Back in 2008, I started a little experiment: what if I were to avoid all kinds of promotional material before the start of a season. Would that be better for my expectations of each individual season? The answer to that is: No. Sure, I got no expectations of the majority of the anime that aired, but in the end I just could not avoid the titles of each new series, so I found myself creating expectations and stereotypes, based on these titles anyway. Especially for the more hyped series, it was just impossible to avoid information about them. And overall, I didn’t really end up enjoying these anime I had no expectations about better than if I would have prepared myself and wrote a preview like I usually did.
So here you go: you can expect a seasonal preview out of me again, about a month and a half before the start of each season, depending on how much time I have. I’ll update this post as soon as more information or series get announced. But first, here are a bunch of statistics:
In total, according to Moonphase, 31 television anime are about to air, 26 of which are not kiddie shows. There are 2 superhero series, 3 sports series, 9 are based on historical sources in one way or another. 12 shows were very obviously moe at first sight, while 7 were at first sight very obviously trying to reel in viewers with hot guys. Mecha and horror are nearly completely absent. At first glance (with some shows I had to guess in this), the age distribution shows 7 shows that focus on pre-highschool characters (subtracting the five kiddie shows, that just means two), 14 shows of high school characters, 9 anime about adults, plus Hetalia, of which I have no idea how old these characters are supposed to be.
There’s a huge amount of sequels: 10 of them, that’s one third of all shows airing. The busiest anime studios are A-1 Pictures and Studio Deen with both three series. Production IG, Bones and Sunrise are surprisingly absent with only one minor entry each, and Gonzo seems to have disappeared completely.
For a spring season, there isn’t a lot of series. However, there are a number of great sounding series and there are also quite a few series that either have a bad premise and a good staff, or a good premise and a bad staff, which really can go anywhere. All that’s left is to hope that as many as possible will get a 24 episode schedule allocated.
Mayoi Neko Overrun
Summary: The story revolves around Takumi Tsuzuki, a boy who lives with his older “sister” Otome, although the two have no blood ties between them. Otome manages a run-down confectionery store called Stray Cats. One day, Otome picks up a mysterious beautiful girl off the streets. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Um, the original creator, Tomohiro Matsu, will be working on the series composition so it’ll be faithful to its manga.
Why you should not look forward to it: Oh god. I’m amazed at how many overused stereotypes you can show, just with one picture. I’ll be frank here: the premise for this show sounds abysmal. A guy picking up a catgirl… it’s just another pointless variation of the umpth bishoujo series. And he lives together with his older sister who isn’t related by blood? Oh please. Stop trying to be subtle when hundreds of other series have already done that before.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Kiss Sis
Summary: Keita has two older step-sisters, Ako and Riko, but since they aren’t related by blood, they love him in a lustful way. After a mishap at school, Ako and Riko finally confess their love to him. Keita dislikes the thought of seeing them other then brother and sister, but as he tries to enter the same school as his sisters, he slowly becomes attracted to them. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: If you’re looking for porn then this show has a lot to offer.
Why you should not look forward to it: Oh, where to start? Shallow premise, just an excuse for porn, Munenori Nawa, the director has made more of these cheap shounen romances,and the same goes even more for the person behind the series composition, Katsumi Hasegawa.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Bakugan Battle Brawlers – New Vestroya
Summary: Drago returns to Earth with a new ally named Mira. The five original Bakugan that helped restore order to New Vestroia have been captured, Drago is now being targeted, and a group of humans known as the Vexos are taking over New Vestroia. With the help of Dan and the Battle Brawlers though, Drago believes he will have enough power to not only free New Vestroia but his friends as well. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: If you like mindless and stupid action, I guess.
Why you should not look forward to it: It’s just another toy commercial, going into its third season. A few years ago I caught its first episode, and nothing really set it apart from other silly shounen series.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Ikkitousen Xtreme Xecutor
Summary: It is Hakufu’s ambition to fight against new opponents from all over the world. To pay for the travelling expenses — to be able to visit these tournaments — she got a job, to earn enough money to make her dream come true. Little did Hakufu expect that new allies and enemies would detract from her goal. Or that she might even be considered a weak leader in the eyes of her companions. To top it off a sister suddenly appears, making it painfully obvious to Hakufu that she does not really know much about her mother’s past. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: Um… boobs? Some staff changes?
Why you should not look forward to it: Seriously… did this thing really need this many sequels? I can guess that porn with shallow action and silly humour can be entertaining enough for one season, but after this we’re at 50 episodes of the same mindless fluff. Also, what kind of idiot found it a good idea to air this show at ten o’clock? IN THE MORNING?!
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Shin Koihime†Musou: Otome Tairan
Summary: The anime adaptations re-imagine the characters from the Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms as “moe (fiery), moe (preciously cute) action love comedy” with an almost all-female cast. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: I’m blank on this one.
Why you should not look forward to it: Just… why. Let’s do a little math: both Koihime and Ikkitousen attempt to parody the Romance of the Three Kingdoms franchise by making all of its characters female. Ikkitousen is in its fourth season, Koihime with its third. That means 50 episodes for Ikkitousen, and about 38 episodes for Koihime Musou, adding up to a whopping 88 episodes of cheesy Romance of the Three Kingdoms parodies. Why the heck so many?! What did these series deserve to get so many airtime, while most other series should be even lucky to get themselves 24 episodes?
First-Glance Potential: 0%
SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors
Summary: The SD Gundam Sangokuden model series features the heroes of the Chinese literary classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms — only they have been re-imagined as two-head-high Super Deformed Gundam robots. Liu Bei (Ryū Bi) Gundam, Guan Yu (Kan U) Gundam, and Zhang Fei (Chō Hi) Gundam protect the legendary continent Mirisha from General Dong Zhuo (Tō Taku) Zaku, the assassin Hu Zhen (Ko Shin) Gyan, and other enemies. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Are there seriously people interested in this?
Why you should not look forward to it: Why? Why WHY? Seriously, WTF is going on with anime when we have THREE ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS PARODIES IN ONE SEASON!? Seriously, was there honestly no other literary work that you can parody? Does every Japanese kid get the RotTK novels forced down his throat and nothing else or something? Do they really have to parody that crap over and over and over again? Seriously: WHY!?
First-Glance Potential: 0%
K-On Second Season
Summary: It’s Yui Hirasawa’s first year in high school, and she’s eagerly searching for a club to join. At the same time, Ritsu Tainaka, a drummer, and her friend Mio Akiyama, a bassist, are desperately trying to save the school’s light music club, which is about to be disbanded due to lack of members. They manage to recruit Tsumugi Kotobuki to play the keyboard, meaning they only need one more member to get the club running again. Yui joins, thinking it will be an easy experience for her to play the castanets, the only instrument she knows. However, the other members think their new addition is actually a guitar prodigy… – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: If you like moe, moe, moe and even more moe, then there’s a good chance that you’ll like this.
Why you should not look forward to it: If you do not, however, then you should stay away from it. It’s like yaoi: meant for only a select audience while others are bound to hate it, but that fan-base can be very passionate about it. Obviously I am not part of that target audience.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Hanakappa
Summary: The manga follows Hana Kappa, a kappa (mystical Japanese river creature) who happens to have a flower (hana) growing out of his head. Hana Kappa-kun lives with his father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother in a verdant village known as Yamabiko. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: It’s a pink kappa with a flower on its head.
Why you should not look forward to it: Joking aside, this pretty much is another one of those kiddie shows. I can’t find anything about the cast or staff, but I really doubt that it’s going to be interesting for anyone above seven years old.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri
Summary: The story centers on Ringo Yukimori, Reira Takashiro, and Natsuki Sasahara — three elementary school girls who can change into idol princesses. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: I have no idea because I have no idea who the staff is going to be.
Why you should not look forward to it: Toy commercial! I really doubt at this point that Sega got someone actually competent to direct this thing. Also, what’s up with that damn long title? How do you expect kids to remember that?
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Arakawa Under the Bridge
Summary: Gag manga about a young “elite” man who has a policy of not being in debt to anyone. But he ends up owing his life to a strange girl who saves his life. Rino, the girl, believes she’s a Martian & lives under the bridge by the Arakawa river. So the young man ends up living there too. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: The premise sounds like an interesting romantic comedy provided that the creators can give enough characterization to the lead characters to prevent them from being more than just these stereotypes that we see in the description.
Why you should not look forward to it: Blegh, Shinbo.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Jewel Pet Second Season
Summary: In the magical place called Jewel Land, the magicians turned the Jewelpets into Jewels so they can travel to the magic forest but with the exception of Ruby, a white rabbit who likes to goof off. But then a strong wind blew the stork and the jewels were spilled, scattering them across Takaragaseki City on Earth. Ruby, now being punished, is sent to Earth to retrieve her friends. On Earth, a student named Rinko is on her balcony observing the night sky and saw a group of shooting stars and one of them falls into her water glass to become a red jewel. The next day she and her friend Minami was saved by a guy named Tatewaki from a jewelry store robbery. He then explained to them that he’s working from a special organization which is linked to the magicians of Jewel Land and told them about the Jewelpets. As Rinko awakened Ruby, and then met Alice later on, It’s now their task to gather all the Jewelpets together back to Jewel Land before an evil Jewelpet named Diana gets them first. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: For a kids’ show, it was slightly above average. Clean fun if you’re in the mood for something really, really brainless.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, I only lasted through three episodes of the first season. At that point it already got repetitive, there was hardly any creativity and none of the characters got even the slightest hint of a bit of depth.
First-Glance Potential: 10%
Major 6th Season
Summary: Goro’s dream is to become a professional baseball player like his father. As he strives through the path towards the pro league, from infancy to adulthood, his passion for the game galvanizes all of those around him. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: I can only imagine that at this point, Goro must have gotten a ton of character-development.
Why you should not look forward to it: I didn’t like Major though. I watched through the first season, and while lead characters in sports series are bound to be very good, it took it way over the top by requiring Goro to join a team of incredibly incompetent beginners, just to make sure that he wouldn’t god-mode all over the Little League. And that was with an actual competent director in the lead: Kenichi Kasai. The sixth season is directed by Toshinori Fukushima. The only experience that this guy has in directing a full blown anime is a Beyblade Movie. At this point, I really don’t feel like catching up to 100 episodes to get Goro’s character-development.
First-Glance Potential: 20%
Yutori-Chan
Summary: The story centers around Yutori-chan, a high school girl assigned to a part-time job in the marketing team of a medium-sized toy company called Popū. There, she deal with the generation gaps that separate her from Tsumekomi-chan (another part-time worker and a student at Japanese’s most prestigious university, “T Dai”) and Daikai-san (the regular employee who oversees Yutori-chan). – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Miya Asakawa is writing the script. She also wrote the script of gems such as Noein, Turn A Gundam, Geneshaft and Overman King Gainer.
Why you should not look forward to it: BIGLOBE has come up with a brilliant marketing strategy to distribute this Original Net Animation: it will be the first anime to be broadcast through e-mail. How? By sending a link that contains the URL to each episode. I wonder who it was who actually sat down and thought: “Yeah. That’s a good idea.” On top of that, the director is Keiichiro Kawaguchi. The guy from Moetan.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou
Summary: In a world where magic is something supernatural, Akuto Sai is a boy, perfect in all, who wants to enter the order of the most famous magicians of the country and wants and help society. It is once admitted to the academy of Constantin Magic and passes a fitness test that predicts its future activities: The Demon King (Dai Mao) while there are over 100 years, a great war was ravaging between humans and the Demon King… – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: The director, Takeshi Watanabe, is very experienced and has directed two series that I’m a big fan of (Starship Operators and Boogiepop Phantom)…
Why you should not look forward to it: …but but he also directed the generic adventure shows as Shakugan no Shana, Slayers Revolution, Ikkitousen and Lost Universe, which is exactly what I feel that Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou is going to be, with its cheesy premise and generic harem set-up. The guy behind the series composition, Takao Yoshioka, has worked on some great series, but also did plenty of generic moe series, so I don’t have a lot of faith for this one.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Heroman
Summary: The story will centre on a boy named Joey who discovers a toy robot near the west coast of the United States. Then, the toy becomes Hero Man, a giant robot that Joey pilots against evil threats. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Bones and one of its most experienced animation directors: Toshihiro Kawamoto. So yeah, Stan Lee, one of the creators of Spider man and the X-Men asked Bones to create Heroman for them. Now, I actually have nothing against the X-Men. It’s one of the very few American cartoons that I watched as a kid that I can still respect today, as it had strong themes that had to do with outcasts and acceptance.
Why you should not look forward to it: But seriously, a toy robot? What do you intend this to be, a commercial or something? I can’t say anything about the director, Hitoshi Nanba, because I’ve not seen any of the series he directed aside from a few random episodes.
First-Glance Potential: 40%
B Gata H Kei
Summary: In the story, Yukari Tamura will play the heroine Yamada, a virgin high school student who dreams of having 100 casual sex partners. However, she ends up targeting and pursuing only one boy. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Sure, the premise sounds awful, but look at the direction and series composition, done by Yusuke Yamamoto and Satoru Nishizono respectively: it’s the same staff as NHK ni Youkoso, which also started out this questionable. Seriously, these guys have a ton of experience on great series, and really relatively few cheap romantic comedies. That alone has me intrigued.
Why you should not look forward to it: Good staff or no good staff, it remains near-porn based on a 4-koma, which doesn’t promise much.
First-Glance Potential: 40%
Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow
Summary: After defeating Black Shaft’s makeshift Team America, the Golden Japan Jr. team returns to training for the World Tournament that will be held in Tokyo. But during training the Shadow Clan, which uses boxing as an assassination technique, kidnaps Kiku in order to lure Ryuji and the others into a fight to see who’s truly the better representatives of Japan’s junior boxers. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Yousuke Kuroda, the guy behind the series composition. He has worked on so many different series, among which Honey and Clover, Infinite Ryvius, Phantom and Risky Safety are only a small selection. Toei also has gotten its best background artist on this job: Takashi Kurahashi, who also did the backgrounds for Bake Neko, Mononoke, the Air movie and Hakaba Kitarou.
Why you should not look forward to it: That premise! As if they couldn’t make a shounen boxing series even more generic with these random assassin boxer bad guys. Also, check the director: Toshiaki Komura, the guy responsible for the god-awful Kinnikuman Nisei and the first number of Pretty Cure series. Thankfully that’s a franchise he left now, but it turns out that Toei shifted him to this franchise instead.
First-Glance Potential: 40%
Hakuouki
Summary: The story centres around a female protagonist and the historical Shinsengumi samurai group in Kyoto during the 19th century. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Remember Toward the Terra? Well, it shares its director with Hakuouki: Osamu Yamasaki. He also directed a bunch of Mushishi-episodes.
Why you should not look forward to it: Studio DEEN, what the heck do you think you’re doing? You used to be a studio for creative and original premises, but for the past years you’ve been way too heavy on the bishies. And that’s the thing with this series: the director has shown that he can make an awesome series, but on a dating game about bishies? Last Autumn, Kenichi Kasai showed that even the best directors can trip over them and produce crap. It’s all going to depend on how much of the project he will write himself (which thankfully is necessary in a game adaptation), because I’ve been in the mood for another show about the Shinsengumi.
First-Glance Potential: 50%
Giant Killing
Summary: In Giants Killing a ragtag bunch from East Tokyo are struggling in Japan’s top football league. The team is going through an abysmal spell right now where they are nearing the bottom of the table and have lost 5 matches in a row. The losses haven’t done much to team moral, because it was already low. Fan support, on the other hand, is looking bleak. In the world of football, once the fans turn on a team the end is near. Teams don’t recover. Coaches are fired, players are sold, and teams drop to smaller divisions where profits often prevent them from ever being successful against even mediocre top division programs. East Tokyo United, ETU, can only blame their coach right now. And Coach is ready to give up this next game to prove to his team and fans, that against the biggest club in the nation he can make this team win. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: Toshifumi Kawase behind the series composition. Very experienced, and this will allow the series to have a solid structure.
Why you should not look forward to it: But really, he should have been the director here: that’s where he’s at his best and directed gems such as Shion no Ou and Higurashi Rei. Instead, we’re stuck with Yuu Kou, infamous for ruining Zero no Tsukaima, and also behind flops as Robby and Kerobby and Monochrome Factor.
First-Glance Potential: 50%
Kaichou wa Maid Sama
Summary: The romantic comedy centres on the student council head named Misaki Ayuzawa who despises the mostly male, slovenly population at her school, which was once an all-boys school. However, Misaki’s most handsome schoolmate just discovered her secret — that she works after school at a maid café. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: A very strong staff: Hiroaki Sakurai, who also directed Les Miserables, Cromertie High School, Kodocha and GA will be the director, and I’ve become a real fan of this guy’s strong characterization and fresh sense of humour. The woman behind the series composition, Mamiko Ikeda is also very experienced and wrote series such as Victorian Romance Emma, Fruits Basket, Bokura ga Ita and Tsukikage Ran.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, it’s another one of those otaku premises. I never understood the appeal of these maid outfits, nor why SO MANY SERIES NEED TO HAVE THEM. It’s a very weak premise, and a strong staff, so this is one of those series that can go anywhere.
First-Glance Potential: 50%
Hetalia Axis Powers Third Season
Summary: Italy, once home of the strongest empire in the world, has changed. This is the story of Italy, now a cowardly pasta-loving fool, and his friends (other personified countries of the world) as they live through strange moments in world history. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: The first two seasons, while not the best have been pretty enjoyable comedies with spot-on historical references. It’s good to see this one continued and I’m going to hope to see the return of The Netherlands.
Why you should not look forward to it: With comedy sequels, there always is the matter that most of them just aren’t as good or enjoyable as their prequels. The second season of Hetalia avoided this, but will the third one do so as well?
First-Glance Potential: 60%
Angel Beats
Summary: In a world after death, angels fight for their fate and their future. Yuri, the leader of the Shinda Sekai Sensen, rebels against the god who destined her to have an unreasonable life. On the other hand, Tenshi, the chairperson of the student council for the world after death, battles against the SSS members. SSS members utilize armed weaponry to battle it out against the angels harnessing supernatural powers. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: PA Works are a relatively new company, but they’ve really set themselves apart as a top-notch animation company with consistently good animation. It’s also Key’s newest project, so it’s interesting to see how a studio that isn’t Kyoani nor Toei adapts it.
Why you should not look forward to it: But oh, the hilarity. Seiji Kishi is one of the rising comedy talents of the past five years. His comedy series have always been witty, bold, un-subtle and over the top. Trying to combine that with Key’s gentle and sad approach is like trying to make an elephant dance ballet. I can’t say that I’m not interested to see that kind of combination, though. 😛
First-Glance Potential: 60%
Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru
Summary: Sakurai Yuki is a mysterious boy with a mysterious ability. He was found in the bushes as a baby and adopted by his current family. Because of this, Yuki strives for independence. The last thing he wants is to be a burden to anybody. Furthermore, when he touches others, he can feel their emotions. Unable to control his ability, he often made insensitive blunders in the past. With death threats and his abilities increasing, what will happen when a man claiming to be his older brother appears? – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Why you should look forward to it: Excellent director: Katsushi Sakurabi‘s work on Asatte no Houkou, Rescue Wings and Tsukihime was really good, and the latter showed that he also isn’t afraid to deviate from the original source material. On top of that, Natsuko Takahashi is doing the series composition, and that woman really has a broad, broad experience in all sorts of different scripts.
Why you should not look forward to it: Yeah, this has a lot of potential, provided that the shounen ai elements don’t become too present. And really, I don’t say this because I have something against the genre, but shounen ai series always tend to be so ridiculously cheesy that it becomes hard to enjoy them. However, there have been exceptions. If this show can do something similar to Night Head Genesis, Tactics or Antique Bakery, then we’ve got a potential gem here. If not… then… yeah.
First-Glance Potential: 60%
Shoka
Summary: The action story is set during the turbulent years of the shogunate, as dark forces try to undermine the shogun’s power in Edo-era Tokyo. Shirō Sumiya is the leader of the “Way of the Paper Drawing” clan which captures the chaos of the struggles with rapid brush strokes. Sumiya is summoned to Edo, and his disciples, who have extraordinary powers in their secret drawing techniques, become part of the ensuring battles with giant drawn creatures. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Whoa. The Animax Grand Prix is basically a yearly contest amongst amateur writers, where the winner gets his story animated in a one-shot OVA. Up till now, they were mostly simple and innocent kids’ stories, but this looks like something else! Production IG will animate it, it’s directed by Makoto Yamada, an experienced animator who worked on anime as Mind Game, Detective Story, Beyond, Noiseman Sound Insect and various OPs and EDs, the background artist is Hiromu Itou, who did the background art of Noein and Juu Oh Sei. I’m not sure about the story, but I’m expecting a ton of eye candy from this.
Why you should not look forward to it: The length: it’s a shame that this is just going to be an OVA of 20 minutes. It deserves more.
First-Glance Potential: 70%
Working!!
Summary: The story is set in a family restaurant named Wagnaria in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido. Sōta works part-time among the restaurant’s high-spirited, mysterious, yet cool staffers. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Another horeca series, nice. It looks a bit moe, but it’s about adults and Yoshimasa Hiraike, who directed Solty Rei, Sketchbook and Kaleido Star’s second season is bound to make something nice out of it.
Why you should not look forward to it: The animation director Shingo Adachi doesn’t look that experienced. Those looking for action should also look elsewhere.
First-Glance Potential: 70%
Ookiku Furikabutte Second Season
Summary: The series, set in Saitama, follows Ren Mihashi, who had previously excelled as his middle school baseball team’s ace pitcher, due to his grandfather’s connections as its manager. As he graduates to high school, whose baseball team his grandfather does not manage, he initially does not believe he is good enough to succeed at baseball, however, but assisted by his friends, he grows in stature, confidence and skill, helping his team excel with his own ability. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Most baseball series feature a pitcher who is incredibly talented. This one doesn’t. I’m still not sure why I ended up dropping it, but the focus on teamwork made this promise to be a very unique sort of baseball series, and I’m going to try and catch up with it in the next month or so. The director, Tsutomu Mizushima may have had his flops, but those were only shallow comedies. He can produce great results when he has to take care of a serious story (just look at xxxHolic). Yousuke Kuroda is also back with this series, and his experience is bound to help both this series and Ring ni Kakero.
Why you should not look forward to it: At this point, I think that the baseball genre is getting over-saturated a bit. Seriously, how long has it been since a baseball series did not air? They’ve all been very good, but I also think that some limit is necessary.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Senkou no Night Raid
Summary: The story is set in Shanghai in 1931, when the Imperial Japanese Army has been dispatched to mainland China due to the relatively recent First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, and World War I. In this cosmopolitan city of intrigue, there is a special military spy organization called “Sakurai Kikan” that has since been buried in history. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Anime No Chikara. This means that this series is not based on any kind of source material, but instead it’s specifically written for the anime format. And on top of that, the spy genre has a lot of potential. A-1 Pictures will make sure for a lot of eye candy. Jun Matsumoto will direct the thing, and he also did Persona – Trinity Soul. While that one could have been better, I’m interested to see what he can do when he’s not bound by a game or other kind of original story, because Persona definitely showed hints of potential. Shinsuke Onishi, who did the series composition for The Third and the script of various Darker than Black episodes also really helps. Also take note of Kazushige Kanehira, who’s going to be behind the art setting. While I have no idea what that entails to, it’s bound to be really good because he also did the same art design for Noein, Birdy the Mighty, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Ayakashi Ayashi.
Why you should not look forward to it: I’m not that big of a fan of the character-designs, who look a bit too shounen-ish. This premise can really go anywhere depending on where you take it, from a standard depth-less spy story to a complex character-study. So let’s hope that the creators can pull this one off.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Iron Man
Summary: Born Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark, he is an industrialist playboy and genius engineer who suffers a severe heart injury during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a massively destructive weapon. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. He later decides to use the suit to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his multinational corporation, Stark Industries, Tony created military weapons and his own metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime. Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and business in the fight against communism. Subsequent re-imaginings of Iron Man have gradually removed the Cold War themes, replacing them with more contemporary concerns such as corporate crime and terrorism. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Why you should look forward to it: What I especially like about this series: Madhouse has gotten complete freedom from Marvel as to how they should interpret this franchise. They can really take it anywhere, and that’s the exciting part, knowing how Madhouse loves trying out new things. There’s hardly anything known about them apart from that, though. No staff, cast or anything.
Why you should not look forward to it: Superheroes often means really powerful people fighting each other. I’m counting on you Madhouse, to insert some more subtle storyline.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Rainbow
Summary: Around 10 years after World War II, a group of delinquents are sent to the Shounan Special Reform School and must learn to cope with the atrocities and unfairness they encounter there. A student that had already been residing there when the teens arrived acts as a mentor, teaching them about friendship and guiding them through difficulties. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: What a premise! Apart from that, hardly anything is known about this series yet, but a bunch of delinquents in the aftermath of WWII has so much potential. I’m really keeping my eye on this one.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah: hardly anything is known about this series. Who knows whether or not the staff is competent in handling it or not.
First-Glance Potential: 90%
Yojou-Han
Summary: The story follows a nameless protagonist who is a third-year college student. The protagonist looks back at the earlier years of his college life and his adventures with a particular circle (club). – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Masaaki Yuasa is back! On top of that, it’s again animated by Madhouse, and aired on the Noitamina Timeslot. What a combo! I’m also very intrigued by Makoto Ueda, who seems to have only worked on live action movies thus far, and I’m intrigued to why this guy of all people was selected to write this series.
Why you should not look forward to it: However, it is a bit of a shame that it’s Noitamina. Why? Because that means that this series is only going to take up 11 episodes. I really would love to have seen what Masaaki Yuasa could do with a 24-episoded series. His series have always been a tad too short to really get their full potential out.
First-Glance Potential: 100%
Sarai-ya Goyou
Summary: The story follows the lives of the House of Five Leaves gang members in Edo-era Japan during the height of the shougun’s rule. In particular, the masterless samurai (rōnin) Akitsu Masanosuke finds himself desperate for work after being let go by one lord after another for his naïvety. He becomes the bodyguard of the House of Five Leaves gang’s charismatic leader Yaichi and discovers there is more to the gang leader than his criminal activities would suggest. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Whoa! There are going to be TWO Noitamina-series this season! While Yojou-han already looked very impressive, this is really a series with an all-star cast: seasoned veteran Tomomi Mochizuki who worked on Umi Ga Kikoeru, Porfy no Nagai Tabi, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Fancy Lala and many more will be the director. This is one guy with an eye for creativity. On top of that, he’s been paired with one of the best animation companies you can get: Manglobe. The original creator is Natsume Ono of Ristorante Paradiso-fame, the art director is Michie Watanabe, who also did the art of a ton of Samurai Champloo episodes, the chief animation director Yoshimitsu Yamashita also directed the OP of Blade of the Immortal, among others. And to top things off: the character-designs are done by Kazuto Nakazawa, the director of Comedy. This is going to be a really well written series and a true feast for the senses.
Why you should not look forward to it: Um… yeah. I guess that the composers aren’t that experienced, but who cares?! They’re nowhere near bad.
First-Glance Potential: 100%
Excellent preview! Love all the background info regarding the directors and creators. I can’t say I’m terribly excited about the new season, but at least I have a better understanding of all the shows that are airing.
Stop with the distractions and review the latest Bantorra! lol
Thanks for the great preview! Helps me get an idea what to look forward to. The Iron Man one really intrigues me.
wow, excellent preview , love all the information. though i guess there are too many history related series this season.
(P.S :- How long did it take to write this post)
Ookiku Furikabutte Second Season. Yes!
Also i think that giant killing and arakawa under the bridge will be worth watching.
I also think that Arakawa Under the Bridge has some potential to it, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Great preview!
YES!YES!YES!
Thanks psgels for doing these,so many other previews just list the studios,but the studio won’t tell you everything.
You’ve said right about everything there is to say,only thing i’ll add is that key want Angel Beats to be more of a comedy than a drama,that’s why Seiji Kishi was shosen.
Oh yeah,and with 3 shows going on at the same time I wonder if A-1 will be able to make them look good.
Some goodies it seems like…Rainbow is really reminding me of now and then, here and there so I’m going to look forward to it.
Heroman…I am looking forward to this and can see the potential as super robot anime since we really haven’t had much of them for a while.
Angel Beats is a surprise to me how you rated the potential…I just don’t see it whatsoever at all.
The Yuasa series is a must watch, besides that I’m very interested on how Heroman and the Ironman series (awesome trailer btw) will turn out.
Interesting preview. There are about 3 series I’m looking forward to (Maid-sama, the shinsengumi one and the spy one).
and I can assure you, if they keep to the Manga Kaichou wa Maid-sama will be very entertaining. The premise might not sound that good but it is executed in a very nice and enjoyable way. In the manga, at least.
Fix for your post up there of Yutori-Chan, I’m not sure where you got that wierd name of but the character design of the show is POP and not some wierd Keiichiro KAWAGUCHI http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=65244
Oogles, then rolls on the floor at the second season of Oofuri!! I like! Arakawa Under the Bridge done by Shinbo, no! Not one of my fave manga. House of Five Leaves, I like! The Stud Prez is a Maid, I like! So many to look forward to, likin’ the spring season already.
Excellent Preview!
Im Dissapointed again by the lineup like last summer/Fall, no mecha, sci-fi or decent quality shonen.
Been watching FMA on and off but at the moment im only watching some long running ones like Cross Game (soon to end), DB Kai (remastered), Naruto, One Piece, Bleach.
Nothing to look forward to with the quality of Say Railgun which has been excellent.
Hetalia ive been watching though its getting a bit stale, the short length and annoying music is getting to me in a way that the two excellent Haruhi shorts didnt.
I guess im going to be continuing my catchup of Meitantei Conan (in 4 months watched 6 films and upto ep 381)
The maid-sama manga isn’t geared towards the otaku genre at all, it’s a straight up shojo manga. So it’s a bit odd to see JC Staff trying to rope in the otaku audience from what I’ve seen of the promo material.
“Why you should not look forward to it: Blegh, Shinbo.”
I lol’d~
Hmm… Ichiban Ushiro no dai Maou was quite good as manga, Senkou no Night Raid has an interesting premise and Arakawa Under the Bridge is going to be either great success or great failure. And I’m eagerly waiting for the second season of Ookiku Furikabutte.
Everything else seems mediocre at best.
did you site animeph?
This looks like a dreadful season for the most part but ill definitely be watching the new Manglobe series along with Shoka,Hakouki and rainbow
Gunslinger: in total, it took me about six hours to write everything on this post.
bennybot: no, this list is based on Moonphase.
Actually Shingo Adachi is a very experienced and skillful animator who is one of the former staff of Xebec. He is known for drawing little kids. Well, most of his work is Xebec’s because of the production has a rule against its employees work for other sudios. But he’s done much more than the list Anime News Network has given. Here’s a complete list of his work(Japanese):http://www18.atwiki.jp/sakuga/?cmd=word&word=%E8%B6%B3%E7%AB%8B%E6%85%8E%E5%90%BE&type=normal&page=%E8%B6%B3%E7%AB%8B%E6%85%8E%E5%90%BE
Since he has left Xebec and became freelanced, we can expect more from him now, which is a good thing.
There’s an Iron Man series coming out? WTF o_o
Kind of interesting, although I can’t say I like the redesign of Wolverine there.
Apart from that the only series on there I’m really interested in is Kiss Sis.
…..
Okay seriously, Senkou no Night Raid and Rainbow look kind if cool.
That image makes me really excited to see Youjo Han, but the premise doesn’t sound too exciting. Hope it’s good! I’ll have to look up what most of the other series I skimmed over are about too..
I think Arakawa Under the Bridge deserves a little more credit, though.. I didn’t realize it was just going to be a gag anime, but it might be good. I just hope you don’t blog Hetalia. 😀
This season promises a lot, i have 6 anime that i look forward to: Hakuouki, Giant Killing, Ookiku Furikabutte 2nd season, Senkou no Night Raid, Rainbow (i really hope that this one will finally start, i heard rumors about it since about a year ago) and Sarai-ya Goyou. I forgot the last time a season promised so much.
btw i am really glad to see you do a season preview again, i missed it.
The only one I will be following for sure is Ookiku Furikabutte. It’s not as good as Cross Game IMHO but the first season was still pretty solid entertainment.
Um no real point looking at Ookiku season 2 without actually watching season 1, its just a continuation after all.
“Im Dissapointed again by the lineup like last summer/Fall, no mecha, sci-fi or decent quality shonen.”
Heroman should be considered mecha… this year is actually going to be a very good year for mecha imo…
Break Blade Movie 1 comes out May, it’s going to be 6 movies in total and it’s by I.G and XEBEC.
Gundam Unicorn OVA starts in March as well, this should be good…
Gothicmade by Nagano (creator of Five Stars Story) is also probably coming out this year, going to be a movie or ova. Also seems like Nagano is doing the key animation by himself.. that’s a LOT of work…
Gundam 00 Movie is coming out around September I think..
Macross Frontier 2nd movie is also due out sometime this year…
Eva 2.22 and the first Macross Frontier Movie come out on Bluray.
As for shonen Bakuman and Mago are probably set for October.. and maybe Toriko will join them,
gah……
all my college friend hippie about angel beats just because the main character remind them of haruhi.
Hmmm. Looks like I’ll have time to get a tiny bit more of by gigantor backlog of anime taken care of. *lol*
I’m not a fan of Moe animes like K-ON, but i watch it for d sake of just watching it….
im not a fan of character designs that you’ll assume that it is a Shounen Ai, but I’ll give Uragiri Wa Boku No Namae o Shitteiru a chance. I hope it will be similar to Night Head Genesis.
List of what Il be watching 4 sure
*rainbow & senkou no nightraid(looks promising)
Sarai ya gouyo & youjo han (character design isnt what make make an anime the best, I hope its story line will KILL it xD)
*angel beats ( its from key, so yea xD)
*OOKIKU FURIKABUTTE (this 1st season was good, I hope this will be even better, I also have high expectations for the opening and endings songs)
*K-ON (cant be helped, watched the 1st season so I’ll see it though the end..shouldnt be that bad since this Moe anime deserves its popularity)
*Major 6th season (it isnt that impressive, but since ive watched season 2-5, I cant back off now)
Oofuri is back! For actual baseball, it’s a lot more interesting than stuff like Major or Cross Game. As for Major, you’d think that Goro would have had some character development over 100 episodes – but you’d be wrong. He just trains and is suddenly better than everyone else.
Giant Killing should be good if they just stick to the manga. What’s with all the historical stuff, though? Not just RotTK, either
Sorry psgels, I think you’re just wrong with the ‘baseball saturation’ when in the end, there’s only about 4 or 5 per year. And it’s an anime staple and most of the time they’re done pretty well anyway. Though that said, I do sorta miss the more inventive sports topics in the 80’s and 90’s like with Volleyball and even badminton.
oh wow now this is a much more exciting season. we are in a positive drought right now 🙁
Many thanks for the spring season preview ^_^.
NoitaminA FTW *_* . And possiby Rainbow and Night Raid .
I’m on the fence with Shinbo XD, I liked Cossette, Zetsubou and Bakemono a lot (I’m very happy with my unfinished TV episodes compared to the extra fanservice bits in the finished DVD version, thank you very much *shudders* ), but the other series he directed just didn’t interest me enough plot-wise to check them out. Under the Bridge does tickle my curiosity though XD.
Yeah, thanks for this awesome preview! I already put my eyes on “Hakuouki”, “Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru”, “Senkou no night red” and “Sarai ya goyou”. Actually, up till now, I’ve always been right about series I picked by my firsthand intuition, at least the series that looked outstanding turned out to be outstanding indeed, so I guess it’s worth to be expecting those. But we’ll see, some may be jewels under disguise, but I don’t want to raise my hopes too high after this past season, where it’s been hard work to find any decent series to watch. All the more, just after the marvellous season we’d just had with Phantom, Guin saga , then later on Armed Librarians that may soon come to an end and all. Even if I doubt there will be series as good as those , I just cross my fingers for there to be some series that would stand aside from the usual lot.
Been waiting for Rainbow since it was supposed to air in 2009 but got delayed. I’ll just comment on Rainbow as it’s not that well known. Well, who really wants to read about gritty drama during Japan’s post-war depression time when they can have more cheerful titles to read? In any case, I’ve been following it (as well as buying the manga) for the past 3 years and the title has recently ended. It’s really good stuff with the different characters going through their personal paths as well as involving the rest. Sometimes unrelenting in the violence but it’s what people in their position face during those times.
Wow! Spring season review. It came early and so great style like usual!! Thank you so much!
I’m interested in Working. Angel beats and Ironman(now). …But you don’t give Arakawa under the bridge chance at all? Why?(Shinbo right?) because I found it’s the one that the most interesting !!
Hmm…I want to watch oofuri too. But i didn’t watch season 1 so…
2 points that I’d like to add to your preview…hope someone reads it after so many comments.
Yojôhan Shinwataikei is not being written by Makoto Ueda in a literal sense, because it’s (as so many things lately) based on a novel.
But this time (like with Aoi Bungaku and Shangri La) it’s based on a real novel, not a light novel. It’s about 300 pages long and as far as I know (haven’t read it yet) it’s composed of 4 rather surreal “what if” stories, set on a campus.
The author’s name is Morimi Tomihiko.
And concerning Uragiri, I would prepare for MAJOR Boys Love vibes in this show…not only because of it’s design, but because of some things I’ve read about it.
You’ll find Yutori-chan when you Google it. I found it kind of boring. :/
*once again very happy that many of those that interested you caught her interest as well*
nah…. cross-country adaptation is always result bad, most of it just because culture shock.
I doubt the iron-man will be good as America also always screw up Japanese movie/anime that they adapt.
Mambo: um, so what about all of the Japanese adaptations of European and American literary works? Gankutsuou, the World Masterpiece Theatre, Kaze no Shoujo Emily, The Diary of Anne Frank? And how about The Animatrix, Batman, Tekkon Kinkreet, Witchblade?
I have a question regarding Noitamina anime. Last I checked, there were 3 Noitamina titles announced – Yojo-han, Shiki, and Saraiya Go-you. Has any of these been pushed back to summer? Multiple Noitamina anime in one season doesn’t make sense to me.
Anyway, love your blog and keep up the great work. ^^
-K-On Second (I don’t consider myself a fan of moe, but this series just hits the right spots).
-Arakawa Under The Bridge (Could be interesting, could be terrible. We’ll see).
-Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou (*Sigh* they just know how to grab me with the badass looking lead don’t they? And a famous director. Maybe this will be the epic shounen of the season? I hope so. Typical anime chicks though).
-Heroman (Bones and the legendary Stan Lee. Need i say more?)
-Hakuouki (Sounds and looks alright).
-Giant Killing (The story and art capture me).
-Angel Beats (This could be fun).
-Senkou no Night Raid (Has a good amount of potential).
-Iron Man (I’m a big fan)
-Rainbow (I’ve been waiting a while to see this show!)
-Sarai-ya Goyou (Sounds like this one could be a masterpiece).
And with all that..i have a total of 10 shows i want to check out. I can see myself dropping 3 shows that might not turn out so good (Arakawa Under The Bridge, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, and Hakuouki). But i’m hoping that won’t be the case.
The composers for Sarai-ya Goyou; Konishi Kayo and Yukio Kondo, are also known as the group Moka who have done music for a decent handful of series. The most famous of which would be Elfen Lied including the haunting opening Lillium. Which I personallv loved the score of. The only series they have done the music for that I definitely know you have watched is Porfy no Nagai Tabi. So imo strike that off the “why you should not look forward to it” listing. 😛
ok…ok…
how about…. 70% screw up and the rest is good? XD.
I’m looking forward to all the historical-themed anime (including Nightraid). Its a weakspot I have
I’m looking forward to all the historical-themed anime (including Nightraid). Its a weakspot I have~ And Giant Killing looks good too.
I wouldn’t put too much hope out for Uragiri. I’ve read some of the manga and although it was likable at first it quickly gets into the stereotype loop. Oh, and as was said already, do expect strong shounen ai between the main characters.
Anyway you’ve really made me excited for this season! I can’t wait to start seeing these episodes come in.
Bleh….I kind of have to laugh at the fact that there are 3, count it 3 RoTK parodies in one season. And after we have already had so many recently too. It really does seem like they are obsessed with it.
Also got a kick out of the idea of an e-mail distributed series that isn’t really e-mail distrubuted. As for other comments…well we have the tremendously overhyped K-On series ready and primed to be the “hit” (and I use the term loosely and with the same regard that our host does when he calls it a love it or hate it show) of the season, but I kind of just wish Kyoani would either try something without ultra-moe to pander to J-Moe Otaku or take a seat already cause honestly it’s getting ridiculous. Is that seriously the only way they can find to succeed?
Wow, no K-ON! love? :/
k-on get many opponent this season as moe-moe anime. The flame war between otaku community in this year certainly will be hot
Last time I looked at a Spring Preview (on another site), Yojou-Han was the only one that interested me. I thought that this would be the weakest spring lineup yet.
BUT HOLY CRAP, when I read the description for Sarai-ya Goyou, my head nearly exploded. Rainbow, Working!! (I didn’t know the Skecthbook director was working on this), Senkou no Night Raid, Yutori-Chan, Hakuouki and Giant Killing also look interesting.
Rainbow just went my “nr1 most hyped up anime this spring season” for me. It was announced Madhouse is doing it. Madhouse should be ace in everyones book!
ok oviosly you arnt verry good at predictions. here are your actuall top ten not in order but i can garentee you about that im 99.9% right. but before i start whoeverwrote this i can tell is probably still a vergin. plus a guy that dont know jack about anime. its also obvios that he dont like any actually interesting animes. he is obvios into the crappy old stuff. anyway here we go. and heres also a short reason why.
angel beats – deffianetly going to be in the top 3. reason – the makers made clannad and theres also going to be a defianate comedy twist so going to be all around good. and there also other reasons but i said short reasons. and deffianetly the main show that im looking forward to.
ikki tosen – reason – come on its got fighting chicks and action and nudity deffianatly going to be up there
moi neko overrun – iv read the manga and its pritte good they just started that. reason – ok first and foremost the creator of this is also the creator of to love ru, so of corse its going to be ecchi and funny.
k-on season 2 – ok first off its total moe and i can garentee you that its going to be watched by alot of people and liked. reason – ok look at how good the first season of k-on did. duh
KISSxSISS – there not related. really. trust me. reason – ok the manga is totally funny and ecchi and it really is actually good.
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou – reason – ok i read the synopsis for this one and im just going to say that it really does look good probably going to be a harrem (mabey), deffianetly going to be full of action and comedy.
B Gata H Kei – reason – again going off the synopsis. it sounds like its going to be a comody and romance with possebly some ecchi. not for sure on that though. sounds good though.
Shin Koihime†Musou: Otome Tairan – i shouldnt have to give a reason for this one. reason – all the koihime+musou seasons have done really good. its going to be full of comody and ecchi action.
working – reason – ok going to be a romance and comody. i have a feeling it is going to be pritte popular. just trust me.
rainbow – ok this im not to sure about this one but i heard the manga is really good. reason – going off of what i heard about the manga. going to be full of action.
ok everybody there is the list. now can just sit back and see how these shows turn out. you will probably be surrprised at how right i am.
@truereaper
Pgels is well aware that lots of people don’t share his tastes, he was making predictions about how he was going to like the series (and those with similiar tastes), not how much successes they would have.
I have been reading you for years yet I never commented on anything before… so I’ll start with a bunch of clichés: great work. I’m basically jealous of your fast and lucid analytical power.
We see eye to eye on many series and subjects.. except maybe on mahou shojou girls! They’re all mostly too pink, strident and annoying to me, and lord knows I’ve tried.
But I just wanted to say I’m reading Sarai-ya Goyou mangas right now and own them. It’s not epic but it’s definitively good in a Natsume Yuujin-Chou kind of way: calm and refreshing and not too sweet.
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