A Sign of Affection
With its slice-of-life approach, A Sign of Affection immediately tugs at the heartstrings with its sweet romance between a deaf…
Metallic Rouge
Dir. Yutaka Izubuchi
With most of early January 2024’s slate focused on fantasy, Metallic Rouge is a fairly decent cyberpunk refresher. With fantastic,…
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
In fantasy worlds, races with different lifespans are a given, but rarely does a work actually contemplate how these variations…
Zom 100
Making a bucket list at the height of a zombie outbreak seems ridiculous, yet totally reasonable when you’ve spent the…
Sanctuary
Dir. Kan Eguchi
There’s not a lot of good sumo representation out there. The ancient Japanese sport is often caricatured for laughs; in…
Ninja Kamui
A man living in the countryside, going through a fairly mundane but happy life, until his violent past comes back…
Reign of the Seven Spellblades
It’s a new term at Kimberly Magic School, an academy with an 80% survival rate. Immediately we are introduced to…
Dark Gathering
It’s chilly this summer with vengeful spirits, cursed hands and double pupils in the horror-comedy Dark Gathering. Keitarō Gentōga has…
From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke
From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke is a high school romance drama. It’s sweet, it’s wholesome, and it’s comfortingly…
Blue Lock
After his team loses in the prefectural tournament finals, Yoichi Isagi is invited to join an isolated training program designed…
Play It Cool, Guys
There’s a classic male character trope of stoic guys that don’t seem to be fazed by anything. Play It Cool,…
My Home Hero
Dir. Daisuke Yamamoto & Takahiro Aoyama
The love parents have for their child is powerful, but most parents normally don’t resort to murder for them. Of…
Insomniacs After School
With teenage insomnia rates increasing worldwide, it’s a wonder how a story like this hasn’t been made until now. Insomniacs…
The Apothecary Diaries
Part court drama, part medical procedural, and part detective mystery, The Apothecary Diaries is the sort of anime that easily…
On-Gaku: Our Sound
Dir. Kenji Iwaisawa
At first, On-gaku: Our Sound seemed to be a classic coming-of-age story centered around a battle of the bands. The…
Skip and Loafer
Simple yet captivating, Skip and Loafer is a slice-of-life anime with a refreshing approach to the high school experience. While…
Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle
Dir. Arthur Harari
It’s an incredible story, but it’s one that only really deserves to be told a certain way, which director Arthur…
Solo Leveling
Slaying monsters online is definitely more exciting than typing on a computer all day, but having to do so in…
Oshi No Ko
Mesmerizing as its idol, Oshi No Ko is a spellbinding adaptation of the original manga hit. Centered around an idol’s…
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes
Dir. Tomohisa Taguchi
With time-bending natural phenomena linking two teenagers into a romance, there’s no denying that The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit…