July 26, 2014 by

As many of you anime lovers already know, the summer season is upon us.  We're maybe four weeks in, but for an anime, four episodes is enough to form an early opinion.  Not including Sword Art Online II (which is a continuation) and Sailor Moon: Crystal (which is a remake), here are five original anime that you should be watching.  So, read and then watch!

Akame ga Kill!


Premise:  A young swordsman named Tatsumi travels to the Capitol with his friends to make money for their village.  They get separated along the way, leaving Tatsumi by himself and in the employ of an affluent family.  This puts him on a collision course with the assassin super group known as "Night Raid".  However, Night Raid isn't who they appear to be at first and change Tatsumi's perception of the world by opening his eyes to the atrocities being committed by the city's aristocracy.

Early Thoughts: Akame ga Kill! is a combination of violent kills and standard anime humor.  You have your typical character archetypes, but they all interact well with each other.  The tone regularly shifts from funny to disturbing, and that alone could drive some crazy.  But the action is exciting, the kills are suitably graphic, and Tatsumi is affable as the protagonist, being a combination of Eren Yeager and Kazuto Kirigaya.  Night Raid on the whole may seem overpowered at first, but an early episode shows they aren't perfect.   They're a classic example of bait-and-switch alignment, though the fact they're cold-blooded assassins who'd kill anyone on the flip of a switch could have some interesting ramifications in the later episodes.   I've never read the manga, so I can't properly assess their adaption;  all I can say is that it's been a fun first few episodes.

Tokyo ESP


Premise: Glowing fish are inexplicably swimming through the air and an equally mystifying flying penguin is chasing them.  That's what catches the eye of Rinka, a -- wait for it -- high school girl moments before one of them swims through her, giving her the ability to phase through solid objects.  Likewise, a schoolmate of hers, Kyoutarou, gains the ability to teleport.  He an idealistic dreamer who believes in miracles, and considers their newly-found powers a gift to be used in the service of others.  However, Rinka and Kyoutarou aren't the only ones to encounter the school of fish and get powers.  Unlike the two of them, their fellow "espers" abuse their powers to commit crimes and intimidate people.

Early Thoughts: Tokyo ESP is from the original creator of Ga-Rei: Zero, and like Zero, ESP has a first episode starts in media res, and a second episode that begins to explain the events that lead up to that point.  It also starts with a bit of fan service in the form of a cameo from the two main characters of Zero.  There are several anime that deal with super-powered beings called Espers, so ESP wins no points for originality.  But it's in essence a battle between good and evil.  The question is poses is what would you do if you all of a sudden gained super abilities?  Would  you use them for the greater good, or use them to create all sorts of havoc?  Early on, you see Rinka and Kyoutarou come together to form the early stages of a group of good espers to combat the bad espers, who assemble in a similar way.  However, how or why  the aerial glowing fish are bestowing abilities upon people hasn't even began to be broached.  Regardless, as of now, ESP is doing a great job of showing Rinka's development from an unsuspecting high school girl to a champion of justice.  Visually, fight scenes are easy to follow, powers are organically conveyed, and while there are some dubious character designs, it pretty much looks like a superior version of Zero.

Aldnoah Zero


Premise: Centuries ago, humans colonized Mars, then In 1972, astronauts on Earth discovered a way to reach Mars via a hypergate on the moon.  Unfortunately, their encounter with the humans on Mars (effectively known as "Martians") is anything but peaceful, and a war breaks out between the two civilizations.  Later, an armistice reached, but attempts to thwart a goodwill mission by a Martian princess reignites the flames of war.

Early Thoughts: If you've seen one mecha anime, you've seen them all, right?  Not quite, most of the good ones have something new to offer on top of their standard mecha offerings, and Aldnoah is no different.  The concept of humans splintering off to Mars, yet considering themselves an entirely different race from their relatives on Earth, is intriguing.  However, the Martians are basically just a retread of the Britannia Empire from Code Geass.  In fact, Aldnoah takes a lot from Code Geass, which -- if you've seen Code Geass -- isn't necessarily a bad thing.  You have a lot of interesting characters: Asseylum ,a possible action-girl-princess; Rayet, a Martian now seeking revenge against her own kind for the death of father; Slaine, a captured human in servitude of the Martians; and Inaho, the quiet and ever-observant main protagonist.  I can see little bits of Lelouch in Inaho, mainly in the way he uses strategy to overcome his technologically superior foes.  The character designs are an offshoot of your average anime character design, but are unique enough to stand on their own.  If you enjoyed Knights of Sidonia, Aldnoah Zero is another 12-episode mecha-themed anime that you might find worthwhile.

Zankyou no Terror


Premise: Nine and Twelve (code names) are  two everyday high school students, or so they would have you believe.  They're actually a couple of terrorists, who play a cat & mouse game with the Tokyo PD.  They strategically place bombs in major buildings, make Youtube videos taunting the police with riddles rooted in Greek mythology, and detonate bombs with impunity.  During one mission, Twelve runs into an introverted high schooler he met earlier named Lisa.  Having been spotted by someone who could accurately identify him, Twelve gives Lisa an ultimatum: die where you stand, or become an accomplice.  He then hands her a bomb fashioned as a stuff animal, and flees the scene.  What will Lisa choose, and what exactly is Nine and Twelve's endgame?

Early Thoughts:  Zankyou no Terror starts off following two questionable characters who aren't even attempting to be heroes.  They leave little to no doubt about who they are -- they are terrorists.  Terrorists with motivation beyond terrorizing?  Maybe, but that doesn't excuse what they're doing.  Even if they took every precaution to ensure buildings were empty before detonating,  you'd have to figure they'd be some casualties.  And it doesn't help that Twelve, with his child-like appearance (but menacing smile), is quick to threaten Lisa with death should she make the slightest misstep.  Are we supposed to root for these guys?  Until their motivations and back stories are illuminated, I think we're just supposed to uncomfortably go along with them.  Right now, the only character you can identify with is Lisa, not the two brothers.  Lisa's life has been nothing but a string of bad experiences leading to her  becoming an "accomplice" to this terrorist group.  You can see the fear and uncertainly that haunts her in regards to her predicament, which makes her the lone sympathetic character.  But, Nine and Twelve are fascinating in and of themselves.  They seem to revel in their terrorist activities, especially now that Shibasaki (a disgraced detective) has emerged as their most capable foil.  I get a Pyscho-Pass vibe with the dynamic between Shibaski and the brothers.  Except, unlike Makishima (Psycho-Pass' main antagonist), the degree of the brothers' villainy has yet to be determined.

Tokyo Ghoul


Premise: Enter the world of the ghouls - beings that appear to be human, but differ from them physiologically.  They have black eyes with red and black pupils, sprout tentacles from their back as a defense mechanism, and other than coffee, the only thing they can consume is human flesh.  College student Kaneki unwittingly becomes prey for a special type of ghoul called a "binge eater."  By chance, his life is saved, but possibly at the cost of his humanity.  Now, he must cautiously navigate the world of the ghouls, avoiding fellow ghouls, hostile humans, and Jason (!!!), all while balancing his cravings against his morality.

Early Thoughts:  There's a category of ghoul named after Jason freaking Voorhees.  And it even looks like him, mask and everything.  Yeah, Tokyo Ghoul is easily my favorite anime of the summer.  I've already talked about the psychological aspect in my review of the first episode.  While Kaneki still struggles to maintain his humanity (most notable in episode two), the episodes do more to explain the world of the ghouls.  Specifically, how ghouls are able to eat human food in public, hide their identity from the ghoul-hunting authorities, and maintain peaceful areas within their community.  Furthermore, we get more information on Rize, and are introduced to Tsukiyama - the leader of a society of fine-dining ghouls.  It's frightening and hilarious how orgasmic he gets when he smells the delectable scent of something rare.  I should also mention that Tokyo Ghoul has one of the best openers in recent memory.  It's vibrant, symbolic, and contains an extremely catch tune.  For me personally, Tokyo Ghoul is not only the best anime to premiere this season, but also the best to premiere in 2014 thus far.  To be fair, its' a determination made as far as four episodes would allow, yet I fervently stand by it.

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