 Just like previous seasons, it looks like 2023 will be stacked with shows, which is great. But what happens to all the series that aren't popular, hyped up or critically acclaimed? Yes, Vinland Saga season 2, Nier Automata, Tokyo Revengers, Misfit of Demon King, and much more are fun. But I'm here to recommend 5 shows that I think have been overlooked and could be worth your time. Revenger As a master assassin, Usui Yuen looks into a series of assassinations made on the grand samurai clan, the Satsuma. He encounters Raizo, member and survivor of one of the attacks. Together they discover the true nature of these murders is bigger than over stolen resources. As they get closer to the truth, will they come out alive to exact revenge? In original anime here, Revenger has brutal violence, interesting characters, and a slow burning conspiracy plot. If you enjoy samurai stories with swordplay and just a hint of over the top fighting abilities, I think you'll be right at home with Revenger. The story begins with Raizo's tragic predicament, but quickly shifts its focus to his decision to work with the other characters as a hitman of sorts for their group. It is somewhat episodic in nature, but each story gives you more time with the colorful cast of characters. The art on the series is great, good attention to detail on the scenery, clothing, and time period, and the action scenes are really well choreographed. For being an anime original, I think Revenger is a nice little package for you to enjoy. Kaina of the Great Snow Sea A world blanketed in an endless and ever-growing ocean of snow. What is left of the population is now huddled around the roots of enormous trees dotting the surface or high in the canopy, which spreads over the planet's atmosphere. A chance meeting between Kaina, a youth from the canopy, and Liliha, a young woman from the surface sets off a chain of events that will change the fate of the world. This post-apocalyptic series has a pretty unique setting and unlike anything I've seen before, an ocean of snow is not something to be fond of in dystopian times. If you go upwards in the trees, you really start to see the creativity of the story. Having humans survive in extreme circumstances makes me want to learn more about this world and how everything came to be. The one big noticeable thing, however, is the CG art style, which is pretty neat in my opinion. Sure, the usage of shadows isn't my favorite, but the curiosity of this adventure more than makes up for it. At one point in the story, the main characters are tasked with a dangerous journey that reminded me of the woes of Maiden Abyss, but not as dark. There's enough mystery to keep you watching with interesting characters and good lore behind them. Also, I did not know Sutomonehei created this series, along with its manga adaptation, so there's your boost in quality from a top-ranking creator just in case you were wondering. The Fire Hunter Set in the distant future, the world is overrun by fiery creatures known as Flame Demons and the only ones who can protect humanity are the Fire Hunters. Human civilization collapsed until they discovered an alternative fuel source derived from the blood of demonic Flame Demons. As a result, the elite Fire Hunters are formed, whose sole purpose is to hunt down the Demons and harvest their blood. We follow Toko, a young girl who lives in a remote village who wanders into the forest and stumbles into a battle between a Fire Hunter and a Flame Demon. The Fire Hunter is mortally wounded, saving Toko, with his last words telling her the name of his dog, Kanata. Due to being responsible for the Fire Hunter's death, Toko is now tasked by her village to take Kanata and the slain Fire Hunters' belongings to the capital and return them to his family. I don't know, something about that summary just sounds super epic so I'm sorry for it being super long. But Fire Hunter reminds me of the early 2000s era of anime where you had dark, stylized action stories like Witch Hunter Robin and Wolf's Reign for example. But this is more nuanced than that. This is the type of fantastical storytelling that rarely gets highlighted these days. You're following a young girl that is thrown into this epic journey, not of her choosing though. Some people complain online about the quality of its CG art, but I quite enjoy the style. I like how it mixes the illustrated artwork with the graphics, it's a very indie looking dark series. I want to give this series a chance, it's an adaptation of a fantasy novel series that has a lot of interesting world building and tons of potential. Ypon, again, after one last tournament and an embarrassing loss in the final round, Michi decides to call it quits on the sport of Judo. Between high school, entrance exams, she'll have no time to compete in the martial art that she loves. But still, that love for Judo lingers, and it comes back full force when she meets her new classmate Toa, the girl who bested her in her final match. Toa wants to form the Judo club at their school, but she'll need new members to get it up and running. This is a wholesome sports drama with fantastic characters, I have not read the manga that this is based on, but I think the series has been great so far. The choreography when it comes to the sport is really well done, I enjoy the cast of characters, they all feel pretty realistic in their depictions, and just the main theme of finding your passion again after a burnout resonated all too well. Highly recommend checking out Ypon again. Handyman Saito in Another World Saito has never felt special in his life, when he's dropped into a medieval fantasy world, he gathers a party of unique beings to survive. Surrounded by a heavy warrior, a spell for getting wizard, and a divine fairy princess, he yearns to be helpful. But after Saito saves everyone doing a raid, it's clear that having a handyman on an adventure isn't just useful, it's essential. I didn't think I was going to love this series at first, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is presented through multiple short adventures per episode, but you really get an opportunity to learn more and care about each character. Having a handyman sent to a fantasy world is hilarious to me, we all know how resourceful a handyman can be in real life, and for the people adventuring, that's just the best thing to have, right? I love Saito's dynamic with the rest of the party, it's super delightful and sincerely wholesome and humorous at times. In between the silly banter and story beats of regular dungeon exploration, we learn more about the characters, also that animation by C2C is wonderful in my opinion. Now I'm really looking forward to Saito's Sundays, if you will. So there you go, five shows I recommend checking out this season. I should point out that my watch list is pretty extensive, so don't worry if I didn't cover your favorite of the season, I'm almost certain I'm watching it, and we'll cover it later on when I do the full winter seasonal review. That's going to be it for now, thank you so much for watching, I truly do appreciate it, thank you for liking, subscribing, and being a part of this wonderful community. Thank you, thank you, God bless, stay safe out there, I will catch all of you on our next episode.