All things considered, this summer season felt particularly representative of where the anime industry is currently at: we had a handful of creative and visually impressive series that were almost universally affected by delays and production issues, something that usually means brutal crunch for animators and dips in visual quality for the shows themselves. But as usual, despite the industry feeling increasingly unsustainable in its current form, talented creatives still managed to showcase their skills with some dazzling displays of visual craft that deserve to be celebrated as much as their stingy corporate overlords deserve to be admonished. While this summer slate may have had less breadth than usual, and there were plenty of delays, the best shows this time around packed a punch.
Honorable Mentions:
This statement may sound like hyperbole, especially considering it’s not on the main list, but The Elusive Samurai has some of the best animation I’ve seen in years, expressing the demonic evils of warmongers and the heavenly grace of the protagonist in abstract explosions of violence. We follow Hojo Tokiyuki, a royal heir on the run from a warlord who betrayed his family in this historically dubious take on the end of Japan’s Kamakura period. While the series’ attempts at comedy don’t always land, and stiff 3DCGI occasionally bogs down the otherwise excellent look, the visual climaxes here are downright celestial.
5. Senpai is an Otokonoko
Through its messy but lovable main trio, Senpai is an Otokonoko explores gender identity and queerness with a lot more tact than most anime (which is a low bar, but still). We follow Makoto, an AMAB kid who crossdresses, Saki, a bi gremlin, and Ryuji, a boy struggling with his sexuality, as the three get tangled in a love triangle. First and foremost, the relationship between these three is downright delightful, and unlike many stories about people chasing the same person, there is a great rapport between this trio that makes their interactions charming and funny in equal measure. Of course, that isn’t to say their time together is conflict-free, and the series also dives into the ways each of them chafes against internalized queerphobia and the unfair pressures of the culture they live in. Altogether, it makes for a tale that can be sweet but doesn’t brush over what these kids are going through as it hones in on their particular worries. And while it may not be as visually flashy as the others on this list, it’s one of the only ones here that didn’t get delayed, which is certainly a plus.
4. Monogatari Series Off and Monster Season
At this point, getting into the sprawling, thorny, often off-putting, and sometimes excellent Monogatari series is a bit of a tall task, but through its eye-catching aesthetics and general avoidance of the show’s most fan-servicey pitfalls, Off & Monster Season makes a good case for why that might still be worth it. Following the inaccurately titled Final Season, the latest run mostly centers on former side characters dealing with the aftermath of life-defining supernatural encounters. This series of episodes shines because it focuses on what this show is best at: using folkloric phenomena to explore the cast’s various psychological hang-ups. For instance, we follow Nadeko, a former antagonist who quite literally faces off against previous versions of herself in an affecting journey for personal identity.
Oh, and it helps that studio Shaft is up to their usual ostentatious hijinks, visually embellishing this wordy series with striking shot compositions, abstract imagery, constant cutaways, smooth animation, and a generally cheeky sense of style which is so distinctive that it has been parodied and copied in plenty of other anime and videogames. And while the show’s verbose monologuing can still occasionally fall into sophistry, most of this latest run ditches the uncomfortable sexualization that’s made it tough to recommend to anyone but dyed-in-the-wool weebs, although those elements do return in the final arc alongside our unwholesome former protagonist. After the previous seasons’ sense of closure, I wasn’t sure about returning to this world of apparitions, but these latest episodes largely showed this series has more stories worth telling.
3. Nier: Automata Ver1.1a Part 2
Nier: Automata is one of those games that means a great deal to a lot of people (myself included), so A-1’s adaptation of this weirdo sci-fi story had a high bar to clear. Thankfully, it did just that, and between its meaningful additions and ability to translate the unmitigated emotional damage of its source material, Ver1.1a is a great adaptation. For those out of the loop, we follow 2B and 9S, two androids from the far-flung future forced to fight in a forever war on humanity’s behalf against alien-made machines—somehow, this description doesn’t even scratch the surface of how bonkers things get. But despite its out-there qualities, the series grounds these circumstances with a cast of lovable characters who are increasingly pulled into the tragedy of this senseless conflict as this narrative blasts apart dogmatic ideology and rampant militarism.
However, beyond just working as a retelling of this tale for people with no interest in picking up a controller, Ver1.1a also meaningfully expands on certain character arcs, fixing some of the biggest problems with the original, like how A2’s backstory didn’t feel fully explored (it also probably helps that the game’s director and writer, Yoko Taro, helped co-write this series). While admittedly, I still think the game is the best way to experience this story due to how exceptionally it utilizes its medium, Ver1.1a is still a great way to embark on this crushing sci-fi odyssey.
2. Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction
Weaving together its nuanced depiction of its central shitty teens with an avalanche of weighty themes, Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction is a one-of-a-kind coming-of-age story you don’t want to miss. Events mainly center on Ontan and Kadode, two high schoolers trying to get through the tail end of their adolescence as a UFO hovers over their hometown of Tokyo, looming over the city like a sword of Damocles. The series accomplishes the tricky task of successfully balancing mundanity and larger-than-life stakes as it jumps between hang-out shenanigans and behind-the-scenes meetings conducted by a callous, xenophobic government. In regards to the latter aspect, unlike many alien invasion stories, the humans here are undeniably the warmongering aggressors, as fear-driven politicians orchestrate massacres against a group they barely attempt to understand. Meanwhile, as the years pass, everyone waits for the day that the increasingly decrepit alien aircraft will finally fall out of the sky, presumably taking the city with it.
Against this brutal backdrop, we watch as our leading pair of disaster teens do their best to live out some semblance of a normal life, burying the grief of lost loved ones under heaps of banter—the dialogue between our central besties is so specific, sharply written, and consistently hilarious that these scenes are equally if not more compelling than the geopolitics bubbling in the background. If I have a major issue with how this one is handled though, it’s that I was quite underwhelmed with the ending, which comes too abruptly and doesn’t give some of its last-minute turns time to breathe. Still, that said, you could write several essays about this one’s subject matter: how the UFO’s imminent crash captures the particular experience of growing up under existential threats like climate change and thermonuclear destruction or how it evokes coming of age while your government commits hyper-nationalistic atrocities that many fellow citizens are eager to defend. But perhaps its most poignant thread is the radical lengths its central pair are willing to go for one another—they may not be able to save the world, but just maybe they can save each other.
1. Oshi No Ko Season 2
Oshi no Ko was one of last year’s breakout hits (in large part because of its attention-grabbing premiere), and the latest season of this showbiz drama builds on what came before with another batch of beautifully presented episodes. We continue to follow Aqua and Ruby, the kids of a famous idol working their way up in the entertainment industry for very different reasons, as Aqua lands a role in a star-studded play. While focusing this run on a single gig seems like it would make for a far more static stretch than last season, it justifies this focus by delving into the nuances of this production. Along the way, it remains rightfully critical of the entertainment industry, of its unfairness, how unglamorous it can be, and most of all, how it enables exploitation and abuse. But while it’s rightly scathing, it avoids being outright cynical by delighting in the intricacies and fun of making art.
Our central cast of aspiring entertainers are an absolute treat, and studio Doga Koba goes all out in externalizing their joy during performances through colorful, creative cuts of animation. Much like its nuanced take on showbiz, these characters are equally complicated, each motivated by dreams and held back by past mishaps as they struggle toward the kind of performers they want to be. Related to this, the latest run’s greatest improvement over what came before is that it’s dramatically better at conveying Aqua’s angst, moving him from a prototypical revenge-fueled protagonist, into someone whose trauma is much more specific and well-illustrated. Thanks to its excellent cast, expressive animation, and rigorous look at the entertainment industry, Oshi no Ko’s second season maintains center stage with ease.
Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11.
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