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The Winter 2023 anime season turned out to be a massive hit, especially with the arrival of new seasons of old favorite titles like Bungo Stray Dogs' fourth season, the second season of Vinland Saga, and The Misfit of Demon King Academy II.
In fact, it is not just these. Several new names, debuting with their very first seasons, also turned out to be big hits among viewers.
Some have praised Nier Automata v.1.1a for being a massive success at expanding on the popular video game's narrative. Others have praised Trigun Stampede for being an excellent reboot and retelling of the original in a way that requires no prior knowledge of the series.
This article will describe 10 anime from the Winter 2023 season that turned out to be hidden gems thanks to their popularity.
Disclaimer: This article shall contain spoilers for anime that recently premiered. Any and all opinions are strictly reflective of the author alone.
Handyman Saitou, In/Spectre, and more: 10 unmissable watches from the Winter 2023 anime season
1) Buddy Daddies
Despite the apparent similarities between Buddy Daddies and Spy x Family, closer look reveals that there's a vast difference between the two.
This winter 2023 anime features two assassin housemates whose lives are turned upside down when a four-year-old girl inadvertently wanders into the middle of one of their hit jobs. The hit in question was on her actual father.
The assassin duo are now faced with the task of returning the young girl to her mother, but that didn't quite go as planned. Indeed, now the two have to strike a delicate balancing act that's equal parts action-filled and heartwarming. There's also one huge difference between this Winter 2023 anime and Spy x Family: The duo, at the end of the first season, decide to leave their organization in order to better provide for their new charge.
2) Trigun Stampede
The retelling of the 90s anime Trigun was already on more than a few fans' radars when it was announced back in 2022. This winter 2023 anime is not just a retread of the original series, it's a reimagining of the original, according to the creators.
The animation is 3D rather than 2D, but it is still considered smooth as silk by those that have enjoyed it. While the anime's tone has changed from seriously comedic to mostly tearjerking moments mixed in with awesome action, audiences started warming up to it when several big reveals were made. This included the first season being an explanation of how Vash got his huge bounty.
3) Nier Automata v1.1a
The original Nier Automata game was considered an underrated highlight of an action RPG during its heyday. The anime is considered a great retelling and expansion of the story presented in the video game, sprinkling in stories of machines gaining sentience that weren't in the original game, Lily's backstory, an expanded examination of A2's backstory, and more.
It may have flown in under the radar given the absolutely monstrous hype that some other anime like Attack on Titan received, but Nier Automata v1.1a is slowly and surely becoming a fan favorite. For some people, it ranks up there with some of the best video game anime adaptations since Castlevania.
4) Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure
The latest in Pretty Cure's massive franchise and one of the many anime released in the winter 2023 anime season, Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure is the 20th anniversary season of Pretty Cure. It was also one of the first in the franchise to feature a male Cure named Cure Wing, who was also part of the main cast.
Other firsts for the franchise include one of the blue Cures leading the team, usually led by a pink-colored and themed Cure. It's likewise that Cure Butterfly is the first major and unambiguously adult Cure on the team. It's basically a season that decided to shake things up in a franchise that's lasted 20 years, and is worth watching for any magical girl fans.
5) The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
It wouldn't be an isekai anime without a long title. This Winter 2023 anime focuses around the antics of Princess Anisphia of Palettia as she's reincarnated into a fantasy world and attempts to fuse magic and technology. The comedic antics of her learning to fly are starcrossed with her crashing her younger brother's engagement and taking his would-be fiance away to assist her in her research.
The clip of her literally crashing into the party has become one of the most comedic clips spread across the internet. While the rest of the anime isn't quite as dramatically comedic as that, it does have wonderful animation, quite a few twists involving dragons and vampires, and a lot of sweet moments between the two main girls. It's also a yuri anime, and those are often underrated.
6) Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
Most anime fans have at least one favorite anime involving digital worlds and video games that is really touching, comedic, and well done enough to recommend. An example of this is High Score Girl.
This Winter 2023 anime is an affectionate parody of dating sim visual novels, as the players are heard and interacted with by the game characters.
The anime features two high school students using a game to practice their broadcast commentary skills, when suddenly the crown prince Siegwald responds to them. The end result ends up being a very funny romantic comedy, with one of the highlights being the titular tsundere Lieselotte and the players attempting to save her from the grisly fate she originally had in the "main" timeline of the game.
7) The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
Imagine an adult anime romcom that stars a guy trying to woo his coworker who is icier than he is, only that's literal because the guy tends to freeze everything and everyone around him when he gets nervous. This is the overall gist of The Icy Guy and his Cool Female Colleague, being more of an office comedy romcom with a fantasy twist.
Another fantastical element? Their coworkers are a fox, a phoenix, and their boss is such a nice person he may as well be Buddha in human form. It's slow paced, realistic despite the fantastical elements, and very comedic. This Winter 2023 anime entry about a literal ice person is perfect for anime fans looking to cool down after so much hot-blooded action in the anime world.
8) Handyman Saitou: Handyman In another World
The Isekai genre may have exploded and flooded anime, with more people being sucked into fantastical worlds than one can count, but sometimes a few come along that try to genuinely do something different. This Winter 2023 anime focuses on the life and times of a Japanese handyman named Saitou who gets sucked into a magical world that definitely needs a handyman.
While not as big or as serious as managing an entire world's resources like some isekai, Saitou's skillset is perfect for the adventuring party he finds himself with. Given that the party often ends up either encountering traps they can't bypass, or somehow managing to break or damage their equipment, Saitou comes in handy.
9) Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill
Yet another Isekai, this time about cooking!
This is a series made by Studio MAPPA, and instead of being a massively driven plot with huge worldly implications, this Winter 2023 anime is more focused on the life and times of a man named Mukouda as he is in a fantasy world, but instead of being the hero or a grand wizard, his skill is getting modern food and making dishes.
This breaks the typical isekai mold of having a protagonist with overpowered battle skills or a large harem chasing after him. It's more about not being able to worry about money, eating delicious food with friends, and generally chilling out with huge fantasy creatures. In other words, this Winter 2023 anime sounds like paradise to anyone who feels stuck in their life.
10) In/Spectre
An anime that had already flown under the radar when it first premiered in 2020 had its second season moved to January of 2023. In/Spectre is about two people flung together by chance: A young girl who became the "goddess of wisdom" between humans and spirits, and a seemingly regular guy who appears to be the nightmare of yokai.
The series is mostly concerned with solving disputes and mysteries that crop up instead of high-paced action - think Detective Conan crossed with Yu Yu Hakusho. The second season deals with the case of a man who was accused of murder, yet was home with a ghost snow woman at the time and the two main characters were brought in to solve the case.
Thus concludes the list of Winter 2023 anime that flew under everyone's radar. Admittedly, some of these may not entirely be "under the radar" per say, but all of them aren't people's first choice when it comes to anime watching, given the amount of anime that came out in the Winter 2023 anime season.
Hopefully, this list will spur viewers towards anime from the Winter 2023 anime season that aren't typical and can give them something else to watch aside from anything super popular. If we missed out on any other entries from the Winter 2023 anime season, let us know in the comments below!
