Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week.
read more
The Summer 2020 Preview Guide
by The Anime News Network Editorial Team,
Welcome to Anime News Network's Summer 2020 Preview Guide! Here's how it goes: our team of critics write up their impressions instantly, to be posted here as they go along. Each critic will cover as many shows as they can handle, giving you alternate takes on most every show.
The guide is ongoing, organized by series and updated multiple times a day. Throughout the next week or two, we'll be updating as often as possible with new perspectives on new episodes from our team of critics. New reviews will be posted as soon as they're written, with each critic's name being added to the roster beneath the show's title. Check back a couple of times every day during the guide, and you're likely to see new shows pop up with multiple takes to enjoy!
Please remember that this is a preview guide. It is designed to give you a taste of the first episode of a show with a preliminary opinion and a few thoughts on whether or not the show has potential. These are not intended to be blanket judgments of these series as a whole. All reviews use the same ratings scale: 1-5, with 1 being the lowest. Shows that are available streaming online will be indicated as such.
Click on the survey at the top of each show's page to vote for your personal score and see how other people scored the show!
On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about A Returner's Magic Should Be Special, but somehow, the execution manages to rise above all its basic tropes and clichés.― Writing off A Returner's Magic Should Be Special would be very easy. On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about it: a standard magic academy, a basic time loop story, and characters whose names are way too on the mark. But so...
Inside this massive new area are locations pulled straight out of Ghibli films.― Late last year, we went down to Ghibli Park in Aichi prefecture to explore its recently opened Princess Mononoke area. This year, we see the addition of a new area to the experience-driven theme park: The Valley of Witches. Inside this massive new area are locations pulled straight out of Ghibli films Howl's Moving Cast...
Manga's 424th chapter released on Monday― Editor's Note: The second paragraph of this article discusses spoilers for the previous chapter of My Hero Academia manga. Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia manga entered its "epilogue" with the 424th chapter in this year's 27th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on Monday. Horikoshi additionally mentioned in the author comments for this latest...
Masuyama also originated Cutie Honey role― Aoni Production announced on Monday that voice actress Eiko Masuyama died on May 20 due to pneumonia. She was 89. Her close relatives held a private service. Masuyama was born in Tokyo on April 22, 1936. She began her career alongside the roots of Japanese animated television with the first Astroboy (Tetsuwan Atom) series. She then originated the role of Fu...
T・P BON embodies the spirit of classic sci-fi adventure like almost no other recent anime.― I adore classic sci-fi, especially when it involves time travel and grand adventure. T・P BON embodies the spirit of classic sci-fi adventure like almost no other recent anime. Based on a 1978-1986 manga by Doraemon co-creator Fujiko F. Fujio, this ultra-shiny modern adaptation from studio BONES and director M...
Manga launched in 2009, inspired TV anime in 2014― Manga creator Mizuho Kusanagi confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday that her Yona of the Dawn (Akatsuki no Yona) manga is in its final arc. Kusanagi referenced the final arc alongside the news that the manga won an award in the Long Seller Comics Division for the Rakuten Kobo e-Book Award 2024. Kusanagi — the creator of Mugen Spiral, Game X ...
Art resurfaces when he was announced as judge for Shonen Jump's Sports Manga Award― Being talented in one aspect of your life doesn't stop you from being talented in other aspects. For instance, former seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger went on to have a prolific acting career. But what about Shōhei Ohtani, the biggest name in sports today? Well, it turns out he's not just one of the great...
I can't recommend the series, nor think that any hypothetical viewer would enjoy it, but it is the kind of trash TV that's rewarding to dissect.― Have you ever wondered what Baki would be like if it had a conservative bent instead of queer undertones? Well, look no further because the answer is Kengan Ashura! While Kengan is trying to convey the same spectacle and white-knuckle action of the long-ru...
Series starring Miku Martineau, Ayo Solanke, more starts production in Toronto― The Hollywood Reporter entertainment news site reported on Thursday that showrunner Simon Barry (Warrior Nun creator) and Boat Rocker Media are producing a live-action series for Netflix titled BET that "is based in part" on writer Homura Kawamoto and artist Tōru Naomura's Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler manga. The show h...
Jean-Karlo attempts to condense two big video game showcases into a coherent column, from the revamped Silent Hill 2 to the grazing pastures of Story of Seasons.― Welcome back, folks. This is related to a big story for this week, but this past weekend, I listened to Utada Hikaru's re-recording of "Simple And Clean". It's very emotional. Utada Hikaru is a good twenty-plus years older than when she or...
In the Eisner-nominated work, Maki Fujiwara chronicles her daily life with her husband, lionized mangaka Yoshiharu Tsuge. Though deceptively simple at first glance, a foundation of abuse is slowly revealed.― At first blush, Maki Fujiwara's My Picture Diary does what it says on the tin. It tells the story of her daily life as a housewife and mother, spending time with her daily activities, noting the...
Now streaming on Netflix, Tomotaka Shibayama's first feature animation mixes the magical with reality to share a simple but important message.―
Director Tomotaka Shibayama's latest film, My Oni Girl, is an action-adventure drama with elements of a buddy comedy and a relatable coming-of-age story. The film, produced by Studio Colorido, was released in theaters in Japan and on Netflix on May 24, foll...