(Welcome to I Didn’t Know What Seasonal Anime to Watch, So I Asked /Film for Help and They Gave Me a List, a regular column dedicated to helping our readers choose what anime shows to watch each season.)
The year is starting to wind down, and as the leaves turn a different color, we have the end of another anime season and the arrival of our usual list of recommendations for those who don’t want to sort through dozens of shows to find the best ones. Though light on highly anticipated blockbuster productions like the spring season or the upcoming fall season (typically where the biggest shows of the year see their release), the summer still gave us some gems that show the versatility of the anime medium.
We had anime shows based on big superhero properties, one of the most popular shows currently airing releasing one of its best seasons, adaptations of video games, a historical comedy tailor-made for fans of “Shogun,” and more.
As summer turns into fall, and as a new season of anime brings dozens of new shows, let’s revisit the best that the summer 2024 anime season had to offer.
My Hero Academia: Season 7
Last season, “My Hero Academia” became a must-watch anime once again, and it hasn’t slowed down since then. Season 7 of the popular anime based on Kōhei Horikoshi’s manga of the same name — which takes place in a world of superpowered people and focuses on a class of students at a high school for heroes — is all about the final fight against All For One, the supervillain that once terrorized Japan and now wants to break the world.
Season 7 tests every character we’ve met across the entire run of “My Hero Academia” to date, giving us a resolution to the Todoroki and Dabi storyline that was as emotionally damaging as it was beautifully animated, along with one of the greatest moments of the show in Bakugo’s heroic sacrifice. “My Hero Academia” has always been about what it means to be a hero and showing different aspects of heroism, and season 7 brings that idea to a boil. Sure, it has big action sequences — some of the best in the entire series — but it also has smaller moments that give us a glimpse of the larger world of the show, including the return of Gentle Criminal and Lady Nagant after being inspired by Midoriya to become heroes again. There are even scenes showing the response from the U.S. and other countries to the All For One crisis, making the anime’s world feel larger and more lived-in.
“My Hero Academia” is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction
One day, an ominous alien mothership arrived in the skies of Tokyo and the Americans dropped a bomb on it that killed a bunch of civilians while doing nothing to the spaceship. Three years later, nothing and everything has changed. Everyday life has resumed and everyone is merely used to having a giant UFO in the sky. Such is the backdrop for “Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction,” an anime that centers on Kadode, a girl who’s about to graduate high school and struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life once that happens. What follows is a phenomenal story about how quickly humans can adjust to anything and turn it into a normal part of their day-to-day lives. It’s an idea that’s grown all the more poignant in the years since we just accepted a pandemic that killed millions in the real world and moved on without it actually coming to an end.
“Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction” is a unique coming-of-age tale, a hilariously absurd slice-of-life anime about growing up in a world of uncertainty and conflict. Kadode and her friends just want to figure out what to do next week; meanwhile, the adults around them are either advocating for a war against the aliens or to try and negotiate with them preacefully — even though the aliens have, quite literally, not done a single thing since arriving years ago. It’s very much an anime that speaks about today, all the while boasting stunning visuals and one hell of an opening theme song.
“Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction” is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Suicide Squad Isekai
We’ve had anime shows based on DC and Marvel Comics characters before, from “Batman Ninja” to the “Marvel Anime” anthology, and their quality doesn’t have a great track record. Thankfully, “Suicide Squad Isekai” breaks the curse and delivers an action-filled romp that is not only an effective superhero TV show, but also a great gateway into the popular fantasy isekai genre. The story is simple: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Clayface, Peacemaker, and King Shark go on a mission to an alternate fantasy world and must fight mages, orcs, and dragons to get back home.
What makes this anime so good is the way it seamlessly combines the tropes of a superhero story with the tropes and aesthetics of the isekai genre. Seeing King Shark fight a kraken creature or Harley Quinn ride a dragon to fight an undead demon lord just feels right, and results in many a hilariously ridiculous moment, including magical girl transformations for the entire squad. Shows like these are the antithesis of uniform, cohesive cinematic universes because they allow for the kind of experimentation and creativity you don’t get when every aspect of your shared universe has to look the same.
“Suicide Squad Isekai” is streaming on Max.
The Elusive Samurai
What happens when you take the historical drama and penchant for thrilling and gory violence of “Shogun” and the hilarious and absurd shenanigans of “The Apothecary Diaries” and then mix them together? You get “The Elusive Samurai,” CloverWorks’ latest anime, based on the manga of the same name by “Assassination Classroom” creator Yusei Matsui.
Set in 14th-century Japan after the Hojo clan was massacred at the end of the Kamakura shogunate, the show follows Hojo Tokiyuki, heir to the clan and its last survivor. Though Tokiyuki is no fighter, he has to gain a following and reclaim his family’s lost glory. “The Elusive Samurai” gives the historical drama genre a shonen-style twist, with lighthearted moments, a coming-of-age structure, and themes of hard work, friendship, and surpassing oneself. This blend of tones is both the anime’s biggest asset and the biggest hurdle it has to surpass. After all, the show’s setting is a brutal, cruel world filled with shocking deaths — including literal children being beheaded on-screen like it’s “Game of Thrones” — but rather than a grim tone, the anime often chooses not to take itself too seriously, showing visual gags that nearly break the fourth wall (like bringing in Goku and referencing the Spirit Bomb).
“The Elusive Samurai” is streaming on Crunchyroll.
NieR:Automata Ver1.1a Part 2
The second part of “NieR:Automata Ver1.1a” takes what made the first part so great (and the original video game with it) and brings its story to new levels of despair, serving up plenty of action-filled thrills and exquisite animation along the way. Based on the Square Enix title of the same name, this A-1 Pictures adaptation (which counts the game’s director, Yoko Taro, as part of the writing team), the anime centers on combat android 2B and scanner android 9S, two androids forced to fight a proxy war between human-crafted androids and alien-made machines.
More than just a retelling of the game and a good introduction to the video game franchise for those unfamiliar with it, the “NieR:Automata Ver1.1a” anime is an excellent sci-fi drama that features plenty of robot-on-robot violence while exploring hope and nihilism in poignant ways. The second part of the series is a real descent into psychological bedlam, with 2B being pushed further and further down a destructive path through the many atrocities and violent acts it commits. Even then, the show shines when contrasting this darkness with the fleeting hope that helps push these androids forward.
We’ve seen plenty of great video game adaptations in recent years, and “NieR:Automata Ver1.1a” is a worthy addition to the pantheon. It’s an anime that recreates and then remixes and expands upon its source material to become something familiar and new.
“NieR:Automata Ver1.1a Part 2” is streaming on Crunchyroll.
