To an extent, I think Summer 2023 represents a return to normalcy for anime. Spring has turned out to be a really good season, as expected, but it was never realistic to think that momentum could carry over in a substantial way. Summer is rarely one of a year’s stronger seasons to begin with, and this spring in particular has to be taken as a kind of manga-driven aberration rather than the start of a trend, unless the industry (hopefully) shows us otherwise.

Just why is summer (along with winter) generally one of a year’s lesser seasons? Most obviously it’s simple numbers – spring and fall generally have more series to begin with, and that improves the chances of getting some good ones. But it does go deeper. Summer seems to be a season when anime typically goes with a lot of low-risk fare – which in 2023 means LN adaptations of the isekai vein more than anything. It also helps spring and fall that they usually have more two-cour series (which simultaneously hurts summer and winter, of course).

This summer has 52 54 series at this writing though, including ONAs (which you have to do in the current landscape). That’s a lot (summer ‘22 had 44) – more like a spring or fall number in recent history. In fact this spring also had 52 by my count. I think it’s fair to say that production capacity is going to remain critically strained, and that we’ll see the usual by-products of that more and more frequently. Of course of those 52 spring shows 22 made my preview, a historically high percentage. I’m previewing 15 17 this time, which is below my usual one-third hit rate (a metric that’s becoming less reliable) but not at the bottom end of the scale.

Taking all that into consideration, one challenge here is to not assess Summer based on this standard this spring is setting. It’s not fair and historically not relevant. What I see, then, when I try and look at this coming season objectively is something pretty typical of the day. There are a lot of sequels of very popular shows, relatively few (well, almost none) of which interest me. There are 14 LN adaptations, the majority of which have some isekai element (though it does seem as if we’re seeing at least more effort to twist the formula). Not too many originals, and nothing among them that leaps out as a prime candidate.

In fact, the source I’m seeing a lot more than usual here is “web manga” – and that’s obviously part of a burgeoning trend. That’s a growing segment of the manga market – which makes perfect sense – and one that’s delivering its fair share of really good adaptations. As far as genre goes, it still looks to me like CGDCT has declined somewhat in volume – it certainly remains right there behind isekai, but we’re not seeing quite the numbers we did a couple of years ago. I don’t see anything else really spiking – maybe a few more straight (not romantic) comedies than the usual percentage, but mostly what I’d call a pretty typical modern mix. That said, unless I’m missing it I don’t see a single new sports series on the schedule (and summer typically gets a baseball show at least), which makes me sad.

 

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

 

Highest Expectations:

Rurouni Kenshin 2023 – Lidenfilms: (PV) Of all the series I’ve previewed at LiA over the years, this one may be the most complicated.  I hardly know where to start.

Well, let’s start at the beginning, I guess.  Which for me is pretty darn close to the very beginning.  Apart from stuff like Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) and Speed Racer which I liked as a kid but didn’t even know were called “anime”, there’s not much I was a fan of before Rurouni Kenshin.  I rented it on VHS from Japan Video in Japantown, San Francisco.  I read the manga either from the library or off the shelves while sipping coffee at Borders.  I loved RuroKen, and it had as much to do with making me an animanga fan as any series ever has.

Rurouni Kenshin had an anime of course – 2 seasons by Gallup, one by Deen.  It also got some original OVAs which I liked a lot less than most people, another original OVA decades letter written by Okada Mari which should be put in the nosecone of a rocket and fired into the sun, and a series of highly successful live-action movies.  But it’s the series I was primarily concerned with, and that itself it complicated.  It did a fantastic job adapting the Kyoto Arc (which for my money may be the greatest arc in shounen manga), but veered off into original (and often mediocre) material in the third season.  That left the manga’s final major arc, “Jinchuu” (Revenge) unadapted.  And as it’s almost on par with “Kyoto”, that’s always been a festering wound.

I don’t know why nobody ever rebooted Rurouni Kenshin long ago and gave it a “Brotherhood” treatment.  It’s fair to say such a reboot would have been among the most anticipated anime series I could envision.  But things have happened.  Mangaka Watsuki Nobuhiro was arrested and convicted of possession of child pornography.  He got a legal slap on the wrist, his serialization of the Kenshin “Hokkaido” arc was put on hold, and then the next year resumed.  And what to do about Rurouni Kenshin became a hot topic among anime fans everywhere.

I wish there was an easy answer to this for me, but there isn’t.  On some level, I feel as if I can’t not cover this reboot, because RuroKen is so fundamental to my anime experience.  But yes, I am conflicted.  There is some line where we separate the artist from the art and judge the latter on its own merits, but that line is arbitrary and I don’t care what anybody says.  I do know this much – the art is legit.  RK is one of the most popular and acclaimed shounen in history for a reason.  It’s a masterpiece, and in and of itself it’s deserved a full adaptation that’s been denied it for far too long.

The last element that really confuses things here is that we don’t know exactly what Rurouni Kenshin 2023 will be.  It’s been assumed it will be some sort of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood style reboot, and it’s certainly starting at the beginning.  But we have no episode count.  We don’t even know that it will get to “Jinchuu”, though it would be pretty pointless not to.  We don’t know if it will include the “Hokkaido” follow-up series at all.  We do know it’s a Lidenfilms series, and they’ve been on quite a roll lately.  And the previews look great in a very old-school way.  But those are an awful lot of important unanswered questions.

It’s been about 25 years since the original TV anime ended, so naturally we’re getting an entirely new cast this time – that’s painful but unavoidable, and so far they all seem fine.  Uncertainty over the length and scope (I’m guessing something like 50 episodes, spread over two split blocks) aside, this would certainly be among my most-anticipated premieres in many years.  The series deserves a full adaptation, but even one that rushes through the already adapted portions to give full justice to Jinchuu could still be great.

As for the herd of elephants in the room, everyone has to decide for themselves what they should do about that.  I’m going to respect either decision on that score, but if there is discussion here I’m not going to let it obsess over this every week.  The die is cast, and everyone has to make a choice – litigating that every week and attacking others for the choice they make isn’t going to help in any way.

Shiguang Dailiren II – Haoliners Animation League, LAN Studio: (PV) A late entry to the preview – a July start date was just confirmed, with a world premiere at Anime Expo – but a big one.  It would certainly be no exaggeration to say that Link Click is by far my favorite donghua (Chinese animation) ever.  I was disappointed no one ever subbed the eventual Japanese version of the first season, but the original Chinese cast is very good (something I haven’t always found to be the case for me).  This sequel was announced way back in 2021, so it’s been a long wait.  But if S1 is anything to go on, it should certainly be worth it.

That first season was something I came to late, not being someone who normally watches much donghua.  If I had watched it in real-time and made it eligible it would certainly have been in my 2021 top 10, probably top 5 – it was that tremendous (I have it my “Honorable Mention”).  This is sci-fi on a par with the best of modern anime – two mismatched friends in their early 20s can effectively time travel using photographs using their perfectly matched superpowers (for lack of a better word).  The writing was great, the situations emotionally powerful, and the visuals often surprisingly beautiful.  Shiguan Dailiren was one of the best shows of 2021 period, full stop.

The question of whether I should include it in my year-end “best of” lists is an interesting one.  They’ve always been anime lists, but it’s not like I’ve ever codified that (that I remember).  I’ve never put a live-action on there, never a Western cartoon – should I treat Chinese animation any differently?  I mean, it’s not anime (some may disagree, but I’m quite comfortable on that point), but it’s as close in many ways as it’s possible to be.  None of that would matter if the second season isn’t as superb as the first, but there’s no obvious reason to expect that to be the case.

 

Mid-table:

Oooku – Studio Deen: (PV) Back in January of 2022, Samu and I did a video podcast for the LiA YouTube channel.  One of the topics we covered was “best manga that will never receive a manga adaptation”.  His pick (mine was Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai) was Oooku (I’m pretty sure it’s the first title I’ve covered which has three of the same letter in a row), a manga somewhere on the shoujo-jousei frontier about an alternative Japanese history where a disease has wiped out most of the male population.  As a result the shogunate has shifted to female control, and a matriarchal society has taken hold.

Well, the laughs on him, because it got an anime.  Netflix funded a presumably one-cour adaptation, which from what I understand will likely cover only a small portion of the manga (which is a series of extended arcs).  Deen isn’t legendary for great production values (with rare exceptions like Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu and Sankarea) and the preview is pretty modest.  But Abe Noriyuki is a very good director, and Kawai Kenji is doing the music.  Samu’s admiration for the manga is certainly a recommendation, and the overall take on it is very positive.  I have no first-hand exposure to the material but it’s fair to say I’m expecting Oooku to be very good.

Tonikaku Cawaii: Joshikou-hen – Seven Arcs: (PV) Another very late entry, Joshikou-hen was just announced a few days before I published.  I originally assumed this was some sort of original OVA-type thing, but in fact it’s an adaptation of a manga arc which finds Nasa teaching a class at an all-girls high school.  It’s a 4-episode ONA, which is rather a nice thing assuming that’s what the material requires.  Hopefully it’s a bridge to an eventual third season.

Any new Tonikaku Cawaii is very welcome, though from what I’ve seen I don’t think manga readers consider this the series’ best material.  I have enough faith in Hata Kenjirou at this point to expect good things here – he’s so obviously in his comfort zone writing this series that anything that springs from his pen has a high success rate.

Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta – GoHands: (PV) The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses should be just after RuroKen in the “Highest” tier.  But the elephant in the room here is an entirely different animal.  That is, it’s being produced by GoHands.  If you were to take a “worst studio” poll among serious anime fans, I’m pretty confident GoHands would win by a plurality at least.  Not only has most of their work been execrable, they’ve been busted for plagiarism.  Needless to say fans of the manga did a collective spit take when the studio was announced.

I think the big question facing us is this: can a terrible studio make a great source material into a decent anime?  We’re about to find out, because all those boxes are checked.  I feel comfortable calling Megane Wasureta great – it’s not on the level of BokuYaba, but right there at the top of the mortal tier of romance and middle school manga.  It’s gorgeous, it’s sweet, it’s painful, it’s wonderful in pretty much every respect.  If there were any justice in the world this isn’t the adaptation we’d be getting, but I think that statement needs no further elaboration.

The only reason I’m not in complete despair over this adaptation is that it has a theoretically competent director in Kudou Susumu and the previews have actually looked quite decent.  I would say the modern standard for a bad studio ruining a great manga is Naz and Hoshi no Samidare, where they took a masterpiece and made it totally unwatchable.  Frankly that’s about what I expect here, but it was clear from the first previews that Samidare would be a dumpster fire.  GoHands has at least managed to improve on that, and – especially given that this looks like a mediocre season – I have no option but to give Megane Wasureta every chance to defy the odds.  The manga really is that good, believe me.

Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid 2nd Season – J.C. Staff: (PV) Speaking of adaptations from bad studios, we have Shinigami Bochan to Kuro Maid.  This is another manga I really like – maybe a hair less than Suki no Ko, but it’s close.  And sadly, J.C. Staff can only be called a bad studio these days.  They were never a quality engine on the scale of Bones or I.G. but did more than their share of good-to-great, workmanlike adaptations (and the occasional winning original like Ano Natsu de Matteru, probably their prettiest series).  Now they’re mostly CGI (as is Shinigami Bochan), and when they do venture into 2-D animation you wish they hadn’t.

Still, the first season of this show was quite decent to this manga reader, in spite of the crap visuals.  As they did with Hi Score Girl – with the same director, Yamakawa Yoshiki – J.C. Staff got the narrative of things pretty spot-on.  The material to be covered this time is certainly stronger, though if the adaptation is going to cover the rest of the now-completed manga in one cour, some cuts are going to have to be made.  All in all this looks like the closest thing to a safe bet on the summer schedule to me, given the uncertainly about Rurouni Kenshin’s episode count and intentions.

Undead Girl Murder Farce – Lapin Track: (PV) This one is a really interesting wild card for any number of reasons.  But that main reason it’s ranked here is that the director is Omata Shinichi (sometimes Hatakeyama Mamoru), and he’s simply one of the best in the game.  He’s directed a bunch of really notable series, most prominently for me being Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, and his style is never less than interesting no matter the material.  Any series he’s attached to is relevant to my interests, and he’s one of only a handful of directors I’d say that about.

As for the material, well, I don’t know a lot about it.  Undead Girl Murder Farce is based on a series of mystery novels by Aosaki Yugo, whose work has never graced anime before.  Apparently it’s the story of a 19th Century detective called in to solve a case of the murder a vampire’s wife, who may or may not be a monster of some sort himself.  That sounds interesting enough, and my hope is that talents like Shinichi and writer Takagi Noboru wouldn’t have been drawn to the material if it didn’t have something going for it.  This is probably the series with the widest range of potential outcomes on the schedule this season.

Horimiya: Piece – CloverWorks: (PV) Speaking of great directors, it’s Ishihama Masashi who’s in charge of the Horimiya adaptation.  A great romcom manga adapted by a frontline director should have produced something really special, but ultimately I was quite disappointed by the first season.  Ishihama was forced to cut a whole lot in adapting Horimiya in a single cour, which was never going to be ideal.  Unfortunately, for me he made a lot of poor decisions about what to eliminate, leaving out most of what makes the manga really special in favor of its most conventional elements.  As I put it at the time, it’s like “Ishihama went to a buffet and loaded up on too much dry chicken and stale bread and left the carving station and waffle iron sadly underutilized”.

That brings us to Piece (called “The Missing Pieces” in English), which will be adapting “stories not adapted in the main anime”.  So that should be just what the doctor ordered, right?  Well, maybe, but not knowing exactly what that means it’s hard to say.  There’s certainly plenty of waffles and roast beef waiting to be served up, so in theory this could end up being really good.  But it would have been so much better to give the anime two cours in the first place so it could be adapted properly, and even if Piece turns out well that’s still going to annoy me…

Helck – Satelight: (PV) Helck is an interesting addition to the anime landscape.  The manga ended in 2017 and as far as I know wasn’t exceptionally popular.  It’s also a pretty quirky premise, about a buff human hero who winds up in a tournament to decide the new ruler of Hell.  As such, it’s somewhat puzzling that it got an adaptation now, but it certainly represents something more interesting than another isekai or smartphone game adaptation.

I read some of the manga after the anime announcement (it has crazy high aggregator scores), and while I didn’t love it I found it to be fairly entertaining.  Satelight hasn’t exactly been a bastion of quality in the past few years but Satou Tatsuo probably qualifies as their top director, and the casting (especially Konishi Katsuyuki) strikes me as pretty spot-on.  The manga is 12 volumes and certainly needs two cours to get a proper adaptation, and it would surprise me greatly if it gets it – that’s definitely something to keep an eye on.

Mononogatari 2nd Season – Bandai Namco Pictures: (PV) A former Patron Pick selection, Mononogatari grew on me as it progressed.   It’s nothing brilliant but the tsukumogami-driven premise is quite interesting, and there are some quietly interesting characters in the cast.  I can’t say for certain I’d have covered it if it had aired this season, but based on how summer looks from here it should make the cut pretty comfortably.

AI no Idenshi – Madhouse: (PV) AI no Idenshi is another completed manga from 2017 getting a somewhat inexplicable anime adaptation in 2023.  It was never licensed in English and as far as I know never unofficially translated, so I don’t know a lot about it.  I certainly don’t remember it being exceptionally popular but I wasn’t living here for most of its run, so maybe it made a bigger impact than I’m aware of.

AI no Idenshi centers on a doctor who treats android “illnesses” in a future where androids comprise 10% of the population  – a doctor who also performs illegal procedures under the table.  I suppose I have a bit of a sleeper vibe with this one, as it’s an appealingly old-school hard sci-fi premise from an old-school studio and an old-school director in Satou Yuuzou.

 

Modestly Interested:

Hyakushou Kizoku – Pie in the Sky: (PV): An adaptation of a Arakawa Hiromu manga ought to be ranked higher, even a relatively obscure one like Hyakushou Kizoku.  But this looks like a very low-rent production from a low-rent studio, and the episodes are only going to be 5 minutes.  The manga is a chronicle of Awakawa-sensei’s seven years working as a farmer in Hokkaido (a beloved topic for her, as any Gin no Saji fan could tell you).

Dark Gathering – OLM: (PV)  Mild sleeper vibes from this adaptation of a Jump SQ. manga about a young man who hates the supernatural and attracts spirits, and his childhood friend.  The manga seems to be pretty well-regarded, Ikehata Hiroshi (Tonikaku Cawaii) is a pretty good director, and OLM certainly has a decent track record with this sort of material.

Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto – BUG FILMS: (PV) Zom 100 seems to be something of a zombie comedy.  It’s the story of a miserable 24 year-old burned out by three years at a black company and unable to confess to the co-worker he loves.  For him a zombie apocalypse in the best thing that ever happened.  Might be good for a few laughs.

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon – Kinema Citrus: (PV) We seem a pretty long way from Made in Abyss here, but Kinema Citrus is absolutely a studio that’s earned at least an audition for anything they put out.  Shoujo doesn’t receive an anime all that often, so that in itself is another factor prompting me to check My Happy Marriage out.  It’s made the journey from LN to manga to anime, and it’s the story of a Cinderella-esque girl treated like crap by her family who’s betrothed to a military officer rumored to be cruel enough to drive off any proposed partners.  I think you can guess where this is going.

Shiro Seijo to Kuro Bokushi – Doga Kobo: (PV) Quirky-sounding little slice of life about a priest and the lazy girl who acts as its official saint on Earth.  Not a whole lot in terms of expectations here but the manga seems relatively well-liked.

Uchi no Kaisha no Chiisai Senpai no Hanashi – Project No.9: (PV) Workplace comedy about a diminutive sempai and the towering kouhai she dotes on.  Unlikely to be too notable but the sub-genre is one I tend to like when done well, so this one is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

 

Will Definitely Blog: Rurouni Kenshin 2023, Oooku, Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid 2nd Season, Shiguang Dailiren II, Tonikaki Cawaii Joushikou-hen.  From eight to one to ten to five – the whiplash cycle looked like it was holding strong, but the last few days perked things up.  To be clear, I would absolutely be including Megane Wasureta here if it were anything like a decent studio – the manga is that good, and GoHands is that bad.

Sleepers: Not a bumper crop, and I think Undead Girl Murder Farce is a little too obvious to count.  AI no Idenshi, maybe Dark Gathering.

 

OVA:

Once more a goose egg for this steeply declining category.

 

Theatrical:

Only two, but one of them is a really big one.

Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka – 07/14/23: By now I’ve probably heard every joke in the book about Miyazaki Hayao’s “final film”.  And it’s not undeserved – the guy has retired and unretired more times than I can count.  But the fact remains that Miyazaki is the most famous and most important director in anime history, making any feature-length film of his a major worldwide event.  And at his age, this may very well be his real final film whether he intends it to be or not.

As to the specifics, well – we don’t have squat, really.  Miyazaki took the title from a 1937 novel he admires, but Ghibli producer Suzuki Toshio recently announced that the story itself has no connection to the book (which was reprinted twice in anticipation of the movie’s release).  He also said there would be no trailers and indeed no additional promotional material at all beyond the poster Suzuki himself drew (as he often has with the studio’s posters).  That’s just the sort of thing you can do when you’re Studio Ghibli.  So we basically know nothing about what the movie is even about and presumably won’t until the premiere date, as it’s not scheduled to compete on the festival circuit as far as I know.  But it’s Miyazaki – I’ll be there.

Osomatsu-san: Tamashii no Takoyaki Party to Densetsu no Otomarikai – 07/21/23: (PV) A new outing for the Matsuno sextuplets to celebrate the anime’s sixth anniversary.