ADN, Crunchyroll, Netflix: the anime not to be missed in July 2022

July means the launch of summer anime! This season, the most expected titles are sequels, with notably the return of Classroom of the Elite, Overlord, Made in Abyss and Orient. Here is our selection of series to follow.

Anime of July 2022: what’s new

RWBY: Ice Queendom

After the airing of its eighth season in 2020/2021, and while waiting for the ninth one planned for this year, RWBY is back with a brand new anime subtitled Ice Queendom. This is a spin-off of the American web series created by Monty Oum and produced by the company Rooster Teeth, which has already made some forays into the video game sphere with the games RWBY: Grimm Eclipse and Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. The story features Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, a group of female fighters (Team RBWY) trained at the Beacon Academy to protect humanity from terrifying creatures, the Grimm. We also find Team JNPR (Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren) and characters like Sun Wukong, Ozpin, Glynda Goodwitch, Peter Port, and Penny Polendina, who are all inspired by characters from fairy tales or video games (Little Red Riding Hood for Ruby Rose, Goldilocks for Yang Xiao Long…). It is Kenjirô Okada who directs the anime at the animation studio SHAFT (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, March come in like a lion…). Tow Ubukata (Ghost in the Shell Arise) signs the script while the music is composed by Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi.

• Available from July 3rd on Crunchyroll (episodes 1 to 3 already available in preview)

Lycoris Recoil

This summer in the slice of life / comedy section, we find Lycoris Recoil, an original project of the studio A-1 Pictures (Kaguya-sama, Your Lie in April…) and the director Shingo Adachi (chara designer of Sword Art Online). We follow the daily life of two young girls, Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue, members of a secret organization fighting against crime… and also managers of a charming little café located in the center of Tokyo. In addition to the hot drinks and sweets on the menu, the café answers all kinds of requests: baby-sitting, deliveries, extermination of zombies and giant monsters… The script is by Asaura (author of Ben-To), while Imigimuru (This Art Club Has a Problem!) is in charge of the chara design.

• Available from July 2 on Crunchyroll

But also…

• My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex – Starting July 6 on Crunchyroll
• The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 WORLD CUP – Starting July 6 on Crunchyroll
• Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting – Starting July 7 on Crunchyroll
• Shine On! Bakumatsu Bad Boys – Starting July 8 on Crunchyroll

Anime of July 2022: the aftermath

Utawarerumono (season 3)

Utawarerumono (The Song of Dreams in French) is back with a third season adapting the opus Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth, released in 2017 on PS4 and more recently on PC. If you don’t know this franchise developed by Aquaplus, you should know that it was born in 2002 and mixes visual novel and tactical RPG. A new game, Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten, will be released on September 8th to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Coming back to the anime Utawarerumono, this adaptation of Mask of Truth will have 28 episodes in total, knowing that the first two will be aired successively on July 2nd. It follows the adventure of Haku, a character with amnesia who is involved in a war against an empire controlled by evil forces. Kenichi Kawamura is in charge of the direction with the studio WHITE FOX (Steins; Gate, Akame ga Kill!, Re: Zero…).

• Available from July 2nd on ADN and Crunchyroll

Classroom of the Elite (season 2)

Classroom of the Elite is one of the anime that made the most noise in 2017. It has been a long wait, but now a season 2 is finally coming five years later. The other good news is that season 3 has already been confirmed for a release in 2023. We recall that the work is basically a light novel series written by Shōgo Kinugasa and illustrated by Shunsaku Tomose, which has also been adapted into manga by Yuyu Ichino.

As its name suggests, Classrom of the Elite is part of the “school life” genre and plunges us into the prestigious Kodo Ikusei high school. Here, the law of the strongest reigns. The students are in a race for points, awarded each month according to their grade and their behavior, in order to climb the ladder. We follow Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, an enigmatic boy placed in class D which gathers the worst students. With Suzune Horikita and Kikyō Kushida, his new classmates, he will try to improve the grades of his class to reach the A level, which represents the elite of the school. Betrayals, alliances and cunning are on the agenda.

• Available from July 4th on Crunchyroll

Overlord (season 4)

Here too, fans had to be patient. Four years have passed since its season 3, but here is finally Overlord, an isekai based on the light novel of the same name by Maruyma Kugane and so-bin. The pitch is the following: while the MMORPG Yggdrasil is about to close its servers for good due to lack of popularity, the young Momonga decides to stay connected until the last moments of the game. Of course, things don’t go as planned when the game closes. Trapped in his game avatar (a skeletal undead), our protagonist finds himself transported to a new world alongside his guild’s PnJs, who now have a conscience. Here, it’s not about a race for power, but rather about exploration and discovery. The studio Madhouse (Death Note, One-Punch Man…) is in charge of this adaptation.

Made in Abyss (season 2)

This summer, we go back to the fairy universe of Made in Abyss. Adapted by the studio Kinema Citrus (The Rising of the Shield Hero), the manga of Akihito Tsukushi puts in the scene a world where everything has been explored, except for a gigantic crevasse called “The Abyss”. Of course, the mysteries that it conceals attract many people, including Riko, the only daughter of a legendary caver, who is determined to discover its secrets. Note that this second season takes place after the events of the movie Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul, released in 2020 and available on Wakanim. We also take this opportunity to point out that the work will be adapted in the form of an action RPG with Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness, scheduled for September 2 on Switch, PlayStation and Steam.

• Available from July 6 on Crunchyroll

Shadows House (season 2)

The studio CloverWorks (The Promised Neverland, Persona 5 The Animation…) invites us to dive into a strange mansion with Shadows House, a gothic fable imagined by the mangaka duo So-ma-to. Emilico is a living doll at the service of Kate, a young girl belonging to a family of faceless shadows, the Shadows. Through encounters with the inhabitants of a vast family mansion, she begins to question the meaning of her existence and befriends those around her. Should a doll have a conscience? Shadows House deals with the question of identity. The manga is available in France from Glénat.

• Available from July 8 on Crunchyroll

The Orient (part 2)

Launched last January, the adaptation of the shōnen Orient offers itself this summer new episodes centered on the arc of the battle of Awaji Island. From the imagination of mangaka Shinobu Ohtaka (Magi – The Labyrinth of Magic) and published in France by Pika editions since 2020, the work plunges us in the fifteenth century in a mystical Japan under the sway of the Oni, evil demons yet worshipped as gods by the people… who know nothing about their true nature”. Only the Bushi, warriors, know the truth, but they are treated as outcasts. We follow the adventure of Musashi and Kojirô, his childhood friend and descendant of Bushi, both determined to overthrow the established order.

• Available from July 11 on Crunchyroll

But also…

• Rent a Girlfriend (season 2) – Starting July 1st on Crunchyroll
• Cardfight! VANGUARD OverDress (season 3) – Starting July 4 on Crunchyroll
• Dr. STONE Special Episode – RYUSUI (OVA) – Available July 10 on Crunchyroll
• The Devil is a Part-Timer (Season 2) – Available July 14 on Crunchyroll
• Love Live! Superstar! (season 2) – From July 17 on ADN
• Danmanchi: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon (season 4) – Starting July 21 on Crunchyroll

Anime still in progress

• A Couple of Cuckoos – Available on Crunchyroll
• Ao Ashi – Available on Crunchyroll
• Boruto – Next Generations – Available on ADN
• Detective Conan – Available on ADN
• Digimon Ghost Game – Available on Crunchyroll and ADN
• Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai – Available on ADN and Crunchyroll
• Kingdom (season 4) – Available on ADN
• One Piece – Available on ADN and Crunchyroll
• Shikimori is not just cute – Available on Crunchyroll
• Skeleton Knight in Another World – Available on Crunchyroll
• The Dawn of the Witch – Available on Crunchyroll