Spring Anime Season 2021

[bomaye]

The Chart

I think it technically kicked off today because Boku no Hero Academia Season 5 Ep 1 was up but most of it is next week or the week after

EndlessA. Pokemon 2019
EB. One Piece

Continuing 1. My Hero Academia S5
C2. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime Season 2
C3. Digimon (assuming it's continuing)


1. Godzilla: Singular Point
2. Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (Someone I know got really excited for this one)
3. Fruits Basket Final (Simul'ing this with someone else)
4. Shaman King 2021 (I've heard of this and have some interest)
5. Tokyo Revengers (WHOA, that premise)
6. Nomad: Megalo Box 2 (Hell yeah)
7. Subarashiki Kono Sekai/The World Ends With You (I loved this video game but I don't know if I like the animation style and I'm not sure they used the game's music)
8. SSSS Dynazenon (I really liked SSSS Gridman)
9. Super Club (shut up, I liked Bakuon and this is a similar premise)
10. Gokushufudou (LOL)

And that's not even looking at any of the trailers, wuh oh

[Enail]

A stronger crop of new stuff than we've had for a while. None of them grab me that much, but there's a bunch that seem worth checking out.  Deeply disturbed that there's more than one romance show between an adult and a teenager, though, wtf.

-don't love the art style, but the premise of Tokyo Revengers sounds right up my alley, so if it's any good I can get over the art style.

-I've always been curious about The World Ends With You game, so I might check it out, although in general, a show made from a game will probably be weaker than the actual game.

-Jouran: Princess of Snow and Blood might be interesting, I like angles on 'modernity' in time periods that are not modern to us.

-Seijou no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu seems like it miiiight be a rare isekai that's not way too overboard on the wish-fulfillment, and I'd like to see more fantasy that's not based on teenagers.

-Blue Reflection Ray - the description of the plot doesn't do it any favours (because it basically sounds plotless), but the setting sounds like it's got potential.  Maybe if I've got time I'd check it out. Since this season might be starting before Neverland ends (and possibly Attack on Titan? I think you said it was ending in 4 episodes 2 or 3 episodes ago, so I guess it's somehow going to squish in an ending in all this mess before next season starts?), I probably won't have time, though.

-I have the first manga volume of Gokushufudou but haven't read it yet, so I have some interest, probably I'd rather read it than watch it, though.

[bomaye]

Attack on Titan ends tomorrow and I thiiiiink Neverland ended on Thursday but I haven't watched it yet

[Enail]

Yeesh!

[Enail]

Read Gokushufudou V1, it's a cute premise but I didn't really feel like the stories did anything that took it beyond "that's a cute premise." I don't think I'd watch it.

[bomaye]

The first episode of Jouran and "Episode 0" of Tokyo Revengers are both out. I tried either yet

[bomaye]

Actually I can't tell if this Episode Zero of Tokyo Revengers is meant to be the story itself or just a preview, it's moving VERY fast, so I think I'll just wait for Episode 1

[bomaye]

I watched the first episodes of Shaman King and SSSS Dynazenon and both were okay at best.

I've skimmed through Jouran and Mars Red and both have an animation style I'm a fan of but I dunno if I'll get around to it.

[Enail]

Joran E1 - It's a little further towards futuristic than I expected. The art when she transforms is cool as fuck, and the setting has potential, but I didn't find it that engaging, and the weapons and monsters felt overly cheesy. I'm not opposed to trying another episode, but I'm also not sure I'll bother.

[bomaye]

Yeah, I think I'd like Joran a little bit more if it was set in a low-tech environment, and maybe a bit less animal people. The music and sound effects and action is pretty cool though. I'm kind of in the same boat where I can take it or leave it either way

[bomaye]

Ohhh, That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime isn't continuing into this season, it's a slice-of-life spin-off instead. So I'm -1 anime I was expecting to watch right there.

Godzilla Singular Point so far has had no Godzilla in it (from what I've skimmed) and the animation style is nooooooot good at all, so that one might be a bust too.

[bomaye]

I don't know if you'll care at all for Super Cub ("cute girls ride motorcycles") but the first 5ish minutes is about as "I WANT TO LIVE IN ANIME JAPAN " as it gets

(Easy winner for me though)

[Enail]

Not usually that into hobby anime, but I'll watch the first five minutes for that, at least!

[bomaye]

Read Gokushufudou V1, it's a cute premise but I didn't really feel like the stories did anything that took it beyond "that's a cute premise." I don't think I'd watch it.

The anime is pretty low budget but it still works for it. The facial drawing, sound effects and especially voice acting works for it, it reminds me of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure stylings without the palette swapping. Netflix binge-dropped all at once but the first episode is only like 14 minutes long, I think I can space this one out weekly and enjoy it

Spoiler:

[bomaye]

The World Ends With You has the music

[Enail]

The first few minutes of Super Cub actually didn't do it that much for me on the "I want to live in anime Japan" front, it felt kind of more like real-life mundane Japan in a slightly boring area; pleasant and interesting in its own way, but not really summoning that absolute fantasy.  

Tokyo Revengers 1 - Seems like it'll be entertaining, but I'd be surprised if it ends up as anything that'll stay with me for long.

Spoiler:

[bomaye]

Man, I haven't watched half of what i meant to so far. I'm sure I'll get to Tokyo Revengers at some point but right now I'm just pretty x_x

[bomaye]

I had an okay time with the first episode of 86 Eighty Six. Don't know if I'll stick with it though

[Enail]

You didn't even list that one!

[bomaye]

Yeah, I'm trying to check out everything and it's the worst possible two weeks to check out everything because everything in pro wrestling is happening too

I liked what I saw from Tokyo Revengers Ep 1 as a starting point

Spoiler:

So far from my list I've soft-removed Nagatoro-san (I think I've tried something like this before, the "cute girl harassing overly shy boy" thing is an okay character gag but not something you build an entire show around) and Godzilla Singular Point (Ep 3 and no Godzilla). Still not sold on Shaman King either but it's a shonen so they always have those "it could take a bit to get going" thing going for it (I'm not super big on the art-style either though)

[Enail]

Spoiler:

[bomaye]

Spoiler:

The World Ends With You/Subarashiki Kono Sekai Ep 2

Spoiler:

MAN, this is really a top-notch adaptation.

[Enail]

The World Ends With You 1 - Don't love the art style; it'd be fine for a game, but as an anime, the thick line look makes it feel like a cheap Flash animation, and it seems to animate as little as possible. I watched about half the ep, but the storytelling seems like it'd work way better in a game, too, so I think I'm gonna skip this one and maybe someday I'll get to the game. The music is catchy, though.

Seijou no Maryoku 1 -  It's considerably lower-key on the stuff I find annoying about isekai shows, but it's still heavy on the wish-fulfillment/Mary Sue-ism even if not as in-your-face about it, and I wish sometimes they'd use a character who isn't almost a total blank slate with nothing they care about in the regular world, give us some actual emotional challenge to the premise. And it just feels rather bland, everything's easy, and neither the characters or the setting are interesting enough to make it entertaining just to hang out in the world. Like, it's centered around potion-making, but potion still just means "generic low/medium/high-grade healing potion," there's nothing to sink your teeth into. Why do they always seem to have such aggressively bland settings? I assumed it was just because they're meant to be vehicles for power fantasy wish-fulfillment and waifus/husbandos that check all the stereotype boxes and didn't want setting to take up too much of the focus, but this one isn't as blatantly driven by that and it's just as bland.  Meh.

Blue Reflection Ray 1 - Oh, didn't realize this was a magical girl thing. Don't like the costumes or  how wide-set the eyes are, it somehow emphasizes how lifeless the characters feel. Although, that seems intentional, and they are showing they've got depth and backstory that's going to be developed. The setting is cool-looking. I feel like this probably has potential, but I'm also not engaged enough to particularly want to see it through. I might give it another episode or two if I've got time, but it's fairly similar to Wonder Egg Priority, and that was more energetic and less annoying, so I might do better to continue that if I land up having time for something beyond Tokyo Revengers .

[bomaye]

Just not a very strong simul-watch season at all

[Enail]

Which ones were you gonna simul-watch?

[Sponsored content]