8 Must-Watch Anime: A Guide To The Spring 2020 Season

April kicks off the Spring 2020 season, which sees the debut of dozens of new anime series. Of all the new shows premiering on Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Hidive from April to June, these eight are our most-anticipated. If you're trying to figure out what to watch this season, consider choosing an anime from this list. We also have a guide to help you figure out which anime streaming service is best for you, if you're having trouble deciding which to invest in.

Oh, and speaking of things you should be watching, consider listening to GameSpot's weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Season 2

At Crunchyroll's Anime Awards, the first season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War managed to win Best Couple and Best Comedy--and for good reason. This skit-focused romantic comedy is absurdly silly, primarily following the interactions between the two brilliant minds of Shuchiin Academy: council president Miyuki Shirogane and vice-president Kaguya Shinomiya. Though both students are crushing hard on each other, they're also both too proud to admit it, resulting in numerous situations where the two attempt to trick the other into embarrassingly confessing their feelings first so that they can start dating. You can watch the first season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Funimation, though Season 2 is exclusive to Funimation.

Wave, Listen To Me

Wave, Listen to Me is one of those rare series aimed primarily at adults, featuring a protagonist who isn't a high school student. Props to Riho Sugiyama, whose phenomenal vocal range brings main protagonist Minare Koda's abrasive but no less endearing personality to life. After ending a messy relationship, 26-year-old Minare heads to a bar to vent, only to hear her drunken ramblings played over the radio the next day--turns out the man she spoke with while inebriated decided to record her. She immediately heads to the radio station to berate the dude, only to find the man pushing her to air her grievances live. The experience acts as a successful impromptu audition, which nets Minare a late-night radio host slot. You can watch Wave, Listen to Me on Funimation.

Arte

Arte is a fictionalized retelling of the Italian Renaissance (Assassin's Creed II fans will recognize a few familiar landmarks and faces throughout the series). Don't let the soft pastel colors of the anime fool you though--this story delves into the rather murky matter of classism. Protagonist Arte is the 15-year-old daughter of nobles, who now must give up her passion for art to become a more well-rounded type of woman who can marry into wealth. Refusing to live her life in the cage of a noblewoman who must obey her husband, Arte chooses to pursue a career as an artisan--not exactly traditional for a woman in the 16th century. However, she eventually manages to secure an apprenticeship with Leo, an acclaimed artist who, as a boy, escaped his own societal cage (that of poverty) and now sees a bit of himself in the young woman. You can watch Arte on Funimation.

Ascendance Of A Bookworm Season 2

Ascendance of a Bookworm stands out in an isekai-obsessed industry with how it handles world-building and traps its protagonist in another world in a unique way. Though the overall end goal for Main is to create books in the fantastical medieval-like setting she finds herself in, the lives of those around her keep moving despite her actions. Main may have hardly done anything in regards to her dream by the end of the first season, but the new world she finds herself in feels alive in a way few other fantasy anime can manage. Main is also, herself, an interesting wrinkle to the isekai genre. The actual Main is dead--her body is possessed by a woman from our world who realizes she must learn how to manage being someone who already had a history and established relationships. You can watch Ascendance of a Bookworm on Crunchyroll.

My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom

Though the main character of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom is sometimes a little too dense (to a degree that it can get annoying), this isekai is a wonderful screwball of a harem comedy full of misunderstanding-based jokes. Catarina Claes is a monstrously bratty heiress who one day hits her head and remembers she's actually a hardcore otaku who died and was reborn as the villainess in one of her favorite video games. Refusing to accept how the game ends (with her being exiled or killed), Catarina begins using her knowledge of the game to come up with creatively wacky and comically devious methods of changing how others perceive her. However, she does a little too well, and soon all the capturable targets fall in love with her. You can watch My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom on Crunchyroll.

Kakushigoto

Kakushigoto excels for its willingness to be silly even when it's trying to tell a pretty impactful story, exploring concepts like family dynamics and societal expectations through hijinks-focused comedy and wonderfully adorable slice-of-life moments. The anime follows Hime Gotō and her father, Kakushi, who secretly works as a mangaka that's known for producing vulgar stories. Afraid that his daughter will be ashamed of him if she ever finds out what he does for a living, Kakushi goes out of his way to hide what he does, much to the annoyance of his assistants and editor. You can watch Kakushigoto on Funimation.

Digimon Adventure

Digimon Adventure reimagines the 1999 anime of the same name, restructuring events so that they now take place in 2020 as opposed to the late '90s. This isn't a direct retelling in a new timeline though--this new Digimon Adventure completely remakes the original series with more socially conscious and character-driven storylines. In Digimon Adventure, mankind unintentionally creates a digital world and sentient digital monsters. Though these creatures, called Digimon, have remained relatively unknown to humans, the growing power of a viral-based monster in the digital world is causing adverse effects on the real one. In order to save both worlds, several kids of immense potential are chosen to fight alongside destined Digimon partners. You can watch Digimon Adventure on Crunchyroll.

Fruits Basket Season 2

We'd be remiss to not also recommend Fruits Basket Season 2, which marks the return of the popular 2019 reboot about the high school orphan, Tohru Honda, who begins living with the mysterious Sohma family, some of whom are possessed by the spirits of the Chinese zodiac. When touched by a member of the opposite sex or when under stress, these cursed members transform into the animal that possesses them. At Season 1's conclusion, Fruits Basket had already begun to delve into the tragedy and abuse surrounding the cursed members of the Sohma family--a story thread which should (assuming the anime continues to follow the source material) come to a head in the events seen in Season 2. You can watch Fruits Basket on Funimation and Crunchyroll.