Three weeks in (as I begin writing) I have a couple of thoughts on Spring 2024 in anime. First, this season is – on the whole – a bit better than I expected so far. My expectations were fairly low going in (despite a ton of series in the preview), so that doesn’t make it great or anything. But it probably has more watchable shows than I expected it to have.
The other main impression is that it’s a season that’s absolutely dominated by the middle of the pack (in sharp contrast to Winter 2024). It’s no exaggeration to say a majority of the series I’m watching are on the bubble, or at least they would be if those circumstances haven’t forced me to thin that rank as best I can. That ties in with the notion of it being a huge but not great season – almost everything is in the range from mediocre to pretty good. Great shows make great seasons, so that’s not the ideal scenario (though not the worst, either).
I had two main sleepers going into the season, and so far so good. Yatagarasu is leading the running for best new show of the season, and while Mysterious Disappearances isn’t really in my sweet spot, so far at least it’s kind of working for me. Hananoi-kun is on life support but that was barely a sleeper to begin with, so I can’t call that a huge disappointment.
Onward, then, to Spring 2024:
The Elite
None
Outstanding
Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: Given my lack of knowledge of the source material it was legit to call Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai a sleeper. But my expectations of it were pretty high, just based on the premise, the reputation of the novels, and the pedigree of the adaptation. I wouldn’t say the first four episodes have been perfect – the main complaint being that there’s been too much exposition by explanation – but on balance they’ve been everything I hoped. This is very good anime indeed, the sort of Asian-themed high fantasy the medium (and Studio Pierrot) can do so well. I certainly won’t be surprised if this ends up as the best series to come out of spring.
Kuroshitsuji: Kishuku Gakkou-hen
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B+
Comments: A sasuga start of Black Butler’s new season. This school setting is so letter-perfect for this series that it’s hard to imagine this season not working superbly. Toboso-sensei is utterly shameless in delivering exactly what Kuroshitsuji is known for with excess and a wink, but that’s the charm of the whole affair. Kishiku Gakkou-hen will have to go some to catch Book of Circus as the best TV Kuroshitsuji ever, but I wouldn’t totally rule it out based on the first three episodes.
Very Good
Ooi! Tonbo
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: A golf anime that isn’t Birdie Wing would be something to celebrate anyway. But there’s a lot more to like about Ooi! Tonbo than that. The golf stuff is very good and very realistic (it’s published in Golf Digest after all), and that’s kind of the hand-stamp for entry. But there’s a very good human story here too, and all standout sports series have that. Ooi! Tonbo is basically a riff on the much-played troubled big city guy goes to the inaka trope, but there’s a reason that premise is popular. When done well it’s very effective drama and comedy, and this show is doing it well. I also like the simmering focus on the responsibilities of a prodigy to their sport and themselves.
Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid Season 3
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: The third and almost assuredly final season of Shinigami Bocchan is off to a fine start. There are going to have to be concessions made to scheduling, as there were 2-3 episodes more material left to adapt than JC Staff can fit in one season. They solved this problem for Hi Score Girl with an OVA, but they did so before the final season aired – and HSG is certainly the more popular series. Gutting the sorcery school arc probably took care of 60-70% of the problem, and it gutted me right alongside it as I really liked that material. But what’s still to come is very good and it’s kind of a miracle this little manga got three seasons – even dirt-cheap CGI ones – to begin with.
Kai to Otome to Kamikakushi
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: Kai to Otome to Kamikakushi is certainly the weirdest show I’m following this season, which I consider more good than bad. It reminds me a bit of Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, which was one of the weirdest shows of any season. Mysterious Disappearances is not at the same level of artistry, but it’s still a good showcase for one of anime’s true auteurs, Mochizuki Tomomi. It plays a lot of cards that normally don’t click for me so I’m withholding judgment on whether I’m in for the long haul, but I hope so because this show is genuinely interesting and still has potential to be the sleeper I pegged it as.
Worthwhile
Tonari no Youkai-san
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: “That niche” – most of us know what it is by now. And Tonari no Youkai-san is the obvious candidate to fill it this season. It does so pretty well on the whole, combining (very) heartwarming elements with just enough darkness to keep a sense of balance. As with Kai to Otome it puts me in mind of one of my old favorites, in this case Petopeto-san. And again it’s not at the same level but still rather engaging on the whole.
The Fable
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: There’s no denying that this adaptation is something less than lavish in terms of production values. But I’m enjoying it – the cast is excellent at least. And a lack of stylistic input from the anime is offset by a pretty sharp and witty tone from the source material. I look forward to seeing the story dig deeper into the peculiarities of Osaka, one of the most distinctive and interesting places (and groups of people) in Japan.
Bartender: Kami no Glass
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: Broadly speaking I enjoy series that get geeky about stuff in a realistic way. If I’m personally interested in the subject so much the better. I’m more into whisk(e)y, wine, and beer than mixology but anything spirits-related is still interesting to me. I remember finding the original Bartender anime way back in the noughties pretty boring, but I’m rather enjoying the reboot. It’s not as if the recurring plot or characters are all that riveting, but the weekly stories and how they reflect on the experience of being a bartender are mostly working for me.
Still Watching
The Grimm Variations
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: This Yokote Michiko-penned Neflix original has the weight of Wit studio behind it. And the first three episodes deliver as you’d expect in terms of production (and music). I’ve only watched those three, and I’d probably give the premiere (“Cinderella”) a “B-“, the second ep (“Little Red Riding Hood”) about a C-, and the third (“Hansel & Gretel”) a B+.
Astro Note
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: Astro Note is pretty fun, but so far comes off as a concerted attempt to channel 90’s anime comedy (especially Rumiko) that’s not quite as good as the better originals. I’m enjoying it without as yet finding any really compelling reason to keep covering it. We’ll see what happens.
Sentai Daishikkaku (Go! Go! Loser Ranger!)
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: I jumped in on this one late after getting a few recommendations to check it out. And I’m not sorry I did – it’s a pretty interesting twist on the super sentai genre (which isn’t one of my favorites). My gut feeling is the series is going to lose its nerve as far as carrying out the quite subversive premise it’s set up, but the manga is ongoing so that might not happen in the anime’s run anyway.
Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C
Comments: This one held my interest for a couple of episodes where I wondered if it was going to get really dark. But it’s too shoujo for that, which in romcom cases usually means guys acting in disturbing fashion and girls not calling them out on it. I’m hanging on by a thread even as far as watching it at this point.
Jiisan Baasan Wakagaeru
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C
Comments: The two leads are terrific seiyuu in interesting roles to play. Everything else, however (including the production) is extremely mediocre.
Dropped:
Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, Boukyaku Battery, Kaijuu 8-gou, Yozakura-san Chi no Daisakusen, Tensei shitara Dainana Ouji Datta node, Kimama ni Majutsu wo Kiwamemasu, Henjin no Salad Bowl, Tadaima Okaeri, Kenka Dokugaku
Here, then, is this season’s blogging prospectus:
Monday: None
Tuesday:
Definitely Blogging: None
Wednesday:
On the Bubble: Kai to Otome to Kamikakushi (Mysterious Disappearances), Bartender: Kami no Glass
Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Dungeon Meshi
Friday:
Definitely Blogging: Ooi! Tonbo
On the respirator: Astro Note
Saturday:
Definitely Blogging: Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai (YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master), Kuroshitsuji: Kishuku Gakkou-hen (Black Butler: Public School Arc)
Probably Blogging: Tonari no Youkai-san, The Fable
On the Bubble: Sentai Daishikkaku (Go! Go! Loser Ranger!)
Sunday:
Definitely Blogging: Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid (The Duke of Death and His Maid) Season 3
Manga: Otoyomegatari, Hunter X Hunter (hiatus)
Watching For Now: The Grimm Variations, Jiisan Baasan Wakagaeru
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youlikerice
April 29, 2024 at 8:19 pmI’ve been enjoying this season probably just as much as you, so I’m pretty happy with what we got. My personal top three have to be Tonbo, Bartender, and Mysterious Disappearance.
Also the best has yet to come with MHA finally coming back next Saturday!
Guardian Enzo
April 29, 2024 at 8:34 pmHappily early enough that I can cover it on Saturday night my time, and not have it spill over into the already nutso Sundays.
Nadavu
April 29, 2024 at 9:36 pmI’m watching more shows this season than I have in years; partly because I was sick with pneumonia at the right time, but also because quantity is a quality of its own.
Tonbo is the standout show for me. Tonari no Youkai and Karasu are a small step behind, followed closely by The Fable.
Guardian Enzo
April 29, 2024 at 9:39 pmWow, had it some years back, it’s no joke. Don’t rush yourself back to full speed.
Guy Thompson
April 30, 2024 at 4:45 amWhat about Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? Would you consider watching this one or is it too exotic / weird / boring / low quality? I personally found it quite entertaining and unpredictable being original animation and it even got better from the first episode.
Guardian Enzo
April 30, 2024 at 8:04 amFirst ep didn’t do anything for me. If I had some time I might try the second.
Simone
May 5, 2024 at 4:56 pmI’d say the show doesn’t display its true colours in full until the third episode, and it’s since gotten even weirder. I mostly enjoy it for the snappy dialogue and the warped surrealism, with some pretty fucked up concepts that are only lightened by the overall comedic tone.
Bob
April 30, 2024 at 5:52 amI’m glad to see you’re watching SenDai. I hope it continues to interest you.
Guardian Enzo
April 30, 2024 at 8:05 amYeah, I like the fact that so far everyone in it is seriously messed up.
Raikou
April 30, 2024 at 10:53 amWeekend this season is so crazy. Been a while since many that I watched is on the same day.
Glad to know you’re watching Sentai Daishikkaku. Are you going to post reviews?
And you’re really luring me into watching Karasu…
Guardian Enzo
April 30, 2024 at 10:57 amYou should. Really solid and the most recent episode was legitimately great.
I haven’t ruled out doing some sort of episodic or complication post(s) on Sentai Daishikkaku, we’ll see how I feel as it progresses.
Brian Guy
April 30, 2024 at 2:16 pmI’m waiting to binge Shinigami Bocchan because that climactic arc is intense and didn’t really work for me when reading it the first time in episodic form; going back through it in an afternoon after the manga wrapped better maintained the pacing for me and i suspect the same will hold true on the screen.
I had high hopes for SenDai just from the synopsis, but it’s been a pain to keep up with thanks to sitting on a service i almost never use. Unless something reminds me to fire it up, i tend to forget it’s even there.
Similar thing with Mysterious Disappearances. Even though it’s on a major platform in the US, it rarely shows up for me as a main-screen option and drops off my radar fairly often. Still, i need to fill the Dark Gathering-shaped while in my soul with SOMETHING.
Sticking with Hananoi-kun because I’m told the series takes the ML’s issues more seriously as things progress, though i have lingering doubts at this point as to the trustworthiness of those telling me things. Still, i hung on through A Sign Of Affection which had similar issues early on and was properly rewarded, so…shrug, i guess.
Kinda get not being into Spice and Wolf. I got my degree in Econ and can’t get enough of seeing it treated seriously in fiction (even if i disagree with a good deal of the fundamentals portrayed in this series), but i can’t imagine how normies don’t zone out on the stuff I’m geeking out on.
Guardian Enzo
April 30, 2024 at 2:57 pmI definitely like Mysterious Disappearances better than Dark Gathering.
Joshua
May 19, 2024 at 6:22 amI wonder why you chose not to cover Yoru no Kurage, the show that evidently seems like it’s shaping up to be the critical darling of this season? It’s clearly meant to be the sakuga standout with how shiny and polished the whole thing is, focusing on these street art performers and their “relatable” struggles when it comes to creating art (which gives me Paripi Koumei flashbacks for better or for worse) and the possibility that it might be a real “yuri” compared to the yuribait seen in all of these other shows involving cute girls.
But I absolutely cannot trust the writer, Yuki Yaku (the author of Tomozaki-kun) to pull this through, especially on the melodrama front, because the contrarian in me feels that this show has reached the point where any criticism is seen as heresy. What I see is Yaku having zero subtlety in his writing and characterizations, having all of his characters literally say what they’re feeling to the audience’s face because the production committee is scared that audiences might not understand nuance. Whatever subtext or metaphors are depicted has to be explained too because he doesn’t have any confidence in letting the audience figure things out themselves. And out of an irrational fear that his drama might be seen as “corny” or “pretentious”, he constantly needs to include meta fourth wall breaking quips mocking these tropes (insisting that you shouldn’t take this too seriously because these girls too are in on the joke) that ensures that the actual melodrama itself come off as egregiously insincere even though it’s supposedly “realistic” because teenagers speak like that just like in that Bo Burnham film Eighth Grade.
By the time this series ends up dealing with the rival idol group (where one of the main girls is an ex-member of and it’s produced by her mother) as the convenient villains, whatever themes it wants to convey are going to fall so so flat just like Koumei before it.