Think it’s safe to say that my show choices for 2022 so far have been a little weird. I jump to watching terrible sci-fi ecchi, and then move on to a whole season of sequel shows. I see some good shows come out this year, and yet my terrible luck means I don’t end up covering them for Otaku Theater. I do know about the overnight success of Spy x Family, but I’m deliberately not covering that here, as I want to enjoy it in my own time.
Well I’m hoping for something much more positive to reflect this summer season. Now if I’d be returning to covering sequel seasons only, then I’d say that I felt spoilt for choice. The Devil is a Part Timer! is returning after so long away, as is Made in Abyss. And sequels for Rent-a-Girlfriend, Classroom of the Elite, Love Live! Superstar and Shadows House are coming too, plus Kakegurui is getting a spin-off show around August. On top of that, SHAFT are making a proper comeback to the anime scene with some…very interesting choices for shows. More on that later though.
Nah, this time around I’ve gone back to picking something a little more laid-back. At least they look laid-back to me; whether they will be halfway through is another matter entirely.
Yurei Deco
Studio: Science SARU
Begins: July. 03.
(Available on Crunchyroll)
It used to be the case that we’d wonder what SHAFT would be up to, but it seems that Science SARU have now taken that mantle. The team are obvious nerds who want to mess with the conventions of anime production, and for Yurei Deco they look very eager not only to bewilder the followers, but the critics too.
The show is stylized in promos as You0Deco, with the zero pronounced as ‘rei’. Set on the futuristic Tom Sawyer Island, its citizens use sensory immersion technology called Deco in order to interact with others online, or in the Hyperverse. ‘Love Score’ is used across the island, and the citizens use what Love Score they have to get by. Our main protagonist is Berry, a young girl charmed by the androgynous Hack, who invites her to join the Ghost Detectives Club to investigate a bizarre phenomenon on the island: the Zero Phenomenon, which causes some citizens’ Love Scores to be nullified leaving them completely vulnerable.
Yurei Deco grabbed me straightaway when it was announced, and it wasn’t because of the studio behind it. I really like the idea of peoples’ standings in society being measured by who and what they are on social media. It’s become a real blessing and a curse to us in the last 10 years, and so I’m extremely curious to see what Science SARU have cooked up here. This also makes me think of Gatchaman Crowds, which also has a secondary theme of social media completely dominating everyone’s lives. I believe that this show is going to be one that really makes people think; not quite put down their phones or delete their social media accounts, but still make people wonder how much social media really has taken over us.
I have to admit that I was surprised that Crunchyroll was the one who took this and not someone like Netflix. Science SARU are certainly being funny with who gets their shows in the West; their upcoming Tatami Time Machine Blues, the sequel to The Tatami Galaxy, is going to Disney+ of all places. But it isn’t like the studio are rookies when it comes to making TV shows; Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! was amazing in all sorts of ways, Netflix viewers watched the heck out of Devilman Crybaby, and they have an extensive movie resume with Lu Over The Wall and Ride Your Wave among others. And so while I will be expecting something very off-beat and out of the ordinary in Yurei Deco, I don’t expect them to make any huge mistakes animation-wise.
I also don’t think that Science SARU will be the kind of studio that will habitually release shows every season though. They will be the kind who only bring out something that they are 1000% passionate about – something the entire nerd crew would back. Not to put down the other studios who do regularly release shows of course. Speaking of which, let’s move on to my second choice…
When Will Ayumu Make His Move?
Studio: Silver Link
Begins: July. 08.
(Available on HIDIVE)
I’ve chosen an extremely cute and simple school comedy this season. The two that I picked for the Spring were rather heavy duty and full of stuff to analyze, and I’m predicting that I won’t be adding any heavy analysis for this show. And given its long name, I might have to shorten it to Ayumu in the column or something.
Well the titular character, Ayumu Tanaka, is a first-year in the school’s Shogi club, who is in love with his senpai Urushi Yaotome, the only other member in the club. He has vowed that he will only confess to her once he has beaten her in a game of shogi; awkward since he is still very much a beginner at the game, and Urushi beats him easily and very quickly too. He isn’t really hiding his crush very well either, and so Urushi is constantly poking at Ayumu to drop his poker face and admit it.
This is exactly the kind of ‘will they, won’t they’ show I’d like to see right now. Also if you think Ayumu looks very similar to Teasing Master Takagi-san, well that’s because it is: they are both by the same mangaka, Soichiro Yamamoto. Urushi is acting very much like the Master Takagi in the show; the ‘higher-up’ who is very happy to poke the ‘underling’ into confessing. And even if I’m expecting to see a lot of atypical school romance tropes in the show, I’m still glad to pick something like this.
Now I’ve only watched a couple of episodes of Teasing Master Takagi-san, and that was a long time ago. So what am I going to look out for here? Well as I said, I wanted to back away from covering any school shows that will get me to critique and analyze them deeply, like what I have done with Kaguya-sama: Love is War, in all three seasons. Hey, the show may even break the fourth wall and give us some short skits where we learn the detailed rules of shogi. So yeah, I’m expecting some very simple school romance, and not much else. And truth be told, there’s very little else I know about the show; not that much has been revealed as of time of writing. I’m unfamiliar with the manga itself, but since it’ll likely be going on the same level or route as what Teasing Master Takagi-san did, I should really expect anything that stands out.
I also want to add that I am still covering season 2 of Komi Can’t Communicate, as that will carry on through July on Netflix despite it already having finished in Japan. And so for my final pick, and the one I’m looking forward to the most:
Call of the Night
Studio: Liden Films
Begins: July. 08.
(Available on HIDIVE)
Call of the Night has been a show that’s been teased for a while now, and I’m so glad that I get to check it out for this Summer. It tells the story of junior high schooler Kou Yamori, who has come down with chronic insomnia and is finding no direction in his life. Despite maintaining good grades at school, it’s all a big façade, and eventually he decides to drop out altogether, leaving him to wander the streets alone at night. And it’s only when he encounters Nazuna Nanakusa when things begin to change for him…a lot.
It isn’t long before he figures out that Nazuna is a vampire and has wandered the streets for a very long time, directionless herself. Enchanted by her, Kou starts to think about the benefits of dark gifts and immortality, and so decides to become a vampire himself. But first, he has to fall in love with Nazuna and discover how far he is really willing to go to become a night-walker just like her.
We’ve already had one fascinating vampire anime come out this season; Vampire in the Garden landed on Netflix back in May, and while it was an extremely short show, it gave us a lot of good character design and world-building. I really love the aesthetic that Call of the Night has given off here, with heavy emphasis on the colors blue and purple, as opposed to red which is a color we may perhaps typically see in a vampire show. I believe those two colors present a far more mysterious tone than something like blood red.
In some research, I did a double take when I discovered that the mangaka for Call of the Night also did Dagashi Kashi, the candy-store-in-the-country show. And the more you look at the character design here, the more obvious it is to me now. Dagashi Kashi didn’t win me over, but I think it had more to do with the story itself than the character design. I’m curious on what kind of characters Nazuna, Kou and the others will turn out to be. Well these two stories are very different, and this is being labelled as a supernatural romance.
If you check the Summer schedule, you may also notice that SHAFT’s also making a bit of a return. Their Madoka Magica spin-off shows kind of disappeared away into obscurity, and I wasn’t sold on last year’s Pretty Boy Detective Club. Saying that though, I really enjoyed the heck out of Assault Lily: Bouquet, despite everyone else thinking it was rather meh. Yuri magical girls in a military academy still using Nokia 3310 phones? Yes, thank you very much. As for this season, they’ll be giving us two spin-off shows: one for the World Witches Franchise (Luminous Witches), and the other for RWBY (Ice Queendom). Now I have never seen RWBY and know nothing about the story or the characters, and as a long-term weeb I don’t know whether that’s meant to be a good thing or a bad thing. The SHAFT of old doesn’t look like the SHAFT of now; I’ve watched their shows for over a decade and this might be the time to step away.
On a cheerier note, I’m hoping for some shows to reflect the summer mood, and say goodbye to the Summer Curse™ for good. I also think my out-of-season pick will do the same. It’s a more recent show too, originally from this year’s Winter season.
Akebi’s Sailor Uniform
Studio: Cloverworks
(Available on Crunchyroll)
I decided to pick a show that is out-of-season but still came out this year, and this show almost made it to the column, but I decided on My Dress-Up Darling instead. I don’t regret that decision, and yet at the same time I still wanted to know what the fuss was about when it came to this…and there was a lot of fuss. I had initially thought it would be a rather nondescript school show, but as I see from viewers, this offers a little more than that.
Akebi Komichi is just about to start middle school at the local private academy, and yet the only thing on her mind is the new sailor uniform she will be getting…or so she thinks. Her mother went to the same academy, and the sailor uniform was the attire back then, but now the school has switched to something much different. Determined to get her way, she eventually gets permission from the school to wear it, and so standing out on her first day of middle school is just the start of what is to come for Akebi.
It seems to be that Akebi’s Sailor Uniform is very self-aware; it knows it’s a ‘cute girls doing cute things’ show, and even still Cloverworks aren’t messing around or cutting corners when it comes to animation and art quality. A lot of other shows like that fall into that trap, and seeing that not happen here makes me even more curious. But we hear the studio Cloverworks and think about the poor luck they have had, if you can even all it that. From Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, to season 2 of The Promised Neverland, to Wonder Egg Priority, it’s as if the studio is either on a really big high or a really big low. But from what it looks like, this show was received very well, alongside its season companion My Dress-Up Darling, which is already in my top 5 of the year so far.
Welp, they are my choices. Of course all the sequel seasons will be what will be on the big anime spotlight. I would say that at least we don’t get another My Hero Academia season, but that’s actually coming in the Fall instead. My plans to go to Dragoncon this year fell through sadly, so watching the new shows and catching old ones will be what will take up my time, instead of spending lots of money on things I don’t really need. As for shows I’ll be watching in my own time, I haven’t made any actual decisions yet; I think I’ll just go with the flow. Enjoy the summer.