I am well aware I am quite late on this preview. Call it laziness or general procrastination but I wasn’t in much of a mood to blog this past while. I just have been lacking energy lately. Likely due to to the stent still inside my body and the nearing of the Christmas holidays. But enough of that. This isn’t what you are here for.
This season looks difficult to gauge before the series get rolling but I got three favorite’s that could make the season. Other than those we have some series that could be potentially enjoyable and the usual old pandering lineup of terrible anime. I have checked out all the source material I could and had a look at staffs previous works but I must admit that I had difficulty writing these this time as I don’t have strong opinions on a lot of these series. As usual, strawpoll is below. I have picked Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi and Schwarzesmarken to cover. Boku because it will give me a lot to talk about and Schwarzesmarken because I am a fan of the Muv Luv series. Be it good or bad, I want to write about it. The third choice for me to blog is yours. This time however you have multiple votes, feel free to make use of them.
First the sequels. As usual, if you liked the previous season then by all means continue. The last thing I would like to address is that I know the images are different for this preview compared to the last one but believe me when I say doing it this way saves me two to three hours of tedious work. And no, that is not an exaggeration.
The sequels/prequels I don’t care about
Assassination Classroom 2nd Season
Mahou Tsukai Precure (Mage Precure)
Osomatsu-san 2
Snow White with the Red Hair 2 (Akagami no Shirayukihime 2)
Fairy Tail Zero
Series I don’t look forward to
Active Raid -Kidou Kyoushuushitsu Dai-Hakkei- (Active Raid -Mobile Assault Division, Unit 😎
An original anime set in a part of Tokyo that has descended into a quagmire, the story follows Unit 8 of the 5th Special Public Security Section’s 3rd Mobile Assault Division — popularly called “The Eighth” — who don powered armor “Willware” exoskeletons to counter the rise in crime.
An original anime so no sources to get an idea of what we are in for. The Chief Director has some standouts under his belt with Planetes, Infinite Ryvius and Code Geass. The music composer worked some of the same titles. From the same studio that brought us such greats as…Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha, Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu and a Date a live movie. That’s not a good sign. Twintail may have been a guilty pleasure for a few episodes and Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha seems like it was alright but this really doesn’t hold much hope with a premise that’s been done too much. There’s already a sequel planned so they got high hopes but I don’t see this being anything worthwhile.
Ao No Kanata Four Rhythm
The story is set on an archipelago of four islands far south of Japan or even the South Seas. It is all but a different world from modern Japan. From the discovery of anti-gravitons came the dream invention of anti-graviton shoes that let people fly the skies. They introduce people to a new realm by enabling flight with just one’s own body strength, without feathers or engines. This led to the rise of the sport of “Flying Circus”. The protagonist who once hoped for a future in this sport suffered a setback due to an overwhelming defeat, and withdrew from the sport for this and some other reason. However, he met the transfer student Asuka Kurashina, and in teaching her to fly the skies, the old passion returned. He takes part in the Flying Circus again.
So it’s a school slice of life anime with the only difference being that there are devices that allow people to fly. Other than that it really does look like something we have gotten many times before. Visual novels tend to have a slow start and it is possible seeing as the Promo is mainly scenes taken from the first episode that there wasn’t anything exciting to work with. But as with many slice of life Visual novels I don’t find myself invested because what it’s building up to just sounds so mundane.Admittedly one cannot really say what this will be like till it airs and the staff seem competent enough. Though current Gonzo’s quality of anime is quite shaky. The main reason I don’t look forward to this is that even if it’s done well I feel it will only end up another fairly forgettable anime in a genre that the medium is overcrowded with.
Divine Gate
When the Divine Gate opened, the living world, the heavens, and the underworld became connected, ushering an era of chaos where desires and conflict intersect. To restore order, the World Council is formed. As peace is restored, the Divine Gate becomes an urban legend. In that world, boys and girls deemed fit by the World Council are gathered. They are ones who aim to reach the gate for their personal objectives. Those who reach the gate can remake the world. What lies beyond the gate? When they reach the door, will the world change? Will it be the past that changes, or will it be the future?
Video game adaptations are something in anime or in any medium that has rarely turn out well. Hardly surprising as the games stories were never constructed to stand on their own. Unlike Manga and light novels, a video game adaption demands that you removed one of the primary factors of the original source and replace it with something that’s equally as engaging. However what if the game itself was a blank slate? Divine Gate is a match three Andriod app game that looks to be similar to Kantai collection in terms of story presentation. Meaning there is none. Of course this is mainly conjecture as Japan has not seen fit to grace the european Android app store with the game. It may have the Director behind Yu Yu Hakusho and GTO but I can’t see this being all that good.
Durararax2 Ketsu
The third part of Durarara!!x2.
Here comes my primary reason why I am glad Baccano never got a second season. If there’s a primary example of too much of a good thing then Durarara is it. Three seasons is more than any show gets and yet it feels with all its time Durarara hasn’t made any use of it. Instead these past two seasons it felt like more characters were getting added to an already huge cast and yet nothing was really done with them. Stuff has happened yes but more or less all of it has felt inconsequential. It’s fun but you can’t help but feel that this could be something more and that isn’t helped by the show alluding to future events presenting just that. But at the end of every arc everything is tied up without much repercussions or meaning and we are left with a teaser that next time it will be better. That trick won’t work anymore Durarara, so at least present some finality to this last season. For it would be a shame for this series the gain three seasons and yet end as inconclusive as the first.
Koukaku no Pandora
In an age when large-scale natural disasters frequently happen all over the world, when cyborgs and autonomous robots are beginning to appear on the market in technologically advanced nations, and major world powers compete for technology and resources, the divide between rich and poor grows and the future for the poor looks bleak. In this transitional stage, everyone wanders around in a self-indulgent daze and the way out isn’t clear… This is the story of how two cybernetically enhanced girls meet.
That Synopsis sure makes this sound like a cyberpunk adventure but I recommend to temper your expectations. For you see there are no ghosts in the shell here, what we have here looks more to be this seasons Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid. Why? Well the female robot main character powers up by…um…let’s phrase it as “Poking around downstairs” with another female robot. Seriously that’s literally what she does and there’s also a girl in a bunny suit for reasons.
Hai To Gensou No Grimgar (Grimgar of Ash and Fantasy)
Living, isn’t easy.
When Haruhito awakens, he’s in the dark.
He doesn’t know where he is, why is he here, and where he came from.
Around him there are several men and women who have the same circumstances.
Together, they advance forward away from the darkness, and a world they’ve never seen before called “Grimgar” spreads out before them.
Memories, money, special powers — This is the reality we who have none of those things have obtained.
Sometimes an anime can have an annoying character. Maybe even two annoying characters. But this may be the first were the large majority of the cast is downright annoying. The comedy of this series has the style of “Shout till it’s funny”. And we have the traditional boy runs in on girls changing/naked trope, marvellous. The story itself is basically a bunch of misfits coming together as a RPG party. They are the ones left behind after someone else took all the strong people so the weakest links have to come together and get stronger. There are twists and turns but the big problem remains, the characters are either annoying or boring.
Haru Chika Haruta to Chika Wa Seishun Suru
Anime adaptation of the Haruchika Series novels by Sei Hatsuno which revolve around two high school students named Haruta and Chika, who are members of a wind instrument club that is on the verge of being shut down. The two are childhood friends, and they spend their days practicing hard while also trying to recruit new members. When a certain incident happens within their school, they work together to solve it.
It’s PA Works doing a school slice of life show so it’s business as usual then. Only difference here is that Okada isn’t writing this one. It’s based on a series of novels but the premise sounds like something we have gonna for quite a while. In fact I believe PA Works already did this premise and it was called Tari Tari. Ah but this is for the wind Instrument club instead of the Choir club, yep completely different. For me Slice of Life kills my interest nearly as fast as the words “Average Highschool Student” in a synopsis does.
Kono Subarashi Sekai Ni Shukufuku Wo (Gifting the Wonderful World with Blessings!)
The popular “alternate world home comedy” centers around Kazuma Satō, a hikikomori (shut-in) die-hard fan of games, anime, and manga. A traffic accident brings his disappointingly brief life to an end … or it should have, but he wakes up and sees a beautiful girl who introduces herself as a goddess. “Hey, I have some good news — would you like to go to an alternate world? You may only bring one thing you like with you.” He responds, “…So, I’ll bring you.” With that, he is transported to another world and his great adventure subjugating the demon king begins … but first the hard work of finding food, clothing, and shelter begins. Kazuma wants to live in peace, but the goddess raises one problem after another, and then the demon king’s army has its eyes set on him.
The joke is an average guy gets thrown into an RPG world and teams up with a party of misfits. A petty goddess who dragged him there, a chuunibyou who can only use explosion magic and a Masochistic female knight are the one note jokes we consider characters. Comedy is the main focus here and as I said many times before, that isn’t something I generally enjoy in anime. As a story it’s alright I suppose. It’s possible some people might find it funny but I for one find the jokes to be too predictable. Well there are some pretty good jokes involving a General of the demon king’s army but that’s about it. It might work as something light to watch but this isn’t going to be one you are going to remember or hold highly.
Luck And Logic
In L.C. 922, people faced a sudden crisis.
In Tetra Heaven, the land of legend, a hundred years of war had come to a close. The gods who lost the war searched for a new place to live, and found it in Septpia, the human world, which they proceeded to attack. The Logicalists attached to ALCA, a special police agency whose duty it was to protect cities from assaults by foreigners (angels), were compelled to act in defense of cities, whether they wished to or not. And depending on their ability, Logicalists could initiate trance with goddesses from the other world, and stand a fighting chance on the battlefield. A civilian named Yoshichika Tsurugi, who lacked “Logic” and lived happily with his family, was caught up in an attack, and took shelter along with many people. He meets a beautiful goddess named Athena. In her hands, she had the “Logic” that Yoshichika lacked. Now both Yoshichika and Athena head to their destiny.
Promoting an anime and a trading card game, we have Luck and Logic, a title that just makes me feel nothing. Not excited nor disappointed, just apathetic. But just why is that? I suppose for one the promo had fairly grandiose music to go along with some truly dull visuals. Two because the synopsis has the pretty standard “Boy meets girl” begining than many anime do. Third and most important of all, I just don’t see any potential in this. The animation studio is 50/50 with their portfolio featuring anime of pretty good status(Saikano, Natsuyuki Rendezvous) and pretty bad.(GJ-bu, 11eyes) The director has Last exile and full metal panic under his belt but even if this show had a top of the line staff, I doubt it would be anything other than a fairly bland anime. The main point of this series is to promote the card game so it’s going to be aiming for the target audience hard, and you can already see that from the female character designs in the promo. I would like to be proven otherwise but I highly doubt I will be.
Mahou Shoujo Nante Mou Ii Desu Kara (I’ve Had Enough of Being a Magical Girl)
Yuzuka Hanami is a young girl who has few friends but who can do anything. One day, Yuzuka gets accosted by a strange creature named Miton who is digging through a trash dump. Miton tells Yuzuka, “you have the makings of a magical girl” and seems extremely suspicious. When Yuzuka is suddenly transformed into a magical girl, she’s wearing a bathing suit.
It’s been done. Magical girl parodies are nothing new but what truly is a problem with them is that they rarely deconstruct or truly mock the genre. More often than not it’s just a matter of placing a character in the situation and reminding the audience that they are not suited for it. So it’s the same old jokes, the magical outfit is embarrassing and the mascot is suspicious. Admittedly the first four small chapters aren’t a great gauge of what this show has to offer but I highly doubt there are any surprises.
Myriad Colors Phantom World
The story takes place in the near future, in a world born of human imagination. What humans would call ghosts or monsters appear, and they come to be called “phantoms.” The main character, Haruhiko Ichijo, is a first year at Hosea Academy along with his upperclassman Mai Kawakami, who fights phantoms with the ability “Spirit of Five Elements,” Izumi Reina, who has the ability “Phantom Eater,” and Koito Minase, who fights phantoms in solitude. They experience the ups and downs of high school life before a certain incident leads them to the truth of this world.
There was a time when I longed for KyoAni to move away from the packaged Moe fluff they are fond of making. Well now it seems that they have begun to do so. They have moved away from slice of life Moe fluff and gone into highly stereotypical Chunni anime. (AKA average supernatural harem battle fantasy plot) Well that’s like taking your hand off a hot stove and sticking it in a furnace. It’s hard to really blame them as it’s profitable but when I think of all those talented animators on making girls move as cutely as possible then my heart weeps. So that’s the deal, it will look pretty but what you are getting is the usual pandering fair. However that’s mainly based on assumption as I can’t get a hold of the Light novel. Regardless I think it would get the same treatment of adaption as Chuunibyou did.(Namely using the light novel as a guideline but going mainly anime original.)
Norn9: Norn + Nonet
The story takes place a little in the future. Guided by one particular song, young elementary school student Suzuhara Sorata, from the Heisei Era, is warped through a time skip to an unfamiliar place that looks much like the towns from the Meiji or Taishou period from his textbooks. In this world, he meets three young ladies and nine young men and joins them on a journey aboard the mysterious Norn ship, a giant globe that floats in midair. Otomate made the announcement at the “Norn9 with Ark & for Spica” event at Tokyo’s Nakano Sun Plaza on 2nd March 2014.
I wonder if that title has actual meaning or if the creators decided to throw some letter magnets at a fridge and pick the title out of whatever resembled a word. The original source Visual novel is a Otome game.(A visual novel mainly aimed at targeting a female audience) I would like to throw this in the same bin I would put Amnesia and Dramatical murder. But Naturally it’s best to give things a fair chance. So I went and read the first 6 chapters of the manga adaptions and then chucked it in that bin without any hesitation. The protagonist is a bland girl whose blandness is so great that she herself forgets her own name. In the 6 chapters I read mainly featured her and some guy who sees something to desire in that bland gelatinous mass that calls itself a girl. There is some underlying tone that some dark game is afoot but it’s not really clear whats at stake or even what the setting is. They say it;s a spaceship but it’s interior doesn’t resemble one in the slightest.The characters also happen to have powers and our little protag is ever so ashamed of being able to shoot fire out of her hands. Boo hoo, the rest of us have to make due with flamethrowers. It may be perhaps my hatred of Shoujo stopping me from enjoying this but I did find myself skimming the pages before long.
Nurse Witch Komugichan R
Komugi Yoshida is a somewhat clumsy second-year middle-school student whose strong point is her spiritedness. She performs as an idol like Kokona Saionji (her classmate and close friend) and Tsukasa Kisaragi (an idol who dresses in male clothing). However, unlike Kokona whose popularity is skyrocketing and Tsukasa with her charisma in male attire, Komugi’s only gigs are low-end ones like those at the local shopping district. Still, Komugi has her “dream” as she lives her dual lives as a idol and a middle school girl. One day, a mysterious injured creature named Usa-P appears before Komugi. Komugi gives Usa-P medical treatment, and Usa-P, in consideration of Komugi’s kindness, asks if she wants to be a Legendary Girl who can use magical powers.Having become a reluctant Legendary Girl, Komugi battles strange masked figures who suddenly appear! As a newly deemed Magical Nurse, she fights still more waves of masked figures. Meanwhile, a Magical Maid, a Magical Sister, and more also appear to make it a three-way battle!? Can Komugi handle the three roles of middle school girl, idol, and Magical Nurse? And, what lies ahead in these battles and her “dream” …!?
I would love for this to be one of those grimdark anime hidden under a cutesy exterior mainly because of my fascination with the destruction of optimistic happy go lucky individuals and general dislike of Mahou Shoujo tropes in general. But this looks to be legitimate standard Mahou Shoujo which I feel died out for a reason. I may find Sailor Moon to be a guilty pleasure in its camp glory but otherwise I find Mahou Shoujo to be too formulaic for my liking. In this regard the show looks far more silly than usual with Maids and Bunny girls.
Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation
The Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation series will have a completely original story, and the story will take place on Earth in the near future.
A video game adaption. Those words alone give reason for caution. The thing however that really bugs me about this is that from my knowledge the game is a fantasy MMO. Yet for some reason the anime has stuck in a school setting. They just can’t get away from that school setting can they? You could have made it a straight up sci-fi anime, you could have gone the .Hack//Sign route and focused on MMO relations like .Hack//sign, you could have even gone the route of SAO and had people trapped in an MMO. But nope, let’s go with the more done to death and boring setup possible. The animation studio hasn’t done anything that catches my attention and the director has mainly harem anime for experience. This also happens to be the second anime he is directing this season with him directing the above Nurse Witch Komugichan R as well. This looks to be nothing special.
Reikenzan Hoshikuzu-tachi no Utage
Since its founding in the year 4233 of the Nine Provinces calendar, the spirit sword clan has been producing first-class martial arts talent. Two thousand years later, the clan, which adheres to the principles of peace and spiritual development, seeks to find new disciples by holding a grand tournament. One of these candidates is 12-year-old Wang Lu.
Studio Deen, I don’t hate you. You never quite had the animation chops but you always tended to pick the unconventional choices. I don’t even hate you for the Fate/Stay Night adaptation. But looming at the director this doesn’t bode well. However quite honestly that’s all I got. This anime has nothing on it, only thing I can really gather is that it’s based on a novel and well that’s about it. No Promo, no noteable staff, nothing. Main reason for it’s position here is just that it doesn’t interest me and it sounds like pretty standard shounen. This looks to be one that will need to be judged on its first episodes.
Shoujotachi Wa Kouya O Mezasu
In the story, Buntarou is a student who wants to be something, but doesn’t know what. One day his female classmate Sayuki announces she is working on a bishoujo game. Sayuki scouted him because he wrote a good script for drama club, but Buntarou doesn’t know anything about bishoujo games.
Promotional videos truly are worthless to judge just what a series is about. So in looking into this title I find out it’s a pretty new Visual novel released two months ago. What I also found out was that the team behind this is also behind another rather noteworthy visual novel, Cross+Channel. Personally I didn’t like Cross+Channel all that much as my interest in it’s story was more to do with the supernatural phenomena which the plot tried its darndest to stay away from to focus on more obtuse comedy and slice of life hijinks. So here we have a title that’s likely going to ditch that entirely and focus on hijinks. Oh joy. What will make or break this series is just how in depth it will go into the process of making “Gal Games” The director has Steins Gate and pretty much the rest of his resume is bad anime. The animation studio does not fare better as it has nothing of worthy notice. Just some truly terrible anime such as Gunslinger Stratos. This doesn’t look promising.
Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
The story of the light novel series revolves around Lux, a former prince of an empire named Arcadia that was overthrown via a rebellion five years earlier. Lux accidentally trespasses in a female dormitory’s bathing area, sees the kingdom’s new princess Lisesharte naked, and incurs her wrath. Lisesharte then challenges Lux to a Drag-Ride duel. Drag-Rides are ancient armored mechanical weapons that have been excavated from ruins all around the world. Lux used to be called the strongest Drag-Knight, but now he’s known as the “undefeated weakest” Drag-Knight because he will absolutely not attack in battle. After his duel with Lisesharte, Lux ends up attending the female-only academy that trains royals to be Drag-Knights.
It’s trash…if only you could let me just leave it with that. Very well, let me elaborate. It’s Danmachi mixed with Chivalry of a failed knight and sprinkled with some Infinite Stratos. With the lack of ambition that all three possess. There’s not a single thing here you haven’t seen before and it’s easy to tell right from the start seeing as it begins with the protagonist accidentally falling into a woman’s bath. It’s the obligatory harem action story that required every season for some reason. If you want something mindless it might fill void but otherwise this isn’t recommended.
Series I am middling on
Dagashi Kashi (Cheap Sweets Candy)
Shikada Kokonotsu’s father owns a rural sweets shop, and his plan is for Kokonotsu to take it over one day. However, Kokonotsu wants to be a manga author instead! One day in summer, the cute but weird girl Shidare Hotaru, from the famous sweets company, comes to pay a visit. Apparently, Kokonotsu’s father is famous and she wants him to join her family’s company. However, he will only agree if she can convince Kokonotsu to take over the family business!
This has less to do with manga and more a show that focuses on jokes around Japanese sweets. Seeing as I know next to nothing about Japanese confectionery I find it fascinating on that front. The lead female is heavily eccentric, often being as overall theatrical as possible, even if all she’s doing is eating a pocky. The male lead often just plays straight man with his father and this girls eccentricity. The plot mainly involves the girl getting excited about some Japanese sweet and trying to explain its greatness to the main. Naturally hijinks ensue. I might not get Japanese comedy but I found it enjoyable to read. My only issue is that like most comedies, it doesn’t like like it will go anywhere further than this. It even has “that side character who’s in love with the MC but whose affection is constantly never noticed” thing that resides in most of these kinds of comedies.
Dimension W
In the year 2071, the world’s energy problems seem solved by a network of cross-dimensional electric-field inductors- “coils” -that extract energy from a seemingly infinite source. That source is the W dimension, a fourth plane that exists beyond the X, Y, and Z dimensions. In this world, unofficial “illegal” coils harness powers that the police can’t hope to counter. Dealing with these coils is the job of coil-hating repo man Kyoma, whose run-in with the unique coil android Mira leads the two to form a reluctant partnership.
This is one of those titles that I am not really sure what to make of it. What I read of the manga certainly wasn’t bad but it didn’t quite catch my interest. I think it’s just a matter of it not being to my tastes but I believe this could being interesting to others. The setting is good and I see no high schools in sight. The promotional material might suggest there would be more focus on car chases but that really isn’t the case. Our main character is a fairly amoral repo man who uses steel needles as weapons and our female lead is a very humanlike android. It’s difficult to make a comparison but I suppose it’s like a much more serious Outlaw star? I find that if this is done well it would be a good anime to watch and there is potential for it to delve deeper into a more complex story
Prince Of Stride Alternative
The series revolves around a closed-down “Stride” club at Hounan Academy. First-year high school students Takeru Fujiwara and Nana Sakurai attempt to restart the club, but they must recruit six members for the team. They ask Riku Yagami to join, but he turns them down by saying that Stride is the one thing he doesn’t want to do. However, Takeru and Nana drag Riku into the clubroom to try to convince him.
Change “Prince of Stride” to “Muv Luv” and I would be so much more invested. First things first, the sport you are doing is not called “Stride”, it’s called Freerunning. This is another Otome Game adaptation but with madhouse behind it I say it’s not going to be a bargain bin Otome series. The promo shows off some pretty good animation and seems to say that the focus will be on the running itself and not on romantic pretty boys chatting up some girl which is just some self insert plank. There are no manga or other translated adaptations for to get a better idea on the story. We have the director of Sakurasou and No Game no Life behind this one so I think it should be a decent watch. I will give it the benefit of the doubt for Madhouse and the FreeRunning aspect.
Bubuki Buranki
When Azuma Ikki returns to Japan after 10 years, he gets assaulted by a group of armed men and becomes their prisoner. Kogane Asabuki, a childhood friend, saves him with a weapon on her right hand known as Bubuki; a weapon with its own mind. Azuma Ikki, who is a Bubuki user himself, learns about the existence of Bubuki and goes on a journey alongside the companions he has found, in an attempt to find and revive Oumai, a Buranki (titan) who sleeps underground.
Hoo boy, that 3D CGI uncanny valley. Japan can make great 3D animation but as long as they keep down the frame limit on TV anime this kind of animation will never look quite right.Still Sidonia has proven that even with shaky animation you can present a pretty entertaining story and before you ask, no, this is not by the same people who did Sidonia. Actually these people did Black Rock Shooter which isn’t very promising. One thing I can say is that the music in the trailer was quite good. The music composer has some questionable choices in his portfolio(Namely the large number of Queens blade OVAs.) but his work with Gundam Orphans makes me think that this guy could become a major talent.As for the story it at least looks somewhat interesting, the trailer has some good action and the synopsis sounds like it has good story potential.
Series I do look forward to
Ajin
For high schooler Kei—and for at least forty-six others—immortality comes as the nastiest surprise ever. Sadly for Kei, such a feat doesn’t make him a superhero. In the eyes of both the general public and governments, he’s a rare specimen who needs to be hunted down and handed over to scientists to be experimented on for life—a demi-human who must die a thousand deaths for the benefit of humanity.
The easiest comparison here would be Tokyo Ghoul but while Ajin does have some similarities, it has a different tone. For one Ajin are rarer and are essentially treated as not human. There is definite racism subtext as Ajin are heavily discriminated against and sold out to the authorities to become live lab rats. Personally I would consider this better than Tokyo Ghoul as it handles the matter of alienation that it had in the beginning but abandoned for Shounen battles. There is also the nature that Ajin are powerful but not unbeatable. It’s certainly matches Tokyo Ghoul in gore level, maybe even surpasses it. Despite the promo image, this is a CGI anime by the same Makers of Knights of Sidonia. So getting used to that will be the first thing when watching this. Still like Sidonia I believe the story will help us get over that matter. The main character is hard to get a good read on, he seems to be cold, apathetic and calculating but it difficult to narrow him down.
Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi (The Town Where Only I am Missing)
Satoru Fujinuma is a young manga artist struggling to make a name for himself following his debut. But, that was not the only thing in his life that Satoru was feeling frustrated about…he was also living with a strange condition only he was able to experience.
╼ REVIVAL
A strange phenomenon where one is transferred back to the moment right before something life-threatening occurs. This continues to happen until the cause of the threat is erased. It is as if somebody is forcing Satoru to stop it from happening. Then one day, everything is changed!What truths are revealed when Satoru comes face to face with his own past?
How will they affect his future?
This starts off rather episodic with points were a mangaka repeats a period of a few seconds and has to find out what’s wrong. It’s a bit like spot the difference, except that you stop someone from getting killed and are doomed to repeat the same moment over and over again till you do. However this quickly is put aside for a ongoing plot involving time travel and a serial killer. The idea is fairly unique by anime season standards and should prove to be an interesting watch. This is likely to be a standout of the season.
Gate second season
The second season of the Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri anime which will cover the Fire Dragon Arc.
There’s still a dragon to kill and I am on board. The first season of Gate was an enjoyable show which boasted the superiority of firearms against magic and fantasy. I still want to see more middle ages folk get utterly flabbergasted at modern technology and just where this all is leading. I would like to see characters improve as there were weaknesses with characterisation in the previous season. I also hope this avoids the usual problem with second seasons, which is to focus on building up a conflict that would be later shown in a potentially non existent third season.
Muv-Luv Schwarzesmarken
The events in Schwarzesmarken take place in 1983, the East German Army 666th TSF Squadron “Schwarzesmarken” (Black Marks) are a special-forces unit tasked with assaulting BETA forces through unconventional tactics; specifically, they target Lux and Magnus Lux to deny the BETA the advantage of ranged firepower. Their orders are given the topmost priority, such that it is common practice for the 666th to ignore allied distress calls that will result in deviation from their original mission, even if only for a short moment.
The 666th Squadron mostly operates MiG-21s, with their squadron commander Irisdena Bernhard piloting an MiG-21PF.
About two months ago a kickstarter campaign was put up to bring a famous visual novel trilogy to the west. It ended up raising $1,255,444, over 5 times its initial goal and is currently the only visual novel Kickstarter to raise so much. Even your truly gave $320, the most I ever gave to a kickstarter. That trilogy was Muv Luv. Yet despite its fairly high profile status it has never gotten an anime adaption, instead having spin-off works animated. Those being the fairly lacklustre Muv Luv total eclipse and now this. Let me relieve some people by letting you know that this show won’t have beach arcs and bundles of fanservice. In fact from what I read of the first novel this seems more in tone with Total Eclipses first two episodes. What we have here is a grimdark Mecha anime set in Germany which has adopted a Orwellian inspired totalitarian society and is at war with Alien beings known as BETA which have overrun most of the world. As a concept, it has barrels of potential but I am not overly hopeful. Put simply, from what I read in the Light novel this will be a hard story for even the most prolific studios to adapt so it being in the hands of the studio that adapted Yamada and the seven witch’s really is a bad sign. They certainly don’t have the budget to animate BETA battles. Another issue is that this story makes no effort to clue the reader in about the setting. To those who know nothing about Muv Luv, this will likely have you clueless to just what is going on. To top it off the main character is really unlikable, he’s almost constantly pissed off and has a angst ridden past. In terms of presentation the biggest hurdle is that they don’t overblow the angst, because there is a lot of it. Even the LN does not necessarily avoid blowing the drama out of proportion and I feel like it’s trying too hard to be dark. However if they somehow manage to pull it off then this will be one of the most unique shows of the season. For one there isn’t a single Japanese person in the cast. All of them are from east or west Germany.(Germany is split between east and west and both sides hate each other with a vengeance.) The promo video looks very promising but while I know it’s necessary, it would have been nice if the TSFs were not CGI animated.
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
The first story revolves around a mature prisoner who was released on good behavior during Japan’s Showa Genroku era (1960s to early 1970s). He is called Yotarou by others, a term that means an “anti-hero” or a “dim-witted man.” When he returns to society, he starts a new life in rakugo (comic storytelling). Touched by Yakumo’s role as the “grim reaper,” he asks the master to take him in as an apprentice.
Now we are talking Deen. This is what I like about you. You do the unconventional choices. No school setting, cast made up of primarily adults and not a dash of Moe anywhere. My research into this one primarily is is based on the OVA released earlier this year. It wasn’t subbed and sadly my Japanese isn’t up to par to understand exactly what the characters were saying but it did give me a good idea on just what this is about. What we are looking at here is a mainly character driven drama that revolves around rakugo. Personally I find it fascinating as this is the first time I have heard of it and on that alone I think this show might be worth checking out. The director did mainly recent studio Deen shows with Sankarea and Rozen Maiden(2013) in his resume. My main concern with this one is that Studio Deens other show this season might take up more of the animation budget leaving this with less to work with. Hopefully that isn’t the case.
What about Bungou Stray Dogs? Never read the manga, but I’ve seen people recommending it.
The Bungou Stray Dogs anime adaption is listed for Spring next year.
There may or may not be ghosts in Pandora, but apparently the manga is based on a story concept from Masamune Shirow, so it may have a bit more depth to it than meets the eye…
Komugi-chan is a spin off from SoulTaker (1990) and previous instalments were parody all the way (and fairly lewd)
Be interesting to see if this is a reboot or continuation
@AidanAK47 what about assassination classroom? did you enjoyed it enough to watch the second season?
I stopped watching it for no real reason. It read the manga up to date so I know everything that happens. I plan on checking it out later when I have more time on my hands. But who knows when that will be, I got a lot of stuff to get through. My current time sink is Xenoblade Chronicles X and that’s to blame for my lack of updates recently. It’s so addictive…and a damn great game.
Late post here but that Hai To Gensou No Grimgar post was completely wrong!
….in your opinion.
This was based on a first impression of the source material but I still stand by it.