Doctorkev’s Thoughts on the Summer 2022 Anime Season: Sequels and Ongoing Shows
It’s a little later into the season than I’d normally like to write this, but I’ve recently been distracted by anime movies and sci-fi gacha! A couple of weeks ago I wrote about this season’s new shows, and though the pickings were slim, there were some good things to watch. Now comes the turn of ongoing shows and sequels. This selection is much stronger!
Dr Stone Special Episode — RYUSUI — Crunchyroll
First up, a double-length OVA episode of everyone’s favourite smugly punchable stone age genius, scientist Senku in Dr Stone. Set after the end of season two’s “Stone Wars”, this interstitial installment sets things up for next year’s confirmed third season. It’s not a good starting point for those new to the show, and it’s not going to convert anyone who dislikes leek-haired Senku and his abrasive personality, however for those who count themselves as fans (I certainly do), then this OVA is a good time.
Senku plans to sail to the other side of the world to investigate the cause of the wordlwide catastrophe that turned every living human to stone. In order to succeed, he’ll need someone with high seas experience, a nautical and navigational leader. He uses the last of his “miracle fluid” to revive rich playboy and sailing expert Ryusui, whose first action upon awakening is to reinstate capitalism!
Filled with fun facts about sailing, aviation, and even the link between commerce and scientific advancement, it’s an entertaining and self-contained story with bonkers action and dangerous adventure that successfully whets the appetite for the upcoming third season. It’s far from a pro-capitalist screed by the way, Senku and his mentalist henchman Gen repeatedly manipulate Ryusui and his newly minted currency to get exactly what they want, while undermining its value constantly.
Overlord season 4 — episodes 1–8— CRUNCHYROLL (Tuesday)
I was previously very negative about Overlord season 3 for the same reason I disliked season 2 of Reincarnated as a Slime. Both shows feature overpowered former human isekai protagonists reborn into a new world in a monstrous body, who proceed to transgress the norms of acceptable morality and essentially commit war crimes, sacrificing the lives of anyone standing in their way. And we’re somehow supposed to root for them.
At least with Overlord, protagonist Ains Ooal Gown (formerly known as Momonga) accepts that he’s now an undead lich creature, and feels little attachment to humanity. He views them as pawns, and seems willing to slaughter hundreds of thousands in horrendous ways. Each of his underlings are “grotesques” who actively despise humanity and plan to rule the world. The story’s hook is that our main viewpoint characters are the bad guys.
Season 3 struggled because Ains himself barely appeared, and therefore the viewer had no insight into his thought processes. He indiscriminately slaughtered armies, tortured and killed sympathetic characters for a minor perceived slight, and instantly lost any of my goodwill. I didn’t initially plan to bother watching season 4.
In some ways, this season almost seems like a different show. We’re mostly back in Ains’ mind, we understand his thought processes, and it’s hard to reconcile this seemingly benevolent ruler of the Sorceror kindgom with last season’s despot. His actions do remain defiantly selfish, however. His singular goal is to make his nation the most powerful on the planet, and he seeks alliances and treaties wherever he goes, sometimes displaying overwhelming force, at other times stumbling into success.
Ains isn’t a perfectly scheming machiavellian genius — although he’s intelligent, he does make mistakes, and for fear of appearing ignorant to his suboordinates, he finds himself railroaded into awful decisions with world-shattering consequences. In the latest episodes it seems another nation is about to be ground into dust because Ains won’t admit his error — millions will die so he can save face.
This season is also structured oddly, as it is adapting books 10, 11 and 14. Book 11 had a very rushed adaptation, only three episodes, and with episode 8 we jump far forward, with immediate spoilers about the unadapted volumes 12 and 13. This is because together these books make up a single story that is being adapted into a forthcoming movie. Ideally, one would watch up to season 4 episode 7, watch the movie, and only then finish the season. Who knows when we’ll have the chance to do that, though.
Made in Abyss Season 2: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun— episodes 1–8 — HIDIVE (Wednesday)
In many ways this seems like a different show, at least compared to the first two thirds of season 1. Following the movie Dawn of the Deep Soul, main kid adventurer trio Riko, Reg and Nanachi descend to the Abyss’ sixth layer, the point of no return. They can never ascend the Abyss again, for then they will sacrifice their humanity, their bodies, and their minds. In this layer they find a dangerous ecosystem where every living thing seems bent on murdering them, a four-armed monstrous furry person who seems to know Reg, and a very weird city filled with the mishapen remnants of former humans who have become “hollows”.
As opposed to the first season’s sense of relentless progression, this second season is set entirely in one area, and is more of an inwards journey into personal darkness. The “people” of the city have been mutated by the effects of their desires, into creepy blobs with too many orifices, or things poking out of/into them. The city’s economy is based on a very disturbing system of “value”, where the most valuable commodity is the body of a human child… Eek.
Featuring monsters with veiny penis-shaped swords, blob people with saggy buttocks and circumcised penis-shaped arms, a restaurant that serves cooked testicles, and a toilet that cleans your arse with its tongues, it’s clear we aren’t in Kansas any more. I’ve already lost count of the times poop is either mentioned or featured. Everything looks so organic, so squishy, so… moist. I really wouldn’t blame most viewers if they turned off at this point, never to return.
Beyond the squick factor, however, remains an extremely compelling and fascinating story. Our main kids are surrounded by such corruption and depravity, but that stuff is never glamourised, never portrayed to be a “good” thing. Instead, our characters are glowing examples of loyal friendship and self-sacrifice, marked in contrast compared to the Abyss denizens and their twisted, selfish desires. I only hope they remain innocent and uncorrupted by their surroundings.
The most recent two episodes have been a darkly gripping flashback about the first cave-raiders from the surface to reach the sixth layer, a party of damaged people “rejected by their homeland”. It’s the most gruesome and sickening chapter yet, though still filled with delicate character moments, moral dilemmas, and of course abject despair. It’s not exactly a fun watch, but I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from this abyss. I just worry that it’s watching me back.
Summertime Rendering — episodes 1–19 of 25 — DISNEY+ JAIL (Wednesday)
It’s a war crime that this incredible show remains trapped in Disney Plus prison, with no hint whatsoever about a worldwide release. Disney has the rights, so no-one else will ever get them, not even for a blu-ray release, it seems Disney just doesn’t care. It suits them to grab popular Japanese and Korean shows to bulk up their streaming selection in Asia and Oceania, but perhaps they don’t see the financial benefit in streaming elsewhere. The thing is, there is an English sub — it’s being broadcast in Australia and New Zealand, but nowhere else. This makes no sense to me, unless Disney is waiting until the end of episode 25, and then drops the entire thing for binge-watching worldwide? It may be that we don’t receive any news until the show finishes its Aus/NZ stream (it’s something like 6–8 episodes behind Japan).
Anyway, I’m reluctant to go into much detail about Summertime Rendering as this is a show best watched unspoiled. It’s a relentless thriller set on a Japanese island with a rural/fishing community under threat from a disturbing supernatural phenomenon. Main character Junpei has an ability not dissimilar to Subaru from Re:Zero, but much more limited. Every episode ends with a brutal cliffhanger, no character is safe, the stakes keep getting higher, the situation more dire. It is almost painful waiting to watch each episode on a weekly basis, perhaps this is show best binged. It’s edging so close to #1 anime of 2022 for me.
Shadows House Second Season — episodes 1–7— CRUNCHYROLL (Thursday)
I was a big fan of the first season of this fascinating creepy/cute show where children are brainwashed into thinking they are “living dolls”, and then made subservient to deep black, featureless shadow people. As the first season received an anime-only conclusion, the unexpected second season has had to make some deft adjustments to realign the story with the excellent manga source material. I think overall they’ve done a pretty good job, mostly ignoring the events of the last few season one episodes, apart from some throwaway comments. Some of the story’s major reveals were spoiled by the end of the first season, which was a shame, but season two remains high quality.
Rebellious shadow Kate continues her plan to dig deeper into Shadow’s House’s secrets, and she’s learning how to make allies of her eccentric shadow colleagues. Season two introduces a dizzying number of new shadow characters, plus their corresponding “living dolls”, that it’s sometimes a little difficult to remember who everyone is. It’s a fairly slow-burn story so far, and I don’t expect Kate will uncover every secret — after all, there’s enough manga material for at least another season following this, and the manga’s ongoing. I hope this is successful enough that Cloverworks can continue producing it, so we can avoid another Promised Neverland-level disaster.
The Devil is a Part-timer Season 2 — episode 1–7— CRUNCHYROLL (Thursday)
There’s been a very long wait for the second season of this fantasy comedy/slice of life show, but as I only got around to watching the first season (originally aired in 2013) a few weeks ago, I avoided that prolonged period of longing and anticipation! Demon Lord Satan of the parallel world Enta Isla (he doesn’t seem directly analagous to Satan from the Bible, perhaps it’s meant to be an inherited title?) finds himself transported to our world along with a couple of other demons, and discovers he’s been depowered.
Forced to live undercover as a human being, he rents a tiny, cramped apartment and finds a job as assistant supervisor at the not-at-all-suspiciously-named “MgRonalds” burger chain restaurant. Random allies and enemies from Enta Isla keep popping up though portals etc to cause trouble, not least the “hero” Emilia who is half-angel. Satan (now known as Sadao Maou) and Emilia (now known as Emi) agree an uneasy truce, as conspiracies from their former world, and from Heaven, threaten to affect our world.
So goes a mostly light-hearted show about people at the bottom of the food chain, struggling for money, barely scraping by. It’s very relatable, and very funny. This second season doesn’t look quite as good as the first, the action sequences are a lot less flashy, and the character designs seem rougher somehow. Regardless, it’s still a good time, and we’re gradually learning more of Maou and Emi’s backstory, plus the’ve also been landed with a mystical toddler who calls them “mama” and “papa”, so that’s pretty amusing too. I don’t think this will ever top my “best of year” list, but it’s enjoyable fluff that I look forwards to watching each week.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Danmachi) Season 4 — episodes 0–5 — HIDIVE (Friday)
This show seems to get better as it goes. We’re well past the point where all anyone knew about it was “boob string girl”. Apart from the first episode prologue, from episode two onwards it’s been intense dungeon exploration, high stakes and stirring battle sequences, something Danmachi has always done well.
Main character Bell Cranel is so earnest and hardworking that he’s easy to root for, and it’s always cathartic when he finally succeeds after struggling with a problem. With the fairly contained setting, we’re also focused on a relatively small group of characters. With previous seasons I really struggled to remember who everyone was, that’s not been so much of an issue this time. Also they introduced a super-cute mermaid girl, so that’s a bonus.
Apparently this season will have 22 episodes, which is a meatier-than-usual Danmachi serving. Hopefully that means the storyline remains similarly epic. Danmachi is a highlight of my week.
Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2 — episodes 1–8 — CRUNCHYROLL (Friday)
From one of the best shows of the season to one of the worst. The only reason I’m still watching this is because it’s like watching a car crash and a dumpster fire at the same time. Or it’s the sunk cost fallacy, and I’m desperate for something to actually happen, for the plot to somehow progress, for main character Kazuya to quit being such a dishonest, pathetic wastrel of a man. This isn’t a romantic comedy. It’s barely even romantic, and it isn’t funny. This is the death spiral of an empty man who peaked in high school and whose future can only be disaappointment, loneliness and death.
Main girl Chizuru needs to tell him to fuck off out of her life. There has been no progression in their “relationship”, Kazuya is a borderline stalker creep, and she’d be 100% better off without him. Bunny boiler Ruka needs to get a life, find a boy her own age who doesn’t mistreat her, and she also needs to learn about personal boundaries because she never met one she couldn’t stumble across obnoxiously.
Ex-girlfriend Mami is a random agent of inexplicable chaos… that hasn’f caused any chaos and has no discernible motivation. And finally, shy girl Sumi… barely exists. What is the point of this show? I don’t know. I’m not sure I have the patience to keep watching it until it finds one. I maintain, as I have previously, that the best outcome would be for Kazuya to die of diarrhoea or something, and for the main female cast to hook up with each other instead.
A Couple of Cuckoos — episodes 1–17 of 24 — CRUNCHYROLL (Saturday)
Finally, this is another romantic comedy that doesn’t feel quite as offensively pointless as Rent-a-Girlfriend, yet also spins its wheels without any significant progression in plot or character relationships. It’s becoming hard to care, and any hint of an underlying mystery, as teased before, has been mostly significant by its absence. Is there likely to be any plot resolution by the end of episode 24, or will this ultimately be a waste of everyone’s time?
It’s not like there’s even any drama of note. Everyone in the central love quadrangle, or whatever, is so damned nice to each other that the whole show feels terminally low-stakes. I don’t care which character the main boy ends up with, he’s as dull as ditch-water. Again, the show could almost function if he wasn’t there. Send him off to study abroad or something, and the remaining two previously-separated sisters can bond together while the elder one hooks up with the purple-haired girl. It seems that in generic anime romances, the only way to liven them up is to ditch the agressively dull male self-insert characters and add incongruous lesbianism.
Upcoming:
Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure — 25th AUGUST — NETFLIX
There are more sequels yet to come this season, but the one I’m most looking forwards to is Rilakkuma, the delightful stop-motion show featuring a woman who lives with a big furry bear, a small furry bear, and a funny little bird. The first season was wonderful. The sequel’s just been released, so I’ll definitely watch it soon.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Part 2 — 1st SEPTEMBER — NETFLIX
Netflix have comepletely failed to adequately market the latest incarnation of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. I’d be willing to bet a bunch of Jojo’s fans didn’t even realise the first part of this came out a few months ago, let alone that the second part is due out within a week. I’ll definitely keep watching, I’ll always need more of that Joj’s insanity in my life.
Yojouhan Time Machine Blues —14th SEPTEMBER — DISNEY+ JAIL
Will we even get this in the West, the 6-episode sequel to The Tatami Galaxy? Disney have devoured the rights, so who the hell knows? Will we be forced to sail the high seas, or timidly accept that some things were never meant for the likes of us? Screw that. Apparently it’s also getting a cinema release in Japan, so maybe someone else can licence the theatrical rights for the West?
Anyway, thanks for reading to the end. I’ll be back at the end of the season to report on all the shows I’ve finished watching. Hopefully I’ve helped you to find something good to watch!
