Fall 2024 Anime Season Roundup
Written by Rei Caldombra 12/28/24
Previous Season: Summer 2024 Anime Season Roundup — Blog Under a Log
The last leaves are falling in this anime season. This was a really great season! I am a huge fan of pretty much everything I watched. This season had a lot of split-cour shows or ones that will continue into next season, many of which I watched. I also have a lot of shows I am looking forward to next season! There will not be any spoilers for these shows that aren’t obvious from the premise.
Uzumaki
Wow, that first episode was awesome. But by now I’m sure everyone is aware of how much it flopped. Y’all know the issues by now if you are in any way involved in the anime online space (I doubt you’d be here if you weren’t lol), so I won’t go into detail for the sake of keeping things brief. I’ve got other shows to talk about. Episodes 2-4 are very poor when it comes to the art and animation, but I do still think it succeeds at being creepy at times. The theming around spirals carried the poorer moments of the show to allow it to still be enjoyable to me. Slowly piecing together how much of our world is made up of spirals and seeing how those can become sources of horror works really well. The awful art visual quality can totally break your immersion though. But at its best moments it still felt engrossing and freaky. I’m probably a bit less down on it than most people, but it absolutely is the clear worst thing I watched this season. My recommendation is to watch the first episode, and if you enjoy it just read the original. Voicing acting and sound design is great and all, but those aren’t doing enough to justify it over the manga.
Dan Da Dan (first cour)
This show lived up to the hype. The art direction is fantastic. It’s consistently hilarious. Ken and Momo are a great duo whose blossoming feelings are a joy to watch. The rest of the cast is also great. I highly recommend it, with the caveat that the more sexual aspects of it can understandably bother some people. It does not bother me, and I do not consider it deeply problematic. The series does have genuine themes around puberty and attraction that what we see can play into, though I recognize it’s still visually explicit so there is some legit titillation. I’m not saying everything in this vein is actually super deep, but some of it has substance. But that’s just my opinion, and you should respect the people who say it’s too much for them. I also have some things I don’t like that I won’t push through to continue watching a series (Episode 1 of Goblin Slayer, sorry GS fans). If you are interested in Dan Da Dan, watch the first episode and see how you feel about the aliens. If that doesn’t bother you too much then you are fine to continue based on what is currently out. And will get an amazing experience for it. While this is not my favorite show of the season, I consider it to be the best of the truly new shows.
365 Days to the Wedding
This is the sleeper gem of the season. I absolutely adore this show. It is a perfect sweet awkward romance that has the maturity it should have for a series focused on adults. In my first impressions review I got into the fundamentals of what made this show appeal so much to me. As we got in further, I just fell more in love with it. I love these adorable, awkward dorks. Along with their fantastic dynamic, the stuff with the side characters has been great too. There is a strong emotional gut punch I did not expect coming with this very wholesome show. It gets into how this series does a great job at getting into topics and themes around navigating life as an adult, with marriage being an important aspect of adulthood that everyone views and experiences differently. I will write about this series again in focus. And I will be reading the manga. This series gets my highest compliments of the season and is highly recommended if you enjoy romance or slice of life. It’s my favorite of the season.
Beastars Final Season (first cour)
The only reason I didn’t mention Beastars in my Summer Roundup is because I forgot it was coming out so soon. I love Beastars and Studio Orange, and this season did not disappoint. I prefer watching series spread out as opposed to binging, so the weekly format of the seasonals works well for me. And is one reason why that’s the bulk of my anime watching. But sometimes a show is so good that I can’t resist watching a ton of it at once if I can, and this part of Beastars is one of those shows. The characters and world of Beastars are incredibly compelling and engrossing, and this season gives me a lot of that. Orange’s animation is the top class and, I will not stand for the backhanded compliment of Orange’s work looking good “for 3D animation”. Beastars looks good PERIOD and uses 3D to its absolute best. The character animation is maybe the best I’ve seen, accentuating the characters and scenes perfectly in a way 2D can often struggle to do. Between Dan Da Dan and Beastars the top spot for Opening was tough as they are both fantastic, but I will give it to Beastars. Both of them have awesome visuals and a super catchy song. But Into the World gives me a happy feeling that just can’t be beat. These two also compete strongly for the best voice acting of the season, but I gotta give it to Beastars too.
Dragon Ball Daima (first ~half)
I wrote about Daima in a first impressions review, which I will refer you to if you want to hear my more in depth opinions. So far, my opinion on it being fantastic and exactly what I wanted from this series has not changed since then. I still think it’s super fun and refreshing. I don’t mind the characters being turned into kids; they are doing enough with it in my opinion to make it not feel entirely like a marketing gimmick. And has the most consistent great art and animation we have seen in the series to date. You could argue Super Broly looks better but the use of 3D (that wasn’t especially great too) breaks the consistency. And while I do think Super Hero looked good, it’s not this good. This show looks incredible and am getting a lot of enjoyment from it from that alone. I’m also thoroughly enjoying the lore and worldbuilding it shown us. If you can enjoy lighthearted Dragon Ball like me, then please watch it.
Re: Zero 3rd Season (first cour)
As I stated with last seasonal roundup, I’m a big fan of Re: Zero. But this series is very hard to talk about without going into story and character details that would spoil things, so I’ll do my best. I think it has the best main character among isekai. Subaru is a really great character. If you want an isekai protag who isn’t a piece of cardboard, and you genuinely mean it when you say you want them to have emotions and struggles, then this series is for you. It’s really frustrating seeing people say they hate overpowered, flawless and emotionally empty protagonists then whine when Subaru struggles, makes bad decisions or expresses emotions. But a full rant on this could be saved for its own article. This first half was good, but it was a lot of setup and plot heavy things so there is not a lot I can get into. I can say that I love the focus on the guy who sounds a lot like a famous cat, he is my favorite character in the series right now. I also loved the big speech, I actually rewinded it to watch it again right then and there. I’m super excited to see how this arc progresses.
Shangri-la Frontier 2nd Season (first ~half)
I caught up with this series between Summer and now, becoming a big fan of it in the process. I already did an analysis about how I feel the series properly understands and portrays the gaming space, so please check that out if you want to get my in-depth thoughts. Here I can talk about stuff that did not fit into the topic of the analysis. The fun characters and action of the series still holds true in this season. But the pacing became more of an issue, leaving me burnt out on it. I am a handful of episodes behind in season 2. I still like the series and stand by it being one of the best series at adapting video games, but the series needs to pick up the pace and get into some meaty stuff.
Now to wrap things up with the last show I mentioned in the Summer Roundup. I did not get around to continuing Loner Life in Another World. I just didn’t have the time and energy to watch it. Hopefully I can get back to it later as despite the very middling reception I’ve seen towards it, I still want to give it a proper shot. If I do and have stuff to say, I’ll do a solo review on it.
Winter 2025
The only subsequent show I will be watching is Dr. Stone: Science Future. I love Dr. Stone so I will be continuing to watch it. I have a bunch of new things I am interested in watching, but I don’t know much about a lot of them. For a lot of seasons I just go to the season listing and pick out stuff that sounds interesting. With additions from talking to friends, seeing public discourse, etc. If you didn’t know this about me already, my liking for wholesome shows and slice of life should be made abundantly clear here. It may be especially high as I have been watching more action and or dramatically heavier shows as of late. As usual I want to state that I may not watch all of these and may end up watching ones not mentioned here. Can You Keep a Secret? / Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu is following in the footsteps of 365 Days to the Wedding, with me hoping it will also satisfy my adult romance craving. A comfy reverse isekai sounds appealing so I’ll give Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! / Nihon e Youkoso Elf-san a try. I’ve heard of Honey Lemon Soda and liked the first volume when I read it at the library, so I’ll give the anime a shot. Oh boy here comes some very long titles, Okitsura: Fell in Love with an Okinawan Girl, but I Just Wish I Know What She's Saying / Okinawa de Suki ni Natta Ko ga Hougen Sugite Tsurasugiru sounds cute. I have enjoyed series that focus on the Japanese countryside life, Non Non Biyori and Barakamon being two of my favorites, so I am hoping this will give me a wholesome and interesting experience in that regard. I love getting glimpses into the lives and locations of different people, and appreciate what the countryside has to offer, so I find myself gravitated to these series. I also do not mind when dedicated slice of life shows are especially slow paced (see Non Non Biyori), so that will not be an issue in itself. Hopefully the gimmick around her dialect won’t be too overdone. Flower and Asura / Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku also seems to overlap with the Japanese countryside vibe but following the school club focus. I’ll give it a try. Ending off on the definitives, Sakamoto Days is very highly praised and seems like something I’d enjoy so I’ll give it a watch. I am not planning to watch it as of now, but I did like the first season of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun / Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun. I enjoyed it but it didn’t stand out. If I hear really good things and have the time, maybe I’ll watch it. The Apothecary Diaries / Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is one I want to get to eventually when I have time. Last thing I can say for shows in Winter 2025 is that I will not be watching Solo Leveling, as I did not enjoy it after the first few episodes, see my Winter 2024 Roundup if you want to hear more about that. And that brings us to the end of Fall 2024 and to the start of Winter 2025. Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll look forward to what I have to say in this season too.
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Posts about shows in Fall 2024 (this will get updated for anything that comes out later)
Capturing the Essence of Gaming - Shangri-La Frontier — Blog Under a Log
This Was Made for Me: Dragon Ball Daima First Impressions — Blog Under a Log
365 Days to the Wedding Anime First Impressions — Blog Under a Log
