Summer Season 2026 – First Impressions
So many new series – and so little time to watch them all! Ranging from the high-profile Science Saru offerings, Jaadugar and The Ghost in the Shell, to the many returning titles, which ones have the Anime UK News writers picked out to recommend? And are there just too many this season?
BanG! Dream Yume∞Mita
BLACK TORCH
Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War
Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! Season 2
Clevatess Season 2
Dara-San of Reiwa
Draw This, Then Die!
Goodbye, Lara
Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
Kaiju Girl Caramelise
Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky
Magilumiere Co. Ltd. Season 2
Red River
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
The Elusive Samurai Season 2
The Ghost in the Shell
Tomb Raider King
You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2
Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games
HWR
This Summer season is another stacked one in terms of new and returning anime titles, including one currently inaccessible for UK viewers that will hopefully get this resolved soon (The World is Dancing).
Hotly anticipated/(Sort-of) Returning Champion
The Ghost in the Shell was very much an anime I was excited to watch, having enjoyed most entries in the franchise so far, and the prospect of going back to the original source material in Masamune Shirow’s 1995 manga, complete with a more faithful art style and adaptation of the story, seemed like a sensible next step.
In execution this has been great so far, with a vibrant presentation contrasted against some rather brutal violence, a nice score, and a different and more expressive Major (Maaya Sakamoto) than some fans might be used to. Indeed going from the films and Stand Alone Complex entries (in my opinion two of the best science fiction anime series ever), or even the more recent 3D titles to this was an adjustment, but the strength in concept and worldbuilding for GITS, alongside its fantastic cast, manages to shine through in even the weaker franchise entries, and here it’s a real highlight.
Dara-San of Reiwa is an odd one to talk about, but the premise is fairly straightforward, dealing with the supernatural as two siblings who live in a town in the mountains stumble upon a legendary half-human half-snake creature from folklore. The demon, at least according to legend, curses anyone caught trespassing the area, as she guards a shrine to the Yamatagi Madara.
What comes from this in actuality is that the siblings become friendly with the demon, call her Dara-San (Mutsumi Tamura), and attempt to acclimatise her to the modern world. The first steps to this are seen in providing appropriate clothing, as the demon is very much unclothed (and uncensored too), the second is to establish themselves, with Hinata (Minami Tsuda) being more of a tomboy, and the younger Kaoru (Momoka Terasawa) dressing in more feminine clothing, following traditions for firstborn sons of families to wear such outfits (yes the poster confused me a bit too, rather intentionally it seems.)
It’s a curious premise, and the characters introduced so far are mostly likeable with the titular Dara having some witty and exasperated responses to the modernisation around here, and the siblings are fun enough foils, but I’m not sure how well it’ll hold firm across the 12 episodes – hopefully there will be a balance between the folklore backstory of Dara-San, and the more comedic and sometimes fanservice-y interactions of the present.
The Ghost in the Shell is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Dara-San of Reiwa is streaming on Crunchyroll
Noemi10
With the increase of popularity in manhwa and the huge success of the adaptation of Solo Leveling, more manhwa are being made into anime, and it’s now the turn of Tomb Raider King! With the anime adaptation releasing this month, I couldn’t miss out on it as a big fan of the manhwa!
Jooheon Suh is a tomb raider in a world similar to ours where tombs holding magical relics appear. With his skills, he worked for a conglomerate in tomb raiding, only to be betrayed and killed, together with all of his team. Thanks to the power of a mysterious relic, he travels back in time to change his future and get revenge against the people who used him. Fans of the manhwa know not to expect a hero as Jooheon’s personality is the total opposite of what a hero would be. However, the anime does a good job in showing the emotional trauma that our character goes through that makes him start on a path to revenge. The anime starts with a slow pace as with just a handful of episodes out it’s still setting up the stage for this story, however, we start with a bang as the viewers are thrown right away in the middle of a fight (the first of many!).
Like Solo Leveling, the series doesn’t shy away from killing monsters and people alike, and revenge and power are the goal of our main character. It’s directed by Seung Wook Woo who also worked on Claymore and Hunter x Hunter, so although the series started slowly, it’s still to early for me to judge. The series has started streaming with just Japanese and Korean dubs and a plethora of languages for the subtitles, but the English dub will become available by the end of July.
Tomb Raider King is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Demelza
The summer season has brought with it a number of new shows I was looking forward to, but it’s Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky that I’ve been looking forward to the most.
Based on a light novel by Nanigashi Shima, this story follows university student Kakeru Sorano, who meets a blind woman known as Koharu Fuyutsuki at a drinking party. Koharu doesn’t let her disability get in the way of living an active student life, and Kakeru soon finds himself enamoured with her carefree way of living. He’s also fascinated by her love for fireworks despite the fact she can’t see them for herself, but perhaps the more time he spends with her, the more he’ll grow to understand her interest in them.
Although I haven’t read the original light novel for this yet, I have watched the live-action adaptation that aired last year (available in the UK on Viki) and read the first volume of the manga (currently unlicensed). So I’m very familiar with the story and where it goes, which sometimes becomes a problem for me if an anime ends up being lacklustre. Thankfully that hasn’t been the case here.
Brought to life by studio Makaria, the series has been a gentle ride so far, with the relationship between our two leads slowly building as they go about their lives. Both Kakeru and Koharu are charming characters, played by Miyu Irino (Kakeru) and Saori Hayami (Koharu), who have excellent chemistry. I like the bright colour palette that the team has chosen too, which really sells the cheerfulness of Koharu’s outlook on life. The writing is solid too, both in how it depicts Koharu’s struggles with her disability and how Kakeru approaches her as someone who can’t easily relate to having no sight. Sometimes he’s made a couple of thoughtless comments, but generally speaking, it feels fairly realistic, and there’s been nothing so far that’s hurtful or mean-spirited.
I’m really happy this is so far getting the adaptation it deserves, and I hope that the rest of the season will continue with the same level of quality, especially given some of the more serious content to come. If you’re looking for a new romance series with some not-high-school-aged characters, then this is for you!
Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! returns for a second season! Since Season 1 in 2021, a lot has changed in the franchise, with the main series now being up to four seasons (with a fifth announced) and the original manga having recently completed ‘Part 1’ and going on a well-deserved break. But now the cast are back for weekly 12-minute episodes filled with charm.
If you watched the first season, you’ll know what to expect. The characters we know and love take on chibi versions of themselves and engage in comedic scenarios that we wouldn’t ordinarily see in the main series. And it’s not limited to the Armed Detective Agency; we get to see characters from every group come together. Including new additions, the Hunting Dogs, whom viewers will recognise from the last season of the main story. It’s nice because no matter who your favourite character is, they’re bound to get some screentime in Wan!. With 15 volumes of manga (and counting), there’s no shortage of material to adapt here, and the team are so far picking some excellent gags. Of course there’s some unique to the anime too, which is always nice to see. Wan! is a welcome return to my weekly viewing, that’s for sure.
My other returning champion for summer is Magilumiere Co. Ltd., which is back for Season 2. Now I absolutely love the Magilumiere manga, so I was beyond excited when it got its first season in 2024, but I always felt there was something lacklustre about the adaptation we received. So, although I’ve been looking forward to the anime returning, I’ve also been apprehensive due to how it was the first time around. Plus, they had to recast Hitomi, who is now played by Mariko Higashiuchi, who takes over from Yumiri Hanamori (and has been doing a great job, thankfully!).
We return to the series as Shigemoto’s Alice System for managing magic and exterminating Kaii is rejected by the other council members of the Council of Magical Organisations. Undetered by their pushback, Shigemoto requests that they test the system on a new species of Kaii that the Research Insititute for Magical Technology has in captivity. And this is more or less where the three episodes of Season 2 have gotten us so far, with plenty of political manoeuvring in the background and Kana and Hitomi facing off against this Kaii.
I have to say I have been quite surprised by the first few episodes so far despite my concerns going into it. This is not the same Magilumiere we saw in Season 1. This time it feels polished and much more on-model compared to the source material. It’s just subtle changes here and there, tweaks to the characters and colours, but it has made a substantial difference overall. The action scenes look considerably better too! Perhaps this is because J.C. Staff has taken sole control, whereas previously this was a co-production with studio Moe.
Like Season 1, this is hidden away on Amazon Prime Video. But if you enjoyed Season 1 or are a fan of the manga, I’d certainly recommend coming back to it. So far, it’s more than worth your time!
And finally, the series that has surprised me the most this season is Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life. This one follows the story of Ryusei Narukami, a man once a powerful Demon King but now reincarnated into the peaceful world of Japan. He’s lived his life since being reborn peacefully and is currently a shut-in NEET living at home. However, one day his life is turned on its head when he’s approached by Meteor Hanaori, the reincarnation of the Hero who once defeated him and is here to ensure he’s not up to any more evil deeds in his second life!
The thing is, rather than protect the world from Ryusei, Meteor just really misses their fights (not that she would ever admit it!). Her arrival spurs Ryusei into changing his life and getting a job as a teacher, but he ends up teaching at Meteor’s school through pure coincidence. And now he just can’t seem to get rid of her, as she’s constantly dragging him here, there and everywhere, convinced he’s up to no good. And there seems to be a bunch of other weirdos with their sights set on him?!
Honestly, I feel kind of sorry for Ryusei, as he really hasn’t done anything to deserve Meteor’s menacing, but their interactions are hilarious and kind-of charming. Sure, our heroine is over the top, loud and obnoxious, but as the show has gone on, it’s clear she’s just lonely. And in some ways, I think Ryusei misses the bond they shared before, too.
Based on an ongoing manga by Hekiru Hikawa (available from Seven Seas), this one is handled by Liden Films and led by Akira Sekine as Meteor and Jun Fukuyama as Ryusei. Fukuyama is one of those voice actors who always does a fantastic job in comedy shows, and he and Sekine easily stand as an equal match to one another in their performances. In terms of visuals, I think Liden is doing a good job with it. It’s bright with a sort of ‘pop’ vibe to it, and although it’s not the best-looking show this season, it certainly holds its own, I think. The story also isn’t very original, but it’s fun, and I think if you’re a fan of these fantasy/reincarnation stories, then you’ll enjoy the tropes playing out in a slightly different way than usual.
Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky, Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! Season 2 and Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life are all available on Crunchyroll, while Magilumiere Co. Ltd. Season 2 is on Amazon Prime Video.
Onosume
I may not be the best at them, but I absolutely love fighting games having grown up with a mixture of Smash Bros., SoulCalibur and Tekken. To my delight this season, we have a show that’s all about fighting games, or more specifically Street Fighter 6.
In Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, we’re introduced to Aya Mitsuki, a student at the posh and privileged Kuromi Girls’ Academy, who wants to become as elegant as one of the school’s most popular students, Mio Yorue. One day however, Aya stumbles on Mio in an unused classroom playing video games, which are actually banned at the school. Yet this isn’t just any video game she’s playing, it’s Street Fighter 6, a game that Aya herself loves! Swayed by temptation, Aya picks up an arcade stick and absolutely bodies Mio, that is until Mio pulls off a sneaky strategy and makes a great comeback! Quickly forming a rivalry and friendship, the two now spend their time sneaking around after school trying to find ways they can play Street Fighter together.
At the outset, this will feel very familiar to Rock is a Lady’s Modesty, where seemingly there’s this subgenre of posh schoolgirls rebelling against their school’s rules and image. It’s an easy way in and sets up the main premise pretty well, yet it doesn’t quite have the style and shock factor that Lady’s Modesty has. Sadly, there’s no middle fingering here!
After the first couple of episodes though, you see it start to settle down into a sort of “cute girls do X” type of series, as the girls form their own illicit fighting game club with the two school dormitory monitors Yuu and Tamaki (who have been using their position to their advantage to get away with playing games after lights out).
What results is this cute little comedy show about the girls fighting each other and trying to become better at the game, all the while trying to hide their nightly activities from the teachers and other students. It’s easy to watch, fun to laugh with, and you can really feel the love of the game itself, which players will appreciate.
Yet I think where it falls down is that it assumes you play fighting games as well, and that you know all the competitive lingo and strategies as it bleats out gameplay babble at rapid speed. If you don’t know any of this then this will come off as hugely alienating and I imagine would make the show hard to get. It also sort of feels like a giant advert for Street Fighter. Anime of course is no stranger to product placement, but it cuts in footage from the game and has its logo all over the shop, so you know exactly what game you need to buy if you want to follow the series.
Ultimately as someone into fighting games, I’m really enjoying this so far, but I think this show has very limited appeal and would be hard to pick up if that’s something you’re not into.
My second pick, although I’d call it more of a wildcard rather than a hotly anticipated series, is BLACK TORCH, something I picked because I wanted an easy to watch action show that doesn’t need too much concentration.
The series introduces us to Jirou Azuma, a rough and ready high schooler who has the ability to talk to animals. He takes care of an injured cat, but it runs off soon after. Chasing after it, Jirou is pulled into the supernatural world of the mononoke, powerful creatures that are kept in check by the secret organisation known as the Bureau of Espionage. Jirou is heavily wounded by the mononoke he encounters, but is saved by the cat, which turns out to be Ragou, the legendary Black Star of Doom, one of the most powerful Mononoke. Now possessed by the creature, Jirou is forced to join the Bureau of Espionage and battle the mononoke with them.
So far this is pretty much hitting the bill for what I wanted, it’s an easy to watch action show that’s maybe taking a little time to spin up but is throwing together a recipe for some cool supernatural battles against monsters. Jirou’s heritage in being a descendant of a line of powerful ninjas means he probably would have been dragged in anyway, but the addition of Ragou should improve his rating on the overpowered meter to hopefully bring us some good fights in the future.
These early episodes are mostly setting up the plot, but we don’t have much detail on the rest of the cast within the Bureau yet. The main focus has been on Ichika (the sex appeal of the show and a love interest if I ever saw one) and setting up her relationship with Jirou in that she hates him and sees him as a pain she’d rather exterminate, but I have a feeling in time she’ll melt to him. She can perfectly handle herself though and it was nice to see her take out the mononoke in style in episode 3.
I don’t think this is going to be a sure-fire standout, but it promises to be a solid supernatural action show with plenty of fights against various hideous monsters that need to be taken down with the new powers Jirou has acquired from Ragou. If it stays true to my expectations, then I think I’d be perfectly happy with that!
Girls band anime BanG Dream! returns this season in an all-new spin-off, BanG! Dream Yume∞Mita.
The series follows Arale Nakamachi, a hyper and energetic high schooler who masks her nervousness by talking at a million miles an hour and having no filter whatsoever. This has gotten her into trouble with her old middle school band where she was involved in a scandal where she was seen to be berating her bandmates (when she actually wasn’t) and was forced to leave the band.
Continuing her activities online as a VTuber, she is eventually picked up by a new agency who is throwing together a virtual band, Mugendai Mewtype. Things seem to be going well, but when Arale bumps into her old bandmates, Viola and her childhood friend Ritsu, things once again threaten to spiral out of control. Will the new band actually be able to make their debut?
After the darker in tone recent entries of It’s MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, Yume∞Mita has a very different energy, pulling in a kind of hyper activeness you tend to see more in kids shows such as PriPara. It’s bright, colourful and the very epitome of “genki”.
While this initially marks it out as something different, the story here does feel very similar to its older siblings, particularly where you’ve got the lead character being forced out of one band to later make a storming comeback with another. The interesting point this time however comes through the character of Viola, who has instigated all this thanks to her tendency to bully people she doesn’t like out of the bands she is in.
Viola is very clearly set up as the villain here, and unlike Sakiko in Ave Mujica, she has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Ritsu is trapped in her clutches as her personal plaything, and what the series seems to be going for here is having Arale save Ritsu from Viola and pull her into Mugendai Mewtype. This I am all for because Viola is an absolute piece of work that needs taking down a peg, so seeing some revenge play out is going to be highly exciting!
Outside of the main plot, you’ve got an eccentric supporting cast with the rest of Mugendai Mewtype. DJ and producer Yuno seems interesting, being serious and hard to read but vulnerable in the way she isolates herself. Nonoka’s over-expressiveness feels like she is covering for something, while Miyako is running a double life as a manga author. Out of the three, we’ve spent most time with Miyako so far, so hopefully we get more on the others as the series progresses (I’m 4 episodes in as I write this and we’re just starting to touch on Yuno).
So far then I do like this one, but I feel it doesn’t have the same impact as the other series in the franchise in its story. I think it will pick up, but it sure has a lot of work to do in its second half to bring all its ideas to fruition.
Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, BLACK TORCH, and BanG! Dream Yume∞Mita are all streaming on Crunchyroll.
Sarah
I first fell for the charm and bitter-sweet humour of Jinushi’s slice-of-life manga Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You when we received our review copy from Square Enix Manga in 2024, even though the initial set-up was not very appealing. A weary forty-year-old salaryman meets up with a cool and stylish young supermarket employee, Miss Tayama, behind the store to share cigarettes and his admiration for her sunny-natured colleague at the cash registers, Miss Yamada. What Mr. Sasaki doesn’t realize, bless him, is that Tayama and Yamada are one and the same young woman who takes delight in teasing the unsuspecting salaryman. But something draws them together and it’s not just a love of tobacco.
Enjoying this series means trying to ignore that it’s unhealthy cigarettes that are the catalyst for this unusual relationship but once you can put that issue aside, watching the two get to know each other and begin to open up in each other’s company is a genuinely heart-warming experience. Jinushi is very skilled at creating many-layered characters and it’s fascinating to meet the other supermarket staff as well and see how they all function as a team. We also see poor Mr. Sasaki in his workplace where his slavedriver of a manager makes his staff work very late night after night and constantly chews them out in front of the rest of their colleagues.
Much of the humour is based on making the audience wonder when Mr. Sasaki is going to finally work out that Tayama and Yamada are one and the same person – but it’s gentle humour and not unkindly done. And as the May-December friendship grows stronger, it’s hard not to root for the two to acknowledge that their relationship is important to both of them. Miss Tayama likes to tease Mr. Sasaki but is he as oblivious as he seems to be? So, it’s a pleasure to report that the anime TV adaptation from Asahi Production is faithfully done, bringing Jinushi’s drawings to life and keeping the wry and occasionally affecting conversations to the fore. The delightful chibi versions of Yamada/Tayama are preserved which is a big plus. The anime version also spends quite a lot of time in Genki Trading (oh, the irony!), the company Mr. Sasaki works for, depicting the poisonous atmosphere created by the (unnamed) manager and allowing for comparisons to be made with the supportive atmosphere in the supermarket, created by the manager, Goto.
Viewers were introduced to Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You by Crunchyroll in an unusual way: before the end of the Spring season, twelve mini-episodes were uploaded, roughly the equivalent to the first six episodes. The ‘proper’ full-length episodes are now being added, one a week, so – in some ways – we will soon have seen it all twice (or three times, if you count the US dub!). I’m not going to complain about this as the adaptation of the story, animation and voice acting are strong enough to merit several viewings. Definitely one of the high spots of this crowded season, this unassuming series will entertain and occasionally touch your heart in ways that many of the flashier big series won’t manage to, in spite of their bigger budgets, shouty casts and noisier soundtracks! And, of course, as many have already pointed out, it’s really nice to have a believable romcom with adults instead of teenagers.
An anime series based on a manga about making manga… We’ve been here before but Draw This, Then Die! is a unique and delightful take on the perils and pitfalls of being an aspiring mangaka. Ai Yasumi is a first-year high schooler whose passion is manga. She even has an invisible companion, Pokota from her favourite manga Robota and Pokota – so when she hears that Pokota’s creator, Yasuno-sensei, is going to be at Comitia, she determines to go and see her, even though it means leaving her island home by ferry and travelling to the big city all by herself! However, she’s in for a shock – because her favourite mangaka turns out to be none other than her strict, strait-laced high school teacher, Miss Teshima, who insists on accompanying her back home straight away. Undeterred, Ai asks to set up a manga club at school and Miss Teshima relents, roping in her friend who runs a local manga bookshop. Ai is joined by two new schoolmates: the talented but shy artist Kokoro Fujimori and laid-back Sachi Akafuku, and together they set to work, rigorously coached by Teshima-sensei. But then a new girl arrives – and Ai recognizes her from Comitia where their first encounter was something of a disaster! What’s brought this young mangaka to the island?
The island of Izu Oshima is the backdrop to this story and is vividly portrayed in the anime (wonderful background art) adding an extra feeling of authenticity to the story. And anyone interested in writing/drawing a manga will have plenty to learn alongside Ai and her friends from Miss Teshima’s rigorous feedback sessions (referring to Tezuka from the get-go). But it’s the passion for manga (reading or making it) that really lifts this story, as well as the believable way the girls are depicted and there are plenty of ingenious and imaginative animated moments to enjoy. We also get to learn much more about what drove Miss Teshima to become an earnest and ambitious young mangaka before she gave it all up to become a teacher.
The all-female cast are great, especially Akira Sekine as Ai and Saori Hayami who’s impressively imposing as Miss Teshima in full-on severe teacher mode. The original award-winning manga by Minoru Toyoda is due to start being released by Seven Seas in August.
I was utterly won over by the first season of You and I Are Polar Opposites – which was closely followed by the first season of Ramparts of Ice, also based on Kocha Agasawa’s manga, which offered much of the same insightful, believable approach to a group of high schoolers but with a very different blend of personalities, portraying the worries and insecurities that beset us all in our teens. So now that Polar Opposites is back, will it seem a little frivolous alongside its darker predecessor? Well no, because even the ever-optimistic, outgoing Miyu is undergoing some relatable moments of uncertainty. When her boyfriend Tani-kun’s parents invite her round to meet them, she panics and dyes her pink hair back to black (shocking Tani, as she doesn’t warn him in advance). Little details like the fact that her fingertips are still stained with black dye only serve to endear us to her even more as she attempts to make polite conversation with Tani’s parents (who are welcoming and not in any way hostile) and trips up over her stylish long skirt in her confusion.
And there is progress – or is there? – in the budding relationship between painfully shy Nishi and cheery Yamada, including a cherishable scene in which they run around like toddlers (he pursues her, she runs away but in a circle and so on…). As for wary Taira and Azuma, we get to learn more about Taira in middle school and where his world weariness originated, culminating in Episode 4 in a significant moment when he’s on his way home and gets caught in a hailstorm. Who should catch up to him with an umbrella, but Azuma? How is it then, that they both end up getting wet and cold? But perhaps something has begun to thaw in their feelings toward each other…
Another great ED – a wonderful blend of images and song that encapsulates being young and being swept away by your favourite music: “Unmei no Kimi” by Mega Shinnosuke. And even if the OP Nekojarashi” by 7co isn’t as memorable musically as the Season 1 OP, the images of Tani-kun and his beloved cat are charming. I hesitate to use the word ‘feelgood’ about this series because behind the bright colours and the cute chibis, there are some very real feelings being explored.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You, Draw This, Then Die! and You and I Are Polar Opposites are all streaming on Crunchyroll.
Josh A. Stevens
I have to admit that for the past few seasons, I’ve probably only watched about two or three shows each. I thought that was just down to the overbearing stresses of adult life taking all of my free time away, but as it turns out, you will make time when a season is stacked as this one. It feels like a rarity to have so many artistically distinct shows with their own unique premises that I’m finding it a challenge to fit time in to watch them all, never mind choose the ones that I’ll be writing about here. So, to highlight the sheer variety of this season, I’ll be introducing you to Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, Kaiju Girl Caramelise, and Goodbye, Lara.
(Not So) Hidden Diamond – Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
Before I get into Jaadugar, I should caveat that I am a white British man who knew nothing about the history of Persia or modern day Iran going in, and my knowledge of the Muslim faith is limited to my experiences with friends who are followers of the faith. So, I cannot comment on the historical or cultural accuracy, and can only recommend that you look for other writers who are more qualified to comment on that if that is something of particular interest for you. For what it’s worth, the series’ directors Naoko Yamada and Abel Góngora previously told Cartoon Brew that they worked with a researcher of Islamic art history as a consultant (it was later revealed that the consultant, Tomoko Masuya, unfortunately passed away before the series premiere).
With that out of the way, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is a historical drama series about Sitara, a young slave girl from Tus. Sold to a rich family with the promise of her receiving an education, Sitara gradually opens up to and grows fond of her new family – only for them to be slaughtered in the Mongol invasion, and the cherished copy of Euclid’s Elements stolen. Captured by the Mongol Empire, Sitara takes on the name of her fallen mistress, Fatima, and starts to plot her revenge on the Mongols that took everything from her.
The latest series from Science SARU (who also produced this season’s The Ghost in the Shell) and based on the manga by Tomato Soup (you can read Sarah’s review of Vol.1 here), Jaadugar has fast become the anime that I look forward to watching the most each week. I mentioned before that I have practically no experience with Iranian history, but that was actually what drew me to Jaadugar: the opportunity to learn about a culture and perspective that isn’t typically explored in anime. In particular, I’ve appreciated the centering of Islam as a culture that celebrates the pursuit of knowledge, as well as explaining the reasoning behind Halal slaughter in a historical context that contrasts with the more barbaric methods of the Mongols, and the narratives that are perpetuated in the media today.
Sitara is such a fascinating character to follow. She is a girl filled with intellectual curiosity forced to instead use her wits to scheme and survive in a world hellbent on reminding her what was taken from her. When she finally lays eyes on that copy of Euclid’s Elements, her eyes are not filled with relief, but of bitter hatred knowing that she must read it to Princess Sorghaghtani, the woman whose desire for the book led to her mistress’s slaughter. Sitara is fuelled by a bitter hatred, but I love how the series acknowledges when Sitara falters, like the ashamed admission that she has become so accustomed to Mongol life that she has even had fleeting thoughts of forgiveness, only to admonish herself for daring to have such thoughts. It’s that vulnerability and conflict that helps Sitara feel human. She can effortlessly wear a charming smile, or let the façade slip to reveal a burning hatred in her eyes, but I’m intrigued to see if the series will explore more of the middle, and how Sitara’s revenge will pan out. I guess that I could just read a history book, but I’m interested in this specific characterisation now!
Where I think the series can be more of a mixed bag is its tone. There was a superb juxtaposition of the first two episodes, with the first setting up Sitara’s idyllic life in Tus, before the second brutally ripped it away. I absolutely get the decision to air them together, to give audiences a proper taste of what the series is capable of. Where I think the tone can be let down at times, though, is by the art style that presents even characters like the ruthless Mongol leaders as more rounded, and dare I say, cute. The designs of male characters in particular can be so similar that I currently still can’t really tell the Mogul princes apart, save for Tolui given his more prominent role in the series thus far. It’s not that I think the character designs are bad – the show is honestly gorgeous to look at in general, and the designs could actually help accentuate the brutality of what the characters experience, but it’s an interesting choice. I imagine that these are all things that I’ll get used to as the series continues, though. In general, I’m very keen to see where the series will take us.
Hotly Anticipated: Kaiju Girl Caramelise
Even with record-level numbers of anime being made today, sometimes all it takes to really stand out is a unique premise – whether that’s because it’s intellectually fascinating, or just downright absurd. The latter is why the Kaiju Girl Caramelise manga first caught my eye in a big way. The premise can be summed up in a single line: “a teen romance about a girl who transforms into a kaiju whenever she feels flustered” and bam, you’ll instantly know if the series is for you.
Kaiju Girl Caramelise follows Kuroe Akaishi, a high school girl with an incurable condition that causes her body to undergo monstrous transformations whenever she feels heightened emotions. For example, she might sprout a scaled lizard’s tail, or her hands grow into claws. This made other children afraid of her, and led Kuroe to become sullen and withdrawn. However, she inadvertently catches the attention of Arata Minami, the kindest and most popular boy in school. At first finding him a nuisance, Kuroe starts to see her grey world turn pink as she tries to balance a blossoming teen romance with hiding that she can transform into a terrifying monster that will destroy everything.
I’ve been looking forward to Liden Films’ anime for a while, as I have my own personal attachment to the original manga. When I returned to university a few years ago, I wrote my own short film adaptation for my “Screenwriting: Adaptation” class (which, if I can brag for a moment, earned the highest grade of my degree). I’ve spent my fair share of time rattling around in Kuroe’s head, and I’m rather fond of the little monster. In the series’ opening episodes, she may come across as a gloomy, antisocial girl who tears people to shreds in her mind, but we quickly learn that this little monster who blasts death metal also dreams of fluffy pancakes, and has a heart that flutters whenever she thinks of love, even if she doesn’t think herself worthy of it. The character animation really highlights both sides of Kuroe – at times she looks absolutely adorable, and others like a total gremlin, and I’m rooting for both.
Her beau, Arata Minami, is the embodiment of Golden Retriever energy. Not just because he’s so nice that everyone in his vicinity can’t help but love him, but because like an energetic puppy excitedly charging into a room, he’s completely unaware of how his affection can accidentally hurt people – like when the attention he gives Kuroe makes her the target of jealous bullies. There are moments where Minami shows a more complex side, but I must admit that I find him rather bland on the whole – especially when another character is introduced later on that has a similar thing going on.
Perhaps, the romance isn’t necessarily the point of the series, though. Although Kaiju Girl Caramelise shares many hallmarks with classic shojo manga, one refreshing thing that the series does (aside from y’know, the kaiju thing), is that Kuroe and Minami become a couple early on. That doesn’t mark an early happy ending, as Kuroe’s anxieties about her self-worth continue. After they start dating, Kuroe immediately tries pushing Minami away at school, worried about how he might suffer socially if word gets out that he’s dating “Psycho-tan”, and then we get an episode dedicated to Kuroe discovering makeup, with the hope that feeling more confident can empower her to be more forthright with her feelings. Kuroe feels almost tailor-made to be a character that you want to root for, and the series does that well.
Although the series has refreshingly wasted little time in establishing Kuroe and Minami as a couple, I do wonder how long the series can maintain the kaiju gimmick before it feels tired. I love the designs of Kuroe’s partial transformations, like when her hands become claws, or she sprouts a tail (even if I can’t shake that it looks a bit like something else). While her first full transformation was treated as a huge moment (albeit one depicted with very noticeable CG), by Episode 5 it’s already being thrown out as a quick gag. There have also been multiple moments where Minami was on the cusp of finding out Kuroe’s secret, only (in usual romance anime fashion), for a very convenient excuse or distraction to come out of nowhere. Perhaps that’s the real “will they/don’t they” of Kaiju Girl Caramelise, but I’m unsure of how long the series can keep it up, or where the series can go once Minami finds out. With 10 volumes of the manga currently published in Japan, perhaps it has found an answer to those questions. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Hidden Diamond: Goodbye, Lara
Kaiju Girl Caramelise isn’t the only interspecies romance this season, although this one takes inspiration more from using classical literature as a jumping board, rather than the movies. I knew nothing about Goodbye, Lara going in, but it has been a surprising delight.
A young mermaid princess fascinated by the human world on the surface makes a deal with a witch: her voice, in exchange for being able to walk on its shores. However, she must find true love, or she will turn into foam. The young mermaid is immediately found by a dashing prince and thinks that she has found her happily ever after, until her legs turn back into fins, and he sees her as a monster. Yes, that is pretty much The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson, but that is only the start of this tale – it all happens in episode one!
That mermaid is the titular Lara. Now reincarnated in the modern day, she finds her ocean kingdom in ruins and her family – including the King and her many sisters – in a deep sleep. The only way to awaken them is for Lara to show the witch, now reborn as a pet fish in a bowl, a true love story. However, Lara knows nothing of the modern world, and finds herself in the care of Mari, an abrasive tomboy boxer.
There’s something special about Goodbye, Lara. The series has a cosy retro charm with an art style that wouldn’t look out of place in the 80s or 90s, but with the more polished finish of today’s anime – some cuts from the opening theme were even made with traditional cel animation! The colour palette is gorgeous and vibrant, from the mysterious dark blue depths of the ocean, to the gentle lush green of the trees, and the energy of Lara’s bright red hair. The environments are busy and lived in, from the cramped kitchen where Mari’s family eat, to the detail of chipped paint on the exterior woodwork. It’s easily the best looking anime I’ve tried this season.
The big question on everyone’s mind, though, is who Lara’s prince will be – or if it will even be a prince. While Lara meets a boy in the modern day who bears a striking resemblance to the prince from the past, the dynamic between Lara and Mari is the real driver of the show, and their dynamic is just too perfect to not be the true love that solves everything. A literal fish out of water, Lara is a loveable idiot, and Mari is the one who has to suffer her while (not so) secretly having a soft spot for idiots. Both characters are archetypes that I love, so seeing them together feels like this show was made for me. They’re great complements for each other with plenty of fun and sweet interactions already. One particular moment that comes to mind is when Lara discovers Mari’s boxing and, after initially mistaking it for a real fight, agrees to watch out of support while very visibly not being comfortable watching. The series has already dropped some pretty big hints (or had some rise from the sea), so hopefully these dorks get their happy yuri ending.
I’ve seen excitement for Goodbye, Lara in some circles, but I don’t know if that will necessarily translate into broader mainstream success – especially for a genre like romance. However, it’s an original spin on a classic tale and is bubbling in charm throughout. If any anime this season deserves to be a hit, it’s Goodbye, Lara.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, Kaiju Girl Caramelise, and Goodbye, Lara are currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Cold Cobra
While there are a few shows which are continuing for a second cour in a row, the only shiny new series I’ll be looking at is the return of Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War for its fourth of four cours.
At the end of the previous chunk of episodes, I mentioned how little of the manga there was left to adapt, and that there must be a lot of new content Tite Kubo has added to the anime version of what was admittedly a pretty poor ending in the manga. While we now know that this season is only 10 episodes rather than 13, that still doesn’t change much as there really isn’t that much left to adapt, and that showed even in the first episode.
As we left it, there were only four antagonists remaining: the leader Yhwach, his second-in-command Haschwalth, and two of his top soldiers in Gerard and Askin, with our lead protagonist Ichigo and his remaining allies heading to Yhwach, Uryu Ishida, another ally of Ichigo (who it was framed had betrayed them but is actually still good) is tackling Haschwalth, a bunch of other Shinigami characters are all ganging up on Gerard, and fan-favourites Yoruichi and Urahara are fighting Askin. While part of the episode focuses on Ichigo (including side characters Chad and Ganju being conveniently separated from our main protagonist and his love-interest Orihime, who head to Yhwach without them) the episode focuses mostly on Haschwalth/Uryu and the fight with Askin, and while the latter is entirely manga-adapted scenes, the former is entirely new anime-exclusive scenes, with both of them showing off some new moves in more excellently animated combat.
The same animation quality continued with the fight with fan-favourite cowardly foe Askin as Urahara activated Yoruichi’s “special attack form” that turns her into a raging cat-like lightning-themed being for a brief time, forcing Askin to use his own special ability to counteract the pair, which is where the first episode ends. So great animation, good pacing with the right kind of “filler” (being extra content from the original manga creator himself) and then throw in the usual excellent soundtrack by industry veteran Shiro Sagisu and once again you have a pretty perfect package, so long as you’re a fan of the series to start with, obviously. All that’s left is to see just how improved the finale will be, but judging by everything else so far I see no reason to doubt it will be something far greater than the rushed original, and possibly something rather special.
Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
Rui
What a busy season! I’m almost overwhelmed just keeping up with all of the wonderful sequels I already know I’ll like (as well as some of the series mentioned above, I’m loving Grand Blue Dreaming and The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You), but with fantastic new titles like Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia and Goodbye, Lara in the list – not to mention upcoming titles like the third season of Link Click – I’m barely going to have any free time at all this summer.
This second helping of Clevatess has started off strong with a complete genre pivot, sending Klen and Alicia undercover to a prestigious magical school to find answers to some of the questions about the humans’ magical research which were raised in the first season. This necessitates both of them pretending to be younger (Alicia gets a magical disguise, while Klen continues pretending to be the same mildly-sinister youth) and going through the motions of going to lessons with a bunch of new characters, many of whom are arrogant, edgy teenage wizards. It’s certainly an interesting twist.
While I’m not sure whether Luna and Nelluru will be making many appearances, to compensate we do get to see more of Naie who is just as much of a hilarious mess the second time around. And it doesn’t take long for the series’ dark themes to resurface even in the cheesy school setting.
So far, the series is automatically better than most magical school titles because of Alicia and her habit of solving problems with brute force; she’s much more fun to watch than the spoiled mage kids rattling their sabres (or magical gizmos) at one another. However, I also appreciate that she does think before she acts and can’t help that she’s a combat specialist. She’s a very engaging heroine, with her human heart contrasting interestingly with Klen’s detached, alien perspective.
Clevatess is easily one of my favourite modern fantasies and I’m very happy to have it back for season two, even with this odd new scenario. The music is decent (with prolific anisong artists MYTH & ROID contributing the slower ending theme and ex-MYTH & ROID singer Maeshima Mayu providing the hot-blooded opening) and the animation quality is a cut above most of the other titles I’m watching; I can’t wait to see what will happen next.
The Elusive Samurai Season 2 has, so far, mostly focused on developing the side characters rather than advancing the main historical storyline. Which in this case is a good thing, given that we already know that adorable young hero Tokiyuki isn’t destined to lead a long and happy life. In the first two episodes of this follow-up season, the young Houjou clan heir finally gets to experience a taste of his old home thanks to his band of fiercely capable retainers, then goes head-to-head with some of his nastiest foes in a battle of wits. It’s a good way to reintroduce the large supporting cast and reminds us that even when these pint-sized warriors are winning battles and devising clever tactics, they’re ultimately still a bunch of kids caught up in a bad situation.
Historical series are one of my weaknesses and I love this crazy show. The theme songs aren’t quite as catchy as the brilliant music we got in the first season but overall everything is just as bright and silly, with the dumbest recurring villains and over-the-top comedy violence. This is one of the only series where I keep watching hoping for filler episodes and side quests; Tokiyuki is still too cute to have to deal with the scary main plot!
While I’m always excited about new adaptations of shoujo manga, especially older classics, I’m still not sure how I feel about Red River. Shojo manga often gets the short straw when it transitions to anime, with studios struggling to adapt the delicate artwork and the audience being too small to justify big budgets. Red River is an ambitious ‘isekai’ where the heroine, Yuri, is sucked into an ancient real-world civilisation full of horses, warriors and unfamiliar scenery, with the result being that everything in this cheaply-animated version of the story feels overly simple and cartoony. This issue is exacerbated by the storytelling, which rapidly barrels through melodramatic events to the point that things frequently feel ridiculous, and the main love interest, a powerful prince who can’t keep his hands (or lips, or bed) to himself.
Yuri is initially traumatised by her involuntary leap through time which makes the first episode quite hard to watch as she helplessly gets into trouble everywhere she goes. I do like that she actually cares about – and wants to return to – her old life instead of apathetically forgetting it right away, and once she gets over her initial shock she becomes obsessed with taking action. This does mean that she ends up causing constant problems for everyone trying to help her, unfortunately, but I’ll take a motivated heroine over a passive one any day.
In this case it’s especially hard not to compare the series to Fushigi Yuugi, another shojo title about a girl being whisked away from her daily life which received a lavish anime adaptation with plenty of style. By comparison, Red River is uneven visually; there are proper animated horses instead of CG abominations (a pet hate of mine) and it has distinctive designs, yet it’s hard to warm up to the plain animation which resembles the early digital paint titles of the 90s. Next to this season’s Goodbye, Lara, which brings modern production values to a retro aesthetic, Red River really doesn’t look great. It does have a pretty good opening with a song by Nanami Hiroki, though, which appears to promise some proper action later on. Perhaps things will improve. For now, the story remains oddly compelling due to the unrelenting drama of Yuri’s life but this is unlikely to go down as a classic. And younger fans might (reasonably) find some of the relationship dynamics too uncomfortably dated to be appealing. Perhaps this whole story works better in manga form.
The Elusive Samurai Season 2, Clevatess Season 2 and Red River are currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
