WIXOSS is a popular trading card game which has amassed quite the following, but things are not quite what they seem. Kominato Ruuko is a high schooler who quickly realises something is off about WIXOSS when she receives her first deck of cards and finds a girl trapped inside her avatar card. Ruuko soon finds others in the same situation and discovers that she has become a “Selector”, WIXOSS players who experience a special version of the game in which players can battle each other for a chance to have their deepest wish come true. However, there is a catch: being defeated three times leads to a player’s life being thrown into ruin.

Deceptively light-hearted at first, Selector Infected WIXOSS is a card game anime which closely follows the very well-lit path paved by other card game anime before it (hello, Yu-Gi-Oh!) in how it quickly develops into a dark sinewy watch with psychological elements that make it an incredibly jarring watch if you go in expecting happy times with trading cards. The contrast between the bright and peppy artistic direction and the manner in which things quickly deteriorate into full-blown pandemonium for individual characters makes it a memorable watch too.

Japan has clamped down on all that is considered to be obscene through the implementation of morality laws which subdue the public. Using special collars to enforce the policy, the Japanese government has all but ensured themselves a chaste society. Okuma Tanukichi is the son of an infamous criminal known for opposing the chastity laws, and he has just entered high school and gotten involved with the student council in order to get closer to his childhood crush, the Student Council President, Nishikinomiya Anna. Okuma soon realises that the vice president, Kajou Ayame, has been leading a double life, donning a mask and assuming the identity Blue Snow, a criminal dedicated to spreading obscene material to the general public. With his father being such a notorious terrorist, Okuma soon becomes the subject of Kajou, no, of Blue Snow’s attention. He is soon dragged into her secret organisation, SOX, and forced to spread lewd material which will stir the public and allow them the chance to destabilise the society the Japanese government created. How will Okuma deal with having to support a movement which clashes with his values?

Shimoneta is hilarious because of its absurdity. From the very first scene we are shown the lengths to which the Japanese government is set to suppress the sexual curiosity of the average Japanese citizen. However, maybe there is something to be taken away from the way in which they frame sexual learnedness as an oppressed quality to which society is entitled. Maybe Shimoneta is just fun because we get to live vicariously through the main characters who dish out social justice while wearing underwear on their heads.

Saiki Kusuo has a wide range of supernatural abilities which range from telepathy to x-ray vision. Most people would consider these a major asset; however, Kusuo is adamant that his powers have only ever made his life difficult. All he wants is a normal life, but his psychic powers consistently attract strange characters who together create a whirlwind of inconveniences which further drive home Kusuo’s opinion on his abilities: a curse.

Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan is a show with individual episodes of a fairly short runtime of only 5 minutes; however, don’t think they don’t pack their fair share of wacky psychic-powered excitement! The comedy is the main attraction to this anime, as Saiki’s life continues to become entangled in wackier and wackier scenarios alongside several eccentric and humorous characters.

Four high school boys who have known each other since they were children hang out together at school every day. The Asaba twins, Yuuki and Yuuta; the quiet Matsuoka Shun and the calm Tsukahara Kaname have grown used to a dreary, boring life; however, the entrance of half-Japanese, half-German transfer student Tachibana Chizuru might prove to be the spark which ignites the excitement in their lives again as his energetic personality and stories of life abroad breathe new life into the dynamics of the group.

A solid slice of life when you need one, Kimi to Boku is a calming title which can go unnoticed even on the J.C. Staff roster. With a character dynamic somewhat reminiscent of Kyoto Animation’s K-On!, Kimi to Boku is the show you need when you want a little bit of high school comedy to liven up your day. The anime is simple and covers all the bases if you want something funny and a little romantic on your watchlist.

So many things have gone wrong in Ayasaki Hayate’s short, miserable life, but the word “mishap” would be a gross understatement when describing how his parents accumulated a debt of over 50 million yen and abandoned him, leaving him with no choice but to sell himself off to the Yakuza. One night he runs into a girl named Sanzenin Nagi and tries to kidnap her in order to pay off his family’s debt, but Nagi misunderstands their interaction to be Hayate’s confession of love for her. When he saves her from actual kidnappers, Hayate is hired to be Nagi’s personal butler as she is revealed to be part of one of the richest families in Japan. With his horrible luck but great skills, Hayate must navigate the task of serving his employer while living through the mishaps which plague him daily!

A fairly well-known title, Hayate the Combat Butler is a show within which, fun fact, we can find a fairly great example of an archetypical tsundere. Back to the anime itself, the premise is outlandish and really serious, but when you get down to watching the show, you realise just how funny Hayate the Combat Butler can be. With its recurring theme of Murphy’s Law in Hayate’s life, the anime blends in a fair amount of comedy, romance and a bit of drama into each episode.

Hachimitsu Private Academy is an elite all-girls boarding school on the outskirts of Tokyo, known for its disciplined students and high quality education. However, upon the revision of school policy, male students are now being accepted at the school, with the school’s first ever crop of boys being a meagre five individuals. This places the girl-to-boy ratio within the school at a whopping 200: 1. The five, Kiyoshi, Gakuto, Andre, Shingo and Jo quickly fade away into the background as none of them are able to talk to girls. Unable to talk to their female peers, the five decide to peep into the girls’ bath instead. Their plan is thwarted by the Underground Student Council, who promptly throw the five boys into the school’s harsh prison for an entire month.

Prison School is an artistic beauty with the art style which leans closer to more realistic features, especially where faces are concerned. The show has a marked darkness to it due to the use of shading and shadows on the characters themselves, giving it an incredible amount of depth. The show is outrageous and can even get somewhat uncomfortable with how far it goes with the banter; all while satirically exploring the hilarious day-to-day struggles of the five main characters.

After surviving a freak accident, Tada Banri suffers from extreme amnesia, which completely suspends all memories of his past somewhere in the recesses of his mind. After befriending Yanagisawa Mitsuo, Banri decides to move to Tokyo in order to attend law school. His steady college life is rocked when he meets the beautiful Kaga Kouko in a dramatic meeting. Banri’s college experiences continue to offer him a sense of belonging and purpose; however, discovering who he is and discovering who he used to be can prove to be more difficult than he could have anticipated.

The show deals with the issue of identity, using Banri’s amnesia and the possibility of the imminent return of the Tada Banri who existed prior to the accident. While being a pleasant romantic slice of life in some aspects, Golden Time can get fairly dark at times, and attempts to grow its closely-knit protagonists together in intensely dramatic ways. At the same time, those who love J.C. Staff anime will also note how Kaga Kouko looks like an older Aisaka Taiga from Toradora, in case you weren’t already convinced to catch the show.

Academy City is a city at the forefront of scientific discovery and the location of the esper development program. There are seven “Level 5” espers in Academy City, the strongest in town and Misaka Mikoto is ranked third among them. Known for her powerful electricity manipulation powers, Mikoto’s abilities have earned her the nickname, “The Railgun”. When strange things start happening throughout the city, Mikoto investigates and discovers it all to be connected to “Level Upper”, a device allegedly capable of increasing an esper’s level. With more investigation, Mikoto soon realises that the Level Upper case goes further beyond anything she imagined and that Academy City isn’t quite what it claims to be.

Railgun is an anime in the same universe as another J.C. Staff title, A Certain Magical Index. Index’s protagonist, Kamijou Touma, sometimes appears in the Railgun series, albeit as a supporting character. Characters in Railgun have incredibly flashy powers which are incredibly well animated in the scenes with combat. Overall, the “A Certain” series have been incredibly beautiful from an art perspective, with its backgrounds often being incredibly intricate and breathtaking.

Ayusawa Misaki is her school’s first ever female Student Council President, given that the school was very recently an all-boys high school. Misaki’s strong presence and her disciplinarian attitude have earned her the nickname, “Demon President” by the boys at her school, and she will stop at nothing to ensure that the female students have a good school experience. However, under all that authority, Misaki is hiding the fact that after school, she works at a maid café in order to help her family get by. She has managed to keep it a secret for a long time, but a chance encounter with Usui Takumi, the most popular boy in school, leaves her reputation in his hands. With so much power over her life, Usui could destroy her reputation forever... or he could use this chance to get to know Misaki better.

Straight-forward shoujo tropes in Kaichou wa Maid-sama bring us a healthy dose of romance and slice of life elements, as well as a fair bit of drama. Coming from the highly successful manga series of the same name, Maid Sama’s anime adaptation by J.C. Staff is a humorous and highly enjoyable anime title to watch, with the romance aspect taking centre stage in the story progression.

Life in the city of Orario is exciting, especially for Bell Cranel, a young man who hopes to become the greatest adventurer. After a fateful encounter with the goddess Hestia, Bell is inches closer to achieving his dream. With her support, he delves deep into the city’s dark monster-filled catacombs, where death lurks around every corner. Survival is not guaranteed and many don’t make it out of “The Dungeon”. Be that as it may, Bell is convinced he will one day be the greatest.

DanMachi, as the show is affectionately called, is a beautifully animated tale about a young man who wishes to achieve greatness and J.C. Staff pulled out all the stops with character and world design, making the expansive fantasy land of Orario feel full and fleshed out. The fight scenes are beautiful, particularly the dramatic final fight against a particular entity which shall not be named… Watch DanMachi for fantasy and RPG elements nicely put together into a brief yet exciting story.