With Spring drawing to a close, it’s time to look forward to all the exciting new shows, and… not-so-exciting new shows of the new season. If a show you’re hyped for is missing, just tell me why and I’ll consider adding it in.

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Worth Checking Out

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Title: Vinland Saga
Length: 24 episodes
Genre: Adventure, Historical, Action

Vinland Saga is one of those dark historical fantasies that everybody is just lapping up right now. Touted as one of the greatest modern manga for its brutality, cynicism and epic adventuring story set across Europe, this is going to be the anime for Game of Thrones fans (that probably still haven’t got over that disappointing ending). Grey morality, gory violence and political plotting amidst its vengeance story, Vinland Saga looks like the anime to be watching in general, too. It’s worth noting that the early story is known for slightly slow pacing, so be wary with this one. And, of course, the violence will turn some viewers off, so viewer discretion advised.

Wit Studio are a name that carries a lot of prestige right now, particularly with regards to their backgrounds and scenery setting. The director and screenplay author-pair both worked together at MAPPA on Inuyashiki, and the latter continued to work on Banana Fish. This is something of a question mark as Inuyashiki was known for its questionable CGI, but was very notable for its strong violence. The PV looks very impressive, and these names have a decent level of credibility to them, so I predict this is going to be the show of the season – that is, if you can stomach it!

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Title: Kanata no Astra
Length: ?
Genre: Sci-fi, space, mystery

A good space anime can feel few and far between, but Kanata no Astra has the pedigree to deliver. It’s a manga already finished, and we know that it expands its scope around the halfway point to get to a very strong space conspiracy story. Though, perhaps the journey there might be a difficult, and a 5-volume manga would be difficult to cover without a 2 cour season.

Director Masaomi Andou has attached him to some surprisingly well directed series lately, such as Kuzu no Honkai, White Album 2 and Gakkougurashi, so this might honestly be the non-continuing series with the highest pedigree this season. I can vouch that this is, indeed, definitely worth your time, but it might be a bit of a slow burn.

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Title: Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?
Length: ?
Genre: Comedy, Sports

Imagine Yuru Camp’s educational side – now inject that same energy into gym culture. Dumbbell’s dumb excitedness towards muscles and fitness is backed up by random excurges into tutorials on how to exercise safely. It’s weirdly inspirational, making its men and women built like rocks to be both attractive and cool.

Throw in one Mitsue Yamazaki – one of the most talented directors to recently debut, with Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and key episodes of Penguindrum – and one Doga Kobo – a studio at the top of the cute, slice-of-life game – and this muscle junkie show looks like one that’s going to be hard to miss.

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Title: Granbelm
Length: ?
Genre: Magic, mecha

While it’s hard to tell much of anything about what’s going on, this anime original is using colour, strong lighting and gigantic visuals to stand out. From a mixture of the PV and the opening 10 minutes which have been streaming for a couple of months now, the show is one of those hybrids between cute girls and mecha, where the mecha has a dose of magical girl kicked in and an isekai-style setup. There’s already explosions, highly detailed furrowed brows and hints of darkness, too. My gut’s telling me… Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero? Something along those lines in tone and style.

On the staff list, there is one name that stands out like a sorethumb: Jukki Hanada. He is one of the most prominent screenplay writers of the past few years – both in terms of adaptions and originals. It’s expected, then, that this will be a solid showcase for his abilities to write introspective screenplays. Further more, from the opening 10 minutes and PV, as well as the fact that episode 1 and 2 are airing at an event a couple of weeks before the TV date, it seems like this show is a well scheduled production so there’s no real reason to expect hamstrung episodes.

Granbelm’s a gamble, yes, but I’ll be bold and say that the odds are on this one to succeed. It’s got everything it needs to be worth checking out.

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Worth Keeping An Eye On

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Title: Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-dome yo.
Length: ?
Genre: Drama, comedy

Mari Okada has quite a rep for tugging on your heartstrings (perhaps a bit too hard such that she has many detractors), but I feel she’s known even more for something else – characters getting introspective and finding themselves wanting. This ties in nicely with her oddball comedy with bizarrely inspirational feely moments – and where her latest manga, Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-dome yo. comes in. It’s a story about girls talking about… sex. None of them know what’s going on. Cue funny times, moving times and a whole lotta well-written hormonal teenage hijinks.

It’s no real surprise that Masahiro Andou is directing, seeing as he’s worked with Okada several times before, though is also working with a mostly unproven director at Lay Duce, a new and not too hotly proven studio. Still, I think the simplicity of this work will do wonders for them – and, with, a veteran director at the helm means this production will hopefully be smooth.

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Title: Given
Length: ?
Genre: Romance, BL, Music

Given is one of those rare boys’ love stories that comes around every now and again that doesn’t get overexcited by sexuality. Not only does it takes its time, but it writes romance first and foremost in heart pounding fashion. With a strong musical backbone (even brand-name dropping for its guitar strings!) and relatable characters, this feels like it could be one of the romances of the year.

Unfortunately, I’m struggling to get too excited by its creators. Lerche are usually a middle of the road studio (who will likely be putting more effort into their other airing anime), and while their director has a track record showing musical interest – it’s only in 1 showing. As in, they’ve only ever directed once before. Still, the PV looks like it understands the tenderness of the manga, so I’m optimistic.

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Title: Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e
Length: ?
Genre: Fantasy, action, drama

Okay let’s see if I can get this neo gothic prediction right. Announced at a similar time as last season’s Fairy Gone, and sporting an almost identical premise with a female gun-toter hunting monsters in a post-war world, it’s easy to mistake the two. However, this one is based on a manga from an acclaimed author, though I couldn’t make it past the rather generic shounen-styled action art and fanservice. Still, I’ve got some hopes for seeing this manga in motion.

Studio MAPPA have been on a role for about 3 years now, and I don’t see it stopping with their work on this anime. With a well proven director at the helm, I can definitely see this becoming one of the stronger anime of the season.

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Title: Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note
Length: ?
Genre: Mystery, fantasy

Lord El-Melloi II- yaknow what, I’m gonna make this easier for you: this is a Fate anime, specifically a spinoff of Fate/Zero. This spinoff boasts urban fantasy sleuthing, and features adult characters, so I think it’s worth mentioning even if there’s… some level of pre-requisite required to watch it. Maybe. There’s a special episode that aired on New Years that’s floating about – I recommend watching beforehand, though I’m unsure if it’s going to be airing in the series since it could function as a premiere.

The staff is absolutely stacked on this one. Makoto Katou, who directed the phenomenal Bloom Into You, is returning to Troyca’s founders Fate/Zero project – and with him comes renowned composer Yuki Kajiura. Hopefully her work will be more inspirational than on Kimetsu no Yaiba, but I can confirm from the special episode that, o yes, she’s on fire too.

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Title: Tejina-senpai
Length: ?
Genre: Comedy, ecchi, magic

Magic is hard, by the way. Tejina-senpai’s manga is mostly laughing at the titular Senpai’s inability to do magic tricks due to her nerves. It’s honestly quite funny in the rapid pacing of its gags, but the odd sexualisation, such as her falling over to reveal her panties or taking part in kinky rope tricks… falls into uncomfortable territory. It’s worth keeping an eye on because the adaption may just manage to make these jokes silly and quick, just like the manga.

As one can see from the PV, this is no high production. It looks passable and that’s about it, which is sadly what one comes to expect from LIDENFILMS. The titular Senpai is voiced by Kaede Hondo, who has gone from newcomer to star in the anime voice acting circles rather quickly, and seeing her performance as the goofy but loveable Senpai will make the watch, hopefully, worthwhile for its brief 15 minute runtime.

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Title: Cop Craft
Length: ?
Genre: Police, mystery

Cop Craft sets itself in gritty, downtrodden sci-fi world where worlds have collided and the police have to keep up to keep the peace in this newly magical world. The series pairs a crafty, old-school cop with a sword-wielder to defend the world. From what little I saw of the LN, the series is fairly strong – but unexceptional – at putting together the criminal atmosphere.

But that’s where, hopefully, a good adaption could better pace itself and bring about that authenticity. While director, Shin Itagaki, is a sore spot for many for his work on Berserk, the PV does not show significant amounts of CGI in Cop Craft – so I’m not too panicked. And, moreover, the PV looks pretty slick in its animated portions. Am I allowed to get optimistic over this? I think so, actually, but I’m not expecting anything world shattering.

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I’m Struggling To Stay Positive About These

Title: Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Ni-kai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki Desu ka?
Length: ?
Genre: Isekai, comedy

I think it’s easier to say that, instead of lacking optimism for this one, I’m morbidly curious to see if there’s anything of value here, other than scoffing at the title. Isekai light novels have been running out of originality since the genre started, and this one shows how gimmick lead the whole shebang has gotten – let’s throw a mum in! It’s going to repeat all of the exact same slightly genre aware tropes as every other bland, forgettable isekai, but this time with the protagonist’s mother to provide mature waifu-bait, cringey humour, a touch of incest fanservice and a whole lotta eye-rolls.

I’m still going to check it out. I like to hurt myself.

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Final Pre-Season Thoughts

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There’s definitely a few anime here worth your time, I think! The amount of shows I reckon will be universally heralded and in the running for consensus anime-of-the-year, though? Few. Vinland Saga will be up there, almost certainly, and Kanata no Astra has a shot at slow-burn paying off big time, but other than that… probably not.

Still, there’s something for everybody this upcoming Summer season of anime, and some of it will no doubt make a mark as the best of the year. Were there any shows that I missed? What shows are you looking forward to?