Summer 2019 has offered few surprises so far.  And based on what it looked like going in, for the most part that’s not a terribly good thing.

Two things really stood out about this season.  First, how one show – Vinland Saga – towered over all the rest in a manner rarely seen before.  Second, how literally small the season was.  Take the recent massive downturn in production volume (25-40% from recent historical norms) and combine that with summer being the smallest anime season anyway and you had a tiny schedule (34 series).

The upside is that the “Elite” category actually exists, thanks to Vinland Saga, and there have been many seasons where it was empty.  And while the cupboard in “Outstanding” is bare, we have a couple series in “Very Good”.  And to be blunt, since there were so few series this season for which I had real expectations, it lacks opportunities to be really disappointing.  Vinland falling short would certainly have done it, but the first three episodes have done anything but.

Unfortunately this summer also lacks any real breakout shows, not surprisingly given I didn’t even really have any sleepers.  Cop Craft has been better than expected, but already is showing worrying symptoms of Millepensee disease.  Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. came out of the gates with the usual Okada spark, but her excess and self-indulgence is already wearing on me.  The big shounen contenders have been about as expected and nothing has come from totally under-the-radar to make a big impression.  In short, so far this is just about exactly the season it looked like it was going to be.

And so, on to Summer 2019:

 

The Elite

Vinland Saga 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: The circumstances with Vinland Saga are a bit unusual for a Check-in post.  I’ve seen three episodes but none for almost three weeks (apart from a re-watch), since they were all aired in a triple-length premiere.  They were, in a word, great (and thank goodness for that) – offering no hint that this adaptation would be anything less than the classic (and hopefully masterpiece) it looked to be on paper.  So far this show has everything – lovely visuals and music, great cast, perfect pacing.  Most important of course is that it’s clearly blessed with superb writing, full of depth and subtlety.  The only question at this point seems to be “how high?”.

 

Outstanding

None

 

Very Good

Kanata no Astra
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: Another sasuga series that’s delivering exactly what I expected.  Having read the manga I had a clear idea of how this adaptation might play out and so far Lerche is pretty much sticking to the script.  It’s been fun watching new viewers try and figure out the mysteries of the plot and generally puzzling over events on-screen, but that doesn’t surprise me because Astra is really a quite quirky and unusual show in the guise of a boilerplate anime sci-fi.  View it through the wrong lens and you get a distorted picture of what you’re seeing.

Given 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B+
Comments: We’re obviously just scratching the surface with Given, a romance series with a central music theme which so far has had precious little of either.  That worries me a bit given that it’s only 11 episodes (and an ongoing manga), and the last NotaminA music series with shounen ai overtones (though this one is more direct on that score) suffered terribly in being stuffed into a single cour.  But I certainly like what we’ve seen so far.  The characters are interesting and engaging, the dialogue is natural and often quite funny, and what musical content there has been has been pretty authentic.

 

Worthwhile

Karakai Jouzu no Takgi-san Season 2
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: Again we’re getting exactly as expected here.  And this is a sequel and another adaptation of a manga I follow, so none of that is surprising.  There is a danger with series’ like Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san is that they can get repetitive, and this one does do that for me at times.  And as always, I struggle at times with whether I actually like Takagi or not.  But if the anime follows the direction I more or less expect it to, we should be seeing some more substantial material later in the season which actually moves the story and characters along a bit.

Cop Craft
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: I’ve definitely enjoyed the first three eps of Cop Craft, but the collapse in production quality in the third episode is very worrying, especially given the rushed pacing and dubious track record of Millepensee Studio.  Gatoh Shinji in an interesting writer though, and this meld of a buddy cop story with a modern faerie-human culture clash has a lot of potential.  If the production doesn’t collapse altogether Cop Craft could still wind up as the biggest expectations overperformer of the summer, but that’s a very big “if”.

 

Still Watching

Enen no Shouboutai
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: Enen no Shouboutai has undeniably been cursed with terrible timing.  Given its themes it’s no surprise the decision was made to halt broadcast and streaming for at least a week after the Kyoto Animation attack.  That said, I do feel badly for the staff and author – nobody involved has done anything wrong and in the end, it’s a fantasy and people need to be able to distinguish fantasy and reality.  And I like the series well enough – the second and third episodes better than the premiere, certainly.  I don’t doubt that the premise is less interesting that that of Dr. Stone but so far, the execution is better.  I don’t think you’re ever going to get brilliance from Ookubo Atsushi but usually at least competence, vibrancy and a sense of style.  And in the hands of David Production this adaptation has been one of the best-looking shows of the season so far.

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: Once more we see that whatever their other virtues and faults, Okada Mari series are rarely (though not never) boring.  There’s a lot to like here, starting with the fact that a series which frankly and humorously deals with the adolescent fixation on sex from a female perspective is a rarity.  But Okada shows almost always start better than they finish, a reflection of both her sheer talent and magnetism and her tendency towards tone-deaf self-indulgence.  I’ve begun to really dislike the protagonist here (always a problem), but still have more affection for some of the other cast members (though that’s decreasing after Episode 4), and still laugh at least a couple of times per episode.  The most interesting bubble series of the season to be sure, but also the most frustrating.

Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: Nothing fancy here, but Kochouki nevertheless fills a void that very much needed filling – a relatively serious and straightforward (if fictionalized) Oda Nobunaga anime.  There are no stupid gimmicks here, no body-swaps or gender-switches (or species).  Just Nobunaga as a young man, still a chef’s egg but with elements of the man who would change Japan forever already beginning to emerge.  This series is solid if unspectacular, but the writing is quite good and I especially admire that it manages to display some restraint and dignity when dealing with its subject.

Dr. Stone 
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: It sounds kind of funny to say this about a WSJ fantasy series, but the sheer ridiculousness of Dr. Stone has been a  real problem for me so far.  I also find the protagonist (if you choose to call Taiju that) seriously annoying and not especially interesting.  I think the premise of this series is a good one and has a lot of potential, but the devil is in the details and so far, those have been a mixed bag.  Supposedly things get better when more characters are introduced (revived), but I can’t say for certain I’m going to hold out that long.

BEM 
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: C+
Comments: I really shouldn’t measure this reboot of the old anime standby against the 2018 revival of Gegege no Kitarou, but it’s hard not to be struck by how much less inspiration and creative energy it’s brought to the table so far.  BEM hasn’t been terrible by any means, but the tone has jumped all over the map and none of the characters (new or old) have really popped.  It looks pretty good and I’m enjoying the soundtrack, but I’m going to need more if I’m going to stick around past the next episode or two.

 

Dropped:

Nakanohito Genome [Jikkyouchuu], Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e

 

So with that, here’s this season’s blogging prospectus:

Monday:
Definitely Blogging: Vinland Saga
On the Bubble: Cop Craft, Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga
On the Respirator: BEM

Tuesday:
Definitely Blogging: None

Wednesday:
Definitely Blogging: Kanata no Astra

Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Given

Friday:
Definitely Blogging: Fruits Basket 2019
On the Bubble: Dr. Stone

Saturday:
Definitely Blogging: Mix: Meisei Story
On the Bubble: Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo., Enen no Shouboutai

Sunday:
Definitely Blogging: Gegege no Kitarou (2018), Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 2

Manga: Otoyomegatari, Hunter X Hunter (hiatus)

Watching For Now: Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo YU-NO, Kimetsu no Yaiba