Crunchyroll Announces Their Winter 2018 Simulcast Season

The Winter 2017 anime season is soon coming to an end, so it’s time to look forward. Luckily, Crunchyroll has announced their simulcast slate for the upcoming season and it includes some major players.

Leading the charge is the new science fiction series from TRIGGER (Kill la Kill) and A-1 Pictures (The Seven Deadly Sins), DARLING in the FRANXX. Crunchyroll describes the series as:

“The distant future: Humanity established the mobile fort city, Plantation, upon the ruined wasteland and civilization flourished. Within the city were pilot quarters called Mistilteinn, otherwise known as the “Birdcage.” That is where the children live… Not knowing anything of the outside world, and unaware of the vast sky. Their only mission in life was the fight.

Their enemies are the mysterious giant organisms known as Kyoryu. The children operate robots known as FRANXX in order to face these still unseen enemies because they believe that is their purpose in life. Among them was a boy who was once called a child prodigy: Code number 016, Hiro. However, now he’s a failure and considered unneeded. Those who cannot pilot FRANXX basically do not exist. One day, a mysterious girl called Zero Two appears in front of Hiro. From her face grew two alluring horns.”

Next is Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, which is an isekai series based on a light novel series by Hiro Ainana. The series follows Ichiro, a programmer in the middle of a crunch period. When he takes a nap at his desk, he wakes up in a fantasy world and gets all sorts of new buffs and perks that instantly got him to a high level and wealth in the world.

There’s Katana Maidens – Toji No Miko, an original series directed by Kōdai Kakimoto and animated by Studio Gokumi. The series follows a group of high school priestesses, known as Tojis, who are members of a special task force that eliminate monsters, known as Aratama, with the help of the mystical katanas in their possession. Then the top five schools select Tojis to fight in a specialized tournament.

Then is citrus, a yuri series from Saburouta. This series follows a young girl named Yuzu, who transfers to an all-girl’s school. Fearing that she’ll never find love, she meets Mei, who turns out to be her new half-sister after her mother remarries, and now they live under the same roof.

There’s Japan’s creepiest anime yet, The Junji Ito Collection, which collects a number of horror author’s Junji Ito’s stories with each episode following a different story.

Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls follows up Masaki Segawa’s original manga series and is directed by Junji Nishimura and features animation by Seven Arcs Pictures. After the Kouga and Iga clans settled their differences in a gruesome battle, the children of the two lovers who “decided to live for love” now have to bear the weight of their ancestors as the age of the ninja soon comes to an end.

Finally there is Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, which is directed Kenji Yasuda and features animation by Satelight. The series adapts Chiaki Hisaki and Hako Ichiiro’s series of crime novels that follows a town where professional killers, and the killer who hunts the professionals, run rampant in the underground.

Crunchyroll promises more additions to come, but this initial slate has something to please everyone.