It happens every now and again, but Summer 2024 is looking pretty grim as far as possibilities go. OTOH, that can be kind of good as we’re hoping to get out more on the few weekends the weather is likely to be clement. (Right now, we’re still mired deep in Juneuary!)
That being said, hit the jump and let’s dive right in!
First up – Let’s get the continuations out of the way:
• My Hero Academia 7
• Spice and Wolf: merchant meets the wise wolf
I don’t think either series needs much in the way of introduction, do they?
I do want to say that I’ve been enjoying the way Spice has been improving as the first cour has proceeded. This last arc was impressive both visually and in terms of voice acting. More on that in my wrap-up next week.
Planning on watching:
The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses Season 2
I dithered on what to call this section, because Café Terrace is the only show I’m feeling any degree of actual anticipation for. The first season was a romance drama/comedy that was way better than it had a right to be… So I’m really interested in seeing where it goes next.
Not without possibilities:
This season is filled to slopping over the brim with what appear to be fairly standard shows slotting into all the usual categories. But there’s a few that catch my eye among the announced streams… Many of which it’s hard to say much about.
First up! The romances…
My Wife Has No Emotion / Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga Nai
* Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian / Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san
* Senpai is an Otokonoko / Senpai wa Otokonoko
* = particularly notable shows.
Senpai is definitely the most interesting here… as it goes way outside the usual boundaries.
Next up: Sports!
Narenare -Cheer for You!- / na-nare hana-nare
Yes, cheerleading is a sport. No, I don’t know if that’s the approach they’re taking here. Mostly, I don’t want to put it in the “catchall/misc” category.
And dammit, we need another season of Mix. And another season of Chihayafuru. I’m not greedy, just one each. (For now.)
Catchall / Misc:
Plus-Sized Elf / Elf-san wa Yaserarenai
And finally…
What the actual ef?
My Deer Friend Nokotan / Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan
This show looks to be… insane. Maybe in a good way, maybe in a “trainwreck you can’t take your eyes away from way.”
That pretty much rounds out the list… Though of course I always check out a ton more. And I keep an eye on my mutuals on Twitter (X) and Bluesky, as well as ANN’s Preview Guide.
And of course, I’ve gotten more than one good suggestion from y’all’s comments on my posts.
Anyhow, a full list of what’s available can be found on the Live Chart Seasonal Guide… Take a gander, and drop a comment telling us what you’re looking forward to or let’s chat about whatever else is on your mind!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
For me, there are the continuations of PreCure and Spice and Wolf, and second seasons of Oshi no Ko and NieR:Automata Ver1.1a. After that, there are only Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies, and maybe ATRI -My Dear Moments- that are of any interest to me. And yes, we need more Chihayafuru.
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Sakuna is on my radar at the “watch the buzz, read the first impressions” level. Magical Girl and Atri maybe a hair below that… So, I’m looking forward to what you have to say about them!
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Sakuna entered my awareness when a Patreon account I follow (a then newly-minted PhD whose topic of interest is the intersection of anime/manga/other pop culture and spirituality, especially but not exclusively as related to Shinto) started a playthrough of the game. It didn’t last very long as her life was upset by moving to Japan, and she hasn’t yet refocused attention on her Patreon, but it was an interesting premise so the anime announcement caught my attention.
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I’ll get this out of my way, as anyone who’s reading my posts will know: Sengoku Youko. There. No need to say more. I’ve said it all.
Out of your list only Nokotan is on my radar, and it’s exactly as you said. This sort of show can work, or it can’t. In any case, it’s the director of Sabagebu, so there’s that. (I’ll try most of the other shows, though no Terrace for me, which I dropped one episode in.)
I’ll second Chris Vermeers on Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin. A game I remembered hearing of when I saw the preview. An endearing art style. PA Works and the director of Uchouten Kazuko. And old hand Jukki Hanada on script. This is pretty promising, I’d say.
Other than that, I’ll let this season surprise me.
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I hadn’t known that about Nokotan… I really should look into the staff more than I do (which is pretty much zero). Anyone who could handle the random insanity of Sabagebu is definitely equipped for something that looks like it could be the same, but turned up to 11.
Can’t blame you for dropping Terrace, it wasn’t promising and it took a while to find it’s footing. Plus, IIRC, you’re not really big on harem shows.
As I said to Chris, Sakuna is on my radar, just not high enough to rate a mention in this post. I’m looking forward to see what you both have to say.
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I really want to take a shot at Sengoku Yōko, but no openings in my available watch schedule yet. Maybe after I finish up the old Spice and Wolf or Super Cub, which will be pretty soon. The problem is that I still have things like The Apothecary Diaries and BOCCHI THE ROCK waiting on that list.
Probably the biggest problem with both Sakuna and Magical Girl and Evil Lieutenant (I bring the latter up because the issue is the same for the most part) is that at the moment nobody seems to want to take responsibility for them in English. Also, Magical Girl is listed as “shorts”, so they’re going to be 2 to 10 minute episodes and I don’t know who is going to want to do that, though CR has done shows like that in the past, including some mahō shōjo ones.
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Oh, people should watch anime on their own time, and that’s quite a quality back-log right there. I’m just remembering how unpopular Sengoku Youko was back when it aired. Few people watched it, and a lot of people dropped it early, but the people who stayed with it (not many) tended to like it. I’m just throwing the name out there every opportunity I get, so people don’t forget it exists.
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<blockquote>Plus, IIRC, you’re not really big on harem shows.</blockquote>
I’ve been trying to figure out what I think of harems for a while now. There are quite a few I like, even if we restrict it to the dedicated harem shows. From Love Hina over Amagami SS to Quintuplets, all of which are pretty much spot on in the middle of the genre. I’m quite fond of some of the gimmicky ones like Monster Musume or The World God Only Knows.
I’ve been trying to think of recent harem anime and found that the last good year for me would have been 2019, which had both We Never Learn and Quintuplets.
I’ve been trying to scan last season, and I actually finished the Appartment with Angel show (which I found cute, inoffensive, and forgettable in the end). The biggest harem anime last season was obviously Date A Live, but I never watched that beyond season one. “Never watched beyond season one,” does seem to be a trend with me (though for some I reason I went all the way to end of season 2 of Nisekoi; I still don’t know why; I didn’t even like season 1 all that much – the production was sort of fun in the early episodes?)
Ultimately, I think “not big on harem anime” is a fair way to put it.
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I have quite a few shows on my extended list. I’ll be doing what I usually do, winnowing out the chaff of my extended list until I end up with a group of shows I want to watch.
Nokotan looks like fun, so I will be checking it out too. Cafe Goddess II is a definite, given the first series has become one of my favorite comfort shows.
Summer 2024 seems to be a season of mainly rom-coms and Isekais. Thankfully after some of last season’s stumbles, they don’t seem to be combining the genres this season.
Rom-coms this season I am interested in include “Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian” and “Giji Harem”, both of which at least look promising. I will look at a few others, just in case I’ve missed something. Same with the various isekai and fantasy shows.
PA Works has three shows this season: “Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin”, “Mayonaka Punch” (A V-tuber fantasy) and “Na-Nare Hana-Nare” (Cute girls do cheerleading). I will be watching all three as PA Works rarely makes a bad show.
Talking of PA Works I recently rewatched Sakura Quest and its a gem. I wasn’t totally engaged with it when it aired but its setting, art work, and character observations lead me to put it up there with Shirobako as PA Works best production.
I also want to check out “Ramen Aka Neko”. A ramen shop run by cats? I have to at least check it out.
One show I have already dropped is “Isekai Suicide Squad”. After watching the first three episodes, its just stupid. It looks good but with little or no substance behind it. Watching it I thought it Wit Studio’s shark jumping moment. That said the shonen fans will love it probably.
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I sort of missed Ramen aka Neko; I just watched the trailer and it looks up my alley.
As for Suicide Squad: I don’t know the franchise (though I know what it’s about); I don’t know most of the characters – I had no expectations at all for the show, so what I got was fine, though my hunch is that it feels much more like the western franchise with anime tropes mixed in than anything else. I don’t yet know if I’ll watch it; it depends on how loaded its day will turn out. It’s the type of show that would have no chance with me if it were dropped all at once: I’d watch a few episodes, get bored for the day, and then forget it exists. It happened to better shows.
As for PA Works, it’s one of my favourite studios, and anything they do is an auto watch. But it’s also a studio I like more than I tend to like their shows on average. For example, the PA Works/Maeda combo never worked for me. I didn’t like Angel Beats that much, I certainly didn’t like Charlotte, and I was sort of half-okay with Kami-sama ni natta hi, but still dropped it. And there are plenty of shows with unrealised potential…
Here’s my personal PA Works tier list, so far:
=Favourites Tier=
Uchouten Kazuko (1 + 2)
Skitp to Loafer
=Great=
True Tears
Hanasaku Iroha
Tari Tari
=Am Fond of=
Umamusume
Appare Ranman
Paripi Koumei
Aquatope
Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara
=Liked=
Sakura Quest
Shirobako
Red Data Girl
Akiba Maid Wars
Canaan
Kuromukuro
=Okay=
Glasslip
Sirius the Jaeger
Nagi no Asukara
Fairy Gone
=Didn’t Like=
Another
Kami-sama ni Natta Hi
Buddy Daddies
Angel Beats
=Disliked=
Charlotte
I tend to like the studio more on the basis of its potential than it’s avarage quality. When it works it really works. And they’re sometimes pretty good with the sillier stuff, too. I’ve found myself profoundly disinterested in Umamusume post PA Works, for example; but they made it work for me. Even though Sakuna has the director from Uchouten Kazuko (one of my fave anime ever), it’s actually Uma Musume that gives me hope here: they can pull this off. But the potential for disappointment is proportionally huge as well; and they could well mess this up.
(A show not on this list is a show I haven’t watched.)
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I seem to be about the only one around here not calling out Sakuna… Otherwise, we’re mostly in agreement. Pretty much everything your list is either on mine, or in the “pay attention to the buzz” level. Nothing I’m outright not interested in.
We’re going to have to agree to disagree on Sakura though. :)
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