The 10 Best Anime to Watch This Summer

Summer: a time for the outdoors, a time to travel, a time to reconnect with friends and make new ones, a time for fun and adventure, and a time to broaden your horizons. And if your idea of “broadening your horizons” is to spend three months getting into anime — well, who are we to stop you?

Appropriate for the season of big blockbusters, the Summer Anime season this year is all about the franchises — including ones that even newcomers to the medium will likely recognize. There’s an anime adaptation of comic series “Suicide Squad,” which is only halfway done but is certainly far better than the 2016 movie. With “Rick and Morty” on hiatus for a year, fans of the Adult Swim staple can entertain themselves with an anime version of the dynamic duo. And in August, the “Terminator” film franchise is going animated with a Netflix series “Terminator Zero,” which asks the question of what would happen if James Cameron’s sci-fi classic was set in Tokyo.

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Even outside of the confines of Western-created IP, this Summer is a very heavy season for old established shows and recognizable names. The anime adaptation of popular weirdo video game “Nier: Automata” is returning for a second season, while acclaimed shows like pop star tragedy “Oshi No Ko” and fantasy adventure “Tower of God” are getting second runs. Then there’s a reboot of superhero comedy “Kinnikuman” hoping to reignite longtime fans’ love for their respective properties. Fortunately, there are still some new shows and original anime to perk the interest of fans throughout the summer. “Delico’s Nursery” is a lavish-looking show about a family of vampires looking after their young, while “The Elusive Samurai” promises an old-fashioned but high-quality historical adventure. And “Mayonaka Punch” is a promising comedy about a content creator joining up with a superpowered girl to try and reach viral fame.

As always, IndieWire rounded up the best and most promising looking anime of the season to determine which shows you should be watching. Read on for our list of the 10 best anime to watch this summer. Entries are sorted in order of series premiere date.

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