A Cool Glass of Winter 2024 Anime Season Impressions - Renegade Animation #137
In this episode, Captain Kaye, the Animation Guru, and Teresa share their thoughts on everything that Winter 2024 had to offer in the world of anime.
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my co-hosts The Animation Guru and Teresa! It’s time for another year of seasonal anime impressions, but this time, we’re taking a different approach. Due to the large volume of new series premiering in Winter 2024 (33 to be exact), we felt it would be better to discuss the season as a whole. Tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion, and keep reading to see our collective top 5 recommendations!
Bucchigiri?!
I’m not sure how else to describe this wonderfully unhinged original anime from MAPPA. The best I could come up with is that it’s a rainbow graffiti romp that injects the typical delinquent genre with elements of The Karate Kid and Aladdin, featuring some ridiculously over the top fight sequences, and characters with larger than life personalities. You’ll know right away whether or not Bucchigiri?! is up your alley.
Delicious in Dungeon
Delicious in Dungeon is one of the best anime of the season, a delightful romp for foodies and fantasy nerds alike! Do not go into this anime on an empty stomach, because the meals that this party of adventurers cook up will make your mouth water every single time. This is just an overall well rounded series, with great characters, a fun premise, and a killer OP and ED. I would absolutely buy a cookbook based on this anime, if one was available!
A Sign of Affection
In addition to some of the best fantasy anime Winter 2024 had to offer, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the best romance anime so far this year, A Sign of Affection. The title is a great play on words, and our two main characters have some of the best romantic chemistry I’ve seen in quite some time. If you’re looking for a near perfect representation of the isolation a disabled individual might feel from the world around them, look no further than this anime.
The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic
The best isekai are the ones that are not only genre savvy, but keep the focus squarely on character growth through either self improvement or helping others. In the case of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic, it’s kind of both? Ken Usato, alongside his classmates Suzune Inukami and Kazuki Ryusen, have been transported to another world, where they are meant to assist in fighting the Demon Lord. That sounds like a pretty basic setup for an isekai, but what I love about this anime is just how much attention is given to healers in this world, and just what a rarity they seem to be. These characters are all amazing, there’s plenty of humor throughout these first three episodes, and I’m genuinely intrigued by its world building. If you ask me, I’d say this is easily top 5 material!
Solo Leveling
No other anime this season has been hyped up as much as Solo Leveling, and for good reason. Based on a South Korean web novel by Chugong, this is an urban fantasy set in a world where human warriors known as hunters are tasked with protecting the world from monsters and other deadly threats. Oftentimes when anime tries to blend sci-fi and fantasy elements, the execution falls short. However, I like the way it’s handled here, and they don’t pull any punches when it comes to raising the stakes. There was a lot of suspense in episode 2, featuring some brutal deaths I’ve seen in a while. If this show wasn’t on your radar before, it should be now!
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.
