Summer 2015 ecchi preview: an ecchi season for the ages

Summer 2015 cover3

Monster Musume and To Love-Ru.  That alone makes this a hell of a season.  Beyond those two, there’s a strong supporting cast of ecchi shows, making the Summer 2015 season one of the best ever.

Of course, not every show is a slam dunk.  In fact, even in a season as strong as this, most are extreme long shots.  Here are the most noteworthy shows for fanservice or adult content this season, working from the least interesting to the most anticipated.

 


Series not worth expecting anything from, but should be mentioned anyway

 

Joukamachi no Dandelion
Joukamachi no Dandelion (July 3rd)

Production IMS

 

Despite being seinen genre and having a premise based on cameras being everywhere, the manga is anything but ecchi.  I’m not sure why, but nudity is extremely rare in 4koma style manga and Joukamachi no Dandelion is no exception so far.

I’m not really expecting much from this series, but figured I’d mention it since it’s worth keeping an eye on what Production IMS does these days.  And who knows, it’s not exactly unheard of for a non-ecchi manga to turn into an ecchi anime.

 

Jitsu wa Watashi wa
Jitsu wa Watashi wa (July 7th)

TMS Entertainment

 

This manga looked so fun when I picked it up a few months ago.  The oddball art style and large cast of hot girls gave off definitive ecchi vibes, similar to series like OniAi or Mayo Chiki!

Unfortunately, the manga teases but never delivers, and given that TMS Entertainment only does nudity when absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t expect liberties taken here.  There will be some teasing sure, but the manga never had the guts to show nipples and the anime probably won’t either.

 

Chaos Dragon Sekiryuu Senyaku
Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Senyaku (July 2nd)

SILVER LINK – Connect

Based on a series of light novels that are themselves based on a table top RPG featuring character designs by five well known manga/anime artists.  There is a little bit of sex appeal in the originals and SILVER LINK is always one to keep an eye on.  That said, anything beyond casual service would be a surprise.

 


Shows where nudity is extremely unlikely, but might be worth following for casual fanservice

 

fate-illya2
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei! Herz!  (July 24th)

SILVER LINK

 

This has always been one of the more unusual series spinoffs.  There obviously must be a lot of Fate fans and lolicons.  This is about as niche as fanservice gets, but it’s obviously making money.

I really doubt this season jumps the shark and breaks the nipple barrier, but regardless it should be great for those who enjoyed the previous seasons.

 

Rokka no Yuusha
Rokka no Yuusha (July 5th)

Passione

 

Passione is back yet again and this time they are trying their hand at a generic fantasy action anime akin to something like say Maoyu or Madan no Ou to Vanadis.

The premise is simple enough, six heroes are supposed to converge and save the world.  Except that seven show up, causing the group to assume that one amongst them is actually a villain.

Light Novels tend to be much more open ended in structure than manga and as a result there tends to be more freedom in the adaptations.  It’s fairly common for Light Novel adaptations to have nudity if the studio wants it, and that’s exactly what Passione did when they adapted the Rail Wars  novels into an anime.

I wouldn’t say the odds are great here, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

 

Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan
Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan (July 9th)

Diomedea

 

This is basically the Summer season’s equivalent of Absolute Duo or Seiken Tsukai no World Break.  Magic, sword battles, some faintly modern or futuristic elements, attractive characters and a harem setup with plenty of shonen themes.

As 8 bit proved recently, a show like this is capable of nudity if the studio wants it, but given that Diomedea is handling it, I wouldn’t say the odds are great.

 


 Non-ecchi shows with mature themes

 

Gangsta.
Gangsta. (July 2nd)

Manglobe

 

The manga has a fairly serious style, and with stuff like this you never know when you might have a surprise nude scene pop up out of the blue to establish R-rated bonafides.  A recent example of this kind of thing happening was a random sex scene from Garo last Fall.  Black Lagoon, Blue Gender, and many other serious action TV anime from the past have done used sex or nudity for this purpose as well.

I haven’t read this manga, so I have no reason to suspect anything, but just as a rule of thumb it’s usually worth keeping an eye on mature anime like this one just in case.

 

Ranpo Kitan Game of Laplace1
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace (July 3rd)

Lerche

 

This is anime original, the latest offering to the Noitamina block of programming.  To my knowledge, there has never once been a nude scene from any Noitamina anime as of yet, other than an alleged nude scene from Paradise Kiss  that is impossible to find on any of the existing versions.

While nudity is highly unlikely, Noitamina has not shied away from mainstream friendly fanservice in the past.

Given that this series is horror genre, it is likely to contain some degree of extreme content.  On some occasions, like say Elfen Lied, nudity can part and parcel of shocking viewers.

 

Gakkou Gurashi!2
Gakkou Gurashi! (July 9th)

Lerche

 

This is a busy season for Lerche, sporting not one but two horror anime with characters who are very young.  Unlike their Noitamina offering , Gakkou Gurashi!  is based off a manga and that manga is fairly graphic and disturbing.  Probably the closest comparison for this series is Corpse Party , a manga loaded with young characters, mostly female, who one by one die grisly deaths to various mysterious and unholy forces.

Corpse Party itself spawned several manga iterations and some of them even had nudity.  It’s not really all that unusual for super graphic horror manga or anime to have nudity, and since this is Lerche, it might be (for better or worse), something to keep an eye out for.

 


Wildcards.  These shows could be AMAZING or they could be soul-crushing disappointments

 

Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai1
Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai (July 4th)

J.C. Staff

 

I remember discovering this manga last year and being so excited for it.  The cover artwork makes it look like porn, and the art style is a major plus.  It seemed like nude service would be a LOCK.

Unfortunately, life can be cruel sometimes.  Despite the pervy jokes and twisted themes and naked girls running around almost non-stop, the manga never had the guts to take the fanservice to its logical conclusion.  At least so far, this manga has been really nothing more than some high energy antics and a lot of tease with no payoff.  Blueballing, in short.

And here it is, being picked up by J.C. Staff.  Because of course it would.

I know this is literally a lifetime ago, perhaps more, for many reading this.  But back in the 80s and 90s J.C. Staff was very different than they are today with how they approached content.  They weren’t afraid of nudity, and on several occasions they even did hentai.  In the late 90s to early oughts they were among the first companies to popularize non-innocent nudity in TV series anime- most notably by animating the first season of Ikkitousen – a show that did much to steer the ecchi genre into what it has become today.

Sadly, J.C. Staff hasn’t animated nipples since a surprise nude scene occurred in Read or Die the TV  way back in November of 2003.  It’s been almost 12 years since then. Instead, I guess in an effort to offend as few people as possible, they specialized in adapting manga that would tease and tease but never show anything.

So in that sense, Shimoneta  and J.C. Staff are the perfect pairing, and you could guarantee a nipple would never happen no matter how little is in the way of them seeing the light of day.

There’s just one interesting little detail, however.  The AT-X broadcast description page for this anime lists a parental lock, and with the exception of Kiss X Sis , this parental lock has equated to nipples being shown on AT-X at essentially a 100% rate.  As for the exception, Kiss X Sis  is basically non-nude porn, and has heavy incest themes.  Shimoneta  isn’t really anything like Kiss X Sis  at all, and other anime with sex jokes did not get this parental lock without showing nipples.

So this is definitely an interesting case.  All the evidence points to this being another dreadful tease ecchi show, but then you have that AT-X tidbit, and it’s hard to reconcile the two.  It’s like strapping buttered toast on the back of a cat and dropping it.

At the very least, it will be interesting following this show and trying to solve the mystery of what it was that caused AT-X to give the parental lock label, something they have pretty much always reserved for nudity in the past.

My feeling is that this is ~probably~ a gaffe by AT-X.  It pretty much has to be, but having real hope for J.C. Staff boobage feels nice too.  After all, it’s about damn time J.C. Staff got over their fear of nipples and gets back in touch with their ecchi roots.

 

Bikini Warriors
Bikini Warriors (July 8th)

feel. – PRA

 

This is the latest figurine advertisement anime produced by Hobby Japan.  All in all, Hobby Japan has acted as the executive producer for four different anime series (Queen’s Blade , Samurai Girls , Demon King Daimaou , Hagure Yuusha ) and all of them showed nipples in abundance… in fact all four of them even had uncensored TV broadcasts.

It would make sense that Bikini Warriors  would continue this trend, as the anime is intended to boost sales of erotic figurines for each character with removable clothing (and presumably, nipples underneath).

With Waramete  delivering plenty nudity a couple seasons back, there have now been four times that feel. has animated for nudity in their history.  So I feel no reason for pessimism from the production team.

Adding to all of this, the official site for the anime reveals an intentionally conspicuous obsession with oppai.  So nudity here is a slam dunk right?

Not exactly.  First off, the episodes are only 5 minute format, as opposed to the usual 23 minutes.  Nudity in the five minute format is rare, to my knowledge only Koi Ken  has ever shown nipples in this style of format before.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that AT-X does not  list a parental lock for this series, meaning that there will be no uncensored broadcast, a first for Hobby Japan.

Will this series be Queen’s Blade -lite or will it be Momo Kyun Sword  in miniature?  I honestly have no idea which it could be.  Even though I probably shouldn’t be optimistic, I have a good feeling about this one.  Hopefully it’ll be fun finding out what kind of show Bikini Warriors  ends up being.

 

Prison_School_Key_Visual_2
Kangoku Gakuen  (July 11th)

J.C. Staff

 

The manga isn’t for everyone, but seemingly for most people, it’s god-tier.  Personally, I love it.  Not since watching the Golden Boy  dubs way back in the day have I experienced something so sexy and dirty while simultaneously being so hilarious.

The premise of Kangoku Gakuen (aka Prison School)… one of boys being persecuted and jailed by insanely sexist females (who also happen to be super hot)… is certainly novel and interesting enough to be a hit.

However, I feel that I’m speaking for most when I say that it’s not really the story that gets readers pining for the latest chapter every week, nor is it even the comedy really.  Rather, it is how this manga sexually teases readers to the brink of brain death, causing readers to feel that it is their sole purpose in life to turn the page and finally discover the elusive nipple shots of the boys tormentors.  This manga makes you wait, but the wait is worth it.  Slowly but surely, each girl eventually shows off their sweet funbags, often in an intense and deeply satisfying manner.

The manga is chock full of massively perverted characters, characters that feel increasingly relatable given the state of mind the reader is put in from the overloading of sexual stimulation with each chapter.

It’s not that the amount of nudity is staggering, it’s more that the nudity is set up so well.  Akira Hiramoto perfectly understands the real purpose of tease and denial, which is that it makes the actual nude scenes feel that much more gratifying, like starving oneself before eating.

But take out the occasional nudity as a sexual relief mechanism, and a manga like Prison School would literally hurt to read.  It would hurt your balls.

That’s why I think an anime version of this series pretty much has to have nudity to be true to the original.  And if the anime were to be a hit and get additional seasons, there would eventually reach a point where nudity would be unavoidable.  Many of the later chapters of Prison School  are basically porn.

And yet, the rights went to J.C. Staff… argh!!!  The ecchi gods have not been kind.  I guess I’ll just have to hold out hope that the Summer of 2015 is the season of new beginnings for Japan Creative.  Because if they take my favorite ecchi manga and turn it into something that gives ecchi fans testicular cancer, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that.

Please J.C. Staff.  Don’t fuck this up.  I know you probably will.  But please.  I’m begging you.

 


Shows for which nudity is either guaranteed or highly likely

 

Okusama ga Seito Kaichou!
Okusama ga Seito Kaichou! (July 2nd)

Seven

 

There’s a special place in a man’s heart for female hentai artists, especially those that dabble in ecchi manga.  Yumi Nakata is one such person, and Okusama ga Seito Kaichou!  is perhaps her best work yet (you probably remember Chu-Bra!!  That was also one of hers).

If you are like me and you especially admire take-charge women, then this should be an enjoyable anime.  Here’s the description from MAL, which sums things up better than I could:

 

The story begins with Izumi Hayato running to be student body president. But when a beautiful girl swings in promising the liberalization of love while flinging condoms into the audience, he ends up losing to her and becoming the vice president. At the student council meeting, the newly-elected president invites herself over to Izumi’s house, where she promptly announces she is to become Izumi’s wife thanks to an agreement—facilitated by alcohol—made between their parents when they were only 3.

 

The manga is full of partially exposed nipples, and occasionally, fully exposed ones.  It appears the anime will stay true to the manga by showing nipples in the anime as well, given that AT-X has a parental lock for this show.

The episodes are medium-short format, about 10 minutes per episode.  A decade ago it was very common for nude ecchi shows to have this type of format, shows like Ultimate Girls , Steel Angel Kurumi , or Hanaukyo Maid Team all had episode lengths of 15 minutes or less.

It’s hard to say how good of an ecchi show this will be, but it’s nice having something extra to bank on in a season with such insane potential but also so many question marks.

 

Monster-Musume-miia-megami-june-2015-anime-poster
Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou (TBA – July)

Lerche

 

Monsters—they’re real, and they want to give us raging boners that make us question our sexuality date us!

The Monster Musume manga is hugely popular in the US, and probably around the rest of the world as well.  However, it isn’t exactly the kind of manga you see adapted for TV pretty much ever, considering the borderline hentai nature of it whilst featuring beastial humanoids and demi-humans as objects of lust.

I can scarcely imagine an attempt of this in live-action.  Thankfully we don’t have to, through the magic of 2D, anything is possible.  It’s stuff like Monster Musume  that shows just how awesome manga can be.  And also proves exactly why Japan is such an amazing place.  Who else would think of this shit?

There’s still a lot we don’t know about this series, but given that an upcoming screening of the first two episodes at Odaiba Cinema Mediage will feature a censored and uncensored version, I’d say that bodes well obviously.  The airings will be 30 minutes apart, which suggests the usual 23 minute length (though that is no longer a given these days).

It’s not known how many episodes we’ll get or how long they will be.  I suspect we’ll only get ten episodes, if only because this series was so late to declare for the Summer season and still  hasn’t announced a TV debut date.  (Would love for this guess to be wrong.)

At any rate, if the anime is as ecchi as the manga, it’s basically going to be on par with something like Queen’s Blade  or Seikon no Qwaser  for service volume.  And the quality of that service should be very good.  Lerche has done service very well in the past with shows like Unbreakable Machine Doll  and Majikoi .  Their resume isn’t very long, but I trust them.

All the previews and key visuals we’ve seen so far have looked amazing.  I hope this series is a smash hit.  I’m guessing it will be.

 

To-love-ru-darkness-episode-4-081
To Love-Ru: Trouble – Darkness 2nd (July 7th)

Xebec

 

You can make a solid argument for a few shows based on merit, but in terms of pure popularity, it’s To Love-Ru Darkness  that ranks as the #1 ecchi anime of all time in the hearts of most fans.  Ditto to the manga, which has achieved mainstream popularity in a way that we’ve never really seen for a borderline hentai manga before.

The original To Love-Ru anime and its follow up Motto To Love-Ru  were good but not earth shattering, just like the manga they were based on.  But then, series creator Saki Hasemi and his illustrator Kentaro Yabuki really let things go in the manga’s second season, Darkness .  And that’s pretty much when the shit hit the fan and the manga became a sensation like never before.

The 2012 anime version was a very rare case of a series having insane hype and actually exceeding it.  Today we sit, three years gone by, and Darkness  is still the sexiest and best looking ecchi anime made to date.

Ever since the first season of Darkness ended almost three years ago, it’s been a long wait for the next season.  The OVA releases along the way have really helped.

Oddly, I don’t feel nearly as hyped for Darkness 2nd  as I really should be.  I guess it’s just because this series has been so good for so long that I have totally taken it for granted by now.

But hype aside, this should be an extremely good season, as the volumes to be covered in Darkness 2nd  are significantly more salacious than the five volumes used in the previous season.

And while I know everyone hates how the censorship makes the TV broadcast tough to watch at times, I personally hope Xebec doesn’t cave and reduce the nudity level in any way.  I’d be just fine with staring at colored fog for 23 minutes a week the next three months if it meant seeing 23 minutes of nudity each episode when the BDs come out.

 


OVA releases of note

 

 

Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai After 02 (July 1st)

ARMS

 

Hopefully this isn’t the last we’ll see of Samurai Girls.  This OVA will feature Succubus Senhime as the featured character.

 

Isuca: Gokuraku (Aug 26th)

ARMS

 

Sure, the anime wasn’t great, and the art was pretty bad, but at least there was a lot of service.  We still need Nadeshiko service badly.  Hopefully the OVA will get it done.  No more chances after this.

 

Mujaki no Rakuen OVA 02 (Aug 28)

Hakusensha

 

The Mujaki no Rakuen  manga is awesome, but the faint pedo vibes will probably invite too much scrutiny for a full length TV series from a major studio.  And so, the manga went the OVA route, the first of which released last Summer.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a fiasco.  Pretty much everyone hated it, and thanks to the outcries from the manga’s creator (URAN), a second OVA is now being made with a new production staff in order to make things right.

Hopefully it learns from the mistakes of the first OVA, in which the only nipple sighting might have actually just been a mosquito bite.