Battlefront stood out from the crowd within its first few episodes, diving into an interesting world with a diverse set of characters. The world of interdimensional monsters living alongside humans feels natural, the story makes a surprising amount of sense given its randomness, and it’s probably the most beautiful eye-candy of the season.
SNAFU follows the life of an unfriendly and withdrawn student as he does everything in his power to resist overtures of friendship so he can live in peaceful seclusion.
Show by Rock is a musical adventure sporting everything from simple pop concerts to blasting away monsters from alternate realities through the mighty power of guitar shredding. The surreal story follows a young girl and her newly formed bad as they struggle to gain notoriety and become the best gig in town.
Urawa no Usagi-chan is marketed as a slice of life frolic through the daily lives of several female students as they return to school in their hometown of Urawa.
Punchline is so intentionally ridiculous that it’s impossible to take a second of it seriously. When the show is trying to set up any kind of story or plotline, we find ourselves just waiting for the next terrible pun or slapstick gag. This makes for some fantastic moments that will have you feeling like an imbecile for laughing so hard at something so idiotic.
Every band nerd’s dream anime has finally been born in the form of Sound! Euphonium. This series follows a handful of young high schoolers as they’re introduced to big-band concert playing and their passion for music flowers. Sound is a coming-of-age story sure to be nostalgic for anyone with an instrumental background, while the fantastic scores might inspire the less musically inclined to give it a whirl.
Etotama is the insane and wickedly cute acid trip you never knew you wanted to be on until it was over. From the very beginning, this anime grabs you by the hand and leads you down the rabbit hole of its self-deprecating imagination.
Kuroko’s Basketball is an enjoyable oddity — a flawed and plodding work that manages to draw upon well-tread sports formulas to deliver a funny, chaotic series of bromances built upon the sport. As the series fires into its third season, it brings protagonists Kuroko and Kagami closer to their final showdown.
My Love Story has already firmly planted a flag claiming its territory among a market saturated with droll slice of life teen romances. It’s far from perfect in almost every facet you can judge, yet it somehow manages to pull together into an impressively endearing tale just in time to stoke a little spring fever.
Wish Upon the Pleiades might not have been on everyone’s radar this season, but the prospect of a well-drawn “magical girl” series promising astronomy geekery has generated solid interest over the course of the first few episodes.
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