It’s that time again.
Feels like only yesterday that a new season started and we had a gluttonous amount of
new shows to attempt to consume.
Then three months pass and we do it all over again, and we do it gladly.
Now that spring has become summer, the heat goes up, we get all lethargic, and we want
to do nothing but lounge in front of our screens and watch anime.
Or is that just me?
Doubtful, I'm sure.
I have scoured through the chart of upcoming gems for the new Summer Season and
have collected what I feel to be some of the best possibilities for shows you might want
to watch.
As usual, this is based entirely on the very little information that we know about the
upcoming shows, even though some of them have already started to air and it’s very possible
that I will miss a series that will end up blowing us all away.
In fact, I always hope for such a situation.
But with the information I have and trying to keep a keen eye open – ladies, gentlemen,
and others, my name is Arkada – here are the Top 10 anime I am anticipating from the
Summer 2018 Anime Season.
Normally, I turn that into an “-ish” because I rather like using “-ish” in top lists
since I inevitably go beyond the limits that I myself set, but in this particular case
everything worked out evenly.
I don’t know if this is a good thing.
Regardless, it’s time to get started.
Let’s jam.
Alright so let’s kick off this list with the four big sequels that are airing this
season, firstly by mentioning that Attack on Titan S3 is starting soon.
While the hype behind Titan was a bit lower than I expected back when Season 2 aired,
I fully expect it to kick back into high gear now that it doesn’t have to compete with
Hero Academia anymore for people’s affections.
How it progresses threw through will be interesting because I doubt we’ll be seeing a conclusion
to the overall story this time around.
The manga is still quite a bit aways ahead of the anime.
On the plus side though, rumour has it that this third season will be a full 24 episodes
to try and cover a lot of ground.
With luck, that’ll be enough.
Also airing this season is the continuing utter insanity that is FLCL.
Technically, this has already started, but FLCL has a bit of an odd release schedule
with Progressive only having started about a month ago and Alternative starting in September.
Which is before the fall season, so this is where I have to mention it.
If you’ve seen the wacky antics of the original FLCL and like that sort of thing, then this
new season is most definitely something you should be paying attention to.
If not, well honestly I’d say to keep an eye on it anyway.
The original FLCL is about the length of a long movie and the two new seasons aren’t
much longer either.
From a time commitment standpoint, the show is very low maintenance to keep track of and
if your circle of friends is anything like mine, FLCL is a hot topic right now, so WATCH IT.
Overlord is also getting its third season, following up Season 2 in less than a year.
It came far faster than I expected, but that speed is appreciated!
Last big sequel on my list goes to the third season of Free!
Following up the previous two seasons and film that the franchise has currently, the
summer is the perfect time to watch the continuing stories of these hot guys in swim gear, if
that happens to be your jam.
If it’s not your jam, then I’m not sure how you might feel about this next entry on
my list as we move away from sequels and into new shows proper.
From the creator of Baka and Test and the director of School Rumble and Sakamoto Desu GA?
comes Grand Blue, a story about a new college student who moves out to Izu City
to help out in his uncle’s diving store.
While not looking to be as specifically male focused in its cast as much as Free! is, it
still hits a number of beats in its presentation so that fans of Free! might want to check
it out.
Unless this turns out to be a massive bait and switch as far as fan service goes.
Most sites online are listing both it and its manga under the Ecchi category, so perhaps
I’m completely off base and the female cast will be extremely prominent in more ways than
one, but even if it is, it might be something worth checking out.
Maybe Keijo!!!!!!!! fans will get a kick out of it.
We’ll have to wait and see.
Up next in the little bit more insane category is Chiyo’s School Road.
The description for this just talks about how the show follows a high school girl names
Chiyo and her daily commute to school.
Huh.
Well honestly, that doesn’t sound all that interesting at all.
Is it just 12 episodes of her on a subway or wha?
Turns out, no, and in actuality her commute to school is anything but ordinary.
From the director of one of my favourite comedies Desert Punk comes this wonderful looking slapstick
tale that will probably end up being my weekly dose of WTF for the next 3 months.
Honestly, while part of me feels like I should have a few more things to mention about it,
I think most of its trailer speaks for itself.
This looks amazing and I’m really excited about this one.
But we have limited time, so we must continue!
Next on my list is Hanebado, a series that makes this list not because of the staff attached,
the studio producing it, or anything that I normally use to gauge how much potential
a show has.
This one is here purely because of its trailer and how well this series looks to be animated.
Now it is a sports series, and like most sports series our interest in it might be tied heavily
to how much you like the sport in question, in this case badminton.
I don’t know much about badminton, I’ll be honest.
As far as I know, it’s just tennis for rich people.
That one scene from Disney’s Robin Hood is like my only experience with the sport.
But I’ll be happy to find out more about it and the kind of person who plays it if
it looks this good.
At the time of this video though, episode one is already out, so feel free to give that
a watch after this.
I know I will, though I need to finish making this video so......[Depressed Wail]
HEY, do you remember an old series called Osmosis Jones?
It’s about the cells inside the body of Bill Murray who had lives of their own and
lived in ways that explained people’s biological functions?
Let’s make that an anime!
Not only that, let’s get the director of Drifters and the second season of Stardust
Crusaders in here, have David Production animate it while we are still sitting on our hands
waiting for JoJo part 5, and for a curve ball let’s get the person behind the series composition
for Chihayafuru S2 do the series comp for it.
This show is going to be insane and fantastic, and if it’s not I will be massively disappointed.
So this next one is an interesting entry.
On the surface, Happy Sugar Life looks to be a heavily moe-infused ball of slice of
life goodness, too good and too pure for this world.
But that’s how it gets you.
Look at the genres that the story belongs to and finish watching the trailer and then
you start to realise, oh hey, this is a horror series with murder and psychological elements!
I bet that Happy Sugar Life isn’t going to last very long, is it?
I fear the possibility that the twist here might turn into a gimmick that’ll lose its
luster after the first initial episodes, but if the writing is solid from a character perspective,
we might have a new favourite Yandere-like character to add to people’s top lists.
Who knows?
Second to last is Angels of Death, another one that makes the list based on its trailer.
While not as visually impressive thus far as Hanebado, the idea of the leads being trapped
in a building they need to escape from is interesting enough that I’m willing to give
it a shot.
Plus, hey, apparently the original material came from an RPG Maker video game that’s
available on Steam right now, and I’m all for seeing that sort of storytelling brought
to the small screen.
Hell I'll probably have to go and play the game now since that's not usally a thing that's made
available to us.
So, looking forward to seeing how interesting that's going to be.
Lastly is High Score Girl, a series about a 6th grader who is quote “the best
video gamer ever”, which sounds like a Mary Sue type protagonist until the point where
he gets his ass whooped in Street Fighter II by a classmate.
I’d like to take a moment to appreciate the nostalgic fact that they are actually
using Street Fighter II in this instance and not just recreating some anime-esk knockoff.
So the story is following their budding relationship and I’m curious to see how they input gaming
into that.
Plus the series seems to be relying quite a bit on 3D animation, at least in the trailer,
so I’m also interested in how that ends up playing out.
So there it is, my initial take on the new shows coming out this season and what may
be worth watching.
With luck, some of these may turn out to be very successful, and hopefully some shows
I missed will end up stealing the limelight and blow us all away.
What out of these shows do you think you might be watching?
What did I miss that I very obviously shouldn’t have?
Let me know down in the comments!
A very special thank you to my patrons who make these videos possible and support what
I do here.
It’s very much appreciated.
And an even bigger thank you to patrons Joshua Garcia, Calhoonboy, Siri Yamiko, Victor Ekmark,
Ryefan Boneapart, and Rune Jachobson for being extremely awesome.
Until next time – ladies, gentlemen, and others – stay frosty.