Sometimes you just get a banger of an anime season, and the Spring 2022 anime season was one of those. There were many amazing shows, many very watchable ones, and all the rest were above okay. It makes me hope that next season isn’t a lull because the studios packed their best wears into the spring. Regardless, if you are looking for a great show from the Spring 2022 anime season to watch this summer, here are my picks.
Best Spring 2022 Anime
Spy X Family
There is no order too big for master spy Twilight. He uses his numerous skills as a spy to keep the peace between his country and aggressive neighbors, but his recent mission demands he investigate a reclusive politician that only attends school events for his child. Dictating that he must now have a child and wife of his own to pull off the mission, Twilight manages to recruit a small orphan girl and an office lady to play the roles. However, what he doesn’t know is that his new daughter is an esper capable of reading minds and his new wife is actually an assassin using him as a cover to maintain a guise of normalcy.
Why Is It Worth Watching? – Sometimes you know the top anime of the season well before the season even starts because it gets hyped so hard by manga fans. Spy X Family is that, and yes, it is just lovely. It balances high energy, but rather low stakes spy drama with wholesome family moments and silly school life shenanigans sometimes. It’s a weird new mix of things, and executes it all very well.
Ya Boy Kongming
As a general in China’s Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang Kongming had endured countless battles that shaped him into an excellent strategist. However, on his deathbed, his only wish is to be reborn in a more peaceful world. This results in him being reborn as his younger self in modern day Shibuya, Tokyo. After being dragged around by partiers, Kongming becomes taken with the songs of a struggling singer who ends up sheltering him. He decides to use his tactical genius to make her into a top star!
Why Is It Worth Watching? – This is the secret best anime of the season sadly drowned out by Spy X Family’s immense reception and probably being a HiDive show didn’t help things. The title certainly caught my eye immediately, but what really charmed me is the execution of what could have been a bland comedy anime. It has comedy, yes, but it balances it nicely with serious drama about climbing the ladder strategically in the music industry – all played out with characters you can’t hate. Furthermore, the dope EDM music definitely didn’t hurt.
Love After World Domination
Fudo Aikawa dons the mantle of Gelato Red, leader of a group of protectors that stand against an organization bent on world domination. Desumi Magahara is a fierce warrior in the ranks of that organization. After first meeting, it was love at first sight for Fudo, and they agreed to go out. However, their relationship must remain a secret, though that doesn’t mean they can’t make special moments for themselves.
Why Is It Worth Watching? – It’s a rom-rom with a new twist and none of the usually rom-com couple drama. It makes the show fully a very fun watch if you aren’t hungry for thought-provoking content and just want some nice fluff and Super Sentai parody.
Summertime Render
After his parents died, Shinpei went to live with the Kofune family on Hitogashima Island. After leaving for school in Tokyo he has not been back since, but after receiving word that one of the two Kofune daughters, Ushio, drown tragically, he returns for the funeral. However, with bruises on her neck, there is some doubt if Ushio’s accident was truly an accident. As he considers her death, strange things begin to take place on this island that forces Mio, Ushio’s sister, to recall an old tale about how seeing a person that looks just like yourself foretells your own death.
Why Is It Worth Watching? – This here is another time-loop mystery and like many other time-loop mysteries, it does a good job of front-loading intrigue and lovely gore. It is extra intriguing in what they are going to do with a full 25 episodes of that, though.
Unfortunately, the big mess up with this one is apparently letting Disney+ acquire the streaming rights. Good job acquiring it, making it only available on Japanese Disney+, and forcing me to go to terrible pop-up ridden illegal streaming sites to actually watch it like I’m some destitute teenager.
Dance Dance Danseur
After watching a gripping performance by a male ballet dancer as a kid, Junpei Murao fell in love with dance. However, after being pressured into finding it effeminate, he took up more manly sports like Jeet Kune Do and soccer, particularly after his father’s death made him the man of his house. However, one day after a female classmate witnesses him do a kick with the earmarks of ballet to it, she asks him to join her mother’s ballet studio. Although he resists at first, Junpei finds himself willing to make endless sacrifices for the euphoria that ballet elicits.
Why Is It Worth Watching? – I’ve been known to have a softer spot for more artistic anime, and this anime, though firmly a sports anime, fits the bill. It not only captures the allure of ballet for people unfamiliar with it, but it confronts the big issue of masculinity and ballet head on. I really enjoyed the light it shined on a character wrestling with the idea of manliness versus a captivating passion.
Heroines Run The Show
In order to continue pursuing track and field, Hiyori left her small hometown and moved to Tokyo. After her father gets injured, she takes a part-time job to support herself. The job, as it turns out, is to be a manager-in-training for two male idols who just happen to be her two irritable classmates as well.
Why Is It Worth Watching? – I never saw the allure of idol series, and it took me kind of a long time to realize that this is one. However, its not ten tons of beautiful people all battling for screen time. It’s two idols and your standard shoujo protagonist managing them. It really allows the character stories to flourish since this idol anime doesn’t have to juggle a dozen characters and several dozen character problems. There’s nothing particularly spectacular about the series other than the fact that it just tells a story about three likable characters struggling in the entertainment industry.
