The summer is finally here, and with it comes heat, humidity, vacations, and of course, new anime. While the summer anime season is usually lighter in terms of highly anticipated series, there are still a fair amount of shows worth watching this 2024 season!
As is always the case, this list offers up some recommendations for new and original anime that look promising for one reason or another. While there are plenty of sequels coming out this summer that are worth watching, like the highly anticipated second seasons for Tower of God and Oshi no Ko, this list is solely about the new shows that you probably haven’t heard of that should be on your list. There are some shows I wish I could talk about, like The Elusive Samurai, but given how that show has not been picked up as of this writing, I won’t be able to talk about it here.
With that being said, here are our most anticipated anime of Summer 2024!
Suicide Squad Isekai
With the first three episodes of this show already released on Max and Hulu, starting the summer 2024 anime season off with a bang, I can say with certainty that Suicide Squad Isekai is a pretty entertaining show. It’s not exactly rich on plot, but seeing the Suicide Squad, with members like Harley Quinn and Clayface, thrust into a magical world and set to try and defend it while also trying to do it fast enough so the bombs in their neck don’t explode is fun in just the right ways. The animation is bright and colorful, mostly thanks to the folks at Wit Studio, and after giving its first three episodes a chance, I found the show to be a slick action series that isn’t afraid to have some mindless fun.
Pseudo Harem
There was a time when harem comedies were the go-to genre in the anime community, but their groan-worthy tropes put off a lot of audiences. Therein lies the twist with Pseudo Harem — it’s a harem anime … but what if the entire harem was just one girl?
In Pseudo Harem, the story follows a teenager named Eiji Kitahama, a high-schooler who always wished to have a harem. Enter Rin Nanakura, a junior in the drama club who offers to use her acting abilities to pretend to be every girl inside said harem. Rin claims that this is to help practice her acting chops, but the reality is that she has a crush on Eiji and is going to use this as an opportunity to get closer to him. It’s a cute little concept that can lead to a lot of hijinx. Plus, given that this is based on a six-volume manga, this show will almost certainly tell a complete story by the end of it, which is a rarity in the world of anime. Pseudo Harem has potential, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Pseudo Harem is set to premiere early this summer on July 5, 2024.
Plus-Sized Elf
Alright look, you all trusted me with Gushing Over Magical Girls and that turned out to be a sleeper hit in the winter. Trust me on this.
In a season filled with seven new or returning isekai series, a reverse isekai-like Plus-Sized Elf will satisfy that crowd as well as possibly deliver a solid gag comedy series. The central premise is that a bunch of magical creatures like elves and mermaids have entered our world and got fat from enjoying the food here, so comedy ensues as they try to lose weight and interact with one another.
Outside of the very obvious fanservice, which you’ll either be all for or against, there actually is a solid amount of dietary knowledge the show has about eating healthy and exercising properly. Yes, it’s in the guise of watching a bunch of voluptuous anime women be … voluptuous anime women, but the comedy elements are in place, and there’s a good chance that Plus-Sized Elf can deliver on its expectations.
Plus-Sized Elf will premiere this July.
Related: Our Most Anticipated Anime of Winter 2024
My Deer Friend Nokotan
Have you ever fallen asleep watching Toonami and woke up during Adult Swim only to see the most bizarre and out-there comedies imaginable? Previously we’ve had anime like Ghost Stories and Pop Team Epic fill that void, but now it’s My Deer Friend Nokotan’s turn to make us question our sanity.
The show is centered on Torako, a model high-school student who has to deal with a new transfer student, Nokotan. Nokotan has deer antlers and is flocked by live-action deer. Why are they live-action? I have no idea, but that’s only the beginning of the questions I have about the show. This is a show where logic comes to die and animation styles change on a whim. This feels like a mad experiment of just throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. For some, that sounds like an unfocused nightmare. To me, it makes me eager to see just what kind of insanity Wit Studio can throw at us on a weekly basis.
Another early summer anime, My Deer Friend Nokotan will premiere on July 7th, 2024.
Mayonaka Punch
From Shu Honma, the director of criminally underrated Ya Boy Kongming, and animated by P.A. Works, comes the story of two girls who are trying to find success on a platform that is YouTube in all but name. It’s a tricky business, especially given how fickle YouTube is, but they have a goal of reaching one million subscribers, and to do so they’ll have to find bizarre and eye-catching ways to drive up their hits and views.
Mayonaka Punch is an enigma of a show. Outside of the director, studio, and a trailer, barely anything is known about it given that this is a completely original anime. I’ve always been interested in finding something completely new to showcase, and Mayonaka Punch looks to be an exciting comedy that should stand out from its peers. Granted, there are a ton of other comedies coming out this summer with potential but Mayonaka Punch deserves at least a three-episode watch.
Mayonaka Punch will premiere on July 8, 2024.
And those are our most anticipated anime of summer 2024! Many of the above shows will be available to stream this summer on CrunchyRoll.
