Summer has come along and with it are plenty of new anime debuting for the first time. Highly-anticipated shows finally get their time to shine, but you’ll also find a few hidden gems sprinkled in the mix.

For this guide, we’re looking to introduce a few excellent titles from broad genres. Be it an action-packed shounen, a laid-back comedy, or even historical fiction, look around and you may find something here that tickles your fancy.

Dr. Stone

Studio: TMS Entertainment
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure

Dr. Stone is probably the hottest show of Summer 2019, and with good reason. Unlike the usual shounen stories like My Hero Academia or Sword Art Online, this one doesn’t quite focus on physical one-on-one battles. Rather than brawn, Dr. Stone is an unusual story that promotes intellect as king.

It takes place in the modern-day after a cataclysmic light turns everyone on Earth into stone. High school student Taiju also falls victim to this before he can confess to his long-time crush Yuzuriha. About 3,000 years later, he manages to free himself from his stone prison but finds himself in a world devoid of living humans, all except for his genius friend Senku.

Without any better options on the table, the pair team up and strive to cure mankind of its illness, as well as rebuilding society through the power of science.

Cop Craft

Studio: Millepense
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Magic, Sci-Fi

The buddy cop genre is quite the old classic that has spawned memorable films the likes of Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour. In a similar way, Cop Craft seeks to tap into that magic once more by pairing together two police officers with contrasting personalities in order to solve a case.

This time, though? Both of them come from completely different worlds.

Cop Craft opens with Kei Matoba and his partner in a bust that almost immediately goes wrong. Besides losing the fairy being trafficked, his partner dies at the hands of a Semanian, who hails from an interdimensional gate that appeared 15 years ago.

Despite his hatred for these ‘aliens’ still ripe, he’s assigned with a new partner in the shoes of Tilarna, a noble knight who also comes from the other side. The two must suffer each other’s differences, but knowing how these shows usually go, they’ll probably become the best of friends after everything’s said and done.

Fire Force

Studio: David Production
Genre: Action, Supernatural

If you’re looking for just a little spice to the usual shounen format, consider watching Fire Force. Not only are the visuals striking and engaging, this one wastes no time in dropping you into the meat of the action.

The story is set in a world where humans are threatened by a phenomenon that makes them spontaneously combust. While the first generation of victims is transformed into dangerous creatures called Infernals, the second generation is imbued with the ability to wield flame as a weapon.

The protagonist, Shinra Kusakabe is a third-generation child who is capable of producing fire from his feet. Driven by the loss of his mother, he enlists himself in the Special Fire Force Company 8, where its members don firefighter-like uniforms to battle the Infernals.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season

Studio: Lay-duce
Genre: Drama, School

When was the last time that you had a frank discussion with someone about sex? Though many of us may go our entire lives without broaching the subject, O Maidens in Your Savage Season gives an honest and sometimes hilarious depiction of that one awkward phase in life we’ve all been through.

It begins as the girls of a high school literature club go through an average icebreaker session. Their mundane meeting takes a sudden turn, however, when one of the members very plainly voices her desire to have sex before she dies. This sparks a roller coaster of emotions in the girls as they become intrigued in the subject.

Rampant hormones, buried feelings of love, as well as the inevitability of adulthood make the forefront of this story about plain old puberty and all the embarrassing things brought along.

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