Another season has passed and we’re heading into Summer. The Spring Season overall was a pretty good one. Most of the shows I was highly anticipating were either really good (Boku no Hero S2 and Natsume Roku) or just really solid (Zero and Granblue). Things got a bit more hit and miss for the shows I wasn’t looking forward to quite as much as those. I will say nothing quite surprised me with how much I wasn’t into the show as Sakurada Reset. There was just nothing in that show that could keep my interest. I did find myself willing to let go of more shows faster this spring season, but the top of the pack really held the whole season up.

Now we’re got Summer to consider. This isn’t a massive season for me. Most of what I’m highly anticipating are movies that may not even be watchable any time soon. But what is at the top is still pretty exciting for me. But, I can’t imagine that will be the case for everyone. I’ve basically been waiting for Symphogear to hit ever since they announced the fourth and fifth seasons back in February of last year. But, I really don’t know a lot about many of the shows hitting. That allows for a fair amount of surprise, but it makes the hype level going in a bit less extreme. In some ways this feels like a somewhat lean season. But, on the positive side Boku no Hero is continuing into the Summer. That alone gives me plenty to enjoy.

As always you can find the lists for this season and summaries I’ll be referencing from Livechart or Anichart. And as per the norm these are just my personal views. A lot of these shows I don’t know the source material for and am basing my views off summaries, preview videos, and just my gut feeling XD. If that works for everyone then let us continue!

Series of High Interest

The only place to start is with the shows I’ve got the highest expectations for. These are the shows that I’m either very confident in or very hopeful of.

If we’re talking about highly anticipated series then Symphogear is right at the top for me. This is a franchise with some hit or miss seasons, but I find it remains an incredibly entertaining franchise. We’re heading into Season 4 with AXZ and Season 5 has already been confirmed. Symphogear creates a kind of unique mix that you just don’t get anywhere else. It is one part superhero series, one part magical girl series, one part idol/musical series, and another part action series. And yet it usually manages to balance all this pretty well.

There just aren’t a lot of shows where you have ladies fighting enemies while singing personal songs that power their weaponry. I’m hoping this series takes what has worked in the past and doesn’t take as much from what hasn’t. And I’m curious to see just how the first episode will compare to the last season.

That this is part of the Fate franchise is a good reason for why I’m highly anticipating it. This is one story I don’t know much about which makes it a much more fresh experience than other Fate series (for me). We’re getting away from the usual cast and meeting a lot of new Masters and Servants. The trailers look good and it seems like this should be a good action packed series. It can be both fresh and yet familiar since it is still taking place in that universe and using those familiar concepts. While I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging it next season, it is something I’m really looking forward to seeing.

Series of Moderate Interest

Now we get into the shows that could really go in different directions. There have been times when some of my favorite shows in a season come from this group. These are shows I’m just not as confident about, but I’m still fairly interested in. They are the shows I either don’t know anything about or those I didn’t have a ton of interest in the source material. If surprises are going to come from this summer season then it is likely to be from this group.

There are a few reasons I’m somewhat looking forward to this. For one you can usually count on ufotable to deliver a really good looking show. The plot sounds a bit odd with time travel and sword spirits. But we are likely to get some good looking samurai action. I’m not entirely sure how good it will be, but I’m definitely going to check out a few episodes.

I’m always a little intrigued when it comes to mecha action. Plus this is also going to be mixing magic into it as well (obviously). The story is a bit weird, but I’m curious to see if they can make it work. This otaku dies and is reincarnated into this other world where he can kind of chase the dreams he had in his previous life. The trailer looks pretty good and the music selection seemed nice as well. This could fill my desire to see a good mecha series for the Summer.

The setup for this show has me kind of curious to see how it will play out. The premise is kind of crazy and certainly built to create drama, but if the show can make me buy into it then it might just work. A world where the government simply chooses your marriage partner is certainly built for romantic drama. Having a main character who will face the problem of falling in love himself and then clashing with what society is telling him to do.

I have no idea how that might play out since a regular guy isn’t going to have an easy time going against the established system. The show has my curiosity, but we’ll have to see if I’m really interested or not from the first few episodes.

The setup for this show sounds so amusing that I can’t help but want to at least see how it will turn out. A highschooler who is a shut-in ends up being recruited by a trio of elementary school girls who want to make a band and desire his help. It certainly looks and sounds like musical Ro-Kyu-Bu. Which makes sense since there is the studio connection and the light novels were written by the same author (Sagu Aoyama). I certainly wasn’t a huge fan of Ro-Kyu-Bu, but it was enjoyable. I’m moderately curious to see it just to find out if it will be an amusing show to watch. I fully expect some funny moments and some potentially awkward fanservice. Certainly not intention to blog it, but may watch it.

Series of Mild Interest

And so we’ve arrived at the shows that I’m just interested enough in to have something to say. Although this is hardly a parade of the damned. Good shows and ones I really like sometimes come out of this section. All this means is that I don’t have many expectations for these shows and they will have to surprise me. That can happen, but I’m not going to know at this point. So let us see what we’re getting into here and what shows might just catch me offguard.

I’m not exactly a ballroom dancing person, but the previews look somewhat interesting. The show certainly has its own style. And if there is anything I’ve learned it is a lack of interest in a real sport/activity doesn’t mean the anime won’t be enjoyable. The setup seems pretty decent. Though the visual style is one that I might struggle to adapt to. While I don’t have high expectations for this show, I could end up watching it regularly.  A show about someone basically finding the place he belongs and what he wants to do can be a fun ride.

Well I can say that the premise is a bit curious. This cafeteria normally serving regular salarymen is opened on Saturday exclusively for people/creatures from different worlds. I have no idea if this is going to be an interesting show or just something entirely random. The concept of regular food being unusual cuisine to supernatural beings makes sense. Though I’m less sure how you make an interesting series out of that. Somehow the light novel managed it so I’ll at least check out the first episode. The concept has my slight attention, but there isn’t enough for me to make a firm opinion on it.

I am somewhat curious about this spy series with combat maids. I respect that the show has a certain style and is going all out for it. Though I’m not sure how into the show I’ll really get. If the action holds up and the characters are interesting enough then I could see myself following it. At the very least it is a pretty unique setup that stands out apart from some of the other shows we’re getting this season. And an original show that manages that deserves some recognition.

I read a few chapters of the manga for this and yet I’m still only mildly anticipating it. The kind of setup where you aren’t really sure if you want to keep following it or not XD. After all it is about two girls who are cheating on the guys they are dating. One of them I’d feel worse for than the other, but in the end it’s a questionable setup.

Honestly I haven’t really seen enough to be able to say whether this will be good or not. It’s all riding on how good the romance is between the two girls. If it’s enough to not feel bad for both guys in this equation then I’ll keep watching otherwise I may simply not follow it. Will also be a short series, so 10 minute episodes. Not sure if that will make it easier to watch or not.

Movies

This season I’m separating the movies I’m looking forward to. Simply because unlike regularly airing series there is less guarantee we’ll even be able to watch those in the Summer. But they are movies I’m looking forward to enough that I want to talk about them in this season preview.

It isn’t often that I’m referring to movies for these previews. Mostly since they very well might not be viewable out here until months or years later. But, this is a movie that I’m personally very excited about. While Symphogear and Fate have an unfamiliar side to what their stories will be about, this is something I know. While Silver Link honestly dropped the ball with 3rei, this movie could be a bounce back. Telling a contained part of the Fate/Kaleid story with the budget and time that a movie can give them. It will come down to pacing and whether they nail the visuals, but I’m hopeful.

It really has been a long time since we’ve gotten to see a Nanoha based series…that focused on Nanoha. We’ve had Vivid and Vivid Strike, but basically nothing for Nanoha herself since StrikerS and even that had a kind of split focus. This is a movie I’m excited about since it does feel like we’re getting back to the franchise’s roots.

The look is very much similar to the previous Nanoha movies that focused on the first season and A’s. We’ve got a lot of new faces, but the core characters remain intact. Nanoha is just a classic franchise and I’m definitely up for more magical action.

This is a movie that has me intrigued. It does seem to be a kind of historical retelling of what happened to the world of NGNL long before Sora/Shirou got involved. Though it is being told with the main cast being used as visual stand-ins for the players. Visually it looks really good. The story has potential since the war sounded pretty darn insane from the bits we heard about it in the main series. It could be a really emotional movie since there are no guarantees about who would actually survive such a story.

Closing Thoughts

In the end I’m really quite curious to see how this season will play out. All fingers are crossed that AXZ will be a huge bounce back for Symphogear. They have this and a fifth season already confirmed so they could play a much bigger game with the story. If that show can turn out well then the rest of the season won’t have to do much for me to consider it a success. I do have high hopes for Fate/Apocrypha, but we’ll have to wait and see how that turns out. The rest of the season is full of possibilities from some action series, to mecha series, to…maid spy thriller series XD. There is certainly an interesting mix of options going into the Summer.

This isn’t a season with a lot of guaranteed hits for me. It isn’t very far off in comparison to last summer as a whole. Although 3rei was a bit of a disappointment so if the shows I’m actually excited about deliver then this season could actually surpass last Summer. In the end Summer and Winter are kind of the weaker seasons in terms of the overall quantity of shows. It isn’t a surprise that this isn’t jam packed with series I’m hyped about. But there are some good ones in there and I’m always interested in seeing what might surprise me when a new season starts.

At this point there isn’t much that would keep me from covering Symphogear this season. That is as close to a lock as possible. Of course I’ll be continuing on with Boku no Hero Academia as well. Whether I pick up a third season will depend on how Fate turns out and what the rest of the season delivers to us.