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The Wind Rises Hayao Miyazaki’s final flight of imagination
New Summer Anime Sports, alchemy, robots and much more . . . IT’S ALWAYS EXCITING when the first bits of news start to come out about what is in store for the next season of anime, and the titles lined up for this summer don’t disappoint. They all look to be just as good as the epics we were treated to in spring, which included; the fabulously quirky action thriller Kill la Kill, the heart warming slice of life, Sil ver Spoon and the deadly Attack On Titan. Over the next few months anime fans can expect a new titles to be popping up on UK streaming websites such as Crunchyroll and Animaxtv, as they are simulcast online, direct from Japan. As always there are a vast number of new series set for release in one go. We’ve taken the liberty to choose what we think you’re definitely going to want to tune into come when the summer season of anime officially kicks off, at the end of the month. So without further ado, our picks for this summer are . . .
THE MUCH-LOVED animator at Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, has become very much a part of the cultural fabric of Japan – thanks to his ability to create animated classics such as Howls Moving Castel, Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro. However, his new release, The Wind Rises, marks the end of his outstanding career as he looks to retire in the next few years. His final feature film is a bio-pic of Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer who designed the warplanes that helped to cause carnage in Asia and at Pearl Harbour. It explores Horikoshi’s pure dreams of flight set against the real nightmares they fuelled. So far the film has split opinions and upset some in both Japan and America. However, Miyazaki within the animation doesn’t choose to touch upon the politics. Instead, he portrays Jiro as a simple inventor and dreamer, horrified at what his work is used for. While Miyazaki has tackled controversial topics in the past through his animation. It is thought he choose this topic of flight because of his father, Katsuji, who was the owner of the Miyazaki Airplanes factory. Whatever his reasoning you can expect another exciting and enthralling film from this world-class director. The Wind Rises opens in cinemas, across the UK, on 9 May.
Captain Earth This robot series – not the R2-D2 type, think more along the lines of Transformers – sees the hero, Daichi Manatsu, a high school student, thrown into intergalactic combat in his very own mecha. As he soon disovers, he plays an important role in defending the Earth alongside a team of robots and their pilots.
Haikyuu!! Sports series are hugely popular in Japan and this new addition to the genre is all about Volleyball. After falling in love with the sport Shouyou, a high school student, creates his own Volleyball team only to be thrashed in his first match against an opposing school. Now he is out for vengeance on the court.
Soul Eater Not! This is a spin off series from the Soul Eater anime. It follows the school life of girls with magical powers who must learn how to control them to have a normal life, whereas the Soul Eater focuses on the development of these powers for combat. It’s a fun slice of life twist on the original action driven series.
Alchemists of the Dusk Based on the popular RPG game, this series follows the journey of Atelier Escha & Logy, two alchemists who combine their talents to halt the the advance of twilight, which threatens to end of their world.
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