Summer Anime 2023: Sequels, Sequels, and More Sequels

Hoo boy, there’s a lot of sequels this time around! In this one season, we’ve got:

• Jujutsu Kaisen 2nd Season
• Mushoku Tensei II
• Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2
• Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 3 (yaaaaay…)
• The Eminence in Shadow Season 2
• Bungou Stray Dogs 5th Season
• The Devil is a Part-Timer Season 2 Part 2
• The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2
• Mononogatari 2nd Season

And one more that I want to talk about a bit more in detail because I’m bias.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

I’ve never felt so seen by a zombie show.

Zom 100 is nuts! It’s bright, it’s colorful, the animation is super impressive, it’s got big anime tiddies, and it’s so high energy you’d think the show was on speed! When it comes to flash and insanity, this has the potential to match the likes of ‘High School of the Dead’!

But it isn’t just mindless fun. It’s also a scathing satire of the Japanese workplace. The main character’s job is so shitty and depressing that he is excited for the zombie apocalypse! It reflects the odd sort of fantasy that zombie movie fans have watching the genre!

Yet it doesn’t shy away from the horror roots of said genre. There are some messed up scenes in here, man. It perfectly balances high-energy action and comedy with grim horror and drama.

Normally, I don’t really like zombie stories. But thus far, this one is amazing! I can’t wait to see where it goes next!

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces

We’re back, baby!

Horimiya is one of those special slice-of-life romcom stories that has it all. Great characters, cute romance, compelling drama, fun comedy, it’s the complete package! Except for one thing: it isn’t complete. Large swathes of the manga were cut from the first season for the sake of time.

Enter the second season. It aims to adapt those chapters that had to be cut from the original. It’s less of a continuation and more of an amendment. A little treat for the anime-only fans.

But this is a double-edged sword. On on ehand, it does a great job of making the story more complete. Yet at the same time, it makes the pacing – which was already an issue with this series – an even bigger nightmare! It jumps all around with little to no cohesion!

Is it still sweet? Like honey. Is it still fun? Absolutely! This show is in an interesting, if somewhat bizarre, position.

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan

This would be a lot more exciting if the author weren’t human scum in every single respect.

I gave the original Rurouni Kenshin a shot back in the early days of my weebdom. And I enjoyed it! For the first few episodes, at least. It didn’t hold my interest for all that long.

Granted, I was a lot younger and a lot dumber. Back then, all I wanted from anime was Dragon Ball Z. That being over-the-top action and exciting fight scenes. The idea of any anime that wasn’t a battle shounen flew right over my head.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll enjoy this version more than the original this time around. I do like the concept; a legendary samurai turned pacifist is super interesting!

Even if this one doesn’t do it for me, maybe it’ll inspire me to give the original a shot. We’ll see.

But let’s not forget that the author peddled child porn. Enjoy the show if you want to; there’s no shame in that! Just don’t forgive or forget simply because you like the thing he made.

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon

You… you can’t be serious. No, legit, this can’t be real. I can’t have just watched this! This is literally a ProZD skit! How is this real?!

I think isekai has finally just fully embraced how the genre has devolved. Ten years ago, it was something audiences took seriously. Now, it’s so overdone that it’s a joke the genre itself is in on! “Yeah, let’s make a show about a guy reborn as a vending machine, fuck it!”

Honestly? I kinda respect that.

Now, is this a good show? Nah, not really. It’s more like a fever dream or a drug trip that you experience without sleeping or taking drugs. But not, like, a mind-bending one that will make you rethink things once you come back into your right mind. More like one where you’re constantly muttering, “What the fuck?” to yourself before it deletes itself from your brain.

But look on the bright side! If this bizarre absurdity could get published, so could whatever you or I are creating!

Conclusion

There are plenty more shows that I didn’t get around to this season. Every single season these days have a ludicrous number of shows to get through, and humans only have so much time on this planet. If I missed anything worthwhile, please let me know!

But if anime had to have any problem, I’m glad it’s this one. Like IGN says, there’s a little something for everyone! Bat-shit insane comedies, cool action shows, romance, comedy, zombie survival, revitalized classics, this season has it all!

Which is kind of exhausting. I’m still trying to get over some of the shows we got last season!

Namely one. But we’ll get to that soon…ish.