Summer 2013 Anime Season

Summer 2013 anime season chart. Reposted from neregate
See MyAnimeList for my list of watching/completed anime. Check out AnimeCalendar for a nifty tool to keep up-to-date with airing anime.

Initial: 2013/07/03

• Free!: Oh boy, KyoAni is unleashing their inner fujoshi!
• Rozen Maiden (2013): Readaption based on the original manga plot, probably worth watching
• Danganronpa: Very interesting premise, watch for this one
• Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: The first season was mediocre, probably gonna watch it cause the outfits really remind me of Mai-Otome
• Fate/kaleid liner Prism Illya: Illya-chan, mahou shojo version! Can’t wait to see the epic Archer fights
• Monogatari S2: More Bakemonogatari, hopefully it doesn’t get over-fanserviced like Nisemonogatari
• Genshiken Nidaime: Moar Genshiken, should be interesting to watch
• The World God Only Knows III: Yessss!!!
• Blood Lad: Sounds interesting, but I’m personally not a fan of the supernatural genre so will probably pass
• Watamote!: Best comedy of the season, calling it!
• Neptunia The Animation: The Neptunia franchise has gotten way more popular than it should have
• Gatchaman Crowds: The only sci-fi of the summer season? ; /
• AnoHana Movie (movie): The series told from Memna’s perspective… prepare the onions…
• Kaze Tachinu (movie): New Ghibli film \o/
• Fate/Zero Cafe (movie): ufotable, I have high expectations of you guys! ; 3
• Corpse Party: Tortured Souls (OVA): Heard good things about Corpse Party, worth a look
• Ghost In The Shell: Arise Border:1 (Movie): New GitS series of movies

Disappointingly missing from this upcoming summer season is any mecha of sort. Oh well, at least I’ll have Prism Illya, The World God Only Knows, and Watamote~

~Keripo

Update: 2013/08/03
How To Become a Successful Mahou Shoujo, according to Illyasviel von Einzbern:

Due to lack of time (work, moving, etc.), I’ve forced myself to cut most of the shows I was planning on watching this season, i.e. not watch all the “new”/unknown series. Here’s what managed to stay on my watch list:

• Hyperdimension Neptunia The Animation: As expected, shallow plotted, character archtype’d mahou shojo with plenty of fanservice. At least the animation quality’s nice
• Fate/kaleid liner Prisma?Illya: Meant to be a parody of mahou shoujos in general, so can’t exactly complain from that perspective. Moving at a surprising fast pace too with plenty of fighting action (and cutesy loli Illya fanservice <3)
• Genshiken Nidaime: Feels kinda slow, but I’m kinda enjoying it. Don’t think there’s ever been any anime focused on fujoshis, so I’m finding it an interesting watch.
• Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen: The God of Otakus, Conquering Goddesses. Too good.
• Monogatari Series: Second Season: Currently focusing on the Nekomonogatari: Shiro arc. There’s still the unnecessary fanservice, but at least it’s slightly more plot focused. Not standing out as much as either of the previous two seasons though (Bakemonogatari/Nisemonogatari). Also seeing many Shaft’d scenes ;(
• Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!: Actually kinda not finding it as enjoyable as I thought it would be. The punchlines feel weak and the serious and comical parts don’t mix well. Kinda just feels poorly directed in general (lost potential).
• Rozen Maiden (2013): A bit confusing at the moment, but interesting. A parallel plot (or maybe an alternate route following the first season?). Like the updated art style, disappointed at the generic Ali Project OP.

Keeping up with:

• Shingeki no Kyoujin: Things feel variable (sometimes fast, sometimes slow), but overall still a watcher.
• Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S: Far more action packed and eye-candy (of the non-fanservice type) than previous seasons. Goes into the Sister’s arc in detail (somewhat covered in Index II). Hoping it’ll cover new material now that the Sister’s arc is done I think (haven’t read the manga so no idea).

Will post later on Senki Zesshou Symphogear G once I’ve caught up in episodes.

~Keripo

Update: 2013/08/03

Ended up dropping a lot of things due to lack of time. Here’s the final finished list

• Neptunia: It’s all about that ED. Other than that, just full of shallow plot/characters and plenty of fanservice as expected.
• Rozen Maiden (2013): Overall a kind of disappointment. Felt like they were trying to follow some manga adaption too closely so many parts didn’t make sense as a stand-alone series (nor did it connect with the original).
• Symphogear G: I kept hoping this would be like Mai Hime but keep getting disappointed. There were some darker moments earlier on in the series, but overall, it fell flat. The ED song is pretty nice though.
• Prisma Illya: Loli Illya <3 Exactly what I expected with plenty of action scenes and minimal fanservice focus. Felt that the ending could have been stronger cliffhanger (i.e. lead in to the second season) but was good as a standalone series. Can’t wait for 2wei
• Monogatari S2: This is still ongoing, but overall nicely done. Far more story focus and far less fanservice (i.e. none of that Nisemonogatari stuff), which is good. Oshino’s personality is far more defined here ;3
• Genshiken Nidaime: My absolute favourite this season. Even though this season was about fujoshis, something about the Genshiken series just makes me really like it. The easy-going otaku slice of life with mild drama. Wish I had that a circle like that back in univ xD
• World God Only Knows S3: Well done and as expected. This time there was far more continuous plot (less episodic). Interestingly, Keima is portrayed as a lot less “almighty” and full of fallicies, but this made it more relatable and overall more enjoyable.
• Watamote: I had very high hopes for this, and they all crashed miserably. I enjoy Genshiken and Welcome to the NHK because, while all three focused on otaku life/culture, both Genshiken and NHK took comical and relaxed tones. Not only was Watamote very serious, but also unrealistic (from my personal point of view at least). At times it felt like there was going to be a punchline, but it ended up either very weak or never coming. In the end, I just felt like Kuroki was a pathetic and unrealistic character rather than one I could enjoy or even sympathize with. I was told it was pretty accurate to the manga, so guess I just wasn’t the target audience.

~Keripo