This season there are 54 new anime on the air, so it can be more than a little difficult to know which ones to watch. But now that the season has reached its half-way point, we at Kotaku East come bearing our recommendations.
Fellow Kotaku author Toshi Nakamura and I have spent the past few weeks getting fully caught up on all the fall 2015 seasonâs most well-recommended anime (as well as several additional ones that just happened to catch our interest). And now with bleary eyes (but satiated minds) we offer forth the five you should definitely check out.
https://tay.kinja.com/poll-the-best-anime-of-fall-2015-1740914352
Previously, we did a poll for this seasonâs most popular animeâso head on over there to see what everyone else is lovingâbut here are our five recommendations. And realize that your favorite show of this season might not be on this list (hello One-Punch Man!), but hey, thatâs the way it goes.
Beautiful Bones: Sakurakoâs Investigations (Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru )
Studio: Troyca
Currently at: Episode 5 (of 12)
Genre: Mystery
Non-Spoiler Plot Summary: Sakurako is a genius beauty in her mid-twenties whose life is centered around one thing and one thing only: bones. With little tolerance for others, she would be completely isolated in her study full of skeletons if it werenât for high school boy Shotaroâher new assistant and constant companion. Why exactly she has taken a shine to him remains a mystery, but one thing is clear: Whenever the two go out together, the chances are high that they will come across a human corpse.
Why You Should Watch It: Beautiful Bones is an excellently built forensic crime drama. Most episodes have a single mysteryâusually the two stumbling onto a murderâthat is brought to a close by the time the credits begin to roll. Yet at the same time, the series has a single serialized mysteryâa personal one instead of a criminal oneâwhy has Sakurako let Shotaro into her life.
Itâs also beautifully animated with a dark color palette often offset with scenes of vibrant color. Especially notable is the seriesâ reoccurring scene where Sakurako reassembles the episodeâs crime in her mind as if it were one of her skeletons. It is truly beautiful to behold.
Watch It If You Like: Bones, Sherlock (or any other story of an anti-social genius solving crimes).
Where You Can Watch It: Crunchyroll, Hulu
Lupin III
Studio: Telecom Animation Film
Currently at: Episode 6 (of 24)
Genre: Crime, Action, Comedy
Non-Spoiler Plot Summary: When Lupin III, the worldâs greatest thief, gets married to a rich Italian debutante while in pursuit of his latest score, he finds that his new bride may be too much for even him to handle.
Why You Should Watch It: This new series of Lupin III is a return to form for the decades old franchise. Set entirely in Italy, this anime guarantees a thrillingâand often comicalâadventure in each and every episode.
While all the old favorites returnâLupin, Fujiko, Goemon, Jigen, and Zenigataâthe seriesâ new characters stand on their own. The most interesting of these is, of course, Rebecca Lupin, an adrenaline junkie who longs to face off against her husband in a dangerous test of skill. Also joining the cast is Agent Nix, an obvious James Bond knock-off with no qualms about using his License to Kill to take Lupinâs gang out of the game permanently.
Best of all, with a planned 24 episodes, the series is happy to use some of its time on one-off character-piece episodes. Each one of these focuses on the main characters in solo adventures without the rest of the gangâs supportâshowing a side of them we donât often see.
Watch It If You Like: Lupin III, Burn Notice, Oceanâs 11
Where You Can Watch It: No Western Simulcast Announced
Mr. Osomatsu (Osomatsu-san)
Studio: Studio Pierrot
Currently at: Episode 6(of 12)
Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-Life
Non-Spoiler Plot Summary: When the identical child sextuplets from popular 1960s gag-anime Osomatsu-kun get the opportunity to return to TV in 2015, they quickly realize that their 50-year-old jokes will no longer work. Thus, they try to become an anime that will be popular todayâand end up being a series of skits following the sextuplets as deadbeat 20-somethings sponging off their aging mother and father.
Why You Should Watch It: Outside of the first episode (which is an amazing extended parody of the most popular anime of the past 30 years), Mr. Osomatsu is an anime of fast-paced slapstick and nothing but. Jokes come so often that even if a few miss the mark for you, youâll likely be laughing more often than not.
Sometimes the jokes are situational comedyâlike when one of thes brothers is kidnapped, only for the others to not really care. Other times the sketches are drawn out of popular cultureâlike an extended parody of the Saw horror franchise where Jigsaw canât seem to grab the correct one of the sextuplets to torture. When it comes down to it, Mr. Osomatsu is basically a story of six terrible people constantly getting their comeuppanceâand that, in and of itself, is pretty damn funny.
Watch It If You Like: SNL, Robot Chicken
Where You Can Watch It: Crunchyroll
Noragami Aragoto
Studio: Bones
Currently at: Episode 6 (of 12)
Genre: Modern Fantasy, Action, Comedy
Non-Spoiler Plot Summary: The god Yato has fallen on hard times and will do any jobâfrom toilet scrubbing to babysittingâfor a mere five yen. But once he was a god of calamityâan unstoppable god of destruction. And now, even though he has long since turned over a new leaf and has even gained a tight group of close friends, his old choices from so long ago have finally come back to haunt him.
Why You Should Watch It: The first season of Noragami was all set up. It introduced us to the world while building the interpersonal relationships of the three leads: Yato; his living weapon, Yuki; and Hiyori, the human girl (whose soul has a bad habit of leaving its body) that they befriended.
The second season is where everything really gets moving. It is all about the fallout from Yatoâs past and how the three deal with being pawns in someone elseâs grand evil plan. It also greatly fleshes out the world of the gods by showing the normal life of Bishamon, a powerful goddess with dozens of living weapons, as well as the unique problems she faces. It all makes for an exciting (and emotional) super-natural action anime.
Watch It If You Like: Noragami, Inuyasha
Where You Can Watch It: Funimation, Hulu, Animelab (AU)
Owarimonogatari
Studio: Shaft
Currently at: Episode 6 (of 12)
Genre: Modern Fantasy, Comedy
Non-Spoiler Plot Summary: Araragi is about the furthest thing from a normal high schooler you can imagine. He has fought demons and spiritsâand even has a vampire living in his shadow. From his adventures he has gained both friends and a girlfriend and now leads a happy life despite the supernatural chaos he keeps getting entangled in. But all this never would have happened if it werenât for a few key moments in his distant past that shaped him into the man he isâmoments that he is now discovering ruined one girlâs life.
Why You Should Watch It: The Monogatari franchise has had several anime series at this point, but Owarimonogatari is one of the best. It has the surreal art style and snappy comical dialogue that has become a trademark of the franchise as well as a strong theme that keeps the anime focused and, therefore, captivating.
This time, the anime is about revisiting the past that shaped who you areâand realizing that what you thought was happening at the time was not even close to the reality of the situation. As the series progresses, we see how Araragi misinterpreted key moments in his lifeâwhich were likewise key moments in the life of his classmate Oikura. And while each event made his life better as a result, it only made hers worse and worse. The question is, now with hindsight, does the reality of what happened change who he is on a fundamental level?
Also of note is that Owarimonogatari is a great starting point for those who have never seen any of the other 50+ episodes in the franchise as it deals with Araragiâs life before any of those events and speaks to who he is at the core as a person. If you like Owarimonogatari, then itâs safe to say youâll enjoy the rest of the franchise.
Watch It If You Like: Bakemonogatari et al
Where You Can Watch It: Crunchyroll,Daisuki, Hulu
Now that youâve read my recommendations for what anime you should be watching this fall season, you may wonder why your favorite series is absent. There are four potential reasons: (1) I think it is not up to snuff (or at least not quite as good as the five above); (2) it is the second/third/fourth season of an animeâand I havenât seen the previous seasons; (3) it is an anime continuing from last season; or (4) it simply didnât cross my radar.
But if you feel I have left out an anime thatâs something special, feel free to give me a heads up in the comments and tell me why you feel that way. Or pop over to Talk Amongst Yourselves: ANI-TAY and post your thoughts on your favorites.
Oh, and if you feel the need for even more anime to watch, be sure to check out the five anime of the summer season you should have watched as well as our picks for the top five anime of 2014
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
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