Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of The Anime Pulse. We only have a few weeks left of the Spring anime season and so it is time to look forward what is coming up during the summer months. There will be plenty of new shows and sequels afoot and because as such, I am here to offer up my thoughts on the shows that caught my attention.
Just a disclaimer… this is not a preview guide for every single show coming out.. just the ones that have personally interested me. If you want to see everything that is coming out, you can take a visit to http://www.anichart.net and check out all the shows, OVAs, and movies that will be premiering in July.
With that being said, I’m looking to pick up six shows this season. Lately I’ve only been picking up two or three shows so this is kind of a lot, however, some may end up getting dropped if they don’t interest me, but God help me if they all end up being good! Enough with the rabble! Let’s look at the shows I’m picking up.
Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku
First off, the name grabbed my attention and when I read the description, but it turned out to be nothing like what I envisioned it to be based off of the title. Be that as it may, this one seems a bit like Arslan Senki, which I just absolutely adore right now, except that this one is set way way WAY into the future. In the year 3015, we are treated to war between two countries that are fighting for complete and total dominance and in the middle of the conflict is a tiny island nation looking to regain its independence. So it seems as if we have another political war anime on our hands which I could really dig, but then I saw the promo poster for it and saw the shounen art style… especially when it came to the girl with the cat ears.
I almost facepalmed because it had an epic premise, but felt that it could potentially be filled with shounen tropes left and right, but before I almost gave up and allowed the darkness of shounen anime swallow me whole, I saw that one shining ray of light: Gen Urobochi. The mastermind behind Puella Magi Madoka Magica and the writer behind Fate/Zero is attached to this project… along with Ryohgo Narita from Durarara!! My interest was piqued once again and those names alone are enough for me to give this a fair chance!
Charlotte
There is a bit of a weird premise to this show as it centers around special abilities that boys and girls gain at the time of puberty. This is a typical middle-school anime where everyone has unique powers and abilities. It even has the mysterious girl who will expose the very fate of the special power-users! If you’ve seen it before, you’re probably not going to miss anything new and special with this one, however, just like with Chaos Dragon, there was one name attached to this that gave me hope: Jun Maeda. He only helped create Air, Clannad, Little Busters, Rewrite, Angel Beats, and Red Data Girl… okay, forget about that last one… Red Data Girl was boring as all hell, but Maeda has (mostly) never steered me wrong and I’m expecting some good things out of him with Charlotte.
Durarara!!x2 Ten
I’m a huge Durarara!! Fan. I LOVED the first season and now the second season is in full swing. Instead of making it one long season, they’re breaking it up into three parts. This is the second part. The first was Durarara!!x2 Shou and the third part will be Durarara!!x2 Ketsu. Nothing more needs to be said other than if you haven’t seen this series then you are seriously missing out.
God Eater
This is an adaptation of Bandai Namco’s PSP game of the same name. I never played the game (hell, I have never even heard of it), but the description sounded pretty interesting. It’s set in the year 2071 and the world has been mostly destroyed by mysterious monsters called the Aragami. Naturally, where there is a threat such as this, an organization has been created to exterminate them. This organization is known as the God Eaters. They’ve got guns that are also swords… sounds good to me.
I had to do a double take when I saw the poster for it. At a quick glance, it looked a lot like Attack on Titan. It looked like Eren was front and center with Mikasa in the foreground and off screen to the right. It is definitely giving off the big budget anime feel thanks to the promo poster and that alone makes this show look quite epic. Ufotable is attached as the studio developing this and anyone who has seen Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works can tell you just how gorgeous this anime is going to look. Whether or not the story holds up the expectations remains to be seen.
Non Non Biyori Repeat
The second season to Non Non Biyori. This was probably one of the cutest slice of life animes I have seen in a long long time. There’s no major cliffhangers or anything in this show. It’s simply a show you can sit back, relax, watch, and enjoy the time you spend with it. If you haven’t seen the first season, it’s about a class of mixed-age students in a VERY small country town who band together and become friends. One day a transfer student from the city joins them and tries to fit in and.. well.. that’s the show.
The first season was very episodic with only bits and pieces carrying over onto the next episode. There are some humorous moments and some moments that will make you tear up. If you want a break from the norm… give this show a try.. you might actually like it.
Working!!!
Not only is it last alphabetically on my list, but I saved the best for last. This is the third season of the Working! anime (also called Wagnaria here in the U.S.) If you’re seen the moving Waiting then just imagine that in an anime setting. If you’ve seen neither, then this is a slice of live comedy about a Dennys-styled restaurant where the crew has their own personalities and unique interactions with each other ranging from Poplar who hates being small, to Inami who has androphobia, to the manager who is in the mafia, to Yamada who lives in the restaurant’s attic and then some. Takanashi is the only normal one there… until you discover he finds all small things cute and is obsessed with them.
Whether it’s serving customers, doing daily tasks, or trying to bail one of the members out of trouble, Working has been one of the best comedic animes I’ve seen in a long time. The first two seasons were absolutely amazing and I cannot wait for the third. If you’re wondering, I didn’t put three exclamation points because I’m excited about, even though I am, that’s how the show depicts their seasons. Season one was called Working! Season two was called Working’!! and season three is Working!!! No idea why season two added the apostrophe, but meh… I’m here to watch it.. not question it.
In addition to all of the aforementioned anime, I will also continue to watch the final arc of World Trigger, the second half of Arslan Senki and I will continue to watch Fairy Tail and Naruto Shippuuden, which brings my potential count of 10 shows next season.
Of course when the season ends, I will have reviews of Assassination Classroom and Plastic Memories on tap. I’m sort of watching, but not watching Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works mainly because I own the original on DVD and it’s just prettier graphics as they’re re-telling the entire story. It’s the same way I felt when the Break Blade anime came out that re-told the six movies in a television format.. Seen it… Loved it… don’t want to watch it again, but I’m downloading the show anyway! I will also do another column a couple of weeks into the summer anime season to give you guys my initial thoughts so be on the lookout for that as well!
So what are you guys watching next season? Are you watching anything that I am? Is there something that’s got you hyped that you feel I should be giving my attention to? If so, drop me a line over at joshpiedra@theouterhaven.net and let me know! Also, if you feel so inclined, follow me on Twitter @PulseIn.
Until next time,
Ja ne!
