Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With the summer season’s anime premieres behind us, it’s time to once again sort out the shining stars and cartoon crimes of the new season, and offer you all a mix of genuine recommendations and clearly exaggerated personal torment. As an understandable consequence of COVID’s continuous threat, a great number of anime were delayed from this summer season, meaning it’s actually the smallest anime season since I started cataloging them seven goddamn years ago. Personally though, as a grumpy old man with little interest in most shows, I tend to consider a season a success if it has even one show I’m extremely excited about – and with this season containing two such shows, hoo boy, I am ecstatic. Don’t worry about my deadpan phrasing, that’s just how I talk, I am actually super excited over here.

As usual, you can check out the full list of reviews over at ANN, or scroll below, where I’ll be breaking all of the season’s attractions down into handy categories from best to worst. If I end up panning one of your favorites, just remember that I’m making an implicit judgment of your personal character, and you should react accordingly (this is a joke, I’m joking, please do not do this). In the end, we’re all just watching anime to connect and feel something, and I hope I can make the task of finding a new show just a little easier for you all. Let’s get to it!

Shows of the Morning: Dawn’s Vanguard, Radiant and Strong

Deca-Dence

I’ve been hyped for Deca-Dence ever since it was first announced, and boy did it ever deliver. The show has been in development for years as an anime-original production by Yuzuru Tachikawa, the director of Mob Psycho 100 and Death Parade. Tachikawa has proven his excellence many times over at this point, and for Deca-Dence, he carefully assembled a top class team over at studio NUT, and polished the show’s concept for years before entering full production.

The results speak for themselves. Deca-Dence is a beautiful, epic fantasy that embraces the classic hero’s journey model, offering a premiere that feels archetypal yet thrilling, in the manner of a Eureka Seven or Gurren Lagann. Our heroine Natsume is brought to life through constant flourishes of charming character acting, while the world around her is imbued with an incredible sense of scale, combining gorgeous background art and Tachikawa’s consistently inventive layouts to masterful effect. The premiere’s battle scenes balance delirious 3D movement with a consistent sense of clear visual staging, meaning skirmishes that could easily devolve into incoherence instead feel both exhilarating and beautiful. An efficient yet alluring narrative, a charming heroine, a beautifully realized world, and a terrific animation team – Deca-Dence’s premiere possesses all the necessary ingredients for a genuine adventure classic, and I can only hope it stays this good.

Oregairu S3

Along with Deca-Dence, this season’s most obvious highlight was the third and final season of Oregairu. Centered on a cynical, insecure high school loner named Hachiman, Oregairu’s first two seasons stand as the most thoughtful, poignant exploration I’ve seen in anime about what it means to be young and unhappy, and how we project our unhappiness outwards as a shield in order to protect ourselves.

Tasked with providing life services to his fellow students, Hachiman and his eventual friends Yui and Yukino have all grown tremendously over Oregairu’s stories, each of them demonstrating a profound richness of characterization. And Oregairu has used these insecure, confused, and deeply sympathetic characters to explore difficult questions of personal identity and growth, the cruelty of social difference, the nature of family and trust, and much else besides.

The only comparison points that come to mind are Eva and Monogatari – Oregairu really is that well-written, and after Kei Oikawa stepped in as season two director, it’s been able to match that terrific script with equally accomplished character acting and direction. Most of Oikawa’s team have returned for season three, and this season’s premiere was a seamless continuation of all the show’s manifold strengths. I only hope the show’s official subtitles end up getting improved; Oregairu is all about conversational nuance, and the current subs are having some real trouble conveying that.

Shows of the Midday Sun: Proud and Unafraid

The God of High School

The God of High School’s first episode was a study in extreme contrasts. On the one hand, the show’s action animation was absolutely god-tier, and this episode’s density of fight scenes was incredibly generous. Blessed with a terrific team including many of the best new animators in the industry, it’s beyond likely that God of High School will stand unchallenged as this season’s top action property. On the other hand, the writing in this first episode ranged from simply cliche to actively aggravating, and based on what I’ve heard about the source material, the show’s only going to get more stupid from here. Action without narrative or emotional weight behind it rarely thrills me, but God of High School is doing its absolute best to triumph via visual spectacle alone. Godspeed, you beautiful stupid production.

Lapis Re:LiGHTs

Lapis Re:LiGHTs appears to be combining elements from magical high school shows, idol dramas, and slice of life productions, presenting a world where young women go to an academy for magic that also maybe-sorta includes some musical performances. In spite of being kind of all over the place genre-wise, this first episode basically succeeded in all it attempted, with its charming heroine Tiara introducing us to a world full of beautiful sights and sounds. If you haven’t really broken into slice of life or idol productions, Lapis’ fantasy worldbuilding might make for an easy introduction to their formats – and if you are a slice of life or idol fan, this is Your Show this season.

Shows of the Evening: Heavy with Fatigue, Long in Shadows

Super HXeroes

That’s right, folks. I am mortified to admit it, but for summer 2020, the season drops directly from “this is the best new idol/slice of life show” to “this is a horny sentai parody where all the stars get naked.” As far as horny sentai parodies go, Super HXeroes is actually quite well-animated, with solid color work and some interesting cinematography. But ultimately, the fact remains that summer 2020 only possesses four shows that stand between its artistic peak and “I touched a boob” jokes.

Monster Girl Doctor

And from “horny sentai parody,” we take an immediate step down to “subpar monster girl ecchi.” We have at this point already reached the tier of shows that I would not recommend to anyone, but nevertheless, if the thought of getting intimate with a horse or snake girl sets a fire in your loins, Monster Girl Doctor is at least watchable.

Gibiate

The most noteworthy thing about Gibiate is that its character designs were created by Yoshitaka Amano, the famed artist responsible for Final Fantasy’s beautiful early art. The second-most-noteworthy thing about Gibiate is that in spite of possessing character designs by famed artist Yoshitaka Amano, it still offers a worse premiere than Monster Girl Doctor.

Shows of Midnight: Unspeakable Servants of the Void

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

Uzaki-chan is a shrill, repetitive, and visually uninspired comedy with no real jokes, centered on two people who are unpleasant individually and intolerable together. It’s sort of like the opposite of romantic chemistry, which sounds like an interesting intellectual exercise, but sadly makes for a miserable viewing experience.

Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time

Peter Grill makes no excuses for what it is, and I can respect that – it’s an unabashed “buy the blurays” advertisement for softcore porn, heavy on the light beams and lacking in any narrative or visual storytelling.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy

As we wade through the mire of our current isekai apocalypse, Demon King Academy seems determined to relive the Sins of Anime Past, by offering a pitch-perfect imitation of Mahouka, the worst show of anime’s last awful light novel craze. Thank you, Demon King Academy, for letting us know that things could always be worse.

And with that, we have somehow already reached the end. I know, this feels like less than half a season, and it basically is. But fortunately, those top four productions are spread out across a pretty wide variety of genres, meaning that most anime fans should have at least one or two rewarding shows to watch. And personally, with both Deca-Dence and Oregairu to look forward to, I’m actually feeling extremely well-fed by the summer slate. I hope you’ve found something to check out among my listings, and look forward to sharing another season with all of you!