Sam & Gray's Mid Year Anime Review


Episode 85

Sam & Gray's Mid Year Anime Review

Charlie is out of town so Sam and Gray get together to review the year in anime to date, as well as look ahead at what is coming up. The guys talk through their time at Australia's biggest anime convention, Smash! They then look at some of the biggest developments in the anime industry (including the JJK controversy), the new cannon movie trend, as well as talk through their favorite shows, biggest disappointments, most underrated shows, and best episode of the year so far.

FEATURING

Sam

Graeme

ANIME REFERENCES

Kaiju No.8

With the highest kaiju-emergence rates in the world, Japan is no stranger to attack by deadly monsters. Enter the Japan Defense Force, a military organization tasked with the neutralization of kaiju. Kafka Hibino, a kaiju-corpse cleanup man, has always dreamed of joining the force. But when he gets another shot at achieving his childhood dream, he undergoes an unexpected transformation. How can he fight kaiju now that he’s become one himself?! (Source: VIZ Media)

Solo Leveling

It's been over a decade since the sudden appearance of the "gates"—the paths that connect our world with a different dimension. Since then, certain humans have awakened to supernatural powers. We call these individuals "hunters." Hunters make their living by using their powers to conquer dungeons inside the gates. In this world of tough customers, the low-ranked hunter Jin-Woo Sung is known as "the weakest hunter of all mankind." One day, Jin-Woo gets fatally injured when he runs into high-rank double dungeons hidden within a low-rank dungeon. Just then, a mysterious quest window appears in front of him. On the verge of death, Jin-Woo decides to accept the quest and starts leveling up... while the others aren't. (Source: Anime News Network, edited) Note: Announced at the Crunchyroll Anime Expo 2022 Industry Panel.

JUJUTSU KAISEN

A boy fights... for "the right death." Hardship, regret, shame: the negative feelings that humans feel become Curses that lurk in our everyday lives. The Curses run rampant throughout the world, capable of leading people to terrible misfortune and even death. What's more, the Curses can only be exorcised by another Curse. Itadori Yuji is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a friend who has been attacked by Curses, he eats the finger of the Double-Faced Specter, taking the Curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with the Double-Faced Specter. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Gojou Satoru, Itadori is admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Technical High School of Sorcery, an organization that fights the Curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a Curse to exorcise a Curse, a life from which he could never turn back.

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