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Spring has sprung. Or at least I hope it will by the time you read this (it’s barely above freezing as I start writing – and snowing in Tokyo). As I look at the new anime announcements over the past several months, I’m reminded of the words of Newton N. Minow from his landmark “Television For the Public Interest” speech in 1961:

“Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.”

It’s been the worst stretch of series announcements since I’ve been doing this without a doubt – and there have been some mighty bad stretches. That impact is not going to be felt only in Spring 2025, or even primarily. It tells a tale of what the entire anime year will be like, and even the early part of 2026. That’s just how the cycle works. But Spring 2025 will certainly reflect that reality, because in any given year spring is statistically likely to be the strongest season. And if it is, 2025 is in big trouble (though I think that’s pretty much a lock either way).

As LiA readers know, spring and fall are typically the biggest seasons of the year. That’s flattened out a fair bit in recent years – Spring 2025 has 57 series, but that’s barely more than winter’s 53. Last Spring had 54, so we’re more or less steady (read, too many) on that front. Where do we come in on the usual Enzo one-third rule? On the nosey, as Igor would say. I’m previewing 19 of those 57 shows, exactly one-third. Nineteen is a relatively big number for a preview (exactly the same as last spring), but a good chunk of those are shots in the dark.

In point of fact it’s kind of a wonky, hourglass-shaped preview. I have four “Highest Expectations” series, which is a perfectly fine number. But there’s almost nothing in “Mid-table” – only three shows, which may well be among the smallest number ever (note: I wrote that before Moonrise was announced for Spring freakishly late). That leaves a whopping 12 entries in “Modestly Interested”. That tells me it could be a season where finding shows to cover is a stretch, especially as I don’t see a lot that has sleeper potential.

If I look for a bright side, at least there are only 11 LN adaptations, which is a fairly low number by recent standards (though the growth in isekai manga adaptations continues). There are quite a few originals in fact, though few of them spark my interest on paper. Nothing jumps out genre or demographic-wise. Shounen dominate, and as usual CGDCT and isekai have a large footprint. A shoujo or two, a decent smattering of seinen (enough to give me a bit of hope for surprises).

One more note – I’m moving at precisely the time I normally release the preview, so it’s going to be a crazy month for me. As such the preview (and preview video) may be somewhat abbreviated compared to the norm.

This is my 56th (I think) Season Preview here at LiA. Thanks to everyone who’s joined me for part of that ride. Here’s hoping efforts to make the site financially sustainable bear fruit, and these previews will continue to be free for anyone who finds them useful and entertaining. As you know my costs continue to skyrocket – hosting alone is more than doubling this year – so more than ever I’m going to be dependent on your financial support to keep LiA alive. To everyone who’s pitched in to help that cause – you have my sincere gratitude.

 

Let’s move on to Spring 2025.  As usual, the poll is in the sidebar – please go vote!

 

Highest Expectations:

Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals – Bones: (PV) The arrival of Vigilante is definitely one of those Newman “What took you so long?” moments. I was expecting an adaptation of this HeroAca spinoff manga years ago. It was reasonably popular, well-received by fans, and attached to one of the most popular animanga franchises of the 21st Century.

Why the Illegals anime finally arrived years after the manga ended (and right after the parent series did) is a mystery to me. But thank goodness it’s here, in the midst of that horrible run of announcements. And in Bones’ hands there’s no reason to expect anything less than a rock-solid adaptation (and maybe a lot more). Fans tend to reflexively dismiss spinoff series, but this one is different. Mangaka Betten Court and Furuhashi Hideyuki are established and talented in their own right. More than that, they “get” Boku no Hero Academia, and reportedly worked with Horikoshi Kouhei to make sure their series jibed with his vision for the mythology.

As a story, Vigilante explores a different side of the BnHA universe. Not heroes, not villains, but those in-between. Men and women who take the law into their own hands, often because they’re not deemed worthy of being “official” heroes. The protagonist is a loser college student named Haimawari Kouichi who uses his quirk for small-time good deeds, until one day larger events swallow him up. It’s a really strong addition to the mythology. 2025 is a big year for My Hero Academia and for Bones, and this series is a big part of that.

Kowloon Generic Romance – Arvo Animation: (PV) I’m a big fan of  mangaka Mayzuki Jun’s Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, though I went in with a healthy skepticism about its premise. Kowloon Generic Romance is a highly-regarded manga (not least by my podcast co-host Samu), and while Arvo is not a glamor studio this adaptation has a pretty solid and experienced staff.

Kowloon is the story of two mismatched co-workers in a realty office in the walled city of Kowloon, sometimes in the distant future. He longs for the Hong Kong of the romantic past, she loves everything new and groundbreaking. There are sci-fi elements involved here, though as I haven’t read the source material I’m low on details and keen to keep it that way. The whole thing has a bit of a Satoshi Kon vibe for me. I can’t call Kowloon Generic Romance a sleeper because most expect it to be really good, but my expectations are certainly high.

Kuroshitsuji: Midori no Majo-hen – CloverWorks: (PV) Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun passes the GFantasy baton back to Kuroshitsuji this spring. This has been the shortest wait yet between Kuroshitsuji seasons, so hopefully Hanako-kun will follow suit and not make us wait nearly so long until its third season. I like that series even more than this one but they’ve both been consistently excellent examples of darkly comic fantasy, and shounen aimed primarily at female audiences (though wildly popular generally).

The “Emerald Witch Arc” finds Ciel and Sebastian headed to Germany at Queen Victoria’s behest (as usual), this time to investigate a series of mysterious deaths connected to a “werewolf forest”. Generally speaking I put a fair amount of trust in Toboso-sensei where the quality of major arcs is concerned, so I’m confident Black Butler won’t drop the ball here. As always the big variable will be how much the characters who tends to have her indulge her excesses the most (like Grell) are present. Hopefully the change of venue will mean not so much, which was the case with the excellent “Public School” arc and the pinnacle of the show so far, “Book of Circus”.

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2 – Felix Film: (PV) All four of the shows in this category were basically a tie for me. Aharen-san wa Hakarenai didn’t quite crack the top 10 (as Kuroshitsuji usually has) in a deep year, but I developed a real love for it. It’s a romantic comedy with the focus on the comedy, no question, but that doesn’t mean Aharen-san couldn’t deliver on the romance front too. It’s a bit sneaky in that the real hook isn’t the title character’s inaudible speech patterns, but male lead Raidou Matsuboshi’s hilariously wild imagination (which said speech patterns give license to run wild).

The manga has ended since the first season aired, but that season covered just 67 of its 167 chapters. I don’t think the series is hugely popular – I was kind of surprised to see a sequel greenlit – so my suspicion is we’re going to see the remaining chapters crammed into this season rather than split into two cours. That would require a slowdown in the pacing anyway, which makes it even more unlikely. Maybe a best case scenario would be a second season plus a couple of OVAs, but to be frank I’m thrilled to take whatever I can get of this immensely charming series.

 

Mid-table:

Lazarus – MAPPA: (PV) Having ported over to Bones for a stretch Watanabe Shinichirou is back at MAPPA, where he helmed Zankyou no Terror and Sakamichi no Apollon (Tezuka produced two episodes). And no question, Watanabe-sensei is the main reason why Lazarus is here, because given his place in anime history anything he does is by definition an important work. So why isn’t this one even higher up the preview? Frankly I haven’t been that impressed with his last few projects (Carole & Tuesday and a couple of mediocre films). I also find Watanabe to generally be a better director than writer, and he’s the main writer here (though the venerable Dai Satou is on-board as well).

As usual sci-fi is Watanabe’s muse here. Lazarus is set in 2052, in a future where a scientist named Skinner has invented a cure-all drug which has eliminated disease. But he disappears for three years and then turns up announcing to the world that the miracle drug will cause anyone who took it to die within three years. And given that pretty much everybody did, that amounts to something close to an end of the world scenario.

I’ll reserve judgment on the story – it could certainly be great, who knows. With Watanabe it’s probably pretty safe to assume you’re going to get top-shelf visuals even given the MAPPA crapshoot, and an interesting soundtrack (though he’s not working with his frequent collaborator Kanno Yoko and the music in C&T was pretty execrable – a big problem in a music series). Without a doubt the biggest wild card on the spring schedule given the stature of its creator and the wide range of quality in his filmography..

Anne Shirley – The Answer Studio: (PV) Anne of Green Gables is certainly a staple of Western children’s literature. But in addition to all the English-language adaptations, anime has had several bites of the apple itself, dating back almost 50 years. So why did a production committee decide there was a need for another one now? Beats me. It’s the sort of thing you might have expected to see on “World Masterpiece Theater”, back when that was a thing – which it hasn’t been since 2009. In fact Meigeki (as it’s commonly called) did a 50-episode adaptation called Akage no Anne in 1979.

Well, whatever the reason, they did. NHK had to have been at the heart of it – they are – and this time around we’re getting 24 episodes. The Answer Studio has been around for quite a while but I’ve seen very little of their work. As for the story itself, I’ve never-read Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novels and I haven’t seen an English adaptation of them since I was a kid myself. But this tale of a spunky Canadian orphan girl’s upbringing on the farm is widely considered to be one of the best of its breed, so I’m broadly expecting this series to be pretty good.

Kijin Gentoushou – Yokohama Animation Laboratory: (PV) Kijin Gentoushou is about the closest thing to a sleeper in a season largely devoid of them. Anime based on novels are a better than average bet for starters, and it’s a historical fantasy to boot. And it’s even about a miko, which is a subgenre I have a bit of a thing for. Giddy-up.

On the other hand, I’d never heard of the source material before the anime announcement and there’s nothing in the staff pedigree that particularly stands out. Kijin Gentoushou is the story of a demon sword-wielder who acts as the protector of a shrine maiden, possibly with a time travel element thrown in for good measure. A relative crapshoot just like everything from here downwards, but the novel aspect nudges it into the mid tier.

Moonrise – Wit: (PV) To say Moonrise was a late announcement for this season is an understatement, but Netflix will do that occasionally. Just as much an understatement to say this Ubukata Tow project has been in development for a while – Netflix originally announced it in 2022. But it’s certainly much needed given how 2025 looks so far – anything with potential is welcome.

A mecha series from Wit is of serious interest, for starters. And Ubukata is certainly a major player in anime, having been the creative force behind many sci-fi shows. Now to be fair most of them haven’t been to my taste, but he’s no hack at least. Wit and Netflix have a good history together (Great Pretender) as well. The story finds humanity being governed by an A.I. called “Sapienta”, which makes Earth peaceful by sending its criminals and hazardous waste to the moon. Obviously this leads to a huge disparity in living conditions, which further leads to the birth of a lunar rebellion. Classic boilerplate sci-fi right there – let’s see how it pans out.

 

Modestly Interested:

Saikyou no Ousama, Nidome no Jinsei wa Nani wo Suru? – Studio A-CAT: (PV): To be blunt everything in this category is pretty interchangeable for me as a prospect – I could put these in just about any order. I’m putting this one first just out of the novelty factor of it being based on an American comic book called “The Beginning After the End”, which I’ve seen some decent reviews of. It has a very good director in Motonaga Keitarou (Jormungand) as well. Looks to be a fantasy coming-of-age story about a powerful king. It’s also an isekai, which is no draw in itself but given the origins adds to the novelty factor.

Summer Pockets – feel.: (PV)  I’m hit-and-miss with Key VN adaptations. As far as I can tell Summer Pockets isn’t especially one of their most beloved, but it comes from a studio that tends to do more interesting work than average. You know how these things work – a teenage male protagonist (a city boy moved to an island in this case) and a bunch of moeblobs.

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de – Madhouse: (PV) Once more we’re in shot in the dark territory here. And once more the main reason this series is here is that it’s based on a novel. But it’s also Madhouse and about working adults, so there might be something here (and NoitaminA, whatever weight that still carries). Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de is a comedic mystery about a couple of rich folk working for some reason as police detectives, and the butler who solves the actual cases. TBH the premise sounds kinda dumb to me, and Kaju Yuuki and Hanazawa Kana are not typically my preferred lane. But there’s enough here to be interested, especially with Shirokuma Cafe’s Masuhara Mitsuyuki directing.

Sentai Daishikkaku 2nd Season – Yostar Pictures: (PV) Sentai Daishikkaku was one of those shows I didn’t preview and picked up based on some good buzz, and I wound up kind of liking it. It was an interesting semi-satire of the tokusatsu genre, not afraid to go very dark and very weird. I also really liked Kobayashi Yuusuke’s performance in the lead role and the visuals could often be quite interesting.

Witch Watch – Nilbury Animation Studios: (PV) Witch Watch is kind of a funny one for me. It seemingly should rank higher based on how much I liked mangaka Shinohara Kenta’s Kanata no Astra (the adaptation cracked my top 10 list in 2019). But I haven’t really liked anything else he’s done (including his biggest hit, SKET Dance). And what I’ve read of Witch Watch – his lowest-ranked series on the aggregator sites – didn’t wow me either. But it’s a WSJ adaptation and a fairly successful one, so I’ll check it out. It’s a mostly-comedic tale of two teen witches (the girl crushing on the boy) who wind up living under the same roof.

Kidou Senshi Gundam: GQuuuuuuX – Khara, Sunrise: (PV) This show being way down here may be a head-scratcher to some. I mean, The titans of Gainax – Khara’s Anno and Tsurumaki, the creators of Evangelion and FLCL (two of my top three anime of all-time) – gattai with Sunrise and Gundam? So what gives? To be honest, the premise looks dumb to me. And I’m not a Gundam fan, as a rule – I’ve never found Tomino’s heavy-handed moralizing and teen death porn to be especially arresting. And the modern updates to the franchise (in the cute girls doing mecha things vein) leave me cold.

But… It’s Tsurumaki directing a project conceived by Anno and Tomino. It’s Khara (co-) producing a TV anime. It’s Enokido Youji – one of the lead writers on many Gainax and especially Bones classics including FLCL and NGE – on series composition. I have a strong inkling I’m not going to like GQuuuuuuX (even the title annoys me) but I can’t possibly ignore it or the possibility that it could actually be great. The premise is Gundam bog standard, apart from two of the three main pilots being female, so it’ll all come down to execution.

Miru: Watashi no Mirai – Various: (PV) A bit of an odd duck here. Miru is a five-episode “omnibus” series with each ep coming from a different studio and director. Each episode follows a time-travelling robot called Miru who helps humans from its past cope with their future. A total crapshoot here of course but there may be some upside potential here.

Chuuzenji-sensei Mononoke Kougiroku: Sensei ga Nazo wo Hodoite Shimau kara. – 100studio: (PV) This one is here for its modestly interesting premise. Chuuzenji-sensei is a supernatural mystery set in 1948 Tokyo, following the exploits of a Japanese teacher and high school girl who team up to solve, well- supernatural mysteries. Not quite up to the sleeper level but possibly a whiff of something interesting here.

Zatsu Tabi: That’s Journey – Makaria: (PV) Seinen manga adaptation about a struggling mangaka who decides to go on an intentionally rough journey to seek creative enlightenment (or something). Sounds pretty trite and there’s a “healing” risk in that premise, but it’s a seinen with an adult protagonist so I’ll give it a punt. The title is also some of the most hilarious Engrish I’ve seen in a long time.

Uchuujin MuuMuu – OLM: (PV) Another seinen manga adaptation, this one about a cat alien who comes to Earth to learn home appliance technology and winds up bonding with a female college student. Sounds just random and 80’s enough to have an ounce of potential, and anything with cats is worth at least a look.

Shin Samurai-den Yaiba – Wit: (PV) Another one of those random reboots that anime seems infatuated with lately. Yaiba is obviously not Aoyama Gosho’s signature series (that would be Meitantei Conan of course), but he is a huge name nonetheless. It got a 52-episode adaptation way back in 1993 which I haven’t seen, and I haven’t read the manga so I’m going in cold here. I’m not much of a Conan fan so my expectations are muted here, even with Wit involved as the studio. Story-wise it’s a tale of a young samurai, his great rival, and a demon sword.

Ballpark de Tsukamaete! – EMT Squared: (PV) Yet another pretty obscure seinen, this time following a boring salaryman who gets his kicks at the ballpark, and the female beer vendor he somehow gets hooked up with (romantically?). It’s the only thing vaguely sports-related I could even put into the preview, so here it is.

 

Will definitely blog: Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals, Kowloon Generic Romance, Kuroshitsuji: Midori no Majo-hen, Aharen-san wa Hakarenai.

Sleepers: Kijin Gentoushou is pretty much it. Maybe Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de at a major stretch.

 

OVA:

Three seasons in a row with an actual entry in the OVA category!

Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi Special – 04/23/2025: I can find absolutely no detail about what this special BD/DVD bonus episode is, but it’s being referred to as “Episode 13” and more Natsume is always welcome. More Kogitsune would make it even more welcome.

 

Theatrical:

There are quite a few films being released by spring standards, but none of them sparks much interest so I’m afraid it’s a pass.