5 Shows to keep on your radar coming Summer

We are far into the spring season, what shows to keep an eye for during Summer?

Predictions are hard to make for upcoming shows, but it’s sometimes overwhelming to see what’s coming up and I often get the impressions that I’m missing out on great shows which I discover like a year or two later. Not a problem of course, but it’s fun to have a great viewing line-up.

An interesting anime that takes place during the prohibition era in the United States where the mafia rule. An interesting take that resembles the vibe of Boardwalk Empire, and many other theme related series.

I’m always curious to see how they’ll put the historical accuracy down in these types of series. It can really make or break the story if there are a lot of inconsistencies. The visual didn’t look mighty impressive, but it mostly selected this series for its creative edge.

A boy is attacked by zombies at a graveyard, luckily he is saved by a mysterious girl with a sword, who consequently is also a student at his university.

The premise itself doesn’t really seem very impressive, it’s more the parties that are producing this anime, namely a collaboration between the Chinese and Japanese. Which quite interesting since I’ve talked about Cool Japan a while ago, which is one of the Japanese government’s attempts to promote Japanese entertainment outside of Japan. Collaborating with the Chinese is a very strategic move to gain momentum on Chinese mainland and perhaps it brings some interesting cost reductions as well.

There isn’t much else known about Hitori no Shita: THE OUTCAST. The voice cast is Japanese, but the character names tend towards the Chinese. The director is Wang Xin, which has no entry on ANN. The promotional image has some style resemblances to Toyko Ghoul and the more recent, not so successful, God Eater from Ufotable. The image hints towards CG, but I hope it will not go towards that direction. I’m not really into CG at all.

Tales of Zestiria the X mostly caught my attention because Ufotable was producing the series. Knowing Ufotable it promises to be a feast to the eyes just like Fate/Night UBW.

I’m not familiar with the Tales of Zestiria franchise, but it’s been around for quite some time. From the synopsis I’m not really convinced yet. The first vibe I got wasn’t as baffling. The story tends to move towards the more spiritual and the battle between two worlds, the real one and the spiritual. It’s not a unique story, but I’m glad that Ufotable has a lot of experience within this genre, giving shows a unique feel.

A story revolving about a Youkai that will be helped to move on to the next world. I’m not always a fan of Folklore related anime, because I believe they are more relatable to the domestic audience than for the more westernized viewers.

The artwork of Fukigen na Mononokean had a vibe of Kyousou Giga which was a brilliant series. The main two male characters were very present in the artwork as well, so I hope it won’t go the shounen ai route, but we’ll see that when it drops. The voice actor of one of the main characters is the one I hate most, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be a bad series.

Love Live, the spiritual rival of the Idolmaster, comes back yet again with Sunshine!! It’s the same plot, but with an alternative location/setting, namely the schools are different and the previous season of Love Live was all about keeping the school open.

Love Live! Sunshine!! seems to be more laid back and solely focuses on a group of nine girls who want to become the new big idol group. All in all nothing the new, the artwork seemed familiar and I don’t expect any special plot twists. I had a better experience with Love Live than with Idolmaster, so for fans of the series, set this on your watch list as well.