Spring 2022 Anime Review

Alrighty! This season I actually ended up deciding to watch the majority of the shows that were airing so here’s my run down of the 20+ series for the 2022 Spring anime season! (I will likely never do this again because I 100% burnt out) Edit - That being said, the last week before the finales aired, I decided to use my time to watch some of the ONA's and holy - they honestly stole the show. Both series I watched were at least 9/10 and blew me away, so I'll be starting with those.

Vampire in the Garden Spring 2022 ONA - 5 Episodes I've linked my main review in the title but here's a summary. This series was absolutely stunning. It was whimsical and upsetting and overall one of the best stories I've experienced in a while. 10/10 - Masterpiece

Spriggan Spring 2022 ONA - 6 Episodes This was based off a movie in 1998. I went back and watched it and please don't bother... The concept is amazing but the new series takes that concept and expands on everything the movie was missing. It also covers the same story in episode 2 but makes it significantly better. Right from episode 1 you can feel the 90s aesthetic build into the world and I absolutely love it. The story is neat, the style is great and they have a super interesting combination of modern and classic styles of animation. 9.5/10 - Amazing

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes   (Posting this before the finale since it's literally the last thing to air) I think a lot of people went into this series expecting a similar vibe to Dress Up Darling and I think that was the problem. This show was actually really wholesome. It starts off with a healthy relationship and amazing friend group. The focus ends up being more on the group as a whole and their interactions rather than just the couple and to be honest, this made the slice of life aspect a lot more believable. I loved watching the episodes and ended up growing really fond of the whole gang. 8/10 - Very Good

Komi-San Can’t Communicate - Part 2 Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes I was pleasantly surprised by this part 2. This is actually just as good as the first part, if not better. I swear second parts pretty much always fall off, but man am I glad that this was consistent. I really liked Komi san, I don’t think it’s S-tier or anything but I think it’s still really enjoyable. I love the slow burn romance and I’m overall very satisfied with the rest of this season. 7.5/10 - Good + (Enjoyable)

The Rising of The Shield Hero - Season 2 Spring 2022 - 13 Episodes This was a show that I was genuinely hyped for when I found out there was going to be a continuation. The first season felt complete and had everything you'd want out of a series, proper character development, story completion and an actual ending. I really felt disappointed by the first 6 episodes of this new season and man was it rough. It throws you right into a totally different narrative and somehow you're in the middle of a war by episode 3. It really wasn’t until episode 6 or 7 when it started to get back to what was relevant to the first season that it felt the show was even worth watching. Because of how drastically different the two halves of the season were I’m splitting this into 3 ratings. Part 1 - (Episodes 1-6) - 4/10 - Bad Part 2 - (Episodes 7-13) - 7/10 Good Overall - 6/10 Fine

Before getting into the rest of the season here's the links for the top series that are 100% worth checking out: Spy x Family Paripi Koumei Dance Dance Danseur Additionally, there’s a few that I’d like to add to this list but will be continuing to air into the Summer 2022 season so go check those out: Aoashi & Summer Time Render Now back to your scheduled programming:

Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai Desu (Mobuseka) Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes I actually found this concept hilarious. I was a little concerned that the initial appeal would wear off but I found that the spite of the character really held his own throughout this story and I ended up enjoying each episode. 7/10 - Good

Skeleton Knight in Another World Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes This has honestly been a refreshingly simple isekai. I love how they didn't try to add any twists or make it exceptionally different. Thought as it comes with the territory, it did feel like it started to trail off near the end and the story ended up being a little plain.   6/10 - Fine

The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody Quitting Heroing Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes Each Combining the standard “isekai/fantasy” genre shows. Of course, there had to be a few of these in the season. Now I’ve seen my share of horrible isekais and standard fantasy anime over the last few season and I’d say 90% of them are tastefully trash, that said, these 2 barely scraped by. Quitting Heroing was technically something we haven’t seen before and I was pleasantly surprised by the simplicity of the series and the characters. As for the Greatest Demon Lord, this is a hard copy of Demon King Academy with some obvious alterations to make this ✨unique. It really wasn’t worth watching, everything that was decent in this you can get 5x better in Demon King Academy. (Especially since season 2 has been announced for that, this one just isn’t worth it.) Quitting Heroing - 6/10 - Fine Greatest Demon Lord - 4/10 - Bad

Aharen-San wa Hakarenai Shachiku-san wa Youjo Yuurei ni Iyasaretai Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes Each I’m combining these two as they’re incredibly similar in terms of my thoughts on it. They’re both wholesome series. Regarding Aharen-san, I really hated that they decided to try and take the romantic route.. could’ve just left it how it was and it’d just be a decent wholesome series. In the end, both of these series were cute but to be honest, really nothing special about them that we haven’t seen before. Maybe this kind of show just isn’t for me. 5/10 - Average

Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road (The Executioner and Her Way of Life) Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes This was unexpectedly disappointing. The concept was strong and the character design visually looks good but I felt the story ended up being really weak and didn’t really go anywhere. 5/10 - Average   Mahoutsukai Reimeiki - Dawn of the Witch Spring 2022 - 12 Episodes Frankly I should’ve just thrown this one in with the other two fantasy ones. Again, not a new concept, Black clover covers the lack of magic aspect and the outcast witch has also been done before. Ok story, ok animations and ok characters, some of the ecchi in this series made me seriously uncomfortable on top of everything else. 4/10 - Bad   There you have it, the majority of the Spring 2022 anime season. I have lots to look forward to for the summer but hopefully I'll be able to pick and choose rather than stupidly pushing through all of the mid shows.

What I'm Watching - Spring 2022

This season is loaded with originals and sequels and I couldn't be more stoked. Here's a list of everything I'll be checking out as well as my first impressions on many of the new series including some of the lesser known ones that I'll give a go. My big 3 for this season are going to be:

SpyxFamily The new Shueisha series that I've been following since the manga debut! I'm so stoked to see it hit the screens and the anime adaptation looks absolutely stunning! Must Watch

Kawaii Dake Ja Nai Shikimori-San I haven't read the manga for this but i'll be damned if I don't want to start it now, even after just watching the trailer I'm sold. She'll easily be the best girl of the season and I can't wait to watch the series to see where it goes.

Rising of Shield Hero - Season 2 This was honestly one of my favourite Isekai's purely because of the injustice in the first half of the series that left me fuming. I've never felt so passionately about how a character was being treated wrongly and overlooking all the lolis I'm stoked to see how this story continues. Lots more below the cut:

Komi-San can't Communicate - Season 2 I thoroughly enjoyed season 1 and will 100% be watching this sequel.

Summer Time Rendering A surprise - this is a Disney+ anime ? The story genuinely looks intriguing and the animations - of course with disney budgets - looks great. I think this will also be worth a watch and likely the underdog of the season. The main downside I see is the challenge of watching it in the first place since it's one of the first series I've seen on Disney and I know they're extremely strict on their distribution of series across platforms.

Isekai Anime: Skeleton Knight in Another World This is a refreshingly simple isekai that I'm looking forward to watching. I feel that so many of them are trying to put a spin on things but this show really just gets to the point and embraces the isekai aspect of the story. Looking forward to the rest of the season. Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu/ (Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs) I like the base concept of the series. I doubt it'll be actually considered "good" but I'll likely throw it in as a personal choice. Based on the first episode - I think I'll thoroughly enjoy the mc's nihilism and general hatred. Kinda satisfying to watch him rightfully get angry at shit characters. Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road/ The Executioner and her way of Life From the first episode this looks like it'll be worth a watch, it genuinely looks different from other isekais and the concept is great. Paripi Koumei/ Ya Boy Kongming This is hilarious. I think I'll keep watching this purely for the entertainment. But of course - the animations are well done. Yuusha, Yameru/ I'm Quitting Heroing Frankly I don't know how we haven't seen this plot already but here it is. I'll give this 3 episodes but I don't have high hopes. The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody This is an easy skip for me. Concept is something we've seen before and the animations are the standard isekai special. Sports Anime: Aoashi oh boy - looks like this year will be the year of soccer animes. Out of all the times this could be released I think it's crazy that they decided to do it the same year that Blue Lock is set to air. Based off episode 1 I actually have high hopes for this series, it has the hollywood small town kid tries to go big which isn't seen in a lot of Japanese media and it looks like it'll do really well in this story. Should be worth a watch! Birdie Wing An actual all female golf anime. I have no idea what to expect. Love All Play I feel that this is shit timing, i'll be skipping this one as I've had my share of badminton animes for the year. Fanfare of Adolescence High-key skipping this one because I can't stand the way horses look in anime, especially when most of the animations for this series during the actual sport will be cgi. Tomodachi Game It seems like a decent amount of people are interested in this series, possibly since it's the first horror show in a while. Frankly I don't think it looks appealing and after the first episode there's so many cliches. I'll likely watch it through but I'm not a fan as of right now. Dance Dance Danseur Up until now I've never heard of this series but if it's a project that MAPPA decided to take on, I'll be more than happy to check it out. The style looks kinda funky but I think it'll be interesting regardless. Aharen-san wa Hakarenai I feel like we've seen this show already... I guess this style of series has become popular and I don't really get it.... it's not just the style.. the story is also just.. Komi san but slightly different. If you just sweep all the red flags under a rug it seems like it'll be a very wholesome show but if this turns out to be a romance or in anyway gets more uncomfortable than it already is I will be yeeting this show with no questions.