Kara Dennison
June 23, 2024 
The newest season of Doctor Who is at an end, and we’ve gotten as many answers as we have new questions. Who is Mrs. Flood? What will the next companion be like? Were there three Sutekhs in Day of the Doctor? Only a couple of these questions will be answered… but we’ll have to wait for Christmas for the next phase of the story. In the meantime, we’re staying busy this summer by theorizing, looking back, and letting this season’s big reveals inspire our watching for a bit.
To while away the next few months, here’s an anime watchlist inspired by the long running sci-fi series’s Pantheon of Discord: a relatively new invention bringing baddies old and new into a more organized array. Many more are mentioned, and more still are likely to join, but check out this trio of anime to (sort of) relive Ncuti Gatwa’s first few episodes:
Gods’ Games We Play
There is the Toymaker, the god of games.
Brought back in last year’s Doctor Who special “The Giggle,” the Toymaker is a long-standing, highly powerful baddie in the series. But it’s been a long time since he’s been on our screens. Though he’s volatile, vengeful, and chaotic, there’s one rule he’ll always abide by: the rule of fair play. And we can think of one extremely recent show with similarly game-obsessed deities: Gods’ Games We Play.
Rather than challenging players one-on-one, the gods of this series challenge groups of specially-powered humans to twists on classic games—board, card, playground, you name it. While the games aren’t deadly, they do have hidden rules. And uncovering those rules is just as much a part of the games as actually winning them. Fortunately, expert player Fay and former god Leshea form a powerful duo.
ClassicaLoid
There is Maestro, the god of music.
Debuting in the Doctor Who episode “The Devil’s Chord,” Maestro stripped the music from 1963 out of a desire to be the universe’s only musical act. Fortunately for the stars of ClassicaLoid, the god-tier composers who manifest in our world seem to be on our side. At least, most of them.
Normal kids Kanae and Sosuke find themselves in the company of two strange men claiming to be Mozart and Beethoven, as well as being acquaintances of Kanae’s father. They, and other people claiming to be resurrected composers, can wield a strange power called Musik. And while most of these ClassicaLoids seem to be good sorts, Bach and Wagner take turns as series antagonists.
Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God
The mother and father and other of them all.
Besides being what a lot of people probably thought at the end of Doctor Who episode “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God is an original net anime based on popular character designs by yuka. The series follows the misadventures of Egyptian deities, rendered as roly-poly caricatures of themselves. They’re a bit philosophical, a bit silly, and a bit adorable.
And yes, Set (the inspiration for “Pyramids of Mars” baddie Sutekh) is amongst them. While he is still the god of destruction, this version of Set is far less terrifying. His worst behavior is generally playing pranks on his rival Horus.
For more god-tier reminiscing, join us in looking back at Magia Record.
