The AniTAY Winter 2023 Sequel Guide
Well, 2022 is over. While the Year of Sequels might officially be behind us, what lies ahead may still look more familiar than not — just because this particular article is a bit shorter than usual does not mean that we were lacking for content. The holiday season stole a few of our writers away, leaving us without entries for Bungou Stray Dogs or In/Spectre, let alone the potential roast of this season’s “Why Did This Get A Sequel But Nanana’s Buried Treasure Didn’t?” award winner, By the Grace of the Gods. But as we travel onward, towards what I’m sure will be Another Year, we can at least look forward to seeing old friends. And probably, some of those old friends will die horribly. Looking at you, Vinland Saga.
Excelsior!
BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense
Presented by: umrguy42
Studio: SILVER LINK
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Spoiler-Free Synopsis: Kaede Honjou had never played VRMMORPGs before her school friend talked her into trying the new and popular NewWorld Online. Kaede decides that, in order to not get hurt, she will put literally all her character points into her defense stat. Her unintentionally unorthodox playstyle, coupled with some crazy luck, turns her character “Maple” into the ultimate tank whose game-breaking skills have now made her an unofficial mascot for the game.
Why You Should Catch Up: To start with, BOFURI’s Maple is the most adorable, walking (with no points in AGI, running is out of the question)… war crime. Who has a giant, floating turtle. And she’s managed to gather around her a handful of guild members who often end up with broken builds of their own. Like the twin sisters who put all of their points into attack, and can now dual-wield giant hammers. And Maple’s friend Sally (who talked her into trying the game) with her own set of impressive skills and stats.
Overpowered VRMMO and/or isekai main characters are a trope unto themselves at this point. Maple, on the other hand, is in a whole separate class. For one thing, she could probably find a way to wipe the floor with most of those other characters. Or more accurately, eat them. After soloing her first boss by taking bites out of it until it died (due to her lack of attack skills at the time), “when in doubt, eat it” seems to be her new philosophy. Another of the things that makes Maple great is that she didn’t set out to become a game-breaker, but, rather, stumbled into it. While she does seek to find interesting ways to make use of some of her more eclectic skills during game-wide events in order to help her small guild keep pace with the larger groups, she’s not deliberately trying to find all these crazy things — as she notes, she’s just trying to play the game “normally.” Yet, as her guild mate Kuromu notes, “She always ends up finding weird skills the second I take my eyes off her.”
Besides watching cute girls reach last-boss-level abilities and wondering what craziness they’ll try next is the show’s production. The team at SILVER LINK brings us a fun, nicely animated show. They get to show off a wide variety of game locations as backgrounds, and execute the battle sequences well (no janky CGI here!).The reaction face game is totally on-point for the bafflement that Maple’s abilities bring to the rest of the group. The voice cast is excellently-chosen, and the music is fun (although the re-use of their more light insert song over several of the action / battle sequences in the later episodes is certainly an interesting style choice).
The story is also well-paced, providing an interesting mix of seemingly high stakes during the game events while still presenting everything as “just” a game. The show features plenty of other players as antagonists, but there are no villains plotting and scheming for revenge or ruin.
The show’s comedy is what helps tie it all together. From the absurdity that is a brand-new Maple slowly plodding along, falling behind everyone else, as her lack of agility points means she has no speed, to some of her goofier skills, such as [Wooly], which allows her to manifest a giant ball of fluff around her… allowing the others in her guild to bat her around like a giant beach ball in celebration of the guild’s performance in the final event. As Maple’s abilities grow and she becomes more of a legend, we also get to see the game developers’ evolving reactions to her. They start off with a mixture of disbelief, to a frantic search to figure out if there are any other skills Maple can use to game-breaking effect, to despair at her knocking off another boss NPC, followed by pretending not to notice as she waltzes through another dungeon, finally leading to resignation and an agreement that the best they can do is just wait and watch like everyone else. The final icing on the cake is the way every episode ends with a series of posts from discussion threads for the game, relating to what new things Maple has gotten up to lately.
I myself came late to BOFURI, picking it up over halfway through its original run and rapidly catching up. It’s fun, cute , and easily bingeable. I joked about Maple being a “walking war crime” due to how broken her skillset is, but really, the show isn’t some violence fest. While some of the monsters might scare younger children just because “monster”, it’s a series that can be easily watched in a family setting. Either way, watching with friends and family, or by yourself, it’ll leave you laughing at the ridiculousness of what Maple manages to pull off, while cheering her and her friends on to do their best.
Time to Catch Up + What You Need to Watch:
- BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense season 1: 12 episodes (4.5 hours)
Where to Catch Up: Crunchyroll (sub and dub), Blu-ray
Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro
Presented by Marquan
Studio: OLM
Genres: Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life
Spoiler-Free Synopsis: The story of Naoto, a talented, yet introverted senpai, who draws the eye of a cute kohai with a sadistic streak. Slow-building romantic hijinks ensue as watch senpai try to navigate his life while Nagatoro makes her presence known in every way she can. Mostly at his expense.
Why You Should Catch Up: Have you ever wondered what it’d look like if your crush kind of got off on stepping on…I mean teasing you? There’s an age old adage: “If they tease you, they like you.” That’s this anime in a nutshell. Nagatoro is at the age where her emotional intelligence is too low to actually articulate how she feels, so she ends up teasing her senpai instead. At this stage in her life, teasing is the only way she can express that, although it’s hilarious how she doesn’t allow anyone else to tease him. She’s fiercely protective, and her friends pick up on that quickly. This allows for some fun times as her friends try to constantly get in on the teasing, and we get to see Nagatoro defend him while also being unable to refrain from teasing him herself.
Nagatoro isn’t your typical love interest. As I stated in my article about the teasing anime that have aired recently, with each episode we get to see snippets of why Nagatoro treats Senpai the way she does, and spoilers, it’s because she actually does like him. Slowly but surely, we see how Nagatoro and her friends contribute to Senpai coming out of his shell and growing more confident. It’s a slow journey, but Nagatoro’s teasing opens the door for Senpai to try and formulate comebacks, and this in turn results in mental and social growth for both of them.
This anime is a blast. We get laughs, budding romance, Nagatoro with noodle arms (dubbed noodle-toro by the fandom) and some of the most expressive crazy eyes I’ve seen in anime. And don’t worry, it’s okay to enjoy being teased. Let your freak flag fly and become one of us. One of us! One of us!
Time to Catch Up + What You Need to Watch:
- Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro S1: 12 episodes (~4 hours)
Where to Catch Up: Crunchyroll
The Misfit of Demon King Academy II
Presented by TheMamaLuigi
Studio: SILVER LINK
Genres: Fantasy, School, Action,
Spoiler-Free Synopsis: Long ago, to end the ever-ongoing conflict between humans and demons, the Demon King Anos Voldigold sacrificed his life. Millenia later, Anos is reborn in an age where magic is disappearing and he is revered as a hero among legends. After enrolling at the aptly named Demon King Academy, Anos sets out to restore his former glory and, with the mysterious twins Misha and Sasha Necron, make the world re-remember his name
Why You Should Catch Up: The magic high school trend came and went years ago, with shows like Chivalry of a Failed Knight, The Irregular at Magic High School, and Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor offering slightly different takes on the tried-and-true formula. One thing these shows all have in common, though, is their protagonist: cocksure, overpowered, and hopelessly attractive to a wide variety of girls for some inexplicable reason.
Anos Voldigold is no different — all-confident, all-powerful, and all-handsome, it’s never in doubt that our Demon King will come out on top at every turn. So why, then, is The Misfit of Demon King Academy worth watching? Well, dear reader, it’s precisely because Anos is the way he is that the show shines.
An anti-hero through and through, Anos’s goals are clear — re-establish his position as the Demon King and rule the world as he sees fit. Because this “new” world he’s awakened in lacks the prominent magic found in the past, his journey towards this goal is an easy one. Between killing and resurrecting opponents until they yield or throwing literal buildings at his enemies, the first season of Misfit presented a world fit for our Demon King. It’s fun, it’s funny, and our protagonist’s confidence with which he handles conflict is endlessly charming.
It’s become a common theme for me to recommend anime that know what they are and embrace it, and Misfit is no different. Here is a show about the most powerful and revered being in the world becoming more powerful and more revered. There are no pretenses of Anos actually going to class, and any slice-of-life shenanigans are used as breathers from the show’s more insane moments. It’s near-perfectly paced and endlessly entertaining — it’s a show that asks you to just enjoy the ride and not worry about any depth or profound meaning.
And, yet, it has both of those things. Anos might be our protagonist, but it’s Misha and Sasha who form the emotional core of the show. Over the first season’s thirteen episodes, both girls undergo profound changes as both individuals, as sisters, and as companions to Anos. Without spoiling anything, their past directly affects their present and justifies their actions, their disposition, and their development. While Sasha learns how to embrace her sister, Misha’s acceptance of her role in her fate begets her coming out of her shell and sharing her feelings with the world. Though these developments are not especially unique regarding the kind of show Misfit is, they’re nonetheless impactful on both character and viewer levels. Where Anos forms the show’s body, Misha and Sasha form its heart and soul.
Season 2 will mark the start of a new arc after the end of Season 1’s. We can expect more of new-ish characters Lay and Eleanore, more of Anos’s past made present, and more badass action sequences. Of note is that Season 2 will be split-cour, with the second half airing at an as-of-yet-unknown time. Regardless, it’s sure to be a wild, fun, and heartwarming ride!
Time to Catch Up + What You Need to Watch:
- The Misfit of Demon King Academy Season 1 (13 episodes, approx. 5.2 hours)
Where to Catch Up: Crunchyroll
Tokyo Revengers
Presented by Alistair Hyde, Arcane (Synopsis)
Studio: Liden Films
Genres: Action, Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller, Supernatural
Spoiler-Free Synopsis: In the present time, 26-year-old Takemichi learns that his middle-school girlfriend Hinata and her younger brother Naoto have been murdered by a local gang…and when that gang pushes him in front of a train, he is instead transported twelve years into the past. After telling them the exact date the two of them die in the future, shaking hands with Naoto and finding himself flung back into the present — and, thanks to a time paradox, Naoto is alive and a detective investigating his sister’s murder. Discovering that shaking hands with Naoto activates his ability to travel in time, the two of them devise a plot for middle-school Takemichi to join the Tokyo Manji Gang, rise up in its ranks…and hopefully avert all three of their gruesome deaths in the future!
Why You Should Catch Up: The work is an interesting take on various time-traveling tropes like accidental time travel, alternate history,, and altering the present and future to develop a story of redemption and self-sacrifice. Sure, this is not new considering this plot device has been used in Dragon Ball Z, Erased, Summer Time Rendering, Re:Zero, and other works, but Tokyo Revengers just focuses on two timelines to make things simple.
It explores the second chance Takemichi Hanagaki obtains to redo his life as a middle school student after someone pushes him in front of a train to embark on a mission to save Hinata Tachibana, his ex-girlfriend, and her younger brother Naoto.
Unlike other shonen protagonists that grow by gaining strength, techniques, or powers, Takemichi makes alliances, obtains information against his foes, and learns to better handle the issues that arise during his travels through time. He learns what he must do to become more proactive, take risks, and put his life on the line several times to obtain the result he desires. I know the idea of being better, faster, and stronger is nothing new and is the type of thing you expect from your average shonen protagonist; however, the evolution of this underdog from an insecure crybaby to a confident leader shows a proficient execution of the premise. It has enough elements to set itself apart from others and make it worth the time of the viewer, like the fact that he does not care if he wins or loses because he will try until he is unable to do anything at all.
Though Takemichi’s goal eventually requires him to join the Tokyo Manji Gang, Tokyo Revengers does not romanticize the notion of becoming a criminal , and provides a wonderful cast willing to share their moral compass to let you know where each gang draws their lines.
Considering how fluid the animation is and how the depiction of fights handles enough realistic elements in them, the action development is fantastic making these events seem greater than they are. This gets me back to those days when fights took place in a schoolyard after classes to settle scores, but without the need to face more than one foe at the same time.
Luckily, after that anticlimactic cliffhanger left in the last episode of the first season, with Takemichi tied to a chair with a gun pointing at his forehead, we know that Takemichi is still alive after an unexpected ally saves him in the last second, showing the results of his actions during the Bloody Halloween. I mean, at this point you should know there is no story without a protagonist even if said character has no plot armor to protect him.
Time To Catch Up + What You Need to Watch:
Essential:
TV series: 12 hours
- Tokyo Revengers Season 1: 24 episodes covering volumes 1–9 (chapters 1–74) of the manga.
Where to Catch Up:
- Tokyo Revengers Season 1: Crunchyroll.
Vinland Saga Season 2
Presented by Arcane
Studio: MAPPA
Genres: Action, Drama, Historical
Spoiler-Free Synopsis: Thorfinn, a young boy from Iceland in the 11th century, witnesses his father’s brutal death at the hands of the mercenary Askeladd. Seeking to avenge him, he joins Askeladd’s mercenary company, planning to rise through his trusted ranks in order to murder the leader and pay him back in kind. However, by doing so, he winds up getting caught deep into the Danish-English war of the 1100’s and swept into a much bloodier story than he’d originally planned…
Why You Should Catch Up: While you almost certainly have already (Vinland Saga’s first season is in the top fifty most popular shows of all time on MyAnimeList), it’s for extremely good reason.
The first season, airing in Summer 2019, was extremely long-awaited, premiering fourteen years after the manga began publication. It turned out to be worth the wait, with a lavish production job from Wit Studio (yes, this is yet another show MAPPA picked up from a different studio) and a grandiose sense of scale that drew a lot of comparisons to Game of Thrones in a time when that was widely seen as a good thing.
Back during our days on Kinja, AniTAY actually did a collaborative review of the first season — while unfortunately that article is no longer available, it was one of the first things I wrote for this group, and I’m re-publishing it along with this sequel guide.
As for the show itself, I could easily just tell you to watch the first five minutes — the opening scene is so jaw-droppingly well-animated that I think it sells itself pretty easily. But what kept me and hundreds of thousands of others invested was a sizzlingly slow-burning plot that seemed as though it was running out of momentum and then rocketed forward towards its explosive finale, paying off everything along the way.
The characters are fully realized people with complicated stories and motivations, and clashing them together in brutal, bloody battle — where both sides have equally-understood reasons for being there — left me in tears multiple times. Askeladd, in particular, first appears to be an out-and-out villain, but by the end, I was fully invested in him, and the second-to-last twist of the knife left me on the floor.
My oddly-specific phrasing there obviously tells you that the show had one more thing in store. After a final episode where the plot fully kicked into the stratosphere, Vinland Saga presented us with four words that have kept viewers hanging on for three years.
“End of the prologue.”
If a show can pull a full story worth of emotion, brutality, love, and tragedy, out of a prologue, then I can only imagine what the full story is gonna be like. I’m prepared for a roller-coaster.
Time to Catch Up + What You Need to Watch:
- Vinland Saga (Season 1), 24 episodes (~9 hours)
Where to Catch Up: Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Interested in watching some new anime from last season? Check out our recommendations here:
