Wednesday, June 15, 2016

T5W#44-Top 5 Summer Anime


 
As the heat gets more irritable, the memories of when I first got into Anime come back.  Not being able to watch much TV during the school year save for the weekends…don’t ask, Summer was the time to catch all the second runnings of all the shows that had premiered on Toonami (Gundam Wing) while waiting for new shows to debut (Tenchi Muyo).  Naturally, my list of favorite Anime have grown past my Toonami days.  So figured id put together a little list of shows that I feel perfectly fit the summer season.  These are the shows (and movie in one case) that I feel offer the best mix of sun, surf, action and fan service that could keep any Anime fan cool no matter how hot the summers can get.

 

#5-Full Metal Panic Fumofuu
Sad as it is to admit, summer courses are a thing.  Sometimes you have a class to make up, sometimes you want to get ahead of the coming year, or you’re in a school activities camp.  Whatever the case, if you feel a bit down about that, then Full Metal Panic Fumofuu can take away the summer blues with a mix of action, comedy and a soldier pretending to be a student and failing horribly.  A spin off from the Full Metal Panic Anime series, this series still has great action but does focus more on the high school comedy element (that works far better here than in Code Geass).  There’s even a plushy mascot and a trip to the beach where Sosuke Sagara Solid Snake’s his way into a complex for an (unnecessary) rescue mission.  You’ll forget for a minute that summer school is going on and learn to relax a little.

 

#4-Love Hina
We’ll get to this one in a couple of months but trust me when I say, Hot Springs are a great vacation get away destination…at least that’s what ive always heard and thought.  Would love to go to one myself.  I just hope one is also a magnet for beautiful women of all walks of life…even if some of them have a tendency to punch before they listen.  Poor Keitaro, surrounded by so much hotness only to suffer on a daily basis…some men get all the luck (in a manner of speaking)

 

#3-Black Lagoon
I don’t think I could make a list like this without recommending a good summer action blockbuster.  And Black Lagoon is pretty much every action film cliché rolled into one solid package of blood soaked awesomeness.  The island of Roanapur is home to the deadliest pirates, killers, gangsters and guns for hire on the planet.  One of them wears short shorts and packs twin guns ready for action at any time.  Another…may not realize he’s actually good at setting up those kinds of killings.  For further info, you can look back at my reviews of the first two seasons of Black Lagoon (Season One and Season Two: The Second Barrage) and look forward to my coverage of the third season: Roberta’s Blood Trail, later this year.  This series is one of my absolute favorites and I garuntee you it’s possible to just two back to back marathons of all seasons in a short span of time…binge worthy summer quality.

 

#2-Summer Wars
Well duh…I mean Summer is in the title right.  On the hottest of summer weekends, Kenji Koizo is brought out to meet the Jinouchi clan by his high school crush, Natsuki.  The family reunion gets more interesting when a computer virus goes rogue and points the world in the direction of nuclear war.  This is a film I have reviewed in the past and praised to no end.  The family dynamics are amazing, the action is stellar and the feel good atmosphere has very few rivals.  The end still brings a tear to my eye and is a perfect night in movie that the family could enjoy…be it actual blood relatives or friends you think of as more than that…family is family right?

 

#1-Free
Yeah couldn’t really make this list up and not place an Anime that takes place in the pool at the top spot.  Haru and the Iwatobi swim team face off against their childhood teammate, Rin and the Samezuka High School Swim team, all the while learning what their real drive is to swim.  Is it for best times?  Is it to defeat rivals?  Or is it to just be…free?  Whatever the reason, the swim scenes are paced and animated damn near perfectly and, as the series is well known for, has enough manly men fan service that have made females around the world pass out (there’s even a character who is so attracted to male muscles it's a little unsettling).  Swim fast, swim hard, swim free…or at least watch a couple episodes then run right to the pool, no doubt the day is hot enough as is if youre watching.

No comments:

Post a Comment