Category: Other:

Autumn Season Preview

by psgels, posted in Seasonal Previews

The amount of series that will première in the upcoming Autumn season? 29. That’s about the same as the previous Spring Season. While I’d love to say that anime is getting better again, this season is looking pretty bleak, with only three series that do not focus on kids or teenagers and a lot of the more promising series only looking to be scheduled for 13 episodes. While this season at least has a number of interesting looking series, I’m afraid that I couldn’t really give any of them a potential higher than 80%.

I’d hate to say this, but if all these series play out according to my first impressions, then 2010 is going to be the worst year in anime for me since having started this blog, There just are too many fetish series, too many moe shows, and there are only about ten series that really piqued my interest. For a major season as in the autumn, that’s way too little. Yes, I really hope I’m wrong with this.

In any case, a few statistics: JC Staff is the most prolific studio this season with four series. Surprisingly absent are Sunrise, Satelight and Production IG again. There are a ton of romances in this season (a whopping 14 of them), and the teenaged adventure genre also seems to be doing well (12 of them). There are two detectives, six action series, two mechas, and a whopping NINE sequels.

Motto To Love-Ru

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)
Why you should look forward to it: It has some decent scriptwriters.
Why you should not look forward to it: Xebec did the impossible: it took To Love-Ru, and made it even worse than it already was by assigning Atsushi Ootsuki, one of the worst currently active directors out there, as its director. I mean, this series is just going to be another excuse for porn here.
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Fortune Arterial

Summary: The story revolves around a transfer student named Kouhei Hasekura who discovers that his new remote island school, Shuuchikan Academy, has a female vampire named Erika Sendou within its student body. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: To this day, I still don’t quite get what a “Director of Photography” does. Whatever it is though, it’s going to be pretty decent here: Tadashi Kitaoka seems to have worked on a number of pretty good-looking series.
Why you should not look forward to it: It’s from the creators of KissxSis; what more do you want to know!?
First-Glance Potential: 0%

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Summary: Kousaka Kyousuke is an average high school student who doesn’t get along well with his younger sister, the cute and popular Kirino. Then one day he makes a startling discovery: Kirino’s secretly an Otaku. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: The director of Viper’s Creed? The series composition of Now and Then, Here and There?
Why you should not look forward to it: … they really made a series about this?
First-Glance Potential: 0%

MM!

Summary: The story follows Tarou Sado, a high school boy who discovered a side of himself that is into masochism. Even as he tries to hide this side from his high school crush, he tries to fix it through his school’s “2nd Volunteer Club.” – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: It’s a moe show by Xebec, but it’s actually full of relative new guys. The director will be Tsuyoshi Nagasawa, who only has done Kyou no Go ni, the series composition will be done by Rie Oga, who only did a few scripts and the animation director will be done by Taeko Hori. Perhaps these guys can give a new flavour to the Xebec moe series, which usually are utterly horrid, even for its genre’s standards.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, the entire premise of this series is built around a cliche: women beating up men. This will be fun for one episode. But after that? What the heck is this series going to do with such a flimsy gimmick? How do they expect to remain funny for an entire series?
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Summary: The era is Heisei 20+ in the reign of the 25th Tokugawa Shogun, Keikou. In the Christian calendar, it’s a bit past 2000 in the Empire of Japan. In the skirts of the Sacred Mount Fuji, there’s an enormous school built in a vast area. Its name is Buou Private Academy. All students are children of samurai and while encouraged to study, they spend their days preparing themselves in battles that sometimes put their life in risk. A peaceful school at first glance, but even there a shadow of turbulence draws near: the rebellious underground activities of discontents that oppose the Tokugawa clan that rules the school. Against the dissident students, the student council executive committee formed the Toyotomi Faction and began their suppression. Now with the Toyotomi Hunting as it became known, the tyranny of the student council escalated further. The high school student Yagyuu Muneakira who attends the Buou Private Academy and is also the assistant instructor of fencing at the Yagyuu Dojo, while a servant to the Tokunaga family, he was opposed to the excessive oppression of the Toyotomi Hunting. And before Muneakira appeared several girls carrying the names of the ancient swordsmen and generals. Is that the beginning of a commotion that will shake the History or is it—? – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: This one’s done by Arms, but Ufo-table have leant their series composition guy, Ryonosuke Kingetsu to this project. That’s awfully nice.
Why you should not look forward to it: The director of this series is working under a pseudonym. If that doesn’t say anything about how flimsy this premise is then I don’t know anymore. I mean, what can you really do with such a premise? It’ll be good for brainless entertainment I guess, but this premise doesn’t even try to make sense.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Yosuga no Sora

Summary: The story of the game is set in the distant mountain village of Okukozome-chō. Haruka Kazugano and his twin sister Sora have fond childhood memories of going to the village to visit their grandfather during their summer vacations. However, after losing their parents in an accident, the two must move in with their grandfather. The twins get reacquainted with their old childhood friend Nao Yorihime, their new classmate Ryōhei Nakazato, the miko (shrine maiden) Akira Amatsume, and Akira’s friend Kazuha Migawa. All seems peaceful and familiar. However, beneath the surface is a secret promise that the twins made with each other long ago, the whereabouts of an important lost item, and the real reason they chose to come back here. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Well, at least it attempts to tell a bit of a serious story. Right? Well, the thing is that this is by the creators of Spice and Wolf. Yeah, Takeo Takahashi and Naruhisa Arakawa. Now if that isn’t a double-edged sword then I don’t know anymore.
Why you should not look forward to it: For those who didn’t get my above hint: the anime is pretty much written and directed by a bunch of guys who had one amazing hit, with the very well written Spice and Wolf, and beyond that only produced crap like Love Love, Cosprayers and unashamed porn with Aki-Sora.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Battle Spirits: Brave

Summary: It’s the third season of an adaptation of a card game by Bandai
Why you should look forward to it: Believe it or not, but the director of Zombie Loan and the 90’s version of Ai no Kusabi is behind this. If you’ve got kids who like this sort of stuff they’ll probably be kept busy.
Why you should not look forward to it: Yeah, this seems to be part of the kiddie shows that appear every season. It actually does have a more experienced staff than usual with those kinds of series, but I watched the first episode of the first season a few years ago. It was full of stereotypes and the card games actually contradicted each other. It’s not the worst of the genre, but not enough to warrant any kind of attention.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge

Summary: A young upper-class elite man, Ichinomiya “Riku” Kou, who has a policy of not being in debt to anyone, ends up owing his life to a strange girl who rescues him. Nino is a beautiful homeless girl who believes that she is from the planet Venus and lives under the bridge by the Arakawa river. So the young man ends up living there too. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: While the official staff isn’t known yet, I think it’s safe to assume that the same people are going to be working on it.
Why you should not look forward to it: Whether that means that you’ll like this series if you liked the prequel… I can’t say that. Shaft has this very nasty tendency to become much worse in its sequels. I mean, blegh, Shinbo. Just pick one series to work on, instead of slapping your name and style on every single Shaft series that gets released.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Hetalia: Axis Powers Fourth Season

Summary: Hetalia is a comedy about personified European countries, along with Japan, China, the US and Canada. Skits range from historical references to gay jokes and quirky characters.
Why you should look forward to it: It’s much of the same, so if you haven’t gotten bored of Hetalia at this point you’ll probably enjoy this.
Why you should not look forward to it: But seriously, Studio Deen is pushing its luck just too far with this series. I know it sells DVDs and all, but Hetalia has gotten stale a long while ago. It doesn’t need yet another season.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Pokemon Black and White

Summary: The new season for Pokemon
Why you should look forward to it: I had a pretty nostalgic moment when I found out that Ash (or Satoshi) did not appear on the promo art here. I mean, I started watching Pokemon ages ago, and really was a fan of it for a while. To think that after more than ten years, he has finally retired and passed on the baton to a new group of lead character. That alone deserves credit.
Why you should not look forward to it: That may be, but the starting Pokemon are also starting to look more stupid with every incarnation.
First-Glance Potential: 10%

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

Summary: The story takes place in an imaginary world in “the Age of Detectives”, where private detectives and phantom thieves overwhelm the cities. It is about four girls who aim to be great detectives. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: It’s got Kazuyuki Fudeyasu behind the series composition, who also did the series composition of Hajime no Ippo’s New Challenger. But he also wrote Penguin no Mondai and Kampfer so I’m not really sure what that means…
Why you should not look forward to it: Makoto Moriwaki really isn’t the best director here, considering his work on Lilpri, which quickly became really, really generic. Since this is another game adaptation, it really needs a good writing staff to make it work, and these guys just don’t seem up for it.
First-Glance Potential: 20%

Rawr! You are Delicious

Summary: It’s adapted from a picture book about a Tyrannosaurus who comes across an Ankylosaurus baby all by himself and says, “Gaou! Omae Umasou Dana” (“Rawr! You look delicious.”) However, the Tyrannosaurus ends up adopting the baby as his own. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Just for the title this series deserves points, but apart from that there’s not much known. A movie also seems to be scheduled around the same time, which is being directed by Masaya Fujimori, who mostly has experience as an animation director. Could be interesting for its animation.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, it remains a kiddie show, adapted from a picture book. I don’t see the appeal of this concept outlasting a single episode.
First-Glance Potential: 20%

Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai

Summary: The romantic comedy manga centers on Keima Katsuragi, a high school boy who is known as the “Capturing God” for his success at romance simulation games. However, thanks to a contract with a devil, he now has to capture the hearts of real girls to catch the runaway spirits hidden in those hearts. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Hideyuki Nurata? Manglobe?! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you working on more interesting premises?
Why you should not look forward to it: You know, I try to give every anime a chance. But shows like this really make it hard to keep this up. I mean, how many more of these series are they going to make? I mean, for this to work the creators are really going to have to put in all of their creativity to make up for this thing. While the series composition is excellent (Hello? Now and Then, Here and There, Read or Die, Brigadoon), the director seems mediocre: Shigehito Takayanagi is only good as an episode director: his main series only consist out of Hime Sama Goyoujin (seriously one of the stupidest series I have ever seen), Galaxy Angel and Kanamemo.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

Summary: Clumsy Arashiyama is a girl with a love for mysteries and a knack for getting into trouble. She works for an old lady’s lackluster maid café in a small shopping district. The cafe is largely unsuccessful in attracting customers aside from Sanada, a regular and one of Arashiyama’s classmates (who has a secret crush on her). One day Arashiyama’s clever friend Tatsuno is invited to the café, and, upon seeing the miserable state of things (and Sanada, whom she has a secret crush on), decides to work there. Don’t miss the crazy antics of Arashiyama and friends, mismatched love stories, and all the hilarity that is created as a result, in Sore Machi. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: Well, it does have the series composition done by Katsuhiko Takayama, who knows how to make his series interesting (provided that they don’t go on for more than 13 episodes). The script behind Natsu no Arashi, Ga-Rei Zero, ef, Hantsuki and Asobi ni Iku Yo seems promising indeed and they could make something out of this incredibly cliched premise.
Why you should not look forward to it: Blegh, Shinbo. Just pick one series to work on, instead of slapping your name and style on every single Shaft series that gets released.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Hakuouki 2

Summary: Based on Idea Factory’s romance adventure game: Yukimura Chizuru has come to Kyoto looking for her father, a doctor who has gone missing. While there, she witnesses a fight between an Oni and the Shinsengumi. Taking her into custody, the Shinsengumi debates on what to do with Chizuru when they discover that she is the daughter of the doctor they are also looking for. The Shinsengumi then takes Chizuru along on their search after the missing doctor, from adventures to adventures. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Obviously the director of Toward the Terra, Osamu Yamasaki, but then again even he didn’t manage to make this any more interesting. The staff for this series is still unknown though, so it could be completely different.
Why you should not look forward to it: My big problem with Hakuouki was its characterization: it was just bland, and the lead character was very annoying in the way that she kept trying to do things, but never really wound up doing anything. Personally, I don’t want to find out whether it gets better.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Sora no Otoshimono Forte

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)
Why you should look forward to it: For what it was, Sora no Otoshimono at least knew what it was trying to be and made no attempt to be any thing more. Out of all of the moe shows that AIC churned out during the past year, that one looked the best, or at least in its first episodes. The director is solid here, and I guess that you could do a lot worse in this genre.
Why you should not look forward to it: Obviously if you hate fanservice you should stay away.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector

Summary: “It is two hundred years after the beginning of the Space Era, when human civilization on Earth began expanding into space. However, by the start of the 21st century, two meteors struck the planet, sending humanity into chaos. By the year 179 of the Space Era, secret technology, dubbed Extra-Over Technology, or EOT, was discovered by the Earth Federal Government within a third meteor that hit Earth in the Marquesas Islands of the South Pacific. Dr. Bian Zoldark, head of the EOTI Institute (Extra-Over Technological Investigative Institute), had evidence the creators of the EOT were heading to Earth, in order to reclaim it…or worse, invade the planet. In order to defend humanity from extraterrestrial threats, the government begins to research and develop humanoid mecha called Personal Troopers. Robot bugs suddenly attack Tokyo and robot gamer Ryusei is given a real, mechanical robot trooper to see whether he is a qualified fighter in a war which he has just now become a part of. Amazingly the controls to the personal trooper are just as in the game”> – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: This show is pulling a Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula: they got a bunch of famous designers to design the mechas for this series. Among them are Kazutaka Miyatake (Macross) and Mika Akitaka (Gundam War in Pocket and Stardust Memories).
Why you should not look forward to it: It’s going to need it, because the director really is terrible: Masami Obari, behind some of the more notoriously bad shows of the past two decades (Gravion, Battle Arena Toshiden, Prism Ark). The series composition guy is excellent – whenever he adapts the script of someone else (Banner of the Stars, Zipang, Infinite Ryvius). His own stories suck (Gin-iro no Olynssis, the first Super Robot Wars).
First-Glance Potential: 30%

To Aru Majutsu no Index II

Summary: In a world where science clarifies supernatural powers. In a huge college that has power development in its curriculum. To a resident high school student, Kamijou Touma, a pure white sister appears. She calls herself “Index” and says that sorcerers are chasing her. Thus, Kamijou Touma enters the world of the occult. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Same staff, it seems. Even though I haven’t seen the first season, Index intrigues me. I mean, the director worked on some pretty interesting stuff (Gad Guard, Azumanga Daioh, Angelic Layer, Ayakashi Ayashi).
Why you should not look forward to it: The huge streams of exposition though are a bit hard to get into, and I’ve heard that some of the arcs are pretty boring as well. This season, the series composition guy also seems to be doing two shows at once, which might be a bit too much on his plate…
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Rita et Machin

Summary: The books follow the happy daily lives of a precocious five-year-old girl named Rita and an easy-going yet somewhat lazy dog named Machin. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Nippon Animation doing a French picture book adaptation. That’s all that’s known here. But you know what? If the creators actually make this into more than just a kiddie show, and a full fledged slice of life series with the same art-style that they’re advertising with, then I can really imagine myself watching it.
Why you should not look forward to it: The problem is of course that these kinds of shows never really make it out of Japan.
First-Glance Potential: 30%

Otome Youkai Zakuro

Summary: It’s the Meiji Era in a slightly alternate Japan, and the Gregorian calendar has just come into effect. The fox-eared girls living in the youkai part of town are about to be put to work together with a delegation of young human soldiers, to promote interracial understanding. So what will happen when Zakuro’s strong personality collides with human sensibilities…. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Well, it seems to have nice themes and an interesting setting. It’s got a couple of terrific art directors to back that up: Hiroshi Kato, whose work is too large to just list, and Izumi Hoki, who worked on the background art of Ghost in the Shell, Ayakashi and Boogiepop Phantom. Mari Okada, who has experience on writing the Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, True Tears and the Armed Librarians, along with various episodes of Red Garden, Simoun and Rozen Maiden also offers a very solid base for this series.
Why you should not look forward to it: One look at the other works of the author who wrote the manga this is based on (Lily Hoshino) scared me away a bit. I mean, just look at some of the titles. They all look like really cheesy romantic comedies. And sure, I know that under the surface they could be very solid, but is Chiaki Kon really the right person to adapt it? It’s good that she took a bit of a break compared to last year, but I still don’t fully trust her. Her direction of Higurashi was great, but after that her series all lacked something, and felt like their direction was rushed.
First-Glance Potential: 40%

Karl to Fushigi na Tou

Summary: The story centers around a mysterious tall tower built from an (unsteady) stack of building blocks. Every morning, noon, and evening, an old timekeeping man rings the bell in the tower to confirm the time for the local townspeople. However, one day at noon, the tower bell fails to ring — leaving the townspeople confused about when to eat lunch. The fantasy adventure begins when Karl, an inquisitive boy living in the town, decides to go to the tower’s plaza to see what is the matter. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: This doesn’t seem to be based on anything, and was created for television. And really, out of all of the kiddie shows this season, this one looks the most interesting. Especially the director here is interesting: Jun Takagi, who is also directing Chibi Maruko Chan, plus he directed one of the WMT-series (Nanatsu no Umi no Tiko) and the sequel of Mahou-jin Guru-Guru. The script is written by Miho Maruo, who also wrote the script of Saiunkoku Monogatari, the Dog of Flanders movie and a number of episodes from Kaidan Restaurant, Kodocha and Nodame Cantabile. I’m really glad to see Nippon Animation back again, because they do make the best kids’ shows.
Why you should not look forward to it: Still though, I doubt that this will be accessible to adults like Nippon Animation’s best works. It’s one of those kids’ series that really seems aimed at kids, though not as commercial as usual.
First-Glance Potential: 40%

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Summary: The comedy centers arounds a squid girl who vows to invade the beaches of mankind since humans have polluted the seas. However, her invasion is less than successful, and she ends up on dry ground. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: If you’re wondering who Diomedea is: it used to be Studio Barcelona who did a few mediocre series a few years ago, like Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu and Polyphonica’s second season. I was about to write this one off, but take a look at the director here: Tsutomu Mizushima, the director of xxxHolic, Hale Nochi Guu and Ookiku Furikabutte. The series composition is even better: Michiko Yokote, who did the series composition of Strange Dawn, xxxHolic, Princess Tutu, Kobato, Hale Nochi Guu, plus worked on the scripts of .Hack//Sign, Kaze no Youjinbo, Ookiku Furikabutte, Cowboy Bebop and Gintama.
Why you should not look forward to it: Please. Someone tell me that the manga is more than just meets the eye. I’d love to see another serious series from these two, not a moe comedy. That’s usually the thing that Tsutomu Mizushima is worst at.
First-Glance Potential: 50%

Togainu no Chi

Summary: After being devastated in the third World War (known as The Third Division), Japan was divided in two. Several years after the end of the war, a crime organization called Vischio has taken control of the destroyed city of Toshima (formerly Tokyo, Japan’s capital city), where they are holding a battle game known as “Igura”. The game’s main character, a young man named Akira, is falsely accused of a crime. Once arrested, a mysterious woman appears before him, offering him freedom if he agrees to participate in Igura and defeat Igura’s strongest man: the king, or “Il-re”. The story follows Akira’s life in the harsh, lawless Toshima as he fights both to survive and to unravel the mysteries developing around him. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: A game adaptation. This is going to require a ton of input from the anime creators as well if it wants to work out. Natsuko Takahashi seems like a pretty solid choice due to her experience, though not the best because she’s currently also working on Nurarihyon no Mago. The director is an interesting guy, though: he’s usually an animator and character-designer, but once in a while he directs something. I don’t know much about those series since they’re rather obscure and very retro-y.
Why you should not look forward to it: The possible downsides to this series mostly have to do with the premise, really. I mean, it has the interesting post apocalyptic setting and all, but it remains a dating sim. This one really needs to be handled in the right way or it’ll flop.
First-Glance Potential: 60%

Kuragehime

Summary: he story centres around Kurashita Tsukimi, a huge fan of jellyfish (kurage, a wordplay on the “kura/mi” and “tsuki/ge” in her name) and a girl who moves to Tokyo to become an illustrator. She moves into “Amamizukan,” an apartment complex that is full of fujoshi (diehard female otaku) with a no-men-allowed rule. However, one day, Tsukimi invites a stylishly fashionable woman to stay at her room at Amamizukan — only to discover that the guest is not who “she” seems to be. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: One of the things I love about Noitamina is that any production company can get a shot at it, ranging from Madhouse to Daume. This time, it’s Brains Base’s turn, and with this we return to the Josei roots of the timeslot with a simple romantic comedy. With this, it’s all going to depend on the execution. And really, with Takehiro Omori behind the direction, I really think that that’s going to be fine. He might be getting a bit too prolific, but his characterization throughout nearly all of his works, from Baccano to Jigoku Shoujo, Fancy Lala, Natsume Yuujinchou and Durarara has been really excellent. The background art with Mio Isshiki is also going to be beautiful, if going by her previous experience on Aoi Bungaku’s second arc, Death Note and Kaze no Youjinbo.
Why you should not look forward to it: The series composition guy, Jukki Hanada, is a bit of a mixed bag. His adaptation of Rozen Maiden (especially its first season) was very good, but most of his adaptations have been pretty generic: H2O, SA, Idol Master and Yozakura Quartet didn’t really have the most exciting plots… Plus, there are only going to be 11 episodes. Will that be enough?
First-Glance Potential: 70%

Iron Man

Summary: Born Anthony Edward Stark, and usually called Tony, he is an industrialist playboy and ingenious engineer who suffers a severe heart injury during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. He later uses the suit to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his multinational corporation, Stark Industries, Tony created military weapons and his own metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Why you should look forward to it: The reason I’m looking forward to this series is that Madhouse has been given full freedom on how to adapt this series. I’m really interested in what they ended up making of it. The staff still is unknown at this point; all we know is that some guy named Warren Ellis, a comic book writer, is going to write the script. Now, there is of course the danger that this will just turn into a cheesy crime fighting series, but with a good director and series composition this should be okay.
Why you should not look forward to it: At only 12 episodes, can the creators really do something interesting, or will they run out of time?
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Letter Bee Reverse

Summary: Gauche is a governmental employee, given the task to deliver any letter to it’s destination. Meeting a young boy who is the letter to be delivered, Gauche makes friends with Lag and inspires him to take up the job. Five years later, Lag Seeing finally becomes his dream, that of a Letter Bee. However, the one who inspired him has gone missing and only there does the mystery start. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: YES! YES! The first season ended with one hell of a cliff-hanger, right at the point where it had gotten better than ever. I’ve been hungry for its sequel ever since, especially because the story is only really beginning now. The director Akira Iwanaga is the same, so the atmosphere should be the same. There is someone new behind the series composition though: Masanao Akahoshi, whose works are all over the place: from the bad (Ikkitousen Great Guardians) to the decent (Index, Viper’s Creed) to the good (Souko no Strain) and the awesome (Zone of the Enders).
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, let’s not forget the main problem with Letter Bee: the fillers. They actually did a very good job of fleshing out the cast, but they will feel out of place now that the real story is about to start. So hereby: please don’t abuse them here, Studio Pierrot?
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Bakuman

Summary: Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi are pretty much foils of each other. Mashiro, an average 9th grade student but talented artist, and Takagi, an overall advanced 9th grader and aspiring writer. After great convincing, Takagi convinces Mashiro to join him in becoming the greatest mangakas Japan has ever seen. Takagi, with his gift of writing, hopes to become a successful mangaka, and Mashiro, with his gift of art, hopes to marry the girl of his dreams, Azuki Miho. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: Bakuman, written by the original manga author of Death Note. That’s at least something here, even though the genre is completely different. But Kenichi Kasai, the genius behind Nodame Cantbile, Aoi Hana and Honey and Clover can really make this one work. Directing along with him is a new guy, who has never directed a full series before. The script is also in good hands with Reiko Yoshida, who wrote a ton of different series before. To complete this dream team is another scriptwriter: Seishi Minakami of Asatte no Houkou, Birdy the Mighty Decode 02, Shigurui, Paranoia Agent and Rescue Wings fame.
Why you should not look forward to it: It remains a romantic comedy. A seemingly very solid one, but if you don’t like the genre then I’m not sure whether this premise will convert you.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt

Summary: The story centers around a teen-celebrity-like blonde-haired girl named Panty and a black-haired Goth Loli girl named Stocking. The two are angels sent from the heavens to battle the Ghosts on Earth. – (Taken from AniDB)
Why you should look forward to it: In a season chockful of moe and fanservice, the series with the most suggestive title actually is something completely different: Panty, Stocking and Garterbelt are actually the names of the lead characters. I admit that I laughed when I found that out. This show seems very intriguing, especially with the director of Gurren Lagann and Dead Leaves behind this thing. I’m really in the mood for some Gainax-esque action. What’s going to make this one different from the above two is the assistant director, though. Now, I’m not sure how much influence these guys can have, but FLCL’s director definitely has promise.
Why you should not look forward to it: Now, this show looks absolutely awesome, but I did have a beef with Gurren Lagann and Dead Leaves, and that was its characterization. I didn’t really care for the cast for some reason. So that’s my request for this series: have a bunch of enjoyable, yet well fleshed out characters in this series.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Psychic Detective Yakumo

Summary: The story is about a college student, Yakumo Saitou who was born with different eye colors. His red left eye gave him a special ability to see ghosts and spirits. He believes ghosts and spirits are bound to earth because of a certain ’cause’ and simply by eliminating that ’cause’ will those spirits rest in peace. Being asked for help by Haruka Ozawa, together they began the investigation – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Why you should look forward to it: Yes! Now this one looks to be right up my interests: mystery, a lead character beyond high school, lots of supernatural influences, Bee-Train. Although this seems to be Bee-Train without Koichi Mashimo (I really wonder what he’s up to right now). Instead, the director is going to be Tomoyuki Kurokawa (the director of Murder Princess), which admittedly isn’t the most solid choice. Still, the guy behind the series is Hiroyuki Kawasaki, who has a huge amount of experience on many different series.
Why you should not look forward to it: 13 episodes. Too little. And again, I have my doubts about Bee-Train without Koichi Mashimo. I mean, he’s the guy reason why I became a fan of them in the first place.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto

Summary: On a cross-shaped island in the South, a mysterious and gigantic humanoid robot known as the “Cybuddy” is discovered sealed in the underground ruins for untold ages. A group known as the “Order of the Glittering Star Cross” attempts to remove the seal by abducting a girl named Wako Agemaki, who they dubbed the “shrine maiden” and is the key to activating the robot. A boy named Takuto Tsunashi arrives with his own Cybuddy named Tauburn to rescue Wako. Thus begins a struggle to unlock the secrets of the advanced technology and prevent disaster. – (Taken from ANN)
Why you should look forward to it: First of all, it’s an original series: not based on anything. Furthermore, the series composition, done by Yoji Enokido, who also did the series composition for Revolutionary Girl Utena. How could I not look forward to that? On top of that, the director is Takuya Igarashi, who also directed Ashita no Nadja and it’s animated by Bones. These guys KNOW how to make such an adventure series work!
Why you should not look forward to it: Okay, okay, okay. I know that those aren’t the only works these people have done and I do realize that we’re talking about the creators of Melody of Oblivion and a bunch of Sailor Moon episodes here. These guys have worked on some series that I didn’t really like. But here’s the thing: this show can flop gigantically, but I feel that if it manages to work, it’s going to make for one hell of an epic.
First-Glance Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is Japan’s boxing champion.
Guess who’s late here? Ring ni Kakero’s third season originally premiered during the past spring season, but after that you just couldn’t find anything of it. As expeted though, this turned out to be a ridiculously cheesy boxing series. In just the first episode we have this random bad guy who appears, kidnaps the lead characters’ sister and makes said lead character box against 100 of his goons in order to get this sister back. The acting is just ridiculously over the top and the creators are overly cheesy about everything (especially that scene in which the lead character receives the legendary knuckles of awesomeness). There’s also this terrible comic relief character (who somehow has the exact same haircut as the lead character). This is just one of those shows that goes through such excreme lengths to create tension that it only ends up backfiring horribly, making it look silly.
OP: Hot blooded GAR cheese.
ED: Cheesy j-rock
Potential: 10%

Daddy Long Legs Review – 75/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



With this review I feel like I really need to explain its rating. Daddy Long Legs seems to be one of the most appreciated series of the World Masterpiece Theatre out there. At AniDB it is rated as the best of the franchise with more than 100 votes, so quite a lot of people seem to agree on the classic status of this series. I don’t, though.

If I sound harsh in this review, remember that I’m comparing this to the other World Masterpiece Theatre series I’ve seen. And really, you can see the influences. This remains a series that’s based on a novel, and so the characters are constantly growing up, are forced to come to terms with their flaws and really change throughout the series. It’s perhaps not the most original story, but as a story of growing up it does its job quite well. I just have some fundamental problems with how it was executed.

I think my problems are best summarized by that it follows too much from classic shoujo tropes. And of course, there have been quite a few other WMT-series in the shoujo genre, but they had a very solid execution to back it up with, while this one doesn’t. The drama in this series at times tends to resemble a bit of a soap opera, where the writers try to make the different characters clash a little too easily. Especially the latter half of this series is filled to the brim with romantic cliches that have been done better by many different series that appeared both before and after this series.

Because this is yet another one of those high school series that puts a poor person (an orphan in this case) in a rich environment, leading to culture clashes, it really needed something to make up for it and partially, this series did. Even though it sometimes likes to force its drama, the slice of life moments were well portrayed, and the creators did a good job at exploring the differences between the culture of the upper classes without devolving it into just a string of endless parties or snobbish, stuck up and spoiled children. Julia, one of the main side characters, is especially good at that, where you can see that she has been spoiled her entire life, and yet she behaves like an actual teen-aged girl with more sides to her than just that.

And really, for the biggest part of this series I really didn’t mind it that much. Sure, it wasn’t the best of the World Masterpiece Theatre by far, but it still was pretty good, and did what it was supposed to do, and I didn’t really mind the flaws I mentioned above. Then, however, the ending came.

Now, I have watched a number of series where the ending completely changed my opinion, causing me to rate it much higher or lower than I originally had in mind, and this again happened here. That ending was one of the most contrived, cheesy, Deus ex Machina-laden endings I have seen in a long while now. A huge part of this series is devoted to building up to this particular ending, which then completely trashes any kind of subtlety or charm that was originally introduced. The plot is made way too complicated for its own good and in the end this series collapses under all of the plot twists it made to make the ending as spicy as possible.

The reason why I’m such a big fan of the World Masterpiece Theatre is because how well it handles its drama. It’s all very genuine, its characterization is truly excellent. The final quarter of this series however reduces most of its drama to stereotypical teen-aged angst, and it’s not even good angst. Relatively smart characters also tend to behave like idiots when the plot demands it. I have a lot more plot-related qualms to the ending of the series, but that would be too spoilerific to discuss in this review. The characterization of this series is good, but not good enough to make up for the many issues I have with this series.

Storytelling: 7/10 – Solid at times, but tries way too hard at others.
Characters: 8/10 – Ignore the bad teen-aged angst and you’ve got a bunch of likable characters that are actually quite well developed.
Production-Values: 8/10 – there is no eye candy, but the animation is detailed and does what it needs to do.
Setting: 7/10 – Held back by just too many things that don’t make any sense, a high school that lacks any kind of life, and too much of a focus on shoujo cliches to really show much of America in… whatever time period this is set in.

Suggestions:
– The Trapp Family Story
– Kaze no Shoujo Emily
– Perrine Monogatari

Introducing the forums

by psgels, posted in Special Articles

So, for the people who haven’t noticed yet, since about a week the forums are back. You can find them at psgels.co.cc. I know that the first time I tried putting forms to this site it rather failed, but I’ve learned a lot from it and hopefully set it up so that it won’t die out after a few weeks. It’s already looking pretty good with a lot of activity, you can also find the latest updates on the side-bar at the right.

Nana Review – 92,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Back when this series first aired, I remember dropping it after only one episode because “the premise didn’t look interesting”. Now, I really am not sure what I was thinking back then, having just failed to give one of the best romances of its entire decade a fair chance. Now that I finally watched it, I fully get the praise this series has been getting. This isn’t just a good romance, it blows away just about every other romance I’ve seen away.

This series has 47 episodes, right? Well, it puts just about all its time into its character-development. The main characters here are truly dynamic: they just keep changing and evolving and despite the huge focus on drama within the series, it remains realistic and believable. The side-characters in the meantime also receive their fair share of development throughout the series, with all of them being varied, interesting and portrayed far away from stereotypes.

With all the silly shounen romances out there, this really is one of those series that is a breath of fresh air with its mature outlook on romance. The characters here have quite a number of flaws, but it always manages to stay away from a cheesy shoujo drama because it really treats all of its characters like adults, and gives them enough time to really show why they’re worried, why they behave like they do, and why they make the decisions they make throughout the series. And seriously, this just goes on for forty-seven episodes and instead of keeping a slow pacing, it always manages to keep its plot flowing, and keep the balls into the air. Even the best romances have their moments in which they’re rather boring or tedious. Nana doesn’t.

If I had to mention a flaw, then I’d mention that the portrayal of rock and punk bands is a bit simplistic here, compared to the realism of the rest of the series: this series never really claims to give a good insight about the music industry, and instead it just uses what it needs for the sake of the characters. Also, the ending. It’s not like the series ends without a conclusion: it actually wrapped the story up pretty neatly, but it also ends with a “there’s going to be a second season so let’s make you as hungry for that as possible”-note. That’s nice and all if that second season actually came, but now I’m just hungry for something that was probably just a publicity stunt.

But seriously though, Nana really showed the power of josei-series. It really is one of the most well rounded romances I’ve ever seen. Whether it’s THE best, I’m not really sure yet (Maison Ikkoku also was extremely good and twice as long), but I do want to say that I have never seen a romance show that went on for more than 13 episodes, and had such a tight plot, and yet it never feels like it’s forced.

Storytelling: 9/10 – It can really get depressing, but the dialogue, pacing and atmosphere are all really excellent.
Characters: 10/10 – Just brilliant. The cast is dynamic and constantly evolving.
Production-Values: 9/10 – The style of this series is off the charts. A grand soundtrack, and Madhouse makes just about every scene look cool.
Setting: 9/10 – Its portrayal of the music industry is rather simplistic, but apart from that it is a very realistic series with characters who really feel part of this setting.

Suggestions:
– Maison Ikkoku
– Asatte no Houkou
– Macross Plus

Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




So yeah, they made a Space Battleship Yamato movie last year. It’s the brainchild of the actual producer of the TV-series, along with most of the movies and it seems that more than 35 years after the start of the series, he still wanted to give the franchise one more chance to shine. Apparently, this movie was due to be scheduled way earlier but got cancelled due to licensing issues with Matsumoto Leiji. That seems all cleared up now however, and this movie sure as heck doesn’t show any signs of this.

I’m always interested in these remakes, as their creators tend to put in a ton of effort to really do justice to the shows they’re based on, which often stand as cult classics. Yamato Resurrection went for the homage: it really wanted to create the feeling of the original Yamato tv-series, and put a modern coat on it.

Unlike the remakes that take the ancient mecha series in general, this movie really is a homage to Space Battleship Yamato, and nothing more. This makes it quite a bit different from the other mecha remakes, because for its time, Space Battleship Yamato was incredibly different from the likes of Mazinger and all of the other giant robot shows. Its atmosphere was dark, lonely and melancholic, and that was exactly what this the creators did here: epic space battles with a dark atmosphere that instead with its energy tries to captivate the audience with just this atmosphere.

The plot is typically something that you can expect from the Yamato franchise: the earth is in danger, the Yamato ends up playing a key role in saving humanity. It’s stupid, of course. But that’s the point: the original Yamato also had some of the most ridiculous plot twists, especially near the end. The plot really is just there as a vehicle for the atmosphere and the epic space battles. Although I did like how this movie aged all of the characters more than twenty years here. I mean, the movie hardly uses this character-development, but it certainly does contribute to this movie.

The graphics… well, the money shots really are a visual orgasm here. The creators got some amazing CG artists for this movie, and they really went all out here. The CG looks absolutely beautiful, and at the same time the 2D characters really tried to stay true to the original style of character-designs from Yamato (so yes, don’t even expect Matsumoto Leiji’s trademark characters here: Yamato aired before the days of Captain Harlock). The 2D characters may look a bit plain, but they’re actually animated really well: whenever they move, they do this smootly and nearly without any cut corners. The problems with this is of course that the two styles don’t really combine together: there is always a very clear border between the 2D and 3D in this movie. The worst though was when the creators actually copied and pasted some of the footage of the Yamato TV-series and movies. Yeah, those who were animated in the seventies and eighties. Needless to say… it looks incredibly out of place. Though I have to give props for this movie being the first to be stupid enough to actually do this.

Of the Yamato franchise I have only seen the first TV-series, but I enjoyed this movie for what it is. However, I’m not sure whether you can enjoy this movie if you haven’t seen anything from the Yamato franchise: you’ll miss some of the references and homages it makes. Still, if anything you can watch this movie for the soundtrack, which for some reason is filled with compositions from FREAKING BEETHOVEN. Now if that isn’t awesome then I don’t know anymore.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Pretty good atmosphere. If you’re a Yamato-fan at least.
Characters: 7/10 – Um, yeah. The characters are there, the development is awesome, but that’s about everything there is to them.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Ah, the visuals! Gorgeous graphics that don’t mesh well. But Beethoven makes up for everything.
Setting: 7/10 – It’s stupid. It’s Yamato. Who cares?

Suggestions:
– Night on the Galactic Railroad – Fantasy Railroad in the Stars (don’t expect a mecha epic for this one, though; it’s actually the entire opposite)
– Space Fantasia: 2001 Nights
– Cobra The Animation

Eden of the East 2 – Paradise Lost Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Eden of the East



It’s hard to judge Eden of the East: it started out as a series that promised to be amongst the best of the year… and failed to live up to that. It tried to do way too much in too little time. The movies tried to make up for a lot by deliberately keeping the pacing slow, but in the end, even that wasn’t enough to turn this into the masterpiece that it could have been.

In the end it joins the list of flawed series that actually do have quite a few points to make up for it. Paradise Lost is really no exception. It wraps up a lot of plot points, it reveals quite a number of interesting twists that tie the plot together and it still manages to keep the pacing restrained, with a lot of focus on the dialogue between the characters.

On the downside, there are quite a number of glaring holes left open. Some other revelations lack their build-up so that they fail to make any impact for a mystery series of this scale. Other revelations just come out of nowhere and really would have benefited from more foreshadowing and others just don’t make any sense. I want to be as ambiguous for this as possible due to spoilers, but let’s just say that the final resolution felt weak to me. The fate of the NEETs also is something I didn’t buy.

Now that everything is over, I also have to say that the series just didn’t have the time to flesh out its characters. Because of that, there really is just one character who actually develops when you ignore the memory loss devices of this series. I think that out of all the flaws of this series a lot of them can be forgiven, though this is one of those key flaws that caused me to enjoy this series a lot less than I would have liked. Most of the characters are just walking plot devices that just didn’t feel interesting to watch beyond the plot they were trying to tell. And its a shame, because that plot really was pretty good and imaginative.

Despite its short length, this did turn into one of those series that actually evolves: Paradise Lost really is completely different from the first episodes of the TV-series, and through its run this is one series that has been constantly changing. Because of that, every part of this series is different and fresh, not ripping off itself and it wonderfully manages to avoid the formula that it promised in the first few episodes.

On retrospect, I don’t think that even 26 episodes and two movies would have been enough here. To really be able to flesh out everyone, and give the story really its time to be complete, the creators would have needed at least 39 episodes. But really, I do want to say that despite my bitching, I really like what this series was trying to do: here we have the brain child of a very talented director. A series that’s not based on anything and a completely original story that really benefits from its format by including some of the latest technologies, feeling like this is one of those few series that really takes place in 2009, rather than something that also could have played in the year 2000. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped to.

Storytelling: 8/10 – A good number of twists and yet a slow and restrained pacing. The story is great, but it uses too many plot devices to get there.
Characters: 7/10 – In the end, the big weakness of this series. I tried, but I failed to care about most of the characters here.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Again, Paradise Lost’s graphics weren’t exactly better than the TV-series. It’s still very consistent and detailed though. The use of music was also very excellent.
Setting: 9/10 – I like the guts of this series. It’s not afraid to think beyond the box, try out new stuff and overall I really like the different ideas put into this movie.

Suggestions:
– Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
– Tokyo Godfathers
– Key the Metal Idol

Mai Mai Miracle Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




Mai Mai Miracle is a clear Ghibli-inspired film, and another one in the collection of slice of life movies about a young child. Not the most original concept perhaps, but it’s still a well executed and very detailed movie.

Especially the characterization here rocks. The kids here tend to act just like real children: the way they play around to their animation, this movie manages to capture this wonderfully. As it’s focused on kids who grow up in a rural town, this movie mostly follows their imagination and how they grow up together. There’s actually quite a bit of character-development in the movie, and it’s handled quite well and believably.

What sets this movie apart I think is that it manages to avoid the classical trope of these kinds of movies, where they use their first parts of slice of life, just to build up to the serious part at the end. Mai Mai Miracle does have a serious part at the end, but it does not feel like the entire movie is just trying to build up to that. Instead, it’s the combination of everything that happens in this movie that makes the characters what they are, and the movie does a great job in making all of the subplots and events important.

It’s a movie that’s wonderfully unambitious: its main purpose isn’t to show an as big drama as possible. It just wants to show the lives of a bunch of kids growing up together. The drama flows naturally and in no way tries too hard. It’s great for nostalgia, but this also doesn’t make it the most exciting movie.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Uneventful, but realistic and well balanced, making it more than just a Ghibli-wannabe.
Characters: 9/10 – Great characterization, realistic and believable characters, very good character-development for a movie.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Pretty good for movie standards. Detailed animation that captures the movement of the characters, very charming but subtle soundtrack.
Setting: 8/10 – Not the most important part of this movie, but it still made good use of the differences between rich and poor, and the rest of the setting.

Suggestions:
– Arete Hime
– My Neighbour Totoro
– Whisper of the Heart

Windy Tales Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews




There is this undeniable charm of Windy Tales, or Fuujin Monogatari. It’s not just its unique art style here, but really the combination of everything, from the characters and the slice of life to the soundtrack and the dialogue. It really is a relaxing slice of life series with a wonderful execution.

And seriously: the direction by Junji Nishimura, supervision by Mamoru Oshii and a soundtrack by Kenji Kawai… if that isn’t a great combination then I don’t know anymore. The dialogues in this series are wonderfully subtle and down to earth, and they do a great job in fleshing out the characters. Kawai’s soundtrack does an excellent job of enhancing this feeling.

This is an episodic series, where every episode focuses on a different event or theme in the lead characters’ lives. I really liked how each episode was chosen with a particular purpose in mind, rather than just being plain random. They’re all very varied episodes, and they do a great job of taking whatever character they’re focusing on under the loop. Ranging from the main characters to the side ones, they’re all enjoyable to watch.

Character-development is an interesting issue of this series, as it really takes a back seat here. Most of it is basic, apart from the final episode, which goes into a very interesting, yet very natural direction. Instead, the series spends most of its time portraying its cast as realistic and natural as possible. And yeah, because of that this isn’t a series for everyone, because the pacing tends to get really, really slow at times. And that for a series with 13 episodes.

But yeah, it remains cool to see cats flying into the air with the unique visuals of this series. And beyond that, there really are a number of gorgeously animated scenes present in this series. It’s a visually experimental series through and through, and you can see the animators try out a lot of different stuff. Probably what I liked the most is how many different ways this series has of drawing ‘wind’. It’s really a major theme of the series, as it explores many different sides and subtle meanings behind wind. Even though the episodes are rather unconnected, it’s this that really ties everything in the series together.

But yeah, if you don’t like experimental graphics you’ll have a hard time getting into this series. It’s obviously not meant for everyone, and it certainly isn’t the most eventful series. It’s restrained on purpose. But the thing is, that I have hardly any complaints about how this series was executed here. They pretty much did everything right here, and I feel like any attempt on getting more character-development, or throwing in more action, a faster pacing or more overacting would just have taken away some of the qualities that this series has right now.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Very realistic and yet very imaginative; excellent dialogue. It’s a bit slow, though.
Characters: 8/10 – likable and charming.
Production-Values: 9/10 – Excellent animation among its experimental graphics, and the soundtrack also kicks ass.
Setting: 9/10 – A very interesting premise was created, along with a very good portrayal of school life. A lot of thought was also put into the themes of wind here. Tons of symbolism.

Suggestions:
– GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class
– The Sky Crawlers
– Kino no Tabi