Lenlo: Welcome all, to the early days of the Spring season! Boy time sure does fly. And I still haven’t caught up on a lot of my projects. Jesus christ adulting is hard… Let this be proof I haven’t forgotten about them though! Anyways, we have a lot of shows to talk about, most of them looking terrible… So I’m going to skip them and only talk about things that caught my eye! That of course means some things won’t be on this list, from sequels I either haven’t seen the previous season for, like Yuru Camp S3 and Reincarnated as a Slime S3, to ones I actively don’t care about and think are bad, like Mushoku Tensei S2 Part 2 and The Irregular at Magic Highschool S3. There’s also some premiers that don’t get mentioned simply because they don’t look interesting, like The Fable. If something you’re curious about isn’t discussed, post about it in the comments! Tell me why you’re looking forward to it! I’ll keep it in mind when the season starts and I’m watching all the pilots. Until then though? You’ll have to settle for my taste and the shows I think have promise. Now without further ado, lets dive into them!

Middling Expectations

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc

Studio: Ufotable
Director: Haruo Sotazaki
Series composition: N/A
Source: Manga

The Premise: Season 4 of Kimetsu no Yaiba, an adaptation of the Hashira Training Arc.

I think we can all admit it, Yaiba had a rough Season 4. From some lackluster production to a mediocre arc and villains, it was certainly the weakest the series has ever been. The key word there being “has”, because this arc doesn’t look much better. The title and preview alone does little to fill me with excitement, one labeling this clearly as a training season, the other being nothing but a series of still frames of the Hashira with nothing in the way of actual animation or eye catches to draw the attention. Simply put, there is absolutely no reason to be excited about Season 4 of Yaiba. Go into it with low expectations so you can, with hope, be pleasantly surprised.

BARTENDER Glass of God

Studio: Liber
Director: Ryouichi Kuraya
Series composition: Mariko Kunisawa
Source: Manga

The Premise: Genius bartender, Sasakura Ryuu makes the most incredible cocktails anyone has ever tasted. Seeking his “Glass of God”, individuals from all different walks of life visit his bar. With both a compassionate ear and a godly drink, Ryuu helps people with their problems.

Bartender looks interesting on the surface, and the refined aesthetic of the bar is nice. But for the life of me, I can’t see how this will stay interesting for an entire cour. Not if the MC is stuck in the bar only interacting with patrons as they come in, as the trailer implies. If he’s able to leave, to interact outside of it and change up the situations a bit, I think it could work. Without that though… Well the currently airing Torture Princess is one of the best animated, cutest shows of the season, and it also changes locations routinely. Yet even it couldn’t keep itself interesting for an entire cour, repeating the same basic idea over and over and over again. That’s what I fear Bartender will be, but without the incredible production. Hopefully it proves me wrong.

Mysteries, Maidens, And Mysterious Disappearances

Studio: Zero-G
Director: Tomomi Mochizuki
Series composition: Tomomi Mochizuki
Source: Manga

The Premise: An aspiring novelist teams up with an enigmatic colleague to solve supernatural urban mysteries! Ogawa Sumireko is a busty bookstore clerk who wants to become a novelist after some writing success in her youth. When strange occurrences start cropping up around the city, she teams up with her flirtatious co-worker Adashino Ren to look into them. But Ren is hiding a secret of his own! With their combined skills of occult knowledge, what will they discover as they investigate?

MMM seems like a solid enough mystery series? The two big things holding back are that, judging by the trailer, the production looks weak, both from a direction and animation standpoint, and I also can’t tell if this is meant to be horror or a more actiony shounen-style experience. The fact the original creator has only made ecchi-works before this doesn’t fill me with much interest either. I’ll keep an eye on it, I’m curious, but I’m not holding my breath for it.

Viral Hit

Studio: Slowcurve
Director: Masakazu Hishida
Series composition: Toshiya Oono
Source: Manga

The Premise: Scrawny high school student Hobin Yu is probably the last guy you’d expect to star in a NewTube channel that revolves around fighting. But after following some advice from a mysterious NewTube channel, Hobin is soon knocking out guys stronger than him and raking in more money than he could have ever dreamed of. Can Hobin keep this up, or will he eventually meet his match?

This is gonna sound shitty, but the thing holding Viral Hit back for me is entirely its production. The idea, a kid getting bullied at school and standing up for himself by learning to fight on a youtube channel? A classic, we’ve had this sort of shit with Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple or Hajime no Ippo before, it’s a solid idea. But looking at this trailer, I just don’t think it has the visual chops to support it. Viral Hit is going to live or die by its fights, that’s just how action series go. Even if the story is good, the fights are the emotional climaxes of every arc. If those look terrible, the emotions won’t land properly. And simply put? I don’t think Viral Hit can pull it off. Hopefully it proves me wrong though, I’ll be keeping an eye on it at least.

Hibike! Euphonium 3

Studio: Kyoto Animation
Director: Tatsuya Ishihara
Series composition: N/A
Source: Novel

The Premise: The third season of Hibike! Euphonium.

After years and years, Hibike! Euphonium has finally returned. I know a lot of people that are very hyped about this. Like, they have been waiting for years, and this is their entire season. And you know what? I get it. Personally, I’m not big on Hibike, I’ve seen all the seasons and the movies and they were fine, but I never bought into it all that much. Still though, Kyoto Animation make like… One anime a year, and it’s usually the prettiest thing in a season. For that, if nothing else, I’m going to check Hibike out and see if my feelings towards the series have changed as I’ve gotten older. Who knows, maybe I’ll get it this time.

Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku?

Studio: EMT Squared
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Series composition: Michiko Yokote
Source: Original

The Premise: The anime’s story is set in a town in a not-so-ordinary countryside, where a big and strange occurrence is happening to its residents. But a young girl named Shizuru Chikura has a strong desire to see her lost friend again. Shizuru and three other girls board an abandoned train, and they set out to the outside world, where survival is not certain. What awaits them at the last stop of the “Doomsday Train?”

Train Doko just looks… weird? I have absolutely no idea what to expect with this. It looks cute, well animated, it’s an original, the team is experienced and the Director is responsible for Shirobako, so it has a lot of things going for it. At the same time though, the studio, EMT Squared, hasn’t made anything of note in… Well… ever. And the trailer itself makes it seem like nothing more than a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things show. But at the same time, that’s all Shirobako was, but Shirobako tackled its industry and subject material with such earnestness that you couldn’t help but get invested. Meanwhile Train Doko looks to be some kind of… fantastical travel show? I’m really not sure. I’m curious, I want to see the first episode, but I’m going in with low expectations so that its relationship with Shirobako doesn’t give me unrealistic expectations.

Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai

Studio: Doga Kobo
Director: Ryouhei Takeshita
Series composition: Yuki Yaku
Source: Original

The Premise: “I want to find what I enjoy.” Shibuya, a district overflowing with identity. A girl trying to find herself drifts through Shibuya in the dead of night until a special encounter changes everything. For the first time, the creative activities of unknown young girls will begin—

The second original of the season, Yoru no Kurage feels like it’s trying to cash in on the Bocchi the Rock wave of cute girls trying to reinvent themselves forming a band, but without the stellar production to back it up. And considering the production was the only thing I liked about Bocchi, that doesn’t leave me much hope for Yoru no Kurage. Still, it’s an original, and those always have the potential to come out of nowhere and be something great. They aren’t constrained by anything, literally could do whatever they want. So because of that, I’m going to be keeping an eye on it. Who knows, maybe I’ll like it better than I did Bocchi.

Shows We’re Anticipating

Kaiju No.8

Studio: Production I.G.
Director: Shigeyuki Miya
Series composition: Ichirou Ookouchi
Source: Manga

The Premise: With the highest kaiju-emergence rates in the world, Japan is no stranger to attack by deadly monsters. Enter the Japan Defense Force, a military organization tasked with the neutralization of kaiju. Kafka Hibino, a kaiju-corpse cleanup man, has always dreamed of joining the force. But when he gets another shot at achieving his childhood dream, he undergoes an unexpected transformation. How can he fight kaiju now that he’s become one himself?!

Kaiju 8 is in this weird, sad place where it had an absolutely brilliant idea, following a middle aged guy in his 30s working Kaiju disposal after the actual heroes kill the giant monsters, only to then completely abandon that interesting idea and become an otherwise standard Shounen combat series. Is the standard shounen action still fun? Is Production I.G. still capable of animating a good show? Does the PV look like it can pull it off? All yes! But having read the series already, I know that’s all it is. It doesn’t become anything more than a standard shounen action series. I’m still going to have fun with it, I expect you will too if this is your deal. But don’t go into it expecting anything more than that, because it abandons those early ideas pretty quickly.

My Hero Academia Season 7

Studio: Bones
Director: Kenji Nagasaki & Naomi Nakayama
Series composition: Yousuke Kuroda
Source: Manga

The Premise: The seventh season of Boku no Hero Academia.

I mean… Look, it’s My Hero Academia’s 7th season. You know what this is. You know what it’s about. Do I really need to get into it? The only reason this is higher up than Kimetsu no Yaiba is because I know that this kicks off the series final battle, it’s the big climax everything has been building towards, or the beginning of it at least. That means Bones should, theoretically, be pulling out all of the stops for it. Of course it doesn’t start until May, a month into the season, which is a bit odd. But I have hope that means they are taking the production seriously and are maybe doing a cour and a half rather than 2 full cours, which should, hopefully, reflect in the production. I can’t prove that, but I’m running out of hopium and have to start making my own. Whatever the case, I’ve stuck with the series thing long, I’m gonna stick with it until it ends damnit.

Highest Expectations

Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

Studio: Passione
Director: Takeo Takahashi & Hijiri Sanpei
Series composition: N/A
Source: Light Novel

The Premise: Lawrence is a traveling merchant selling various goods from a horse-drawn cart. One day, he arrives at a village and meets a beautiful girl with the ears and tail of an animal! Her name is Holo the Wisewolf and she brings bountiful harvests. She wishes to return to her homeland, and Lawrence offers to take her. Now, the once-lonely merchant and the once-lonely wisewolf begin their journey north.

I honestly cannot fucking believe it. In the year 2024 we get not only the return of Hibike Euphonium, but Spice and Wolf as well. I never expected to hear this sassy, teasing wolf girl ever again. Yet here I am, her country accent like music to my ears after the Throwback Thursday series we did. Now sadly, my understanding is that this is a remake, not a continuation, meaning we are going to be restarting the series from the beginning. I don’t mind this too much, so long as it looks good and nails the same feeling. But my hope is that it’s laying the groundwork for a full restart. What I mean is, I hope it gets the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood treatment and takes this new adaptation as far as it can. I’d love to get some new content out of this series rather than just the same stuff, remade 15 years later. That’s a tale for future seasons though. For now? I’m just gonna enjoy Ami Koshimizu whispering in my ear again. God it sounds creepy when I phrase it like that…

Sentai Daishikkaku

Studio: Yostar Pictures
Director: Keiichi Satou
Series composition: Keiichirou Oochi
Source: Manga

The Premise: When the Monster Army invaded Earth thirteen years ago, the Divine Dragon Rangers rose up to stop them! With the war raging on, these great heroes are mankind’s last hope!…or are they? In truth, the invaders were subjugated within a year, forced to continue to crank out a monster a week for the Rangers to crush in front of their adoring fans! But one monster has had enough. Something has to change! He’ll rebel against the might of the Dragon Rangers and destroy them all…from the inside!

You know what? This actually feels pretty novel. Super Sentai series doesn’t feel like the sort of things we get subversions of often, the last one I can think of was Samurai Flamenco years and years ago.So one centered on the Super Sentai being the villains, taking monsters and using them for weekly battles to prop up their own image? And one of those monsters joining the Super Sentai squad to tear them down from the inside? Well that sounds pretty good. And even more surprising? The PV actually looks good! And they have Keiichi Satou, who directed the Rage of Bahamut series as well as doing character designs on The Big O. That’s a lot of good signs! Enough so that this is probably my second most anticipated series of the season now, after Spice and Wolf of course.