Dive Into the Best Anime of Summer 2023

After a spring season jam packed with new and exciting anime, you might be wishing for summer to be a little easier to handle. Luckily, it usually is! Fewer titles come out during the summer and winter anime seasons and heavy hitters are typically saved for the much more publicized spring and fall seasons. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had in summer! There are a few big names returning with a season, like Jujutsu Kaisen, The Devil is a Part-Timer, Bungou Stray Dogs, and Mushoku Tensei. Movies, including Studio Ghibli’s How Do You Live? and Studio MAPPA’s Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Koujou, are slated to release this season as well, and for How Do You Live?, an American theatrical release shouldn’t be far behind.

However, there’s also plenty of new series to be excited about this summer! Whether you like comedy, horror, romance, or anything in between, there’s something for you in this lineup.

RELATED: ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ Season 2: Trailer, Release Date, Story, and Everything We Know So Far About the Anime’s Return

If Comedy Tickles Your Fancy…

Maybe the right start to your summer is a few laughs. You’re in luck — there are plenty of options for you!

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is a comedic horror about Akira Tendou, a worn down businessman living a mundane, lifeless existence. Crushed by work and his own inability to talk to his office crush, he wishes for something to breathe new life into him. He gets his wish when he wakes up one morning and finds the city crawling with zombies! Now on a quest to survive, Akira feels that he is finally awake and sets out to live his life to the fullest.

If slice of life humor is more your speed, The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today is a good choice. Saku is a woman trying to start her career, but she’s still a little out of her element. One day, she takes in a stray black cat she dubs Yukichi, but he isn’t anything like she expected! He is as big as a person, loves cooking, and is a sucker for a good deal at the market. Saku is shocked, but begins to fall into a domestic partnership with Yukichi as she finds her way in the world with the help of her faithful feline.

Horror, Mystery, and Suspense…Oh My!

It’s not fair for the fall to have all the scares! There are plenty of horrors and mysteries to go around this summer.

Dark Gathering follows first-year college student Keitarou, who is terrified of ghosts but can’t seem to ward them off due to a spiritual injury he received two years earlier. The incident has left him traumatized and caused him to shut himself off from the world, but college has him coming out of his shell more and more. To help him continue to get more comfortable with people, he takes a job tutoring his friend’s young cousin, Yayoi. However, just like himself, Yayoi seems to attract the supernatural, and she wants him to come along for the ride.

Undead Girl Murder Farce is a supernatural mystery about a detective with an unusual partner: the head of a woman that has an ability to solve supernatural cases. The detective is known as a cage user, always carrying a covered birdcage, as he finds the monsters that lurk in the dark.

AI no Idenshi is a mystery for the modern day as it follows Dr. Sudo Hikaru, a doctor who treats both humans and robots by day and performs illegal procedures by night in a world where over 10% of the population are humanoids with artificial intelligence. The series explores the use of AI and questions the limitations of data collection, asking if someone created from a person’s data can actually be the same as the person themselves.

Action Anime Heats Up This Summer

Action is usually the largest genre in any season, and it’s with good reason. It pairs perfectly with so many other genres, including fantasy, romance, and comedy.

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan is receiving a reboot! Kenshin Himura is a wandering samurai after the end of Bakumatsu, searching to assuage his guilt by becoming a nonviolent pacifist. During his travels, he comes upon a dojo in danger of being shut down after a string of murders done by one of its “students” have put the area in fear. He meets the owner, Kaoru, who explains that the police are powerless to stop the murders. Kenshin offers his help, but his past threatens to catch up with him at every turn.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades is a magical fantasy series taking place in the prestigious academy of Kimberly, where students clamor to increase their magical powers. The indifferent Oliver doesn’t see what the fuss is about…until he meets a strange girl with a sword on her hip. Now, the school seems to be plagued with strange occurrences and the two begin to unravel a dark mystery hidden in the walls of the academy.

Helck throws a little comedy into its battle royale story. Humans around the globe are celebrating the defeat of the Demon King as the demons begin a contest to find their new king. However, the favored contestant for king is no demon; it’s a human man named Helck, who always smiles cheerfully as he declares his hatred for humanity. This strange man captures the attention of Red Vamirio, a Heavenly King that is suspicious of Helck’s intentions. She now must try to figure him out before the competition comes to a close, lest the demon world fall to ruin on her watch.

Romances to Make Your Heart Melt

Last but not least, we have romance to add a little sweetness to the summer lineup.

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon is a Cinderella story of sorts. Miyo is the child of an arranged marriage, and after the death of her mother, she has been cast aside by her father, stepmother, and stepsister. Her family treats her as a servant, and Miyo keeps her head down and tries to get through, even as her father arranges for her to be married to a military captain rumored to be vicious both on and off the battlefield. Resigned to a bleak future, Miyo is surprised when she meets her husband and finds a kind man.

Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence adds a little bit of comedy to its romance by portraying a blossoming relationship between a doting pastor and a perpetually exhausted saint. Lawrence is an overextended man that guides parishioners to the church where Cecilia can help them with their problems as the ultimate symbol of good morals. However, Cecilia is secretly a bit lazy and dozes off in the chapel, which often leads Lawrence to doing everything. While things are a bit rocky at first, the two start to understand each other and become friends.