Sophomore Seasons Galore!
2020 was unkind to us in many ways, but one of the harder hitting points for me was so many anticipated anime returns being pushed back months in some cases, and in others the entire year. Sadly, many of these anime had just wowed us with an amazing first season, and had us on the edge of our seats ready for more.
Well say hello to the new year, and with it brings with it a heap of shows ready to expand their stories with their sophomore seasons. Now we know a second season can be very important for a new anime. If it had an average or decent first season, this is the creators chance to step it up to the next level, change some things that didn't quite hit right the first time around, and seduce a new crowd of fans. For animes that really hit it off with a spectacular beginning season, the second run can almost seem a scary obstacle for writers and artists to take on. How do you deliver the same of what people loved, while also pushing forward the story, characters, art style, etc. and just continuing to build a solid franchise? We're going to look at a few of my favorite new shows from the past year or two that will be heading into their sophomore round in 2021, look at where they've been so far, and where they might be taking us heading into the new decade.
WARNING! I'm going to include a very small synopsis of the shows below, which may contain spoilers, so be careful if you are planning on watching any of them. I would also note that this warning MAINLY applies to The Promised Neverland, because I really like people to go into that show not knowing what they are getting themselves into: it's part of the allure of the show and is how it was presented to me, and in return, how I presented it to others when I introduced them to it.
1. THE PROMISED NEVERLAND
The Promised Neverland was a nice and creepy surprise for most people looking for a new anime last year, and once people began to pick up on it it exploded in popularity. The show follows a bunch of orphans who live together on a small ranch and are taken care of by a mom-like parental figure. There they grow up, go to school, play together, etc. until it's time for them to be adopted and leave the orphanage. The whole show begins as a cute almost slice-of-life type anime that probably wouldn't interest you until the main characters: Emma, Norman, and Ray discover the sadistic truth about the orphanage. Turns out that the world they live in is actually ruled by demons and their home is really a farm for growing the demons favorite meal-humans.
The first season was pretty great, often kind of creepy, and full of mystery and some tense moments of trying to outwit the adults that watch over them and plan an escape. It ends with the successful escape, but we learn that the orphans journey has really only just begun as they now enter the outside world where demons reign. Season 2 promises to show us more of the world they inhabit, and we will watch as our protagonists grow stronger and learn to survive in their harsh reality.
2. BEASTARS
Here's another anime that really isn't like the typical shows I get into (I'm a shonen fanboy so what?) but the story turned out to be very deep and the characters complex on top of really high class writing that weaves together a believable story that could easily be real life... except that all the characters are bipedal animals.
The story follows a wolf named Legosi who attends a boarding school in this all animal world where herbivores and carnivores have learned to live together, although some racist (species-ist?) tensions do uncercut the entire narrative. Things get further out of hand when a fellow classmate is murdered, presumably by a hungry carnivore; and all of this is laid on top of a very difficult love triangle involving Legosi, a deer named Louis, and a rabbit named Haru.
The first season led on to some crazy places towards the end, but wrapped itself up fairly nicely in the finale, leaving most of us to wonder where the second season would go. Presumably we enter the same cast of character later in the year as they handle more personal relationship problems and another mystery plaguing the school.
3. THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME
Let's start by saying I'm not much of an Isekai fan, but there are a handful that I enjoy and this one in particular grabbed my heart very early on and is probably my most anticipated release on this list.
The show follows Rimuru Tempest (Formerly Satoru Mikami as a human in our world, before dying and reincarnating in a fantasy video game-like world as a small blue slime). Rimuru enters his new world as a lowly slime, with only a unique skill that allows him to digest and absorb things, obtaining new powers, combining skills into even better ones, etc. Really his power is only limited by his intelligence and creativity. Rimuru meets and absorbs the great dragon Veldora and so starts his incredible ascent to power. He exits his beginning cave area and begins to amass new skills and powers, growing stronger along the way, obtaining new allies, building a small party and eventually an entire settlement. By then end of the first season Rimuru is leader of a huge kingdom, astronomically powerful, and companions with a plethora of powerful demons, lizards, dwarves, wolves, and many more creatures. The entire thing is an absolute joy to watch as Rimuru's world is slowly built around him from nothing. There's also no shortage of action. Season 1 has some jaw droppingly beautiful fights that borderline on epic proportions.
As we enter Season 2, Rimuru has taken care of demons and mythological beasts and continues to expand his kingdom and influence. I'm so excited to see what's in store for the Kingdom of Tempest and all of it's beloved inhabitants.
4. DR. STONE
(NOTE: Above I stated I'm not really into Isekais, which is true, but I also just noted that Dr. Stone is technically an Isekai, and Shield Hero definitely is so just don't pay attention to me sometimes..)
Dr. Stone was another welcome step away from the average anime, and it really tickled the science nerd in me (especially any of the chemistry stuff, I just eat that s*** up).
Dr. Stone takes place in a version of our world where an apocalyptic event has taken place, specifically a bright, green light engulfed the Earth and turned a vast majority of the animals and humans into stone. Thousands of years pass and the Earth continues its lonely revolutions without our race.
Our main protagonist, Senku Ishigami, is a young, absolutely brilliant scientist in the old world. When turned to stone, Senku is able to keep himself sane and keep track of time by accurately counting. Yes, counting, for thousands of years using his sheer willpower. It's kind of crazy and farfetched, but when you meet Senku you will understand quickly that's the kind of character he is. Upon finally breaking free of his stone prison, Senku immediately begins using his scientific know-how to survive and soon begins reviving other humans before finding a village of humans that existed beyond the catastrophe.
Along the way, one of the revived humans, known as Tsukasa becomes a clear antagonist. While Senku wants to use science to help restart the world and get it back to where it used to be, along with reviving all of the petrified humans, Tsukasa has different plans, wanting to revive only the youth and shape the world in his new image. As Senku allies with the village and begins making more allies, Tsukasa also starts reviving people and amassing an army, leading to an inevitable showdown.
The show is awesome, and very unique for an anime. The world building is great, much like in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, but something even more spectacular is that all of the science Senku uses throughout the anime to create, invent, and solve problems is rooted in actual facts. You could actually take much of it, and with a little know how, perform most of Senku's experiments at home!
Season 1 was full of awesome "aha!" moments, and some real deep tearjerkers as well. It also doesn't slouch on the action, providing some decent fights sprinkled throughout, as well as a VERY colorful cast of characters. The whole first season leads up to the beginning of the "Stone Wars" (Which is actually the subtitle of Season 2) which will finally see the great battle of The Kingdom of Science vs. Tsukasa's Army begin!
5. THE RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO
This Isekai is another one that I accidentally stumbled into, but it got its hooks into me pretty quick. It is also one of the Isekais that most closely resembles a video game. While Slime has some of these aspects, Shield Hero really takes and runs with the whole leveling system, quests, skills (even a pretty fully fleshed out skill tree) and more, and it's pretty exciting to watch.
The story concerns young Naofumi Iwatami, who gets pulled into a fantasy video game like world where he is summoned (along with three other great heroes) as the kingdoms "shield hero". He's destined to fight for the kingdom and to save them from a great threat, but sadly, Naofumi quickly recognizes that the shield hero isn't very celebrated throughout the kingdom compared to his partners (Sword Hero, Bow Hero, etc). Naofumi finds himself starting WAY behind the others in terms of power, and is quickly ostracized by the rest in a nasty slander, forcing him to start at the very beginning and work himself up through hard work and meeting some incredible allies along the way.
Season 1 starts a little slow, I wasn't sure if it was my thing at first, but soon picked up and I couldn't stop myself from marathoning my way through it. The characters are easy to quickly become attached to, and Naofumi himself begins to grow strong and display some pretty amazing powers, eventually gaining back some respect that was taken from him, and the admiration of his other summoned peers.
Season 2 looks to continue the journey as Naofumi and his party work to save their new kingdom home, and you can expect more amazing growth and powers, as well as a host of more fearsome enemies to come their way!
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!
These are 5 amazing animes to watch out for as we head into 2021, all of them about to take the plunge into their sophomore seasons, and I wish them all the best and good luck heading forward. I hope if you read this that one or more of them may have perked your interest if you haven't already checked them out! At the time of writing this the first four are only heading into their third episode, and Shield Hero is still upcoming later in the year. So there's still a chance to marathon some of them, catch yourself up, and then enjoy watching week to week as the second part of the adventures unfold! Check back here on my Journo soon and I'll have another article detailing some new anime coming in 2021 that I recommend!
