Ah Spring, what a time. The temperature is getting warmer but still randomly cold some days. The flowers are out, filling the air with pollen in a direct effort to prevent me from breathing when I go for a run. It’s just the best time. Surely, despite all the hardships I face, I can count on the spring season of anime to be so full of high-profile wonders and hidden gems that I couldn’t possibly watch them all, right? Well, it’s time to find out. Crunchyroll puts out a nice lineup article every season and I make it my mission to go through and judge everything on it harshly so that I can’t be told that I should watch it before forming an opinion. I’ll probably mention which ones I want to watch in here so play along and check back in 12-15 weeks to see how many I actually write a review for.
So, I guess Fire Force season 3 is gonna be the heavy hitter for the spring? That should be at least worth trying to watch. I know I made it through most of the second season but it’s one of those shows that has a lot of fun flashing lights and cool noises that lull my brain into a state where it couldn’t possibly remember what happened in the show. Might have to binge a rewatch before I dive back int
To spare you some agony I’m not gonna include a picture of the new My Hero spin off show. I will also be sparing myself the agony of watching it. You know I had a brief moment the other day where I watched an old clip form like season 2 of the show and thought to myself, “wow, this used to be a really good show”. Shortly after I had a good chuckle while marveling at how steep its decent was into some mid slop. The point of this is to say that I suppose this spin off show could be the fresh new start that My Hero needs but I really, really don’t think you should bet on that. By the way, One Piece is coming back this season. Just gonna throw that on the end of this so I can move on with my life.
Holy shit, it’s the second slime anime, it’s finally back. The first of course is the one where the dude gets reborn as a slime and the third is out there somewhere I’m sure, making this the second. Without a second season this show might have lived in the back of my mind for an eternity, so I’ll happily take this form of relief. I remember it being a decent chill show so hopefully I can sit back and enjoy a mildly entertaining second season. Totally a fairly manageable level of expectations to put on this show.
Our next group of shows are all ones that pose interesting questions in their titles or concepts. Can a boy-girl friendship survive? Is there a meaningful difference between a ninja and an assassin and why does is matter that they are living together? Should someone maybe have considered a better story than one about a girl who can change fate by changing her underwear? Very important questions I’m sure and, god willing, not ones that I will be seeking the answers for this season.
Moving on back to shows I’m actually gonna watch this season, the Guilty Gear Strive anime is coming out and I personally can’t get enough of how ridiculous and wild the story for the series seems to get so I’m putting a lot of my remaining hopes for the spring on the back of this show. There’s also the second season of SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary which was an interesting detective/mystery show from back in the summer and an adaptation of a light novel I’ve been reading called The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows. Admittedly, that particular light novel only draws my gaze when I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel but I’m sure it will be at least somewhat decent. Probably.
Annnnnd wow that’s about it huh? I guess I could take some more pot shots at some of the other slop coming out this season, but I like to wield my indifference against those just as much as my ire. I’m sure there are some popular shows I’m not bothering with or some second seasons I won’t be catching up for, but these are the ones I’m gonna shoot for from the start. Er, not those three I made fun of, I really don’t want to watch those. Hope remains for some hidden gems to pop up somewhere but I’m locking in my guess for shooting under my pre-season predictions this spring. I’ve also been pretty unlucky with my predictions lately though so here’s to hoping I’m wrong again.