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The Summer 2021 Preview Guide


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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 06 Jul 2015
Posts: 604
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:59 am Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:
In Girlfriend, Girlfriend, I did keep thinking that there was enough evidence of Saki being attracted to Nagisa, that she is probably bi, at least in some characterisation. That did sound like it could have been the source of something in her agreeing to the situation outside of being practically shamed into it.


Saki is definitely bi but a) not fully ready to admit it to herself and b) still being forced into a relationship dynamic she's not comfortable with. I propose a rewrite:

The series is from Saki's point of view. Naoya proposes a poly relationship and gives her space to think about it when she hesitates. She spends some time with Nagisa (who is less of a perfect waifu and more of a human) and decides to go for it even though she doesn't fully understand why. The reason turns out to be bisexuality, which she comes to terms with through her relationship with Naoya and Nagisa.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:12 am Reply with quote
It's a rom-com. Healthy, respectful relationships and exploration aren't really the point. That's not a rewrite, that's just a different show.

Bisexuality is something that describes people. Trying to "figure out" the sexuality of the characters of Girlfriend, Girlfriend is like trying to ask a paperclip's opinion on paper waste. Saki is as exactly as bi as she needs to be to get to the next joke.

Or hey, maybe it really does go in a more thoughtful direction later, but so far, I don't see much to justify this expectation that it has something to say about poly relationships.
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
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Joined: 06 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:36 am Reply with quote
Yttrbio wrote:
It's a rom-com. Healthy, respectful relationships and exploration aren't really the point. That's not a rewrite, that's just a different show.

Bisexuality is something that describes people. Trying to "figure out" the sexuality of the characters of Girlfriend, Girlfriend is like trying to ask a paperclip's opinion on paper waste. Saki is as exactly as bi as she needs to be to get to the next joke.

Or hey, maybe it really does go in a more thoughtful direction later, but so far, I don't see much to justify this expectation that it has something to say about poly relationships.


"It's too much to ask that characters in a romantic comedy have consistent characterization and act like humans!"

*gesticulates wildly at Maison Ikkoku, Lovely Complex, My Love Story, Toradora, Horimiya, Wotakoi...*
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Kirki



Joined: 11 Jun 2019
Posts: 296
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:45 am Reply with quote
My motto is that there are no bad ideas for a story. Any plot, any character, no matter how outrageous they might seem, have the potential to give us a satisfying story and explore things we haven't seen before an-

*reads the plot of Girlfriend, Girlfriend*

...ok, you know, SOMETIMES... sometimes I might be wrong.

The Study Case of Vanitas was fine, but nothing extraordinary. Especially coming after a season of more than a dozen great hits, it even felt kind of underwhelming, since it's just the beginning and we know next to nothing about the world or the characters yet. I'm sure it will get better as it progresses though.

My Next Life As a Villainess was fun as usual. It seems like it's stepping up it's comedy game, and if I can tell from the opening, also the romance game? The adoptive siblings trope is the one trope I will never be able to stomach, but no matter what happens the characters are all likeable and since it has that going for it, I guess it will be fine.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 2:20 am Reply with quote
all-tsun-and-no-dere wrote:
Saki is definitely bi but a) not fully ready to admit it to herself and b) still being forced into a relationship dynamic she's not comfortable with. I propose a rewrite:

The series is from Saki's point of view. Naoya proposes a poly relationship and gives her space to think about it when she hesitates. She spends some time with Nagisa (who is less of a perfect waifu and more of a human) and decides to go for it even though she doesn't fully understand why. The reason turns out to be bisexuality, which she comes to terms with through her relationship with Naoya and Nagisa.


I like the idea, and I think was along the lines of something I was thinking. Especially since she was kind of playing the "straight man" in the premier with the main character being quirky in actually bringing up the idea of them all moving in together.


Yttrbio wrote:
Bisexuality is something that describes people. Trying to "figure out" the sexuality of the characters of Girlfriend, Girlfriend is like trying to ask a paperclip's opinion on paper waste. Saki is as exactly as bi as she needs to be to get to the next joke.

Or hey, maybe it really does go in a more thoughtful direction later, but so far, I don't see much to justify this expectation that it has something to say about poly relationships.


I know that I am under no illusion that something deep and thoughtful will come of it, I have actually grown increasingly a dislike for many reverse harem anime.

But I think there is clearly enough to see the character is bisexual, based on her infatuation of Nagisa's cuteness (even with the imagery of a puppy), that she literally says that she would date her, and how she reacts in the bathroom with blushing and the like. The saying that she felt things even as a girl, kind of feels like the sort of thing someone in denial would say.

Not saying it is necessarily fantastically done, whether the author kind of thought of it as just a joke. But any representation that is not straight up predatory or what you could take from Hoyimiya, could be welcome to normalise bisexual characters.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:23 am Reply with quote
Now, this is a very by chance post to make after my previous post, and I really don't want to be read as some sort of trend. Following that I watched the first episode of The Case Study of Vanitas, and Caitlin's comments on homoerotic subtext, it kind of reminded me of a video I saw recently from YouTuber verilybitchie called A Bisexual History of Dracula, and another called The Lesbian Vampire in Film (A Deep Dive). Mostly being about the place that vampires had in fiction as common allegories for homosexuality/bisexuality.

So the subtext is not unusual for vampire fiction.
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
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Joined: 14 Jan 2011
Posts: 606
Location: inland US west, pretty rural
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:24 am Reply with quote
So for Sonny Boy, I'm not sure on the start date for the show- Funimation's web site says there was a special pre-release viewing for ep 1, but it seems that is now over (?) and we can't see the show again until July 15? Is this right?

I can't find it anywhere on Funny, either on the website or on Roku.

Because if this is right, it is annoying as hell, and I don't think it is helping the shows makers any. I imagine Funny is just stuck with it, if this is the doing of the production committee.


Last edited by Nom De Plume De Fanboy on Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:45 am; edited 1 time in total
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Yttrbio
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:33 am Reply with quote
all-tsun-and-no-dere wrote:
*gesticulates wildly at Maison Ikkoku, Lovely Complex, My Love Story, Toradora, Horimiya, Wotakoi...*
If your genre definition puts these shows in the same category as Girlfriend, Girlfriend, I think your genre categories are being stretched beyond their usefulness. A thoughtful romance with comedic elements has a completely different set of priorities than an dumb comedy that uses absurd romance as a frame. It's not like the show is failing at presenting compelling characters, it's not on the to-do list at all. You may as well complain that the show's action scenes suck.
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Penrhos



Joined: 09 Jun 2021
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:22 am Reply with quote
Sonny boy - the preview just gave me "floating Classroom" x "Lord of the Flies" vibes.

I suspect it'll be like Talentless Nana" and the annoying students will be knocked-off one by one. - Think I'll stick this on hold and see if it get panned over the first 3 episodes.

Peach Boy Riverside - I don't understand the whole episode 1 is actually episode 2 and episode 4 is episode 1, it just shouts "we've trying to be smart-arses" a little too loudly.

As it is the episode starts like you've missed the first few minutes and you're now at a plot-point, then she does the whole funny-eyes, where-am-i malarkey a few times, throw in some random octopus fan-service, then a nice gory Ogre killing some guards, then being being chopped-up (which I'm surprised they didn't censor). I'll stick with this at least until episode 4 (1) as it's nice to have a female MC hacking monsters up.

Girlfriend, Girlfriend - please make it stop, read the synopsis and was dubious, one episode is enough - dropped.

Scarlet Nexus - Bland, formulaic seen it too many times before, weird monster designs, watched both preview episodes - Dropped.

Hamefura - more Baka' excellent, switch off brain and enjoy the stupid reverse-harem comedy.

Vanitas - Was OK nothing special, was a bit underwhelmed, will give it the 3 episode drop test.
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NezumiVA



Joined: 20 May 2018
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:44 am Reply with quote
I have to say I feel like the speculation about Satoko from the original series (irt Satoshi) on these Higurashi reviews here feels incredibly poor taste, to me. Being more disenchanted by her in the current series is understandable, but in the original Higurashi, Satoko was (and still is, to be fair) an abused child. Not that it excuses what she's doing now, of course, but implying that Satoshi was afraid of her or that she was secretly evil the whole time really, really rubs me the wrong way.
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musouka



Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 705
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:59 am Reply with quote
NezumiVA wrote:
Not that it excuses what she's doing now, of course, but implying that Satoshi was afraid of her or that she was secretly evil the whole time really, really rubs me the wrong way.


There will always be people that have affinity for what Ryukishi is exploring and people that don't. Yes, I also find it odd that someone would take comic relief violence that seriously--do you also want Rena charged on attempted kidnapping?--but in the end, the person I feel the most sorry for is Ryukishi himself, not the people that just can't get it.. How many times has he tried to lead these horses to the spring of empathy again?
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Fall_2020



Joined: 03 Jul 2021
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:26 am Reply with quote
Sadly for me of the 26 shows I'm going to be watching this season the one I'm most equipped to talk about is "Kanojo mo Kanojo".
So I hope the following series of posts will offer some context to the other viewers.
This is from someone who read the manga weekly for half a year and dropped it before the anime was announced.

Will this make it to the weekly reviews?
Probably not.

Just like "Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui", "Hige wo Soru, Soshite Joshikousei wo Hiro" and "Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" last season this show isn't getting much love based just on the initial take of its premise in the previews. I bet the other series who are going to get the same treatment this season are "Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid" and "Megami-ryou no Ryobou-kun". At least "Kanojo mo Kanojo" premiered early. So it can maybe avoid "Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Come"'s situation from last season where it got left out of the weekly reviews. If "Kanojo mo Kanojo" makes it to the weekly reviews, I would like for it to be covered by Nicholas Dupree based on the previews. I think he will give it the same treatment "Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" got from his reviewer.

The show is based on the manga of the same name by Hiroyuki, published in Kodansha's Shoukan Shounen Magazine. One of the earliest promo works for the anime stated that the manga is the fastest in the magazine's history to get an adaption. A year into it's run we got the anime announcement and half a year later the first episode. Given that Shoukan Shounen Magazine is the second biggest manga magazine after Shueisha's Shounen Jump, this is likely based on the mangaka's previous track record. Three of his works have already been adapted to anime.

Tezuka Productions have been around for a long time. And the staff, or at least the major positions, are the same as the first season of "Go-Toubun no Hanayome".

I think the highlight of the show is going to be Sakura Ayane's performance. This isn't "Go-Toubun no Hanayome"'s Yotsuba or "Osananjimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Come"'s Kachi. It's got more to do with the image fans have of Sakura Ayane from stage events and radio promo work. It's cool seeing someone other than Matsuoka Yoshitsugu as the male harem rom-com protagonist. This is one of the types of roles Taketatsu Ayana tends to get typecast in. And although Rika as a character isn't anywhere as great as Nino in the second season of "Go-Toubun no Hanayome", I think she's going to make it work.

I liked the episode. Even watched it twice. Apart from the jokes around the show's premise and the fan service which are to be expected, the highlight for me was that Naoya decided to date Nagisa as well after she told him she'll confess again. It weren't her looks or cooking skills that she was working on that sold him on it but her determination. He basically saw himself in her. She was going to confess again like he had confessed to Saki multiple times. Also the opening. I liked how the animation and song mashed together.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
Posts: 2930
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 11:02 am Reply with quote
I merged all your posts together, please do not make a bunch of consecutive posts.
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gumbaloom



Joined: 11 Sep 2017
Posts: 252
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 11:31 am Reply with quote
Just watched Kageki Shoujo premiere . It looks to be following the manga fairly closely so far but the end suggested there might be some chapter skimming coming up

Hope this makes weekly review but for now wait for previews
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 11:36 am Reply with quote
all-tsun-and-no-dere wrote:
The series is from Saki's point of view. Naoya proposes a poly relationship and gives her space to think about it when she hesitates. She spends some time with Nagisa (who is less of a perfect waifu and more of a human) and decides to go for it even though she doesn't fully understand why. The reason turns out to be bisexuality, which she comes to terms with through her relationship with Naoya and Nagisa.

I agree with Yttrbio that this would be a completely different series, not a rewrite. The series is clearly aiming for dumb fun, not anything meaningful (which is what starkly differentiates it from series like Toradora and Wotakoi), and I see no problem with it not striving for anything more; there are plenty of other anime series out there that do.

Frankly, I found the series' basic conceit to be annoying at first, but once it clicked with me that the male protagonist just blurting out whatever he thinks is meant to be a running joke, and that the running joke would be a driver for the series' wackiness, I started finding the first episode a lot funnier. It might be my "popcorn entertainment" show for the season.
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