Perpetually behind and painfully aware of it is how I tend to live my anime lifestyle. With tons of other events going on lately it’s been easy to forget about the fact that a new anime season is almost upon us. Yikes! I’m still catching up on Spring series (and there weren’t that many I planned to watch). But, as usual, here are the list of some upcoming series that have caught my interest. As usual, the proof is in the pudding; I could be way off the mark with any of these predictions and I know there’ll be a few surprises in the mix.
Dr. Stone
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I used to be kind of a snob about shounen anime entertainment. The traits that came to mind were usually “too many episodes,” “irritating protagonists,” and “simplistic narratives.” In the ensuing years it’s become more clear that damning a demographic marker based on a few popular examples is unproductive at best. While I’ve been burned in the past by hype, I find that more often than not, stories are popular for good reasons.
I’m a fan of apocalyptic-style stories, no matter what form they may take. I especially like the various Japanese visions of humanity’s decline that I’ve seen portrayed in anime over the years. The thought of a phenomenon turning humans to stone and pressing the stop button on human progress is fascinating and horrifying, and sounds like a really interesting basis for an anime series. What would society become if it were restarted from scratch by people with knowledge of what it once was? It’s definitely an interesting question to think about.
Fire Force
Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation
Firefighters typically work to extinguish out-of-control blazes, but what about those who literally fight fire with fire? If you delve too deeply into the story here it stops making sense pretty quickly, but that’s not really what interests me about Fire Force. What’s drawn me to this series are its aesthetics, some combination of alternate-world visual creativity and unabashedly cool shounen-style animation. Ever since I saw the trailer I’ve been doing my part to ignore the somewhat silly premise and just go with it.
I think what I like the most is that there seems to be some element of witchcraft at play, which shows up in some of the character designs, as well as the humans-versus-demons set-up. The characters are uniformed like real-world firefighters (though they seem to play a little fast and loose with that as one might expect), wielding magic powers in the pursuit of demonic annihilation. There’s something so brazenly goofy about it that I can’t help but watch.
Vinland Saga
Streaming: Amazon Prime
I’ve been running a panel for many years called “Manga for Grown-Ups,” during which I talk about some of my favorite manga that I feel is aimed at older readers. Some time ago an audience member recommended that I check out Vinland Saga, which at that point was a manga of a few volumes. I tend not to take suggestion well even if it would benefit me, so I slept on the recommendation for quite a while. Now suddenly there’s an anime adaptation looming and I’m starting to realize that maybe I should have worked a little bit harder to fill in that gap.
I’m a sucker for historical tales, and especially for stories that take place in time periods that seem almost like fantasy in spite of their reality. Vinland Saga‘s Nordic setting is unusual for anime or manga in the first place, and that alone makes it intriguing to me. It looks to have all the violence that one might expect for a story about Vikings and their various conflicts, but judging by the preview alone there seems to be some care put into the depiction of the culture, and I find that exciting.
Astra Lost in Space
Streaming: Funimation
One thing that I love about fiction is that there are so many stories about human beings using their brains and their emotions to overcome incredible odds. I was thinking recently about the film The Martian, in which Matt Damon’s character is stranded on the Red Planet and has to use his wits to survive with only the few resources available. Similarly, there’s also Star Trek: Voyager, in which the titular ship is stranded across the galaxy, a trip that could take 70-something years to complete at maximum (for the time) warp speed.
Since this is anime, the characters are of course all high school students, but this feels like it’s asking a very similar kind of question: what would a group of people do when left to find their way home of their own volition? Considering the size of the cast, I expect each person’s personality and special talents will come into play in service of their goal of surviving and returning home.
BEM
Streaming: Funimation
When this series was announced, I thought the title sounded a little bit familiar. Though I didn’t watch it, I learned that there was also a 2006 incarnation of the series (itself also a remake) that likely crossed my path at some point. The series now seems to have shed it’s 1960’s retro look for something more modern and less “cartoony,” which reeks a bit of trying hard to be edgy, but which honestly makes it seem more appealing to me.
I’m certainly a fan of supernatural stories, as well as stories in which big questions like “what constitutes humanity?” are likely to be raised at some point. As the characters in this series are seeking to shed their youkai selves and become human while being ostracized by both societies, I imagine that sort of conundrum is bound to come into play eventually.
O Maidens in Your Savage Season
Streaming: Hidive
If there’s one thing that anime has a poor track record with, it’s depicting the nuances of puberty and budding sexual interest. Anime abounds with sex comedies riddled with in-your-face nudity and ridiculous situations, but when it comes to the nuances of feelings, changing bodies, and realistic sexuality, it’s tough to find things worth recommending.
If there’s one person who I feel can capture the comedic awkwardness of teenage girlhood without shying away from the subject of sexuality, it’s Mari Okada. The author of the original manga as well as the series composition author of this adaptation, she also has a history of depicting various facets of womanhood that other writers seem to have trouble with (we’re currently watching The Woman Named Fujiko Mine in my anime club, and I’m reminded of how differently-sexual the character’s depiction is by her hand than she’s been handled in most other Lupin incarnations). Whereas I’d typically be much more wary of a series with this type of story, I have the feeling that it’s in good hands.
How about you, dear readers? Are there any upcoming series that you’re excited about?
One reply on “Summer 2019 Anime – What I’m Looking Forward To”
Dr. Stone: This is one where the first episode may be non-indicative. While it was okay at first, the manga didn’t really hit its stride until it put 3/4 of the cast “on a bus” and Senkuu has to find an entirely different supporting cast to win over.
Fire force: I bounced hard off a fan service character at the end of Volume One. And you know how much I love male-oriented fanservice.
Not quite as much, though, as I love Vinland Saga. This is one of those series where I am hoping for either a long season or multiple seasons because it keeps being great for volumes and volumes.