With the release of Attack on Titan's third season getting ready to make its world premier, Crunchyroll is strutting its stuff just a little bit these days, having pretty effectively harnessed the anime marketplace for desktop streaming. But don’t mistake that swagger for complacency, as Crunchyroll gets ready to roll out their full arsenal for the summer and fall—spearheaded, of course, by the breakout American sensation Attack on Titan, which will continue to air episodes immediately after they air in Japan.
Let’s start with the earliest releases for their summer 2018 lineups, aside from their tent-pole Attack on Titan which I’m pretty sure most of you know the deal about by now. At Anime Expo 2018, Adam Sheen (Director of Events) and Victoria Holden (Social Media Influencer) both came ready to announce some big and highly anticipated new shows and new seasons of old favorites. My Hero Academia is also slated for a return, capitalizing on its recent success. Gin Tama is coming back for a fourth season, Monster Strike and The Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls and Encouragement of Climb embarking on their third seasons.
The big, exclusive announcements were reserved, however, for new shows like Music Girls, Holmes of Kyoto and Angels of Death—all of which look like they have solid potential.
Cells At Work looks like an Anime action/comedy remake of Osmosis Jones, wherein the individual cells and processes of the human body are personified by broad characters and personality-types that correspond (or in some cases contradict) their function within the body. The Crunchyroll execs were quick to point out that this might be the first anime title they have featured specifically about you (indicating the audience), which may be true. Regardless of its originality or its ability to make the viewer believe that they are watching the story of themselves, Cells At Work does look very visually pleasing and at least from the teasers, seems to have some pithy comedy beats.
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord seems like it might be a bit of a misnomer, since it seems like summoning a demon lord is exactly what the whole show is about—but it’s hard to argue with breathtaking artwork and Japanese demons. The formula has been proven, time and again. Not to mention that from the clip it looks like this show will feature some tasty looking waifus.
Dies Irae a sleeper hit that apparently nobody knows about (gauging by the room at AX), but looks absolutely gorgeous. Breathtaking artwork, chess metaphors, insane power attacks, fucked up family relationships and Hitler youth arm bands? I’m curious enough to watch.
There was so much more, but if you can excuse my bootleg movie recording style and the backs of strangers’ heads, you can watch the panel in its entirety. Please don’t bitch at me about the quality, I’m working with the materials available to me. The official livestream should come out on YouTube at some point… eventually? Or you could endure my exclusive and watch it below.
