Guessing Fall anime plots based on posters

Have you ever tried to judge a book by its cover? It’s not always easy, especially with the more esoteric illustration choices. At least for film and TV posters, there’s some context for what they’re supposed to be about. But if you want a real challenge, try guessing the plot of an anime series simply by their posters. However, it’s also a path that can lead toward madness.

SYFY WIRE’s Angélique Roché risked the wrath of the anime gods by subjecting her co-host, Jackie Jennings, to a round of “Guess the Premise” from some of this fall’s new anime series. My Hero Academia is returning for its fourth season, and it was the first poster on Jackie’s agenda. That show is such a phenomenon that even anime neophytes have heard of it. But is that enough for the uninitiated to easily grasp what it’s about simply by staring at a poster?

Beastars was also a challenge, in part because it looks like a stylized version of Disney’s Zootopia. Anthropomorphic characters aren’t a new concept in sci-fi, but would anyone have guessed that this was a high school drama with carnivores and herbivores as the main cultural divide?

Those shows were easy compared to No Guns Life, and its odd protagonist with a gun-shaped head. It’s a striking design, but it raises a lot of questions that the poster doesn’t even try to answer.

Finally, Jackie was called upon to interpret the poster for Pet, which is not “pet” in the traditional sense of companion animals. Instead, this is a show about psychics. But still less strange than No Guns Life!

Check out the whole video for Jackie’s off-the-wall guesses. Then share your own guesses in the comment section below!