Animes For the Upcoming Year

 New year, new anime. For the anime fans who have been keeping track of new anime information, here’s a list and quick review of some of the new upcoming anime and seasons premiering next year in 2021! Joining me in this article will be Toni Rose Ledesma, a fellow friend of mine. 

Boku No Hero Academia

  Season five of “Boku No Hero Academia” is scheduled to premiere sometime in April of 2021! The story follows Izuku Midoriya, a boy born without a quirk in a world where they have become a common thing. He is scouted by All Might, Japan’s greatest hero, who helps him enroll in a prestigious high school for heroes in training. Upon watching the trailer, it showcases a preview of Class 1A going up against Class 1B in which this is part of one of the upcoming arcs from the manga. The fifth season will most likely cover the story arcs that span through Chapters 191 to 240. These all feature some major returns as well as pretty major revelations. “Boku No Hero Academia” is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. I really liked the art style and also really loved the characters and storyline, if you haven’t seen the anime or read the manga you should definitely check it out! When asked if people should watch the series Ledesma, a sophomore, stated “Definitely, although the anime has a big fanbase and many say it’s overrated – I think the storyline and the characters are really interesting!” This series is rated TV-14 due to violence & gore, nudity and suggestive dialogue. It holds a 8.5/10 stars rating on the website “IMDb!”

 Beastars

 Season two of “Beastars” which is scheduled to premiere in January of 2021! The story takes place in a world of modern civilization with anthropomorphic animals with a cultural divide between carnivores and herbivores, the series takes its name from the in-universe rank of Beastar, an individual of great talent, service, and notoriety. From reviewing the trailer for the upcoming season there isn’t much to go on with, at least plot wise, but what is known is that new characters will be revealed and introduced. As to not spoil anything for the fans who haven’t read the manga, all you need to know is that season two will follow the storyline that’s set in chapters 48 to chapter 98. “Beastars” is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Paru Itagaki. I personally really enjoyed the anime. It really captures the psychological aspect of animals and prejudices that exist in a world divided as predators and prey and the characters are really compelling to me.    I asked Ledesma what she thinks about it and whether she thinks the new season will be worth watching and she said ,“I haven’t gone through it, but many people I know have said it’s good, so the new season should be worth the watch.” This series is rated M since it contains sex and violence. It holds a 8.1/10 review on the website “My Anime List!’

 The Promised Neverland

Season two of “The Promised Neverland” is said to be released on January 7, 2021! The story is set in the year 2025 and follows Emma, an 11 year old orphan along with 37 other orphaned children in their escape from the The Grace Field House orphanage after they realize a dark secret. In the trailer it shows a recap of what took place in season one with the group of orphans looking out as they had finally escaped. It’ll be amusing watching how these children fight for their freedom against the outside world. “The Promised Neverland” is a Japanese manga series written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demiz. This series is rated PG-13 due to some scenes being a bit too much for some. It holds a 4.9/5 stars rating on the streaming site “CrunchyRoll”! I’ve recently finished watching this anime and I honestly really loved it, the characters, the emotions, the storyline really dragged me in but the animation was so beautifully done I highly recommend it if you haven’t watched it yet. Ledesma had also agreed and stated “definitely, TPN has such a good storyline and season one really outdid itself with the animation and giving everyone emotion in certain parts.”          

High-Rise Invasion

 The upcoming anime adaptation of the gory death-game manga “High-Rise Invasion” is set to premiere in February 2021! The story follows Yuri Honjo, a highschool student who finds herself lost in an “abnormal space” where masked figures mercilessly slaughter their victims, in order to survive Yuri has to either kill the masked figures or be killed. She’s determined to survive in order to destroy the strange world, but what will her ultimate fate be? So for any horror fans out there, this may be a cool series to check out. Written and Illustrated by Tsuina Miura and Takahiro Oba, “High-Rise Invasion” is a Japanese horror and survival manga series. This series is rated R for violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content/graphic nudity, language and some drug use. As of currently the manga series is rated at 3.8/5 stars on “Abe Books” and “Good Reads!’ I’ve actually started reading it and I really enjoy it! I love the way the story develops suspense in nearly every chapter and always leaves you second-guessing what will happen, it can be a little cliche, but I’ve enjoyed it so far. 

 Sk8 the Infinity

    “Sk8 the Infinity” is scheduled to premiere in January of 2021! The story follows Reki, a second-year high school student who loves skateboarding, he ends up getting caught with an underground and dangerous skateboard race called “S.” The race is set at an abandoned mine where no rules are set so you can expect a lot of dirty racers and unique individuals to compete in the skateboard race battle. Upon viewing the trailer viewers can see that the animation is really smooth and fluid, it’s really well done so props to the animators. This new anime project will be brought to you by Anime Studio “BONES” and Director Hiroko Utsumi. As of now there aren’t reviews for the anime considering it hasn’t been released yet so people will have to wait for its release to find out if it’s worth watching or not. I really think this anime will be worth watching considering the animation looks really good and I just know seeing the character race in action will be exciting! I also really liked the character designs for the cast. 

Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

       Another manga series getting an anime adaptation is “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro” which is premiering sometime in mid-2021! The story follows Nagatoro as she observes her introverted male classmate who constantly gets bullied by their female classmates. She realizes that oddly enough it may be exactly what he needs so she begins to tease him constantly, and as her teasing continues it slowly turns sardonic and flirtatious, he later then catches on. “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro” is a Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by Nanashi. The manga series currently holds a 4/5 star score on the website “Good Reads!” I honestly loved the art style a lot but Nagatoro’s actions really were a bit too much at some points and I found Senpai normalising Nagatoro’s actions to be just an open door for her to take advantage and push her bullying past the limit. Although she does apologize for some of her actions it still doesn’t really sit right with me. But overall I did somewhat enjoy the manga but Nagatoro’s behavior towards Senpai at the beginning did bother me. 

Although my opinion on the manga was a little negative Ledesma felt the opposite and said  “Yeah dude, I binged the manga the other night and loved the whole thing. I thought the romance between the two protagonists was really nice with the additional comedy.”

        That’s it for this list on some of the many animes premiering in 2021! I hope you enjoyed this list and I wanna give a special thank you to Toni Rose Ledesma for her input on the list! I highly recommend checking out all of the animes and mangas listed here and whether you end up liking them or not, at least you tried something new!