Welcome to Anime News Network's Winter 2020 Preview Guide! Here's how it goes: our team of critics write up their impressions instantly, to be posted here as they go along. Each critic will cover as many shows as they can handle, giving you alternate takes on most every show.
The guide is ongoing, organized by series and updated multiple times a day. Throughout the next week or two, we'll be updating as often as possible with new perspectives on new episodes from our team of critics. New reviews will be posted as soon as they're written, with each critic's name being added to the roster beneath the show's title. Check back a couple of times every day during the guide, and you're likely to see new shows pop up with multiple takes to enjoy!
Please remember that this is a preview guide. It is designed to give you a taste of the first episode of a show with a preliminary opinion and a few thoughts on whether or not the show has potential. These are not intended to be blanket judgments of these series as a whole. All reviews use the same ratings scale: 1-5, with 1 being the lowest. Shows that are available streaming online will be indicated as such.
Click on the survey at the top of each show's page to vote for your personal score and see how other people scored the show!
The Girl I Want Is So Handsome! maintains a sense of light playfulness throughout, and it doesn't dip too hard into melodrama for most of the run.― Like its title suggests, The Girl I Want is So Handsome! is a very basic and straightforward manga. When I was given a chance to review this series, all I wanted was a sweet, gay romance between a shy and bubbly high school student and her cool athletic ...
Nobuaki Nakanishi directs anime, with Mizukami, Yūichirō Momose on series composition― Manga creator Satoshi Mizukami revealed on Monday that his Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer (Hoshi no Samidare) manga is inspiring a television anime adaptation that will premiere this summer. Nobuaki Nakanishi (Koihime Musō, Mahōjin Guru Guru, Kasimasi - Girl Meets Girl) is directing the anime. Mizukami's comment o...
Suspect allegedly spiked drinks of girl cosplayers― Content warning: The below article contains descriptions of sexual assault and rape. Chiba City police arrested and charged a 49-year-old male on January 21 on suspicion of "quasi-rape" (the legal term in Japan for forced sexual attempts on individuals who are unconscious or unable to resist) and attempted "quasi-rape" of at least six female cospla...
Suwabe focuses on recuperating after testing positive on Saturday― Talent agency Haikyo announced on Monday that voice actor Junichi Suwabe has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Suwabe had previously come into possible close contact with a person infected with COVID-19, and thus began to self-isolate. He had an issue with his throat on Saturday, so he took a PCR test which ...
The Vampire Dies in No Time is precisely what you'd expect from a series that ends with a dance-off. It's silly, features an inexplicably furry armadillo, and involves vampiric veggies that are scarier to cook than live lobster― If there's one thing you can say about The Vampire Dies in No Time, it's that it absolutely doesn't lie: within the first few minutes Draluc, the main but by no means only v...
Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team received a brand new story installment titled NEXT DREAM that is penned by none other than Captain Tsubasa's creator Yōichi Takahashi himself.― Back in September, the football simulation game Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team received a brand new story installment titled NEXT DREAM that is penned by none other than Captain Tsubasa's creator Yoichi Takahashi himself. Anime News ...
BELLE's English dub impressed us with its casting of the 19-year-old Kylie McNeill in her first voice acting role. Lauren Orsini spoke to the voice team about the casting and performances in NYAV's dub.― BELLE, the latest film from Mamoru Hosoda, is also one of the director's most ambitious. Aside from its smooth animation and fairytale art, it also features a score of bold, evocative musical number...
All in all, this volume of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End turns out to be just as good—if not better—than the first.― In general, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a manga that utilizes both serialized and standalone storytelling. Sometimes, events may flow naturally from one chapter to the next. Other times, we get a chapter that is unrelated to any overarching narrative. And there are also one-shots...
Ahead of its opening in North American theaters, find out why Kim Morrissy calls the new film by Time of Eve director Yasuhiro Yoshiura a "breezy family-friendly film that's easy to recommend to pretty much anyone."― In a year with both Mamoru Hosoda's BELLE and WIT Studio's Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-, a story about a singing AI robot doesn't seem like much of a novelty. But although Sing a Bit of H...
Jacki Jing spoke with the English voice cast of Sing a Bit of Harmony about why you must see this emotional anime movie.― Jacki Jing spoke with the English voice cast of Sing a Bit of Harmony about why you must see this emotional anime movie, including Megan Shipman (Shion), Risa Mei (Satomi), Jordan Dash Cruz (Toma), Ian Sinclair (Gotchan) and Brina Palencia (ADR Song Director).
Good lord. What a week to be into games, am I right? I'm sure everybody has thoughts and hopes and fears about Microsoft's impending Activision-Blizzard assimilation… and I'd like to hear all of them!― ~~ 𝒯𝓊𝑒𝓈𝒹𝒶𝓎, 𝒥𝒶𝓃 𝟣𝟪𝓉𝒽 ~~ -- 𝒜𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓍𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝟩:2𝟢 𝒜𝑀 𝒫𝒮𝒯 -- *may be slightly dramatized Ahh, crap. Why the hell did I wake up so early? I stayed up way too late last night tidying up my Windjammers 2 revi...
RightStuf - Anime, Manga and More