Let me start off by saying that this upcoming season has big shoes to fill.
Like, the winter season had a few good shows, a respectable number, but
this past spring, oh man, we had so many good shows.
Even the ones that weren't top tier were pretty
dang good!
So now we need a season that can live up to that.
But will it?
Well the potential is there, so we'll have to see.
What follows today are 10 anime that I picked out of the upcoming lineup that I'm looking
forward to.
These ten shows are the ones I consider to be the ones most likely to stand out, based
on the information I have on me here pre-season.
Now the list does not include sequels to shows I either
haven't watched or have no interest in, so while I know that D.Grey Man, Fate Illya,
and Food Wars all have sequels lined up, I don't plan to be
following them.
At least not immediately.
Also, I did not add shows for which very little information has
been released, more so than usual - like no director, no PV
and so forth.
So what you can gather from all of this is that what follows is a very personal list
of mine, which leaves the chance for one of those other
unknown shows not on this list to later sneak up on us
and be amazing, which is something I hope for actually.
Based on little information, and as such with arbitrary ranking, I present my Top 10 Anticipated
Anime of Summer 2016.
Let's Jam.
First up, a show that has a name I am about to completely butcher the pronunciation of:
Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Alderamin on the Sky.
This series like the next one that's on our list is mostly here purely based on
the studio producing it.
In this case, Studio Madhouse, who in my mind has been responsible for some
completely awesome anime since like forever.
The reason why it's this far down the list though is
because I have reasons to be skeptical.
Looking at the PV, I can personally say that I'm not sold on the
art style.
The PV didn't show us too much animation wise, but that could just be a lack of time to
complete good cuts before the PV deadline.
Lastly, there's the show's director, Tetsuo Ichimura, who is
rather new.
His only previous works are a 3-episode Echii OVA from 2 years ago.
But this is Madhouse, so I'm very hopeful.
I think it'll be an interesting fantasy series if nothing else.
Alderamin on the sky was picked up by Crunchyroll for this season and
will be simulcated from them.
Coming in at number 9, Tales of Zestiria the X.
Like Alderamin, this one snags a spot on the list because
it's being produced by Ufotable.
I have at least an equal number reasons to be skeptical about it, but
most of that will all be made up by the fact that it's potentially going to be the best
looking series of the season.
The negatives I have are mostly personal.
I've been following the Tales Of series since Symphonia on the GameCube and the track record
for these games being adapted into an anime format
has been less than stellar.
Their Symphonia adaptation took a 50-hour game and condensed that not
only into a small 11-episode OVA, but also released those episodes over the course of
6 years.
Now I'm not the biggest fan of Zestiria in the first
place either.
I got it when it was released on Steam awhile back,
but the only reason I never returned it is because I got a copy of Symphonia for free
with it.
The game play was vastly inferior in my opinion, though
the story could be good, which is why I'm still slightly
excited for this adaptation.
Zestria the X was picked up by funimation so it'll be available from them, no
word yet on if it's getting a broadcast dub mostly because it's far too early to be talking
about such things.
Next up is Qualidea Code.
For this one, I'm less looking forward to the good animation - though it is A-1
Pictures, so it's probably be somewhat impressive - but I'm more so looking forward to the music
of the series actually.
The show's composer is Taku Iwasaki, who previously was responsible for Soul Eater,
Akame ga Kill, and Noragami among others.
These shows have phenomenal soundtracks and for Akame
ga Kill especially, the music was one of the few things that got me through my watch of
the series.
On top of having that composer for the soundtrack,
they also snagged both LiSA and ClairS for the OP and
ED songs which is quite an amazing feat, so I'm hoping for both of those to be impressive
as well.
Story wise, there's going to be some semblance of
a futuristic fantasy setting with cute girls and explosions.
I'm expecting a spectacle and I doubt that it'll fail to deliver.
At the time of this video Qualidea code has not been officially picked up by any legal
licenser, but there's still time.
For number 7, we have NEW GAME!
(Exclamation point).
A lot of people are going to write this one off.
For all I know, I might as well after I see the first few episodes, but I want to be optimistic.
The reason why people will write this one off is because
by all accounts it looks to be your stereotypical "let's throw
a bunch of girls into a nerd-like setting purely for the entertainment of the kind of
otaku fans that most people have a good time making fun of".
It's got the cute girls down pat, and they apparently have all
come together to work at a video game company, where I will assume wacky antics will be had.
What keeps me optimistic is the amount of staff
who are KyotoAni alums, such as Fumihiko Shimo who is in
charge of composition and was also responsible for the comp on the Key/KyotoAni holy trinity
of anime, Air, Kanon, and Clannad.
Not to mention her work on both Non Non Biyori and Kokoro Connect, so
that's something.
And the composer was the one responsible for the music of K-On, which is a
wonderful thing to have on a resume, so while I may be skeptical of its story content, the
rest leaves me cautiously optimistic.
Which is the best I can hope for most times.
Like Qualidea Code New Game has yet to be picked up by any legal licenser.
For number 6, we have Amanchu, which means I can finally get excited about an anime for
its story.
And in this case, by story I mean slice of life
adventures about schoolgirls and scuba diving.
The show actually has two directors, which is interesting.
Firstly it has a regular director, Kenichi Kasai previously
responsible for directing the wonderfully upbeat Nodame Cantabile, and then it also
has a "Chief Director" Jenichi Satou, previously responsible
for some amazing slice of life shows such as Aria as well
as Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth.
Also, we have Deko Akao doing the series composition, who was
previously the director on Noragami as well as the series comp for last season's Flying
Witch.
So the main important staff positions are indeed
well filled, even if both the Art Director and Character
designers for this show are fairly new.
All I can be certain of at this point is that this series has a high
chance of being the show that I watch, like flying witch, for the relaxation that it will
provide.
If I want something more thrilling, well that's what
this next one is for.
Amanchu has also yet to be picked up.
Numbah 5!
BERSERK!
This is the only sequel like thing on this list, and I had to include it because, well
hell, it's Berserk.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I freaking love Berserk.
That said though, this is quite obviously not a retelling of the manga
from chapter one.
Now considering that, I have two negatives, and mostly these are the same negatives
that I have for the recent trilogy of Berserk films.
While I love the concept of cel shading 3D graphics, as I feel they help the art last
much longer without aging (see: Zelda Windwaker), I am less enthused
about that same kind of animation being brought to
Berserk.
It might just be a hint of the old-fashioned preference I have considering my love for
the original TV series, but the 3D animation in
the more recent Berserk's has always irked me.
That and also for some continued reason Susumu Hirasawa
is not fully in charge of the musical score.
I can only assume at this point that it's because he
doesn't want the job.
From what I can gather, he is providing at least one track for the new series, though
really I wish he would provide two: whatever new one he is
cooking up and a remix of Forces.
Because Forces is amazing.
Anyway, still looking forward to this new Berserk quite a lot, and it'll be streaming
from Crunchyroll this season Starting to both wind down our list, but also
ramp up the excitement, we have 91 Days.
91 Days is a mafia drama, taking place in the prohibition
era.
It is not based on any existing manga or light novel, and
I think it's going to be freaking amazing.
It's being handled by the same studio responsible for Terror in
Resonance as well as the Durarara sequels, and its series composition is being done by
Taku Kishimoto who handled the comp for both Erased and last
season's fantastic Joker Game.
Now my only hang up with it at this point would be its director
Hiro Kaburaki, much better known for directing shows that are
either comedy or romance focused, two things which I am hoping this series is not.
But it looks good, Ling Sigure is taking care of the opening,
which I hope I can count on as being good, and this kind of mob
story has always been entertaining for me in the past, so I'm excited as hell for it.
Crunchyroll has this one as well, so look out for that.
For number 3, we have Orange, which is mostly here because of a recommendation I was given
by my good friend Ken to read the manga for it.
I haven't yet, but by all accounts the story is right up my alley.
The show is a kind of romance drama, but with an interesting twist.
Our main character receives a letter from herself 11 years in the future telling
her to keep track of a new transfer student.
And Like at this point, with just that, I'm already sold, but
then I find out that it's being directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki the
director of Texhnolyze and more importantly Steins;Gate and hell yeah I'm pumped!
Orange is another crunchyroll pickup and it has the potential
to be best of season, which is of course as long as it turns out
to be better than the number 2 on my list.
Mob Psycho 100.
All you need to know right now about Mob Psycho is that it is being animated by
Studio Bones and the original story for it was written by webcomic artist ONE, the very
same guy who created One Punch Man, you know that uber
popular series from last year?
Same guy.
Except this one is going to be available on Crunchyrol and not
Daisuke so that's an interesting change of eventa.
Now I'm actually going to skip over the detailed reasons
of why I'm psyched as hell for this series because I'm
planning on dedicating an entire video to it shortly, so watch out for that, but I do
believe that you might be wondering what I am personally more hyped
for than this.
Well...
SWEETNESS AND LIGHTING!
UGH I'M SO PUMPED!
THIS IS GOING TO BE SO CUTE ARGEJHAKSLDKJD
So this is the point where I have to remind people that this is my personal list, and
I realize that not as many people will be as pumped for Sweetness
and Lightning as I am, and most of my pumped-ness is
because it's one of the few times I've actually read the manga for something.
Reading manga is not something I traditionally do, so the fact
that I can actually be excited for a series because I know the
source material is amazing.
I haven't been like this since Ghibli announced they were making Howl's
Moving Castle into a film, only for it then to be nothing like the book, BUT ANYWAY.
Sweetness and Lighting is about a new single father attempting to take care of his young
daughter on his own.
How he's able to accomplish spending time with her is that they attempt to learn how
to cook, along with the help of one of his students,
as he is a teacher at the local high school.
It's like this weird cross between Food Wars and Usagi Drop, but
without the competition from Food Wars and the...things
from the Usagi Drop manga that no one should ever read.
Stick to the anime on that one, trust me.
What I am expecting and plan to get is a very light-hearted series, one that I will probably
have to watch on a full stomach in order to handle the wonderfully
animated food, which they will probably have on
display.
And I'm a sucker for this kind of light story, which is why I read the manga in the first
place.
You can disagree on my pick, but ultimately this is my most anticipated shows list, not
anyone else's.
But what are you guys excited for?
Let me know down in the comments.
With luck most of this list will be available for legal streaming, both Funimation
and Crunchyroll have picked up some of them, and
both companies have stated that there are more announcements to come and there are some
entries on this list that haven't been claimed yet.
Though at the moment Crunchyroll though has the most on
this list already, both Mob Psycho and Sweetness and Lighting specifically, so they are off
to a very good start.
And as usual there will be a link down in the description crunchyroll.com/glassreflection
for a free trial of their premium service, because it
will be required if you plan on watching any of their offerings
as soon as they are released.
If you don't mind the week delay though, they will be out for free
eventually so if you're strapped for cash that's also an available option.
As I mentioned before I have a solo video on Mod Psycho coming out soon, and chances
are most of the shows on this list will be subject to a First
Reason sometime following the start of the season.
I'm looking forward to all of that and hopefully
you are too.
Until then, ladies, gentlemen, and others.
Stay frosty.