Second Emulation

Anime Spring 2025: What's Hot on Crunchyroll

• Shawn Juarez • Episode 80

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Ever wonder what makes an anime season truly exceptional? The secret lies in balance, and Spring 2025 is shaping up to deliver exactly that. Breaking from the typical isekai overload of recent seasons, Crunchyroll's upcoming lineup offers something genuinely refreshing—a harmonious blend of continuing favorites alongside bold new originals.

The highly anticipated Fire Force Season 3 returns after leaving fans dangling from that jaw-dropping Season 2 cliffhanger. If you've been following the subtle breadcrumbs connecting this series to Soul Eater, you're in for a treat as these connections finally start taking meaningful shape. Meanwhile, My Hero Academia fans can satisfy their heroic cravings with "Vigilantes," a spin-off exploring the grittier side of heroism through characters operating outside the sanctioned system—think of them as the Daredevils to All Might's Superman.

Among newcomers, "Beginning After the End" stands out despite animation controversies. This isn't your typical reincarnation story—our protagonist was already a ruthless dictator king in a fantasy world before getting his second chance. Two hidden gems deserve special mention: "Catch Me at the Ballpark" offers a charming slice-of-life romance between a weary salaryman and a beer vendor at a baseball stadium, while "Hero X" introduces a fascinating concept where heroes' powers are directly tied to public trust and perception.

To enhance your anime experience this season, I've created a shared anime list where you can see what I'm watching, make recommendations, and potentially join watch-alongs. The link is in the episode description alongside our social media handles. This spring truly offers something for everyone—whether you're seeking action-packed sequels, thoughtful new premises, or heartwarming slice-of-life stories. What shows are you planning to watch? Share your picks in the comments and let's build our anime community together!

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  📍 Hi, hello, and welcome to Second Emulation! Oh my God, you guys, I’m so excited for you to listen to this episode—like, it’s going to be so good! Your amazing host is about to take you on a deep dive into all things movies, anime, gaming, and pop culture. Seriously, it’s, like, the best way to spend your time. So, grab your favorite drink, maybe a latte or something cute, and get ready to have the best time. Okay, love that for you! Here’s your host!

Hey. Hey everyone. Welcome back to Second Alation, the show where we dive deep into the latest anime news and review. I'm Sean, your host, and today we're talking about Crunchy Rose lineup for summer 2025 anime season. Plus, I'll be sharing my watch list, which is gonna be located on my anime list.com, so you can follow along with me as I watch these shows.

Stick around as I break down the most exciting news, uh, hidden gems. And what you should be adding to your anime watch list. This season, cruncher Row is bringing us new anime, highly anticipated sequels, exciting new originals and hidden gems you won't wanna miss. So let's dive into it. Overall crunchy roll's summer 2025.

Anime season is looking pretty stacked with the various of, you know, a combination of new anime that's coming in and some familiar faces of anime or sequels. And we kind of got this mix of action and romance and fantasy, a little bit slice of life that everyone can, you know, kind of like gravitate to.

Now what I've been noticing for this. Season and trends is there a lot more fantasy than usual? You know, some romance, but we're starting to see a lot more kind of pull back from Issa Kais not saying that there's, they're not going to stop making Issa Kais, but the Akai slop that we've noticed from, fall of, fall season of last year that progressed throughout the different seasonal changes.

We're starting to see a lot more of that slow down. Not necessarily saying that, we're going to get less of those, but I do think that we're starting to see like, a lot of just the slop that either is hit and miss something that has like a huge following of recurring animes that have a huge fan base.

Those type of is Kais are going to like push through. We saw a lot of that with. Solo leveling, and I know jobless reincarnation is gonna be gearing up for another season. And, Iowa wasn't reincarnated as a slime, which has also, been announced for another season. And these are all within the realm of that Akai that we've seen, and they do have a huge fan base. Another one is shield Hero Rising, which this one really kind of stood out and like out of the gate among a lot of the different ASIC highs. Now, there are some that I wish would get another season which is a. The Red Ranger, you know, venturing in another world, which I thought was pretty good.

But again, you know, a lot of what we're seeing here is like this downturn of like, a lot of these in. These, um, studios are thrown a lot at the wall and just seeing what sticks. So we're seeing a lot of those one shots get made in there, and if there's a huge base for it, maybe there'll be a continuation.

There are some goofy ones that, are still continuing and, but we are seeing a kind of like this down, slow down of some is Kais. Oddly enough, we are seeing, you know, some romance. I think romance animes are having a uptick and a lot of sport type of animes, you know, are coming up and some cooking shows, which I'm also a fan of.

Some like good anime cooking shows and maybe a slice of life anime. There are a few out there that are, you know, that being, I assume to be one shots, but they are getting another season. That's kind of like seeing what the pulse is for the summer and also gonna be leading into fall is if this trend continues then we might see like a good balance.

And normally around the summer we kind of get like that tail end of like everything that. Either was picked up and continued or wasn't in the last year follow up. And I do say this because Solo leveling season two had just ended and prior to that furin, um, at Journeys end ended prior to that. So there's like a big gap of, anime to fill between, in between those times or in those slots for next season. Now I feel like this seasonal lineup is actually gonna be pretty stacked. So I'm looking forward and I think, for me as a fan, I'm pretty anticipated for, some of these animes. And I think the show that I'm most excited about is shield Hero Rising Season four.

The next one's gonna be detective. These days are crazy, and I'm gonna pronounce this incorrectly, but Gacha, Tua, I'll be diving deeper into these later, but I think you're going to, um, they're gonna be the highlight of this season, which is nice. I always like a good downturn for a season. I always like to.

Like to have a sequel come back, 'cause there are a lot of animes out there that I watch and like I either continue or get to the end and then kind of want more. So these are ones that have caught my eye that I'm going to be talking about. Alright, so let's get into it. So first up is gonna be Shield Hero Rising Season four.

Now this is an action adventure fantasy. It's a sequel because of prior, there's been a season. Three, season two, season one. So this has been, around the block and it's nice to see that, I assume that season three, it was kind of like it for the anime and wasn't sure if we were gonna get a continuation of the anime beyond what we've already seen.

But seeing that now it's starting up and it's continuing worse season. Three left off. I'm pretty excited. But for those who don't know, this is gonna be following, um, nMI is a environmental taco finds a book in the library that summons him to another world. He is tasked with joining the Sword, spear and Bow as a four cardinal heroes, fighting the ways of the catastrophe as a shield hero.

Excited by the prospect of a grand venture. NMI sets off with his party, however merely a few days later, he's betrayed and loses his money and dignity and respect. Unable to trust anyone anymore, he employs. A slave named Elia and takes on the waves and the world, but will he find a way to overturn these types of situations?

Now, what I just read was a, um, essentially a summary of this anime. For those who don't know how it, what really gravitated me to this one was the fact that yes, it is an isaka, but the way. It's written in the way it's presented itself. It's very different. A lot of these is Kais go with like the person's reincarnated and they're just op and then they're almost like a, a, I wanna say a ladies man, or just women just flock to them.

This one really started very different because the main character didn't want to be there. He, he liked the prospect of being there, and it was cool, but like he internally didn't know why he was there and ultimately didn't want, like any person had these conflicting feelings of like, why am I here?

What I contribute? And then he's betrayed, like they. Essentially do a honeypot on him and you know, take all his funds and he's treated badly. And so from that point on, he, while he can't go home and the you find out that the only way for him to return back to his world is if he dies there, that is the only way for him to return back to where he was summoned, that he technically needs to die in this world or.

I believe that's a he dies there and then he can go back, but they can't send him back. That is the thing that the magic can only bring him. So he's stuck there and he doesn't want to be there. But he, it also deals with the trauma of him being in a place he doesn't know, in a place. He doesn't know the language, and he has to essentially survive and.

Scrounge and hustle all by himself because he's now deemed as this not as a traitor, but he as a bad person based on this honeypot trap that was set for him to kind of make him integrate his name. So he's on my stat with a, bad perception of people. So I feel like the way this anime is written is very, well, it, it kind of deals with like.

Not only the trauma of being in a new area and being isolated, but also his internal trauma of, how he was interacting with people prior to coming here and how his like perception of interaction with anyone changes over the course. So I feel like this anime, even though isn't Issa Kai does that very well, and the character himself isn't like you are run of the mill like Issa Kai character where he's like obsessed with women or, he's going after the most beautiful, attractive, he really has this like an emotional list detachment, yes, most of his, uh, his party members are women. But like he has no attraction to them. He views them as like, they're part of my party. They're like tools, you know, they can help me to get from point A to point B. Like he, he's not like your typical, I guess, Akai main character that has those tropes. So that's one reason why I think that.

Shield Hero is going to be a good pickup. Season four will be an awesome pickup. 'Cause it just continues that riding and that narrative story going forward. So I feel like if you haven't seen, uh, shield Hero at, you know, at all, I think this is one that you should pick up. And add it to your watch list.

Next we have got. Chia Kta now, this is an action, adventure and fantasy. The story follows a floating city where the rich discard their waste and people. Rudo is framed for murder and is thrown into the pit where a hell less hellscape of mutated trash based dwell to survive, he must wield a new power and join the cleaners.

Rudy doesn't just aim to battle monsters. But the corrupt who cast him into hell. Now the reason why I selected this because it had a, a unique premise. It's also a new anime that I haven't seen before. I believe like the premise is more so like these kind of dystopian worlds. This remind me of, um, Alida Battle Angel.

The way it was like, the premise of, the cast system, there are people at the top and then there's people at the bottom and that is it. In any moment you can be from here the top and be cast aside. So I felt like the, this anime did pull some inspiration from Alita Battle Angel, which is.

You know, very interesting. And it's also a very unique premise. Again, it is action. It is in a dystopian world where everyone is, in a caste system. And I feel like the way this, uh, plays out, it's gonna be very interesting. I'm very interested in seeing where the anime goes. I feel like this right here.

Yeah, wielding power, but I feel like it's a unique situation. I do like anime where, the main character isn't handed everything at once, like I do, like anime, where like the, how is his type, like he's betrayed, like ultimately in the first. What we're expecting, like there's gonna be a struggle, a goal, and it's not gonna be, you know, the character's going to have to, go on that journey.

I guess you can say, go on that hero's journey with all that struggle and not have anything handed to him. And the, the option for death is a realistic thing. So I do like how the story or just like from what I've seen in the trailer. How it's written and the visuals as well. It does, pull a lot from, I wanna say kind of has like that mob psycho.

Type of like a little bit of animation, a little bit of, uh, the Chainsaw Man, pool. And so, and it kind of like almost has, I wanna say black over characters. Like, like not characters, but more so like the artistic drawing of characters that they look like they could be in different, animes.

So this one is, uh. You know, very stands out for me. It really caught my eye because it wasn't something I was expecting. And I think the premise for this would be very interesting. I feel like, you know, if you're looking for a good, action, kind of like adventure fantasy, this is going to be the anime for you that you need to have on your add to your list.

And so I think it's gonna be very good, which I can't wait to watch it. And so we're gonna be on going on to my next and final pick pretty soon now, the third anime, you know, is going to be detective. These days are crazy. This is gonna be more like a sleuth slash comedy, maybe a little bit of action, but the story follows.

Once a legendary Detective Kito stumbles through a middle age baffled by smartphones and modern life. He, uh, quiet declines, gets disrupted. Uh, when Maro, a bold high school girl bursts into his office demanding to be his apprentice. Though he's rusty and set in his ways, her relentless enthusiasm drags him back into detective work.

Now, the age gap bridging Detective Duo is on the case. This, I think is very unique. Now, there's not, besides Detective Conan there aren't so many. Detective type anime or sleuth type anime in this space. And this is very unique. For those who don't know, I'm a, big Sherlock ha, Sherlock Holmes fan, and this anime kind of like fills that niche for me because it does ha it is, a comedy, but also it's serious at the same time.

And the quirkiness between the two is essentially like they're. From the trailer, they're solving mysteries within the area. But, uh, Ms. Shero, who is supposed to be the apprentice, doesn't know how to take the clues or take the information, but, and she can't be, quite literal in some sense.

And this is not like, you know, this old man likes. This young girl, I think more so, he's like, why am I stuck with you and why do you want to be a detective? Is what I got from this anime. And you know, it looks like it's really good now. It is gonna have its moments where you're kind of like, okay, you feel like they're giving some fan service and they might, but beyond that, this does have like, a feel of if.

Huh. If you escape from UKI show was a woman and decided I wanna be a detective, or be an detective apprentice. You know, it kind of has that vibe to it and I kind of like it and I feel like this might be a one that, you know. You should put on your radar if you're looking for something just like, comedy a little bit over the top and have that, you know, delinquent delinquent, trying to change their ways, in a sense, this would be a good one for you.

I feel like this might be a sleeper, anime within the realm of this season for summer that you might wanna pick up. Now I'm gonna talk about some hidden gems. So there's two that I was able to kind of like find that are gonna be for, you know, summer the summer lineup. And the first one, I feel like this will fly under the radar for this season, which is gonna be cap's original sin.

Now the story follows a Happy alien tap. Tapi lands on earth with one mission to spread happiness. When he meets Shizuka a lonely fourth grader, he vows to bring her smile using magical happiness gadgets. But as he uncovers the pain in her life, TAPI learns the true happiness may require more than gadgets.

Now, the reason why I say that this is going to be a hidden gem because the artwork. The post that they have for this really is misleading because it makes you feel like it's gonna be like a slice of life type anime. And what it really just based on this alone feels like there's gonna be different layers within this story and context.

Probably dealing with some type of trauma of some sorts and. Not a lot of anime do that. Like in this sense, there's not gonna be, some goofiness, there's not gonna be some adventuring. It's really just like, I, I guess you can say an imaginary friend trying to help you know, this and this person be happy, but also just uncover like their own type of trauma.

That the person they're trying to help has. So I feel like this one. It is going to be a good hidden gem. A lot of people might look at the poster and description and kind of write it off. Don't, I feel like if you're looking for something that's kind of, not too goofy, and you are looking for something serious and kind of like deep dive, I think this one's going to be that core for you and it's gonna be.

It's not gonna be a lot of people's top picks for their anime. 'cause you normally, a lot of people like to go mainstream, but if you, I feel like this should be in your rotation of things you would like to watch. When you're looking for a good palette, clans to look for more serious, I feel like this is on the lines of the anime called Erased.

Where it does deal with different type of like more serious matters. I believe this is that in that same lane and is one, I feel like you should pick up the second hidden gem, kind of really crept on me. I saw it a while ago and I see that it has like another season, but this one is going to be my dress.

Up darling, which this is a slice of life, romance, and the story follows, Ika Go. Jo is a high school boy who wants to become a master's craftsman, who makes traditional Japanese henna dolls. Though he is gungho about the craft, he knows nothing about the latest trends and has a hard time fitting in with his class.

The popular kids, especially one girl, Marin Kitta Gawa seems like they live in completely different worlds. That all changes one day when she shares an un unexpected secret with them and completely different worlds collide. Now, the reason why this is a hidden gem, because it is something that I didn't expect, but it also has a, a sequel, but essentially, you know, this kind of, dive into a world of cosplay and the craftsmen or the seamstress individuals who make those costumes. And so this one I feel like is a hidden gem because they're already on season two. But it dies into that world of like anime conventions and cosplays and the work that really goes into making these, the outfits, which clearly are the main attraction for the cosplays, which are work of arts.

And really just changing the, that person from like their, who you interact with on a day-to-day basis to. A character and a, you know, a character from any type of anime or fantasy they want. And so it kind of just opens up that world and it's very interesting because you kind of like get to see behind the curtain of things you already enjoy.

Like I myself, like going to anime conventions and you see a lot of co players and you always wonder like. You know how intricate these costumes are. Some of 'em might do them themselves, and it takes a lot of time. And you also wonder like, what if they have like a seamstress or someone who can make the costumes for them, and what their vision is.

And I feel like this kind of, dives deep into that and I'm excited to kind of, if it, if you already know what it is, awesome. But I feel like this is a, you know, a hidden gem all in its, right. I, again, I did see it in pre prior seasonal lineups. I, been on the verge of, you know, adding it.

I did just now saw that it's on a season two, so I'm going to pick it up. I feel like if this is not part of your, watch this. I feel like you should add it, give it a try. It is a slice of life type of romance and I feel like, when a show doesn't force those type of connections and like allow stuff to happen organically, the anime is good and when it's like the romance type of anime.

Where other animes, where they are romance and you feel like the characters are just forced into a relationship. It's not like organic. Those type of animes don't really do so well and they kind of turn me off as well. So those are, I feel like not only the three. Top picks from this season. But my also, my two picks who I feel like are hidden gems for crunches, crunch rolls summer 2025 season.

Now, not to say that, you know, these are the only ones I feel like what I've selected so far. I've kind of going hand in hand with, I feel like what you know. You should kind of keep your eye out for, again, these are, are my top picks and my hidden gems that you can, go towards. But there are a lot more anime out there for each season to watch.

And you should also make your own selection as well. For me, I feel like these are in a sense what I discern would be, you know, the ones that will be pretty popular and kind of have on your watch list going forward. Now, I'm also gonna be keeping an eye out to see, normally as we kind of.

Get closer to the end, into like September and fall. We should start seeing the fall se seasonal lineup. And I know there's gonna be a huge pick because you know, right now everyone's free summer vacation, but school is starting up and then that means, you know, days are getting shorter, a lot more gonna be watched in, fall, which fall to winter's pretty long.

For some over here. So I am very excited, but again, these are my top picks and my kind of like, my breakdown of what I kind of want to grade. So controls summer lineup for 2025. I think I would give it a B minus just from what I've selected and what I've actually seen overall. B minus is a very good rating for this season of anime.

Now, NASA has to say, you know, the trend, i'm hoping it actually might go up because we haven't seen a lot of isaka slop. And normally when you get a lot of isaka slop or just filler, it just means like they're just one shot animus. They're just there to fill, um, a specific seasonal lineup until like either re now anime, that's been announced, gets set up or it's coming back.

So you normally see that around, I wanna say between. Either the the fall lineup or the winter lineup is typically where we get a lot more of. I like to call anime slop, where it's just, they're typically just one shots, and they could be just like animes that no one's heard of, but they just have to fill, like essentially the time slot.

Like they have a, a quota or content, they have to make sure they meet. And normally within that. Those, uh, seasonal lineups, you probably get like one or two, maybe three renowned popular anime and maybe a new anime that's coming out that does have a following. So normally, like right now, I rated this a B minus.

I'm hoping that, it continues, but the rating is something I'm trying out. But overall, this season. This seasonal lineup is a, b, B minus for me. And others might, give it a higher grading or a lower grading, but for me, from what I've seen, it is going to be a B minus on my end. Just because, I watch a lot of anime and sometimes.

You do get a little bit of, uh, fatigue from certain genres within the anime and you like to try something new. So every seasonal lineup, I tend to try some new anime and these are the ones I'm looking to, add to my watch list. Now moving on. So I do have something special to share with y'all. So I've created an anime watch list for this season, or essentially it's an overall anime watch list that I would love for you to follow along with me as I watch these shows.

And it's a great way for us to connect and share our thoughts as the season progress. Now you can follow my anime watch list. It's going to be the UR link. Uh, one universal lead that's gonna be in the episode description. By clicking on that, you're gonna see my anime watch list there. Once you click on that, you'll be able to see all animes that I've been watching and what I'm starting and kind of, follow along and watch with me.

Or if you want to also provide any kind of like, and new animes that you find that you want to or any recommendations, you can also contact us or contact me on my ma watch list or through our social through our socials on Instagram and Twitter as or x and hit us up with your recommendations.

'cause I'm always looking for new anime to watch. And, you know, pick up. So if you have a recommendation, doesn't matter if it, it's a current or new or an old classic, hit us up, let us know and we can see, we can add it to our our watch list and in rotation of things you'll either watch and possibly do a review on.

So I'm very excited to have that available for you guys so you guys can see what we're watching. Now I will say that. It's not as updated as I would like, but going forward as part of content, I will be trying to update it with anime that I do watch and try to be on top of it as much as possible. And so you guys will start seeing those changes and you know, it can hit me up when I do watch these an.

Now shows that are on my watch list right now are gonna be for, uh, I'll be watching this season, including to the ones I mentioned will be Dan de Dan furin Beyond Journeys and the Apothecary Diaries, just to name a few. Um. I'm trying to finish up Furin right now, which season two has just been announced, so I'm trying to get through that.

And Apothecary Diaries is a one that someone recommended us to watch, so I'm watching that. That's already has a season two, so binge watching that as it comes and currently trying to get through. Blue Exorcist and right now those are like the top ones I'm trying to finish at this moment.

And I'm gonna be adding their animes that I just mentioned this to my watch list so you guys can follow along as well. And if there's any recommendations, as I mentioned, let me know here up our socials and we'll be sure to add it to our, ever growing list now. The list, my watch list is not permanent, it's not set in stone.

It, we can change it and I have changed it. So there's been stuff that I've added, I've watched and then kind of just dropped and removed. It is a breathing document with a lot of changes. I'm thinking of like creating like a death note type thing of like anime that just entered the death note, the grave anime graveyard, and just never be rewatched again because it's either, couldn't get into it or for some other reasons.

So overall this summer season 2025 is pretty stacked, as I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, and it's very promising. Again, it's always nice to have a breath or fresh air from Yus guy LOP because again. Over the course of different seasons we get a lot more aka and they're just a lot of just one shots.

We like to call them slop or Canon father. They're just, made to fill content and just pushed out, and they're always just one shots. So it's. Always nice to kind of see that this season's pretty stacked up. We're not seeing too much isaka. I think there's a good variation of, slice of life, romance, action, fantasy, and it's not, not, uh, too proportion in either direction.

So it's a very good balance of anime across the spectrum for you to choose from. And that's what I kind of like. Prior seasons, we kind of get, animated that's either you know so much in one category and you're like, oh I can't watch anything else other than romance, or I need to take a break or watch something else.

And that does happen from time to time. But like this, you know, is a good season you know, seasonal four, summer 2025. And, and again, I did rate this a. B minus, which is my first time giving a season a rating overall. But I think this is a good kind of, this is a good depiction and rating for what I feel this overall summer line it will be and it could change come next lineup. Now if you're looking for some recommendations, my top picks are gonna be Classroom of Elite. Dragon Ball dma, black Butler Haw Show Rooney Kenon Sort online Overlord Blue Exorcist.

Did you wanna venture 2020 to choose Kaizen Goum Slayer? Spy Ex Family, my hero. Academia. Death Prayed. Erase Cowboy, bebop. Trigon. Dead man. Wonderland. Code GIAs. Now, these are not just, you know, these are not just from this season, these are overall, but those are just my top picks of what I'm currently have already watched that are on my control account that I sometimes go back and just re-watch.

Now if you have any recommendations that you like, give us a, a shout out to our social and we'll be, more than open to like, give. Check out that anime and who knows the anime that you recommend. We might do an episode on it for a epi for anime review. So let the recommendations come everyone.

And I wanna thank you guys for tuning in to this episode of Second Emulation. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with your friends. You can also follow me on our social, which is going to be in the episode description, and for any more anime recommendations and update, don't forget to check out my anime watch list, which is also going to be in episode description using our, our universal link.

And we can watch show togethers. All right, that's gonna be it for our episode. And thank you and catch you guys in the next one. Bye.

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