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Moyashimon Returns Review – 81/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Moyashimon



The Noitamina timeslot and sequels don’t go well together. For a long while there were only three series that got a continuation: Bake Neko, Honey and Clover and Nodame Cantabile, the series that made the timeslot as popular as it is today. And then a Moyashimon sequel got announced. Yes: more antics with the guy who can see germs. But did they make a good use of this?

Well, here is the thing: this sequel is fun, it’s nice to watch, and it definitely has its merits. But it does have its flaws as a second season. The big reason is that it doesn’t really seem to know what it wants to do, and therefore rather forces in a story about arranged marriage and Paris. A transition that doesn’t happen smooth at all and makes this season feel more like a random side story than a proper sequel here. The germs are pretty much side-lined through the entire story, even though they were the main selling point of this series. I really feel like Noitamina could have spent its time better than on a sequel for this series.

But on the flipside, this still is a very enjoyable series. Apart from the germs, there is another thing that this series has that sets it apart, and that’s its chemistry, and this sequel has plenty of that. Caracters always have something interesting to talk about, whether it’s about fermenting, wine or relationships, and this show is at its best whenever a lot of characters are together doing all kinds of stuff at the same time. It brims with life when it does that so even when the story gets distracted on the unimpressive arranged marriage, the characters manage to retain your interst with their quirks and goofs. This season does a very good job of fleshing them out.

So if you’re a fan of Moyashimon and want to see more of the characters, then go for it because this show definitely delivers on that. However, this second season is no reason to pick the series up anyway if you haven’t seen it before. It’s definitely got some nice storylines, and the newly introduced characters have some good stories. The trip to paris was nice and fun, but ultimately this is just a glorified side-story. It’s nice that it’s there and all and definitely not boring… but did they really need to spend an entire slot on Noitamina for that?

Storytelling: 7/10 – Despite the many criticsms above, all of Moyashimon’s problems can be boiled down to just one big issue: Haruka’s arranged marriage is not fit to dedicate an entire season to, and yet that’s what they did. The side stories are very well told and do make this series worth watching, but the main thread throughout the entire series is dull.
Characters: 8.5/10 – This series understands character chemistry and brings a lot of it here. Characters are well acted and voice acted making them fun and interesting to watch.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Still has the same visual style as the first season. Meaning that at first the visuals may not seem like much, but when you start thinking about it the shots become surprisingly well drawn and creative. Yes, I just edited this in at the last moment.
Setting: 9/10 – Lots of interesting trivia about fermenting and wine brewing. The bacteria may be reduced to mere narrators, but this show hasn’t lost its educational value.

Suggestions:
– Honey and Clover
– Nodame Cantabile
– Spice and Wolf

Natsuyuki Rendezvous Review – 91/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Natsuyuki Rendezvous



The Noitamina timeslot started back in 2005, as an attempt to air series aimed at an older audience than usual. It was a wide success and spawned many awesome series. Then, in 2011 something happened: Fractale aired. It was alongside Hourou Musuko of course, but Fractale is the best symbol for the timeslot as it headed into a completely different direction, making shows about teenagers like what every other anime was doing. There were exceptions like Usagi Drop and Un-Go, but the general new shift in style was definitely noticeable. Until the Summer of 2012, that is. The past three months, we got to see Noitamina return back to its roots. And it was awesome.

Setting aside Moyashimon, Natsuyuki Rendezvous pretty much delivered one of the two best shows of the year, leaving every other series miles behind. It’s just so well made. The production company may be Dogakobo, these guys manage to deliver the best animation they’ve ever done. The characters are drawn incredibly expressive and they come wonderfully to life. And that can be added to the fact that this series is directed by Kou Matsuo, whose series often have this interesting habit of recording the voices before the animation is made. The result is fantastic acting with voice actors who instead of focusing on matching the flaps, can focus on interacting with each other. This show has brilliant characterizations overall.

And realyl, the story knows what it is. It’s deceptively simple from the outside, with very little unneccessary twists. It knows exactly what kind of story it wants to tell and has paced this out perfectly with hardly any moment wasted or rushed turing its 11-episode run. Instead of random twists, it thrives on letting the characters just interact with each other and create their own tension. It has nailed their background and gradual development, and it really succeeded in creating an awesome romance based on the three main characters who feel real and down to earth.

The thing also is, that I can’t think of any real criticism for it. Perhaps there are times at which one of the characters, Hazuki, becomes a bit too forceful, but really: we’re givern plenty of explanation for him to act that way and his acting is really consistent thoughout the series. Heck, if there is anything such as perfection, then this series comes closest to it this year. It’s a must-watch if you’re into realistic drama. It’s not for everyone obviously: if you want action, then don’t bother. However, I do believe that this is the kind of series that can attract people who normally aren’t into romance, but are interested into the genre.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Goldilocks pacing: neither too fast nor too slow. Really manages to let its characters tell its story.
Characters: 10/10 – Fantastic voice acting, amazing chemistry, wonderful drama.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Very expressive and detailed animation throughout the entire series.
Setting: 8.5/10 – Down to earth and very believable, with a great idea to base its romance on that it uses really well.

Suggestions:
– Aoi Hana
– Sakamichi no Apollon
– Hourou Musuko

Hells Angels Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

I’ll get to Kyousogiga later today. First I want to talk about a sort-of similar production: Hell’s Angels; a 2008 movie that I finally managed to track down. Like Kyousogiga, it’s got a ridiculous amount of style, and even though it’s not as well directed as the former, it does have its charms to watch.

To get an idea of the style of this movie: it is animated by Madhouse and the character-designs have been done by Nakazawa Kazuto, the character-designer of Sarai-ya Goyou, Ashita no Nadja and Samurai Champloo. Pretty much one of the top 5 character-designers out there. The result is a really colourful cast with a lot of different and rugged looks. It’s not the best character-design work of this guy, but still: it definitely looks good. But what about the rest?

Well, right from the start this movie has one very apparent problem: it doesn’t care about dramatic build-up. It just goes from scene to scene to scene without any sort of introduction or slow moment, it just pulls scenes out of its ass and completely disregards trying to create a good flow in its storytelling. When characters need to be together, they just pop up completely from out of nowhere, even lacking scenes that hint that they might be nearby or are about to arrive. This is a very jarring problem for the first half of the movie. The second half of the movie gets more epic, and this problem disappears a bit, making place for a lot of cheesy dialogues. The strange thing however was that despite being cheesy, I was actually sold on this in that second half.

The plot ended up being surprisingly interesting, taking a few biblical stories and giving quite an interesting spin to them. On top of that, the it knows how to deliver an entertaining climax and i had a lot of fun watching it. The characters really had some troubles fleshing themselves out in the beginning,but thankfully they manage to fix that as the movie goes along (it IS nearly 2 hours long). It is a shoujo story, so there are quite a few clichés, but they’re creatively used.

So yeah, this is a good movie for if you’re having a movie night and want something light that looks good. This series has the style to keep you interested, and it has enough substance to not make this get boring within 10 minutes. It entertained me and even though it’s not among the best movies, it set out and did what it intended to do.

Storytelling: 7.5/10 – Throughout the movie, it becomes clear that the creators need to follow a few courses of screenplay 101, because there are a few basic technical issues with how this show jumps around way too much. Later on this gets better and it becomes quite entertaining, even though it can get a bit cheesy.
Characters: 8/10 – Good and likable characters. The female lead is a bit of a Mary Sue, but within the context of this movie it does fit. The cast of characters is also quite diverse.
Production-Values: 8.5/10 – Lots of style; great camera-work and character-designs.
Setting: 8/10 – Neat twist on biblical themes here.

Suggestions:
– Kyousogiga
– Alice in the Country of Hearts
– Hoshi no Umi no Amuri

August Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

I’m not going to recap the manga I read this month due to a lack of screenshots that I have for them, but rest assured that I am planning a sort-of compilation post at the end of the season, including my highlights and overall impressions. In the meantime we go further with the Summer season, which really showed itself as a season of creativity. I’m watching a bit less than usual with only 17 series at the same time, but seriously, with the exception of Tari Tari, Saint Seiya and perhaps Rinne no Lagrange, all these series here stand out with their imagination and that’s a much, much higher share than usual. Especially considering how next season will be incredibly different: Fall 2012 will really be about quantity, with a lot of series that look similar to each other instead.

#17 (14) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – (7.9/10) – Horizon’s selling point still is its boundless creativity, combined with bizarre politics with strange premises. That part is still rock-solid. I have a few issues with the cast though: at this point in the story they should be getting more interesting and lively with development… but I’m still not really noticing anything here, and to be honest this drags the show down a bit for me.
#16 (15) – Tari Tari – (8/10) – Tari Tari is a well done drama series. It’s nothing special, and a bit forced in the way that it jumps from character to character to show their development and story, but these stories do their job to flesh them out.
#15 (20) – Phi Brain – (8/10) – After having my suspense of disbelief broken for a few months, I’m back to enjoying Phi Brain again as it heads into its conclusion as it finally brings in some good character-development and the themes of saving the villains finally get somewhere. The sequel definitely had some balancing issues, but I’m glad that it managed to come together.
#14 (18) – Saint Seiya Omega – (8.1/10) – Whoa, this show has become much better this month! After long string sof rather boring fights, they are getting much more exciting now that the sakes are getting higher. I alos like how this show keeps track of its characters, and how it’s willing to go against “the party must stick together”-syndrome that a lot of adventure series have.
#13 (16) – Sword Art Online – (8.1/10) – Ah, Sword Art Online: brilliant setting, great acting from the main cast… but the main cast definitely needs some better writing to make them more interesting because at the moment this show screams a bit of wasted potential for focusing too much on Kirito meeting cute girls. Show some variety dammit!
#12 (10) – Moyashimon – (8.25/10)

Moyashimon had a string of episodes in which it lost its magic. The school festival arc was dull and for a while I just missed the chemistry between the characters that made me originally like the show. Thankfully this has returned again in the recent episodes, in which the characters were really enjoyable to watch again.

#11 (12) – Uta Koi – (8.25/10)

If I had one criticism for Uta Koi, then it is the animation. I get that it’s really hard to animate character-designs of this scale, and the budget for this series definitely is low, but the still frames do stand out a little too much and interfere a bit with bringing the characters to life. It’s a good thing that the stories it tells are still just wonderful. There is a ton of historical background and detail in this series, and the balance is just perfect: no character is overexposed, yet there are a few characters who get a bit of extra time to show how they changed over the years. And yes, episode 06 was awesome.

#10 (11) – Rinne no Lagrange – (8.25/10)

This show is building up to something, I can feel it. In the meantime there is random comic relief and time to flesh out the characters some more. At this point the cast of Rinne no Lagrange has definitely matured and changed. Now all that’s left is to use this.

#9 (13) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – (8.25/10)

Jinrui has improved nicely, in the way that the cast has become much more likable and the stories more interesting. This month also showed that the order of the arcs is completely random, which makes it also a challenge to puzzle together the real sequence of events. The setting with the fairies also is as strong as last month.

#8 (8) – Kokoro Connect – (8.4/10)

Kokoro Connect’s biggest flaw is that it sometimes focuses a bit too much on its drama, making it a bit one-sided. Said drama however, is really, really good and really aims to delve deep into the different characters. The characters clash wonderfully together.

#7 (6) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8.4/10)

While hilarious, this wasn’t the best month for Shirokuma Cafe. It had a few episodes which were too much about panda trolling, and the best moments weren’t as utterly hilarious as some of the earlier episodes. Still, there was enough to like, ranging from Polar Bear’s antics to the whole affair around Penko.

#6 (7) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8.5/10)

It’s unbelievable, but I’m only liking this series more as it goes on. It’s already in its third season, and it still feels fresh despite all of the content it puts in, and the jokes that keep coming are all new and original. I hardly see anyone mention or talk about this series, but I really look forward to watch it every week.

#5 (5) – Hunter X Hunter – (8.6/10)

Oh yes! With this month, Hunter X Hunter has really set itself apart from the rest of the shounen series. The Yorkshin arc has finally fully started and it’s great to see Kurapika in the spotlight. It’s great to see people actually working on jobs and acting that way.

#4 (4) – Hyouka – (8.6/10)

This month featured the conclusion for the school festival arc, and I have to say that Hyouka surpassed itself there, making the best with its focus on mundane mysteries. The stories that followed were also really good, making great use of the character-development that has been established at this point.

#3 (3) – Eureka Seven Ao – (8.75/10)

This show is confusing, to the point where I often find myself forgetting important plot points of episodes ago, but I kindof like that about this series and how it doesn’t want to hold your hand along the way. It also still has the best action of the season and the characters still keep this one going really strong.

#2 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9.1/10)

The only fault of this show is that sometimes, it is paced a bit too slowly. But heck, with how incredible the cast of characters has become, I really don’t mind that at all. The conclusion of the third round worked incredibly well and managed to bring the entire cast together, only ending with the message that we haven’t even started yet.

#1 (2) – Natsuyuki Rendezvous – (9.1/10)

This show knows what it is. This month really showed that it makes perfect use of its length of only 11 episodes with how much focus it puts on just one plot twist. This was wonderfully acted once again, and it already had some amazing pay-off as of episode 09. Heck, at this point I’m pretty certain that this will be somewhere in my top 2 of 2012.

Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex Review – 90/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

I’m not sure exactly what happened, but Ghost in the Shell took me much, much longer to finish than usual. That’s not a bad sign by the way, I have this with some series that I really like, that I don’t want them to end, but this still was really extreme. It took me exactly half a year to finish a measly 26 episodes and I still have a second season to go. My life habits have really changed…

But Ghost in the Shell remains a series that is very tough to digest. It is a series that you constantly need to pay attention for, and it’s full of complex dialogues that are a trademark for its director Kenji Kamiyama. And it’s not just the numerous philosophical debates in this series, but the main plot itself is also mind-bogglingly complex. It involves modern politics, has a huge focus on the mass media. The way in which it fleshes itself out is through long discussions and debates, full of speculation and theories. Yes, you will have to work if you want to enjoy this series, and yes: it delivers.

It was hard work to get through this series, but it does feel like an accomplishment to be able to finish it. Seriously, there are very few series that go even further with their dialogue and exposition than this series. The only that I can recall out of the top of my head are Mouryou no Hako and various Mamoru Oshii’s work, and perhaps Ergo Proxy. If you’re looking for something intelligent, make sure NOT TO SKIP THIS SERIES.

What holds this one back is a bit of a mis-managed cast. I assume that this will be fixed in the Second Gig, but the half of the main cast gets surprisingly little depth, even though the cast of side-characters get a ton of this. I feel like this series could have used its episodes better to flesh them out, because with the way this series is, we always see them in perfect control and we hardly see different sides of them as well. The main storyline around the Laughing Man is fantastic, though I did notice that at this point I can hardly remember the rest of the stories that took place in this series.

Storytelling: 10/10 – That dialogue. It’s great to see another series that takes its audience as seriously as with this series.
Characters: 8,5/10 – Half of the cast really is great. Others are completely one-dimensional though.
Production-Values: 8.5/10 – Here is a tough one: back when it first aired, the graphics were revolutionary. And subsequently it inspired everyone to try harder and surpass the animation here, making it feel rather dated at this point. Yoko Kanno still is godly, though.
Setting: 9/10 – Excellent science fiction, innovative concepts and really makes you think about both technology and politics. Although the standalone episodes could perhaps have been better used.

Suggestions:
Ergo Proxy
Seirei no Moribito
Mouryou no Hako

Mardock Scramble – The Second Compression Review – 77.5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

Mardock Scramble 2 is a build-up movie. It’s clear to me now that the first movie was meant to be the introduction, and the third was meant to be the conclusion. The second movie is divided in two halves, which both set up this conclusion in their own ways.

The first half is all about world building and the background of some of the concepts that were introduced in this series. The second half will then completely change the setting. I won’t say into what, but it’s basically dedicated to character and atmosphere building, on top of being an interesting change of pace.

So whether the buildup will actually pay off is something I can’t yet comment on until the third movie arrives. What I can say is that it did a pretty good job of remaining interesting, especially in its second half. It’s not as good as the first movie and it doesn’t have the thriller aspect, but it does a good job of developing the chemistry between the characters. As for the character-development itself though… there is only one character who really changes here: the female lead.

The graphics are as polished as you’d expect. Gohands really loves to use CG lighting in lots of different colours, and everything looks really pretty with a lot of good camera angles. The second movie also still has the creative gore of the first movie, albeit in lesser doses. There is one thing that I did notice about the use of colours though: they’re spammed throughout nearly the entire movie, making everything look a tad similar and the same. A bit more variety in this area would have worked wonders. It in no way is a standalone movie though. Watch it inbetween the first and the third.

Storytelling: 7/10 – A build-up movie. It does the build-up well, but it remains build up. I wouldn’t recommend to watch this one standalone unlike the first movie.
Characters: 8/10 – They got nicely fleshed out, the few new characters are interesting and they managed to keep my interest through the whole movie, which is good for something that builds up.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Very pretty colors, albeit a bit one-sided for movie standards.
Setting: 8/10 –

.Hack//The Movie Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

So, the new .Hack Movie: how did it turn out? Well, you can see this as the spiritual sequel to .Hack//Quantum. It’s got a similar kind of set-up, it’s got a similar main character and its story progression is kindof similar. It’s just slower-paced and more epic.

But yeah, for those who are unfamiliar to the franchise: take Sword Art Online, and instead of putting the focus on combat, you put the focus on adventure and social interaction. Where Sword Art Online has a lot of shounen elements, .Hack on the other hand has more shoujo-esque elements in it, although it does tend to blur the lines between the genres more often. Of the .Hack franchise, I really recomend.Hack//Sign, which has been among my favorite series for eight years now. This movie simplifies a lot of the setting, but it has its merits.

Here is the thing with this movie: don’t expect anything from the plot. You’ve seen this story before, especially if you’re familiar with any other .Hack installment. All you need to know is that the story is epic, the protagonist is an average teenaged girl and that it has romance, and you can pretty much fill in how it’s going to progress on your own. Where this movie delivers instead is with its atmosphere.

The plot is simple, yet the movie clocks in at an hour and 50 minutes. That time is used to make everything play out very slowly. Because of this, it does a proper introduction of the characters, it does the development and the progression believably, the acting is down to earth and credible and the build-up all gets used well in the climax and it closes off satisfyingly. It’s also helped by a composer who obviously is a big fan of Yuki Kajiura, yet manages to keep her own influences.

So yeah, it’s not a movie that people are going to talk about for long, because there’s not much to say about that hasn’t been said in other .Hack anime, but what it does, it does well. It’s also completely done in CG, but this is handled well: in the virtual world this makes sense, and the characters manage to avoid the “botox”-face syndrome decently. It’s in any case better than the other CG .Hack Movie (Trilogy) which was heavily over-acted.

Storytelling: 8,5/10 – The pacing is slow, but skillful and the build-up is good.
Characters: 8/10 – Well acted and engaging characters.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Pretty good CG, and an impressive soundtrack.
Setting: 7.5/10 – It’s the .Hack franchise well portrayed, but it doesn’t really add something new to it.

Suggestions:
– .Hack//Sign
– .Hack//Quantum
– Digimon Movie 2 – Bokura no War Game

Autumn Season Preview – Movie & OVA Edition

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

Oh my god. Remember how I said in the preview for the movies for the current Summer Season that it has the potential to become the best season for movies in a decade? Well, upcoming fall season actually is looking even better. I did not think it was possible, but seriously: there are so many awesome movies coming out, it’s just incredible.

So yeah, brace yourselves for the point at which all these movies will finally be able to arrive on DVD, because 2012 is going to be a fantastic year for movies.

Franchise OVAs

Comments: This is a list of all the ovas and dvd specials that are going to come out. A rundown: Otome wa Boku ni Koshiteru, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Minami-ke, Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai, High School DXD, Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka and Upotte. And to be honest, the only one I even remotely care about is Minami-Ke, but even that is a series that I can hardly remember when I watched its third season.

Ongoing OVA and Movie Series

Comments: These are continuing instalments of movies that are appearing, including the umpth Precure movie. And really: what’s not to love? Tales of Symphonia will conclude, Berserk will air its third instalment, concluding up to the point where the Television series left off (in other words, the BEST part), Mardock Scramble will conclude, and Evangelion is also back at a point at which it’s probably really going to take off, if the second movie was any indication. Interesting bit of trivia: for Evangelion they got their hands on a rather peculiar director to help along with the regular creators: Mahiro Maeda, the director of Gankutsuou. Yeah.

Katayoku no Khronos Gear

Summary: “The story is set in the near future not long from now, when humanity has completed an orbital elevator and begun developing the outer planets in earnest. An enigmatic extraterrestrial enemy known as “Obliquus” has set its sights on the solar system, and humanity enters a state of war with the first aliens it has encountered. To counter the enemy’s overwhelming technological superiority, the Khronos Foundation has assembled the descendants of every country’s heroes from Japan’s Musashi Miyamoto and Ryouma Sakamoto to France’s Napoleon and Joan of Arc. The foundation then fuses the descendants with “Gear” battle suits as special biological weapons, thus giving birth to “Khronos Gear.”” – (Taken from )
Type: OVA
Produced by: AIC
Director: Hiroku Hayashi
Screenplay: JR Eri Sakurajima
Other Notable Staff: Ayu Kawamoto, (Art Direction)

The Positives: The director originally came up with the concept for the Legend of Black Heaven and El Hazard, so he definitely has imagination.
The Negatives: You know, I find it very impressive that these guys managed to track down the descendants of Joan of Arc. Especially since she died as a virgin. I think this is one of those OVAs where you can pretty much get your impression from watching the trailer: it’s all really typical moe fantasy (with orgasmic power-up scenes included). Along with such a stupid premise, I’m not seeing much hope for this one.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Zenpen: Hajimari no Monogatari & Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Kouhen: Eien no Monogatari

Summary: ” After experiencing a bizarre dream, Madoka Kaname, a kind 14-year-old girl, encounters a magical creature named Kyube. Madoka and her friend Sayaka Miki are offered the opportunity of gaining magical powers if they agree to make a contract with the strange little being. He will also grant them one wish, but in exchange they shall risk their lives by accepting the responsibility of fighting witches. Invisible to human eyes, witches are catalysts of despair in the areas they inhabit. An ally of Kyube, a magical girl named Mami Tomoe, befriends and encourages the two girls to accept the contract. For an unknown reason, another magical girl named Homura Akemi is determined to prevent Madoka from accepting the deal.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Recap Movies
Produced by: Shaft
Director: Shinbo, Yukihiro Miyamoto
Screenplay: Gen Urobuchi
Other Notable Staff: Yuki Kajiura (Music)

The Positives: For those who haven’t watched Madoka Magica yet: this is for you. The chance to watch it on the silver screen.
The Negatives: You know, it really sounded great when three whole movies of Madoka Magica got announced, right? Well, two of those three are just recap movies: only the third will feature any new content, and really: that ending was very conclusive: how do they plan to add to that? In any case though, my real issue with these movies is that I cannot find an answer to the question of “What will these movies add to the Madoka Franchise?”

First-Glance Potential: 30%

Kaiketsu Zorori Da-Da-Da-Daibouken!

Summary: “Hara’s books follow Zorori, a mischievous bandit fox who dreams of becoming the “King of Pranks.” Zorori aims to “build my own castle and make a beautiful princess my wife,” and he embarks on one misadventure after another with his two boar companions Ishishi and Noshishi. In the film, Zorori is after a trove of riches discovered by the treasure hunter Zorondo Ron.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Tomoki Iwasaki
Screenplay: Takeshi Mori
Other Notable Staff: Yutaka Hara (Original Creator), Kouhei Tanaka

The Positives: So, the producer of Legend of Legendary Heroes will direct the next movie for the Kaiketsu Zozori franchise, written by the director of Vandread, The Skull Man, Otaku no Video along with music composed by the same guy who also did the soundtrack for Hyouka, One Piece, Nurarihyon no Mago and A TON of other series. Kindof an impressive resume for a kids’ movie.
The Negatives: Kaiketsu Zozori is a bit of an overblown kids show that went on for way too long, can this movie really reel in new fans or is it just going to aim itself at kids?

First-Glance Potential: 40%

Usogui

Summary: “There are gamblers out there who even bet their lives as ante. But to secure the integrity of these life-threatening gambles, a violent and powerful organization by the name of “Kagerou” referees these games as a neutral party. Follow Baku Madarame a.k.a. Usogui (The Lie Eater) as he gambles against maniacal opponents at games – such as Escape the Abandoned Building, Old Maid, and Hangman…” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Type: OVA
Director: Kazuo Tomizawa
Original Creator: Toshio Sako

The Positives: This one screams pilot. It’s based on a shounen manga that is in no way going to fit inside an OVA, but this really looks like the producers are trying to see whether it works for animation, so we might as well see a proper Usogui series in about a year or something. And they got the character designer of Barefoot Gen to direct it… interesting.
The Negatives: So yeah, don’t expect anything from this OVA, it will only be an introduction, nothing more.

First-Glance Potential: 70%

Macross FB7: Ginga Rukon Ore no Uta o Kike!

Summary: “The story is set in 2059, five decades after the Space War I conflict seen in the first Macross story. Macross Frontier, the 25th New Macross Class super-long-distance colonization fleet, is journeying through the galaxy to a new paradise to call home. However, it is locked in a state of war with a strange enemy called Vajra. Ozma Lee, the leader of the S.M.S. Skull Team that is fighting the Vajra on the frontlines, encounters a mysterious lifeform, different from even the Vajra, one day. This mysterious lifeform shares visual memories of a certain other colonization fleet with Ozma and two other Macross Frontier characters, Ranka and Sheryl.” – (Taken from AniDB)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Satelight
Director: Tetsurou Amino
Screenplay: Tetsurou Amino

The Positives: So this is going to be a remake of the Macross 7 series, in which the characters of Macross Frontier are also going to make an appearance. Tetsurou Amino directed the original Macross 7 (which I didn’t see, by the way) and this guy really impressed me with his work on Shiki, so who knows? Satelight will also very likely brings its best animators to this project, so it’s definitely going to have a ton of eye candy again.
The Negatives: I hate to say it, but the Macross Franchise is really getting milked out right now. This is the third movie in what? three years? This one definitely sounds like it was thought up by producers with a lack of imagination.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Horimiya

Summary: “People say that the youthful days are always bittersweet, but maybe it’s just bitter? Kyouko Hori is a flashy high school girl, who, despite her ostentatious appearance, excels in academics and has a family-loving character. Izumi Miyamura is a bland high school boy, who, despite not wanting to stand out in class, secretly wears piercings outside of school and has a large body tattoo. One day, Miyamura finds Hori’s little brother injured and helps him back to Hori’s house, where the relationship between Hori and Miyamura begins with Hori’s discovery of Miyamura’s secret.” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Type: OVA
Produced by: Hoods Entertainment
Director: Shingo Natsume
Screenplay: Yuniko Ayana
Other Notable Staff: Hero (Original Creator)

The Positives: This story is definitely inspired by His and Her Circumstances, with the whole “pretending to be someone you’re not”-angle. The question will now be how well the creators make use of this shoujo story. And the guy to direct this and bring the characters to life is an interesting guy: this will be his first full series to direct, but before this he worked as the unit direction of the Full Metal Alchemist-movie, he directed episode 6 of the Tatami Galaxy and worked as an animator for anime as Welcome to the Space Show, Welcome to the NHK, Gurren Lagann, Read or Die and Panty and Stocking. He’s got an interesting resume for a starting director.
The Negatives: Yukino Ayana previously wrote the series composition for Denpa-Onna to Seishun Otoko, which didn’t know how to pace itself. But hey: this is a short OVA so the danger of it dragging on is much smaller.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Ippatsu Hicchuu!! Devander

Summary: “The story revolves around a spirited, carefree boy named Kazuma Harukaze, who lives with his little sister Sakura and his horse Lovely on a farm within sight of Mt. Fuji. One day, a “meteor” lands nearby, and it turns out to be Hinkeeru — a messenger from Muzanda who has come to warn Earth of a grave danger — and a robot horse named Robony.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA
Produced by: Tatsunoko Productions
Director: Hiroshi Sasagawa
Screenplay: Junki Takegawa
Other Notable Staff: Junio Okawara (Mechanical Designs)

The Positives: This is just one of those shows that made me do a double-take to check whether it was really true what I saw. I mean, we have this guy walking around on this robot horse who turns out to be named “Robony”. And to make matters even weirder, Robony was designed by who is probably THE classical mecha designer out there: he is the guy behind the designs of Gundam, Votoms, Reideen, and a ton of other classic mechas. Apparently this is to celebrate Tatsunoko Production’s 50th anniversary. The director is also a complete veteran: the director of Yatterman and all kinds of classic kids’ shows of 30 years ago (this guy was born in 1938!) The script also is written by a veteran, who has written and adapted a ton of series, ranging from Naruto to Yugioh and Yatterman. This definitely is an homage to Yatterman by the way.
The Negatives: The danger is aiming this too much at kids. This really should be something aimed at the older fans.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Kizumonogatari

Summary: ” “I think it’s about time I talked about Kiss-Shot-Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. I believe it’s something I have to do. I met her in the spring break between my second and third years of high school. That meeting had such impact, and was also quite devastating.”” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Shaft
Director: Shinbo
Original Creator: Nisioisin

The Positives: Do you remember that very misleading OP of Bakemonogatari? Now that was actually a teaser for the Kizumonogatari movie, the sequel to both Bakemonogatari and Kizumonogatari. The thing is that I read in an interview once that Nisioisin doesn’t like to repeat himself, which is something I really like, even though I’m definitely not a fan of his writing style that overemphasizes wordplay and takes ages to get anywhere. Still, this will very likely be full of really nice eye candy and animation, on top of that it seems much more action-packed than what Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari were.
The Negatives: That pacing still worries me though. Shaft does have an actual budget for this series now, and they’renot producing way too many series any more like when Bakemonogatari was aired, but I still need to run into a -monogatari adaptation that I really liked.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Arata Naru Sekai

Summary: “The story follows a “time researcher” and a group of children in a depopulated world that finds itself stuck in time. In order to save humanity, some of the characters are chosen to travel to the future (depicted in the anime), and others to the past (depicted in the manga), while those who are deemed unsuitable for the technology stay in the present (depicted in the novel.)” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA
Produced by: Madhouse
Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa
Screenplay: Hitoma Iruma
Other Notable Staff: Satoru Kousaki (Music)

The Positives: This is an ambitious project: it’s going to be both a manga, light novel and anime at the same time, penned by the guy who wrote the Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko novels, and I’m curious what his work is like without Shinbo dancing all over it. And really: this sounds very interesting with a story that deliberately spans different mediums. The director will also have his first full-on directing job, and he sounds like a solid Madhouse director here, having worked on an episode of Mouryou no Hako, Kurozuka and Steins;Gate in the past.
The Negatives: The problem is that I probably won’t be able to get 1/3 of the story, since I don’t read light novels.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Fuse Teppou Musume no Torimonochou

Summary: “In Fuse Gansaku: Satomi Hakkenden, the female hunter Hamaji comes to her brother in order to hunt Fuse. Thus, the karmic cycle of retribution that began long ago with the Satomi family begins anew.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: TMS Entertainment
Director: Masayuki Miyaji
Screenplay: Ichirou Okouchi
Other Notable Staff: Kazuki Sakuraba (Original Creator), Michiru Ooshima

The Positives: Yes! The director of Xam’d is back with another work, this time an adaptation of the author of Gosick who based her story on the Hakkenden. Michiru Ooshima also is a really good choice for the soundtrack. This probably won’t be such an arthouse project as with the original Hakkenden OVA, but as a standalone story there is a ton of potential.
The Negatives: Ichirou Okuchi, the writer of Code Geass… yeah. Still, he did adapt the Berserk movies and Shigofumi, so he can definitely adapt something.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Sakasama no Patema

Summary: “The film’s story will take place in an underground world where tunnels extend everywhere. Even though they live in dark and confined spaces, people wear protective clothes and lead quiet and enjoyable lives. Patema, a princess in her underground village, loves to explore the tunnels. Her favorite place is a “danger zone” that her village prohibits people from entering. Even though she’s scolded, Patema’s curiosity can’t be held back. No one ever explained what the supposed danger was. On her usual trip to the “danger zone,” Patema faces unexpected events. When hidden secrets come to light, the story begins to unfold.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Purple Cow Studio Japan
Director: Yasuhiro Yoshiura
Screenplay: Yasuhiro Yoshiura
Other Notable Staff: Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Original Creator)

The Positives: So what was previously released were a bunch of preview OVAs. I didn’t watch them because I was just waiting for the full movie to arrive. In any case, Yasuhiro Yoshiura is the creators of Pale Cocoon, Eve no Jikan and Mizu no Kotoba. He definitely has a unique vision through his works, so this movie is definitely going to be interesting.
The Negatives: If I’d have to say one thing that he lacks, it’s making things come together. That also struck me with Eve no Jikan. Great individual stories, but it just seemed to miss something in the big picture, and I do hope that this gets fixed for this movie release because it definitely seems interesting.

First-Glance Potential: 90%

Hana-Saku Iroha: Home Sweet Home

Summary: “When her mother runs off with her latest boyfriend, Ohana Matsumae is sent to live with her grandmother, who she has never met nor spoken to. Her grandmother is not pleased to find Ohana on her doorstep, and sets her to work at her Taisho-era (1920s) hot springs inn. It’s not a lifestyle that Ohana would have chosen, but she decides not to be discouraged and to make the most of her difficult circumstances.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: PA Works
Director: Masahiro Ando
Screenplay: Mari Okada
Other Notable Staff: Shirou Hamaguchi (Music), Kanami Sekiguchi (Animation Director)

The Positives: Sweet, they stuck with the main staff members of the TV-Series, and on top of that this will probably be Mari Okada’s first written movie screenplay. There is enough inspiration left to fill a movie here, especially since we already know the characters and therefore don’t need the lengthy introduction arc that bogged the TV-series down a bit around its beginning.
The Negatives: So yeah, unfortunately this will likely be a movie for the fans, and not new audiences.

First-Glance Potential: 90%

Rakuen Tsuihou: Expelled From Paradise

Summary: “???”
Type: Movie
Produced by: Toei Animation, Nitroplus
Director: Seiji Mizushima
Screenplay: Gen Urobuchi

The Positives: Awesome: a new completely original movie, animated by Toei, directed by Seiji Mizushima (the director of Natsuiro Kiseki, Full Metal Alchemist, Un-Go) and written by Gen Urobuchi (Madoka Magica, Phantom, Fate Zero). It’s going to be a science fiction project, but apart from that nothing is known yet what it’ll be about. It’s also got a really cryptic official website that makes Psycho Pass look like the bible in comparison.
The Negatives: I can’t say anything negative yet. The people involve here are awesome, and Toei’s movies always have this charm to them when they’re done by the experimental part of Toei, of which this definitely belongs to.

First-Glance Potential: 95%

Tiger and Bunny – The Beginning

Type: Movie
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Yoshitomo Yonetani
Screenplay: Masafumi Nishida
Other Notable Staff: Yoshihiro Ike (Music)

The Positives: The Tiger & Bunny movies just got even better once I found out who the director is going to be: Yoshitomo Yonetani’s name is synonymous to crack: he was behind Dororon – Enma-kun, Hoshi no Umi no Amuri and Brigaddon. He has this unique style and is always really fun to watch, and his crazy touch is definitely going to be interesting and unconventional for Tiger & Bunny here, aided by the series’ original scriptwriter.
The Negatives: Now, the series did end pretty conclusive. I’m not going to spoil this here, but the creators are going to have to be very careful to avoid some deus ex machina in order to actually get a story here.

First-Glance Potential: 95%

Asura

Summary: “The unrelentingly dark drama follows the struggles of a child during a famine in medieval Japan. His mother was so impoverished and starved that she tried to eat Ashura at the beginning of the story.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Toei Animation
Director: Keiichi Satou
Screenplay: Ikuko Takahashi
Other Notable Staff: George Akiyama (Original Creator), Yoshihiro Ike, Norihito Sumitomo, Susumu Ueda (Music)

The Positives: Holy crap! Toei actually made a movie out of this!? Oh my god, this manga was actually labelled like an anti-Miyazaki story, and this seems unrelentingly dark here. On top of that, the director of Karas and Tiger and Bunny will direct this. The scriptwriter of some of Mononoke’s stories and Ojiisan no Lamp will adapt the story and the ever-lovely Yoshihiro Ike will delier the soundtrack If they can manage to make this work this will definitely be an incredible movie.
The Negatives: The big danger for this one is making it devolve into something that is shocking for the sake of shocking. Make it count and actually flesh these characters out.

First-Glance Potential: 95%

009-Re:Cyborg

Summary: “The nuclear age has brought with it the arms race, which has led to the advent of weapons powerful enough to destroy the world itself several times over. Unwilling to take the plunge into Armageddon, the world powers, in league with a group known only as the Black Ghost, have developed super soldiers known as the Cyborgs, designed to fight the wars of the world in space. Unfortunately, the Black Ghost didn’t ask the Cyborgs how they felt about their role in the new world order. This classic work from manga legend Shotaro Ishinomori (Masked Rider) not only told a thrilling tale set against a backdrop of Cold War tensions, but it also helped define the genre of super team stories such as Battle of the Planets, Voltron, and The Power Rangers.” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Production IG, Sanzigen
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Screenplay: kENJI kAMIYAMA
Other Notable Staff: Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Creator), Kenji Kawai, Yasuhiro Aoki

The Positives: Kenji Kamiyama is back! And how, with this remake of one of the classics in anime (it was written in 1964 and formed the prototype for all power rangers and super sentai series to follow). On top of that, the always awesome Kenji Kaway will do the soundtrack, and one of the people behind the storyboard is one of the main episode directors of Mahou Shoujotai. Remakes are usually awesome, but to have such a rock-solid staff behind one this time makes me even more excited than usual for one.
The Negatives: Like with all remakes, this will have to balance between the original vision of Cyborg, and the vision of the creators themselves. The key here is freedom while doing justice to the source material. That’s always a bit difficult.

First-Glance Potential: 100%

Gothicmade

Summary: “On a tiny colony world named Carmine, young women known as Songstresses inherit the generation memories of those who came before them, using their knowledge to help a populace that suffers under the harsh policies of the ruling interplanetary league. Newly reborn as a Songstress, 16-year-old Bellin Ajelli sets off a holy pilgrimage across the planet. Rumors of a possible terrorist attack result in Prince Truhallon of the militant Donau Empire being sent in to protect her, but his very presence is the antithesis of everything Bellin stands for. The two are as different as night and day, but they’re stuck together until they reach the capital.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Automatic Flowers Studio
Director: Mamoru Nagano
Screenplay: Mamoru Nagano
Storyboard: Mamoru Nagano
Original Creator: Mamoru Nagano
Character Design: Mamoru Nagano
Key Animation: Mamoru Nagano
Layout: Mamoru Nagano
Photography: Mamoru Nagano
Other Notable Staff: Seikou Nagaoka (Music), Hiromasa Ogura, Yasuhiro Ogura

The Positives: Now this is it: a completely unique movie. It was already announced seven or eight years ago, and with this, it’s finally done. This is Mamoru Nagano’s magnum opus. He was involved everywhere. In fact, the reason for why this movie took so long to make was because he took up so much of this movie’s production to himself, from the key animation to the storyboards: everything needed to be done perfectly. After such a long wait and build-up, I just have to see what it eventually turned into because really: we’re likely never again going to see another movie like this.
The Negatives: But yeah, that’s also the danger of such a project: it will either be an amazing and really personal experience… or a complete train-wreck because Mamoru Nagano took way too much into his own hands. But even then though, it will most likely be something special.

First-Glance Potential: 100%

Nerawareta Gakuen

Summary: “The story is set in Abeno 6th Middle School, a prep school attended by the main character Kouji Seki. The school puts a high emphasis on studying, but the resulting stress leads to unruly students. Michiru Takamizawa is elected the student council president, and she begins ruling over the school with a brutal iron fist. Kouji rises up against Michiru, and Kazumi Kusumoto joins him in the battle with the student council.” – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Ryousuke Nakamura
Original Creator: Taku Mayumura

The Positives: Holy crap, Ryousuke Nakamura is back! This guy really is my favourite director who started his career during the past ten years, and just about everything he touches becomes brilliant. I mean, just look at the trailer on the official website. It looks so completely gorgeous and expressive. On top of that, I cannot confirm this and I’ve only read this somewhere, but there are rumours that Tetsurou Araki (the director of Death Note and Kurozuka) also helped to work on this movie after his work on Guilty Crown was finished.
The Negatives: There is the premise, which at first sight doesn’t seem like much. Yet, the author did write the Order to Stop Construction, which was delightfully witty. It probably won’t be something as unique as Mouryou no Hako and Hashire Melos though.

First-Glance Potential: 100%

Autumn Season Preview

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

The next season: 36 new series, and that’s probably not even the total amount, since I’m quite early with my preview this time. There will probably be a few more announcements next week for the latecomers. What sets this season apart is how relatively little bad series there are. I mean, there are a number of kids series and bad fanservice shows and all, but much fewer than usual for an Autumn season. Plus, for some strange reason the kids’ shows nearly all have really good people working on them, do not ask me why. That’s another theme of this season by the way: really talented people working on relatively dull or just outright questionable premises.

With most of these previews, I usually have a clear one that sticks out. This time though, I don’t. I’ve got about 7 shows that all intrigue me equally, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg here. Seriously, this season is definitely going for the quantity, because there were a lot of shows that piqued my interest. On the other side of the coin though, it does have one major weakness: everything looks the same! There are a lot of very similar premises out there and series with the exact same genre. On top of that, just about every show deals with teenagers again. We definitely don’t have the sheer amount of imaginative premises that we’ve gotten used to from the past half year here, unfortunately.

Also, do note that I’ve decided not to include Kyousogiga for now. We just don’t know yet whether it’ll be an OVA or TV-series. However, I do want to note that if it does turn out to be a full fledged TV-series, helmed by the same director, then it will immediately rise to the top of the list of shows I’m looking forward to.

Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne—

Summary: “The story centers around Akito Himenokōji (Ryota Ohsaka), a boy who was separated from his twin sister Akiko six years ago, but they end up living under the same roof together during high school.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Silver Link
Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Series Composition: Kazukyuki Fudeyasu
Original creator: Daisuke Suzuki
Other Notable Staff: Kyousuke Kawamura (Character Designs)

The Positives: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu… in theory could make this into something enjoyable, after what he did to Milky Holmes.
The Negatives: If you don’t understand what the title means: BE GLAD!!!

First-Glance Potential: 0%

To Love Ru Darkness

Summary: ” The story is about Yuuki Rito, a high-school boy who cannot confess to the girl of his dreams, Sairenji Haruna. One day when coming home and sulking in the bath-tub a mysterious, nude girl, appears out of nowhere. Her name is Lala and she comes from the planet Deviluke, where she is the heir to the throne. Her father wants her to return to her home planet so she can marry one of the husband candidates, but she decides that she wants to marry Rito in order to stay on Earth.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Xebec
Director: Atsushi Ootsuki
Original creator: Saki Hasemi

The Positives: I see no positives about this one whatsoever.
The Negatives: Good lord, they’re still going with this show? This makes 52 episodes of mind-numbing fanservice. Or am I really missing something beyond the boobs that makes this worth watching?

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Hiiro no Kakera 2

Summary: “Tamaki Kasuga has supposedly gone to live with her grandmother after her parents are transferred overseas. But the real reason for her arrival is that she must continue the role, handed down from her ancestor Princess Tamayori, to seal the sword Onikirimaru. Five young men serve as her guardians against the mysterious Logos.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Studio Deen
Director: Bob Shirohata
Series Composition: Yoshiko Nakamura

The Positives: It has bishies.
The Negatives: Studio Deen, for god’s sake stop making these crappy bishie series and get back to actually doing justice to the shoujo genre.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Monsuno

Summary: “Chase Suno and his friends, Jinja and Bren, are on a search for Chase’s father, Jeredy Suno. However, they soon become involved in something else upon reaching their father’s lab and becoming involved with an organism known as Monsuno. Chase, choosing to side with his father’s work, denies S.T.O.R.M. access to the Monsuno and escapes. They are now on the run from the military organization, S.T.O.R.M., while still looking for Chase’s father. However, a mysterious organization also has his eyes set on Chase and the group’s Monsuno.” – (Taken from Anidb)
Produced by: Jakks Pacific
Director: Yoshiaki Okamura
Series Composition: Michael Ryan
Other Notable Staff: Michael Tavera (Music)

The Positives: An American-Japanese co-production…
The Negatives: … about spinning tops that summon monsters. Yup, it’s another kiddie show. The director also isn’t looking good, being the director of Element Hunters and all. Moving on…

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Seitokai no Ichizon – Hekiyoh Gakuen Seitokai Gijiroku

Summary: ” The series, which is also called Hekiyō Gakuen Seito-kaigi Jiroku (The Records of the Hekiyō Academy Student Council’s Activities), revolves around a private high school whose student council is chosen entirely by popularity vote. Because of this, Ken Sugisaki is the only male representative, in the otherwise all bishōjo student council, that may enter the “sacred sanctuary” of the council’s meeting room. At the behest of Council President Kurimu Sakurano (pictured at right), Sugisaki records the minutes of the council meetings, which devolve into daily conversations about the students’ lives and interests.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: AIC
Director: Kenichi Imaizumi
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Original creator: Sekina Aoi

The Positives: Staff change! This season is handled by AIC, adapted by Reiko Yoshida (a very experienced writer) and directed by the director of Kateikyo Hitman Reborn.
The Negatives: I did not like Seitokai no Ichizon. It was like, funny for one episode and then it lost all of its charm. Most of the jokes were bad moe jokes anyway. Do I think that this will change with the new people working on it? Not really, bad moe jokes is everything that this show is. The creators are going to have to try really hard to make this consistently hilarious, and I don’t see that happen.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes

Summary: “The story is set 14 years after Atlantia, the largest country in the world of Legendia, was torn apart by riots. The protagonist Tsurugi Tatewaki was secreted away from the chaos at a young age. Oblivious to his true birthplace, Tsurugi grows up as a spirited boy in the neighboring rocky land of Pacifis. One day, Tsurugi suddenly comes across the ‘Shining Sword,’ and his great adventure begins. An army of darkness is hunting down the 12 Sword Braves, and as the army pursues Tsurugi, a figure appears before him. Bringer is a Card Battle Droid entrusted with the duty of protecting Tsurugi. Trained by Bringer in the ways of the Battle Spirits combat, Tsurugi joins the other Sword Braves in rising up against the army of darkness with his Key Spirit ‘Shining Dragon’.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Masaki Watanabe
Series Composition: Atsuhiro Tomioka

The Positives: The thing with the Battle Spirits franchise is that Sunrise keeps enlisting actually competent writers and directors to its installments (heck, Dai Sato worked on one of them). This time they got the director of Bartender. I am not kidding with that. Atsuhiro Tomioka, many of you may know him better as as the guy who adapted Zetman. The potential is definitely there.
The Negatives: The thing however with this franchise is that even though it isn’t among the worst of the kiddie series, it’s clear that the creators are forced to dumb themselves down a lot. From the few episodes that I did watch, they were trying way too hard to conform to the standards of kiddie series that really limits creativity, for the sake of selling toys through a business model that has proved to be lucrative. But then again, I only watched the first episodes of these series, so perhaps they got better later. With so many episodes however (all previous four seasons had 50 episodes, this one will likely have that as well), this franchise is just way too long for me to actually give it a chance.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Bakuman 3

Summary: “Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi have come a long way since they started making manga in middle school, but trials still await them as they head towards their goal of getting an anime adaption for one of their manga. As they continue to grow as artists and as people, they will be faced with new friends, new rivals, and new hurdles to overcome.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Noriaki Akitaya, Kenichi Kasai
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Original creator: Tsugumi Ouba

The Positives: For those of you with enough time and patience this will be a treat.
The Negatives: Sorry Bakuman, you could have been a nice series for me. But there is no way I’m going to watch 75 episodes of you dragging on. You’re just not worth it, especially after you pulled a bunch of soap operas in the second season. This might be bearable for a series with a regular length, but not one that is as long as this one. Zero potential, because I already know that I’m not going to continue watching it.

First-Glance Potential: 0%

Haitai Nanafa

Summary: “?”
Produced by: Passione
Director: Hiroshi Kimura
Series Composition: Takeshi Konuta

The Positives: Passione is relatively new, and this will be their first full series to produce. Nice.
The Negatives: The thing is, that this is like Recorder and Randsell: it’s got five minute episodes and even the same director, so I really fear that it will be as dull and under-produced as that series.

First-Glance Potential: 10%

Hayate the Combat Butler: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

Summary: “Abandoned by his parents and given a monumentally large debt as a Christmas present, 16-year old Ayasaki Hayate is at the lowest point of his life. Desperately trying alter his hapless fate, he decides to kidnap someone to hold for a ransom. Due to an ill choice of words, the girl he tries to kidnap misunderstands the action as a confession of love. His plan is totally crushed when he gives his real name out. Realizing his wrongdoing, Hayate proceeds to rescue the girl from the yakuza, who had instead kidnapped her. The girl, as a token of thanks, offers Hayate a job as her butler. Hayate, overwhelmed by her kindness, vows to protect her even at the cost of his life.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Manglobe
Series Director: Yooichi Ueda
Director: Masashi Kudo
Series Composition: Rie Koshika
Original creator: Kenjirou Hata

The Positives: Manglobe is… well, I guess I can’t use that argument anymore, can I? Anyway, the character-designs at least look better now, although I’ve heard that they really don’t work in animation-form.
The Negatives: Hayate the Combat Butler has been recommended to me quite a few times now, but really: with this instalment it will probably have 100 episodes. Is such a huge amount really worth it? Does it really stay hilarious enough for its entire run? Is it really fun enough to make up for Rie Kugimiya in yet another of her tsundere roles? On top of that, this season will be directed by the director of the ultimately very dull Asobi ni Iku Yo.

First-Glance Potential: 10%

Aoi Sekai no Chūshin de

Summary: “All the characters are parodies of Nintendo or Sega games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda etc. Segua Kingdom has been losing the war against Ninterdo Empire but the tables are turned by the appearance of a boy called Gear (a parody of Sonic the Hedgehog).” – (Taken from MisaoFan)
Produced by: ?
Director: Tetsuya Yanagisawa
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Anastasia Shestakova

The Positives: Perhaps this has potential for a few classic game jokes or something?
The Negatives: It’s very hard to find something about this series, but basically we have an adaptation of a parody manga with a lot of fanservice, adapted by the guy behind Kannadzuki no Miko and High School DXD. I’m not expecting much from this one.

First-Glance Potential: 20%

Teekyuu

Summary: ” Even though the four high school girls are in the tennis team, they hardly play any actual tennis.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Mappa
Director: Shin Itagaki
Original creator: Tsugeo Terada

The Positives: This is a case of awesome people working on… what!? I mean really: Mappa, the people who broke off from Madhouse studio that did Sakamichi no Apollon is now going to work on somehting that sounds like K-On with tennis. It’s also directed by Shin Itagaki, who is someone who really knows how to make exciting action scenes, as shown by Ben-To and Basquash.
The Negatives: What really worries me is the original source material here. Looking at some of the other works of Tsugeo Terada, there is a lot of hentai doujin among them. This is not looking good and I predict a lot of bad fanservice.

First-Glance Potential: 30%

Hidamari Sketch × Honeycomb

Summary: “Yuno has been accepted to her dream school: Yamabuki Arts High School. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Hidamari Apartments located near the school. Once there, she starts making new friends like her classmate Miyako and the second year students, Hiro and Sae. Surrounded by good friends, Yuno starts moving towards her dream of being an artist.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Shaft
Original creator: Ume Aoki

The Positives: Hidamari Sketch is not one of my series. I tried watching it, but after around four episodes, I came to the conclusion that just too little happened. It was just too slow and boring to hold my attention. I can understand the appeal though.
The Negatives: However, there is one thing that I’m wondering about: how can series like this last for four entire seasons? Is there really enough material to warrant 50 episodes, or are the creators just repeating themselves over and over? I mean, me and Shaft sequels have a very bad relationship, so I’m very sceptical about this one.

First-Glance Potential: 30%

Aikatsu

Summary: “In the card game, players use collectible clothing cards to help their idols pass auditions in pursuit of becoming the top national idol singer.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Ryuichi Kimura
Series Composition: Yoichi Kato
Other Notable Staff: Seiji Mizushima (Supervision), Hiroko Yaguchi (Character Designs)

The Positives: Oh great, another show based on a card game. Prepare yourselves, because this season really has a ton of them and… Seiji Mizushima?! The Director of Un-Go, Natsuiro Kiseki, Hanamaru Youchien, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam 00… what’s he doing here with the supervision? And you know about the director? He was the assistant director for Natsuiro Kiseki and Hanamaru Youchien.
The Negatives: And on the other side of the coin we have the guy who wrote the utterly terrible Miracle train. This season is bizarre in these choices, really.

First-Glance Potential: 30%

Busou Shinki

Summary: “The slice-of-life battle story is set in a future that has neither World War III nor an alien invasion — just an ordinary future set after our current age. In this world, robots are part of everyday life, and they contribute in various aspects of society. “Shinki” are 15-centimeter-tall (about 6-inch-tall) cute partners made to assist humans. Equipped with intelligence and emotions, they devote themselves to serving their “Masters.” These Shinki can even be equipped with weapons and armor to fight each other. Such Shinki are named “Busou Shinki” (literally, “armed divine princesses”). In particular, the Shinki Ann (Arnval), Aines (Altines), and Rane (Altrane) serve a high school freshman named Masato. Things change when a new Shinki, the bellicose Staarf, joins them.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: 8-Bit
Director: Yasuhito Kikuchi
Series Composition: Masahiro Yokotani
Other Notable Staff: Ryouma Ebata (Character Designs, Chief Animation Direction), Takahiro Kishida

The Positives: To think that they actually made a full fledged anime about this. And take a look at the character-designer, Takahiro Kishida: he also designed the characters for Baccano, Durarara, Noein and Madoka Magica, so the producers are definitely gambling on this as an advertisements for their action figures (because yes, that’s what this series is).
The Negatives: So yeah, this basically requires an original storyline to be written for these figures. So who do the producers get? The director of Infinite Stratos. Sure, he also directed Macross Frontier, but that was under Shoji Kawamori. But I guess that he’s not all bad, with that series and Kurogane Communication under his helm. My real worry here lies with the guy who is going to have to write everything: This is the guy adapted World Destruction, Beelzebub, and Maria Holic. His one original story is from Reideen, which was more wasted potential than anything and saved by good directing. Add that to the story of the OVA which just involved a boy finding one of these girls, even though it did have really good staff behind it, and it seems that on top of that these guys will probably be facing a lot of restrictions in this adaptations from above. To be honest this isn’t sounding too good.

First-Glance Potential: 40%

Chou Soku Henkei Gyrozetter

Summary: “The card game this is based on depicts battles between cars that transform into robots. The arcade machine for the game features a steering wheel for controlling the game’s cars, but the machine “transforms” into a lever control setup for piloting the robot mode. Square Enix claims that this is the first physically transforming arcade machine.” – (Taken from )
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Series Composition: Dai Sato
Other Notable Staff: Naoki Sato (Music)

The Positives: My very first impression when I saw this was: great, not another kiddie show to promote toys. And then I found out who were involved: the director of Daily Lives of High School Boys and the first 100 episodes of Gintama will direct, and Dai Sato will be writing it. On top of that it also turned into a show to promote various cars, the soundtrack is composed by the same person who composed the awesome soundtracks of X and Blood-C and they got a lot of different designers together for the various mecha designs. And on top of that A-1 Pictures will animate it. That’s a lot of ambition for a kids’ series, don’t you think?
The Negatives: As much as I’d love to see more Dai Sato (this is the guy who wrote Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy and various episodes of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell, and he’s characterized by his very intelligent dialogue), I want to see him do an actual non-kiddie show again: one that can take itself seriously. Because he already did this before with Battle Spirits and also with the Tekken movie. After he went off and created his own writing studio, he unfortunately had to take a lot of jobs for the heck of it in order to make some money, it appears. It’s a bloody shame, because a writer like him really needs to get his chances.

First-Glance Potential: 50%

Girls und Panzer

Summary: “The “military teen battle action” manga is about “high school girls x battles in tanks.”” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Actas
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Other Notable Staff: Takaaki Suzuki (Military Advisor)

The Positives: From the creators of Squid Girl: a series with a bunch of girls and a tank. Okay, fair enough. These people know what good comedy is, and this time they’re dealing with an original story so they can go all out. Just don’t let this get a sequel.
The Negatives: Reiko Yoshida is busy this season: three series at the same time. Also, it’s a bunch of girls with a tank! I can just imagine the creators coming up with this “Quick! We need another premise! What do people like besides girls?” “Uh, tanks?” “Good enough! Let’s go!”

First-Glance Potential: 65%

Suki-tte Ii na yo

Summary: “Mei Tachibana has spent her 16 years without making either boyfriend or friends. One day, she drop-kicks a popular boy in school, Yamato Kurosawa, because of a misunderstanding but for some reason it seems that he takes a liking to her and one-sidedly claims that they’re friends. Furthermore, he not only protects Mei from a stalker, he does it with a kiss…?!!” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: Zexcs
Series Director: Toshimasa Kuroyanagi
Director: Takyua Satou
Series Composition: Takuya Satou
Original creator: Kanae Hazuki
Other Notable Staff: Yuuji Nomi (Music), Yoshiko Okuda

The Positives: This most definitely looks unlike anything Zexcs have ever done before. I think we can blame Yoshiko Okuda for that, who has an interesting track record as an animator so far with experience on episodes of Casshern Sins and Shigurui. Yuuji Nomi also did the soundtrack of Bokura no and Hi no Tori, so that also sounds very promising. On top of that, this will both be directed and adopted by one of the two directors of Steins;Gate. The series director meanwhile is completely new. He worked as an animator for a few years, after which he moved on to a few series for episode direction (Ao no Exorcist, Inu Boku, Working and Kimi ni Todoke) and this will be his first chance to direct an actual series. Interesting.
The Negatives: For the negatives, I unfortunately have to turn to the original source material. Looking at the author’s other works, she seems very fond of smutty shoujo romances, and to be honest, that’s exactly what this series sounds like. It’s so entirely typical, so the execution really is going to have be good here to prevent us from watching yet another couple of paper bags in a “will they won’t they” relationship.

First-Glance Potential: 65%

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Summary: “The romantic comedy centres around Shizuku Mizutani, a girl who has absolutely no interests except for school and her plans for the future. One day she delivers print-outs to the chronically absent Yoshida. After delivering the school materials to Yoshida, he believes the two of them are friends.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Brains Base
Director: Hiro Kaburaki
Series Composition: Noboru Takagi
Original creator: Robico
Other Notable Staff: Masato Nakayama (Music), Chikako Shibata (Art Direction), Hitoshi Tamura, Norihiro Naganuma

The Positives: It’s a bit difficult to explain what a director of photography does, but he basically is in charge of the camera work, and making everything look good. Now, the guy who does this for Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun also did this for the various seasons of Natsume Yuujin-chou, Durarara and Kuragehime. Add that to the director of Kimi ni Todoke and we’ll probably have a very pretty looking series here. Noboru Takagi is also a very good writer, having adapted Baccano, Durarara, Koi Kaze and Sankarea in the past.
The Negatives: Now the question is: can they make this story work? I’m glad to see more shoujo romance, but if it’s just going to be like “will they won’t they” like with Kimi ni Todoke, then I’m not feeling like sitting through that again. The set-up is really clichéd for a shoujo series: especially dating a bad boy has been done to death, so something definitely needs to set this one apart in its progression or execution. I’ve taken a look at some of the other stories that Robico, the writer of the manga this is based on, has written and they’re typical romances, although all of them aren’t as plain as what Kimi ni Todoke was: from what I could gather she always tries to at least give a side or story to her character. She also seems to like to use irony in some of her short stories, so let’s see whether her longer ones can also make use of this.

First-Glance Potential: 70%

IXION SAGA DT

Summary: “The game and anime follow Kon Hokaze, a boy who embarks on a journey from our world to an alternate world known as Mira, which is full a mysterious energy known as Alma. After saving Princess Ecarlate from attackers, he soon finds himself in the middle of a struggle around Alma.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Brains Base
Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Series Composition: Akatsuki Yamatoya
Original creator: Capcom
Other Notable Staff: Shinji Takeuchi (Character Designs, Chief Animation Director), Junpei Fujita, Hiroshi Fujima (Music)

The Positives: So here is the thing: Ixion Saga is based on an MMORPG. Since these games are known for their plots, the main creators will need to put a lot of new and original stuff to make it work. And wouldn’t you know, they happen to be the people behind the Gintama anime: its series composition guy and the director of my personal favorite first 100 episodes, so be exact. That series had some really good fillers, so they have shown that they’re able to create original content. Atsuki Yamatoya also worked on the series construction of Simoun, which I found to be utterly brilliant.
The Negatives: The downside is that these two don’t always try to deliver good stories. Akatsuki Yamatoya is just as well fine with doing stuff like To Love Ru and Blue Dragon. Also, how on earth did they succeed in making this show this ugly? Shinji Takeuchi is the character designer of Gintama, so he should know how to correctly portray colourful characters.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Medaka Box 2

Summary: “Medaka Kurokami, a first year student at Hakoniwa Academy, excels at everything she does. She becomes the Student council president and along with her childhood friend, Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, she plans to solve all of the student body’s problems that are submitted to a suggestion box, dubbed the “Medaka Box.”” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Gainax
Director: Shouji Saeki
Series Composition: Shouji Saeki
Original creator: NisiOisin

The Positives: Well, even though this involves Gainax’s worst director and Nisioisin, I enjoyed the first season. It was nothing special, but the craziness it evolved into… I could appreciate that, and the second season is promising more of that, if you liked that, then you’ll probably like this sequel as well.
The Negatives: It remains a shounen jump adaptation that needs to squeeze in 52 chapters in one year. That rather scares me, because that gives this series the danger of dragging on horribly, like so many other of its predecessors have done as well. When I see the first signs of this happening, I’m bailing out.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Chuu-2 Byou Demo Koi ga Shitai!

Summary: “In the novel, Yuuta Togashi, a boy who used to suffer from “chuu-2 byou” (adolescent thoughts that teenagers commonly have — especially delusions of grandeur or the belief that one is special compared to everyone else.), and Rikka Takanashi, who still has the syndrome, made a true contract with each other (that is, they are dating). They are in the middle of enjoying “real life” to the fullest … or should be. However, Satone Shichimiya a.k.a. “Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII,” a friend from middle school and the one suffering the most from “chuu-2 byou,” appears and turns Togashi’s life upside down. And so, a battle between “Saturn” and “Jaou Shingan” (True Eye of the Devil King) begins.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Kyoto Animation
Director: Tatsuya Ishihara
Series Composition: Jukki Hanada
Original creator: Torako
Other Notable Staff: Kazumi Ikeda (Character Designs, Animation Director), Hiroyuki Takahashi (Setting)

The Positives: Trying to find information about light novels is really hard on the internet. I’m surprised nobody has yet set up some kind of AniDB for light novels yet. Because of that, I also have no idea what the source material is going to be like. It does sound interesting if it goes in-depth to what that “Chuu-2 Byou” actually does to teenagers, despite the really bad title. Jukki Hanada is a good choice to adapt this material, and on top of that Kyoani put its best director on the job: Tatsuya Ishihara was behind Air and Clannad, whose adaptations I really loved.
The Negatives: But it can just as easily turn into yet another show in which cute girls fight and a male lead is in the middle of them. There are too many of those, so this show will have to set itself apart, and not just with Kyoani’s trademark really good animation. Is this the right type of material to make Kyoani shine, or have they just gotten more generic?

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Magi

Summary: “This story is about the flow of fate and the battle to keep the world on the right path. Aladdin is a boy who has set out to explore the world after being trapped in a room for most of his life. His best friend is a flute with a djinn in it named Ugo. Soon enough, Aladdin discovers he is a Magi, a magician who chooses kings, and he was born to choose kings who will follow the righteous path, battling against those who want to destroy fate. Follow his adventures as he meets others from 1000 Arabian Nights, like Ali Baba and Sinbad, and fights to keep the balance of world in check!” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Koji Masunari
Series Composition: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Original creator: Shinobu Outaka
Other Notable Staff: Toshifumi Akai (Character Designs, Chief Animation Director), Takashi Hashimoto

The Positives: Oh god, this will definitely be the eye candy series of the season. A-1 have really managed to improve themselves even more, and with this they also brought in Takashi Hashimoto in for the special effects. The list of series this guy has worked on is HUGE, and includes things as direction the animation of Mononoke and Bake Neko, including their conceptual designs and the Special Skills director of Karas. And then there is the director: the guy who directed the really imaginative Read or Die, Risky Safety, and Kamichu. Whole premise is loosely based on the Arabian Nights. Interesting!
The Negatives: Oh god no! Not Hiroyuki Yoshino! The guy behind the script of Guilty Crown, Macross Frontier, Mai Otome, Seikon no Qwaser and Code Geass. This guy’s name is nearly synonymous with train-wreck. Thankfully he is adapting a story this time, but when I look at who wrote it, I’m not really positive either: he’s the guy who wrote Sumomomo Momomo before this, a series whose only redeeming quality was its catchy name (Plums and peaches too!), otherwise it was just a run off the mill romantic fighting school comedy. Magi thankfully sounds much more creative, but can he really do justice with a story based on the Arabian nights? I mean, such a setting sounds really promising, but not when it’s chock-full of shounen cliches. Especially not with Hiroyuki Yoshino having to adapt it.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Jormungand 2

Summary: “The series follows Koko Hekmatyar, a young arms dealer who sells weapons under HCLI, an international shipping corporation that secretly deals in the arms trade. As one of the company’s unofficial weapon dealers, she secretly sells weapons in many countries while avoiding the local authorities and law enforcement as most of her work is actually illegal under international law. Traveling with her is her team of bodyguards who are mostly composed of ex-military veterans. Her latest addition to her crew is Jonah, a seemingly emotionless child soldier who is skilled in combat yet ironically hates arms dealers. Jonah joins Koko as he wishes to find the arms dealer responsible for his family’s death. What follows is Koko and her crew’s escapades around the world.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: White Fox
Director: Keitarou Motonaga
Series Composition: Yosuke Kuroda
Original creator: Keitarou Takahashi

The Positives: Well, those who watched this series know what to look forward to: snarky military action with a lot of intrigue.
The Negatives: The first season for me missed something. The characterization was just one-sided, especially on the villains’ side. That’s something that this sequel is definitely going to have to fix.

First-Glance Potential: 75%

Initial D New Season

Summary: “High school student Takumi Fujiwara works as a gas station attendant during the day and a delivery boy for his father’s tofu shop during late nights. Little does he know that his precise driving skills and his father’s modified Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno make him the best amateur road racer on Mt. Akina’s highway. Because of this, racing groups from all over the Gunma prefecture issue challenges to Takumi to see if he really has what it takes to be a road legend.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Shuuichi Shigeno

The Positives: I’ve actually never watched anything of Initial D, but who knows? A hot blooded racing anime has potential, especially now that the creators are giving it a modern touch. This series will air twice every month, so it’ll follow the same formula as Wangan Midnight, allowing the creators to just take their time. Nice choice.
The Negatives: I’ve heard that Initial D was not the best looking series (to the point where the car CG stood out way too much, and one particular character resembling a potato more than a human being), so I wonder if this new series will have the same problems or not.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

K

Summary: “?”
Produced by: Gohands
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Other Notable Staff: Gou Nakanishi (Producer)

The Positives: This is an original project by Gohands, and the only thing we know so far is a bunch of voice actors, a bunch of promos and that it’s got a producer who worked on most notably Fafner, Stellvia and Heroic Age. Based on the promo images, this seems like an action series with good animation and a lot of different characters walking around. The trick will now be to give them all character and make them all interesting, so I hope they went with the right people behind this.
The Negatives: One warning sign though was that everyone looked around the same age. If you want to have a diverse cast, then go for it. Switch up the ages as well. Also, make sure not to go overboard on the CG, Gohands.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Code:Breaker

Summary: “Riding the bus one day, Sakurakouji Sakura looks out the window to see people being burned alive with a blue fire as a boy her age remains unharmed and stands over the people. When she goes back to the site the next day, there are no corpses or evidence of any kind of murder, just a small fire. When Sakura goes to class, she discovers the new transfer student is the same boy she saw the day before. Sakura soon learns that he is Ogami Rei, the sixth “Code: Breaker,” a special type of assassin with a strange ability and also a member of a secret organization that serves the government” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Kinema Citrus
Director: Yasuhiro Irie
Series Composition: Yasuhiro Irie
Original creator: Akamine Kamijou
Other Notable Staff: Masayuki Sakoi (Assistant Director), Yukie Akitani

The Positives: Kinema Citrus, with the director of Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood and Kurau Phantom Memory. Hell yeah! This guy knows how to portray action scenes and how to do characterization properly, and he’s doing both the direction and series composition.
The Negatives: This does seem like the least interesting story he’s worked on so far, though. The original mangaka seems to have written Samurai Deeper Kyo before this. The premise for Code Breaker just seems… plain in comparison to what Yasuhiro Irie and Kinema Citrus did before this, so let’s hope that it at least has some good character development.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Summary: “This is the story of the Joestar family, and their battles against bizarre enemies. Jonathan Joestar’s battle against the vampire Dio Brando starts it all, and it continues into roughly each second generation of Joestars through all parts of the story.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Hirohiko Araki

The Positives: Finally a show that doesn’t look like the others! I tend to love remakes of classic series, so I’m very interested what the creators can do with this, and the character designs at least look very artistic. We still have no bloody clue who will end up doing this, but they definitely plan to make it interesting to look at.
The Negatives: However, try to look at that trailer on the official website and you get treated to some very jumpy and awkward animation, showing that character designs like this are hard to move around.

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Btooom!

Summary: “Ryota Sakamoto is one of the top-ranked players of BTOOOM!, an online battle game. But no amount of simulated warfare could have prepared him for what is to come …Ryota wakes one evening to find himself dangling from a tree by a parachute with no recollection of how he got there. Before he can orient himself to his unfamiliar surroundings, Ryota is attacked. As a barrage of explosives rain down on him, Ryota realizes that he too has a pack of bombs …bombs that look very similar to the ones used in BTOOOM! Ryota may have mastered the online game, but can he come out on top in this real-life game of survival?!” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Madhouse
Director: Kotone Watanabe
Series Composition: Yosuke Kuroda
Original creator: Junya Inoue

The Positives: Yosuke Kuroda as the scriptwriter is a really solid choice. This guy is really experienced. The director is also very interesting: he hasn’t done much, but the episodes that he did work on were really, really good: A Spider’s Thread of Aoi Bungaku, plus a few episodes of Madoka Magica, Chihayafuru and Supernatural. I wonder what he can do with the actual series here.
The Negatives: So… basically we have Sword Art Online again here, only this time with a survival theme and instead of an MMORPG the focus is on an action game. Okay, sounds promising. The mangaka of Btooom seems to like a lot of horror as well and his stories definitely have potential. There is that fact that the manga isn’t finished yet though…

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Robotics;Notes

Summary: In Robotics;Notes, the player assumes the role of Kaito Yashio, someone who enjoys fighting games. He is in his school’s robot club. The story begins when the protagonist finds out that one of Robotics;Notes’ main heroines is actually a genius programmer who created the game engine for a world renowned fighting game. The main character then decides that he wants to create a robot based around command inputs and motion capture technology. He decides to go to the karate club to look for someone to perform the motion capture sequences. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Produced by: Production IG
Director: Kazuya Nomura
Series Composition: Jukki Hanada
Original creator: Chiyomaru Shikira
Other Notable Staff: Chikashi Kubota (Animation Character Designs), Tatsuya Matsubara (Producer), Naotaka Hayashi (Scenario)

The Positives: Well, so after Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate there is Robotics;Notes. The whole futuristic approach really reminds of Eden of the East. And yes, for those wondering: Naotaka Hayashi is a member of 5pb, the company who published the game that this is based on. He’ll be able to keep Jukki Hanada in check, who sometimes manages to lose himself in his own scripts. Beyond that Jukki Hanada managed to turn into a very solid writer who manages to deliver when he needs to in his adaptations recently, as shown by Level E and Steins;Gate. This is also necessary for Kazuya Nomura, the director of Sengoku Basara 2 and its subsequent movie.
The Negatives: So yeah, the big challenge will be to stuff everything into just Noitamina’s 11 episodes. This is pretty much tackled by people with pacing problems. Sengoku Barara’s second season for example had its awesome moments, but near the end you could see that Kazuya Nomura was unable to make everything come together due to his excessive focus on build-up. Also, Noitamina is for adults, put them in there for god’s sake!

First-Glance Potential: 80%

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

Summary: “After being kicked out of the main dorms for bringing in a stray cat, Kanda Sorata is forced to live in the smaller Sakura Halls where problem students are sent to live. Although he doesn’t mind his room-mates, Sorata can’t wait to move out of Sakura Halls. But when Shiina Mashiro moves into the dorm, everything changes. Mashiro is an artistic genius who, at a young age, won many awards for her skills, but due to her childhood being so focused on art, she has no common sense and social skills. Forced to take the role of taking care of Mashiro, Sorata learns about himself and begins on a path of self improvement” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Atsuko Ishizuka
Series Composition: Mari Okada
Original creator: Hajime Kamoshida
Other Notable Staff: Masahiro Fuji (Character Designer)

The Positives: Mari Okada! That definitely gives it a plus, because even though she writes really good original script, she is also brilliant at adapting other works, as shown by Hourou Musuko, Gosick and the Armed Librarians. What’s also good is that there is character-development in the premise of this series. And to make things even better: they got the director of the final two stories of Aoi Bungaku, and half of Supernatural, both which were really artistic and well directed. And on top of that she worked on a ton of awesome episodes of series like Mouryou no Hako, Monster, Nana, Chihayafuru, and Himitsu. My favorite female director out there is Sayo Yamamoto, but damn: she comes close.
The Negatives: So of course the next move for these two would be a seinen romance. A bit strange when you consider that they’re both women, and from the outside this does look like wish fulfillment for the common fetish of helpless girl (pretty much like Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko). On top of that, JC Staff is a lot more conservative than the companies that they usually work with. The thing with both of them is that they need freedom. But something tells me that Mari Okada is going to grab that anyway. Also, I don’t really like the character-designer: she was the one behind the IMO ugly designs of Zero no Tsukaima and Hayate the Combat Butler.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Zetsuen no Tempest: The Civilization Blaster

Summary: “Yoshino Takigawa is visiting his friend’s family grave. After getting there, he encounters Evangeline Yamato, a woman in search for his friend, Mahiro Fuwa, who left a month ago to find his family’s killer without any clues to who it might be. Evangeline informs Yoshino that two places where Mahiro has been spotted have been quarantined, due to an epidemic. When Evangeline is questioning Yoshino at gun-point, Mahiro comes out of nowhere and swiftly saves him and can stop bullets in mid-air, claiming to have a deal with a sorceress; not just any, but the strongest sorceress, Hakaze Kusaribe, who promised to help find his family’s killer with her magic so he can kill the killer himself. After saving Yoshino, Mahiro informs him about the epidemic, a curse that turns living things into metal, claiming the Kusaribe clan plans to revive the Tree of Zetsuen that could destroy the world.” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: Bones
Director: Masahiro Ando
Series Script Editor: Mari Okada
Original creator: Kyou Shirodaira
Other Notable Staff: Michiru Oshima (Music), Hiroki Kanno (Chief Animation Director)

The Positives: From the original author of Spiral, very interesting. This guy knows how to write mind games really well. But what about the rest? Well, the plot for this story definitely sounds much more interesting than that of Spiral. Add that to that it’s going to be adapted by Mari Okada, who is excellent at adapting stories, along with a chief animation director who previously designed the characters for Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood and Rahxephon, along with none other than Masahiro Ando, the director of Sword of the Stranger, Hana-Saku Iroha and Canaan, and you might just have something that can surpass Spiral very easily.
The Negatives: Unfinished manga alert! Abort! Abort! With Spiral this ended in a disaster where this caused the series to be unable to answer just about every single damn question that it asked.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

From the New World

Summary: ” In the future Japan has become a fractured country, and small towns now exist. The rulers of this world have the cursed power of Telekinesis. When an incident occurs, 5 children come to realize the world is not as it seems, and learn the bloody history behind this world. These 5 children unite and help the world as it falls into a downward spiral of chaos.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Masashi Ishihama
Series Composition: Masashi Sogo
Original creator: Yuusuke Kishi
Other Notable Staff: Chikashi Kubota (Character Designs)

The Positives: A-1 Pictures adapting the work from an award-winning novelist about a dystopian science fiction mystery story. Count me in! The director is a very interesting guy. He doesn’t direct often, but he did the really stylish OP for Senkou no Night Raid, he did half of Speed Grapher (which I unfortunately didn’t watch), he was the chief animation director of Read or Die and directed the animation for Welcome to the Space Show. This guy needs some freedom (he also designed the characters for Eiken of all things), but he can really make this work. Masashi Sogo meanwhile is a decent scriptwriter for this. He worked both on good and lesser series, but he can really make this work I feel. I especially enjoyed his work for Yukikaze.
The Negatives: The big potential pitfall: the 5 children. The promotional material already made it clear that they’re just a small part of this world, but make sure that they can play out their role, instead of forcing them in the midst of struggles they don’t belong, having to pull deus ex machina to get them out again.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Little Busters

Summary: ” The story follows the life of Riki Naoe, a high school student who has been a member of a group of friends named the Little Busters since childhood. Riki brings multiple girls at his school into the Little Busters to have enough people to play a baseball game.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Yoshiki Yamakawa
Series Composition: Michiru Shimada
Original creator: Maeda Jun
Other Notable Staff: Magome Togoshi (Music), Maruko Iizuka (Character Designs, Aimation Director)

The Positives: After Air, Kanon, Clannad and Angel Beats, this will be the next Key work. This one’s another adaptation, and this time it’s JC Staff’s turn to have a go at it. I’ve heard from various sources that the original story is even better than Clannad, so I’m definitely interested here. Michiru Shimada can make it work. On one hand she did a very botched adaptation of Before Green Gables, but her adaptation of Kaze no Shoujo Emily was amazing and very well thought out.
The Negatives: I haven’t seen Hatsukoi Limited enough, but I do wonder: is the director of that one good enough to make this work as a tear-jerker? Beyond that he also directed Kill Me Baby, but such a gag manga isn’t really comparable to something by Key. And here is the thing: what made Air and Clannad stand out (both with the movies and the TV-series) was that there were some amazing people working on it. Can these people live up to that in their own way?

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Psycho Pass

Summary: There is a gun involved. And it’s about a Ministry of Wellfare Public Safety Bureau Criminal Investigation Department. And Psychopaths (Psycho pass -> Psychopath, get it?)
Produced by: Index
Director: Huh?
Series Composition: Wut?
Other Notable Staff: Where?

The Positives: The creators are being really mysterious with this one. And it’s really working as well. This will definitely be some sort of police series, an interesting new direction for Noitamina, and the way in which it does this will probably involve some sort of science fiction. But the exact how and what are still completely unknown. This is unique for a Noitamina-series, but goddamit whoever the people behind this are: they definitely wet my appetite.
The Negatives: The only promotional material was of a gun that looked very CG-ish. Be sure to use your CG well, Psycho Pass!

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Litchi DE Hikari Club

Summary: “Nine sexually frustrated teenage boys build a robot fuelled by lychee fruit to help them kidnap girls and aid them in their plot for world domination.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Usamaru Furuya

The Positives: And the winner of the most creative premise of the season: Lichee Light Club. I mean, this just looks bizarre from start to finish, and with such ideas behind it it’s bound to have a few laughs. A horror comedy isn’t done often, so this definitely has potential, and it also definitely stands out from the rest. Good job.
The Negatives: We still don’t know who will adapt this, nor if it’s actually going to be able to make it on October, since there is no official art yet on the website to be found. The above image was either that, or some strange live action picture.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

Kamisama Hajimemashita

Summary: ” After her father having run away due to gambling debts, and being evicted from her apartment, Nanami meets Mikage, a strange man who is afraid of dogs. Nanami “saves” Mikage from a dog and tells him her story. He gives Nanami his house as a thank you for saving him. Nanami accepts the offer, due to having nowhere else to go. Mikage draws her up a map showing her where to go. Upon arriving, she finds that it is a rundown shrine. Nanami is then almost killed by Tomoe, who was expecting Mikage to finally return after his 20 year absence. She is then greeted by both Onikiri and Kotetsu, as the new land god of the shrine. Unable to accept Nanami as the new land god, Tomoe mocks her then leaves the shrine, which, without Tomoe’s power transforms back into a run-down state. Not wanting to rob Tomoe of his home and realizing that her powers as a god are too weak anyway Nanami leaves, but eventually is brought back by Tomoe after she seals a contract with him, making him her familiar.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: TMS Entertainment
Director: Akitaro Daichi
Original creator: Julietta Suzuki
Other Notable Staff: Junko Yamanaka (ANN)

The Positives: YES! YES! For more than three years I have been waiting for Akitaro Daichi to actually direct a proper series again. I mean, he’s doing a wonderful job with Poyopoyo right now, and his adaptation of Gag Manga Biyori also was hilarious, but remain just random gag series. For those who are unfamiliar with him: I consider him to be the single most consistent comedy director out there, who at the same time gets even better when he has something serious in his hands (he was the guy who directed Now and Then, Here and There for example). On top of that, the premise here sounds like we’ll finally get another good shoujo series again, and Julietta Suzuki has potential as a writer: her short stories won a few awards and her stories overall seem much more imaginative than what I’ve been used to from most shoujo-series of the past years. TMS Entertainment, I really like the complete change in direction you took this year.
The Negatives: My one worry is TMS Entertainment, in the way that they’re obviously taking a huge risk this year. Now don’t get me wrong: I really like that, but I fear that like with Zetman, they won’t have enough support to fully animate it. Especially considering how the manga has 13 volumes currently published… and is still ongoing.

First-Glance Potential: 85%

July Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

So, this season had a really tough job to live up to the previous season, that was just filled with really good series. It’s definitely much smaller, but on the flip-side it did deliver with a bunch of very interesting series. In particular the dramas are better than ever, but there are also quite a few series that overflow with creativity. I consider this a succeeded season at this point.

Manga Recap:
So, this month I finally started to get into manga. Unconsciously, this mostly turned into an exploration of various one-shots, one-shot compilation, or short manga. Most of what I’ve been able to read are just introductions, and there was some nice stuff amongst them, but there were three things that really managed to catch my attention with their excellent introductions, and carried them further with excellent storytelling.

#3: Hotel
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Hotel by Boichi. This is a mature Osamu Tezuka-esque take on science fiction and the apocalypse, all paired with the most crisp art I’ve encountered this month. Its first chapter shows an interesting portrayal of the apocalypse, but what really blew away was the Tuna story. That really was unique and unlike any other science fiction story I’ve read.

#2: Hito Hitori Futari
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Hotel really only let me down on one area: its characterization. This all felt a bit flat. Hito Hitori Futari however, packed a ton of charm in its two characters. This really was drawn with emotion, and together with the down to earth dialogue, it really managed to bring its cast to life. It’s also got a beautiful art style.

#1: A Million Pound Love
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This is an anthology by the same author of Himitsu the Revelation, and you can definitely see this. This is truly excellent mystery with brilliant character-development put in very short stories. Like Himitsu, she knows exactly how much to reveal at each page to keep you interested.

#33 (new) – Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru – (1,75/10) – Add some gender-swapped historical figures, and then this series would have been everything that is wrong with modern anime. I mean, Dakara Ecchi was bad, but this is one level beyond that: completely shameless and stupid without any hint of inspiration or effort.
#32 (new) – Hagare Yuusha no Estetica – (2,5/10) – This show was incredibly stupid and sexist, I just can’t remember why anymore.
#31 (new) – Dakara Boku wa H ga Dekinai – (2,9/10) – Why don’t these guys just make straight-up porn?
#30 (new) – Chitose Get You – (3,25/10) – This series was just cheap and poorly delivered. And I can understand lacking budget and all: but there is no excuse fo the completely uninspired writing and jokes.
#29 (new) – Oda Nobuna no Yabou – (3,5/10) – It’s one thing to gender-swap famous historical figures. But really: why does it always have to be with the same people? First there was the romance of the three kingdoms, now this.
#28 (new) – Campione – (4,5/10) – It looked like for a minute this series had potential to become an entertaining action series. But no, it had to focus on harem clichés instead. This show got quickly dropped once I found that out.
#27 (new) – La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia – (5,5/10) – Look, I used to be a huge fan of shoujo series. When good, they can deliver some of the most heartfelt stories out there. But it’s the series like Arcana Famiglia that make it really hard to remain a fan by reducing most of the cast to mere stereotypes who keep repeating one single gimmick. Chiaki Kon, you in particular should know better.
#26 (24) – Yuruyuri – (6/10) – Yuruyuri was very funny when it started with that gimmick of a first episode. When that ended though, it completely bored me. It’s still girls talking and making bad lesbian jokes. If that’s what you like, then by all means give this one a chance. I just tuned out immediately.
#25 (35) – Dog Days – (6/10) – I was hoping that Dog Days’ would improve on the formula of its predecessor. What I wasn’t prepared for however, was the end of that second episode. Just.. why? Why on earth would you want to do something like that in a series like this?
#24 (new) – Joshiraku – (6,5/10) – Joshiraku was too static: it entirely was about characters sitting in a room discussing wordplay. It got to the point where they weren’t characters anymore, but rather that this became an essay about wordplay from the author.
#23 (new) – Ebiten – (6,6/10) – Well, this one wasn’t the worst of this season, it had some nice jokes and all. But ultimately it’s just random fluff that has way too little potential. Also, those eyes!
#22 (27) – Hakuouki – (6,9/10) – I have to grant it to Hakuouki that out of all of the bishie-series to appear during the past few years, it has been the best. It at least tried something different from the usual cliches. But it just doesn’t seem to really try to stand out. It’s just there. I gave several seasons a try now, but never did I really encounter something that caught my attention.
#21 (new) – Binbou-Gami ga! – (7,4/10) – Comedy is incredibly subjective, but I do recommend watching the first episode of this series: that one was very well-balanced and quite funny. As for what happened afterwards, though: it just wasn’t funny enough for me, and the random references for the sake of references, stereotypical characters and lots and lots of yelling just didn’t do it for me.
#20 (24) – Phi Brain – (7,5/10) – I can live with Phi Brain being stupid, but what is a bit harder to accept is how this series has been systematically ignoring any good potential character-development. This month thankfully wasn’t as bad as the previous one, and there even was a very good episode with the Ana Gram episode, but can someone answer me why the single most pathetic villain of the first season was brought back?
#19 (new) – Tanken Drilland – (7,5/10) – Tanken Drilland has the makings of a really good kids show, but it really needs to try harder for that. It’s really quite charming, and the two leads work too good together, but the third main character is a bit too stupid. Yes, I know this is aimed at kids, but that is no excuse. What happened to the days of the World Masterpiece Theater in which kids series really took their audiences and their characters seriously?
#18 (22) – Saint Seiya Omega – (7,6/10) – Saint Seiya has been dabbling on like usual. Some episodes are a bit of a waste of time, while others are a bit more interesting, but it never really stood out, nor did it ever get annoying enough for me to drop it. Whether I’d recommend this show to others to marathon though… that’d be a different story. It’s good enough to watch weekly, but for now it doesn’t really have enough staying power to be worth it to marathon.
#17 (new) – Total Eclipse – (7,75/10) – Total Eclipse is a strange beast. I actually like that it took its first two episodes specifically to show the background of one of the main characters, but afterwards things went a bit wonky with strange nationalism and stereotypes, along with a lot of yelling and random fanservice. Seeing this, I can imagine that the director was about to break down, but the writing staff also is to blame for some of the strange design decisions.
#16 (new) – Sword Art Online – (7,9/10) – For me,the gist of Sword Art Online is: really interesting setting, gorgeous visuals, rather boring characters. At this point in the story, none of the characters really stand out yet: there were moments in the first episode in which they did, but in the episodes afterwards this series has been very gloomy and particularly bad in portraying its side-characters, on top of being surprisingly formulaic (Hello, girl of the week!).
#15 (new) – Tari Tari – (8/10) – Tari Tari is a charming slice of life series, that has yet to really stand out. The closest it has gotten is with episode two, but afterwards it really made clear that that was just a one-off issue. The blond lead girl in particular tends to get on my nerves, and is a bit too simplistic and clichéd. They still could make this work though, because there definitely is potential here.
#14 (14) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon – (8,1/10) – Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon makes no sense whatsoever. But the ideas it has really make up for it. It’s completely crazy this way, and that’s what I really appreciate from it. Now if only the characters themselves would get a bit better: in particular the male lead is trying too hard to be comic relief. And no, I don’t care if this is explained in the plot. This is Horizon, they can just pull something out of their asses to turn this down.
#13 (new) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita – (8,1/10) – Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita has one thing that makes it stand out, and it does that really well: its setting. There is so much interesting stuff going on in this series, and it’s all just so inspired. Beyond that though, it doesn’t really have anything that stands out: the graphics look pretty… and that’s it. The characters are… there I guess, but that’s all So yeah, it’s a one trick pony, but that trick it does is damn great.
#12 (new) – Uta Koi – (8,25/10)

Thank you, whoever made this show possible. This series shows that anime can still make series that have no commercial potential at all, and instead are there to teach their audience new things and show their own interpretations of a unique part of Japan’s history. The acting is a bit simplistic, but heck: the content, soundtrack and pacing make up for that.

#11 (13) – Moyashimon – (8,25/10)

Bizarrely enough, the central character of the past month changed to a germophobe. Because of this, the germs have turned into narrators. A bold move, and do the creators have enough to make up for that? I’d say yes: the lectures in this series are very interesting, and the characters all have a very good chemistry together.

#10 (9) – Rinne no Lagrange – (8,25/10)
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Rinne no Lagrange continues its strong formula of mechas and charming characters. With this, we’re heading into the real mysteries in this series, and the themes of reaching out to the enemy still remain, although the main villain of Ran’s brother could do with a bit of character-development at this point.

#9 (15) – AKB0048 – (8,4/10)

This month, AKB really won me over completely. The second season announcement, on top of the characters getting even more charming really did the trick for me. The finale was incredibly cheesy, but it worked due to the excellent direction and musical numbers. Definitely looking forward to that continuation.

#8 (25) – Kokoro Connect – (8,4/10)

This was by far the surprise of the season, after that first episode that left me woefully unimpressed. From out of nowhere, this series suddenly started delivering with excellent dialogue and voice acting, and the characters suddenly revealed complex issues that they all discussed with each other in great detail. This is one case in which my first impressions have been totally wrong.

#7 (18) – Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – (8,5/10)

I love this show. It’s all just so down to earth. This month was entirely dedicated to Summer, and what followed were a TON of short sketches about the different characters living their daily lives while it’s too hot to really do anything. Seriously, the episodes are only 2 minutes long, and the creators still manage to stuff in enough content as if it was five times that length.

#6 (11) – Shirokuma Cafe – (8,5/10)

This show surpassed itself this month with a number of classic scenes. It’s still incredibly corny, but because of how true it is to itself it really doesn’t matter, and this actually becomes a selling point. Some of the characters, especially Penguin and Polar Bear, were just priceless.

#5 (10) – Hunter X Hunter – (8,6/10)

Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally Hunter X Hunter has arrived at the point that I’ve been looking forward to ever since it got announced (nearly a freaking year!): the Yorkshin arc. This is where the original series really went: “Shounen conventions?” Who cares about these bloody shounen conventions! I’ve got a story to tell!”, and it would be wonderful if this new season would also be able to achieve this. The early signs are all good: sure, the acting is a tad more over the top, but they can really make this work. They really nailed the introductions of the key characters in their own way.

#4 (9) – Hyouka – (8,6/10)

The school festival arc is really big. For how many episodes has it been going on now? 4? Because of that though, it really as been able to put in an attention to detail for the small things, That was great build-up.

#3 (4) – Eureka Seven Ao – (8,75/10)

To those who were planning to check out Eureka Seven Ao without having seen the original Eureka Seven: don’t. You really need to have seen the first Eureka Seven in order to be able to enjoy this to the fullest, that definitely became clear this month. And how! This month just delivered twist after twist after twist, and it all works together. The big ones in particular were just amazing, and this series doesn’t even show signs that it played all of its trumps already.

#2 (new) – Natsuyuki Rendezvous – (9,25/10)

This show is just amazing in every single way. It’s been a long while since in a season there was just one show that immediately blew away all other series that debuted that season so massively. Its voice acting is just fantastic, the characters and their chemistry is just amazing, the soundtrack rocks, the animation is incredibly detailed, the story doesn’t beat around the bush. It really is refreshing to see such a mature romance, in which the main female character actually is in her thirties: these characters are even rarer than male leads of that age.

#1 (1) – Uchuu Kyoudai – (9,25/10)

The thing with Uchuu Kyoudai is that the only criticism I might have for it is that its pacing is a tad slow: it really takes a while to get from A to B. But dammit, it brilliantly makes use of this, by using this time in order to flesh out its cast to the fullest. Mutta has become a classic character at this point, but the rest of the cast members are also awesome at this point. Everyone just feels so real and down to earth, and on top of that they all pack a ton of charm in their own way.