Spring 2021 is a good anime season, there’s absolutely no question about that.  How good (and that’s the question that matters most, ultimately) we can’t answer until it’s over.  Right now I wouldn’t place it anywhere close to Spring 2012 (the last truly great anime season – hopefully not ever), but it could – could – end up as the best in at least 3-4 years.  And that would be a really nice exception to a less encouraging overall trend.

This season definitely has heft – again not Spring 2012, but there are probably going to wind up being around 15 series I’d blog in a normal season.  That’s a lot.  And that’s really hammered home how different my life and perspective is than it was then.  I simply can’t handle the same workload – I have neither the inclination or the energy.  What would I do if Spring ’12 happened now, with its 20+ good shows and handful of true masterpieces?  I can’t even guess, to be honest.

More than quantity though, it’s quality at the top that defines a truly elite season.  That’s the biggest unknown after only 2-3 episodes of most shows, but my hope is 3-4 shows premiering this season could wind up in the year-end Top 10.  In truth I see the strength of the season being a notch below the masterpiece level (it’s the “Very Good” tier that’s really packed) – a number of really strong if not quite legendary entries.  There are only two that look to me like potential (best case scenario) classics, decade-list contenders, and that’s why this isn’t likely to be a great season in the end.  But that’s still dam good.

Things have pretty much gone according to the script.  None of the essential core has been a disappointment, the sleepers (bar one) have made some noise, and a couple of series have significantly exceeded expectations.  Put that all together and you have the best season in a good while – and some very tough decisions for me.

 

Onward, then, to Spring 2021:

The Elite

Nomad: Megalo Box 2 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: It sounds odd to say I’m surprised to find Nomad on top of the pile this season.  After all, the first season of Megalo Box was my #1 series of 2018.  But I am surprised – both because the competition was so strong on paper, and because I felt the story had been so expertly concluded.  Both those things are still true, but Megalo Box 2 has raised its level in every respect (narratively at least).  The first three episodes have been pretty close to perfect, and the themes this time are ever subtler and more ambitious (especially in terms of social commentary).  One could wish for a bit more polish in terms of the animation and background detail, but that’s of little consequence in the big picture.  This is a series operating on a level of artistry few aspire to, never mind ever reach.

Fumetsu no Anata e 
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: A
Comments: The first episode was a masterpiece, the second merely very good.  But that’s only down to the source material, which is after all episodic in nature.  Fumetsu no Anata e will have truly transcendent passages interspersed with less lofty ones, but as long as it’s faithful to the source material it should never be less than engaging and emotionally resonant.  For me it’s at its best when it’s least conventional in terms of storytelling – and fortunately, that’s a good chunk of the time.  If we’re judging shows by their best moments, this one should deliver many of the highest highs of the season (and next).

 

Outstanding

SSSS.Dynazenon 
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: As I noted in one of my episode posts, SSSS.Dynazenon – and Gridman – stimulates a part of my fan brain that anime hasn’t stimulated in a long time.  This franchise is, for all the kaiju-tokusatsu trappings, old-school mecha anime at its most elemental.  The minimalist directorial style and stark tonal contrast between the everyday demeanor of the cast and their secret lives may strike newer viewers as odd, but it’s very natural to me – this is the anime I grew up on as a fan.  Dynazenon is very much in the Gridman style but is distinct enough in terms of premise and character to work as its own story.  Episode 4 was a shining example of all that makes SSSS.Dynazenon such a charming series.

Mars Red 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A-
Comments: Mars Red wasn’t on my sleeper list going into the season.  But if I were to pick one series that after three weeks has most exceeded my expectations, it would be this one.  The writing has depth and subtlety and is spinning a genuinely interesting take on the overplayed vampire genre.  The music and casting are superlative, and if not lavish, the visuals do a wonderful job bringing 1923 Tokyo to life.  Its path to anime has been unusual and it largely avoids anime cliches, but Mars Red is taking to the medium like a duck to water.

 

Very Good

Godzilla Singular Point 
Episodes Watched: 5
Grade: B+
Comments: While it’s a low bar, Singular Point is easily my favorite anime take on the Godzilla franchise so far.  Hiring intellectual sci-fi novelist Enjoe Toh to write the series has proved a brilliant choice, as he’s delivering a smart and contemporary take that still feels faithful to the traditions of the franchise.  This is another anime this season (that’s three so far on this list) that benefits from feeling very different from a traditional anime.  More evidence that Netflix is starting to figure this anime thing out – in terms of production at least, if obviously not execution.

Tokyo Revengers 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B+
Comments: I have a couple of minor plausibility issues with the initial setup here, but overall I find Tokyo Revengers to be a pretty compelling story so far.  As with Mars Red it’s treading a very well-worn path in terms of genre, with stalwarts like A Distant Neighborhood and Erased waiting to be measured against.   But so far Revengers is managing to be compelling in its own right – I like the major characters, and protagonist Takemichi coming to terms with who he was as a 14 year-old has been presented in very believable and winning fashion.

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 2nd Season  
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: B+
Comments: A late starter this season but once more with us for two cours.  Mairimiashita! Iruma-kun is pure positivity distilled into anime form, plan and simple.  I love this series and I regret ever dropping it, though part of me does long for the days of being able to enjoy it without thinking about writing about it.

Kingdom Season 3  
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: A great many 2020 series were delayed as a result of the pandemic, but possibly none more so than Kingdom, which lost a full year.  I’ll quote myself from the season check-in of one year ago, since my view on the series obviously hasn’t changed: “Kingdom is Kingdom. Things don’t change all that much – this is a big, sweeping military epic with a nice human touch and generally strong writing. If anything the visuals seem to have ticked up a bit for this third season (though they’re still nothing spectacular), which is certainly welcome even if that was a low bar. A new staff and six years have done very little to alter the Kingdom experience – I still love this show and it always provided an engaging and evocative 22 minutes.”  The season continues at long last with the 5th episode, airing at the start of May.

Boku no Hero Academia Season 5  
Episodes Watched: 5
Grade: B
Comments: In the case of a blockbuster like Boku no Hero Academia that doesn’t have to pick and choose what it covers, an adaptation is pretty much as good as the source material (assuming competent direction).  That leaves this season of HeroAca somewhere in the middle of the pack – this is certainly not the series’ best material, though most of the best material this season will cover won’t arrive till the second cour.  If you want to love the first cour you have to love training arcs, pretty much.  This is a good one – not the best ever and probably not even the best in BnHA, but a good one.

Mashiro no Oto  
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: Mashiro no Oto may well end up as the toughest series of the season to classify.  That’s usually the case with shows which have a huge gap between their best and worst elements (and moments).  The music is great, and some of the narrative has been really good too.  But there are some seriously annoying characters here, and some of the dramatic twists have been pretty contrived.  But that’s the conundrum – at its best, Those Snow White Notes has been as good as any series this season (or damn close).  That counts for a lot, and – along with the shamisen – is why it’s in this tier and not the one below.

 

Worthwhile

Yuukoku no Moriarty 
Episodes Watched: 14
Grade: B
Comments: This show and the one below it are really tough to rank, right on the edge between two tiers.  And it just shows that those are arbitrary cut-offs, really – I have to set them somewhere but there’s no science to it.  I really do like Moriarty the Patriot, but it’s hamstrung by two factors.  First, I genuinely dislike the title character, for reasons I can’t even fully rationalize.  I mean, I agree with some of his ambitions, if not his methods.  The other problem is a tendency for extreme silliness which is certainly not unique to Yuukoku no Moriarty among Holmes revivals, but nevertheless grates on me at times.  That said, this show is good fun and it is built around some very interesting themes, even if the way it executes them can be pretty uneven.

Odd Taxi 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: These check-in posts usually have a show that stands out as the most likely to rise in the rankings by season’s end (last season it was definitely Kai Byoui Ramune), and this time around its Odd Taxi.  The arc is upward, which is the most obvious leading indicator – the third ep was the best.  And the sheer distinctiveness of the series bodes well for its staying power, I think – you’re not going to get what Odd Taxi gives you from anything else on the schedule.  It’s weird, but it has more than that – in fact, in the most important ways it’s less weird that it first appears.  Smart writing, non-traditional casting, complicated characters – the building blocks are in place for some serious upward mobility with this series.

Shakunetsu Kabaddi
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: Before this week I’d have ranked this season’s other main contender on my sports radar just a hair behind Bakuten!!, but Burning Kabaddi leapfrogged it this week.  It had the challenge of explaining a sport most of its audience knows nothing about without seeming like that’s what it’s doing, and so far it’s doing it pretty well.  The protagonist is also an interesting boy, whose intensity is both his strength and weakness as an athlete (and teammate).  Shakunetsu Kabaddi shares a director with the underrated Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun (Ichikawa Kazuya) and I think there’s a fair bit of thematic overlap between the two series.

Bakuten!! 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: I don’t see a whole lot original going on in this rhythmic gymnastics series.  In point of fact I think it’s leaning pretty heavily into its double-exclamation pointed forebear, Haikyuu!!.  But Bakuten!! is very likeable and so is its protagonist.  It also looks surprisingly good after three episodes, which is always a pretty big plus for a sports anime.  I have my doubts about how satisfying a version of this premise can be told in 12 episodes, and the third episode felt pretty flat and repetitive.  I get the feeling Bakuten – in contrast to Haikyuu – is just trying a little too hard.  But there’s a lot of good stuff happening here so I imagine I’ll be sticking around for now.

Fruits Basket the Final 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: I’m in the same boat with Furuba as I have been for most of its run – some eps are great, some I can barely get through.  Anything on the school life side is just a disaster for me and there are a couple of characters I can’t tolerate whatsoever.  But there’s a fair bit of good stuff to come and I’m anxious to see how the ending plays in anime form.  I won’t be blogging every episode but I’ll be blogging the ones that matter.

 

Still Watching

Shadows House
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: I had pretty high (if totally instinctual) expectations for Shadows House, but so far it’s been more of a miss than a hit for me.  This has been the one series this season which I would say has significantly underperformed.  I like the art and the premise seems very interesting, but Emilyko is incredibly annoying and nothing that’s happened in the first three eps has interested me all that much.  Apparently it’s somewhat notorious as a slow burner but I’m running out of patience with the moe pandering and cliches, not to mention nothing really compelling going down on-screen.

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: C+
Comments: I’d probably be at about a solid “B” for the first episode and a half or so, and pretty confident I might keep following Cestvs: The Roman Fighter.  But I find the CG so unpleasant to look at that I almost can’t imagine being able to keep watching.  It’s a shame because the story seems pretty interesting, especially for those of us with a penchant for history.

Shaman King 2021
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: Shaman King 2021 kind of strikes me as dated in a not-great way.  I’m modestly entertained, though a couple of the seiyuu performances play as odd to my ear, and the tone overall as pretty juvenile.  It’s probably just not my cup of tea but I might keep watching just for a diversion.

Vivy – Fluorite Eye’s Song –
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C
Comments: This very LN-ish original is pretty glitzy (though only so-so by Wit standards), but the writing leaves a lot to be desired.  Also, I want to shoot Fukuyama Jun with a tranquilizer dart every time I watch it.  Likely a drop pretty soon to be honest.

Eden’s Zero
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C
Comments: I can’t quite warm to Eden’s Zero the way I did to the early episodes of Fairy Tail.  Its erratic Netflix distribution schedule is probably the clincher as far as even the remote possibility of blogging it is concerned, but as new eps pop up I might try watching a few more.

 

Dropped:

Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood, 86, Hige o Soru. Soshite Joshi Kousei o Hiroo, Sayonara Watashi no Cramer

 

Here, then, is this season’s bloated blogging prospectus:

Monday:
Definitely Blogging: Nomad: Megalo Box 2, Yuukoku no Moriarty

Tuesday:
Definitely Blogging: Fumetsu no Anata e, Mars Red, Fruits Basket: The Final, Kingdom Season 3
Probably Blogging: Odd Taxi

Wednesday:
Definitely Blogging: None

Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Godzilla Singular Point 

Friday:
On the Bubble: Bakuten!!

Saturday:
Definitely Blogging: SSSS.Dynazenon, Boku no Hero Academia Season 5, Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 2nd Season, Mashiro no Oto
On the Bubble: Shakunetsu Kabaddi

Sunday:
Definitely Blogging: Tokyo Revengers
On the Respirator: Shadows House

Manga: Otoyomegatari (hiatus), Hunter X Hunter (hiatus)

Watching For Now: Vivy – Fluorite Eye’s Song -, Shaman King 2021, Eden’s Zero, Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

 

One more thing before I wrap.  Of course you’ve heard me say it before, but the need for financial support for LiA is greater than ever. Everything has gotten more expensive again this year, and it gets more and more difficult to justify the time I have to put in to make the site one I feel proud of.  I know times are tough right now but if you’re inclined to consider helping out, please visit one of the links in the sidebar. Patreon patrons, Paypal subscribers or one-time contributors  – you all have my everlasting gratitude.

Please check out the LiA YouTube channel for manga recommendations, from the vault anime, Japan journeys and more!