Wistoria of Wand and Sword: The plot is a ripoff of Rock Lee's story from Naruto, but told more poorly. However, I can't dismiss the story entirely because it has good art and animation. If they keep the production level this high I'll be forced to watch whether I like it or not. Pass.
Isekai Yururi Kikou: This is basically the opposite of Wistoria -- the plot is good, a reincarnated boy comes across some adorable twins and decides to adopt them in a fantasy world -- but the art and animation is suspect. I guess that makes it about as good as Wistoria. Pass.
Vtuber Viral blah blah: I don't like vulgar girls. Fail.
Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan: Comedy isn't an excuse for bad art or bad plot. Look at Working. It's a comedy with good art and a good plot. Just saying you don't have to put any effort into anything because it's comedy doesn't fly. Fail.
Na-Nare Hana-nare: The most promising debut of the summer season. I already know how good Alya will be because I've read the manga, but this series is an original work so it has no ceiling. For all I know this is the next great anime of 2024. The art and animation is gorgeous and the activity covered, cheerleading, is mesmerizing. The ideal girl-centric show. Pass.
I'll cover the seven remaining summer debuts in a part 4.
2024 is exceptional for having new content from 7 of the top 10 anime of all time. If Fate/etc. gets some new year's eve special as is traditional, and those long awaited Naruto ova's come out, that would move up to 9 of the top 10. Only Clannad would be left out. In addition, it has new content from 11 of the top 20. This is a very top heavy year, which isn't a bad thing. Who would have imagined One Piece, Fairy Tail, Bleach, SAO, Pretty Cure and Dragon Ball would all be airing at the same time? But that's about to happen this Fall. If we're lucky, the new Uma Musume movie will come out with English subtitles this Fall as well.
But what it does mean is that almost the entire contribution of this year towards great anime is due to decades-old franchises. If not for their longevity 2024 would have very little to brag about. 2024 is healthy because all of these shows refuse to die, but this course is unsustainable. Akira Toriyama is already dead. Something has to give eventually.
It's likely Bleach will end next year. FT 100 Years Quest isn't long enough to support a long anime either. One Piece would be ending quickly except for all the breaks the author takes that drags things out. Pretty Cure usually isn't great these days with Wonderful being a surprising exception to the trend. We can't rely on the top 10 or 20 anime to keep producing sequels and spinoffs forever.
I'm really curious what's going to happen then. Will the anime industry even survive without its most popular hits? Will people finally switch to translating visual novels once anime dwindles in worth? Will video games continue to improve and replace anime as the #1 hobby? All we can do is wait and see, but I don't think the future will look like the present. There's going to be a major transformation one way or the other. The world entertainment economy can't run on fumes.
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