The Spring 2017 anime season is upon us and it looks like we've got a pretty good spread this season! Here's a quick guide to some of the sci-fi and fantasy anime this season, complete with summaries, airtimes, streaming locations and a snapshot of what to expect based on the first few episodes or the previews.
In order to narrow things down just a tiny bit, this list is sticking to anime that can be found through legal streaming channels. If and when more becomes available through those channels, more entries will be added.
So take a look and decide your top pick for anime this season!
Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor
Summary: Based on light novels by Taro Hitsuji. Guren is a part-time teacher at a magic school, but also kind of a loser. However, when his students are threatened, he really steps up to protect them.
Time: Currently airing, Tuesdays 9:30am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: A metric ton of teenage-girl centered fanservice, lots of standard gags about jerky teachers, abrasive students and girls groping their friends for fun.
Alice & Zouruko (Alice to Zouruko)
Summary: Based on a manga by Tetsuya Imai. A young girl named Sana has the power to turn her thoughts into reality. She escapes from the experimental facility she is being held at and encounters a grumpy old man.
Currently Airing: Sundays 11:00am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Cute found family bonding, superpowered shenannigans, fighting an evil facility and a father-and-daughter relationship between the leads. The manga this is based on has won some awards, which could be considered a good sign.
Attack on Titan Season 2
Summary: Based on a manga by Hajime Isamiya. In a world where humanity is forced to hide in walled cities from man-eating giants called Titans, Eren Yeager and his friends have joined the military organization that is attempting to fight and wipe out the Titans. This season continues where the first one left off, with Eren and his fellow soldiers facing the threat of a new horde of Titans, including the infamous armored Titan.
Currently Airing, Saturdays 10:30am EDT
Streaming: Funimation, Crunchyroll, Hulu
What to expect: Manga readers know we can expect some bloody battles, shocking revelations, exploration of new characters and intense relationship reveals. In general, expect a lot of giants eating people, fighting, screaming, blood, death and action.
Atom the Beginning
Summary: Based on a manga by Tetsuro Kazahara. A prequel to Osamu Tezuka’s famed anime about a robot boy, Astro Boy. This shows the events that led to Astro Boy’s creation.
Premiere Date: April 15, Saturday
Streaming: Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: A futuristic sci-fi featuring a dangerous criminal underworld.
Beserk Season 2
Summary: Based on Kentaro Miura’s manga, this anime follows the wandering mercenary Guts on his quest for vengeance.
Airing: Fridays, 11:00 AM, EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Gritty action, drama, dark fantasy and ultraviolence galore, including sexual violence. The CGI animation that didn't sit well with a lot of fans of the manga is still very much present.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Summary: A sequel to the famed Naruto anime, this series focuses on the children of Naruto and the others in his generation. The main character is Naruto’s son, Boruto, who rebels against his dad and struggles with the pressure of having a famous father. But he too is on his way to becoming a ninja. This story focuses on Boruto's early days at the Ninja Academy.
Currently Airing: Wednesdays 5:25am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll,Hulu
What to expect: Father-son squabbles, action, comedy and the ninja adventures and fights of Naruto, but with a new generation. This won't be based on the currently running Boruto manga, but will be a story set before the Boruto movie focusing on his early days at school.
Clockwork Planet
Summary: Based on light novels by Yuu Kamiya and Tsubaki Imada. In a future where the Earth has turned into a planet held together by clockwork, a young man named Naoto discovers an automaton girl. He also meets up within a engineer and her bodyguard. Within a month, all four of them have become infamous terrorists.
Currently airing: Thursdays 3:00pm EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Lots and lots of gears in this anime. It's a "clockpunk" dystopian future, but not an especially complex or nuanced one thus far. A lot of standard tropes can be seen in the first episode- there's a ton of fanservice, a magical girlfriend falling from the sky, an attempted rape and a lot of sexy misunderstandings.
Granblue Fantasy The Animation
Summary: Based on an RPG. A boy named Gran and winged lizard encounter a girl named Lyria. She has escaped the evil Erste Empire. Gran and Lyria head to the skies to flee the Empire and find Gran’s father with only a letter he left behind as guidance.
Currently Airing: Saturdays 12:30pm EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll, Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: A fairly traditional sword-and-sorcery story, complete with a standard good-natured hero, mysterious girl with strange power in need of protection, obligatory mascot character and a great quest to be undertaken. Straightfoward about what it is so far.
Grimoire of Zero
Summary: Based on light novels by Kakeru Kobashiri. A half-man, half-beast wants to be fully human. He meets a witch named Zero who says she’ll help him if he helps her get her stolen “Book of Zero” back.
Airing: Mondays
Streaming: Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: a traditional action-fantasy with a distinctly midevial feel, judging from the PV.
ID-0
Summary: Original Anime. In a world where people operate giant robots called I-Machines, studeny Maya Mikuri is operating one when she encounters some pirates. Then she ends up as a crew member on an excavating spaceship.
Airing: Sundays
Streaming: Netflix
What to expect: CGI animation, fanservice and lots and lots of robots.
Kado: The Right Answer
Summary: Original Anime. This anime follows a man name Kojiro who must work to be an intermediary between humanity and a mysterious race with advanced technology called the Anisotrons.
Currently Airing: Thursdays 10:00am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Adult professionals try to deal with a mysterious alien invasion and surprisingly, this doesn't lead to an immediate shoot-out. Kado isn't action focused so far, but deals with negotiation and tactics. If you're fond of sci-fi that's more thoughtful than fight-based, this might be for you. CGI animation.
Love Tyrant
Summary: Based on a manga by Megane Mihoshi. An angel dressed like a grim reaper named Guri encounters a high school boy named Seiji. Guri has an item that will turn any two people who kiss into a couple. She tries to kiss Seiji and his troubles begin.
Currently airing: Thursdays 3:05pm EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: A fast-paced romantic comedy with tons over-the-top lowbrow gags and over-the-top trope-y characters (including a rampaging yandere and a girl in love with her sister), blatant parodying of Death Note and an unweildy love quadrangle.
Monster Rancher The Animation Season 2
Summary: Based on a mobile game. A continuation of the anime about a game app that summons monsters. Ren and his friends have defeated the War Gods, but a mysterious girl named Pandora shows up. Carrying a box. As you can guess, it's going to open and things are going to get wild.
Currently Airing: Saturdays 6:15am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Lots of monster fighting, some light hearted teenage hijinks and likely a ton of episodes.
My Hero Academia Season 2
Summary: Based on a manga by Kohei Hoshiroki. The second season of the anime about a boy named Izuki Midori, who was born with no superpowers in a world where 80% of the population has some kind of power, but is still determined to be a superhero. Izuki has achieved his dream of attending the prestigious superhero academy. Now there will be a tournament where the young heroes face off!
Currently Airing, Saturdays 5:30am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu
What to expect: An action-packed shonen starring superhero students with solid animation and a good dose of comedy. This is a tournament arc, so you can bet on seeing the kids compete and face a lot of obstacles. Continues directly where the first season left off.
Natsume's Book of Friends Season 6
Summary: Based on a manga by Yuki Midorikawa. The continuation of first five seasons of Natsume. Takashi Natsume has the power to see monsters called yokai, which has caused him much hardship. His late grandmother also had this power and he has inherited a “book of friends”, where she’s bound several yokai to serving her by writing their names in the book. Natsume sets about freeing the yokai from the book and has many encounters along the way.
Premiere Date: Tuesdays, 3:00 PM EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Continuing from the previous seasons, it'll likely be a heart-warming story focused on a previously mistreated and lonely boy slowly finding happiness and healing, who helps yokai and forges meaningful relationships with them, bridging the gap between yokai and human.
Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul
Summary: Based on a mobile app game. A continuation Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. Set ten years after the cast’s battle with a deadly dragon, the characters return to fight a new battle and encounter a girl named Nina.
Airing: Saturdays
Streaming: Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: A beautifully animated sword-and-sorcery style action story with super-strong, super-comical and super-horny woman as the apparent protagonist. Some fanservice. The plot is heavily connected to the first season. The protagonists of the first season are MIA so far, but most of the other cast has shown up at least breifly.
RE: Creators
Summary: Original anime. This anime will explore the idea of characters in stories developing thoughts and goals of their own. A high school student named Sota encounters a world where several characters from prominent sci-fi and fantasy franchises interact.
Airing: Sundays
Streaming: Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: A well-animated action-fantasy with lots of meta-commentary on anime and society. Mystery abounds and there's a wide cast of characters with differing motivations.
The Silver Guardian
Summary: Based on a manhua/Chinese comic. A boy, Suigin and a girl, Rei get trapped in an online game they play. Suigin ends up fighting the undead and guarding the god-tomb, all to protect Rei.
Airing: Saturdays, 9:30 AM EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: It's part watching the protagonist plow through undead armies, part watching him flirt with the girl he's fixated on and getting into the familiar romantic shenannigans. Expect a cute cat companian, lots of cleavage and be prepared to hear "I will protect her" a bunch.
Sagrada Reset
Summary: Based on light novels by Yutaka Kono. In a town where many people have superpowers, a boy named Ken and a girl named Misora plan to combine their powers to travel back in time and prevent the tragic death of a classmate. However, a secret organization monitors their town and is set on stopping them from changing the timeline.
Currently Airing: Wednesdays
Streaming:Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: A subdued, slow-paced anime drama that takes itself very seriously and deals with philosophy and heavy moral questions. The animation is fairly static. However, it does feature some cliffhangers and promises some mystery and drama to come.
Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side
Summary: A spin-off of a series about a boy named Bell who adventures in various dungeon labrynths in order to become stronger, all while having a gaggle of girls fall in love with him. This spinoff focuses on Aiz Wallenstein, the famous swordwoman who saved Bell’s life and thus caused him to fall in love with her.
Premiere Date: April 14, Friday
Streaming: Amazon Anime Strike
What to expect: Similar to the series it's spun off from, expect a lot of busty ladies, a lot of attacking monsters and a lot of magical adventures.
The Eccentric Family Season 2
Summary: Based on the light novels by Tomohiko Morishimi. A sequel to the anime about a world where tanuki and tengu intermingle. A family of tanuki have the ability to change into any form they wish, including human form. The third son, Yasaburo, must deal with his family drama and a capricious human woman.
Airing: Sundays
Streaming:Crunchyroll
What to expect: It continues the tone and story of the previous season. It focuses on complicated relationships and the conflict and tension between the worlds of tengu, tanuki and human. There's lots of fantastical scenes and scenic animation that shows off the beauty of Kyoto, the story's setting.
Tsugumomo
Summary:Based on a manga by Yoshikazu Hamada. A boy named Kazuya encounters a spirit bound to his late mother’s sash. She moves in with him, declaring him her “owner”. A multitude of other sexy girls are there to throw themselves all over him too, including his sister.
Currently Airing: Sundays, 11:30 AM EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: A magical girlfriend harem anime that feels like it was made a decade ago. It features the typical bland protagonist who a ton of girls (including his sister) inexplicably want to bone (but also beat up), fanservice shenanigans, tsunderes galore, sex-focused comedy and even an evil crossdressor thrown in for good measure.
Twin Angels BREAK
Summary: Based on a pachinko game. Two girls, Meguru and Sumire, transform in "twin angels" to fight evil with the help of a talking hedgehog. While Meguru is cheerful and forceful, Sumire is on the shy side and they must overcome their differences to work together in the name of justice.
Airing: Fridays 11 AM EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: A fairly standard magical girl show with a perky protagonist dragging along her shy friend. If you've seen Sailor Moon or Precure, you know what to expect from these first episodes.
The Laughing Salesman
Summary: Based on a manga by Fujiko Fujio. A mysterious, ever-smiling salesman tempts people with their desires, but they find the price might be steeper than they bargained for.
Currently airing, Mondays 11:30am EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: Short vignettes based around "be-careful-what-you-wish-for" type scenarios. Old-school horror that's more focused on creepy situations and parables that shock and gore.
Future Card Buddyfight X
Summary: In the year 2020, humans are able to team up with monsters from a parallel world via a collectible card game. They compete in huge tournamnets that could determine the fate of many.
Currently airing: Fridays, 7:30 AM EDT
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What to expect: If you've seen Yu-gi-oh and Digimon, it's a lot like a combination of those. Kid-friendly action with cute mascot characters galore.