Spring 2024’s anime lineup looks incredible, especially when it comes to sequels and reboots… to the extent that I’ve not got much room in my lineup for the all-new titles! So once again, I turn to my blog readers for help narrowing things down.
Here are three anime that interest me, but didn’t quite make the cut due to the strength of their competition. But one more won’t hurt! Vote for your favourite, and I’ll squeeze the winner in somehow.
Here’s some info on the series, in alphabetical order, plus my brief comments about them. Or, skip to the bottom of the post if you just want to vote. 😛
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Takumi, a gifted chef, was just let go from his job. He lands a gig at an old boarding house called Astro-sou, but hesitates to accept after learning he must also live there full-time. That is until he meets the beautiful and charming caretaker, Mira, and he’s sold. The two begin to work together and their connection deepens. But Mira has a secret: she isn’t from this world!
Source: Crunchyroll
An original anime project, not based on any existing work. The setting gives me a lot of nostalgia for anime I watched early on (Love Hina, Ai Yori Aoshi, Mahoraba: Heartful Days). Less harem and more sci-fi though, should keep things unpredictable and interesting!
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The story begins with Igarashi, who was disqualified as a pro golfer after a certain “incident” and thus moves to Kagoshima Prefecture’s Tokara Islands to step out of the limelight. On these islands known as “Japan’s last unexplored wilderness,” he encounters a naive girl named Tonbo. As it turns out, these supposedly unexplored islands have a homemade golf course, where Tonbo plays every day. She demonstrates genius-level prowess, playing every kind of shot with just one golf club, a 3-iron. Igarashi is amazed at Tonbo’s talent, even as he harbors doubts about her only using a 3-iron. Yet, hidden deep in Tonbo’s heart lies a painful, sad past…
Source: ANN
Adapted from a manga that’s ~48 volumes long and still running, so it must have something going for it! I like the atmosphere, based on the trailer and promo images, though whether I can appreciate a golf anime that (presumably) doesn’t have a shady underworld side to it remains to be seen. 😛
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Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? (Train to the End of the World)
In a not-so-ordinary countryside, a big and strange occurrence is happening to its residents. But a young girl named Shizuru Chikura has a strong desire to see her lost friend again. Shizuru and three other girls board an abandoned train, and they set out to the outside world, where survival is not certain. What awaits them at the last stop of the “Doomsday Train?”
Source: ANN
No genre tags anywhere for this one, and I wouldn’t like to guess. Is it just CGDCT in a post apocalyptic world, or will there be real danger? I expect the creators are being deliberately vague to pique curiosity. And it’s working on me!
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Vote for whichever one you want me to add to my list, and I’ll share my thoughts on that and the rest of my lineup in my usual mid season and end of season rankings. Poll closes in about a week~
AngryJellyfish's Blog 
Hmm, if I was choosing which to watch . . . Astro Note sounds cute and sweet with a fun sci-fi twist. Oi Tonbo sounds like it has potential, but golf is reeeeeaallly boring, so it could also be kind of slow. I’ve heard a lot of bloggers being curious about Train to the End of the World, but considering that it is post apocalypse, it could be another super bloody horror anime featuring super cute characters. That kind of anime certainly has it’s fans, but it’s not really for me. I would definitely put it in the “Wait until reviews come out before trying it” category.
Train to the End of the World is definitely the one that has me the most curious… but since we don’t know what the surprise is (or even if there will be one), it’s a gamble. I’d personally prefer to go into it blind rather than checking reviews, even spoiler-free ones. But I agree that with most shows like this, the ‘twist’ is horror – I’m not against that, but I’d be super impressed if they take it in a completely unexpected direction.
The other two feel like safer bets – Astro Note has the nostalgia factor for me, and from the little I’ve seen in the trailer, should be my kind of comedy. I guess the only real mark against it is that I’m planning on picking up a lot of comedy this season already.
As for Oi! Tonbo, I noticed that the number of sports anime I’ve been watching has massively decreased over the last couple of years – I guess they mostly follow the same few formats and tropes, so they’re among the first things to get cut as anime seasons keep get bigger and spoiling me for choice. When looking at the ones on offer this spring, I’ve watched multiple baseball, cycling and futuristic motorsport anime before, but I’ve not seen golf done seriously (I’m sorry Birdie Wing, but you don’t count), so I’m hoping the one serialised in an actual golfing magazine will be a bit more realistic.
I can’t vote. I get a server error.
It’s hard anyway. I probably wouldn’t vote for Astro Note. I don’t make the nostalgia connection, here. It feels like a type of show that most often misses for me. When it works we get Punchline. When it doesn’t we get something like last season’s Delusional Monthly Magazine. Most are inbetween, like, say, Tsuritama. I don’t really get Love Hina et. al. vibes. Finally, I don’t really like the character designs. That said, I do see the potential; since I click start on nearly everything, I’ll look into this, too.
That makes it a choice between Oi! Tonbo, and Shuumatsu Train.
Oi! Tonbo has a really attractive trailer for me. I like the show’s energy – it’s probably the safe bet among the two.
Shuumatsu Train, on the otherhand overdoes the cutesy designs for the girls (I especially dislike the sparkly eyes), but it has good scenery, and I like the animals (such as the goofy dog, or the guinea pig with the old man). The potential is higher… but in both directions.
I’d probably have voted for Oi! Tonbo, if the server had let me.
Sorry to hear about the voting issues, Crowdsignal doesn’t seem like the most reliable site to use for these. I’d look into alternatives, if the stakes weren’t so low to begin with! 😛
All that really happened is that I tried to vote and got an error. Neither of us have lost anything.
Also, have I ever made the right choice in any of these polls? I’ve now seen the first episodes except Oi! Tonbo! and I feel like I should have voted for the Shuumatsu Train, and Astro Note shouldn’t have been dismissed. Heh. Well, too early to tell – but my track record’s not that good.
[…] you to all who voted in last week’s poll, which received more votes than any that I’ve previously run! Very much a two horse race, […]