Top 10 Anime Summer 2022
For my first major post I thought I would run through my favourite ten anime as of June 2022.
1 - Chihayafuru
A 'slice of life' Anime following the fortunes of a young girl/young woman 'Chihaya' who is fanatical about playing a Japanese card game. As with a lot of anime the mechanics of the game matter little except as the driver of the relationships and situations arising out of it, though you will pick up the rules of Karuta even if you don't need to. The game itself 'Karuta' could be described to a lay person as an advanced speed snap and in Japan is as much an endurance physical sport as a simple card game. The artwork is great and the storyline better. This anime really understands the pressures in the pursuit of what a lot of people would regard as a very minor hobby and as someone who has spent a fair amount of times perusing my own minor hobbies the accuracy and intensity of emotions can be jaw droppingly good.
The story is a mix between the competitions / school pressures/ training versus the relationships between the characters and people who don't get the hobby and people who absolutely do. There is a small love triangle going on with Chihaya being pursued by both the main male characters shown in this style clip.
Chihayafuru
There is also three live action films covering the same material which look quite fun. I haven't managed to see these yet as they are harder to obtain.
Live action film
For more information here is a general review of the anime and manga
2 Demon Slayer
This is still ongoing as Season 3 is about to come out early next year but so far this has had a full Season 1, a film then a small season 2. It follows several characters in a historical Japanese epoch where Demons exist and a corps of Demon Slayers attempt to hunt them down - which they need to do by decapitating the demons. If it sounds like an excuse for lots of action scenes fighting monsters then you would be right but even so it has been one of the most consistently exciting Anime out there and, unusually, hasn’t fallen for the trap (yet) that a lot of Japanese supernatural Animes fall into of going all Godzilla and layering the plotlines so badly no one follow what is going on.
The only slight quibble I have about is that I don’t really get why when Nezuko (the lead characters sister) goes ‘super powered demon’ she seems to rush through puberty in about 20 seconds which seems a bit disconcerting and a push to a direction the show doesn’t really need.
The Clip is from the Second season and shows the excellent fighting animation though it will spoil the season if watched to the end (be warned)
For those who want a more in depth review this one is decent.
Demon Slayer can be watched abroad on Netflix and Crunchyroll
3 Samurai Champloo
In the famous Edo period of Japan three characters - a ditzy girl looking for her father, 'Jin' a controlled expert swordsman and 'Mugen' another expert swordsman but untrained with more anarchy in his moves all cross Japan helping search for the girls missing father. Great story, animation and fight scenes. A classic even though around 27 years old now. The artwork still holds up and the mix of emotion, action and humour in this very varied storyline is wonderful.
Review (though he's much more negative than I would be)
Due to age this is possibly best watched on the DVDs or blu rays. Funimation might carry the actual anime online.
4 Attack on Titan Series 1-3
The first 2 seasons of this were among the most exciting episodes of anything I have ever watched ever and of all the animes I have seen the only one which had me essentially saying, "I must watch the next episode now!’" repeatedly. But, a bit like how the ending of the remake of Battlestar Gallactica put me off all the bits previously I had enjoyed, the third season went a bit weird by enlarging the scope of the danger and the world. This still worked but took some of the shine off. The most reason season (still ongoing) seems to have maxed out on depression and gloom especially with all the genocide and mass murder going. Currently I still recommend but would say 'stop' after season 3 unless you like it dark.
The storyline (which has several surprises to put it mildly) involves what looks like a medieval human civilisation who are being attacked by unintelligent giants whose one aim is to eat all the tasty human snacks. Humanity as such is defended by three Regiments of soldiers the most interesting of which are the scouts who use what looks like retractable grappling hook gear to manoeuvre quick and high to try and fight these giants
Example scene shows some of the Scouts fighting Titans (including one of my favourite characters Captain Levi)
Can be watched on Crunchyroll and Netflix
5 Tokyo Ghoul Series 1
Lots of similarities to Demon Slayer except this is set in modern times and the demons are the very similar acting ghouls. Season 1 was just outstanding really. Season 2 was good (not excellent in my opinion) then rolled to Season 3 (which went all Godzilla and plot loops from hell and I'm still not sure what happened). The content is often very, very dark with the Ghouls basically living among us and then cannibalising their victims so it's not for youngsters or the faint hearted. There is (in season one - the other seasons mix this up this drastically) four primary groupings in the season, if you can count the mass of humanity as one, you have the 'hungry' ghouls who hunt humans, peaceful ghouls who try to co-exist (it’s a bit like the Vampires in Twilight) and the Ghoul hunting Police.
Tokyo Ghoul can be watched on Crunchyroll
6 Ju-Jutsu Kaisen
Guess what - monsters in modern times who are fought by something like fighting sorcerers who are mainly older teenagers ? Well done with a lot of humour. Still ongoing with films and series continuing. Horror levels approach that of Demon Slayer though with a slightly less dark approach. The humour when it occurs is often unexpected and meshes well with the shows themes.
7 Cowboy Bebop
The anime of animes. This was really the gateway drug to Anime back in the 90's that made anime mainstream in the Western World. Prior to this Japanese animes had done okay but usually after hefty overdubs and re-writes(Attack of the Planets! - the funny robot scenes in that replaced the excessive violence they didn't want to show over here. Shame.). It also set the standard with a quality soundtrack -something that a lot of animes have utilized so much so that I may make a top 10 anime song listing soon that will match a lot of these entries..
This has a futuristic sci fi theme following around three Bounty Hunters.
A Netflix live action remake was also produced recently which really caught the spirit of the original and the casting (apart perhaps Spikes age) was inspired..Sadly it hasn't had a second season pushed forward.
8 Hikaru No Go
This is similar to Chyafuyu in that it covers a young boy-teenager learning to play the oldest board game in the world 'go' . Early on he encounters the Ghost of an ancient Go Master 'Sai', who only he can see, with this supplying the drive for a lot of the story.
The section of episodes (and in the Manga books 13 & 14) where the Ghost Sai takes on the Meijin is some of the best plotted anime I have ever seen/read especially with how it folds a lot of disconnected characters from before in to build intensity.
Difficult to watch nowadays as no major anime provider seems to have it in stock. You tube has most of the main series.
9 Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex
Stand alone complex was quite ground breaking in its time and I don’t mean in how the lead character (a cyborg) manages to fit into her catsuit - or for that matter not to have incredible back problems due to her, erm, let's move on. This is a future based anime where a secret government agency is dealing with offering widely differing problems with an underlying main plotline. It has the usual government rivalries and competing interests but was generally very good indeed. I found the films a little harder to enjoy.
The animation now makes it look slightly dated but the plot still holds strong.
There is also a US remake. That took some hassle for essentially whitewashing the lead character. Definite Blade Runner vibes to the film (and actually from the anime as well) but I thought it fit the anime's mood and structure quite well.
10 Rent a Girlfriend
You have to give it to Japanese anime producers for going for subjects a lot of other companies would keep well away from. This (current) anime has a nice premise. The lead character ( Kazuya Kinoshita) starts the series by being dumped by his girlfriend after a month. He then takes the 'unusual' action of ‘renting’ a girlfriend (without telling anyone) so his friends and his ex see how well he is getting over it. Problems then start to arise when he firstly gives the girl he ‘rented’ a bad review (for being 'inauthentic') and then finds she not only goes to the same school but also moves in next door. When his family believes she is his actual girlfriend lots of embarrassing situations start to rise for both.
Now considering the subject matter and the ages of the character this is possibly the most sexualised anime on the list but from what I remember not in a way that is particularly gratuitous. It is very good fun and the characters well realised.
This is on crunchyroll along with a just released second season.
So there we have a quick run through. Feel free to comment on the choices and thanks for reading my ramblings this far.
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