More Thoughts
Most Anticipating: Space Dandy
Seems like an obvious pick for me, but Summer isn’t looking too hot anime wise and the return of Dandy on TV is welcome. Funimation did a nice job casting and dubbing the first season in english. I very much prefered Funi’s dub to the Japanese dub, but the upside of it airing simultaneously is that you can enjoy whichever dub you like, and that the success of Dandy stateside will hopefully translate into more anime getting the simultaneous japanese/english-dubbed release treatment.
Watching With Concern: Sword Art Online II
For those who’ve listened to us discuss SAO on the podcast before, you might remember that I didn’t enjoy the series that much after the first game concluded. I felt ALO was a much weaker half of SAO, and when I match those feelings up with my enjoyment of Log Horizon from Fall ‘13, I feel like I won’t be in the right frame of mind to enjoy SAO II and that I’ll openly admit a bias toward Log Horizon.
The Butcher (Gen) At Work: Aldnoah.Zero
I’m very much a fan of Urobuchi Gen’s works like Madoka, Fate/Zero and also Gargantia to an extent (where it’s popularly understood he wasn’t as much involved in), so for that reason alone I have hopes for this mecha series. Add in music by Hiroyuki Sawano (Kill la Kill, Attack on Titan) and A-1’s nice quality animation, and there’s some understanding where the hype is coming from and why Amuro selected it with his 1st pick in our anime draft.

Most Anticipating: Space Dandy 2
I won’t name names, but a particularity buff host from another podcast doesn’t see the point of Space Dandy. The irony is, that is the point. This is mindless entertainment in its greatest form. We can turn off our brains, then watch the misadventures of Dandy and his bumbling crew for the next 30 minutes. The dub is absolutely fantastic as well and I will be looking forward to adding this back on my weekly schedule.
I’d Vote For: Barakamon
To borrow from Amuro, Barakamon looks adorable. It has a strong Yotsuba& vibe to it and that is one of my favorite manga. I don’t know what to really expect out of it, but if it can make me laugh it should be an anime I’ll enjoy quite a bit.
What else is there to say? Nothing
This is the first time in a while I feel like I’ve got nothing more to add. I could shit on some random show, but honestly it is the summer and that sounds like a lot of work. The truth is, this season has your typical summer lineup. The big anime air in Spring and Fall, while Summer and Winter tend to be lack luster, which pretty much sums this season up.

Hardest Working Studio: A-1 Pictures
Between the long running Fairy Tail, the new Persona 4 Golden, SAO 2, Aldnoah.Zero, and more, A-1 is doing a lot of stuff, and most of it I want to watch. I recently marathoned the entirety of the Fairy Tail anime and I’ve been enjoying the new season’s look. P4G will be an interesting little curiosity, and SAO II is a must watch for me. Aldnoah.Zero also looks pretty good from the trailers.
Nostalgia Bomb: Sailor Moon Crystal
The reboot we’ve been waiting for, is finally happening. However, the schedule they’ve chosen to air it is perhaps the worst thing ever. What should only be a half a year long show will be spread out over the course of an entire year. It’s great to see the magical girl classic be brought into this modern era, but it’s also sad that a lot of the original cast won’t be reprising their roles, including veteran, active, and incredibly popular Toru Furuya as Tuxedo Mask. This is a real mixed bag.
Show That Got the Shaft: Nisekoi
Now let me explain. While Monogatari Second Season, which was technically the third season if you ask me, was airing it had 4 recap episodes interspersed throughout its two coure run. That might seem innocuous enough, until you realize that it meant they couldn’t fit the Hanamonogatari arc into the season. Fastforward to Spring 2014 and we get Nisekoi adapted by Shaft ending on the really odd episode count of 20. This was because the show was intentionally shortened to air those Hanamonogatari episodes in Nisekoi’s timeslot. That stung a bit, but it would be nice to see Hanamono, finally. Except, the damn thing got delayed until the end of August! They’re going to air the entire thing on a single night, and what this effectively means is that Nisekoi was robbed of four episodes. The end product wasn’t bad, but having actually enjoyed what Shaft did with Nisekoi, I’d have REALLY liked another four episodes.