A bit ago I wrote an article giving my last thoughts on the winter anime of 2020. Now, we’re living in a fresh new season baby. I think it would be interesting to have these articles where I say my thoughts at the beginning and end of a season and hear from you guys, and then compare our overall thoughts and feelings when the season is over. Nothing like identifying some promising anime at the start that immediately fall apart once episode 9 hits. Speaking of promising anime, let’s get into some lookers for this spring. For the sake of fairness I won’t be talking about anything that’s simply receiving a second season.

Tower of God

My ass has been absolutely blasted from every direction from advertisements telling me to watch this show. There’s a good bit of hype around it to say the least. So far I’m two episodes in and I must admit I absolutely love the artstyle. It has a very sketchy, pencily feel yet with a bright color palette attached. As far as the writing, it’s hard to say as the plot is still very basic at the moment and there were some fanservice-y, weird moments in the beginning but I’m on the fence as to whether it’s big brain foreshadowing or just a lazy attempt to explain away some things. Judging from how many people shill out for this series though, I’m crossing my fingers that it was clever foreshadowing. Either way, I’ll definitely be watching this to completion.

Kakushigoto

This anime is a comedy about a dad who tries to hide the fact that he draws lewd manga from his young daughter. Episode one left me unimpressed, but in episode two the comedy landed a lot more often for me, and it took some time for a couple of serious scenes that hint some deeper concepts are going to be explored down the road. I was on the fence at first but I’m warming up this one. Plus the daughter is cute af (in a nonsexual way you guys, jeezus), so there's that. 

Listeners

Nope. I tried the first episode, but that shit was boring af. It’s about a world where the creatures of Grimm from RWBY, sorry I mean big black animal-like creatures come to destroy villages. Players, which are people/robots/mechs as I gathered, get power from music and use it to fight the creatures. I’ve fallen for this trap too many times before, so I’m afraid this one’s not for me. Maybe I'm missing a diamond in the rough but that's simply a price I'm willing to pay.

Yesterday wo Utatte

Uh oh, real shit alert. This anime is about a guy who works a small part-time job and doesn’t really have much direction in life. He’s ashamed he isn’t as successful as his other classmates and wants to keep the freedom associated with a part-time job, and ends up living a lonely and recluse life. That is, until some familiar female faces return to town and cause him to step out of his comfort zone. I’m the type of guy who loves to mess around with a ton of different hobbies for a little bit but not dedicate my life enough to any one particular thing to be superb at it, so this anime was hitting me a little close to home with the “I don’t know what to do with my life” vibes. This one right here could be anime of the season cause it’s only been one episode and it’s already my favorite thanks to the characters and themes. Slice of life fans, rejoice.

BNA

Ayyyy it’s another animal show ladies and gentlemen. I’ll admit after Beastars the bar has been set for the furries, and anything less will disappoint. Luckily, BNA takes a much different approach and focuses on a world with humans and beastmen. Beastmen are relegated to an island to live in Anima City. Not everything is peachy keen over there though, as Beastmen are regularly influenced to commit crime by humans for large payouts, not to mention their own crime gangs and families. Shirou, a cool wolf dude, and Michiru, a human who suddenly turned into a beast in the form of a tanuki, ended up teaming up to unravel a mysterious crime plot while learning more about the secrets of beastmen. Considering the heavy aesthetic and that it’s done by Trigger, I mean, you probably already know if you’re watching it or not. You can count my ass in.

Tamayomi

I had planned to watch this because it was about girls and baseball and I needed a sports show for the season, but holy fuck this is giving me all kinds of red flags. From the cover you’d think this was a mature, serious anime about a club coming together to make their name in baseball, but two episodes in and it feels like I’m watching a loli anime. It’s not nearly as serious as I was hoping for to the point where I’m gonna have to take my leave. Three strikes and I’m out I guess.

That about does it for my impressions so far. What anime are you watching this season? Did you already drop an anime, or pick up something unexpected? Share your first impressions in the comments below!