My Most Anticipated Anime for Fall 2019

50 new anime are premiering this fall season. Here are the ones I’m looking forward to. And for the first time ever, they’re all sequels!

Note: Entries are listed in alphabetical order

Image source: 【公式】Fate/Grand Order -絶対魔獣戦線バビロニア- on Twitter

Fate/Grand Order: War Against the Demonic Beasts Babylonia 

Genre: Time Travel Fantasy, Fighting

Studio: CloverWorks

Premiere date: October 5, 2019

What it’s about: When a group of mages builds a machine to see the future, they discover that humanity will be extinct within a year. The reason? Something has caused seven changes to the past, each of which will result in the end of mankind. Thus, they have no choice but to send a mage back in time to set right what has gone wrong. Unfortunately, due to sabotage, the fate of the world rests on the back of Ritsuka Fujimaru, a terribly weak mage, and Mash, a homunculus girl who has been merged with a hero from Arthurian legend.

After fixing the first six time anomalies, our heroic duo arrives at the seventh: Ancient Babylon. But this time, they’re not simply facing heroes from myth and legend–they’re facing the ancient gods themselves. 

Why I’m excited: As a longtime player of Fate/Grand Order, I am well acquainted with this story. It is one of the game’s best story arcs–especially if you are a fan of Gilgamesh. It’s got lots of twists and turns in the plot and a fantastic cast of legendary characters. 

But what I’m most interested to see is if it is possible to make Fujimaru, the player proxy, an interesting character. After all, in the game, all he does is command the servants to do things–rarely getting into fights himself. And as he is your proxy, his personality is left rather sparse so you can pretend you are him while playing. So he’s basically a blank slate and I’m interested to see what they do with him.

Watch it if you like: Fate/stay night, Fate/zero

Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Wakanim (EU), AnimeLab (AU/NZ)

Image source: TVアニメ「ハイスコアガール」公式 on Twitter

High Score Girl II

Genre: Coming of Age, Romance, Retro Video Game History

Studio: J.C. Staff

Premiere date: October 26, 2019

What it’s about: In the late 1980s, elementary schooler Hauro is the king of his local arcade–and when it comes to Street Fighter II, he is unbeatable. Then he is thoroughly trounced by Akira, the class princess. What starts as a rivalry becomes a friendship–and perhaps a romance–that spans two decades of retro gaming in Japan.

The second season continues the story through their high school days. While Koharu–a girl who has had a crush on Haruo since middle school–battles to win his heart, Akira must deal with her ever more depressing home life. For his part, Haruo continues immersing himself in gaming culture before being forced to decide how he really feels about the two girls. 

Why I’m excited: Not only is this anime a fantastic romance story, it’s a love letter to retro gaming as well. If you’ve ever wondered what gaming culture in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s was like in Japan, this is the series for you. It also helps that the games and such shown off are the actual games–not some copyright dodging knock offs.

Watch it if you like: High Score Girl, Wotakoi, Gamers!

Where to watch: Netflix (Eventually…)

Image source: 僕のヒーローアカデミア_アニメ公式 on Twitter

My Hero Academia (Season 4)

Genre: Superhero

Studio: Bones

Premiere date: October 12, 2019 

What it’s about: With their last adventure hardly behind them, Midoriya and his fellow super heroes-in-training prepare for the next step in their education: long term internships with pro-heroes. But this is not the same as their previous field training with the pros. With the right mentor, it’s possible to go from the bottom to the top of the superhero world.

But just because our heroes are entering the next stage of their training doesn’t mean that the villains are standing still. Even as the new blood gets ready to take their place in the limelight, an old-school villainous crime syndicate is already making its move.

Why I’m excited: This arc of the story focuses on the fallout to come from the retirement of All Might. To put it in general terms, we are seeing the My Hero Academia equivalent of a world without Superman. Now there is a power vacuum and both sides–heroes and villains–rush to fill the void. This is the start of a transitional period where the entire superhuman community can be turned on its head. The question is, how can our heroes, still in school as they are, affect the crises that are sure to come.

Watch it if you like: One Punch Man, Marvel Movies

Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Funimation

Image source: PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス 公式 on Twitter

Psycho Pass (Season 3)

Genre: Cyberpunk Dystopia, Crime Thriller

Studio: Production I.G

Premiere date: October 17, 2019

What it’s about: In the future, civilization has all but collapsed–except in Japan. There, the people have adopted the Sibyl System–a computer capable of scanning a person’s mental state and calculating their potential for criminal activities. If your criminal coefficient is consistently over 100, you are imprisoned as a “latent criminal” regardless of whether you have committed any crimes or not. Over 300 and you’ll be executed by the system on the spot. 

While violent crime has been nearly eliminated, there is still the need for at least a token force of police. However, as an officer forced to deal with the criminal mind repeatedly could easily become a latent criminal, the police are paired with latent criminals who, in exchange for limited freedom, do the dirty work when needed. 

Why I’m excited: Since the last season of Psycho-Pass, we’ve had four films that have both expanded the greater world of the series and set the story up for things to come. Moreover, in the background of the three most recent films has been a subplot about the formation of a new paramilitary unit focused on actions outside of Japan. In short, they appear to be a rival group of sorts to Akane’s team of police we followed in the first two seasons. What they’re true plans are and how much they know about the system they serve, however, remains a mystery.

Watch it if you like: Psycho-Pass, Ghost in the Shell, Harmony

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Image source: アニメ ソードアート・オンライン 公式 on Twitter

Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld

Genre: Trapped in a Video Game

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Premiere date: October 10, 2019

What it’s about: After freeing her kingdom from an insane, theocratic dictator, magical knight Alice retreats from society in order to take care of her companion injured in the final battle. However, an even greater threat looms in the dark lands full of monsters that surround her kingdom–a threat that spells doom for her entire world. 

Meanwhile, outside of Alice’s virtual world, a black ops squad invades a research facility, seeking to capture humanity’s first true AI: Alice herself. The only thing that stands between them and their goal is a group of scientists, a handful of soldiers, and one young woman who once survived the infamous death game Sword Art Online.  

Why I’m excited: War of Underworld is what happens when you all but remove Kirito from Sword Art Online. With him out of the way, Asuna and Alice become the main characters–with Alice dealing with the internal threats to her world and Asuna the external ones. Of course, this distinction in roles becomes fuzzier as things move forward and the two worlds affect each other more directly. 

But more than that, War of Underworld isn’t just the ending of the Alicization arc. Rather it serves as the climax to the entirety of the Sword Art Online franchise. It calls back to events across all the anime that have come before and gives a satisfying conclusion to a story nearly a decade in the making.

Watch it if you like: Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, .hack//sign

Where to watch: Funimation

Top image source: TVアニメ「ハイスコアガール」公式 on Twitter