2022 Anime: 17 Quick Reviews
2022 was a fun year for my anime watching. I was watching new shows each season—which has not usually been the case for me. Winter had Attack on Titan. Spring had SPY x FAMILY. Summer had Call of the Night. Fall had Chainsaw Man. And there was so much more! Of course there’s still plenty of good stuff I haven’t seen yet, but just for fun before 2023 arrives, these are my thoughts on the anime series I watched that aired this year.
Note: Within each category, the series are ordered alphabetically.
Favorites
Bocchi The Rock!
Often there are anime series coming out whose names you’ve been seeing for a while. Bocchi the Rock was not one of them. This came out of nowhere.
So why is a show about some high school girls playing in a band one of my favorites of the year? Is this just another K-On!?
There are three main reasons for to the greatness of this show:
The appreciation for rock music The amazing portrayal of social anxiety The exceptional humor
1. Rock Music
Here’s the thing about K-On. Sometimes the girls play instruments. But usually not. The show’s not really about that. You could have them be in another club and it would barely change.
Bocchi the Rock is a show actually about a rock band. The challenges of auditioning, playing gigs, trying to keep it together on stage, and so on, make up a lot of the story.
But not only do you see all this, you truly hear it, too.
The original songs for this series are authentic to what you’re seeing: a drummer, two guitarists, and a bassist. Nothing more than that. And they sound fantastic. Just straight up quality J-Rock. I do not know who they got to make these songs, but they are good.
I was surprised, though, that at one point in the show, the band is playing a song we’ve already heard, but it’s a bit off. And you can actually hear it. It’s not super bad—certainly not as bad as the in-show audience seems to think—but it’s noticeable.
Fun fact, the band members names’ are actually based off the names of Japanese band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. There are obvious references to other famous Japanese bands here and there throughout the show, too (most of which I do not know).
I absolutely love how the show has these little transitions (you know, like the bubbles in SpongeBob) and the accompanying sound is a few quick strums on an electric guitar. Gosh that’s a beautiful sound!
2. Social Anxiety
Oh boy, a protagonist who’s not good at talking to people? I’ve seen that before. She was called Komi-san.
Honestly, when I heard about Komi Can’t Communicate, I bought the first volume because I thought it might be something I could relate to. I mean I didn’t talk to people in high school, right? But then I actually read it and found out that it’s more of a gag manga where every character’s name is a pun—and that Komi isn’t all that relatable.
I mean, maybe some people out there really can’t even speak when it’s time to order fast food, I don’t know. But frankly, we don’t know what’s going on in Komi’s head, other than that she wants to speak but just can’t.
Is that really believable? No, but then you realize the whole series is wacky and fun and it’s OK if it’s not what I hoped it would be, because it’s funny. I didn’t find it funny enough for me to read past the first volume, mind you—but I did watch the anime, and we’ll get to that later.
I describe my experience with that series to tell you one of the possible reasons I might have had low expectations for Bocchi the Rock. However, Bocchi the Rock smashed them completely.
Hitori bocchi Gotoh is someone I can relate to! She panics at the thought of having to work and interact with customers. She panics when she realizes she’ll have to find a few people to sell tickets to. The way she overthinks every social interaction and foresees horrible outcomes that are completely unlikely—this is a way of thinking I’ve seen in myself and others.
Even though she’ll often try to escape from whatever social obstacle she’s facing, somehow she always manages to do what needs to be done for the sake of the band. She’s an inspiration. A great protagonist.
And uh the other characters are pretty good too I guess. Kita, the adorable extrovert. Ryo, the quiet, cool, mysterious (and weird) girl. And Nijika, the cheerful, go-getter leader of the band, who is quite practical—and therefore she also usually plays the role of tsukkomi if you want to get analytical about the comedy. Speaking of comedy—
3. Funny
I feel like a minority of anime actually go beyond the bare minimum when adapting manga. Most of them will stay faithful to what’s on the page, just playing it safe—the only enhancements are color, some slight movement, music, and voice acting. Bocchi the Rock, though, goes far beyond the bare minimum.
It has jokes in its animation, and it has jokes in…claymation? 3D CGI for some reason?
It does the joke where the credits just abruptly roll early, which is something I feel like I’ve seen a lot on YouTube, but not on TV.
Also, the voice actor for Bocchi-chan makes this one insane noise…. You’ll have to hear it for yourself.
Every episode, the studio is doing some weird new thing you wouldn’t predict. Of course, visual gags aside, the writing itself is very funny too. This series is adapted from a four-panel manga, and I haven’t read it, but when turning those into anime, inevitably you have to expand on things quite a lot. So give the anime writers props—as well as the manga author for creating such an excellent foundation.
Overall, Bocchi the Rock is an unexpected beauty of a show. Watch it.
SPY x FAMILY
One of the most popular anime of the year is SPY x FAMILY, and rightly so. It’s a fun, fresh idea, delivered with all the 60s-esque style you could ask for. You probably know what it’s about by now: a spy adopts a daughter who happens to be a telepath and gets fake married to a female assassin—though he doesn’t know of either of their abilities.
I’ve seen people online who seemed to be expecting a more fast-paced drama or action show rather than the comedic, episodic, in-it-for-the-long-haul style the show actually has. This is a goofy series, and it delves into all sorts of wacky hijinks. School life, married life, and on occasion, spy action. But you know, don’t you think we need more Yor episodes?
I love the show’s comedy. Whether it’s Anya’s adorable kid talk or her shock at the insane thoughts she is hearing with her telepathic abilities, this kid is funny. Also funny is our sweet Yor, an expert assassin who is not all that wise in really any other area of life. Isn’t it adorable when her knowledge and skill with murder accidentally leaks into other things? But seriously, when do we get more Yor episodes?
A joint production between WIT and CloverWorks, the animation of SPY x Family can get pretty flashy. I was surprised early on by the effort put into animating a totally pretend spy operation. On the other hand, many episodes don’t feature much action at all, but overall, a clean, semi-realistic look is maintained throughout the series, and it never feels low-budget.
Really, how can you hate this series? It’s just plain fun. Do you hate fun? I like fun. I’m kidding, you can dislike this show if you want to, wait come back
Really Great Ones
Aoashi
Soccerrrrrrrr. It was a big year for soccer anime. I haven’t watched or read Blue Lock yet, but I did watch all of Aoashi and let me tell you, this is a great story.
First of all, I’ll get one thing out of the way: the animation is mediocre. This show is being carried by the story. And that’s fine.
The protagonist Ashito Aoi is your typical loudmouth shounen manga protagonist who wants to be the best or whatever. He wants to score lots of goals, yada yada yada. He’s kind of a pain. But a manager from a famous soccer program in Tokyo sees his potential. So Ashito gets the chance to tryout. He passes and decides to leave his small town and go to high school in Tokyo.
Like with most series I tend to enjoy, the characters’ feelings and relationships are taken seriously in this story. It’s a big decision for Ashito to leave his single mom behind, especially due to the financial challenges living far away will cause. His mom has kind of a strict, hardened parenting style, which you get a sense she’s acquired because the family has to be careful with money. But then there’s this scene where Ashito is leaving home on the train and he finds out his mom has bought him a new pair of shoes. It’s a super emotional moment. I give this as an early example of how good Aoashi is at weaving characters’ emotions and wants into a sports story and showing what’s at stake.
Now I don’t want to spoil where things go, because as Ashito progresses as a player—one who didn’t get a very good soccer education back home, by the way—he’ll have to face down obstacles he never expected and decide what really matters to him.
I could talk about so many of the characters in this show, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll wrap this up instead. This is just a great soccer story, and it’s wild to me that no English publishers have picked up the manga.
Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2
MAPPA’s adaptation of the end section of Attack on Titan continues. Part 2 of 3 of the final season, apparently. And, well, while their animation may not look quite as cool as WIT’s did, that’s OK. Attack on Titan remains a thrilling roller coaster ride of a story.
Not much else really needs to be said about it, really. Everyone knows about its existence at this point. It’s a story that rarely goes how you expect, and that’s what’s fun about it.
Between the previous batch of episodes and this one, I read the whole manga. So the shock factor was a little lessened, I guess, but it was still a fun time. Isayama created something really interesting: a story that I could analyze for a while, wondering what the heck he meant by it all—but that’s for once you get to the end. Until then, I won’t say anything. Just know that I am and always will be quite fond of the series.
Call of the Night
🎸………YOFUKASHI NO UTAAA
So this one is about a kid named Ko who’s been having trouble sleeping for a while. Then, while he’s wandering the quiet streets late at night, he meets a weird girl who seems to have some life wisdom that might help him—and also she turns out to be a vampire named Nazuna who wants to drink his blood.
But you know, Ko doesn’t really mind. In fact, he’s looking for a more fulfilling life and he thinks being a vampire would be pretty fun. But here’s the thing: the way for a vampire to create another vampire is for them to suck the blood of someone who’s in love with them. In other words, Ko has to fall in love with Nazuna if he wants to become a vampire. Which is not that easy, because he doesn’t really “get” falling in love yet.
It’s a fun premise. Well I’m not sure about the moral implications of it but, eh, we’ll figure it out….
Now, I don’t know what your assumptions are at this point, but this show is not really a drama. It’s a comedy, set at a relaxed pace like they have all the time in the world.
The music and the colors used in Call of the Night create a beautiful nighttime atmosphere that I can’t get enough of. You really start to feel like nighttime is this serene other world full of characters you wouldn’t meet in the day.
It’s a fun show that explores the question of what it means to live a fulfilling life and I hope to see another season show up soon.
Demon Slayer Entertainment District Arc
Technically this one started in 2021? Yeah well the majority was in 2022 so put it on the list.
Ufotable knows how to wow us. The big final fight of this arc was overflowing with bright flashes of light to the point where you might call it excessive. I mean you might, but as for me, I thought that part was pretty fun to look at, man.
Demon Slayer may not be the deepest story, but it does have likable heroes and detestable villains. Actually, do I really like this dude with the multiple wives? Not sure. He’s memorable, at least.
I really don’t have much else to say about the arc. It was a fun time, and I look forward to more fun times with Demon Slayer.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic!
I’ve been caught up on the Kaguya-sama manga since 2019, and man, not only has it been fun sitting on the knowledge of what glorious things would happen this season for so long, seeing the anime continue to go all-out in adapting this story is a joy.
But you know what? This isn’t even the best arc. That comes next.
Anyway though, the culture festival was one heck of a climax. Reading it was a moment I’ll always remember fondly, and I’m sure anime viewers felt the same way.
I do have complaints about the final moment of the season, but I think they were covering their bases in case future anime projects didn’t go through, so that is commendable (no one likes an anime without an ending).
Like the previous two seasons, the Kaguya-sama anime remains an exceptional effort. Much like Bocchi the Rock, the studio doesn’t just re-draw manga panels and make them move a bit; they throw in lots of original visual gags.
I think my favorite original joke this season was not a visual one, though. It was in the episode when the culture festival was about to start and this hype music comes in—and it is literally a soundalike of “Zenzenzense” from Your Name. There was no particular reason to reference Your Name there. But it sure did get you pumped up, huh? I thought that was funny.
If you haven’t watched Kaguya-sama at all yet, make sure to go do that. It’s hilarious, and it’s heartwarming.
Liked a Lot
Chainsaw Man
This is definitely one of the weirdest series I’ve seen from Weekly Shounen Jump. It has some concepts kind of similar to Jujutsu Kaisen, but Jujutsu Kaisen looks vanilla in comparison to Chainsaw Man.
All I can really say I have never seen anything quite like Chainsaw Man. It’s a unique, dark, funny, and violent series. And what’s weird is, we got 12 episodes, but that feels like just a little taste—I feel like it’s still hiding so much more. So I’m not totally sure what to make of it.
Guess I’ll read the manga. I did read the first couple chapters long before the anime but I was like, “Yeah, this’ll get an anime.” But now I’m like, “yeah I should just read it.”
In terms of animation, there was a lot of love put into this. Action scenes really popped. There were 12 ending songs, each accompanied by unique visuals. The voice casting was inspired and the performances were great.
I don’t think everyone will like this story—though again, with the way it’s structured, it feels like we’ve barely begun—but it is certainly one of the most unique stories to get an anime this year. So check it out if anything I said sounded appealing.
Komi Can’t Communicate Part 2
Alright even though I said a few negative things about this show in the Bocchi the Rock section, I will reiterate that I do think it’s a funny show. Based on its premise, I had hoped for a different style of writing, but for what the show actually is—a super goofy series—I like it.
The adaptation feels super high-quality, which you love to see for a simple gag series. The colors are beautiful and you get some impressive animation at times.
In this set of episodes, we had Valentines Day. Awww. It was nice to see some romance blooming, slowly but surely.
It’s not the most interesting or even funny series to me. But it’s good. And that’s about all I have to say about it.
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Season 2
I play the School Idol Festival All Stars mobile game, even though it’s not a very good game and doesn’t have a very good story—I like collecting those cards and hearing the voice acting. Even so, when I first watched the Nijigasaki anime (months after it had finished airing), I found it less interesting than the two previous Love Live anime series. It’s a more relaxed story; there’s nothing huge at stake. In time, I did come around to the series, because at the end of the day, it’s cute and funny. And Setsuna is cool.
Now, maybe it was due to hype, but I felt much more invested in season 2 from the beginning. It probably helped that the opening scene is like an action movie trailer (and they all wear suits!)
What this season does a great job of early on is setting up these simple conflicts of opinion. Lanzhu thinks you gotta be great all on your own without help; the other girls disagree. In an exciting turn, this leads to the formation of the subunit QU4RTZ, who are gonna forcibly change Lanzhu’s opinion—I mean, put on a good concert, you know, so she’ll see the error of her ways.
But seriously, starting the season out with some polite conflict made it interesting. This continues on a slightly smaller scale as Ai and Karin briefly disagree on how to help Ai’s friend. And then, naturally, they also form their subunit, Diver Diva.
However, there are soon episodes where we begin to meander. The episode that ends with Shizuku, Setsuna, and Ayumu (AZUNA) improvising a play is cute—but not particularly engaging. The pacing just drags.
Of course as an American I was hyped for Mia Taylor to show up. I kinda feel like she deserved a bit more time, actually. In the All Stars game’s story, it’s Rina who helps her overcome her struggles—it’s the one part of the game’s story that actually made an impression on me. In the anime, it felt like Mia and Lanzhu’s big parts in the story were mashed together into one episode. So yeah, I would have done that differently.
Oh right—I guess it would be bad if I mentioned everyone except Shioriko. Um. Well she was pretty cool I guess. Certainly not as tyrannical as she was in the game for a bit. I like that she’s Lanzhu’s friend at the start. (And anime aside, the subunit R3BIRTH, comprised of her, Lanzhu, and Mia, released some killer songs this year).
Overall, it was a fun set of episodes.
Lycoris Recoil
Ok what if there was a secret organization who keeps the peace in Japan behind the scenes, except they’re all cute girls? Nobody suspects cute girls!
This is really a sort of buddy cop story. We first meet Takina, a hardened, serious girl who never smiles and has been relocated by the organization due to her reckless actions. Her new partner is Chisato, a seemingly carefree, cheerful girl working at a cafe. It turns out that Chisato is actually the most skilled gunfighter you can imagine, able to predict every enemy move and doge every shot—except, she subdues enemies exclusively with nonlethal rounds, believing no life should be wasted.
So the show is a mix of peaceful “cute girls doing cute things” and well-animated gun battles. So yeah, it’s pretty interesting, and who doesn’t like seeing a somewhat cold-hearted person start to care about a sweet goofball person?
Now for me, the story didn’t impress me that much, so the series doesn’t get put in the “Really Great” category. I don’t know if there’s a particular reason for that. For the sake of this article I suppose it would be good to know, but, eh, that’d be too much work. In any case, it was a cool series and certainly worth the time.
Uncle From Another World
If you’re at all familiar with modern anime, you’ve probably encountered an isekai or two—series where the main character is transported into another world. A lot of these series seem like stupid wish fulfillment for people who do little but play video games and watch anime. See, even though the protagonist of an isekai did nothing in the real world except play video games and watch anime, in the fantasy world (which has video game rules), he’s a hero and women want him!
Anyway, Uncle From Another World is an anime poking fun at the isekai genre. Seventeen years ago, this dude’s uncle got transported to a fantasy world. Now he’s back, having obtained magic powers and a lot of wild stories.
Also, this uncle is the world’s biggest SEGA fan and is quite distressed to learn of their fate in the console wars.
This show is a goofy combination of nerd humor. Lot of video game references (most of which I don’t even get because I don’t know classic SEGA games), lots of anime tropes turned on their heads.
Uncle had a pretty tough time in that fantasy world. Everyone there thought he was an orc due to his ugliness and attacked him. Though this tsundere elf woman was into him—but he was hopelessly oblivious and kept completely misunderstanding everything.
I’d like to know what else happened but this show got delayed so much due to studio COVID outbreaks. But eventually it’ll finish!
As for negatives, the animation is nothing to write home about. And there’s a notable—not too excessive, but notable—amount of cringeworthy sexual-ish humor.
But yeah, it’s a very funny show, and I just want to see it finish already.
Urusei Yatsura (2022)
Rumiko Takahashi’s famous comedy series which started in the late 70s has a new anime adaptation! I have not seen the old anime nor read the manga, so this is all new to me.
The first thing I noticed about this adaptation though is how beautiful and HD the art looks while still maintaining the look of a series from the 80s. It’s gorgeous. But the series is absolutely still set in its original time period, which is reflected in all the hairstyles and clothing. (The opening is set in modern day, but it turns out to be only a dream).
The writing itself is a lot of fun. Everything just feels really goofy; nearly every character is an idiot in some way, and more and more idiot characters, many of them aliens from outer space, keep getting introduced. The voice acting is funny; Sumire Uesaka makes a great Lum.
If you’re interested in experiencing something old with a shiny modern coat of paint, I recommend the new Urusei Yatsura. Though again, I will say I don’t know how much it differs from the source material—but faithful or not, this anime is funny.
Worth the Watch
A Couple of Cuckoos
Shounen romcoms are pretty stupid, and I enjoy many of them. The concept here is: a boy and a girl were somehow switched at birth but now they’re engaged? Deuhhh?
The two big things that I think this show has going for it are:
Erika is just a likable character. She’s very ditzy, but caring.
It actually got me to laugh pretty often. It has a simple deadpan wit to it, with a healthy dose of silliness. I feel like some other recent shows in the genre are banking more on their ridiculousness and shouting a whole bunch, so I prefer this. Also the Umino dad is a pretty funny dude.
As much as there is that I like in this show, there are clear problems. Like how there are other girls Nagi is supposed to be considering falling for… and I just can’t root for them at all? Not even the one that he actually wants to date? I doubt I’m alone in feeling that way. But hey, Erika will win in the end, I’m sure.
The character designs in this anime are kind of ugly and the animation is also quite dull.
Alright, I realize it sounds like this is a garbage show, but honestly, I like the writing! It has heart to it. If you like shounen anime romcoms, I’d give this a shot. And if you have no familiarity with the genre but want to give it a try, I recommend reading Nisekoi.
Love Live! Superstar!! Season 2
The ending of this season was so weak. Is winning Love Live! just not a big deal anymore?
On the bright side, the new Liella members are funny, as expected.
My favorite part of the season was when Ren became a video game addict and was imagining how the other girls would react to that. That was a good part.
I think Superstar has gorgeous art direction. But neither season has had the greatest writing.
It seemed promising in the beginning: Kanon is a singer who has been defeated by stage fright. That’s something you want to see her overcome, right? But then once that’s kind of resolved there wasn’t much to latch on to. It felt like the same old Love Live we’ve already seen.
Well, I guess that’s fine if you haven’t seen Love Live before.
There is the subplot where Keke needs to win Love Live or go home, and Sumire is the only one who knows about it. I like the idea of that. But in execution—I dunno, man… their relationship is weird. Keke making fun of or berating Sumire would work in moderation. But usually it’s pretty much the only way they interact! You might start to wonder if she genuinely hates her! So this subplot, eh, it just didn’t pay off for me.
I just feel very little about Superstar, you know? Especially after season 2, which seemed rushed. The series is nice; it’s pleasant, it’s funny—but compared to the original anime series, or my favorite one Sunshine, I’m just not as invested.
##Ya Boy Kongming!
This show has a very funny concept—Kongming transporting upon death to modern-day Shibuya and becoming a singer’s manager—that ends up not really mattering that much as the show progresses. Kongming comes up with strategies, sure, but it feels like he takes a backseat and the show becomes mostly a normal drama about performers trying to beat out the competition.
That doesn’t make the series bad; actually I was interested the whole way through. It is slightly disappointing to see that there might not be as much juice to this random funny “Kongming partying it up in the present” concept as it seemed. It’s an enjoyable time overall, though.
And isn’t Eiko cute? The braids, the baseball cap—yup, she’s cute.
Meh
My Dress-up Darling
I think I might have had my fill of wish-fulfillment “sad boy rescued by kind (often energetic) girl” shows. Last year there was Taisho Otome Fairytale, which definitely was that type of show, and there was also Horimiya, which to a limited extent fits into that category. I liked both of those shows a lot. However, I am becoming more skeptical of this sort of theme the more I see it.
It is a nice thought for lonely people that someone will appear and notice all your good qualities and fall in love with you. The appeal in that is obvious. But I think stories, while they may offer some wish-fulfillment, need to avoid too much pandering.
My Dress-up Darling quickly crosses the line of “too much pandering” in my opinion. Marin Kitagawa is a high school gyaru who wants to get into cosplay. She happens to meet her classmate Wakana Gojou, who is skilled in sewing and, long story short, he agrees to make her some outfits. Marin wants to cosplay a character from an erotic computer game—she’s really into one of those (apparently she genuinely likes it for the characters and story). And when she needs to have Gojou take her measurements for the cosplay, it turns out she feels no embarrassment whatsoever about wearing nothing but a swimsuit in a dude’s room. Also spoilers she’s gonna fall in love with him later. That all sounds very convenient, as if she were specifically designed to appeal to some viewers’ interests.
The main reason I am harsher towards this series than it might deserve from an artistic standpoint is simple: it crosses the line into grossness to me.
But to be fair, not every episode is gross. The show gets into the minutia of cosplay, which is interesting. The art is pretty. The writing can be pretty emotional at times and make me feel for the characters. It feels like a mature, relatively thoughtful show—until those moments of stupid anime fanservice for boys show up.
You expect stupid fanservice in stupid shows, but when the show often is trying to be something more mature, it only makes the stupid booby scenes feel that much more stupid and cringeworthy.
So overall, I wasn’t very impressed. It might not technically be the worst show on here, but I just wouldn’t recommend it, personally. Other than the cosplay knowledge, I don’t think there’s anything that special about it, and it wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much attention if it hadn’t gotten people to be like “wowww perfect waifu😍.” Just read or watch Horimiya if you want a somewhat realistic story about a romance between a high school boy and girl—without the silly objectifying scenes.
But hey, to be fair, the funny way Marin talks is very fun to listen to.
Ah gee, what a year. Also, I watched a few episodes of the new Pop Team Epic and Romantic Killer but haven’t finished either yet.
2023
Next year is sure to be fun, too. In the winter season we’re getting more romcoms: Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, from Young Jump. Tomo-chan is a girl, which seems cute based on those pages some guy on Reddit was always coloring. And Nagatoro-san is back for another season, for all us weirdos who can’t get enough of watching that girl mercilessly mock her crush.
Vinland Saga is back this winter. I need to watch the first season. And apparently The Way of the Househusband is back too? I read a bunch of that manga. Never did bother to watch much of the anime.
Spring is gonna be big, with the return of Dr. Stone, Ranking of Kings, and Demon Slayer.
A new series adapted from a manga written by Kaguya-sama author Aka Akasaka, Oshi no Ko, is also airing Spring, and I think it’s gonna be good. I’ve been waiting to buy an official English translation, but I was impressed by the first couple chapters. It’s a concept that will definitely surprise you, I’ll say that much.
Also that baseball/slice of life anime MIX is coming back. I got bored of that one to be honest, but then again I probably wasn’t as used to watching slower stuff back then. Oh hey, another Uma Musume season in Spring? I’ve been meaning to check that one out.
I think we’re getting another season of Tonikaku Kawaii next year. I love that manga—the anime is a decent enough adaptation, so of course I’ll watch.
But my most anticipated anime of next year? The Love Live Sunshine spinoff anime set in a fantasy world of course. You should know by now that I’m not joking.
Oh wow and Jujutsu Kaisen gets another season next summer so I’m pretty stoked for that.