2024 Fall Premiere Digest

We’re going back to school with lots of magical girls this season!

Which shows do you review? 

We don’t review shows that are direct sequels, shorts, or (generally) for very young children. Anything not licensed and/or immediately available is off the table as well; series that are dropped in batches (the binge/Netflix model) won’t receive are a premiere review but are eligible for recommendations at end of season. Shows with late release dates will be reviewed separately from the digest.

While shows may change category as they continue to air, for ease of reference this is the order that will be used when discussing shows on our mid-season and wrap-up podcasts. Please note that any shows released in batches/by cour rather than weekly will not be discussed on the mid-season podcast.

How do you write the reviews?

Lizzie, Alex, Vrai, Cy and Toni split the majority of shows, with Chiaki taking this season off for day job obligations. The titles were divided by each reviewer’s preferred workload and choice. Caitlin is at ANN this season, so you can check out her reviews over there.

Once we have more funding, we’d like to change our current model to provide a wider range of perspectives on more episodes. We’re a long way from that goal, but it’s been a personal wish of ours since launch and we hope to make it happen someday.

What do your reviews focus on? 

This varies by writer to some extent (some of us are more focused on visuals, others on narrative, and so forth), but as a feminist site it’s of course essential that we raise any issues of intersectional feminist interest.

When you read an AniFem review, you’re likely to learn about female character designs, queer representation, analogies to real-world marginalization, and so on. If you think we missed something, please comment under the review and let us know!

Why do you categorize them?

The purpose of these reviews is to give you, our readers, information to help you decide if you want to try a show. There’s greater access to anime than ever before, and we want to help you find series you can truly love, without wasting your time on a show that contains an automatic deal-breaker, be that fan service, queerphobia, the sexualization of children, and so on.

Individuals can find value in any series, and we will never lead a boycott of a particular show, but we want to make it easier for you to get the most out of your limited time. In our digest, feminist-relevant themes and ideas take precedence, with overall narrative quality coming second and personal preference a distant(ish) third.

Premieres that seem to contain progressive themes are at the highest end and those featuring regressive ideas (or out-and-out hatefulness) are at the lowest. We expect some disagreement and welcome debate, so if you have any objections to our lists then by all means let us know in the comments!

I found a show I’m interested in! Where can I watch it?

This will vary depending on where you live, but you can browse Yatta-Tachi’s Fall 2024 Premiere Chart for the legal streaming sites carrying each series. Check to see if a show is available in your region!

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Fall 2024 Premiere Digest

The following titles are organized by categories, then alphabetically. Note that, because of the way premiere dates are staggered, we’ve had the chance to watch multiple episodes of some series. To give you a fuller picture of how much information we were working with when creating these rankings, we’ve marked how many episodes of each show we’ve seen.

Feminist potential

Premieres that so far seem to be addressing progressive ideas or themes and executing them competently. Please check individual reviews for more detailed content warnings.

• 365 Days to the Wedding (Episode 1-2): A fake-dating caper with room for plenty of social commentary about the rigid expectations around, and social prioritizing of, romantic relationships. 
• The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians (Episode 1): Excellent shoujo-style magic school coming-of-age story for older kids; early yet, but class/exclusionary systems are implied by the premise.

It’s… complicated

Similar to the above category, but in addition to all those possible feminist themes, the show may be biting off more than it can chew or in danger of fumbling its chosen themes.

• Dan Da Dan (Episodes 1-2): Gorgeously animated action comedy show about two misfit teens obsessed with the occult with the best female shonen protagonist in years and a short-lived proclivity for sexual menace against her.
• How I Attended an All-Guys Mixer (Episode 1-2): A college rom-com that has some fun, refreshing takes on drag while also relying on some unfortunate transmisogynistic cliches, too.
• Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. (Episodes 1-2): Magical girl office comedy with commentary on corporate culture but also some jokes that skirt transmisogyny.
• Nina the Starry Bride (Episode 1): A rags to riches story about an orphan who becomes a body double in order to keep a political engagement intact and obscure the kingdom’s greatest secret.
• Ranma 1/2 (2024) (Episode 1): Boy meets Girl who meets Girl who’s actually Boy in a fantastic premiere that matches comedy beats with a compelling thruline; the original’s age will likely play a factor.

Neutral zone

Very little to warn folks about, but also not a ton of progressive ideas to chew on so far either.

• Acro Trip (Episodes 1-3): Loving parody about a massive magical girl fan who keeps getting recruited by the villains.
• Blue Box (Episode 1): A sports romance that entangles two childhood friends under the same roof after a seemingly aborted chance at love.
• DEMON LORD 2099 (Episode 1): Inventive take on the “demon lord” subgenre with a cyberpunk twist.
• Goodbye, Dragon Life (Episode 1): A dragon is reborn as a human, and it is so boring.
• Kinokoinu – Mushroom Pup (Episode 1): Get your cute aggression fix with the world’s best fun-guy, who happens to be a man and nature’s best friend.
• Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms (Episode 1): Sci-fi passion project (and Studio TRIGGER tribute) from a female director about living mechs.
• The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan (Episode 1): The grandson of a famed hero skilled in the titular Talker class really leans into trying to convince you that he’s the weakest despite having a literal GUN.
• Negative Positive Angler (Episode 1): A young man finds friends and fishing as a way to cope with terminal illness.
• Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (Episode 1-2): One young man is blackmailed into a tug of war between theology and astrology in a world where heretics are burned at the stake and brutality finds into all facets of life.

Yellow flags

Premieres that weren’t actively hateful at the premise level, but still raised some noteworthy caveats or concerns.

• The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, In Fact, the Strongest (Episode 1): A heroic hero finds himself down on his luck until the young girl he saved forms a party with him which would be sweet were there not the start of a discomforting, if currently one-sided, romance.
• I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (Episodes 1-3): For once a villainess has decided to support women’s wrongs and lean into her infamy; age-gap teasing but has a time-skip in episode 3.
• Let This Grieving Soul Retire (Episode 1): Even though he’s not strong, this male protagonist finds himself going from zero to hero when his friends decide he’s the best to lead them into battle, adventure, and eventual victory.
• Loner Life in Another World (Episode 1): One misanthropic Japanese youth finds vigor and vim in another world after a comedy of errors that truly prove comedy is very, very subjective; fan service/objectification.
• Puniru is a Kawaii Slime (Episode 1): Features fan service jokes about a very childlike magical being.
• A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School (Episode 1): Supernatural slice-of-life premise haunted by a male lead who keeps loudly insisting that he definitely, totally isn’t fetishizing his teen students and their sailor uniforms.
• TsumaSho (Episodes 1-2): Much more tasteful examination of grief than “wife reborn as a grade schooler” would suggest, but still hits some awkward notes.
• Uzumaki (Episodes 1-3): A brilliantly animated premiere with some misogynist undertones undercut by absurdly fast pacing surgically removing the female protagonist’s personality and a production disaster that left Episode 2 nigh unwatchable.
• You Are Ms. Servant (Episode 1): An assassin learns to feel feelings and be human again through domestic service and being a stand-in mother figure/love interest for a hapless teen boy. 

Red Flags

A whole lotta yikes.

• The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor (Episode 1): Time loop where the now-10-year-old heroine tries to change her fate by entering an engagement with a much older fiance (who’s way too excited about her age).
• HAIGAKURA (Episode 1): Mild infantilizing fan service; while it’s nominally consensual, there’s definitely potential slavery implications in the execution of the summoner system. 
• Murai in Love (Episodes 1-3): Student/teacher romance that addresses the power imbalance and then goes all-in.
• TRILLION GAME (Episode 1): Haru and the very nerdy, and somewhat unwilling, Gaku climbing the capitalistic ladder as the best thing that can be done
• Tying the Knot With an Amagami Sister (Episode 1): Throwback harem title with the requisite heavy fan service.
• Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii (Episodes 1-2): A genuinely engaging erotic yakuza crime thriller that never pumps the brakes; the leading man is a total dumpster fire.