Neverending Cheat Power Reincarnation Corner

Classless Hero – I Didn't Need Any Skills Anyway
https://mushoku-eiyu-anime.com/
Studio: studio A-CAT
Genre: Making Me Depressed
Premieres September 24th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The fun part of this one is that someone flamed it as garbage in an Amazon review, and the author took personal offense and called them an illiterate moron, sparking an entire flamewar and people review bombing it. Which is also funny because it's the same garbage as all the rest. RPG world, but he has no 'skills'. Except he tries extra hard and now he has all the skills, which literally nobody else in the world thought to do. Especially galling when 'skills' here are things like “use heavy sword.” Also, his parents were gods, his harem are S ranked super adventurers, blah blah blah. So it makes the author getting into a big ol' pissing match over some random 0 star review on Amazon all the more mystifying. What are you defending here, my dude? It is indeed as bad as they claimed. Everyone knows that. You know that. 

Preseason Swing Rating: 

One cave troll.

My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World While Yelling “Serves You Right!”
https://mugengacha.com/
Studio: JC Staff
Genre: What The Hell Is This Title
Premieres October 3rd

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
…No. Absolutely not.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

I… I just can't deal with this subgenre anymore.

The Royal Magician Who Was Stuck Using Support Magic Because His Party Was Too Weak Was Exiled and Has Now Set Out To Become The Strongers
https://hojomaho.com/
Studio: Gekkou
Genre: Not Quite Adventure
Premieres October 4th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
In case you thought it couldn't get any stupider than the title already is, he's immediately snatched up by his hot childhood friend because they want to get their legendary S++++ rank high school super party that was the envy of the entire world back together again. If it sounds like I'm exaggerating for comedic effect, I assure you that I am in fact not. He was always a godling, but they needed to go with the standard kicked out by a bully premise, and so they did. Same as that one about the teacher. And the other one about the teacher. And the other one about being kicked out of the party. Could be worse. Could be revenge/torture porn. Or just regular porn. Actually, that might not be so bad, as it'd imply some level of relationship. And possibly even animation. Two things that aren't in the promos, unless you count flashing lights to be lightning magic.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
How is this better than the previous show?

Twisted Wonderland The Animation – Episode of Heartslabyul
https://disneytwistedwonderland.com/
Studio: Yumeta Company
Genre: Drama?
Premieres October 29th

Show Premise: 
Dude is summoned to fantasy land and forced to join magic high school.

Random Thoughts:
This is technically a Disney tie-in to a mobile rhythm gacha game, but the actual Disney part is not exactly Kingdom Hearts. It's just a standard pack of boy band idols who if you squint really hard, you MIGHT be able to find a Disney reference. Not even necessarily a villain, though most of the main dudes are, but even then, you have to squint and accept that the dude named Vil is a reference to “Evil Witch.” In any case, we've no shortage of boy band gacha things, and I dread the inevitable Love and Deep Space adaptation. This is a Netflix 'special' eight episode run too, so at least it's shorter than usual. Small mercies.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Somehow the least horrendous thing thus far.

More of the Same, But With Extra RPG

A Wild Last Boss Appeared!
https://www.lastboss-anime.com/
Studio: WAO World
Genre: Patheticness
Premieres September 27th

Show Premise: 
Dude is reincarnated as last boss.

Random Thoughts:
The promos are at least animated, which is a rarity for WAO World, but unfortunately, the first episode was not, which just makes me wonder what the hell the promos were even advertising. They were a godawful studio that faded out about seven years ago, but I guess have been trucking along. Now back to inflict yet another reincarnation cheat power that has a reputation for being especially cheaty and especially gross about the power fantasy BS. Truly what the world has been missing. It's essentially just another Overlord or Mynoghra, so not even creative on any front.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Still waiting on that pirate reincarnee.

My Father is a Hero, My Mother is a Spirit, and I, Their Daughter, Was Reincarnated.
https://hahanoha-anime.com/
Studio: JC Staff
Genre: Lamentations
Premieres October 5th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
She has power over the elements, and because she memorized the periodic table, that means she can construct and deconstruct matter at will. Yes, once again, that is indeed the vector for full on god mode in what it winks and nods is not a full on cheat power garbage schlock adjective noun vomit. Best friends with all the local royals. Perfect in every way. The same song and dance as always.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Keep the slop coming.

A Gatherer's Adventure in Another World
https://www.sozaisaishu-pr.com/
Studio: Tatsunoko Production
Genre: Not Quite Cooking
Premieres October 6th

Show Premise: 
Dude is reincarnated with cheat powers.

Random Thoughts:
Yes, I'm serious. That's it. The 'gimmick', if you can even call it that, is that he likes to gather things for people, especially food. He immediately gets a pet dragon and saves an elf girl. Like always. I swear that I could put fifteen of these shows up back to back and nobody would be able to tell which was which. The first episode showed up early anyway, and it was every bit as dreadful as it appeared. The only award it MIGHT win is for the most popup status screens of any show this season. Might. 

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Die in a quarry.

My Status as an Assassin is Clearly Stronger than the Hero
https://sutetsuyo-anime.com/
Studio: Sunrise
Genre: Revenge Porn
Premieres October 6th

Show Premise: 
Dude is summoned to RPG world, has cheat level stats.

Random Thoughts:
But wait, there's more. He's immediately framed for killing a dude and ends up in the super duper endless dungeon where he contracts with a magical elf slave wife and swears revenge. You're better than this, Sunrise. Cross Ange is better than this. Hell, Sacred Seven was better than this. There's even status screen popups right in the PVs. Supposedly this is super duper serious, but come the hell on. It's the same cheat power revenge fantasy RPG world crap as a half dozen other shows every single damn season. I lament for what anime fantasy has become.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

A writhing box of fetid maggots.

Horny Teenagers in Reluctant Polycules

My Friend's Little Sister Only Picks on Me
https://www.imouza-animation.com/
Studio: BLADE
Genre: Boobs
Premieres October 4th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The funniest thing about this is that apparently the author didn't want to make the romantic partner a little sister, because that's overdone, so they did a little sister friend instead. And then made the second heroine his cousin. Who has the same personality and gimmick that she picks on him but actually has a crush on him. Which it announces totally doesn't happen. Except it's exactly what's happening here. Writing this out has been painful, but not as painful as the last EIGHT shows. But don't worry, it's Blade, who does only trashy fanservice, with maximum trash. Despite this, I'm not even sure this will crack the top five for trashiest things this season. Buckle up.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

MEGATRON HAS NO NEED OF INCEST.

Don't Touch Me, Kotesashi
https://kotesashikun.deregula.com/
Studio: Quad
Genre: Extra Boobs
Premieres October 6th

Show Premise: 
Dude massages high school girls.

Random Thoughts:
Straight up porn. And I genuinely mean that. Remember that show about a dude getting reincarnated as a girl's dog, and literally all that it was was her and her friends stripping around it, taking baths with it, and dropping it in their cleavage? Same studio. Same deal. Except now the guy's a masseuse instead of a dog, so it's all about them stripping so he can rub them while they moan and orgasm. Just watch porn. You're already on the internet. The search bar is right there. There's plenty of massage focused porn already. Go nuts.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Oh yeah, hit it hard.

Chitose in a Ramune Bottle
https://chiramune.com/
Studio: feel.
Genre: Boobs With Plaid Skirts
Premieres October 7th (1 hour premiere)

Show Premise: 
Dude is popular.

Random Thoughts:
Have we temporarily escaped the worst and are just into bland harems? The title is meant to be a reference to the marble in a ramune bottle, ie a metaphor for something everyone wants but is out of reach. The main character here is supposed to be the perfect popular everydude that everybody adores with a full on harem already established. Author's own words there. The first arc is him kicking down a depressed classmate's door and telling him to stop moping and be happy, which fixes all his trauma. It's not a deep exploration of the teenage life, which I guess is probably good on the merits? As is a protagonist who isn't a simpering sack of patheticness with a bunch of drama around them for no reason. These are things I should like, and yet, the whole thing still feels incredibly skeevy to me, probably because there's an overt messiah complex through every part of this and it's seemingly proud of skipping what I would consider the actual meat of even the passable harem setups. Maybe it actually pulls off the character stuff like SeiZon('s first season) managed, but I'm very skeptical. Also, weirdly, aside from the one hour premiere, it's also doing so at prime time before shifting back to a normal middle of the dead of night anime broadcast time. Weird.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

But then who will drop all the toast on the street?

The Few Things Trying to Pass as Comedy

Expressionless Girl and Overly Expressive Boy
https://kashiwada-ohta.com/
Studio: STUDIO POLON
Genre: Loud Noises
Premieres October 4th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
“Overly expressive” here means screams and overreacts to everything. It's that kind of rom com. He tries to get her to react to something. She doesn't. He screams, often “HOW ARE YOU NOT REACTING TO THIS THING THAT HAS HAPPENED!?” Same as most comedies these days, I suppose. And… that's its formula, that it's going to run into the ground. I'm already out of things to say about it because what's the difference between this and any other yelly comedy? The title is just explaining the joke.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

I don't know. Here's a moose.

Alma Wants a Family
https://alma-chan.com/
Studio: Studio Flad
Genre: Exploding Things
Premieres October 5th

Show Premise: 
Robot girl wants her creators to be her family.

Random Thoughts:
Let's explain the history of this one. It'll be elucidating. It first started as a webcomic titled “A Manga Where Geniuses Scientists Created the Greatest Robot.” When it was picked up for publication, it was renamed “Alma, The Girl Type Weapon, Wants to Have a Family.” In another couple years, it'll probably just be called Alma. I will say this. It appears very focused on her being a WMD and unleashing laser cannons on various things rather than any kind of romcom stuff, or even the parents/family in general. There's a whole cadre of other 7 year old killer robot children running around lobbing heavy ordnance at each other. So less Spy x Family, more… I don't know, that one show about that weird cat girl who adopted a psychic lion or something and forced them to be a family. Remember when anime was zany like that? 

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Wizard Alf approved.

A Workplace Where You Can't Help But Smile.
https://www.egatae.com/
Studio: Voil
Genre: Comedy
Premieres October 6th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The second page. That's how far it gets before showing one of the characters getting railed. Now, granted, that kind of thing vanishes almost immediately, aside from one callback about ten pages later, and it quickly settles into a more tedious “girl overreacts loudly with nonsequitur”, but it's still a hell of a first 'joke' to go “I CAN'T E-MAIL HER, SHE COULD BE HAVING SEX,” nor did that gag require drawing her bent over a desk having her organs rearranged. So I guess we're going to have to see if the anime chooses to go with that same first impression, or perhaps skips over that 'gag' entirely. Sadly, that's also the most unique thing about it, as every other joke is the usual routine of someone saying something, girl has loud panic attack while doing a personal ad lib about what the situation might be, other girl announces that no, that is not the case. Someone makes a face and we move on. Also, why is literaly every single 'office' comedy just generically pushing papers around? Even the supposed insider media ones. This is supposedly a manga artist, you'd think they'd have some insights there, but nah.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Where's the fantasy reincarnated barbers?

So, You Want to Be Raw Dogged By a Monster

This Monster Wants to Eat Me
https://wata-tabe.com/
Studio: Studio Lings
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 2nd

Show Premise: 
Depressed edible girl is protected by a mermaid who's waiting for her to 'ripen.'

Random Thoughts:
Yeah, yeah, we all know the monster romances. This particular flavor is like 80% vampires, so I guess it's nice for mermaids to make an appearance too. Oh wait. It's all about how they shared blood and are secret childhood friends and that cursed the human one and wah wah solitude it torture guilt angst melodrama. Don't expect a bunch of monster fighting or anything interesting though. One's angsty and a touch suicidal. One's also angsty and nihilistic. Both are extremely dramatic and love to pose under street lamps. Unlike, say, That Hikaru When Summer Died or whatever it was called, this has more of a revolving tour of other monsterish girls who also want to nibble on her and need to be chased off or befriended. Also, a lot fewer old snotty weird people. But hey, nobody's reincarnated. They're just very, very, very, very mopey.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
Smells distinctly of fish.

The Vampire Girl Can't Suck Right
https://www.kyuketsuki-chan.com/
Studio: feel.
Genre: Comedy
Premieres October 12th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
One of those short-form manga where after the introduction, every chapter is about ten pages where the first is a restatement of the premise, and the last is repeating the premise. “She's a vampire who practices on me because she is awkward.” Generic school filler where she asks to nibble on him. “She is awkward and that is cute.” It's not even a secret that she's a vampire. It's just trying to do the thing where she pretends to be confident but is clumsy and awkward. Which it points out. And I have now pointed out that it points out the joke, so we have not just come full circle, but done an entire 720 around anything approaching a joke without ever reaching one. Generic fanservicey comedy. This astonishingly puts it in the top 10% of the season most likely.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

The not sucking show may or may not suck.

Our Love With Overcome All
https://www.kimikoe-anime.com/
Studio: Millepensee
Genre: Furry
Premieres October 14th

Show Premise: 
Horny girl likes horny dog boy.

Random Thoughts:
Ooooookay. Where to begin. By the end of the second chapter, she's walked in on him naked in the shower which sets her girl parts aflutter, and been locked in a storeroom with him where he falls on top of her. He is then overcome by his animal instincts and starts licking and biting her neck, also setting her girl parts aflutter. I'm a little concerned to look any further. Few chapters don't have her thrown against some flat surface at some point, disheveled with him on top of her, usually licking and biting her. It is, uh, not the innocuous kind of shoujo. It is the filthy, torrid, barely restrained furry lust you expect to find on deviant art or your aunt's romance novels. I guess I respect that? Fly your freak flag. Just do it over there, and stop eyeing my corgis. Will the anime be similarly unrestrained? I doubt it. Is it something I have any interest in? That'd be a definitive no. But also, why is he blue? Do they not know what dogs look like?

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
I have seen things I wish to unsee.

So, You Want to Fist a Robot Girl

Eternal Twilight
https://towanoyuugure.com/
Studio: PA Works
Genre: Action?
Premieres September 25th

Show Premise: 
Dude wakes up in the future with a harem of killer gynoids.

Random Thoughts:
Also known as Dusk Beyond the End of Twilight for reasons I couldn't say, but the titles a pun on his girlfriend ne killer robot's name anyway. I actually had some hope for this, as the promos are almost entirely robots with giant weapons or laser swords hopping around, carving up monsters, strip mining the landscape, and otherwise being forces of destruction. The the episode 0 prologue came out, and it was ten minutes of calling everybody who doesn't think that AI is the greatest thing ever a stupid idiot. Not even futuristic AI. Straight up, "If you don't like ChatGPT, you're some kind of luddite lunatic. Also, it was all created solo by this random dude's stepsister who wants to bang him." Then he's shot. Zero killer robots. Zero beam swords. Zero laser cannons. Zero androids in goofy bikinis. Is this anime or an advertisement for Grok, a reference I can't even use myself anymore. It's Heinlein, damn it. Stranger in a Strange Land! Read a book! Will the killer robots come? Probably, in both senses. Has a terrible first impression for a terrible season already been made? Absolutely.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Your LLM does not want to have sex with you.

Touring After the Apocalypse
https://shumatsu-touring.jp/
Studio: Nexus
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 4th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The title's a pun on weekend/world's end. Remember Girls Last Tour? Essentially the same thing. Two 'quirky' girls tooling around ruined future Japan on a motorcycle, getting into shenanigans and reflecting on the Springtime of Youth. One's a robot, but only pulls out the beam cannon once a volume when confronted by a random killer tank or swarm of weirdly monstrous rat armies. Rat swarm incidence is pretty rare though. Usually it's just some ruined building or a coastline to look at and marvel at how life used to be before the indistinct apocalypse happened. So basically the filler parts of Momentary Lily, minus the fanservice and any hope of garishly over the top animation because Nexus is one of the most mediocre studios in existence (Darwin's Game, Eminence in Shadow). 

Preseason Swing Rating: 

I was promised more radscorpions.

Mechanical Marie
https://mechanicalmarie-anime.com/
Studio: Zero-G
Genre: Sorta Comedy?
Premieres October 5th

Show Premise: 
Girl pretends to be a robot to work for a rich misanthrope.

Random Thoughts:
Another shoujo not-quite comedy where the two jokes for much of it are either her explaining that she is a person but is being treated like a robot, or the dude saying that she acted like a human, but that is impossible because she is a robot. It can't really seem to figure out whether it wants to be over the top or not though. The guy is beset by a constant parade of assassins and paramilitary kidnappers, but that's not treated as part of the humor, but an excuse for her to kick them and then get hugs and make sparkly eyes. Same with the 80s robot version of her. It's… very nearly a joke, but it always ends up in him declaring his love for her because she's the perfect robot indistinguishable from a human, while she sighs in relief.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Letting rich jerks killing each other solves multiple problems.

Two Miscellaneous Shows

Worldly Thoughts
https://shabake-official.com/
Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 3rd

Show Premise: 
Edo dude solves mysteries with help from yokai.

Random Thoughts:
The yokai here coming in two flavors, dudes that we say are yokai, and essentially pokemon. It's not a supernatural thriller kind of novel, nor are the PVs trying to hype up either the mystery or the supernatural side. And yes, that thing on his shoulder in the image at left is indeed the kind of youkai we're talking about. In fact, I'm pretty certain only one of the dudes in that image isn't supposedly a yokai. At least it's sort of mystery-ish, in that there's a serial killer wandering around. Problem is that it's pretty focused on the yokai side of things so when it's revealed that it's some random-ass curse afflicting the town in general, out to secondhand murder specifically apothecaries due to yokai yokai-ness that now needs to be give a post-hoc explanation, you're kind of missing the point of mysteries. But since the dude is meant to be sickly, and apparently literally never is, that seems like a constant. 

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Just call everything oni.

Gnosia
https://gnosia-anime.com/
Studio: domerica
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 11th

Show Premise: 
Space people try to ferret out the secret evil aliens.

Random Thoughts:
Yes, it's Among Us, or Mafia/Werewolf for the older crowd. This is an adaptation of an indie game. Note, not a VN, as each 'loop' is only a couple minutes long and may or may not even have any special events. You're expected to play hundreds of them, as both human and evil alien, randomly collecting all the little tidbits to piece together the lore, such as it is when characters only have about ten lines most loops, and you can't exactly lie to or deceive the dozen lines of code that makes up the opponent AI. I have no idea how you turn that into an entire series when there's no narrative to start with, but I guess that means there's plenty of room to take creative liberties. Well, it would if anybody on the staff had an ounce of creativity in their bones. The head writer especially is prolific when it comes to girls in idol groups or bands. I doubt that transfers well, but what do I know about Among Us adaptations? Does this also count as reincarnation? Probably.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

I refuse to use Among Us sprites.

And Now, The Shoujo Zone

Yano's Ordinary Days
http://yanokun-anime.com/
Studio: Ajiado
Genre: Drama
Premieres September 30th

Show Premise: 
Girl befriends clumsy boy.

Random Thoughts:
Just very innocuous and unambitious shoujo with a fetish for dudes with band aids. The start is actually kind of funny because he keeps showing up like he just came from fight club, covered in bandages and bleeding from every pore. Everybody's just like “ha ha, that silly guy.” And then they tail him and find out that he's clumsy, which has apparently never happened at school to this point, but now begins happening all the time as all his bandages except for a token eyepatch and bandaid disappear, gimmick having been made, and it's time to settle into… nothing. Multiple chapters of struggling with being able to say “I want to hang out with you!” as usual.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
The reaper comes for us all, kid.

One Day, I Became a Princess
https://aruhime-anime.jp/
Studio: Colored Pencils Animation
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 1st (3 episode premiere)

Show Premise: 
Girl is reincarnated as a doomed princess in her book.

Random Thoughts:
Super odd provenance here. Korean manga, Chinese production, Japanese release. At least first off. I assume it'll go to the other regions eventually too. Same as all these put-upon sage/princess/noble's daughter things in any case, except that she's just unjustly hated despite being the most perfect Mary Sue ever, which is also not at all remarkable or a change of pace in even the slightest of ways. Every pretty boy, including her father, basks in her perfection and is changed for the better, by which we mean they don't scowl at or threaten her any more. It's okay to keep doing that to the rabble, after all and she prances around, healing the world through her sparkling perfectness.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

They never die in childbirth at 15 like is historically accurate.

Let's Play: My Life Full of Quests
https://letsplay-anime.com/
Studio: OLM
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 1st

Show Premise: 
Game developer girl moves in next door to streamer who pans her game.

Random Thoughts:
From an ultra cheesy soap opera webtoon. As with many of these things, how completely ignorant it actually is of both streaming and game development makes me wonder why it tries to use them as the hook. The inciting incident is that he plays her game, does something wrong and dies because he tried to attack monsters instead of co-exist peacefully, so immediately ragequits while panning it, having played it for 15 seconds, which leads to his fans review bombing it, which gets her kicked off Not-Steam for being a 'bad developer,' sending her into a spiral of existential angst. Luckily, her father is the CEO of Super Duper Computers Inc and she's in line to take it over, so now has to beat off the suitors with a stick while she struggles with her feelings towards her hot neighbor/critic. Not to spoil things, but eventually, he replays the game, but 'right' this time, and it's so good that it puts him in the hospital due to the raw emotion it inflicts on him. This is not me exaggerating for comedic effect. The writing is that far over the top.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
God help us. Undertale references in anime.

My Awkward Boss.
https://bukiyouna-senpai.asmik-ace.co.jp/
Studio: Studio elle
Genre: 'Comedy'
Premieres October 2nd

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
Another one of these office romance comedies, super light on the romance, extra super light on the comedy. Twenty pages for everybody to explain how she scowls a lot, and then she blushes, which only the protagonist is able to see. That's both the sole joke and at least fifty chapters worth of romantic development for this self-proclaimed rom-com. And then they do Office Things™, like move paper around and talk about how they have to make a report and it has to be on their desk by five! Oh no, was that too harsh? *blush* Enthralling.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
I'd say do it with fishermen, but anime already did like five times.

A Star Brighter than the Sun
https://tamahoshi-anime.com/
Studio: Studio KAI
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 2nd

Show Premise: 
Girl likes boy.

Random Thoughts:
Even more generic shoujo. Somehow even more generic than the rest. There's literally nothing more to it. She likes him, but has to narrate every little insecurity and how she's too insecure to ever do anything but make sparkly eyes at him. And he's white bread pretty boy with the personality and presence of a damp rag. He tells her he has a crush on someone, and that alone causes multiple chapters of spiraling pissing about because it couldn't possibly be her despite all their friends using everything short of cattle prods to cheer them on.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Just stuff the weasel already.

Wandance
https://wandance.asmik-ace.co.jp/
Studio: MADHOUSE
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 8th

Show Premise: 
Dude joins dance club.

Random Thoughts:
The heroine's name is Wanda. Get it? Wanda Dance. Wandance. That's the kind of commentary we're all here for. And since the promos have virtually no animation except for awful CGI dance sequences, that's the kind of effort you're getting too. Everything has these stupid MMD dances these days whether Jump action show, horse gacha game, or random-ass mahjong club show, going back to… Christ, was Idolmaster 20 years ago? How is this the unique selling point? I guess it's not an idol/band thing, but just in name. Without that, it's… a club show. About turning into noodly CGI people apparently prancing underwater to bubblegum pop.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
I can think of sexier dancing premises.

Fattie, Love, and Misadventures!
https://s.mxtv.jp/anime/debulove/
Studio: Marvy Jack
Genre: Mocking Fat People
Premieres October 6th

Show Premise: 
After falling off a building, depressed girl becomes maniacally positive.

Random Thoughts:
Hoo boy, what a title. And unfortunately, much of the humor is that she declares how beautiful and cute she is while the art style is, let's say excessively unflattering. It follows the usual format past that though. Every other woman calls her fat and disgusting, and then she wins them over with pluck and verve. Every pretty boy is charmed by her pluck and verve. There's also a convoluted soap opera subplot going on in the background where the entire damn city is directly related to each other via secret affairs, secret children, secret faux relationships, secret schizophrenia, etc, and the protagonist herself occasionally gets insecure over her suicidal past self, but then it's right back to fixing everything through sheer pluck and verve.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
You expected a fat joke? No, it's manicotti.

A Brief Screaming Teenage Boy Interlude

SANDA
https://sanda.red/
Studio: Science SARU
Genre: Santa Fetishism
Premieres October 3rd

Show Premise: 
Dude transforms into buff Santa.

Random Thoughts:
Essentially The Santa Clause, except coated with a thick miasma of shounen. He has Santa Claus based powers, like… uh, protecting children? That's the hammer that gets used to bludgeon whatever narrative power is needed in, whether it's a healing factor, super speed, or just an excuse to draw a naked muscleman Santa Claus. It's also a deeply weird setting, which coming from the same author as Beastars should not be a surprise. There's a whole conspiracy around stealing the innocence of children and the spirit of holidays, by which we just mean Christmas and Halloween because everything else starts being things like Orihime and Hikoboshi. Santa is on the same level as constellations, I guess. It is Science Saru, so the animation style will be unusual at the very least, but as Dandadan has shown, that doesn't overcome my distaste for shounen yelliness, and I can't imagine this will have the budget nor presentation of that.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Merry October Christmas, everyone.

Tojima Tanzaburou Wants to be a Kamen Rider
https://tojima-rider.com/
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Genre: Loud Noises
Premieres October 4th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
The manga is mostly a bunch of middle-aged losers who wanted to cosplay as vigilantes, beating up random thugs cosplaying as the villains. But then it turns out there are actual monsters and they just… continue effortlessly beating them up while deadpan saying "I can't believe that there were actual monsters." Also, every female has to have a stripping scene whenever they 'transform.' I think it's meant to be absurdist, but it's hard to tell the jokes from the references, and while I'm definitely not a Kamen Rider fan specifically, I feel like I would be able to pick out satire, of which this is nowhere near the level of something like Kick-Ass or Mystery Men given that the first thing he fist fights is a random grizzly. Successfully, I'll add. It's more that it's just a low tech Kamen Rider knockoff where characters are constantly announcing that they're fans of Kamen Rider but that this is not actually Kamen Rider. Par for the course for Japanese satire these days years, really. It's Lidenfilms anyway, and the highest budget show they've probably ever made was Bye Bye Earth.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Better than cosplaying as a PMC.

SI-VIS: The Sound of Heroes
https://si-vis.live/
Studio: Studio VOLN
Genre: CGI Pop Stars
Premieres October 5th (early morning)

Show Premise: 
Pop stars fight monsters.

Random Thoughts:
An original, so only the PVs to go off of, and despite this ostensibly being a co-ed pop star group using 'concerts for super powers', it's about 80% focused on the dudes, and 90% focused doing pretty poses. I'm not sure I could even tell you what they're fighting. Maybe robots? Maybe large bugs. Also, importantly, there's zero actual fighting in the promos. There is, however, a lot of dramatic posing while sparkles fly off them, usually while standing in front of a stopwatch counting down. It ain't looking like Symphogear, in any case. And Voln is a pretty dismal studio (Back Arrow, later seasons of Blue Alchemist). One wildcard is the writer though. You might remember him from White Album 2 or SaeKano, or more recently Engage Kiss. Yes, and credited in Duel Savior, I KNOW. So likes to write extreme drama, though I'm not sure I'd say any of the ones he headlined actually ended well or weren't characterized by characters being the most wangsty of wangst heads imaginable either.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
That's what makes it art.

Ninja vs Yakuza
https://www.ningoku-anime.com/
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: Possibly Action
Premieres October 7th

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
There really isn't much more to it than the title. It's corny ultra-violence where they scream narration about how much they're being beheaded or shot in the face, both as they're being shot in the face and then after. Ninjas here having all manner of magical powers, and the yakuza taking magical drugs that also give them magical powers. The 'gimmick' is that the two main characters on each side are the best and awesomest, but they're friends over magical girl anime fandom without realizing they're enemies. Aside from that, it's just one side, then the other, messily splattering bodies all over the place. Unfortunately, despite being one of the vanishingly few even ostensibly action shows this season, it's Deen. And Deen is… bad. And the promos are bad. Sooooooo… yeah. Little reason to have any hope here either.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Are we sure it's not just meth?

Right Back to 'Evil' Shoujo

The Gluttonous Noblewoman and The Blood-Mad Duke – I Would Enjoy Eating That Monster!
https://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/akujiki/
Studio: Asahi Production
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 2nd

Show Premise: 
See title.

Random Thoughts:
See. Normally the Japanese kanji for “villainess” is written “evil acting”. But they've changed the kanji to instead be “evil eating.” Oh so clever wordplay all up in this one. And completely original and not at all trying to jump on the train of any other popular series about cooking monsters. All thirty six of them. She wants to cook monsters. He hunts monsters. That's what makes them both ostracized, except not at all because she's surrounded by the usual harem of princes and pretty boys while making eyes at the bad boy who's the only one who truly gets her.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Despite the name, baklava is not a monster.

May I Ask Just One Last Thing?
https://saihito-anime.com/
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Genre: Drama
Premieres October 3rd

Show Premise: 
Noble lady has engagement broken off and wants to punch him.

Random Thoughts:
The joke here being that she likes to punch people in general. Also, it's just the one prince that's evil. And there are no consequences for punching him. The other princes love it, and her, for being so awesome and strong and beautiful and yada yada yada yada. Not that I don't approve of bludgeoning the rich, but as usual, it's only The Bad Ones, who are comically pettily evil. Otherwise, it's the same as every other damn villainess story, except that the true love interest isn't a demon lord or some other flavor of foreigner. It's just the punched guy's brother who everybody hated anyway.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

The castle guard is over this noble crap.

The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess
https://tenkuro-pr.com/
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: Oh Boy, More Deen
Premieres October 8th

Show Premise: 
Girl reincarnates as the villainess of her Mary Sue fanfiction.

Random Thoughts:
I guess it at least has a gimmick to act as a hook. Everything is MEANT to be over the top and badly written, with the Mary Sue boobing about as she's constantly beset by rapists that were conjured out of thin air by the original villainess that the MC now needs to save her from. Except at the end of the day, you still have bad writing. You're just calling attention to it. And from glancing through the manga, it really doesn't seem like it's parody, especially given many shots are straight down the heroine's dress or how many rape werewolves are running around. I don't think “I was a teenager with weird feelings about stuff” is something that required drawing a full on explicit werewolf rape scene for example. Which leaves it as… just another reincarnated villainess story, but constantly announcing how poorly its own genre is. But with extra sexual assault scenes.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Original content, do not steal.