Summer Season Preview

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

Movies and OVAs to watch out for:
Here is an upcoming list of the movies and OVAs coming out that I deem noteworthy (I basically left out the kiddie movies, or the ones based on franchises that I don’t care about). And really: there are some big names coming up! Lots of great stuff is about to arrive here.

Ark IX

Impressions: This is a single OVA that will come out, as the promotional material of a new light novel series. It’s set in this post apocalyptic world, and the main character is a detective, so I’m smelling a good mystery series here. The problem is obviously that they’re never going to fit all that into just one episode, so let’s hope that this will just be a successful pilot.

Mirai Nikki Redial

Impressions: Mirai Nikki will be getting a new OVA. The interesting thing seems to be that it’s going to be completely anime original, penned by the manga artist. It’s meant to take place after the events of the series, and probably will be some sort of epilogue. But considering how the series ended, I see potential here.

Yozakura Quartet – Tsuki no Naku

Impressions: Hell yeah! Yozakura will not only be getting new OVAs, but sometime in the future there will also be a TV-series, with Ryo-Chimo behind the direction. Prepare for some awesome animation and fantastic direction, combined with lots of fun and interesting characters!

The Garden of Words

Impressions: The Garden of Words is Makoto Shinkai, and based on its trailer, it definitely oozes his style, while at the same time showing how he’s trying to branch out as a director. With Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo this was more towards Ghibli, but this one seems totally different. The one thing that caught my attention was that the acting was much stronger and less subtle than his early works. Let’s see what effect that has on his style.

Hal

Impressions: The premise for this movie sounds AWESOME: it’s a science fiction premise about a girl whose boyfriend dies. A robot named HAL then takes his place for her in order to ease her grief. It’s made by Wit Studio (the guys who are currently also doing Shingeki no Kyojin), and both the director and scriptwriter are rather new. However, remember that one episode of Fractale, that looked absolutely amazing and was nothing like the rest of that series? Yes, the guy behind that will direct this movie. He also worked on some stunning episodes of Kaiba and Yojou-han among others.

Ghost in the Shell Arise

Impressions: Ghost in the Shell Arise is the third installment of Ghost in the Shell with completely different staff members. And the creators are really going to have to fill some of the biggest shoes imaginable: those of Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kamiyama, pretty much the best two directors walking around in Production IG. Tow Ubukata writing it will help a lot, because this guy has a very good sense of creativity when it comes to science fiction. The chief director is a character-designer, which will probably make for some really good visuals, and the director for the first OVA will be the director of Gilgamesh and Shikabane Hime, which means a really solid atmosphere. The ingredients are definitely there to make something awesome!

Kara no Kyoukai – Mirai Fukuin

Impressions: Since Kara no Kyoukai was such a big success, I’m not surprised that the creators are trying to animate more of it. Normally I would call this milking out a cow, but the previous OVA that was made completely sold me due to how daring it was. It did not try to copy the movies, but instead had its own direction, based on a concept that many thought would make an incredibly boring animation, and I hope that this new OVA will also again go into its own direction.

Kaze Tachinu

Impressions: Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film. Seriously, how old is this guy already? And he’s still making movies? I really admire his dedication, even though he’s not as fast as he used to be. Again, he does the direction here, the script, and it’s based on an original story written by himself. At this point, Hayao really can do anything he wants, really; he can even hire Hideaki Anno to voice the main character (yeah).

Short Peace

Impressions: I love these types of movies: the ones that consist out of multiple shorter films, all made by different creators with their own styles. Katsuhiro Otomo (yeah, the Akira guy) is overseeing everything, and this time the stories are based on some of his works, but he grabbed himself a wide variety of different talents with widely different styles.

TV-Series
Well, we’ve got ourselves a first: for the first time in more than a decade, the summer season is actually bigger in terms of quantity than its preluding spring season. I actually have more series to look forward to than what I did with the past spring season. The big downside to this season: too many sequels. Now, whether there are series that have the potential to top Aku no Hana and Shingeki no Kyojin… the potential is there, but to be honest I don’t see it as likely.

Brothers Conflict

Summary: ” The original project centers around a girl who suddenly gets 11 brothers — from 32 years old down to 11 years old — when her father remarries. She joins the Asahina family under one roof at the Sunrise Residence complex.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Brains Base
Director: Jun Matsumoto
Series Composition: Natsuko Takahashi
Original creator: Atsuko Kanase
Character Designer: Kumi Ishii

Impressions: This is the male version of Sister Princess!

First-Glance Potential: 0%

High School DXD

Summary: “The story follows Issei Hyōdō, a dim-witted, lecherous second-year high school student who is killed by a girl on his first date ever. Issei is reincarnated as a devil, and from that day forward, he serves as an underling of Riasu, a high-level devil who is also the prettiest girl on Issei’s campus.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: TNK
Director: Tetsuya Yanagisawa
Series Composition: Takao Yoshioka
Original creator: Ichiei Ishibumi
Character Designer: Junji Goto

Impressions: Yeah, blahblah boobs, blahblah. The first season was already just about boobs and bad humour, I see no improvement whatsoever here.
Trailer Impressions: This trailer can be summarized as follows: “Boob boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs”. This show is about boobs, if I hadn’t made this clear yet.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Ro Kyu Bu SS

Summary: “Subaru Hasegawa is a high school freshman, he joins the basketball team but soon finds out the team is inactive because the captain is being suspected as a lolicon. He miraculously is entangled with the job of being the coach of an elementary school’s basketball team. With these girls and their love for basketball Subaru can only take them so far.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Sanzigen (?)
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: ?
Character Designer: ?

Impressions: I found Ro Kyu Bu to be really bad and misguided, therefore I’m not at all glad that it’s gotten a second season. I watched for long enough to see what point it tried to make: pushing little girls into this competitive game in order to keep their status quo, even though they just want to randomly goof off. The thing is, that it wasn’t handled well at all. Why did the elemantary schoolers have to dress up as maids. Why was there so much fanservice. And who was crazy enough to think of this set-up in the first place? This could have had potential, but the creators just turned it into otaku-bait, which makes it all the more weird because we’re talking about kids who are not even teenagers here.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Love Lab

Summary: “The comedy manga revolves around the girls at the elite Fujisaki Girls’ Middle School, which has tsundere (initially aloof and abrasive, but later kind-hearted), meganekko (eyeglasses-wearing girl), and other kinds of students.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Dogakobo
Director: Masahiko Outa
Series Composition: Takashi Aoshima
Original creator: Ruri Miyahara
Character Designer: Chiaki Nakajima

Impressions: I really dislike how the premise introduces the characters in this series. It just labels them as stereotypes right from the start. It’s as if they’re not going to even bother with any kind of characterization or something. But then again, it’s a 4koma so I’m not sure how much we can expect from this. It does have the team of Mitsudomoe behind it, so let’s hope that they can add some humour to this. They have it, although Yuruyuri showed that they don’t always show this.
Trailer Impressions: Really, really generic.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Futari wa Milky Holmes

Summary: “A bunch of detective mahou shoujo along with their male guardian solve crimes.” – (Taken from )
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori
Series Composition: Hideki Shirane
Character Designer: Mariko Fujita

Impressions: No! No! No! No! Here is the thing with Milky Holmes: the first two seasons were awesome. Why? It was a parody. The creators realized what a hopeless premise they had and just tore it apart with a ton of random nonsense and craziness. It was glorious. However, afterwards, for some bizarre reason, the Alternative OVAs appeared, in which they actually played the concept straight. It was bad. Really bad. Very generic mahou shoujo fare. The first two series also completely removed the male main character, and these two ovas also showed why: this guy is completely generic and pointless! This is a classic example of a corporate milking taking over a good franchise.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya

Summary: “This spinoff re-imagines the Fate/stay night character Illyasviel von Einzbern in an alternate universe as a magical girl” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Silver Link
Chief Director: Takashi Sakamoto
Director: Shin Oonuma
Series Composition: Keni Inoue
Original Creator: Type-Moon
Character Designer: Nozomi Ushijima

Impressions: This really feels like a blatant cash-in on the Fate/Stay Night fandom.Just stuff the girls there into mahou shoujo outfits and you have a series. I really have no faith in the creators here, because it’s typical Silver Link with really bad humour, and many of their staple people involved.
Trailer Impressions: So yeah… they go to school… and I’m still not impressed.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Senki Zesshou Symphogear G

Summary: “Two years ago, a pair of idols, Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amō, collectively known as ZweiWing, fought against an alien race known as Noise using armor known as Symphogear. To protect a girl named Hibiki Tachibana, who got severely wounded by the Noise, Kanade sacrificed herself. Two years later, as Tsubasa has fought the Noise alone, Hibiki ends up gaining the same power as Kanade.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Satelight
Director: Katsumi Ono
Series Composition: Akifumi Kaneko
Original creator: Noriyasu Agematsu, Akifumi Kaneko
Character Designer: Satoru Fujimoto

Impressions: How on earth did this thing get a second season? I have no clue what Satelight saw in the disaster that was the first Symphogear, but ah well. A big plus is that this series actually has a competent director. They switched in the director of Hataraki man and Yugioh 5D’s here. Let’s hope that it will be at least… bearable with this…
Trailer Impressions:

First-Glance Potential: 10%

Monogatari Second Season

Summary: “Although there are still traces of the brief period he became a vampire, third-year high school student Koyomi Araragi is human again. He happens upon others with their own supernatural problems and finds that he can empathize. Koyomi becomes involved in their lives, seeking to help them and occasionally asking for advice from Meme Oshino, the homeless man who helped him become human again.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Shaft
Director: Akiyuki Shinbou
Series Composition: Fuyashi Tou
Original creator: NisiOisin
Character Designer: Akio Watanabe

Impressions: The monogatari series has its moments. Unfortunately, I have gotten tired of it. I do not want to watch these moment if it means having to force myself sitting through hours of talking about nothing, or Shaft just repeating themselves yet again. Wake me up when they try to do something new again…
Trailer Impressions: The trailer is small and all, and there was no actual animation, but it did reinforce my opinion: with all the lines I could have sworn that I heard them before. This trailer said nothing about what would be new or different.

First-Glance Potential: 10%

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku

Summary: “”Kitakubu” (literally, “go-home club”) is Japanese slang for kids who go home instead of joining clubs, sports, or other afterschool activities. In one high school, there is a real “Kitakubu” of girls who do whatever they like. The president is a free spirit named Sakura, while Botan is the combative heir to a school of ancient martial arts. Claire happens to be the daughter of the head of the powerful Kokonoe conglomerate. Natsuki joins the club at the invitation of another freshman, Karin, but she is unprepared for the hijinks there.” – (Taken from SNN)
Produced by: Nomad
Director: Hikaru Sato
Series Composition: Go Zappa
Original creator: Kuroha
Character Designer: Takahiro Sasaki

Impressions: Oh goodies, another series about a club of high schoolers doing nothing. I can see that they really flexed their creative muscles for this one. Go Zappa is a bad writer to start with, so it’s going to depend on Nomad and Hikaru Sato and the original source material to make up for that. I mean, it’s definitely possible and all. But by these guys?

First-Glance Potential: 20%

The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Arc

Summary: “Dating sim master Keima Katsuragi wants nothing more than to immerse himself in the 2D world, chasing digital girlfriends. But when the so-called “Capturing God” answers a mysterious email from an unknown sender, Keima finds himself chasing down real-life ladies in an attempt to help the peppy demon Elsie de Lute Irma capture “lost souls” escaped from the depths of hell. Now, lest the explosive collar around his neck detonate, Keima must convince various girls to fall in love with him in order to scare out the souls hiding in their hearts.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Manglobe
Director: Shigehito Takayanagi
Series Composition: Hideyuki Kurata
Original creator: Tamiki Wakaki
Character Designer: Akio Watanabe

Impressions: I was hoping that in the meantime, the staff has changed or something, in order to give people with a better sense of pacing a shot at this series, But unfortunately not. This series definitely holds potential, but these guys just managed to suck all energy from it. All sense of good characterization was just lost with shallow romance and some really annoying main characters, and I don’t think that that can be fixed, even if the story gets better.

First-Glance Potential: 20%

Servant x Service

Summary: “The slice-of-life comedy manga centers on the employees of a government ward office in a city in Hokkaido. The story follows the daily lives of the health and welfare division members.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Yasutaka Yamamoto
Series Composition: Kento Shimoyama
Original creator: Karino Takatsu
Character Designer: Terumi Nishii

Impressions: The thing with this series is that from the outside, it looks very interesting. But that’s mostly due to Terumi Nishii, the character designer, being really good. The characters here look realistic and down to earth and overall very pleasant to watch (this is the guy who designed the characters for Penguin Drum, by the way). Because when I looked a bit closer, it looked like a series that totally was not my type: random jokes about people doing nothing. Both the director, original writer or series composition guy give me a lot of faith that this will be interesting to watch either, unfortunately.
Trailer Impressions: A bit of a taste of the humour that we’re going to get, and I found it to be so boring and dull!

First-Glance Potential: 20%

Kin-Iro Mosaic

Summary: “The story begins with Shinobu Oumiya, a 15-year-old, seemingly “pure Japanese” girl who actually did a homestay in Great Britain. Even after coming back to Japan, she still misses her time overseas. One day, an air mail letter arrives from Alice, the girl in Shinobu’s host family in Great Britain. The letter reads, “Shinobu, I’m coming to Japan!” The “Japanese/British girls’ mixed comedy” follows the lives of Shinobu, Alice, and other girls from both Japan and Great Britain.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Studio Gokumi
Director: Tensho
Series Composition: Yuniko Ayana
Original creator: Yui Hara
Character Designer: Kazuyuki Ueda

Impressions: These girls are fifteen! Holy crap! Seriously though, when was the last time I watched a 4Koma that I actually liked? This seems to go back to Geijutsuka Art Design Class or something. The creators can still make something out of it if they use the clash in cultures right though, so it’s not entirely hopeless here.
Trailer Impressions: Why does the English girl have to be blond?

First-Glance Potential: 40%

Gen’ei o Kakeru Taiyou

Summary: “A story of girls who solve mysterious matters that occur in this world, using the mystical tarot cards that hold the power to read destinies.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: AIC
Director: Keizou Kusakawa
Series Composition: Michiko Itou
Original creator: Haruyasu Akagi, Hidenori Tanaka
Character Designer: Shinpei Tomooka

Impressions: Michiko Itou and Keizou Kusakawa have done quite a few series, but the last time they did something together was with Ro Kyu Bu, a series about a bunch of girls in a basketball team with a lot of fanservice. Genei looks the same only with better production values and fairies. And I mean, I see potential behind this series if the “mysterious matters” that these girls solve are actually interesting. But I don’t think that these people can do that and will focus more on shallow stories with fanservice instead.
Trailer Impressions: Shallow, but at least it will look very pretty.

First-Glance Potential: 40%

Kingdom 2

Summary: ” In the Warring States Period of ancient China (475-221 BCE), Shin and Hyou are war-orphans in the kingdom of Qin. They dream of one day proving themselves on the battlefield. One day, however, Hyou is taken to the palace by a minister. Winding up on the losing side of a power-struggle, Hyou manages to return to the village, barely alive. Shin then meets a boy who closely resembles Hyou, Ei Sei. For now he is the king of Qin; later he will become the emperor Shi Huangdi.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Studio Pierrot
Director: Akira Iwagana
Series Composition: Naruhisa Arakawa
Original creator: Yasuhisa Hara
Character Designer: Itsuko Takeda, Kumiko Tokunaga

Impressions: I remember the first Kingdom. It had the potential as a good warfare series, but all I could see was the really bad animation and the incredible overacting. Together, this just did no look right and any good story would have been way too annoying to follow with that. I have heard that it got better as it went along though, and at least a staff change seems to indicate that the second season will only get better.
Trailer Impressions: No CG, which surprised me. I mean, the animation still looks really cheap, but it’s not as bad anymore.

First-Glance Potential: 40%

Hyperdimension Neptunia

Summary: “This story anthropomorphizes the game console wars as female role-playing game characters.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: David Production
Director: Masahiro Mukai
Series Composition: Shogo Yasukawa
Original creator: Tsunako
Character Designer: Hitomi Takeuchi

Impressions: As much of a fan I am of David Production, this definitely is the worst promotional art they’ve ever done. Having said that though… they’re really going to animate a series about the console wars? I have no idea what I’m supposed to imagine by that to be honest, especially with David Production. They also put on two rookies on the helm: both the director and the series composition guy have never done a full series before. This can really go anywhere.
Trailer Impressions: Aagh, that was really generic! Also hire someone who can actually sing!

First-Glance Potential: 40%

Fantasista Doll

Summary: “In this science-fiction story, Uzume is an ordinary second-year middle school student who comes into possession of five “dolls” who fight and power up with special cards.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Hoods Entertainment
Director: Hisashi Saito
Original creator: Goro Taniguchi
Character Designer: Hiromi Kato

Impressions: I can only say “smörgåsbord” when I look at the different staff members here. We have the porn production company of Hoods, adapting a story from the director of Code Geass (and Planetes and Infinite Ryvius), with music from the composer of Heartcatch Precure, Jigoku Shoujo and Shiki, among many others, there is the director of Sora no Otoshimono and the character designer of Kobato and Needless. Usually I can say something about the direction of a series based on cast-members, but here this has me just baffled. The only thing I can say at this point is that the promo art looks really generic.
Trailer Impressions: Generic music and transformation sequences. The story had better be really good to make up for that…

First-Glance Potential: 50%

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!

Summary: ” Kuroki Tomoko is an lonely “ordinary girl” who has the dream of becoming popular. for her misfortunes she’s branded deranged and lonely and spends most of her time playing games and watching shows. She then enters high school and that triggers her interest in popularity, She tries to achieve her goals in any way she can, but it doesn’t always end the way it should.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Nico Tanigawa
Character Designer: ?

Impressions: Watashi blahblah (seriously, I’m not going to even try and remember how to spell these names unless they prove themselves) will be another one of those high school adaptations, but at this point we hardly know anything about it. Who will adapt it? Who will direct it? That still has to be announced. Does it hold potential? That entirely depends on whether its jokes will work or not. It won’t have anything else besides that.

First-Glance Potential: 50%

Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist

Summary: ” After his uncle’s business fails, William Twining, an intelligent young noble, finds himself in a dire financial situation. With no funds for his school tuition, he searches his house until he comes upon the basement. There, he accidentally summons Dantalion, who recognizes William as a descendant of Solomon, and the Elector—the individual that will choose a substitute ruler for when the Emperor of Hell, Lucifer, rests. From that moment on, William’s life is irrevocably interwoven with the supernatural world as other demonic candidates for substitute king vie for his nomination and Heaven attempts to retrieve his soul.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Dogakobo
Director: Chiaki Kon
Series Composition: Michiko Yokote
Original creator: Madoka Takadono
Character Designer: Kikuko Sadakata

Impressions: You know what the thing is about this series? It is probably going to be really good if the creators manage to avoid it boiling down to just shounen ai. Seriously, I like the creativity it has, it’s got the potential for lots of intrigue. But all I can see is a manga creator who also did the manga for Utaprince, Chiaki Kon who is still stuck in Junjo Romantica and Michiko Yokote who is doing way too many series this season. Prove me wrong here!

First-Glance Potential: 50%

Kimi no Iru Machi

Summary: “Kirishima Haruto is your average Hiroshima Prefecture countryside Japanese student that is about to start his 3 year High school life. But before that happens a girl from Tokyo, Eba Yuzuki, whose father is the friend of Haruto’s father, shows up at his house to live with him and his family so she can attend the same high school. Haruto isn’t happy of the situation; a stranger that happens to be a girl of his same age, not his relative, living in the same house like him will cause complications. Truth is Haruto has another girl in mind, Kanzaki Nanami, whom Haruto has hidden romantic feelings for since middle school. And so starts his complicated life.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Gonzo
Director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Original creator: Kouji Seo
Character Designer: Terumi Niishi

Impressions: I found the OVA for Kimi no Iru Machi to be terrible. It was a really generic romance with zero personality, so when I realized that there was a TV-series coming out for it, i really was not looking forward to it. Then I found out that it would be produced by Gonzo. Then I found out that it was going to be directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, and adapted by Reiko Yoshida. That duo has got a ton of experience, and they can actually really make a risk-taking studio like Gonzo shine again. The big question is whether they will also be able to do that with a source material that is as bad as Kimi no Iru Machi. I mean, of all the stories they could have picked. Why this one?!
Trailer Impressions: This does not look good…

First-Glance Potential: 60%

Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East Second SEason

Summary: ” Five years ago, almost every villager of Ootsuka died due to a tragic plague. But mysteriously enough, three survivors: a girl and two boys, emerged. Now living in a church, the three live in isolation, hidden from those who may seek to find them. Shino, one of the survivors, has control over the power of Murasame, the blade of life. But when the imperial church seeks to take the Murasame for themselves, their peaceful life becomes a thing of the past…” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Studio Deen
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Miyuki Abe
Character Designer: Hiromi Kato

Impressions: If there is any series that I regret a bit in dropping the past year, it’s probably this one. I didn’t know that it would have a second season, and the only reason I dropped it was because I didn’t think it would get good enough after four episodes to further spend my time on. So yeah, it’s a series with a pretty good story and set of characters.

First-Glance Potential: 70%

Genshinken Second Season

Summary: “College freshman and ACG lover Kanji Sasahara settled down his extracurricular activity in Genshiken (The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture) in order to become a true and thorough otaku. Meanwhile, Saki Kasukabe, the girlfriend of another freshman Genshiken member (also a bishōnen), Makoto Kohsaka, was dragged into Genshiken’s otaku-ish activities reluctantly, yet her resentful attitude towards otakus is changing without her notice.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Production IG
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Series Composition: Michiko Yokote
Original creator: Shimoku Kio
Character Designer:
unichiro Taniguchi

Impressions: The only thing I ever watched about Genshinken is the first half of its first episode (before starting this blog, actually, so that was loooong ago), but I did not like it. I didn’t really associate with the “otaku”-culture, and still don’t. But hey, it’s like eight years later, the staff has completely changed aside from Michiko Yokote and I like just about everyone involved in this production. So yeah, it’s definitely got potential.

First-Glance Potential: 70%

Stella Women’s Academy, High School Division Class C3

Summary: “Yura Yamato has just arrived at the high school division of Stella Girl’s Academy, and Sonora Kashima invites Yura to join a club called “C3.” Sonora is the third-year student who became the new head of this club for survival games. The other members include two second-year students (part-Japanese Karira Hatsuse and G36K-wielding Honoka Mutsu) and two other new students (Rento Kirishima whose family runs a Japanese sweets shop and the really short Yachiyo Hinata).” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Gainax
Director: Masayoshi Kawajiri
Original creator: Ikoma
Character Designer: Manami Umeshita

Impressions: First of all, this show has awesome promo art. I like the use of colours and there definitely is emotion in it, as opposed to the really clean art you always see for these promotional images. The director is an entirely new guy, so let’s see what Gainax can do here to make up for Medaka Box which turned out to be rather generic. I mean, this has the potential to be really dull, but the way it’s presented hints at a very good chemistry between the characters.

First-Glance Potential: 70%

Teekyu 2

Summary: “Piyo’s original manga centers around a girls’ tennis team. (The title is a wordplay on a Japanese term for tennis, teikyū.) However, the four high school girls on the team hardly play any actual tennis.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Mappa
Director: Shin Itagaki
Series Composition: Shin Itagaki
Original creator: Roots
Character Designer: Shin Itagaki

Impressions: Mappa, as much as I like Teekyu’s randomness: your next serious project had better be something really awesome here.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Uchouten Kazoku

Summary: “The comedy drama of Uchouten Kazoku is set in Kyoto, where tanuki (shape-shifting raccoon-dogs), tengu (long-nosed goblins of Japanese folklore), and humans intermingle. The story follows the Shimogamo family of tanuki who live in the Tadasu no Mori forest of Shimogamo Shrine.” – (Taken from )
Produced by: P.A. Works
Director: Masayuki Yoshihara
Series Composition: Shoutarou Suga
Original creator: Tomohiko Morimi
Character Designer: Kousuke Kawazura

Impressions: Very nice promo material as well, and I’m looking forward to this comedy from PA Works, provided that they handled the comedy right. Shoutarou Suga and Masayuki Yoshihara perhaps aren’t the best for that, but I don’t know the source material for that to say for sure.
Trailer Impressions: This one said absolutely nothing.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Free!

Summary: It’s about swimming
Produced by: Kyoani
Director: Hiroko Utsumi
Series Composition: Masahiro Yokotani
Original creator: Kouji Ouji (if this isn’t a pseudonym then I don’t know anymore…)
Character Designer: Futoshi Nishiya

Impressions: I love what a brilliant troll move this is. I have been begging Kyoani for doing something different beyond cute girls. So here Kyoani comes with a show about a bunch of guys who look like swtimming catalog models. Regardless of whether it will actually be fun, I approve of this move. The guy from Hataraku Maou-Sama is also doing the series composition here…
Trailer Impressions: What can I say really?

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Blood Lad

Summary: “Blood Lad follows Staz, a vampire that is obsessed with the human world, and Fuyumi, a human girl that was killed and turned into a ghost after wandering into the demon world. Staz promises to help Fuyumi regain her humanity by bringing her back to life, as it means that he would be able to visit the human world” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Brains Base
Director: Shigeyuki Miya
Series Composition: Takeshi Konuta
Original creator: Yuki Kodama
Character Designer: Kenji Fujisaki

Impressions: Hell yeah, another director of Aoi Bungaku is returning. It’s the guy who adapted Kokoro, and who later did half of Supernatural. This will be his next series, together with the guys at Brains Base. And he got himself quite an interesting premise. It’s the kind of premise that can be great with the right execution, and terrible with the wrong one. The big problem will be the series composition. This will probably be a long manga, and Takeshi Konuta has already screwed up once with that kind of problem with Library Wars.
Trailer Impressions: Sounds catchy, provided they don’t put the action above everything else.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Danganronpa The Animation

Summary: “The story follows a group of high school students, each with a different exceptional talent, who are locked inside a school and told that the only way to escape is to kill another student without getting caught. After a murder, the remaining students must hold a trial with their lives on the line to find out who the killer is.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Lerche
Director: Seiji Kishi
Series Composition: Makoto Uezu
Character Designer: Kazuaki Morita

Impressions: I like the concept, I like the promo art. This feels like Btooom that requires more thought and careful planning. This is the kind of action series that I’m looking out for, that don’t just revolve arond random action. The only problem is that Seiji Kishi is a bit of a double-edged sword: as a director he can be really good or really bad, depending on his mood.
Trailer Impressions: Good music, stylish, strange character-designs. This can work out pretty well.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou

Summary: “The absurd mystery comedy centers around Kazuhito Harumi, a high school boy who is obsessed with reading books. One day, he is killed in the middle of a robbery — and resurrected as a dachshund dog. Unable to read in his new form, the hapless Kazuhito now belongs to Kirihime Natsuno, a sadistic novelist who uses scissors on Kazuhito to abuse him.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Gonzo
Director: Yukio Takahashi
Series Composition: Toshizo Nemoto
Original creator: Shunsuke Sarai
Character Designer: Youko Satou

Impressions: Well, it’s taken a while, but for me, this is the first sign of Gonzo’s recovery ever since they went nearly bankrupt back in 2009 and got majorly reduced in size. With that, I mean that this is their first series since that point that doesn’t hope to cash in on previous successes (Last Exile), or just completely terrible (Leviathan). They are starting to train new directors to fill the old gap as well: this is Yukio Takahashi’s first full directing job, and this is a guy who has proven himself well as an episode director on series as Red Garden, Shangri-La and a unit director of Yukikaze and the second Macross Frontier Movie. Of course the humour can be completely terrible, but at least the premise here holds potential and it looks like they’re actually trying to be a bit creative again.
Trailer Impressions: Perhaps it has some acting issues, but it’s the only trailer this season that actually made me laugh. That’s a good sign.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Tamayura – More Aggressive

Summary: ” For her first year of high school, Fu Sawatari moves to Takehara, a scenic old town near Hiroshima, on the Inland Sea. Her father, who has passed away, grew up in Takehara. She loves taking photographs with her father’s old film camera, a Rollei 35S. The story follows her and the friends who gather around her as she comes to love her new home.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: TYO Animations
Director: Sato Junichi
Series Composition: Sato Junichi
Original creator: Sato Junichi
Character Designer: Haruko Iizuka

Impressions: Tamayura is a strong contender for the award for the strangest title of the season. I have seen the Tamayura OVA and Hitotose. What on earth do the creators mean by “more agressive”? This is a slice of life series, not an action title…. Either way though: it’s Sato Junichi, who is just terrific at creating slice of life. The characters area already really charming. Now it’s a matter of building further upon that like what he did with Aria.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi

Summary: “After God abandoned the world, people stopped dying, and people stobbed giving birth. One young gravekeeper, a girl named Ai, meets a boy who slaughters her whole village.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Madhouse
Director: Yuuji Kumazawa
Series Composition: Tomoko Konparu
Original creator: Kumihito Irie
Character Designer: Shinichi Miyamae

Impressions: I LOVE the premise behind the world of this series. Talk about potential here. Tomoko Konparu as the main writer and adapter will definitely be able to bring justice to it, like what she did with Ashita no Nadja, Uta Koi, Les Miserables, Nodame Cantabile and Nana. Yuuji Kumazawa’s only directing job may have been Oda Nobuna no Yabou, but I give him the benefit of the doubt for now. It’s not like he could have made anything good with a premise like that anyway.
Trailer Impressions: Good music, it looks very nice. The backgrounds are also very creative.

First-Glance Potential: 90%

Gatchaman Crowds

Summary: “The story is set in Japan in the early summer of 2015. 180,000 people live in Tachikawa City, the “second metropolis” of the Tokyo area. Among them are “Gatchaman” — warriors who fight in special reinforced suits powered by “NOTE,” the manifestation of special spiritual powers in living beings. A council has scouted a group of individuals with latent powers to protect Earth from alien criminals. In recent years, the council has assigned Gatchaman warriors to deal with the mysterious entity known as “MESS.”” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Tatsunoko Productions
Director: Kenji Nakamura
Series Composition: Toshiya Ono
Character Designer: Yuuichi Takahashi

Impressions: Yes, Kenji Nakamura is back! The guy behind Mononoke, Ayakashi, Tsuritama and Kuchuu Buranko will next do a remake of a classic series. The fun thing about those kinds of series is that they always are really creative, and with Kenji Nakamura added to that, it’s bound to be lots of fun. Toshiya Ono who helped write Tsuratama will also be back.

First-Glance Potential: 90%

Silver Spoon

Summary: “Yugo Hachiken is an ace with studying, and wants to be away from his family,and believes he can do he could go to any school with no problems, so trading regular high school for Agriculture school, he begins a new journey. Upon arriving at the school and starting classes he is quickly proven wrong, and must uncover the truth about farming, and Agriculture, and how to keep up with his news friends, who are already used to the farming world.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Tomihiko Ito
Series Composition: Taku Kishimoto
Original creator: Hiromu Arakawa
Character Designer: Jun Nakai

Impressions: It’s finally time for Silver Spoon, the next series from Full Metal Alchemists’s Hiromu Arakawa. And it also couldn’t be any more different in subject matter. Adapting it is a very good team at A-1 Pictures helmed by Tomohiko Ito (the guy behind Occult Academy) and Taku Kishimoto, who previously adapted Usagi Drop. Tehse guys know how to deal with characterization. Yeah!
Trailer Impressions: Ska? Awesome!

First-Glance Potential: 90%

Rozen Maiden New Series

Summary: “Due to a deep trauma at school Sakurada Jun has refused to return. He spends his time in his room, surfing the web and ordering anything that takes his fancy, only to return the items just before payment is due. One day, he finds a web site that tells him to put his order in a drawer of his desk. He does so thinking it to be a joke, only to find that the letter disappears and a strange package arrives soon afterwards. It contains an exquisite doll, that, when wound, comes to life. She treats him as a servant of little worth, but over time helps him come to grips with his fears and in the life-or-death fights that soon follow her arrival.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Studio Deen
Director: Mamoru Hatekayama
Series Composition: Tomomi Mochizuki
Original creator: Peach Pit
Character Designer: Kyuta Sakai

Impressions: The reason why Rozen Maiden is the series I’m looking forward to the most isn’t simply because I’m a big Rozen Maiden fan, even though that really helps: the concept is awesome, and especially the first season was just perfect. In particular there went a lot of thought into the characters. But no. The reason why this stands above the others is due to Tomomi Mochizuki doing the series composition (along with the script and the sound direction (!)). As a writer to adapt your stories, this guy is pretty much the best guy you can get, bar none. He’s a king of realism, and his sense of characterization is fantastic. But it’s not just that: his adaptations are awesome. It’s not like he aims to be perfectly faithful, but rather he knows what works best for each story, and he takes risks. Oh dear god, he takes risks. Touka Gettan airing backwards? That’s his influence. The awesome conclusions for Kimagure Orange Road and Fancy Lala? He wrote and adapted that. Add that to the character-designer of Steins;Gate and the music from Utena and Asatte no Houkou. Yeah. I’m looking forward to this.
Trailer Impressions: Both new and old material together.

First-Glance Potential: 100%

Published by psgels

68 thoughts on “Summer Season Preview”

  1. For the ovas I am strongly looking forward to Hal(I have read a bit of the manga for this and its a shoujo romance damn well worth reading) , ghost in the shell, garden of words and Kaze.Divided on short peace, could be a mixed bag.

    I always greet each monogatari/isshin work with suspect and feel they’ll go either way. I quit reading the world God only knows manga and was generally displeased with how manglobe adapted it for the reasons you stated gels.The watashi ga motenai manga’s first volume amused me. Makai ouji does have a story but alot of its comedy, there isn’t proper shounen-ai, its just really slashable.I’ve already read these mangas so I won’t watch the adaptations, thats the case with genshiken and rozen maiden too. However I will watch rozen maiden if it goes anime original.
    Hakkenden is a must watch for me as will monogatari, I’ll also be watching free, the hataraku guy being involved with free is encouraging, also looking forward to tamayura. Any little interest I had in danganronpa was lost when Kishi’s name popped up. I don’t know about silver spoon yet. Not interested in anything else.

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  2. Obligatory comment about Zenmonogatari.

    While I’m not surprised with psgels lack of enthusiasm, I do think that the direction of Zenmonogatari works well in that it takes most of the novels and puts them back to back without any ‘downtime’ so to say. It’ll probably be easier to see how stories connect and seeing that there’s a set number of episodes, ‘wasting time’ will be put in consideration. Pretty much, it’s likely the whole story will be told in such a way that doesn’t feel too disjointed. I think.

    In any case, the monogatari series is never something I look forward to watching oddly. For me, it’s more of a show that I look back on fondly and find myself not regretting watching, if that makes sense. I look forward to it, especially after the superb Neko(Black) Arc, and I hope the series stays on track.

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    1. I’m tired of the series too, but Neko(Black) was the best out of all of the gatari series… So I’m kinda looking forward to it?

      I think it’s Nissio’s writing. I like it in small doses, but lately there has been a ton of his work being adapted to anime, I’m kinda getting tired.

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  3. LOL @ Free!
    Didn’t some studio try that already? Kimi to Boku or something? Was about as interesting as watching grass grow.

    I’ll probably catch some of the movies – usual suspects like Shinkai, Miyazaki, GiTS, KnK – when they come out, but none of the series listed strike me as “must watch”. Will probably take a look at Gatchaman, simply because the original (G-Force) was the first anime series I ever watched.

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    1. Pretty sure Free is going for something quite different from Kimi to Boku, though I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how the series actually pans out.
      Kimi to Boku was a gem of a series, though it admittedly did start out pretty slow. It turned into a rather unique sort of slice-of-life though IMO.

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      1. Kimi to boku did not have fanservice; it was just about the adventures of normal high school guys, kinda like a less funny version of Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou.

        The guys in Free! don’t look like any high school guys I’ve seen in real life. I totally agree with zoom’s comment hahahaha.

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  4. Oh gatchaman, I always thought that was called battle of the planets, so thats it in Japanese lol. Ah yes litho I recall that being an earlier exposure for me with regards anime.

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  5. ” The premise for this movie sounds AWESOME: it’s a science fiction premise about a girl whose boyfriend dies. A robot named HAL then takes his place for her in order to ease her grief. ”

    There is an episode of a tv series called “Black Mirror” with that exact same premise. And that episode is going to be pretty hard to beat.

    Anyway I have said it before but if Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya is done correctly it could be a spiritual successor to Nanoha. If done wrong however it could turn out very bad. With sliver link at the helm my expectations are not high though I really hope they come through.
    Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui was a manga I gave up on because it was depressing. Not intentionally depressing mind you. It takes it’s comedy aspect to heart. It’s just that it’s about a strange girls efforts to become more popular and make friends and watching all her efforts backfire horribly. Rather than laugh I just feel bad for the poor girl.
    I wish Mangalobe would start adapting TWGOK properly but well it would be nice to see the goddess arc animated non the less.
    I read the start of blood lad. I only remember vague details but I found it to be pretty average.
    About Free, I just don’t care anymore KyoAni. I just don’t care.
    The rest of the season looks pretty bleak but chances are there will be some surprises. I hope.

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    1. I thought about Black Mirror too when I saw the description for HAL. And frankly, I don’t think the concept warrants a full series. I’d much rather watch a series based on “an entire history of you”. That setting has more meat in it. (although…. sadly…. there is going to be an american movie based on it….)

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  6. jesus why swimming? i very much doubt they’re going to fill 12 episodes with swimming, and rather they’re going to fill it will pandering instead.

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    1. Swimming is… nah, I can’t come with a joke.

      I find myself drawn away from shows like that. If it has anything to do with sports or reality in general I usually find it boring. However, surely it could be a wonderful anime… about swimming.

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      1. @Reaper:There is a novelty aspect to free and manservice hook. However I identify well with the comment about sports, its alienating for me too.

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        1. Different should always get points, and to be honest I could really see an exciting swimming anime that really executes well like something like Chihaya, but I don’t think that’s common 😛

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      2. I like sports anime when done right.

        I mean Chihayafuru is pretty much a sports anime. It even follows all the tropes. It’s just that the execution and writing is incredible.

        I don’t intend to defend Free that much, I know nothing about it, and that trailer looks meh (although, most anime trailers look like that to me), I’m just making a point that just because it’s about swimming it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be bad. I mean in these kinds of series, you don’t have to care about the sport (really, who cared about Karuta?), it’s just that the characters care about it a lot. If the characters are well written then it works.

        Again, I have no idea if anything of what I said is going to apply to Free.

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        1. “who cared about Karuta” I care about karuta you twit, even if you might not have an interest in the sport, it doesn’t mean that everyone else doesn’t have interest in it too.

          -“it’s a sports show done right, yet I don’t even care for the sport itself”
          -“sports shows are about characters not the sport”
          wut?

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          1. I think you missed my point.

            Is Chihayafuru so popular, because everyone is a crazy fan of Karuta, or is it popular because it is a good anime?

            I thought Hajime no Ippo was exciting and I haven’t watched a single real match of boxing. I enjoyed parts of Giant Killing and I hate soccer with passion. I really love Chihayafuru, even though I hadn’t heard about karuta before. Touch was also awesome but real baseball bores me.

            I am just saying, the viewer doesn’t have to care about the sport, it’s enough that the characters care about the sport, because watching people devote themselves and try their hardest on something they love, is interesting. Is that really such a hard concept to grasp?

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          2. when was it ever implied that sports anime were bent on pandering to the actual sports fans? has it never occurred to you the possibility that the authors could be trying to get their readers to be interested in the sport? did you seriously go through several sports anime and didn’t even feel a bit of admiration for the sport at all?

            in short you don’t even treat these sports shows as sports shows, rather it’s drama as the main dish and sports as a side dish at most. Sorry to say, I very much doubt that I’ll go mad enough to watch a show about soccer if I had a personal hatred for it.

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          3. “did you seriously go through several sports anime and didn’t even feel a bit of admiration for the sport at all?”

            I did go “so that’s what people that play this sport like about it, I understand now!”, so…. Yes? It didn’t change how I feel about the sport though.

            The author’s love for the sport (as expressed through their characters) is what is interesting -not the sport itself.

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  7. Some promise is in the air. Redial sounds interesting and should give people a more definite idea of the conclusion to the Future Dairy’s ending. Looking forward to The World God Only Knows, Monogatari, and It’s Not My Fault I’m not Popular.

    Interestingly enough I was going to watch Quartet until I heard about the new series. This also looks like a good time to finally check out Rozen Maiden.

    Don’t really know about the others. Last time I checked the upcoming season was worse, so this is decent news.

    Fate looks like a damn joke, but I guess it’s just not my thing.

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  8. No one had the good sense to help Psgels out? “Short Peace” is an example of an ‘anthology’/’omnibus’ film. You’re welcome…

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  9. Silver Spoon is very, very different from FMA. It’s slice of life, but it’s done very well. Instead of telling the lives of normal high school students, it focuses on the lives of high school students in a very unusual, different setting. Forget about trite Valentines Day drama, how about a lesson on assisting cow births or mucking out the stables? I can’t make promises for the anime, but the manga is excellent.

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    1. I’m reckoning silver spoon will become what Moyashimon’s only okayish second season could have been.

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      2. That’s about right on the dot actually…I feel like the character interaction in Silver Spoon was done a lot more smoothly than in Moyashimon (as funny as it was sometimes).

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  10. I’m currently in the middle of reading through the Dangan Ronpa Let’s Play, and it’s pretty spectacular. Calling it “Battle Royale meets Phoenix Wright” is pretty accurate, but it really stands out on its own in several ways that will probably fit very well in an anime adaptation. Wonderful cast of characters, great premise, and it’s all oozing with style. The mysteries themselves are really handled well too.
    That said, half of the fun of the series comes from wondering who will die and trying to guess the identity of the murderers. People will probably spoil things in comments and the shoutbox, plus there are a number of other major plot twists to be revealed. I strongly suggest everyone try to go into this series as blind as possible (i.e. don’t look up stuff on Wikipedia, Google image searches, etc).

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  11. Kimi no Iru Machi is pretty bad, with it being just one love triangle after another (protag, main heroine, and another girl), but somewhere along the halfway point it actually changes to a love triangle for the girl instead of the guy. That guy is like the best character i the entire show. Seriously. Thats literally the only part of the manga i want to see adapted.

    There are a lot of second seasons this year, which is bad for me as I have only gotten into anime recently and havent seen the first season or anything. But it does give me more reason to get off my lazy ass and watch more anime. I watched the first season of Azazel San because of season 2, and I’m glad I did because i found it hilarious.

    Hopefully I can get through all the first seasons (or at least the interesting ones) in time for the second seasons.

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    1. Are you sure it just isn’t you over-glorifying it? The dude said he’s tired of it, it’s not like he’s calling it a shit show. No need to get overly defensive.

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  13. That’s up with this season? High school girls do this… High school girls do that… High school girls, high school girls, high school girls… Good thing we’ll see another Gatchaman!

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  14. yo, can someone tell me why Japan likes to Sexualize little girls of elementary school age? I was looking through the promo art in this post and it really disgusts me, does Japan condone pedophilia or something?

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    1. Lolicon is not really considered pedophilia. And really all that is pandering to an target audience to make money. This is not something exclusive to just Japan.

      Also I would like to point out the utter idiocy of judging an entire country based on one medium they produce.

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      1. Actually let me rephrase that.
        I would like to point out the utter idiocy of judging an entire country based on one season of medium they produce.

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    2. The first time I went to the USA I kept expecting that there would be explosions all around me and that I would get involved in some sort of conspiracy and that I would get to save a beautiful girl from some sort of bad guy at the last minute (and all of it would be in bullet time) and afterwards we would have PG-13 rated almost-sex.

      Imagine my surprise when I just had a really pleasant and normal couple of days in New York.

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  15. Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui! is a great and funny manga. The heroine was finally that sort of female loser character that I could identify myself with. x)” I’m really not sure whether this works as anime, though …

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  16. I really like Gonzo as the studio makes a lot of risks. Unfortunately, “risk-taking studio like Gonzo shine again” does not rake in money. That’s why they went bankrupt. They kept making series that did not relate to modern Japanese people.

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    2. Yeah but Gonzo had more problems than that. They couldn’t keep animation quality constant throughout any of there series and kept making unnecessary changes to the source materiel. They are at their best when they just go full anime original.

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  17. I think it’s easy to underestimate Kingdom, but hidden beneath the atrocious art is a decent action/adventure series.

    I’m a huge hater of 3D animation, but it’s possible for me to stomach it because the other aspects of it are good. It’s a bit like a Berserk in an Asian setting but with less fantasy, so if you could stand the 3D Berserk movies, you will enjoy Kingdom.

    If they’re doing away with the 3D, that is certainly great news.

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  18. I’m really looking forward to:

    -Gatchaman Crowds: I’ve loved this series since i was a kid. Definitely can’t wait to see it get the treatment that Casshern got with “Casshern Sins”.

    -Silver Spoon: Hiromu Arakawa!? Yes please!

    -Yozakura Quartet, Tsuki no Naku: I love the other entries in the series, so this should be good!

    -Ghost in the Shell Arise: This has potential to be a incredible show.

    -The Garden of Words: That sound production…that animation quality…and mature romance? Hopefully it lives up to the high expectations.

    And that’s about it. I’ll just have wait and see if anything else
    surprises me.

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  19. With KyoAni’s beautiful animation, they could make a really amazing action anime. I would love to watch that. Too bad they only stick to slice of life stuff.

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  20. not particularly interested in this season. top few picks would be gravedigger loli, swimming guys, rozen maiden, murder mystery bear, and silver spoon. though all these feel really campy except silver spoon and rozen maiden (saw the original). really liked the background music to gravedigger loli. nothing epicly exciting though. I expect silver spoon to be somewhat similar to moyashimon from what i’ve read. oh well. i guess we’ll have to see.

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  21. I am really looking forward to the next season

    I’ve been reading Gin no Saji and I think I’ll be watching it

    Dangan Roppa is on my list, and Free, mainly cos I’ve had so much exposure to them on Tumblr

    kamisama inai has a good concept, but I’m not sure about the art works

    Crowds Gatchaman sounds like a bazillion things before.

    I don’t know if i should watch rozen maiden, never saw the original..

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  22. Excited to see Blood Lad showing up. I knew it was getting an anime, but didn’t expect it so soon. It’s actually not a long-running manga (yet), although its shonenish at parts, but nevertheless a fun series overall.

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  23. Lots of potential good series.
    Kingdom should have the 100% potential tag there, and it will start early also XD

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  24. A fantastic season!

    Well, not because of the series – I can see like 6 things I want to watch. It’s the perfect season to clear up my backlog from this season and play video games and VNs without having to ‘feel guilty’ about the GB of episodes accumulating on my hard disk.

    What I want to watch are:

    Kingdom – I finished the first season, I can’t wait for the second. The director of Hikaru no Go really shines when he’s given long shows.

    Hakkenden: same, although this is more harmless, fluffy, relaxing fun.

    Free!: there’s no way I’m not watching this.

    TWGOK: I watched the first two seasons and read the manga. It was pretty pleasant, although I seem to remember there being more girls between the end of the last season and the goddesses arc. And the people who haven’t bought the terrible OVA will be very confused about Tenri.

    Watashi wa motenai… – how have you not heard of this?! It sold like crazy – to foreigners from 4chan (it wasn’t nearly as popular in Japan). The mangaka has received a flood of dick pictures over Twitter.

    Maybe: Silver Spoon: well it looks… nice. A bit like Natsume, from the picture. Could be interesting. Blood Lad looks like it could swing too far into shonen. Brother’s Conflict is exactly the sort of crap I always swallow even though I end up disappointed. Makai Ouji looks like it might be interesting.

    Well, maybe a bit more. But it’ll be a lot less than my usual 20+.

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    1. Our brains work too similarly Kiraly, for all the complaints I’ll make about brothers conflict I’ll catch it until I get bored.

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      1. RE: “until I get bored”

        …I still need to catch up to UtaPuri. I’m like 5 episodes behind -_-

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  25. This looks like its going to be a great season. I’ll be watching

    For Sure
    Genshiken 2nd- The manga is my favorite, the anime is one of my favorite, so of course Im really looking forward to this
    Kingdom 2- to those who dropped it because of the crappy animation, your missing a wonderful series
    Ghost in the Shell Arise- I loved the 1st film and the series- the new character designs actually look pretty good to me
    The Garden of Words- Im a big Shinkai Makoto fan so Ill be watching this.
    Tamayura- A very calm slice of life. I enjoyed the first season, but I’m not looking forward to this that much (I’ll still watch though).
    Kaze Tachinu-I like most of Ghiblis films

    Probably
    Rozen Maiden-the first series were OK so I’ll probably watch this
    Silver Spoon- the manga was pretty good
    Blood Lad- Brains Base sometimes makes good series.

    Im not sure about the others but I usually watch the first episode of most series each season unless I didn’t like the first cour of a sequel.

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  26. Hey, I’ve never commented here before (I just come here every so often to see what you’re rewiewing to try to find some new anime I might be interested in), but I just want to say THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THE NEW ROZEN MAIDEN SERIES, otherwise I would have never known about it. Now I’m SO excited. 😀

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  28. Free is fucking hilarious and I’m watching it just to piss off the male otaku who abhor the series just for it existing.

    Dangan Ronpa could be good or bad, the director is so hit or miss for me but I liked what I saw from the original game.

    Neptuia is dumb but as long as David Productions uses the profits from the project to make a Jojo Part 3 anime I’m ok with it.

    Gatchaman and Silver Spoon look cool. I would check out Rozen Maiden but I haven’t seen the first season and there’s already so much on my backlog D:.

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    1. Oh and Ghost in the Shell Arise is a definite watch for me since I enjoyed the hell out of GITS: SAC.

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  29. @Starry:I think we’re forgetting david production tends to surprise, taking risky or poor premises and making them work, who’d have thought bentou would have turned out as good as it did?
    With you there on free.

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  30. Oh my…Silver Spoon is getting animated? Now I remember the beginning being annoying as HELL and I can just imagine the directing ruining it, but it has quickly become one of my favorite manga in current serialization. Genshiken and Tamayura are also very exciting to me.

    I’m actually quite pleased that Free! is getting animated. I hope it’s as gorgeous as the trailer in animation.

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  31. Yup, this really looks better than Spring Season.

    Really interested in Free!, new Monogatari, Silver Spoon, Hal, Miyazaki new movie, Blood Lad, Gatchaman Crowds, Uchoten Kazoku and Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi.

    KimiMachi gives me the feeling that the internet rage will be more interesting than the show itself.

    Also, I need to catch up with Genshiken so I can watch this new season.

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  32. Psgels, I think you’re underestimating Watamote (Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!). This is one is way darker than your typical high school “comedy”. Actually it’s not really a comedy at all. I would go so far as to call this a grim/dark show. If the production team does the manga justice, I think it could be the best show of the summer.

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  33. Hmm… Aren’t you forgeting about “Captain Harlock” movie? It’ll be out Sept. 7th… It’s still summer ^^

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  34. Thanks for putting together this preview, psgels! I’ll almost certainly be watching Rozen Maiden, Tamayura, Uchouten Kazoku, and Kin-Iro Mosaic and most likely also Monogatari (if animation quality is as good as Nisemonogatari, at least!) and Stella Women’s (if anything like promo art). Silver Spoon might be entertaining, as well. Apart from that I didn’t find that many promising new series.

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  35. Sports anime can be kind of a hit or miss thing with me. If there’s a hint of shonen-ai I’m out. Not really interested in that type of fanservice. I just want good characters and an amusing storyline. I think the last sports anime I really got into was Eyeshield 21. XD

    Ro Kyu Bu SS actually scares me a little. The lolicon look kinda disturbs me.

    Makai Ouji does look pretty, but I’m not really sure if it’s worth pursuing. The plot sounds somewhat generic.

    Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi sounds rather dark and intriguing, though I’m a little wary of the character designs. Still it could be great. I love the concept of a world with immortality and how much suffering that might bring. (or not bring)

    I’m actually most looking forward to Servant x Service and Blood Lad. Of all the series you listed, Servant caught my eye just because I would like to watch a show about working adults with comedy. I still enjoy series around high school students but I must admit it feels almost as if one is in a time warp: watching too many of them feels as though one is forced to relive teenagery drama over and over again.

    Blood Lad sounded familiar so I watched the trailer. It looks like it could be amusing so I’ll definitely check out the first episode at least. It looks like it could have the right amount of eccentricity and humor to suit my interests. ^.^

    Wanted to end this post on a high note but….ugh sorry. I hated Full metal alchemist and I really don’t like the premise of Silver Spoon. I’ve heard of schools that have that kind of curriculum and while it sounds all good and cozy I just…no. I kind of hate series like this. It isn’t boring it just sort of disgusts me. Things like oh, look how much more I appreciate life now because of the simple things, blah blah. Yuck. Yes I am appreciative of these things in real life. No I do not want to watch anime revolving around it. Just sounds preachy to me. FMA also struck me as being overly preachy. Anyway I’m done ranting. lol

    Gatchaman looks like it could be great, not sure though. I’m always craving a good action anime though.

    The movies and ova’s sound pretty good too.

    I really loved the first Genshiken series it was soooo funny. I just loved how awkward the characters were I could really relate and sympathize with them. It was light and cute and super funny. It was very much pro-otaku culture even if it’s mostly based on those in Japan, often skimming over or toning down the not so great aspects of this sub-culture. Still, I feel really iffy about this new series. I mean I’ve read almost all of the manga and I enjoyed most of it generally speaking, but after madarame and some of the others left I kind of lost interest. I didn’t really care for some of the new female characters and I felt like the series should have ended sooner than it did. Still this could be fun, though I’m worried about them replacing so many of the old cast members.

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