This is a season harder than any other to talk about since I’ve been writing about anime. The state of the world isn’t news to anyone reading this. It does make it tricky though to know what to expect for the coming months. Even as I’ve been pondering this coming season we’ve had series with episodes delayed into summer and series delayed straight out of summer entirely. So this is going to be a rather rough preview that is just trying to figure out what is on my radar for the coming season and hopefully most of these shows will still come out during the Summer. If not…well then they are well discussed ahead of whatever season they will air during XD.

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.

Even when this show was originally supposed to come out I was curious to check it out. The PV I ended up seeing honestly was pretty fun. Not a bad thing to have a main character with some definite personality. This is a guy who was legitimately the demon lord who decided to peace out after getting bored. While we’ve seen reincarnated people, this isn’t exactly an isekai. He just reincarnated himself and returned to his world after a couple thousand years. While I think it is a bit too silly that people think he’s a misfit because he’s too powerful to have his power rated…I’m sure the show will be decently fun. With the limited collection of shows coming this season, this is honestly one of my most anticipated.

I’m up for another post-apocalyptic show. For some reason I can totally get into some shows that take place after things have gone terribly wrong for humanity. Besides this is one of the cool kinds of post-apocalyptic. The one where humanity has built something super cool to keep itself safe and alive. Besides the setup sounds like a fair amount of fun. You have the optimistic younger one who wants to achieve their dreams and the grizzled realist who has given up on theirs. Nothing new there, but it is a dynamic that works. It feels like the kind of show that I could really get into. All the more so if the action holds up.

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’m honestly just reposting this since it was delayed from Spring after I previewed that season. Anyways, I did enjoy the story to this point so I’m in for the rest. It has had ups and downs, but it isn’t bad at all. The lack of Kirito in the war to this point has actually made it pretty interesting. And now things are really going at full speed so I’m curious to take in the remainder of the show. This isn’t at the highest mark since I don’t think it will be one of the best shows ever. But it should be a very solid and enjoyable series. SAO is a franchise that people love to hate. But for me it is just a decent franchise. So I’ll definitely tune in for another season even though there’s no chance I’ll actually cover it.

It may seem weird that I’ve got this show in the moderate area instead of highly anticipated. But, that’s because I’m still not highly anticipating it. This is a very intense and impactful series. At the same time, I kind of got burned out near the end of it. Plus I do think the author just likes to make the readers suffer as much as making Subaru suffer. And not exactly sure I like being made to suffer if I can help it. Even with how limited this season is for me, still not a certainty that I’m jumping onboard to actually cover this one. I’m sure it will be amazing overall, but not sure how amazing it will be for me.

The setup for this is one that will either work pretty well for me or just be exhausting. Almost all of it rests on the title girl. And parts of the PV had me a bit worried. But, later parts of that PV did ease my worries since there should be good character moments. If the interactions between the leads hits the mark then this could be a lot of fun. Or the main girl could be super exhausting and I’ll drop the show really fast.

A monster girl doctor could make for an interesting lead character. At the very least it feels like the kind of setup that could lead to different plot threads. All the more so with the summary pointing towards him having to get involved in potentially serious situations. Ones that aren’t just medical. I wouldn’t mind a good comedy as well with the way things are right now. The more laughs the better. It will depend on the personality of the lead, but he seems alright at a glance from the PVs. The assistant Lamia will also be important since you’d expect her to be the main girl here. And at least the setup has a different feel to it than just a guy being thrown in with monster girls and seeing what happens. He’s got a very specific and solid role in that setting.

I enjoyed the first season well enough and can see myself keeping up with this one. It wasn’t mindblowing or anything. But it was pretty entertaining. The series steadily diving into the pasts of the main characters and especially Juzou’s past. If nothing else it is hard to forget a show where the main character’s head is a giant gun barrel. Hopefully we continue to get answers as the show goes along. It may not be one of my top picks for the season, but it does feel like a solid and reliable show.

The first season of this show didn’t blow me away as much as I was expecting it to. It wasn’t all that bad, but it mostly just had great visuals going for it. The comedy didn’t always land and some elements were just too silly. But it is a pretty awesome looking show that is all about people using various fire powers. I’m honestly curious to see how the story will unfold in this second season considering all that happened in the first one. In a pretty thin season I’d say shows that are simply fun are more than welcome. David Production knows what they are doing when it comes to spectacle.

Conclusion

Of course it is impossible to ignore that the season is a bit thin in terms of quantity. It is inescapable though with the state of things. Health and safety are hugely important and various shows are simply delayed and I’ll take that. Since eventually we will get those shows. We are getting shows like Healin’ Good Precure back, along with One Piece and Digimon. Railgun T will also be picking up again during the Summer so I’m not exactly going into this one with a blank slate for shows. Just give me a handful of shows I enjoy watching and I’ll make it through just fine.

It does leave me a bit uncertain what shows I’m going to pick up this time around. There aren’t a lot of “I must talk about this” shows at least at this point. It is possible one of these shows is so good and compelling that I pick it up instantly and we are set. There are some sequels here so some things feel pretty determined in how I’ll react to them. Sequels can overtake their original seasons though so surprises are very much on the table there. Of course this isn’t last year and the hype just isn’t comparable. I was locked in that summer with shows like Symphogear, but beyond even that it was an amazing season. Can’t expect the same this time for good reasons. Still, I do hope that people have at least a few shows they are really hyped about going into this one.