It has felt like a long winter and I’m excited to note that the Spring Anime Season is almost upon us. Most know that Spring and Fall are usually the most hyped seasons of the year. This one is looking pretty good at first glance. I’m still going to miss the winter shows themselves. I was really surprised by how good the shows I’ve been covering ended up being. But I also will give credit to Mononogatari and Boku no Hero Academia for surprising me in good ways. I’ve been enjoying those shows so much that I didn’t think about what was coming up for Spring until recently.

The shows I hoped the most for last season have mostly turned out well. Nagatoro S2 has been reliably fun and Kubo-san (when airing) has been extremely cute. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Hirogaru Sky! Precure after all. Some of the middle tier and lower didn’t quite land for me and did fall off over time. But it’s hard to avoid that. Not every show will work for every person. But I’m certainly hoping that overall Spring will be the stronger season. It certainly has a lot of shows airing.

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. Everyone can feel free to talk about the shows they are hyped about in the comments, even if I don’t mention them here. There will 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 excited about. Odds are that’s because I’m familiar enough with a previous season/source material. But I may just have gotten excited by the summary or trailer. If these don’t turn out to be good that will be rather disappointing.

It’s been a while since I watched anything related to Konosuba. So, I’m excited to jump back into things with a show that looks to focus entirely on Megumin. Sometimes a prequel can be a bit weak since they can’t learn or do anything that would conflict with the stories to be told later. But in a sense that has zero issues here. Megumin only has one spell! The only difference is that she’d have less skill points put into explosion magic in this prequel show. But I really doubt that will have any visual impact on the power of her explosions. So really…this is kind of perfect. 

Megumin is one of my favourite characters in the series. So in that sense I think this show will be fun. Can just focus on her wacky antics, YunYun, and get to see her family some more. The trailers have looked, and it should be nice to dive into Megumin’s life before getting sucked into the crazy adventures of mainline Konosuba.

I didn’t pay that much attention to the first season when it aired. The manga didn’t grab me right away and it was way too soon after Fairy Tail to get into a new Mashima series. But I did basically binge the show a few months later and really had a good time. It took me a while to get into it honestly. But once I got past a certain point, it just got rolling on its own. 

So it is nice to have this second coming out soon. It’s been a while since I binge watched the show so it will be refreshing to see Shiki and his crew again. The cast has a lot of good characters and there were some memorable fights. The whole show has a strange element to it with the role time itself plays in it. No idea how good this season will be, but I could see the journey being rather emotional.

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.

Doctor Stone is a show that certainly knows what it wants to do. The crazy science that Senku pulls out against various challenges continued to amuse me through the first couple seasons. I’m still engaged with the mystery of how/why humanity was turned to stone in the first place. Honestly it feels like a real threat to travel the globe in a world where the overall tech level has plummeted. I could see this journey being a far greater threat than the war they fought previously. This probably won’t be one of my top shows of the season. But it is established enough that I’m comfortable saying that I’ll really enjoy it.

This is another show that seems safe to enjoy. It’s a cute story about a young couple just…being that. They get married before they really get started. They have all the excuses to spend time together with all the process of really falling in love. And there was plenty of growth and development in the first season. So, this show should be just a safe and cute show. Tsukasa is an absolute treasure and her alone is a reason that I’ll enjoy season 2. At the very least this show shouldn’t be frustrating. They are literally married. No need to wait for a confession here!

Spring seems set to deliver a lot of cute romances. It looks set to tackle an interesting dilemma. Insomnia is certainly something that impacts a lot of people and I can imagine it would be a serious problem for those trying to follow a strict schedule and go to school. The key thing will be how likeable the lead characters are. They seem perfectly fine from the trailer, but the show itself will tell the story. It looks cute and honestly that might be enough.

It’s just not a new anime season without an isekai. Now I’m sure some would lament that statement, but it is what it is. At least this concept sounds fun. The main character went to another world, legitimately worked themselves up to a crazy level, yet seemingly can go back and forth to his old world. It’s not that common for isekai stories to bring the main character back to Earth after they leave. So, it’ll be interesting to see what exactly this guy gets up to. I expect some harem shenanigans between girls of both worlds. But beyond that the show is somewhat in the dark for me. Usually when a protagonist becomes OP it’s just in the fantasy world. So if nothing else I’m curious what he’ll use that OP power for in his old world. 

The studio has done some good work over the past couple of years. Cop Craft was pretty fun and I enjoyed Kumo desu ga. Fingers crossed that they could do a good job here.

The story told in the trailers really has my attention here. It feels like a story of two different sets of characters. You have the ones inside “heaven” that are starting to have doubts about their seemingly idealistic situation. Natural questions are starting to bubble up about the world “outside” and there could be interesting drama there depending on how nefarious the people running that facility are. But there is also the story of the characters outside of heaven. I presume their goal is to reach that facility and get inside. But whether that will work out remains to be seen. 

All that has me stumped is how and when these two stories will interconnect. It doesn’t seem like the two sets of characters would know of each other until they could have any chance to meet. How will it balance the battle for survival outside and the mystery inside?

The setup for this one just seems fun. You have a main character seemingly sacrificed for a god…but they survived. Then they stumble into another society and nearly get killed trying to stop execution/sacrifices. And then there is…a god! This god is also apparently a loli…because of course! But what got me is that this god…seems scary when mad. So anyone that is threatening the main character may be in store for a very bad time. I’ll be curious to see how the story unfolds. It appears the main character will try to change that messed up society using the actual god that is on his side. But if nothing else I’m curious to see how this goes. It could be a lot of fun.

Series of Lower Interest

These are the shows I’m still interested in, but it’s a lot weaker than the tiers above. Either the previous seasons were mixed bags for me or I just don’t have enough to work. They still get mentioned because I still think the potential is there to really surprise me. Which is more than the shows I’m not going to mention at all.

This has nice potential in terms of an action series. You have a badass ninja that just wants to see his wife again going through a hellish situation for that purpose. The threat level could be high since other death row inmates are bound to be capable in their own ways. Nothing like chasing a mythical item for the sake of survival and freedom. At the very least I enjoyed the trailer and the summary seems interesting.

We’re talking about MAPPA also. They know how to deliver action. And the trailers seem to reflect that we’ll have plenty of good fights to enjoy.

This show has one wild premise that seems worth at least checking out. The man is a doctor that gets involved in helping this idol secretly give birth to protect her career. That alone is interesting, but it gets crazy with him getting killed and reincarnated…as the child he presumably helped deliver. Talk about an encounter that reshapes an entire life. Not only did he die in connection with meeting this girl but he ends up getting raised by her and playing a part in her living this double life. No idea if this is going to be good. But the premise feels like it is a must see.

It feels like this season is all about having fun with wild concepts. In some ways this makes me think of Black Clover (with better voice acting). Obviously that comparison doesn’t last with the powerset that main character ends up getting. But it is what came to mind immediately. I like the idea of this guy trying to overcome challenges in a magical setting purely through physical ability. Of course I’m sure he’ll have such amazing physical talents that it will be practically magical in itself. Seems like it could be a good action comedy.

I’ll admit this series didn’t necessarily grab me in the same way it did for others. However, I still think it was a strong series. So, I’m curious to see how things are going to play out in season 2. The tone and atmosphere with this franchise tends to stand out. Safe to presume that Chise will get into extreme situations while seeking personal growth. I’m sure this show will have an impact and hopefully it lives up to the expectations of the fans. 

This seems like a wholesome shoujo series. It’ll be interesting to see how the male love interest turns out. It seems safe to presume that Akane will be a nice protagonist. Easy enough to feel for the girl who is trying to rebound after getting dumped in the past. Hopefully Akito provides enough reason for Akane to fall for him and keep pursuing him. The trailer was pretty solid, and this could be a cute romcom. Hopefully it turns out well.

The steady stream of romance just keeps on coming this season. It might be repetitive to say this sounds like a cute romance, but it does. Potentially it is a nice story. You have a kid going dark in his mind and getting saved from that via falling for this nice girl. I’m sure plenty of people have had dark thoughts about annoying people around them so that’s relatable. Hopefully the romance side of it will be enjoyable. If nothing else it should be nice seeing this guy face off against his darker traits while steadily changing due to his growing feelings.

No point stopping the romcoms section of this preview! This one seems particularly fun since the main characters appear likeable. Plus, it’s easy to root for the protagonist. He’s doing his best to take care of his siblings and is struggling for their sake. It’s one thing to have solid characters, but if their actions are fueled by something easy to support then that’s a great positive. Not sure how it will measure up against all the other romances this season, but hopefully it does well.

This show might be in a higher tier if I was really into this genre. But it’s too interesting not to at least mention here. Not a romcom though, that’s for sure! It does though have a plot that I can get behind. You have a father that crosses the line for the sake of protecting his daughter and things continue to build up as he keeps trying to protect his family. It’s not some superpowered action series. But that will just make everything so much more tense. The struggle to keep secrets and stopping the truth from coming out should be intense. The struggle of parents to protect their kid should make this a show worth checking out.

Gundam is a franchise that I’ve enjoyed for a long time. And I plan on watching season 2 of Suisei no Majo. But it’s not necessarily one of my top Gundam series either. So far it still looks to just be 2 seasons which is going to be half the length of a regular mainline Gundam show. And the school focus just never quite grabbed me all that hard. But the previous season ended on some shocking notes. So, if nothing else this show should avoid being boring and should have a strong first episode. Fingers crossed that they’ve planned things out well and can tell a compelling story here.

In terms of isekai stories, this one does have my attention from the summary alone. It just feels as if this character has been through a lot. I can’t imagine going on some major adventure, getting caught in a trap, and being sent back home to live a whole life again from a baby onward. Will the concept of him being sent on a second isekai adventure work well? It alone will be interesting to see how his approach changes. But in general, I’m just curious about his overall mindset. He’ll have been through a lot by the time he starts on this second isekai adventure. The concept feels as if it could be fun and that alone will at least get me to check this out. 

As someone that did play music in highschool I’m always going to give a chance to a show like this. The setup seems stable. You have a talented guy that abandoned his craft only to get drawn back into it thanks to a fateful encounter. The key will be the supporting cast and how well they honestly handle the music. You just can’t do this kind of show and drop the ball on that music. A bit of music, some drama, and potentially more romance? Will keep an eye on this one.

It never hurts to have one or two harems in a new season. Feels like a familiar premise. You have the grandson coming home for the first time in forever due to a death in the family and meeting all these girls that have basically moved in while he’s been gone. Trying to step back into the family business while dealing with various complications that come from having all these cute girls around. The key will naturally be on the cast. Will the girls be a lot of fun? No idea but at least there seems to be a lot of energy to this show. The trailer sold it well.

This one could be hit or miss series. The big thing will be the King. I mean presumably this guy murdered a lot of girls before the main character arrived on the scene. There is logic in terms of trying to make a show of force to keep things from spiraling into war. But…it’s still slaughtering innocent girls for the sake of making a show of force. That’s going to be an issue. I can understand him making an exception for the main girl Sariphi. Easy to fall for a girl voiced by Kana Hanazawa after all. But how good will the story itself be? I can’t put it into a higher tier, but I am curious to check this out.

It seems like this will be just a good and silly comedy. Well, it will be as funny as the idea of humanity being saved purely thanks to cat cafes can be. If I can ignore the fact that this main character would slaughter billions without having met a cat on Earth then I should have a great time with it. The trailer had a lot of positive energy and did seem funny. It doesn’t seem likely that I’ll really dive into this show, but I will certainly watch a few episodes.

Feels as if it has been forever since I watched any Idolmaster shows. And honestly it really has been. I think the last one was Cinderella girls and I saw that back in 2015. So it will be nice to just jump back into this kind of show again. I enjoyed that previous show and I hope the same will be the case here. It looks as if this one will focus entirely on loli idols. I’m not sure if they will all be drawn from Idolmaster shows that I’ve seen. Seems likely that a lot of new faces will debut in this show.  

The challenge will just be juggling so many characters and letting as many shine as possible. I also wonder how much drama this one will have since the main cast should be young. If the music is good and the characters are fun though, I’ll keep an eye on this.

 

Conclusion

I won’t say that the Spring season has a ton of shows that I’m jumping up and down in anticipation of seeing. There are only a couple shows in my most excited tier after all. But at the same time I will say that seeing more Megumin leaves me smiling and the same goes for Edens Zero. I wasn’t with people in terms of actively watching and talking about the show when it aired originally. But this time I should be much more active. There’s just something to be said about the comfort of the familiar. Nothing wrong with looking forward to shows precisely because you know what to expect. 

This also looks like a romantic season. The number of shows that could be considered romcoms in some ways feels a lot higher than previous seasons. People should be able to basically pick their poison this time around. I hope that some of them surprise me and challenge for my top show of the season.  

I’ll also say that shows like [Oshi no Ko] remind me why I love anime. You can have such ridiculous concepts with anime that few other types of shows would even dare touch. The season only has a light sprinkling of shows that aren’t either Isekai or romcoms. But there a few that should be engaging. Dramatic tension should be high with My Home Hero and mecha fans are doing ok with another cour of Gundam. I honestly hope that Gundam has a much stronger second half. We don’t get that many good mechas each year, so I’ll try to enjoy it. Here’s hoping that the Spring season just has so many positive surprises that it’s hard to watch them all! If others have shows they are particularly hyped for then I’d certainly enjoy hearing about them. Hopefully by the time the Spring shows start airing…the snow will have melted.