Summer 2017 SF Anime Preview

It seems to happen faster and faster, doesn’t it? It’s almost time yet again for the hourglass to turn and a bunch of new shows to spill onto the international streaming sites. As always, click through on the show names to see the official sites, with promo videos, more art, etc.


18if

The premise: A young man falls into a dreamworld and learns to navigate it with the help of a scientist and a girl who is invisible to most people.

Derivative factor: Video game adaptation

The buzz: Even the video game it’s based on hasn’t been released yet, so there’s very little information to go on. It looks cool, but who knows if the other aspects will hold up.

Premiere: July 7

Battle Girl High School

The premise: Non-superpowered high school girls fight alien invaders in the year 2045.

Derivative factor: Video game adaptation

The buzz: Exactly what it says on the tin, except that it should also say “copied from dozens of largely identical predecessors”.

Premiere: July 2

Centaur’s Worries

The premise: A centaur and other fantastical creatures go to high school.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: Wait, didn’t we just see this a couple seasons ago when it was called Interviews With Monster Girls? And a while before that, when it was Actually, I Am…? Cute supernatural high school girls are definitely an overused trope now, and maybe this will turn out okay but argh.

Premiere: July 9

Chronos Ruler

The premise: A protagonist aging backwards and others with time-manipulation powers fight time-eating demons.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: Points for a stylish promo video, but otherwise this doesn’t look very promising.

Premiere: July 7

Fate/Apocrypha

The premise: Assorted people summon historical figures to fight over the Holy Grail.

Derivative factor: Alternate-history version of multimedia franchise

The buzz: If you love the Fate franchise, here is some more of it.

Premiere: July 1

Hina Logic – From Luck & Logic

The premise: A princess and her assorted quirky classmates go to a high school for teenagers with special powers.

Derivative factor: Video game adaptation

The buzz: The same game that gave us the terrible Luck & Logic is getting another adaptation? The only reason for hope is that this looks like a substantially different show, slice-of-life instead of deadly serious action.

Premiere: July 1

Isekai Shokudō (The Alternate-World Restaurant)

The premise: Every Saturday, a restaurant serves patrons who are visiting from fantasy worlds.

Derivative factor: Light novel adaptation

The buzz: Rather than another miserable remix of stale fantasy clichés, this looks like the fantasy trappings are merely a disguise for a completely different genre which anime usually does quite well: food porn!

Premiere: July 3

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. (In Another World With My Smartphone.)

The premise: After a teenage boy is killed by lightning, God makes it up to him by reincarnating him and his phone in a fantasy world.

Derivative factor: Light novel adaptation

The buzz: Of course, the previous show doesn’t mean we can’t still have miserable remixes of stale fantasy clichés too! Despite the one twist, this looks like it’ll hit all the standard beats and hopefully be forgotten the moment this season ends.

Premiere: July 11

Jigoku Shōjo: Yoi no Togi (Hell Girl: In Attendance At Night)

The premise: Stories of a girl who can exact deadly revenge at the cost of the client’s life. Half the stories will be new and half from previous series (or remakes of them).

Derivative factor: Sequel to original series

The buzz: Hell Girl isn’t a major franchise, but it’s had staying power. This should probably be decent but not great.

Premiere: July 14

Kaito x Ansa

The premise: Two young men have five hours to solve some puzzles to keep the city of Tachikawa from disappearing.

Derivative factor: Sequel to original series

The buzz: The series it’s following up, Nazotokine, was eminently forgettable, so the biggest puzzle is why it got a sequel at all.

Premiere: July 12

Katsugeki! Tōken Ranbu (A Living Attack! Blade Dance)

The premise: Anthropomorphized swords fight meddlers from the future to preserve Japan’s history on the eve of the Meiji Restoration.

Derivative factor: Video game adaptation

The buzz: Like Hina Logic, this is the second adaptation of a game done in a completely different style to the first, but this time the switch is in the other direction, going from a vapid slice-of-life show no one liked to serious historical fantasy. Again, maybe the new tone will suit it better.

Premiere: July 1

Knight’s & Magic

The premise: A mecha fan dies in a car accident and is reincarnated in a world where he can train to pilot mecha.

Derivative factor: Light novel adaptation

The buzz: Looks like another standard wish-fulfillment portal fantasy. Next!

Premiere: July 1

Love and Lies

The premise: In future Japan, everyone is assigned a spouse at age 16, but one 15-year-old boy is already in love with someone.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: Despite the unusual premise, the manga is not well-liked, so don’t hope for much.

Premiere: July 3

Made in Abyss

The premise: A young girl ventures into a world-spanning cave system with a robot boy.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: Interesting premise, great art, and good reviews of the manga mean this could be the sleeper hit of the season.

Premiere: July 7

Magical Circle

The premise: A novice knight and a novice witch set out from their village to fight the Dark Lord and have comical adventures.

Derivative factor: Manga re-adaptation

The buzz: Largely ignored, except for some big fans of the original.

Premiere: July 11

Musekinin Galaxy Tylor (The Irresponsible Galactic Tylor)

The premise: A space garbageman accidentally revives an interstellar fugitive and goes on the run with her trying to restore a galactic alliance.

Derivative factor: Spinoff of classic show

The buzz: Surprisingly muted given that the show this follows up, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, is an enduring favorite. Partly it’s because this will be a series of shorts rather than full-length episodes.

Premiere: July 7

Princess Principal

The premise: Five secondary-school girls in an alternate-history England, where London is divided like Cold War Berlin, are also accomplished spies.

Derivative factor: Original

The buzz: It seems to have the ingredients for awesomeness, but with an original series you never know if it’s going to turn out well or just be a huge mess.

Premiere: July 9

The Reflection

The premise: A series of natural-seeming disasters leave the people who survive them with superpowers.

Derivative factor: Original

The buzz: Another Western-style superhero show isn’t necessarily anything to write home about, unless it’s one that involves Stan Lee. The last anime he was involved with came out fine, so there’s every reason to expect this will at least be solid.

Premiere: July 22

Saiyuki Reload Blast

The premise: A party of dieselpunk adventurers has arrived in India to try to stop the resurrection of a demon king.

Derivative factor: Continuing manga adaptation

The buzz: Another franchise that’s been plugging along for a good long while that isn’t getting the excitement you’d expect.

Premiere: July 5

Senki Zesshō Symphogear AXZ (Symphogear, the Valkyrie’s Song AXZ)

The premise: Pop idols piloting giant robots fight aliens with the power of music.

Derivative factor: Continuing TV franchise

The buzz: The Symphogear franchise is known for music and action; it is not known for deep or intelligent storytelling. Expect more of that.

Premiere: July 1

Shōkoku no Altair (The Eagle of the Stratocracy)

The premise: The young ruler of a fantasy kingdom based on the Ottoman Empire faces a crisis that could lead to war when a minister is assassinated.

Derivative factor: Manga adaptation

The buzz: May come across as dry to people who prefer high-action fireball-slinging fantasy, but a rarely-imitated part of history plus meticulous attention to how the world works are expected to make for some fresh, solid drama.

Premiere: July 7

Yōkai Apāto no Yūga na Nichijō (Fine Living in a Haunted Apartment)

The premise: A high school student rents a cheap apartment to live in on his own, but the catch is that it’s massively haunted. The catch to that is that the spirits become his good friends.

Derivative factor: Light novel adaptation

The buzz: This is usually the setup for some horrible cringey fanservicey attempted comedy where one guy has to fend off endless waves of would-be girlfriends, but in this case it looks like it might be okay.

Premiere: July 3


Well, I for one am intrigued by the imminent return of oldies in the form of Jigoku Shōjo: Yoi no Togi and Saiyuki Reload Blast. Though I think the very top of my list is either Made in Abyss or Shōkoku no Altair, and 18if is definitely in the mix too. What are you excited about?

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