Just like YA literature, anime is broken into a slew of subgenres that focus on everything from high school swim teams to magical moon girls who save the world. If you are new to the genre or a dedicated fan, these shows and movies will help to get you through the slow days and hot nights of summer, so grab your cool drink of choice, kick off your sandals, and settle in for some boredom-killing summer anime!
- Yona of the Dawn (Fantasy Action-Adventure)
The Kouka Kingdom is prosperous and quiet … at least on the surface. When Princess Yona discovers a bloody plot against her pacifist father, she must escape the palace with the help of her childhood friend, the warrior Hak. Our princess starts off a bit bratty and cries quite a bit, so please give her a couple of episodes to recover from the events in the first story arc!
A great blend of action, fantasy, political intrigue, and just enough will-they won’t-they romance to grab your attention. The excellent fight scenes and the intense drama will keep your face attached to your screen until the end of the season.
You will love this series if you can’t get enough of:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore (2009 Best Books for Young Adults)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults)
- Chi’s Sweet Home (The Cute and the Cuddly)
A lost kitten finds a home with a new family, but their apartment doesn’t allow pets! Watching this small family fall in love with their new cat is as painfully adorable as you think it will be and as the series progresses, Chi makes new friends so the cast of characters expands to include many more animals and their people.
Each episode is only 3 minutes long, but there are 100+, so this show works as a quick watch while waiting in line for a concert or, if you watch a whole bunch in a row it could easily fill up a lazy afternoon. Chi is a kid friendly series, so it is a great title to watch if you are babysitting.
You will love this series if you can’t get enough of:
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
A Grumpy Books by Grumpy Cat (2014 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers)
- Summer Wars (Science-Fiction)
Kenji has a summer job doing tech support for OZ, and is taking some time off to visit his crush’s family. He is flattered that she brought him, until she claims that they are engaged. Things go from bad to awful when a rogue AI is unleashed on the OZ system and Kenji is set up as the fall guy!
In the virtual word of OZ you can find anything and anyone. The platform’s instant translation, and immersive gaming have connected the world. Everyone’s on and off-line lives are saved on the OZ servers, so it is as if google, facebook, and world of warcraft merged into one gigantic company. Scary, right?
Even though the technology is a little old (the movie is from 2009 so there are a lot of flip phones on screen), the story is still makes sense and the pacing is fantastic. Take note: this is a feature film and the runtime is almost two hours, so make sure you build in enough time to watch the whole thing if you have made plans for later or are screening this for an anime club.
You will love this movie if you can’t get enough of:
Ender’s Game by 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award winner Orson Scott Card
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang (2015 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, and mentioned in Women in Comics: Science Fiction 2015 JULY 10)
-Jennifer Billingsley, currently reading Ash by Malinda Lo
*fireworks photo courtesy of Hanna Wynne @ worldofwynne.com