Fall 2022 was a great season for anime with some of the strongest hits of the year. For older anime, Spy x Family returned for the second half of its season, Mob Psycho 100 and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean returned for their final seasons, and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War finally continued the anime after its cancelation a decade prior. For new anime, Chainsaw Man finally premiered to much fanfare, as did shows like Blue Lock, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, and breakout hit of the season Bocchi the Rock!
Fall 2022 was a big season for anime, and winter 2023 is looking to be great in that department, as well. Everything listed here will be available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming services, and there will be plenty of new anime to watch in addition to old favorites either continuing from the previous season or returning after years of hiatus. There are going to be plenty of shows for people to choose from, and the following shows stand out as some of the best to be streaming this January.
Vinland Saga Season 2
Vinland Saga was one of the biggest hits of 2019, and after almost four years, the anime is finally coming back for a second season. Season 1 won people over for its epic Viking story of revenge, and that’s especially impressive considering how everything in season 1 was just a prologue. With that in mind, the continuation of Thorfinn’s story after failing to exact his revenge is bound to be just as compelling a story, if not more so.
Another interesting thing to note is that Vinland Saga season 2 will be animated by Studio MAPPA instead of Wit Studio. With anime like Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, Dorohedoro, and Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Studio MAPPA has established itself as one of the best anime studios in recent years, so Vinland Saga being picked up by them is nothing but great for the series. It’s a bit disappointing that Wit Studio couldn’t continue the series, but at the very least, season 2 is clearly in just as capable hands, if not more capable.
NieR:Automata Ver1.1a
Another big anime premiering in January 2023 is NieR:Automata Ver1.1a. As the name implies, the anime is an adaptation of the popular 2017 video game, Nier: Automata, so right off the bat, its source material is something that’s left a big impression on people for years. Promotional material for the Nier: Automata anime also suggests that the story is going to be expanded on in some ways, so that means there will be plenty to take in for old and new fans, alike.
One of the biggest draws of NieR:Automata Ver1.1a, however, has to be how the original game creator, Yoko Taro, is returning to write the anime. Not only does that suggest a lot will be done to maintain the quality of the original game, but with Yoko Taro’s penchant for adding crazy twists to his stories, his involvement may mean that the anime will actually veer off into a completely different direction from the game. Something like that, plus the impressive art and animation from the trailers, would do a lot to help the anime become a rare example of a successful video game adaptation.
Bofuri: I Don’t Want To Get Hurt: So I’ll Max Out My Defense Season 2
After being delayed from its planned 2022 release, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense season 2 is set to finally premiere in January 2023. Bofuri season 1 was a notable breakout hit of winter 2020, with it quickly taking off for its low-stakes story, great animation, and the entertaining contrast between Maple’s bubbly personality and the gruesome, savage, and downright silly ways she would defeat her opponents without breaking a sweat. It all led to an anime that was easy for people to get invested in, and the immediate announcement of a season 2 was met with a great deal of excitement.
Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense essentially combined the differing appeals of A-1 Pictures’ Sword Art Online and One-Punch Man, and season 2 looks like it will be no different in that regard. The trailers for season 2 look like it will be offering more of the same as season 1, which is perfectly fine for an anime like this, and the animation looks to be just as good as in season 1, if not even better. Bofuri season 2 has been anticipated for years, and with any luck, it will more than live up to the hype.
The Magical Revolution Of The Reincarnated Princess And The Genius Young Lady
The final new anime being discussed is The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady. As implied by the title, the anime is another isekai story, but that doesn’t factor much into the story, so someone can go into it without expecting the usual clichés of the isekai anime genre. The premise of its two leads working to apply principles of science to magic is also one with a lot of story potential, and that’s bound to be sold even further by its stellar art and animation courtesy of Studio diomedéa.
What’s especially notable about this anime is that it’s of the yuri genre with its two female leads set to become a couple eventually. It’s always good to see more positive LGBTQ+ representation in media, and it won’t be the only yuri anime of 2023; Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury will be continuing in the spring, and Yuri Is My Job! and I’m in Love with the Villainess are set to premiere, as well. 2023 is set to be a good year for positive LGBTQ+ representation in anime, and it’s all set to start with The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady.
The Best Ongoing Anime To Stream In January 2023
There are plenty of great anime premiering in January 2023, but there is also a lot of great ongoing anime to watch. For example, long-running anime One Piece, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, and Digimon Ghost Game will all be releasing new episodes, so fans of those shows will still be able to get new content out of them. One Piece and Boruto are especially noteworthy for the content they’ll be adapting; One Piece will be continuing the Wano arc, which it’s set to finally finish adapting by the end of the year, and Boruto will both adapt the Sasuke-focused spinoff and finally continue the canon story with the Code arc.
Anime from the fall 2022 season will also see their continuation in January 2023. Studio Bones’ My Hero Academia, Blue Lock, The Eminence in Shadow, and To Your Eternity season 2 will see the remainders of their seasons run through the winter, and the Urusei Yatsura reboot is set to run through the rest of its first half before going on hiatus. All in all, whether it’s a new premiere or an ongoing favorite, there will be plenty of great anime to stream in January 2023.