The 5 new anime series to watch this spring

Spring is here, which means a new slate of anime is on the way. With a packed Winter season kicking off 2019, the new season slows down on debuts — but we’ve still found a few gems to recommend.

Some of these shows have great source material, some have a ton of creative pedigree behind them. Our bet: you’ll find them all wildly entertaining. Here are our recommendations for what to watch this season.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best anime from last year.

JC Staff

One-Punch Man, season 2

One of the most anticipated returns in recent anime history, One-Punch Man is back after a four-year-long hiatus. The wildly popular series follows Saitama, a hero underappreciated in his time who can defeat any foe with just one punch. The series started out as a simple parody of the fight-heavy shonen genre, but quickly transformed into something far more special thanks to the sincerity of its characters, hilarious writing, and gorgeously animated fight scenes, designed by Madhouse.

Madhouse isn’t back for One-Punch Man’s second season, hence the long break between seasons, with JC Staff taking over animation duties. While the new studio isn’t necessarily known for action, the season 2 trailer looks outstanding. While the show’s signature style might feel a little different, the manga-inspired elements that make One-Punch Man the best shonen parody, and one of the best shonen in general, should keep the show just as entertaining in its second season.

Premieres on April 9 on Hulu

Bones

Carole & Tuesday

This new series is about two girls who desperately want to become musicians. While they both struggle on their own, their meeting ignites massive change as they pursue their dream together. Also they both live in a giant future city on the surface of Mars.

This show’s premise and music alone would be enough to make it worth checking out, but rare peaceful-sci-fi setting makes it even more exciting. On top of that, the show is animated by Bones, the studio behind My Hero Academia and Mob Psycho 100, which should have no trouble creating a thriving world around the show’s two musicians.

Premieres on April 10 on Netflix

Aniplex

We Never Learn

We Never Learn is the spiritual successor to Fake Love (Nisekoi). Nariyuki Yuiga is a hardworking high school student, who has to tutor three girls in order to get a recommendation to his college of choice. Fumino Furuhashi is a literary genius, but needs to be tutored in math. Rizu Ogata is the opposite, who is great at math, pursuing a career in literature, which she’s also miserable with. A third girl, Uraka Takemoto, is a master swimmer, but is pretty bad at everything academic. Naturally, Nariyuki has to juggle teaching his classmates while dealing with the fact that they’re kind of ... into him, and they don’t know how to show it. Expect We Never Learn to revive the dreaded “waifu wars” that Fake Love and Re:Zero brought us.

Premieres April 7 on a Crunchyroll

Funimation

Fruits Basket

Get your tissues ready for the remake of the classic 2001 drama anime, Fruits Basket. The series focuses on Tohru Honda, a kind teen girl who recently lost her mother. Orphaned with nowhere to go, she stumbles upon the Soma family, who takes her in. The Somas are rich, powerful, and popular, but they’re hiding a huge secret: A curse that turns the 13 members of the Soma clan into the animal avatars of the Chinese zodiac, including a cursed cat, whenever they’re hugged by someone of the opposite sex. Tohru meets and lives with three Soma men: Shigure, an older writer, Yuki, the school’s crowned prince, and Kyo, Yuki’s hot-headed rival.

The anime adaption promises to hew closer to the manga than the 2001 anime, introducing several characters who were never seen in the original, which should make it worth watching for old fans of the series and anime lovers who never had a chance to watch before.

Premieres April 5 on FunimationNow and Crunchyroll

Image: Mappa/Crunchyroll

Sarazanmai

Three boys get turned into kappas, Japanese mythical turtle-duck-humanoid beings, after they break a kappa statue that was the guardian god of their city. They then have to fight against zombie kappas to return to their human forms, but can only defeat the zombies together. The boys have to learn how to work together or they’ll be stuck as kappas forever.

The premise for Sarazanmai is pretty wild, but the beautiful animation from Mappa, the studio known for working on Dororo, Yuri!!! on Ice, and Kakegurui, suggests this is a must-watch for the spring.

Premieres April 11 on Crunchyroll