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metalandmagi · 4 years ago

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Spring 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

We made it through the absolute bombshell that was the winter 2021 anime season. But for anyone who wants something new to check out, here’s a list of just some of the anime coming out this spring BASED ON FIRST IMPRESSIONS! There can’t possibly be as much to watch as there was last season...right?

As always, I will put an * by all the shows that are on Crunchyroll.

Here’s my list for the Winter 2021 season in case anyone wants to check that out.

2020 Anime Worth Watching

2019 Anime Worth Watching

New Shows!

*Backflip!! (Bakuten!!): A sports anime revolving around a boy who joins his high school rhythmics gymnastics team after being blown away by their performance during a competition. It’s got every sports anime trope under the sun, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that as long as a show does it well. And boy does Backflip do it well. The main cast is just so dang charming, the animation is great, and I want to see this team succeed. Last season we had gay skateboarding, now we get gay backflips.

*Those Snow White Notes (Mashiro no Oto): A coming of age story about a shamisen player named Setsu Sawamura, who is trying to reignite his passion for the instrument after his grandfather (a renowned musician) died. When Sawamura moves to Tokyo, he finds his love for the shamisen growing after meeting a badass wannabe actress and her worthless boyfriend who happens to be in a band. The first episode packed an entire season’s worth of plot into 23 minutes, so I’m more curious than anything to see where the show goes from here. If nothing else, it has the most amazing shamisen music I’ve ever heard. It seems like it’s going to be a wild one.

Super Cub: Another coming of age anime, this time revolving around a high school girl who has her zest for life reinvigorated when she buys a Honda Super Cub motorcycle. This is not a “cute girls doing cute things” anime...at least not so far. The atmosphere is what makes this anime really stand out, especially the music/sound design and the use of color. The first episode reminded me more of Terror in Resonance than anything else. It’s engaging because it’s quiet. The only thing that puts a damper on it is the excessive use of 3D animation for the characters’ legs while they’re riding. I’d hope that a show about motorcycles and scooters would strive to make the act of riding...look better. I don’t know how I got so invested after one episode where the main character barely speaks, but here I am.

*To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata e): I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this one. Let’s just call it the atmospheric, episodic story of a magical orb that can turn into different things. It’s probably best to go into this one knowing as little as possible, but let it be said that it had one of the most depressing first episodes I’ve ever seen. Overall, the music is amazing, the setting is mysterious, the story is pretty unique, and if it ends up being a “traveling around a fantastical world” type of anime like Kino’s Journey, it could be amazing.

The Way of the Househusband (Gokushufudou): Based on the hit comedy manga, this story follows the married life of a busy career woman named Miku and her husband, the infamous ex yakuza member known as Immortal Dragon Tatsu. It’s made in the style of the manga, which is to say...it’s mostly still panels where the only movement is the characters’ mouths, so there’s not much...animation in this anime. It’s a technique a few comedy anime use which can be good and add to the humor in the right circumstances...or just seem lazy. The manga’s art is definitely better, but the voice acting (in Japanese and English) is God tier. And if the style of the anime isn’t for you, the manga is amazing!

*Tokyo Revengers: An action/drama about Takemichi Hanagaki, a pathetic loser who finds out that his old middle school girlfriend was killed by a Tokyo gang. Without warning, Takemichi finds himself 12 years in the past, with the task of saving his girlfriend. Which means having to infiltrate the gang and hopefully become important enough to save her somehow. So yes, like Erased but with more shonen elements. I’m super interested to see where the plot is going, because our protagonist is kind of a cry baby, but at least he’s appropriately horrified at his cringe worthy middle school delinquent personality. We can all relate.

*Let’s Make A Mug Too (Yakunara Mug Cup Mo): Cute girls making pottery. There’s a little more backstory to our main character than that, but that’s all anyone needs to know for now. I always appreciate slice of life shows where the girls aren’t just blobs of moe, (like Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater...another underrated show nobody watched). If you’re looking for a laid back slice of life with a surprising amount of heart to it, this is the show for you. And it’s only a half length show, so the episodes go by very quickly.

*Higehiro: I’m not writing the full title, even if it does describe the plot. A “comedy” in which 26 year old salaryman Yoshida stumbles across a teenage girl who tries to seduce him into letting her stay the night with him. But since he understands the concept of basic human decency and also doesn’t want to go to prison, he takes her in and helps her get back on her feet after finding out she’s a runaway with no other options. I’m cautiously optimistic that this won’t turn into a creepy mess, because while there is fanservice, the plot seems like it’s going in the direction of teaching our resident runaway some self respect, instead of just shipping her with an adult man. I see a lot of potential here. I just hope there’s progressively less teenage sexualization as we go along.

*Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood: A fantasy period drama that follows a group of assassins in an alternate timeline of 1930s Japan who are trying to prevent the fall of the government by eliminating the Kuchinawa, a terrorist group that’s trying to take over the country. Our main character Sawa has pledged her life to avenging the death of her family, who was murdered by the Kuchinawa. Also there’s like magical energy powers that turn people into superhumans or something. Just trust me, it’s cool as fuck. I don’t know what this anime is selling to me exactly, but I’m buying it.

*86: A sci-fi drama, revolving around the people of the Republic of San Magnolia who are constantly being attacked by their neighboring country. To combat these attacks, the Republic created drones that are meant to be cannon fodder with no real casualties, since they aren’t piloted by people. But it’s an anime, so of course the big secret the government is keeping is that they’re actually piloted by a group of plucky young soldiers! I see a lot of potential in this. It could be just another ultimately disappointing sci-fi made by A-1 Pictures, but I like our protagonist Lena, and the squad itself shows a surprising amount of personality with just a few minutes of screentime so far.

Pretty Boy Detective Club (Bishounen Tanteidan): It’s Ouran High Middle School Host Detective Club...without the crossdressing (though I wouldn’t put it past them). All the boys are 100% extra and seem like airheads, but their hearts are in the right place. The gimmicks are funny, but there’s actually a surprising amount of heart behind it. So I’m here for it.

Shadows House: A supernatural mystery/slice of life about a noble family of shadow people who are each given living dolls to basically be their servants. Even though we never see the nobles’ faces, each doll is the mirror image of their master. And despite this being branded as a slice of life, there’s definitely something intriguing beneath the cute characters. It’s just the right amount of creepy while also managing a surprising amount of wholesomeness (I guess Cloverworks is pretty good at that). If you want something weird, but not overtly sinister or horrific, this show is super different from anything I’ve seen before.

Continuing Series

Moriarty the Patriot (season2): A Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery, this time focusing on Moriarty and his family attempting to take down the class system in London by surreptitiously murdering or covering up the murders of corrupt nobles. Or at least, that’s how it starts. After a few annoyingly repetitive episodes of this formula, the show starts to delve into Sherlock’s side of the story, and we see the two become embroiled in their sneaky rivalry, which is much more interesting to watch. If you missed it the first time, I’d recommend it now, especially since resident boss bitch Irene Adler is going to play a key part in this season.

*Fruits Basket (The Final Season): I won’t stop talking about this show until it gets the love and recognition it deserves. It got me through quarantine. It watered my crops (with my tears) and cleared my skin. And if you love complex but still morally dubious villains, this season is going to be a treat.

*My Hero Academia (season 5): There’s five seasons of this dang show. You know it’s good by now. And we’re getting more of the sneaky chicken man!

Honorable Mentions:

*It's Too Sick to Call this Love (Koikimo): Now, we don’t have time to unpack all that. I genuinely have never felt so conflicted about an anime...ever. Just watch it and see if it’s your kind of thing if you like slice of life “romances”. Also something is very wrong with the sound mixing and recording quality so be warned.

Also, we’re getting a Shaman King remake and a new season of Hetalia in the year of our lord 2021.

Hopefully there’s something on here that piques your interest if you’re looking for something new. I’m still recovering from last season, so I can’t watch everything, like the Reincarnated as a Slime spin off and Don’t Tease me Nagatoro (for anyone who wants some quality trash). Also I want the record to state that I did watch the first episodes of Odd Taxi and Vivy-Fluorite Eye’s Song, and they put me to sleep. But everyone else seems to love them.

See you next season!