Following anime can be a real struggle sometimes. It’s confusing to navigate release dates, simulcast cast dates, and multiple streaming services just to follow a show sometimes pushes the threshold of inconvenience. The beginning of a season is one of the best entry points for new fans and the ones looking to get back into it and with the Winter anime season is just getting underway it’s the perfect time to pick up some shows to watch.
Headlining the returning shows this season is the ever popularAttack on Titan,which embarks on its final season this winter.Not far behind is the dark fantasyThe Promised Neverland, the uplifting IsekaiI got Reincarnated as a Slime,and clashing ideals inDr. Stoneall starting their second season. Among the new shows are the popular light novel franchiseThe Hidden Dungeon Only I can Entergetting its anime adaptation, the wholesome romanceHorimya,and the sports animeSk8 the Infinitymaking their debut.
Related:Funimation Announces Its Winter 2021 Anime Release Schedule
Find all the information needed to check out any of these shows during the 2021 winter anime season:
Where is it Streaming:Crunchyroll
Simulcast Date:Sundays, 12:45 PST
This anime needs no introduction. There is nothing like this drama that features a desperate humanity against the relentless and vicious hunger of the Titans.After three seasonsof Eren Yeager and his friends in the Survey Corp seeking the truth of their bleak world, it all comes to an end in this highly anticipated final season.
Where is it Streaming:Funimation
Simulcast date:Thursdays
The Promised Neverlandis an anime that has one of those twists designed to keep someone watching for seasons to come.The show follows the ongoing adventuresof Emma and Norman after they discover the horrible secret about the orphanage that they call home.
Simulcast Date:Tuesday, 8 a.m. PST
There are plenty of shows in the Isekai genre, but there is a certain something that sets this one produced by Studio 8 Bit apart from all the others. It isn’t dark and broody, nor is it a power fantasy that is singularly focused on the satisfaction of its main character.Slime has such a positive feel-good vibeit’s hard not to want to follow Rimaru as he continues his adventures. A lot went right in the first season, that may not continue in the second.
Where is it Streaming:Crunchyroll/Funimation
Simulcast Date:January 14 (Every Thursday)
There are plenty of Shounen anime out there, but don’t confuse this one with theDragonball Z’s of the world.Dr. Stonecombines superb action and a premise that has more than powering up and fights. This show follows the main character Senku as he navigates a world that was encased in stone for hundreds of years and now devoid of modern tech. Watch as he and his friends continue to build a new world for themselves and deal with an ongoing conflict with a rival who believes that might makes right.
Simulcast Date:Fridays, 10:45 a.m. PST
This was one of the breakout shows of the fall and the adventures continue for the winter season.The story follows Yuji Itadorias he continues his quest to pacify the powerful demon within him (and stop his own death) by tracking down cursed objects. Intense action and skilled production by Studio Mappa makes the whole thing worthwhile.
Start Date:January 9 and January 10 (Every Saturday and Sunday)
There isn’t an anime out there quite like theCells at Workfranchise with its mix of education and anime drama all rolled into one. It’s basically a dramatization of the regular processes in the human body transforming things like red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets into human characters.
Watch the continuing adventures of White blood Cell as he battles viruses and evil bacteria and Red Blood Cell as she continues to get lost trying to deliver her load of oxygen.Cells at Work Blackhas a similar premise only explores the body of a rather unhealthy individual.
Simulcast Date:Fridays 11:25 a.m. PST
The desire to escape weakness and get stronger is a common theme in anime and this one uses a hidden dungeon to allow the protagonist Noir a clear path.This popular light novel and mangagets its anime adaptation this winter. The show follows Noir as he discovers a hidden dungeon and a secret friend that affords him the ability to grow stronger and improve his lot in life.
Start Date:January 9 (Every Saturday)
This show has thepotential to be a killer sports anime. It follows Reki, a second-year high school student who loves skateboarding, and Langa a student who comes back to Japan after living abroad. Both find themselves participating in a dangerous skateboarding race from the mysterious “S.” The series follows Langa’s continuing adventures with his skateboarding friends.
Where’s it Streaming:Crunchyroll/Funimation
Simulcast Date:Fridays, 6:30 a.m. PST
This show produced by Studio Millepensee, Exsa is a twist on the standard Isekai formula where the main character dies and is reborn into another world. Instead of being given game-breaking powers or becoming the villain in some twisted otome novel, the high-school protagonistreincarnates as a spider from a fantasy game. Watch her struggle to survive as a low-ranked beast.
Where is it streaming:Funimation
There is always room in life for a wholesome love story and this anime delivers that in spades. It’s a classic story of opposites attract as the social butterfly with a troubled home life Hori meets the broody but kind at heart Miyamura. Watch what develops between them.
