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August Summary

by psgels, posted in Monthly Summaries

To be honest, I’m about to consider 2010 as the worst anime year since I started blogging. The summer season overall was held back by its quantity problem, which results in only a few series that I really consider memorable. Does that mean that I consider that anime is dying, though? Absolutely not. I’m very curious to see how it’s going to evolve in the future and in the upcoming years.

In this month, the surprises mostly came from the series that have been carried over from previous season, with a few notable exceptions. Overall it’s a better month than the previous one, and even the series that aren’t going to turn into anything memorable have their share of very enjoyable episodes.

#19 (20) – Amagami SS – (6,25/10) – I’m still watching this show, but it’s still just plain boring. The second arc was simply decent, it at least had some dynamic characters, but apart from that nothing stood out, and the conclusion yet again was too fast and rushed. The third arc however… by god. The portrayal of that shy girl was just abysmal.
#18 (19) – Asobi ni Iku Yo – (7,5/10) – Out of the huge onslaught of moe shows by AIC this season, this one turned out to be the best one. It’s self-conscious and knows that it’s just harmless fun, and the gunfights are enjoyable enough. The characters themselves are really cliched, but they could have been much more annoying. There’s good chemistry between them, which sortof makes up for the huge amount of flaws that this show has in its premise.
#17 (16) – Sekirei – (7,75/10) – The weak point of this series remains the scenes without drama: the voice actors just try too hard to sound cute, and those scenes are just annoying to watch. Still, the main story has been getting better now that the creators revealed the major background behind everything. The characters are definitely coming together now, despite the silly and fanservicey premise
#16 (18) – Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi – (7,75/10) – This one has gotten better. The animation still is consistently good, and it really has been thinking about arcs that give the main characters some depth, rather than the more silly adventures of the first few episodes. My problem with it still is the huge amount of references to otaku pop culture and overused anime cliches that just don’t interest me. Especially the boob jokes have to stop because this show has been overusing those beyond belief.
#15 (6) – Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu – (7,75/10) – This month for me wasn’t as good as the previous one, but that mostly had to do with expectations. It’s mostly been a building-up moth for Denyuuden, and nothing really special happened here.
#14 (10) – High School of the Dead – (7,75/10) – What sets High School of the Dead apart from all other fanservice shows this season is its atmosphere, which is really genuinely good. The action itself is also very entertaining. Beyond that it’s just gore an fanservice, but I’m enjoying it so far.
#13 (12) – Katanagatari – (8/10) – This is a bit of a strange series, but even though its episodes are twice as long as usual, I just don’t have a lot to say about it. Nothing really stands out, good or bad. I hope that the final episodes indeed are going to get more interesting so that I’ll at least have something to say about it.
#12 (15) – Heroman – (8/10) – This show is weird. I thought it was predictable, but in this month it made a bunch of really strange choices. That island arc was a completely pointless filler. I have no idea what it did in this series, it had no relation to the plot whatsoever, and overall was boring to get through. On top of that, ONLY now, after more than twenty episodes, did it suddenly decide to reveal the most crucial background information. I mean, especially the explanation of Psy’s leg should have been given right at the beginning. But yeah: the upside of this is that the past few episodes have been really character-centric, and actually did a lot of good stuff with them.
#11 (14) – Mitsudomoe – (8/10) – You know? Of all the moe shows this season, I’m enjoying this one the most. Sure, it has its mind in way, way deep into the gutter, and most of the series consists just out of utterly wrong toilet jokes, but the delivery is top-notch and actually gets better as the series goes on. I don’t want to laugh, yet I can’t help it here.
#10 (11) – Anymaru Tantei Kiruminzoo – (8/10)

Now that the climax has started this show has definitely been delivering, and everything seems to be coming together now. I still believe that this could just as easily have been a 39 episoded series, but it’s been an entertaining month for Anymal Tantei Kiruminzoo.

#9 (7) – Nurarihyon no Mago – (8/10)

Gyuki’s arc was quite good, even though it spent most of its time just building up for the rest of the series. Now that we finally got the introduction arcs done though, we should get to the interesting parts of the story, to which I’m looking forward to a lot. It’s perhaps not the most exciting series, but still a very solid one.

#8 (17) – Kuroshitsuji – (8,25/10)

Now that Alois is in the picture again this show has become a whole lot more interesting. His insanity is just so interesting to watch, and I love all of the interesting plot twists the creators try to put into this. However, it would suck if the sole purpose of this series was just going to be a plot device to get Ciel and Sebastian to happily coexist together.

#7 (8) – Sengoku Basara – (8,25/10)

Building up, building up, building up. Really, this month has been either building up to the finale (which had better be damn awesome with all this hyping) and one particularly crazy action episode that blew all my expectations. I expected this to be just one string of action-scenes, but instead this series went for just a couple of them, while trying to make THOSE as epic as possible. Well, I must say that so far they’re doing a good job because episode 18 (or 6) had without a doubt the best action I have seen this month, but this is all going to depend on these final episodes.

#6 (4) – Rainbow – (8,5/10)

This month we got various mini-arcs that were meant to develop and explore the characters as they move on with their lives, and I’m really liking this show more and more. Some characters can be a bi stereotypical at times(specially the thugs), but it’s still both fun and exciting.

#5 (2) – Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – (8,5/10)

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin took on a completely different direction from expected this month, by taking on a much quieter and controlled pacing. I still consider it to be the series with the most solid execution of the Summer Season, though. The episodes ranged from really well executed (episode 06) to a bit disappointing (episode 08), but overall they were all focused on developing the lead character Maya. Whether it’s going to work depends on the final third of this series.

#4 (5) – Shiki – (8,75/10)

An excellent atmosphere that just continues to get better. This show is very good at building up, and that really starts to show at this point, not to mention that the soundtrack also just gets better with every episode.

#3 (9) – Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – (8,75/10)

I’m not sure what happened, but somewhere the creators suddenly decided to flick the awesome-switch here. This series improved beyond belief during the past month, with a number of awesome episodes in which all of the build-up of earlier on in the series is coming together. The music especially has exceeded all my expectations here.

#2 (2) – Heartcatch Precure – (8,75/10)

You can really see the show evolving now that Cure Sunshine has appeared, and it has possibly made this show even better. Some of the fights have become a bit beam-spamming, but the individual stories for each episode have been incredibly charming.

#1 (1) – Giant Killing – (9/10)

I love this show! Especially now near the end now that everything is coming together, the entire cast is just one chunk of personality. The opposing team is just awesome, not to mention the huge amounts of Dutch that the creators managed to insert. Every single character still stands apart as individual despite the huge cast, and not to mention how great the creators are with the build-up of the past arc.

Symphony in August Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




I was really starting to fear that Symphony in August would meet the same fate as Furusato, Japan (as in, arriving to the west three years late and flying completely by people’s attention even though it’s really good), but thank god this didn’t turn out to be true. I really urge someone who likes the realistic kind of movie to somehow sub this thing, because it really doesn’t deserve to fade into obscurity.

Symphony in August turned out to be an incredibly uplifting movie, but the interesting thing is that it’s completely non-fiction: it’s based on the autobiography of the singer and songwriter Ai Kawashima, and takes place seven and eight years ago as she tried to find the recognition for her singing skills. She she even voiced the songs throughout the movie.

After watching,I can really understand why people wanted to make a movie about her life, since it is a very inspiring and slightly unusual road through which Ai worked herself up, and eventually ended up singing the theme song of the Place Promised in Our Early Days (that part isn’t shown in this movie though, it’s solely about her rise to fame), starting out as a street performer. The creators did a wonderful job of portraying her as a character. She grows like a real character, acts very genuinely on the hardest moments of her life, and the people around her who support her are also portrayed as wonderfully restrained.

The director, Akio Nishizawa really has a knack for these kinds of movies: realistic, down to earth and honouring the Japanese cultural heritage of music. In this movie though, I did notice one of the very few points at which he missed the mark: the ending. For who knows what kind of reason, the producers just couldn’t get the right funding to fully animate it, so parts are shown in CG. To make matters worse, at this point the movie abuses its sentimentalism a bit too much and shows a few too many people with tears in their eyes, and this goes on for too long. Apart from that I consider Symphony in August to be just as good as Furusato Japan, but the ending is where the latter is just much better.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Realistic, down to earth and well paced. Only the ending could have used more subtlety.
Characters: 9/10 – Non-fiction, and it shows. A very realistic portrayal of the characters, and they’re charming as hell.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Detailed and well drawn movements, with some unfortunate CG abuse at the end.
Setting: 8/10 – Good portrayal of the modern singing business.

Suggestions:
– Furusato, Japan
– Fancy Lala
– Piano no Mori

Bungaku Shoujo (Movie) Review – 80/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Bungaku Shoujo is a project consisting out of four OVAs and a movie. I remember not really being impressed by the first OVAs, which didn’t really give me the motivation to check out the other parts of the OVA, so I just decided to go with the movie instead. Which, as it turns out, is completely different.

Before I continue however, I do want to say the following: with most of my series and movie reviews, I try to not include any spoilers. With this movie however, it’s impossible to really talk about my impression of this movie without discussing some of them, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you might want to skip the rest of the paragraphs of this review.

I say this of course because Bungaku Shoujo marketed itself as some cheesy romance in which the lead character gets to date a cute girl who eats books. The prologue of the movie reinforces this completely when it throws cliche after cliche when introducing its characters. And in the end, this turned out to be a huge red herring for the real subject matter of this series: dealing with a mentally insane childhood friend.

At this point I’m still not sure whether the creators tried too hard with that character, but nevertheless my highlight of this movie was the interplay between her and the lead character as it really took its time to explore how both of them feel about each other. With excellent animation, I felt myself to really care about these two, and to be honest, the entire cast quickly loses the stereotypes associated with them at the introduction. There is a bit of overacting at times, but even there it feels subtle and restrained, to really give off the impressions of a natural cast. I’m definitely surprised by that.

My main problem with this movie was the conclusion. Basically, most of the major conflicts are solved with a cheesy speech that I feel was totally unnecessary. I would have really preferred it if the characters just talked to each other to sort out their differences. Or heck, went to a proper psychiatrist.

The animation for a movie’s standards is pretty good, but average. There are a few still frames and off models here, but characters are well animated. For movie’s standards it’s nothing extraordinary, though. The soundtrack itself is also nothing to write home about.

Nevertheless it’s a compelling teenaged drama with a lot of symbolism to novels (most notable Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railroad). It’s not the best and the whole “demon eating books” turned out to be just a gimmick that could have easily been omitted without changing anything, but it definitely kept my attention throughout the movie.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Takes its time to tell the story, great sense of mystery.
Characters: 8/10 – The acting tries a little too hard at times, but nevertheless the cast is believable and charming.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Solid and detailed, but doesn’t stand out compared to other movies.
Setting: 8/10 – Aside from one gimmick that’s not used to its potential, it does its job of supporting the story, especially the book symbolism.

Suggestions:
– Night on the Galactic Railroad (one of those movies that I got to appreciate more and more over time, so just ignore that rating).
– Gedo Senki
– Kappa to Coo to Natsuyasumi

Kimagure Orange Road OVA Review – 85/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




With this, I get it. Kimagure Orange Road is annoying. It got on my nerves beyond belief. But in the end: it really is worth it. I mean, there is so much that modern teenaged love interests can learn from Madoka that it’s almost scary. This OVA at first sight seems much of the same as the TV-series, but there are a number of notable advantages that it has.

The formula is the same: get a bunch of episodes together in which the lead character (often with the use of his psychic powers) accidentally ends up in a really awkward romantic situation. The fact that this is eight episodes however, means that the cast has a lot less time to get on your nerves compared to the incredibly long TV-series. To me, this really worked in focusing on the good stuff of the OVAs: the serious and romantic scenes. And they really get their chance to shine in this OVA.

The graphics also got a major update here. You can really see that the artists especially put in effort to bring the cast to life now that they’re not bothered by a TV-series budget any more. It’s got this great classic look from the late eighties, and it doesn’t look as immature as the series did.

I can’t say that this OVA wasn’t annoying, because it definitely did have its moment. But really: if you finished the daunting task of watching the entire TV series of Kimagure Orange Road, then you might just as well continue with this OVA. At this point they’ve got 50 episodes worth of development behind them, so they sure as heck aren’t going to be shallow here. And besides: it’s great to see a show that isn’t incredibly scared to show teenagers drinking alcohol. Seriously: why does every modern anime try to pretend that teenagers never drink or smoke?

Storytelling: 9/10 – Annoying, but really knows exactly what it does in getting the best out of the characters.
Characters: 9/10 – I’ve said this before, but Madoka is one of the best characters of her kind. The others… they’re nice, but pale in comparison.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Smooth and detailed animation when it matters, with a few bugs here and there though.
Setting: 8/10 – Save for a horrible portrayal of a bunch of Americans, it’s solid and does its job.

Suggestions:
– Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ouki
– Maison Ikkoku
– Mahou Tsukai Tai OVA

Aria the Natural Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Watching Aria the Natural was… a challenge. Seriously, watching it (especially its first half) was a unique experience in trying to not doze off while still paying attention to the dialogue. I was nearly put to sleep by how calming the storytelling is here; that’s usually a really big insult!

Aria is all about making memories: those small events that leave a lasting impression on you, and the Natural is also full of episodes that focus on moments like these, in the middle of a ton of slice of life. Calm and soothing beyond belief, it’s very much an “Iyashi-kei” (healing-type) series that even more than the first season of Aria, is perfect if you just want to relax, or get rid of some stress.

The dialogue is also very important for this series, as it loves to flesh out its cast and setting with it. I especially liked how detailed and imaginative the script was. The thing that also sets Aria apart from most other slice of life series is that it really pays attention to the unique setting it’s in: the culture, history, traditions and people of Neo Venezia all get their turn to show a bit about themselves, and to be honest: I actually enjoyed this part more than the characters themselves.

Whether it’s the best slice of life series out there, though… I can’t say that. Aria is very good at what it does, but personally I enjoyed series as Windy Tales and Akage no Anne more. Even though the main characters have gotten 39 episodes worth of screentime, in which we do get to know them quite a bit, I still think they’re missing something. It’s like… they were trying too hard at times to be adorable, especially with the overuse of those comical chibi-faces. I’d also have liked a bit more variety in the different episodes. There were a few times at which I felt that this series might have gone on for a tad too long. This is just nitpicking, though. I enjoyed this show a lot regardless.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Calm, soothing, yet detailed, and a great script.
Characters: 8/10 – A charming cast.
Production-Values: 8/10 – An excellent soundtrack. The animation itself is nothing special but nice to look at.
Setting: 8/10 – Neat idea, well fleshed out, well used.

Suggestions:
– Windy Tales
– Ristorante Paradiso
– Mushishi

Onii-Sama e Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Usually when I compare a series to melodrama, I mean this in a negative way. Onii-Sama e, however… is just one of those exceptions that struck me by utter surprise. It comes with such a style, grace and elegance that the huge amounts of teenaged angst and bitchfights fit completely into place.

It’s another one of the television series directed by Osamu Dezaki, and seriously, the more I watch of this guy the more respect I get of him. The direction in this series is just fantastic, especially considering how old it already is (1992!). It’s a series that may not have the highest budget, but it makes optimal use of the animation techniques that were available at the time.

Characters are drawn swiftly and elegantly. Even the still frames are packed with movement, while the animated scenes have surprisingly good frame-rates. Everything is dedicated to making the characters look as elegantly as possible, without going over the top and just making the characters look silly, like what’s happening to most modern shoujo series.

The melodrama is obviously there: the characters in this series really have issues, and vicious catfights, screaming, yelling and suicidal thoughts are no stranger in this series. But the thing is that while it’s over the top, it never gets cheesy. The drama doesn’t get silly in how hard it tries, and instead it continues to colour the different characters throughout the series.

Characters, who are another part of the series’ highlights. Ranging from the main characters to the side ones, they are varied, engaging and deep. It’s great to watch them grow throughout the series, and deal with their own issues that while over the top, are things that I can very easily see teenaged girls to relate with. The chemistry and bonds between the characters is also great to watch, not to mention the excellent script that hits the mark time and time again.

At the same time though, I do see how Osamu Dezaki’s involvement can be a bit of a double edged sword. Judging from the reception of the Air and Clannad movies and Ultraviolet, his style is something that you can hate just as easily. His series also often have character-designs that look like no other anime out there. In Onii-Sama e’s case, it pretty much depends on how you’ll be able to stomach the dramatic scenes. The scenes beyond that are very accessible though: I’m still amazed at how much life the creators managed to put into them.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Fantastic direction, excellent dialogue, really dramatic.
Characters: 9/10 – An excellent cast, well fleshed out and developed throughout the entire run of the series.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Love it or hate it style. I loved it. The soundtrack is beautiful as well.
Setting: 8/10 – A bit of a soap opera setting, but solid and does its job to make the rest of the series shine.

Suggestions:
– Ultraviolet: Code 044
– Revolutionary Girl Utena
– Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water
– Ashita no Nadja

Autumn Season Preview – Movie and OVA Edition

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

So, since I noticed that at seasonal previews often omit movies and OVAs, I decided to make, alongside my usual seasonal previews, previews about all of the OVAs and Movies scheduled to come out in the upcoming Autumn Season. This list is based on Moonphase‘s data. Unfortunately, Moonphase has this habit of putting OVAs all over the place, also where they don’t belong, so it was a bit of a challenge to sort everything out.

Also, since I was a bit more thorough than usual, here’s a list of everything you can find on this preview:
– All animated movies scheduled to premiere between now and the end of November. Please note that it will usually take about nine months before most of these movies actually make it to the west.
– All standalone ovas that will premiere between now and November 15th (sorry about this indecisiveness. I changed my mind about this date halfway through compiling this list without realizing it).
– All DVD-specials and ovas based on television-series. Also of the ones that I didn’t finish. I won’t have much to say about them, but I decided to include them for completion’s sake.

This list will NOT cover:
– Live-action (so no Kaidan Restaurant Movie)
– Simple episodes of series that have already debuted (I do not want to repeat myself about Queen’s Blade’s OVAs over and over again). This also includes Gundam Unicorn and series of movies like Break Blade. The only exception to this is episodes that got announced after they were actually supposed to have been finished (Azazel-san for example)

With these previews, I’m not yet sure whether to set the dates between September 1st and November 30th or August 15th to November 14th, but next season I’ll be a bit clearer on the different dates.

Either way, my impressions of the upcoming Autumn season in terms of tv-series were a bit disappointed. There were quite a few interesting series (thank god it doesn’t have the quantity problem that the current Summer Season has), but there really wasn’t anything that really stood out as a potential classic and there were too many cute girls.

But holy crap, in terms of movies and OVAs it’s looking out to be an awesome season. There are a ton of interesting premises, ranging from slice of life to action, mecha and science fiction. A number of excellent sounding movies are set to premiere, and there also are a ton of spin-off OVAs and movies (meaning that they’re related in some way to a TV-series) with interesting concepts and great staff-lists. When you add to that the series of OVAs and movies that have been continuing from the previous summer season, we’re really in for something great here.

Nougyou Musume

Summary: Nougyou Musume is the whimsical story of Koshino Hikari and Hikaru, two sisters that farm the rice paddy left to them by their parents. – (Taken from AniDB)
Type: A short 3-minute OVA created to promote its manga.
Why you should look forward to it: The only thing that I could find about this thing is that Toei is going to animate it, and the character-designs are done by Sunagawa Masakazu, who is a relatively new animator.
Why you should not look forward to it: Yeah, don’t expect this one to stand alone as anything. 3 minutes is way too short, and this pretty much is a glorified commercial that somehow ended up at Moonphase.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Metal Fight Beyblade VS Taiyō Shakunetsu no Shinryakusha

Summary: It’s summer vacation. In front of Ginga an Co, who are excited about a Beyblade tournament, Helios, a mysterious youth, stands in their way. In his hands, he possesses “Sol Blaze”, a Beyblade that has been passed down since ancient times. As intense battle between Ginga vs. Helios unfolds, extreme weather develops throughout the world. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie based on a kids’ franchise about spinning tops
Why you should look forward to it: The premise sounds so incredibly silly that it’s bound to provide a laugh or two.
Why you should not look forward to it: It’s another one of those kiddie movies. The TV-series it was based on was ridiculously poorly produced, so I really wonder whether this one even has what it takes to keeps a bunch of kids busy.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Love Live

Summary: It’s about a group of girls who become idols in order to get more kids to enroll in their school in order to prevent it from getting closed down.
Type: Seems to be some sort of one-shot OVA.
Why you should look forward to it: Um… it’s animated by Sunrise?
Why you should not look forward to it: Due to be pre-sold at one of the comikets, I don’t think it’s hard to imagine the primary target audience of this series. It’s yet another one of those cheesy idol series.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Sora no Otoshimono Unaired Episodes

Summary: Tomoki Sakurai often encounters a strange girl in his dreams asking for his help, but he can’t remember her face when he wakes up. When an Unidentified Mysterious Animal (U.M.A.) falls out of the sky, his life of pacifism suddenly becomes complicated. The animal turns out to be an angel, Ikaros. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: An unaired episode called “Project Pink”, which apparently was too dangerous for TV.
Why you should look forward to it: If you’re into fanservice obviously.
Why you should not look forward to it: To me, it seems no more than one of those pornish dvd extras, turned into an episode… so yeah, unless you’re really looking for that, stay away from this one.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Da Capo P.S.P

Summary: Junichi Asakura lives with his adoptive sister Nemu in the crescent-shaped island of Hatsune Jima, a place where cherry blossoms bloom throughout the year. In this island, people have mysterious powers and attributes. For example, Junichi has the power to see other people’s dreams, and he was also taught by his grandmother to magically create sweets. One day, Junichi’s cousin and childhood friend, Sakura Yoshino came back from America all of a sudden. To Junichi’s surprise, she looks exactly the same as the girl that moved away six years ago, and hasn’t aged one bit. And she came back to remind Junichi of their childhood promise… It is a bittersweet tale of magic, love, hidden desires, and unattainable dreams. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: An OVA that comes shipped with the PSP ports of the Da Capo games.
Why you should look forward to it: If you like harems then this is one for you! This is a series that doesn’t put three or four girls around our main character. No, here the lead character can date 27 of them. 27!
Why you should not look forward to it: Da Capo is one of those franchises that refuses to freaking die. I mean, we’re at more than eighty episodes in total right now. Isn’t that a bit overkill?
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Seikon no Qwaser: Joou no Shouzou

Summary: In St. Mikhailov Academy, Oribe Mafuyu meets a silver haired boy called Alexander. He is a Qwaser, a being who can manipulate iron and draws his power from breast milk. A mystery surrounding an Icon transforms the academy into the setting for conflict between the various different Qwaser. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Seems like some sort of OVA or DVD side-story, but the actual format isn’t known yet.
Why you should look forward to it: 2010 really has seen anime progress further and further into pornography, with series like this one having a big part in the blame. Still, if you like that then this is for you. I also heard from a few people that the story itself has been quite decent, so who knows?
Why you should not look forward to it: Still, the thing remains: would the creators have chosen to turn this story into an anime if it didn’t feature breast feeding?
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu Special

Summary: It’s about a high school for the arts and the everyday life of four of its students. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Special based on TV-series. Two volumes seem to be scheduled.
Why you should look forward to it: All of the Hidamari Sketch series have gotten a special thus far, and this one is no different. I haven’t watched it, but if you liked the series you’ll probably like this.
Why you should not look forward to it: Blegh, Shinbo.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Koe de Oshigoto

Summary: The story follows a high school girl named Kanna Aoyagi who becomes a voice actress for adult games. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA, two episodes have been announced so far.
Why you should look forward to it: It’s being animated by a new company: Studio Gokumi. Apparently, it was formerly part of Gonzo, and it’s great to see that the parts it lost are starting over on their own.
Why you should not look forward to it: They really got someone terrible to write the script of this adaptation, though. Masashi Suzuki‘s previous experience in Kanokon, Seiken no Blacksmith and Shuffle suggests to me that he has no idea how to pace a story properly or make it interesting to the audience.
First-Glance Potential: 20%

Rawr! You Are Delicious

Summary: It’s about a Tyrannosaurus who comes across an Ankylosaurus baby all by himself and says, “Gaō! Omae Umasou Dana” (“Rawr! You look delicious.”) However, the Tyrannosaurus ends up adopting the baby as his own. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: It could have its charms for a kiddie show.
Why you should not look forward to it: I’m not really sure whether this is going to be the same as the television series or not. I mean, it’s going to suck if the movie is just a collection of the five-minute episodes of the tv-series.
First-Glance Potential: 20%

Mayo Elle Otokonoko

Summary: All I managed to find was that it’s about a boy who dresses like a girl.
Type: A Promo Doujinshi OVA
Why you should look forward to it: I can somewhat support what Keiichiro Kawaguchi is trying to do: experimenting with a ton of different formats, ranging from long series to short doujin OVAs.
Why you should not look forward to it: … but couldn’t he really pick better premises?
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori -Break on the Sky-

Summary: A face-off between Ikki and Ringo on their rocket-powered roller-blades. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: A OVA to bundle with a manga volume (adapting one of the later chapters of the manga)
Why you should look forward to it: First, I want to say that the manga author has one of the most awesome names. Second of all, the staff for this OVA is completely different from the Air Gear TV-series: instead of Toei, we now have Satelight and it’s going to have the director of Fairy Tail, Ichi the Killer and Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou To.
Why you should not look forward to it: The script will be done by Jun Maekawa (he wrote the series composition for the Prince of Tennis, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Bomberman Jetters, the second Digimon series and Sisters of Wellber). Obviously not the right guy to try and stuff the manga’s story into this OVA.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun OVA

Summary: Academy City is a highly developed place in terms of technology. It is said to be 20 to 30 years ahead of the rest of the world. 80% of it’s 2.3 million residents are students. The focus of studies here is directed towards esper powers. Misaka Mikoto, one of the top level espers in town, shares a room with Kuroko Shirai, another high level esper who is a member of Judgement, a law enforcing agency composed of students. Both attend to Tokiwadai, a private school reserved for the high-leveled and the rich. Kuroko’s partner at Judgement, Kazari Uiharu, is a low level esper who studies at Sakugawa middle school. Her best friend and classmate there is Ruiko Saten, a level zero (no esper powers). Together, the four encounter several adventures in the exciting scientific town. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: This one really seems like a normal OVA, rather than a DVD-special.
Why you should look forward to it: It’s probably going to be just a side-story, but if you liked the characters then this will be up your interests.
Why you should not look forward to it: I personally dropped railgun after a few episodes, mostly thanks to one particular character (the one with the twin-tails) who was really, really annoying. There also probably isn’t going to be a lot of plot in this OVA.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

ToHeart adnext

Summary: A collection of stories focusing on the girls of the ToHeart series
Type: Two-shot OVA
Why you should look forward to it: Its director has done a ton of stuff, along with a ton of storyboards, plus the direction of DNA2, which was pretty good.
Why you should not look forward to it: 3 television series. 4 ovas. Isn’t that a bit much for a harem?
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Kuttsukiboshi

Summary: The anime centres around two girls’ “risky” summer vacation together. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Two-shot OVA
Why you should look forward to it: We’re talking about a one-man project here: Naoya Ishikawa, a freelance animator, entirely made this OVA by himself apart from the music and voice acting.
Why you should not look forward to it: I suspect that Primastea had little to do with the actual content this time, and seems more like a vehicle for animators to showcase their projects, but really? I mean, combined with the premise I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned into some semi lesbian porn or something.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Kowarekake no Orgol

Summary: One rainy day, young musician Keiichiro takes shelter in a shrine, where he meets an abandoned android girl, whom he is told may never function well again. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie, 34 minutes long + 7 minute side-story. Not sure yet whether it’s going to be original or recap.
Why you should look forward to it: It all depends on whether this is going to be simple recap or original, really. If it’s the former, then it’ll be a nice addition to an OVA that just was too short.
Why you should not look forward to it: If it’s the latter, however…. yeah. Keiichiro Kawaguchi as the director is a huge question-mark because of his influence on both good series (Hayate the Combat Butler, Zettai Karen Children), bad series (Nyan Koi) and really really bad series (Moetan).
First-Glance Potential: 40%

Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai Flag 0

Summary: Katsuragi Keima is known on the net at the Capturing God, while in real life he is an otamegane who hates all real girls. However he is approached by Elsee, a devil from hell, to help her in catching runaway spirits that hide in people. Apparently the spirits only hide in the hearts of girls and the only way to get the souls out is by making the girl fall in love so the spirit gets forced out. Keima must capture all the spirits in the world so that his contract with hell ends. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: A DVD to bundle with the 10th volume of the manga. A prequel to the TV-series in a way.
Why you should look forward to it: I have been told that the manga is actually making fun of harem cliches. Of course, that’s no guarantee on how the creators of the anime are going to adapt it, but it definitely made me more interested in this series.
Why you should not look forward to it: The danger with these OVAs that are shipped alongside manga volumes is that they become either manga commercials or inaccessible to anyone who hasn’t read it. So, is this going to a Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu or a Kurenai? At this point it’s impossible to say, even though it’s a great chance for the producers to introduce people to this series.
First-Glance Potential: 50%

Yondemasu, Azazel-san

Summary: The story revolves around the detective Akutabe, his assistant Rinko Sakuma, and the various magical demons that Akutaba uses for his cases. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: The second anime dvd, to be shipped alongside the manga.
Why you should look forward to it: Here is one that completely passed my radar (I’ll try to get a review up for it as soon as possible), but when Tsutomu Mizushima is directing it may very well be good for a quick laugh, because this guy is certainly going to know how to translate the jokes to animation. With so few episodes, he can really grab the best chapters of the manga. It’s also one of those very few comedies done by Production IG.
Why you should not look forward to it: The chief animation director of Ookiku Furikabutte’s second season is going to design the characters and the character-designer of Himawari is going to direct the animation. Why not reverse them?
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A wakening of the Trailblazer

Summary: It is the year A.D. 2307. Fossil fuels on Earth have been depleted entirely, with mankind turning to the next available power source: solar energy. During this time, 3 orbital elevators with solar power generation systems are built, each under control by the Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations (formerly United States of America), the Human Reform League (Russia, China and India) and the Advanced European Union. However, not all countries are able to enjoy the benefits of this system, leading to widespread resentment and war. Arising out of the conflict, a mysterious military organization known as Celestial Being appears, dedicated to end all warfare using Mobile Suits called Gundam. This begins the stories of Gundam Meisters (pilots) Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos, Allelujah Haptism and Tiera Erde as they are thrown into conflict between the 3 superpowers and the various other factions. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie sequel of a TV-series
Why you should look forward to it: Yes! Against my fears, it turns out that this isn’t going to be a recap movie, and instead this will come with its own story. Kenji Kawai still is doing the music, Seiji Mizushima (Ooedo Rocket, the first Full Metal Alchemist) is still doing the direction and the script is still written by Yosuke Kuroda (he also wrote Ookiku Furikabutte, Infinite Ryvius, Risky Safety and Phantom).
Why you should not look forward to it: Obviously those Sunrise executives. I think I’ve repeated often enough how I hate how in the past number of years, especially with their popular franchises, they restrict their staff way too much and have them descend everything into strings of mecha battles that all look the same. This happened to the second season of Gundam 00. Will the movie be able to avoid it?
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Mazinkaiser SKL

Summary: The new project is billed as the return of the MazinKaiser anime franchise, which is itself a spinoff from Go Nagai’s classic super robot manga and anime series, Mazinger Z. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: Ah, Mazinkaiser. More hot-blooded mecha based on the original Mazinger. The director Jun Kawagoe has a lot of experience with these giant robot remakes with Kotetsujin Jeeg, Shin Getter Robo and Transformers.
Why you should not look forward to it: The big problem with this series is Shin Mazinger: when that series did just about everything you can do with the Mazinger franchise, how does this movie plan to top that besides a better animation? The original Mazinkaiser OVA already fell into its shadow, so this movie is really going to have to be more than just a homage.
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Heartcatch Precure! Hana no To de Fashion Show… desuka!?

Summary: Erika’s mother has been invited to Paris to hold a fashion show. The lead characters will be its models. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie, based on the TV-series.
Why you should look forward to it: I am seriously intrigued by that premise. I mean, it’s sounding a lot better than the premise of the All Stars movie, and if the creators can really get the slice of life right, and really portray the characters as they explore Paris, it’ll make for an awesome movie. As long as the creators don’t make it too epic, I have high expectations of this. The staff won’t be the same as with the TV-series, do take note of that. The director especially is intriguing: Rie Matsumoto. She is relatively young (only 30 years old), this really is going to be the first anime she works on. For Toei, this is a very risky move, but I’m really interested in her style here.
Why you should not look forward to it: I’m not sure why, but I’m a bit biased against these kinds of movies based on long-running franchises. I’m not sure why, actually, because I’ve seen very few of them.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Tamayura

Summary: For her first year of high school, Fu Sawatari moves to Takehara, a scenic old town near Hiroshima, on the Inland Sea. Her father, who has passed away, grew up in Takehara. She loves taking photographs with his old film camera, a Rollei 35S. This “healing” slice-of-life anime from the director of ARIA follows her and the friends who gather around – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA with at least two volumes confirmed.
Why you should look forward to it: Reiko Yoshida behind the script is also a very solid choice with her experience behind Maria-Sama ga Miteru, Popolocrois, Saiunkoku Monogatari and Umi Monogatari. And the Chief Animation Director of Aoi Hana only makes this even better.
Why you should not look forward to it: This really could have been a standalone TV-series just as easily, right? I know that in this way the creators will really have the chance to pace the OVA correctly, but I’m mostly worried about its short length here.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Yozakura Quartet – Hoshi no Umi

Summary: The story revolves around a quartet of teenaged heroes: A super-strong girl named Hime, a mind reader named Ao, a conjurer named Kotoha and an ordinary, powerless boy named Akina. The three girls and Akina protect the city of Sakurashin from supernatural threats – (Taken from ANN)
Type: This OVA will be unlike the TV-series: it will reset its storyline and follow the manga instead.
Why you should look forward to it: Take a look at that artwork here. I don’t know about you, but that is by far the best artwork of any TV-series or OVA I saw when I compiled this Autumn Season Preview. The OVA will have a completely different staff compared to the TV-series (which was a really good staff by the way, which really makes me wonder why it turned out to be such a bland series). The director, Ryoochimo Sawa is a newcomer: he only directed the sixth ED of Hanamaru Youchien (which was cheesy (but what did you expect with the source material), but really well animated). If that wasn’t enough, the music will be done by Atsushi Suemitsu, who composed together Nodame Cantabile’s OP. Now if that isn’t going to be a feast for the senses then I don’t know any more.
Why you should not look forward to it: I’m very intrigued by the intentions of the mangaka: how exactly did he imagine carrying on the story of the manga through just an OVA? Won’t that be too short?
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Umikara no Shisha

Summary: The only thing that I could make out is that this is about a “Messenger from the Sea”, who protects a city that is about to get destroyed.
Type: Independent movie. Pretty much a one-man project.
Why you should look forward to it: Why the heck is there hardly any English information about this movie? I searched, but neither ANN or AniDB has any entry about the Messenger of the Sea, even though it looks like a terrific piece of animation, especially considering that it was just one guy who wrote, directed and animated it. It’s entirely in black and white, but that gives it a really interesting sense of style.
Why you should not look forward to it: It’s supposed to be a short film, but I can’t find anywhere how long it’s supposed to be. 5 minutes? 60 minutes? Could be.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Onigamiden

Summary: The film’s story revolves around the war between oni (demons) and humans in the former Japanese capital of Kyoto, 1,200 years ago during the Heian period. The anime adapts a 2004 two-volume novel by the same name from author Takafumi Takada. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: Studio Pierrot, finally doing something that is not shounen again! This really caught my attention.
Why you should not look forward to it: I’m really doubting whether I should get worried about the director, Hirotsugu Kawasaki. Yes, he did direct Spriggan and a Naruto movie, but those were completely different from what this is going to be. I mean, this guy’s visuals surely are going to rock here, especially in the combination with Studio Pierrot’s animators (especially when they can gather their best artists), so who knows whether this is a genre that he can deliver a great cast of characters in?
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Koisento

Summary: The story is set in 2710 in the city of Nara, where the national capital has been relocated. For historical preservation and tourism, the country’s cultural treasures — including entire buildings — have been moved en masse and assembled inside a humongous building. A second-year high school student named Shinichi is visiting Nara on a field trip. No matter where he looks, there are deer everywhere. Shinichi is getting bored when suddenly, a deer takes off with his bag, leading to a mad chase through the streets of Nara. In the middle of the chaos, Shinichi helps a mysterious, beautiful girl named Toto who is being chased by unknown followers. Because of these odd circumstances, the two ended up in on a sight-seeing date throughout the locales of Nara. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: OVA; not sure how long it’s going to be.
Why you should look forward to it: The director of FREEDOM and Kakurenbo? I must say, that this is one of the most interesting romantic comedies I have seen when making the Autumn Season Preview for this year. There are some cliches, I know, but I’m very interested in what kind of science fiction the creators are playing, 700 years into the future with talking deer running around everywhere (yes, the deer has a voice actor). I mean, I’m not really sure what’s up with Sunrise lately, but I’m really digging the way that they are experimenting with all sorts of interesting movie and OVA premises.
Why you should not look forward to it: I can’t think of anything, unless you’re really not a fan of romantic comedies. However, I’m not a fan of that genre either and I’m looking forward to this one.
First-Glance Potential: 90%

Armored Trooper Votoms: Case;Irvine

Summary: ?
Type: If I understood correctly: there will be three movies released of Votoms to mark its end. The first is this Case;Irvine, set to premiere in November. All three movies are completely different, it seems, with different staff. Only the third one will have Ryousuke Takahashi.
Why you should look forward to it: It’s Votoms. I also like this idea very much in which three different kinds of staff are set to adapt and finish off this franchise. I was a bit unhappy to see that Ryousuke Takahashi (an amazing director IMO) wasn’t involved in the first two, but with the announcement of a third movie which DOES feature him, I suspect that he does have his influence on how they are meant to play out.
Why you should not look forward to it: I can’t find anything about the director and scriptwriter of this series, though. They’re complete newbies, and the only thing that I could find was that the director did a storyboard for an episode of Sora no Otoshimono. So unfortunately, we probably won’t get Ryousuke Takahashi’s tight direction. But really, who knows? Perhaps these guys were chosen because they really can become great writers in the future. Or it was just the influence of Sunrise’s executives rearing their heads around the corner. Please don’t let that be the case!
First-Glance Potential: 90%

Redline

Summary: Red Line is about the biggest racing game of the universe and it’s only held once every 5 years. And naturally everyone wants to take part. Follow the racings skills of men and women alike. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: There is Madhouse of course, but the director Takashi Koike is also very interesting. He did the opening animation of Samurai Champloo, directed the animation of World Record (Animatrix) and directed Trava – Fist Planet, which I still have to see. At the very least this is going to be great to look at. It gets really interesting for the script, though: Yoshiki Sakurai, who also wrote the script of the xxxHolic Movie, along with a number of episodes from Ghost in the Shell, Seirei no Moribito, xxxHolic and Otogizoshi. On top of that, Yuji Enokido will also be writing the script. Yeah, that’s also the guy who wrote Utena, and is also working on Star Driver.
Why you should not look forward to it: Um, the sound director, Youji Shizumu isn’t the best guy with most of his work ranging from Stitch to Hero Tales. This movie will be a feast for the eyes. But also for the ears?
First-Glance Potential: 100%

Mardock Scramble: The First Compression

Summary: Why me? It was to be the last thought a young prostitute, Rune Balot, would ever have…as a human anyway. Taken in by a devious gambler named Shell, she became a slave to his cruel desires and would have been killed by his hand if not for a private investigator and his self-aware Universal Tool, Œufcoque. Now a cyborg, Balot has not only physical powers, but the ability to disrupt social environments. She chases after Shell, his partner-in-crime Boiled, and faces down a variety of insane villains in this pulse-pounding cyberpunk noir adventure. – (Taken from AniDB)
Type: First Movie of a scheduled trilogy.
Why you should look forward to it: I’m intrigued: finally GoHands is going to do an actual interesting project. And I really love the use of colours on the promo art here. Especially the one who originally created this story is intriguing: Tow Ubakata, who also created the original stories for Fafner, Heroic Age and Chevalier. This guy’s awesome, and he’ll also be writing the script for the movies.
Why you should not look forward to it: The only one I’m a bit iffy about is the director, Susumu Kudo. I’m not really sure whether someone who has mostly directed cheesy romantic comedies will really be able to make this story come to life.
First-Glance Potential: 100%

.Hack//Quantum

Summary: In .hack//Quantum, the characters Tobias, Mary, and Sakuya form a party and embark on a high-difficulty-level quest in The World R:X. (The World R:X is the new version of The World – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Three-part OVA
Why you should look forward to it: Kinema Citrus is back. They really did an awesome job with Tokyo Magnitude, so I’m glad that they got a .Hack series next. The soundtrack will also again be fantastic with Kou Otani as the composer. But it gets even better: Masaki Tachibana, the director of Tokyo Magnitude is also going to direct this thing.
Why you should not look forward to it: The problem with this show is obviously the length. I mean, why can’t this be a full fledged series? It would be awesome to see another actual .hack television series and these people really know how to make such a thing work.
First-Glance Potential: 100%