Man oh man, usually when I sit down to write these articles I dread the ever-impending doom of needing to cover the sea of seasonal anime I’ve checked out. God bless the summer though boys, because this season is absolute dogshit for the most part. Generic isekais, shitty romances, the gang’s all here. With that in mind let’s take our time saying hello to the few lucky anime that have been picked up this season.

Liar Liar

This anime has fucked up on multiple counts in its first three episodes. The premise of a novice guy going to a “game” island where he has to pretend to be an expert was kinda interesting, however this show quickly lost my attention as it tried to combine braindead ecchi elements and stereotypical girls with psychological, smart, logically sound games and rules that the MC and crew has to outplay. These tags worked against each other constantly, but you can read my full spiel on that elsewhere. Even if the ecchi elements were eliminated or toned down, it wouldn’t matter because the mind games here are ruined by randomly bringing up and utilizing “abilities” which are special powers each player can use to change the game. These range from small changes that give an advantage to ridiculously OP abilities that obliterate any chance for a battle of wits the series sets up. What’s worse, even if the abilities alone were balanced, our MC has now won multiple games by simply relying on the people in his corner to hack the enemy’s equipment. In short, this is an ecchi psychological anime where the ecchi isn’t even that lewd, and the psychological games are reduced to “thank god I won thanks to my crew or some OP ability”. Needless to say it’s been dropped after three episodes.

Rent A Girlfriend Season 3

Still only watching this with Kinky to make fun of it. It’s still trash. Don’t watch it.

Ai no Idenshi

So far this is absolutely my top new anime of the season. The story follows a series of side stories that revolve around our main story. Our hero is a renowned robotic doctor working in public as well as the black market in the near future. He can repair robots, recover lost data, tune AIs, etc. and thus encounters a variety of patients. We as the viewer see a lot more of the patients’ stories than he does, and the series wastes no time using these short stories to challenge us on questions regarding the potential dangers and uncertainties of upcoming technology. Will we be able to control the AI we create? Should children be restricted from technology early on in life if it’s becoming so powerful? How much should people be allowed to modify their bodies, and if they do modify them, how will this impact the landscape of sports and athleticism? These are just some of the questions posed by the short stories in the first three episodes, and they are enough to have my ass locked in for twelve episodes. The main story of our hero doctor revolves around him trying to track down an AI clone of his mother’s personality, but so far little progress has been made in exploring that idea. Which is fine by me when the short stories are of such high quality. If you enjoy putting your philosophical thinking cap on when it comes to tech, and aren’t afraid of a slower main plotline, this is definitely worth checking out.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season Two

LET’S FUCKING GO BABY, the sorcerers are back with… a backstory arc? At first I got a bit dejected knowing that the infamous Shibuya Arc will have to take the backseat for five episodes, however once I realized those episodes would be dedicated to Gojo and Getou, my tune immediately switched. So far these prequel episodes have not only been captivating from a writing perspective, but the animation and directing both seem to be in top form as well. MAPPA is putting their heart and soul into this one and as we learn more and more about the characters of this universe, I see why. If you enjoy shounen and you’ve been sleeping on this one, it’s time to wake up.

Horimiya: Piece

At first I couldn’t contain my excitement for this new installment of the landmark slice of life. That was until Kinky informed me that this would merely be a series of extra scenes not adapted from the manga for the first season. In other words, nothing that we see this entire season will have much impact or bearing on the story. The outcome is already the same, and most of the time here will probably be spent on memes. Regardless I decided to forge ahead given the lackluster anime count this season, and so far I’m still having a good time. It’s great to see this loveable cast goofing off and falling in love again. My only question is whether it will still be fun by episode ten, or if I’m going to start falling off after seeing no progression at all week after week. Watch with caution, this is for diehard fans of the series only.

Undead Murder Farce

This anime is in a prime position to become a favorite. The first episode is a character introduction festival and episodes two through four are a classic whodunit mystery. Let me give this show some damn praise. On top of the main characters being a fantastically balanced trio whose conversations are fun to listen to as they solve the mystery, the mystery itself was the most well-crafted case I’ve seen in ages in an anime. The logic is sound, the deductive reasoning is consistent, and most importantly the viewer can absolutely follow along and try to solve the mystery themselves before the answer is officially revealed by the detectives. And by god, I did solve the mystery myself… like 45 seconds before the murderer was outed. But hey I’ll take what I can get. Nvermind episode three when I would have legitimately arrested the wrong person. Anyway my final bit of gush here is that this story managed to involve supernatural elements in a mystery without making it feel like asspulls the entire time. Usually this is a horrific combo as introducing a supernatural creature means that the logic goes out the window as the creature is slowly revealed to have a vast array of powers that the audience could never predict. However, the creatures in this show are thoroughly explained as to what their capabilities are, and most of said capabilities are already things known to the common viewer (vampires drink blood, they are hard to kill, they are weak to stakes through the heart, etc.). At this point my only fear is that the upcoming episodes seem to take a new direction and it’s unclear whether we’re getting more mysteries or pivoting to more action-based content. I am praying for more quality mysteries. They are so hard to find and make this anime feel so unique amongst its competitors. The action scenes are certainly nice so far, but with Jujutsu Kaisen airing this season they’re basically a moot point. If we continue down the path of mystery, this will absolutely be a top watch for me this summer.

Mushoku Tensei Season Two

Listen, I did say this season had a lot of isekai garbage, but I of course was not talking about Mushoku Tensei. We’re already back to see the continuation of Rudeus’s adventure to find his friends and family, and we pick back up on a low point. Dejected after the failures and departures of last season’s finale, our boy is in hard times as he slowly attempts to add meaning back into his life. Some people complained about how fast he was able to overcome his depression, but as the story progresses we just found out that his smiles may not always be genuine so I don’t see that criticism as valid at the moment. Either way this is one of the more character driven and intriguing isekai adventures out there, so if you missed season one and that sounds up your alley it’s time to get catching up.

Dark Gathering

This is another weird mesh of genres: horror and comedy. I will say this dynamic has managed to make this stand out as possibly the most unique anime of the season, but I’m still deciding if that’s really a good or bad thing. We follow a trio of ghost hunters as our little main girl is attempting to collect a bunch of dark spirits into a gathering, and use said gathering to find and kill the spirit that haunted her parents and ultimately caused their deaths. It’s an interesting premise for sure. Some sloppy pacing decisions and a low budget keep me from singing this one’s praises though. I’d say if you’re looking for a change of pace it’s worth checking out, but I don’t think this will be for everyone. I plan to keep watching this one for now but I fear it may be dropped around the halfway point or so of this season.

Wow is it nice to be able to stay current with the latest anime I’m interested in without having to sacrifice multiple hours a week to the time gods. Glory to this calm in the storm that is this season. Hope you guys are enjoying some bangers too. What anime are you watching this season? Did you try anything out you had to end up dropping? Am I sleeping on some great shows? Throw down some ice, pour some lemonade in your cup, and say hello to Summer Anime 2023 in the comments below!