2024 Winter Premiere Digest

Get out of the winter chill and enjoy some cozy food and cool ladies.

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 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?

Alex, Vrai, Cy, and Caitlin split the majority of shows, with Toni stepping in to pinch hit. Lizzie and Chiaki took a sabbatical this season to focus on other responsibilities. The titles were divided by each reviewer’s preferred workload and choice.

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 fanservice, 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 Winter 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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Winter 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.

• Brave Bang Bravern! (Episodes 1-2): Deliberately contrasting gritty war stories vs giant robot shows, and highlighting the homoeroticism of both.
• Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (Episode 1): Sweet BL office rom-com with undercurrents about navigating consent,
• A Sign of Affection (Episode 1): Gentle, pretty shoujo romance with a Deaf heroine. 

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.

• Fluffy Paradise (Episode 1): Mostly cute animals, except that the protagonist is supposed to single-handedly decide if humanity is irredeemably racist; again, using a fantasy race as a stand-in.
• Metallic Rouge (Episodes 1-2): Cyberpunk series with cool ladies and a Black co-protagonist; using androids as a discrimination stand-in often gets dicey.
• Sengoku Youko (Episode 1): Seemingly a boilerplate battle shounen with simplistic morals, but with an author who often subverts shounen tropes and conventional morality.
• Solo Leveling (Episode 1): Satire and critique of capitalism is built into its premise, but the character writing, especially for the women, leaves much to be desired.

Neutral zone

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

• Delicious in Dungeon (Episodes 1-2): Fantasy cooking dungeon-crawler reminds you to exercise self-care.
• Delusional Monthly Magazine (Episode 1): Anthropomorphic beast men investigating lost artifacts, tragically poorly executed.
• The Demon Prince of Momochi House (Episode 1): Supernatural boyfriend shoujo romance with somewhat lackluster male leads but a spunky protagonist.
• Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp (Episode 1): A triple-reincarnation villainess isekai with an interesting first episode that may or may not actually reflect the rest of the show.
• Ishura (Episodes 1-2): Fantasy tournament series that might be about the horrors of war or might get lost in noble warrior sentiments.
• Meiji Gekkan: 1874 (Episode 1): Travel back to the end of the era of samurai in a story that has too many moving parts and a little too much fantasy for the historical fantasy genre.
• Mr. Villain’s Day Off (Episode 1): The chill day-off adventures of a tokusatsu villain. 
• My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered (Episode 1): Routine isekai antics combine with a teenage boy who wakes up right in time to prove he’s the protagonist.
• 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (Episode 1): Fantasy romance with an active, multilayered heroine.
• The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party- (Episode 1): Less mean-spirited than a majority of the “kicked out of the party” microgenre.
• ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess (Episode 1): Cozy foodie comedy about a princess being “tortured” with delicious dishes.
• The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (Episode 1): Inoffensive but bogged down by the clunkiest elements of light novel writing.
• Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I’m Not the Demon Lord (Episode 1): Perfectly fine villainess isekai with an unfortunately clumsy adaptation.
• The Weakest Tamer Begins a Journey to Pick Up Trash (Episode 1): A heartfelt and potentially divisive premiere about a young girl born to tragedy who begins an adventure to find her true worth.
• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (Episode 1): Oops, they did it again by accidentally summoning a teenager to another world. Thankfully, he’s been gifted with some of the strongest magic around.

Yellow flags

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

• BUCCHIGIRI!?! (Episode 1): Utsumi’s usual madcap originality, but also lifts Middle Eastern culture for visual aesthetic and a girl waaaay too into her brother.
• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable (Episode 1): A meet cute premiere set in rural Hokkaido that trips on unnecessary fanservice in the back half.
• Sasaki and Peeps (Episode 1): Office worker portal fantasy; his middle-school neighbor seems to have a thing for him.

Red Flags

A whole lotta yikes.

• Chained Soldier (Episode 1): The protagonist becoming magically enslaved to a hot woman is clearly the fantasy, but she’s also not consenting to the dynamic, and nuance is nowhere in sight.
• The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil (Episodes 1-2): Urban fantasy rom-com where pseudo-Kaguya-sama flirting machinations get sometimes derailed by servitude kink interludes that one party is loudly not into.
• Tales of Wedding Rings (Episode 1): Heterosexual harem romance involving promises, rings, that same high school hero, and a whole lot of fanservice from its busty female lead.
• The Witch and the Beast (Episode 1): Stylish and gritty fantasy that’s throwing around complex themes like prejudice and gender identity with wild abandon; features a forced kiss as the main character’s finishing fight move.

Anime was a Mistake

We had to make a whole category for pedophilia and slavery apologia, and this is it.

• Gushing Over Magical Girls (Episode 1): Magical girl parody about discovering your kinks… but it’s wall-to-wall explicit fanservice and the cast are all middle-schoolers.