2020, which will henceforth be referred to as the year not to be nominated, it was a beautiful Weird year in terms of anime, to say the least. Several high-level anime productions were halted due to the pandemic and forced to reschedule, starting in the second season of The Promise Neverland to high-profile feature films such as the recently released Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 three times at once and the next US theatrical debut of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train.
Spring 2021 is full of new releases, with more than 50 new anime series set to debut the rest of the year. As with so many things in life, an overabundance of choices can lead to a feeling of strangeness and paralysis, even for the most experienced of anime watchers. Don’t worry – we’re here to help you sift through the options and discover the best new series to follow.
Here is our list of the 10 most exciting animes to watch this season.
Fruit basket: the last season
The last season of Fruit basket it is sure to be the most emotional – and this is something for a show that regularly interrogates childhood traumas, adult loneliness and the mortifying ordeal of being known.
The final season ended with the idealistic orphan Tohru Honda discovering the true nature of Akito, the head of the mysterious Sohma family. As the “God” of the zodiac, Akito wields great power and influence over members of the Sohma family, especially those who suffer from the curse. Essentially, they are forced to comply with Akito’s bids, whether they like it or not.
Determined to break the curse they are under – for everyone involved, but especially for the scorned Cat of the Zodiac, Kyo, who will basically be locked up for life after graduation – Tohru must dive deeper and figure out how to undo the bonds that bring Sohmas together. Next season previews promise some confessions of love, stolen kisses and moments of tears. Will Tohru be able to break the curse of the Sohma family? The word has already been released, but one thing is certain: Fruit basket: the last season it will probably make us cry. —Petrana Radulovic
Fruit basket: the last season debuts on April 5 on Crunchyroll and Funimation. The first episode is available for broadcast now on Funimation.
Godzilla: Single Point
This spring could not be a more fortuitous season for Godzilla fans, with the highly anticipated debut of Studio Bones (My Hero Academia) and orange (Beastars) anime series Godzilla Singular Point few days after the release of the last American live action movie Godzilla x King Kong.
Not to be confused with the Polygon Pictures anime film trilogy (Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla: city on the brink of battle and Godzilla: The Planet Eater), Godzilla Singular Point features a new cast of characters and original story, written by Toh Enjoe (Corpse empire, Space Dandy) and directed by Atsushi Takahashi (Doraemon the Movie 2017: Great Adventure in Antarctica Kachi Kochi) The series also features Eiji Yamamori, known for his work on anime classics as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and The wind rises, as the designer of the ‘kaiju’ series. Will the King of Kaiju reign triumphantly in this new incarnation? There is only one way to find out. —Toussaint Egan
Godzilla: Singular Point premieres on Netflix in Japan on March 25 and will be available for broadcast worldwide later this year.
Joran, the princess of snow and blood
Joran, the princess of snow and blood may sound like a riff in Toshiya Fujita’s 1973 period revenge drama Lady Snowblood, but the premise is much more supernatural. Directed by Susumu Kudo (Tokyo Babylon 2021, Ghost in the Shell: Get up) and written by Rika Nezu (They are young) and Kunihiko Okada (The girl who jumped through space), the anime takes place in a version of Japan’s alternative history in 1931, where a mysterious source of energy known as the “dragon’s vein” has given the country miraculous technological advances and a clandestine order of executioners known as “Nue” works on behalf of of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The series follows Sawa Yukimura, a young woman with blue blood and supernatural abilities, who embarks on a revenge campaign against the Nue for murdering her family when she was a child. -YOU
Joran, the princess of snow and blood premieres on April 6 in Japan and will be broadcast this spring in Crunchyroll.
Megalo Box 2: Nomad
Gearless Joe is back in the long-awaited 2018 sequel to TMS Entertainment Ashita at Joe tribute Megalo Box! And from the trailer, he’s been a little battered in the seven years since he became the champion of the boxing tournament in Megalonia. Megalo Box 2: Nomad sees the return of the series director You Moriyama, along with screenwriter and composers Katsuhiko Manabe and Kensaku Kojima. If the series looks like its 2018 predecessor, Megalo Box 2: Nomad it will surely be one of the most stimulating and beautifully animated action anime of this season. -YOU
Megalobox 2: Nomad premieres on April 4 in Japan and will be broadcast on Funimation.
My Hero Academia season 5
We call the fourth season My Hero Academia one of our favorite anime from last year, describing it as “[the series] in its darkest and strongest form, as it further explores the complications of a world where almost everyone is superpowered. ”
The fifth season of MHA will begin with the Joint Training Arc, which shows Class 1-A and Class 1-B students against each other in a series of team battles that demonstrate how much each class has grown. In the wake of All Might’s retirement and Endeavor’s new role as the new Hero Number One, the fifth season of MHA you’ll probably see Izuku Midoriya and the rest of UA Academy’s Class 1-A face new challenges and even more terrible villains as Heroic society gets more precarious with each passing day. Season 5 promises to bring exciting new revelations to the issues left until the end of last season, as well as the 100th episode of the series. -YOU
My Hero Academia, season 5 premieres on March 27 in Japan and will air on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
SSSS. Dynazenon
Studio Trigger’s SSSS.Gridman was one of the most satisfying and surprising anime favorites of autumn 2018, reinvigorating Tsuburaya Productions’ long-dormant tokusatsu property Denkou Choujin Gridman (best known in the US for its Westernized adaptation Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad) with an intriguing character-based storyline and stunning animation. With the return of the SSSS.Gridman including director Akira Amemiya, screenwriter Keiichi Hasegawa, character designer Masaru Sakamoto and composer Shiro Sagisu, SSS.Dynazenon it is the next chapter in the “Gridman Universe” franchise and continues the story of its 2018 predecessor – although the “how” exactly still remains a closed secret. However, we remain excited to see where this new anime propels the series in the future. -YOU
SSSS. Dynazenon premieres on April 2 in Japan and will be broadcast on Crunchyroll.
The world ends with you: the animation
The 2007 Nintendo DS game The world ends with you remains a favorite cult eccentric among Square Venix’s venerable JRPG catalog, an action RPG focused on clothing inspired by Japanese youth culture and street fashion. With a long-awaited sequence, NEO: The world ends with you, scheduled to be released later this year, now is the perfect time to get to know the series via the studio Domerica (Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo) and Animation Shin-Eiin (Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan) last anime adaptation. The game’s characteristic art style is incredibly rendered, executed through an artistic mix of 2D and 3D animation that brings the original art of Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi to life. -YOU
The world ends with you premieres on April 9 in Japan and will be broadcast on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
For your eternity
Based on A Silent Voice manga of the same name as author Yoshitoki Ōima, For your eternity follows a mysterious immortal amorphous sent to Earth by a more mysterious force, embarking on a personal journey in search of knowledge and meaning, at the same time that it takes the form of those with whom it establishes a strong affective bond. But what does this being have to do with the story of the lonely boy and his wolf companion in the North American Arctic? Well … that would be revealing, wouldn’t it? With a robust and eclectic team, including director Mashishiko Murata (NARUTO spin-off: Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals) and screenwriter Shinzo Fujita (Parasyte -the maximum-), not to mention courtesy of Kingdom Hearts singer Hikaru Utada, For your eternity resembles a strange and elusive hybrid by John Carpenter The thing finds the melancholy 2005 supernatural drama anime Mushishi. -YOU
For your eternity premieres on April 12 in Japan and will air on Crunchyroll.
Yasuke
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Image: MAPPA / Netflix
LeSean Thomas’ (Black Dynamite, The Boondocks) last series Yasuke it is easily one of the most intriguing new anime to come out this spring. Based on the real-life story of a former slave who became a lackey samurai by Oda Nobunaga, the series boasts a who’s who with talent behind the scenes, with director Takeshi Koike (Lupid the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine) contributing to the design work, LaKeith Stanfield (Get out, Atlanta, Sorry to bother you) providing the main character’s voice and musician-producer Flying Lotus contributing the series’ soundtrack. With animation credited to the MAPPA studio (Jujutsu Kaisen, Dororo, Dorohedoro), Yasuke has all the ingredients for an impressive production and we can’t wait to see the series reserved for the public when it debuts on Netflix. -YOU
Yasuke premieres on April 29 in Netflix.
Zombieland Saga: Revenge
While anime idol may not be attractive to all anime fans, Zombie Land Saga is the anime idol for everyone. All the girls are from various periods of time and died, but were brought back alive to be zombie idols. It is fun to learn about their different background stories, while staying close by for any strange scheme they have devised to promote their group. He has a delicious amount of slapstick humor in each episode, leaning towards the zombie genre, whether to remove limbs or smudge his makeup, revealing his zombie appearance to his human fans. –Julia Lee
Zombieland Saga: Revenge will broadcast this spring Crunchyroll and Funimation.