The upcoming fall anime season sees many titles delayed as a result of COVID-19 join series already scheduled to start this season to make the fall 2020 anime season an exciting one for fans of all genres. Alongside a number of exciting TV anime, many anime films are set to premiere in cinemas in Japan over the next few months, with a major release almost every fortnight for the next few months. It’s a packed lineup of films which sees Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie Mugen Train release alongside Burn the Witch (which is also coming to Crunchyroll!), WAVE, Kimi wa Kanata, Pokémon: Coco, Happy-Go-Lucky Days and Ojamajo Doremi, and even this exhaustive list leaves off movies like Josee, the Tiger and the Fish and more!
While the big-screen anime experience looks set to be both varied and entertaining for the next few months, this article aims to preview the most exciting TV anime of the fall 2020 anime season. And let me tell you, there are several incredibly exciting TV anime airing this season that you won’t want to miss, so let’s get right into it.
Jujutsu Kaisen
The biggest non-sequel manga of the upcoming fall 2020 anime season would have to be Jujutsu Kaisen. This Weekly Shonen Jump manga started serialization in March 2018 and has been popular ever since with sales for the manga surpassing 8.5million in just 2 years, an unusual level of success for a debut author. This upcoming anime adaptation has a lot to prove to a new audience to show that the hype surrounding the series is justified.
Jujutsu Kaisen follows high school student Yuji Itadori, who lives with his grandfather in Sendai and joins the school’s Occult Research Club. One day, to save a friend who has been attacked by Curses, he eats the finger of the Double-Faced Specter, taking the Curse into his soul. This causes him to share a body with the specter, which starts a chain of events that sees him admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Technical High School of Sorcery, an organization attempting to exorcise curses through the world.
Animated by MAPPA, Jujutsu Kaisen will stream in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and CIS on Crunchyroll starting October 2nd.
Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Following on from the biggest original anime of the fall 2020 anime season, it only feels fair to discuss the biggest continuing anime of the season: Attack on Titan. Attack on Titan: The Final Season will bring the story of Attack on Titan to an end just as the manga itself is coming to a close by the end of this year.
Attack on Titan: The Final Season is interesting beyond the fact that this anime adaptation will bring the story of the Attack on Titan franchise to an end. New staff has taken charge of this final season, as Wit Studio is handing the reins of the franchise over to MAPPA. Much of the team working on this final season are new to the franchise, such as new series director Yuichiro Hayashi and chief animation director Daisuke Niinuma. Still, Hiroshi Seko’s return for series composition is a positive sign, and any nerves have been put at ease with the impressive trailer released for the anime so far.
Attack on Titan: The Final Season won’t premiere in October and will instead air towards the end of the new anime season, with the series streaming on both Funimation and Crunchyroll from December 7th.
The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc
A lot of time has passed since the first season of The Irregular at Magic High School aired, having premiered back in 2014 from a team over at Madhouse. Six years and an original story anime film later, this light novel adaptation will continue under the watchful eye of Eight Bit.
In the world of this series, magic is commonplace and has been refined by modern technology. Wars have reduced the world’s population to 3 billion and split the remaining survivors into 4 major countries who each practicing magic independently of one another. This situation would normally make studying magic abroad impossible, but Kitayama Shizuku is set to do that under the sole exception to this rule: exchange programs. Angelina Kudou Shields arrives in Japan to study as part of these programs, but soon after several magicians get mysteriously attacked with the victims drained of blood, putting the program and peace in peril.
The series has many fans even after a fair few years have passed since the first season of the anime aired in Japan. The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc will stream exclusively on Funimation and AnimeLab from October 3rd.
Haikyu!! To the Top 2
The Haikyu manga may have recently come to an end in July after a highly successful run in Weekly Shonen Jump, but the anime marches on with much of the manga still yet to be adapted. This second four of Haikyu!! To the Top will continue the story of the first season that aired in January.
In this first part of To the Top, the Karasuno High School Volleyball Club had won their way to nationals and were deep in training. Kageyama had been invited to the All-Japan Youth Training Camp and Tsukishima in a special rookie camp, with the rest of the team including Hinata all training hard. Part 1 of this latest anime season ended with the team entering the nationals, and this is the focus of the second cour of the series.
As with previous seasons, Haikyu!! To The Top 2 will stream exclusively on Crunchyroll from October 3rd.
Higurashi: When They Cry – NEW
The latest attempt to adapt the Higurashi visual novel will be attempting to fix some of the issues found in the last attempt to adapt the series back in 2006. Complaints that the original series was rushed have dogged the original anime adaptation from Studio DEEN, and this gives the adaptation a new chance to fix these older issues.
For those unaware, Higurashi follows Keiichi Maebara as he settles into his new home in Hinamizawa. While he’s quickly able to make friends with some of the girls who live in the village, something about the place feels off, and he begins to wonder what dark secrets his new home could be hiding.
Fellow Otaquest writer Jacob is the person I would fall to when discussing Higurashi due to his in-depth familiarity with the franchise as a long-term fan. His praise for the tone of the trailers released for the series along with the news that the anime will have time to flesh out the story thanks to being told across multiple cours is a good sign that the team at Passione at least understand the appeal of Higurashi as a story.
Higurashi: When They Cry – NEW will stream on Funimation and AnimeLab from October 1st.
Noblesse
One of a few Crunchyroll Originals airing during the fall 2020 anime season, Noblesse will be looking to repeat the success of previous originals like The God of High School and Tower of God that have each attracted a large audience of Crunchyroll’s massive subscriber base and been received warmly.
Noblesse is a bit different from these. A manhwa adaptation from Production IG, the story of this series centers on Cadis Etrama Di Raizel (aka Rai) after waking up in a new era following 820 years of slumber with no awareness of mankind’s forward progress in that time. A loyal servant of his, Frankenstein, is a principal of a South Korean High School and, seeking to learn more about the era he’s awoken in, chooses to enroll in the school, before soon finding out this new world is no safer than the one he left 820 years ago.
As a Crunchyroll Original, you may be unsurprised to hear that this anime will be streaming exclusively on Crunchyroll starting from October 8th.
TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You
Speaking of Crunchyroll Originals, TONIKAWA is another Original anime, albeit one with a less action-oriented story to tell compared to other original series.
Adapting the manga series of the same name, TONIKAWA follows a boy named Nasa who, on the day of his high school entrance exams, falls instantly in love with a girl he encounters named Tsukasa. At that moment, Nasa is hit by a car and is left unable to enter the entrance exams. After Tsukasa helps the injured Nasa, he confesses his feelings to her, to which she agrees to be his girlfriend under one condition: he has to marry her first. Aged 18 having not pursued school and got a part-time job instead, Tsukasa suddenly re-appears in his life, and they begin their married life together.
An unusual romance tale, to be sure, the anime has attracted a fair bit of attention before release in part due to the Crunchyroll Originals moniker the series has been released under. Again, this anime will release exclusively on Crunchyroll starting October 3rd.
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina is a series I feel has the potential to be a surprise hit this season. While big names like Attack on Titan and Higurashi are stealing the fall 2020 anime spotlight, this light novel adaptation has both an interesting world, distinct characters and an exciting trailer going for it, and is perhaps one of the anime I’m most excited for this upcoming anime season.
Wandering Witch follows a witch named Elaina who sets out on a journey around the world to learn more and help her become a witch. On this journey, she meets a number of interesting people and gets involved in exciting situations, from stumbling into a country full of witches to a giant in love with his own muscles.
What excites me about the anime is the world, first and foremost, with the character and world designs each drawing you into the wonder of the world these characters inhabit. Contrasting the joy of adventure is the fear and insecurity that they aren’t good enough to be a witch and the hurdles she has to overcome on her journey, even in just a 2-minute trailer, I’m finding myself attached to Elaina and want to see her grow stronger.
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina will premiere on October 2nd, though currently no streaming service has picked this up. Here’s hoping!
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
Ikebukuro West Gate Park, adapted from a series of urban mystery novels, was one of the big upcoming anime of the summer anime season before it became one of the many titles delayed until the fall as a result of COVID-19. This intriguing adaptation from Doga Kobo promises gang wars, yakuza and more set in Tokyo’s youth hotspot, Ikebukuro.
In Ikebukuro West Gate Park, the streets of Ikebukuro have become a haven for gangsters and the yakuza, while it’s also a place that Makoto Majima calls home. He often mediates disputes between the warring factions vying for control in Ikebukuro, in part to protect his friends, but after the rising violence causes him to lose someone he loves, will he be lost to the violence that’s starting to overtake Ikebukuro’s streets.
As someone with a soft spot for the area having lived there briefly in the past, I’d likely be watching this anime regardless of whether the story appealed to me for that reason alone. Luckily, based on trailers and this plot synopsis, this story of gang warfare with its potential for a multi-faceted tale of betrayal set on the streets of Ikebukuro has the potential to be one of the best shows of the upcoming anime season. It certainly seems to understand the novels and area it’s set in, with the show already being involved in a fashion collaboration with Fxxking Rabbits.
Ikebukuro West Gate Park will stream on Funimation and Anime Lab from October 6th.
Yashahime: Princess Half Demon
Inuyasha is back! Ten years since the last TV anime for Inuyasha came to an end, the franchise returns to TV animation for the fall 2020 anime season with a new tale focused on the daughters of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha.
The story of Yashahime takes place across two different etas. In feudal Japan, half-demon twins Towa and Setsuna are separated from each other during a forest fire, and while Towa searches for her younger sister she wanders into a tunnel that sends her to modern Japan where she is found and raised by Kagome Higurashi’s brother, Sota, and his family. Ten years later, this tunnel re-opens and allows them to reunite, where Setsuna is now a demon slayer but has lost all memories of her sister. Thus, Moroka and the two sisters journey between the two eras to regain their missing past.
You won’t be struggling to watch Yashahime once the anime premieres on October 3rd. You’ll have the chance to watch Yashahime on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
Moriarty the Patriot
Production IG worked on an original anime production that took the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes into a new environment, but as I clarified in my review of the series at the time, I wasn’t a fan. Fast forward 1 year, and the company is at it again, taking on a manga adaptation of a series that also attempts to play with the characters of Sherlock Holmes in an interesting way.
Moriarty the Patriot, as the title suggests, focuses more on Moriarty as a character than it does on the world-famous detective of Baker Street. James Moriarty has a simple goal as he seeks to tackle and remove the ills caused by England’s class-based social system.
The series’ desire to capture with accuracy the divide between nobility and servitude in 19th-century England and use it as a canvas for a tale that tackles this system through the lens of the Sherlock Holmes series’ most interesting villain and his different way of handling justice is what makes this series so intriguing.
Currently, Moriarty the Patriot is yet to be licensed for international streaming. However, with the anime being one of the later premieres of the season (it starts on October 11th), I wouldn’t be surprised to see it picked up before release.
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club
Love Live continues to grow, so it’s no surprise that another idol group has been launched to sit alongside Aquors and μ’s to ensure audiences have a group that they can become attached to. What does every idol group in Love Live need? An anime about their origins! Premiering during the fall 2020 anime season, Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club will tell the origins of this new idol group in the Love Live franchise.
The biggest question surrounding this new series is will it be able to establish these characters and stand out from previous idol groups in the Love Live franchise. Some of the characters featured in the anime are already popular thanks to the mobile game, sure, but whether this will translate to wider success remains to be seen.
Currently, the anime is unlicensed, but considering the popularity of the Love Live franchise, such a license is more likely a matter of when not if. The series premieres in Japan on October 3rd.
Talentless Nana
Following a successful ongoing manga run in Monthly Shonen Gangan, with the series being published digitally on Crunchyroll’s manga service, we sit just 1 week away from the fall 2020 anime adaptation based on the popular manga property.
In Talentless Nana, Earth has been attacked by monsters known as the Enemy of Humanity. In order to help defend it, school’s of teenagers with special abilities have been formed to help defeat them, with these children being known as the Talented. Nana is sent to one of these schools despite her lack of abilities with the task of helping to defeat the Enemies of Humanity.
While I’m not fully up-to-date on the manga, the success of the anime will depend on how the adaptation handles the various twists and turns and the more psychological elements of the series. Still, based on the trailer I’m hopeful.
Talentless Nana has yet to be licensed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the series is picked up for simulcasting on Crunchyroll considering their handling of the manga. Still, with nothing confirmed as of yet, best to wait for confirmation. The series premieres in Japan on October 4th.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai
Finally, I want to highlight Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, a brand new adaptation of the classic manga based on the Dragon Quest franchise. We’ve covered this series before, with Square Enix putting a major effort into promoting the classic revival with games also being released alongside this anime adaptation, making the show a major deal for those involved.
In The Adventure of Dai, after the defeat of the Demon Lord Hadlar, all of the monsters freed from his control were moved to the island of Delmurin where Dai is the only human living on it. Dai dreams of becoming a hero and is trained to be one by his teacher, Avan, but after he is killed by a revived Hadler who now works for an even more powerful Demon Lord, Dai must go out in search of revenge and peace.
A lot is riding on the success of this series considering the amount of effort Square Enix is putting into promoting the Toei Animation series with tie-in games releasing alongside it, but early trailers are at least promising in this regard. Currently, the show hasn’t been licensed yet, so we’ll have to wait and see who or whether the anime gets picked up for international streaming.
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Even this extensive list of new anime for the upcoming fall 2020 anime season leaves off sequel anime like Golden Kamuy and Otomatsu-san and other original anime like Taisuo Zamurai. This is a jam-packed anime season for both movies and TV series alike, as on-schedule fall anime are joined by several anime delayed from their previously-scheduled summer premieres. One thing’s for sure: if you like anime, you won’t be bored this season!