The more things change…

Spring 2021 looked like a really good anime season on paper.  And for the most part it’s delivered.  It’s not truly great, as its strength lies more in quantity than truly elite quality, but it looks set to be the best anime season for a couple of years at least.  But being that it bucked the overall trends in the industry, my great worry was always that it would be an outlier rather than a harbinger of change.

Summer 2021 is (obviously) the first test of that, and at first blush the signals are not great.  I’m back at my usual hit percentage – dead-on in fact, one-third of this season’s 36 scheduled series making the cut for the preview.  That means of course there are about 36 shows on the schedule (38 at this writing, to be precise) at the low end of recent history for the summer.  A bunch of them are pretty generic-looking LN adaptations, too.  In short it’s business as usual for anime in the 2020’s, if you toss this spring out of the equation.

Adding ever further to the sense of deja vu, we’re already seeing postponements as a result of the pandemic – three shows so far, though none were on my radar.  Japan’s pandemic response continues to be utterly shambolic, and it’s pressing ahead with its insane plan to host the Summer Olympics even as cases skyrocket and medical systems in the biggest cities teeter on the verge of collapse.  Meanwhile the vaccination problem lags comically far behind most of the developed world, with few signs of improvement in sight.  Anime production delays are the least of our problems, but they do have an impact on the industry.

If I’m honest, this is about the least enticing season I’ve seen – on paper.  And that’s a pretty high bar given what the last three years have mostly been like.  I can’t imagine this is the first time nothing has made the “Highest Expectations” category but I can’t remember the last time it happened, so at the very least it’s been a good while.  Do I see anything that looks to have the potential for serious greatness?  Honestly, no.  One adaptation of a manga I have great affection for but freely admit is no masterpiece (and the adaptation is CGI to boot).  One original that’s a complete crapshoot but has an interesting look and staff.  And a bunch of lottery tickets, more or less.

One of the reasons summer and winter tend to be smaller schedules is because spring and fall usually have multiple two-cour shows, of course.  And that’s true here, thank goodness – the spring carryovers figure to be the best series airing.  No genres obviously stick out – the summer docket is very consistent with the usual batch of material for a recent TV anime season.  Again, for now at least it looks as if spring was an exception rather than a course change, but it’ll be a few more seasons before we can say for sure.

Once again this season the LiA preview comes with a video companion (also embedded at the end of this post). I’m pursuing the same strategy as with the first two – more breadth in the written preview, more depth in the video one. I hope you enjoy the video preview and find it useful and entertaining – as ever, I’m relying on your feedback to help me refine them over time. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, either here or over at YT. And as always, thanks for your support.

 

Let’s move on to the preview. As usual, the poll is in the sidebar – please go vote!

 

Highest Expectations:

None

 

Mid-table:

Sonny Boy – Madhouse: (PV) Sonny Boy is that original series lottery ticket I referred to earlier.  We don’t get much from Madhouse these days, seemingly, especially an original.  A-list director Natsume Shingo is doing double-duty with series composition (relatively rare for him), and noted illustrator Eguchi Hisashi has contributed some extremely engaging character designs.

Basically everything about Sonny Boy – visuals, premise – screams “90’s anime”.  Whether that’s a plus or minus depends on you, but that was my starter era so I’m intrigued.  A classroom of 36 high school students drifts into another dimension, and the kids find themselves suddenly possessed of paranormal abilities.  This is original so obviously could be a complete disaster, a masterpiece, or anything in-between.  But it’s the only show on the summer schedule that suggests even the potential for greatness to me, and in a season like this that plunks it in the top spot.

Shinigami Bochan to Kuro Maid – J.C. Staff: (PV) I’ve been reading Ikami Koharu’s manga since its early days (it caught my eye on a bookstore shelf).  It’s the story of a young nobleman who’s been cursed by a witch so that anything he touches dies instantly.  That’s gotten him banished from the family estate to a detached house, with only a maid named Alice and an old butler named Rob for company.  The look and tone are very much European fairy tale mixed with shounen manga – maybe reminiscent of Kuroshitsuji (well, no maybe about it) but not nearly as dark.  It has real charm, and I like it a lot.

I would be lying if I said the fact that the adaptation is full CGI doesn’t bother me.  This is not a series – unlike Hi Score Girl – which has any artistic reason for that choice.  This is cost-cutting, nothing more.  While J.C. Staff’s track record with CGI is inconsistent (and that’s charitable) Shinigami Bochan does at least have Yamakawa Yoshiki and most of the HSG team in-charge.  I expect the adaptation to be solid from a narrative standpoint for that reason, though the usual caveats about one-cour (presumably) adaptations of ongoing manga apply.

Vanitas no Carte – Bones: (PV) Vanitas no Carte being a Bones series is enough to place it highly in this threadbare season.  But Mochizuki Jun’s vampire manga is generally well-regarded too.  It seems odd to me that Vanitas would get an adaptation while her most popular series, Pandora Hearts, remains unfinished in anime form, but I’m not complaining.  This the story of a legendary vampire named Vanitas, the human doctor who took his name, and a young man named Noé searching for the grimoire the vampire supposedly left behind.

This doesn’t look like a top tier Bones staff – in fact director Itamura Tomoyuki is best known for directing the Monogatari franchise at Shaft.  But it’s still Bones, Mochizuki is still a talented writer, and Vanitas no Carte stands out in a season with few series that do.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu – Passione.: (PV) I was happier with the direction Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai ultimately followed than most of the franchise’s hardcore fans, but there was a long stretch there in the middle where I was on the cusp of dropping it.  Turning Satoko into the big bad is an interesting twist, and her obsession with Rika had some interesting overtones to it when the series wasn’t indulging in torture porn.  I’m cautious to be sure, but curious to see where Higurashi goes with this new thread.

 

 

Modestly Interested:

Re-Main – MAPPA: (PV) We’re always on the lookout for new sports series here at LiA Towers, and ones covering sports new to anime are of special interest.  Has there been a water polo anime before?  If so, I’m unaware of it.  Sports originals seem to be a growing trend in anime, which is great and all, except they’re rarely that good.  Will Re-Main buck the trend?  Well, it’s written (and co-directed) by Tiger & Bunny creator Nishida Masafumi, which at least marginally improves the odds in my book.  What I don’t know about water polo could fill a book, but I do know that it’s an incredibly rugged and dirty sport and most of the dudes who play it are serious badasses.  Whether that carries through to an anime with this one’s likely target audience is another matter.

Peach Boy Riverside – Asahi Production: (PV) I’m kind of taking a flyer on this fantasy manga adaptation, but it looks somewhat interesting in an odd sort of way.  It comes from the same mangaka as Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, which will no doubt a bigger draw for some than it will be for me.  A bored princess looking for adventure and a girlish boy with a magical ability called “Peach Eye” form the core of the story, apparently.

Uramichi Oniisan – Studio Blanc (PV): I see some potential for amusement in this story of a TV children’s show calisthenics instructor who hates his life and everyone in it (including the rugrats).  I’m not that nuts for some of the casting and the staff isn’t all that notable (although director Nagayama Nobuyoshi did helm Runway de Waratte), nor is Studio Blanc.  But in a season as devoid of sleepers as it is of sure things, maybe Uramichi Oniisan counts as one.

Ore, Tsushima – Fanworks, Space Neko Company: (PV) Yeah, this one is a complete shot in the dark but you know, kitties.  It’s an adaptation of a manga I’ve never heard of and can find no online reviews of, so no help there.  The synopsis says it’s the story of an elderly woman who’s often mistaken for a man and her cats – who call her “Ojii-san”.  I have no idea how that last part is communicated in the narrative.  Nothing noteworthy in the staff or studio, just totally taking a stab based on potential weirdness (and Ohtsuka Akio playing a cat).  And you know, kitties.

Bokutachi no Remake – feel.: (PV) Another flyer but honestly, most of this season are flyers for me.  This LN looks like about half ReLIFE and half Tokyo Revengers.  It’s the story of a 28 year-old developer who wakes up having travelled back to his freshman year in college, and seeks to correct all the mistakes he’s made in his life.  There’s not much original there and the LN origins count against Bokutachi no Remake, but director Kobayashi Tomoki has done some good work (I really liked Sola especially) and feel. has a track record of producing some very good character-driven series.

Shiroi Suna no Aquatope – P.A. Works: (PV) Is it me are PAW shows looking more and more like the come pre-formed out a mould?  My long-standing love affair with the studio has long since cooled, but old loyalties die hard and I still tend to give their new series at least an episode whether I expect anything from it or not.  Shinohara Toshiya directed one of the P.A. shows I actually liked (Red Data Girl) and Kakihara Yuuko – one of the best adapters in the business – has more than proved she can do original series with Tsuki ga Kirei.  It’s just that Shiroi Suna no Aquatope, like almost everything the studio puts out these days, looks like an incredibly generic pressed-meat idea of what people think a PAW show should be.

Megami-ryou no Ryoubo-kun. – Asread: (PV) Yeah, Megami-ryou no Ryoubo-kun. will probably be really bad.  But these are the sorts of choices a season like this forces on you.  There are almost no comedies on my list, at least it’s not a LN adaptation, and on some level the premise (a homeless kid gets plucked off the street and made the “dorm mother” for a bunch of troublemaking college women) sounds like an ecchi comedy from the 90’s.  A few of which were passably amusing.

D_Cide Traumerei – SANZIGEN: (PV) As reaches go this is probably the reachiest, but that’s why it’s listed last.  Presumably full CGI given the studio, D_Cide Traumerei is an original fantasy series which at least by the synopsis may have some psychological elements, as it’s supposedly the story of a kid who “confronts his desires” after having been bitten by a strange creature.  The only reason it’s here, really, is that screenwriter Oonogi Hiroshi has a rather distinguished record outside anime and in, even stretching to a very good original work, Noein (though Akane Kazuki had a lot to do with that series’ creation).

 

Will Definitely Blog: Shinigami Bochan to Kuro Maid.  From eight in this category to one – talk about extremes.  I can’t even be sure about Higurashi, as there were certainly times I was close to dropping the first season.

Sleepers: Can my top pick of the season also be a sleeper?  I don’t know what else to put here besides Sonny Boy, and it doesn’t seem to be getting all that much attention.  Maybe Ore, Tsushima or Uramichi Oniisan?

 

OVA:

A couple of prospects here this time around, though both effectively special episodes of TV series.

Tonikaku Kawaii OVA – 08/18/2021: I remain hopeful of a second season for this winning romantic comedy (mystery), and one was even incorrectly reported on the day of the finale.  For now we need to content ourselves with this OVA, which chronicles Tsukasa’s adventures with her new smartphone after Nasa is busy at work.

Mahoutsukai no Yome: Nishi no Shounen to Seiran no Kishi – 09/10/2021: Mahoutsukai is back in anime form after a lengthy absence with this three-episode OVA.  It is original, but penned by mangaka Yamazaki Kore.  Studio Wit being perpetually overstretched, a new studio was formed specifically for this production – Kafka.  Some of the staff returns but director Terasawa Kazuaki is new, and as far as I can see has not directed a show before.  The story is set before the beginning of the original manga, and focuses in part of the titular shounen, Gabriel, an ordinary boy who winds up in the world of wizards.

 

Theatrical:

Summer is traditionally the big season for theatrical anime of course, though the pandemic has scrambled pretty much all aspects of normalcy beyond recognition.  This looks like a really strong lineup – we’ll see if all these films are released as currently scheduled (both Cider no You and Shika no Ou have already been delayed, the latter by almost a year).

Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru – 07/22/21: (PV) (Note: originally scheduled for release on 6/25) Love story about two teens very poor at traditional means of communication who meet at a local shopping mall. Director Ishiguro Kyouhei is well-established but probably the most interesting name attached to Cider no You is writer Satou Dai, for whom this material seems like a bit of a departure. Might be interesting.

Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime – 07/16/21: (PV) Not even the pandemic can seemingly throw off Hosoda Mamoru, whose production schedules are the most eerily consistent in anime.  Titled simply Belle in English, Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime is the story of a rural teenager who enters a massively popular online service and becomes a famous singer.  Naturally love, danger, and adventure follow.  Belle seems to thematically borrow a bit from Summer Wars, but we’ll see how that plays out.

Hosoda has been one of anime’s greatest filmmakers for a long time – he was the closest thing to a “next Miyazaki” that ever actually existed (he was even originally slated to direct Howl’s Moving Castle).  For my tastes, though, his two works since his split with screenwriter Okudera Satoko (The Boy and the Beast, Mirai) have been markedly inferior to his releases during their partnership.  Maybe this will reverse the trend – I sincerely hope so – but it’s more likely that Hosoda simply isn’t as brilliant a screenwriter as he is a director.  There’s been a rambling, uneven quality to these last two films that I didn’t see in his earlier works.  Nevertheless, he’s one of the most important creators in anime and any Hosoda release is a significant event.

Boku no Hero Academia the Movie 3: World Heroes’ Mission – 08/06/21: (PV) Speaking of which, a Boku no Hero Academia movie is likewise a big deal.  The first two made a lot of money, and were pretty solid on the whole.  More importantly for anoraks, Horikoshi Kouhei (who’s involved in the planning of all the films) seems to treat them as canon so what happens here matters for the eventual ending.  The second film apparently even employed elements from the ending Horikoshi was originally planning to use for the series itself.

Story-wise?  Details have been scarce but Deku wanted for mass murder seems to be the headline.  A threat to the “whole world”, and the holy trinity of Yuuei working together are also obviously story elements.  With Horikoshi dropping hints that the end is not all that far off (and the way his fans treat him, I wouldn’t blame him), this could well be the final BnHA movie – though finishing the anime version on the big screen also strikes me as a real possibility.

Shika no Ou: Yuna to Yakusoku no Tabi – 09/10/21: (PV) I haven’t personally been as engaged with any Uehashi Nahoko work as with the Moribito novels.  And Kamiyama Kenji’s adaptation surpassed those novels in every way for me.  Nevertheless Uehashi is a very good novelist indeed, and Shika no Ou has an excellent reputation.  Uehashi’s usual themes of children and ordinary people fighting oppressive societal evil, environmental destruction, xenophobia and Asian mythology all seem to be strongly present.

As always, Production I.G. is the anime home of Uehashi’s works.  On the staff front, Andou Masashi seems to be the main guy.  And the fact that he’s worked with Miyazaki (Hayao), Anno, and Shinkai among others tells you all you need to know about his skills as an animator.  Bones standout Miyaji Masayuki is co-director and the redoubtable Kishimoto Taku provides the scripts.  That’s a helluva lineup right there, so expectations for this one should be riding pretty high.