Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san figures to be the crown jewel of 2018, and there are plenty of other interesting shows as well.
Here are some Summer 2018 shows ecchi fans should be aware of:
Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu
(AKA: How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord)
Source material eroticism: Intense, but mostly censored
Service level expectation: Hundred (pessimistic) < > Shinmai Maou no Testament (optimistic)
For ecchi fans, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord is one of the most interesting anime adaptations from a light novel in a while.
On the negative side, there’s already a manga adaptation in progress, and based on what I’ve seen of it (I’ve managed to read three of the first seven volumes) there’s nary a nipple in sight, despite some very high service levels otherwise. And the light novel itself starts off unremarkable. The first few volumes barely hint at anything worth making a fuss over.
On the positive side, the light novel content dramatically increases in eroticism as it goes along. From merely sexy outfits, to sexy poses, to harmless nude scenes (blank boobs), to an actual light novel nipple sighting, to outright (censored) paizuri and finger banging in the later novels. You can see the illustrations for nine of the ten novels here, it’s amazing stuff.
Whether this series ends up being utterly forgettable like Hundred or an instant classic like Shinmai will depend on how the production committee decides they want to handle the content. Hundred watered it down to the point of being totally harmless and the most erotic scenes were never gotten to. Everyone knows how far Shinmai took things, and how much fans appreciated it.
It’s also worth noting for my fellow lolicons that the novels are loaded with flat justice.
Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu begins airing on July 5th.
Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san
Source material eroticism: Massive amounts of uncensored nudity
Service level expectation: To Love-Ru, Triage X
Hell yeah! It’s finally upon us.
Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san is essentially the Shonen Jump successor to To Love-Ru and easily the best new ecchi manga to get an anime since 2015. Like To Love-Ru, Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san has well drawn characters, a generic harem/comedy setup, and a ridiculous amount of pointless nude service.
The series does NOT have a parental lock on its AT-X airing so expect plenty of steam and lightbeams on the TV broadcast.
Thankfully Xebec has a (presumably) uncensored OVA release ten days before the anime begins. They used a similar approach with Maken-Ki Two, showing the full potential of the series to viewers before teasing them with three months of anticipation building as the series aired censored.
Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san begins airing on July 14th.
Shichisei no Subaru
Source material eroticism: Mildly sexy character designs
Service level expectation: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
This appears to be yet another “character enters a high stakes MMO world” anime, with the usual small doses of subtle fanservice. A sexy outfit here and there. Hardly worth mentioning, but then again you never know where surprises come from sometimes.
Shichisei no Subaru begins airing on July 6th.
Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria
Source material eroticism: Censored Nudity
Service level expectation: Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? (pessimistic) < > Yuushibu (optimistic)
It turns out How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord isn’t the only eyebrow raising fantasy ecchi series this season. Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria follows a very similar fantasy themed ecchi-harem formula light novel, and also has (as of this posting) a non-nude two volume manga adaptation ongoing.
Unlike the former however, there are as of yet no sex scenes or anything too crazy. There are however a ton of censored nude scenes in the novels, with nipples covered up by hair or wispy clouds.
I definitely don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up too high, but it’s clear from reading the novels that this series really wants to be ecchi, it just doesn’t quite have the stones to go all the way… yet. With that said, the manga is still early in its run and interestingly enough it is published in Hobby Japan magazine. Like its namesake, the magazine tends to favor nude ecchi series, which hints at a promising future.
Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria begins airing on July 8th.
Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san
AKA: Miss caretaker of Sunohara-sou
Source material eroticism: Non-nude yet high sex appeal
Service level expectation: Heaven’s Lost Property
Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san is a shotacon themed slice of life story about a boy who moves to a new place and who is suddenly surrounded by several beautiful women. One of these women is his primary caretaker and the namesake of the show. She also happens to have a rather large bosom.
The manga is very sexy and you always wonder if it will bust out of its prudishness, yet it never quite does. I’m sure there is a better analogy for the service than Heaven’s Lost Property, but it was the first thing I thought of since both series are so ridiculously oppai obsessed yet still maintain an aura of innocence.
Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san begins airing on July 5th.
Island
Source material eroticism: Sexy outfits
Service level expectation: Wagamama High Spec
The good news: Island is based on a visual novel from Front Wing. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because they are the same company that made the Grisaia series and several other visual novels that would later become hentai.
The bad news: The visual novel itself is decidedly non-ecchi and non-erotic.
The other good news: The BD extras from the first volume of the anime hint at things being substantially sexier in the anime than they were in the visual novel.
Expectations should be kept in check, but given their track record it’s worth leaving Front Wing enough room to pleasantly surprise.
Island begins airing on July 1st.
Harukana Receive
Source material eroticism: Pushing the limits of how sexy non-nude anime can be.
Service level expectation: Keijo!!!!!!
I started reading this manga a while back, always thinking it was too mind-meltingly sexy not to have nipples at some point. Unfortunately things stay very normie friendly, but this volleyball themed anime still has some of the best body shots you’ll ever see in print, and the anime appears to be just as impressive.
Harukana Receive begins airing on July 6th.
Hanebado!
Source material eroticism: Faint areola sighting early, but all downhill from there.
Service level expectation: Bakuon!!
Turns out Harukana Receive isn’t the only sexy girl’s sports themed anime this season, there’s also the badminton themed show Hanebado! as well.
The manga starts off decent, with plenty of good body shots and even a sneaky nipple sighting as areola are just visible near the end of the first volume. In nearly all cases, this would hint at nipples becoming a bigger feature of the series later, but this was sadly one of the rare cases where the opposite occurred. Not only was there not another nipple sighting in the following eleven volumes, but even the tame forms of service declined over time and basically died off completely after volume four.
This anime will presumably cover the first five or six volumes so the ecchi content might be okay, they might even leave in that areola sighting on BD, but I would definitely keep expectations in check here.
Hanebado! begins airing on July 2nd.
Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki
Source material eroticism: Serious historical themes with occasional nudity
Service level expectation: Basilisk
Despite some cartoony character designs, Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki is actually a very serious historically inspired feudal era story with no shortage of graphic violence and harsh imagery. It’s far from the most hardcore manga ever but it would easily achieve an R-rating if turned into a movie.
There’s very little in terms of fanservice, however there are a handful of nipple sightings throughout the nine manga volumes so far. The best nude scene occurs early enough in the manga that it will likely be seen in the anime.
Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki Hanebado! begins airing on July 11th.
Joshi Ochi!!: 2-kai kara Ero Musume ga Futte kite, Ore no Areni!?
Source material eroticism: Basically Hentai
Service level expectation: Amai Choubatsu: Watashi wa Kanshu Senyou Pet, 25-sai no Jyoshikousei
There’s been a shortform ero-anime TV series going back many seasons now. This season’s project is the most interesting yet, with legit anime production values and even boasts famed artist Satoshi Urushihara (Plastic Little) as character designer.
Joshi Ochi!!: 2-kai kara Ero Musume ga Futte kite, Ore no Areni!? begins airing on July 2nd.
Notable OVA
Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san OVA — July 4th
The aforementioned pre-series OVA. May the screen caps come quickly.
Queen’s Blade: Unlimited — July 13th
The first of several new Queen’s Blade OVAs releases next month. Nobody can say for sure how many we’ll get, but the website seems to suggest there will be five of them based on the story segments they have published. They keep adding to the story page so it’s possible it could be more. But that’s just a guess really.
Bikini Warriors OVA II — July 27th
Remember how the first OVA redid six episodes to make them more ecchi? This follow up does the same, just to the other six remaining episodes. And like the first OVA it also adds two new mini-episodes.
Iya na Kao Sarenagara Opantsu Misete Moraitai — August 10th
This OVA is based on a short illustration book that is massively pantsu obsessed, and stylistically reminds one of the G-Taste series. While many of the shots are quite glorious, the original source material is quite purposeful in never showing nipples. Hopefully it expands its horizons in the OVA.
Overall Thoughts:
Going in, I was expecting this season to be all about Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, but I was pleased to discover that there is actually a lot of depth, and perhaps even promise, to the other ecchi anime airing this season. This is the best slate of OVAs to come out in quite a while as well.
I don’t like to hype things, but I think this will be the funnest season in a while.
