The Summer 2019 lineup boasts over 30 new shows, which is quite the load for any anime fan to take on. Picking and choosing is necessary, meaning that some shows worth watching are going to be left off of your list. Couple this with the fact that Summer '19 has several bombastic, long-awaited adaptation shows like Dr. Stone, Fire Force, and Vinland Saga, and the chances of missing something you're going to enjoy compounds itself.
Don't let Cop Craft be one of those shows.
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After a lackluster Spring season, the Summer 2019 shows promise of heating up with several action-packed shows and new entries into already-existing series. I decided to avoid all suggestion lists and investigate into these upcoming shows to hammer down what I'll be watching and why.
Let's get started! The consumption and discussion of seasonal anime is a core facet of the modern anime-loving community. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that a fan has to keep up with seasonal shows if they want to interact in a meaningful way with the online anime fandom. Hubs of self-proclaimed otaku like r/Anime, MAL, Twitter, and Anilist are filled to the brim with seasonal memes and discourse that makes the majority of content creators are putting out incomprehensible to anyone that hasn't been keeping up with actively airing anime. There's still plenty of classic-focused memeage, but seasonal content is the obvious victor in a battle of prevalence. When most content being put out is a one-off adaptation that you have to be vigilant to catch amidst a torrent of other identically-unique content, the seasonal-watching schedule is an obvious and necessary adaptation the fandom had to make. Thanks to the advent of streaming services, it is easier than ever to keep up with anime's atypical airing schedule. Anime fans were bombarded with high quality content throughout 2018 and the winter season of 2019, and the content on online, anime-focused communities reflected that. We've gotten multiple golden memes from this period such as Zero Twosday, the Chika dance, and all kinds of Raphtalia content.
Spring 2019's lack of an overwhelmingly popular meme teaches us a few things. I was always taught that lightning could not strike in the same place twice.
Mob Psycho 100's second season proved that to be incorrect by exceeding every expectation I have for the second season of an anime. It is no exaggeration to say this series is an absolute triumph in every way, not only just for Studio Bones/ director Yuzuru Tachikawa, but for the entire medium of anime. The fifth episode of Boogiepop's narrative holds our hand via a direct narrator telling their perspective on a series of events as the episode moves through a rapidly shifting cast of characters, even in Boogiepop terms. This hand-holding isn't done in the typical anime style of course, as this show is all about its narrative mystery.
Despite episode 4 being the first of a new arc, Boogiepop doesn't break its chain of tying episodes together and begins almost exactly where we left off on the ending of episode 3. This was a minute detail I noticed and greatly appreciated. The rest of the episode requires a little bit more to be unpacked.
Kakegurui's second episode makes its first a complete thought and reveals that XX is going to be deepening the story beyond just a high school where gambling rules all. This second episode throws some surprising (to some) information our way, and dangles some tantalizing possibilities for the story.
In one of the strongest testaments to the effectiveness of the "three episode test" for the likability of an anime series I've seen recently, Boogiepop's third episode definitively marks the tone, storytelling style, and intelligence of writing that the series plans to offer and fully explains its title of "Boogiepop and Others".
The first episode of Kakegurui XX takes literally no time to provide background for its first scene. The viewer is immediately thrown into the main gamble of the episode, featuring Yumeko, Midari, and a pink haired loli with heterochromia and absolutely no regard for the uniform of the prestigious Hyakkaou Private Academy.
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AuthorI've been watching anime since I was 9 and I write about my thoughts sometimes. Archives
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