The Spring 2018 Anime You Need To Check Out

Tokyo Ghoul:re

Premiere Date: April 3

Originally created by Sui Ishida, Tokyo Ghoul follows Ken Kaneki, a student who survives an encounter with his date, who turns out to be a ghoul. Kaneki's world is filled with Ghouls, beings who eat humans, and they've been living among humans in secret. After surviving this attack he wakes up to realize that he himself has become a ghoul because of a surgery that implanted organs from the ghoul who attacked him. In order to live somewhat a normal life, Kaneki needs to eat human flesh to survive. Luckily he's taken in by a group of ghouls at the cafe Anteiku, who help him reintegrate into society.

The upcoming third season is based off on Tokyo Ghoul: re, set two years after the events of the original series (not including the non-canon second season). It follows Haise Sasaki, a member of the CCG and leader of a special squad of investigators who have implanted the CCG's specialty weapon, the Quinque, into their bodies and essentially have become half ghoul. Then the series slowly reveals Haise's connections to the original series.

Gundam Build Divers

Premiere Date: April 3

Although it's an off-shoot of the main Mobile Suit Gundam series, the Gundam Build series of anime is a hugely popular one since it allows Gundam fans to indulge in fan-service and fun with a show all about the popular model kits sold in real life. Gundam Build Divers is just as highly anticipated as every other Gundam series as well as fervor has been picking up since it was announced.

Sunrise describes the series as:

"The Gunpla Force Battle Tournament is a big event held in GBN once per year. Competing in the final round are Avalon, led by the champion Kyoya Kujo, and the elite 7th Panzer Division led by the cunning Rommel. Starting with Kyoya's Gundam AGE II Magnum, a variety of Gunpla take to the field to determine which is the strongest force!"

My Hero Academia Season 3

Premiere Date: April 7

Originally created by Kohei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has super powers but he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he's eventually scouted by the world's best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes.

The second season of the series was one of the most popular releases of 2017, so it's no wonder the third season has a ton of hype behind it. The third season is set to adapt the School Trip arc of the manga, which follows the students of Class 1-A head to a forest in order to bring the control of their Quirks to a new level. Suddenly, the League of Villains attacks in order to kidnap one of the students and Midoriya and the others must think quickly on their feet in order to survive.

Persona 5 the Animation

Premiere Date: April 8

Persona 5 was one of the biggest video game releases of 2017, and since Atlus have given fans anime adaptations of the previous video games in the franchise, fans just cannot wait for its anime series.

Not only does the video game's narrative translate well to anime, the series has had successful adaptations so it's alright to have a higher standard of hype than you would normally. Aniplex of America, who have licensed the series in the West, describes Persona 5 the Animation as such:

"Ren Amamiya is about to enter his second year after transferring to Shujin Academy in Tokyo. Following a particular incident, his Persona awakens, and together with his friends they form the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" to reform hearts of corrupt adults by stealing the source of their distorted desires.

Meanwhile, bizarre and inexplicable crimes have been popping up one after another…Living an ordinary high school life in Tokyo during the day, the group maneuvers the metropolitan city as Phantom Thieves after hours.Let the curtain rise for this grand, picaresque story!"

Sword Art Online: Gun Gale Online

Premiere Date: April 8

Sword Art Online fans are getting ready to have a substantial 2018 as not only will the third season of the series premiere later this year, there is also a spin-off (and video game) based on the Gun Gale Online game seen in the second season of the series. Some fans came to prefer the gun friendly setting of Sword Art Online II, and cant wait to see what else that world can offer with characters outside of Kirito's influence.

The spin-off will follow Karen Kohiruimaki as the abnormally tall college student enters the world of Gun Gale Online. The player operates under the avatar Llenn, and the character's life gets turned around when she meets a player named Pitohui who convinces them to enter a tournament known as Squad Jam.

Golden Kamuy

Premiere Date: April 9

Golden Kamuy has been a popular manga series ever since its debut in Shueisha's Young Jump in 2014, but it's been more of a cult-hit among fans since it has not gotten much widespread attention outside of Japan.

That's why an anime adaptation of the series is such an exciting prospect since the series will finally have a chance to garner the attention it deserves with a larger audience. The story follows Saichi Sugimoto, a miner in Hokkaido taking care of the widow of his dead comrade after surviving the battle of 203 Hill in the Russo-Japanese War. He hears rumors of of a stash of gold hidden by a group of criminals, and decides to go look for it with the mysterious girl Asirpa after she saves him from the harsh wilderness.

Food Wars! Season 4 (Shokugeki no Soma: San no Sara - Totsuki Ressha-hen)

Premiere Date: April 9

The third season of Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma came to an abrupt end last year and took fans by surprise when it was revealed that the next 12 episodes of the series would premiere in Spring 2018 instead. As other seasons of the series ran for two cours each, perhaps this will be a great sign of the season to come if it needed its own space.

The story follows Soma Yukihira, a young chef who one days wants to get good enough at cooking to take over his family diner from his father. But when graduates from middle school, his father shuts down his diner and tells Soma to enroll into Totsuki Academy, an elite cooking school where only one percent of students who enroll actually graduate. In order to survive in school and avoid being expelled, Soma eventually has to challenge and defeat any other chef that stands in his way.

Season 4 of the series takes place during the Promotion Exams arc, as Souma, Erina, and the rest of the Polar Star dorms fight for their place to stay in Totsuki as Central challenges them to a number of trials on a speeding train.

High School DxD Hero

Premiere Date: April 10

High School DxD has become a major fan-favorite over the years for two big reasons. Blending together its shonen style escalation of power narrative with copious fan-service and gorgeous character art, the series has become a staple for fans in love with the "ecchi" subgenre of anime.

Fans are a bit anxious about the fourth season of the series, subtitled Hero, because the third season made many significant changes to the original source material and even had its own original story. There is a hope that the season will correct this folly, however, and that's what's the most exciting.

The story follows a boy named Issei Hyodo who is best known for his perverted ways. After being asked on a date, the boy is killed when the girl turns out to be a fallen angel. Issei is revived by a busty classmate of his named Rias who is a devil herself, and she contracts the boy to become her new pet as she reincarnated him into a devil during his resurrection.

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory

Premiere Date: April 13

Full Metal Panic! was one of the most popular and influential anime series in the early 2000s, and its blue-haired heroine has one of the most iconic designs in the entire medium. Invisible Victory is the upcoming fourth iteration of the series (hence the play on the Roman numeral "IV" in its title) and is the first new anime for the series in quite some time.

The series was first created by Shoji Gatoh with illustrations provided by Shiki Douji, and follows Sousuke Sagara, who is a member of an anti-terrorist organization known as Mithril. He's tasked with guarding a young school girl named Kaname Chidori, and enrolls in her high school. Since he's not good at socially interacting with others, he ends up being labeled as a weirdo when he puts a military spin on everyday life and is trying to figure out why Kaname is a target in the first place.