First Impressions of Summer 2016 | Part 1

Recently, I made a post about all of the shows I was looking forward to the most this season, now that I’ve watched them, it’s time to give a first impression review of them.

Please note that this is a two part blog post – the second part will be available on Monday 18th July.

I will cover the following shows within this post:

• Orange
• Amaama to Inazuma
• Cheer Danshi!

Orange
I’m predicting that Orange is this season’s tearjerker and it’s easy to see why. The main protagonist, Naho, receives a letter from her future self, noting all the events that are to happen. Once she realises that all of these actually happen, present-day Naho begins to wonder whether the instructions she’s given actually impact on her life or not. She starts to follow her future self’s instructions, erasing her regrets one by one. Even though the series is two episodes in, there’s already been some very tense moments, some moments that have caused the viewer to think very carefully and of course moments of happiness a well. A revelation about the future of Kakeru, the new transfer student that Naho has a crush on, means that Naho is determined to prevent that from happening. I feel like I’ve already aligned well with Naho – I’m already cheering her on – although that may be due to seeing a lot similarities between myself and Naho and, although I haven’t received a letter from my future self telling me I need to do certain things to prevent something terrible from happening, I do feel as if I have been in a similar situation to Naho before now. On the other hand, I’m sensing that I’m not supposed to align with Suwa for a reason unknown to me, although it’s already been clear that he plays a part in Naho’s future. It’s certainly a good combination of a slice-of-life, romance, school, drama anime and I do recommend watching it if you haven’t already, particularly if you like story-lines such as the ones featured in Erased. Rating so far: 8/10

Amaama to Inazuma
The cute anime of the season. Although this statement can be argued against due to other ‘cute’ anime out there such as Bananyan (which features a cat in a banana, from what I can make out), Amaama to Inazuma is not only cute, but also touching. It follows the lives of Kouhei Inazuma, a single parent who works as an assistant teacher at a local school, and Tsumugi, his daughter. Not being able to cook, Kouhei has been giving himself and his daughter bento boxes to eat, presumably bought from the local convenience store. They also haven’t eaten together in along time, arguably due to Kouhei “not being a big eater” as he mentions to his colleagues in the first episode. That is, until they bump into one of Kouhei’s students, Kotori Iida. She invites them to dinner at her parents’ restaurant, however because her parents are out, she is the one who is to prepare them food. Tsumugi enjoys this experience greatly and they return the day after, where Kotori and Kouhei make a deal of helping each other out. Kouhei begins to learn how to cook, shown by him preparing a bento for his daughter with contains wieners, which makes Tsumugi delighted. I have high hopes for this show – it’s main story-line is simple, however it is also one that tells the story of many single parent fathers in the world and that’s what makes it touching. You feel sympathetic towards Kouhei and cheer him and Kotori on as they develop their cooking skills together. Although I do find the animation style a bit odd at times, particularly when it concerns Tsumugi, it’s definitely surprised thus far and I hope it continues to pleasantly surprise me as the series goes on. Rating so far: 6.5/10

Cheer Danshi!!
Not only the sports anime of the season, but arguably the one of the year. So far in the 2016 season, we’ve had tennis in Usakame, a parkour-like sport called Stride in Prince of Stride: Alternative, teams called ‘Flying Circus’ in Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm, men’s volleyball given to us by the second season of Haikyuu!, baseball in the form of Diamond no Ace‘s second season, yoga and taichi-style exercises in the Anitore! EX OVA’s and long-running events as featured in Hikari: Kariya wo Tsunagu Monogatari and even the infamous childhood favourite ‘Bladers’ in Beyblade Burst. (Since when was Beyblade a sport?)  We’ve had quite the variety already, and yet you might think that me calling this ‘the sports anime of the year’ as being quite a bold statement, with more Haikyu! to come, as well as the rugby-themed All Out!! and the cycling-themed Long Riders! coming out next season, but I honestly don’t think they will be as good as what Cheer Danshi!! has been so far. Cheer Danshi!! follows the story of former judo club member, Haru, and his best friend, Kazu, in forming a men’s cheer-leading squad at their university. Not only is this idea breaking the ‘standard’ gender ideals, as the story continues into the second episode, you can also see the show trying to promote body positivism as well as it promoting the many differences everyone else, particularly in Toono and Wataru’s characters. All the characters are different and they’re not all just filling in the standard anime series tropes as many different sport anime have done in the past – it’s clearly been well written, well animated and well scripted. This is definitely one of my favourite summer 2016 shows so far. Rating so far: 9/10

So, that’s the first part of my first impressions of the anime coming out in summer 2016. In the next post, I’ll be giving my impressions of series such as Love Live! Sunshine!!, 91days and more, with even perhaps something that wasn’t mentioned in my previous post about the shows I’d be keeping an eye on this season.

But what about you? What are your first impressions of any of the anime coming out this season? Let me know!