Summer! The time for Animes and Mangoes. There have been fewer animes (and mangoes) this season than in previous years, but members like Chibitrunks and Kago still found time to chime in with plenty of opinions on the Summer 2010 Anime Lineup thread. Read on to see what they had to say...

Here's what we're watching...

High School of the Dead

"Zombies! It’s got all of the classic zombie thriller features. One seemingly normal school day, a zombie appears at the front gate of the school and attacks a teacher. One student (Komuro) sees this, and gets his crush (Rei) and her boyfriend (Hishashi) out of class. The plague rapidly spreads through the school, and students turn on each other in their attempts to escape. The three students make it to the roof, and barricade themselves up. Unfortunately, the boyfriend was bitten earlier and turns. Komuro smashes Hishashi’s head with a baseball bat. Komuro, Rei, and several others band together to get car keys to escape the school in episode two, but the entire city is overrun with zombies. It looks like it will be following the manga quite closely, so be prepared for blood, sex, and violence! Definitely my favorite of the season." [Chibitrunks] Yeah, this is the one at the top of most people's lists, and it's there for a reason.

Seitokai Yakuindomo

"Another school-based anime... A guy, Tsuda Takatoshi, is one of the few male students at what used to be an all girls school. He gets drafted into the V.P. seat of the student council so that they can get a ‘male perspective’. He has to work with the President, Amakusa Shino, who is the school idol yet a total perv; the secretary, Shichijo Aria, a motherly type who also happens to be perverted; and the treasurer/accountant, Hagimura Suzu, a genius with a child-like body and an even shorter temper. The only reliable members of the council are Tsuda and Suzu. The plot is rather bland, and every other sentence seems to be some kind of perverted pun or joke. It is amusing for a bit, but can quickly become tiresome." [Chibitrunks] I LOVE the sexual innuendo in this show. The vibrators for birthday gifts; the expositions on 'kinbaku' (Japanese rope bondage); the gifts of h-games; the Penis Monologue...they go on and on. I watch it and laugh like I'm watching an episdoe of Benny Hill.

Mitsudomoe

"This is the summer season's sickeningly cute/OMGWTF?! series. Yabe Satoshi has just achieved his dream of becoming an elementary school teacher, unfortunately for him, the class he gets contains the three most dangerous problem students in the school, and quite possibly the country: the Marui Sisters. The oldest, Mitsuba, has a penchant for S&M and rules the classroom with an iron fist. The Middle child, Futaba, is really nice and sincere girl, but isn't very bright, which wouldn't be a problem if she didn't have epic level strength and combat skills. The youngest, Hitoha, is quite possibly the most dangerous, though you wouldn't know it from the fact she always has her face in a book of questionable content, though heaven help the soul of anybody who gets between her and something she wants. The story basically revolves around Yabe sensei and the rest of his class just trying to survive everyday school life with this trio of psychopaths. If you like your cuteness blended with a little WTF, or just want to watch a bunch of gradeschoolers mess with a dude's head then you'll probably wanna take a look at this show." [Kago] I'm ok with this. The gradeschoolers act all cute as expected, and the simple gags for laughs are funny. It's not a deep or pretentious show, and that's why I watch it.

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin

"This is a weird one. Deep in the mountains, there is a huge school for the study of the occult. The Principal/Founder has recently died and his funeral is being held. The teacher plays a recording of what she assumes is a will, but it turns out to be a recording of the chant that the Founder used to summon a spirit. The spirit, now that it has been summoned again, possesses his corpse. His estranged daughter is the only one who tries to stop it, and soon has the aid of a couple students. In the end, the daughter winds up beheading the corpse of her father. She then goes up to the roof and screams her hatred of the occult, when a naked boy floats down out of the sky. Apparently the naked guy (Fumiaki) is a time traveler sent from 2012 to 1999 to destroy an object (the Nostradamus Key) at Occult Academy which would trigger a dimensional rift allowing aliens to take over the world. He has a phone that can show him the future of any object he photographs, which he can use to determine the correct object to destroy. Meanwhile, the daughter (Maya) has inherited the school, and at first is determined to get it closed down because she hates the occult. Then she finds her father’s notebook and realizes that he was actually murdered in a conspiracy while trying to destroy the Key. She teams up with Fumiaki to find the Nostradamus Key." [Chibitrunks] Fumiaki ends up being a total fraud (I dislike 180 degree role reversals) and Maya is one tsundere bitch. The reason I continue to watch is for Kozue (love mengane). Now after a near-death-experience, she's .... I gotta watch the next episode.

Cat Shit One

"Imagine any serious war movie ever made, then replace the soldiers with cute fluffy bunnies. The juxtaposition was baffling, yet I couldn't take my eyes off it. The CG art was very well done, and all of the weaponry looked quite authentic. The basic plot of the first episode was pretty straightforward; terrorists have captured some hostages, and a military team, codenamed Cat Shit One, is sent in to rescue the hostages from the enemy base in the desert. Now, normally I hate war/soldier movies with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, but this was just epically bizarre enough to attract me. Then again, I am easily amused by fluffy bunnies... Either way, I am definitely going to give this one a few more episodes." [Chibitrunks] I need to pick up the manga on this one. I think I'm going to end up enjoying this.

Shiki

"The first episode looked interesting. There is a girl (Megumi) who lives in a little mountain village out in the sticks, and she can’t wait to get out of town and move to the big city. She has a crush on a boy who moved in from a big city, and she stalks him. One night, at 2 A.M., some strange people move into a huge European style mansion on the mountain outside of town. The girl goes up there to see what they are like, and goes missing. She is found out in the woods that night with a case of severe anemia, and dies shortly afterwards. All signs point to this being a vampire show." [Chibitrunks] I've been keeping up with this show, and yes, all signs point to 'vampires living in that big ole' mansion'. I'm glad that Megumi croaked early because she was an annoying character. Now I can't decide if I like it or if I'm going to hate it because it took until the 6th episode for the town doctor to get an inkling about vampires. I understand that a normal doctor wouldn't suspect occult offhand, but now we have even less episodes for the plot to get a move on. That reminds me of a recent show called, Ookamikakushi that took far too long to get started. I'll bail if they can't get it together soon.

Asobi ni Iku Yo

"Kakuzu is just a normal high school guy attending his grandparent’s reunion, when he meets a catgirl at the party. He gets distracted by her boobs and takes a swig of beer, which knocks him out. The next day, he wakes up in bed with her and she’s mostly nude. The girl next door and one of his teachers come over that morning, and see the catgirl. It turns out that the catgirl is an alien, and came to Earth to ‘have fun’. The neighbor and teacher leave, and their true identities are hinted at. It seems like the neighbor is some kind of undercover agent, and the teacher is part of an online alien conspiracy group that doesn’t want first contact to be with an alien that looks so humanoid. Kakuzu has another friend, Aoi-chan, who turns out to be something called Ark Momiji, a high-powered super-girl with a mecha bodysuit and guns that materialize when she calls for them. Aoi-chan’s mission is to destroy the catgirl and the catgirl’s human conspirator, Kakuzu. Overall, it looks like the pace will really pick up from here. Definitely one I will keep watching." [Chibitrunks] Hells YES! Soon, more hot-bodied, catgirl aliens show up and...that's really all you need to know.

Amagami SS

"Meh. Another stupid, school, slice-of-life, romance mess. Guy falls in love with a girl who is out of his league, she strings him around, and then rejects him when he confesses. Episode 2- Wash, rinse, repeat. “Let’s be friends!” (-_-) He must be a masochist, because it looks like he won’t give up. He’ll probably wear her down in the long run." [Chibitrunks] I'm lightly interested in this series. I like the 'sexy hair' and I've heard that there's a kissing fetish (a guy gets to plant sweet kisses on a girl's navel--Episode 6.) So, until I get a chance to see that, I'm holding off calling it crap.

Ookamisan to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

"Ookami Ryouko is a high school student who works for an organization in her school called the Otogi Bank. Not an actual bank, the members of the Otogi Bank work as mercenaries, solving students and townsfolks problems in exchange for help and or favors to be determined at a later date, a contract which the Bank strictly enforces. Ryouko works as an enforcer, using her impressive boxing skills to pound some sense into otherwise unreasonable people should the need arise. Despite her violent reputation however, Ryouko has fan, and borderline stalker, in Morino Ryoushi, a boy in her class who recently worked up the courage to confess to her, a confession she promptly refuses to accept. Thus begins Ryoushi and Ryouko's adventures working for the Otogi Bank. I recomend, if you like your silliness to take itself more seriously, with romance taking a backseat to the mission at hand...Just watched the second episode of Ookami-san: It looks like this show is going to have a fairy tale theme. Most of the other members of the Otogi Bank are based on classic fairy tales." [Kago]

Digimon Xros Wars

"First off, it's pronounced Digimon Cross Wars. Secondly, if you've seen Digimon before, then you pretty much know what to expect. The story revolves around Taiki Kudou, this season's "Bearer of the Goggles", a kind-hearted, athletic 6th grader who tends to go a bit overboard in his attempts to help those around him. After working himself to near exhaustion helping the local basketball team, his childhood friend of the female persuasion, Akari Hinomori, chews him out for what is probably the umpteen thousandth time. His rival, Zenjirou Tsurugi then shows up and challenges him to a kendo match. While the three are arguing, some wierd stuff happens, and Taiki follows an otherworldly voice to find an injured digimon in an alley. Taiki decides to help the digimon in whatever way he can, and thusly a portal opens up and Taiki recieves a red X Loader before all three of them are sucked through a portal to the Digital World where they find themselves caught in the middle of a massive war between different factions of Digimon. My only other problem is that the army they're building looks like it's going to borrow heavily/completely rip off Gurren Lagann, right down to the army flags. If you like Digimon, then go ahead and watch this one, as it looks to be pretty decent season. If you don't like Digimon, then go ahead and skip it, you won't miss much." [Kago]

Nurarihyon no Mago

"If you are into yokai and Japanese folklore, this might be the show for you this season. Rikuo Nura is the grandson of the Supreme Commander of the yokai and is ¼ yokai, yet he prefers to live as a human than transform into his yokai form and take over command from his Grandfather. He attends regular school, though he lives in a mansion filled with yokai of all kinds that follow the Nura Clan. Occasionally he transforms in order to save his friends, but he always changes back at dawn with no memory of his transformation." [Chibitrunks]

The Legend of the Legendary Heroes

I guess if you like fantasy and magic then this is your show. That's not my cup of tea, so I got bored by the end of the first episode. Plus, it had another annoying tsundere-type chick as lead... just not for me. "It reminded me more of The Slayers meets Full Metal Alchemist. Government sponsored magic users wandering around in search of all powerful artifacts. Romance, comedy, and massive amounts of collateral damage ensue." [Kago]

Shukufuku no Campanella

"This one is basically just a harem anime and RPG combo. The male lead, Leicester, is part of a Clan Oasis, a group of adventurers for hire. There are several girls, all smitten with him, that make up the rest of the group. There’s all the standard RPG archetypes, knight, mage, item crafter, summoners, etc. The animation is pretty standard, there are a bit too many characters for me to keep track of, and it is so full of exposition that there is barely any plot." [Chibitrunks] This show was too fantasy world for me. I liked how crisp the animation was, but I can't see myself getting into this show.

Quite a few continuations / Season 2's...

Strike Witches 2

If you saw the first season of this and liked it, then you're watching this. In later episodes, it actually takes a more serious tack than the first season. Now we're getting to know a bit more about the Neuroi, which is a nice developement. Whose your favorite witch?

Kuroshitsuji 2

Sekirei: Pure Engagement

Sengoku Basara 2

Other honorable mentions...

Tono to Issho

Black Rock Shooter

Kuttsukiboshi

Awesome work! If you've come this far...feel free to continue the discussion on the forum in our Summer 2010 Anime Lineup thread or start up a thread of your own. I want to thank Chibitrunks and Kago for all their help. Why not join us in the discussions for the Fall 2010 Anime Lineup?