It amazes me that we are actually near the start of another season. But here we are. While the previous Winter Season wasn’t overly strong for me, the Spring season has turned out pretty well. More than enough shows for me to watch and enjoy. Instead of just enough shows for me to cover and enjoy, Spring had a few shows I felt bad for missing out on. Brought an early possibility for anime of the season in Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu a really enjoyable show in Boku no Hero Academia, among other shows. While a lot of the shows for this past season crammed themselves into the weekend, I will say it has been a pretty good ride overall. Only a few shows that ended up not being my cup of tea. I had more positive surprises this season than negative ones. I didn’t expect to really enjoy Macross Δ, but there you have it. A lot of shows ending that I will certainly end up missing.

But, the focus right now is on the Summer. Normally Summer is a pretty weak season. But the past few years have been bucking that and creating a new trend where some of the most anticipated shows of the year for me are showing up there. This season isn’t any different. The shows I’m most looking forward to would be pretty high on any seasonal list for me. As usual this is just going to be a look at the shows I’m personally looking forward to. Giving an idea what I’ll be watching and what I’m just hoping will be good. Can find a full list of series on sites like Anichart and Livechart. The summaries for these shows also come from those sites.

For now let’s see what this season has in store:

Most Anticipated Series:

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei!!
Illyasviel von Einzbern is a normal schoolgirl in Japan. She lives with her overachieving nice guy older brother Shirou Emiya and her two maids, her parents are perpetually out of the country, and she has fanciful dreams of using magic to make her dreams of love with Shirou come true. Enter fierce rivals Rin Tohsaka and Luviagelita Edelfelt, two Magi who have been sent to Japan by Zelretch the Wizard Marshall, Master of Parallel Worlds, with the powerful sentient Kaleidosticks to collect the mysterious Class Cards and clean up their mess. After getting fed up with their constant infighting, one Kaleidostick, Magical Ruby, senses Illya’s fleeting dream of magic and leaves Rin for her, tricking her into becoming a magical girl. Now Illya is being forced by Rin to collect the dangerous Class Cards in her place. But perhaps more dangerous still are Illya’s own mysteries that may have unknowingly attracted Ruby to her.

Direct sequel to Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 2wei Herz!.

This one is a given for me. May not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is definitely the show I’m most hyped to see this summer. We’ve gotten through the first two arcs for the Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya series. Now we move onto the fourth season, but third arc. And this one is bigger and better than the previous two. No secret I’ve read the manga on this one, but I’m not going to drop any spoilers here. Will only say that for those who like the Fate side of this series, they will enjoy the show even more. Things will get more serious and there will be less time for fanservice, although there will certainly still be some.

I’m 100% picking this one up to cover. Silver Link has shown that they know what they are doing with this series and the show will be excitement the whole way through. If they hold to the pattern of 10 episode seasons then we may end up getting many seasons for Drei because it is ongoing and far longer than the first two arcs.

D.Gray-man HALLOW
Toward the end of the 19th century, Allen Walker officially joins the organization of Exorcists that destroy the beings known as Akuma; mechanic weapons made by the Millennium Earl with the suffering souls of the dead. Allen has both a cursed eye and an anti-Akuma weapon as an arm, bearing the power of “Innocence,” a gift given to him as an apostle of God. Allen, along with his fellow Exorcists must put a stop to the Millennium Earl’s ultimate plot that could lead to the destruction of the world and all who live on it.

I never would have thought we’d be seeing another D.Gray-Man anime. I just gave up on that at some point. Which I think is fair considering the original series ended in 2008. I’d say that could mean we’re in for a long season, but they have already announced that this will be a 1-cour series. I can’t say that isn’t a bit disappointing considering the original was over 100 episodes, but what can you do? Hopefully they have enough episodes to adapt as much of the manga as they have planned to cover. I haven’t read the manga in this case so I have no idea where we are going here. All I can say is that I’m excited to see Allen and company again. Although the entire main cast has been recasted voice wise…that’s going to feel a bit weird. Still, I’m excited to see where this goes and glad to have this show back again.

ReLIFE
The story follows Kaizaki Arata, a 27-year-old jobless man, who fails at every job interview he had after quitting his last company. His life changes after he met Yoake Ryou of the ReLife Research Institute, who offered him a drug that can change his appearance to 17-years-old and to become a subject in an experiment for one year. Thus, he begins his life as a high school student once more.

This is another series where the hype comes entirely from knowing the source material. ReLife covers an interesting plot for me. A main character who is in his late 20s, but basically hasn’t been able to get his career going and is in a tough place. Basically given the most suspicious offer since Neo in the Matrix. Take a pill and become young again! But it really does have a good base to work with and tells a good story. I’m not sure how far the anime is going to get, but it will be a series I’ll be watching from start to finish. A character journey for a lead who is getting a chance to grow as a person by going back to highschool for a time. The summary might sound a bit odd, but I fully recommend people give this one a shot.

Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi
Four-part original story by mangaka Nakaba Suzuki.

Normally I’m not one for OVA-like series, but I’ll make an exception for Nanatsu no Taizai. Honestly, I was hoping this would be a full blown second season. But perhaps they are waiting for the manga to conclude the arc it is on before jumping in with something like that. It does make me wonder what this is going to be about. A four part mini-series that I suppose will just set things up for a full blown season 2 down the road. I’m not 100% sure if I’ll pick up this little series or not, it will depend what this ends up being. An original story doesn’t really tell us all that much. But, I am excited to see it. Nanatsu no Taizai was a show I really enjoyed and I’m glad to get more of it.

Series of Moderate Interest:

Love Live! Sunshine!!
Uranohoshi Girls’ High School, a private school in the seaside neighborhood of Uchiura at Numazu city, Shizuoka prefecture.

A small high school in a corner of Suruga Bay, it is home to nine teens,
led by second-year student Chika Takami, driven by one seriously big dream:

To become the next generation of bright, sparkling “school idols”!

Now we’re going into the more moderate section of shows I’m looking forward to. While I haven’t seen a lot of the material for the new Love Live, I’m still on board because of what has come before. I can understand that they did have to expand the Love Live franchise out with new groups. I haven’t seen enough of the new cast to say that they will be as likable as the previous one, but there should be enough people in there that I’ll enjoy watching. Plus I do approve of anime that are focused on this kind of school idol group and will have some good songs along the way. I’m not unbelievably hyped, but I’m looking forward to this.

Rewrite
Rewrite is set in the fictional city Kazamatsuri, where treeplanting and afforestation have caused the city to become overgrown with trees and flowers in much the same way that other cities are filled by buildings. However, while most of the city appears to be rural, there are many traditional city elements as well. While set in a modern setting, the city also gives off a strange sense of nostalgia.

Tennouji Kotarou lives here. He’s a high school student who has the ability to rewrite his own body; he can become stronger and faster at any time he chooses. He investigates supernatural mysteries with five girls from his school.

Another year, and another adaptation of a Key VN. I really don’t know a lot about the source material in this one. The summary sounds interesting though. I like the idea that the MC has this kind of power. It does give a different feel from some of the other Key stories that we’ve seen before. I’m sure as normal there will be a few girls I like in the cast and a few I don’t care that much about. The only question I have is how they’ll end up tackling this. If it will be similar to previous ones where they have mini-arcs for most of the girls and then the series will shift into the true ending or main heroine route and tell her story. I’m sure it will be another emotional journey and so I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu
Betrayed from within and overwhelmed by dark sorcery, the valiant armies of Pars are overrun by the warrior-fanatics of Lusitania. Escaping the destruction of his homeland, the heroic Prince Arslan begins to assemble a group of five, extraordinary allies—a priestess, an exiled warrior, a mischievous minstrel, an insightful artist and his attendant—to aid him in his fight against the Lusitanian invaders. Together, they must build an army and defeat 300,000 trained soldiers—including the mysterious Lord Silver Mask—who has also laid claim to the throne of Pars.

This one is pretty easy since it’s the second season for the Arslan story. We have a good picture of what the series has done before and where it will go next. It’s a good fantasy series with some strong action. I’m curious to see how Arslan’s story continues. We learned a lot in the previous seasons about what is going on and why. It might not be the show I’m most hyped for in any given week, but it will be a show that should be consistently good. Will see what happens next.

DANGANRONPA 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen – Mirai-Hen
The world was close to being destroyed by Ultimate Despair, who caused “The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History.” In order to save this world from the event’s chaos, the Future Foundation was formed. Although the organization continues its activities to restore the world, Makoto Naegi is under suspicion of treason due to him shielding a Remnant of Despair.

The Future Foundation members had gathered together to decide on his punishment, but they all end up getting trapped inside the place they were meeting by Monokuma, who demands that they begin the “Final Killing.” They have strange bangles put on their wrists, and are given tranquilizers when a certain time arrives. To make things worse, there apparently is a real traitor amongst their ranks who is coming to kill the members of the Future Foundation.

In this game where class trials don’t exist, the only way to get rid of the traitor is to find him and kill him off. Naegi is forced to face the ultimate death game, where it’s kill or be killed. The tale of despair in which hope kills hope begins.

This technically covers two shows at the same time. Weirdly enough there are two Danganronpa 3 series airing this summer. The Mirai-hen (Future Volume) and the Zetsubou-hen (Despair Volume). But the one I’m looking forward to is the Future Volume. This is basically a continuation and conclusion to the story of Naegi from the original anime and game. But since this isn’t an adaptation of a game it won’t be focusing on something like trials which have been the focus of the previous series. Instead it is going to be more of a pure death game where the cast has to find and kill the traitor in their midst in order to gain freedom. Where people trying to build a future have to fight against despair and find the way forward. I’m curious to see how it will play out and I really hope some of the characters I liked that survived the original….will survive this. But you never know. It could be a rough show.

Series of Mild Interest:

New Game!
Meet Aoba Suzukaze, a fresh high-school graduate easily mistaken for a middle school student who joins the game company that produced her favorite game as a 3D artist, and her cute antics as she gets her way through work and deals with her rather wacky co-workers.

Here we are now with the shows I’m more mildly interested in, but still want to talk about. Certainly past seasons have shown that some of these shows just end up being misses, but some are outright hits. Here’s hoping for the best with New Game. One of those anime that is focusing on a mature character, starting out in a professional field. The main character here being a lady that is going to start her path on making games. I think it’s a fun thing that the character is basically going to the company that made a game she loved and wanting to work there. Of course it’s also going to be a comedy and the big joke is that she looks like a kid. I’m curious to see how this turns out. Whether it will be entertaining and fun and if the jokes will be good. Will be checking it out.

TABOO TATTOO
The manga which this will be based off follows Justice Akazuka (nickname Seigi), a young man who is good at martial arts. Seigi rescues a homeless old man on the street one day from some thugs, and the man gives Seigi an object that imprints a tattoo on his palm. However, it is not an ordinary tattoo, but a special weapon that gives Seigi supernatural powers such as warping space-time. Seigi then meets a female American agent named Ijii, whose duty is to recover the tattoos. Seigi decides to help her and gets wrapped up in a cross-national conspiracy.

I don’t have a lot to go on for this show since the PVs haven’t been very detailed so I really only have the summary. The setup sounds like the type of show I’ll enjoy following. The MC is actually someone who has trained in martial arts so isn’t some pushover who gets random powers. He’s a pretty tough person who gets random powers XD. This guy having to survive with people coming after him for this power he’s gained and having to make use of that power and his own skills. Seems like it could be a fun show.

BATTERY
Asano’s novels revolve around Takumi Harada, a young man who moves to a mountain town in Okayama prefecture during the spring break before he enters middle school due to his father’s job transfer. Takumi is a pitcher, and after the moves he loses faith in his own talent, when suddenly his classmate Kou Nagakura appears in front of him. Kou has a strong desire to form a “battery” (a combination of a pitcher and catcher) with Takumi.

I’m not normally much of a sports anime person, thus why this show is more in the mild interest section for me. Some are good and others just aren’t interesting. I like the setup and summary for this though. A pitcher and catcher forming a battery and moving forward with their friendship and partnership. Feels kind of like an oldschool kind of show. A pitcher who is frustrated because no one can catch his pitches and a kind of bromance after meeting someone who I presume actually can catch. Seems like it could be a fun show depending on how they handle it.

BERSERK (2016)
Miura comments in the magazine that the anime project will depict Guts in his “Black Swordsman” appearance, which is only revealed in parts of the manga that go beyond any previously animated Berserk story, and is only briefly hinted at in the first and last episode of the 1997 television anime series.

I will admit to having heard more about Berserk than I’ve actually seen. A dark action series that really lives up to that description. The only thing that has me really on the fence with this one is the type of animation. It really can be hit or miss for me more than normal animation. So whether I can really get into this will be a question. But I do think it will be nice to follow another good action fantasy series. A pretty dark one to be sure. Plus it just feels right to watch something new related to Berserk. Will see if this ends up being a show I follow heavily or just watch a few episodes of.

Final Thoughts

And there we are. I think this is probably the first season in a while that has a lot of shows that I’m curious about. I thought Summer might be pretty weak outside of the handful of shows I’m very hyped for, but I was surprised in that sense. Even though we are losing a lot of shows from the past season, the amount of new shows should more than make up for that. While I feel bad for the shows we are losing, I’m hyped for the ones we have coming up.

There is enough carryover as well to keep me going no matter how Summer turns out. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu is two-cour so I’ll be keeping on with that. Sousei no Onmyouji is still going strong and I’ll keep on with that as well. Jojo will keep going and that turned out better than I expected it to. Macross as well will be continuing and that really caught me off-guard. So there is actually a lot that I’ll be enjoying and blogging already. That will honestly make it tough for me to pick up more than a show or two from Summer. Even though I’m looking forward to this season, there is just a limit for how much I can cover at once.

Still, I’m pretty hopeful going into the next season. It should have some strong shows and some solid ones. Whether it will be a great season or not, I won’t know until it’s over. Hopefully this was helpful for people to read through.