Summer 2016 Anime Season: First Impressions

Summer Seasons First Impressions 2016

As always, for a better look at the summer list go here.

Its time again for my first impressions list of the anime of the season. This season we have the return of my favorite idols, a ton of great sports anime, and even some great food anime. Let’s not waste anime time and get right to it. These are my first impressions of the 2016 summer anime season.

Fukigen no Mononokean- A young man just entering high school finds a strange creature only he can see. It is a white puffball that is slowly draining the life from him, forcing him to spend his early high school days in the infirmary. He laments his misfortune until he finds a poster for someone who can exorcize the strange monster from him. He finds someone his own age who can see the yokai and who also sees them as not monsters, but just creatures and people who need help. The main character also realizes this though the exorcism, even apologizing to the puffball. And then he goes into debt to the exorcist and is forced to work with him. The show is all about the two guys spending time with monsters and spirits and helping them as best they can, the experienced one who know the work that is needed to be done and the naive teen who learns to love and respect these creatures. Honestly, the worst thing I can say about this show is that it’s harmless. It is a nice show that doesn’t look like it will have too much of a bigger plot. But it doesn’t really need a bigger plot. I enjoy watching the different personalities of the main characters interact with one another while they try to solve the problems of the week. I enjoy this show, and look forward to more of misunderstood yokai in the future.

Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara- The second season of Food Wars starts with some of my favorite food battles. This is really when the series starts picking up for me. Each part of the Autumn Election tournament is really fun and shows some great dishes. It is also the building blocks for the character arcs of many of the characters involved. Yukihara’s especially will be very fun to watch as it goes. Also this is where they start cutting down on the fan service. It is still there, but they start focusing on the cooking and the story now and less on the titillation. I do wonder where the season will end. The opening seems to imply that it will go to a part in the manga where the characters have to work at restaurants to gain experience. It is a good little arc and they could end the show there, but after that the story of the series kicks into overdrive and there is no real place to pause it. No matter what I am excited for this show and for more of this series.

Finally I have the anime version of this.

Love Live! Sunshine!!- It turns out I was woefully uniformed about this series. I thought it had something to do with the next generation of Idols in the same school after Muse broke up. It would be the younger siblings of the characters coming around and singing and making a new band. But instead it is an entire new set of characters in an entirely new school starting from nothing. In a sense this makes it more interesting. We get to see the story of Muse from people who have them as a model for what to do. We follow a second year high school student, like the first series, who isn’t really passionate about anything until she sees the Muse concert and falls in love with the idea of being a school idol. She starts putting all her work into it, but of course the student council president won’t allow the club to be formed, partially because the club doesn’t have enough members at first and partially because the student council president is a huge school idol fan, a huge Muse fan, and doesn’t want this group disparaging there good name. Like the original show it will be an idol group made up of 9 girls of all different personalities. The music is about the same, but that just means it’s enjoyable. I will probably always love Love Live, and this show just continues my love of the franchise. It is a fun series that scratches my itch for musical anime.

Days- It is the first day of high school for a young man and already he makes a friend, a tall blond dude who needs one more person for a soccer game he is playing later.  While the main character sucks at soccer, he is slow and clumsy and awkward, he keeps trying and runs harder than anyone else on the pitch, even scoring a goal. The two join their high school soccer team and both in their own way become important to the team. We know that the main character will eventually become someone who leads the team, and while he doesn’t have the skills now he unintentionally is already inspiring people. This is a very fun sports anime. The whole vibe of the show is about someone who starts from nothing but will lead to greatness. The main character is a cry baby but has a ton of heart, and wants to help his friends by doing anything he can. He inspires those around him to play harder and be the best they can, and it is amazing to watch. At some point in the second episode the captain of the team declares that the main character, by his third year, will be the next man to lead this team. This is something I want to see, and can’t wait to see. This is a great sports anime that I hope will be one of the big ones.

Find the idol girl

Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan- this is a strange micro series about a kid with a million psychic powers and all the wacky and comic problems that come with it. I honestly didn’t know this show was going to be a micro series when I first heard about it, but the short time leads to some really well done comedy. The one thing I know I didn’t expect was that they release episodes almost every other day. At time of writing 10 episodes are out and I think I have the 11^th queued up to watch later. This is honestly insane, but because each episode is so short it isn’t over whelming. You should definitely check out this wacky show.

Bananya- This is a micro series about banana cats. It is strange but adorable. That is basically all I can say about it. Banana cats.

This is a banana cat. No words are needed.

New Game!- A girl just out of high school gets her dream job of working on character design on a new video game. We watch as she works with strange new coworkers, learns all about living in the working world, and works under the woman who inspired her to go into this field of work to begin with. This is a super adorable show. At its core it’s a show about moe girls doing stuff, but instead they are adults and have adult concerns. It adds something new to the show that I really enjoy. Watching them go out drinking is satisfying because that is what adults do. The closest comparison is Shirobako, both shows being about adults working in a creative field in some way shape or form. The difference is that while Shirobako was more about the loss and finding of dreams and had more lofty goals, New Game is more slice of life. That is in no way an indictment to the series mind you, because I am really enjoying it. It is an adorable little show. The main character is nervous but tries her hardest, and the rest of the cast are quirky but not overly done so. I really like this show, and hope it stays good.

Show By Rock!! Short!!- Show By Rock was the strange but hilarious music anime that I loved from a few seasons ago. Now they have a micro-series about the characters. So far it is basically just shorts involving the different bands that littered the series, but for me it works really well. It is a funny show that lets me watch more of characters I love. If you liked the first series you should check this one out.

Love at first panty shot. But seriously this show is great.

Anaama to Inazuma- A single father and high school teacher tries his best to provide for his kindergarten aged daughter. But after the death of his wife he is struggling. His daughter misses the home cooked meals, and he has no experience cooking, or at least no good experiences. At a cherry blossom viewing event though they meet a woman who invites her to her family restaurant. He is hesitant to go, but when he finds his daughter wanting real cooked food he finds the restaurant in order to provide for her, and there learns that the woman he met is one of his students. Together they make a sort of a deal. They will help each other cook, she has a fear of knives, and make delicious food for his daughter. This is an incredibly sweet and cute show. The daughter is adorable and acts like a realistic child. The food all looks delicious and actually able to be cooked. I know I want to try some of the recipes that the show provides. There is something earnest and kind about this show, and I am really enjoying it.

Fundanshi Koukou Seikatsu- A micro series about a guy who loves boys love and yaoi manga and anime. He is a fundanshi, the male version of a fujioshi. But even though he likes gay stuff he is very far in the closet and refuses to admit he is a little gay. On the one hand this show can be seen as a commentary on how Japan views homosexuality, as something to be fetishized but still not socially accepted and seen as something strange and other. On the other hand it is a dumb show about a guy who likes gay anime, so it talks to me on a deep level. As dumb as this show is I am really enjoying it and know I will keep watching it.

These threes relationship is really great.

Cheer Danshi!!- A shy college guy who does judo is feeling lost. He doesn’t want to do judo anymore, despite being from a family who own a dojo, but he also doesn’t know what he wants to do. That is until his best friend grabs his hand and drags him into the world of cheerleading. It is the best friends dream to make a cheerleading group, and to make it different he will make it an all-male cheerleading group. While at first it is just the two of them, slowly but surely they will get enough people to compete at tournaments while they learn to cheer others on. I consider this the second of the three sports anime this season, and it is really great. What sets this show apart isn’t its non-traditional sport, but instead its age group for the main characters, everyone being college students. Ageing up the characters even a little bit really changes the dynamics of everything. It is no longer just about living ones youth to the fullest, though that is there, but more about thinking to the future, not in a career sense but more in a spiritual sense. What sort of person do you want to be in the future? I think this really resonates with me. All the characters in this show are great so far, each one being very interesting and dynamic. I hope they are able to keep that up when there are over 10 characters. But so far the show has been the journey of a bunch of guys wanting to cheerlead, and it has been a very fun journey. I look forward to more cheerleading. Go, Fight, Win!

Handa-kun- This might be my greatest disappointment of the season. I was so excited for this show. This show should be about the main character from Barakamon during his high school years. Instead the first half of the show was about four random guys who are the Handa Squad complaining about how there is a new anime and they had no impute about it. It was a very meta thing that did not fit the world that Barakamon had created. And that was only the first half of the show. The second half was actually about the titular character, but the only thing that fits the original show is the main character himself. He is depressing and self-hating and thinks the world is out to get him. I can see Handa being like that in high school. But the problem is that the world he is in seems to indicate that he is this popular cool kid and just doesn’t know it. In the first episode he gets asked out by the most popular girl in school. He doesn’t realize that is what she is doing and thinks she is challenging him to a fight, which fits his character, but the fact that she is asking him out at all seems out of place, along with the fact that other women also like him. Handa is a lonely guy who is antisocial and grew up way too fast. People shouldn’t think he’s cool. Maybe if this show had nothing to do with Barakamon I wouldn’t be so harsh, and maybe even like it more, but the fact that it is based on such a good show really changes how I view it. I will not be keeping up with Handa-kun this summer.

GO! FIGHT! WIN!

Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!- Another bad show this summer. It is the adventures of a high school art club made up of only a few members. We mainly follow a girl and her crush, and her crush is only in love with 2d girls. His dream is to paint his perfect waifu. The girl gets angry at him for this and supposed comedy is supposed to happen. This show’s first episode was actual garbage. It was boring and not funny. I know I’m not even bothering with this show.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love! Love!- The second season of the magical boy anime is here and its greater than ever. The transformations are as fancy as ever. The monsters are as ridiculous as ever. The love is even more love then it ever was before! This season, the enemies are a pair of twins who move to the city and automatically gain a powerful following through their good looks and amazing skills. They turn people into monsters by doing an idol concert for their victim. Also the villains seem to have a strange attraction to the brother of the red Love Prince. I am interested to see why, mostly because I would love to see the brother character brought more into the story. But other than that it is basically a continuing from the last season, which is good. I really enjoy this show’s first season, and so far I am enjoying this one as well. I love the magical boy anime and I hope it stays good.

This is just always true.

Mob Psycho 100- The next big anime from the maker of One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100 follows a young man with psychic powers. He has insane powers and uses them to fight ghosts with a local exorcist. But unknown to him he has an emotional gauge that is slowly filling over time. If it ever reaches 100, it will be cataclysmic. He will possibly explode. And take the whole town with him. The show is done in One’s very specific style, one that is scratchy and at times, very basic. But he brings out a lot of emotion with his style. Every looks so interesting that just visually you can’t look away. Just from the first episode it makes me wonder about how deep the story of Mob, the main character, goes. There is a sequence that seems to imply that Mob’s situation is not the first time this have happened, that there have been others before him, or alternatively we saw where the show is going to, with a huge psychic battle that leads to Mobs explosion. Either way, I am excited for this series. If it has half the heart of One Punch Man then it will be a good show.

Battery- Our last sports anime of the season is a baseball one, trying to go for a more realistic style in its portrayal of youth Japanese sports. We follow a young man whose family have just moved in with his grandfather who lives in a small town. The boy is a young baseball player, a pitcher of course, and despite his dispassionate and rude behavior he loves baseball. On a run he meets a boy who is the same age who is a catcher, and can catch the young prodigies’ pitches. Together they want to form a battery, despite the many challenges they will have to face in front of them. The show is a much slower anime compared to other sports anime, instead of going for the build up to the big matches we are going to be focusing on a small cast and the emotional turmoil they will go through. One of the major themes seem to be along the lines of dreams and being told you can’t achieve them. The little brother of the main character wants to play baseball but is told he can’t by the main character because he is more frail and sickly. Also the mother of the catcher wants him to quit baseball, and even asks other people to tell him not to play, like the main character. So we are going to see a much more emotional fight for keeping ones dreams alive, and probably going to see someone fail at keeping their dream alive. I hope this show is able to stay relevant in the coming weeks, because I fear it will fall to the wayside compared to the other sports anime.

I will always love how normal Mob looks.

And those are my first impressions of the season. There are honestly a ton of really great shows this season. This summer is looking like a really great time, and a ton of anime for a fundanshi like me. So until next time, keep on watching. 

Got to love the Jojo references.