In Asian Spaces

Let me explain…

The fall anime 2024 season is stacked with supernatural, yokai, and paranormal anime. Whether it is returns from long-awaited second (and third) seasons of established anime, or originals adapted from beloved manga – I seriously feel like the season of supernatural disclosure is upon us.

Supernatural Predictive Programming in Media

I’ve noticed that whenever there is a certain topic or phenomena that needs to be “put into” the collective consciousness of our minds, we are bombarded with tv shows, movies, and video games concerning said topic. This is most often referred to as ‘predictive programming’ or being shown things in media ahead of time from whence they will naturally (or artificially) manifest.

For a while now, it’s been nothing but “aliens”.

Alien disclosure, (fake?) Aliens at the Miami mall, aliens in backyards, aliens in south America abducting people (and chickens) with suspicious equipment similar to the green goblin from the Spiderman films…there’s been a lot going on.

Samuel L. Jackson was making out with aliens in Marvel’s Secret Invasion (a tv show about aliens secretly living amongst us) and then we had Sabrina Carpenter making out with an alien onstage at the latest installment of the VMAs (which nobody watches unless they want to point out the nonsense predictive programming or ‘satanic’ agenda pushes for the season).

Then again, the whole ‘alien’ and ‘lizard people’ debate has been going on for years, where shows like The Simpsons and Inside Job outright state that our ‘elected officials’ are not human, and films like Jupiter Ascending show the alleged secret programs our military currently conducts through treaties with certain entities to harvest people and ‘pizza’ on our planet (see: The Promised Neverland or Monsters Inc for more context).

Call me crazy (if you really want to – it doesn’t matter at this point) but it seems like a lot of these “supernatural” beings, spirits, and cryptids are coming back to our realm. Sasquatch/Big Foot sightings and reported phenomenon has been going through the roof worldwide – reports coming from cryptid enthusiasts and ordinary campers and homesteaders alike.

The media keeps reporting fresh “dinosaur tracks” in places like busy beaches without showing any real photographs. For those of you who don’t know, the word ‘dinosaur’ appears around the 1840s/1860s and used to mean ‘dragon’. And don’t even get me started on all the videos of giants popping up in places like South America and Asia, and people stumbling upon and finding the ancient ruins of pyramids and ‘Tartarian’ mud flood civilizations in their towns here in the U.S. and abroad. 

Even I have been hunting and researching my own town, since these old buildings, Star Forts, and everything else has become blatantly obvious at this point – no matter how hard “they” who claim they are in power try to cover it up.

Fall Anime 2024 Supernatural Lineup

Ao no Exorcist: Yuki no Hate-hen is the fourth season of the Blue Exorcist anime series that will be premiering in days this fall. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the anime series, it follows the Okumura twins – Yukio and Rin. While Yukio is fairly normal and a straightforward young man, his brother Rin often acts off the walls because surprise – they’re the secret sons of Satan who were raised by a priest, Father Fujimoto in an effort to protect them from the demons of hell.

After Satan successfully possesses Father Fujimoto in an effort to “get Rin”, the brothers enroll at True Cross Academy to learn to become exorcists, and in typical shonen protagonist fashion, Rin vows to defeat his father, Satan, in revenge for the murder of his father figure, Fujimoto.

There are also a few demons considered ‘princes’ and ‘lords’ of Hell thrown into the story as well, Mephisto and Beelzebub being two I can remember from off the top of my head. Rin also has a familiar cat named Kuro which helps him in his “witchy” endeavors.

I am really tempted to review this on the website but I haven’t watched season one in forever, so I would have to do a rewatch before starting the new season.

Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen – Soukoku-tan is the third part of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War that is airing this season.

I loved watching Bleach when I was in high school, and was delighted alongside many fans when it came back for it’s final cour not too long ago in 2022 with TYBW. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Bleach follows Kurosaki Ichigo, who begins work as a temporary Shinigami (“death reaper”) after a fateful encounter with Kuchiki Rukia. 

As the story goes on, it turns out Ichigo has hidden power in his bloodline…and so does everybody else in his high school friend group, apparently. My boy Ishida Uryuu happens to be from an ancient clan (the ‘Quincy’) that can use magic, and is highly connected to the bloodline and those hidden in the Walls Between Realms for 1,000 years.

This Quincy storyline should sound familiar to you, as this is the main plot for Elden Ring – taking place in a “realm between worlds” known as “the Lands Between” that is currently in chaos. If you search old books and histories, you often find mentions to places between our worlds, and the beings who still hide there – waiting for their chance to get out and wreak havoc on our unsuspecting timeline…

Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 3^rd Season is the third season of Re:Zero- Starting Life in Another World.

The show follows Natsuki Subaru, a young man from modern day Japan who is suddenly isekai’d into another realm after leaving a conbini one night. Now in an elaborate fantasy world, he meets and is infatuated with a pretty white-haired girl named “Emilia” who everybody around him is wary of as Satella, the Witch of Envy.

Not discouraged by common sense or a sense of foreboding, Subaru lunges headfirst into pursuing a relationship with this woman and her strange companions – while being stuck in an endless death loop where those around him die horribly over and over again until he masters the situation and gains a little power.

People still die once he gains agency, but they die a little less and his mental state deteriorates to a point where he barely cares anymore…pretty fun watch, I need to finish my rewatch (and reviews) of season one and start season two so that I can watch season three as it airs.

Dandadan is a supernatural anime series about a girl from an occult family and a boy who is obsessed with aliens, falling in love.

Ayase Momo comes from a family of spiritual mediums and her classmate “Okarun” (Takakura Ken) is an alien fanatic. Apparently, after shared experiences of trying to encounter the objects of the other’s obsessions (Momo searches for Aliens, Okarun tries to find spirits) the two have overwhelming experiences where their hidden powers “activate” and they delve deeper into the world of the paranormal.

Uzumaki is a 4-episode anime adaption of the popular manga written by Junji Ito, bearing the same name.

If you’ve ever watched Naruto in your lifetime, you’ll know that “Uzumaki” means “spiral” or whirlpool and the number four (“shi/yon”) is often associated with death in Japanese culture because it sounds similar to the word death (“shi”).

The story follows a believed-to-be cursed town named Kurozu-cho off the coast of Japan. The town is haunted by the spiral figure, which manifests itself over-abundantly in the natural formations across town. The spiral is also credited with madness if it manifests on one’s body…

Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi is the seventh season of Natsume’s Book of Friends, and one of my all-time favorite anime series.

Natsume Yuujinchou follows Natsume Takashi, a lonely, orphaned boy who can see spirits. After bouncing around from foster home to foster home, he finally winds up with good people who actually knew his grandmother. Natsume inherits an old box of her things, including her “book of friends” – a powerful book with contracts or pacts made with powerful spirits in the local area.

As the spirits chase him in an effort to get their name back, Natsume soon encounters Madara – a sealed wolf spirit (okami) who now has the form of a maneki-neko due to his captivity in the figure for so long. With ‘Nyanko-sensei’ acting as Natsume’s bodyguard, together they live a peaceful life as Natsume makes friends with the local spirits, and attempts to return their names.

Honorable mentions include: Maou-sama, Retry! R (supernatural isekai), Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru (reincarnation), Sayonara Ryuusei Konnichiwa Jinsei (reincarnation, dragon spirit), Hoshi Furu Oukoku no Nina (reincarnation), and Amagami-san Chi no Enmusubi (Shintoism) amongst many others this fall anime season!

But, what do you think?

Are there any anime you are excited to watch this fall season? Do you find the amount of supernatural and paranormal anime in the fall lineup unusual?

(For those interested, I will most likely be reviewing Blue Lock VS. U-20 Japan and Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi on the blog. You can check out my reviews of Blue Lock Season 1 if you are interested, and my thoughts concerning where Natsume Takashi received his spiritual power in addition to what he inherited from his grandmother.)

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