The winter 2024 anime season is in full swing, with many series hitting their halfway mark over the next two weeks or so. As usual, there’s a glut of animated content: By my count, 46 new shows are airing this season, plus around a dozen left over from 2023. Deciding what to check out can be overwhelming, but sorting things out by genre can help.
Two dungeon-crawling fantasy series airing this season have risen to the top of many most-watched lists. And while they share a similar premise, they couldn’t be further apart in tone. “Solo Leveling” imagines a world in which so-called Hunters travel to dungeons through mystical gates to combat monsters and bring back the spoils. Our hero is the world’s weakest Hunter — until he takes on a perilous quest to get stronger. This well-animated series based on a South Korean webtoon features lots of blood, gore and dread. Standing in contrast is “Delicious in Dungeon,” which centers on a band of heroes out to slay monsters so they can make delicious meals out of them. Based on a popular manga, “Dungeon” is half fantasy, half cooking show, and the combination results in a lot of laughs.