Summer is about to begin and with that comes a whole new wave of anime to sift through. And with a new shows on the horizon, I want to share which ones interest or excite me the most so here’s a new Season Preview. On a purely personal level, I’m pretty excited to get back into the full swing of anime blogging. For one, the first anime season I covered was the summer of last year and that was a ton of fun. And two, I really could use a reset button on the aniblogging side of things since Spring 2018 ended up being a no-go for me (thanks a lot, personal life) and I decided to just blog whatever for May and June. Tryouts may be a hectic period of the anime season but damn it, I missed it so here’s hoping Summer 2018 will be that soft reboot I need.
So with all that said, let’s take a look at the Summer 2018 lineup!
Island
| Premieres: July 1 at 22:00 JST | Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi |
| Studio: feel. | Source: Visual Novel |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll & Funimation | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Island takes place on, well, an island called Urashima which lies far away from the Japanese mainland and is currently suffering a state of decline. At the center of the story are the heiresses of the island’s three major families and a time traveler (yeah, that last part kind of lost me). The visual novel seems to be well-received and studio feel. has become a studio worth keeping an eye on so I’ll give this anime a shot.
Sunohara-sou no Kanrinrin-san
(Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou)
| Premieres: July 5 at 21:00 JST | Genre: Comedy, Harem(?), Slice of Life |
| Studio: Silver Link | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: N/A | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Aki Shiina is a young boy who likes a girl moving out to the big city for middle school but oh snap! The dorm is full of girls older than him! Expect some wild hijinks to ensue! And judging from the PV, some fanservice to boot (that caretaker…). I joke but I was stunned by the surrogate mother and son relationship on display in the trailer. Who knows, maybe it’ll be like Maid Dragon where the fanservice just so happens to occupy an otherwise wholesome show.
Banana Fish
| Premieres: July 6 at 0:55 JST | Genre: Action, Boys’ Love, Shoujo |
| Studio: MAPPA | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: Amazon | Hype Level: High – Most Anticipated |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
I confess to not reading the Banana Fish manga but I know that it’s a very well-liked crime manga and is considered a pioneer in the boy’s love genre. Given its age (its original run started in 1985), I’m surprised that it’s getting an anime adaptation so I definitely want to check it out. If nothing else, this will be the Noitamina anime for the Summer 2018. That channel block’s been enjoying pretty solid picks for this year so here’s hoping the streak can continue with Banana Fish.
Satsuriku no Tenshi
(Angels of Death)
| Premieres: July 6 at 20:30 JST | Genre: Adventure, Horror, Thriller |
| Studio: J.C. Staff | Source: Video Game |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll & Funimation | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
This horror game turned manga turned anime series follows a young girl named Rachel who finds herself in trapped in a mysterious building with no memories of her past. While wandering, she runs into a strange, bandaged man named Zack who wields a scythe. It looks strange to me but both the game and the manga has gotten positive reviews so I’ll keep an eye on the anime.
Harukana Receive
| Premieres: July 6 at 21:00 JST | Genre: CGCT, Slice of Life, Sports |
| Studio: C2C | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll & Funimation | Hype Level: Surprise Me |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
I like watching at least one CGDCT anime every season (I call it my Obligatory CGDCT Anime) though like with Spring, I find find myself defaulting to the only one that looks even remotely interesting again. I imagine the volleyball theme of this show will mean there’ll be a lot of fanservice but at least the sport is atypical for the show (the only other volleyball anime I can think of is Haikyu!!). I would like to see the mini golden age this genre had in Summer 2017 to Winter 2018 make return but I’ll take what I can get.
Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro
(Chio’s School Road)
| Premieres: July 6 at 22:00 JST | Genre: Comedy, Seinen |
| Studio: Diomedea | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll & Funimation | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
This anime is apparently about a girl trying to walk to school but judging from the trailer, it looks like this will be one of those really surreal comedy anime. If you look up the Japanese trailer (which I originally linked), it looks even weirder. To be honest, the premise strikes to me as something that would be funny for just an episode or two but I hope this show will prove me wrong.
Hataraku Saibou
(Cells at Work!)
| Premieres: July 8 at 0:00 JST | Genre: Comedy, Shounen |
| Studio: David Production | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Think Osmosis Jones but as an anime. Cells at Work personifies the cells in our bodies as everyday working class citizens. It’s a charming enough premise and there are a ton of different cells that could make personifying them work. I think what will make or break the show though is how individualize its cast of characters are, even if they are members of the same cell type.
Phantom in the Twilight
| Premieres: July 10 at 0:30 JST | Genre: Fantasy, Slice of Life |
| Studio: LIDEN FILMS | Source: Original |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Phantom in the Twilight is an original property so its premise of “girl meets a bunch of handsome men” is the best I can make out of the show. It apparently has a supernatural edge to it though and it’s rare to see anime, let alone one co-produced with a Chinese company, set outside of Japan so I’ll give it a try.
Sirius the Jaeger
| Premieres: July 12 at 23:00 JST | Genre: Action, Historical, Supernatural |
| Studio: Original | Source: P.A. Works |
| Streaming: Netflix | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Another original property so again, not much to go off of apart from it being a monster thriller of sorts set in 1930s Tokyo. It has P.A. Works as the studio and Masashiro Ando (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) as the director so I’m interested in this show in terms of the talent behind it.
High Score Girl
| Premieres: July 14 at 0:30 JST | Genre: Comedy, Romance, Seinen |
| Studio: J.C. Staff | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: Netflix | Hype Level: High |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Wow, High Score Girl finally got its anime adaptation? I could’ve sworn this was greenlit ages ago and after checking, the announcement dates back to 2013. Oh well, the anime is happening so I imagine fans are happy. I’ve yet to read the manga so I’m hoping the anime will explain why this video game themed boy vs. girl story has garnered a cult following.
Shingeki no Kyojin (Season 3)
(Attack on Titan (Season 3))
| Premieres: July 23 at 0:35 JST | Genre: Action, Fantasy, Shounen |
| Studio: Wit Studio | Source: Manga |
| Streaming: Crunchyroll & Funimation | Hype Level: Mild |
| External Links: Official Website | Twitter | ANN | MyAnimeList | Wikipedia | |
Attack on Titan is in a bit of an odd spot since Season 2 neither reached the hype or sales that people were expecting. Nevertheless, it’s still a popular series and give the production committee credit, they’ve learned their lesson about when to appropriately drop a new season. I don’t really know if I’m that excited for Season 3. Personally, Season 2 took a step backwards with some of its directorial choices and need to fill its story with mysteries. Still, I like it enough in terms of entertainment value and given its popularity, I don’t know if I want to miss out on it anyway.
Short Anime:
- One Room (Season 2) | July 3 – I can’t believe One Room was popular and successful enough to warrant a second season and I’m one of those people who didn’t exactly hate it. I only have this anime on the radar since I’m curious how they could possibly make more (apparently, there’s a new cast). One
- Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 2 | July 9 – The first season of this show was one of the better and funnier short anime of 2017 so I’m happy that it’s getting a second season.
OVAs:
- Violet Evergarden | July 4 – An extra, unaired episode for what is currently one of my favorite anime of the year. Since another project got greenlit, I doubt this is the last we’ll see of Violet Evergarden. I’ll definitely be covering this for the blog.
- Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san | July 10 – Given the popularity of the manga, I doubt this OVA will be the last we’ll see of animated Takagi-san and her glorious trolling. I didn’t covered the show because of time so I’ll have to review that first before getting around to this extra episode.
- Laid-Back Camp | July 25 – The last of three specials (the first two of which I also need to watch). I really want a second season of this but I’ll take what I can get. Now, one has to wonder if these specials will be when everyone aside from Rin finally has money to burn.
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Xenodude's Scribbles 
Nice, thanks for sharing these! I’ll probably watch a handful of shows, but not a lot of shows really popped out to me as being super awesome. Still, gonna try to stay optimistic. 🙂 happy otakuing.
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