Expectations: Summer 2013 Anime

I can't believe it's summer already. Get ready for beach vacations, lounging by the fan, and shitty rom-com series.

Here are the usual colors:
ExtraCareful - Blastoise
OboeOtaku - Charizard

To be honest with you, this upcoming season seems more stale than ever. I hate to be critical, but until a series comes up that has a true mix of good production quality, a riveting plot/character interactions, and realistic originality, I cannot bear to watch the same brain-cell-killing series such as Yuyushiki and Aiura that have plagued this Spring 2013 season. I hope some of these series go beyond my expectations, as one or two regularly do each season, but as usual, quantity seems to override quality.

^ What he said. I generally start off the season following 7 or so series which ends up being whittled down to about 3 by the end. I will say though that Yuyushiki and Aiura were highly amusing in their own right

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou (7/1/13)

Seems like a cross between Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge and Petit Petit Tantan Petit Tantan. That is to say, girl X scissors X dog.

Seems like a shitty comedy series. Don't take my word to seriously though. I thought Hataraku Maou-sama  would be shitty, but I ended up loving it. I'll prolly try 1-2 episodes, see if I like the style of humor, then go from there.

I prefer not to watch series that has more scissors than it needs to.

Recorder and Randsell Mi (7/1/13) [Season 2]

Never saw season 1, never plan to. This looked like trash and prolly is.

Also, EC, why do you not spell it "randoseru?"

Because randsell is the correct spelling. Regardless of how it's spelled, it's trash.

Brothers Conflict (7/2/13) [Season 2]

This is like reverse Baby Princess 3D.

One girl. 12 boys.

LET THE GAUNTLET BEGIN

^This.

Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji (7/2/13)

Hokuto no Ken, but I believe the author will make sure that this series is more historically accurate by making sure that the villain's head explodes BEFORE the phrase "you are already dead" has been uttered.

This looks bad.

Senyuu. Dai 2 Ki (7/2/13) [Season 2]

More of Shimono Hiro's standard character (that is, the helpless straight man) getting it in the ass for 12 episodes.

Pass.

Tamayura - More Aggressive (7/3/13) [Season 2]

That's a lulzy way to mark the 2nd season. "More aggressive?" Ah, if only this were a rom-com...maybe we'd see a male MC with some balls.

Haven't seen season 1 though, so I won't be seeing this anytime soon. Get your advice from EC. I think it looks decent though (unless you aren't a fan of SoL, in which case you'll likely think it's shitty).

The more you've seen of this series, the more amusing you'll find this title.

More aggressive isn't a really high standard when the first season was a series that knocked you out faster than a hospital surgeon in the ER.

Now with 20% less sleep.

Free! (7/3/13)

ExtraCareful and I had a fairly lengthy discussion about this a few weeks back. I'll give the bare bones of it, then you can read EC's in depth analysis a bit further down.

KyoAni will be KyoAni. Production qualities will be good no matter what they do, so it should be watchable at the very least. The PV shows that graphics at least will not leave much else to be desired. Music should also be decent; I can't remember KyoAni ever really pulling out a series where I didn't approve of either the OP or the ED (except for Lucky Star, but that's because they just trolled every ending. OP was dumb though). But that's no guarantee of course. We'll see how well an all male singing cast resonates with me...

...am I leaving something out? I don't think so. Unless you count the overbearing presence of MAN in this series. 

Which most people are counting, after that one PV KyoAni released.

And this isn't like Sakigake!! Otokojuku or Hokuto no Ken type MAN. This is slim smexy males in tight swimming suits type MAN. Which, to most male viewers, is the wrong type of MAN.

It's probably going to be ok though. EC and I both agreed that it wasn't likely that KyoAni was gonna randomly pull out some Yaoi crap from the pits of hell (yea, fuck all the fujoshis fawning over the PV in the comments sections of videos...). As long as they keep everything...reasonably straight...this will probably turn out just fine. SoL + sports is something I think KyoAni can handle (though I still wonder why they're doing this).

OboeOtaku has excellently phrased our discussion and the viewpoints we came to. Nothing much to add, except I also think that for the most part, KyoAni has done decently with the slice-of-life plotlines it has adapted/written the last couple of seasons. The simple magic is still there, but nice effects and moments of silence really can't hold up monotonous plots. This is what happened with the second part of Tamako Market, and to be quite honest, in retrospect it was a nondescript series. I will give KyoAni props for being unique (even if they are a large studio), but I will grade it the same as any other series. If the studio disappoints me for a third season in a row...

Love Lab (7/4/13)

I was expecting science lab sex or something, but yuri is fine too.

Meh. Derp yuri series that probably won't be fan-subbed. Also has ok (but not noteworthy) voice actors.

Danganronpa Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation (7/4/13)

"The school is presided over by a bear called Monokuma"

That's all I need, I'm starting this shit. 'Cept not really, because I'm not a huge fan of the whole "stuff X number of students into a classroom and watch them be angsty and try to kill each other" shit.

If you like the premise, I actually highly suggest that you wait for the game original's English fan translation to complete and then playing the game instead of watching a poorly made stereotypical "deathmatch" scenario.

Rozen Maiden (7/4/13) [Season 2]

Not this bullshit again. I thought it died years ago.

But then again, I thought Kiss x Sis died a while ago too, but Feel studios STILL releases OVAs for it from time to time.

^This man phrased it wonderfully.

Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3 (7/4/13)

See manga original here. Yet another bland "schoolgirls in nonsensical club" series.

Too many of these.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear G (7/4/13) [Season 2]

Because we definitely don't have enough series involving girls wearing skimpy mecha suits or singing as if their music teacher was deaf.

And now we get a sequel.

After the main character came back from the dead, à la Batman from the last movie, Dark Knight Rises. 

Fuck all.

Never looked into this, and after talking with EC, prolly never will.

Servant x Service (7/4/13)

Will probably be something boring, give us a few inaccurate generalizations about Japanese workplaces, blah blah blah Japanese culture, blah blah blah 5 minutes, blah blah blah boring and terribly sung OP/ED.

Whee 5 minute fodder.

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku (7/4/13)

Brainless SoL. My favorite.

Should be better than Yuyushiki at any rate, right?

...right?

I knew the designs looked familiar. Made by Nomad studios, the people behind Kampfer.

Yep.

But I mean really...the girl is part of an active "go-home club"? They are actually scraping the barrel for ideas here. At this rate, I'm not going to be surprised at all if an anime series based on a club for appreciation of rough anal sex or something was in the works. 

Fucking Japan, man.

Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS (7/5/13) [Season 2]

It's pretty funny how the resident lolicon of the blogger crew hasn't really taken a look at this series yet. And probably won't for a while still.

The concept and the series wasn't actually that bad for a while, and then the childhood friend (who's actually at the RIGHT AGE) gets friendzoned while the main character gets swarmed by a basketball team of lolis.

I don't even.

Kin-iro Mosaic (7/6/13)

Something tells me this will probably be another 3-5 minute series. But you know what? I don't care.

Because I SEE LOLIS AWWWW YES.

Why am I choosing this over Ro-Kyu-Bu? Beats me. Don't try to understand a lolicon.


I think to Japanese manga artists, the Western/Occidental world is comprised of England, America, Hawaii, arctic Russia, Germany, and wherever it is black people come from that's not America.

Also America is forever under the presidency of a black man. Bush never existed.

Monogatari Series Second Season (7/6/13) [Season 4]

EC will likely shit all over this, based on his opinions on Nisemonogatari and Nekomonogatari (Kuro). I'm looking forward to it though. The lack of SHAFT last season made things rather dull.

...The soundtrack had better be better than Nisemonogatari though. The only worthwhile thing i got out of it was the Platinium Disco x Ikuzo crossover, which matched up hilariously well. But that's like saying the only worthwhile part of a soundtrack was like seeing Norio Wakamoto doing a cover of one of the songs (which, manly and awesome as it is, means the soundtrack is bad).

To be quite honest, I'm not looking forward to another Shafting. I know that this is essentially just going to be a straight read of the light novel original portion of the conclusions of the second Hanekawa arc and the entirety of the second Nadeko arc. It's going to get dragged out, but I sure hope it doesn't. I really wish that Nisio Isin will personally help develop the animation so that it does become as much of a classic as Bakemonogatari.

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (7/6/13)

This is one of those series that I followed on Batoto but never actually read. If an adaptation's coming out, I suppose I'd better at least give it a look.

Same. The series seems very unique, and I do want to try it out for a pace. Anything for a change.

Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyou (7/6/13)

My destiny > your destiny

Seems bad.

Looks crappy. However, I feel like trying it out...bad idea as it seems.

Fantasista Doll (7/6/13)

Coming soon to a Toys "R" Us near you.

Too many colors. 

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya (7/6/13)

And thus, to avoid further tragedies, we get.....this.

It looks fantastic. Silver Link, you had better not fuck with the seiyuus like you did with Kokoro Connect, you hear me? I don't want to see another series being spurned because of your pigheadedness. 

Would rather watch this over Puella Magi Madoka Magica any day.

More Type-Moon. Not gonna complain. I wish Type-Moon would try making another universe though.

Genshiken: Second Season (7/6/13) [Season 3]

I like this series, I really do. Granted, I only read about 20-30 chapters of it, but I really liked it. I'll probably won't be watching this anytime soon though. I prioritize the manga over the anime...and based on how things have been going so far, I prolly won't get back to it any time soon. I encourage you all to try the manga though, it was rather amusing.

Why did I stop at 20-30 chapters?

One, I had homework to do and it was like 3 AM. Two, it broke my worldview that hardcore otakus would be sexing it up with pretty girls. And no, this does not count as a spoiler at all.

Also, this is actually the 3rd "season." I love Japan's naming schemes.

Genshiken has been a long-running, popular series. I haven't read it myself, but it should be a decent read. Take OboeOtaku and my words on the matter and try some chapters.

Uchouten Kazoku (7/7/13)

"In Kyoto, there are three kinds of residents: humans, raccoon dogs, and tengu. Shimogamo Yasaburou is the third son of the Shimogamo raccoon dog family. His father, Souichirou, had been the head of Kyoto raccoon dog community until he was eaten by the human members of "Friday Club". While taking care of old tengu, fighting with other raccoon dogs, and playing with a psychic human girl, Yasaburou approaches the truth of his father's death."

Uh...wait what?

This sounds random as fuck. It also has Milktub doing the theme songs, which means this is probably gonna feel trollish.

I thought it said "Fight Club" until I realized it was "Friday". Uhm...yeah. Not watching it.

Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist (7/7/13)

Nice premise, seems like a solid supernatural manga original to offset the shit coming this season. Will probably watch/read.

No comment to be honest. I'll leave EC to try this initially, then go from there.

Blood Lad (7/7/13)

Also a supernatural, but with a more ecchi bent from what I can read of the synopsis. It doesn't seem like it would make a good adaptation, but the manga itself sounds like a standard rom-com/fantasy read. Read the original.

Sounds decent enough.

High School DxD New (7/7/13) [Season 2]

Fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Yooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Baka-Tsuki translators, get your dicks out of the boobie girls and translate Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko for a change. Or My Maid is a Formless Entity.

Will only cover Kiba's arc from what I saw in the PV. Not worthwhile, even if you are a fan. Read the translated novels on Baka-Tsuki. They're quite amusing.

Teekyuu 2 (7/7/13) [Season 2]

This bullshit again...

It didn't die? Impressive.

Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (7/7/13) [Season 2]

I'm more of a cat person.

Sigh...

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui! (7/8/13)

LOL THIS SERIES.

The MC of this series is the most pitiful excuse for a human being you will ever see. The average reader will probably facepalm and groan in exasperation at least 6-7 times per chapter. I had to try 3 different times to try and get up to date on this series, because my head could not handle looking at Kuroki Tomoko's ungodly ineptitude at dealing with anyone not in a computer screen. The anime will probably be worse, since you can't really skim through episodes the way you do chapters of a manga.

That being said, it's still pretty funny series (funny because of the amazing derps), and it's fairly well known by now as well. I'd say give it a shot to see if your head can handle 1 episode a week.

The man above me explains it better than I do. I actually could not get through the first chapter because of the amount of awkwardness. I leave this series in your hands.

World God Only Knows: Goddesses Arc (7/8/13) [Season 3]

What, more? Is this like some kind of Hayate no Gotoku? Are we going to get a Cuties arc of this too? 

This shit needs to stop. There is no fucking way on God's green Earth that any anime adaptation, even with 26 episodes, will be able to cover the entirety of the goddesses arc. Not when the previous two seasons failed to lead into it because they didn't prepare ahead. Not when the only exposition has been two random OVAs that no casual viewer probably ever saw.

Another season. Another goddamn season.

I hate myself.

Silver Spoon (7/11/13)

Apparently it's a pretty good series. I don't actually know much about the plot, but I think the female artist is the same that created Fullmetal Alchemist...so that's some assurance, at least.

Same person who did FMA? I have to check this out.

Chou Jigen Game Neptune The Animation (7/12/13)

I have no idea of what this series is about aside from the fact that H images of it pop up every so often on Gelbooru. Which, to be honest, is the same as saying I know nothing about it at all, because H images of everything pop up every so often on Gelbooru.

Sci-fi visual novel/RPG. I hope it's not bad, but I always have a bad feeling when it comes to unknown visual novels being adapted. I will watch with much reservation.

Gatchaman Crowds (7/12/13)

Space ninja superheroes.

Pass.

'Sup Japan.

Futari wa Milky Holmes (7/13/13) [Season 3]

Not another one...whenever I see this or another Precure pop up, I go outside and throw rocks at squirrels.

Milky Holmes is probably one of those series that you either hate or love for the lulz.

I dunno, might watch it sometime. Try it out if you're a fan of the franchise.

Kimi no Iru Machi (7/13/13)

One of the longer-running, "serious" shounen series on the block, Kimi no Iru Machi brings a harsher, more realistic focus on the relationships that form (and perhaps break) when the male lead happens to go willy-nilly. It seems to be a good series, but it does drag out things for quite a bit. Try it out - I'll keep this adaptation on the shelf for a rainy day.

Heard about this series a lot, never looked into it. Probably will be a while before I do, so listen to EC on this.

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Total: 35 series

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Pitiful. This spring season was pitiful. The only series I bothered to turn my brain on for was Chihayafuru 2 and Nyaruko-san season two. Shingeki was probably okay, but I didn't bother watching it. Aiura and Yuyushiki attempted to melt my brain cells. Maou-sama, Photo Kano, and Hentai Ouji were nothing more than "cutesy". Oreimo and Railgun sequels weren't even worth watching (because fuck both of those tiresome franchises). LoveCome accidentally fell into the same kinds of habits that standard rom-coms fall for, even as it pretended to "parody" such series. Even Suisei no Gargantia failed to impress, as the best an unleashed Urobuchi and Production I.G. studios could come up with was a futuristic culture gap, a Mars of Destruction-style "we are the actual humans" gimmick, and the standard Machiavellian rule-by-fear scenario. How...underwhelming.

Is it so wrong to ask for better series? Is it so wrong to ask for fun series, with lots of references, slapstick, fanservice, and other forms of humor, while also boasting a solid audiovisual department? Am I asking too much when I say that I want an action series that is both realistic in how the world functions and also how the characters function with each other, both in the world and as regular people? Should I just enjoy the fact that I do have my LoveComes and my HenNekos in the world?

No. There are plenty of such exemplary series, with great creativity, depth, coherency/pacing, interactions, graphics, soundtrack, plot, and yet still contains a simplicity that can touch the heart and leave one in awe. I maintain high expectations when I watch anime, as I do when I absorb any piece of literature. I feel that as a reader, I have the right to watch/read and be entertained by unique and fascinating series. Not just for myself, but for the advancement of the industry and for viewers in general.

After all, 5-10 years down the line, when we're all playing hyper-realistic games and watching the depictions of our comic book heroes in a down-to-earth format, should we still be reading the same rom-com manga series with a tsundere heroine?

Our extra careful friend summed it up well. The season was, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory. I started out keeping up with about 7 series, but that ended up dropping down to a mere 3 by the time this post was started.

Personally, I didn't see too much wrong with Gargantia. EC phrases things very critically, but it wasn't a bad series by any means. It was just not as crazy and epic as we'd come to expect of our Urobutcher friend. Shingeki no Kyojin was a good read (although the later chapters have gotten...a bit stale and somewhat dissatisfying), and the anime has decent graphics. However, the pacing seemed to be a tad slow to me, so I felt little motivation to watch past episode 5 due to time constraints. It didn't help that I was a bit annoyed at 1) the fact that it's taking them 2-3 months to release the single for the OP and 2) that Youtube is now flooded with mediocre, half baked AMVs/MADs featuring the OP and [insert series, commercial, cooking instructions, or every and any thing in between here] with people going HERP DERP NEW GUILE'S THEME, GOES WITH ANYTHING. I'll probably rant on this more in another post.

Yuyushiki and Aiura did indeed kill brain cells by the dozen. But they were still both enjoyable series, if only because you could laugh at how bad/nonsensical things were. I might elaborate on this too later. If I'm not lazy.

Maou-sama was probably my favorite series of the season. It has a very fast paced style of humor, slapping things down on the cutting board faster than you can cut it sometimes. It wasn't miraculously creative or deep, but it was much better than what I had expected it to be, and it ended up being my most anticipated series every week. This might be a sign of how I'm being forced to lower my standards a little.

Keep your fingers crossed. The drought of exemplary series seems to be continuing. I'm hoping that Free! and Monogatari end up being good...don't disappoint me, KyoAni, Shaft.