We start off with a big cross promotion between industries. It’s no secret that the gaming industry and anime have close ties. We get to witness this marriage with the launch of Puzzle & Dragons Cross the anime at the beginning of July and the launch of the puzzle role-playing game for 3DS in the last week of July. The world of Puzzle & Dragons Cross takes place on a Dragoza island an island overflowing with “Drop Energy”. The Shounen anime is bound to be filled with battling avatar action reminiscent of Battle Spirits and Beyblade.

The love of anime often goes hand in hand with the love of robots and cute girls. We only have to watch Macross, Infinite Stratos, and Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle to prove that point -- and that’s why we are so stoked for Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars. The action mecha anime starts airing in July and we at Honey’s can’t wait for the Actus Studio production to air. The story centers on sisters Yui and Rena who live a near idyllic life in the peaceful and tranquil kingdom of Enastria. The peace is shattered one day by the invasion of their homeland by giant mecha from a mysterious kingdom no one can remember. We can’t wait to see how these girls react to the invasion of their homeland. The PVs give us a few hints, showing us glimpses of a cast of girls leading us to believe that these slick-looking bots are moe-mecha, a very powerful force in anime. This title will attract girls and boys alike to the screen to watch cute girls pilot giant robots into battle.

A-1 pictures is one of the best studios in the animation business, producing shows such as Oreimo, Sword Art Online and Anohana. Qualidea Code is a summer release, airing in July, that’s sure to become appointment programming for a lot of us. The story follows two young men and four young women (which has some of us hoping for a harem element) with supernatural powers and their mission to protect Japan from the great enemy of humanity known as “Unknown” who began an invasion decades ago.  The children who were sent to shelters known as Cold Sleep Facilities awoke decades later to find they have acquired supernatural powers. The awoken children then use their newly found powers to help defend Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Chiba from Unknown.  We know the plot is good and the studio has an amazing track record and even better are some of the names attached to this like Kenichi Kawamura (Hunter x Hunter) directing and Hisayuki Tabata (Fate/Stay Night) working on the character design have us excited to check out this action fantasy anime.

We will once again visit the future Tokyo of Active Raid in the summer anime Active Raid 2nd.  The world of Active Raid focuses on a special unit of the police force called “Daihachi” and their attempts to combat a new kind of criminal, the super-powered one. The proliferation of new wearable technology known as “Willware” gives criminals an often armor-plated advantage over the police. The Daihachi team combats those criminals with Willware units of their own, fighting the new breed of criminal while hurdling over bureaucratic obstacles and avoiding property damage as they deal with this new way of committing crimes. The cast of characters is pretty evenly split in the gender roles, too, with an ensemble of both the handsome and kawaii. The enemy cabal pulling electronic strings behind the curtain was taken down at the end of last season and we can’t wait to see what new creative villain will surface in this techno-mecha-action-adventure series.   

We journey into a world of war where the Kiona Republic and the Katjvarna Empire are locked in combat. A peace-loving young man named Ikuta, who would rather spend his time making love and not war, is pushed to take the High Class Military Officer Exam by his friend Yatrisino. She often scolds Ikuta for being lazy, realizing he has more potential than people give him credit for. Ikuta, despite expectations, proves that he is not only a good soldier but also a great leader. We have a great recipe of childhood friend, princess, aristocrats, commoners and the heir to a formerly powerful family all at the same military school, which will likely not only bring drama with the backdrop of war but the comedy that comes from a diverse cast. We have great hopes for this anime to be full of action, explosions, love and drama, and we can’t wait to see this product of Madhouse Studios air in July.

The world of prequels is not confined to the big screen as A-1 pictures bring us The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs. The anime is a four-episode original story that takes us to a time before the human world and inhuman world were separated. The plot focuses on the more peaceful lives of the The Seven Deadly Sins, Princess Elizabeth, Hawk and Pig after they retake the kingdom of Liones. We get to see the signs of the next challenge begin to rear its head. Signs seems to be the kind of story that gives us a little insight into characters we know so well and have always wondered what they’d be doing if they weren’t battling all the time. The best news is that all of the characters seem to be taking part in this prequel, which is some solace since we don’t know when or if a full second season is going to be released.

We go less than 10 years into the future to when the Kikou begin their attack on humanity. The attack leaves many of our cities destroyed and the world feeling helpless. The Kikou Research Facility takes up the challenge by reengineering Kikou wreckage into pilotable monster robots used to defend humanity. We jump to 9 years later and a young man and young woman, Rin Sagami and Yuzuru Midou, become the first pilots of the first reengineered Kikou Muttsu. The two go into battle with the weight of the world on their shoulders as its best hope. Yes, we have heard a story similar to this before, Evangelion anyone?  The RS Project: Rebirth Storage is an action mecha scheduled for the end of June.

Arslan is the prince of Pars, a country at the crossroads of east and west. Pars is a land filled with diversity as a mixture of cultures live side by side peacefully in a land of abundant resources. A military disaster makes the country vulnerable to attack by the neighboring country of Lucitania. Arslan, not considered a strong leader, is thrown into battle with no experience as a soldier or truly leading men. With the support of his friend and subordinate, Daryun, Arslan fights for his kingdom against terrible odds. He is joined in his fight for survival by an assortment of warriors who each bring unique skills to the battlefield. Arslan Sneki is returning television in the first week of July and is being directed by Noriyuki Abe, the director of a show many of us remember called Bleach.

The Black Swordsman named Guts began his journey in 1997 and continues his quest for vengeance this summer. The series produced by Lidenfilms (Terra Formars, Arsland Senki and Yamada-kun Shichinin no Majo) is bound to have stunning visual elements in this latest version of the series. The original followed Guts, a young mercenary, as he carved out a place for himself in the world. His weapon of choice is a massive iron sword forged to kill dragons. The summer series has Guts fighting old enemies and friends during his journey to avenge betrayal. The end of the original series left many of us with a WTF feeling; will the end of this new series leave us with déjà vu? We’ll have to tune in to find out.