Like most students, I spent my summer break trying not to think about school, and to do that I watched a ton of anime. There are so many options when it comes to anime, and you can find something you might like with relative ease. From romance, to fantasy, to slightly darker and more gory topics, my list of anime recommendations based on what I watched over the last summer checks all the boxes. I’ve compiled five out of the many anime that I have watched over the last four months, and I’ve included the age ratings and my personal ratings out of five stars. You can find these on CrunchyRoll or Netflix if you decide to watch them after reading this! TWithout further ado, here are some of the animes off my summer watch list.
SK8 THE INFINITY – 4 stars, age rating: TV-14
This sports based anime follows two teenage boys, Langa and Reki, on their skateboarding journeys around their hometown. With only one season composed of 12 episodes, this anime is a fairly easy watch, and it was very intriguing. Throughout the show, the main characters gain a small group of skater friends, who all compete in the same top-secret downhill skateboarding race called “S”. The show also follows Langa’s task to learn to skateboard alongside Reki along with his reintegration back into the town the show takes place in. By the end of the show you will have fallen in love with every single one of the characters, and like the rest of us, you’ll surely be wishing for a second season.
SOMALI AND THE FOREST SPIRIT – 4.5 stars, age rating: TV-14
When I tell you this anime made me cry my eyes out, I mean it. The story follows a human girl, Somali, alongside the forest guardian, Golem, on their journey of a lifetime. The show takes place on a planet which is run by many different inhuman beings, as they have a strong hatred for human behings. Due to this hatred of humans, Somali must hide in plain sight disguised as a young minotaur. This by far was one of the cutest anime I have seen in years, and I recommend it to a lot of people due to how much I loved the show. Just like SK8 The Infinity, this anime is also a single season consisting of twelve episodes, making it the perfect quick binge show.
DEVILMAN CRYBABY – 5 stars, age rating: R
Moving on to a slightly dark, violent, sexual, and gory reccomendation. Devilman Crybaby is in my top five list of anime I’ve ever seen. With one season consisting of only ten episodes, the show covers a lot in such a short amount of time. Two of the main characters, Ryo and Akira, are childhood friends, and when Ryo gets the urge to start looking deeper into the demons that inhabit the Earth inside of humans, things take a turn for the worst. When Ryo drags Akira to a decadent party full of weird drugs and even weirder people, he gets to see the demons that are wreaking havoc on Earth for himself, but things don’t quite go the way he hopes. The plot twist at the end of the last episode had me sitting in absolute shock, and I could not get over it for days, but the ending was still amazing.
THE DEVIL IS A PART-TIMER – 3 stars, age rating: PG
The Devil is a Part-Timer follows the devil, who finds himself in modern day Tokyo, and to stay afloat in the city he takes on the job of a burger flipper at a fast food joint. With two seasons consisting of thirteen and seven episodes respectively, this fantasy-comedy anime keeps us up to date with the goings on in the devil’s new modern life. This show was a super cute and easy watch, and I enjoyed every episode. The premise of the show is amazing and such a fun idea, and the art style really ties the whole show together even more. It takes you through the weird new life of the devil, who used to run the underworld, and who now works a part time job in a totally different land.
KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR – 3.5 stars, age rating: PG-13
As the first (and only) slice-of-life romance recommendation on this list, the show follows Kaguya and Miyuki, who are the two leaders of the student council and have supposedly fallen in love. As always, someone in the relationship has to be too stubborn to admit it, and in this case neither of them will admit that they’ve fallen in love, even after half a year. While you are probably thinking, ‘wow, how does this get worse for them,’ it does just that! These two love-birds are now stuck in a one-on-one war to see who can admit their love first. This show was absolutely adorable, and with one season of twelve episodes it was a quick and easy watch. Definitely a good show if you love stubborn romance and rom-coms.
While there’s obviously tons and TONS of anime out there, I needed to keep my recommendation list fairly short for simplicity’s sake. I definitely suggest doing some research of your own if you are interested in starting to watch anime to find a show you like, but I hope my list gives you some ideas in the meantime!