Forum - View topicThe Best Anime of Spring 2024
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5485 |
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To be fair, I don't think we can fully blame any supposed U.S. companies for not picking this up. Toei themselves could have been weird as the licensor for some unknown reason we can only speculate and only licensed out to France and recently Indonesia for streaming. |
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Flash33
 Posts: 31 Location: Florida |
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As a primarily English dub watcher there are quite a few shows I watched this season that I've been really enjoying. Some are still ongoing as of the date of writing this post, but I've still been enjoying them. No show is perfect but they can still be enjoyable despite their flaws. Some are as followed in no particular order:
Natsume's Book of Friends S5: A show that continues to be solid all around as a nice take on the yokai genre. Props have to be given to Natsume's and Madara's VAs (Adam Gibbs & Christopher Wehkamp respectively) as they give excellent performances as the leads. Gods' Game We Play: Interesting games and characters all around, though I do wish Pearl Diamond & some of the Arises were utilized more often than they were. That said if a second season was made in the future I'd definitely watch it. The Duke of Death & His Maid S3: The show continues to do a good job mixing comedy & heartwarming moments while also helping to humanize its antagonists & while not excusing their actions helping us understand what drove them to that point. I look forward to seeing how S3 ends. Chillin' in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers: While I do tend to enjoy most isekais even I'll admit there are too many of them coming out lately & would definitely like other non-isekais to get animated and/or extra seasons. That said I have really enjoyed this one, with Fenrys and Fleo having a good rapport with each other and the other characters staying with them. It may seem like a harem show due to the ratio of males-females but as shows like And You Thought There Was Never A Girl Online and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions show us you can have shows with more female than male characters while still having only one couple, having them still be friends with the others & not have it be a harem. I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability: Another isekai I've enjoyed watching, Lloyd's antics in his pursuit for magic are fun to watch, and I like how later on it makes the Assassin's Guild sympathetic by showing that spoiler[they never wanted to be criminals in the first place but due to their uncontrollable magic this band of misfits was given no real choice in the matter, which includes the tragic fall of their beloved leader.] Laid-Back Camp S3: I only recently started watching this series but I've been enjoying it nonetheless. Sure the animation changes in S3 is a bit jarring at first but you get used to it over time and in my opinion it doesn't detract from the show as a whole. The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess: It took a few episodes to grow on me (and I feel for Brittany Karbowski to settle into her role as Terakomari) but I have been enjoying it nonetheless & am interested to see how it ends. Tsukimichi S2: While not the best show out there it is still enjoyable nonetheless, and unlike in S1 it doesn't overrely on cliffhangers to get you to tune in, a complaint I saw in the reviews for S1 (there are still some cliffhangers in S2 but not nearly as many as in S1 & only where they make sense to be at in my opinion). Shout-out to Dallas Reid for continuing to perform well as Makoto. If you've only heard them as Asta in Black Clover or Kurt in Wise Man's Grandchild you'd be surprised at how well they can pull off both the silly and serious moments when need be as roles like Makoto here and Prince Wein in A Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation out of Debt clearly show (not that they couldn't as Asta as they can, but it's just more obvious and pronounced as both Wein and Makoto comparatively so). Mushoku Tensei S2: Another show I'm continuing to enjoy. I read a comment saying Rudy's character fell off after S1 & that he's not that invested in much this season, but that's kind of the point given what happened at S1s end, and yet despite that he does get better over time slowly but surely. Vampire Dormitory: A pretty good romance story with some interesting characters. Some shows I do plan to watch but haven't gotten around to yet are Date A Live V and Konosuba 3. I've enjoyed the previous seasons so I'm hoping I'll enjoy the newest ones as well, but we'll see how it goes. Last edited by Flash33 on Thu Jun 27, 2024 7:55 am; edited 7 times in total |
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kgw
 Posts: 1098 Location: Spain, EU |
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Oh, there is an answer for France's licensing policy: they license (almost) everything, from "axed" mangas to little known animes. 
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Lily Garden
 Posts: 38 |
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Favorites this Season were:
Spice & Wolf YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master Runner-up: Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night---- the visuals & music were great and I loved the characters, but it stumbled a little bit in the second half. It probably could have benefited from having an extra episode or two to let emotional and story beats breathe a bit more. Trashy but I love it: Vampire Dormitory--- it's Twilight x Ouran High School Host Club Have to catch up on: Train to the End of the World Delicious in Dungeon |
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JustMonika
Posts: 1040 |
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Konosuba definitely holds the crown for AOTS and possibly AOTY for me. Nothing could ever compete with Konosuba in the world of anime for me besides the Monogatari Series. Here's my top 10 of the season.. and Girls Band Cry in America when?
Konosuba (Season 3) Kaiju No. 8 A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics Date A Live (Season 5) The Archdemon's Dilemma Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night Spice and Wolf Train to the End of the World The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio Chillin' in Another World with Level 2 Cheat Powers |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23905 |
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I agree with the selections here except for the few shows cited that I didn't watch, one of which is Sound Euphonium. Pretty good Spring crop.
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Thesarum
Posts: 428 |
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Clear pack leaders for me this season are:
Train to the End of the World Stupid and smart in equal measure (it's a huge amount of both), this has been a gem this season. You never really knew what it was going to do next, except you knew it'd be amazing. Spice and Wolf Never saw the original season (pretty sure it's unavailable to stream in the UK) but I enjoyed the books a great deal. I wasn't immediately on board with the art direction and initial pacing, but who can hold out on Lawrence and Holo for long? They're such an adorable power couple. Maybe the art got better or I just got used to it... but this deserves its place at the top end of this list. Delicious in Dungeon Given the hype, I expected great things, and I've not been disappointed. As for the others: As Key said, An Archdemon's Dilemma probably deserves a mention for being more enjoyable than it had any real right to be. It's not up there with the previous three by any means, but it was a fluffy hug of a show. Little real substance, but some days a show that makes you go "aww, that's sweet" is what you're after. Mushoku Tensei is a complicated show to wholeheartedly endorse. Or talk about in polite company. But it's technically great, and does a lot of interesting things, even if half of those things make you go "eww, really Rudeus?!?!" A protagonist as deeply flawed but honestly trying to do the right thing as he does is a pretty rare thing. My two Hidive shows of the season, Jellyfish Cash Swim in the Night and Whisper Me a Love Song have both been disappointing in their own ways. The latter because the production has been a horrific mess even as the story has largely held up, and the former because the writing couldn't deliver. I'd say I've enjoyed them both, with caveats. Then there's a bunch of other stuff I watched that was merely fine. Apparently I need to get into YATAGARASU because apparently I made a mistake in thinking my schedule was full already before I watched the first few episodes of that. And maybe I don't need to catch up on Demon Slayer which I've somehow not found time for even though at this point I kinda feel I'm committed to see it through to the end. Apparently I've not missed much. |
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 359 Location: Manchester, UK |
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It’s personally been a pretty fantastic season for me, with the likes of Eupho S3, Kaiju no.8, & Go Go Loser Ranger all being entertaining, if somewhat unevenly paced stories.
I also really grew to appreciate Delicious in Dungeon’s rich characterization, lore and cryptozoology? I’m still not particularly taken with the whole cooking element or the slightly generic soft fantasy template that all the more interesting idea are built upon, but I can see this being a show I go back to & appreciate even more. The dub slaps as well. As for my favourite shows, I couldn’t’ settle on just one or two, so I’m going with a small list 6. Yuru Camp S3. ‘Same great Camping, now with a diet flavour’ is probably a good way of putting it. That might not sound too bad, but S1-2 counted as my favourite shows of both 2018 & 2021, which highlights how far I think the drop has been this season. I know everyone’s ragged on the crappy filter backgrounds & slightly unnerving character redesigns by now, but I felt there shift towards more comedic, rambling shaggy dog stories in the second half also hurt it. Whereas before, the exaggerated scenes were brief & perfectly intersected with reality, now they’re often just those time-saving chibi/extreme reactions in front of generic background templates that you see in a lot of mid-level 4-koma style comedies. Yuru Camp was always an example of good source material elevated to near perfection by every element of its production & directorial timing, & I always figured a shift to perhaps lesser studio would affect that. The show’s still pretty darn good, but the magic isn't quite there any more. Between the slightly less creative sensibilities of Eight Bit & the more rambling nature after the Rin/Ayano/Nadeshiko arc, I am starting to wonder if C-Station’s movie was the perfect end point for the cast after all. 5. Train to the End of the World Once I gave up trying to find a more concrete thesis re: the show’s opinion on technology vs society & just embraced the Mizushima/Yokote nonsense I ended up having a lot of fun with its blending of inspired & stupidity. The Abenobashi comparison made by one reviewer definitely tracks, only here the show doesn’t completely undercut itself at the end by trampling over its own themes. Maybe a slightly less spastic & exhausting take on what they achieved with Hare + Guu might be better. 4. A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics. I feel like I was losing my mind this season with the complete & utter lack of discussion this show had. ANN didn’t review it & I didn’t see a single mention about it on any social media feed. I recall people loving Hinamatsuri when that came out, and this was that albeit with a minor reverse-isekai element (something else people normally attach to). Also it was written by the Haganai author, who despite seeming pretty mercenary in terms of chasing popular genres, has always displayed a lot of thought & creativity where it counts. Anyway, assuming you didn’t watch the show, it’s a biting comedy about a young princess & her female knight who escape to our world after a violent revolution, and undergo wildly different experiences, with the former being adopted by a private detective, & the latter becoming homeless. Although they both end up experiencing the weird, slightly unethical & unspoken cruelties of modern Japanese society, from honeytrap stakeouts, to bullying, to black market Gundam scalping & pachinko addiction. Again, it’s very Hinamatsuri in that regard. Also, I severely doubt Girls Band Cry will end with the group being disbanded because one of the members gets caught doing insider trading, so it has it beat there that at least. 3. Tonari no Youkai-san I feel this show like needs to be experienced to be believed. It’s supposedly an iyashikei about a world where yokai, fey etc. live among us, but also it has a heavy thread of existential dread about outliving the things you love, which hooked the Land of the Lustrous super fan in me. Also there’s a cosmic threat regarding creatures from the void slowly destroying our world, like it’s Kingdom Hearts or Nier. Just go watch it. Then go watch Hakumei & Mikoshi. Because someone else needs to. 2. YATAGARASU I will say I’ve rarely ever enjoyed or stuck with these types of semi-historical shows about political intrigue, so it’s testament to how great both the writing & directing is that this show has quickly becoming edge-of-my-seat entertainment every week. Oh, it’s directed by Yoshiaki Kyougoku, the guy behind the C-Station Yuru Camp adaptations. Well that makes a lot of sense. I guess he’s a Mamoru Hatakeyama type, in that he can spin gold on whatever project he’s given. Anyway, this one’s difficult to talk about without spoiling the myriad of twists. 1. Girls Band Cry To hell with questionable fan subs or mandates about not reviewing officially licensed titles, this blew nearly everything out of the water this season. From the naturally bickering of the cast, to their fully articulated & believable grievances (particularly Nina and her parents), to the blunt depiction of life as budding musicians – everything was handled with perfection. I did find the cgi a little uncanny at times, but they’ve clearly took a lot of lessons from Orange in terms of facial expressions, so it matters where it counts. Unfortunately, I just saw a statistics tweet by Miles that claimed the show wasn’t even in the top 50 pirated shows of the season, so for all the hype, this is definitely a ‘our bubble’ type of show. Still, if you haven’t, check it out if you can. However you can. |
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SaneSavantElla
 Posts: 233 |
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The absolute best show for me this season is still Delicious in Dungeon. I find many shows running out of steam by their 2nd cour despite their fantastic 1st cours, but no, not this one. The gags managed to top the funniest ones from the 1st half and the mystery and plot just gets deeper as we go further in. I definitely can't die before the 2nd season airs. It's to live for.
It's very close runner-up is easily Yatagarasu which dropped upon us with very little fanfare. While I casually enjoyed similar court intrigue shows like Apothecary Diaries and Raven of the Inner Palace, this one has a much tighter grip on my attention. I hope it continues to be this excellent up until its finale (and I hope we get a complete story). Shout-out also to Kaijuu No.8 for the dorky characters and the setup for what I feel would be some detailed and unique worldbuilding moving forward. The pleasant surprises this season are Archdemon's Dilemma and Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again, both of which are unfortunately marred by their awkward first few episodes but showed a lot of heart towards the end. The ones I think are watchable, but don't really stand out from the rest are: Sound! Euphonium (I never really watched it for the teen drama; unfortunately, this season is 90% drama so despite looking as gorgeous as usual, it was just ok), Tonari no Youkai-san (minor gripe with the character designs, especially the karasu tengu, and the nekomata (while cute) just look odd to me), Spice and Wolf (I'm still ambivalent towards it, just as I was with the original adaptation. It has its moments, but I feel like the series is mainly sold by the charm of its main character, to which I'm largely immune to). For me, the disappointments are Wind Breaker and Unnamed Memory. While I feel like Wind Breaker can still redeem itself (I just think the Shishitoren fight is a weak arc to start a show like this with, almost completely ruining the momentum it had coming from the banger of a first episode), Unnamed Memory is just so bad, that even though I am a completist by habit, I can't be bothered to watch the just-announced 2nd season. |
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MiniMarps
 Posts: 77 |
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If you'd have asked me at the halfway point of this season, I'd have said Jellyfish without questioning myself that much. It kinda tripped over its own feet in the second half though, whereas Train to the End of the World excelled down the stretch. Yuru Camp was a strong 3rd-place for me in what has been an imo stacked season.
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Saeryen
 Posts: 924 |
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Now that Tonari no Yokai-san has finished, I can say with confidence that it is one of the season’s best (and a new fave of mine!). Tied for that position is Wonderful Pretty Cure!, Mayu’s character arc has been amazing.
Second place is Himitsu no AiPri, not just because I love the magical girl idol genre but Himari and Mitsuki’s friendship is a GOAT. |
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