Not a TON going on this season, but what we did get has a chance to be very interesting.
I put each of the notable shows this season into tiers below:
- Tier 1 is for series with possible mild fanservice.
- Tier 2 is for series where nudity is concievable (but still unlikely).
- Tier 3 is for series that had nudity in the source material.
- Tier 4 is for series where nudity in the anime is guaranteed.
Tier 1
World Witches Hasshin Shimasu!
Azur lane 4-koma spinoff
Soukou Musume Senki
Otona no Bouguya-san II
Go-toubun no Hanayome ∬
Tier 2
Ore dake Haireru Kakushi Dungeon
Okuruto Noboru
Source: Light Novel
This is yet another fantasy/dungeon themed ecchi/harem series, made from the same studio that brought you Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu. I would expect a similar non-nude anime outcome here.
With that said, there’s always a chance. The manga was pretty sexy by non-nude standards, and the anime trailers have really gone out of their way to sell the ecchi aspect of the show well above all else. There’s plenty of cleavage, bouncing, panty shots… all that kinda stuff.
Technically this is a light novel adaptation, and going by the manga adapted source as a predictor is more imperfect as a result. The manga is nipple-free so far, but there are a few blank boob moments and a couple bathing scenes. If production wanted nudity, it could be done.
It’s also worth remembering that in just the past year, we’ve seen two anime greatly expand on the nudity level of the originals (Ishuzoku Reviewers and Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan) and it will likely be three such cases with Redo of Healer. The huge, unexpected success of Reviewers has seemingly caused studios to rethink the way they approach sex and nudity in anime. At least for the time being.
This show probably is fairly unlikely to turn into the next Maken-Ki!, but it still has some fun potential.
Ore dake Haireru Kakushi Dungeon began airing on January 9th.
Tier 3
Ex-Arm
Visual Flight
Source: Manga
The good news here is that Ex-Arm has some seriously spankable source material, only one other manga adaptation from the past year rates higher in this way (HxEros).
The bad news is that Ex-Arm is a seinen manga rather than an ecchi one. The nudity is purely there as an aesthetic choice, and might be viewed as disposable in the anime adaptation.
The anime is being produced by a brand new studio, at least by its current name. That tends to be a moderately positive indicator for nudity, as less established studios tend to be more willing to be edgy or take risks.
There is one other factor, and it’s one I rarely talk about in these previews but it must be mentioned here. The production values for Ex-Arm look really, really bad. It’s CGI animation which is unpopular to begin with, but its so primitive looking that it makes the 2016 Berserk remake look like a Miyazaki masterpiece in comparison. This show went through a lot of production issues and almost a year’s worth of delays from Covid, but I could not have imagined it would look this bad.
Even if this show does deliver, you may not be into it since it is so heavily CG. I’m personally into 3D/CG stuff, but it’s not for everyone.
Ex-Arm begins airing on January 11th.
Tier 4
Jimihen!! Jimiko wo Kaechau Jun Isei Kouyuu
Studio Mausu
Source: Manga
The R-18 anime for the season.
This show has already begun airing.
Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi (aka Redo of Healer)
TNK
Source: Light Novel
“Redo of Healer” is perhaps the most interesting new ecchi anime to come out in some time. There are just some manga you never expect to see as anime because the content is so unhinged, or if it does get something, it’s as a single OVA maybe. Redo of Healer is about as controversial of a manga as you will find, and not only is it getting a full anime, but a gorgeous looking anime at that.
The premise: A protagonist gets exploited for his healing powers. In revenge, goes back into the past to (sexually) exploit all the sexy women who took advantage of him. It’s some intense stuff. At least in the manga adaptation, the MC raw dogs just about every one of them.
The series has the “go to the past for sexual revenge” angle seen in Mujaki no Rakuen, and the intense sexual domination of Shinmai Maou no Testament. (And it’s also being made by TNK, a studio with a strong legacy in the ecchi genre.)
Yet despite the intense premise and content, the manga adaptation strangely has no nudity. Yet interestingly, this does not appear to be the case for the anime, which has a parental lock on AT-X (a parental lock very likely means nipples will be shown).
The director of this series talked about how challenging it was to find a way to adapt such extreme content for an anime audience, but then said after some consultation he was able to find a way to do it. My hunch is that the sex will still be in there albeit dialed down / less violent, but the show compensates for that with more “standard issue” nudity.
Ishuzoku Reviewers showed the anime industry that an anime TV series could have full on sex scenes and still be a big commercial success. Peter Grill followed in those footsteps… and now it appears that Redo may now be doing so as well.
Lets hope so. The anime industry is better for everyone when it is less concerned with sexual taboo.
Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi begins airing on January 13th.
Notable OVA
Strike The Blood IV
The fifth volume releases on March 24th.
Overall Thoughts:
Not saying this is an amazing season, but I honestly can’t remember a season that was as interesting as this one. There really isn’t a by the numbers ecchi series, but there is some pretty significant potential here. Ex-Arm is a series I’ve wanted to see an anime of for years now. Redo of Healer was one of the all-time “blue balling” manga before (apparently) becoming a nude anime. And while Dungeon is very likely to keep things “SFW” on BD, there is incredible potential there on the off-chance it goes the Peter Grill route content wise.
Winter seasons are usually pretty weak for ecchi but 2021 appears to be an exception. This is a nice start to the year 2021.
