What was your favorite anime of the season?
With the spring 2018 anime season over, now’s a great time to binge some of the best new anime the season had to offer. This spring season saw the return and rebirth of beloved franchises in celebration of landmark anniversaries, along with great new comedies.
Continuing anime like My Hero Academia and sequel series like Steins;Gate 0 were ineligible for this list as we instead want to feature brand new anime. If you’re not caught up on Food Wars: The Third Plate or My Hero Academia, we highly recommend them!
Below you’ll find our picks for the season in the slideshow below and the same information following that in the article.
Aggretsuko
Available on Netflix
Netflix anime releases usually feel unaligned with the regular season schedule, but it’s hard to forget this raging red panda. Sanrio’s Aggretsuko stars Retsuko, a Tokyo office worker who deals with her immense day to day stress by singing death metal alone in a karaoke booth. This hilarious 10-episode anime thoughtfully explores tough and unfortunately relatable topics that come with working in a toxic environment, including harassment, abuse, and sexism. Thankfully, she doesn’t have to navigate her awful workplace alone, though like with real life, friendship doesn’t suddenly solve all problems. While this may seem more stressful than fun to watch, Aggretsuko finds a great balance with its awesome death metal and a fantastic cast of characters. You can’t go wrong with the sub or dub on this one, too.
Hinamatsuri
Available on Crunchyroll and Funimation
In Hinamatsuri, a young, successful yakuza, Nitta Yoshifumi, finds himself thrusted into parenthood when a psychokinetic girl suddenly appears in his apartment. Using her powers to threaten his prized vase collection, Hina secures herself food and shelter. Hinamatsuri is a delightful comedy about these two people’s lives and how Hina’s mischief affects others – including people from her own… dimension? It also takes breaks from focusing on Hina in order to explore the equally hilarious lives of her friends. It’s easily the best comedy of the season and a consistent joy to watch.
Megalo Box
Available on Crunchyroll
Studio TMS Entertainment celebrates the 50th anniversary of Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe) with a new “cool retro look” of the original series. Imagine an anime that combines Cowboy Bebop’s dystopian landscapes, Samurai Champloo’s hip-hop music, and good ole boxing. Enter Megalo Box! In this futuristic world, Junk Dog lives for the thrill of competition through Megalo Boxing, a sport where competitors fight with the assistance of mechanical frames. The story is very different from the original series but the combination of the art style, music, and characters work well together to create some iconic moments. If you’re looking for a sports anime with a new spin or a shonen anime that is reminiscent of the late 90s/early 2000s, definitely check out Megalo Box.
Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku
Available on Amazon Prime Video
Dating as an adult can be difficult, but dating as an adult otaku in Japan poses even more of a unique challenge. Instead of spending the entire show building up to the relationship confession, Wotakoi is an exploration of two very nerdy relationships and the funny challenges they face, from disputing OTPs, playing multiplayer games together, and pressuring each other to cosplay. There are also some more serious topics too, like exploring each individual’s need to hide part of themselves to be accepted by others, but Wotakoi mostly focuses on the fun stuff. If you dabble in gaming, anime (obviously you do if you’re reading this), cosplay, and manga, this is a good spirited romantic comedy that you just might relate to.
Yotsuiro Biyori
Available on Crunchyroll
Like the actual setting of the Rokuhoudou cafe, this slice-of-life anime felt a bit hidden amongst the flashier new anime. Yotsuiro Biyori follows Sui and his friends who all work in a classic Japanese-style tea house that’s surrounded by bamboo in the middle of modern Tokyo. The food they make is as beautiful as the food you’d see in Food Wars, but the stories told through the cafe are incredibly heartfelt, raging from tackling depression to simply fulfilling one man’s intense craving for tempura. While the first episode is a bit of a drag, if you like slice-of-life stories, this is one anime you’ll appreciate giving a chance.
Bonus shoutout: GeGeGe no Kitaro
Available on Crunchyroll
Based on a manga about yokai (monsters from Japanese folklore) from the 1960s, this sixth anime iteration of GeGeGe no Kitaro is a monster-of-the-week anime with occasionally great social commentary. In one episode a yokai takes the souls of thousands, then questions why these souls matter when “over 80,000 people go missing each year” but “no one causes a stir.” Oof. Though most battles with these yokai are rather underwhelming and borderline goofy, the lead up to them is a fun look at how yokai interact with the modern world.
If you didn’t see one of your favorite spring anime on this list, be sure to share your favorites in the comments below! For more on the spring season’s anime be sure to check out IGN’s spoiler-free season review of FLCL: Progressive and thoughtful feature on how Food Wars: The Third Plate tackles a difficult topic while still maintaining its ecchi style.
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