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Our Most Anticipated Anime Of Summer 2020

by ANN's Editorial Team,

Our Most Anticipated Anime of Summer 2020

The spring season took a big hit and summer looks to be slimmed down this year, but there's still plenty of gems to unearth. Here are our reviews crew's picks for the shows they're most excited about - and don't forget to tell us your picks in the forums!

Rebecca Silverman



Most Anticipated: Healin' Good Precure
I love magical girls. I have ever since I first watched episodes of Jem and the Holograms as a very small child, but more to the anime point, magical girls were some of what helped get me through the bad days back in school, because they made themselves into someone stronger just by manifesting the power that was already inside of them. (With a little help from some sort of adorable mascot, of course.) And while I enjoy magical girls in many of their modern incarnations, there's just something particularly wonderful about a magical girl show aimed squarely at a child audience. The sort of earnest quality to the characters' adventures can get preachy or cheesy, but the solid core of something like the Pretty Cure shows is the kind of optimism that I feel we could really use right about now. (I could, anyway!) Even the dismantling of a couple to turn them into “Glitter Force” couldn't totally ruin them, but it's still an absolute treat to be able to look forward to an unadulterated version with a legal stream.

This does look like a fun one, too, and one that could help rinse some of the glitter out of our mouths. The environmental aspect is timely, but it also plays with themes of helping animals, which is almost always a good way to appeal to an audience and could be mutually beneficial to Kodansha's publication of Yuzu the Pet Vet, a genuinely good kids' manga. There's also something vaguely reminiscent of the French 2014 – 2017 magical girl cartoon LoliRock, and since that streamed on Netflix, the visual similarities may prove helpful as well. (Also, if you missed it, LoliRock is worth watching.) Mostly, though, I'm simply excited to have a magical girl show that isn't looking to be dark, edgy, or anything else – those are all well and good, but sometimes you just want the comfortable reliability of a nice, fun, and colorful story. I'm not saying that this won't or can't have a message, but I'm looking forward to how it will be presented.

Also Looking Forward To: Re:Zero season 2
I still enjoy a good isekai story, and Re:Zero's first season proved it to be just that. Subaru's “return by death” power is one of the crueler gifts given to world-hopping protagonists, because it ensures maximum suffering from Subaru as he tries to get it right over and over again. Even though it isn't set in a game world, that one mechanic puts a dark spin on the fact that as players we can subject our characters to something similar without ever worrying about it, and the little bits and pieces that add up to gameplay analogies existing in a non-game world really make the story something a little off the beaten isekai track. The way that the characters evolved over the course of the first season as well was remarkable, and being with them as their story continues is exciting, because all of them still have plenty of evolution to go – and in the case of Emilia, Subaru needs to see her as more than just the object of his devotions. He's started doing that, but he's still wrapped up in himself enough that he hasn't fully come to understand her as a person. The story will doubtless be good even without that, but it's how the characters interact with each other and their story that I'm really looking forward to watching.

Finally, I'm tentatively anticipating both Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! and Mr Love: Queen’s Choice. The manga of the former took a little while to get good, which makes me a bit nervous for the anime, and I'm always happy to see female-oriented titles for the latter. Just because Aquarion Evol burned me with the love/evol thing doesn't mean this one'll be bad, right?
…right?

James Beckett


Most Anticipated: BNA: Brand New Animal
With the Longest Spring Ever finally coming to an end, it's time to start looking forward to what the summer has to offer, and there's thankfully quite a few solid looking titles headed our way in the coming weeks. A lot of them are sequels, unfortunately, which means that newcomers will have to play catch-up, but when all the series getting sequels are all pretty good, that isn't such a bad prospect all told.

As far as original series go, though, the most promising pick of the summer in my book is easily BNA: Brand New Animal, TRIGGER's latest exercise in goofy action extravaganza. Sure, this technically premiered overseas back in April, but the Eternal Content Wardens over at Netflix Jail are only now seeing fit to release the show here in the States. Simply having the label of “New TRIGGER Series” is usually enough on its own to warrant a decent amount of hype, and BNA's premise feels like a perfect fit for TRIGGER. As a studio, their secret weapon has always been an uncanny ability to channel pure, kinetic playfulness into their animation, blending the aesthetic sensibilities of traditional anime with the more loose and improvisational touches you see in Western toons. Given TRIGGER's influences and overall sense of humor, it was inevitable that we'd get a show from them that basically takes Zootopia and amps up the number of explosions and dumb jokes. You can bet I'll be bingeing the whole series the minute it drops on Netflix.

Also Looking Forward To: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax
If we're talking about sequels, I am very much looking forward to watching My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax, the long-awaited third season to what is easily one of anime's best romantic comedies. I was fortunate enough to cover the first two seasons back when the Shelf Life column was still running, and it remains one of the easiest times I've had bingeing an ungodly amount of anime for review. Our hero, Hachiman, can be a bit of an edgelord turd now and again, but he's ultimately a likable leading man, and I'll take a chuuni dweeb who goes through actual character development than one of those soulless charisma voids that star in whatever cash grab isekai light novel adaptation is on the horizon. Likewise, Yukino and Yui are both well-written and nuanced girls in their own right, the kind that make the prospect of a love triangle that spans three full seasons of shenanigans actually sound like fun. I just really missed these goofy dorks, and I'm eager to see where these final adventures in love take the kids in the Service Club next.

Also Looking Forward To: Fire Force Season 2 (maybe??)
My final choice might simply be a case of Anime Stockholm Syndrome at work, but I can't like, I'm just a little bit excited for is Fire Force Season 2. Did the first season ever live up to the potential hinted at in its first amazing episodes? No, sadly. Was the show often too stupid for its own good? God yes. Was all of the egregious and mean spirited Tamaki fanservice just, you know, the absolute worst? Well, you can go reference the tens of thousands of words I wrote covering Season 1 of Fire Force for the answer to that question. Still, I would be lying if I said I didn't hold at least a thimbleful of fondness for the weirdos and outcasts of Special Fire Force Company 8, and even when the show was oozing stupid right out of its ears, it was rarely ever boring. Author Atsushi Ōkubo's humor only ever works for me maybe a third of the time, and the story's pacing and character development is uneven at best, but you can just make out the great anime it could be when it is firing on all cylinders. With any luck, Fire Force's upcoming season will improve upon what worked in Season One, and in the case of Tamaki's perpetual awkward fanservice, it could just completely stop altogether. Please, Fire Force? Please?

Nicholas Dupree



Most Anticipated: Rent-A-Girlfriend
There are several promising series – both new and returning – I could have chosen for my most anticipated Summer title, but I pride myself on being honest, and the truth is that of all the anime still set to air, Rent-A-Girlfriend is the one I'm looking forward to the most. This isn't because I'm familiar with the source material (I'm not.) nor even that I think it'll be good (I don't.) but simply because something in my subconscious keeps telling me it's going to be a mess, and that's exactly what I'm in the mood for right now. I've consumed and enjoyed a ton of harem comedies in my life, and while I always love a good one, I love the ridiculously bad ones almost as much. The more contrived, belief-straining its plot twists, the more physically impossible its fanservice pratfalls, the more I want to watch the show trip over its own feet and tumble face first into a pair of overly-shiny anime boobs. It's my hope that if Rent-A-Girlfriend, with a plot synopsis as contrived as this, can't be genuinely good, it at least has the potential to be a total wreck.

Also Looking Forward To: Deca-Dence
My runner-up is, predictably, Deca-Dence. A seemingly lavishly produced original sci-fi adventure, with Death Parade and Mob Psycho 100 director Yuzuru Tachikawa at the helm, it seems like an easy shoe-in for a quality show. Original productions are always a bit of a gamble, but the rich environmental work, slick animation, and stellar voice cast shown off by the previews is more than enough for me to keep me excited. There's also the much awaited second season of Re:Zero, which looks to be just as harrowing as its first, and hopefully will dig even deeper into its established world and cast as things progress. And I'm happy to see Appare-Ranman! will be returning after its early delay this past season. And of course Netflix has finally let BNA: Brand New Animal out of its cage, which will surely tide me over in case any of these don't work out.

Amy McNulty


Most Anticipated: Great Pretender

Great Pretender is from Wit Studio, most of whose offerings I've enjoyed quite a bit. The synopsis says it's about a small-time swindler who gets swindled himself—which promises a lot of twists and turns and sleazy characters we can still root for. The trailer shows off bold colors, a lot of heart-pumping action, and plenty of wacky hijinks. The detailed character profiles released before the show has even aired make me think this series will definitely have plenty to offer, with the main character having only turned to becoming a conman after being wrongly imprisoned and the playboy “gentleman thief” who goes up against him. That doesn't necessarily promise to be the most original take on the genre, but I'm hoping the execution proves one-of-a-kind.

Also Looking Forward To: Appare-Ranman!

I feel like I'm cheating a little here since we got to see three episodes of this show during the spring season. However, if I hadn't sampled a few episodes, I doubt I would have counted it as among my most anticipated for a season. With the promise of a Trans-America Wild Race, this show seems slightly reminiscent of Wacky Races, only with the humor more subdued.

With the bright, colorful designs, a somewhat diverse cast of characters, and the impressive if fantastical technology on display, the first few episodes are off to a great start. The eccentric genius as a foil to the skilled soldier is somewhat reminiscent of many Sherlock Holmes adaptations, which can be amusing if done well. There's also a child in search of his father's killer and an auto-racing “chore girl” who's eager to prove herself as a driver, so there's a lot going on here. Since the race itself has yet to actually begin in the episodes I've seen, I'm eager to see if this steampunk-ish show can deliver on its full premise.

Nick Creamer



Most Anticipated: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax

In spite of the overall season size having been significantly diminished by the continued threat of COVID, the summer anime season is actually still stuffed with productions I'm eagerly looking forward to. Chief among them is undoubtedly My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU's third and final season, which actually migrated to summer from the spring season, but should hopefully hold steady this time.

From its first season onward, SNAFU has been one of the most insightful character dramas of recent years, exploring the insecurities of youth and social dynamics of high school with a perceptive gaze and a great deal of sympathy for its mixed-up cast. SNAFU is consistently thoughtful, frequently hilarious, and elevated by character dynamics that echo the snappy, romantic appeal of a show like Spice and Wolf. And with the second season's talented director Kei Oikawa returning, I have every expectation that season three will also turn out to be a feast of beautifully storyboarding and detailed, evocative character acting. If you have any fondness for romcoms or character dramas, I'd emphatically urge you to catch up for SNAFU's final season.

Also Looking Forward To: Japan Sinks: 2020
My next most-anticipated show comes from one of the best directors in the business, the incomparable Masaaki Yuasa. After gracing us with just one production every few years for quite some time, the formation of Yuasa's own studio Science SARU has led to a firehose of Yuasa content, from poignant films like Ride Your Wave to last winter's endlessly imaginative Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! This summer, Yuasa will be directing Japan Sinks: 2020, an unusually grounded story whose early previews are already demonstrating fluid animation and remarkably visceral action sequences. Yuasa is without question one of this art form's greatest masters, and I feel lucky to enjoy such a prolific era in his career.

Finally, this summer will also be featuring a new production by one of anime's rising stars - Yuzuru Tachikawa, the remarkably talented director behind Death Parade and Mob Psycho 100. Having proven his incredible abilities to the wider world through Mob Psycho, Tachikawa will be handling the anime-original Deca-Dence, a story taking place in an evocative and largely barren world. We frankly don't know all that much about Deca-Dence, but with Tachikawa at the helm, I have high hopes it'll turn out to be something special.

Theron Martin



Most Anticipated: Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 2
This may be the thinnest summer season in several years in terms of the raw number of titles airing, but I am still going to have no trouble filling out a viewing card. Black Clover and A Certain Scientific Railgun T are both coming back from COVID-19-related delays, No Guns Life is finally airing its second season, and the first season of Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation convinced me that the second season may be worth watching. Among new titles, Rent-A-Girlfriend has my interest as a new potential romantic entry based on its concepts, and a handful of others might prove worthy if their first episodes are interesting enough.

However, the real meat of the season for me is the big sequels. The final cour of Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld 2 will round out the franchise's longest (by far) arc and show the culmination of nearly everything that the series has done to date. I have read the novels but am still quite eager to see how certain parts get adapted. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax is, on the other hand, a new discovery. I spent a good chunk of June finally catching up on the previous two seasons, and one of my biggest anime regrets is that I did not do so sooner. SNAFU's second season would probably make my Top 10 of the 2010s list, but can the franchise recapture that magic after five years off?

Re:Zero 2 wins the top spot over both in part because of the jaw-dropping stunt it pulled at the end of its re-airing during the Winter 2020 season. I had long heard from fans of the novels that a big cliffhanger had been skipped at the end when the series first aired, and boy, it did not disappoint; a pair of OVA releases over the past few months, which fill in some backstory, only heighten anticipation further. This subversion of many normal isekai tropes was both one of the most popular and one of the highest-rated shows of 2016, so the sequel has some big shoes to fill, but with all of the principal staff back, I have no doubt that we'll see something great.

Lauren Orsini




Most Anticipated: The God of High School

This spring, Crunchyroll transformed Tower of God from a hit Korean manhwa into a hit anime. Can they bottle lightning twice? I'd say it's a safe bet when they're working with such strong source material: a webtoon popular enough to have its own merchandise line. The storyline features a basic but instantly-immersive mixed martial arts tournament starring the strongest high schoolers South Korea has to offer. Furthermore, it retains undeniable ties to another hit, Dragon Ball, with a main character who has more than a few things in common with Goku. Unlike Tower of God, which I felt failed to translate the rules of its complicated world to new viewers, this story's focus is simple—just one battle after the next. It's the characters, and their dynamic, unpredictable fighting styles, that keep things interesting. I'm especially intrigued that anime giant MAPPA, including director Seong Ho Park (of Garo -Vanishing Line-) and character designer Akita Manabu (of Kakegurui) will be handling the show's animation.

Also Looking Forward To: Japan Sinks: 2020
Japan Sinks is a 1973 disaster novel has gotten multiple live-action adaptations that all have one thing in common: they're not very good. Can Masaaki Yuasa, the genius director behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, DEVILMAN crybaby, and Ping Pong do any better? Netflix decided to give him a big ol' heap of cash to try and find out. Science SARU's promotional video features the main character, a middle school student, as she navigates the wreckage immediately following a devastating earthquake… which turns out to be just the beginning of this catastrophe. Yuasa's fluid style fits perfectly with this portrayal of the kinetic energy of destruction. I'm a big fan of his previous work, but it's the tragic tone of the content that has me a little hesitant to begin what would otherwise be a must-watch for me. In a year overcome with so much disaster already, Japan Sinks: 2020 sounds less like a piece of escapist media and more like it could be a headline from a month in the future.

Christopher Farris




Most Anticipated: Deca-Dence

The...unique setting we find ourselves in going into the Summer 2020 anime season means a lot of what I'm looking forward to here were things I was anticipating three months ago! I'm psyched Digimon Adventure: is back up and running and can't wait to jump on BNA: Brand New Animal now that it's escaped the Netflix zoo. But me not really being interested in any of the massive sequels hitting this summer means my attention is instead fully turned towards an original production: Deca-Dence.

Reuniting Yuzuru Tachikawa and Hiroshi Seko off the incomparable Mob Psycho 100, this show's imaginative exploits also bring in a veritable army of sakuga superstars to potentially gift it the same amount of amazing animated life Mob had. This is definitely the case where I'm psyched for an anime purely for the aesthetic animated thrill-ride aspect of it, but with that writer and director, the story has plenty of potential as well. The other new series I'm most excited for this Summer is another original, but unfortunately it's also another Netflix release.

Also Looking Forward To: Great Pretender
Perhaps it's appropriate though that the con artists of Great Pretender get locked in jail for a little bit. Wit Studio's newest non-Attack-on-Titan thing just looks like an incredibly fun time, with Hiro Kaburagi of 91 Days already having experience with crime-infested western-style action, but perhaps a bit less dark and heady this go-around. The style we've been shown certainly speaks to expecting more of a ridiculous romp, and it's going to be very hard for me to wait to actually get to watch it. Then again, here we are with the last +Ultra block series, the aforementioned BNA, already out just after finishing its airing, so maybe we won't have to wait too long for Great Pretender either.


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