God is Dead, Long Live Takopi

Forget everything I said about Takopi’s Original Sin being “tough to recommend” and watch one of the most uncompromisingly and stunningly realised works of animated art this wretched decade has brought forth so far.

First Look: The Summer Hikaru Died

Stuck in a boring countryside town with parents who do nothing but argue, Yoshiki Tsujinaka has no one but his best friend Hikaru to rely on. Their friendship is put at risk, however, when Yoshiki discovers that Hikaru has been dead for months, and his entire being has been taken over by a mysterious eldritch creature.

First Look: Takopi’s Original Sin

Takopi, an alien from planet Happy, crash-lands on Earth to fulfil his lifelong goal of spreading joy across the universe, and meets 9-year-old Shizuka Kuze, who is subjected to relentless bullying from her classmates. Determined to save Shizuka from her miserable predicament, Takopi quickly finds out that happiness is a lot harder to find than it might seem…

First Look: Magilumiere Magical Girls, Inc.

In a world where “magical girl” is as common a profession as any, college graduate Kana Sakuragi is struggling to find a job. Yet when a monster disrupts her latest interview and Kana gets a taste of what working as a magical girl actually entails, she finally discovers a career opportunity that allows her to put her unique skills into practice.

First Look: Blue Box

Taiki Inomata is obsessed with badminton and the cute girl who practices her basketball in their school’s gymnasium. Will he ever muster up the courage to go talk to her? Does anyone care?

First Look: Makeine — Too Many Losing Heroines!

By mere coincidence, Kazuhiki Nukumizu witnesses his classmate Anna Yanami having her heart broken by the boy she has been in love with for years. Much against his wishes, this makes him the ideal person for Anna to vent her frustrations to, sparking the beginning of a peculiar friendship.

First Look: Suicide Squad ISEKAI

When the American government discovers a portal to another dimension, the ruthless Amanda Waller engineers a plot to send in a “suicide squad” of imprisoned supervillains. With nano bombs inserted into their necks to enforce total obedience, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Clayface, Peacemaker and King Shark are promised a reduced sentence if they help Waller achieve her mysterious objectives in this world of magic and monsters.

First Look: Girls Band Cry

Looking to start a new life in the big city, high school dropout Nina bumps into Momoka Kawaragi, the guitarist of her favourite up-and-coming band. Unfortunately, the band in question has just decided to call it quits, and Momoka is preparing to give up on music entirely.

First Look: Metallic Rouge

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion… I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain… Time to die.

First Look: SHY

In an era when superpowered individuals have ushered in unprecedented peace and prosperity, Teru Momijiyama, a.k.a. Shy, is the young costumed heroine charged with representing Japan in a global alliance against an impending alien threat. Unfortunately, as her name implies, Teru suffers from severe social anxiety and would rather not don the mask she’s been made to wear at all.

A Very GLORIO 2022: Aqua is extremely boring

This is it, folks. I have officially hit rock bottom. I’m going to be boring. I’m going to give you my five favourite shows of the year, and my thoughts on them, and that’s it. So put on your beige shirt and produce some kind of monotonous grunt to express your excitement in a respectable fashion. Here are — deep sigh — the shows of 2022 I want to shout ou— err, I mean, highlight. Boringly.