Favorite New Anime Of 2024

Last year was loaded with amazing new anime, and this year was the year of exciting returns. We got Season 2 of Oshi no Ko, Season 3 of Konosuba and Re:Zero, and Danmachi Season 5. In fact, the follow-on series so dominated 2024 that it seemed like there were way fewer good new entries, just lots of absolutely mid isekai, power fantasies and rom coms. But still there were a bunch of standouts, even if there was only one must-watch instant classic like 2023 had in both Frieren and Apothecary Diaries.

So, here in no particular order, are my favorite new anime shows from this year.

DanDaDan

The anticipation for this manga adaptation was higher than anything I’ve seen since Chainsaw Man. I knew almost nothing about it, but once I heard it was going to be made by Science Saru, I was in. So, what is DanDaDan? It is a paranormal battle action high school romantic comedy, with tragic moments that will rip your heart out and drown it in your own tears. It is animated like nothing you’ve seen, and it is funny in a way that could be crude in the hands of a lesser mangaka and scriptwriter. Content warning: Ep. 1 features a very clumsy attempted SA that is played for comedy as much as dramatic tension. It could very much be a deal breaker for some.

Kaiju No. 8

The number of manga and anime featuring adults 30 or older has grown significantly over the past few years, a logical outcome of the increasing age of the population in most developed countries, and particularly so in Japan. So, when Hibiki Kafka (yes, pun intended I assume) is about to age out of trying to join Japan’s Kaiju Defense Force, he almost doesn’t take his last shot. But an enthusiastic young coworker convinces him to try, not knowing that in the attack they just recently survived, Kafka was invaded by a small kaiju and can transform into a nearly human-sized kaiju himself — with incredible powers. The world of a Japan that has been attacked by kaiju on the regular for decades is remarkably well developed and the characters are very cool, if a bit less well developed than the world around them. But the action and the story are where Kaiju No. 8 shines. There are plenty of surprises, all executed well, all to keep you wanting more — and I sure do.

Wistoria: Wand and Sword

On paper this is a trope-filled, bog-standard power fantasy. Hogwarts-like magical academy? Check. The more powerful magic users from legacy families look down on the less powerful, less wealthy? Check. The main character Will has no magic at all, so gets treated the worst of all students? Check and check. Somehow, Wistoria: Wand and Sword manages to overcome its cliches to become one of the most exciting shows of its kind. OK, I know how — the animation is outstanding, particularly the sakuga in the many fight scenes. But that isn’t its only strength. The series goes beyond its cliche setting and characters to provide them with believable motivation and actions. Seriously, flame using hot-head Sion is as real as Bakugo is cliche, even though they fulfill identical roles in their stories.

The Fable

What if you took a character like Ben Affleck’s autistic assassin from The Accountant and put him in an anime set in a gritty, grounded version of a real-world Japanese criminal underworld? And made it an action comedy? You would get The Fable, the story of a hitman so effective his organization sends him away from Tokyo for a year, where he has to pretend to be just an average guy — and not kill anybody for that year. Given the name Akira Sato (we never know his real name, just that the criminal world calls him the Fable because he is unbelievably good), he is sent to Osaka with his handler and driver, who is given the name Yoko Sato to pose as his sister. There the action and comedy ensue from the best assassin in Japan getting mixed up in criminal trouble despite himself, all while making sure he doesn’t kill anyone.

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

The point of view character in this series, Nukumizu, isn’t really the protagonist. That role is filled by the three girls who are the titular “losing heroines” — girls who are the heroines of their own romantic stories until they get rejected. Nukumizu is mostly a passive observer and active supporter of the girls (Anna, Lemon and Chika) as they struggle with their rejections, and most importantly, how they handle life after them. Boy, doesn’t that sound fun! Yet I had more gut-busting laughs at the humor in this series than in any anime in recent memory. It sees the needed humor in handling such painful life experiences and presents that humor through the interaction of some of the most well-written characters in any anime. Also, two of the most wonderfully written worst teachers since Horimiya.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern!

In a near-future world where nations have developed mech battle suits to fight alien or dimensional invaders, the Earth forces get attacked and are on the verge of getting wiped out when a savior just appears, in the form of a cliche 1990s giant robot mech, which even shouts out battle slogans and sings its own theme song. The promise of future exciting battles, and the mystery of how this robot Bravern could even exist would be enough to keep me watching, but in Ep. 2 it had me in stitches. Bravern talks about the joy it feels from having Japanese pilot Isami Ao “inside him” in an amazing rant full of some of the most creative gay innuendo ever written. Somehow, things just get weirder from there and while the show telegraphs the reveal about Bravern too soon, it’s still presented in a fun and exciting way.

Train to the End of the World

This series is one of the most inventive, imaginative anime shows in a while. Four high school friends set out to find a missing fifth, who left their rural town for the nearest big city, just before a super advanced “7G Network” was activated, completely altering reality. All of the adults in their town have physically transformed into talking animals. The journey by road to that city which would normally be a few hours is now days long and too dangerous. So the girls activate the single train car left in town and start their journey, finding each town along the way transformed in a unique and often disturbing way. The show is weird, and funny and completely enjoyable.

Solo Leveling

Arguably more highly anticipated than DanDaDan was the adaptation of the Korean manhwa Solo Leveling. The series looks with pretty jaded eyes at how a normal Earth in which dungeon portals just start appearing at random times and places would react. And that, for me, is the best thing about Solo Leveling — the well thought out world our protagonist Sung Jin-woo inhabits. Jin-woo himself is barely more than the standard “low level schlub gets massive cheat skills and becomes the strongest” cliche. What makes the show work is, again, how that cliche would play out in a well-realized world full of celebrity culture and rampant capitalism. I hope the story keeps its current balance and doesn’t shift into yet another tale focused primarily on OP protag-kun becoming more OP.