First Impressions and Others on the Summer 2017 List

Not in my nature, but yesterday, I watched the first episodes of some of the anime series for this Summer 2017. Here are my thoughts about them, along with the other titles I’m looking forward for this season.

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First Impressions (may contain spoilers)

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Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun
Genre: comedy, sports
Studio: Studio Hibari
Based on: manga by Sakamoto Taku

The story is about a good-looking and famous germaphobe soccer player named Aoyama. Aoyama’s character is the reason why this got on my radar and is so far the most interesting character for me. (He has an understandably ridiculous reason for choosing his school!) There’s a character who reminded me of YowaPeda‘s Izumida because he likes showing his abs (well drawn, not too scary for me). The art is good and I adored the chibi scenes, though the animation isn’t that smooth. There’s a scene around the end that I liked, though. Was I entertained? Not so much. There were dull moments which made me want to fast-forward the scenes.

I would like to see how this will balance (or not) the sport and the gags about Aoyama’s character, so I’m going to wait for the other episodes to see if I’ll continue this.

Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu
Genre: action, fantasy
Studio: ufotable
Based on: online web browser game by Nitroplus and DMM Games

I haven’t played the game, but I’ve watched some of the stage plays and musicals based on Touken Ranbu. There are a lot of toudan (or touken danshi, lit. sword men) so there can be a lot of stories to make. Basically, there’s Saniwa (in the game, it’s the player) who breathes life to swords. They have the duty to go back to the past to protect it from Time Retrogade Army who tries to alter the history.

Here, they chose to focus on Hijikata Toshizou’s swords, Horikawa Kunihiro (he’s played by Ogoe Yuuki on the musicals!) and Izuminokami Kanesada, though they are later on joined by others. (The ones one the picture above are Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki and Kanesada.) The start of the episode is engaging. We’re immediately shown what the story is mainly about as well as the differences between the two characters. I’m really excited to see what, how, why, and who else they’ll show us. The art and animation is really breathtaking! The sceneries and the swords! I’m so stoked to see more of the fight scenes. (Well done again, ufotable!) The music and sound is good, too!

I’m really hoping for the success of this series. I hope to see Munechika, Kashuu, Yasusada, Yamanbagiri, and Kuninaga even for a bit only!

Kakegurui
Genre: psychological, drama, mystery
Studio: MAPPA
Based on: manga by Kawamoto Homura (story) and Naomura Tōru (art)

If I would rank my list of most anticipated Summer 2017 anime, this goes to the top, closely followed by Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu. I’m not a gambler, nor do I know mahjong or poker, but I love mystery/psychological shows. Kakegurui also happens to captivate me because of its art and animation. I do not really like the ED because I’m not interested in bouncing boobs and swaying hips (I’ve got to search for the translation of the song, tho), but the OP! The OP sequence is really pretty. I loved the colors and the animation is great.

The characters are the most interesting here, though, so I’m looking forward to seeing each of them. I just hope that my hunch about that Pochi developing into another mad character is right.

Koi to Uso
Genre: romance, drama
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Based on: manga by Tsumugi Musawo

A novel that I read a long time ago came to my mind after reading the synopsis and, again, after watching the first episode. I couldn’t suppress myself from comparing them.

Matched, a dystopian novel written by Ally Condie, is about a girl living in Society (seriously, that’s the name of it) where everything they do is controlled by the government. At the age of 17, they are ‘matched’ to people selected by the authorities and it’s announced on a banquet held every 15th of the month. In Koi to Uso, they are given government notification of who their partners are at the age of 16.

The reasons for the match up is to increase the birth rate (Koi to Uso) and to have physically and emotionally healthy children, making them live longer and better (Matched).

In Matched, Cassia, the MC, got ‘matched’ with her best friend and just knew about the other guy after some glitch that happened while viewing the contents on her “microcard” (like a flash drive which contains information about her partner). Compared to that, in Koi to Uso, Nejima Yukari first received a notification on his phone (though it seems there’s some glitch, too) that said his partner is his 5-year longtime crush, Takasaki Misaki. Then his phone died and some people from the government gave him official record that says his future wife is named Sanada Lilina.

Before this, I only got to watch only one romance anime series and it just feels weird after watching a lot of shounen series. Anyway, I don’t think they’ll try to overthrow the government, but I guess they will break the rule one way or another. The leads introduced are actually not interesting to me, though I’m looking forward to see the MC’s other guy friend (I got spoiled on Tumblr about who he is) as well as Sanada. The art and sound is fine. I kinda like the OP. I shall see what this series has to offer.

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Others On My List

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Ballroom e Youkoso

Dive!!

Tsurezure Children

Konbini Kareshi

I forgot how but Ballroom e Youkoso is the first Summer 2017 anime that I knew way before I looked at the list of Summer 2017 lineup a few weeks ago. (But I guess not so surprising, knowing I’m already looking forward to 2 titles airing this Fall.)  I’m so excited to know how it will incorporate ballroom dancing in the narrative. I like the design, too. It reminds me of Paradise Kiss‘ in a way.

Dive!! is an anime that instantly got on my to-watch list because of the voice actors present. I’m hoping that it won’t go the Free! path because I’d like to see more of the sports element.

Tsurezure Children and Konbini Kareshi are two titles that I just recently thought I’ll watch. I hope both will be charming stories. They’re both about different pairings which actually reminds me of Nijiiro Days (the anime of which I’m kinda scared to check out idk why) and Kimi to Boku respectively.

Boku no Hero Academia S2

This is a continuation from last season. A few days ago, I ended up binge-watching this series until the latest episode of the anime which is episode 26 as of writing. (Now, I only have a few chapters to read until I catch up with the latest chapter of the manga. It’s most probably past what this season will cover.) I got charmed by the characters and the setting of the story! The animation is good, too! I loved that ED song Dakara, Hitori Janai. Now, I’m excited to see the fight scenes I saw on the manga animated. And I adore Okamoto Nobuhiko’s voice. He really suits loud, hot-headed characters.

Boku ga Yarimashita

Blanket Cats

Code Blue S3

Gomen, Aishiteru

Aishitetatte, Himitsu wa Aru

I’m going to take this opportune moment to put this here since J-dramas come out by season, too. Well, aside from asadora and taiga dramas.

Out of these five, I’m looking forward to Code Blue‘s season 3 the most. I enjoyed the past 2 seasons. The announcement for this came as a pleasant surprise for me. It’s been 7 years since the S2! Each of them are now more distinguished actors and actresses. It’s great to see them together again. I hope the new casts are going to be good, too!

I’m not a big fan of Kubota Masataka (I still can’t believe that he got casted as Kaneki Ken for the live action of Tokyo Ghoul), but I love a lot of young actors casted in Bokutachi ga Yarimashita. On the other hand, I wasn’t really planning to watch Aishitetatte, Himitsu wa Aru but Kaku Kento got casted to replace Koide Keisuke (still feeling bad for him). Kawaguchi Haruna isn’t bad but I really have a big issue with Fukushi Sota’s acting. I’ll still check it out, though.

Gomen, Aishiteru is the J-adaptation of the K-drama Sorry, I Love You which has been on my plan-to-watch list for a long, long time now. I still haven’t watched it yet, though, because I can’t get in the right mood and it’s long. Since it’ll be adapted into a J-drama, the episodes are going to be shorter and more concise, so I really hope there will be a kind soul who will sub it. Same with Blanket Cats. (As in my hope for someone to make English subs and share it.) I’d love to see Kichise Michiko and Nishijima Hidetoshi together!

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My posts always end up longer than I intended them to be. Ugh. Anyway, I’m putting this up as a personal reminder. I’ll probably be able to watch at least three of the episodes of each one before I go busy myself with academic stuff again. I just want to binge-watch them all.

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