I thought that I would end up with more titles on my 2012 summer anime viewing list. For some reason, I kept removing titles the more episodes I watched, especially from the unusually large number of anime featuring the harem genre. As it is, I think I might end up removing some items from the list I created below.
So far, the stand out series is Natsuyuki Rendezvous, which is already threatening to be a tear jerker with only four episodes in as of this writing. Sword Art Online is also pretty interesting, making it my favorite action adventure genre series of the season so far. And the token weird but fun anime title of the season is hands down Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita.
This season's sequels include Rinne no Lagrange, Dog Days' and Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II.
Here is my list of selections from the Japan anime summer season. All of the summaries and images below are from My Anime List.
Natsuyuki Rendezvous
Hazuki may be near-sighted, but he knows true beauty when he sees it and
the delicate form of flower shop owner Rokka draws him in like a bee to
honey. So, hoping to cultivate a relationship between them, Hazuki
takes a part time job at her shop, only to discover two huge thorns
preventing the nurturing of any romance. The first, the fact that Rokka
is still grieving for her late husband Shimao, would be enough to snip
most men's ardor short, but it's the second that really threatens to
make Hazuki's forlorn hopes wilt. Because while Shimao is most
definitely deceased, he hasn't yet departed and his spirit is still
living in Rokka's apartment! Except only Hazuki can see him, which leads
to a very strange romantic triangle indeed. Are Hazuki's chances with
Rokka as dead as the man who still lives in her house? Or can he somehow
make love blossom even though there's an interloper pushing up the
daisies between them?
Sword Art Online
The only way to escape is to 'clear' the game. Death in game means actual 'death'. The ten thousand who have logged onto the as of yet mysterious game
'Sword Art Online' using their Nerve Gear have been forced into this
perilous death game and are trapped inside. Protagonist Kirito, one of the many gamers, has greeted this 'truth'. He plays as a solo player in the giant castle that is the stage for this game ---- 'Aincrad'. To meet the conditions of clearing the game and leaving this twisted
virtual world, one of the players has to reach the 100th floor and beat
the boss. Will Kirito have what it takes to clear the game, or will he
die trying?
Rinne no Lagrange Season 2
Madoka Kyouno is an energetic girl who is full of passion. As the proud,
and only, member of the Kamogawa Girls' High School Jersey Club, she
goes around helping people in need. Madoka's life is turned upside down when she is suddenly asked by a
mysterious girl named Lan to pilot a robot. Motivated by her desire to
protect the people and city of Kamogawa, Madoka agrees to pilot the
resurrected Vox robot to fight against extraterrestrials that have come
to attack Earth.
Dog Days' (Season 2)
Three months after his adventure in Flonyard, Shinku gets summoned back
once again, this time bringing Rebecca with him. His cousin and rival
athlete Nanami, also is summoned to Flonyard as Galette's Hero. The
First Princess of the Principality of Pastillage, Couver, leads her
squirrel-like faction into the battlefield as well with the intention of
scouting Rebecca to become their hero.
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II
Taking advantage of the opportunity that the Mikawa Conflict provides,
Tori and his comrades attempt to rescue Horizon from the Testament
Union. But even as the Floating City Musashi speeds towards its next
destination, the Floating Island England, Tres España is preparing its
own armada for war against the British Islanders. Now, as the quest of
Horizon's emotions builds to its climax, Tori's new battle is about to
begin in the land ruled by the Fairy Queen! The reenactment of the
history described in the mysterious Testament continues as the secret of
the Armor of Deadly Sins is unleashed in the spectacular second season
of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere!
Kokoro Connect
The five members of the Cultural Study group that meets in class 401
have spent a lot of time wondering what it would be like to be in
someone else's shoes. But they're about to learn that there's a huge
difference between thinking about something and literally BEING in
someone else's shoes! Because that's exactly what happens when, suddenly
and inexplicably, they each find themselves inside the body of the girl
(or boy) next door! What happens next? Well, besides bringing a whole new meaning to the
term "Exchange Student" and the expected freaked out runs to the
bathroom, it's not hard to do the math: Take one wrestling geek, the
resident cool girl, the class clown, the popular chick and one sultry
maid of mystery, scramble thoroughly and divide, and you can bet that
pretty soon they'll be answering ALL of the questions they never wanted
to know about the opposite sex in ways they never anticipated!
Tari Tari
The last year of high school is always a time of both looking forward
and looking back. Before you lives the future, alternately bright and
scary. Behind you lie memories, both happy and sad. And somehow, in the
course of one year, you have to reconcile those two and decide where
your life is going to go. For Wakana Sakai, who had started studying music, it's time to face the
tragedy that made her abandon that path. For Sawa Okita, it's about her
dreams of riding professionally. And for Konatsu Miyamoto, it's about
bringing her friends together through the magic of song. Can something
as simple as the formation of a chorus club really help solve the hurts
and pangs that come with growing up? Can music bring people together
despite their differences?
Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita
It's been several centuries since human beings declined due to the steep
drop in birthrates. The most prosperous species on the Earth are
"Fairies", 10 cm tall creatures with high intelligence. I became a UN
arbitrator between the humans and the fairies and returned to my
hometown to help my grandfather. I thought my job would not be a tough
one and visited one of the fairies' habitats to say hello to them but...
Hagure Yuusha no Estetica
Hero defeats bad guy. Good triumphs over evil. The end. Or, at least
that's how it usually goes. But what happens after the hero goes home?
Our hero, Akatsuki Ousawa, is about to find out that sometimes the
greatest adventure starts once happily ever after ends.
Oda Nobuna no Yabou
The historical romantic comedy follows 17-year-old high schooler Sagara
Yoshiharu who one day time-travels to the Sengoku period, where all the
major Samurai lords are cute girls. Yoshiharu meets Oda Nobuna, the
female counterpart of Oda Nobunaga, and begins to serve her as a
substitute of Kinoshita Tokichiro, who was killed.
La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia
Things are NOT going well for Felicitá. For years, the island of Regalo,
has been protected by her father's "organization," the Arcana Tarroco,
whose success is due in no small part to the members' unusual skills
with Tarot Cards, not to mention the usual guns and knives. But now,
unexpectedly, her father has decided to retire and, while the fact that
his position will be filled by the winner of a series of duels doesn't
worry Felicitiá, the fact that he's decided to throw HER into the
contest as part of the prize certainly does! Especially since some of
the contestants are her cousins, which is keeping things WAY too much in
the family! Fortunately, our lady shark has two aces up her sleeve: as
the head of the Swords division, she's eligible to compete for herself,
and with her favored Card, The Lovers, she can snoop into the minds of
her would be suitors/rivals! It's just too bad they have their own card
tricks!
Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse
Since 1973, an invasion of aliens known as BETA upon Earth is driving
human civilization into nearly collapse. Facing an enormous mass of
enemy force, mankind has developed large humanoid arms called as
Tactical Surface Fighters and deployed them to its defense lines through
out the world. However, all those efforts could slow down defeats but
could not stop BETA, and mankind is forced to abandon major area of the
Eurasian Continent. For 30 years, mankind is bogged down in an endless
war against BETA without any hopes of victory. In 2001, the Imperial Japan faces difficulties in the development of a
next-generation main Tactical Surface Fighters (TSF) as it defends the
front lines of the Far East. The UN has proposed a joint development
program between the Imperial Japan and the United States as a part of
its international mutual development project of TSF, the Prominence
Project. Yui Takamura, a surface pilot of the Imperial Royal Guards of Japan, is
given responsibility for the project and sets off to Alaska. Meanwhile,
Yuya Bridges, also a surface pilot of the US Army, was heading to the
same destination. Yet they never knew that their encounter would change their destiny drastically.
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate
Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate follows the protagonist Yuuki Oojima, who
attends Private Takafuji Academy, a large school with over 6,000
students. Yuuki is a member of the food research club, along with seven
others, including his childhood friend Chisato Sumiyoshi. The members
leisurely spend their time in the club not doing much activities. When
the election of the next student council president comes up, the front
runner Satsuki Shinonome proposes that clubs that have no merit should
be sorted out and abolished. The food research club seeks advice from
the current student council president Yakumo Mori, who suggests Yuuki
run in the election as an opposing candidate. Yuuki learns about the
issues facing the school and decides to run in the election.
Campione!
Some people suddenly find religion, but for 16-year-old Kusanagi GoDo,
it's that REALLY old time religion that's found him! As the result of
defeating the God of War in mortal combat, GoDo's stuck with the
unwanted position of Campione!, or God Slayer, whose duty is to fight
Herectical Gods whenever they try to muscle in on the local turf. Not
only is this likely to make GoDo roadkill on the Highway to Heaven, it's
also a job that comes with a lot of other problems. Like how to deal
with the fact that his "enhanced status" is attracting a bevy of
overly-worshippy female followers. After all, they're just there to aid
him in his demi-godly duties, right? So why is it that their leader, the
demonically manipulative sword-mistress Erica Brandelli, seems to have
such a devilish interest in encouraging some VERY unorthodox activities?
Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai.
NEVER make a deal with a wet goddess you've only just met. That's a
lesson Ryosuke Kaga learns the hard way when he foolishly agrees to let
Lisara Restole use some of his "essence" to stay in this world. Because
despite her smoking hot appearance, Lisara's actually a Shinigami, a
Goddess of Death. However, she DOESN'T steal years off his life like any
decent Shinigami would do. Oh no, instead she sucks him dry of
something much more perverse by leeching off his lecherous spirit and
draining his ability to enjoy... er... the things that teenage boys
normally spend most of their time thinking about! And now that he's been
de-debased and de-debauched by her un-dirty trick, the poor regenerated
degenerate's only hope of getting his licentiousness renewed is to join
the queen of mental-clean on her quest, since when she leaves our
mortal plane he regains his normal immorality! But the termination of
the probation of his reprobation isn't guaranteed, because Goddesses of
Death can be really harsh mistresses and it's going to be anything but
easy to go back to being sleazy!
Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
Abiding by his father's will, Shougo was transferred into an academy
where many young girls attend. It appears as though his younger sister
(separated from him at birth) also attends this academy, and that she is
trying to get closer to him without letting him know who she actually
is. Problem is, Shougo seems to be popular with the other girls as well!
Can Shougo "properly" reunite with his little sister while making a
girlfriend at the same time?!
Happy viewing!!Labels: Anime, Must-Watch, Summer, TV
