Anime Spring 2023

Okay, I finished most of what I was watching in Spring 2023, so here are some thoughts on each one. These are just my like, opinions, so don’t take anything too seriously. There are mild spoilers ahead, especially for the first episode of Oshi No Ko, proceed with any amount of caution you desire.

Hell's Paradise: Bad case of telling rather than showing. Although I think finally in the last two episodes we are (almost) done explaining how things work. It's picking up the pace, and they are getting to some of the interesting threads. I expect next season to be better as we get to the meat of things.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2: I feel as though the ending came about a half episode early, but they wrapped things up quite nicely. Didn't expect Gundam to be the anime that said "gay rights" this season, but happy it did. Suletta was a great protagonist and I think this show will for sure reignite some interest in the series. It's a Gundam for the modern audience.

Oshi No Ko: Probably my least favorite hook I can think of in an anime. Largely I think it could have been done different, or the manga could have achieved what it wanted to say without the reincarnation bit. The twist at the end of the first episode was great, and huge props to how this show was marketed to not spoil this important twist. It's just a weird vibe until the kids are teenagers. Once they get to that part, though, Aka has some good stuff to say about the entertainment industry in Japan (and as a whole.) I find the cast surrounding Aqua to be more interesting than Aqua himself. It’s a great show, if you can get past the idol fans being reincarnated as their favorite idol's children bit.

Tengoku Daimakyo: An interesting world that chose to focus on all the wrong parts of the characters. Episode 12 really soured the whole thing for me. I don't think this one lived up to its potential. This one isn't for me.

BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls’ Story- Season 2: This show was just peak anime with all the good kinds of bullshit. Unfortunately, the ending felt very rushed and a lot of threads were tied up by simply hand-waving them. I still really like this show, but if they had stuck the landing, I think this would have been a cult classic years later. I'll fondly remember this one though for how anime it was.

Skip and Loafer: A charming cast of characters written by someone who wrote actual people instead of tropes. The fantastic character writing was a real breath of fresh air considering this is another romance set in a school. But the way Mitsumi handled things was so satisfying to watch. Hoping for a season two.

Demon Slayer: It's Demon Slayer baby. Our special boy Tanjiro continues to be the most special boy ever and keeps winning. This season looked as good as any of them. Mitsuri was especially cool as a Hashira and I wish she would have had more screen time fighting. Otherwise, I got no real complaints, it’s more Demon Slayer.

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999: Not finished with this one yet, but I am planning to. It's a fun, if a little boring, watch. The show isn't doing anything I haven't seen elsewhere, and doesn't feel super engaging to me. Love seeing the MMO stuff come up in the show, as I find it pretty relatable. Shout out to Mr. Kamota for living his best strawberry farmer life.

This was such a strong season, and there are several shows I wanted to watch and didn’t get to. I’ll likely at least go back and watch Insomniacs after School, Yuri is my Job and maybe Mashle as well. It’s just as well that Summer 2023 looks to be one of the slowest seasons in years, as there is a ton of stuff I’ve missed and would like to go back and watch.

Spring 2023 would be a hard season to top in terms of the number of quality shows. Not sure that we’ll ever see a season quite this packed again!