Well, it’s that time. We have hit (roughly) the halfway point for our newest anime season and I’ve selected, what I feel, are the top three new shows for the winter season. I unexpectedly had a little bit of a hard time with this one. I usually try and focus on strictly new shows, but sometimes a second or third or whatever number season is just everything I could want it to be and I can’t replace it. So, you just have to bear with my decision and I guess watch the first season if you haven’t yet, because you’re really missing out.
Mob Psycho 100 Season 2
Mob Psycho 100 (Mobu Saiko Hyaku) is originally a webcomic series created by ONE (One-Punch Man) and has been adapted into a manga series published by Dark Horse Comics, as well as an anime series which is directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa, written by Hiroshi Seko, and produced by Bones.
Shigeo Kageyama, who is for some unknown reason nicknamed “Mob,” is a pretty average middle school student. He’s a bit dorky looking, he isn’t popular, and he seems all-together bland. However, Mob is actually an incredibly powerful Esper (someone with psychic powers). Mob works as an assistant to self-proclaimed psychic, Reigen Arataka, who, unbeknownst to Mob and everyone else, is actually a con-man with no psychic ability whatsoever. (Reigen is also my favorite character in the series and recently got his own spin-off manga called, Reigen). Mob does his best to balance school, his part-time job with Reigen, and most importantly, his emotions – because if his emotions get too uncontrollable, the latent power inside Mob threatens more than just himself.
Season 2 of Mob Psycho 100 finally arrived and I have been so very pleased with it. While it is still goofy at times, this season is more serious and darker than season 1 (though it did start to edge that way toward the end of the first season). The art style is sharper and the supernatural beings look a lot creepier rather than overly colorful and silly. I liked the comedic tone, but at this point Mob is beginning to have an existential crisis as he can feel a world that the majority of the rest of the world can’t.
He also has to exorcise spirits which, even if they are bad, he is still effectively killing them – a concept he is grappling internally with. Which world is he closer connected to? Is one more important than the other? What if he hurts someone? Why was he born this way? Along with trying to find himself like we all do, he has a billion other factors to consider about who he is and what kind of person he wants to be. That’s a lot for a middle schooler to deal with. So, in that regard, I really like that they have taken this more serious tone, because Mob is dealing with such a serious subject, a question we have all asked ourselves: who am I?
Mob Psycho 100 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Dororo
Dororo was a manga series written and drawn by Osamu Tezuka and published originally by Shogakukan, until it was cancelled, but was later picked up and published by Akita Shoten. There was a 26 episode anime adaptation that ran in 1969, but the current anime adaptation is directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, written by Yasuko Kobayashi, and Produced by Twin Engine.
A samurai lord named Daigo Kagemitsu visits a shrine known as the “Hall of Hell” (great name, I must say) makes a deal with 12 demons in exchange for power and wealth. He tells the demons that they may take “anything of his” and the do. Later, his wife gives birth to a baby with no skin, eyes, body parts, or even a voice. Though the baby is alive, this is the price paid to each of the demons. The baby is abandoned, but still manages to survive thanks to a medicine man, named Jukai, who gives him prosthetics. Now 16 years have passed, and the wandering Rōnin called “Hyakkimaru” has set out to hunt down the demons and reclaim his body, one piece at a time. It is at the very beginning of this journey that he meets Dororo, a young thief who decides to travel alongside him.
This is one of the sweetest stories chocked full of violence and demon slaughter I’ve ever seen. Dororo may be a thief, but he’s also an innocent kid whose parents died very tragically. He initially says its to make money, but Dororo definitely has a fascination with Hyakkimaru. Even though he initially can’t speak or really even hear him, Dororo still continues to treat him like a normal person, to talk to him, to teach him how to cook, it’s the cutest thing to watch.
He does this even after watching his doll mask fall off and skin grow over his fleshless face. That’s the one badass kid. Hyakkimaru is, in many ways, the usual silent protagonist. But he isn’t silent to be cool or anything, he doesn’t have a choice, which makes him even cooler in my opinion. So we have a guy who can’t talk but is a crazy samurai/ninja/warrior with sword implants in his arms (yes, he has sword IN his prosthetic arms) and a speedy, quick-witted, tiny thief slaying demons together. It makes for an amazing show.
Dororo is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
The Promised Neverland
The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Nebārando) is a manga series written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu, published by Shueisha and Viz Media (English). The anime adaptation is directed by Mamoru Kanb, written by Toshiya Ono, and produced by CloverWorks.
The year is 2045, Emma, Norman, and Ray are 11 year old orphans living at Grace Field House. Alongside them at the orphanage are 35 other children, a range of ages but Emma, Norman, and Ray are the oldest. Their “Mother”, Isabella, lives with them. Their lives include daily exams, playing outside, eating delicious food, and sleeping comfortably and safely each night. They only have one rule, which is to not go outside of the fence that surrounds the area. It leads to the outside world, which they have always been taught is full of dangers.
Children don’t stay at Grace Field House forever though, before they turn 12 they are sent away to be adopted. At least, that is the happy life the children have always been promised they would receive. But one day, Norman and Emma discover a terrible truth: Grace Field House isn’t an orphanage, it’s a farm. A farm that raises fresh humans for demonic creatures to eat. Now Emma, Norman, and Ray must find a way for them and all of their siblings to escape before they are sent away to a terrible fate.
I was told by a friend to watch show as soon as it debuted, but I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard of it, but knew nothing about it, but this is a very reliable friend when it comes to shows so I had faith it would be good. And it was excellent. It reminded me a bit of Made in Abyss with its childish innocence but yet it still has no fear about showing the absolute horrors going on behind the scenes of this terrifying world. It immediately raised so many questions that I need to see answered.
And I love the three main protagonists. They definitely have the “standard” trio vibe with how they are all really athletic and intelligent, but each of them has an ability they are best at and each has a unique personality. Despite its beauty, once you know the truth, everything in the world looks eerie, even their sweet “Mother”. It’s a series that I can’t wait to see what kind of world it takes us to once we get outside of the fence.
The Promised Neverland is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
