The writers at Anime UK News look back at the Summer 2022 Season – and pick their favourite shows (while also shaking their heads over the series that didn’t live up to their expectations).
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Summer 2022 Overview - Yeah! or Meh?
- Thread starter Sarah
- Start date
D1tchd1gger
Shrine Maiden
Definitely the worst season I remember and that's despite containing my current AotY! I dropped more shows this season since the very first season I took seriously and that was because I started nearly every show that season (Winter 2018).
Only 3 shows, not including my AotY, got an 8, 1 was a sequel (Shadows House s2), 1 is technically a Spring show (AOASHI) and 1 new one (Lycoris Recoil). There is still one to finish, but despite being good fun I don't see Uncle From Another World get more than a 7.
But onto my current AotY. It came out of nowhere and being a Netflix show landed late, but from there it ripped you to pieces, shot those pieces into tinier pieces and then ripped out your still beating heart and crushed it. And it's called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
BTW @Rui have you finished it yet? I found your comment about not caring about the characters at odds with my experience with the gang being one of best examples of found family, up there with Cowboy Bebop and Black Lagoon and the romance between David and Lucy was quite well done if a little rushed and then there was Rebecca's unrequited feelings/worry for her friend who was going over the edge and there was nothing she could do but try and support him.
Only 3 shows, not including my AotY, got an 8, 1 was a sequel (Shadows House s2), 1 is technically a Spring show (AOASHI) and 1 new one (Lycoris Recoil). There is still one to finish, but despite being good fun I don't see Uncle From Another World get more than a 7.
But onto my current AotY. It came out of nowhere and being a Netflix show landed late, but from there it ripped you to pieces, shot those pieces into tinier pieces and then ripped out your still beating heart and crushed it. And it's called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
BTW @Rui have you finished it yet? I found your comment about not caring about the characters at odds with my experience with the gang being one of best examples of found family, up there with Cowboy Bebop and Black Lagoon and the romance between David and Lucy was quite well done if a little rushed and then there was Rebecca's unrequited feelings/worry for her friend who was going over the edge and there was nothing she could do but try and support him.
I haven't finished yet; the new season started and distracted me! It's a really handsome show and definitely a cut above most of the usual Netflix nonsense but it's difficult to describe why Trigger stuff tends to leave me feeling this way. I'll post again here when I finally get around to seeing off those last few episodes in case they somehow break the curse
R
D1tchd1gger
Shrine Maiden
It's not just Trigger at the wheel this time, but I'm not sure how much input CDPR had in the final story. There is a credit for "original story" by a Polish sounding dude.I haven't finished yet; the new season started and distracted me! It's a really handsome show and definitely a cut above most of the usual Netflix nonsense but it's difficult to describe why Trigger stuff tends to leave me feeling this way. I'll post again here when I finally get around to seeing off those last few episodes in case they somehow break the curse
R
Also sub or dub. I went dub as, you know, it's set in America and, I've heard since, that you don't get the lingo from the game in the Japanese version, so definitely sounds like the better choice.
Vashdaman
Za Warudo
The contrast of Demelza 's positivity to Rui's brutality about the season made me laugh! Wonderful diversity of taste amongst the AUKN staff!
It does seem a little sad to me how the anime industry seems to have devolved into an orgy of lowest common denominator isekai. I hear that anime and otaku culture is more accepted and less stigmatised these days, which is genuinely great if true, but it seems this improved reputation has occurred in tandem with a decreasing quality of shows! What's going on, and when will people tire of isekais!
*I note this is subjective and as far as I'm aware I've never seen an isekai, so my opinion may not be pertinent!
Those Chinese shows sound pretty good! I like the scowl in that screenshot!
It does seem a little sad to me how the anime industry seems to have devolved into an orgy of lowest common denominator isekai. I hear that anime and otaku culture is more accepted and less stigmatised these days, which is genuinely great if true, but it seems this improved reputation has occurred in tandem with a decreasing quality of shows! What's going on, and when will people tire of isekais!
*I note this is subjective and as far as I'm aware I've never seen an isekai, so my opinion may not be pertinent!
Those Chinese shows sound pretty good! I like the scowl in that screenshot!
RadFemHedonist
Mad Scientist
Not from this/the last season but FWIW of the newer shows I have seen all of (not many purely because I watch older shows as well as newer ones and don't often stream things, so am often watching series several years at least after their initial release), Ranking of Kings (Season 1, Season 2 I believe has been greenlit but not sure actually) was absolutely wonderful and I'd thoroughly recommend it if you haven't seen it (and it's not an isekai either). I also really enjoyed Season 1 of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun but not seen beyond that (it has three or four seasons now) and The Demon Girl Next Door Season 1 was really good as well (though I'm not certain what year that is actually from). YMMV but I think Made in Abyss is worth a try at least (though I have yet to watch the second season), as for newer anime films that really impressed me I did really enjoy Belle and Weathering With You but I know not everyone likes those, still at least they're not "dude ends up trapped in a video game". I can try to think of more recent anime I would recommend, I can't remember if you are on MAL or have added me on there (also I update a little sporadically) but here's a link to my profile if you want to see what I would recommend (also yes I tend to rate things pretty highly a lot but that's because I don't bother to finish what I don't enjoy reading or watching, and don't rate things when I haven't seen all of them, I am planning to go back over some of my older scores and reassess them though)
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Haha, thanks Vash (the lead of Fairies Album scowls basically all the time so she's fun to watch!)
I know there's always been a fair bit of rubbish each season but the nosedive in quality over the summer just felt horrendous. Onwards and upwards, hopefully - and if a few creators can make passion projects which are more than cynical cash-grabs which do nothing but slavishly follow the latest trends, I'll watch.
@RadFemHedonist Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun remained good and I'm looking forward to the new season very much. It has a very 90s anime feel, which I appreciate, despite technically being a kind-of-isekai. I don't completely hate the genre but geez, there's so much repetitive garbage to wade through for the sake of finding the occasional gem.
R
(the lead of Fairies Album scowls basically all the time so she's fun to watch!)I know there's always been a fair bit of rubbish each season but the nosedive in quality over the summer just felt horrendous. Onwards and upwards, hopefully - and if a few creators can make passion projects which are more than cynical cash-grabs which do nothing but slavishly follow the latest trends, I'll watch.
@RadFemHedonist Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun remained good and I'm looking forward to the new season very much. It has a very 90s anime feel, which I appreciate, despite technically being a kind-of-isekai. I don't completely hate the genre but geez, there's so much repetitive garbage to wade through for the sake of finding the occasional gem.
R
I went sub since I understand Japanese and have never played the games anyway, so the 'street' Japanese lingo is actually more relatable for me than the jargon on its own!
I've finished it now and my impressions are largely unchanged. Great quality, creative show with zero emotional hooks that hit home for me personally. The only non-movie Trigger title which made me feel differently was Kiznaiver (which I quite liked) and that's probably because the emotional connection was very much the central premise of the story. I did recommend Edgerunners to my dad, though, as he'll probably get a kick out of it and he's not against the occasional dabble in anime.
It should be noted that I also find Miyazaki films boring so I might well be the worst anime fan ever ^^;
R
RadFemHedonist
Mad Scientist
Maybe I will try Kiznaiver as I've been on the fence about that one for a while
I love Miyazaki's stuff mostly but FWIW my fave Ghibli is Takahata's Only Yesterday
It's not without its flaws but it's a decent watch so I hope you enjoy it. I like Takahata's films too; it's just Miyazaki's which leave me feeling they're 'ok' but rather overhyped (while I'm making confessions, I also didn't mind Tales From Earthsea...)
R
RadFemHedonist
Mad Scientist
kuuderes_shadow
Thousand Master
Ahh, Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo.
I picked up and quite liked the light novels at first. Why? Because they were quirky, and different. A bit of a smutty guilty pleasure. A completely unique take on the still rare "isekai" genre that had started to show up from time to time. Had the anime aired 10 years ago when it should have done, it probably still wouldn't have appealed to Rui, but it would have had a good chance to have been seen in that light by much of the broader community.
But it didn't.
Even though the series was a success, which inspired a lot of others to explore similar concepts. And many of those others then did it better, until it reached a point where it was a good counterexample to the people who claim that "originality" in and of itself is the most desirable thing for a series to have. I gradually lost interest in the series as a result. It wasn't ever really that good after all...
...But it went further. Some of those series it helped inspire got anime adaptations, which became well known. And the isekai genre as a whole exploded, with a flood of light novels (and manga) and a resulting flood of anime. Surely, the time for Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo was long gone, an opportunity missed, never to be regained...
...but then they announced an anime adaptation of it.
When I saw the announcement I said I didn't know why they would do an anime of it now, when it would never get credit for the things that it deserved credit for, but still get heaps of criticism for the things for which it deserved criticism.
I didn't watch the anime - I had no reason to. But from what I've heard other people say, it seems like the staff behind it also didn't know why they were doing an anime of it, and therefore didn't really bother, damaging the series still further in the process. They shouldn't have bothered at all. Just left it as a series that missed its chance of being an anime, but with its own niche and dedicated fanbase that have mostly been following it since the beginning, and that those in the know recalled as one of the grandfathers of the isekai genre.
--
Regarding The Devil is a Part-Timer, it's fairly well known as a series that gradually declines over time from an excellent start to the point of being fairly unremarkable by the later volumes of the series. But the difference here is mostly between a good adaptation in the first season, and a terrible one in this newer season. It could certainly have been done well enough that people at least felt it was what they had been waiting for for all these years. A shame.
I think you've hit the nail on the head there. What sets the also-rans apart from the future classics is that the good stuff has at least somebody in charge who has an actual vision for their project, beyond 'let's not put any effort in and hope to make some money'. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was a show which didn't interest me about a game series which didn't interest me, but I still gave it some attention because the enthusiasm and creative energy behind it was palpable. You can't fake that. Meanwhile, the shows I singled out were significant mostly for being uninspired. There are shows where I'm not really destined to like the material (e.g. Mushoku Tensei) but the adaptation was engaging enough to make the project worthwhile, both for existing fans and to advertise the source material to new people. I stuck with that for ten episodes or so because it looked good. And then there are shows where it's obvious that everyone involved is phoning it in and hoping that the original fanbase of the source material will carry the entire project for them.
(Objectively Edgerunners probably had a bigger budget than those isekai shows, of course, but there have been plenty of occasions were that didn't translate into more entertainment value for the viewer, and plenty of examples of shows on a shoestring budget which were still a million times more watchable than their uninspired, flashy cousins.)
Thank you for your input. We may have different taste but I do spend quite a lot of time wondering about how these disasters ever make it onto my screen so it's nice to have the backstory from a fan's perspective. I try to at least sample everything to make sure that I can still be pleasantly surprised, because as sick as I am of the copy-paste isekai trend there are still very occasionally some shining gems to be found.
R