This Summer is looking like the weakest season for ecchi in over a decade, and there’s a chance the upcoming Fall season could be even worse.
Here are some of the more noteworthy anime this season for fanservice:
Tejina-senpai
LIDEN FILMS
Source material eroticism: Nipple sightings (barely)
Service level expectation: Afraid to get hopes up
The manga is an off-beat comedy with some ecchi elements. There have been some partial nipple sightings in the recent chapters, which suggests good things to come for the manga. But will the anime be as ecchi as the manga? Maybe- LIDEN FILMS may not be a top tier studio, but they tend to adapt manga faithfully.
Unfortunately, the series is in short form so there’s a chance the anime might not even get to the nudey parts of the manga. And even if it does, we’re talking about 1 or 2 nipple sightings at most.
Tejina-senpai begins airing on July 2nd.
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?
Doga Kobo
Source material eroticism: Exercise (tight clothing)
Service level expectation: Tease
The manga has yet to have nudity, which is a shame because if it did then this anime could have saved this entire season. Dumbbell is one of the better tease ecchi manga currently running, and there’s no doubt the anime will be sexy too. It’s just too bad they couldn’t have an uncensored shower scene or something from time to time. What a missed opportunity.
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? begins airing on July 3rd.
Sounan desu ka?
Ezo’la
Source material eroticism: Lots of wet clothes
Service level expectation: Tease
This is a manga I followed with piqued interest for a while, as the ecchi elements suggested that it could go legit ecchi at some point. Unfortunately, that day never came and the anime appears to be emphasizing the comedy over the ecchi. It’s also a short form anime too, so the odds of this being interesting are very low.
Sounan desu ka? begins airing on July 2nd.
Isekai Cheat Magician
Encourage Films
Source material eroticism: Normie fanservice
Service level expectation: Normie levels
For a split second, I thought this was an anime for Makikomarete Isekai Teni suru Yatsu wa, Taitei Cheat, which would have made it easily the ecchi series of the year. But no, sadly this is just another generic ‘isekai’ anime with mild fanservice.
Isekai Cheat Magician begins airing on July 10th.
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru no Darou ka II
J.C. Staff
Source material eroticism: Normie fanservice
Service level expectation: Pushing the Normie limits
Chestia is back! There’s not much else to say.
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru no Darou ka II begins airing on July 12th.
Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de 2-kai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki desu ka?
J.C.Staff
Source material eroticism: Ambiguously non-nude
Service level expectation: Sexy but ultimately nothing amazing
There are no clearly seen nipples yet in the manga, but there have been times when you would swear there’s a nipple there if you squint hard enough. You kind of get the vibe that the mangaka is working up the nerve to show nipples eventually, but just isn’t quite there yet. At any rate, I expect the anime to be non-nude.
Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de 2-kai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki desu ka? begins airing on July 12th.
Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka?
Seven x Geek Toys
Source material eroticism: Sexy but non-nude
Service level expectation: Sexy but non-nude
Frustratingly, this is yet another manga that tip toes right up to the line for nudity and is unabashedly ecchi, yet never actually delivers nipples. I don’t mind that manga like these exist, but it sucks how so many of them get made into anime compared to all the far more worthy ecchi manga out there.
The glimmer of hope here is that Seven is involved in the production, and we’ve seen from them in the past a willingness to take liberties. That said, maybe a 1% chance this series delivers.
Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? begins airing on July 8th.
Yubisaki kara no Honki no Netsujou
Studio Houkiboshi
Source material eroticism: Hentai
Service level expectation: R-18
It may seem hard to believe, but these firemen are straight. VERY straight in fact. The homoerotic undertones are likely just there to appeal to “rotten girls”, but rest assured, the sex will be 100% hetero.
This is very likely going to be the only TV anime this season with nipple sightings. If you even consider these to be anime…
Yubisaki kara no Honki no Netsujou begins airing on July 7th.
Notable OVA
Strike the Blood III
Volume four releases on July 24th, and the final volume on September 25th. The entire series will have 10 episode total.
Miru Tights
The next OVA releases on July 6th.
Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken OVA
Probably nothing to get excited about, but worth mentioning just in case. This “unaired” episode releases on July 8th.
Overall Thoughts:
Often times when I’m scouting out new ecchi manga hoping to strike gold, I’ll encounter a manga that clearly wants to be ecchi, and probably wants to have nudity, but the mangaka just can’t seem to work up the nerve. Or maybe feels that their audience isn’t ready for it. It’s not uncommon at all for even some of the most amazing ecchi manga to wait until the third volume before working up the nerve for that first nipple sighting.
So when I encounter a manga like this, I make note of it somewhere, and excitedly check again a few months when the next volume comes out, always hoping that this volume will be the one to break the nipple barrier. When they do, it’s one of the more awesome experiences you can have as an ecchi fan.
The problem is, there are a lot of manga that just string you along forever. And unfortunately, these kinds of manga are getting adapted into anime at a high rate these days, while the truer ecchi offerings are just sitting there.
And then you had last season, where several anime series and movies with nipples in the source material failed to include them in the anime (as best as we can tell anyway).
Unfortunately, the Fall season looks even weaker than the Summer season does at this point. Depending on which R-18 anime gets made, it could be the first anime season without a nipple sighting in well over a decade.
I’m in my 7th year of blogging ecchi now, and 2019 is looking very likely to go down as the weakest year I’ve covered yet. For all the talk of the 2020 Olympics, the irony is that 2020 will probably be a better year for ecchi than 2019 has been. Let’s just hope it really is the Olympics though, because this better not become the new normal.
Update:
Here we are a month later, and thankfully things are looking up. The firemen show did indeed deliver as expected, which keeps the current streak of anime seasons going. Tsuujou Kougeki is now looking like a 50/50 chance of being a legit fanservice show, with heavy fanservice and some apparent opportunities for nudity being taken. It’s also sporting a fairly low score on myanimelist.com, which means it’s not normie friendly. Both are great signs.
This, coupled with Val x Love being announced for Fall 2019, have lifted this year from being easily the worst for ecchi in the current era to being maybe the worst. It’s progress.
