Wooper:<\/b><\/span> I\u2019m long past my aniblogging prime, but I had to come out of retirement for a spring season like this one. While others may lament its lack of big name sequels or ready-made reincarnation fantasies, yours truly is having a blast keeping up with its wide variety of shows. I\u2019ve got my criticisms where some of the following nine series are concerned, but I plan to move forward with most of them, and there are a handful more that might appear in future check-in posts, even though I didn\u2019t write them up this time. If you were planning to sit this season out, you\u2019d better reconsider \u2013 when it comes to anime, you\u2019ve got to watch while the watching\u2019s good!<\/p>\n I\u2019m a little perplexed as to why the tone of this show is still so chill. If humanity is set to perish in a month\u2019s time, then why does episode 2\u2019s shootout between various government agencies and organized crime groups have such a comedic anticlimax? Why would the cops ever let Chris and Leland into the home of the doctor responsible for humanity\u2019s impending extinction? Why spend valuable runtime on Axel using his martial arts skills to win a one-on-one basketball game at a homeless encampment? Actually, that last scene was pretty cool \u2013 and it\u2019s that sense of coolness that will keep me tuning in to Lazarus every week, even if its plot doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense on a macro level. The combat animation continues to excel, and episode 3\u2019s trip to Istanbul (reached via above-ground hyperloop) featured dozens of beautiful backgrounds. I\u2019m not attached to any of the characters at this point, however. The show enjoys pairing off its secret agents and sending them to different locations, but I wish it would focus on one mission per episode and let the whole team collaborate. Maybe it\u2019ll get there as they close in on Dr. Skinner\u2019s location \u2013 assuming that ever happens.<\/p>\n Apocalypse Hotel\u2019s premiere showcased robot dialogue that we in the audience couldn\u2019t understand, but its protagonist Yachiyo could. In its second episode, it goes a step further by introducing the hotel\u2019s first guest in a century, whose alien language not even Yachiyo can decipher. That\u2019s where much of the fun of this episode lies: in trying to grasp what the guest aims to communicate by adjusting others\u2019 hand gestures, placing objects on their heads, or tossing his freshly laundered clothes into the air. Though Yachiyo never quite lands on the same page as this tentacled, top-hat-wearing visitor (despite a near-breakthrough during an amusing tea ceremony scene), she comes away from their encounter refreshed and ready to serve any future extraterrestrial guests that may pass through the Gingarou\u2019s doors. Those may be the only kind of guests the hotel will ever receive, as the episode\u2019s other new character, a murder-happy environmental monitor robot, informs Yachiyo that he hasn\u2019t received a transmission from humanity in decades. Despite being nearly 60 years old, Shinichiro Miki voices the monitor bot with gusto \u2013 he\u2019ll be a real asset to this show\u2019s comedic ambitions should he stick around for the long haul.<\/p>\n China\u2019s animation-focused Tu Bian Yingxiong (To Be Hero) franchise is anthological, meaning you don\u2019t need to have seen any of its previous entries to jump into this one. But should you make that jump at all? If you like superhero shows, your answer should probably be yes, since that\u2019s what we have on our hands here. The story moves at lightning speed \u2013 within the first few minutes, a bottom rung employee at an ad agency transforms into the very hero whose promo videos he used to edit \u2013 but slick scene transitions keep this premiere from falling apart. I\u2019m not just talking about cuts within a single art style, either, since Hero X makes use of night-and-day 2D and Arcane-esque 3D animation, the latter of which also contains blobby effects work that blends nicely into the episode\u2019s climactic fight. The characters are merely playing their roles at this point: overwhelmed role-playing protagonist, taskmaster manager, idol girlfriend, etc. I can only speculate as to whether they\u2019ll be able to carry their weight going forward. As for this episode, though, it really levels up in its final moments, with a great twist ending and an even better Hiroyuki Sawano-composed OP to close things out. I might not do any more write-ups for To Be Hero X this spring, but I\u2019m sure to revisit it before the year is through.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever been in this sort of position, where I don\u2019t care to watch what I regard as one of the best anime of a given season. Anne Shirley adapts tremendous source material, has pleasant character designs and consistent animation, and boasts a Naoko Yamada-directed opening<\/span><\/a> that could be described as \u201cmusical\u201d even without its accompanying song. But I\u2019m more than content with my memories of the 1979 anime, and if this new one moves on to events from future Anne books (as people are speculating it might), I think I\u2019d rather read the original texts than experience the CliffsNotes provided by this fast-moving adaptation. Take these two episodes, for example; they cover Anne\u2019s initial clash with Mrs. Lynde, the first meeting with her bosom friend Diana, the amethyst brooch debacle, and her outburst at Gilbert Blythe, all in the span of 45 minutes! That\u2019s not an unprecedented speed for a modern anime series, but the result is that Anne\u2019s bond with Diana feels ordinary, whereas it ought to be life-changing. But hey, I\u2019m still an anime junkie after nearly two decades of fandom, so I may end up reversing course and watching Anne Shirley to completion. We\u2019ll see!<\/p>\n Dinner Table Detective\u2019s first outing wasn\u2019t terribly impressive, but it also ended on a cliffhanger, so it seemed appropriate to pop back in and witness the resolution before writing off the rest of the show. Unfortunately, while the identical necklaces worn by Hinako and Mai in the premiere\u2019s slideshow were a nice bit of foreshadowing, the crime ultimately boiled down to a case of mistaken identity, and the happy \u201cI doubt the assault victim will press charges\u201d ending was more than a little silly. Sure, DTD styles itself as a comedy, but it\u2019s a mystery anime first, and both the motive and the resolution of this first case weren\u2019t up to snuff. If there\u2019s a mystery I\u2019m actually interested in, it\u2019s the one surrounding Reiko\u2019s sleuthy butler Kageyama, rather than the murder of a real estate CEO introduced in the episode\u2019s second half. Kageyama dodges the question about his real identity when Reiko asks him point blank, so there\u2019s probably something hidden there that will complicate their partnership in the future. I won\u2019t be going forward with this series, though, so I\u2019ll never learn what that \u201csomething\u201d is.<\/p>\n I figured Rock wa Lady\u2019s first episode without a jam session would be a major hurdle, but the show cleared it without much trouble last week. Kurogane\u2019s desire to play with the standoffish Suzunomiya for the second time formed the core of the story, and things branched out from there; for me, the highlight was a montage of Suzunomiya sneaking around campus, avoiding her admirer like the plague so she wouldn\u2019t be outed as a rock music lover. Despite her abundance of caution, though, she couldn\u2019t avoid boasting about the method by which she became such a fluent Engrish speaker: listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. She and Kurogane, an undercover Linkin Park lover, would have gotten on famously with some of my high school friends. I was a classic rock purist in those days (which were long enough ago that RHCP weren\u2019t yet considered \u201cclassic rock\u201d), but I like to think I\u2019d have been cool enough to keep their secret, had I stumbled upon it back then. Speaking of secrets, did anyone else get the vibe that the student council president is another closet hard rock aficionado? No part of her appearance matches either of the two remaining band members from the OP, but something about her too-perfect demeanor makes me think there\u2019s more to her character than what we saw here.<\/p>\n Unlike my experience watching Anne Shirley, where my perception that it moves too fast comes from familiarity with a past adaptation, I\u2019ve got no frame of reference for Kowloon Generic Romance \u2013 yet its third episode still seemed to move at breakneck speed. Beginning with the scene where two maids gossipped about their boss at the Hebinuma estate in Hong Kong, the show blew through one major development after another. The most damaging of them were Kudo\u2019s despondent claim not to have feelings for Reiko in the office, and the following rooftop conversation where she confessed her love for him in spite of her amnesia. There was a sunflower motif planted earlier in the episode to strengthen Reiko\u2019s attraction, but that wasn\u2019t enough to justify its sudden dominance, especially when so much of the show so far has seen its romantic leads cautiously feeling each other out. On the plus side, both of these episodes were dense with symbolism and intrigue, and I really liked the decision to reveal details about \u201cKujirai B\u201d (Kowloon\u2019s name for the \u201cother\u201d Reiko) through Kudo\u2019s flashbacks \u2013 details that were then matched or contrasted with the present version of the character.<\/p>\n This is the episode that will either throw new viewers for an irrecoverable loop or hook them into one of anime\u2019s preeminent fictional timelines. It presents an alternate version of the original TV series where Char (its antagonist), rather than Amuro (its protagonist), takes command of the iconic RX-78-2 Gundam, and alters the course of the One Year War as a result. I saw GQX\u2019s prologue film in theaters a couple months back, and I remember its version of these events being about 30 minutes long; a quick Google search confirms that some of the details surrounding this parallel reality were cut to fit the length of a standard TV episode. That\u2019s fine by me, as I\u2019m more interested in getting back to the new characters, but as someone who\u2019s seen a bunch of U.C. Gundam entries, I enjoyed the twisty trip down memory lane. Char\u2019s invasion of Side 7 yoinked a ton of cuts from the original show and gave them a fresh coat of digipaint, while the eyecatches used the exact music tracks from 46 years ago (\u201cShaa!\u201d). Seeing the RX-78-2 painted red was bizarre even on second viewing, but stranger still was seeing the Earth Federation attempt to flatten a lunar city beneath the Solomon military base, since that\u2019s straight out of Zeon\u2019s playbook. The tail end of this episode was hit hardest by whatever cuts GQX had to make compared to its film version, as Char\u2019s disappearance was merely mentioned, rather than shown, but the anime\u2019s imminent return to the present day should take the sting out of that omission.<\/p>\nLazarus \u2013 2-3<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/starcrossedanime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Lazarus-2.1.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nApocalypse Hotel \u2013 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nTo Be Hero X \u2013 1<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nAnne Shirley \u2013 2-3<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nThe Dinner Table Detective \u2013 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nRock wa Lady no
Tashinami deshite \u2013 2<\/h2>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nKowloon Generic Romance \u2013 2-3<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nMobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX \u2013 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\nShin Samurai-den Yaiba \u2013 2<\/h2>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n