Winter 2018 brought us plenty of great titles, and looks like the Spring 2018 season is no exception! With sequels such as Boku no Hero Academia 3, Tokyo Ghoul:re, and Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara – Toutsuki Ressha-hen set to be released this spring, looks like we’re in for a wild ride indeed. As usual, we’ll be recommending several standalone anime that caught our eye this time round (excluding sequels). So here are THE MAGIC RAIN’s top 5 anime picks from Spring 2018 in no particular order!
1. Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online
Kohiruimaki Karen is a 183-centimeter-tall college student who’s insecure about her height and is bad at dealing with people in the real world. She enters the world of Gun Gale Online with her avatar, Llenn, who is less than 150 centimeters tall and wears all pink. She meets a beautiful, brown-skinned female player who goes by Pitohui. They hit it off but one day Pitohui pressures her to participate in “Squad Jam”, a team Battle Royale variation of the Bullet of Bullets tournament. (Source: Anime News Network)
Now you may be one of those people who are probably sick and tired of seeing Sword Art Online, and thinking what in the world is this anime doing on our top picks list. First of all, you cannot deny that SAO was actually really awesome (mainly the first arc) until it became overhyped. Secondly, the focus has been moved away (finally!!) from Kirito and Asuna to a brand new character, Kohiruimaki Karen! With this, I’m actually really excited to see how Gun Gale Online will be shown in another character’s perspective.
2. Persona 5 the Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WO9ciTYjGg
The story focuses on the 16-year-old protagonist, Akira Kurusu, who got transferred to Shujin High School in Tokyo after he was sued by a man with political connection for a non-existent violence when Akira saved a woman from being molested by the man, leading to his probation. Arriving in Tokyo, he finds a mysterious app got installed into his phone that enables him to enter another world formed from corrupt hearts of adults where he awakens his power called Persona.
During his times there, he is joined by two fellow students Ryuuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki, and a shape-shifting cat-like creature known as Morgana. Feeling suppressed by their environment, the four form a group known as the “Phantom Thieves of Heart” to steal corrupt hearts of adults and reform society. (Source: MyAnimeList)
Persona 5 (PS4 edition) took the gaming world by storm when it was released on September 2016 and even a year after, the fandom just keeps growing. With the announcement of the anime adaptation, it is to no one’s surprise that the news sent the ACG community into a frenzy as those without PS4s finally have the chance to witness what’s so great about Persona 5. The PV looks amazing so far and with this much hype surrounding it, can Persona 5 the Animation live up to it? Well, we’ll just have to wait and find out!
3. Golden Kamuy
In Hokkaido, the far northern lands of Japan, Sugimoto survived the Russo-Japanese war of the Meiji era. Nicknamed “Invincible Sugimoto” during the war, he now seeks the riches promised by the gold rush in hopes of saving the widowed wife of his now deceased comrade from the war. During his hunt for gold, he finds hints of a hidden stash of gold by corrupt criminals. Partnering with an Ainu girl that saves his life from the harsh climates of the north, they venture into a survival adventure in a race against the criminals that seek the hidden stash. (Source: MangaHelpers)
Throughout our seasonal recommendations, I don’t think we’ve ever chosen a historical anime as a top pick before. Based on the PV alone, Golden Kamuy seems to be of high production in terms of the art and animation quality. In 2016, the manga Golden Kamuy won the Manga Taisho Award and placed second in the male category of Kono Manga ga Sugoi! rankings. Thanks to that, I have high expectations for this anime adaptation as I’ve only heard good things thus far. Slight warning though that there may be mature scenes due to violence so take caution. This is definitely an anime that you should keep a lookout for!
4. Mahou Shoujo Site
Asagiri Aya, a girl bullied at school and at home. One day, an eerie website, Mahou Shoujo Site, flashes on her computer screen and welcomes her to the Mahou Shoujo World. (Source: Baka-Updates)
Reminiscent of the critically-acclaimed Madoka Magica which had an unorthodox approach to the magical girl sub-genre, it seems like Mahou Shoujo Site will be going along the same path. The poster looks deceptively cute and bubbly, but upon watching the trailer, I was taken aback with the heavy atmosphere and twist from the usual magical girl concept. Whether this psychological thriller will achieve the same level of success Madoka Magica did remains to be seen, but this seems to be an anime worth checking out.
5. Jikken-hin Kazoku: Creatures Family Days
A scientist couple has been arrested for conducting illegal studies, allegedly for performing genetic modification on five of their children. The youngest child Dannis is the only one who grew up as a normal human and now has to tend to the rest of his family while trying to find a medicine to turn them into normal humans again. Dog human, plant gene, spiderweb gene, and mind reading–how will these family members who grew up in a laboratory survive in the outside world?! (Source: MyAnimeList News)
Jikken-hin Kazoku: Creatures Family Day, otherwise known as Shiyan Pin Jiating (実験品家族), is a Taiwanese-Japanese anime adaptation of Taiwanese creator, Yanai’s work. The storyline premise alone is really intriguing and I’m very curious to see how it’ll be executed. Based on the PVs I’ve watched, the art and animation is not the most impressive, but it’s definitely not lackluster. While I’m getting slice of life vibes from this anime, it might not necessarily be so. Well, let’s hope that this anime manages to surprise me!
Special Mention: Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XIXAeSS5n8
After discovering that they work at the same company a gaming crazed otaku and a fujoshi meet each other for the first time since middle school. After some post-work drinking session they begin dating, but will it be a perfect relationship for the two? (Source: MyAnimeList)
Fellow fujoshis unite! I’ve been an avid follower of the manga and the news of the anime adaptation made me very, very pleased. As an otaku, I’m pretty sure that most people in the ACG scene will be able to relate to this anime really well. With a mix of romance and otaku-ness, this is definitely a refreshing addition to the many existing romance anime currently. The characters in this anime are also really interesting and different from the usual blushing maidens you see in romance anime. If you’re looking for something different from the usual romance anime, you should really check out Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii!
With that, here’s our top anime picks for the Spring 2018 season! We hope that you’ll enjoy our recommendations as well as the other anime that’s set to be release this spring. What are you personally looking forward to? Do let us know in the comments below so that we can check out your favourites as well!
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