Anime Anime Global

June is here and the summer season is just around the corner.

The new titles scheduled to air in summer 2020 have a wide variety of highly anticipated original titles, hot titles fans wanted to see an anime adaption of, and sequels of popular titles. So, which title is the most popular among Anime!Anime! readers?

To answer this question we conducted an survey asking, “Which Summer 2020 Anime Do You Have High Expectations Of?” We received 232 votes during the voting period from Jun. 8 through Jun. 15. There were about the same number of male and female voters with a gender ratio of 47% male to 53% female, and the age range leaned to the younger side with 45% under 19 and 30% in their 20s.

※The choices included all animes announced on their official website as “broadcasting scheduled from July” as of 12:00 p.m. Jun. 8. We did not exclude the titles that were later announced to be delayed.
※The titles that were announced to be delayed as of 12:00 p.m. Jun. 8 are excluded from the choices.

■”Re:Zero” was at the top. Popular series ranked high in this survey.
1st Place
1st place went to “Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World” 2nd season with roughly 20% of the votes.

This anime is based on the fantasy novel published by “MF Bunko J”. The 1st season was aired from Apr. to Sep. 2016. OVAs were played at theaters in 2018 and 2019, and there was a re-edited version of the 1st series aired from Jun. to Apr. 2020.
Readers have expressed their expectations towards the show in comments, such as “I've been waiting for this sequel! I can't wait to see Emilia-tan and Ram,” “I'm excited to see how the despair even deeper than the 1st season will be depicted,” and “The re-edited version ended leading to the 2nd season, so it made me look forward to how the story will continue.”

Since the airing was delayed from Apr. due to the spread of COVID-19, many fans were looking forward to this title, “I have even higher expectations because I couldn't watch it in spring!”

2nd Place
Coming in 2nd was “Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld” 2nd cour with roughly 15% of the votes.

This is a popular series published by “Dengeki Bunko”. It's a smash hit with a TV anime series that started in Jul. 2012, and a film in 2017.
“The Alicization arc that started in Oct. 2018 is finally going to end. The OP & ED songs by Reona & Aoi Eir, who both worked on the previous theme songs, makes it even better! I can't find a reason not to watch it,” and “The PV is as good as a movie! I can feel the passion put into this last chapter,” show how hyped the fans are.

The airing of this title was also delayed from Apr., so there were comments like, “I've waited so long for this. I can't wait anymore!”

3rd Place
3rd place went to “Fire Force Season 2” with roughly 13% of the vote.

This is a dark fantasy serialized in “Weekly Shonen Magazine”. The 1st season was aired in 2019. It received comments such as, “I was looking forward to the broadcast of a new season! The PV with intensifying development and impressive battles is worth to watch,” and “I can't wait to see the upcoming battles of the protagonist Shinra-kun and Special Fire Force Company 8!”

When counting the votes of each gender, the results were: “Re:Zero” at 1st, “SAO” at 2nd, “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (season 3)” at 3rd for male, and “Fire Force” at 1st, “SAO” at 2nd, “Re:Zero” at 3rd for female.

■Here are some comments for other titles!!
For “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (season 3)”, “The 1st and 2nd season has been re-broadcast and fans are hyped for the final season. I'm looking forward to watching it,” and “Not only do I love the story, but I also love the OP song by Yanagi Nagi-san.”
For “The Misfit of Demon King Academy”, “I can't wait to see Anos moving and talking like a demon king. I'm also curious how much of the original work is becoming an anime!”
There were also votes for the online anime, “Japan Sinks: 2020”, “I'm interested to see how the best sellar Sci-Fi novel has been arranged into an anime,” and “The works of director Yuasa Masaaki are always good.”

Sequels of popular series ranked high in this survey. There were many titles that were delayed of its broadcast, and the results show how much the fans are looking forward to watching them.

■Overall Ranking
[Which Summer 2020 Anime Do You Have High Expectations Of?]
1. “Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World” 2nd season
2. “Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld” 2nd cour
3. “Fire Force Season 2”
4. “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (season 3)”
5. “Rent-A-Girlfriend”
6. “The Millionaire Detective – Balance: Unlimited”
7. “Deca-Dence”
7. “The Misfit of Demon King Academy”
9. “Umayon”
10. “Ikebukuro West Gate Park” ※Announced to be delayed to Oct. on Jun. 19.
10. “Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!”
12. “Great Pretender”
12. “Baki: Great Chinese Challenge Saga”
12. “Japan Sinks: 2020”
15. “Ochikobore Fruit Tart” ※Announced to be delayed to Oct. on Jun. 10.

(Voting Period: Jun. 8 to Jun. 15, 2020)