Spring sure doesn’t feel like it’s here yet. But the shows are just around the corner! While I’m probably not going to miss winter as a season very much, I will be missing the shows quite a bit. This season absolutely dominated when it came to the top end series! Medalist? Frieren? Kaya-chan? This season had a lot of really good shows in a variety of genres. It wasn’t a one-note season.

The downside is that a few of my top shows of the season were extremely short. That was complicated by the fact that they mostly started late. So I wasn’t remotely locked into anything until later on. This season hopefully will be different. I rarely worry about episode counts since “usually” they are 12 or 13 episodes. But after this past season I am a bit on edge since it’s still unclear how many episodes most of these shows are going to have.

As usual I’ll be using both AniList and LiveChart to get an idea about what shows are coming and generally when they’ll actually start. This isn’t going to have every show since…that’s more than I can manage to comment on. But it is just laying out what shows have caught my attention in some way or another. I would love to hear what has people excited from this season since I know many hyped shows won’t be on my personal watch list.

Series of Highest 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.

This had a really good first season. It was a romance that moved fast enough to work but not too quickly. Mahiru absolutely deserves to be called an angel, even though there’s a lot going on with her and she deserves personal happiness. Amane is a good guy and I totally get why these two started to fall for each other. The banter is good and they really know how to show the other person that they care. project No.9 will do a great job with this, no question. It’ll be one of if not the romance of the season.

This one is definitely carried nicely by the fact that the source is from the creator of Full Metal Alchemist. They even have bones doing the animation so it really feels like Full Metal Alchemist in a new setting/story. The trailer is fantastic, everyone looks good, and clearly the animation will land. Not sure whether I’ll love the story since that requires seeing how it plays out! But I’m definitely excited to see this one. This is one I hope completely shocks me in how good it really is.

This one is a pretty nostalgic pick. I don’t remember when I read the manga, but it was a long while back. It’ll be interesting to see how well the tension and the mind games play out in animated form. Madhouse is good at what they do, but in theory they won’t have to go too crazy with this. The key will be the main characters. Not too often that a manga I read a long time ago actually gets an adaptation, but it’ll be fun to get into this. I will be absolutely keeping an eye on this show. Mind games, trickery, and character development. This should be a really good show if they get it right.

Kind of wild to get this show back! Glad we’re getting plenty of great sports anime in 2026. Considering it’s been 6 years since the last season I didn’t even expect to get more of this show! But you can bet I’ll be watching to see how Eijun and company continue to battle with their peers and attempt to rise to the top. Baseball is a good show for anime since you can just have a big cast divided into specific roles. And it manages that cast pretty darn well honestly. Let’s get hyped up! Whether I’ll cover it or not remains to be seen. But I do hope those that have been waiting for this season can enjoy it.

Series of Moderate Interest

These are 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.

Something about this one has me instinctively feeling like it will be really good. You have a great female lead voiced by Manaka Iwami, a good looking trailer, and a concept that seems to have potential. Two people that get closer due to shared interests, they get closer and closer…and you’ve got a potentially good romance coming. There’s not a lot there to be sure in terms of the setting, summary, etc. But it gives a good first impression and that’s enough to get this higher on my personal list.

The first season was solid and I did quite enjoy where things went. Another action packed spy family series. But this one has the fun element of the leads being officially married and steadily building up their relationship. It’s not as serious on the relationship side since action and entertainment comes first. But…I still think the bond between Mutsumi and Taiyo is a good one and worth watching. The first season ended on a pretty good and conclusive note. So wherever things go in season 2 will be pretty fresh I would presume. Let’s see what Silver Link has up their sleeves here.

Ok, this might be stupidly fun! I kind of love it based on premise and then even more when seeing the trailer. A demon that is there to basically take this guy out and hasn’t experienced a true romance yet…falls hard, fast, and is swept up in a romcom. The guy seems like a blast since he’s 100% in for this! It’s cute since he’s saving his life, she’s getting a first love, and everyone around them gets to enjoy the show. And since her motivation was to devour his soul, there’s no problem in her getting swung around emotionally from all of this.

Happy to have this show back honestly. I totally get this girl getting stressed over the memories of what her body is capable of. She knows the atrocities committed by Pride and is eaten by the guilt of things she didn’t actually do. It’s a good setup honestly. It’s a classic “reincarnated as a villainess” story that we’ve seen done in many shows the past few years. But Pride is engaging as a character and a badass in her own right. I enjoy seeing her not only change her own life for the better but the love interests of her sister that now are her love interests! Honestly I’m curious if Tiara will be left with any love interests for herself…but who knows. Either way it’ll be a solid and enjoyable show.

Series of Minor 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 seems like an interesting show. I really don’t have much knowledge of it out side of the trailers which seemed solid. I’m up for a nice story about a girl learning magic and overcoming a limitation she thought was absolute. Seems like a solid idea. Just a fun fantasy story with this girl learning magic, interacting with other people learning magic, and that’s about all I can gauge about where this story is going! Not enough for it to be really high on my anticipation list. But more than enough to get excited about how this will end up.

Well I’m glad to have this show back. I didn’t actually realize it had a sequel coming honestly. The first season was solid. It wasn’t amazing and I wasn’t falling over myself in enjoying it. But it was a good show that was kind of a more action packed Harry Potter. It was kind of funny how it tried to be a sort of harem show, but obviously there’s nothing that will ever happen with any of the teased ships. Will is absurdly dedicated to Elfaria. The only question is whether he’ll actually get to see her in this season or not. The action will be fine, the characters will be decent, and that’s enough. Not my most hyped show, but it’s ok.

There’s a reason this one is in the last category. Not sure what we’ll get here. I know a lot of people really hated the first season. I do kind of get that. But the animation didn’t bother me enough to be that upset with it. But I can imagine how attachment to the story and just seeing details differently could get people enraged. But I am curious to see where the story goes. The concept isn’t bad with this former king from a harsh/bloody time getting a chance to try a second time at living. His relationships with his family and potential love interests has me curious about it. Might be good, might be bad. But I’ll at least check it out.

I feel like this one has been delayed at least once so this is mostly me just repeating myself. But the concept with this show is fine. Serafina is a warrior from a different culture, she loses a battle, captured, and basically signed up to marry the King that defeated her. Lot you can do there and plenty of ways that relationship can be nicely developed. They…just have to do it properly. The direction this could go (learning the other side is pretty nice and getting attached to them) is pretty easy to see, but no reason that it can’t be good! Hopefully the wait has been worth it.

This could be really good or just goofy, but I’ll check it out! You have a former human in the form of a cat trying desperately to teach a goofball girl that has serious issues with magical control. I do like Spica from what I’ve seen of her though. Her abilities might be a bit messy and needing the teaching she’s getting, but her heart is absolutely in the right place! Whether I’ll love the show or not is unclear, but it’s got potential to be solid.

This show could either be perfect or one I immediately give up on! It’s got the potential to go to either extreme. The idea is good. You have a main character wanting to protect his sister from having to basically have a kid to continue a bloodline by himself trying to find a bride. But then you bring in his partner in this endeavor, a great marriage swindler. This could be pretty fun. Bones obviously is a studio that can do some incredible work. Even if they have multiple shows going this season, I’m sure the visual quality will be there! The potential brides seem to be entertaining as well. Though who knows if they won’t just go the classic route of having the leads just fall for each other.

Will this be a good kind of replacement for Kaguya-sama? God I hope so. I’m still a bit bitter about that adaptation abandoning the whole story to jump around and get to the ending. But this seems on paper to be a good show to fill that void. The nice twist on it is that they are childhood friends and they got into this game without being able to get out of it! Neither wants to lose, but they do want the game to end. Guess we’ll see how far this goes and if they’ll just stick to that premise the whole way through! Could be absolutely wild if they do!

It’s funny how this villainess thing either goes to the most serious extreme like with Pride or this way where it’s mostly played as a joke. For whatever reason this girl really wants to be a villainess and she’s all in. But she’s not nearly as good at it as the game version so she’s actually adorable. So the Prince she intends to go at because he’s a love interest of the heroine will likely fall head over heels for her and all her dumb nonsense. The girl is cute, the visuals are ok, and I could have a good time with this concept.

I honestly like the whole “going back and trying again” storyline. Whether it’s a fantasy story or just…someone reliving their teen years. That’s a story that will appeal more or less depending on the individual I suppose. But I like the idea of him getting a second try and a chance to appreciate things he missed out on and failed to grasp the first time around. Not sure based on the trailer if it will be great. But it’s an idea that could very well be good.

Our cute girls doing cute things show of the season? You bet it is! Why not having girls working at a manga cafe? It could be good. The girls are cute and the trailer at least is full of energy. There’s not much to say just from the summary or trailer though. It really is a show that will land or be a miss. But I’ve let a few of these shows slip past me and regret it later. So I’ll at least give it a chance. Good and enjoyable character can truly make any setting shine.

Detectives sure get killed a lot in anime! At least it seems to be like case where he can rewind or go back in time to before he died. Wacky times for him getting killed and then having to try and figure out why and how it happened. Admittedly I’m not sure if it’s a time rewind or if he’s just immortal. The summary isn’t locked in on that front. But at the very least his assistant is cute and it could be a fun sort of story where he needs to get to the bottom of this case to prevent his own death and presumably the deaths of others.

I’m always down for magical girls that sing! The concept seems a bit hilarious too. Both these girls happen to gain similar powers at the same time, but no one can know their true identity. Including each other! Plus of course they were old friends that have drifted apart. Not sure if there will be any sort of action or if it’s just these girls using their transformations to take on the idol industry. But let’s see where this goes. Bring it on, Studio Pierrot!

Conclusion

Spring is generally a very strong season. If we count the shows that I’m not following for various reasons it’s a strong season. But for me this isn’t the most awe inspiring season. Winter definitely has it beat in terms of pure quality. But there is plenty that I’m excited for. It’s good to have shows back like Ace of the Diamond (which is a very long awaited sequel) or just a more recent S2 like with The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. This isn’t a season without any anticipated sequels for me.

There’s still a decent mix here. We have romances and sports series like I mentioned above. But there’s also some psychological drama like with Liar Game or just pure action which we’re getting plenty of this season. And of course…there’s plenty of “reincarnated as a villainess” since that is just a thing that’s gotten hot the past few years. One of them I’m sure will be good though.

It’s tough for me to call this an incredible season. It might be for some, but it’s not quite there for me. But I don’t think there are many bad seasons when it comes to anime. When you get dozens of new shows starting up…some are going to work for you. Here’s hoping that Spring is full of surprises that will give me plenty to talk about.