April - June • 221 anime
Spring 2023 was oddly memorable — big finales ran into a tidal wave of new originals. Attack on Titan: The Final Season — Final Chapters Part 1 closed a huge saga with cinematic animation, while a bunch of music shows and quiet rom-coms kept the lineup varied and unexpectedly human.
My take: it wasn’t the tightest season, but it left a lot to talk about. Attack on Titan’s final chapters leaned hard on scale and choreography, giving fans intense set pieces and a sense of real finality even when the pacing sped up. Psycho-Pass: Providence leaned into its philosophical side with slick production design and moral gray areas that made it feel like a grown-up crime thriller. GRIDMAN UNIVERSE showed up as big, nostalgic spectacle — loud, flashy, and exactly what longtime tokusatsu fans wanted.
On the quieter end, The Girl Downstairs proved small, steady character work could still land — the leads had believable chemistry and the show trusted simple beats. Uma Musume: Road to the Top kept the franchise’s blend of character-focused sports drama and polished race animation. The season also had a heavy music presence: several idol and music-forward series used performance animation and soundtracks to carry emotional beats. Studios like MAPPA, Production I.G, Doga Kobo, Studio Kafka and J.C.Staff each had moments that mattered — a mix of technical bravado and softer, character-first stuff that made spring 2023 oddly rewarding.
