My Thoughts on the Summer 2018 Anime Season

Anime, Yuri

Haaa, I didn’t get around to doing a Summer 2018 Anime Preview, sorry. And this is coming out so late, too. It’s week 4/5 already, huh? Sorry!

As it turns out, most of the shows I’m interested in come out on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, which (hopefully) gives me time to pursue other interests. Namely visual novels now that I’ve spent all of last week marathoning several series in order to catch up…

Anyways, here’s a rough list in which I talk about the seasonal shows I’m currently watching.

My Favourites

Asobi Asobase

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This… is a surreal high school girl comedy involving a blonde who was actually born and raised in Japan and is very interested in cultural pastimes, a rich girl who desperately wants to be popular and acts like a silly mood maker, and an overly competitive megane girl who loves English despite sucking at it.

Hmm, that overly long sentence doesn’t really do the series justice. I hate these sort of comparisons, but think of Asobi Asobase as Nichijou with a dash of Pop Team Epic given how these girls take everything too seriously and how things quickly spiral out of control in each act (much to our collective amusement). At any rate, if you appreciate comedy then I think you’ll like Asobi Asobase.

Do be warned that the girls do get a bit shrill and loud as they overreact, which might serve as a deterrent for some?

Hanebado!

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Lately, I’ve been thinking that sports anime genre is the true conduit of showcasing angst and the fragility of the human condition.

Even though some may disagree given how romantic dramas are such gripping trainwrecks, Hanebado! is very much delving into the theatrics as these high school girls treat badminton as very serious business.

What I’m really liking is how the series isn’t just focusing on the talented ace or the hard-worker and is giving some love to some side characters to keep us guessing at the direction of the series. With that being said, the talented ace clearly has larger hang-ups compared to everyone else in the series which will really dominate the latter half of the series.

I don’t know. I’m not really as into over-the-top romantic drama, but over-the-top sports drama is pretty juicy to me!

Harukana Receive

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Gay girls playing beach volleyball, a sport in which partners are likened to romantic couples since everyone plays in pairs. Lots of gratuitous fanservice. The main couple is a triple threat (they’re cousins, they’re high school girls, and they’re really gay). Yuri fans, rejoice! Meanwhile, people who aren’t as into yuri will likely cast stones because of the jiggly bits.

Ah, well, we win some, we lose some.

Decent Watches

Hataraku Saibou

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Also known as Cells at Work, this series centers around the lives of cells and other entities within the human body. A particular red blood cell and white blood cell receive the majority of the focus, but there’s been other characters introduced in basically every episode.

Obviously there’s going to be some liberties taken given that cells are not actually anime boys and girls in real life, but it’s a fun watch!

Happy Sugar Life

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Ahhh, another yuri anime that is partially marred by controversy. In this case, nearly all of the characters are at least slightly insane. The main character also happens to be a yandere who is obsessed with a (very) young girl, so people who take issues with significant age gaps should stay away! Same with people who dislike blood and nutty people. If you lap up dramatics involving deluded and dangerous individuals this might be the show for you. Personally, I’m not as into it but I want to see where this series goes (since I stopped reading it a few chapters in).

And yet I think the series touches upon a lot of important topics, intentional or not. Subjects such as the meaning of love, the predatory nature of how male individuals attempt to express interest in girls and women, the possible effects of a broken home might have on an individual, and so on are featured in Happy Sugar Life, which is decidedly not so happy or sugary.

Grand Blue

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A diving anime that is actually more about binge drinking and naked partying. It’s pretty funny at times but some jokes can seem more than a little off-colour… Be that as it may, it’s a comedy which apparently is an anime genre that some people can’t stomach.

Also Chisa is very pretty and has the best reaction image faces

Dropped…

Ongaku Shoujo

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A terribly bland idol anime series involving an absolutely moronic and insensitive protagonist. It’s generally a bad idea to compare shows within the same general genre, but this series really falls short to basically any of the other mainstream idol series. I found it a waste of time and dropped it before finishing episode 2.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

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Even though the series seemed a bit promising with the premises of girls studying theatrics at an intense private school, I sort of became disinterested when it turned into a fantasy action series with some talking giraffe. It’s not bad, per say, and maybe if I had more time I’d watch it. But as it stands, I’m at least putting it on hold after episode 2.

With that being said, there’s at least a gay love triangle brewing and that’s probably the biggest incentive the series has to offer.

So essentially I’m just watching most of the typical shows you’d expect someone who is mainly interested in yuri to watch (aside from Grand Blue and Hataraku Saibou).

What are your thoughts on the Summer 2018 anime season thus far??

28 thoughts on “My Thoughts on the Summer 2018 Anime Season”

  1. I’ve heard that Cells at work has a very “meh” given opinion towards it, may have to give it a try to see what the fuss is about whenever i’m free.

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  2. Pingback: Anime Blog Posts That Caught My Eye This Week: August 3, 2018 | Lesley's Anime and Manga Corner

  4. From these, I’m only watching Grand Blue, although I’ve started Harukana Receive and I plan on continuing it later.
    I’ve seen some good reviews about Hanebado, and for what you said about Asobi, I’m interested in it now. Maybe I’ll watch them during my vacation in a couple weeks.

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  5. I’m also enjoying Revue Starlight quite a bit, I hope you’ll come back to that one. I can definitely see how the Penguindrum vibe might not be appealing to some people, but so far there’s been a healthy balance of fantasy/metaphor and grounded ballet hijinks. Maybe something to reconsider after some opinions come out a few episodes later.

    Harukana Receive is so gay. What in the world. I was prepped for the subtext so that last episode caught me off-guard.

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    1. Right? The antics are spot-on. I’m an episode behind but I’m awaiting Cakey’s arrival. Rough waters await.

      I am still kinda flushed that this series received an anime adaptation after I wrote about it back in 2016.

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  7. I, who once was convinced I didn’t like comedy, heck, I had decided it was so, got a whole post dedicated over at Irina’s and later shamefully had to admit that maybe comedy wasn’t so bad after all love Grand Blue. I mean, who wouldn’t love binge drinking and naked college dudes. 😎

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  8. Nice summary of the season so far.

    I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen of Hanebado and Harukana Receive so far, despite not being all that big on Sports Anime. I guess the Drama of Hanebado and the fan-service of Harukana have made them stand out more for me than usual maybe? I dunno. Will be seeing them through to the end once they finish.

    Also really enjoying Happy Sugar Life, which probably isn’t a surprise to you or anyone else. Definitely among my top Anime of the Season so far, for sure.

    And this reminds me I should probably go write my own thoughts on the season overall… I’m also behind! ><

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, I sort of stuck with the series that would roughly fall into what this blog should cover. Usually I would watch more but yeah…

      Mmm glad to hear you’re enjoying Hanebado, Harukana Receive, and Happy Sugar Life! This season has a lot of good shows which start H.

      Good luck! ;__;

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  9. .. Anime girls being shrill and loud as they over react?? THAT NEVER HAPPENS!! 😂😂 Cells at work sounds like a really unique concept, I’ll have to look into that one! And Grand Blue with binge drinking and naked partying?? Sounds like my weekday nights! 😂😂😉🍻

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  10. Both Hanebado!and Cells at work are animes that I am really enjoying. Another series is Phantom Twilight which has a supernatural angle. Lastnamed isn’t the best I’ve ever seen, but still it’s a pretty fun watch. Overall though I agree with Karandi, this season is a bit meehhh to me 😊

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  11. I’m mostly finding this season pretty skippable. There’s a couple of highlights but compared to some seasons where my watch list has exploded, this time round I’m just wondering if I’ll still be reviewing anything by the end.

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  12. For me, it’s worth noting that Asobi Asobase is far more accessible and coherent than Pop Team Epic. A lot of anime watchers may find the latter full of references they don’t get, which is not the case with AA.

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I-it's not like I want you to leave a comment or anything. B-baka.