So, I have to say, I’m a little disappointed. I was looking forward to jumping back into one of my favorite sports anime this season, Chihayafuru. Unfortunately, the show has been delayed, but we won’t have to wait too long for it. It should be coming out this upcoming autumn. Luckily, there’s another show I’m extremely excited to watch this season, and that’s, well . . . You’ll just have to read my recommendations to find out!
Attack on Titan (Season 3, Part 2)
“Eren Jaeger swore to wipe out every last Titan, but in a battle for his life he wound up becoming the thing he hates most. With his new powers, he fights for humanity’s freedom facing the monsters that threaten his home. After a bittersweet victory against the Female Titan, Eren finds no time to rest–a horde of Titans is approaching Wall Rose and the battle for humanity continues” (Plot Summary from Anime News Network).
Last summer, Attack on Titan returned with season three. The season, however, was split into two parts, the first part airing then and the second part airing now. This season, thus far, has revealed some important information, about Eren and Historia’s relationship, Eren and his father’s relationship, how humans can become Titans, a coup d’état, and some ending credits in the last episode that left viewers wondering what’s going to happen next. Other than Eren still being a bit of a whiny teenager, this strange take on the zombie-dystopia trope keeps on getting better. The plot continues to thicken.
Attack on Titan season three will be available to watch on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Carole & Tuesday
“Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars. It’s an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are content to be passive consumers. There’s a girl scraping a living in the metropolis of Alba City, she’s working part-time while trying to become a musician. She’s always felt like something is missing. Her name is Carole. There’s another girl. Born to a wealthy family in the provincial town of Herschel City, she dreams of becoming a musician, but nobody around her understands. She feels like the loneliest person in the world. Her name is Tuesday. A chance meeting brings them together” (Plot Summary from Anime News Network).
A new anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, among others. What more is there left to say?
Carole & Tuesday will be available to watch on Netflix.
Fruits Basket (remake)
“After a family tragedy turns her life upside down, plucky high schooler Tohru Honda takes matters into her own hands and moves out into a tent. Unfortunately for her, she pitches her new home on private land belonging to the mysterious Sohma clan, and it isn’t long before the owners discover her secret. But, as Tohru quickly finds out when the family offers to take her in, the Sohmas have a secret of their own—when touched by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac” (Plot Summary from Anime News Network).
So, this is the anime I’m most excited about. This is the show that cannot possibly disappoint! This is my all-time favorite shoujo manga. I might even love this manga more than I do Sailor Moon. Fruits basket—it was one of the shows I watched back in 2004 that got me back into anime. I could reread the manga over and over again and be happy with only it. The anime never got its full due when it originally aired back in 2001, mainly because the manga wasn’t done yet. Now its finally getting the adaptation it deserves. Are you Tohru x Yuki shipper, a Tohru x Kyo shipper, or a Yuki x Kyo shipper?
Fruits Basket will be available to watch on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Midnight Occult Civil Servants
“Arata Miyako is a new government worker assigned to the Shinjuku Ward Office’s ‘Nighttime Regional Relations’ department. Each of Tokyo’s 23 wards has one such department, which were established to solve paranormal and occult-related events. Arata can understand non-human speech that no one else understands, and he encounters a yōkai (supernatural entity) at Shinjuku Gyoen park that calls him Abe no Seimei—the name of a historical Japanese occultist and diviner” (Plot Summary from Anime News Network).
The last two anime on this list are what I’d like to refer to as my “throwaway” picks. They’re the recommendations I’m making based on very little information. Mostly, I’m interested in them both because of their supernatural and occult aspects. I’ve been really enjoying catching up on Natsume’s Book of Friends and The Eccentric Family, which are chock-full of Japanese folklore, one of my favorite things.
Sarazanmai (below) looks to contain a lot more Japanese folklore, while Midnight Occult Civil Servants mentions yōkai in the plot summary, but may contain some Western-influenced supernatural beings. Those winged people sure look like angels and demons to me, but they may not be. But if they are, that would be interesting. Perhaps making the show a little like the novel The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard (which I still need to finish reading), which contains fallen angels and Vietnamese immortals.
Midnight Occult Civil Servants will be available to watch on Crunchyroll.
Sarazanmai
“One day, three second-year middle school students—Kazuki Yasaka, Toi Kuji, and Enta Jinai—meet a kappa-like creature named Keppi, who is the self-proclaimed heir to the throne of Kappa Kingdom. Keppi forcibly takes the students’ shirikodama (a mythical organ kappa steal through a person’s anus) and they are transformed into kappa. Keppi informs them, ‘If you want to return to your former selves, you need to connect in that way and you must bring me the shirikodama of zombies.’ At the same time, two policemen, Reo Niiboshi and Mabu Akutsu, try to do something at the police box where they are stationed (Plot Summary from Anime News Network).”
A new anime airing in the Noitamina time slot on Fuji Television. What more is there left to say?
Sarazanmai will be available to watch on Crunchyroll.
[blocktext align=”center”]What simulcasts will you be watching this spring?[/blocktext]
[coffee]
