Animate Times, a prominent Japanese anime media outlet, recently conducted a poll to gauge fans’ excitement for upcoming anime series in the Winter 2024 season. The poll, open to the public until December 25th, allowed fans to vote for the new shows they were most eager to watch.
Two weeks ago, we provided initial insights into the poll’s results, highlighting the leading contenders based on early voting trends. However, as more fans participated in the poll, significant shifts in voting occurred.
The latest update reveals that the comedy/action series Mashle has experienced a remarkable surge, claiming the number one spot as the most anticipated new anime premiering in the first part of 2024. This unexpected turn of events underscores the dynamic nature of fan preferences and the unpredictable landscape of anime fandom.
The anticipation for Mashle’s second season soared with the release of its trailer, offering fans a tantalizing sneak peek into the upcoming “Divine Visionary Selection Exam” storyline arc. The introduction of intriguing new divine characters has only served to fuel the enthusiasm surrounding the return of this popular franchise.
Among a pool of over 60 different anime series vying for attention, Animate Times faced the challenge of distilling the excitement into a Top 15 ranking. After the conclusion of the voting period, they meticulously curated the list, reflecting the diverse interests and preferences of anime enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the latest releases.
Top 15 Most Anticipated Anime of the Winter 2024 Season According To
In addition to Mashle seizing the top anticipation spot, there were several other notable anime series that saw major changes in their ranking since the preliminary results two weeks ago.
Kingdom Season 5 remarkably dropped out of the Top 15 completely after previously holding strong in the 10th position.
Some other popular franchises that failed to make the final anticipation list included Bottom-tier Characters Tomozaki and Ishura.
- Mashle Season 2
- Classroom of the Elite Season 3
- Solo Leveling
- Delicious in Dungeon
- The Dangers in My Heart Season 2
- Blue Exorcist Season 3
- Tsukimichi Season 2
- Villainess Level 99
- Surgeon Elise
- ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess
- 7th Time Loop
- Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside Season 2
- Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!
- A Sign of Affection
- The Weakest Tamer
Ishura’s absence is particularly surprising since it was voted the top light novel in the prestigious 2021 Kono Awards, which is usually a strong indicator of anime success.
Past Kono Award winners that went on to become hugely popular anime hits have included Classroom of the Elite, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Sword Art Online and My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected.
Meanwhile, despite its online buzz, Chained Soldier did not receive enough votes to break into the ranking. And even the prominence of acclaimed anime studio MAPPA was not enough to boost anticipation for their upcoming Bucchigiri?! series.
Some have compared Bucchigiri?!’s retro animation style to anime from the 2000s, leading many loyal fans of hits like Tokyo Revengers to plan on checking the new show out
15. The Weakest Tamer
Ivy is a young girl who has been reincarnated into a fantasy world where people have multiple magical abilities that are ranked from the highest five stars down to no stars.
Unfortunately, Ivy only possesses the lowly no-star skill called “Tamer” which allows her to tame creatures. Her family hates and mistreats her due to having this weak skill. Feeling ostracized, Ivy decides to leave home and live alone in the nearby forest.
The local village fortune teller takes pity on Ivy’s situation. She kindly provides Ivy with education and supplies as she grows up alone over the next several years.
After the fortune teller eventually passes away, Ivy decides the time has come for her to depart the region and seek a new life elsewhere.
As she is leaving, Ivy discovers a weak, dying slime creature in her path. Utilizing her unusable Tamer ability, she saves the slime and tames it, naming her new friend and companion Sora.
Later details reveal that the current village headman is an incompetent and short-sighted leader. His bigoted policies and refusal to heed the fortune teller’s guidance have steadily declined the village’s prosperity.
Furthermore, he spitefully brands any villagers who choose to desert the failing community as criminals, desperately clinging to authority.
Premiere Date: January 12, 2024
14. A Sign of Affection
Yuki is living a fairly normal, uneventful life as a regular college student focused on friendships, social media fads, and hunting down good bargains and deals.
One day, while commuting on the train, Yuki has a chance encounter with Itsuomi, someone she recognizes from campus. This serendipitous meeting of two acquaintances sets in motion events that will slowly begin opening up and changing Yuki’s worldview.
As Yuki gets to know the intriguing trilingual linguistics student Itsuomi more, an endearing bond starts to form between them. However, a major barrier exists due to the fact that Itsuomi does not know sign language, which is Yuki’s main mode of communication.
As their rapport continues developing in new and complex ways, Yuki increasingly feels the pressing need to discover alternative methods beyond speech to express her evolving feelings toward Itsuomi.
She realizes she has arrived at a turning point where overcoming obstacles in expression could lead to an incredible new relationship.
But should they fail to translate emotions into a common understanding, the uniqueness of what they share may unravel.
So begins a journey where two near-strangers take the first tentative steps toward forging an unforgettable connection–if only they can learn how to speak one another’s language.
Premiere Date: January 6, 2024
13. Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!
Kiyoshi Adachi has lived 30 years without ever having sex. According to an old Japanese legend, when a virgin man remains chaste until age 30, he will transform into a “wizard” and gain magical powers.
Sure enough, upon hitting his 30th birthday, Adachi discovers his new wizardly ability is to read people’s thoughts by touching them.
One day at the office, he accidentally overhears the private thoughts of his popular coworker Yuichi Kurosawa and is shocked to learn Kurosawa is secretly in love with him.
This leaves the awkward Adachi struggling with how to handle hearing his colleague’s very blunt romantic feelings towards him now resounding clearly in his mind.
Over time though, as Adachi sees how much Kurosawa genuinely cares for him, he comes to appreciate being valued so deeply by someone. Slowly but surely, Adachi even begins developing reciprocal affection back towards Kurosawa.
So begins a tricky new relationship journey for two coworkers, as the newly-powered wizard Adachi tries navigating a surprising office romance that blossomed out of the ability to peek into minds and see true feelings lying underneath.
Premiere Date: January 11, 2024
12. Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside Season 2
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside is a popular fantasy anime based on a Japanese light novel series.
The second season of the show is set to premiere on January 7th, 2024 in Japan. In addition, it will be available for streaming on Crunchyroll for international audiences as part of their winter 2024 simulcast lineup.
A new 30-second promotional video clip for the upcoming second season was recently released, providing a small teaser of what fans can expect when the anime returns next year.
The light novels that the show is adapted from were written by author Zappon with illustrations provided by artist Yasumo.
Published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, English translations are also available from Yen Press for Western readers.
The animation production for the anime television series is handled by Studio Flad, and directed by Makoto Hoshino and Satoshi Takado.
The story follows Red, a former legendary hero who has now been banished and is living a quiet, peaceful life running an apothecary shop.
He resides happily with his lifelong romantic partner Princess Rit and his sister Ruti, enjoying relaxing moments soaking in hot springs and savoring tasty home-cooked meals while observing beautiful views.
No matter what turmoil transpires in the outside world, Red aims to maintain his cherished time with loved ones unchanged.
Premiere Date: January 7, 2024
11. 7th Time Loop
Rishe Weitzner finds herself stuck in a mystifying time loop where no matter what job or location she pursues, her engagement to the crown prince is always called off after 5 years, shortly before she dies at age 20. This marks the 7th repetition of this bizarre cycle playing out.
However, this time around, Rishe catches the eye of Prince Arnold from the neighboring kingdom of Hyne. In all previous loops, the Hyne Kingdom was the source of devastating world wars, plagues, resource shortages, and even direct murder.
Desperate to break the loop, Rishe accepts Prince Arnold’s surprise marriage proposal, but only under the conditions that she does not have to carry out any royal duties and can simply relax and loaf around the palace.
This arrangement also helps solidify an alliance for Arnold, fulfilling his father’s request that he take a foreign fiancée technically as a political hostage.
As Rishe spends more time in the Hyne Kingdom though, she begins utilizing all the specialized skills gained over her many past lifetimes to greatly help the people.
She also starts seeing that Arnold is not as cold-hearted as the man she knew in the 6th loop iteration. This makes Rishe very curious about what events harden Arnold’s personality in the other timelines.
Premiere Date: January 7, 2024
10. ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess
A fierce war wages between the Imperial Army and the demonic Hellhorde. During a heated battle, the Imperial Princess ends up captured by the forces of hell, along with her powerful holy sword known as Ex.
Normally such a high-profile prisoner of war would face immediate torture. However, due to long-standing treaties between the two sides prohibiting the torture of captured enemies, Grand Inquisitor Torture Tortura must find creative workarounds.
His solution is subjecting the Princess to “torture” via exposure to incredibly tempting snacks and foods from Earth’s Japanese culture that she has never tried before. This highly unusual gastro-interrogation slowly breaks down the Princess’s willpower.
While she does end up divulging some information, it is typically trivial facts rather than militarily useful intelligence. On the rare occasions, genuine valuable secrets slip out, the demonic Hell-Lord fails to capitalize on them anyway.
So the bizarre war of culinary temptations wages on, with the captive Princess’s loyalty hanging in the balance between her empty stomach and allegiance to her Imperial people.
Premiere Date: January 9, 2024
9. Surgeon Elise
Doctor Elise is an extremely popular series that originated as a Korean web novel written by the author Yuin. Starting in December 2015, it was serialized on the KakaoPage service, posting new chapters continuously for over 4 months until April 2016.
Given its huge success and readership, a webtoon graphic novel adaptation was then launched in September 2017 illustrated by the artist Mini. Running for several more years until February 2021, this webtoon further increased the franchise’s massive popularity.
Now with a huge following across web novels and webtoons, production company Maho Film has tapped into the proven cross-media potential and will be adapting Doctor Elise into an anime television series.
Scheduled to premiere in January 2024 in South Korea initially before reaching international streaming services, expectations run high for this latest anime incarnation chronicling the story of a genius doctor reincarnated into a fantasy world as royalty.
With several seasons worth of epic high fantasy adventuring alongside emotional drama and touches of romance within the expansive lore, this upcoming anime promises to resonate with existing fans globally while ideally cultivating many new ones when it releases at the start of 2024.
Premiere Date: January 10, 2024
8. Villainess Level 99
Yumiella Dolkness finds her soul reborn into a fantasy video game world in the body of a villainess character from the popular roleplaying game “Light Magic and the Hero.”
Realizing she is fated to eventually meet defeat as the villain, Yumiella hatches a plan to quickly gain power and improve her odds of survival through relentless grinding to level up her abilities.
Consequently, she dedicates her new childhood existence in this world to nonstop training.
However, her extreme efforts severely backfired when she exceeded all reasonable expectations by reaching the maximum level cap of 99.
While level 10 represented respectable abilities for a student, maxing out at 99 places Yumiella’s powers far beyond normal parameters.
This anomaly garners her unintended attention and completely throws the game’s intended storyline off the rails.
Now drastically overpowered yet in over her head dealing with the consequences, Yumiella must conceal her true identity as she navigates uncharted territory.
Her careless overachieving has inadvertently made her an unpredictable wild card in this world. She must improvise new strategies to thrive amidst the unpredictable repercussions of exploiting the system.
Premiere Date: January 9, 2024
7. Tsukimichi Season 2
High schooler Makoto Misumi seems like an average, unremarkable boy in most respects. However, his family background is far from normal – his parents actually hail from a fantasy realm and eloped to Earth for various reasons. Moreover, Makoto’s sisters have much more vibrant, attractive personalities.
Due to a divine contract signed by a goddess, Makoto gets summoned to the mystical realm of Elysion, destined to serve as the fabled Hero.
But this is not the typical Hero’s journey he imagined. The vain goddess takes one look at Makoto and deems him too unattractive for her beauty standards, promptly revoking his Hero status.
He gets forbidden from interacting with humans at all in Elysion and even gets tossed off the edge of the world itself!
Thankfully Makoto gets rescued by the moon goddess Tsukuyomi who gifts him great power to now lead a free life unbound by the first goddess’ ideals.
As Makoto explores Elysion meeting mythical beings, many find themselves enamored by his average Joe charm and join his quest to build a new civilization where all species can coexist in peace.
However, Makoto’s aura has become too wildly powerful in yearning for human bonds. His diverse companions rally around him, willing to reform societal norms to help Makoto stabilize his abilities on his unique hero’s journey.
Premiere Date: January 8, 2024
6. Blue Exorcist Season 3
The story follows Rin Okumura, a teenage boy raised lovingly by a caring guardian named Shiro Fujimoto, an Exorcist who battles evil demons that threaten humanity.
Rin later has his world turned upside down when he shockingly discovers that his and his studious twin brother Yukio’s actual biological father is Satan, the demon lord himself.
After Shiro tragically sacrifices his life to protect Rin from demons, a distraught Rin unlocks his dormant demonic abilities inherited from Satan when he draws the legendary Kurikara sword that seals his powers.
Rin sprouts fangs and a tail and gains the power to conjure potent bright blue flames from his body that can incinerate anything he touches.
Determined to live up to Shiro’s noble legacy by confronting the villainous father responsible for his death, Rin decides to enroll at True Cross Academy, an elite training institute for Exorcists that doubles as the Japanese branch of the True Cross Order, a global organization safeguarding the human world from demons.
To Rin’s surprise, he finds his studious twin Yukio is already an esteemed senior Exorcist teacher there.
Bolstered by Yukio’s guidance and steadfast new friends amongst True Cross Academy’s eccentric students and faculty, Rin begins learning to control his dangerous inherited abilities, motivated to master these demonic powers not as the son of Satan, but as an Exorcist warrior walking in the righteous path of the man who raised him.
Premiere Date: January 6, 2024
5. The Dangers in My Heart Season 2
The popular multimedia franchise “The Dangers in My Heart” originated from the ongoing manga series created by comic artist Norio Sakurai, first published in March 2018 within the weekly Japanese anthology Shonen Champion.
Sakurai continues to regularly update the psychologically dark narrative on the digital platform Manga Cross.
The story follows the delusional loner Kyotaro Ichikawa, a high schooler who convinces himself he’s the complex antihero of some cerebral thriller.
Harboring contempt for his peers after years spent friendless, he constantly hatches devious schemes to mess with them.
However, Kyotaro’s dreary existence gains new meaning when he befriends the ever-cheerful class idol Anna Yamada, whom he secretly pines for.
Ironically, despite Yamada’s kind public persona earning her the admiration of all, she privately harbors her own eccentric proclivities, only comfortable revealing them to her companion Kyotaro.
As their unusual bond deepens, the franchise’s signature black comedy and suspense intensify, exploring the duo’s layered psychologies and blurred realities between fiction and truth.
Through manga, novels, film, and more across multiple mediums, “The Dangers in My Heart” continues striking a chord with its distinctive offbeat characterization and examination of the human condition.
Premiere Date: January 7, 2024
4. Delicious in Dungeon
The story is set in a fantasy world where adventuring guilds raid dangerous dungeons, with many seeking the fabled treasures of the Golden Kingdom said to lie in a certain island dungeon.
It begins when a party of six adventures attempts to slay a dragon, but are forced to hastily retreat, tragically losing their teammate Falin, a Tallman spellcaster, to the beast’s stomach.
After this failure, two disillusioned members quit the group, leaving only the stoic swordsman leader Laios, clever halfling locksmith Chilchuck, and elven spellcaster Marcille to grieve their dear friend Falin, who had selflessly used magic to teleport them all to safety.
Feeling deeply indebted to Falin’s sacrifice, the remainder of the close-knit team racks their brains to return to the dragon’s dungeon level in time to save her from digestion.
As in old Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, the group must strategize around the costs of supplies, weapons, recruitment fees for reinforcements, and provisions.
With most of their equipment abandoned back in the dungeon, their rescue mission seems impossible, until Laios reveals his longstanding secret craving to eat dungeon monsters.
Brandishing a monster cookbook, he convinces his horrified yet desperate companions to sustain themselves by foraging for food inside the hazardous dungeon.
On the bustling first floor brimming with adventurer shops, the group providentially meets Senshi, a grizzled dwarf with 10 years surviving through cooking dungeon fauna.
What follows are the adventurers’ darkly comedic travels through the environmental hazards, traps, beasts, and questionable cuisine options of the dungeon’s subterranean ecosystem.
Premiere Date: January, 2024
3. Solo Leveling
In a fantasy realm fraught with supernatural threats, Sung Jinwoo is a hunter who battles hostile creatures endangering humanity. Despite being relatively weak compared to his peers, Jinwoo faces life-threatening conflicts on a regular basis.
After barely surviving an especially perilous dungeon raid that claims the lives of his companions, Jinwoo mysteriously finds himself the recipient of an arcane gaming system that enables him to rapidly increase in might and convert defeated foes into subservient spirit warriors.
Empowered yet confused, Jinwoo sets out to uncover the origins of this enigmatic force that has altered his destiny. His newfound strength allows him to confront more imposing adversaries, both bestial and humanoid.
Through successive brushes with death, glimpses of a greater truth emerge concerning the nature of the demonic dungeons, his exceptional new capability, and Jinwoo’s ordained place in the fabric of reality.
Driven by purpose and a burgeoning understanding of his exceptional role in safeguarding the future, Jinwoo persists in pushing beyond his limits against ever-mightier opponents and realms of uncertainty.
Premiere Date: January 6, 2024
2. Classroom of the Elite Season 3
The popular anime series Classroom of the Elite adapts Shōgo Kinugasa’s light novel of the same name, illustrated by Shunsaku Tomose.
A third season was officially confirmed on March 6th, 2022, with the animation studio Lerche returning to produce the new episodes as they had for the first two seasons.
Season 3 sees director Yoshihito Nishōji take the helm, while previous chief directors Kishi and Hashimoto reprise oversight roles to ensure continuity. Veteran character designer Morita also returns.
The writing team features newcomer Yasushi Shigenobu joining returning scribe Hayato Kazano to craft the scripts. On the music front, acclaimed composer Masaru Yokoyama is scoring, aided by Kana Hashiguchi.
Originally slated for 2023, production delays have pushed the release date back to January 3, 2024. This new season will finally adapt the remaining first-year storyline arcs not yet animated from the light novels.
After years of eagerly anticipating more cunning exploits and cerebral clashes from the gifted students, the third installment promises to resume the suspense fans have long waited for.
Premiere Date: January 3, 2024
1. Mashle Season 2
The recently released trailer for the upcoming second season of the anime Mashle: Magic and Muscles teases exhilarating new adventures at Easton Academy as protagonist Mash contends with keeping his lack of magic abilities concealed.
Intriguing new rivals called the Divine Visionaries are introduced, appearing to be prominent adversaries. Brief clips showcase Mash tapping into his extraordinary strength to confront menacing magical beings and skilled student sorcerers.
We also get a glimpse of the strict Margarette Macaron, head of Mash’s Orca dorm, who seems to be playing a pivotal role this season. The lively opening theme song “Bling Bang Bang Born” performed by popular rap duo Creepy Nuts sets the tone for the new episodes.
Veteran animation studio A-1 Pictures returns to handle the visuals while director Tomoya Tanaka is back at the helm. Series composer Yosuke Kuroda will be masterminding the overarching narrative. Renowned composer Masaru Yokoyama’s score promises to highlight the escalating action.
Overall, the trailer indicates season 2 will up the ante with higher stakes, and more eccentric characters, and amplify Mash’s efforts to keep his lack of magic a secret as the mayhem intensifies.
Premiere Date: January 6, 2024
Honorable Mention
Shunka Shuutou
