As we are heading into the next anime season, we’re getting a plethora of new anime shows, movies and OVAs. Some of the recognizable highlighters of this fall are well-known titles like Sword Art Online: The Alicization Arc, Gridman, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Tokyo Ghoul:Re and of course the last season of Fairy Tail and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, while others are new originals. Since this will be our first anime season which AnimeAsterisk is reviewing, I am only going to cover a few of them. So, let me introduce the list of the anime that we’ll be covering over this season!

Autumn 2018 Anime Schedule

Netflix Anime

Castlevania Season 2 – October 26^th

INGRESS the Animation – November 2018

Planned Fall 2018 Cover Anime:

Beatless: Final Stage

Continuing on from where BEATLESS left off, Beatless: Final Stage is a sci-fi anime that covers the last four episodes of the original Beatless anime. The story of the anime is about Arato Endo (Takuto Yoshinaga), a young high school boy who lives in a world where androids called hIEs interact and help serve humans. One night after making a snack run to a nearby convenience store, Arato is viciously attacked by a hacked hIE controlled by a mysterious green-haired girl named “Snowdrop (Hiromi Igarashi).” On the verge of death, Arato is rescued by a mysterious hIE carrying a black coffin called Lacia (Nao Touyama) who asks him to be her owner and take full responsibility for her in order to fully utilise her abilities. Left with little choice, Arato agrees to the contract and after being saved by Lacia; takes her home. There he and his sister begin a new life with the mysterious Lacia. However, Lacia has a secret. She is a “Red Box,” one of a special series of android who have special devices installed on them who has recently escaped from the Memeframe lab which created them. She is pursued by the other Lacia classes and soon Arato’s life becomes more dangerous as it seeks to drag those he love into a new conflict.

Beatless is an anime which I have been watching since it first broadcasted earlier this year. As viewers of this show may be aware, there were a lot of annoying issues with this show which mainly revolved around lots of recap episodes and broadcast delays due to the staff being overworked that irritated fans trying to watch the show, but I’m determined to stick it out because I have persisted this far into watching the series. However, for those of you who are interested in this series, it is recommended that you go back and watch Beatless and maybe the Beatless: Intermission recaps first before diving into this anime. While the show does do a lot of expositions and information dumping, it provides interesting food for thought on what our lives might be like a couple of years from now and the relationships and issues surrounding AIs, technology and the use of robots. The animation, character designs and action sequences are incredible due to the work of Redjuice, and the music is absolutely memorable. With Japanese seiyuu like Kaito Ishikawa, Takuto Yoshinaga and Nao Touyama leading the cast, this anime is sure to provide you with some entertainment!

Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet (Boarding School Juliet)

Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet or Boarding School Juliet is a modern-day take on Romeo and Juliet set in a prestigious high school academy called Dahlia Academy. The tale focuses on two students, Romio Inuzuka (Yuuki Ono) and Juliet Persia (Ai Kayano), a young couple who both attend Dahlia Academy which is a prestigious school that sets out to educate and create the next generation of future leaders. However, the academy is attended by students from the two rival nations of Touwakoku and Western Principality who habitually bring their countries’ rivalries into the classroom which inevitably break out into fights. Even after being separated into two different dorms, the problems between the two nations hasn’t been quelled yet. Amidst the disputes and rivalries in the background of this academy, Juliet and Romio meet and fall in love with each other, however, their love is star-crossed as both of them are the leaders of these two rival dorms. Amongst the love triangles, comic shenanigans and drama which they face on a daily basis, this doesn’t stop Romio and Juliet from trying to make their relationship work amidst the mayhem and chaos.

Despite not being a fan of William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ Boarding School Juliet is a series which I found very appealing. With the opening “Love with You” being performed by fripSide and the ending “Itsuka Sekai ga Kawaru (Until the World Changes Someday)” is being done by Riho Iida, the music appears to be to very solid. The comedic aspect of the series is sure to delight any anime fan, while the cat and dog themes of the character names and the dorms presents an interesting dynamic to the show overall. With Japanese seiyuu like Ai Kayano, Ayane Sakura, Daisuke Ono and Yuuki Ono voicing the characters, this anime may become one of the favourites of the fall season! Boarding School Juliet will be airing from October 5th on Fridays at 1:25 am (JST)

Kitsune no Koe (Voice of Fox)

Voice of Fox is a Chinese based anime based on a popular manga series. The series centres on 16-year-old Hu Li (Kengo Kawanishi), who dreams of becoming a popular singer, however because of a traffic accident which left him with a red scar on his face, he has neither the good looks nor the financial means to pursue his dream. Not giving up on his dreams, however, Hu Li resorts to uploading his music on the web using the mysterious handle, Mr. Fox. One day, Hu Li’s life changes when his music eventually attracts the attention of Kong Que (Hisayoshi Suginuma) who shares the same dream as Hu and also has the looks and the financial means to achieve his dream but unfortunately lacks any talent with music. Despite not getting along, the two decide to pair up to work their way up the music industry and become huge stars while meeting new friends and rivals along the way!

While I don’t really watch a lot of Korean-based anime, this anime definitely has me the most excited as the character designs of this show really drew to me this show. The main character Fox with his titular fox mask is visually appealing while Kong’s design strikes me as stunning. I also like the direction of the show’s plot and am interested in seeing the arguing moments between the two main characters. The voice cast for this show seems good with the sultry voice of Sho Hayami playing the role of President Kim and from what I heard from the trailers, the music is definitely gonna be top class! The opening and endings are respectfully performed by LoveDesire and Kano which will be sure to entertain new listeners like myself. Voice of Fox will be playing on Tokyo MX from Fridays October 5^th and it will be airing at 10:30 pm (JST).

INGRESS the Animation

INGRESS the Animation is definitely one of the new anime which I’ve had my eye on for a while. Created by Craftar and based on a Japanese mobile game, this anime is a supernatural murder mystery anime similar in line to anime like Psycho Pass and KADO – The Right Answer. While the series makes avid use of heavy 3D animation to design its characters and its settings, the plot is very interesting. The plot follows Makoto Midorikawa (Yoshiki Nakajima), a young police detective who has had the uncontrollable ability to read objects since he was young. As he grows up, he hides this ability by working as a special agent for the police. One day, while investigating an explosion at a research lab, Makoto touches a ring and has a vision of a mysterious woman named ‘Sarah (Reina Ueda),’ the sole survivor of the explosion who witnesses a man being devoured by a red light. Makoto is then drawn into a strange conspiracy over a mysterious substance labelled “Exotic Matter (XM),” which has been influencing the minds and progress of humanity since ancient times. Among those fighting for it are two factions: ‘The Enlightened’ who view the substance as a divine relic that enhances human experience and discovery and ‘The Resistance’ who prefer technology and views the substance as a threat to humanity for its ability to take over people’s minds. Among those helping them is Jack Norman (Shigeo Kiyama), an investigator who is also pursuing Sarah and has an ability called ‘Flash Forward’ which allows to him to see into the future. With loyalties and friendships being tested, will Makoto discover the truth behind Sarah and the mysterious XM? The battle for the future has begun.

While the story is going to be original and set as a separate story, the anime will also be used to introduce INGRESS Prime which is a sequel game that will be released at the same time as the series, INGRESS is definitely going to be an anime on my watchlist. The premise is exciting and I’m looking forward to the mystery elements which this anime presents. INGRESS the Animation will be released on Fuji TV, CX from October 17^th, 2018. It will also be released on NETFLIX as an international release from November 2018.

RELEASE THE SPYCE

RELEASE THE SPYCE is an upcoming original spy thriller anime created by ASCII Media Works, the creators behind Princess Principal and is written by Akame ga Kill and Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru original author Takahiro. It follows Momo Minamoto (Yukari Anzai), a girl who attends a high school in the city of Sorasaki, who is also a member of the secret organization Tsukikage, an intelligence agency which protects the peace of the city. As a new member of this top-secret unit, she works alongside her upperclassmen, Yuki Hanzoumon (Manami Numakura) and others to defeat the criminal organization known as Mohryou, which currently holds the city in its evil grasp.

As a fan of AKB0048, the mini-skirt ninja character designs and cute animal mascots are definitely part of what appealed me to this series. The main character Momo definitely resembles Nagisa from AKB0048 and I particularly love the designs for the mysterious blue-haired Yuki (above). Both the opening and endings are being performed by the seiyuu members of Tsukikage and while the cast is mainly made up of seiyuu like Yukari Anzai who are new to the voice acting business, it does have some veteran voice actors like Rina Satou and Hayamin (Saori Hayami) playing some of the characters. I’m especially looking forward to Saori’s rendition of ‘Dolte’ (who is definitely not what I imagined)! Despite the originality of the anime, this twelve-episode anime looks to be an exciting series regardless. So please watch and support the show! THE SPYCE is starting from October 6^th on MBS and will be showed on Saturdays at 2:38 am (JST).

Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc to Renkin no Kishi (Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemy Knights)

Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc to Renkin no Kishi (Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemy Knights) is a medieval anime set during the Hundred Year Wars in the 15th century. During the height of the Hundred Years War, while France is under siege by the British. Henry V (Satoshi Hino), forces a treaty out of the mad Charles VI (to position Henry’s sons as heirs to the French throne, all the while continuing the conquest of France’s vassal states. In the midst of this chaos, a young Frenchman, Montmorency (Ryota Osaka) who had hoped to become a registered alchemist, is dejected to discover that the royal magic school that he wanted to attend has closed down due to occupation of Paris. On top of that, he now has a warrant on his head because of his sudden use of black magic. With few places left to run and even fewer friends to rely on, Montmorency makes for the countryside in a last-ditch attempt for a chance of survival. But, it is here, where he finds the most unlikely source of salvation. In a small village at the edge of the fighting is a young shepherd named Jeanne (Yuuko Oono) and Montmorency’s chance meeting with her will do more for his situation—and France’s future—than he ever thought possible.

Being a fan of anything Jeanne d’Arc (especially anime renditions), this anime is definitely going to be a plus for me. Based on a light novel written by Mikage Kasuga who wrote ‘The Ambition of Oda Nobuna,’ the writing is sure to be good. Despite the ecchiness presented in the trailer, the animation looks incredible with animation studio AXsiZ doing the animation. The overall seiyuu cast definitely looks promising and I’m especially looking forward to Yuuko Oono’s take on Jeanne d’Arc. The opening ‘Liberation’ is being performed by Mai Fuchigami, a noted singer while the ending theme song, ‘Hundred Year Melam’ is being performed Riono. Despite my concerns about the ecchi scenes overpowering the writing, each of the female characters are very appealing and I’m especially looking forward to seeing what kind of boisterous character La Hire is going to be. Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemy Knights is going to be airing on Sundays from October 7^th on channel Tokyo MX from 10:00 pm (JST).

Image Sources:

• My Animelist.com

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