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Summer: a time for the outdoors, a time to travel, a time to reconnect with friends and make new ones, a time for fun and adventure, and a time to broaden your horizons. And if your idea of “broadening your horizons” is to spend three months getting into anime — well, who are we to stop you?
Appropriate for the season of big blockbusters, the Summer Anime season this year is all about the franchises — including ones that even newcomers to the medium will likely recognize. There’s an anime adaptation of comic series “Suicide Squad,” which is only halfway done but is certainly far better than the 2016 movie. With “Rick and Morty” on hiatus for a year, fans of the Adult Swim staple can entertain themselves with an anime version of the dynamic duo. And in August, the “Terminator” film franchise is going animated with a Netflix series “Terminator Zero,” which asks the question of what would happen if James Cameron’s sci-fi classic was set in Tokyo.
Even outside of the confines of Western-created IP, this Summer is a very heavy season for old established shows and recognizable names. The anime adaptation of popular weirdo video game “Nier: Automata” is returning for a second season, while acclaimed shows like pop star tragedy “Oshi No Ko” and fantasy adventure “Tower of God” are getting second runs. Then there’s a reboot of superhero comedy “Kinnikuman” hoping to reignite longtime fans’ love for their respective properties. Fortunately, there are still some new shows and original anime to perk the interest of fans throughout the summer. “Delico’s Nursery” is a lavish-looking show about a family of vampires looking after their young, while “The Elusive Samurai” promises an old-fashioned but high-quality historical adventure. And “Mayonaka Punch” is a promising comedy about a content creator joining up with a superpowered girl to try and reach viral fame.
As always, IndieWire rounded up the best and most promising looking anime of the season to determine which shows you should be watching. Read on for our list of the 10 best anime to watch this summer. Entries are sorted in order of series premiere date.
‘Suicide Squad Isekai’ (Hulu and Max, June 27)
The comic book team Suicide Squad — a group of criminals forced to go on dangerous and covert missions on behalf of the U.S. government — has many brilliant stories and way too many bad adaptations. The 2017 film is a contender for all-time worst superhero film, and video games like ‘Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’ received tepid at best reactions. It’s not a masterpiece, but Wit Studio’s ‘Suicide Squad Isekai’ is definitely better than those attempts to capture the appeal of the ragtag group of anti-villains. Named after the Isekai genre — a term for Japanese media where the heroes are transported to another world — the series sees Harley Quinn and other noteworthy villains (Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface, and King Shark) get recruited for a mission to explore a portal that opens to a fantasy kingdom besigned by mythical creatures and other supervillains. It’s not high-art exactly, but the character designs are appealingly stylized, the action and animation is strongly rendered, and the scripts (from ‘Re:Zero’ screenwriter Tappei Nagatsuki) provide a refreshing and fun mixture of Western and Japanese comic book sensibilities.
‘Oshi no Ko’ Season 2 (July 3, HIDIVE)
Aka Akasaka’s ‘Oshi no Ko’ has an absolutely wild set-up for a manga so good. To explain: An OBGYN gets hired to deliver the twin children of Ai Hoshino, a famous pop star. Before he can perform the delivery, he gets murdered by one of Ai’s stalkers, and ends up reincarnated as her son Aquamarine. That’s already wild, and it gets weirder when his new twin sister Ruby is alsothe reincarnation of a patient who died the night of the birth. Then, in thepilotepisode, Ai gets murdered by the same fan, leaving the two twins to grow up without their mother and for Aqua to spend the rest of his life seeking revenge. If this sounds like a ridiculous premise, it doesn’t feel that way in practice: Akasaka is a brilliant writer (he’s also known for the popular comedy ‘Kaguya-Sama,’) and he delivers a scathing and smart look at the darkside of the entertainment industry and the futility of revenge. The anime adaptation, brilliantly animated by Studio Dogakobo, premiered in 2023, and its second season airs this Summer.
‘Nier: Automata VER1.1A’ Season 2 (Crunchyroll, July 5)
Japanese game director Yoko Taro spent years producing oddball, meta, deconstructive RPGs before he unexpectedly broke out with the 2017 hit ‘Nier: Automata,’ an acclaimed game detailing a war between human-created androids and alien-created machines for control of an apocalyptic Earth, and the relationship between two androids struggling to survive this hellscape. Those who might be intrigued by the game and its unique story about human individuality and love can check out the high-quality anime adaptation from A-1 Pictures. The first season premiered last year, while the second season premiered this June.
‘The Elusive Samurai’ (Crunchyroll, July 6)
A historical samurai epic based on a true historical figure, ‘The Elusive Samurai’ stands out in a field of fantasy adventures and slice-of-life comedies. Based on a manga by Yusei Matsui, the story follows young Hōjō Tokiyuki as he navigates Kenmu-era Japan seeking revenge on Ashikaga Takauji, the samurai who overthrew his family.
‘Tower of God’ Season 2 (July 7, Crunchyroll)
Based on a South Korean manhwa webtoon, ‘Tower of God’ is a singular fantasy adventure centering on a boy’s journey through a mysterious tower populated by several different species and powered by mysterious magic. A simple premise in theory, author S.I.U elevates it with fleshed out worldbuilding and a gorgeous distinctive art style. The animated series, produced by The Answer Studio, premiered in 2020 and returns for a second season, following a new cast of characters on the journey through the tower.
‘Mayonaka Punch’ (Crunchyroll, July 8)
A promising original series, ‘Mayonaka Punch’ comes from Shū Honma, the director behind the underrated comedy ‘Ya Boy Kongming!’ Like that gem, a show about ancient Chinese strategist Zhuge Kongming getting transported to 2019 and becoming the manager of an up-and-coming pop star, ‘Punch’ is a high-concept take on modern Japanese culture. It revolves around the friendship between Masaki, a content creator who gets kicked out of her group after a violent incident. Determined to salvage her reputation, she ends up meeting an ancient vampire named Live, and the two team up to form a new group and go viral.
‘Kinnikuman’ (Netflix, July 8)
One of the most popular manga series of all time in Japan, Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada’s ‘Kinnikuman’ never quite reached that level of popularity in North America; it’s best known among U.S. fans for the early 2000s anime adaptation, broadcast by 4Kids as ‘Ultimate Muscle.’ Now the series is back with a new adaptation, which will adapt the opening arc of the manga’s revival in 2011 (for context, it originally began publication in 1979 and took a 24-year-long hiatus in 1987.) It’s broadcasting on Netflix, so the platform should hopefully introduce scores of new fans to the wacky adventures of wresting superhero Suguru Kinniku and his quest to regain his place as the prince of Planet Kinniku.
‘Delico’s Nursery’ (Crunchyroll, August 7)
Most anime are based off mangas, light novels, or some other source, but ‘Delico’s Nursery’ comes from a unique source: ‘Trump,’ a series of Japanese stage plays by Kenichi Suemitsu. That’s obviously something most Western fans haven’t seen for themselves, so ‘Dlico’s Nursery’ will largely be a new quantity when it arrives in August. From Studio J.STAFF, the series boasts a retro aesthetic reminiscent of ’80s anime and a story about a vampire family taking care of their young.
‘Rick and Morty: The Anime’ (Adult Swim, August 16)
One of the qualities that makes ‘Rick and Morty’ one of the most popular animated series of the last several years is its formal experimentation, playing with story structure, animation styles, and format from episode to episode. Now, Dan Harmon’s series about a boy and his mad scientist grandfather is being filtered through a Japanese sensibility with a brightly colored and vibrant anime adaptation. Directed by Takashi Sano — the man responsible for ‘Tower of God’ — the show will translate the episodic adventures and crazy sci-fi concepts of the Western series into a whole new style. Those curious about if the approach will work can check out a series of short film pilots for the series currently streaming on YouTube.
‘Terminator: Zero’ (Netflix, August 29)
An adaptation of the ‘Terminator’ franchise to the animated medium, ‘Zero’ has a similar story to James Cameron’s 1984 original, focusing on a father on the run in Japan after a robot assassin is sent to kill him. While animated adaptations of live action properties aren’t always hits, ‘Terminator: Zero’ has some promising pedigree behind it. Coming from writer Mattson Tomlin, the show is directed by ‘Bleach’ veteran Masashi Kudō, and features the voices of stars like Andre Holland, Sonoya Mizuno, Rosario Dawson, Ann Dowd, and — in a particularly inspired bit of casting — Timothy Chalamet as The Terminator. The jury is out on how the show will turn out, but at any rate, it must be better than ‘Genisys,’ right?
