Mugen Monday - 30th Edition

I have made this claim in the Shinzou Saturday, when I designed this aesthetic piece about Kaiju No 8 fairing well within a Spring 2024 line-up that is filled with top-dogs like Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc, Konosuba, Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3, Jobless Reincarnation Season 2 Part 2 etc.

Today’s Mugen Monday is not about any particular Anime, but about trendsetters in general. And to add cherry on top, about a particularly hilarious meme.

What I meant is that as of late, the Anime industry has been quite on about second seasons and third and so forth. And it’s been a while since we have had a fresh opening, with few exceptions such as Solo Leveling.

But about this particular example, let’s give it to Solo Leveling which had a ginormous Manhwa base even prior to its release. Kaiju No 8? Not that much.

Another banger of last season, as fans now acclaim it, seems to be Dungeon Meshi. Whose latest episode is anything but kid-friendly. That was again, one entry which challenged the typical Isekai norm - introducing a Japanese regression trope instead. Usually, regressions are the domain of Korean Manhwas.

I looked at the seasons so far of 2024, and the final ones of 2023. One pattern that emerges is mass-hit season continuations, and amidst them few good ones every now and then. Prior to Dungeon Meshi’s occurrence, we had Freiren.

The pattern is - usually Anime require at least two seasons before it is picked up by the masses. And the chances of a shonen genre show is higher than that of others like Seinen.

Both Dungeon Meshi, Frieren, did not pick the clout up in its first seasonal run. Now note this, shows like these two are divided into cours. The first cours airs in one season (lets say Spring 2023) and the next cour follows up to the next season.

Dungeon Meshi’s appreciation also has only recently fully flourished. So it seems following that, shows like Kaiju No 8 will also require more than just 13 episodes and 3 months to gain the clout it is deserving.

And Manga readers of the show will give testimony to this, oh is it deserving of a lot.

What is your favorite Anime this season? Do write back to us at my address, and we can talk further about this.

And as you proceed further, you’ll be met with a feature on a spicy chicken meme. Well, I won’t pin you further, happy reading!

- From the Editor’s Desk

Rhytham Das, Editor-in-Chief, Spiel Anime