Summer 2017’s anime selection is a desert. Out of the nearly 50-title lineup Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft detailed in his seasonal guide, I found only four anime I can recommend. And not all of them are even available in Australia.
Little Witch Academia
It’s disappointing. There’s a special pleasure in breathlessly telling your friends, “There’s this new anime and it will blow your fucking mind.” Over the last few years, I could do that with Mob Psycho, Madoka Magica, Space Dandy and a handful of others. I can’t recommend this season’s Hand Shakers, in which a young girl will die if she lets go of the protagonist’s hand. Yes, he has to wash her. I found the “novelty” of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, where a huge dragon transforms into a big-bosomed maid, hard to watch, despite its moments of good humour (to Dragon Maid‘s credit, my housemate loves it).
With lowered standards, I tried out less niche titles like Interviews with Monster Girls. It’s about a biology professor whose passion is studying demi-humans. Just moments after he says he’s never met any demi-humans, several happen to crop up in his school, and so on. It’s watchable, but not anything to write home about, just like Saga of Tanya the Evil, about a very small girl who is also a military powerhouse.
With all that out of the way, below are the four titles I can recommend from the summer 2017 anime season. It’s a deviation from our “Five Must-Watch” series, but those are the times we’re in!
Scum’s Wish
Studio: Lerche
Genre: Drama, Coming-of-Age
Where to Watch: Not yet available in Australia
Plot Summary: Two high school students, boyfriend and girlfriend, explore their physical intimacy and emotional boundaries. The kicker is that they’re each in love other other people. Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya are open about how each is a replacement for their true love, and how they project their desires onto each other for comfort and sanity.
Why You Should Watch It: It’s thoughtful, but difficult. The show tackles coming-of-age themes with surprising wisdom and tenderness. At times, long kisses are hard to watch when you know Hanabi and Mugi are each imagining different lovers.
Little Witch Academia
Studio: Trigger
Genre: Magical Girl, Comedy
Where to Watch: Netflix (Not yet available in Australia)
Plot Summary: A rag-tag collection of girls at the prestigious Luna Nova Magical Academy learn to fly on brooms and cast spells while using each other as comedic foils and confidants. The protagonist, Atsuko Kagari (“Akko”) went there after being inspired by Shiny Chariot, a magical witch whom some consider to be a fraud. Akko is not herself a competent witch, but after a lot of trial-and-error, learns a few tricks that get her out of sticky situations.
Why You Should Watch It: After the franchise’s wildly successful 30 and hour-long films, Trigger released this TV series on Netflix. It’s a light-hearted series with some hilarious characters and top-notch animation.
Chaos;Child
Studio: Silver Link
Genre: Thriller, Sci-fi
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
Plot Summary: Takuru Miyashiro investigates a string of horrible, bloody deaths on internet chat rooms and around Tokyo, which was rebuilt after an earthquake. He’s also a high schooler who runs his school newspaper club. Over time, he and his staff learn of supernatural occurrences tied to the murders and struggle to wrap their minds around the case.
Why You Should Watch: It’s a well-paced, absolutely terrifying series with just the right amount of gore.
ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: Political Drama
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
Plot Summary: Jean Otus, a stoic, cigarette-smoking inspector, is the deputy commander of the ACCA Inspection Agency, which roots out corruption in other government agencies.
Why You Should Watch It: First, I love the soundtrack. Second, I appreciate that it’s understated. Jean is pretty damn aloof, but it’s definitely fitting for a guy who works in an inspection department. Sure, it’s a little boring sometimes. And I wouldn’t argue it’s a “must-watch”, per say. But ACCA is a coherent, respectable workplace drama that accomplishes what it sets out to do.
There you have it. Let me know your must-watch anime or recommendations in the comments!
Comments
11 responses to “Four Must-Watch Anime Of Summer 2017”
To be fair, thanks to Netflix being assholes about streaming, no one can watch Little Witch Academia in English. If we’re lucky you’ll get to see the first half of the show in April and the second half in October, and that’s assuming they put it up the instant each cour finishes.
i wouldn’t say assholes as they are more idiots, the “binge a whole season” thing works when it isn’t available anywhere else, not doing a show weekly when it is available in more eyepatch and parrot filled areas is pretty dumb.
Especially when you are dealing with a community who are used to these shows being available immediately as they are aired in Japan, who also most likely spent years pirating these shows before there was legal alternatives means they really haven’t read the audience right.
This season is nothing but a 100% played safely snorefest.
You must not know about Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu then.
I am only watching “Youjo Senki” from the new Animes
Chaos Child, Saga of Tanya the Evil and ACCA are the ones I’m watching this season.
Tanya the evil/Youjo Senki, Maid Dragon and Demi chan are the only ones I’m really following this season.
Tanya because it’s a neat premise executed pretty well.
Maid dragon because it’s a surprisingly good comedy that’s just fun to watch.
Demi-chan because it’s unexpectedly well thought and fairly unique take on the monster girl premise that is just kinda sincere, has more going for it than ‘monster girls’ usually implies and has some really likeable characters.
The first episodes of Acca and Chain Chronicle have me interested enough to check out a few more episodes but they didn’t quite grab me like those other three.
Even though there’s shows I’m loving, It’s honestly a fairly underwhelming season for anime.
Scum’s Wish is on Amazon Prime Video.
Chaos Child looked good, i really enjoyed the Chaos universe
Watched Little Witch Academia a few years ago, I thought. Only just now been released non-pirated, I guess? I saw the sequel on Netflix the other weekend, and thought I’d show the original to the GF by way of prep-work for watching the next one. Didn’t know it was new.
I’ve been making do with old series, and checking out old series that have been posted as ‘new releases’ on the streaming services I use. Like Shangri-La just turning up on Animelab the other day.
It’s fun negotiating the GF’s tolerance for anime. Mecha/action/political drama she doesn’t give a shit about – her jam is rom-coms. However, after a few really good ones that we both loved (Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Girls’ Monthly Nozaki-kun, Seki-kun – Master of Wasting Time) turned out to have zero character development or growth in them whatsoever, resetting to the status quo by the end of the season with no romances fulfilled, I’ve had to turn her on to shows that actually have the fucking balls to let their characters change. Just finished World is Still Beautiful, and she’s asking if there’s more of that coming (“Sorry babe, you’ve got buckley’s.”) Now on Toradora, which is going down well, and Snow White/Kokoro Connect are looking like they’ll retain interest. Gate’s been well-received, and Log Horizon, but they both sort of grind down a bit in their second seasons. Eyeshield 21 was what got her into anime in the first place, and we’re still a good thirty eps from finishing it.
Trying to think of new things to watch and internally adding the filter of, “Characters must actually grow and develop and not cop out on resetting to the status quo at the end of the series,” makes me realize how fucking rare that quality is.
LWA was available legit for ages. The new TV series is great but Netflix licensing it buggers everything if you don’t want to pirate 🙁 The sequel was a Kickstarter project, actually.
If you can dig it up, you should try Saiunkoku Monogatari. I feel like that might appeal a lot.