New Anime 2016: 7 Shows You Need to Watch Right Now

Everyone has a show that they want you to watch. More and more people are talking about the “next big series” and it has become difficult to keep up. We’re truly at an apex of television where the excess of quality comedies and dramas are making swift work of DVRs and hard drives everywhere. So at this point the last thing you need is something else to be pushed on you—let alone a whole other genre and language—and yet, there are some anime programs that you really need to check out, guys.

Even if you have some weird hang up about anime, or don’t get along with subtitles, or are just opposed to animation in general, all of these shows are offering up something unique that you simply can’t get elsewhere. While there are many anime out there—and dozens of new ones that have come out this year—here are some that are especially super terrific and worthy of your time.

Osomatsu-san

What’s It Like?: Community meets Mr. Show

Where Can I Watch It?: Crunchyroll.com

Out of all the anime being looked at here, Osomatsu-san is the one that I get the most excited for every week because you seriously just have no idea what you’re going to be getting in any given episode. The series is based on Fujio Akatsuka’s popular Osomatsu-kun series from the Showa era. The title has become quite an institution with a legacy behind it, first becoming an anime in 1966, and then again in 1988. The premiere of Osomatsu-san is even in celebration of creator Akatsuka’s 80^th birthday.

The series stars the Matsuno sextupulets, who are all a nice collection of caricatures. The series’ utterly insane first episode—which has now been banned, both from television, the streaming site Crunchyroll, and the home DVD release due to breaking many of Japan’s bizarre, stringent copyright laws—deals with the sextuplets worrying that they’ll be out of touch in our modern era and transform themselves into a group of pop idols instead. It’s worth making clear that the simplistic animation style that Osomatsu-san usually has is completely overhauled into a new approach to sell this idea. As the episode goes on, the sextuplets keep reverting to their Showa style state, unable to escape their destiny, in an extremely meta installment.

This bizarre experiment sets the tone perfectly for the show, which is constantly changing its colors, almost like an anime version of South Park or Community, consistently taking on “concept episodes.” At times the anime is a collection of shorts, a timely Mad Max parody, or even seeing the brothers turn into girls in the recurring “Girlymatsu” segment. After their first season finale, the series returned as a serious drama for its third episode, rather than its typical fare.

This show laughs at things like narrative and patterns. In perhaps the boldest move I’ve seen any series make, their first season finale saw the previous episode re-airing, only with the cast doing commentary over top of it. An episode of commentary aired on television. And much of it deals with the cast discussing how such a concept is surely unpalatable.

Jump in on this show at any point and get ready for the avalanche of nonsense that will bury you.

Dagashi Kashi

What’s It Like?: Candyland meets Mythbusters

Where Can I Watch It?: Crunchyroll.com, Funimation.com

Dagashi Kashi looks at an aspiring manga artist, Kokonutsu who is shackled to his family’s candy store, destined to take over the business. Then, with the arrival of Hotaru Shidare of the Shidare Candy Corporation who is looking to poach the owner, “Coconuts” is hurled towards the candy lifestyle more than ever before.

Dagashi Kashi’s biggest draw is that it is absolutely in love with candy. It views the subject as if it’s the most magical thing in the world, and that viewpoint makes the show endlessly entertaining in its innocence. You can’t help but get equally excited about the subject matter.

It doesn’t feel like a show like this should work—a pseudo-educational program that educates you about the wonder that is Japanese candy—but it’s crazy how infectious this formula is. It’s at a point now where I can’t wait to see what sort of random, unheard of sweet will be delved into each week.

Also, why is our candy just candy, and not a fraction as cool as Japan’s multipurpose sweets? They have fake beer for kids, candies that imbue you with energy to run, stuff that turn into whistles. Even candies that double as marbles/trading cards. #FirstWorldCandyProblems

It’s also extremely indulgent towards the “fan service” area, and what’s a better pairing with candy than anatomy?

Erased – The Town Where Only I Am Missing

What’s It Like?: 11.22.63 meets Big

Where Can I Watch It?: Crunchyroll.com, Funimation.com

If there is any show on this list that demands a binge-worthy approach to viewing, it is Erased. Think of Zodiac and all of the most engrossing serial killer stories mixed with the best sort of supernatural weirdness and you’ve got Erased in a nutshell.

The series looks at a character that experiences “revivals” when disasters strike, allowing him to go back in time a few minutes and prevent this wrong from happening. However, one such incident sees him flinging back in time twenty years to when he’s eight years old, stuck in his childhood trying to prevent a much bigger crime from happening that has its roots in the past. 

Erased builds such suspense (especially since the stakes are the lives of children) and you really just want to watch the next episode immediately after finishing one. It’s a slow burn, but telling a really nuanced, emotional story with unusual elements that it doesn’t lose itself in.

One Punch Man

What’s It Like?: The Venture Bros. meets Spaced

Where Can I Watch It?: Crunchyroll.com

One Punch Man is overblown action in the best possible way. The series is about Saitama, the eponymous “One Punch Man”, a superhero who is so powerful that he kills all of his enemies in one punch. Because of this lack of a challenge, Saitama has developed a blasé look on life as he searches for someone stronger than him. The fact that this extremely overpowered person looks like this is the perfect unassuming icing on the cake.

It’s encouraging to see how well One Punch Man nails the action and humor that it goes for, and it’s funny that in a year that has seen people clamoring for (and receiving) more Dragon Ball, this is the series that seems to be satisfying most of these people’s desires for overblown, God-level battles (the work done in the first season finale is truly a sight to behold in both animation and fighting).

On the other extreme, the series is also very interested in the hierarchy of these superheroes, designating them classes, rules and restrictions, and through this we get a number of delightful ancillary low-level heroes that kind of out-Venture Bros the Venture Bros. Here you’re getting such absurd fighters like Tank Top Vegetarian, Superalloy Darkshine, Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask, Metal Bat, Pri-Pri-Prisoner, Spring Mustache, and License-less Rider, who is simply a cyclist who uses his bike as a weapon.

I dare you to watch that theme song and not want to give this adrenaline shot a peak.

Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

What’s It Like?: Jerry Springer meets Fahrenheit 451

Where Can I Watch It?: Crunchyroll.com, Funimation.com

The series’ introduction (and even its lengthy title) give you a pretty good idea of what’s going on here. In a world where pornography, lewd language, and even crude humor are made illegal, a certain group of freedom fighters try to insert sexuality back into the world. This mash-up of Bradbury with bawdy humor turns out to be an ingenious pairing. You’d have no idea that flashy terrorist acts involving nude photos raining down on the population could not only be so hilarious, but also saying something poignant at the same time.

There’s some exceptionally smart, informed humor coming out of this show (even their heavy “censorship” towards their language and gratuitousness is very funny while also servicing the story) and a delicious “What If?” scenario like nothing else. It’s also just nice to see the rampant sexuality that can so often dominate anime portrayed in such an empowering light, too.

Dimension W

What’s It Like?: Fringe meets The Blacklist

Where Can I Watch It?: Funimation.com

Another concept heavy show that lays out its premise in its opening intro, Dimension W takes a number of elements from shows about alternate realities, controlled police states, and even pieces out of Pokemon. The series chronicles a world where modern energy and fossil fuels have died out, with the population learning of alternative energy coming from another “plane,” Dimension W. This energy is utilized through tools called coils, and just like there are coils, there are also coil hunters who search for the unpredictable, volatile coils known as numbers, and dealing with the dangers that come with them.

The investigating random coil cases has a procedural aspect to it, but it’s not long before a larger arc begins to present itself. There’s also a classic “odd couple” pairing going on between the two main characters, a renegade coil hunter, and an outlawed coil-using robot. Scandal!

Dragon Ball Super

What’s It Like: Dragon Ball Z…It’s exactly like Dragon Ball  Z

So Dragon Ball is a pretty huge deal. It’s not only a gateway anime for a lot of burgeoning anime fans, but it also helped shape Cartoon Network’s anime block and make such an invasion of programming be possible. With the fan base and history that Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series has, steep expectations accompany it accordingly. People got so excited for Dragon Ball Kai, which was simply reanimating Dragon Ball Z without the filler, that clearly new material, and a continuation of this story after 18 years would be a big deal.

Well if anything has been learned nearly 40 episodes in, it’s that if fans love getting new Dragon Ball episodes, they also love complaining about Dragon Ball episodes. I suppose it didn’t help that the first two sagas of the series are merely retellings of the last two movies, Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’, but it’s kind of insane how critical fans are here. After waiting so long to get this, to only attack it, is  kind of emblematic of peoples’ relationship with this show in the first place.

These continued adventures of Goku, Vegeta, and the like (and that is accurate, once more those two are really the main people being featured in the show) are set after the pivotal final Majin Buu battle from Dragon Ball Z. The series does feature some really bad filler, and some even worse animation at times, but there are also some truly wonderful moments going on, like the return of Captain Ginyu. Dragon Ball Super is far from perfect, but it’s just surprising that we have it at all, with the whole experience being nostalgic as hell so far (just try and watch that theme song without cracking a smile) and still a lot of fun, warts and all.

It’s also worth mentioning that while not new series, both Assassination Classroom and Durarara!!X2 are also in the middle of airing their strong second seasons as well.

Once again, this is merely the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a good sampling of what’s out there and the next big hits in the making. Standing toe-to-toe with any Western programming, hopefully these titles will gain the appreciation they deserve. Who knows what else they might open you up to!