Anime Alcove List Tuesday 06.04.2019: Top 5 Anticipated Anime Of Summer 2019

In another month, we prepare to enter the Summer 2019 season of anime. With Spring titles entering the final phases or hitting the halfway mark to be carried forward, now would be a perfect time as any to see what July has in store. Not going over the full listing, this fifth entry of Anime Alcove List Tuesday we be going over yet again 5 titles that seem to be the most interesting to me or anticipating.

Overview

As always, there are not many rules for this one. Just to make the list short and simple, it will exclude any sequels that I will most likely to watch (Danmachi II) as well as any shorts (Sounan desu ka – Are You Lost) that we also be viewed. According to the information that is presently available from sites like AniChart and MyAnimeList, we are looking at roughly a total of 30 titles (not including shorts) that will be aired. The shows are in no particular order just so you know. Also, do let me know what series or titles you looking forward to seeing.

5. Kanata no Astra (Astra Lost in Space)

Description: The year is 2061, when space travel is now possible and commercially viable, and the students of Caird High School embark on their Planet Camp. But soon after Group B5 arrived at their planetary camp site, a mysterious and unforeseen sentient light sphere warps its 9 members into outer space, stranding them 5012 light years away from their home planet. With the discovery of an old, unmanned spaceship nearby, the students must stay strong, manage their limited resources and remain united in the darkness of space, so that all of them can survive their long and likely perilous trek back home aboard the Astra.

Thoughts: Kids trapped in space? What could possibly go wrong here? This is one of the manga series from the season that I actually finished and liked quite a bit. A lot great moments and characters. so hope that translates well into the anime adaption.

4. Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo (Maidens In Your Savage Season)

Description: The girls in a high school literature club do a little icebreaker to get to know each other: answering the question, “What’s one thing you want to do before you die?” One of the girls blurts out, “Sex.” Little do they know, the whirlwind unleashed by that word pushes each of these girls, with different backgrounds and personalities, onto their own clumsy, funny, painful, and emotional paths toward adulthood.

Thoughts: Aside from the show at the #1 spot, this is another title that I’m really excited to see. Already having some real talent on-board like Mari Okada for writing (and the original author of the manga) and director Masahiro Ando (looking specifically at Hanasaku Iroha), if they are going the coming-of-age route, this project is in very good hands. Always enjoying Okada’s style and approach of writing with works she has been involved with, I do hope to see her shine here as well.

3. Joshikousei no Mudazukai (Wasteful Days of High School Girls)

Description: One day out of boredom, Tanaka decided to give her classmates nicknames based on their quirks. Her friend Sakuchi became “Ota” for her nerdy interests, and her other friend Saginomiya became “Robo” because of her expressionless personality. In retaliation, her friends decided to name Tanaka “Baka”. These are the ridiculous days of three high school friends claiming (or not) the height of their youth.

Thoughts: Every season has to have a slice-of-life/comedy somewhere and this one might be it. In fact, this might be the only one. Seeing how the last two seasons were chocked full, this might very well be the oasis in the middle of the desert unless I overlooked something.

2. Granbelm

Description: A long time ago, magic disappeared from the world. In the present day, Mangetsu Kohinata, a normal high school student, and Fukami Elnesta Shingetsu, who moved back to Japan from Germany, meet on a full moon night. After learning about the lost magic, the existence of giant magic combat “dolls” called Almanox, and the secret behind the world, the girl decides…

Thoughts: Getting some Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars vibes from this and I’m not liking it. With this season stacked with a lot of light novel, manga, and video game works, this is one of the very few original projects to spring up. Not sure why I’m so bothered, but hopefully it is not just from another show containing cute girls and robots.

1. Cop Craft

Description: The story is set in San Teresa City on the fictional Pacific island of Kariaena. The “buddy police action” series follows the detective Kei Matoba and the alternate-world knight Tirana.

15 years ago, an unknown hyperspace gate opened over the Pacific. Beyond this gate lies Reto Semaani, a strange alternate world where fairies and demons live.

San Teresa City — a city where over two million immigrants live from both worlds. As a result, there are the haves and the have-nots. Here is the world’s newest “city of dreams.” But in the shadow of the chaos, crime is rampant: drugs, prostitution, and weapon trafficking. The detectives who stand up to these heinous crimes are in the San Teresa City Police. When the detective Kei Matoba and the alternate-world knight Tirana — two individuals who differ in gender, personality, and even world of origin — meet, an incident erupts. Two worlds. Two justices. From this, the curtain rises on a buddy police action story!

Thoughts: The creator of Full Metal Panic strikes again! Ever since December of last year, I been waiting to see when this was getting released and glad to know it will be sooner than expected. Looking at it now, the artwork seems by my style, intrigued by the story, and equally impressed by the initial staff lineup involved. Of course, always getting excited way before I should, I will have my expectations severely neutered until I start watching it. Oh, and sorry for that mental image….not quite sure what most of you have conjured in mind.

Honorable Mention(s)

1. Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts)

Description: During a protracted civil war that pitted the North against the South, the outnumbered Northerners used dark magic to create monstrous super-soldiers called Incarnates. Now that the war has ended, those Sacred Beasts must learn to make their way in a peaceful society, or face death at the hands of a Beast Hunter. Nancy Schaal Bancroft, the daughter of an Incarnate, turns to hunting the hunter herself. But once she catches up with her quarry, she discovers hard truths about the lives of these Sacred Beasts.

Thoughts: Yet another manga series I have been religiously keep up with and from one of my favorite creators, Maybe. The art is eye-catching, narrative is exciting to follow, and the atmosphere is so dark and grimy it might even call for flashlight. Or just a very bright nightlight. Again, with this still ongoing, I just hope they don’t stop midway through a volume if it wouldn’t be 24-26 episode series.

2. Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? (Would you even fall in love with a pervert as long as it’s a cutie?)

Description: After cleaning the Calligraphy Club room one afternoon, Kiryuu Keiki found a love letter addressed to him on the club’s desk. Eager at the possibility of finally getting a girlfriend, he opens the envelope only to find the words, “I like you” along with a pair of the sender’s panties.

With only these panties as evidence, Keiki narrows down the identity to the four girls who helped him clean the club room that day: Tokihara Sayuki the lazy third-year president of Calligraphy Club, Koga Yuika a library committee member of foreign descent, Nanjou Mao, Keiki’s slightly tsundere fellow classmate, and most awkwardly, Kiryuu Mizuha, Keiki’s clean freak of a younger sister. Among at least three of these girls, Keiki believes is the one who left him the letter and their panties so with determination in his heart, he sets out to uncover which of these seemingly unorthodox ladies will become his girlfriend!

Thoughts: Boy, what mouthful of a title. I know that there is a joke that people in Japan like to know the content they are buying into by title, but light novels just take that maxim to the extreme. All joking aside, this is one of the light novels I have been reading on and off due to the premise alone. Besides being just about as derivative as you can get, there have been some “nice” moments tucked inside. Take that comment anyway you want. Again, like most ongoing material, we might be looking at this one end on a cliffhanger.

3. Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? (How Many Kilograms are the Dumbbells You Lift?)

Description: Hibiki enjoys the finer things in life, and when it comes to food, she’s downright indulgent. When it becomes clear she’s getting chubby, she decides to better herself by joining a gym. In her attempt to find a casual gym, she meets Akemi – a comrade-in-arms. Little does Hibiki know, Akemi has an ulterior motive. What will this wonderful world of fitness have in store for Hibiki?

Thoughts: Another series I was not intending to watch, but after I found out an English release of the manga was due out soon I changed my mind. What changed my mind? The prospective of ogling girls getting in shape without having to set foot inside a gym? Maybe I have a thing for chubby gyarus? Or maybe…just maybe I will be locked into a story of emotional growth and the power of friendship? Yeah, let’s forget I said anything.