Anime winter season 2017-2018

The new year fast approaches, bringing us a new anime season. Looking at the shows scheduled to air this winter, I picked out the following new series to watch.

• Violet Evergarden
  Adapting the light novel “ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン” into anime, this new show from renowned studio Kyoto Animation is highly anticipated after its promotional videos promised it would be a stunning visual spectacle. With an intriguing plot premise and plenty of room for interesting character development, am very much looking forward to “Violet Evergarden” although I do hope our high expectations of it will not lead to disappointment.
• Overlord II
  After two compilation movies that recapped the first season were released earlier, this excellent isekai fantasy tale that features a fresh approach to its protagonist is back for a second season. Enjoyed the first “Overlord” anime so am thrilled it is getting a sequel, am curious to discover where its story will take us.
• Yurucamp△
  My favourite anime genre being slice-of-life style shows, am looking forward to this anime adaptation of the “ゆるキャン△” manga which promises to be a leisurely, heartwarming story of five girls enjoying camping. Hope this new anime will be a good mix of slice-of-life elements featuring endearing characters spending time together in the breathtaking landscapes of Japan’s countryside like “Yama no Susume”, “Non Non Biyori” and “Flying Witch”.
• Hakumei to Mikochi
  Another slice-of-life show am looking forward to is “Hakumei to Mikochi”, a fantasy story about the daily life of two forest dwarf girls. Its promotional video suggests it will be a lovely tale of two girls their everyday lives in the forest where everything is near gigantic compared to their tiny size. The animation style and muted colours, accompanied by soothing tunes promises this anime will be a joy to watch.
• Slow Start
  Many slice-of-life anime often weave an idyllic story of endearing, cute school girls going about blissful everyday lives where everything is seen through rose-coloured glasses, making them a very soothing experience. Looking at the promotional materials for “Slow Start”, have no doubt this will be fluffy, heartwarming anime about cute girls doing cute things in school, much like “Sketchbook ~full color’S~”, “Wakaba*Girl” or “Kiniro Mosaic”.
• Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san
  Not sure if this will primarily be a school comedy or a more slice-of-life centric culinary show, but the promotional video convinced me to try out this adaptation of the “ラーメン大好き小泉さん” manga. Am hoping it will be a solid anime with lots of culinary goodness like “Koufuku Graffiti” or “Amaama to Inazuma”
• Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san
  The premise of boy and girl sitting next to each other in class leading to silly shenanigans is not new, anime like “Tonari no Seki-kun” and “Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun” gave their own spin on it, from all-out slapstick comedy to classic romantic comedy. The promotional videos for “Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san” suggest this will be a lovely comedy about two classmates with excellent chemistry between them and the entertaining twist that Takagi is an expert at teasing Nishikata.
• Fate/Extra Last Encore
  Even though “Fate/Apocrypha” did not live up to my expectations in terms of consistent animation quality level and character depth in its storytelling after “Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works” set the bar so high, am nonetheless looking forward to “Fate/Extra Last Encore”. Am keen to discover what visual spectacle studio Shaft will create for this anime adaptation of the “Fate/Extra” game, they will surely bring a new style and flair to this franchise.
• Darling in the Franxx
  An original anime project by studios Trigger and A-1 Pictures, am curious to discover how “Darling in the Franxx” will turn out. Considering what was shown in the promotional videos, this may turn out to be a thrilling mecha style action anime with plenty of room for compelling storytelling knowing studio Trigger’s involvement.
• Dagashi Kashi 2
  Enjoyed the first season of “Dagashi Kashi” although its focus on exposition about classic Japanese candy did not make it a memorable series for me, it did not achieve the level of excellence in either being a great slice-of-life series or a great comedy anime that I had hoped it would. Did however adore its character design style and appreciated the show’s solid animation throughout, hence am unsure what to think of this sequel whose character designs seem rather different from the first series.

What new anime do you plan on watching?