The usual rule is that the longer these lists are, the more middling the season was. Nothing was too bad, but nothing was overwhelmingly good either. Not this time, though.
This time, the list for anime you should check out from this season is long because the season was so overwhelmingly good. Sure, there were a few duds, and the duds that dudded did so pretty hard.
However, for the most part, a good chunk of the premieres were really quite fun to watch. So while these eight are the real standouts of the season, pretty much everything was worth checking out. In fact, I think the list of things not worth checking out would be pretty short.
Best Spring 2023 Anime
Oshi no Ko
In the country hospital where he works, doctor and idol enjoyer Gorou Amemiya meets the famous and beloved idol Ai Hoshino. He is surprised to discover that this sixteen-year-old idol is pregnant, but promises the safe delivery of her twin babies.
Unfortunately, Gorou is mysteriously murdered and when he opens his eyes again, he is in the body of Aquamarine Hoshino, Ai’s newborn son. With his new twin sister Ruby, the pair happily cheer Ai on until tragedy strikes yet again and the pair become embroiled in the dark side of show business.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
Oshi no Ko was the darling of the anime season, and like usual seasonal darlings, it was gathering hype before it even came out since it is created by the author of equally beloved Kaguya-sama: Love is War. Once it did come out, the internet went bananas for it, and for good reason. That feature-length first episode was pretty spectacular, but it left several of the episodes that followed feeling a little bit like a letdown.
While Oshi no Ko picks up steam again later, you have to have some interest in idol culture or at least some intriguing in seeing the terrible side of show business in Japan. Otherwise, there isn’t much else that is particularly appealing.
Hell’s Paradise
Betrayed by his ninja clan and sentenced to death for the many lives he took while working for them, Gabimaru the Hollow accepts his fate. However, every attempt at execution has failed, leading them to call in Sagiri, a member of the Yamada Asaemon Clan of imperial executioners.
While Sagiri can carry out the task, she instead offers Gabimaru a chance to receive a full pardon for his crimes. He, along with other criminals sentenced to death, will be sent to the dangerous island of Shinsekyo to obtain the elixir of life for the shogun. However, with all previous expedition teams never being heard from again, this mysterious island is a death sentence in and of itself.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
Action anime made by MAPPA isn’t guaranteed to be a hit, but boy I can’t think of a single one that wasn’t.
Hell’s Paradise is a perfect candidate for MAPPA’s stylish animation because the series is both very gruesome and visually unique. It is like a playground for those tired, overworked animators, particularly if they like to draw flowers or intestines, or perhaps flowers AND intestines.
There is not much else to say, really. This is one for the gorehounds and people who like a like a little mystery with their action plots.
Heavenly Delusion
After a disaster fifteen years ago caused society to collapse, the survivors struggle to eek out an existence. Alongside trying to scrounge together food, clean water, and electricity, these survivors are also plagued by the appearance of man-eating monsters.
Two young survivors, Maru and Kiruko, wander the wasteland and make money off Maru’s ability to kill these man-eaters with a touch. Together, they are searching for a place called Heaven that they both hope will hold the answers to the tragic burdens that they hold in their heart.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
I always enjoy post-apocalyptic anime, and I tend to enjoy them a lot more when they explore how weird humans get without strict governmental or societal rules to hold things in place.
Heavenly Delusion is a series that is kind of hard to explain, and that’s actually a good thing here. It builds itself on the foundation of several mysteries, and hoping to get the answers to those mysteries is what keeps you coming back.
If you enjoy the occasionally vicious post-apocalyptic mystery series like From the New World or The Promised Neverland, this is very much for you.
Skip and Loafer
In order to pursue a career in politics to make a positive change for Japan, Mitsumi leaves her rural town to go to high school in Tokyo. While she has a clear life plan for herself, she is still a country girl in a big city and ends up late and lost on her first day.
Luckily, Mitsumi is noticed by a fellow new student, Sousuke Shima, and he guides her to school. This laid-back guy is charmed by her motivated personality and strikes up a friendship with her, supporting her as she tries to make meaningful friendships with her classmates.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
“Refreshing” is probably the best singular word to to describe Skip and Loafer. The series initially feels both like it will be a romance anime, but also feels like it will never turn into one at the same time – and that initially feeling proved pretty true.
Skip and Loafer doesn’t embrace heart-throbbing moments to draw in romance fans nor does it create ham-fisted high school drama to fuel its very coming-of-age plot. It creates authentic, diverse characters that have charming sides and painful faults. It is always the best when you can say that the characters in a series feel complicated just like real people, and that is the charm of Skip and Loafer.
Refreshing, wholesome, and all-around likable even when the characters are being their worst selves, Skip and Loafer is the type of series to fly well under the radar at a glance, but it really is a must-watch for anyone who doesn’t live in the more action-oriented genres of anime.
Insomniacs After School
Every night, Ganta Nakami is overtaken by insomnia that leaves him grumpy during the day. However, he happens across the easygoing Isaki Magari from his class sleeping in the Astronomy Club’s abandoned, supposedly haunted observatory. It turns out that she, too, suffers from insomnia and uses this room to sneak away for naps.
While the pair at first agree to share sneaking naps in the observatory, they are soon caught. In order to preserve their beloved nap spot, they persuade the school to let them revive the Astronomy Club where they soon share a growing love for the stars as well as each other.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
Insomniacs After School is one of those melancholic romance anime where the characters have problems – this time, those internal problems causing insomnia – and it is their growing bond that helps them deal with that. As you enjoy watching them grow closer, there are also aspects about the series that lurk menacingly on the periphery, threatening to turn this series into a tragic romance.
It is that “mostly sweet, but sometimes threatening bitterness” bittersweet experience that draws you in and makes you want to see what happens next. Of course, during the in-between times, the lovely star and sky visuals are a treat in and of themselves too.
My Lv999 Love For Yamada-Kun
After her boyfriend cheats on her, Akane Kinoshita flees to her favorite MMO and vents her frustrations on some in-game mobs. While doing that, she happens across Akito Yamada who bluntly asks her to leave while he farms those mobs for a specific item.
While she initially finds him pretty rude, she meets Yamada again by chance in an offline meetup event for the game. It turns out she, like so many others, misinterpreted his poor social skills for antagonism.
From then on, Akane finds herself meeting Yamada more and more both in-game and offline as her feelings for him grow.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
Gaming and anime are like lewd hand-holding cousins when it comes to hobbies, which is why it is actually pretty interesting that there isn’t more anime about gamers. However, My Lv999 Love For Yamada-Kun joins the ranks of gaming anime by being about a college girl who falls in love with an aloof gamer from her MMO guild.
Unlike other romance anime on this very list that is refreshing in how much unlike other romance anime they are, My Lv999 Love For Yamada-Kun sticks closer to the mold. You’ll see few comforting romance anime tropes in this one, but the gaming wrapper keeps the story feeling a bit fresh.
The Dangers in My Heart
Kyoutaro Ichikawa looks like a normal boy, but he has a danger in his heart – a dream of murder. He has aimed his violent tendencies at the class idol, Anna Yamada.
While reading in his haven, the library, he accidentally runs into Yamada, who comes there to secretly consume snacks. Through frequent observation, Ichikawa learns that this beautiful and popular girl is actually a huge ditz and frequently finds himself supporting her from the periphery in her ventures.
Over time, Ichikawa learns that he doesn’t actually want to kill Yamada, but rather, his desires were actually something much different.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
The Dangers in My Heart has a bar for entry by being absolutely the worst type of cringe in the initial episode. The main character is the definition of a middle school edgelord with murder in his heart, but you quickly – thankfully – see that melt away into him being a less cringe loner on the cusp of his first love.
What is most enjoyable about this series is the characters. It is always refreshing to see characters that are rather groundedly awkward and don’t play out the same romance anime tropes we’ve seen hundreds of times before.
As a middle school-set love story, the romance doesn’t progress fast, but it is kept pretty cute since you can actually pinpoint the romantic milestones as the characters experience them without it necessarily being spelled out in exposition.
Mashle
When a person is born, they bear a distinctive mark on their face that denotes that they have magical abilities. To maintain the magical integrity of the world, those without the mark are swiftly exterminated.
Mash Burnedead was born without a mark or magical ability, but he was taken in by one weak mage and raised away from society in the forest. While he lacks magical skills, Mash has honed his physical strength to superhuman levels by working out everyday.
When Mash was discovered in the forest and his peaceful life was upended, he decides to go to magic school to become a Divine Visionary, a person that the whole world recognizes for their supreme skills, in order to protect his family.
However, while being magic-less in a magic school seems like a pretty indomitable obstacle, Mash’s muscles are capable of feats that seem just like magic.
Why It Is Worth Watching?
What if Saitama from One Punch Man stole Mob’s attitude and signature hair style from Mob Psycho 100 and then attended Hogwarts from Harry Potter with just his supreme physical abilities and no magic at all? That’s Mashle.
However, what could have existed perfectly fine as a serious series, turned into a big amazing gag comedy instead. The main character doesn’t have magic, he solves all things requiring magic with extreme physical fitness, and people are absolutely shocked. That’s the joke.
Comedy anime that lean hard on one joke generally get exhausted over time, but Mashle manages to bring things back with frequent introductions of new characters, thus enabling new ways for Mash to humble them.
What did you enjoy from the Spring 2023 anime season that you’d recommend? Let everyone know in the comments section below.
