7 Winter 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Plenty of good anime are continuing from the fall 2018 season, such as Fairy Tail’s final season, the latest iteration of JoJo, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, and That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime. But why not ring in the new year with something new? Cozy on up with our seven suggestions for anime you should check out this winter season.

See our picks in the slideshow below, or see them listed with a few trailers below that.

Mob Psycho 100 II

Studio: Bones

This is the second season of the 2016 anime Mob Psycho 100, a supernatural shonen following Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama. On the outside, Mob appears to be rather plain but is actually a very powerful Esper with psychic abilities that have the potential to wreak havoc if his emotions get out of control. This season is about Mob learning to manage his growing affections for his friends, and simultaneously suppressing the CLAW threat. This one is worth watching for the beautiful animation alone in its action scenes, but also great for a laugh or two as Mob is finding his way through crushes and the like in that awkward time we call being a teenager.

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Daily Deals: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Gaming PC for $899.99

Welcome to IGN’s Daily Deals, your source for the best deals on the stuff you actually want to buy. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

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skytechpcSkyTech ArchAngel Elite AMD Ryzen 2600 6-Core GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Gaming Desktop with 8GB RAM and 500GB SSD for $899.99

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Future Man Star Is an ‘Overwatch Addict’

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Future Man Season 1 and some Season 2 plot details. You can check out our spoiler-free review right here.

Future Man, aka Josh, will be back in action on Hulu on Friday, January 11, with 13 all-new episodes for you to binge.

“Season two picks up in 2162, and Josh, Wolf, and Tiger learn that their season one mission to stop the cure from getting out didn’t work. In this timeline, Stu Camillo is now in power, having created the cure, and launched a plan to relocate humanity to Mars. A shadowy organization called the Pointed Circle seeks to recruit Josh to take Stu down – but are they the good guys, or is Stu? As Wolf quickly acclimates to the strange customs of this time, Tiger struggles with her Biotic identity and searches for an escape. Josh unites the team in an epic plan to save the world, but their time-traveling catches up to them, and they must reckon with their choices and what to do next,” according to a synopsis from Hulu.

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Dragon’s Dogma on Switch Won’t Require a Nintendo Online Account

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, the action RPG that is being ported to Nintendo Switch this April, will not require a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership to use its online features.

New information on the port can be found on its Amazon page (via Nintendo Life) including that its “Pawn” system will be present, that all of its previously released extra content will be included, and that its user interface has been adapted to improve screen visibility for the system.

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Red Dead Redemption 2’s PS4 Exclusives Now Available On Xbox One

A set of PS4-exclusive items for the Red Dead Online beta in Red Dead Redemption 2 are no longer exclusive. As part of a larger update, Rockstar unlocked the items for Xbox One players to enjoy.

In a note tucked away at the end of an update about larger changes, Rockstar mentioned that Xbox One players now have access to the Red Chestnut Arabian Horse, Alligator Skin Ranch Cutter Saddle, and the High Roller Double-Action Revolver. Those were announced with a 30 day exclusivity window on PS4, which has now expired. This is regular content available to everyone, rather than special edition content.

This came alongside an update that added the new battle royale mode Gun Rush. In it, you’ll have to grab weapons and ammo fast while the play area shrinks, until there’s only one player remaining. It’s available for up to 32 players, and can be played as free-for-all or in a team.

Rockstar also announced that RDO will remain in beta for a few more months, as the developer adds more features and makes changes to “stabilize and refine” the experience. Some of those include daily missions and new story challenges, but most of the quality-of-life changes are coming to help police player interactions. The Law and Bounty system will be changed to “reduce the enticements for griefing” and the map will show players at shorter distances so you can’t be tracked from afar. Plus it will somehow mark more aggressive players so you know who not to mess with.

Our initial impressions of Red Dead Online were less than glowing, ultimately concluding that it just didn’t have enough to do. Rockstar did signal that this beta would be similar to Grand Theft Auto Online, though, and has continued iterating on that game for years. The roadmap ahead shows a lot on the horizon, so we can probably expect similar continued development.

This Year’s Oscars Hoping To Assemble Marvel Stars For Show–Report

Earlier this week, it was reported that this year’s 91st Academy Awards will not have a host, following the exit of Kevin Hart in December. Producers will reportedly enlist the help of various A-list stars to introduce the segments across the night, and a new report states that these might include big-name stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy are looking to use as many MCU actors as possible for an Avengers reunion on the night. At the 2013 awards, the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, and Samuel L Jackson appeared on stage together. THR states that Academy wants to include even more Marvel stars this time, which will tie in with the upcoming release of Avengers: Endgame.

In addition, the Oscars is broadcast by ABC, which, like Marvel Studios, is owned by Disney. The Academy has not commented on this story, but THR sources states that “specific details are still being hammered out about how the actors who play the popular characters will be incorporated.” The ceremony takes place on February 24.

Having no single host is not totally uncharted territory for the Academy Awards. 30 years ago in 1989, the show had no host, instead opting to open with an 11-minute monologue in which actor Rob Lowe sings “Proud Mary” with Snow White. The last time the Oscars featured multiple hosts was in 2011, when James Franco and Anne Hathaway shared hosting duties.

Hart backed out of the hosting gig after people discovered years-old tweets where the comedian and actor made homophobic comments. According to Hart, the Academy gave him an ultimatum: apologize or step down as host. Hart initially said he wouldn’t apologize, but he later did, saying he was sorry to the LGBTQ community for “my insensitive words from my past.”

The most recent Academy Awards ceremony was watched by the lowest viewership in history, with only 26.5 million people tuning in. In an effort to get more people to watch, the Academy announced a “Popular Film” category, but it was scrapped in the wake of a backlash from critics and audiences.

The Punisher Season 2 Official Trailer

Netflix has released the official trailer for Season 2 of Marvel’s The Punisher.

In Season 2, Jon Bernthal returns as Frank Castle, who up until now has been living a quiet life out on the road. He ends up becoming involved in an attempted murder of a young girl, played by Giorgia Whigham.

New and old enemies come into his life and he is pressured to make the decision on whether or not to fully accept himself as the Punisher.

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TWD Teaser Trailer: Meet the Whisperers’ Leaders, Alpha and Beta

The Walking Dead’s return is just around the corner, and with it comes some of the most messed up villains in the franchise’s history: The Whisperers.

IGN has an exclusive teaser trailer and poster to whet your appetite for the return of Season 9. In the teaser, the Whisperers are front and center, and we get a very clear view of their leaders: Alpha, played by Samantha Morton, and Beta, played by Sons of Anarchy’s Ryan Hurst. Check out the 30-second teaser below!

After a slow build-up to the new villains during the first half of Season 9, the Whisperers were finally revealed as a terrifying threat in The Walking Dead’s midseason finale. This new batch of baddies disguises themselves as walkers by wearing the skins of the undead, which allows them to pass among the zombies without risk of attack from the undead and makes them seem as though they are just another roaming pack.

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Red Dead Redemption 2’s New Online Update Adds Battle Royale Mode

Rockstar Games has detailed a new update for Red Dead Online, the multiplayer component of Red Dead Redemption 2, and it includes what is, for all intents and purposes, a battle royale mode. As detailed on Rockstar’s website, Gun Rush is described as a gameplay mode that will “put your survival instincts to the test.” Players are tasked with gathering weapons and ammunition while the play area shrinks.

Obviously, as the play area shrinks, participants will be pushed closer together and forced to take each other out, with one player ultimately emerging as the victorious sole survivor. Gun Rush is available for up to 32 players, and can be played in free-for-all and team variations.

The Rockstar website goes on to reveal that Red Dead Online will stay in beta form “for a few more months” as its developer has “many more new gameplay features to add across the board as well as further changes to improve, stabilize and refine the overall experience.” You can read about some of the new additions on their way to Red Dead Online here.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was awarded GameSpot’s Game of the Year for 2018. Writing about the game, senior reviews editor Kallie Plagge said, “It’s hard to shake the kind of connection you develop with Red Dead Redemption 2’s world and characters. It’s a game that can try your patience, for sure, but it simply wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t. It’s an unforgettable experience that challenges your expectations as often as it meets or exceeds them, and there’s no question that it’s our Game of the Year.”

Rockstar Games, meanwhile, seems to already be looking to the future. New job listings for unannounced titles, which the company has described as “next-generation” projects, have appeared.

Red Dead 2 Online Updates Outlined, Will Remain In Beta For Now

Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in October to much acclaim, with its multiplayer component, Red Dead Online, launching in late November. The online mode hasn’t been received quite as warmly, though Rockstar did distinguish in advance that it was only a beta. That will remain the case for the foreseeable future, although the company has outlined some of the updates and new content that are on the way.

In a blog post announcing the launch of a new battle royale-style mode called Gun Rush, Rockstar stated, “Red Dead Online will stay in beta for a few more months yet as we have many more new gameplay features to add across the board as well as further changes to improve, stabilize and refine the overall experience.”

You can read our impressions of Red Dead Online from just after its launch, but a common source of complaints is that there just isn’t enough to do. Aside from Gun Rush, more content is on the way, including new races, Showdown modes, clothing, and emotes.

Rockstar has previously urged fans to share their feedback on the beta, and its roadmap includes changes that it says are being made in response to what fans have been saying. Daily challenges are being introduced “covering every aspect of the game, from sharpshooting to evading the law.” But most of these adjustments are coming to mitigate unpleasant interactions with other players.

Law and Bounty systems are being altered to “reduce the enticements for griefing.” If you commit a crime, you’ll get a bounty; take too long to pay it off and bounty hunters from each state “will track the player forcing them to either pay up or escape.” Additionally, the Parley system can be activated more quickly, and feuds can be triggered more easily so that you can have a proper framework for fighting other players, rather than the random chaos that can ensue. And finally, the map will show players only at shorter distances, so people can’t track you down from afar. Rockstar also plans to have the map more clearly identify aggressive players.

Beyond all this, new A Land of Opportunities story missions are coming featuring both existing characters (Horley and Jessica LeClerk are mentioned by name) and new ones. Dynamic events will also be added to the world, though no specifics were shared.

It’s clear Rockstar’s plans for Red Dead Online are extensive. That should come as no surprise, given the sustained success of Grand Theft Auto V‘s GTA Online, which has been a tremendously consistent moneymaker for Rockstar and parent company Take Two since its launch in 2013.