Here Are the Winter 2021 Anime You Have to Watch

With the start of the new year comes a whole new season of anime as the Winter 2021 season has gotten off to a great start! Following many unexpected delays from 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 is going to be jam packed with a ton of series that were initially scheduled to premiere last year. Not only that, but there is also plenty of new material that had been brewing for this January. This means it’s a good slate of much anticipated returns, brand new releases, and long awaited adaptations.

With series already getting major lead ins such as Attack on Titan’s fourth and final season, major anime making their sophomore return such as The Promised Neverland, Dr. Stone, and The Quintessential Quintuples, long awaited adaptations such as HoriMiya, and new original efforts like Back Arrow, the Winter 2021 is one of the most packed in recent memory.

There’s so many to choose from, so we decided to collect some of the biggest releases of the Winter 2021 season. Read on to see our picks that you should check out, and let us know your picks! With so many anime releases, it was impossible to mention them all. Which anime are you checking out this Winter? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

Attack on Titan: Final Season

Now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation (English Dub), and Hulu and airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami block. 

Although it made its debut toward the end of the Fall 2020 season, Attack on Titan is undoubtedly going to dominate conversation for the Winter 2021 anime season as well. If you’re not up to date with the final season yet due to its much slower start than one might have initially expected for this shorter final outing, now is the time to jump onto the fourth and final season as things are going to be (quite literally) exploding from here on out. With series creator Hajime Isayama confirming the manga will be coming to an end this April, both finales are going to start heating up rather quickly. 

The Promised Neverland Season 2

Now streaming on Funimation and Hulu

One of the most anticipated returns of the Winter 2021 season belongs to The Promised Neverland. Originally scheduled to premiere last Fall before being delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the second season picks up from the massive cliffhanger of the first as Emma and the other kids discover what’s really lurking outside of their former home. Their escape was one of the best received moments of 2018 overall, and the second season only ramps that up even more with some new material from original series writer Kaiu Shirai. Each major arc of the series is essentially a different genre, and that’s going to be wild to see play out in the anime. 

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Season 2 Part 2

Now streaming on Crunchyroll

Another release delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the original plan was to have Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World‘s second season complete its run by the end of 2020. The first half of the much anticipated season was the strongest in the series to date, so there’s a lot riding on the second part to stick the landing. Subaru is in the middle of his most intense series of loops yet, and now he’s got a direct antagonist to bounce off and motivate him further. This makes the stakes even higher for the rest of the season, and likely one of the most emotional watches of the Winter. 

HoriMiya

Now streaming on Funimation and Hulu

Adapting HERO and Daisuke Hagiwara’s manga series (which itself is an adaptation of a webcomic), Horimiya — otherwise known by its full name, Hori-san to Miyamura-kun — is one to definitely look out for this season. As a romantic comedy with a huge cult following, this is one series that many fans had been asking to see an adaptation for a long time. Funimation describes the series as: 

“Do opposites attract? At school, Hori is a social butterfly but her life at home is anything but perfect. Left to raise her brother, she’s facing responsibilities that she’s not ready for. Meanwhile, under a brooding façade, Miyamura hides a gentle heart, along with piercings and tattoos. In a chance meeting, they both reveal a side they’ve never shown. Could this blossom into something new?”

Cells at Work! Season 2 and Cells at Work: Code Black

Now streaming on Funimation

This one is a bit of a cheat because it’s two different series, but Cells at Work! fans have quite lot to look forward to this Winter! Not only is the much anticipated follow up to the 2018 anime making its premiere, but a spin-off set in a much older, much more damaged body is getting its anime due. To make things even better, both series are now airing at the same time! It’s a full experience coming in two completely different packages for double the fun! 

The Quintessential Quintuplets Season 2

Now streaming on Crunchyroll 

While doubling the fun is good, quintupling it is even better. As one of the biggest romantic comedy surprises of the last few years, the first season of Quintessential Quintuplets introduced fans to five different heroines that got their own emotional depth and character building despite having so many to balance at once. With the initial hook of a flash forward to the main protagonist marrying one of the heroines, the second season complicates this further as Uesugi pieces together his memories of potentially meeting one of the quintuplets when they were kids! Things are only going to get more complicated from here. 

 

World Trigger Season 2

Now streaming on Crunchyroll

Another great return this season has had fans waiting years to see! Daisuke Ashihara’s World Trigger adaptation has finally returned for a new season and the action’s picking right back up from where it all left off. The second season won’t be taking on the massive episode order of the first season of the series, but it’s already been confirmed that a third season of the series is currently in the works. Which means that whatever intensity is still to come for the anime is guaranteed to continue with even more action. It’s likely this second season is going to be one fans won’t want to miss. 

Back Arrow

Now streaming on Funimation

Goro Taniguchi, the director behind Code Geass, and Kazuki Nakashima, the writer behind Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Promare and more, have teamed up for a brand new original series. This new mecha series feature designs from Hidetaka Tenjin, who has previously provided mech designs for franchises like Macross, Genesis of Aquarion, and Mobile Suit Gundam. The credits stack up even more when you consider the lead is voiced by Attack on Titan alum Yuki Kaji, and the opening theme is performed by award-winning Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba theme signer, LiSA. 

It’s hard to predict what’s coming in an original series like this, but Funimation describes it as such, “Lingalind is enclosed by the Wall. The Wall covers, protects, cultivates, and nurtures the land. The Wall is God. One day in Edger, a village on the outskirts, a mysterious man named Back Arrow appears. Arrow has no memory, but he claims that all he knows is that ‘I came from outside the Wall.’ Arrow tries to go beyond the Wall to regain his memories but is pulled into one conflict after another.”

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2

Release Date: January 12th (Crunchyroll), TBA for Funimation’s SimulDub

The biggest returning Isekai anime of the season is That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, and things are going to be even tougher for Rimuru Tempest. With all of the speedy growth Rimuru had for themselves along with everyone around them in the first season of the series, the second season is going to take things even further. Rimuru essentially has an entire territory to manage this time, and this has gotten the attention of the major influential powers around it. This means the politics will get more complicated, the fights will get more intense, and the world’s going to get even bigger. 

Dr. Stone: Stone Wars

Release Date: January 14th (Crunchyroll), and TBA for Funimation’s SimulDub

Rounding out the much-anticipated returns of the Winter 2021 wave of releases, Dr. Stone is finally coming back for its second season. Like many of the other sophomore seasons releasing this Winter, Dr. Stone is about to get more intense as it adapts one of the most popular arcs of the series to date. With Senku doing everything he can to better prepare the Kingdom of Science to take on Tsukasa’s Empire of Might, this series is about to get more action-heavy moving forward. If the first season excited you with its technological advancements, this new season takes it further and literally builds on those first achievements! It’s going to be quite exciting.