Fall 2022 ecchi preview

By recent standards, this has a chance to be a decent ecchi season.

 

It used to be that nudity in anime was common and accepted as normal.  Lots of shows had nudity, usually either innocently, or pretending to be innocently.  In the Fall 2013 season, I remember there being nine TV anime that season with at least one nipple sighting. That’s how normal it got, and how much it was just seen as being a part of anime culture not to shy away from it.

On the other side of the coin, the true spankbank shows tended to avoid extreme content.  Shows like High School DxD would show lots of girls undressing or doing suggestive things while naked, but they would always stop short of the characters having sex.  This meant that the gap between “normal” anime and “ecchi” anime was pretty small, and this caused these shows, or at least the well made ones like DxD, to have a fairly strong mainstream anime fanbase.

In other words, the ecchi world of fandom and the mainstream world weren’t world’s apart.  There was a lot of overlap. This environment is what inspired me to create this website nine years ago.  That you could just expect to see something fun and erotic in every single anime season, pretty much no matter what.  For a span of roughly 15 years straight starting in the early to mid 2000s, there was at least one nipple sighting in every single anime season.

But over the years this has changed.  Mainstream anime almost never shows nudity (nipples) anymore, in fact it seems they are almost afraid to.  Whether it’s Val x Love, My Dress up Darling, or even somehow BASTARD!!, studios are dropping canonical source material nudity in order to not scare away general audiences.

Meanwhile, the ecchi genre has gotten far more extreme, with nearly every dedicated “borderline-H” show going for full sex scenes all the time.  Sex in ecchi used to be rare and even sorta taboo.  And while I think having ecchi content that is more extreme is mostly a good thing (especially since these sex scene packed shows appear to be making lots of money), the downside is that the gap between normal shows and ecchi shows has never been wider.  And that means, basically, that there are very few shows worth watching for ecchi enthusiasts like me. 

Or to put it another way, it used to be that there would be 10-15 “compilation worthy” shows a year.  But in recent years, it’s more like 3-5 per year.  And because the content is so sparse, eventually there just became no point in doing season previews any more, when there were 0 or 1 shows with nudity potential in the whole season.

With all that said, the Fall 2022 season has a chance to be pretty solid.  There are going to be at least 3 anime with nudity fully guaranteed, and a few others that in theory have a decent chance.  I won’t do a season preview every season, or very often, but this season is one of the few that deserves one.  Let’s dive into the notables:

 

 

Many an age ago, the Utawarerumono OVA did something awesome.

Utawarerumono: Futari no Hakuoro

 

The second half of a two cour series.  The first cour didn’t have nudity as far as I know, and the original TV series back in 2006 didn’t either through two cours.  But the OVA had gratuitous nudity, so it’s in that category of ‘anything is possible’, even if it’s probably <1% chance.

 

 

The 2012 Muv-Luv TV series repeatedly delivered.

Muv-Luv Alternative 2nd Season

 

As far as I know, the first season (2021) didn’t have nudity, but the TV anime previous to that (2012) did.  Not to mention, the source material is full of ecchi stuff.  It honestly should have nudity, but it won’t.  If it were being made in a different time, we’d be getting it, probably.  I’m expecting nothing, but who knows sometimes pleasant surprises happen.

 

 

Taken from volume two of the Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita manga.

Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita

 

Another ecchi isekai style manga gets an anime.  This one is notable because the manga actually has a little bit of gratuitous nudity.  Unfortunately, that nudity comes from a single bath house scene which occurs in volume two of the manga.  It wouldn’t be too hard for the production company to just censor it, but hopefully that doesn’t happen and we get something fun on BD!

 

 

The original Urusei Yatsura manga and anime both had a fair amount of nudity and eroticism.

Urusei Yatsura (2022)

 

This manga was the breakout hit for legendary mangaka Rumiko Takahashi in the late 70s and early 80s.  In her first several manga series (even including Inu Yasha!) Takahashi wasn’t shy about having her girls show their boobs, especially since back in those days it was looked upon quite innocently. The Urusei Yatsura anime stayed true to the source material and showed nipples, even if back in those days everyone drew nipples like they were little pink specks.

Will the new anime do the same?  Ten years ago, I would have guaranteed it.  Five years ago, I would have expected it.  But these days, it feels unlikely even if it shouldn’t be.  Hopefully I’m wrong because there was a fair amount of service in this show, and the main girl (Lum) was one of anime’s earliest sex icons.  If you are curious, you can see a fanservice breakdown of the original 20 episodes by 84dayswithout.

 

 

The Renai Flops companion manga is unambiguously soft-erotic and even has some nudity.

Renai Flops

 

This is maybe the most intriguing show of the season.  It’s a TV original harem romantic comedy, with a corresponding manga releasing alongside the show (the first volume just released).  What’s intriguing is that the animation production is being handled by Passione, the most go-to ecchi anime studio at the moment, and the corresponding manga already has gratuitous nudity in the first volume.  This is noteworthy because the content of that manga is controlled by the same project that are calling the shots with the anime.

This isn’t a guarantee that the anime will have nudity too – Darling in the Franxx was a similar situation and didn’t.  However, there is a huge difference between a show that was produced by ultra normie companies A-1 pictures / Trigger versus the erotic reputation of Passione.

The trailer for the anime doesn’t really seem ecchi at all, but neither did the trailer for the first season of Shinmai Maou no Testament, one of the thirstiest anime of all time. The way an anime markets itself isn’t necessarily representative of what it is.

In a best case scenario, we could end up with an anime like Megami no Ryoubou-kun, a fun show that was ultimately compilation worthy.  Though if there is nudity, we’ll have to wait until BD since there isn’t a parental lock on the AT-X airing.

 

 

More than just sex scenes.  Though there will be plenty of that, too (pic taken from manga).

Harem Camp!

 

Almost every season has a shortform R-18 anime show.  These shows are usually smutty romance series where most of the action occurs between one man and one woman.  This time though things are a bit different, as Harem Camp has a very typical “borderline-H” feel to it with lots of girls getting naked all the time and giving viewers an eyeful with those bodies.  There are some sex scenes too but most of the manga so far is dedicated towards service that is more aligned with the likes of High School DxD, and that’s just great by me.  I often skip these R-18 shows but I’ll definitely be watching this one at some point.

 

 

Only one other anime this year had more exposed breasts in the source material (World’s End Harem)

Futoku no Guild

 

This is undoubtedly the “flagship” ecchi show of the Fall 2022 season, as it is the only full length episode anime to have guaranteed nudity (parental lock on AT-X).  The source material has plenty of nudity and extreme ecchi antics (and it even has a good story, from what people say).

The girls are very curvy in this one, and there’s also a great deal of tentacles going in and out of every hole kind of stuff, so naturally it’s going to draw instant comparisons to the Kagaku na Yatsura OVAs from all those years ago.  It shouldn’t be a surprise then that the legendary Hiraku Kaneko (who directed those OVAs) is also directing this anime.

Production is being handled by TNK.  Though they haven’t been as active in recent years, TNK are probably the GOAT of ecchi producing companies (Ikkitousen, DxD, etc), or at least of production companies that are still in business.  Their most recent ecchi project before this was Redo of Healer, which was pretty “action packed” shall we say.  Combining TNK’s consistent quality with Hiraku Kaneko’s talent makes this a much watch.

 

 

Peter Grill Season One was an instant classic.

Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan Super Extra

 

Peter Grill returns in one of the more unlikelier ecchi sequels you will ever see.  Very few ecchi shows get second seasons, even ones that seem financially successful.  Peter Grill was originally an R-18 style anime from the Summer of 2020 that took an erotic but non-nude source material and basically turned it into full blown porn, with tons of nudity and sex packed into every episode despite the short episode format.  To the surprise of everyone, especially the production company, the show was a huge success and even got a second season.

More than just a solid fap, the anime was actually hilarious.  I watch this stuff just for the spank factor, but this was one of the very rare cases I would actually recommend one of these shows on an anime level.  The voice actor for Peter Grill is a frantic ball of energy as he anguishes over all the hot pussy he simply can’t resist, even as it breaks his vow to his beloved Luvelia and plays into the hands of a scheming would be father-in-law who hates his guts.

This is one of those shows I was really hoping to get a sequel but didn’t expect it to happen, so I’ll be looking forward to this quite a bit.  Can’t wait to see all those new girls who will drain Peter’s balls (and what’s left of his soul) every episode.

 

Overall Thoughts:

 

In the 2020’s, this counts as a loaded season.  Three shows for sure will have nudity, and there are eight shows with varying degrees of potential.  It’s a nice season where even if every show with nudity potential falls flat and disappoints, at least we’ll have a couple of pretty good ecchi shows to enjoy at a minimum.