Spring 2024 Anime Season Roundup

Written by Rei Caldombra 6/21/2024 Video Version: https://youtu.be/m2mZ5qbbN0g (I like using Roundups to have fun in Vtube Studio lol)

The end of another season of anime is among us. I think this season was excellent. I stuck with every show I tried except for 1 and thoroughly enjoyed every single one I kept up with. I’ll give some thoughts on each show and which were my favorites in various areas. There will not be any direct story spoilers, so feel free to read on if you want to see if one of these shows is worth your time. I would recommend any of these if their topics tickle your fancy, even the one I dropped. 

This season was huge for girls doing musical activities, we got 3 great shows in this area. I have not written on any of these 3 yet, but I aim to get a post out on each one in time (no promises though). We also got 3 anime originals that were also all great.

Girls Band Cry is all the rage this season, for good reason. It is our first anime original. It has excellent 3D visuals that you are objectively wrong to call bad lol. I am glad to see the anti 3D rhetoric dwindling. The interpersonal drama is great, with the show having this strong aggressive energy that is very engaging and makes it stand out from most of the other girls band shows. Characters are practically getting into arguments or throwing things at each other every single scene. I really like this aspect of it and the post I plan to write will likely focus heavily on that. The music side of things, both in terms of the actual music and the visuals are excellent. I hope there will be a legitimate way to watch it in English soon, they’re really dropping the ball on that.

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night is the 2nd of the 3 anime originals I watched this season. This show’s focus on the characters and their connection to their craft is my favorite part. There are some points where the pacing and execution feel a little weird and off, but when this show hits it truly hits. I really love these characters. The relationship between Kano and Mahiru is wonderful stuff. As long as it comes together I would like to do one solely going into detail on my favorite Kiui as a character. I just saw that there are manga and light novel adaptations being made for it as well apparently, so I am interested in seeing how things play out there. May check those out. 

I’ll end this musical girls trio with Sound! Euphonium’s 3rd season, which gives us more of the wonderful animation, beautiful music and performances, and impactful interpersonal drama that this series is known for. I am working on a full post for this show, so keep an eye out for that. It will  likely focus on the topic of running a school organization, discussing what we see in the show with me bringing in my own experience of being in school clubs and being part of the leadership. 

Kaiju no.8 excels in the usual shonen goals of having great action, strong camaraderie amongst likable characters, and cool enemies to fight. I like Kaiju stuff so I appreciated the focus on the cleanup crew and how this world has adapted to Kaiju. But it is Kafka himself that is my favorite aspect of this story, with him being one of my favorite characters of the season. He is such a fun and endearing character, who comes with the added flavor of being a rare main character in his 30s. Watching this 32 year old man get reinvigorated with passion to pursue his lifelong dream was an absolute joy. Seeing him and the people around him fully embrace his emotional side is also very sweet. I think this is great representation for the older but still early in adulthood demographic who are likely dealing with the same issues he is. This show is highly recommended if you didn’t check it out already, it has more going for it than just nice looking shounen action. Btw I did a dissection on the opening if you want to check that out, which I’ll name my favorite OP of the season. 

Konosuba S3 was more Konosuba goodness. Darkness is my favorite member so I was very happy to get a lot of focus on her. Her stuff I think is the best the series has done on genuinely making me feel emotionally invested in the characters. Only minor gripe is that I think they leaned too much into the pervert Kazuma jokes. Those are a staple of the series and can be very funny, there were just too many of them this time around for me. Konosuba is one of my top favorite comedies and comes highly recommended on that front. It’s very funny through excellent banter, silly shenanigans and excellent voice acting, and has very endearing characters that feel like they can be thrown into any situation and make it funny. I do not plan to do any focused blogs on Konosuba. I love this series, but I just don’t have much more to say than what I just did. Funniest show of the season by far. 

I’m not going too much into Yuru Camp S3 as I will be detailing what’s great about it in an upcoming blog coming very soon. All the praise I will give there is relevant to season 3 and the series as a whole. Only thing to give my opinion on here is the change in studio. The change in studio is noticeable at some points when it comes to the character designs and backgrounds, where I like how they look a tiny bit less. But I don’t think it detracted much at all from the experience, and this season continues doing everything that makes Yuru Camp so appealing while adding in some stuff not touched on as much previously. Even after 3 seasons watching these girls have fun outside is still interesting. If you like wholesome shows with cute girls doing hobbies and/or outdoorsy activities, you should watch it as it's one of the best in this genre.

The first season of Delicious in Dungeon also concluded this season. I have not written anything else since my first impressions, but I am a full on fan of this series now. It took some time to come together, but now I think it’s pretty much a perfectly cooked meal. It is very cohesive with its themes and its world, it is just so engrossing. Once the plot gets going, the tonal juxtaposition I took minor issue with before is executed super well. This show is fantastic and has a good shot of being anime of the year for me. It’s truly excellent on every front.

I will stop my journey through my favorites of Spring 2024 with Train to the End of the World.  I will not say much about this one here because I have dedicated reviews covering each episode. This show is super fun and creative, and is one of the standout anime originals. I have had a lot of fun taking in and dissecting this wacky story. If you do end up watching it, I’d be happy if you read my reviews on the episodes. 

The one show I ended up dropping was Glass of God. You can read my first impressions review on it, but tldr is that it was enjoyable but I just couldn’t get into it. On many occasions I have enjoyed shows that focus on topics/hobbies I am not into (Sound! Euphonium being an example as I honestly couldn’t care less about concert band itself). But unlike those shows, this one didn’t offer enough to get me through the alcohol and bar culture that I do not care for. If that is your space then I recommend it, but I don’t for someone who isn’t passionately into alcohol. 

Now we move onto Summer 2024. As of right now, I plan to check out Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan, Dead Man’s Dededestruction (which had started airing already but I will count it for Summer), Vtuber Legend, and Twilight Out of Focus. There’s not a lot of shows outside of these I have much interest in, but I may pick up some others. All the big sequels are of shows I have not seen. I don’t have enough interest in DC to watch the Suicide Squad Isekai, if the main appeal is just to see DC characters in great anime action then it’s not doing enough for me. Feel free to let me know of anything you recommend.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts on this season and upcoming anime with me somewhere! Blog posts I have written for shows of Spring 2024 are linked below. Please keep an eye out for upcoming blogs on some of the shows from this season, anything for next season, and other series that I just feel like talking about!

Kaiju no.8 OP dissection: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/dissecting-the-kaiju-no-8-op-non-spoiler-for-post-ep-2 

First post on Train to the End of the World: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/train-to-the-end-of-the-world-ep-1-review-were-in-for-a-wild-ride 

Girls Band Cry Season 1 Review: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/girls-band-cry-review

Glass of God First Impressions: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/glass-of-god-first-impressions-review-tastes-nice-but-ive-had-enough-drinks

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