Cheat Power Reincarnation: A Bold New Craze

I'm a Behemoth, an S-Rank Monster, But I Was Mistaken for a Cat So I'm the Knight/Pet of an Elf Girl
https://behemoth-anime.com/
Studio: Zero-G
Genre: Boobs
Premieres December 28th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Remember that show about a dude who got reincarnated as a dog for girls who love to get naked in front of dogs? Well, this is the same thing, but with a cat and an elf. The promos are at least half just her undressing or the screen being covered in mist because she's already undressed. The few times she's not disrobing, it's because she's flouncing around in a bra or nightgown, generally with him stuffed into her cleavage. Sometimes there's a different girl, like the one in a halter top, or the one wearing overalls and nothing else. That's gotta chafe the nipples. The first episode did already air, and it wasn't THAT bad, but it also wasn't really much of anything. Not even committing to the boob bit. We used to have stuff like Queen's Blade and Samurai Girls. Now this is what passes for fanservice? Pathetic.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Did someone say nipple chafing?

Useless Skill: Fruit Master – I Can Eat As Many Skill Fruits as I Want (You're Supposed to Die)
https://kinomimaster.com/
Studio: Asahi Production
Genre: Boobs
Premieres December 31st

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Yep. His unique special skill is that he can have all the skills, and everybody thinks he's worthless, but oopsie doopsie, he gets all the powers and his power level is maximum. That's right. He doesn't just get "swordsman" skill, he gets it at such a high level that even accidentally waving a stick completely obliterates the strongest knight. Also, he apparently just kind of… stops eating fruit after the first one gives him super duper awesomeness, so it apparently doesn't even use its own premise past "another way to have cheat powers." Maybe I just didn't dig deep enough. I definitely don't care, and the promos are barely animated, so a winner in every way.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Why not eat weird magic death fruit?

Could Alchemist Possibly Be the Strongest?
https://izuresaikyo-pr.com/
Studio: Studio Comet
Genre: Also Boobs
Premieres January 1st

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
He thought alchemist was a weak class when he asked to be given it, but it was actually the most cheat powerest of them all! Just like the eighty seven two hundred and fifty three other ones with the exact same premise. It's straight up status screen fantasy too, right out in the open in the promos. Another winner from the studio who last brought us also another cheat power harem garbage show. Does it even matter which one?

Preseason Swing Rating: 

At least alchemize something fun.

Total Redraw
https://zenshu-anime.com/
Studio: Mappa
Genre: Defying Irony
Premieres January 5th

Show Premise: 
Animator works herself to death and wakes up in her favorite anime. With cheat powers.

Random Thoughts:
Really, MAPPA? The studio that keeps ending up in the news for abusive work environments? You're making an original show, and this is the premise you're going with? Both uncreative and offensively tone-deaf? The only original show that doesn't involve giant robots this season at that. No notable staff that could explain it either. Just some generic rom-com director/writer. The promos aren't even well-animated. The most notable thing about them is that they're covering up the main character's face for some no doubt shocking reveal, but they're doing so by having her have so much hair that she looks like Cousin It. Everything about this screams bad idea after bad idea.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
Get a haircut, hippie.

I'm a Noble With a Family On the Brink of Collapse, But I Had Spare Time So I Mastered Magic
https://botsurakukizoku-anime.com/
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: Back to Boobs
Premieres January 6th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Another cheat power thing. Without even bothering to have any reason for it, which I don't know if that makes it better or worse. Reincarnated, just decides to learn magic and is the best ever at it by age 14, gets pet god dragon, indebted busty blonde women, and becomes world famous awesome at everything harem leader super dude. All the usua, and since we're on like the fifth cheat power reincarnation show of this season, I am so past ready to look at literally anything else before we're forcibly returned to both cheat powers without reincarnation, and reincarnation without cheat powers. Wait, there's still THREE more of these still to go? Good freaking god.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Literally written by ChatGPT at this point.

Magic Maker – How to Create Magic in Another World
https://magicmaker-anime.com/
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: Fish Sex
Premieres January 8th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
He's reincarnated to fantasy land, but there's no magic, so he invents it. But even that undersells how dumb it is. He sees some kind of magical phenomenon at a lake, and deduces that it's the strong emotions of the fish wanting to breed that cause it, therefore the key to magic is caring a lot about things. There is so much wrong with that sentence that I don't know where to start. Nobody thought to… care… until you watched some fish spewing on eggs? I'm sorry, but do I need more drugs to understand this, or am I the only one not on them? At least the entire premise is bafflingly idiotic, so that's something unique about it in a sea of identical garbage.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Now that is one sexy perch.

The Mail Order Life of a 40 Year Old Man in Another World
https://arafo-tsuhan.com/
Studio: East Fish Studio
Genre: Still Boobs
Premieres January 9th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Remember that show a year or two back about a guy whose cheat power was being able to summon anything from a convenience store? Or the six other identical ones. Well, here's yet another one of those with the exact same premise. Except, if anything, even lazier because he can summon anything you can buy, which includes chainsaws, modern compound bows, riot shields, construction machinery, the works. He quickly rescues the usual array of 13 year old nubile demihumans who all become his platonic harem, so on and so forth. Seen fourteen of these, seen 'em all.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Anime industry, stop. Just stop.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World
https://isekai-red-anime.com/
Studio: Satelight
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 12th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
It's just cheat power with another name. There's been no shortage of things where they have cheat powers to start with before being summoned to another world, enough that even DC was getting in on that. The manga leans more on sentai tropes than the cheat power/reincarnation ones, which is technically a win, but much of the humor is still loudly announcing that the cliches that they have done are corny. Remove all the times someone says something along the lines of "Sentai dramatic explosions make no sense!" or "That giant robot came from nowhere!" and you're culling about 83% of the gags. Satelight is usually a good studio for their originals, but they half-ass adaptations, and the promos are on the low end of mediocre.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Just keep Spidey out of your damned Narnias.

Catastrophes with Human Resources

Ameku Takao's Detective Karte
https://atdk-a.com/
Studio: project No.9
Genre: Mystery
Premieres January 1st (two episode premiere)

Show Premise: 
Doctor solves mysteries.

Random Thoughts:
Basically House, but a Japanese lady. And the industry being what it is, she is inexplicably drawn as and constantly mistaken for a 15 year old. The best part of the promo is that they literally used HackerTyper and took a screenshot of it for 'complicated computer screen' image. That is so absurdly on the nose. Weirdly, it's also advertising that the first couple episodes are anime original mysteries by the original author. I'm not opposed, but it's certainly a different tack to take with all the things wanting to re-adapt with slightly more fidelity to the source on the second or third go round. I've given up on expecting much of anything from anime mysteries at this point. I can enjoy Poirot or whatever classic mysteries the BBC endlessly spews out, but it's the characters that sell it, not a long and convoluted denouemont that eats up longer than the actual mystery took to present. Also, it's Project No.9, and they are… not a generally impressive studio.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
It's probably not lupus.

I Love Someone At My Company
https://kaishani-sukinahito.com/
Studio: Blade
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 6th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
AKA "Can You Keep a Secret." The most interesting thing here is that they're actually in a relationship from the start. Sex, sleeping over, everything. Of course, the lion's share of the attempts at humor are that she acts petulantly stand-offish while he goes "Oh, but look, she's actually blushing" and then they kiss and make up afterward. Or the opposite, kiss and cuddle, then talk about how awkward work will be. It's cute enough in places, but completely insubstantial, and Blade is absolutely a fanservice oriented studio, so it may get a lot raunchier than the source manga, which is basically just a series of about 10 page vignettes of stuff like "Oops, we bumped into each other in an elevator."

Preseason Swing Rating: 

We literally just had this show without the sex.

Vavam Vavam Vam Vampire
https://bababa-anime.com/
Studio: Gaina
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 11th

Show Premise: 
Vampire tries to prevent teenage dude he wants to feed on from having sex.

Random Thoughts:
Leaving aside the premise that it's an ancient vampire literally grooming a kid for 15 years to be his perfect totally-not-sexual-but-absolutely-100%-sexual 'meal'… Actually, I'm not sure we can considering how much of the manga is spent with everybody naked and the vampire dude thrusting his crotch at the audience while yelling how much virgin blood gets him off. It is not… uh… subtle. At least it's trying to make a gag as much out of everybody mistakenly thinking literally everybody else wants to bang them as much as yelling overreactions and censored phalluses thrust at the audience, but I don't know that any of those things are something I particularly want to engage in.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

At least it sounds like a party.

Sakamoto Days
https://sakamotodays.jp/
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 11th

Show Premise: 
Retired hitman works at a convenience store.

Random Thoughts:
After the shounen heavy last season, the only new core Jump show of this one. Meaning a metric ass-ton of overreactions trying to be passed off as jokes. Of course it's not like MacGyver where the dude is clever or resourceful either. He just has super powers. It's weird how many former assassins are bumming around in Japanese media compared to the number of secret agents, special forces, bodyguards, or even ninjas. The animation in the promos is pretty bad, and is going all in on shaking the camera and loud noises for impacts over actually showing any kind of movement, so… yeah. Low budget Jump stuff. I can't even make it through most HIGH budget Jump stuff. 

Preseason Swing Rating: 

I'm very unique.

Original Shows With Giant Robots and/or Awful Writing

Momentary Lily
https://sh-anime.shochiku.co.jp/momentary-lily/
Studio: GoHands
Genre: Being GoHands
Premieres January 2nd

Show Premise: 
Girls with amnesia and super powers hang out in the robot invasion post-apocalypse.

Random Thoughts:
It's GoHands, which means that the script is going to be incomprehensible and the animation will be as painfully overstimulating as it is expensive. They've certainly got their schtick, and it is a wonder to me how and why they keep doing these huge budget things with every individual strand of hair animated in the gentlest breeze that are commercial bombs. There has to be some kind of massive tax scheme involved. Anyway, looks like the magical girl version of K or Hand Shakers more or less. Considering how rare original shows have gotten, I'm deeply curious, but it's still GoHands, and their track record is atrocious at best. But at least atrocious in very unique ways compared to the rest of the anime industry, and lately, I feel like I'm okay with a flaming train wreck.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
Overengineered and nonfunctional, just for a nonsensical pun.

Genesis of Aquarion: Myth of Emotions
https://aq-moe.com/
Studio: Satelight
Genre: Action?
Premieres January 9th

Show Premise: 
Horny reincarnated teenagers pilot giant orgasm robots.

Random Thoughts:
Ah, Aquarion. A show that I do not at all hope will be GOOD, but that I pray will be completely unhinged. And looking at the character designs, and a story that is seemingly taking place split between the future of chibi-fied kids and a 12,000 year ago past of 1990s era CGI Greek dudes, it does certainly look like Kawamori is on the hard drugs again. Conspicuously absent in the promos are the orgasm robots that have been an Aquarion staple thus far. Are they lurking just around the bend, or have we finally left that behind? Somehow, the answer is probably neither and both. Will the antagonist hate heterosexuality this time, or will it take the Logos road and they've sworn a blood oath against literacy? I just really want to know who looked at this jank-ass CGI that doesn't even seem to have the correct framerate and is even worse than the CGI in the original 2005 series and said this. This is the style we're looking for. This is the artistic vision that I have.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
Suspiciously sexual in all the wrong ways.

Farmagia
https://anime-farmagia.marv.jp/
Studio: Bridge
Genre: Loud Pikmin
Premieres January 10th

Show Premise: 
Dude farms not-pokemon.

Random Thoughts:
The game this is based on is a cross between Harvest Moon and Pikmin with all the mechanics dumbed down to the their most basic and then coated in a thick paint of bad shounen cliches and a mountain of repetition. But I somehow doubt that they're going to be harvesting an entire horde of monsters to throw them to their deaths in battles, which leaves this as Pokemon, but what if instead of one pikachu, you had seven. And they were all janky CGI. What a pitch.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

At least it's not as disturbing as it could be.

Magic God Builder Wataru
https://wataru-anime.net/
Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures
Genre: Action
Premieres January 12th (Prime Time)

Show Premise: 
Kid builds giant mech in not-Minecraft.

Random Thoughts:
I was honestly tempted to just pass this over as an obviously mindless show for children, but it's airing in the same timeslot as stuff like Gundam, and is being made by not-Sunrise to also sell toys, so it really makes me question things. It's hardly the first in the franchise, but other than an abbreviated OVA in 2020, the last go-round was 1998, and it was about a kid being sucked into an RPG world and turning a clay golem into a giant mech. Truly a series before its time. So now it's back when every goddamned show in existence is doing that, and instead he gets sucked into Minecraft. Way to keep up with the times, guys.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

This is not how voxels work!

Girls Do Extracurriculars

Sky Blue Utility
https://anime-sorairo-utility.com/
Studio: Yostar Pictures
Genre: Drama?
Premieres January 3rd

Show Premise: 
Girls golf.

Random Thoughts:
Man, remember when the subgenre of "girls in a club" would eat up around 50% of the shows in a season? Now we're down to three. Anyway, this had a 14 minute short made three years ago which I guess was popular enough to be turned into an entire series after certain other girls golfing flash-in-a-pan things came around. As an original, and a "girls in a club" original at that, which really strains the word, there's next to nothing to go on except the promos, which contain zero golf, but do have girls moaning and sweating as they lounge in a sauna. So… not breaking a whole lot of new ground here, nor looking like it's going to have sexy cyborg golfers from the future playing 9 holes to save humanity.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

This used to be idol territory.

Medalist
https://medalist-pr.com/
Studio: Engi
Genre: Drama
Premieres January 4th

Show Premise: 
Washed out figure skater coaches 11 year old.

Random Thoughts:
She didn't start skating until recently, and even though everybody can clearly see that she's a super genius with all the talent, they all know that she can't actually be good because she started a couple years too late. Ah, sports anime premises. At least you're almost trying. Which is a good fit for Engi, a studio that also can't really be bothered to try. Well, that may be unfair. The promos are a little better animated than Engi normally puts out, but good lord, is some of the CGI janky as absolute hell. It's another sports anime, but with girls in leotards and a camera at ice level while they double lutz over it FOR SOME REASON. Which is also apparently the only ice skating move they're animating. No pirouettes? No scratch spins? No hydroblading? Are we seriously ice skating here or not?

Preseason Swing Rating: 

That dude is so going to jail.

Flowers Bloom Like Crazy
https://hanashura-anime.com/
Studio: Studio Bind
Genre: Drama
Premieres January 7th

Show Premise: 
Teenagers read books, on radio.

Random Thoughts:
This is a Jump manga by the same lady as Euphonium, and is basically the same thing, except instead of being in a band that they're actually in as little as possible, they read books on the school radio broadcast as little as possible. As teenagers do. Gather around the radio to listen to somebody read The Grapes of Wrath. As teenagers totally do. I doubt Studio Bind is going to put the effort in that KyoAni did though. The PV is already cheap and just cherry blossoms in the wind or imaginary vines wrapping up girls to symbolize how she feels trapped in the melancholy of adolescence, unable to fulfill her dream of… reading old books on radio. Deep symbolism.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Can you at least read from the Necromicon?

Boy Meets Girl – Hijinks Ensue

I'm Going to Marry the Classmate I Hate.
https://kura-kon.com/
Studio: Studio Gokumi
Genre: Boobs
Premieres January 3rd

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Because he's rich. And they want his grandfather's money. What a hilarious meet-cute. And not so much hate as playground bickering before she blushes because she actually has feelings, which makes him have feelings. Yes, teenagers squabbling like five year olds. I honestly miss VN adaptations, because even the most brainless still had to come up with a gimmick and 4-5 characters, all with arcs. This? Another LN that's nothing more than "What if girl and boy were to interact." Yes, guys. What if indeed.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
Eat the rich.

The Okinawa Girl I Have a Crush on Has Too Thick an Accent and I Can't Understand Her
https://okitsura.com/
Studio: Millepensee
Genre: Boobs
Premieres January 4th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Despite what you might think from the title, this is more of an obnoxious love triangle where the other girl interprets for him, but the promos make no bones about it with prominent explosions of sparkles when they brush hands and deep blushing at the intense emotional existing within ten meters of each other. Besides that, it's another one of these weird regional advertisements that have been weirdly popular lately. This time, Okinawa, the southern most tropical region of Japan, so perfect seasonal timing.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Another advertisement from Japan's center for horny tourism.

Medaka Kuroiwa Doesn't Respond to My Cuteness
https://monaxmedaka.com/
Studio: SynergySP
Genre: Boobs
Premieres January 6th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
…Because he's a celibate monk. That's it. That's the premise. Horny teenagers being horny at each other and having constant wardrobe malfunctions and trip-and-gropes, but one has sworn off sex, which makes him irresistible to all the girls and so a harem forms while he goes "bwaagh!" and "um, um, um." Her big plan to seduce him in the first chapter is to give him a panty shot, and that having failed, straddle him and rip open her shirt. Comedy, clearly. I will say that the creator here has a bio I've never seen before. Most of their past work has been doing spinoffs of other mediocre things. You want a rom com manga from the guy who did not Tokyo Ravens, but the spinoff of Tokyo Ravens? Well, here you go. Another very worn-out show where the girls physically throw themselves at the dude, while he stammers and goes "golly, gee" which is enough to make them orgasm on the spot and redouble their efforts.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

This is not very zen.

Welcome to Japan, Miss Elf
https://welcome-elfsan.com/
Studio: Zero-G
Genre: Blerg
Premieres January 10th

Show Premise: 
Dude can travel between worlds. Brings back elf girlfriend.

Random Thoughts:
The kind of fantasy world where everything is numerical, there's a party chat, and you hear a jingle when you level up. Yes, this is something that is explicitly called out and explained. So not even as much of a fantasy as the Dragon Quest anime, which is a tad ironic. She, of course, loses all her clothing when he pulls her into Japan, and then proceeds to be awestruck by ramen, traffic lights, Mt Fuji, you know, the usual stuff. We do not aim high with the rom coms this season, and boy, are we probably not hitting that mark.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Haven't they realized elves are out and goblin girls are in?

Girl Meets Boy – Hijinks Ensue

I Want To Escape From Princess Lessons
https://kisakikyouiku.com/
Studio: EMT Squared
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 5th

Show Premise: 
Royal girls hook up with princes.

Random Thoughts:
You'd think this would be another "see title" premise, and not to spoil, but if it follows the LNs, by episode 3, they'll be married and it'll be switching to someone else in the court to have their own will-they-won't-they-of-course-they-will over marrying the pretty boy lightly stalking them. Or if it follows the manga, an entire arc about them all going on a honeymoon together and THEN that. There's only three LNs in this series, and one was just recent, so there may be quite a lot of filler or padding. It's apparently just a really cutesy rom-com about an exceedingly privileged girl and her stalker who she has a crush on with a premise that is immediately thrown aside. Will the adaptation do the same? Who knows. Discarding your unique selling point to progress a relationship would probably be good, but this is anime. Even post marriage is nothing steamier than gazing into the eyes and brushing hands. At least the HBO royals dramas have a ton of sex.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

Honey Lemon Soda
http://honeylemon-anime.com/
Studio: JC Staff
Genre: Drama
Premieres January 8th

Show Premise: 
Shy girl meets popular boy.

Random Thoughts:
See, because his hair looks like honey. And lemon. And also a soda is involved. Very, very bog standard shoujo romance tropes. The girl is a wallflower and picked on, but the popular boy befriends her for no real reason, and everything explodes into sparklies and flowers every few pages. And as an adaptation, that means that they're adding pastels. Funnily, if you Google it, most of the top results are people asking "Does anybody have any idea why this is popular?" Which kind of sums it up. Better these cliches than cheat power, but neither are things I'm champing at the bit for.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Better than chocolate cream shake.

Anyway, I'm Falling In Love With You
https://koishima-pr.com/
Studio: TYPHOON GRAPHICS
Genre: Ultra Drama
Premieres January 9th

Show Premise: 
Girl is fawned over by her four childhood friends.

Random Thoughts:
This feels weird to me, though I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it's pretty much just a gender-bent regular bad harem, zero magic 100% drama version. A wishy-washy lead waffles over their feelings and does absolutely nothing while the harem throws themselves at them one at a time, confessing and/or kissing the lead while the MC continues to just sit there like a deer in headlights. They then all start rivaling at each other while the MC continues to just… sit there like a stunned toad. It's just… the lead is a girl, and the harem is wet dudes who keep falling out of their shirts and constantly gay-ing it up with each other. If you put them in bras, you could probably pass it as for Amagami 2: Swim Team Chapter.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Hey girl, check out the length of my tongue.

In Another World Without Cheat Powers

Promise of Wizard
https://sh-anime.shochiku.co.jp/mahoyaku-anime/
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Genre: Drama
Premieres January 6th

Show Premise: 
Girl is summoned to lead wizards in fighting the moon.

Random Thoughts:
This comes from a pretty standard boy-collecting gacha deal with the absolute minimum of gameplay; just chibis and sparklies based on some number somewhere. And since this is Studio Deen, that summarizes the promos accurately too. There's pretty boys. They sparkle. Supposedly there's some magic and a vaguely evil moon going on SOMEWHERE just off-screen, but this ain't no Majora's Mask. We won't be seeing the moon or fighting but, but rest assured, the bishies will be angsting over who's the most destined to meet their destiny over it.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Has anybody just tried a shotgun yet?

A Story About a Salaryman Who Went to Another World and Became One of the Four Great Generals
https://salaryman-big4.com/
Studio: GEEKTOYS
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 6th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
At least he doesn't have cheat powers, just the standard everyman super power of saying "What if we weren't virulently racist" or "What if we didn't swear a murder blood oath for every perceived slight", and so all the busty demihuman woman in bikinis throw themselves at him for his wisdom and insight. I also probably don't need to mention it, but the lead heroine literally explodes out of her bikini when she eats his cooking. Speaking of which, there's an entire chapter about how all the magic women NEED to dress in bikinis. For physiological reasons. I… *sigh* I think I already know more than I really need to about this,and I am ready to know less.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Where's the fantasy world of smurfs?

Twilight Hotel
https://anime-tasokarehotel.com/
Studio: PRA
Genre: Mystery
Premieres January 8th

Show Premise: 
Dead people with amnesia staff a hotel.

Random Thoughts:
The title is a pun that could also be read as "Who's There." Don't start with me. And who the hell is PRA? Oh, the studio behind the illustrious TsukiPro and Bikini Warriors. Uh, all right. It's largely the same premise as Death Parade, minus the parlor games. More or less a visual novel that's had multiple 'renewal' versions/expansions at this point, with yet another one coinciding with this adaptation. Dead people show up and they need to have their 'cases' solved, which turn out to all be interconnected and whatnot. It's apparently relatively highly regarded, but as I said before, Japanese mysteries and I tend not to get along. 

Preseason Swing Rating: 
     
Being undead used to mean something.

An Old Man is Reincarnated as the Villainess
https://tensei-ojisan.com/
Studio: Ajiado
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 9th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The Republicans won't like this one, though it is somewhat unusual for these things, as his daughter and wife keep playing the game and are able to interact and eventually travel between the worlds, which raises a lot of extra questions about the entire concept. The most depressing part of looking up stuff on this was an interview with the author who became depressed after their other series got canceled early, so they looked up recent trends and vomited up this which became their only commercial success. The interview frames this as a success story, which is the really dispiriting part. Don't write what makes you passionate. Chase the trends. Follow the herd. Conformance is success. Although to be fair, his creative vision was a cop that solves yokai crimes. Can't exactly say that a true creative was stifled here.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

What next, an awkward girl who wants to join a hobby club?

Cheat Powers WITHOUT Reincarnation… Again

The Unlucky Class of Appraiser is Actually the Strongest – The God Eye Forged in Hell is Invincible
https://fugukan.com/
Studio: Okuruto Noboru
Genre: Still Boobs
Premieres January 9th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
This is such a train wreck. Not because it's merely the thirty first show to have the premise where appraising is weak so he's kicked out of the party, but is actually strong. Because the reason the dude has cheat powers is because he stumbled into some random horny goddess who gave him super healing and a magic eye that gives him super powers. His cheat powers have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the appraiser job. It's like calling something "Having Terrible Eyesight Makes Me the Strongest Superhero!?" and it being Superman. Yet another asinine cheat power harem, stacking the godawful cliches so thick that the only possible creative element may be the sheer number packed into a 90 second promo.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Look, ma, I wrote a creative premise!

I'm a Guild Receptionist, But I Hate Working Overtime, So I'll Defeat the Boss Solo
https://girumasu.com/
Studio: CloverWorks
Genre: Comedy
Premieres January 10th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The weird thing here is CloverWorks. They have constant production issues, but they generally put their best foot forward, and for a show ostensibly about a girl secretly being dungeon Batman, there's more boob jiggle in the promos than action. I guess it is the guy who directed Nyarko and Yuuna and the Hot Springs, so not one of their regular people, which probably explains a lot. "I'm -thing that sounds weak- but I'm actually -thing that is overpowered-" is a particularly tired subset of the cheat power crap too, and this shows zero signs of being any different, but with CloverWorks, who the hell ever really knows. I do not have high hopes that this will be more Batman than boob jiggle though, especially with the ugly CGI dragons and characters yelling "Activate skill!" in the promos.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

More heroes should be like Link and shut the hell up.

Übel Blatt
https://ubel-blatt-anime.com/
Studio: Satelight
Genre: Revenge Porn
Premieres January 10th

Show Premise: 
Dude wants revenge for being betrayed.

Random Thoughts:
Edgy grotesque nonsense. Both in terms of gore, and in most female characters unable to exist for more than a page or two without having their clothes off them and something shoved into their genitalia. Which includes the protagonist doing it to his supposed friends, and overtures of throwing women to their horses. Unclear whether it's to eat them or rape them. Badly wants to be Berserk, but only so far as having a bunch of over-violence and sexual assault. Granted, the promos don't seem to be playing up any of that, so there's room for an adaptation to be significantly less gross. Or, more likely, more gross. It's Satelight doing an adaptation anyway, and for as much effort as they put into their own original works, they always phone it in for adaptations. If I make it through the first episode without getting angry at the anime industry in general, that'll be a win.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

The dwarves would never.

I Left My A-Rank Party and Joined My Former Students to Reach the Deepest Part of the Dungeon.
https://arank-party-ridatsu-official.com/
Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures
Genre: Again, the Boobs
Premieres January 11th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
He wasn't kicked out this time, just abused until he quit for being a buffer instead of a DPS, same as all the rest. Also, all his former students are teenage girls. Also, despite the title being plural, it's just the one and the others are friends, so it's cool that they're a harem and totally into him. I expect a not-Sunrise show to be better animated than the frankly awful looking promos, but they make so few shows nowadays that maybe they've given up on animation. It's also just a baffling hodgepodge of nonsense where it's an RPG world, but also has livestreamers for their adventures so everybody can see both how awesome his new party is and how terrible his old party is now that he's gone. Why.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Ending this list just as strong as we began.