It’s that time of year again! Time to look forward to what’s airing next season!
Let’s hit the break and take a look.
I normally don’t get too excited about seasonal shows until I see if they’re going to get a legal stream in the US. It’s not that I object to seeing them via ‘alternate’ means, but many of those can’t be played on my TV (which makes it difficult for both of us to watch) and it’s a massive PITA when they’re not neatly lined up in my queue. (Life is busy enough without adding another task to my weekly to-do list.) But that doesn’t mean I don’t look forward to some shows and hope they get a legal stream…
The Reflection Wave One
Pretty much the only show I’m looking forward too, and I’m doing so with trepidation… Stan Lee is still a name to conjure with, but previous (Western and Japanese) animated forays into the Marvel universe have been… less than impressive to be charitable. But this isn’t the Marvel universe, so that gives me hope.
You’ll note the absence of Marvel Future Avengers from this list. The omission is deliberate, though I’ll check it out I am not looking forward to it.
Princess Principal
A badass ninja girl? Sign me up! While I’m not entirely sure what I think of the concept, the animation and background has me sold. The staff has a pretty impressive CV too, though mostly one-step-junior to their positions on PP.
Konbini Kareshi
Anthology type shows are pretty scarce… But I do find them interesting.
Isekai Shokudou
Honestly, I’m just about over isekai. But I don’t think the fad has run its course yet, and we’re going to get at least another year or so where they dominate. That being, Isekai Shokudou catches my eye mostly because it faintly resembles Niven’s Draco Tavern tales which I greatly enjoyed.
Centaur no Nayami (Centaur’s Worries)
My wife thinks this look cute, so I’ll probably check it out with her. The description doesn’t tell us much about the show beyond it probably being MG (Monster Girls) DCT. However, Demi-chan set a pretty high bar for monster girl shows…
Battle Girls High School
Magical Girl action.. On the list because I usually check out magical girls shows.
Action Heroine Cheer Fruits
Sounds like something along the lines of a “Local Idol”/CGDCT type show. On the list mostly out of curiosity.
Sigh Many of those write-ups make it sound like I’m not too enthused. And truth be told, Summer looks like it has every chance of being a disappointing season. On the other hand, I’ve said that before and have been pleasantly surprised.
<Crossing fingers!>
If history is any guide, I’ll check out as many as twenty shows if they’re available and I usually end up watching somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve to fifteen… If my/our schedule gets too crowded, I need to be ruthless when it comes to culling to get things down to a reasonable level. Sometimes even “it airs on Tuesday” (when I have a meeting every week) suffices if the show doesn’t offer enough on its own.
I have difficulty blogging in any depth about more than four or five shows. (Though I was watching nine!) So this season, I’m going to restrict myself to commenting only if I have something to actually say about a given show in a given week. If I’m at a loss for words, I’ll simply note the show as “watched, no comments”. If all I have is a line or two, then all I’ll post is a line or two. I watch anime for fun, I blog for discussion, and I don’t want either to become burdensome.
(I said that last season, and I’m repeating it this season in the hopes it sinks into my brain this time…)
Drop a line down in the comments and let me know what you’re looking forward to!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
I don’t know what I’m actually going to watch yet. Nothing I’ve looked at jumps out as a “must watch,” and even all the shows that have at least somewhat piqued my interest I still have reservations about. Also, Netflix has already claimed two I might have wanted to watch (Kakegurui and Fate/Apocrypha), and Amazon will no doubt steal a few more from my list like they did this season. That said, here’s what I’m eyeballing for now, roughly in order from most interested to least…
Love & Lies. The writeup reminds me a bit of the YA novel Delirium by Lauren Oliver, which I liked quite a bit.
Isekai Shokudo. I can’t tell if this is going to be more “Time of Eve,” “Ristorante Paradiso,” or “Polar Bear Cafe,” but just the fact that it apparently involves cooking on some level is enough to get me to tune in at least to start – I’m curious to see what it’s about.
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e. Follows the “School stuffs all its worst students into one classroom and turns them into pariahs” premise, which for me has been very iffy over the years. For every Assassination Classroom (good) I seem to get two or three Baka & Tests (bad). It’s basically the Assassination Classroom team who’s doing this series, though (Studio Lerche animating, Seiji Kishi directing), so I’m hoping that means it’ll end up closer to A.C. than B&T on my scale. People who’ve read the light novel say there’s a significant mystery element to it too, which also intrigues me.
Gamers! Might be the show to fill my “slice of life/light comedy” niche this summer.
NTR: Netsuzou Trap. The premise has some potential, but the reviews of the manga make it sound more like lesbian softcore porn than a story that actually digs into issues of sexual orientation and self-denial in any meaningful way. If this is just a fanservice vehicle then I’ll likely be dropping it quick. But the episodes are only ten minutes long, so I’ll probably check out the first episode or two, at least.
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. I’ve heard a lot of praise for this series from people who’ve read it. Sounds like it could be worth a flier, especially if some of the other shows above don’t pan out.
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That’s a pretty well rounded list.
Yeah, Isekai Shokudo could go a variety of ways. So long as it doesn’t suck, I’m good with whatever it chooses. I pondered on Youkai Apartment and probably will check it out, but it sounds like a re-do of Invaders of the Rokujyōma!?. (Which was a pretty cute show and deserved more attention than I got.)
I’m mostly bummed because other than Gamers!, there’s not really any SOL or CGDCT on offer. Haven’t had a decent one from either genre so far this year.
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Did you see the new trailer for Isekai Shokudo?
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I did. It’s giving a pretty laid-back vibe, which to me implies a show that’s going to be more SOL and less isekai; I’d have no problem with that. I’m definitely feeling more confident about checking out the first few episodes anyway (in contrast to the trailer for, say, Clione no Akari, which basically killed whatever interest I had in that show).
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Princess Prinicpal has a pretty good preivew, I’d say. Let’s hope it has some staying power.
Centaur no Nayami is one of the very few instances where I know the source material, and it’s excellent. It shares with Demi chan the attention to detail, but since everyone’s a different species, it’s more a show about social tension (on the background of a slice of life). It’s… unique. It goes from extremely cute over social satire to plain bizarre (though they might not get that far). The preview looks competent. My prediction: they’re not going to mess up the show, but neither are they going to add much value (other than full colour and animation, which in itself is nice).
And, well, Isekai Shoukudo sounds interesting. (I’m neutral on isekai-shows; it’s such a broad spectrum. And I’m fairly sure that Isekai Shoukudo is going to be better than that smartphone show; if that turns out to be wrong that’s likely the upset of the season for me.)
Other than that it’s really all wait-and-see this season, isn’t it? (Maybe Tsurezure Children? Ballroom e Youkuso? Huh.)
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I’m crossing my fingers for the first four on my list, everything after that is gravy.
Thanks for the info on Centaur!
Tsurezure Children is right off the bottom of my chart, curious, but not enough to spend any time writing it up. There’s a bunch of shows piled up there, under the “wait-and-see” principle. Despite the barren appearance of the pantry, this wouldn’t be the first season something came out of nowhere. (Tsuki ga Kirei wasn’t even on my radar this season.)
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@Centaur: I really hope they get it right. The preview saved the most outlandish character for last, so it might be keeping other things back. The show could be anything from decently fun to excellent.
@Tsurezure Children: The only reason it’s on my radar at all is because Studio Gokumi gets auto-attention from me. But yeah, it’s a wait and see show.
Finally, after going through the list one more time Aho Girl has caught my attention. The concept looks… unappealing, but the two main characters are voiced by Yuuki Aoi and Sugita Tomokazu. If they get a chemistry going that could make for an excellent mansai routine. (And Yuuki Aoi is exectly the sort of voice actress who can embue stupid roles with charm.)
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“A badass ninja girl? Sign me up! ”
YESSSSS I hope you end up covering this one
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So do I! :) I don’t know what’s pulling me towards her and PP, but it’s there nonetheless.
And I can’t recall if I’ve welcomed you to the Lounge or not, so welcome to the Lounge!
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Thank you, The Lounge is very nice!
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