Smell the roses and touch the grass baby, spring is here to usher in some higher temperatures and a freshly grown batch of anime for us fans to investigate. I’ve been doing my part by checking out seven shows this season but I certainly wouldn't describe them all as magnificent. Let’s fire it up.

Mushoku Tensei II Part 2

Rudeus has returned and is ready to become a married man baby. We pick up immediately back into the romance with Sylphie and it’s a cute couple to watch on screen. Unfortunately knowing the premise of the show I live in constant fear that everything will fall apart at the drop of a hat so I’m not getting too attached to this slower, chiller segment of the story. For now we’re getting some character growth for those who have been around Rudeus the past part and spreading around the spotlight a bit which is nice to see after Rudeus successfully moved past his prior plight with Sylphie’s… assistance. Time will tell what this installment has in store but if you’ve been on the Mushoku train it’s time to board it once more.

Spice and Wolf Remake

An old classic is seeing new life with a remake. I’ve never heard of this one before but apparently it’s been a favorite among older anime fans. I can understand why too, so far the writing has been quite intelligent. We follow a traveling merchant as we explore regions with a wolf spirit, Holo, who is able to bring bountiful harvests. Along the way there’s much to learn about trading and economics, so much so that my small brain has been falling behind a bit as we are currently unearthing a silver coin scheme that has my noggin twisted. Regardless, I'm still enjoying the anime greatly as there’s plenty of non-money related personal growth occurring for our duo here too. Those looking for a more intellectual and calmer watch should peep out this classic. Or those who have an econ test coming up, that works too.

Girls Band Cry

I tried my hardest to love and appreciate this show, but the terribly inaccurate subtitles made sure I couldn’t end up enjoying it. You can read my full spiel for a deep dive into the situation, but to make a long story short, the subs I found were machine generated and ruined the dialogue of the show completely. To my knowledge it wasn’t picked up by any major distributors in the West either so after four installments and no hope in sight I’ve decided to drop this one despite loving the effort put into the 3D animation style. My immersion can survive a misspelling/bad translation here or there but these girls are talking like alien French robots.

Wind Breaker

This show is the definition of a mixed bag in my eyes. One minute I’m hyped up and excited to see where the story goes between these two gangs, and the next minute my faith is on life support and I expect nothing of merit to come from this project outside of the fight scene in episode one. The comparisons to Tokyo Revengers going around are absolutely apt as we have a rowdy MC joining a gang of do-gooders who are utilizing the gang lifestyle to stand up for and protect their town from rival groups ready to stir up trouble. My only problem so far is that a lot of the characters feel like archetypes we’ve seen a million times over and for a gang show we aren’t squabbling very much. I’m still sticking with it to see where it goes, but I’m too scared it may blow up in my face to recommend picking it up at this point unless you’re interested in the premise from the get-go.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim In The Night

Trust me, the title makes sense eventually. From the PV alone I was under the impression this was a girl band anime, but that’s not exactly right. It’s about four girls coming together to create and support an anonymous singer. It’s not much, but the deviation from a typical band does a lot to keep this from feeling ultra-generic. The fantastic animation that brings life to everyone constantly also helps a ton. There’s almost never a moment where a character isn’t moving around or displaying strong expressions. So far we’ve done a lot of introductions to bring the main cast together and I’m really impressed with how much development we’ve covered in such a short time. This is absolutely my slice of life pick and I’m loving every episode so far. It reminds me heavily of Bocchi The Rock in its character development and comedy and that show was a banger.

Kaiju No. 8

It’s probably worth disregarding my opinion here as I’ve never understood the appeal of Kaiju monsters. I’d much rather watch two dudes with martial arts backgrounds duke it out than a giant mutated lizard shoot laser beams. I came into this hearing a ton of hype from manga readers and so far I have no idea why. It’s a pretty solid shounen so far with a few unique twists like the focus on Kaiju and an older main character. The comedy is way too frequent and slows down the pacing in the first two episodes too much for my taste. That being said I do really enjoy the main character and his companion’s relationship and there’s absolutely potential here for this cast to grow on me. I plan to watch the entire season to see how it progresses, but if you heard the hype and are expecting an instant banger, I don’t think we’re there yet.

Black Butler: Public School Arc

Going into this fear surged that I wouldn’t be able to know what the hell is going on considering I never watched anything Black Butler past the first season. It appears the writers pondered the same possibility as so far this season has been very tight with its focus. I never felt like I was missing out on key context of past events during the first three episodes. I would perhaps have some additional information that explains a certain character or reference a bit more but it never feels like I’m left behind as a casual Black Butler watcher. Jolly good. As for the arc, Ciel has infiltrated a school that’s seeing students disappear. He’ll have to make connections among the school’s four houses and play politics as he tries to earn a strong enough reputation to organize a meeting with the headmaster. It’s essentially a mix of Harry Potter and a murder mystery, very reminiscent of Netflix’s Wednesday if you’ve seen that.

Whisper Me A Love Song

I’m a sucker for yuri, okay? Unfortunately that means I’ll peep out a yuri series even if it has every red flag in the book for being a generic and boring viewing experience. I suppose my greed grew too large after already receiving the immaculate Gushing Over Magical Girls. To be clear this anime didn’t commit any atrocious crimes of narrative, it’s just not really worth the time investment in my eyes. The romance is based on almost nothing besides two girls finding each other cute, and while it does explore some interesting themes of different kinds of love, I don’t think it does it in a compelling enough way to warrant twelve episodes. As a younger, free dude I’d be down to check it out. Yuri fans should probably still consider doing so. However as I anticipate my workload to increase drastically in May, this won’t be filling up my seasonal schedule.

Bartender: Glass of God

Okay hear me out, and please don’t consider revoking my anime license. Guys, this is a fucking masterclass in writing a hobby-centric show. It revolves around bartending and drink concocting as our main character helps multiple people (some recurring, some not) in their lives with his immaculate attention to detail and service. I don’t even drink alcohol as I dislike the burn too much and I’m still captivated by how much information this show has to teach both about the profession of bartending and general life lessons too. The weak point is easily the animation. Whoever approved the entire $10 budget to produce this journey has my gratitude, even if it’s pretty bland and lifeless compared to other shows this season like Jellyfish. If you prioritize writing in your anime and enjoy a relaxed watch, this is undoubtedly one to check out. I’m dumbfounded to enjoy it to this degree.

There’s nothing better for a busy seasonal anime watcher than to find some great gems while trimming away the fat with a couple drops to regain some sanity after the first three weeks of a new season. Here’s hoping for a relaxing time with this overall tame quarter. What anime did you pick up this season? Which ones are your favorites, and which did you drop? Are people sleeping on a banger you like? Mix a cocktail, slay a Kaiju, and leave one hell of a recommendation in the comments below!