Top Upcoming Anime 2021 Part 2

Action

Pipe Wrench Boy by Yu Yanshu

Pipe Wrench Boy in many ways is a nostalgic work. It is not a new work in fact it started way back in 2008 over 10 years ago. Perhaps what stands out to me from this series is the setting a sci fi setting involving many 'engineers' people who uses various mechanic weapons and tools for fight. The story focuses on two brothers Suya and Subi who both want to receive the grand engineer title by winning the World Engineer Tournament. The story starts of in a small village and they both set out in their own journey to attend school to be able to become better engineers. 

The story seems very shounenesque and that is on purpose this a series featuring the themes of those type of series, hot blooded, passion and effort. In a sense, many adults nowadays grew up with Naruto, Bleach and One Piece the likes and Pipe Wrench Boy whilst it might not reach the height of those series it can touch people in a similar way to those series. It has  and passionate fights which will look great animated and whilst it might have a simple story that is not always great, it has heart and people that want should check this one out. 

The animation in the PV I admit does not look particularly awesome, It features a blend of 3D CGI and 2D. In a way that somewhat resembles Studio Orange and Lidens Films works. It is the first time the studio MH Heros is handling a full series and alongside Pipe Wrench Boy they are also working in a series called Shanghai Melody. This might be a worry but I am hopeful. 

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 Mystery 

Yang Yao The Spirit Catcher - Xiao Shi Li & Shi Zi Qing

Another manhua adaptation to look forward for 2021. This series reminds me of Mushishi and Natsume no Yuujinchou in its feel for the former and its theme for the latter. What does this mean you might ask?Let me explain, In regards to the former the resemblance in theme is pronounced in the usage of paintings to capture spirits and to control them. Yang Yao the protagonist as the title suggest does this and similarly to Natsume no Yuujinchou it involves many emotions rather than just a plain fight to beat the evil spirt. 

The Mushishi feel is also linked in away to how the series is formed by small arcs involving characters which makes it feel somewhat episodic. In addition, the entrance of Yang Yao is sometimes the catalyst for the events but these small story involve more so the people he involves himself with him which is something prevalent in Mushishi. However, unlike Mushishi it has an overarching story that unveils over these smaller arcs. 

The PV does not show much but it does show some decent animation and the studio in charge of it is Thundray. A studio that has not been in charge of many works till now, they have a lot of experience working as subcontractor in japanese works. More recently, they also worked together with Blade, a japanese studio on Cooking with Valkyries. Alongside this series they also are heading the project for Chu Feng SOE which might be a worry since they have two ongoing projects but hopefully they deliver on both fronts. 

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To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Oima

This is a great series with a clear theme. It focuses on a being that appears into the world, but most significantly is that the fact it is immortal and whilst it takes the shape of a wolf at first it takes the form of a boy later. It dies many times but regenerates and learns after every death. In a sense it this being completely broken away from the characters in the rest of the series that are mortal and can die. It learns from the humans, their emotions, and how to talk and the likes whilst witnessing their struggles with living in a harsh world. 

It is a interesting setting primarily because the main character is primarily a figure that observers. 

The series does involve other characters but the main character is the focal point of the narrative but the story is not about him per say but what he is witnessing. This is perhaps ironic because this being was cast onto the word by someone that wants to witness its story into the world and this is an invitation for us as well to do the same. I believe this provides for a very interesting narrative and it allows itself to focus on the experiences of others from the unique perspective of a immortal being. For fans of mystery and human drama this series hit the right notes.

Brains Base will be handling the animation for this series whilst that in itself is not too important, what is more important is that it has an experienced director. The PV feels just like it should be and I am excited to 'observe.'

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Slice of Life

Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san by Aiko Koyama

A series that will illustrate a particular part of Japanese culture that perhaps is misunderstood in the western world and more widely. In Maiko-san, we have the main character Kiyo who is living in a lodge with many other aspiring geisha which are called maiko and that is where the title comes from. For Kiyo, however, the dream is over but her love for it and her friends made her stay and work instead as a caretaker for the lodge. The story follows her as she lives with these apprentices and shows us how the life of not only these maiko attempts to become geisha but also of actual geisha. It is an incredibly enjoyable experience for someone interested in learning other cultures. 

It is perhaps because of that that it is not surprising to see that this series is produced by NHK, Japan public network. I say that because it is a work that talks about Japanese culture and in a sense Maiko is made for that but it embeds it into a sweet story of friendship as well which is where the slice of life aspect appears. It is not a dramatic series even though Maiko could not achieve her dream because she is happy to be in the part of the life of geisha and seeing her friends succeed. It is a wonderful warm work that will make you cozy and happy whilst telling you a lot about something incredibly interesting which is the culture of geisha. 

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Let's Make A Mug Too' by Planet

A series that resembles another one i have put in list prior, Rescue Academia. It is likewise that series a project primarily driven to promote tourism of Tajimi and the local specialty ceramics and its own customs.  It unlike that show however, is based of a manga which was creature back in 2012 and has been on going since then and it has been created for the same aim. You might be wondering what's the point of putting series like this? First, this series is rather enjoyable in itself, it is rather soothing slice of life series dealing with a girl adjusting to a new environment and experience the local culture and making friends whilst at it. These sort of setting and story line is rather common but it is a prime setting to explore a new environment and teach and show the viewer the wonders of the local places in a way that fits the wider narrative.

Secondly, and perhaps more personally my interest on this series like Rescue Academia originates from my interest in learning different cultures. Like Rescue Academia is also interesting to see how cities have to adjust themselves to a new age where they have to look things like anime, social media to appeal people to visit the town. It has shown to be effective in a way with shows like Yuru Camp driving many people to the places the girls camped. 

In regards to animation this series will be handled by Nippon Animation, one of the oldest studios in japan and one that has done many series throughout the year. The director Kamiya Jun is rather experienced with many differences genres so this series is in safe hands. This is likewise the case for the rest of the main staff. So If you want a warm series and see new places this is the series for you.  

Top Upcoming Anime 2021

Top lists are always an entertaining to make because it gives a way for people to look into the future and express an exciting of a forth coming work. I do first want to set certain regulations for what can make into the list.

First. I will exclude any sequels because any sequel will have a certain levels of exciting from people who enjoyed the first season. I want to avoid works like this because I want to highlight exciting for a show in itself not because it is a continuation of another one.

Second, I can not guarantee all shows in this list will be adaptation of works, so if they are original works I will only be able to base my recommendation on Preview Visuals and descriptions. 

Comedy

Jue Ding by Xiao Xin Yu

A great wuxia comedy series that people have compared to Cromartie High School. I can see why but there is a key difference, Jue Ding actually has a serious setting whilst Cromartie setting is wacky from the beginning. In Jue Ding in this serious martial arts world, the characters are goofy.  It is precisely this contrast between the serious setting and the cast of goofy characters that makes this a brilliant comedy. The main character is incredibly strong and is the leader of a fearful gang but he is insecure over his baldness. His baldness and overall presence means he is often mistaken as just a henchman and not the actual boss. A mistake that only serves to grow his insecurities. 

In order to resolve this, his right hand man a man with white long hair who is instead often mistaken as boss shaves his head and that of many of the gang members. This means people mistakenly believe they have become buddhist which is a joke in itself which is played in the boss when he visits a temple to speak to someone. To resolve this once and for all the main characters seeks a formula to grow his hair again and along the way meets many wacky characters in many different situations. In one for example a man seeks to challenge the gang leader and attacks the vice-leader instead who responds in a dramatic way that he is not the leader.

This is a surely to be a great comedy series in a genre that is not usually shown in anime. The art of the manhua is excellent and if the anime replicates that it is surely to going to be great. 

This is a chinese work and chinese studios are much newer but the one in charge of this is QI Ling Shi - or Seven Stone Entertainment.  They have done a lot of animation work for japanese works before and more recently have been in charge of a couple of chinese works themselves. Their latest works in 2020 were Wuxian Shaonu 48, Jieyao. The former was an fantasy idol shows with girls from different dimensions and with many powers whilst Jieyao was a boy's love drama series. Both seemed seemed perfectly decent shows so I do not think this series should have technical issues though we do not have any staff news yet.

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The Vampire Dies in No Time by Bonnoki Itaru

What can I say about a series where the main character dies at the drop of a hat. Draluc is a vampire but he is incredibly weak and dies easily in fact almost every chapter even multiple times sometimes to the level that a counter of his death is one of the running gags of the series. 

There are many wacky characters to match Draluc, one of these characters is Ronaldo. The vampire hunter and writer who is living with a vampire, Draluc. Ronaldo is usually the straight man but he often also plays along in many hijinks. His editor that carries a large axe with is usually involved in those moments as rightfully so Ronaldo fears him with all his heart. There are many others characters that are very iconic and wacky but i will leave it to the anime to show them off. 

The primary reason you should watch for this series if you like comedy is that most of the jokes in this series are visual. Hence, they will work even better than in manga form in the anime. In addition, to the voices and interplay between the straight man and boke and the vast amount of ridiculous situation involving vampire hunters and vampires will have your laughing out loud. A must watch for fans of gag comedy like Osomatsu-kun and the likes. 

The studio in charge of it is Mad House but most importantly it has an experienced director and other key staff members. So, in the technical side it should be a decent show as well.  

Action 

Ousama Ranking by Sousuke Touka

A incredibly peculiar series and a surprising one at that since it began first as a web serialisation in Manga Hack, a site where anyone can publish their series. This is probably part of the reason this series has such an unique aesthetics for manga. it resembles instead some western comics, in that it has a simpler art style but one that nevertheless meshes very well with its story. 

The main character is the first prince, Bojji who is deaf and spends his day playing and hence he is looked down by the king's aides. The setting itself might not sound specifically interesting but how Bojji is rather small and how huge much bigger the other characters are especially the kind showcases his weakness. However, this is not a story about him getting revenge or really going against the people who think little of him but of Bojji himself growing. It is not an underdog story of Bojji proving his doubters wrong but about how his shadow friend and Bojji trains himself and gets stronger, not just physically but emotionally to overcome the obstacles and become king. 

WIT studio will be in charge of animating this excellent work. Wit usually delivers good works but i am hesitant to affirm this without knowledge of the staff but the visual gives me hope. They have very good content to adapt in this series which goes a long way in itself, so this is one to watch out for. It is a very good series with a lot of personality that I feel a lot of anime nowadays simply can do hope to have. 

Rescue Academy by Gaina

Perhaps an odd pick since this is a original anime aimed at kids. It is project aimed at promoting the Fukushima prefecture that has been hit badly by the accident in its nuclear electrical factory in 2011. I do acknowledge that this might play a part in my interest in this series since it is an interesting way to promote a city or prefecture. It does seem like the series will showcase a lot of local landmarks and specialties which is of personal interest to me.  However, I am also interested in the setting and the story.

The robots aesthetics reminds me significantly of Medabots, a series from the early 2000s.  It is nostalgic for me because that was a series I watched in my youth but also robots are not present in anime all that often, there are many large piloted robots anime but series with actual partner robots are not that frequent. It is an interesting novelty in its own way. 

In addition, I am also looking forward to what this series promises, which is a story about budding friendship between people and robots. It is perhaps a bad reason to look forward to a series since it is purely based on nostalgia. But I am looking forward to seeing a series with a clear aiming which is to showcase the good points of a place through a simple story.

The studio behind this series is Gaina and its an original work. There is not much information to go as result so this is probably more so than the others series in this list a bet. 

The Blade of The Guardians by Xu Xian Zhe

A bloody manhua with a historical setting with some supernatural elements in the mix as well, it has also been published in Japan  in Manga DX. It features a man and a child travelling the world gathering bounty to pay his debts whilst looking for a man  whilst a deeper story unravels.

However, what I think is the big marking point of this series is the sword hacking action, the story is decent as well of course, but I believe the great point of the animation will really be how it showcases the fast and bloody sword fights. The first Preview Video showcases this well and hopefully the rest of the anime is as well animated as it promises. 

The studio behind this show is Coloured Pencil which has been in charge of The King's Avatar. The staff of The Blade of The Guardians has not been announced yet but Coloured Pencil has shown itself to be very competent. So if you are looking for some fast paced hack and slash action, this series is one to watch out for. 

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Great Unpopular Series

The idea of underrated or under appreciated works always leads think me to question whether a series can actually be under anything like it deserves better. For these things in particular I do realise that it might be a perception that something maybe is seen by a majority of people as not great but to some people it maybe it holds a specific level of quality. It is a interesting debate because we recognise that people have different tastes and a work might not touch a lot of people but it might resonate with some people maybe because it explores a particular theme or had a peculiar premise. So I want to highlight works like these here in this list, works that I enjoyed that are not really popular or maybe people did not seem to like them very much. 

Tetsuko no Tabi - MAL Score - 6,35 - Users - 367

This anime is both unpopular and under appreciated. I am not too surprised at this because it is a niche series. I personally enjoyed it precisely because it is something rather unique. What is unique about it you might ask? Well that is probably the fact that is a series all about the JR, the Japanese railway system.  

The story is about an author that gets tricked into writing a manga about travelling but unbeknownst to her it is quite literally about travelling, and accompanying her is the travel writer/ tetsuko (railway otaku.) So the series is literally about how she, her editor and the travel writer go around Japan using the widespread JR system.  It does not focus on the place they visit but the train stations since they hop from one train to another since their aim is to visit train stations and experience travelling in the JR system.

It is series with a particular focus that obviously means it is not for everyone, in that sense it is a niche series. This niche-ness shows itself in its lack of popularity in all anime sites like MAL and the likes. It is also rather lowly rated in such sites. It is not masterpiece but I feel like it is a refreshing series that can be rather peaceful and also show people a bit of the nature of Japan and its well developed transport system. 

It is not a technically impressive series either and the character designs are not great either. But it does have beautiful scenery and soothing music, so it is a great relaxing series that is probably not seen by many people because of its initial image and setting. 

Binchou-tan - MAL Score - 6.93 - Users - 3.471

Another series that is not very popular, but this one seems to be regarded higher by people who watched at least according to MAL and other sites like it. It a short with only around 12 minutes duration plus it is like Tetsuko no Tabi now an older series. Similarly to it is also a slice of life series but it is a very different one. 

Binchou-tan is a series about a girl that lives  in a forest, who often goes into the city for work. She is rather poor and after the death of her grandmother has been living alone. Throughout the series she meets various other girls and makes friends with them. I do realise this is a series basically shaped around the characters who are all various different types of charcoal. Binchou-tan is one of those but she is the main character and the company that owns the mascot character, alchemist was one of the producers of the anime. 

There is no real story here, its just the daily life of the characters working, making friends and playing together. What specifically captivated me about this story, however, was the soundtrack which is so subtle and fits really well with the natural environment. it is rather quite series in that sense, so it is genuinely an excellent iyashikei work that warms my cynical heart.

Cooking With Valkyries - MAL Score - 6.85 - 1,701 Users.

A strange work to put in this list, I know it is Chinese which means its unpopularity is probably mostly because people do not really know it exists. It is like Binchou-tan a short series in fact its even shorter with run time usually only being around 5 minutes. It however a rather interesting series focusing around cooking with the characters from the game Honkai Impact.

The series is rather simple, there is not story per say but it develops a specific characters in every episode that focuses on the characters as well as a particular dish. It is incredibly healing series with very soothing low key music that masks so well with the series that it hardly noticeable. in addition to that every dish 's recipe is detailed at the end of the episode, so it also has that educational aspect for anyone interested in recreating the dishes in the series. 

It as incredibly appealing series for even people that are not fans of Hounkai Impact like I am. It does make you feel a bit clueless at the start because the series seems to take it for granted that you know the characters and that is probably its only issue. But you do grow to know the characters through the episodes themselves so it does not feel as worse as it could have been. 

The animation for it is also rather well done, unlike the other series in this list it does focuses more on characters so there is less scenery. As a result the world feels much smaller to a series like Tetsuko and even Bichou-tan, even though it supposedly much larger. Of course, this is a consequence of what the series is at the end of the a series focused on a character not on the world. 

Kemurikusa -

An original work by Tatsuki, the director of the first season and surprising hit kemono friends. This is a series that seems to be largely overlooked simply because of the cheap CGI which was also present in Kemono Friends. It indeed looks dated and cheap but underneath that is a incredible story. 

The setting is a post apocalypse world and the main character, who has no memories, finds himself together with a set of sister trying to find resources to survive. It is a gloomy series with things looking rather hopeless as the fights are hard fought and we know there have been deaths in the groups previously and this creates an atmosphere of doom and gloom to the viewer that continues through every episode. 

However, that in itself is not necessarily why this series is great. In fact the reason, I believe it to be great is the story telling, which is natural. It flows incredibly well without any information dumps or poor exposition. The viewer is instead very much like the characters in the series clueless, as to what  happened to the world. Throughout the series there are tiny hints of exposition that gradually form the picture of what happened and this is what Tatsuki and this series excels at. It can actually show a story instead of only tell it to viewer, it can immerse and leave the viewer curious and even perhaps confused as they try to from the hints understand the picture before it is unveiled. If what you want is an interesting story then you will find it here in this series, i guarantee. 

Kamichu -

Another series that is somehow misunderstood, the main character in this series finds that she has become a god. This could be easily misunderstood for western audiences and the idea of god from the western abrahamic judeo tradition that is prominent within western culture. She is a god in the shinto sense, which might be better described as kami instead of using the word god with the connotations it has in western culture. 

Hence, she has become a kami and it gradually unveils how this has happened. However, this is not the focus of the series, the series is about her life and her friends and getting accustomed to this new state. This includes her attempts to get the attention of her crush and her friends using her kami state to boosts visits to their shrine. Alongside all this is her composed friend that has to accomodate to the strange events. I believe the blend of shinto cultural aspects such as the idea of kami means but also what they represent embedded into a slice of life series allows it to be a very interesting and soothing experience for slice of life fans. 

In addition, the animation of this series is excellent. The visuals and the animation are incredibly fluid and stunning. Of course, the pacing and the flow of the story likewise is also natural which is probably one of the benefits of being an original work, so the animation staff and the storyboard and screen compositor and script writer all can work together to create a natural work instead of piecing together someone's else work.  Finally, the music fits incredibly well with the rest of the work, so this a technically impressive work as well as a great slice of life series.

Windy Tales

Windy Tales has a specific artstyle that probably turned many people away in the past but I think it stands out in its unique style nowadays. This series has a very intriguing feeling, its for the most part a slice of life series with supernatural elements. These supernatural elements being that wind users exists who can use the power of the wind to do many things. One of the main characters Nao witness a cat using this power and discovers that her maths teacher Taiki was the one who taught it. 

She becomes interest in learning how to do it herself alongside the other members of the photography club. In this self contained story, we have many stories exploring various issues such as budding romance, familial drama and the likes. How these themes are explored in conjunction with its general daily life feel adds a spray of realism even if the art style of the series is rather surreal. It is an odd but interesting experience to watch this series. 

 

IYASHIKEI - Why does it feel so good.

There are many Iyashikei series but the term itself seems to be misunderstood as a genre or sub genre of manga and anime. This is not the case, but first lets clear up any misunderstand of the term isyashikei, Iyashi means healing, and the term kei refers to  type. So iyashikei means something has healing faculties. However, what does that exactly mean? 

The healing does not refer to physical or physiological sense instead it is a form of mood regulation or in simpler terms; it is a form of relaxation. The origin of this idea does not originally come from manga or anime instead it comes from a wider movement in Japan that eventually reached animation and comics. 

The trend for Iyashikei reached a boom in Japan the late 1990s, it was aided by the difficult period that Japan faced during that period of the 90s as it suffered tragedies like the Kobe earthquake in 1995 but also the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist attack in the Tokyo subways in 1997. In addition to all that, there was the stagnation of the Japanese economy after the bubble economy collapsed all within that same decade. It was a completely different period from the economic miracle of the 60s that lead to a growth  optimism that partially continued in the 70s too.

These events left a scathing mark in Japanese society which faced economic restructuring which  continues to this day with the persistence of slow economic growth. It was in this context that there was a development of a boom of 'iyashi' or healing. This came in the form of a interest in pursuing things like creams, therapy but also music and literature that could provide a form of relaxation from the stress of modern life. These all aimed to provide a soothing experience in music for example through ambience calming music and in literature through stories that bring optimism and other positive feelings. It is precisely through this process of soothing the mood of the recipient and bringing out a positive feeling that it is a 'healing' experience. 

Of course, this trend spilled over in to the visual medium that is animation and many anime try to replicate this healing effect. This is possible because it can simply embed the iyashikei aspects of literature and music and blend them alongside the animation to attempt to provide an even greater healing experience. 

Anime fits well for Iyashikei for various aspects but one of them is the usage of music which as highlighted above was also a key part of the healing boom. Healing music is innately tied to natural  sounds like rainfall, oceans waves or the cries of animals like whales accompanying low sounding instrumental tracks. These sounds all fit in the healing idea because they have a soothing element by posing a closer to nature link away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Iyashikei anime excel at using these and visual imagery to visualise a peaceful place as it  drifts of into scenery animation with the ambient nature sounds for a occasional moments. This together with a more down to earth ambient quite a more natural feel and regulates the mood by emulating relaxing sounds of nature which in turn makes fits the countryside setting of the series. The visual aspect which is the most important in animation mixes well exactly because of this blend of the music and scenery which is a key part of the healing series.