When you have two big dynamo series airing in one season, it kind of ends up a throwaway season for any new stuff. That being said, not everything got drowned out by Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer. In fact, a few even gave them a solid run in the week-by-week. So if you have caught up on all the subsequent seasons of things that aired this season, or simply want something new, these are the one’s I enjoyed.
Best Winter 2022 Anime
My Dress-Up Darling
Living with his grandfather who makes beautiful Hina Dolls, Wakana Gojo has loved them since he was a child. He aspires to one day make Hina Dolls as good as his grandfather, but his dedication has made him a bit of a loner in school after a girl in his childhood said that boys shouldn’t like dolls. After a run in with the beautiful and popular Marin Kitagawa, he discovers that she wants to cosplay a character from an eroge game. However, her sewing skills leave something to be desired, and after seeing her passion, Gojo agrees to help her make her costume.
Why It Is Worth Watching? – This is the series that was standing up against Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer, which is odd since it is about cosplay. However, while it was initially faulted for having a whole episode of fan service about taking a girl’s measurements, the series is actually really charming. It has those moments of fan service, but it actually has really wholesome main characters in a romance series that has very little actual romance, but keeps you interested none-the-less. It also has a nice message about being passionate about – and okay with – your hobbies even if they are considered strange for your gender, and I like that.
Sabikui Bisco
A red wind has swept over Japan and withered everything in its wake. Wherever the wind blows, rust grows and consumes all in its path. With humanity succumbing to this rust, and the world a barren wasteland, mushroom spores bore the blame for it. This has made archer Bisco Akaboshi, who grows mushrooms wherever his arrows land, into a notorious terrorist. However, he is a mushroom protector who spreads his fungi in order to enrich the land as he searches for the legendary Sabikui, an ancient mushroom that devours rust in all forms.
Why It Is Worth Watching? – You forget sometimes in these days of isekai oversatuaration and same-y shounen battlers, but anime can be incredibly creative and weird in the best ways. Sabikui Bisco is that. You won’t understand it in the initial episodes about rust disease and mushroom terrorism, but if you like strange and creative anime, you will be intrigued by it. Reward creators trying something new by trying their good and well-animated series.
Sasaki and Miyano
Much of his life at his all-boy’s school for Miyano is worrying about how girly his face looks and hiding his secret love of boy’s love manga. However, after witnessing a fight, he has a clandestine meeting with an older delinquent student named Sasaki. Afterwards, Sasaki seems to jump at every opportunity to be around Miyano.
Why It Is Worth Watching? – Certainly boy’s love is not a genre for everyone, and that’s fine. However, boy’s love has also put many off because it can be seriously rape-y. Sasaki and Miyano is part of a new revival of boy’s love where the characters act like normal people and not horny, aggressive animals. Anyway, it is a series of short situations where the characters interact with each other in more comical and wholesome ways with only a sprinkle of actual potential romance.
Akebi’s Sailor Uniform
Living in a rural area and previously going to a small one-room school with no other girls her age, Akebi holds the dream of going to the prestigious Roubai Academy for girls like her mother and wearing that illustrious sailor uniform. With her uniform on, she endeavors to make as many friends as possible.
Why It Is Worth Watching? – I teetered between leaving this one off. Not because its bad, though. In actuality, it is quite good, but as a slice of life series about friendship and nothing else in particular, it is kind of one of those series that you enjoy and then forget ever existed. Still, that can often be said of much of the slice of life genre. The series is beautifully animated and very wholesome. It also, weirdly enough, does a good job at creating characters that are humanly flawed and kind of gross sometimes. You’ll know what I mean even in the first episode.
Requiem of the Rose King
In the Middle Ages, the English Crown has been hotly contested in a civil war, dubbed the War of the Roses. The Duke of York seeks to unseat King Henry VI in order to take the crown for himself. Among this, the Duke of York’s third son, Richard, has become reviled by his mother and even by himself for his body that possesses the characteristics of both sexes. Furthermore, he is plagued by visions of England’s old enemy, Joan of Arc who taunts that he will bring only ruin to his family.
Why It Is Worth Watching? – This is perhaps my “hot take” recommendation since everyone really seems to hate this series for it’s lack of animation (and other valid reasons, yes). However, I grew up on Berserk (1997) and I saw worse with The Way of the House Husband. Also the fact that it is a JC Staff show should have automatically set your expectations for animation quality quite low. JC Staff is always such a dartboard with their shows. Sometimes they hit a bull’s eye, sometimes they hit the wall next to the board. Still, I admire them a bit for still daring to try new things.
Anyway, if you don’t mind still shots, Requiem of the Rose King is still going to be… strange. It is definitely a series made to play out more like a stage play than an anime. Also, if you have read William Shakespeare’s Richard III, this isn’t that. It takes many liberties and changes many things. It’s not an adaptation of that, it is inspired by it. Regardless, the show is a bit hamfisted in many moments, but I’ve never been so intrigued by what genitals a character has under leather and linen.
Is there anything else you enjoyed from the Winter 2022 anime season? Let fans know in the comments section below.
