Autumn Season Preview

this is still going on. Gundam 00 is currently winning, and there are still nine days left to change this.) Not Really Looking Forward To Kodomo no Jikan Summary: 23-year old school teacher Aoki Daisuke has a huge problem. One of his precocious 3rd Grade students, Kokonoe Rin, has the hots for him?! Yes, mischievous Rin has proclaimed herself to be Daisuke-sensei`s girlfriend and is now on a warpath to win him over or cause him to lose his job…whichever comes first! Besides Rin, Daisuke`s got other problems to take care of — one of the students in his class, Mimi (one of Rin`s friends), hasn’t been attending school recently. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: I don’t get it. Why the heck are so many people looking forward to this? Are there so many paedophiles in the anime-community? Or is there some kind of amazing part about the manga that I don’t know about? Anyway, my prediction for the worst series of the season is going to be this one. I’ve seen few concepts that are as obvious as this one. Goshuchou-sama Ninomiya-kun Summary: One look here is enough to understand what this anime is about. Thoughts: I’m not going to even waste any time coming up with a good impression. Next! Kimikiss Pure Rouge Summary: In Kimi Kiss, you play as a high school boy who’s just come back from a lonely summer break. Will you end your high school career having never known a kiss? You decide to spend the new school year making sure to get some lip action. Luckily enough, when you return to school, you find yourself in the company of six hotties. The game begins with the start of the new school year and continues over one month, cumulating in a school festival. Your goal is to have one of the above girls confess her true feelings for you at the festival and give you a little smooch. The game lets you move about freely throughout the school grounds, selecting your desired location from a map of the full school. When interacting with the girls, the game uses what it refers to as “Matching Conversation,” a system where you select the topic that you think the girl is interested in discussing. – (Taken from Wikipedia) Thoughts: Quite a subtle and clever title, isn’t it? This looks just like another one of those teenaged dating sims. Yawn. Interestingly enough, JC Staff will be animating it, but I doubt that they’ll be able to save this premise. Prism Ark Summary: ? Thoughts: Another one of those hentai-game adaptations. It’s also got the director behind the notoriously bad Gravion, Battle Arena Toshiden and Fatal Fury. The entire cast seems to consist of cute teenaged girls, and yet it seems to deal with a fantasy-setting. I like fantasy, but when it’s so keen on delivering moe, I’ll think I pass. Myself; Yourself Summary: The story section tells us a bit about the setting of the game: Hidaka Sana is a 16-year-old boy who comes back to his old town from Tokyo after five years. His memories of the town do not fail him, the scenery hasn’t changed all that much. He starts attending the second year of high-school where he meets an old friend and his first love from his childhood. Life is what’s ahead of him, so he needs to jump over the gap between his memories and the reality infront of his eyes and move on. – (Summary by Toua) Thoughts: The premise sounds rather dull. Especially the return of the childhood love returning has been done to death by now. This series is going to try very hard to impress me, because right now, I have all the reason to classify this as yet another one of those harems. The director also doesn’t sound too promising, as his previous series were Angel’s Feather and Chocotto Sister. Dragonaut ~ The Resonance Summary: ? Thoughts: And it’s Gonzo’s next attempt at a series. While I love their work on Bokura no for this season, I don’t look forward to Dragonaut. The trailer that can be found on the website really makes this one look like Witchblade, which failed to impress me. My prediction is that this series will basically dun down to action and fanservice. There’s a teenaged boy who meets a teenaged girl (surely the two of them can’t fall in love! That’d be way too obvious), and the trailer also showed a bratty blond girl. The only hope would be the guy behind the story concept, as he did the story for Sisters of Wellber as well. But then again, he also was behind Bakugan Battle Brawlers. -_- Clannad Summary: Clannad is set in a high-school located in some Japanese town. Okazaki Tomoya is a third-year student who doesn’t take his studies seriously. Always late for class, he’s seen as a delinquent by the rest of his classmates who are busy preparing for their entrance examinations. Needless to say, he hasn’t too many close friends either. Tomoya seems not to mind too – until one day he meets a girl, Furukawa Nagisa, who is left alone without friends on this school, because everybody she knew already graduated. What a clumsy girl, he thinks at first. But he can’t leave her alone and so, while helping her, he meets a few other girls from his school. Although he doesn’t care much about them at first, he soon opens his heart to them as they get to know each other better. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: And here we go again. I think it’s no new fact that I dislike Kyoani, and their tendency to rely way too much on moe character-designs and stereotypes. Yet again, we have the story about a guy who meets a couple of girls (and perhaps boys). The main girl also is clumsy (gee, where did I hear that one before), and the main guy is your typical loser. I’m not getting my hopes up for them, and only when I see with my own eyes that this will be more than just another whiny love-story I’ll change my mind. Juushin Enbi – Hero Tales Summary: A period piece, Jushin Enbu features Taitou, a young man who hates the empire that rules at the time, with his sister Laila as they learn of a mysterious power Taitou holds, unbeknownst to him. Taitou is the incarnation of a mysterious star that grants him a huge amount of power that he has yet to fully master. Joining them is Ryuukou, who has power similar to Taitou, just more honed. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: No, I’m not looking forward to this. It may be based on a manga that came from the same mangaka as FMA, but the director only did mediocre shows up till now, and a bunch of hentai-series. The story also sounds incredibly bland, and it starts out just like any other shounen-series does. Genshinken 2007 Summary: Based on a popular comic about the Japanese otaku lifestyle, this manga follows Sasahara Kanji as he dives face first into a world of anime, manga, video games, pornographic doujinshi, and the like. Kio Shimoku pokes fun at every element of the otaku world, so sit back and enjoy the ride. This is an anime for hardcore fans, with very complicated references that will test your knowledge of all things otaku. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: I remember watching the first episode a few years ago, and not liking it. But then again, I didn’t really know anything about the otaku-culture back then. I may watch it at one point, though that won’t happen anytime soon, unfortunately. Shows with Small Potential Ryofuko-chan Summary: The summary found on Wikipedia JP describes the story of Warrior Angels striving to receive the highest rank a Warrior Angel can receive–to be called Musou Tenshi (tl: Matchless Angel). The story focuses on a rori Warrior Angel Ryofu Housen, Ryofuko-chan. She needs to present seven gems from the battle arena to her Emperor, she also needs a good track record of taken heads from other warriors, say… ten thousand of them. With the assistance of another rori Warrior Angel, Chinkyou Koudai, the Emperor just might grant her that title. – (Summary by Anya) Thoughts: This OVA has the potential to become good, but I remain sceptical for now. For now, the chance for this to lapse into a moe-fest is just too large. The director is going to be Yuuji Moriyama. He’s worked on lots of different series, but most of them remain unimpressive. Kite Liberator – ??? Summary: In the previous series, “A KITE”, a killer, Suwa, suddenly disappears after she avenges her parents` death, and no one knows where she is. Several years later, a figure dances airily on the dark side of a big city. She is an angel of death, killing her victim gracefully and disappearing. Monaka is a normal high school student, though this quiet and modest life has a darker side. An angel of death is Monaka’s other persona. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: The biggest problem with this one is that the original Kite was a Hentai-series. That’s not really a good concept to work with, is it? The Director has also worked on many different series, but none of them were memorable. Ah well, at least it’ll look pretty. The art design is by Shuichi Hirata, who did the art for Noiseman Sound Insect and the xxxHolic movie, and also the background art for Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo. Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~ Summary: Heroine: A very quiet high-school girl. Likes: Taking a walk, cats, sketchbooks, school’s Sui-mountain, relaxing at the art, picnic, neighbourhood cats on the way to school, strange surroundings, the art room during after-school hours, senpais that are just a bit strange, really odd creative works, rainbows, fireworks, sunsets, discovering tiny things that happens to anyone, any day, drawing quickly, quickly. Lots of laughs, just a bit of heartfelt emotion…? A faint smile, nostalgia slowly taking over. A high-school girl animation you’ve never seen before. – (Summary translated by dahl_moon) Thoughts: 4koma seem to be popular these days. There are three of them in three successive seasons this year. In any case, let’s hope that Sketchbook will be doing a better job than Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh. I’m just a bit freaked out by the fact that the character-designs come from the same guy who designed the characters in the overly GAR Moonlight Mile. ^^; The guy behind the screenplay looks interesting, though: Mari Okoda. He worked on Red Garden, Popolocrois, Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club and Simoun. Shakugan no Shana II Summary: Sakai Yuji was a normal student, but one day his normal life was gone. He was assaulted by a monster, Guze no Tomogara.It was a monster which came from another world, and was able to turn humans into light for him to eat. It was a girl with burning hair and red eyes (shakugan = flaming eyes) that saved him, while he was too surprised to move. Then, that girl said to him You don’t exist anymore. What she meant was… – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: So, the original series was rather “disappointing”. I think I’m still going to continue watching it, hoping that it’s going to get better. Shana must in any case get less whiny than she was in the first season, because I can’t stand another season full of “Yuuji;” “Yuuji?” “Yuuji!” anymore. The best solution would be the two of them breaking up, but that’s never going to happen. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro Summary: Yako’s father was murdered in a locked room. She then meets a man named Neuro Nougami who is a demon from Hell who eats “riddles.” He forces Yako to act as a detective so he can solve mysteries. Neuro longs to eat the ultimate mystery. – (Taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: The major thing I’m worried about for this series is that it comes from Shounen Jump. Among its countless anime-adaptations, only Death Note and Gintama turned out worthwhile, while the rest became a victim of filler or they just sucked to begin with. The manga of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro is also known to be huge, hence my worries. The premise sounds intriguing, but I see no reason why this one could not go down the drains. Unfortunately, the staff hasn’t been announced yet, so I have no way of making a reliable prediction, though. Interesting-Looking Series Nasu – Suitcase no Wataridori Summary: Pepe is a Spanish cyclist competing in an multi-stage Iberian cycling race similar to the Tour de France. He is a support rider for one of the teams competing in the race, and his role is to assist the team’s top rider in winning the overall race. – (Taken from ) Thoughts: The original movie was good, but it had one huge drawback: it was too directed. It seems that there have been no staff-changes made, so I think we can expect much of the same. An interesting detail is that the director has done the animation for various Ghibli-movies. Let’s hope that he’ll use these as inspiration. Shion no Ou Summary: Yasuoka Shion lost her parents, and her voice, when she was young. In a murder. She was found amidst a blood-soaked room, and the only hint for the suspect was a Shougi board and one piece: the King. Now, Shion steps into the world of female professional Shougi players. As her popularity and fame slowly rises, so do the questions about her past, particularly the murder case that was never solved. – (Taken from Hanashi Scanlations) Thoughts: I assume that Shougi is the Japanese form of chess that we see people occasionally play in anime? Anyway, it can be interesting to see an in-depth series about this topic, though I wonder whether the creators will be able to keep the matches exciting without making it feel too directed. It’ll all depend on the brilliance of the directors and the original manga. I like the murder and it also seems that Shion lost her voice during the accident. It could become interesting. ef – A Tale of Memories Summary: The story revolves around the protagonist Hirono Hiro, a poor high school boy who draws shoujo manga for his living. One cold Christmas night after meeting a very strange woman in a church, who tells him that he’s going to meet someone he has to meet, his bike gets stolen by another strange girl. He runs after her and finds her collapsed on the street. Her name is Miyamura Miyako and her bag got stolen by a man on a motorbike. Soon after, they start hanging out together, enjoying high-school life. Miyako falls for Hiro pretty quickly but naturally finds a rival in his childhood friend, Shindou Kei, who has been dictating Hiro’s life since ever. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: I usually don’t like it when a website plays a background song, but damn, that tune rocks! Just go to the official site if you want to hear it. I first thought that this would be a total failure, but I’m willing to watch if the other music is of the same high quality! The story sounds like an ordinary love story, but the music… *drools* Oh, but it is done by Shaft, interestingly enough. Rental Magica Summary: The basic premise of the show is about a kid named Iba Itsuki who inherits his father’s company, called Astral. Its business is commissioning magicians for various jobs asked of them by their clientele. The characters listed on the page correspond to the various magic fields that are shown in the show, Celtic, King Solomon (the 72 demons), Shinto, and Onmyodou. – (Summary Translated by Shouta) Thoughts: Interestingly enough, this will be based on a shounen light novel. At the same time, there are also two manga-adaptations running: one shounen and one shoujo. I’m hoping for the anime to focus more on the shoujo-roots of the story, as I’m getting Ghost Hunt vibes from this premise, only with the different practices of exorcism being replaced with different practices of magic. The direction comes from the assistant-director of Popolocrois, and the character-designer did the character-designs for various Bee-Train productions, so this could be interesting. If it doesn’t go and focus on the shounen-elements of course. Gundam 00 Summary: It is the year A.D. 2307. Fossil fuels on Earth have been depleted entirely, with mankind turning to the next available power source: solar energy. During this time, 3 orbital elevators with solar power generation systems are built, each under control by the Union (formerly United States of America), the Human Reformation League (Russia, China and India) and the AEU (Europe). However, not all countries are able to enjoy the benefits of this system, leading to widespread resentment and war. Arising out of the conflict, a mysterious non-profit military organization known as Celestial Being appears, dedicated to end all warfare using Mobile Suits called Gundam. This begins the stories of Gundam Meisters (pilots) Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos, Allelujah Haptism and Tiera Erde as they are thrown into conflict between the 3 superpowers and the other various factions. – (Taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: I’ve got a confession to make: the only Gundam-series I’ve seen is Gundam Wing. It was actually one of the first anime I’ve ever watched, as it actually aired on Dutch television. It was a decent series, but I heard that the entire Gundam-franchise fell apart with the arrival of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, which were supposed to suck beyond belief. For this series, I’ve got no idea what to expect, though. The setting seems solid enough on one hand, but on the other hand, I fear that it might boil down to an emo-fest, or borrow some Code Geass influences (seeing as Sunrise is behind this series as well). Surprisingly enough, the director is currently working on Ooedo Rocket. The guy behind the series composition has worked on many different and varied series, for example he did the script of Excel Saga and Trigun, but also that of Kokoro Library and Spider Riders. Suteki Tantei Labyrinth Summary: ? Thoughts: This is another one of these shows nobody knows anything about. I’ll give if the benefit of the doubt for now, as I admit that a title of “Wonderful Detective Labyrinth” sounds intriguing. The yellow-haired boy is probably Labyrinth himself. I just hope that his two maids will stay away from the stereotypes that plague maids oh so often. I’m not sure about the director, though. His series turn out either incredibly good or incredibly bad. He did epics as The Law of Ueki, Orphen and Jigoku Shoujo, but he also was behind the pieces of garbage that were Shining Tears X Wind and Star Ocean Ex. Bamboo Blade Summary: This sports manga is about a teacher, Kojirou, who is also the Kendo instructor at a high school who decided to take on a bet by his senior, as he is totally broke. The bet requires him to send a team of five female kendo students against his senior’s team. For the sake of his empty tummy, he has to win the match! This first volume starts off by having Kojirou trying to get more female kendo students (at the moment, there’s only one female kendo student at the kendo dojo). The first female he had set his eyes on, has absolutely no interest in joining the kendo club, despite displaying great kendo skill, while welding a broom. However, he won’t give up that easily. – (Summary by Ko from Litepeek) Thoughts: This is one of those concepts that is completely dependant on the quality of the scriptwriters. If these guys are talented and know what they’re doing, the anime will become a success, though if they’re lazy, this anime will horribly fail. The director makes me worry about this, as he’s only done animation production up till now, he only directed a few episodes here and there. The guy behind the screenplay, however, shows that he might actually be able to pull this one off: he did the script of Excel Saga, and he also worked on Hellsing, Kamichu and Now and Then, Here and There before. Minami-ke Summary: Minami-ke is a manga following three sisters, Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki in their lives at home and school. It’s a funny series that depicts how these characters interact with each other and their classmates. It’s a story about ordinary girls and their ordinary adventures told in an extraordinary manner. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: This series somehow intrigues me. Especially that last sentence of the description. When I first saw the promo-art, I mistook it for yet another harem, but it seems that we’re dealing with a slice-of-life series here. The concept could have been more solid, and I hope for some kind of plot or at least some kind of conflict, but it’ll be a nice enough series. I’m just a bit worried about the original creator: he also wrote Kyou no go ni, an OVA that turned dull quite fast. Tokyo Marble Chocolate Summary: The story follows a boy and girl, both unlucky in love, as they begin to fall in love on Christmas Day. – (Taken from Wikipedia) Thoughts: This seems to be another one of those Christmas OVAs that you see every year. We can expect art, similar to that of the Tsubasa Chronicle Movie, as both the director and the animation director worked on the animation for that movie. Interestingly enough, they also both worked on episode 18 of Le Chevalier D’Eon, an episode that may not have been the best of the entire series, but still was an awesome experience. I’m interested in what they can do for this love story. Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji Summary: Based on a gambling manga, published in 1996 and from the same mangaka as Akagi Thoughts: I still need to watch Akagi at one point. I remember watching the first arc and really liking it. Anyway, I’m interested about what he was able to with the concept of gambling. I assume that this is going to be another dark and shady anime. It could become quite interesting. Night Wizard the Animation Summary: The anime will talk about a transfer student named Ellis and her good friend Kureha who’s president of a run-down astronomy club. At first they seem to be getting along well, but something happens to Ellis one day on the school grounds. Kureha witnesses how Ellis’ eyes turn blue while she starts chanting some mysterious words. – (Taken from Anya) Thoughts: RPG-adaptations have given us the gems of Popolocrois, but also the flops of Shining Tears X Wind. It’ll be interesting to see where this one goes, though I must say that the staff is at least solid. The director also directed NHK ni Youkoso, which hints that this will start out annoying, with a great second half, and the guy behind the series composition also worked on Aria and wrote an episode for Saiunkoku Monogatari. This does give me confidence that enough time will be spent on fleshing out the characters. The animation company in charge is an unknown one: Hal Film Maker, though they already made gems such as Strange Dawn and Princess Tutu. They also did Aria, and although I haven’t seen it yet, I’ve heard many great things about it. So for now, I’ll be confident about this series. Definitely Looking Forward To Soukou Kihei Votoms: Pailsen Files Summary: OVA release from anime series “Armored Trooper Votoms” utilizing the latest in 3D CG animation. Created by the original staff of the series, with an all new story about the end of the 100 year war. – (Taken from cdjapan) Thoughts: I haven’t seen the original Armored Trooper Votoms, but I know that they were all directed by Ryousuke Takahashi, the director behind series as Hi no Tori, Flag and Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. This means one thing for this OVA: lots of realism. It’s going to take twelve episodes, so there’s enough time for development. The first episode should be released on October 26th, while I assume that every month a new episode gets released. Definitely something to look forward to. Moyashimon Summary: “Moyashimon” is about a college student who can see bacteria/fungus with his naked eyes. He enters Tokyo Agriculture College and enjoys a campus life with strange professors and friends. Bacterias are very cute and manga is filled with facts/knowledge about bacteria (Mainly about fermentation – like how alcohols are made). – (Taken from Tsunami Channel) Thoughts: This is one of those series where I have no idea what to expect. Those little creatures you can see on the homepage indeed seem to be bacteria and fungi, though they say nothing about how the actual character-designs will be. You wouldn’t say it, but they’re from the guy who did the animation in Death Note, so I’m interested in how he’ll do it. Natsuko Takahashi is also involved in the project (she’s really on fire for this season, being involved in three major series and all), so I’m eager to see her work on this one. Maple Story Summary: An adaptation of the popular MMORPG Maple Story Thoughts: People keep comparing this series to Ragnarok Online, but I believe that it’s going to be way more similar to Master of Epic. At least, I hope so because Master of Epic was brilliantly cheesy. The promo art also seems to suggest we’re dealing with a comedy here. I’ve played the game at one point as well, and I’m interested in how such a cute MMORPG will be adapted. Yumedamaya Kidan Summary: In the fantastic story Naho (11) is an elder sister who enters her younger brother Jun’s (2) dream. They live with their father as their mother died soon after Jun was born. Naho acts in the mothers place in relation to her brother watching after him at home however and the situation is frustrating to her sometimes as she wishes to go out and play with her friends. A man with a slender figure who has a big trunk shows up before Naho one day. He introduces himself as Kotaro of Yumedamaya and he guides Naho into the dream world. Mysterious phenomenons begin manifesting themselves to Naho in her natural everyday surroundings after meeting Kotaro. She strays off into a dream-world of her younger brother and soon encounters her own mother. – (Taken from Anime News Service) Thoughts: There are quite a few tv-specials aired this year. August brings us Miyori no Mori and Futatsu no Kurumi, and Yumedamya Kidan will air in November. All three are sounding really interesting, and I’d love to see them. Especially with Production IG behind this one. Shugo Chara Summary: Everybody at Seiyo Elementary thinks that stylish and super cool Hinamori Amu has it all: But nobody knows the real Amu, a shy girl who wishes she had the courage to truly be herself. Changing Amu’s life is going to take more than wishes and dreams–it’s going to take a little magic! One morning, Amu finds a surprise in her bed: three strange little eggs. Each egg contains a Guardian Character, an angel-like being who can give her the power to be someone new. With the help of her Guardian Characters, Amu is about to discover that her true self is even more amazing than she ever dreamed. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: I’ve been waiting for another good mahou shoujo to show up, since both Kamichama Karin and Nanatsuiro Drops failed to deliver, and this one could be it. A quest for self-discovery for our heroine sounds like it might actually turn out really interesting. It’s in any case better than some of the other series that will come out for this season. The guy behind the series composition also worked on Kaze no Shoujo Emily, which is a definite plus, and the director previously did episodes of shows like Noein (including its amazing final episode), Ooedo Rocket (the first episode, which was quite hilarious) and Boogiepop Phantom. These guys can make something really interesting out of this concept. 🙂 Top-4 Looking Forward To Blue Drop: Tenchi-tachi no Gikyoku Summary: In 1995, all 800 habitants of the isolated Kamikakushi Island vanished in one night, all but a single girl who lost her memory. The cause of the disappearances was never identified. Four years later, that girl, Mari, transfers to a girl’s dormitory school, Kaihou Gakuen, leaving behind her grandmother who had been her guardian ever since the incident. There, she meets Hagino. Hagino is the school idol and completes her student council responsibilities flawlessly. The moment she touches Mari’s hand, however, Hagino freaks out, straddling atop Mari, hands around her throat. Mari is afraid of and angry at Hagino, who pretends as if nothing had happened while in front of other students, but at the same time, somehow, she is attracted to Hagino too. In reality, Hagino is actually an alien who was sent to Earth in order to reconnoitre prior to an invasion. The event on Kamikakushi Island occurred when the 200-member crew of a battleship, the Blue, whose captain was Hagino and the island’s inhabitants had killed each other. The Blue was seriously damaged and hidden. Hagino had since blended into human society and continued her reconnaissance. Within her school life, while fighting with fellow students, Mari begins to come out of her shell. Hagino has been living a double life, but her encounter with Mari makes her face human beings, and gradually she begins to have doubts about her mission. While the invasion and war draws closer unnoticed, the girls begin to understand each other. – (Taken from AnimeNFO) Thoughts: It’s been a while since the last good shoujo-ai series appeared, and I’ve got some great expectations of Blue Drop. I hope the director can handle it, though. The original concept comes from him as well, and he’s involved in many parts in the project. At the same time, he hasn’t really worked on many memorable projects in the past. So if this goes well, we may expect another masterpiece. But if it fails, it’ll fail horribly. Luckily, he has help from Natsuko Takahashi with the Series Composition, who has already proven to know what she’s doing when she wrote the scripts for numerous memorable anime. Mokke Summary: A fantastic story about two sisters. Shizuru is a high school student who can see monsters which ordinary people can’t, while her little sister, Mizuki, is easily haunted by these monsters. They are living with their grandfather’s home separately from their parents because of their abilities. The theme for each story is not horror-centric, but rather, of a heart-warming nature. – (Taken from ?) Thoughts: A year ago, I would have been sceptical about such a slice-of-life series, though I’m glad that I’m beginning to appreciate the genre more and more. This series also sounds like it’ll turn into a real gem. Tsubasa Chronicle Tokyo Revelations Summary: A separate project from the Tsubasa Chronicle anime, this time handled by Production I.G. and Nanase/Ageha Ohkawa (CLAMP`s scriptwriter), Tsubasa TOKYO REVELATIONS are three 25-minutes OVAs covering the Tokyo Arc, which should have taken place in the anime after episode 42. Each of the three DVDs will only be sold in Japan in a special limited edition together with volumes 21, 22 and 23 of the manga. When Sakura, Syaoran, Fye, Kurogane and Mokona arrive in a strange and desolate deserted world and meet a mysterious hooded group, little can they imagine that the inevitable events that will take place in this world will make their journey take a dramatic turn and change their lives forever… – (Taken from Kathna/Miyazawa Lulu) Thoughts: This is it! After a long time of waiting, Tsubasa Chronicle will finally be continued at November 16th, when the first of the three OVAs will be released. The question remains, though: will the rest of the manga get animated as well? Well, it will all depend on how well this OVA will sell. If it’s a commercial success, there’s going to be a large chance of more OVAs coming out. Let’s hope that this will be the case! Ghost Hound Summary: ? Thoughts: This may be a mediocre season overall, but it’s a great one for the supernatural series. Both Mokke and Ghost Hound have something to do with spirits, and I’m both really looking forward to them. Ghost Hound seems to be much darker than Mokke, and it’s got a great cast to work with. It’s being produced by Production IG, and directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, who directed Serial Experiments Lain and Kino’s Journey. The guy behind the series composition and screenplay is Chiaki Konaka, who wrote the scripts for Yotsuya Kaidan (Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror), Narutaru, Hellsing and many more.]]>

0 thoughts on “Autumn Season Preview

  1. Just a clarification about Clannad, in the 10 or so ending in the game 4 or them are males characters ending. Actually there’s even a yaoi ending, so to say he only meet girls is completely false.

  2. thanks for this, I’m actually going to make use of this kind of info for once in my life in approaching a new season.

  3. Hadler: Really? Oh, I didn’t see that one coming. Sorry about that. I just hope that Kyoani will also focus a bit on these four characters.

  4. Err… only an clarification about Gundam. The series that really sucked was Gundam SEED Destiny, not SEED, since I have just finished watching SEED and it was a great series, with many likeable characters and a really solid plot. If you liked Gundam Wing, I think that you will like Gundam SEED a lot more.
    PD: Of Gundam, I´ve only watched Wing and SEED until now, and when I can, I´ll watch SEED Destiny, just to know why it was a total failure.

  5. I think you are WAY too harsh with Clannad, which is, in my opinion, THE anime not to miss in this season.
    Have you seen Kanon the masterpice ? Air ? Well, two great visual novels by Key adapted to the screen by Kyoto Animation. Air was kinda short, but Kanon is 24 episodes of pure happiness : great, well developed characters, magnificent animation, unforgettable original soundtrack, etc.
    And by the way, in Kanon, as in Air, the main character doesn’t fall in love with all the girls, and all the girls are NOT in love with the main character, which is NOT a loser. In Air, the main character is rather cool, and he isn’t in love with ANY of the girls. Same with Kanon, the main characters LOOKS like a loser, but actually, he’s quite fun, gentle, caring, etc. He acts more like a big brother to the girls, he is their FRIEND, not some idiot who wants to sleep with them all : he won’t try to get them, he’ll try to understand them, help them get rid of their problems, offer them a better life.
    What else can we expect from Clannad ? Same staff, same director, same storyboarder…. I read a “synopsis” from the game and we have her Kanon’s spiritual successors. The main character ISN’T a loser, he’s just an unlucky guy who had problems with his parents and with his friends. He turned into a delinquent after a lot happened in his life. And the main heroine will help him regain a better life.
    I know we are drowning under stupid repetitive harem crap, but I don’t think it is a reason to ignore them all : some of them are actually real masterpieces, and I’m sure Clannad will be among them.
    About the new Gundam, I heard that it would be even more childish than Gundam Seed or Zeta Gundam… And yes, Gundam Seed is childish, in my humble opinion : it is pure shonen-manga with friendship and battles and stuff. Anyway, I’m very interested in the original Gundam (yeah, yeah, very true, even though I’m only 15), for all the experts of the franchise say that the Universal Century is actually the best of all Gundam-storylines. And I just happened to watch the two worst Gundam series ever (in the exeperts’ opinion, that is), which are Gundam Seed and Gundam Wing.

  6. I admit, I’ve never seen air. I did try and watch Kanon though, but I gave up after the tenth episode, when the Makoto-story came to its climax. In ten episodes, there was like… one moment I moderately liked (when Makoto dropped the cat). Appart from that, the scenes were either annoying or just plain boring. Especially the clumsy Ayu and her “~Uguu” got on my nerves, and the main character, although I admit he wasn’t a loser, only encouraged it. When then the Makoto-arc came to its climax, and it failed to bring any kind of emotion, I felt that this series wasn’t for me.
    Of course, I’d love to be proven wrong. But I’m not getting my hopes up like I did with Kyoani’s previous series: Lucky Star, which started out good, but got repetitive quite soon.

  7. In my opinion Kanon got WAY better after the Makoto arc which I really disliked, but I’ll admit I hate KyoAni’s moe stereotypes they are too annoying and the comedy entirely depends on the moe, but usually the director turns the series around and actually makes the series likable/great which was the case for both both Kanon and AIR so I’ll have to give Clannad a chance. Plus I hear that all the girls’ endings are real tear jerkers.
    Kodomo Jikan is a very controversial series, some want to watch it because they love anything loli, others to see how controversial it is. I don’t really want to see it at all because even loli fans say the trailer is distrubing to them. That’s enough to keep anyone away I think.
    Hmmm although not great, these are much better series than the summer offered. I’m also looking forward to Blue Point, the story just sounds fantastic. To be fair Kite was a hentai but it was considered one of the best out there, I saw the edited version when I was very young (even that had alot of questionable stuff in it lol) so I just want to see this new series for nostalgia’s sake, it may even turn out good. Shion no Ou looks just as great as Blue Point, I love murder mysteries and its premise semi-reminds me of Red Garden.
    My top choices are Shion no Ou, Blue Point, and Ghost Hound, and KITE. Everything else appears to be too otakuish or just bland. I can already see the otaku boom that will be Hero Tales, not to mention yaoi fangirls will eat anything up if it’s from Full Metal Alchemist haha.

  8. Just an observation about Ghost Hound, It’s written by Masamune Shirow. As a Shirow fanboy I have to point that fact, in case someone doesn’t know 😉

  9. @psgels : In my opinion too, Kanon got better after Makoto’s arc. Not that I didn’t like Makoto, but I prefer the other girls (Mai and Ayu) Actually, anything that happened until there is that Yuuichi built his relationships with the girls : this will make everything that’ll come more believable.
    About Lucky Star, same opinion, started quite good, though I loathe lolis, but became quite repetitive and plain. But Kyoto Animation didn’t only do Lucky Star and Air : there’s also Full Metal Panic ~ The Second Raid, which is probably one of the best animes ever made (first season was full of fillers, of action and comedy (very shonenish, as expected from Gonzo), Fumoffu was pure comedy (very shonenish), but Second Raid was more memorable with its character development and serious plot, which is just as expected from KyoAni, this time)).
    Back to topic, I personnaly can’t understand why everybody wants to watch stuff like Kodomo no Jikan and Moetan. Seriously, this is very… otakuish, terminal phase. Personnaly, in summer’s season, I enjoyed way more shows like Baccano! rather than idiotic moe-crap like Moetan, and same will go for fall 2007, I suppose, with Ghost Hound…
    Um… also, I have a question : do we know when Gunslinger Girl II will air ? I heard it was this season… I didn’t watch the first season, but it’s in my Hard Drive since long and maybe the announce of a second season will motivate me to watch it (looks like a stupid episodic show with no storyline, and only action and blood : am I wrong ?)

  10. Aw what was wrong with azumanga? well some repetiveness but I say it was part of the fun
    Basically agree with you on all other points (actually I quite like one piece which was shonen jump but not on subject now)and I’m looking forward to the tsubasa OVA’s

  11. Thank you for the preview!
    This season looks kinda dry, especially since I’m not into moe/pedo shows or harems. The only ones that really interest me are Ghost Hound (Production IG, nice staff), Mokke (Looks like a nice life of life), Moyashimon (The cute bacteria designs are enough to get me to check out at least the first episode), and Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro (The manga is facinatingly psychotic and animation by Madhouse).

  12. Yeah I haven’t been too hot about this season either. I DO NOT WANT a repeat of last year fall season. I only kept one show o.O.
    As for me, I’m gonna check out Juushin Enbi anyways because I love anything with a historical setting. I already sat through the first season of Shakugan no Shana so I’ll probably sit through the second. Night Wizard, Shugo Chara, and Tsubasa have caught my eye too but time will tell.
    Thanks for the preview BTW. I still think it’s still too early to tell how the season’s going to turn out so who knows.

  13. Interesting preview, I can’t say I am looking forward towards the autumn season either.
    I will be sure to check out Blue Drop but mainly because I wil check out anything that’s yuri, the manga that’s based on the same world is nothing special (at least the little that has been scanlated).I am looking forward to Genshiken 2. And I sure hope there will be a few surprises because from the descriptions so few shows seem to be to my taste. Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro looks promising, I love mysteries and Madhouse sure knows how to adapt manga into anime.
    Clannad is the spiritual successor of Kanon, you say? Glad to hear it, now I will be spared the dubious pleasure of even watching a single episode of it.
    @windspirit:
    “(looks like a stupid episodic show with no storyline, and only action and blood : am I wrong ?)”
    Yes, you are very, very wrong about the action and blood. There is little action (but it’s brilliantly shot).I think at that point it’s unknown when the second season will air, so odds are it won’t be this fall. But it’s mostly episodic.

  14. Nice preview 😀 Sad that you don’t seem to anticipate CLANNAD, I loved AIR but wasn’t really attracted to Kanon myself (AIR is superior D:) I read a bit of the game script of CLANNAD and it was pretty good (the after story is gonna BLOW ^^) so it depends on KyoAni I guess… I hope they don’t just slap some good animation with bad directing =/ As for MapleStory, I can’t wait for it to be aired!! …or for some real promo art to come up LOL The pic you posted is a standard pic of beginner characters so I wouldn’t really say the real show will look like that XD Inf act, I wish it’ll be one of those EPIC FANTASY kinda shows.. But maybe I’m hoping for too much? LOL

  15. Windspirit: I took my sources from Moonphase, and it didn’t list the second season for the Fall-season unfortunately. I still recommend you to watch the first season, because it’s definitely not a stupid episodic plot with only action and blood. The biggest action-scene is actually in the first episode.
    Jackboleo: it was indeed the repetitiveness. It had a few brilliant moments, but others were tedious to get through.

  16. I can understand why people would be excited towards Clannad, I mean it is Kyoto Animation after all; they have a very zealous fanbase.
    Wish some Autumn shows do deliver until the end. I hate getting into a show that starts out good but whose quality deteriorates over the next episodes.

  17. Thanks for the previews … I have only a few sources for updates and this site is one of them … I’m now looking forward to a handful of them …

  18. I cannot believe that they seriously sequel Kite. I mean, I don’t know why I’ve ever seen the original… though it was good to make fun of… argh, I’ll need to check that out.
    nice preview! thanks. for some reason I’m looking forward to Shugo Chara and Minami-ke the most,
    and maybe Gundam00???

  19. *fangirl squealed when she read the title Shion no Oh, because of the name Shion in the title. She actually never heard of Shion no Oh before*
    But then again, I thought Sonozaki Shion in the fifth arc of Higurashi was so freakily awesome, even if she was rather bland in the filler arc and most of the second compared to Mion.
    Whoa, a lot of “looking ofrward to”s. Good luck….

  20. Sort of an irrelevant comment from me, but the new Tsubasa DVDs have the title of “Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle” and not just “Tsubasa Chronicle.” Tsubasa Chronicle is the BeeTrain version that a lot of people didn’t like, while the new one is almost completely manga based/Clamp run (and it doesn’t follow the previous anime’s storyline at all), so I think the title difference has significance as well.

  21. Where’s “ef – A Tale of Memories’s” music? I went to their official site (japanese right?) and there wasn’t any.

  22. “Especially the return of the childhood love returning has been done to death by now.”
    “Yet again, we have the story about a guy who meets a couple of girls (and perhaps boys). The main girl also is clumsy (gee, where did I hear that one before), and the main guy is your typical loser.”
    – so true.

  23. Actually, for “Juushin Enbi”, the author of FMA is only doing the illustrations for it, so she has no control whatsoever over the plot.
    I’ve read a few chapters of the manga, and it seems alright, but it’s essentially your usual shounen fare except set in ancient China instead.

  24. OMGOMGOMGOMG a sequel to Mahou Shoujotai *spaz*
    Anyways, definitely check out Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, the art is INSANE (like Mononoke on LSD) and it’s like CSI with demons (at least the first chapter I read)…actually now that I think about it, it’s a lot like Mononoke, only with a hero not quite as… calm and sane. And shounen style humor.

  25. Ah! The music in ef – A Tale of Memories is by Tenmon. Have you heard Tenmon’s other music (he does the music for most of Makato Shinkai’s work – Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Byousoku 5 cm)? You can’t go wrong with Tenmon ^_^ I definitely recommend you listen to Tenmon’s work, especially Voices of a Distant Star.

  26. Gundam SEED didnt sucked. Gundam Seed Destiny sucked like hell mostly because the new head character was shit, annoying and i dont know what more. I have watched Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny and its like someone else already said: If you like Gundam Wing then you will like Gundam Seed even more. But also Gundam Seed Destiny wasnt a total failure if you look further then the annoying character. (which is easy to say but hard to do xd)

  27. Man this season will be sux,ALLOVER loli sh**, i still cant understand the way ppls think about loli animes,even shounens better than loli. The only good will be Shigurui,Baccano,and Genshiken,also maybe School rumbles 3 series

  28. Quite frankly, I am looking forward to CLANNAD because I really enjoyed Kanon 2006 and Air. Just to see how controversial this show can get, Kodomo no Jikan. I read the manga and I can see why a certain company in America wouldn’t publish the rest of the manga. The humor for it is generic, but I just want to see how far they push the envelope like in School Days.
    Also, I am looking forward to Shugo Chara. I read at least 1 volume of the manga and I loved it. I have a feeling that the romance will be good too.
    I might watch Maple Story to see how corny it is.
    I might also watch the others just to see how good/bad they are.

  29. Don’t listen to all these whiny Kyoani fanboys (you’d probably get the sense you are right about the whining, considering the shows audience), because let me tell you right now, Clannad has pretty much the same style of storytelling as Kanon. If you’ve ever played a Key game you should know exactly what to expect in the ending and Clannad is no different. If you don’t like Kyoani and their predictability, Clannad will not change your mind, I can tell you that right now.

  30. i say that CLANNAD is an amazing anime! it’s cute and the main characters are also cute!!!! and i just love the whole dango daikazoku theme into it! its sooo kawaii! i cant wait to finish watching the series!!!

  31. Windspirit: You really should watch the first season of Gunslinger girl otherwise you won’t be able to understand all the plot. Well, I don’t agree with you when you say it’s an anime “with no storyline, and only action and blood ” , it’s really much more than that. You have to watch it to understand but there are lots of feelings inside it. And sometimes you wanna cry because the fate of those girls is so tragic and despite the fact they’re not “normal girls” anymore we can see they actually have feelings and even if they’re artificial human beings and act like machines to kill humans , they remain little girls! They’re just used and there’s no escape for them!

  32. I thought “Myself; Yourself” wouldn’t be entertaining enought to be watched but I had to admit it’s a good serie. The characters and the plot are really good even it doesn’t seem so. The title is explained only in the last one so you have to watch it till the end. Personnaly, I preferred the second half.

  33. well some i say are not so true cause i’ve seen them and you are so late updated cause you still watch old animes well i won’t make decisions for you kbut i tell you most of the anime you placed are fun

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