Time continues to march onward and Spring is upon us. The Winter Season was honestly solid and I’ll miss parts of it. But there is a lot to look forward to with Spring with a few anticipated sequels to go along with some intriguing adaptations. It also continues the trend of remaking old series which I can only hope will work out. That trend is honestly making me doubt how effective it is, but there’s always a chance the next one will be great. I wouldn’t say this looks to be the most packed Spring season of the past few years, but it isn’t thin one either.

I’ve got to give respect to the great shows we got to watch this winter. Yuru Camp remained an enjoyably comfortable show that made me enjoy a hobby that I don’t engage in. Sometimes you just need to relax with a show that isn’t filled with drama and this show worked great for that. The Cells at Work double act were both good shows and at times made me want to apologize to my own body for any unhealthy habits. I wasn’t sure if both these shows could coexist successfully, but I’d say they did a fine job of it. I’m relieved that there will be some good carryover such as with Kumo desu ga.

As always the preview will be referring to information listed on LiveChart and AniChart. This certainly won’t be a comprehensive preview of what is coming up. It will just be a list of the shows I’m interested in. As always everyone can feel free to talk about the shows they are hyped about even if I don’t mention them here. And there will definitely be shows I don’t know that much about their source material so any discussion on what can be expected there (minus spoilers) sounds good to me.

Series of High Interest

These are the shows I’m the most hyped to see. Odds are that is either because I’m familiar enough with a previous season/source material or just because the previews and summaries look really good. If these don’t turn out to be good that will be rather disappointing.

There’s no doubt that Season 4 wasn’t the best season of the series in my view. Even with that in mind though, I’m still excited to see this next season. The universe and story for Boku no Hero has continued to grow over time. It is a great world with a huge cast of characters to enjoy. The tension that exists with the future of All Might and the process of Deku growing into a great hero will make this season good regardless. I do hope though that they improve on season 4. It wasn’t a bad season, but I think this franchise can be a lot better.

This series did leave quite the first impression when those first few episodes of season 1 aired. In some ways I regretted leaving it be and not covering the whole thing. In terms of isekai protagonists I’d probably have Diablo up there on the likability chart. A very powerful protagonist, but the story manages to avoid having him be impossibly broken. Plus while he himself is pretty powerful those around him aren’t always going to avoid being in danger which ups the tension. There’s no doubt this show doesn’t hold back much on the fanservice. But regardless of that I’m looking forward to season 2.

Honestly most of my excitement here comes from the solid job done by Trigger with Gridman. That show wasn’t perfect, but it did have some really nice mecha vs kaiju action. Something you just don’t see that much anymore. The trailers look good and I have no doubt that visually this show will deliver. How will the story turn out? I’m not sure, but I think if it sticks to the same quality level we saw with Gridman that it will at least be good. It may not always be straight forward, but I think it will make sense.

Part of me does think over to the ‘age gap relationship’ I saw in After the Rain. But obviously not the same scenario. Part of me is interested in seeing how this will play out. Two people that are not necessarily broken, but suffering in their own way. I can appreciate the angle of them leaning on each other in a way as they deal with those issues. So long as the girl keeps getting shot down and nothing becomes illegal it could be an enjoyable show. If nothing else the potential emotional story for both these characters could make it a strong series.

Series of Moderate Interest

Now to the shows I’m somewhat excited for. While not as excited about these as the category above, I’m still pretty interested in watching these. Some have intriguing premises that if done right could make for great shows. While some have source materials that I’m sort of familiar with, but not extremely interested in. Some of these could easily turn into my favorites. That uncertainty factor can turn into a positive surprise.

I have no doubt this show will get as much ‘controversy’ as Uzaki did. Honestly the preview had me less focused on the teasing and borderline harassment of the senpai in this story than the potential of the main girl going crazy. She has some frightening expressions. If she wants to give this guy nightmares then I think her mission will be accomplished. Much like with Uzaki the whole thing is going to ride on how likable this girl is. Will she be too much or just fun enough to make it work? It’s lower on my hype list just because I’m not sure from the trailers which it will be. But I hope it works out.

There is no doubt that Fruits Basket is a classic in general and that the remake has done a good job. So it will be nice to see the final arc of this story play out. There was plenty of emotional scenes before this final season and I don’t see it getting any less emotional as we move towards the end. Tooru’s journey isn’t one that I’m intensely invested in, but I can appreciate how well it has been handled. There’s little chance I’d cover this season, but I did want to give it some credit as we move towards the Spring season.

It is another series getting the remake treatment. I only vaguely remember Shaman King from the dub that was on TV years ago. The basic idea of the show still stuck with me and it will be fun to jump back into this. It has all the qualities it should need to be good. You have ghosts, action, and another old franchise coming back for one more run. Hopefully for fans of the original this show doesn’t disappoint. Nothing wrong with remaking old series decades after the original aired. But it needs to be good enough to warrant that.

The basis for this isekai series is kind of fun to think about. I could totally get behind ending up in this fantasy world and just hiding out while killing slimes. All the more so with the power to live for centuries. That’s what I call playing it safe. I don’t expect this show to be that epic or remotely serious. But if it manages to be good fun then that will be enough for me. It is the kind of show that will either be pretty fun or I’ll just lose track of it after a couple weeks. The premise sounds good, but it is up to the show itself to deliver.

And here is the series that Fairy Tail’s creator ‘Hiro Mashima’ started up after he finished (or just lost interest) in Fairy Tail. I don’t want to throw that many shots though, so will just focus on this one. Visually you can probably tell it is coming from the same creator without anything being told. Since the main characters look near identical to the main characters from that series. Thankfully the main character’s hair color differs from Natsu so that might be easier to ignore. It is a new sci-fi and fantasy mixture type of series. And we certainly could use more science fiction in anime. Hopefully it hits the ground running. While I’m not sure how well this franchise will end, the start will hopefully be good enough to grab my attention.

I can certainly get behind a series with the title proclaiming victory for the childhood friend. Here’s hoping the show actually sticks to that and isn’t just playing with the audience. There’s nothing wrong with a potential love triangle (we’ll see if it goes down the harem path) and some romantic comedy hijinks. We’ll have to see where the story goes though. It sounds from the premise that the main girl will start dating the main character so he can get some revenge, but it probably isn’t going to be that simple. The title caught my attention first and the trailers seemed strong enough to make me want to check this out.

Kind of funny that we get two series touching on a potential ‘age gap’ romance in the same series. Of course this isn’t anywhere close to the other show of this season in terms of tone. This looks to be far more of a pure comedy. The main guy being the one going after the girl is really weird and it makes total sense why this girl is creeped out. That he takes her rejection as a way of showing love again…could get a bit awkward if they weren’t going fully comedic with all this. You can imagine how this show will play out. Plus honestly the trailer had me laughing a bit. If they handle this well then I’ll have a good time.

Nothing wrong with throwing a reverse harem out there every now and then. At least that’s what I’m expecting from both the summary and the breakdown of the main cast for this show. I do feel for this person since she gets isekai’d without warning and then is told that she’s totally not needed. Wow…thanks a lot powers that be. It’ll be interesting to see how her potion business goes. Will things get serious or will the other person that was summoned run into trouble? No idea, but the premise seemed good enough to check this out.

This show was a real mystery for a while until they finally released both a preview and a summary. This kind of sci-fi time-traveling story could either work really well or completely fall flat. At the very least the production values appear to be rather high. And I like the idea of Vivy being this first AI who only had a peaceful purpose having to fight her own kind in order to try and prevent a war. Of course I can’t wait to find out why she was chosen in particular for this. I wouldn’t think her initial skillset would be ideal for this job. The premise is intriguing and it looks good. So I’ll definitely at least check out the first episodes.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that spring is going to have plenty of action in it. The return of Boku no Hero, Isekai Maou, Shaman King, and new series like Edens Zero covers that just on their own. Now for me that’s a nice thing since I like action in my anime. But thankfully the season isn’t simply action so people can have more options to enjoy what they prefer.

I also find it unusual in that we are getting at least two series with potential age gap relationships. Of course the tone between them are pretty different, but I just found that ironic. Not quite as interesting as two Cells at Work series airing on the same day in the same season, but not that far off. Hopefully those shows turn out well. Of course if we’re talking dramatic/romantic series that I expect much more from then Fruits Basket should handle things nicely on that front. The final season to a good remake should deliver all the feels we’ll need this season.

This season has a few shows I’m really excited to see and a lot of shows that I just don’t know what to expect from them. In that sense it is a very standard season. I hope that Boku no Hero is more season 3 in terms of overall quality instead of season 4. And hopefully, SSSS.DYNAZENON delivers all the hype I think it will bring. My plans for the Spring Season aren’t entirely locked in yet. However, I’d say the odds are good that Boku no Hero will be covered and then I’ll see how it goes from there. Hopefully this season is full of excitement for people and I’d love to hear about what shows people are looking forward to.