Now that winter has finally ended (seriously my weather has been nuts) it’s nice to look forward to the anime coming this summer. The only downside is having to say goodbye to what has been a really strong Spring. I had a lot of shows that were utterly hyped for me going in and most of them completely delivered on what was expected. A season with Spy x Family, Kaguya-sama, and Machikado Mazoku was unlikely to let me down. That trio alone carried the season and that’s to say nothing about the surprising fun I had watching shows like Aharen-san and Otomege Sekai. Even when I was getting a bit busy and whittling down the shows I was less interested in, I still was keeping up with a large number of shows this spring.

The question now is whether the Summer season can carry on towards what looks like a huge Fall season. That will absolutely be a challenge. I certainly hope that it can handle it though. This is another season where both the shows I’m covering will either be on break or just ending until their next season. So I am free to pick up some fun stuff. I just need summer to give me a hand here.

As always, the preview will be referring to information listed on LiveChart and AniChart. This certainly won’t be a complete preview of what is coming up. It will just be a list of the shows I’m interested in. As always everyone can feel free to talk about the shows they are hyped about even if I don’t mention them here. And there will definitely be shows I don’t know that much about their source material so any discussion on what can be expected there (minus spoilers) sounds good to me.

Series of High Interest

These are the shows I’m the most hyped to see. Odds are that is either because I’m familiar enough with a previous season/source material or just because the previews and summaries look really good. If these don’t turn out to be good that will be rather disappointing.

This show just looks like fun. The last few years we’ve gotten quite a good amount of romcoms and this seems to fit right in. You have two characters absolutely into each other that are being held back by a somewhat understandable but silly reason. So basically, I’m going to treat it as a slightly weaker Kaguya-sama XD. The trailers have just left me expecting to have a great time with this. You have a senpai who wants to make her kouhai confess and a kouhai that refuses to confess until he can beat her at shogi. The better she is at shogi the further they are from getting together. Silver Link tends to bring good quality so I’ve got few worries there. Out of everything coming out in the summer, this just seems like the best bet for something I’ll really enjoy.

Series of Moderate Interest

Now to the shows I’m somewhat excited for. While not as excited about these as the category above, I’m still pretty interested in watching these. Some have intriguing premises that if done right could make for great shows. While some have source materials that I’m sort of familiar with, but not extremely interested in. Some of these could easily turn into my favorites. That uncertainty factor can turn into a positive surprise.

It’s amazing that we’re getting this sequel. The first season came out in 2013! And yes, the fact that 2013 was over 10 years ago boggles my mind. The only thing that keeps this from being that hyped for me is just the time gap. I’m not even sure how much I’ll enjoy a new season of this series after such a long time. It does have a fun concept. With all these fantasy characters effectively being isekai’d into our world. In some ways it still works as a refreshing change of pace from the usual isekai series.

Thankfully it seems like the voice cast are all returning which is a definite relief. I’m still excited even though it isn’t being done by the same studio this time. 3Hz takes the reigns here. This could easily be a top favourite for me by the end of the summer. But I’m just unsure right now. Fingers crossed that it is good since I’m definitely relying on it to carry some excitement.

This show is one that I’m always back and forth over. The first season was fine, but had some moments that made me shake my head. Then the second season was a good bounce back that won me over and kept my interest. The third season was alright, but some elements worked better for me than others. So now we’re into the fourth season and I’m curious to see what’s going to happen. They’ve steadily built up the world, the characters, and yet I’m not sure what direction it will immediately jump to when the season starts up. But I think seeing Bell and his friends continue their journey should be pretty enjoyable. It’s not quite to the level of being highly anticipated, but I’m definitely watching it.

Maybe I’ve really picked up an affinity for weird romantic comedies XD. But something about the setup for this actually seems pretty fun. You have two characters that actually dated at one point. We’re not starting from scratch or building up purely from some strange forgotten past. They dated, it ended, and they tried to move on. Now they are family which makes everything utterly strange and complicated. And there’s all sorts of reasons why despite technically being family now that a relationship isn’t that bizarre. I’m kind of rooting for these two to take this chance and do something with it. Although since their parents won’t know about their past to start, there’s reasons for things to proceed slowly. Might just be me, but I think this could be a fun show.

I’ll admit that I never really got into the RWBY franchise. It just never happened. So, when this show got announced, it seems like a good chance to just jump on in. All the more so with this appearing to be a reboot/remake that will just let people take in the franchise fresh. I hope this turns out well for fans of the franchise though. There’s no escaping how painful it is to see a favourite series utterly mess up a remake. Just because the original remains in existence doesn’t make it fun to watch. We’re talking about Shaft as the studio as well. I feel like they can definitely handle this sort of thing. The concept seems perfectly solid and I’m curious to see how it plays out. You have some super powers, cute characters, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

I’ve been curious to see this show since it was announced. The concept makes sense. Not every Witch in the world of Strike Witches is going to join the military or be suited for it. It’s taking a familiar concept of performances during war time and throwing magic into the mix. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the characters and how good the performances are. Obviously with this kind of show those will be the key elements that need to work. I’m not expecting or asking for cameos for the other series. This one can and should be able to stand up on its own. So hopefully it can manage to do just that. Again, we’re talking about Shaft, but I think they’ll manage this pretty well.

The concept of this show when I first read a different summary had me wondering if it was a cute romcom…or a murder mystery. Now that summary had a bit more backstory in terms of the main character getting this maid and finding her suspicious and mysterious. The summary above is pretty clear about this character just falling for the older woman. The main appeal is Rie Takahashi as the maid and Saori Hayami as the younger guy. These two are absolutely amazing and definitely in my top grouping of voice actresses. If nothing else we are going to get a great bit of banter with these two. Silver Link is pretty reliable and Blade can do good work as well. So in terms of studios this looks pretty solid. Maybe it won’t be anything special, but it could be a lot of fun.

Series of Lower Interest

These are the shows I’m still interested in, but it’s a lot weaker than the tiers above. Either the previous seasons were mixed bags for me or I just don’t have enough to work. They still get mentioned because I still think the potential is there to really surprise me. Which is more than the shows I’m not going to mention at all.

The wait for this season hasn’t been that long, but it definitely feels like it’s been a while. Even the movie came out a couple of years ago. Now we get to return to an interesting, but kind of bleak descent into the abyss. A story where it doesn’t seem like there’s a good ending waiting for these characters, but you need to see how it will turn out. It’s a series that appealed to friends more than it did for myself. But I enjoyed it enough to at least give this season a look. Kinema Citrus has done good work with this series so far and I don’t expect that to change here. It’s not a show that deeply appeals to me, but it should be too good for me to miss.

This isekai mostly caught my attention because a good amount of the cast…are slimes XD. We’re not quite at the level of the main character being a slime like another series. But it could be equally fun having a bunch of slime supporting characters. The trailers leave it looking like a good amount of fun. Nothing wrong with a nice fantasy adventure series. It doesn’t give the impression that it will be amazing. But it could be pretty good and a comfortable show to keep up with as the summer goes on.

Honestly, I never really got into the Tokyo Mew Mew franchise. I knew it was a thing and was consciously aware of it. But that was about it. This remake provided a nice chance to actually give the franchise a shot without just looking for old episodes. It seems pretty straight forward with a bunch of girls getting the powers of different animals to go with their respective main colours. The one thing that has me unsure if it will be hit or miss is that it appears to be such a vehicle for new voice actors. Not that a magical girl series being the gateway for relatively voice actors has never been a thing…Plus I’m not going to demand they follow other legacy franchises and try to get much older VAs to try and voice teenagers. I’m just not sure if I’ll love the cast or not.

Everything about this show screams hit or miss to me. It will either be absolutely great or I’ll just lose attachment to it in a hurry. The entertainment is sort of built into the premise. You have this loose cannon of a yazuka enforcer being turned into a babysitter. I do question the sense of the leader to put such an unstable individual in charge of his daughter’s safety. But I’ll presume that he’s got sense of how to use his people since he’s at the top of a deadly organization. If they get it right then this could be really heartwarming. Or it just could be really strange. It definitely feels worthy to be in this spot for me. I’m curious to give it a shot, but I’m not sure what will happen here.

I know some are really hyped for this show. For me, I’m mostly curious how it will handle what feels like a straight forward premise. The main character should cooperate with this girl to save the world (from a ridiculous cataclysm). Just get the job done there first. Then…he should stab her in the back! Where is the conflict here? He lives on this planet. Anyone he’s ever met lives there! I don’t care how cute the girl is. If her plan is genocide there’s nothing to debate. Maybe the show will absolutely shock me here. But I’m not sure how this is a conflict for him or even why she’d tell someone tasked with saving the planet that she plans on destroying it. The premise at least is interesting enough to make me want to see how the heck it is going to work.

In some ways it is surprising to have this series in this category. The original series is a classic and I still think well of it. There was some great action, some good mystery, and a good cast overall. The more recent series of 2015 was a mixed bag for me. There were good elements there. But I felt like the pacing and the handling of the main character just felt off. Especially with how it handled putting him in actual fights. But here we are. Almost 10 years later (wow we’re getting somewhat delayed sequels) and it’s time to see how things will play out. At the very least I know White Fox can deliver a fantastic experience. But it just remains to be seen if they can handle it a bit better than the previous season. There’s a lot of potential here.

I’ve got to put some hope behind original series. There is excitement in not knowing what will happen and having no source material to peek at. Sometimes they can turn into absolute greats like Symphogear and sometimes they just end up being forgettable. And there’s plenty of chance for this to at least have memorable action. Geno Studio has done some good work themselves over the years. There’s not a lot to unpack outside of the summary, setting, and trailers. But I think gathering a few criminals and tasking them to fill the roles of a massacred Shinsengumi is at least a setup that could pay off nicely. My fingers are crossed that this will surprise me.

The concept itself has my attention here. I can’t imagine making the deal this guy did to trade away all his memories for pure power. In some ways it’s an isekai that leaves you asking “why is it an isekai instead of a pure fantasy show?” But at least the setup tries to make that relevant to the main character’s strengths. They could have just made him a really strong guy in a fantasy series. But at least this way his past in another world doesn’t matter. Unless he’s going to regain his memories as he adventures it lets this show fall into the isekai category while mostly not being one. I’m mostly giving this show a shot because I appreciate Satelight, the studio behind it. They brought us Symphogear and tend to deliver pretty good shows. So, I’ll at least see if I can get behind this cast.

We’re talking about another Key anime. I’m curious to check it out just to see how much drama there will be. Oh, sure it looks cute with these former weapons of war working at a coffee shop. But I can’t avoid expecting a lot of drama to get mixed in there. The cast is cute, the voice actresses seem good, and even if they avoid the drama it should be a cute show. I’ll definitely give it a look just to see what might happen with this one.

With this one, I’m going to watch just to figure out what the heck is going on with it. This show seems to have a lot going on with idols and super sports. But it’s not even one super sport. The characters just seem to be bouncing around between a lot of super sports. And by that I mostly just mean regular sports with hyper tech/magic letting the characters do crazy stuff. In some ways the staffing seems perfect. You have a director (Junji Nishimura) who has handled properties like Dog Days and Vivid Strike franchise. Safe to say he’s in his niche here. The staff in general has plenty of Nanoha connections and you can feel it while just looking at the trailer. Not sure if I’ll get into this show. But I’m definitely curious enough that I can’t ignore this one.

Conclusion

This season is going to be an interesting one. As you could easily tell, there’s a lot of shows I’m curious about. But there’s very few shows I’m really hyped about. And most of my hype for Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru is because it looks like it will be a really cute show. There’s a lot of potential for surprise this season. We’ve got reboots/remakes with Tokyo Mew Mew and RWBY. A lot of sequels with potential to impress. Though some I’m just curious if they’ll elevate above their earlier seasons. The real excitement might come from the original shows. There’s less to know going in with them. But sometimes originals can be the biggest surprise hits of all.

I’m legitimately not sure if this season will be good or really bleak for me. There’s plenty of shows I know others will be way more hyped for. I didn’t list Overlord since I dropped that show a while ago. But I know that franchise is well loved. This kind of preview really is just me working through my thoughts on what is coming up and what will appeal to me. There’s probably some top 5 anime of the year for people in this grouping.

For me Fall remains the golden prize of this year. Although Spring has been absolutely fantastic to this point. Summer could be just about anything. In that sense it’s kind of fun to look at what is coming. Hopefully this season is going to be a win for many people. Always happy to hear what others are looking forward to. In this case it will be all the more interesting since you will probably be more hyped for a lot of these shows compared to me XD.