Summer Season 2018 Preview

Like a backup singer coming on to do an encore, the summer season rolls in to leave us rather underwhelmed. Not to say there isn’t anything here as there are certainly two or three that I consider quite important, but after that Spring season any follow up is bound to disappoint. Some shows may have tripped along the finish line but it was a season bound to be remembered with quite a few shows that stood out. The summer season has some potential but I feel like it will be good R&R for those of us that fell behind on shows from the last season.

Usual rules still apply, I check out whatever source material I can and see what we might be in for. Poll is below where you can vote for the shows you would like to get covered this season, though take note that even if you vote Attack on Titan season 3 to the top, I am still not covering it. Maybe someone else will but I sure am not going to.

Thanks to Wooper and Mario for contributing to the blurbs and for gathering the images. You know what you are here for so let’s get things started.

 

 

The sequels/Shorts I don’t care about

Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 2 (short)

Aru Zombie Shoujo no Sainan (ONA)

Baki (ONA)

Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen 2 (sequel)

Free! Dive to the Future (sequel)

Joshiochi! 2-kai kara Onna no Ko ga… Kudattekita (short)

Marvel Future Avengers 2nd Season (sequel)

One Room 2nd Season (sequel)

Overlord III (sequel)

The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Theater 3rd Season (sequel)

Hataraku Onii-san! No 2! (short)

Neko Kikaku (ONA)

Oshiete Mahou no Pendulum: Rilu Rilu Fairilu (sequel)

Yakusoku no Nanaya Matsuri (ONA)
Yama no Susume: Third Season (sequel)

Yami Shibai 6 (sequel)

 

 

Series I don’t care about

 

Aguu: Tensai Ningyou

---

Studio: Studio DEEN

Director: Bob Shirohata

Script/Series composer: N/A

Source: Web Manhua

Ai is an ordinary girl, and a dancer. Her friend Machi is also a dancer, but Machi is a genius. Watching Machi’s talent often makes Ai feel down. But one day, Ai finds out Machi’s secret: the existence of the Aguu, palm-size entities who grant genius talent upon those who hold them. In order to save Machi, who has become a “Seamstress” who makes Aguu, Ai becomes a “Savior.” The Saviors are a group of people who have fought the Seamstresses for generations.

 

I can’t say I have encountered that many memorable Web Manhua. I think maybe Dice, The Gamer and Tower of God were ones I followed for quite a while but they all basically got worse as they continued. Funnily enough there was an awful lot of what we called pornhua where it was web manga which has a focus of a lot of sex scenes. Obviously this doesn’t fall into that category but I am just stating that I haven’t really encountered a manhua that made me wish for an anime adaption. Got no source for this one but I just get the feeling this won’t be on anyone’s radar. Director did Gravitation and Hetalia so indeed this doesn’t quite make me think this will defy expectations. Props to Deen for picking something unconventional but I think they went a bit too far off base for this one. We shall see how this turns out.

 

Back Street Girls

---

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Chiaki Kon

Script/Series composer: Susumu Yamakawa

Source: Manga

A group of 3 yakuza failed their boss for the last time. After messing up an important job, the boss gave them 2 choices: honorably commit suicide, or go to Thailand to get a sex reassignment surgery in order to become “female” idols. After a gruesome year training to become idols, they successfully debut, with overwhelming popularity, much to their dismay. This is where their tragedy truly begins.

 

I would applaud anything that takes pot shots at the idol industry, and an anime about Yakuza going transvestite to sell themselves as idols certainly has novel factor. Sadly that’s about all it’s got as the one joke can’t carry a story. I am reminded of Mahou Shoujo Ore where the show was less about using an absurd situation to pull off jokes and more about pointing out the absurdity of a situation and telling us to laugh. Comedy requires change and one the reasons KonaSuba works so well is that it changes up things all the time and has a whole continuity to use as comedy fodder. Telling the same joke over and over again just results in the joke getting more stale with each telling and while this may interest people at first, I feel that after one or two episodes most viewers will have moved on.

Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria

---

Studio: EMT Squared

Director: Kousuke Kobayashi

Script/Series composer: Natsuko Takahashi

Source: Light Novel

Some urban legends are best left untested! Yuuto Suoh gets more than he bargained for when he joins his childhood friend Mitsuki Shimoya in testing out an urban legend. When he uses his phone to take a picture of himself with the local shrine’s divine mirror, he is whisked off into another world – one heavily steeped in the lore of the old Norse myths. Using his knowledge gained from school and from his solar-powered smartphone, he has the chance to bring the Wolf Clan, the same people who cared for him, to prominence, all while earning the adoration of a group of magic-wielding warrior maidens known as the Einherjar.

 

Oh boy. I don’t have a source to reference on this one due to a lack of English translations, but I did skim some of the manga pages and boy does it look like bargain bin Isekai. I mean just look at that promotional image and tell me that doesn’t look like bargain bin Isekai. Even the synopsis tips it off with the words “solar-powered smartphone”…who in the hell has a solar-powered smartphone. Is that even a thing? Oh hey it seems there is such a thing…but solar power doesn’t really replace regular charging as it would need two hours in the sun for fifteen minutes of call time. Plus seeing as your phone is in your pocket all the time it wouldn’t really be practical. So solar energy is more a supplement rather than a replacement. Well I learned something today – so do you think this series will be accurate in that regard? My guess is no. I’m guessing he also has magical Wi-Fi to go with it so his phone isn’t a paperweight. This is about some faceless plank going to another world and using current day knowledge to make him look talented and amazing so he can get in a bunch of girls’ panties. This just looks like garbage to me, even with the bastardization of Norse myth. Avoid like the plague.

 

Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu

---

Studio: Ajia-Do

Director: Yuuta Murano

Script/Series composer: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu

Source: Light Novel

In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Takuma Sakamoto is so powerful that he is lauded as the “Demon Lord” by other players. One day, he is summoned to another world – but with the same appearance he had in the game! There, he meets two girls who both proclaim themselves to be his Summoner. They had performed an Enslavement Ritual to turn him into their Summon… but that’s when Takuma’s passive ability <> activated! Instead, it was the girls who had become enslaved! Though Takuma may have been the strongest Sorcerer there was, he had no idea how to talk with other people. That’s when he makes his choice: to act based on his persona from the game!

 

Hello there, no-descriptive-features faceless protagonist! Welcome to our world! Have some broken ass powers ensuring no one will even pose any kind of threat to you and two slave girls right off the bat! Actually what is it with Isekai and slavery? It comes up surprisingly often with most main characters being surprisingly cool with it. Anyway this is second hand Overlord, and I thought Overlord was second hand Overlord. If you watched Death March or that Isekai smartphone show you likely know what you are getting here and indeed this one doesn’t push boundaries in any regard. One dimensional villains to make the hero look good and everyone gushes over how amazing he is. The one aspect of note is that the main character acts chuunibyou to cover up his social anxiety basically resulting in his thoughts being very different from what he is saying. But yeah, this is a best a guilty pleasure for some but not really worth any others’ time.

 

Island

---

Studio: feel.

Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi

Script/Series composer: N/A

Source: Visual Novel

Urashima, an island far from the mainland. The people who live there lead carefree lives. But five years ago, the island’s three great families suffered a series of misfortunes, and succumbed to suspicion. The people of the island cut off all contact with the mainland, and began a slow decline. The key to saving the island lies in three girls who belong to the three families. But they are bound by old traditions, and are conflicted. On that island, a lone man washes ashore. The man claims to be from the future, and he begins a solitary struggle to change the island’s fate.

 

Afraid I don’t have a source on this one as the game isn’t out in English yet I believe. Though this is a Front Wing Visual Novel which is the same company behind Fruit of Grisaia. Ratings on VNDB seem to place this as an alright story, which due to adaptation decay may not prove to be all that good in anime. Plus considering the previous efforts to bring Front Wing visual novels into the anime medium I am somewhat skeptical. Though this isn’t the same staff who adapted that, but even so I find myself rather apathetic about this anime. Island in general never really had anything that stood out to me and unless the story turns out to be something really special, I don’t see this making many waves.

 

Jashin-chan Dropkick

---

Studio: Nomad

Director: Hikaru Sato

Script/Series composer: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu

Source: Manga

Jashin-chan Dropkick is a violent slapstick comedy about a delusional gothic lolita, Yurine, who summons a demon girl with the tail of a cobra, Jashin-chan. They’ll have to live together until Yurine finds a way to send Jashin-chan back to hell, or until Jyashin-chan kills Yurine.

 

Again we hit the problem with anime comedy, where the series is built around telling the same joke over and over. Can’t say I was too impressed with this one, as I didn’t even find it funny the first time. Yurine isn’t quite as chuunibyou as her design would suggest and is actually really strong while the demon girl is an idiot constantly trying to get the better of her. There isn’t really a plot nor any real development besides introducing a few new characters. I don’t see this making much of an impact.

 

Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes

---

Studio: Seven

Director: Noriyoshi Sasaki

Script/Series composer: Kenichi Yamashita

Source: Novel

There is an antique shop in Kyoto’s Teramachi Sanjou shopping district. High school girl Mashiro Aoi unexpectedly runs into a handsome boy Yagashira Kiyotaka, the son of the shop’s owner, and ends up working part-time at the shop. Kiyotaka is called the “Holmes at Teramachi Sanjou,” and he and Aoi solve odd cases brought to them by various clients.

 

Mario: The key words here are “Kyoto,” “Holmes” and “handsome boy.” Indeed, this appears to be a bunch of low-key cases for that “handsome boy” to solve in the vein of Hyouka, and based on first few chapters of the manga (which are based on the original novel series) that I read, it’s alright. The main plot is about this girl who bumps into this guy, works together with him and finds out more about him – it’s a dime a dozen as far as anime plots go. The animation looks more on the conservative side, serviceable but lacking any stand-out factor. Seven isn’t exactly a new name but they hardly produce anything worldwide except maybe “I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying” and “My Wife is the Student Council President!” which aren’t a high bar by any stretch. The director is a complete newbie with only key animation in his resume previously so yeah, on that front this show doesn’t look that promising. I’m mildly interested by it but this material is middle of the road at best.

 

Lord of Vermilion: Guren no Ou

---

Studio: Asread

Director: Eiji Suganuma

Script/Series composer: Masashi Suzuki

Source: Video Game

The anime takes place in Tokyo in 2030. In a suburban area, suddenly a high-frequency resonant sound is heard, and at the same time a red mist shrouds the area. Anyone who hears the sound, be it human or animal, loses consciousness. The government estimates that it might be an unidentified virus, and fearful of an epidemic, blockades Tokyo and moves its base to Osaka. However, six days after the incident, those who lost consciousness from the sound awaken for no apparent reason. Those blockaded in Tokyo slowly start to get the city functioning again, but after that day strange incidents start to occur at the blockade border. Those who have awakened a hidden blood power arise, are drawn to one another, and must face a cruel fate.

 

Wooper: This is a video game adaptation (strike one) with a tired plot revolving around mass unconsciousness and superpowers (strike two) by Studio Asread (strikes 3-5). If you liked Mirai Nikki for its pure shlock value, that’s cool, but you won’t find that here. When searching for a PV for the anime, all I could find were ads for the games, which shows you what the production committee really values. This anime is destined to serve as a weekly series of hurriedly-produced, forgettable ads for the sequel to some shitty MOBA that had its servers closed two years ago. The director and scriptwriter are Literally Whos that have attached themselves to some of the most forgettable anime projects of the past decade. This show is exactly what Seiji Mizushima was talking about when he said the industry could cut its output in half and nothing of value would be lost.

 

Muhyo to Rouji no Mahouritsu Soudan Jimusho

---

Studio: Studio DEEN

Director: N/A

Script/Series composer: N/A

Source: Manga

Are you a victim of unwanted spirit possession? Is there a ghost you need sent up and away…or down to burn for all eternity? If the answer is yes, then you need Muhyo and Roji, experts in magic law. Serving justice to evil spirits is their specialty.

 

If you watched Gegege no Kitarou last season then this feels quite familiar. It’s a shounen manga that ran from 2004 to 2008 and I skimmed the first few chapters. Overall I just found it a bit too typical as it follows a standard formula at the start and then basically goes into shounen battle territory I believe. That’s just a basic observation though, as I didn’t read this one too in-depth. There isn’t anything here that really stands out which makes me wonder just why Deen choose this of all things to pick out of the old manga pile. Surely something more acclaimed would be a better option? Especially with Gegege airing last season this feels too soon.

 

Ongaku Shoujo (2018)

---

Studio: Studio DEEN

Director: Yukio Nishimoto

Script/Series composer: Deko Akao

Source: Original

Hanako Yamadaki encounters the obscure, low-selling 11-member “C-list” idol unit Ongaku Shoujo. Their producer Ikehashi thinks the unit needs a new member. Together, Ongaku Shoujo and Hanako strive for the top of the music world.

 

Ugh, another idol anime. To be fair, this one is based on a short made for the Young Animator Training Project’s Anime Mirai 2015, so it has that. But yeah, it’s an idol anime and let me say I don’t even remember the idol anime from the spring season. There comes a time when enough is enough. It’s done. If it’s a matter of chasing trends then you are chasing the wrong trend as now Isekai anime seems to be the new bane of my existence. It is time to stop. This isn’t going to be the next Love Live. It’s not even going to be remembered in a season’s time. You might as well just cancel production and work on something more worthwhile.

 

Senjuushi

---

Studio: TMS Entertainment

Director: Kenichi Kasai

Script/Series composer: Takashi Aoshima

Source: Video Game

The story takes place at the subsequent era after the whole world was devastated by the nuclear war. Under the strong rule by the World Empire, people are all suppressed and deprived of their own lives. A resistance team secretly keeps fighting to break the suppression while everyone is forbidden to possess any force of arms.

 

It’s a mobile game where you collect pretty boys who are anthropomorphized versions of matchlock firearms. In other words, it’s Kantai Collection: Pretty Boys Edition. Considering that mobile games have a rather rocky history with anime adaptations and also the source material, I say we can write this one off. It’s clear the objective is to get the game a higher player base so this anime feels throwaway for me.

 

Shichisei no Subaru

---

Studio: Lerche

Director: Yoshito Nishouji

Script/Series composer: Takao Yoshioka

Source: Light Novel

In the popular MMORPG world ‘Union’ there existed a legendary party. It’s name was Subaru. This party, made up of a group of childhood friends and elementary schoolers, exceeded the limits of the game with their various senses. However, due to an incident which resulted in a death, ‘Union’ ended its service and the group of childhood friends went separate ways… 6 years later, highschooler Haruto logged into the new ‘Reunion’ and reunited with a single girl. Asahi—one of old ‘Subaru’ party members, and his childhood friend who should have died 6 years ago. Is she a digital ghost, or…?

 

The common phrase getting thrown at his one is Sword Art Online meets Anohana, though it’s up for debate how accurate that is. I’ve got no source material to go with this one and the character designs unfortunately make it look very generic. The trailer doesn’t help either with it presenting quite literally barely any information or animation. DIrector only previously directed something called Maji de Otaku na English. Series composer has an awful lot of harems under his belt but I suppose he worked on Watamote. So not much to say on this and wait…the author wrote Chuuko demo Koi ga Shitai? Oh no. That’s not good. Well it does suggest this won’t be some typical harem but the bad news is that when this author does drama, he does rage inducing drama. We are talking poorly written, utterly forced stupid drama. Considering the premise, yeah I think this could put up a pretension of being good for an episode or two but then get pulled into forced drama hell.

 

Shinya! Tensai Bakabon

---

Studio: Pierrot Plus

Director: N/A

Script/Series composer: N/A

Source: Manga

New adaptation of Tensai Bakabon. The original family comedy manga centers on an idiotic boy and his father.

 

Mario: The Tensai Bakabon manga was first published in 1967, and since then it has become a classic in Japanese culture. Written by the giant mangaka Fujio Akatsuka (who you might know for penning Osomatsu-kun and Himitsu no Akko-chan), his works have become so popular that they need to be adapted, reimagined, rebooted, updated and whatever the hell else Japanese studios do to spread them to the masses. I personally haven’t read his Tensai Bakabon, but I did read Osomatsu-kun so I can pretty much expect the same style of humor for this. They stay close to the manga designs in this adaptation so it might strike some nostalgic factor for older fans, and it could work as a good introduction for a new generation. But then, the question remains how relevant it is now to use the old jokes and tropes from more than 50 years ago.

 

Shoujo ☆ Kageki Revue Starlight

---

Studio: Kinema Citrus

Director: Tomohiro Furukawa

Script/Series composer: Tatsuto Higuchi

Source: Original

Starlight is a song and dance revue troupe loved throughout the world. Karen and Hikari make a promise with each other when they’re young that one day they’ll stand on that stage together. Time passes, and now the girls are 16 years old. Karen is very enthusiastic about the lessons she takes every day, holding her promise close to her heart. Hikari has transferred schools and is now away from Karen. But the cogs of fate turn, and the two are destined to meet again. The girls and other Stage Girls will compete in a mysterious audition process to gain acceptance into the revue.

 

I am feeling this is sort of like another idol show but it does have a different kind of premise. As far as I can tell it seems these girls get on stage and pretend to fight? So it’s acting but purely physical? Or it could just be an idol show with some action segments. I don’t know but to me it seems that cute girls are the draw (along with school life) so I can’t say it appeals much to me. Director is a newbie and series composer did nothing really of note. This might appeal to some but for me it’s a pass.

 

Space Bug

---

Studio: TMS Entertainment

Director: Hiroyuki Nakao/ Yoon Yoo-Byung

Script/Series composer: Hiroyuki Nakao

Source: Original

The anime is set in the far future, and centers on insects left behind on a space station, who begin a grand journey to return to their hometown in Earth. The protagonists are the high-spirited Midge, the smart Professor, and the perennially lazy Marbo.

 

Mario: We have another kid-friendly full-CG show, which already raises some red flags. The direction is a joint collaboration between a Japanese and Korean’s talents, and from my own experience, that isn’t actually a bad thing. Unlike Japan, Korea has been quite successful on full CG kiddie shows (Miraculous Ladybug comes to mind). Looking at the trailers, it looks promising in the production department, although at this point I’m not sure whether it’s going to be a full-length anime or shorts. Despite a dash of hope I just mentioned, I’m quite certain that this won’t raise any waves in the anime industry, or with regular anime watchers.

 

Sunoharasou no Kanrinin-san

---

Studio: Silver Link.

Director: Mirai Minato

Script/Series composer: Fumihiko Shimo

Source: Manga

Shiina Aki is constantly being treated like a girl due to his feminine looks so he decides to move to Tokyo to attend middle school in an attempt to change himself. However what awaits him in his new home, Sunohara-sou, is the kind-hearted caretaker, Sunohara Ayaka. Along with the three female members of Aki’s new middle school’s student council, Yukimoto Yuzu, Yamanashi Sumire & Kazami Yuri. And so begins Aki’s new life in Tokyo living with 4 girls.

 

Wooper: This is shota bait. Young, girlish-looking boy moves in with a busty older woman and three female classmates? What’s his character arc going to be, how quickly he can become the best pillow fighter in the house? Seriously, the PV for this show spends 25% of its time on closeups of the caretaker’s chest, and the other three quarters are hardly more inspiring. The director is a relative newcomer whose past work has all been in-house at Silver Link (Masamune-kun’s Revenge, some Fate/series). Speaking of Silver Link, they’re the studio I’d label Most Likely to Deliver a Mediocre Product in any given season, and based on what I’m seeing here, all Sunoharasou no Whatever-san can hope for is to barely clear that bar.

 

 

Yume Oukoku to Nemureru 100 Nin no Ouji-sama

---

Studio: N/A

Director: N/A

Script/Series composer: N/A

Source: Video Game

The heroine is a normal girl, until one day she is invited to another world and becomes the princess of the dream world, where people use dreams as the energy to live. One day, the dream world is being attacked by something called “yumekui” (“dream eater”), and many princes are being attacked by it. The heroine must wake them up to save the dream world, as the princes are unable to wake up due to having their dreams stolen.

 

Mario: Is it an otome game adaptation we have here? It sounds uncanny like one, and the lack of any information regarding the studio or staff doesn’t sound promising at all. The premise is like a mash-up between otome formula (such as pretty boys in distress) and dream worlds (like the settings of 18if or Yumekui Merry), and the PVs I came across were plain. Why are they princes to begin with? Why 100 of them? Why do they look disturbingly like each other? This will likely become forgettable fluff that no one will remember 10 days later.

 

Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san

---

Studio: Xebec

Director: Tsuyoshi Nagasawa

Script/Series composer: Hideaki Koyasu

Source: Manga

Homeless and haunted by ghosts, high schooler Kogarashi thinks his luck has finally turned when he finds Yuragi-sou–a cheap boarding house that was formerly a hot springs inn, now full of super sexy, scantily clad female tenants. If Kogarashi can use his spirit abilities to banish the ghost that haunts the inn, he can even live there rent-free! But when the ghost, a beautiful teenage girl named Yuuna, appears before him, Kogarashi takes pity on her and is suddenly not so sure about the exorcism. Will he help save Yuuna from becoming an evil spirit? And what supernatural secrets do the other boarders hold?

 

It’s To Love-Ru. Oh the name may be different, it may have different characters, it may have a different setting and story but believe me, this is basically To Love-Ru. So expect the story to put up pretense of a plot at first but then watch it fade away and get replaced with harem hijinks of the week like Kogarashi Must See Panties or He Will Die. Pretty sure there isn’t a single chapter where someone doesn’t get naked. Of course To Love-Ru has its fans and certainly if that’s what you are looking for this series will certainly deliver. But if you are looking for something more than that then you are looking in the wrong place buddy.

 

Zoids Wild

---

Studio: OLM

Director: Norihiko Sudo

Script/Series composer: Mitsutaka Hirota

Source: Toy Games

It’s another Zoids series to drive up toy sales. You don’t need to read a description to decide whether to watch this.

 

Mario: It tells you something that all the promotional materials for this show are hyping it being a multimedia project with TOYS, GAMES, and not a hint about the story. Buy our products and then you can figure it all out, I suppose? The PV, likewise, focuses on how smooth those CG robots move and how handsome/pretty the voice actors are. The director was involved in the Pokemon franchise and Youkai Watch so he knows this kind of spineless material like a back of his hands. It’s something you don’t need to expect much from, unless you’re owning those toys and excited over them colliding with each other until they’re all breaking apart.

 

 

Series I am middling on

 

Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki

---

Studio: NAZ

Director: Takayuki Kuriyama

Script/Series composer: Shogo Yasukawa

Source: Manga

The scary great king comes from the other side of the sea… The big incident ‘Genkou‘ that shook medieval Japan is being drawn in an original way in this historical anime, along with the beginning of the Samurai…!

 

I found no translations of the source material for this one but based purely on the premise I am very interested. Seems like a kind of Seven Samurai story where the samurai are criminals pulled from death row to put their lives on the line and defend a village from a Mongol invasion. Trailer certainly shows promise and this could well be something to keep an eye on if they pull it off. The thing is that the staff and animation studio don’t give me much hope for it. The director is a newbie and the series composer did mostly alright shows but nothing really spectacular. Animation studio is fairly new as well and doesn’t really have any standout series to speak of. We will need to wait and see on this one.

 

Asobi Asobase

---

Studio: Lerche

Director: Seiji Kishi

Script/Series composer: Yuuko Kakihara

Source: Manga

The “surreal gag” comedy manga revolves around three classmates who play simple hand games. One of the girls is good at games, but hates them as she always lost to her older sister and forced to do chores while growing up. Another girl is of American descent, but raised in Japan, and who only pretends to be bad at Japanese. Another girl usually observes their games, and loses to the other girls.

 

This is a weird one and you all know my general opinion on anime comedy. The premise is novel but my issues are more with the fact that it doesn’t really have anywhere to go from its premise. Girls play games and wacky hijinks ensue. The characters make it somewhat interesting as they are pretty outlandish so it can be fun seeing them play the old knife game of stabbing a compass between your fingers as fast as possible. But still, what you get in episode one will be what you get in the final episode. Maybe it could pull through, but I think there are better options for comedy this season. Director you might know from the Persona and danganronpa anime adaptations as well as Angel Beats and Assassination classroom. Series composer of Chihayafuru season 2, Sora no Otoshimono and Orange. If you have the time this might be worth a watch but I don’t see it being top priority.

 

Attack on Titan 3rd Season

---

Studio: Wit Studio

Director: Tetsurou Araki & Masashi Koizuka

Script/Series composer: Yasuko Kobayashi

Source: Manga

The third season of Shingeki no Kyojin.

 

I said it before on my last Attack on Titan post but I really don’t have the interest to cover this. To me this is where this story truly flies off the rails and becomes something I just don’t have any real interest in. Titans are what made this series stand out but you will find here they may be in shorter supply as we deal with more human matters this season. At least here more is going to happen to push the plot forward as opposed to the second season, which felt eventful but when you examine it you realise the plot didn’t move forward an inch. As this is a third season I would say you don’t really need my recommendation on whether to watch it or not. If you watched the first and second then chances are you are watching this, while newcomers are certainly not jumping in here.

 

BANANA FISH

---

Studio: MAPPA

Director: Hiroko Utsumi

Script/Series composer: Hiroshi Seko

Source: Manga

Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of “Papa” Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash’s older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa’s insatiably ambitious hands–and it’s exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx’s acquaintance…

 

Wooper: If I were a betting man, I’d put money on Banana Fish to be the “coolest” anime of the summer. This is a series that aims to depict the complex underbelly of urban life, with gang leaders, cops, organized crime bosses, and journalists all getting play within the first few chapters. The manga begins with a gang war in 1980s New York, featuring scowling pretty boy sharpshooters and friendly mohawked thugs. Vintage vests, humongous jackets, and ripped jeans are in fashion here, while drugs, sex, and violence are always just a few pages away. If you’re like me, all of this sounds quite promising, but I’m slightly worried about MAPPA’s choice to set the series during the present day. The wardrobe changes evident in the PV reduce the show’s punk appeal, and according to some readers, the original plot’s proximity to the Vietnam War will be virtually impossible to replace. There’s also the matter of the director’s lack of familiarity with the source material – when approached about handling the series’ transition to TV, she assumed “Banana Fish” was a type of sweet. Still, she has a lot of work on KyoAni productions under her belt, which gives me some confidence that she’ll breathe life into these characters. Plus, this is a two-cour noitaminA series (the first in four years), and another potential win for the timeslot following the stellar After the Rain last winter. Hopefully all the pieces fall into place, and this classic manga gets the classic adaptation it deserves.

 

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro

---

Studio: Diomedea

Director: Takayuki Inagaki

Script/Series composer: Takayuki Inagaki

Source: Manga

This is a story of a nerdy bookworm girl on her way to school, and yes, that’s the entire premise, as she’s not getting to school any time soon. Taking her “usual” route to school, it becomes an increasingly unusual adventure, and all the more ridiculous as it carries on. It takes an unpleasant sentiment many can empathize with, the feeling of tardiness, and brings humor to it—making it a hilarious situation to look back upon.

 

This is actually pretty good. This anime is a brand of comedy were it takes the ordinary and turns it all the way up to eleven. Much like Sakamoto this mainly gets its kicks by going all out with insane situations and I appreciate the main girl being a gamer which leads to some damn funny moments. As an example the first chapter is about her getting it into her head to start climbing rooftops like Assassin’s Creed in order to get to school faster. It gets rather crazy from there. While the first chapters are pretty fun, there is the question of just how long it can keep its gimmick going before it tires itself out. I have some doubts it could manage it for a full anime season but we shall see on that front. Same person for director and scriptwriter whose main contributions are Ore no nounai sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love-comedy wo Zenryoku de jama shiteiru(Jesus christ Light novels can we stop making a sentence a novel title), Muv Luv Total Ecilpse, Desert Punk and Rosario to Vampire which has me rather concerned as to whether he can pull this off. If done well this will be worth a watch but it will depend on whether the gimmick can carry a season or if the director can pull off the comedy.

 

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa

---

Studio: Madhouse

Director: N/A

Script/Series composer: N/A

Source: Manga

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa is a spin-off of the Kaiji series, which follows Tonegawa, the right hand man of Kazutaka Hyoudou, the president of the Teiai Corporation and owner of numerous gambling tournaments. After Hyoudou is getting bored with his life, he orders Tonegawa to organize a so called “game of death” as it is his and his subordinate’s job to keep the president in a good mood. Tonegawa must cooperate with his subordinates in order to make the president happy and what follows is a humorous story of his interactions with his subordinates and other characters of the Kaiji series.

 

I am not certain as to how I feel about this series as I would have much prefered a third season of Kaiji. But then again Kaiji had a pretty big run and I don’t really feel that a third season could reach any kind of endgoal. But the entertainment of Kaiji was watching the gambles and the high stakes he had to deal with so I don’t really see the value of following a character whose main job is just to set up the gambles. Much like any spinoff I just see this paling in comparison with its source.

Hanebado!

---

Studio: LIDENFILMS

Director: Shinpei Ezaki

Script/Series composer: Taku Kishimoto

Source: Manga

Tachibana Kentarou is a high school badminton coach who has a lot more enthusiasm than some of the members of his very small team. One day, he meets the quiet-voiced student Hanesaki Ayano, who is effortlessly physically capable and experienced in badminton. He tries to recruit her, but she seems to have no interest in the sport at all. Due to a series of circumstances, she eventually ends up joining the team. Coach Tachibana is determined that with her on board, they’ll be champions!

Wooper: Between the two Cute Girls Playing Cute Sports series this summer, Hanebado has a bit more promise. I say that not because of my familiarity with the manga – in fact, I didn’t read a single chapter before writing this blurb – but because its PV put some great animation on display when it dropped a couple weeks back. Some of the badminton cuts were clearly created from referenced drawings, but they look so damn smooth that my brain doesn’t care. LIDENFILMS is shooting for Haikyuu-level visuals here, which is an encouraging sign from a studio whose past work has been decent, but never had the looks to match. Whether they can deliver on the promise of the series’ promotion will be up to relative greenhorn Shinpei Ezaki, whose most significant achievement to date has been directing a few episodes of Attack on Titan. Thankfully, the man in charge of series composition handled similar duties for Silver Spoon and Usagi Drop (two of my favorite anime of the decade thus far), plus he worked on the first two seasons of Haikyuu, so Hanebado will be in good hands on that front. If you like your sports anime to be a bit prettier/smarter than average, this should be right up your alley (but beware of the trope-tastic twintailed girl from the PV).

 

AidanAK47: Just throwing in my two cents about the manga and it’s fine. I fear the comedy may be on the “shout till it’s funny” side. But it at least seems to deviate from standard formula by having the main heroine already quite familiar with the sport. Certainly proves itself superior to the volleyball anime airing this season.

 

Happy Sugar Life

---

Studio: Ezo’la

Director: Nobuyoshi Nagayama

Script/Series composer: Touko Machida

Source: Manga

High-schooler Matsuzaka Satou has a reputation for being easy, but one day her lifestyle of sleeping with one boy after another comes to an end. It happens when she meets the child Shio, for whom she is convinced she feels true love for the first time. Satou may seem sweet and innocent, but there is nothing she won’t do to protect their life together, including committing murder. But from where did she acquire the little girl, and how long can their “Happy Sugar Life” together last?

 

Welcome to Yandere the anime. There may be those of you who might remember me recommending this manga in one of my manga spotlights but admittedly my feelings toward it have somewhat cooled. First off there may be some of you rather concerned with the age of the girl who holds Satou’s affections but no fear as Satou’s affection is not sexual. Really the girl just finds this kid moe as hell and it fills her with a fluffy feeling which she identifies as love. But yes, Satou is very mentally unstable, as are a surprising number of people within her vicinity, which is rather unrealistic but some things must exist for plot convenience. My main issue here is that this is a slow story and I feel the anime could be all buildup with no payoff. It starts off as this encounter of the week deal with Satou encountering psychos and then boasting how her love is so much purer and more real than theirs. But then turns into a game of Satou trying to preserve her sanctuary by any means necessary. It can be engaging but over time the thrill wears off as you find not much changes with each trail. Still this could certainly be fun to watch crazies be crazy and while Satou is no Yuno, she’s still got a damn good death stare. Studio is brand new and the chief Director did Nanoha but everything else he did ranges from mediocre to terrible. Series composer worked on Lucky Star, Comic Girls and Centuar no Nayami. Looking at this staff they seem quite ill suited for this kind of anime as neither of them have done much horror related. This looks like a gamble to me based on story and staff. Could be good, could be disappointing, could be a trainwreck.

Harukana Receive

---

Studio: C2C

Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka

Script/Series composer: Tokou Machida

Source: Manga

The story centers on Haruka, a girl who has a complex about how she is very tall, and Kanata, who is about to give up beach volleyball because she is too short. With Haruka’s height and Kanata’s experience, the two girls form a pair to play beach volleyball in Okinawa.

 

It’s a sports series about volleyball and boy, the sport may have changed but the formula sure hasn’t. I am becoming somewhat fatigued by these sports series as they generally start as decent watchable shows but always end up going absolutely nowhere. There is nothing in this series that’s all that surprising and I would say the only thing separating this from other sports shows is likely going to be the fanservice. The manga isn’t really fanservice heavy but I say the anime is going to bump that up a bit. Not much to say on this one, if you like sports anime it could be for you but don’t expect it to pull out any surprises.

 

Hataraku Saibou

---

Studio: David Production

Director: Kenichi Suzuki

Script/Series composer: Yuuko Kakihara

Source: Manga

Strep throat! Hay fever! Influenza! The world is a dangerous place for a red blood cell just trying to get her deliveries finished. Fortunately, she’s not alone… She’s got a whole human body’s worth of cells ready to help out! The mysterious white blood cell, the buff and brash killer T cell, the nerdy neuron, even the cute little platelets – everyone’s got to come together if they want to keep you healthy!

 

Some may remember a film called Osmosis Jones. It had Chris Rock and Bill Murray in it with the premise being a sort of buddy cop routine set inside the human body. Not a bad movie all things considered (though the live action parts were bad) and this looks to be a kind of anime version of that. We don’t get any scenes outside of the body but it does have a very buddy cop kind of feel and there’s a lot of info on the various functions of the body. It’s a decent enough little read, though I wasn’t particularly blown away by it. Could be informative and watchable. This would normally be the point where I would badger David Production about part five of JoJo but they have confirmed that now so no harm, no foul.

 

High Score Girl

---

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Yoshiki Yamakawa

Script/Series composer: Tatsuhiko Urahata

Source: Manga

The year is 1991 and 6th grader Yaguchi Haruo only has video games to live for. He’s not popular in school and he’s neither handsome, funny, nice nor even friendly. The only thing he has going for him is that he is good at video games. One day at the local arcade, he plays Oono Akira, a fellow classmate but who’s popular, smart, pretty and a rich girl that absolutely destroys him at Street Fighter II. Not only does he lose to her 30 times in a row, he can’t beat her at any game. Haruo can’t seem to shake Akira off as she follows him from arcade to arcade everyday after school and beats him every time. As weird as it sounds, the odd couple begins a strange bond and friendship.

 

I wonder how they are going to handle the licensing on this one. Overall it’s alright, being both video game nostalgia and a rather humorous story of a rivalry between the two main characters. I find it rather amusing to see the boy start fighting cheap in Street Fighter just to scrape a win as I certainly remember doing something of the sort with my own fighting game experience. Other than that though, I wouldn’t expect much beyond its core gimmick and I think later on it becomes less about the games and more about the kids’ interactions.

 

Phantom in the Twilight

---

Studio: LIDENFILMS

Director: Kunihiro Mori

Script/Series composer: Fumiaki Maruto

Source: Original

The story takes place in London, at “Café Forbidden,” a mysterious café that only opens at night. The protagonist is a girl who is in London to study abroad. She meets the handsome men who work this place where the guardians of the boundary between the human and shadow world gather.

 

Mario: This one might prove to be an interesting case. The concept itself has some promise, especially in its London setting, which is rare for anime. The part that worries me the most is “handsome men” and indeed, looking at the PV they’re your typical handsome men, flashy with all obvious different hairstyles, but they feel like cardboard figures. The catch here, however, lies in the person who penned this, Fumiaki Maruto. Yes, he’s the one who wrote How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend LNs (which I think are solidly written despite all the tropes), and he was the original creator of White Album 2. The director, however, is no one of note as he was episode director in some Cowboy Bebop episodes, but then seemed to disappear from the late 00s until now. Based on Maruto’s involvement alone I would say this is at least worth checking out.

 

 

Satsuriku no Tenshi

---

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Kentarou Suzuki

Script/Series composer: Yoshinobu Fujioka

Source: Video Game

13-year old Rachel awakens to find herself trapped in the basement of an abandoned building. Without any memories, or even a clue as to where she could be, she wanders the building, lost and dizzy. In her search, she comes across a man covered in bandages. He introduces himself as Zack and he wields a grim-reaper like sickle.

 

An anime adaption…of an RPG maker game? Well damn, am I to expect adaptations of Mad Father, IB and Yume Nikki? Actually thinking about it those could make for interesting experiments and there is a lack of horror in the anime industry while there are plenty of horror RPG maker games. It’s a fascinating idea, and the trailer for this looks good, though seeing as JC Staff is also working on Planet With I hope this isn’t diverting any funds from it. The director’s only previous work is a Male Idol show and this is the series composer’s first series so staff-wise this does feel like a B-project. Nonetheless I am rather curious as to how this may turn out.

 

Tsukumogami Kashimasu

---

Studio: Telecom Animation Film

Director: Masahiko Murata

Script/Series composer: Kento Shimoyama

Source: Novel

The story is set during the Edo period, in the Fukagawa ward of old Edo (present-day Tokyo). Because the area is prone to fire and flooding, residents rent everyday items like pots, futons, and clothing from shops instead of purchasing them, so as not to impede them when they flee. Obeni and Seiji, an older sister and younger brother, run one such rental shop called Izumoya. However, mixed in with their inventory are tsukumogami, objects that have turned into spirits after a hundred years of existence. The siblings sometimes lend these sentient items to customers. Both Obeni and Seiji can see and talk to these spirits, and other tsukumogami often come to the store after hearing of the famed siblings.

 

Mario: As one of the surprisingly few slice-of-life fixes for the summer season, this sounds like a solid offering for fans of the genre. No source available online as we speak, but this one’s on the more unusual road. It’s based on an actual novel (instead of light novel), and was popular enough to have a sequel novel named “Tsukumogami, Let’s Play” out few years later. Personally, I’m not really fond on tsukumogami. I found them off-putting for some reason but I’m willing to put that aside because the premise otherwise grabs me. This is something that we can watch leisurely on a weekly basis.

 

 

Series I do look forward to

 

Grand Blue

---

Studio: Zero-G

Director: Shinji Takamatsu

Script/Series composer: Shinji Takamatsu

Source: Manga

A new life begins for Kitahara Iori as he begins his college career near the ocean in Izu city, full of excitement for his new life. He will be moving into his Uncle’s diving store “Grand Blue.” There he finds the beautiful ocean, beautiful women, and men that love diving and alcohol. Will Iori be able to live his dream college life?

 

And in comes another of my most anticipated of the season. If you hung around the manga side of the internet then there is a good chance you have encountered this one as it was insanely popular. It doesn’t quite have the same draw now but that is less due to its quality and more since getting officially licenced hype for the series was killed by availability. So with hope this anime series could revive it. From the author of Baka no Test, this series is about diving…except it isn’t. It starts off a little slow but eventually this series becomes a great comedy about college life. You know my general attitude towards anime humor but I can name this one of the very few manga that caused me to burst out loud laughing while reading it. But that is a key factor here, Grand Blue lives or dies on its comedy. If there is one aspect they need to nail for this adaptation, it’s getting that comedy to work animated. We need a level of care like the Hinamatsuri adaption and not like the bare bones Wotakoi. But if they get the comedy right then this will be a hit of the season. We got the same fellow as director and scriptwriter who has done Gintama, Sakamoto desu ga and School Rumble so we could very well be in good hands here.

 

Planet With

---

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Youhei Suzuki

Script/Series composer: Satoshi Mizukami

Source: Original

Manga creator Satoshi Mizukami (Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Spirit Circle) announced a new original mecha anime and manga project titled Planet With on Friday. Mizukami said that the project is based on a concept he began working on four years ago, and that he has drawn 1,074 pages of manga storyboards for the project.

 

At first glance I had no interest in this series, but once I saw Satoshi’s name attached this became a top priority watch for me. This man has penned two of my all time favorite manga and it is absolutely criminal that he hasn’t gotten an anime adaption up till now. Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is the first thing I name when it comes to manga I wish would receive an anime adaptation. Some chapters of the manga have been released and while it starts somewhat weak there is potential here that shines through. It’s a hope that it can match up to the likes of his two other fairly famous works, or get close enough to encourage an anime adaptation of them. The animation studio does give me some concern but Satoshi’s character designs are pretty simplistic when might allow for good animation. The director previously did Shimoneta and acted as episode director for a number of shows. Though this is his third time acting as main director with the previous show being a slice of life about goddesses (Urara Meirocho). Personally, I want…no, need this anime to be a success and I pray it is the show that gets Satoshi’s name out there.

 

Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger

---

Studio: P.A.Works

Director: Masahiro Ando

Script/Series composer: Keigo Koyanagi

Source: Original

Imperial Capital, 1930.
A strange group of people carrying musical instrument cases landed on Tokyo station.
They are called the “Jaegers”, who came to hunt vampires.
Amongst them, there stood a young man with striking serenity and unusual aura.
His name is Yuliy, a werewolf whose home village was destroyed by vampires.
Yuliy and the Jaegers engage in deadly battle over a mysterious holy arc only known as “The Arc of Sirius”.
What truth awaits them at the end…?
With eternal affinity and spiral of conspiracy entwine, the highly anticipated action-thriller anime begins!

Vampire vs Werewolves huh? Is this the anime underworld? Well that synopsis sounds rather silly but the setting and animation look quite good. Director is of high pedigree as he is known for his involvement with such features as Cowboy Bebop the Movie, Jin-Roh, Metropolis and Ghost in the Shell. He’s also worked on the storyboard and production of Fullmetal Alchemist. Series composer did Made In Abyss, so staff-wise this does look quite promising. Still, I am getting Princess Principal vibes from this one, which wasn’t a bad show but not one I would rate too highly. It depends on how serious this story will be, as the trailer looks somewhat playful with the premise but that synopsis looks to be aiming for something more straight faced. Might be worth checking this one out.