Midterm Review of Summer 2022 Anime by Anime Writers [Anime Column].

A review of the hottest new anime starting in the summer of 2022. Shine Post," a media mix project by Konami and Straight Edge, "Extreme Hearts," an original sports anime, "Isekai Ojisan," a comedy based on a popular manga, and "Shoot! Shoot!" based on the original idea of the hit soccer manga "Shoot! Goal to the Future," and the original comedy "Topeki !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!," based on the manga serialized in "Monthly Bushiroad. The following five works will be introduced.

Shine Post

Shining is absolutely right in anime. In a battle story, a hero who shines brightly during a battle wins a victory as if his previous inferiority is a lie, and in a romance story, many people are attracted to a heroine who appears to shine brighter than others. In the case of idol anime, where the heroine stands in the spotlight on stage, the righteousness of shining is unshakable. That is why idol anime titles are often named with words related to light, such as "Shine," "Sunshine," and "Kiratto.
However, in this work, although the title is "Shine Post" = "Shining Signpost," shining is represented as a negative thing. Naoki Hinou, the manager invited to save the cliff-hanging idol unit "TiNgS," has the special ability to make people who tell lies appear to shine. He decided to become the manager of TiNgS because one of the members told him that his dream of "becoming a shine post" was not a lie, in other words, he did not shine. And the other members, by his reaching out to them, are able to work without lying about their true intentions. Despite the fact that the first words of this work were "Come on, shine," it even seems as if it is the manager's job to extinguish the shine. What path will the story of brilliance take in the future?

Extreme Hearts

Original anime about girls who compete in "Extreme Hearts," a hyper-sports competition for music celebrities. The "Extreme Hearts" competitions include futsal (the first game), basketball, baseball, handball, badminton, and even flag football, with each game being a different type of complex. Naturally, high school singer Youkazu Hayama, who entered the competition alone, was short on members, but he was compensated by four player robots (P-robots), which are humanoid robots.
Each P-robot has a different hair style and eye color, and they are more than mere mobs, accompanying the singer during late-night training sessions, taking a break to recharge their batteries, or being given strange names by Hirokazu. Even so, since he is not a major character, he does not play a major role or make a fatal mistake in the game, but rather, he is a black character who does not interfere with the storyline, but instead makes a show of himself. Although they do not participate in the winning live performance after winning the game, they are still important members of the team. Since they are revealed on the official website to be "learning types," we look forward to seeing them in unexpected make-chance scenes.

Uncle Otherworldly

In this otherworldly comedy, an uncle awakens from a 17-year coma and begins sharing a room with his nephew, Takafumi. The uncle spends his coma in the other world of "Granbahamaru," where he tries to make a living as a video distributor using the magical skills he gained there.
Basically, the more foreshadowing, self-imposed sounds, and mosaics in anime, the more boring it becomes, but in this work, many things appear with real names, including YouTube, where Uncle distributes, and "Zero no Tsukaima," which Takafumi read as an elementary school student. The real-life atmosphere of the apartment complex where the two share a room also makes for a nice contrast to the solitude and harshness of life in the other world. In the TV broadcast, Ojisan and Takafumi appeared in a commercial for WebComic Apanda, the magazine in which the original story appeared. Their overly theatrical tone makes it seem as if they are really taking on a corporate project, which makes for an enjoyable production.

Shoot! Goal to the Future

Shute!" serialized in "Weekly Shonen Magazine" from 1990 to 2003. was adapted into an anime for the first time in 28 years. Although the story takes place in the same Kakegawa High School, the story is original and depicts the recovery of a soccer club that has become a weak school. Although it is a soccer anime, there are no shortage of surprises, such as the fact that the first episode begins with an FPS game screen, but what is noteworthy is the high passion of the characters. In particular, Kohei Kokubo, a genius player on the opposing team, boasts an unusual intensity, and although he has appeared in only two episodes so far, he leaves an indelible mark on the audience.
Kohei, a former teammate of the protagonist Hideto Tsuji, is thrilled by their unexpected reunion in a practice match. Despite the fact that they are enemies, Kohei cheers for Hideto from the bench, showing his innocent behavior. When he finally takes the pitch, he gives Hideto a passionate hug, as he does in England. The scene is filled with three pans, a monster, a stray back, sound effects, and all sorts of other effects that amplify Kohei's annoying cuteness and give the scene a somewhat horror-like feel.

Topeki: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An original comedy in which a high school girl comedy trio lives together in a student dormitory, aiming for the top of the "Teppen Grand Prix," a comedy championship. The girls, a large group of 15 in all, come from a variety of places, including Osaka, the home of comedy, Hokkaido, Tokai, and Ibaraki. The cast is made up of voice actors who are from the same region as the characters, and the dialects used throughout the show are lively and humorous. For middle-aged otaku who can no longer remember a large number of characters, the dialects will help them identify the roles.
On the other hand, episode 5 has only three characters, and the aggressive development of a conversational drama in a single situation is also an attraction unique to the original. The title of the series is unpredictable, and we cannot predict what kind of episodes we will see in the future.

(Text by Katsunori Takahashi)

(C) Konami Digital Entertainment, Straight Edge Inc.
(C) PROJECT ExH
(C) Hotondoshindeiru/KADOKAWA
(C) 2022 Tsukasa Oshima / Shoot! Goal to the Future Production Committee
(C) Teppen Grand Prix Executive Committee