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Summer Anime 2016 – What We’re Still Watching

Summer anime season has been going for several weeks now, and it’s time to report on what we’ve been watching.

Laura: I’ve been watching Orange and enjoying it immensely. I recently re-read all of the manga, and the anime is following it quite closely.

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Right before Kakeru tells Naho about his mother dying.

Adrienne: Orange is on my to-watch-eventually list. The slice-of-life type of anime tend to not grab my attention the first go-round. Eventually I’ll watch it and probably like it. That’s how it always happens. However, of course, I’m watching B-Project. Since I’m a huge fan of 2D idols I was looking forward to watching this. Admittedly, I was kind of worried after the first two episodes, because there are so many guys and I felt that I couldn’t keep pace with them.  But the animators proved they could tell a good story with so many people, especially with the curry commercial episode. I loved it. I also really enjoyed the episode where they performed at the concert. That episode made them really feel like a 2D idol group. I guess it means that the boys of B-Project are still coming into their own. I love the music as well. I really just want something to give me STARMYU vibes.

Shirtless idols.

Shirtless idols.

Laura: I’ve also really gotten into B-Project. It’s another idol anime, but I am thoroughly enjoying the music and bishies. I feel like the story has revealed the most information so far about Kitakore, since the first and fifth episode both focused on them. But you’ve got to love the half-naked concert in the rain – hot! Then there’s the cameo of the producer T.M. Revolution in that same episode – and the body suit! I have had so fun watching this series.

Adrienne: I’d forgotten about T.M. Revolution starring in an episode until after I watched the episode. I was very impressed with the body suit. Two thumbs up.

Laura: We’ve got more than one idol anime this season. I watched the first four episodes of Tsukiuta as well. That’s the anime where each boy represents a month of the year. I really enjoyed the first episode where the little brother got to hang out with the big sister’s idols. It was a fun story idea. The episodes seem to go back and forth between the two six-member idol groups, Procellum and Six Gravity, and you get to know a couple of guys in each group at a time. The dance numbers in Tsukiuta stand out because they are CG animated. They’re very cool to watch, and I’m stuck on Gravitic Love – so catchy.

Adrienne: I haven’t watched Tsukiuta as I’m no longer subscribed to Funimation.

Laura: That’s a bummer as I think you’d really like it, too. I don’t have a subscription but I can still watch the shows a week after they are simulcast on the Funimation website. (Don’t use a Funi app – it won’t give you all the episodes.) For instance, I also watched the first five episodes of Cheer Boys! and really, really like this series. I can relate to the content pretty well. I have experience tumbling and know the difficulty of some of the moves they are trying to achieve rather quickly. It’s interesting how the guys come up with the idea to be cheerleaders, even when they have no experience with it. There are a lot of personality types to pick from, but you have the most character development of the first two guys that are the main protagonists.

Main character Haru on the left there having a difficult time getting into it. He’s rather embarrassed.

Adrienne: Ah, another Funimation-licensed anime. That one I’m on the fence about anyway.

Laura: You should check it out. It’s definitely for the fujoshi-bait audience. The two main characters seem to really know each other well, and you can imagine anything you want. ^^ Plus one of the members is a brainy megane, but he’s not tsundere, like you prefer.

Adrienne: Huh. Clearly, I need to resubscribe to Funi. I didn’t realize you could watch the shows without getting a subscription, though. Not sure if I can handle everything, anime is competing with a lot of dramas at the moment :D.

Laura: Haha. Well, I’ll stick with anime and you do the dramas and we’ll have it all covered! I hope the rest of you realize you can watch the shows on Crunchyroll and Funimation without a subscription – you just have to wait a week after it is simulcasted to see the episode. There’s the ads of course, but that’s the cost of not paying. I don’t mind it.

Laura: Moving on, if you haven’t checked out Sweetness & Lightning, then you definitely should. Tsumugi is so cute!! Watching Kouhei and Kotori work together to cook her meals is fun. I like how they include Tsumugi by asking her to do simple things – wash the vegetables or cast a magic spell so it cooks well. It’s adorable. It also makes me very hungry!

SweetnessLightningAnime

Reaction when the oven opens!

Laura: Speaking of hungry though, Food Wars Season 2 is on my watch list. I know it’s a shounen anime but I watch that one with my significant other, and we drool through most of the episodes. Except the one recently where the girl made a turtle burger – blegh! That whole cook-off with Aldini was frustrating to watch, too – Mimasaka is such a bully! I hope Soma kicks his butt in the cook-off. The opening of Food Wars: Second Plate is like a Bleach parody, and the food-gasm fan service is so over the top you’ll be laughing. If you like cooking, then I highly recommend this series.

Food Wars Second Plate

Soma must be the one to crush Mimasaka…

Adrienne: I’ve seen a few episodes of Food Wars. I have a feeling it’s going to be like Naruto for me. Not interesting enough until well into many, many episodes. Right now I don’t have the patience (time?), plus food anime is not my thing. There isn’t a stand out anime for me this season. I am just happy there are a couple of male idol anime being produced now.

Laura: My surprise favorite series this summer has got to be DAYS. I was not expecting to enjoy a soccer anime as much as I am. I look forward to watching Tsukushi struggle to play high school soccer with his fighting spirit every week. He’s just so poorly skilled but determined that it’s captivating, and I can’t help but want to watch him play. The rest of the guys on the team don’t hurt any either! 😉

DAYS anime

Tsukushi finally gets a pass and completely misses the ball!

Adrienne: Sports anime are really good. I’m not a sports fan in real life, but for some reason I will watch it if it’s an anime! Anything you aren’t liking?

Laura: I had to drop First Love Monster after the first episode. The whole scenario where the boys talk about their wieners on the playground for a whole minute of the episode was enough for me to ditch it. I don’t even remember that being in the manga. If I were Kaho, I’d run far, far away.

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Wiener pain, wiener pain, go away!

Adrienne: First Love Monster isn’t on my watch list. I don’t care for the premise of the show. I’m all about the idols right now. Eventually, I’ll get around to watching Scar-red Rider Xechs, which seems interesting.

Laura: I watched the first episode of Scar-red Rider Xechs. The boys were just there, with very little character development, and the moody one who couldn’t transform suddenly solved that issue at the end of the first episode. I felt like I was watching Power Rangers or something, so I decided not to watch anymore. Dropped.

Scar-red Rider Xechs

Yeah, so this image is where the Power Rangers reference came from.

Adrienne: Hmmm… I love Power Rangers. I definitely need to watch this one :D. What do you think about Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu? I really like it, but I wish the episodes were longer. Seven Seas announced they had licensed the manga, so I’m hoping there is some more meat in the manga compared to the anime. It’s a cute, hilarious series — although we’re only a few episodes into it, I can say confidently that I like it a lot. The characters are well-developed despite the time limitations. The anime is executed well.

Sakamoto Ryo's face after buying a BL manga. Secretly being judged.

Sakamoto Ryo’s face after buying a BL manga. Secretly being judged.

Laura: I watched the first episode of Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu, which is really short, if you didn’t already know. I need to watch a few more before passing judgement, but I haven’t gone back to it yet.

Adrienne: Yes, it needs more that just a few minutes — it’s not even half of a standard episode!

Laura: Maybe I’ll get the manga. I wonder if it is episodic in nature as well. I’ll have to check it out.

Laura: I’m surprised you didn’t see any of the Ozmafia shorts yet, Adrienne. Do you want to watch them?

Adrienne: I do. I just started playing the game for a near-future review post, so I’m saving the anime for afterwards. I know the anime has an original story, but I just can’t find myself watching it until after I play the game. No logic behind it really, other than a habit. My backlog keeps growing!

Well, that’s what we’ve been watching, and what we will continue to watch this anime season. Let us know which series you’ve been enjoying, as well as which ones you had to drop in the comments!

 

 

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