Ask John: What’s John’s Perspective on the New Anime Season?

Question:

What are your thoughts on the new anime to have been released, and have you noticed any new trends with this latest season?

Answer:
Japan’s summer anime TV season started three weeks ago, and all of this summer’s new anime have premiered, with the debatable exception of next month’s online only Buso Shinki: Moon Angel series. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity, so far, to watch at least one episode of all of this season’s new shows except Inumarudashi & Ganbare! Natto-san, which I haven’t been able to find. In effect, I’ve sampled 28 new anime series that have premiered in June or July, and I have noticed some trends and can make a broad assessment of the summer season.

The current summer season seems to be a low bar dotted with highlights. Programs including Ro-kyu-bu, Yuruyuri, Idolmaster, R-15, Mayochiki, Dantalian no Shoka, Morita-san wa Mukuchi, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, Blade, Appleseed XIII, and Kamisama Dolls all feel particularly uninspired or overly familiar. Blood-C is frustrating because it’s schitzophrenic and feels largely like a rejection of the defining characteristics that have previously identified the Blood franchise. Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, Nyanpire, and Nekogami Yaoyorozu feel harmless and inconsequential. Manyu Hikencho, Sacred Seven, and No. 6 have, so far, proven either mildly intriguing or mildly amusing, leaving only Mawaru Penguindrum & Usagi Drop as the season’s excellent new titles. Natsume Yujincho San also appears to be a season highlight, but like Nurarihyon no Mago and BakaTest, it’s not strictly a new title since it’s the third season of an older show. This tone of this summer season seems to be dominantly characterized by shows like Ro-kyu-bu, Yuruyuri, R-15, Mayochiki, and Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi that simply feel bland, rote, uninspired, and cliche. This summer season just seems to lack energy and excitement, as if much of this season’s new anime is wilting in the heat.

Close examination of recent and current season anime seems to reveal two emerging trends: one, a return of teen horror, and the other, an increasing prominence of demanding Lolitas. Recent anime including Shiki, Dororon Enma-kun Merameera, Blood-C, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, Ao no Exorcist, and Yumekui Merry reveal an unusual concentration of horror anime that contrasts the production of the anime industry over the past several years. However, these shows aren’t grim and dark like Mouryou no Hako or Kurozuka nor lighthearted comical shonen adventures like Soul Eater and Yondemasuyo Azazel-san. Particularly Yumekui Merry, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, and Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi have a very similar tone and feel that’s non-threatening horror that’s also not slapstick. I’ve found these shows to lack a strong sense of purpose and identity. As a result, they easily blur together. It certainly doesn’t help that the first episodes of both Kore wa Zombie and ItsuTen include scenes of the protagonist getting dismembered after being run-over by a truck. Similarly, Dantalian no Shoka seems like it merely puts concepts borrowed from Hanaukyo Maid Tai (young man inheriting his grandfather’s mansion), X or Utena (drawing a weapon from a partner’s chest), Fullmetal Alchemist (a dragon in a stone room with colonnades), and Index (a library contained within a girl) into a blender. Thankfully, while the bulk of the current new productions may seem cliche or unoriginal, there are still highly unique new anime also available.

The recent appearance of characters including Victorique in Gosick, Alice in Kamisama no Memo-cho, Dalian in Dantalian no Shoka, and Ruri in Sacred Seven seems to denote an emerging trend in petite female characters with lots of hair and commanding, demanding, aloof and superior attitudes. This trend may even date back as far as Mina from the Dance in the Vampire Bund TV series and Shinobu in the Bakemonogatari TV series. As if otaku have grown self-conscious and sheepish about fawning over innocent, defenseless ingenue characters, anime seems to have invented loli characters that demand attention, subservience, worship, protection, and adoration from older males. One need not feel ashamed of fetishizing a young girl when it’s actually the young girl herself that demands the attention. Seemingly further reinforcing this stereotype, Yune in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is a petite girl, but she doesn’t have long, billowing hair and (therefore?) doesn’t insist that males prostrate themselves before her. My speculative reasoning behind this seemingly emerging trend may be entirely mistaken. But I do see enough examples concentrated in a small window of time to suggest that this is a genuine contemporary trend within anime.