Everything that’s happening in the anime world in 2023 that you cannot miss

Jujutsu Kaisen is back to the delight of all those who enjoy fantasy stories with a contemporary setting and lots of baffling power combat. After the success of its first season during the 2020-2021 season, we can finally see the continuation of this incredible anime that adapts two manga arcs: the Kaigyoku/Gyokusetsu arc and the Shibuya Incident arc. This second is a true wonder that will push the protagonists to the limit and that will reveal to them that, even if they thought they knew how vast and terrifying the world of sorcerers was, they still knew nothing more than its surface.

Among the new releases, one of the most anticipated, and those that have had the most hype, is undoubtedly Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. A zombie apocalypse where its protagonist, Akira, far from being carried away by despair sees a golden opportunity. Fed up with his office job, he sees in the apocalypse the possibility of doing all the things he has always wanted to do before he dies. Adapted from a popular manga by Haro Aso and Kotaro Takata, it has received both an anime adaptation on Crunchyroll and a live-action film on Netflix. Let it be said that blessings never come two by two.

David Production is known for being the studio behind JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but it’s not the only thing they’ve done. They are also the people behind Fire Force, an anime whose only problems could be blamed on the base material, by the direction of Yuki Yase and the work of the studio was nothing short of impeccable. Something that they have the opportunity to prove again, since the same tandem will work on Undead Unluck, one of the new titles of Shonen Jump, the most-read manga magazine in the world, which will have the premiere of its anime next October. A title to keep in mind for all fans of Shonen, or JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Hayao Miyazaki is supposed to have retired, but it turns out not. He had yet another film inside him. It opens on July 14 in Japan and we know literally nothing about it. The poster and nothing else. Directed by Miyazaki. That it is produced by Ghibli. What is called Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka — How do you live? Practically nothing else. The marketing technique they have chosen is literally the opposite of Barbie’s: not giving any information, keeping the lowest possible profile, and letting the surprise play as much as possible in its premiere. Something they can afford, after all, is Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film.

Being a success in its premiere in 2017, the romantic comedy Masamune-kun no Revenge won over critics and audiences by managing to combine a love story with a story of revenge. She ridiculed him when they were children for his weight and he has dedicated himself body and soul since then to be attractive, fall in love with her, and be able to plant her so she knows what it feels like. Of course, nothing was what it seemed, everything had twenty twists, and in Masamune-kun no Revenge R, its continuation, we follow them during a trip to Paris where everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. A good reminder of why the series was so popular at the time among its target audience.

Although it has divided social networks by the fact that its animation looks spectacular, even when it has cost little money and effort on the part of the studio, the greatest merit of The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses is that it is funny. A sweet, funny romantic comedy, which may not be the deepest, craziest series or with the best animation of 2023, but that exactly fulfills the purpose of this kind of work: to attract attention and keep us hooked with a simple story, but warm, with which to become fond of its characters and their nonsense. Something that gets without any problem this anime so cuckoo.

There is probably no more anticipated anime in 2023. The end of Attack on the Titans is almost between us because we will still have to wait until October when a one-hour special will be broadcast that will finally close the long odyssey of this anime that began in 2013. With a resounding, apocalyptic ending, and probably with a last fifteen or twenty minutes of drama, if we stick to what happens in the manga, those who do not know what to expect, can rest assured: the end of Attack on the Titans will not leave anyone indifferent.

If anyone has found the formula for success that is Makoto Shinkai. Your name., Time with you and Suzume seem cut by the same pattern because, in fact, they are. Characters, powers, and circumstances change, but the narrative structure is the same and that’s okay. It is an excellent film to count at least three times in a row and with which to ensure an obscene collection while making the most beautiful films in the world. If they had only let him tell the homosexual love story between two girls they wanted to tell instead of forcing him to tell the love story between a girl and a door, it would have been perfect.

Waiting ten years to see the last season of an anime is outrageous. But that’s what has happened with Bleach, whose seventeenth season, Thousand-Year Blood War, premiered at the end of 2022 and continues in 2023 promising us, finally, to end a series that aired sixteen seasons from 2004 to 2010 and then left all its fans in suspense. Until today. Because Bleach is going to end, this time with total security, and for what they are letting us see, the way it deserves: with a direction and animation that lives up to the legacy of Tite Kubo’s prodigious manga.

Probably the anime that has generated the most controversy during 2023, although it is also the most talked about even after its first season has concluded. Oshi no Ko is the adaptation of the homonymous manga by Aka Akasaka, the author behind the success of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, with a story that is not afraid to show the horrors hidden in the world of entertainment. Focusing his story more on two specific characters and taking some licenses that are too realistic, Oshi no Ko has caused friction among part of the audience. And yet, one thing is undeniable: it’s one of the most interesting series of 2023.

It’s hard to find an anime that caused more of a stir last year than Spy x Family. In October he will return with a second season where, if the events of the manga continue, we will begin to see more of all the family members who are not Lloyd in their respective circumstances and secrets and how these affect everyone’s lives. Why? Because for those who do not know the anime, Spy x Family is about a spy who must start a family in order to stop an international threat. Only he does not know that his adopted daughter is psychic and has married a professional assassin with a lie. Even if they don’t know each other’s secrets either. With the very funny results that can be expected from all these entanglements.

It is undeniable that no one is opposed to the possibility of having something new from Akira Toriyama. Even if it’s an old thing. On August 18, Sand Land will be released, an adaptation of the homonymous manga by Toriyama that he published in mid-August in a single volume. With a video game already announced, the story is about a post-apocalyptic world where humans and demons must fight for control of water. With its typical designs, excellent vehicle design, and twists that no one who only knows Toriyama from Dragon Ball is coming, Sand Land promises to bring back the playful Toriyama of Dr. Slump. And we who celebrate it.

The third season of Kimetsu no Yaiba: Guardians of the Night has not been as prodigious as its first two seasons, but it has managed to maintain the good work in terms of the quality of its animation in an arc that is already in the manga is considered one of the weakest. Because this is still Kimetsu no Yaiba: Guardians of the Night. There is still a lot of drama, silly comedy, and some combats of beautiful movements that continue to advance a plot that leads us closer and closer to an end that, those who have read the manga, know that it was necessary to loosen the pace a little this time to be able to continue in style.

From the creators of Attack on the Titans, we never expect anything less than excellent series, full of action and with charismatic characters, which is precisely what Hell’s Paradise offers us. Its protagonist is an immortal ninja. His mission is to find an elixir capable of making immortal anyone who gets it. His condemnation of not getting it, eternal confinement. Having to face danger condemned to death and an island from which no one has returned alive, the series follows in the wake of works such as Berserk or the already mentioned Attack on the Titans to offer us exactly what its name promises: a paradise that truly hides a hell.

From Kengo Hanazawa, creator of I Am a Hero, comes Under Ninja, a story about a world where ninjas exist, there are about 200,000 of them in Japan, ranging from elite commandos to real unlucky people who can not even get a job. The latter is the case of Kuro Kumogakure, an unemployed ninja who, when commissioned to infiltrate an institute, will do everything possible to prove that he is much more capable than they think. With results that can lead to an excellent anime.

Vinland Saga is one of the star anime of Netflix and with good reason. Between the historical and the fantastic, this Viking story has drama, action, and adventure, but above all it has heart. Where in the first season we saw Thorfinn become a warrior, in the second season we have seen how the story greatly emphasizes the goodness of peace and the horrors of war. Something already present in the first season, but that is only emphasized more and more as we move forward in the series. Something that makes us worry about Thorfinn’s fate.

If you like science fiction, post-apocalyptic series, adult works, and anime, in 2023 the series for you: Heavenly Delusion premiered. With an unprecedented disaster having destroyed modern civilization, two teenagers, Maru and Kiruko, try to survive in search of a safe place they know as Eden. This being the biggest success of Disney + in terms of anime, it is not difficult to say that, in terms of post-apocalyptic series, The Last of Us has come out of tough competition with Heaveny Delusion to be considered the best of the year of its class.

If there’s one classic anime in samurai stories, it’s Rurouni Kenshin’s. It returns after many years, this time with a remake that visually takes great care of the classic story of Nobuhiro Watsuki, abandoning, for many unfortunately, the very obvious nineties touch of the previous anime adaptation. In addition, given the accusations of the creator, convicted of possession of child pornography, the series is having a very cold reception which is very difficult to blame anyone. As much as Rurouni Kenshin is a classic, it is difficult to consume without guilt an anime adapting the work of a man who, in his accusations of possession of child pornography, was accused of having such a volume of it that it was considered a distributor, not just a consumer.

If there is one thing for sure, it is that no year will pass without us having a new season of My Hero Academia. One of the most popular shonen of today continues to advance, continues to reap successes, and although it no longer makes as much noise as before, it still has a very loyal audience that follows it with true adoration. What does it offer us? Increasingly, a universe where superheroes are the norm and that does not make injustices and social differences less than in a world where they do not exist. Something that has made it the reference series for many fans of superheroes disenchanted with the course of the rest of the superheroic franchises of the present.

Few mangas have swept more clearly in recent years in all awards than Skip to Loafer. And no wonder. His designs are excellent, his drawing expressive and his script knows how to perfectly portray what it means to be a teenager without falling into melodrama or parody. Something that anime has managed to capture, adding an excellent use of color and animation that makes it one of the most interesting series to follow of the year. One of those works is easy to recommend even for those who don’t normally watch anime.

Although years can pass between Bungo Stray Dogs seasons, fans know that the wait is worth it. This detective story with names of writers of classic literature, both Japanese and world, has reached its fourth season and has announced its fifth season for later this year in the perfect pair: if in the fourth season, our protagonists have to act separately, in the fifth they will have to meet to face practically the whole world. This a familiar twist, which we have experienced before, but if we were already very excited about pop culture classics such as The Avengers, why would not a series as consolidated as Bungo Stray Dogs?

Sometimes to get what you want you just need to be hit by a truck and die. At least if you exist within an anime, that’s why it can allow you to travel to another world and, as in the case of the protagonist of The Eminence in Shadow, become a master of manipulation. It is in this way that a complex plot is invented to deceive everyone about the existence of a secret organization that manages the world in the shadows and that only he can defeat. And although he thinks it’s all a lie, it turns out it’s all true. Something that is as ridiculous and crazy as it sounds.

For years now, football has hit hard in Japan, something that is noticeable in the increasing presence of titles in this class. But it has not been until Bluelock that one managed to explode as no other had done before. Featuring an experiment in which all of Japan’s best players under 18 are taken to create the best generation of Japanese players ever, the series is not about sportsmanship, camaraderie, and good vibes. Quite the opposite. This is about egos and being the best, even at the expense of others. Whoever enters Bluelock, knows that you will find tons of testosterone per square centimeter.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! It’s a romantic comedy in its purest form imaginable. Tomo is a girl who has been studying karate since she was very young with her childhood best friend. Now that they are teenagers, she harbors romantic feelings for him, but he is unable to treat her other than “one of the boys.” This leads to crazy plans on the part of Tomo to notice her and be aware that she is a girl because she does not want to be the one who takes the first step and feels that, in the end, she is the one who always ends up exercising a dominant role in their relationship. Very funny and very sweet, Tomo-chan Is a Girl! It may not be the anime of the year, but what is certain is an anime that will fall in love with fans of the classic romantic comedy.

Mobile Suit Gundam has been reborn from its ashes for a few years, getting to penetrate a new young audience where it seemed that it was no longer able to question more than its old fans. And that’s okay. Especially if it gets it with anime as good as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, where, in addition to giving us the first female protagonist of a Gundam series, it also gives us the first homosexual romance between protagonists, while continuing to advance in the classic anti-war plot of the series, introducing an interesting anti-corporate tone to the whole. An excellent new entry point into the Gundam universe.