The final anime season of the year 2021 is almost upon us which means it’s the last chance for production committees to release their potential anime of the year contenders in a year that has already had some pretty amazing highs (why hello there Vivy Flourite Eye’s Song). With so many new anime titles premiering in the month of October, though, it’s easy to let a few slip by unnoticed, which is the wherefore of this list. While these series might not rank very high on many people’s most anticipated lists, these are the series that I think will already be underappreciated by the time their first episode airs.
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside
One of the rarest candies you can find in the modern anime landscape is a fantasy series that isn’t also an isekai. In this series based on the light novel (with a title like that, how could it be anything but a light novel?), the main character is a hero named Red who is unable to fight on the front lines and so he is tossed aside by the leadership. No matter for him though, because he’s more interested in opening his own herb store in a town not far away with the assistance of a former battle companion and princess.
Don’t expect intense drama from this 2021 anime series as it’s going to be much more of a slice of life than anything else which will make it an excellent palette cleanser to watch after you dive into one of the more serious series from the fall season (of which there are plenty).
Mieruko-chan
Horror comedies are absolutely my jam so of course, I’m going to include the upcoming Mieruko-chan on this list!
Based on the manga, this series being adapted by studio Passione (who have handled horror series that range from the newest Higurashi series to The Island of Giant Insects OVA) is all about a girl who one day, for no reason at all, starts being able to see evil spirits and monsters that no one else can even detect. What’s a girl to do? Ignore them, of course.
Premiering on October 3rd, the early promotional videos for this 2021 anime release are promising a scarily good time and possibly even some laugh-out-loud moments, so if you enjoy horror anime, you’ll want to mark your calendars for this one.
My Senpai is Annoying
Studio Doga Kobo has built quite the nice moe romance niche for itself over the last few years with series that include Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun, Tada Never Falls In Love, Engaged to the Unidentified, and many others, so it should come as no surprise that they are the studio behind this new office rom-com.
In this series, the main character is a small woman named Futaba working in an office alongside a very noisy, large, and annoying co-worker named Harumi. This series is all about their budding relationship.
As much as I enjoy high school anime, there’s something pleasing about watching an anime about adults going about their lives. While I’m not expecting another Wotakoi-level series from this title, I do have high hopes for it and am already looking forward to its October 9th premiere.
Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu
Studio Arvo Animation doesn’t have a lot of series under their belt yet, but based on what I’ve seen, this vampire sci-fi drama could be the series that pushes them up a couple of ladder rungs. Based on a light novel, Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu just sounds interesting to me, but I fear that few others feel the same way, hence its inclusion on this list.
In this adaptation, the main characters are a backup astronaut candidate named Lev Leps and his partner, a vampire named Irina Ruminescu. Taking place in a fictional world where two superpowers waged war against each other before developing an uneasy truce, the two countries are now racing to see which one of them can be the first to launch manned missions into space.
One country, the Union of Zimitra Republics, reveals their intentions publicly with the announcement of Project Mechtat before building a top-secret facility to bring it to life. Inside that facility is Irina, who is being used as a test subject on all the various conditions that one would encounter in space before she will be sent into space as part of the manned mission.
This premise excites me because it kind of sounds like an alternate universe Space Brothers but instead of the main characters being siblings, they are friends and one of them is a cute vampire girl, so that’s a big win-win in my book.
Deep Insanity: The Lost Child
Mixed media projects can be quite dicey and are fraught with pitfalls along the way because if one aspect of the project isn’t successful, the other projects will suffer as well. Starting off as a manga series titled Deep Insanity: Nirvana which launched in February 2020, the story takes place in a world where millions of people are falling into comas because of a new disease called “Randolph Syndrome”. Researchers discover that the source of the outbreak is the South Pole.
The second part of the story to be released will be a free-to-play mobile game titled Deep Insanity: Asylum, before the final piece of the puzzle, the anime series Deep Insanity: The Lost Child premieres in October. The story for the anime will actually take place between the story of the manga and the mobile game, but I’m hoping that studio Silver Link and director Shin Oonuma can help guide people through the story without having to seek out the manga or play the mobile game.
Visual Prison
From the creator of Uta no Prince Sama comes this 2021 anime release is essentially the same thing, only with vampire visual kei bands who perform on the streets of Harajuku. The main character of the story is a young boy named Ange Yuki who leaves his hometown because he has no family and doesn’t feel like he fits in. While on his way to see a performer that he enjoys, Ange finds himself in Harajuku and witnesses a music battle between two groups, ECLIPSE and LOS † EDEN, and gets sucked into their dark world.
There is absolutely no way to deny that Uta no Prince Sama took off like a rocket last decade with multiple television seasons and movies being released. Will lightning strike twice for this creator? I think that all signs point to yes.
Puraore! Pride of Orange
Cute girls doing cute ice hockey things!
Taking place in Nikko city in Tochigi prefecture, two sisters end up joining the local ice hockey team Dream Monkeys along with a couple of friends and fall in love with the sport. Not too long ago, the staff behind this series put out two different trailers; they filled one with hard-hitting sports action and specifically highlighted the hockey sequences while the other was more somber and showed that there will be some dramatic moments within this series as well.
While I dislike watching actual sports, sports anime is another matter altogether. Add in the fact that the series is going to star a group of moe girls learning the violent sport of ice hockey and you have me intrigued.
That it’s for me this time around. Which 2021 anime series do you think is going to be the “sleeper hit” of the new season?
