It’s that time again! No, it’s not Christmas. That was last week. This week is the long awaited preview of Winter 2025!
It looks like it could be an interesting season, and more Dr Stone is never a bad thing… So, hit the jump and let’s get rolling!
The shows that I’m watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics, strikethrough marks dropped shows and (*) marks shows that are watched but not regularly reviewed.
As usual, these are in no particular order… But we’ll start with the sequels first just because something has to be first.
Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE
OK, the image is from last season, and it does kind of reflect my thinking. Though the not science parts of the plot have been increasingly well done, the science parts have been increasingly ass pulls. Still, I’m invested and we’ve finally reached the endgame. I’m here for it.
Whatever it takes.
Grisaia Phantom Trigger
Grisia has historically been a very dark series… But one I’ve enjoyed a great deal. So, even though this appears to be a new continuity, I’m willing to check it out. Girls with guns, what could go wrong?
At least as a new continuity we’ll hopefully not have to live through the horror and pain of the Angelic Howl arc a 3rd time. I hope. It broke me every time.
UniteUp! -Uni:Birth-
Winter 2023’s Unite Up! was a legitimately good male idol/boy band series. The setting was believable, and there was nary a trace of reverse harem. I didn’t even know a sequel was coming until a few weeks ago, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.
I will however have to find time for a rewatch of the first season sometime in the next week… There were a ton of characters and some complex webs of relationships. I don’t want to go into this unprepared.
Blue Box
Ao no Hako
Blue Box is a continuation, not a sequel, but I include it here for completeness’ sake. It’s been a slow burn, but with Chinatsu-senpai finally getting some agency and character development, it’s finally hitting it’s groove.
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Speaking of sequels, we’ve got some good ones coming down the pike later this year… Aharen-San returns in the Spring season, as does I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level.
My Dress Up Darling also announced a 2nd season, confirmed for 2025 but without a premiere date.
And there’s the big one… <draws a deep breath>
SKIP AND LOAFER SEASON 2 CONFIRMED!
Yes, all caps. Yes, I’m shouting with pure unadulterated joy.
Either you’ve seen the series and get it, or you need to watch the series and then you’ll get it. <grin>
Dropping the OP in here just because I love it to pieces. The scene of the two of them dancing and derping is just so nicely done.
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And now for the new stuff…
The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World
Sentai Red Isekai de Boukensha ni Naru
Yeah, I know. I’ve been kind of down on isekai for a while now… But I dunno, there’s just something about an isekai protagonist who isn’t a reluctant milquetoast that catches my eye. I’m guessing the super-sentai/Power Rangers tropes will end up being to much for me – but I’m still willing to give it a shot. (I’m about a twenty years too old for for the Rangers to have been part of my childhood.)
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Derek Preview without any romances… (Slice-of-life being in short supply this season.)
Honey Lemon Soda
Quite a bit of buzz about Honey Lemon Soda a few months back when the airdate was announced… And delinquent guy/shy girl is a classic mix. So, gonna give it a shot.
Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You
Douse, Koishite Shimaunda
Nominally a childhood friend romance… The trailer gives me reverse harem or love triangle vibes. Color me intrigued.
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On a side note, it’s sometimes hard to give cogent reasons why some romances attract me… There’s only so many basic plots. But sometimes, just something I can’t put my finger on catches my attention. So, one or two lines isn’t an indictment of the show or proportional to my level of interest. Y’know me better than that, I don’t beat around the bush in either respect.
There’s actually quite a few romances (drama and comedy) this season that could possibly appear on this list… These two are just the top contenders.
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Hard to predict what this season is going to look like… There’s not many must watches, and tons of maybes. I’ve seen that go both ways, both ending up being a slender season, and ending up flat swamped.
But hope springs eternal and as usual I’ll be checking the buzz and the preview guides as usual.
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Alright, that’s it for me then… Over to you! Drop a comment and let’s chat about the new shows, the upcoming sequels, or whatever else is on your mind!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
We get a second season of Skip to Loafer? Why haven’t I heard of this? Oooh, please let it be the Kotomi Deai at PA Works again; that’s just a match made in anime heaven.
I have to say, nothing stands out to me next season. The top shows, once again, are going to be sequels: Apothecary Diaries and Hanako-kun (though with a different director, who knows…).
The Red Ranger isekai could work, actually. Place sentai tropes in your typical medieval-Europe-via-Dnd setting, and you could have a pretty good love letter to sentai that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The trailer is inconclusive (and do I spot a tad of Yu-Gi-Oh in there?)
As for the two romances, neither particularly speaks to me. I’ve checked out Honey Lemon Soda before, but ignored that other show, so I went to watch a trailer, and I thought, maybe that’d be the better one, but then I checked out the HLS trailer, too, and as that one went on it kind of grew on me more. I’ll check out both anyway, so no need to make up my mind now. If I had to choose a romance as my top-expectation pick, it’s probably be the Okinawa show. Not by much, though. (It’s firmly in the shounen camp, I’d say.) Watch as we’re all wrong and the show the classmates who hate each other have face arranged marriage wins out…
There’s some stuff that has me curious, like Medalist (looks like a nice skating show, if it manages not to be creepy – the age at least makes sense as you tend to start early in figure skating), or Übel Blatt (which looks like a nice retro-fighting-anime of the more edgy kind). Neither look like top contenders, but I don’t spot anything more promising.
As always, I’m hoping for the out-of-nowhere surprise. There weren’t any this season, but the season before had a few (most notably Dungeon People).
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Re: Red Ranger I just hope the sentai elements are accessible to folks like me, who aren’t really familiar with the genre. I think the only sentain type show I’ve ever watched is Love After World Domination…
Well, both Hate and Okinawa are on my radar. But based on trailers, I think I have a slight bias towards Okinawa. Seems more -com and less -trope. Hate strikes me as going the opposite way. And you know me, the more trope-y a show, the better it’s gotta be at executing. I have no time for second rate paint-by-tropes. (Especially if some of my RL planning comes to fruition in the next few months.)
And how did I miss Medalist? If it’s not creepy, or at least not lame (like Tonbo), it looks like it could be good.
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I actually liked Tonbo. I’ve just finished the second season (actually, almost finished – one episode to go). Second season totally switched track and ended up being a tournament arc. Medalist gives me a totally different vibe, though.
Of all the romances, the “hate” show has the lowest expectations from me; which also means that it’s comparatively easy to surprise me. All it needs to reach is the good mid-field. Okinawa starts out there, which is risky.
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For me, Nina the Starry Bride was the out-of-nowhere surprise. I checked it hoping for some light fantasy romance and got something a little meatier. Still suffered from some subpar animation and slightly undercooked writing, but enough of the core idea shone through that I was extremely happy in the end. Looking forward to a second season, even, should one happen.
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It did end in a rather…. eventful spot, and the opening scene of Ep1 hasn’t been cashed in yet. Not sure these days with second seasons. They don’t even announce split cours anymore. I mean, Blue Exorcist continues into winter, but they advertise it as a new arc (after season one, they didn’t number seasons, they just named it after the arcs, so maybe that’s it?)
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If it weren’t for the fact that I still have to watch the first season of Skip and Loafer and never knew about Grisaia until reading this post, we’d have more in common. As it is, though, it looks like we’re both going to look into Honey Lemon Soda. Like you, it just tripped my radar and I’m not sure why yet.
For sure I’ll be looking at Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun. Two short seasons of Hanako-kun short features as After-School Hanako-kun has me anxious for the real thing. There’s also nothing that would stop me from watching a new season of The Apothecary Diaries. Third, I’m pretty much looking forward to Mahō Tsukai PreCure!! ~MIRAI DAYS~ after how well the first Precure Full Bloom series pulled off several generations of Pretty Cures I don’t even care all that much about beyond their historical significance. Getting Mirai, Riko, Mofurun, and Kotoha as adults (or possibly “adults” in the case of Mofurun) is kind of exciting, especially after seeing the teaser video and images. Riko as a teacher! Ha-chan as Mother RaPaPa’s successor probably!
The three series I’m just taking a speculative dive at are Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast –, which might be some fun, though it’s kind of a new genre for me, Momentary Lily, which looks like girls with guns but maybe robot girls, and TASOKARE HOTEL if it ends up on Crunchyroll or one of the non-anime platforms like Prime. Another season of no HiDive for me, which does mean that I still have to wait before catching the last two episodes of Whisper Me a Love Song.
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I highly recommend Skip and Loafer. Grisia… not so much. The first season especially has moments that makes Abyss and Neverland look like Davey and Goliath. It’s a rather niche thing.
Looks like HLS is on Dawn’s mind too. Let’s hope it lives up! :) :)
Lily is definitely on my radar, CGDCT, food, and all that. But I’m not sure how the whole package is going to work. It feels like they may be stuffing ten pounds into a five pound sack.
Re: Whisper Me a Love Song Yeah, I’ve been meaning to mention over on the FB group… I’ve been waffling over whether or not to watch it. It was headed in such a weird direction. OTOH, if there’s a happy ending for Himari and Yori-senpai, I don’t want to miss that!
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My problem with Whisper is that I barely remember what was going on. Himari/Yori were cute, but I remember them more as character types than in a plot. I’ll likely watch it sometime in the coming two days (as I have time); I probably should rewatch some of the later episode, but I’m almost certain that I won’t.
Grisaia… I didn’t finish season one. Something about the show’s attitude just turned me off. I don’t remember what. I liked some of the more absurdist humor. I think I described the show to myself as something like an edgelord version of Key harems… Or not. Too long ago. I’m not motivated to pick it up this season; didn’t know it was a new continuity, though.
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Yeah, other people have been constantly mentioning Skip and Loafer in the same breath as BOCCHI, Frieren, and Apothecary Diaries, so I couldn’t help but take notice.
Looking at the Wikipedia summary of Grisaia, I got the impression that this season’s show is a new adaptation that isn’t directly related to previous ones. Am I mistaken in that?
I’d hate for Honey Lemon Soda to end up stumbling like Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night or something. Though I was still reasonably happy with that one, so even if it does maybe it’ll still be worth it?
Honestly, I’d rather that a show was overstuffed than understuffed, but here I’m probably straining the metaphor. I suppose it depends on whether or not you’re the sort of person who thinks a movie like this is a good idea. I do. In any case, girls, CGDCT, guns, aliens, robots. A little (very little) reminiscent of YūYūYū but without all the philosophy.
I figure that I’ll see the ending of Love Song someday, so I’m not in a rush right now.
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My impression (because none of the summaries are really clear) is that it’s new characters in the same universe/timeline, and set after Fruit and Eden. My guess is that it’s standalone and doesn’t require having watched the previous two series.
Much depends on how a show is overstuffed and whether or not it leaves plot points and half baked ideas scattered across the floor and fails to give story time to breathe.
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Forgot that I have one more speculative one to check out: Promise of Wizard. It’s a game adaptation, so it’s probably going to be dropped early on, but I figured I’d give it a chance.
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Went and checked the trailer, and that one has strong reverse harem vibes…
But the concept sounds cool, and could be good done right. But yeah, a mobile game adaptation stands little chance of being done right [in terms of plot and characterization].
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