Alright, so I’ll admit that narrowing down what I was going to watch for the summer cour was pretty hard. I am a victim of what I call the Summer Curse™: in which there is always at least one show that I pick in the Summer season that I seriously dislike. It began with the very first show I did for OASG, Glasslip, and peaked last year, when Revue Starlight drove me to the edge (despite everyone else I know loving the show). I should remain positive though; I mean, the shows I picked this summer look pretty cool…although I say that every year…
I’ll be doing 5 shows once again this season: 4 of which are current season ones, along with my classic/out-of-season pick.
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?
Studio: Dogakobo
Begins: Wednesday. July. 03
(Available on Funimation)
News of this show surfaced earlier on in the year. It looked like the kind of silly show that I’d end up picking then, and so here I am, picking it.
Hibiki Sakura is just your average high-schooler who likes the fine things in life, although when it comes to food, she doesn’t hold back. When she notices that she’s putting on weight, she decides to join the nearby gym, meeting Akemi Souryuuin in the process, who has her own reasons for wanting to get fit…although by judging the PV below, it seems like she just has a thing for guys with muscles.
The online anime database sites have already labelled this as an ecchi show. I have no issues with that; I’m just curious on how far they’ll go. I mean a show that largely features guys with unnaturally huge muscles and girls in athletic and gym wear…it’s original, I’ll give you that. Nonetheless, it’s still the kind of silly show that has got me interested.
Astra Lost in Space
Studio: Lerche
Begins: Wednesday. July. 03.
(Available on Funimation)
I won’t lie: the first PV I saw for this (the one below) got me really interested in this straightaway. I’m usually a sucker for unusual/leftfield science-fiction set in deep space though (just taking Knights of Sidonia as an example).
Set in the year 2061, when humanity has become more culturally diverse, and space travel has become commercially viable, the students of Caird High School set off on their ‘planet camp’ trip. However, when one school group arrive at their designated site, an unusual sentient light beam teleports 9 students out into deep space, over 5,000 light years from home. Thankfully for them, an unmanned spacecraft is nearby, but the 9 of them must learn to survive out in the unknown, and find a way to contact home.
A little bit of Star Trek: Voyager in this show. I really loved Voyager, and it wasn’t just because of its bad-ass Captain Janeway – the original plot point of being transported over 70,000 light years from Federation space sounded really cool, and great for introducing new lore and new species into the Star Trek universe. Anyway…
…episode 1 of Astra Lost in Space is to be an hour-long one, apparently, which I’m sure is a sensible decision on the part of Studio Lerche (the producers) who need to establish the main story. This show looks very pretty, and gives off a bit of a unnatural atmosphere that borderlines on horror…but not the usual kind of horror we all know. Count me in.
O Maidens In Your Savage Season
Studio: Lay-duce
Begins: Saturday. July. 06
(Available on HIDIVE)
As an icebreaker, the girls in a newly-formed literature club all ask each other an unusual question: “What’s the one thing you want to do before you die?”. When one of them blurts out “Sex”, little do they all realize that that word alone has lasting effects on their journeys into adulthood.
I barely know anything about this show, but I am getting this weird vibe from it, like it could be a lot more ‘out-there’ than any other conventional school drama. It was the same kind of weird vibe I got when I watched Scum’s Wish and Love & Lies. Both of those shows took a very mature look at love, sex and relationships in hormonal high school life, and given the intro synopsis, O Maidens In Your Savage Season sounds like it could be on that same line of mature school drama.
I guess this is what I would expect from Mari Okada. Yes, the very same writer and director of Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is behind the original manga of O Maidens In Your Savage Season (check out my review of Maquia here). From the looks of the PV above, it looks suitably stylish, and something that could well be a bit of a silent hit that’s hidden away alongside the masses of isekai shows that are airing this season.
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: {Rail Zeppelin} Grace Note
Studio: TROYCA
Begins: Sunday. July. 07.
(Available on Crunchyroll & Funimation)
Speaking of style, El-Melloi has turned it up to 11. It might surprise you to know that this is a Fate prequel show, but while the likes of Fate/Zero (another prequel) and even Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya stuck closely to the original story, this appears to be more of a spin-off than anything else.
Set in London, this focuses on the Waver Velvet Lord El-Melloi II, who has an inheritance claim (a castle) to settle. As they travel there with apprentice-in-tow, they find out that they’re not alone in settling a claim for the castle. So a game of mystery, wits, cunning and the like begins, and the winner takes all. Much like original Fate storylines really, only this one seems more…different.
Reminds me of last year’s Fate/Extra: Last Encore. While that focused more on science and technology than magic and fantasy, the idea of making the initial Fate ‘battle royale’ plot into something new and original was the same. With the story here featuring Fate characters the fans/followers are all familiar with and putting them in an entirely new setting, El-Melloi could either be really cool or really awful. Either way, it’s likely that Netflix will want a piece of this, considering that they have licenses for practically the rest of the Fate franchise when Crunchyroll are done with it.
…and so that’s that. Thank goodness that I don’t have 6 to watch, huh? Oh…but I still have one more to watch.
Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Studios: Satelight/Encourage Films
(Available on Crunchyroll)
I am hugely behind on the Symphogear franchise, and I am also aware that season 5 is airing this summer as well. It seems that the people (who chose this for me) wanted me to get stuck in and learn the basics of this rather divisive show, beginning with season 1.
Two famous idols, Tsubasa and Kanade, are collectively known as Zwei Wing. As well as performing to the masses, they fight together in Symphogear armor to fend off the Noise, an alien race that is consuming the Earth. When Kanade sacrifices herself to save a young girl, it’s left to the young girl, Hibiki, to take her place, after discovering that she has been left with a piece of Kanade’s Symphogear relic armor embedded in her chest. Two years after Kanade’s sacrifice, Hibiki ends up awakening the relic inside her and becomes a Symphogear warrior herself.
I’ve learned that this show really does have its devoted fans. I know next to nothing about Symphogear, outside of the fact that it centers around singing mecha magical girls fighting shape-shifting aliens. I hope the devoted fans are right about this, as I initially wrote this off as a bit of a ‘facepalm’ show. Facepalm shows don’t normally last 5 seasons though, so there must be something about Symphogear that’ll interest me. Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up picking season 2, Symphogear G, as the next off-season show…
Here’s hoping that the Summer Curse™ won’t strike again, although it probably will. What will you guys be watching this summer season? Have any shows in particular caught your eye? This is also con season, so will the anime cons you go to live up to your expectations? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below…