How the fuck is it already time for another season preview? It was February like three weeks ago, the spring season can’t possibly be ending now. What did I even do this spring? What am I doing with my life?
Yes folks, it’s time again for a season preview, and all the existential dread and recrimination which accompanies it. This season has gone by in a flash, and though our endless secession of days is certainly a cause for concern, we can at least console ourselves with the prospect of new cartoons to enjoy. While the spring season concentrated its highlights into a small number of shows, and was defined mostly by the titanic presence of directors like Shinichiro Watanabe and Kunihiko Ikuhara, the summer is looking to be much more diffuse in its highlights. There are fewer sure hits, but plenty of shows with at least a dull glimmer of potential, giving me a whole bunch to talk about. As usual, I won’t be highlighting or summarizing every single upcoming show – there are plenty of sites you can check for that, and not much for me to add. Instead, I’ll just be emphasizing the shows I’m genuinely looking forward to, as well as my generally staff or source material-related reasons for that excitement. Starting with the season’s brightest prospects, let’s break down the stars of the coming season!
Folks, it’s Symphogear. Symphogear is an institution that I would hope needs no introduction, but if you’re a newcomer around here, let me break it down. Symphogear is the magical girl-slash-mecha action of Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha conveyed with the bombast, style, and irreverence of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, where our endearing heroines sing about their feelings in order to beat the shit out of cackling villains. It is hilarious, it is thrilling, and it is on its fifth season. If you haven’t caught up, you have an incredible journey ahead of you. If you have caught up, you know exactly how much fun we’re in for.
O Maidens in Your Savage Season
You folks ready for some straight-no-filter Mari Okada melodrama? Okada is one of the most renowned writers in a medium where writers are rarely even noticed, and O Maidens looks to slot perfectly into her messy adolescent drama wheelhouse, right next to old Okada favorites like AnoHana and Toradora. Heck, even just the title sounds Okada as all hell. Director Masahiro Andou is also widely acclaimed, renowned as both an animator and director who’s collaborated with Okada on several major productions. In terms of character dramas, it looks like O Maidens will be the show to look out for this summer.
Here’s the PV.
Vinland Saga’s anime adaptation has one clear thing going for it – the tremendous strength of its source material. Based on a manga by Makoto Yukimura (who also created Planetes), Vinland’s source material is an action-packed, intricately detailed, and often surprisingly meditative epic adventure. Whether this adaptation will be be equally worthy is another question; Wit Studio have built a reputation for themselves of biting off more than they can chew, and nearly all of their productions suffer production-wise for it, plus they’re just coming off a lengthy tenure on Attack on Titan.
Additionally, Vinland Saga’s director Shuuhei Yabuta is mostly a CG-heavy 3D action specialist, which may not equip him for Vinland Saga’s presumably gritty, organic look. You can clearly see his approach to action in the show’s PV, with a fair amount of spinning camera work and use of CG ships as action sets. That PV contains material from what would presumably cover at least half a season of anime, so the show’s production schedule may actually be in fine shape; if so, this could easily be one of the highlights of the season.
Dr. Stone stands as the latest adaptation of a recent Shonen Jump hit, following up on last season’s altogether enjoyable Demon Slayer. I’ve heard relatively good things about Dr. Stone’s source material, which seems to essentially use “the reinvention of modern science and technology” as its gimmick, which is certainly a changeup from Shonen Jump’s usual focus on swords and punches. The adaptation is looking a tad more suspect – TMS Entertainment don’t have the terrific on-staff animators of a studio like Bones or the CG mastery of a studio like Ufotable, and the show’s PV looks a little iffy as well. Still, the popular manga source means Dr. Stone will probably at least offer an adventure worth pursuing, even if the execution’s somewhat mediocre.
Meanwhile, you’ll have to forgive me for saying this one’s PV is absolute fire. Based on another popular shonen manga, Fire Force’s PV is already demonstrating dynamic action, beautiful layouts, and like fifteen different kinds of evocative fire animation. The fact that David Productions are jumping directly from three straight seasons of Golden Wind into Fire Force means this production might also be in trouble eventually, but a phenomenal trailer depicting a strong artistic vision is a pretty good place to start.
The anime industry is full of highly talented directors, but often they have a hard time finding source material and stories that are actually worthy of their talents, and must instead slum it elevating mediocre works until they get their chance to shine. Granbelm won’t necessarily be Masaharu Watanabe’s moment, but I’ve been keeping an eye on him ever since the visually impressive but narratively mediocre Re:Zero, and the PV already looks pretty nice. Additionally, anime original productions tend to have a higher quality floor than adaptations, and are often far better able to embody a particular director’s unique vision (see: last year’s A Place Further than the Universe, which was the “show worthy of her” for director Atsuko Ishizuka). This one’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Kanata no Astra is a bit of a long shot, but I’ve got a couple reasons to keep this one in mind. First, it’s based on a completed and relatively short manga, meaning it’ll almost certainly tell one complete story in one self-contained season. Second, its director Masaomi Andou has really been distinguishing himself in recent years, with productions like White Album 2 and Scum’s Wish demonstrating a strong eye for evocative personal drama. I haven’t heard much about the source material for this one, but a strong director and a tight script are a pretty solid combination.
Here’s the PV.
To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts
To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts seems to slot right into MAPPA’s usual genre wheelhouse, offering plenty of the grittier action you’d expect from shows like Garo or Inuyashiki. Sacred Beasts’ director also has the sort of pedigree you’d hope for, having directed multiple seasons of the excellent, action-packed Hajime no Ippo. I’m guessing this one will be too grim and self-serious for me, but if you’re looking for darker action, this seems like the pick.
Here’s the brief PV.
Cop Craft is one I’m highlighting purely on the basis of a couple key creators. The original story and series composition are both by Shoji Gatoh (the creator of Full Metal Panic), while the show itself is being directed by Shin Itagaki, whose talents extend far beyond his reign as Master of Teekyuu. That said, the PV looks like hot garbage, and “grizzly cop teams up with cute robot girl” is a concept I’ve basically lost all patience for. Strong key staff mean this might not be terrible, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
How Many Kilograms are the Dumbbells You Lift?
To be honest, based on both the premise and the PV, I have no reason to expect this to be any more than a somewhat horny club comedy, and am mostly highlighting it to emphasize my displeasure that it wasn’t localized as “Do You Even Lift?” That said, it’s also being directed by the director of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, so it might actually be a lot better than I’d expect. And surely a premise this silly deserves at least one episode of attention, right?
Alright, I think that covers it for me! I’m sure the season will offer more highlights that I missed entirely, but hey, that’s what’s so great about anime. I hope you’ve found a couple new shows to look forward to among my picks, and please let me know anything else worth looking out for in the comments!
As an unabashed fan of Kanata no Astra, all I can tell you is: keep an eye out for this one. I read the full manga on the Jump App and can’t wait to see the anime (done by Lerche – between Assassination Classroom and Danganronpa, do these guys have a thing for stories involving large, diverse casts of high schoolers placed in difficult survival situations?).
Anyway, it’s really good sci-fi, IMHO might become one of the best sci-fi anime of the last years. It’s relatively grounded, adventurous, full of likeable characters and with a very well conceived plot that wraps up in an extremely satisfying ending (a true rarity, this). As a whole, it may not be completely mind-blowing stuff, but with the dearth of sci-fi anime, and anime with proper resolutions, I think this one will necessarily stand out on competence alone. Besides, the PV has some amazing atmosphere (well, not the LITERAL kind of atmosphere, that one seems quite lacking. You know what I mean).
I Haven’t yet read Astra myself but I’m definitely going to check out the anime since I really loved Sket Dance.
Granbelm also has Jukki Hanada handling it’s composition who has quite the list of accomplishments. I also have my eyes on Machikado Mazoku who has a fairly competent director in Hiroaki Sakurai. The premise is quite silly, but Keiichirou Oochi is working on it and I’ve been a fan since Hinamatsuri. Quintuplets was also pretty cute despite production issues.
The one show I’m really looking forward to is Youkai Ningen Bem, and I’m pretty sad to see it getting buried under the hype for big-name franchises and productions. The trailer looks pretty great, I hope the show will live up to its promises.