The Best Anime Winter 2024 Series That I Recommend

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun 2nd Stage

Tomozaki Fumiya is the top player of the online game Attack Families, also known as Tackfam. Although he uncompromisingly maintains his ranking, his lack of social skills makes him struggle with everyday high school life. He rationalizes this by blaming the complex mechanics and unfair rules of the game of life.

One day, he arranges a meeting with another top Tackfam player. The discovery of the real identity shocks him. It turns out to be Hinami Aoi, one of the most popular, intelligent, and sociable girls in his school (and coincidentally, his classmate). Surprised by how inept Fumiya is at everything except Tackfam, Aoi decides to help him succeed in what she calls the greatest game of all. She sets clear goals for him, which quickly help him level up in everyday life.

Season 2

After watching season one, the sequel jumped onto my list as the most anticipated series of the winter season. The first episode did not disappoint. As I predicted, a certain character, who was almost completely left out in the previous season, now gets a lot of screen time.

No change, unfortunately, also in the official subtitles – fortunately, there is already a much better translation alternative Haniel.

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Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete

Hiiragi Utena has always admired magical girls and dreamed of transforming into a heroine who fights evil. One day, while watching another battle involving three magical girls defending her city, a mascot-looking creature approaches her. It claims to have dormant magical power within her and can help her realize her dreams. Utena doesn’t think long and accepts the offer, not yet knowing that she has been singled out as an anti-heroine to make the daily lives of the magical girls miserable.

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – I had no plans to watch this anime. I decided to give it a chance after seeing the scale of the uproar caused among tourists. At the same time, it was recommended to me by a friend of mine. I don’t know yet whether the whole thing won’t quickly become too derivative. The launch episode and the ridiculous humor presented in it appealed to me. In addition, a version without censorship (as on AT-X) is widely available in the West. Preliminarily, I can conclude that a decent, quite unusual comedy is being prepared, which is worth paying attention to for a while.

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Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari

Being a young boy, Satou Haruto encounters a beautiful girl and her grandfather in the forest, who emerged from a blinding beam of light. She introduces herself as Hime and asks Haruto to forget what he saw. They then move into the apartment as his neighbors and begin to lead a normal life. Over the years, the boy began to see Hime as more than just a friend. He decides to confess his feelings to her on the anniversary of their meeting, but the girl tells him that he must return to her world to marry a prince. Haruto, hearing this, jumps into a beam of light behind Hime and then wakes up in a world quite foreign to him.

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – surprisingly good start. The series ended up on my list as an add-on, but after just the first episode I know I will stay with it until the end. Great visuals. Really pleasant directing style and characters I’ve grown to like. I can’t help but mention the superb opening song, which will definitely make its way onto my playlists.

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Sasaki to Pii-chan

Sasaki leads the dull life of a typical salaryman in a corporation that, in addition, does not offer a high salary, despite the demanding and tiring job. In search of filling the void in his life, he decides to buy a pet. Due to a perpetual problem with funds, he decides on a small egotistical bird from the island of Java. To his surprise, the bird starts talking to him. After it reveals its name, Sasaki decides to name it Pii-chan. Pii-chan reveals that he is in fact a prominent sage from another world, who immediately endows Sasaki with supernatural powers, as well as the ability to pass between worlds. Sasaki takes advantage of this fact to start trading between worlds and quickly makes a fortune…

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – this anime jumped onto my list just by how brilliant its cast of actors is. The running time of the first episode is 48 minutes. It took about ten minutes to watch the whole thing in my relative perception of time, so I won’t hesitate to say that a great, quite unique series is in the pipeline. I don’t know yet in what direction everything is going, but the very fact of moving between worlds strongly intrigued me. It’s worth noting that Kantoku is responsible for the pose designs in the original.

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Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi

Shiki Tsubasa moves from Tokyo to the town of Kitami located in Hokkaido. The boy, accustomed to big-city public transportation and mild winters, decides upon reaching his destination to get out of the cab early and take a walk. He quickly realizes that he has made a big mistake. At a nearby bus stop, he meets a fashionably dressed local girl, who apparently didn’t mind the cold weather. Despite considerable reluctance, he decides to ask her the way to Kitami. From word to word, he reveals that he is from Tokyo, and the openness and kindness of this girl grabs him by the heart. As he says goodbye, he learns that her name is Minami and she attends the school of his own choosing in Kitami.

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – I could already see from the PV that a successful adaptation was being prepared. The first episode only kept me convinced. Sensational voice acting (Sakura Ayane in the lead role did a perfect job) and really nice visuals. On top of that, a series set in Hokkaido is a rarity, so a big plus for that as well. I must also mention the song used in the opening – it’s great.

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Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu / 僕の心のヤバイやつ

Ichikawa Kyoutaro looks like an average boy his age, but in his heart he dreams of committing murder. His first target is his class idol, Yamada Anna. Everything changes when he makes contact with her in the school library one afternoon, after she came to eat the snacks she brought with her in peace. From that day on, Kyoutarou gradually begins to realize that he doesn’t want to kill his classmate at all, and that his murderous desires have turned into something completely different….

Season 2

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – After a brilliant first season, I finally got to see the continuation. Absolutely nothing has changed. The main couple is simply over-the-top sweet. Watching Anna’s reactions literally makes you diabetic. A great series that is really worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of something like Karakai Jozu No Takagi-san. In that case, this anime is a downright must-see. A full review of the first season will appear soon.

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Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 3 / ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ 3期

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is starting school at a prestigious school fully funded by the Japanese government high school built on an island near Tokyo. The boy is an observational type. He loves to analyze the behavior of people around him – unfortunately, this trait makes him a loner. At the first lesson there is an introduction to the class. The teacher announces to her students that, unlike in standard Japanese schools, in this institution no new classes are created each year – the list of students in each class remains the same throughout the school. In addition, contact with the outside world is severely restricted, however, in order not to take away the freedom of young people, shopping and entertainment centers have been built where one can stock up on whatever one desires.

Purchases are made with points (equivalent to yen) located in virtual wallets in each student’s phone. As an incentive, each was provided with one hundred thousand of these points, equivalent to one hundred thousand yen. Young people excited by this fact began to spend their pocket money without restraint, while completely ignoring schooling. In the blink of an eye the first month passes, everyone waits longingly for the next injection of cash, but on the day of the scheduled transfer it turns out that no one has received the payment due. The excited teacher, asked about the reason for the delay, with satisfaction on her face, begins to list the offenses of individual class members, announcing that this month they are awarded a round 0 points.

Season 3

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – one of my most anticipated adaptations. The light novel drew me in years ago. I didn’t think the series would get more than one season (which, in addition, cut a lot of things heavily from the original). I’m glad I was wrong. A full review will certainly show up on the site after season three is over (I know where this part of the adaptation will probably end). That will probably be the perfect time to summarize what has already been shown. In the meantime, I look forward to the next episodes.

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Urusei Yatsura (2022) 2 / うる星やつら第2期

Moroboshi Ataru has an exceptionally bad luck in his life. When the Earth is threatened by an invasion of alien invaders known as Oni, Ataru is chosen to represent humanity in a duel with one of them. This is one of the few situations in his life where he has been lucky, however. The duel will require his speed and agility, which are his only assets. His opponent is Lum, the daughter of the Oni leader.

His luck quickly runs out, as Lum confuses Ataru’s promise to marry his girlfriend, Miyake Shinobu, with a desire to marry Lum herself. Using her influence as a foreign princess, she moves in with him. Forced to deal with the consequences, Ataru must maintain his crumbling relationship with Shinobu while appearing to be a good partner to Lum, as the eyes of the whole world are on him.

Season 2

A continuation of what we could see in season one. I’ve already missed Lum and the other heroines of the series a bit, so I’m glad to finally see them again. If anyone liked the first season of this re-adaptation, they certainly won’t be disappointed.

As with season one – I recommend the much better translation (than the official one from Sentai) by Zafkiel based on the Asian Bilibili translation.

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Oroka na Tenshi wa Akuma to Odoru / 愚かな天使は悪魔と踊る

Akutsu Masatora is a demon who starts high school in the human world in the middle of the school year. However, he has a purpose in doing so. He plans to find candidates to help Hell fight their natural enemies, the angels of Heaven. On the very first day he begins his hunt. The class teacher assigns him a seat next to Amane Lily, a student who has also recently transferred to his class. Akutsu falls prey to her beauty and decides to recruit her to help him first. What he doesn’t realize, however, is who he is dealing with…

Do I recommend it after the first episode? Yes – a pretty good start. I have no idea how further events will unfold. I hope that the whole thing will not become repetitive, and the relationship between the main pair of characters will be developed. Sensational role of Sakura Ayane as Lily.

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Best Openings and Endings – Anime Winter 2024 Season

It’s similar to the year-end recaps, namely – I recommend what I consider awesome in my opinion. Below is a list of my favorite songs from the openings and endings (all of them I consider noteworthy, but the ones I particularly love are marked in bold, while the ones I consider as even more outstanding are marked in green, bold font). The scheme is clear, but I will clarify it:
Artist – Title (Artist in romaji – Title in romaji) | Anime Title