressive technological advances in the world of CGI. Though Sunrise and co might be giving them a run for their money with Sand Land currently, Orange certainly still remains the top dog (or in this case, Wolf?) in the industry. I’m not the biggest fan of BEASTARS per se, but I am a pretty massive fan of Orange as a studio, so I’m excited to see how they start this final journey with BEASTARS.
Dungeon People
Clay was trained by her father to be an expert member of the thieves’ guild. Since her father disappeared three years ago, she’s been using her skills to search for him in a dungeon filled with goblins, a Minotaur, and all manner of other dangerous creatures. When Clay reaches deeper than anyone ever has before, she meets the caretaker of the dungeon. To her surprise, Clay is invited to join the staff! And thus begins Clay’s new job–to learn the inner workings and behind-the-scenes secrets of the dungeon from the inside.
Anilist
Staff
Director: Sayaka Yamai
Art Direction: Hiromi Nakayama
This PV provided an incredible relief to me, as the first key visual for Dungeon People look very “not good”. Thankfully Anime Japan finally produced a trailer for the series, and despite the odd sort of lacking in the Nakayama’s character designs, the opening moments for the series look quite good. The art direction and environment art is impressively good for OLM, the composition is very solid and holds things together quite well, and there’s actual a considerable degree of animation. Much of that, personally, I attribute to series director Sayaka Yamai. Their first time in the director’s seat was for Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout, and it was an impressively well executed work. Because of that, I’m really hoping that Yamai can continue to work their magic with Dungeon People and rescue it from the clutches of OLM as a studio.
Atri: My Dear Moments
In the near future, a sudden and unexplained sea rise has left much of human civilization underwater. Ikaruga Natsuki, a boy who lost his mother and his leg in an accident some years earlier, returns disillusioned from a harsh life in the big city to find his old countryside home half-swallowed by the sea. Left without a family, all he has to his name is the ship and submarine left to him by his oceanologist grandmother, and her debts.
Anilist
Staff
Director: Makoto Katou
Art Direction: Takeshi Naitou
Character Design: Michio Satou
Color Design: Mariko Shinohara
Atri: My Dear Moments is an interesting, yet important development from Anime Japan this year. It’s a visual novel, but it’s a recent one. Visual Novels have been a dying breed, so seeing faith and popularity in something so recent is really great news. Though, this is specifically about the trailer, so I should touch on that rather than the world of Visual Novels. Honestly speaking, this Atri trailer is the product of the sheer force of Makoto Katou as a director. There’s some good in the mix through a few credits for each staff member, but their consistency leaves much to be desired. Because of that, the Troyca mainstay Katou, has to really be credited with pulling out the best efforts of these staff members. That said, I do have a few reservations about the character designs. They’re rather simple and a little divergent to the Visual Novel designs, producing a bit of an uncanny feel in some spots. Though, if they’re able to move and make the series better for it, I’ll have no complaints.
Turkey!
Bakken Record as a studio is… deeply troubled. They have talent and ability in their roster, but it feels depleted and disinterested. Joran The Princess of Blood and Snow, an anime original, was a massive flop for the studio (and was directed by Kudou). Mou Ippon! and To Every You I’ve Loved Before are attempting to remedy the glaring issues of works like Joran and Exception, but there’s not really been any headway. Bakken Record has the potential to do good work, but it just feels like they make consistently poor decisions. That said, just having a totally new staff member behind Turkey! for the script/screenplay that is a prolific writer for television gives me more hope than I’ve ever held with Bakken Record so far. I still have severe doubts about Kudou as a director for the series, but I do at the minimum have faith in writer Naomi Hiruta.
Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 7
The seventh season of Natsume Yuujinchou.
Anilist
Staff
Director: Hideki Itou
Color Design: Hiromi Miyawaki
Character Design: Akira Takata
Youkai Design/Action Animation Direction: Tatsuo Akira
First off, the PV “isn’t available” outside of Japan, so unless you “move” to Japan you won’t be able to watch it. Though you wouldn’t be missing much as it doesn’t give up much information for the series that we didn’t already have. Either way, this seventh (!) season of Natsume’s Book of Friends is a testament to the long life (and rocky road) the series has faced as its now at a new studio, under director Hideki Itou (who also directed the most recent movie). Alongside them however we have mainstay Natsume staff such as color designer Hiromi Miyawaki, Youkai designer and action animation director Tatsuo Akira, and character designer Akira Takata. None have been present on every season of Natsume, but they represent the original core of the series even though they’re now at Shuka. And though this might be Shuka’s first time handling Natsume as a series, their experience with the most recent movie gives me plenty of confidence (alongside some of their impressive work on series like The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons).
Trillion Game
Meet Haru Tennouji, a charismatic communicator beloved by all, regardless of age or gender. He may come across as easygoing, but beneath that façade lies an unwavering ambition for success. When offered a prestigious position at the nation’s largest IT company, “Dragon Bank,” he does the unexpected—turning it down in favor of embarking on an entrepreneurial journey alongside his friend, Manabu Taira. Their audacious objective: to amass a staggering 1 trillion dollars.
Anilist
Staff
Director: Yuuzou Satou
Art Design: Shinji Sugiyama
Character Design: Kei Tsuchiya
Color Design: Terumi Nakauchi
This…. is not surprising, knowing who’s behind it. Despite my rally behind “good” PVs for this post, I feel like I have to address the elephant in the room that is Trillion Game. Ryouichi Ikegami is an artistic talent that is increasingly rare in this era, and evidently is a challenge to handle with modern anime’s stylings. Though, it doesn’t help that Trillion Game has been picked up by what I’d call the “old squad” of Madhouse staffers. This group of staff have put out works like The Gene of Ai, Police In A Pod, and a few other flops from the studio. The exception being Shinji Sugiyama as they most recently did art design for Frieren of all things. Regardless, this is a cautionary tale about the “quality” of studios wherein groupings like this are more dangerous than the names and reputations themselves. Satou is a director that’s been out of their depth since their 4 year gap that led into Marvel animated series in 2017-2018, and it shows in this trailer which is unfortunate.
Blue Box
Taiki Inomata is on the boys’ badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He’s in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn … And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth!
Anilist
Staff
Director: Yuuichiriou Yano
Character Design: Miho Tanino
Telecom is an incredibly weird studio. They managed to net Shingo Natsume for the opening for Astro Note of all things, and here they’ve pulled together rather inactive character designer Miho Tanino and Telecom veteran Yuuichirou Yano. For all intents and purposes, you’d expect Blue Box to look infinitely worse than it does here. The character designs are brimming with detail and life, the animation is expressive and fluid, the direction and style impressively strong. The only conclusion that can arise from the recent state of the studio is that they’ve turned on the jets and decided to actually place effort in works like these. Of which I’m absolutely not complaining since Telecom has done some great work within the Lupin series. So all that said, this is a deeply exciting prospect- even though I’m not the biggest fan of the manga.
Sound Euphonium 3
Kumiko’s third year finally begins! With the concert band at Kitauji High School over 90 members, Kumiko is now the president and does her best with her final high school club activities to try to win her long-desired gold at nationals.
Anilist
Staff
Director: Tatsuya Ishihara
Art Direction: Mutsuo Shinohara
Character Design: Kazumi Ikeda, Shouko Ikeda
Color Design: Akiyo Takeda
Is there really anything to say here? If there was, it’s probably been covered by KyoAni (and Sound Euphonium specifically) superfan kViN on Twitter. It’s definitely worth the read as they cover a lot of smaller details with the production like Taichi Ogawa’s assistant direction credit, and the incredible work with musical instruments. All in all, it’s a stunning trailer, and just another feather in Kyoto Animation’s cap as an incredible anime studio. Absolutely cannot wait for this to air in April.
And surprisingly enough, the mountain of PVs comes to an end. Though, alongside it there’s a world of other content and information pertaining to consecutive seasons for series that finished airing today. Most notable, at the time of writing this, is The Apothecary Diaries, as it has a time slot for tonight’s 2nd round of Anime Japan. Certainly has me curious as to what information they’ll be choosing to share, if any, about the project.
So with that said, we are now all caught up on the (good) PVs for Anime Japan Day One! There’s a lot of stuff here, so I’m very curious to see what’s the most popular, what’s the most surprising, so on and so forth. If I were to pick my favorite out of all of these trailers, I’d personally have to choose Delico’s Nursery. I’m a huge vampire buff(y), and with such a novel concept and such a beautiful trailer it’s hard to not be overly excited about it. Though I might say that Blue Box is a close second with Telecom’s incredible effort (Sound Euphonium is sadly just too good to receive a ranking).
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Whisper Me a Love Song – Anime Outlook
Much like before, Minami Yoshida’s character designs are fully displayed here, capturing the essence of the original manga designs nearly perfectly! She did a great job. A lot of the original art style’s uniqueness comes from the amazing flowy linework in the hair and the rather “organic” shapes of features in the face.
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