First Look: Sakugan

Mankind lives in disparate colonies deep underground. Outside the colonies, a dangerous uncharted land known as The Labyrinth is constantly being explored and colonized by mankind’s mech mounted exploration team, the Markers. Memempu is a child prodigy who dreams of one day becoming a Marker. Her father Gagumber is strictly opposed to this on account of her young age and the dangers of the occupation. After a giant creature destroys their hometown, the two set out on a journey into the Labyrinth. 

First Look: Komi Can’t Communicate

Shouko Komi is the most popular girl in school, adored by many as a cool, aloof beauty who won’t deign to talk to mere mortals. This perception couldn’t be further from the truth, however, as resident good boy Hitohito Tadano realizes that Komi is merely suffering from extreme social anxiety. In spite of this “communicative disorder”, he promises to help her make one hundred friends, but the rest of the school doesn’t exactly appreciate a milquetoast everyman like Tadano cosying up to their queen bee…

First Look: Build Divide: Code Black

By playing and winning games of Build Divide, you can earn key chips. If you collect twenty-one of those, you get a shot at being able to play against the King, where victory means a wish of yours will be granted. It’s an anime adaptation of a trading card game.

First Look: Taisho Otome Fairy Tale

Alternative title(s): Taishou Otome Otogibanashi Manga Adaptation by SynergySP Streaming on Funimation Premise Exiled to a rural villa when he’s ‘crippled’ in an accident that also kills his mother, Tamahiko Shima has resigned himself to living out the rest of his life useless and alone, out of sight of his very wealthy yet incredibly distant…

First Look: Blue Period

Manga Adaptation by Seven Arcs Streaming on Netflix Premise Yatora Yaguchi is in his second year of high school and bored with a life spent studying and hanging out with his ‘bad boy’ friends. However, upon seeing a painting by a member of the art club and trying to express himself with the medium, he…

First Look: takt op. Destiny

In the 2040s, music is lost to humanity because it inevitably lures dangerous alien creatures called “D2”. The only thing capable of defeating them are super-powered young women with the power of music – “Musicarts” – and their magically bound handlers – “Conductors”. The Conductor Takt and his Musicart Destiny (who holds the power of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony) travel across the United States, righting wrongs and playing songs on their way to New York.

First Look: Muv-Luv Alternative

Aliens known as BETA have invaded Earth and slowly spread across the planet, destroying all life in their path. Humans have developed mecha called Tactical Surface Fighters (TSF) to combat the threat, but this has only slowed their advance. As the alien wave moves into northern Japan, TSF pilot Sayoko Komaki witnesses the horror of the BETA first hand, powerless to stop them.

First Look: Digimon: Ghost Game

In the near future, holographic technology has become omnipresent and part of everyday life. With that has come a new urban legend about ‘hologram ghosts’. At Hazakura Junior High School, students are being attacked by a mysterious ‘sewn-lip man’ and it’s up to first-year  student Hiro Amanokawa to get to the bottom of things.

First Look: Kyoukai Senki

In the year 2061, Japan has been divided into four protectorate territories managed and controlled by foreign nations in the name of preserving and aiding in Japan’s protection. In reality, the Japanese people are oppressed by the occupying forces and their remote piloted mecha drones, known as AMAIMs. Amou Shiba, a local scavenger and tinkerer, discovers an abandoned AI asking for his help. Together they pilot Kenbu, a robot Amou has been putting together in his spare time, and begin their fight to take back Japan.

First Look: Muteking: The Dancing Hero

Muteki arrives at the busting Neo San Francisco with plans to stay with his grandma. While out exploring the city he meets DJ aka DJ, a man with a boombox and little care for personal space. When an evil force turns a crowd of festival-goers into a puddle of ink, he uses his boombox to transform Muteki into Muteking, the Dancing Hero!

First Look: Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut

The World War is over, and the UZSR and the UK are in the midst of a space race. After successfully sending a dog into space, the time for human missions is quickly approaching. However, still unsure if it’s safe for humans to venture into space, the UZSR look to send the next closest thing; a vampire.

First Look: The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window

Kosuke Mikado is a bookstore clerk with the ability to see ghosts, which is unfortunate, because they terrify him. When he’s approached by Rihito Hiyakawa, an exorcist who works to help crack mysteries or quiet the undead on behalf of both individual clients and the police, the two end up becoming a pair (presumably in more ways than one), combining their powers to solve unconventional and often gruesome cases.

The Wrap-Up: Summer 2021

In The Wrap-Up, all of our contributors get to shine a spotlight on the show they thought to be the very best of the past few weeks, as well as reflect back on the preview to see which shows let us down the most. When you watch currently airing anime or tokusatsu, eventually the question will rise which of these shows can rank amongst the medium’s true classics. Regardless of who covered what, this is where we single out the cream of the crop, and decide which shows from the past season deserve to stand the test of time.