Category: Seasonal Previews

Incidentally, this is my 1600th post, so I thought that it would a good time for the upcoming spring-season preview, and the line-up is looking quite interesting. There are a lot of science-fiction series, and no hentai-game adaptations at all. That’s probably the first since years now. Apart from that, Gonzo and Production IG both have three series to come out, and there are relatively few garbage-looking series. I can’t wait till April starts. 🙂

+ Not Really Looking Forward To +
Kanokon

Summary: Kanokon`s story revolves around Kouta Oyamada, a young first-year high school student who moves from the country to the city and thus transfers to Kunpo High School. On his first day at his new school, a beautiful second-year female student named Chizuru Minamoto asks him to meet her alone in the music room. When he arrives, she reveals her that she is in fact a fox deity and from that day on the two hang out together. Nozomu is a first year female student at Kouta`s school, she is in fact a wolf deity and in love with Kouta, and a rival of Chizuru for Kouta`s affections. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: The promo-art features the main guy who has his head stuck in the well-endowed bosom of the lead girl. That can’t be a good sign, can it? A fox deity in love with the main character? Come on, please.

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. Commander Zastin has been ordered to bring Lala back and has already battled Rito. He reports to the emperor that Rito would be suited to marry Lala, after hearing Rito say that marriage is impossible unless it is with the person you love (Rito was actually defending himself but Zastin and Lala thought he was defending Lala). With this speech, Lala truly falls in love with Rito and decides that she wants to marry Rito. Her father decides that, if Rito is able to protect Lala from her fiances, then he can be her fiance, but if Rito cannot protect Lala from her other fiances, Lala`s father will kill Rito and destroy Earth. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Well, this is going to be interesting. [/sarcasm] How many series where the main guy gets to be the boyfriend of a princess of a princess of a country do we have anyway? The director also probably won’t be of any help, seeing as he’s behind the numerous Rockman-series and Busou Renkin, although he did direct Overdrive as well.

Zettai Karen Children – (new)

Summary: It’s the 21st century, and the number of ESPers continues to increase. They are active in the military, diplomacy, politics, and in other places. They hold the key for global competition. A country that controls ESP can control the world! However individuals who posses higher that Level 4 are less than 3% of the population. There are only three Level 7 people who have government contracts. These three are Kaoru, Aoi, and Shiho, ten-year old girls, who work for B.A.B.E.L. With the guidance of Kouichi, a twenty-year old genius, they catch criminals and evil ESPers.
– (Taken from Manga-updates)
Thoughts: At first look, this may hold potential, but upon further inspection it quickly becomes clear that this is a rather pointless series, which yet again gives a bunch of kids superpowers to bust up bad guys. The director will be the guy from Moetan and Getsumen to Heiki Mina, so I don’t see this one having any chance of success.

Monochrome Factor

Summary: Akira Nikaido is a typical slacker high school student who thinks he has a normal life–until a mysterious man called Shirogane appears and tells him to meet him at the school that night. He is sceptical but goes anyway…and gets attacked by a shadow monster! Shirogane convinces him that the balance between the human world and the shadow world has been distorted, and that Akira must become a shin–a creature of the shadow world–in order to help restore the balance. – (Taken from Baka-updates)
Thoughts: Well, nothing special here, just your ordinary shounen-premise from the creators of Loveless and Robby to Kerobby. The only interesting series in their repertoire seems to be Chrono Crusade, but I’ve never seen that one.

Nabari no Ou

Summary: Rokujou Miharu was a seemly reluctant junior high student living in his own world. However, within him, lurked the ultimate power of Nabari, “Omnipotent”. To possess such supreme weapon, the Wolf Pack of Iga swore to bring Miharu back to Iga village. On the other hand, Miharu’s English teacher, Kumohira sensei, and classmate, Kouichi, were the Banten ninjas whose mission was to protect Miharu. A war waged over the ownership of “Omnipotent” thus started. To survive, Miharu must enter the hidden world Nabari, to become the king. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Well, the title is a bit less subtle than Shion no Ou. In this case, the main girl just wants to become the ‘king’ of Nabari. It also doesn’t help that she’s voiced by the ever-squeaky Rie Kugimiya and directed by none other than the director of Yugioh. Seriously, setting all of the other cast-members aside, can something good really come from him?

Neo Angelique Abyss

Summary: See below
Thoughts: Oh god… not another one. XD For those who don’t know, there have been two Angelique tv-series before, in 2006 and 2007. Their premise was basically take a girl, and let her meet a bishie for every different episode. I can’t believe that the premise has been so popular that a third season had to be made. I mean, the personality of the girl was fine, but the guys were stereotyped as hell, and now the creators are planning to add nine more of them (totalling up to 27 bishies in three seasons… oh god…).

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

Summary: ???
Thoughts: No real story synopsis is known yet, but I’ve got a strange feeling that it’ll be about a certain family called Kyouran (kazoku = family, nikki = diary), with in the lead part the blue-haired girl. I’m not yet convinced, though. Comedies like this one often stay just funny for a bunch of episodes, without really standing out. The director did Chokkoto Sister and Myself; Yourself before, which neither were that funny.

+ Shows With Small Potential +
Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion II

Summary: Well, the second season of the currently infamous Lelouch. It seems that he’s going to be taking on the world this time, against Suzaku after a previously unmentioned plot-twist probably saves both of them after the cliff-hanger ending of the first season.
Thoughts: One thing that’s interesting is Code Geass’s time-slot. It’s not going to be taking over that of Gundam 00, and instead it’s reallocated to five O’clock, where mostly kid’s shows take place. I hope that this’ll stimulate the creators to go for an actual plot that makes sense, instead creating an as big sensation as possible.

Golgo 13 – (new)

Summary: Duke Togo, or as he is more widely known, “Golgo 13”, is a M16 bearing assassin who will take on any job for the right price. Anyone can hire him, including private citizens and world governments. If he’s not bedding women he’s infiltrating a hostile country, waiting hours for the perfect shot in the most extreme conditions. Golgo 13 is just as adept in the urban jungle. Those who deal with him must make sure not to cross the Duke or they might find themselves the target of his rifle. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I’m not really sure what to think of this one… apparently, it’s the attempt to recreate a classic manga named Golgo 13, which sounds more like a cheesy mecha-show than a show about an assassin. In any case, there will probably be lots of explosions in this series, but will there be any other substance?

Blassreiter – (updated)

Summary: Set in the near-future, in a town in Germany. There have been incidents of dead people coming back to life, transforming into “grotesque shadows”, and attacking people. Living people show up who can transform themselves into demons whenever they want. They used to be regular humans, but when they gained this power to transform, people rejected them and called them demons. But they still use their powers, each for his own reason. However, they cannot deny their fate: to fight in a deadly battle royal with others who have turned into demons. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: This one seems to be more like bad Gonzo, instead of the good one. So far, I didn’t see any sign to point to the opposite, and this again seems to prioritize flashy action above a nice plot and characters. Especially considering that it’s directed by the notorious director of Gantz. Ah well, at least it’ll look pretty.

Kamen no Maid Guy

Summary: Fujiwara Naeka is a typical 17 year-old high school student. Or so we thought. She`s really one of two surviving heirs of a tycoon who has the right to inherit his mass fortune when she turns 18 in half a year. Fubuki, a young and beautiful maid, and Kogarashi, a big burly maid guy with a mask, have been assigned to keep Naeka and her brother Kousuke safe from those who would plot their demise, and to steal the fortune she would inherit. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: The premise sounds crazy enough to actually work, provided that the creators don’t delve into fanservice whenever they get the chance. Unfortunately, the director doesn’t look too good, as he directed Princess Resurrection, Strawberry Panic and Saint Beast before this one. Pleaaase… don’t screw this one up.

Hoshi no Umi no Amuri – (new)

Summary: Solar wind causes an increase in skin cancer in the future, but a new race of “adapters” is born — all of whom appear to be exotically-dressed young girls, for some reason. – (Summary by Hashihime)
Thoughts: So, this is a three-episode OVA, done completely in 3D CG. It seems to be a project, mainly by the director of two shows I’ve never seen: GaoGaiGar and Brigadoon. The graphics so far look pretty interesting, but there’s also a very big chance that this will turn out to be one of those lazy moe-shows.

Wagaya no Oinarisama – (updated)

Summary: Tenko Kuugen, the thousand year old demon/yokai fox that served as their guardian god for hundred of years, able to use all sort of spells, but has a extremely mischievious personality, playing all sort of pranks, until finally the Mitsuji family sealed it up, until present day, when a situation forced them to free it, after the crisis, it quit it’s job and became the guardian god of the Takamichi family, extremely smart and curious, it was able to figure out modern world technology, and learn to blend in, but has a personalty of doing as it pleases, it’s too old to remember it’s original gender, so it has both male and female form. but doesn’t hate the Mitsuiji for sealing it up. likes the Takamichi brother and will protect them at all cost.

Thoughts: What? Another Spice and Wolf? Apparently, Wagaya no Oinarisama is translated to Our Home’s fox Deity. It’s based on a series of seven light novels, but looking at the synopsis, I can’t really say I’m eager to see this. The director isn’t really anything special. His works vary from Sky Girls and Bottle Fairy to Love Hina and Zero no Tsukaima. The series composition is done by Reiko Yoshida, who thankfully does have a lot of experience. My prediction is that this will be a nice series, but it’ll never stand out.

+ Interesting-Looking Series +
Soul Eater

Summary: Based on a shounen manga by Ookubo Atsushi serialised in Shounen Gangan. Set in the Shinigami technical school for weapon technicians, the series revolves around 3 groups of each a weapon technician and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a “Death Scythe” and thus fit for use by the Shinigami, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and 1 witch. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: While the premise doesn’t really sound that exciting, do note that this is going to be animated by Bones, and the director of Ouran High School Host Club and Ashita no Nadja. Let’s hope the guy won’t make the same mistakes as he did with Ouran. Thankfully, he’s backed up by the guy behind the series composition, who worked on Gintama, Ooedo Rocket, Simoun and Full Metal Alchemist, and the art-director of Zombie Loan. Yeah… this can go both ways.

Macross Frontier

Summary: Macross F is set in around 2070A.D.. F denotes “Frontier”; “Frontier” stands for the migration fleet which is the setting of the story. The story is about the fleet`s encounters with space monsters (or things to that effect) while on its course. It is planned to be a TV series with Kanno Youko handling music, Kikuchi Kouji as director and Kawamori Shouji as general director. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Well, the first episode aired a bunch of months ago. The graphics looked really pretty, but I remember being a little disappointed by the story so far. Let’s hope that the rest of this series will fix this.

Amatsuki

Summary: Based on the shoujo manga by Takayama Shinobu, serialised in Comic Zero-Sum. History isn`t Tokidoki`s strong subject. He`s even forced to do make-up work at a high-tech history museum to bring up his failing grades. After losing an eye to a virtual reality monster in an Edo-period simulation, he finds himself unable to leave the game. Could it be real? – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: After all the serious samurai-dramas of 2007, it’s time for a more light-hearted one. Still, the director of Chevalier will be animating it, which makes two series for him in one season. It also turns out that Studio Deen will be the animation-company, so perhaps they can find something interesting with such a rather weak premise.

Nijuu-Mensou no Musume

Summary: The story revolves around a female thief named Chico, who is the spiritual successor to the Kaijin Niju-Menso (The Fiend with 20 Faces) thief character created by famed suspense and detective novelist Ranpo Edogawa. (Edogawa is a pen name for Taro Hirai; when written in Japanese family-name-first order, it spells out a Japanese pun for the name of the American suspense and detective author “Edgar Allen Poe”). – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: This is one of these series where I have no idea what to expect. The director directed two shows before: Futakoi and Muteki Kanbanmusume. The promo-art looks very nice, but on the other hand I’ve never really been into phantom-thief-anime. On yet another hand, Natsuko Takahashi and Reiko Yoshida are working on the screenplay, and both are two very talented and experienced writers.

Druaga no Tou – The Aegis of Uruk – (updated)

Summary: It is said that every few years, there is what’s known as the “Summer of Anu.” During that summer, thanks to the divine protection of the sky-god Anu, all of the demons in the tower lose their power. The country of Uruk has begun an invasion of the tower in order to suppress the demons. They’ve built up positions inside the tower, with their sights set on getting to the upper levels. The Uruk army knows that this is the third Summer of Anu-a perfect time to launch a mission to suppress the monster Druaga once and for all. The army soldiers aren’t the only ones in the tower, though. An enitre city called Meskia has formed inside the tower’s first floor. It plays host not just to soldiers, but also to adventurers who have heard rumors about a legendary treasure called the Blue Crystal Rod, which is said to rest at the very top of the tower. With all these different groups in the mix, each with its own agenda, one can only guess how things will play out during this unusual summer. – (Taken from Hikari no Shiawase)
Thoughts: Now this is more like it. It’s been a while since I watched a good fantasy-adventure, and this might very well be it. Looking at the promo art, this doesn’t look uninspired, and the backgrounds look like a lot of attention was spent on it. Interesting fact: the director of Last Exile will be behind it, and even though I’ve yet to see that series, I’ve heard nothing but raves about it. But then again, he also worked on Gatekeepers and Brave Story, so perhaps I’m cheering too soon. Still, now that I’ve seen the premise, I must say that it looks very interesting.

S.A

Summary: Hikari Hanazono, the main character, has always been second to Kei Takishima. While Hikari considers Kei a rival and somewhat of a friend, Kei loves Hikari. Everyone knows this, but she is too dense to notice. Their wrestling loving fathers first introduced them to one another when they were 6 years old. Assuming that she was the best in wrestling, young Hikari challenged Kei to a wrestling match only to be thoroughly defeated by him. Ever since that fateful incident, Hikari swore to beat Kei in school grades, a sporting event – anything. To do this she has enrolled in the same school as Kei since elementary. Now she attends Hakusenkan, an ultra elite school, that costs her carpenter father a lot of money. Hikari and Kei are the top two students in the school, with Kei holding firmly to that number one position. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I must say, that for a high-school drama, this seems like a solid one. But then again, Gonzo is going to be animating it, which means that the series has a high chance to be rewritten from its original manga. Let’s hope that the director is up to the task, because his only directing-experience was as assistant director of Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi. The other people behind the screenplay and series composition are a bunch of random names, who worked on both good and bad series.

Allison to Lillia

Summary: The series will be a compilation of the two manga “Alison” and “Lillia and Treize,” both original works by Shigusawa Keiichi (Kino no Tabi). The series will take place in a country split into two factions in a 1940’s-like world, that have been repeatedly warring with each other for over 100 years. The first half will involved Alison and her male friend Treize who will set out from an orphanage in order to search for a “treasure” to end the war. The second half will take place after Alison and Will find the “treasure,” and the war ends, in an era where a united state is possible. Lilia, a mother of two daughters, as well as Treize’s girlfriend, will play an active roll in the second half. – (Taken from Myanimelist)
Thoughts: Finally another period-anime. I’ve missed them, and this one looks to be quite interesting, combining two manga together that were produced by the mangaka of Kino no Tabi. The only problem is that Madhouse will be animating them, as they’ve been quite notorious lately with their adaptations (in my opinion, much more than Gonzo), but at least the animation will look great. It also helps that the director of Mokke will be behind this series.

Kure-nai

Summary: 16-year-old Shintaro Kurenai is a Mediator – a specialist in settling squabbles between people. Despite his youth and easygoing nature, he is a man of some skills when it comes to protecting both his clients and his client’s interests. And then one day, he is approached by the daughter of a rich and powerful family asking him to be her bodyguard, which somehow ends up with him having a seven-year-old fan, landlord and self-proclaimed fiancé. Shintaro Kurenai finds himself living in run-down tenement with Murasaki Kuhouin (his new 7-year-old apprentice and landlord) and several other eccentric ladies. His childhood friend (Ginko) acts as his Mediator booking agent. Then there is his (adopted) older sister and martial arts teacher, Yuuno, who does not like to see her Kurenai troubled by any of the difficulties of his Mediator assignments. And Yuuno’s younger (7-year-old) sister, Chi-chan (Houdsuki Chidzuru) also seems to take a troubling worry when her ‘onii-chan’ gets beaten up by Yuuno or his assignments. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: My first reaction when I read the premise: “what?!” Still, on further inspection I do have to say that this weird of a premise does have potential. It’s animated by Brains Base (the ones who did Baccano!), and directed by the director of Red Garden, who also did a bunch of random episodes for Ergo Proxy, Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, Freedom, Master Keaton, sola and Zegapain and he produced Millenium Actress. What the creators need to pay attention to is to not market this series for the paedophiles, but instead just go with regular storytelling. In that case, this could become very interesting.

Junjo Romantica – (updated)

Summary: Misaki is suddenly having some unexpected and odd problems. What started as a need for some college entrance exam tutoring has somehow led him to being romanced by a suave older man who also happens to be his big brother’s best friend. Confused by all of his brand new emotions, Misaki struggles to deal with his suddenly very odd life. And if that wasn’t enough, his suitor, Usami, has plenty of issues of his own. A man-child who decorates his room in giant teddy bears and toys, Usami is a famous novelist who also writes steamy boys’ love novels on the side. When Misaki cracks open one of these books and reads sentences like “Misaki licks every inch of Usami’s hot body”…well, let’s just say that all hell breaks loose. And if one couple isn’t enough for you, Junjo Romantica focuses on three different sets of lovers, each with their own compelling stories. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Okay, after hearing the horrible things about the manga, I’m forced to adjust my opinion a bit. This series still looks interesting, but actual YAOI may be a bit too much. Especially considering how the director of Higurashi will be working on this one…

Chi’s Sweet Home

Summary: The story centers around a kitten who gets lost after walking out into the real world for the first time. A boy named Yohei Yamada discovers her, but the Yamada family’s apartment building prohibits pets. After failing to find a new home, the Yamadas decide to defy the rules and raise Chi themselves. Most of Chi’s coming-of-age stories revolve around the Yamadas or the cats, dogs, and the occasional rabbit that live in the neighborhood. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: At first, this may seem like an ordinary kiddie-show, but take a look at the people who’ll be animating it. The director was the episode director of Death Note, Gungrave, Beck and Paradise Kiss, and to make matters even weirder, he was the assistant director on Tokyo Tribe 2 and Shigurui. What the heck is such a manly director doing with a series that revolves around a lost kitten? This is just making me really curious to see whether he’ll combine the gore of Shigurui with the cuteness of this concept. 😛

+ Definitely Looking Forward To +
Vampire Knight

Summary: Yuki`s earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter, wherein she was attacked by a vampire… And then rescued by another. Now 10 years later, Yuki Cross, the adapted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a guardian of the vampire race, protecting her saviour, Kaname, from discovery as he leads a group of vampires at the elite boarding school. But also at her side is Zero Kiryu, a childhood friend who’s hatred for the creatures that destroyed everything he held dear, is now determined never to trust them. This coexisting arrangement seems all well and good, but have the vampires truly renounced their murderous ways, or is there a darker truth behind their actions. Is Kaname`s infatuation with Yuki the beginning of a forbidden romance, or is it something in her forgotten past that draws him to her. Because in this world of secrets, nothing is as it seems. And the price of misplaced trust may even be worse than death. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Well, the premise sounds less interesting than Zombie Loan, the first series that came to my mind when I saw the promo-art. Still, it does hint at an interesting plot to follow, if handled well. The director of Pretear has been assigned as the director here, and he’s up for an interesting task to bring this manga to live. At least the series composition will be good, as it’s handled by someone who worked did the screenplay for Popolocrois, Red Garden, Aria, the series composition for True Tears, Sasami Mahou Shoujo Clup and the script for a lot of episodes of Simoun.

Kaiba – (new)

Summary: A sci-fi love story set in a world where digitization of memory made physical death obsolete. A world where memories can be stolen and altered, and replaced in a new human body. Kaiba wakes up in a room without knowing who he is. He has a pendant with the photograph of a woman he does not remember. After being attacked all of a sudden, he has to flee to space, meet various people, and rediscover the world. “Even without my memories, I love you…”. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Oh god, I almost mistook this for a children’s show, but this turns out to be quite a capable, if not unconventional science-fiction series, in the same vein as Himitsu – Top Secret and Real Drive. The director will be the one from Mind Game and Kemonozume. Both indeed were flawed, but still very entertaining indeed.

Bus Gamer

Summary: Bus Gamer was a short-lived manga series, created by Kazuya Minekura. It currently only exists as a single volume ‘Pilot Edition’ due to difficulties in serialization. It follows the story of three young men hired by a mysterious company to participate in a business game, a way for companies to gamble against each other for corporate secrets. An illegal dog-fight conducted in strict secrecy, the Bus Game is a battle simulation game where gamers are selected by various corporations to compete three-on-three on a battleground which is usually inside Tokyo. The teams are divided into “HOME” and “AWAY”. The “HOME” team is given a disk containing their corporation’s secret files to protect while the “AWAY” team attempts to steal the disk. The “AWAY” team wins if they are able to steal the disk within the given time limit where the “HOME” team wins if they are able to keep their disk safe. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Thoughts: Bus Gamer sounds to be like the better version of Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji. While the latter disappointed, I must say that a game like this has quite a bit of potential for entertainment, if the characters who participate in it have been chosen right (and not just a bunch of superhumans). The director is a relative newcomer, and this is the first time he’s taken up the director’s seat. The only thing that I’ve seen about him is the storyboard he did for xxxHolic episode 4, which was the one about the fortune-tellers. I must say that that was quite a thought-provoking instalment, so I’m interested to see what he can do on a full series.

Itazura na Kiss

Summary: It was love at first sight for Aihara Kotoko as top student Irie Naoki delivers a speech on the first day of high school. After 2 years of secret admiration, “I don’t want it” is the rejection she gets when she plucks up enough courage to hand him a love letter. Dejected, Kotoko vows to give him up. By a twist of fate, Kotoko’s house collapses; her dad and her put up at a friend’s place, who happens to be Naoki’s father. And thus, life with Naoki begins and Kotoko’s love for Naoki rekindles again. Much laughter ensues when scatterbrain Kotoko makes her countless advances (supported by Naoki’s wacky mum) on ice-cold Naoki who hates girls and is a genius at practically everything from studies to sports. The story spans >10 years where we see their relationship slowly development despite their many differences and romantic hurdles. This series was such a hit that it was made into a 9-episode Japanese live-action dorama. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: I must say that the shoujo-series are a bit more creative to get a guy and a girl in one house than the shounen-series. A collapsing house, I must admit that I didn’t see that one before. One major plus for this series is that it takes up ten years. That is a REALLY good way for some quality character-development, as demonstrated by Kaze no Shoujo Emily. To make matters even better, the director of Toward the Terra has taken up the director’s seat for this series. I really like how the guy has been animating rather old mangas that never got the series-treatment they deserve. The music will also be done by the guy behind Mononoke, Jigoku Shoujo, Toward the Terra and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi henge. In other words: quite a solid shoujo-series.

+ Top-5 Looking Forward To +
Himitsu – Top Secret

Summary: The story takes place five decades from now, when brain scanners have been perfected to the point that the government can retrieve up to five years’ worth of memories from people’s minds — even if they are dead. The investigators of the National Research Institute of Police Science’s 9th Forensics Laboratory must weigh the ethical choices in the ultimate invasion of privacy as they delve into people’s minds to solve crimes. – (Taken from Anime News Network)
Thoughts: Now this is an interesting premise! This is going to be a pretty thought-provoking ride if handled well. Unfortunately, the director doesn’t have that much experience, and he’s only done Rocket Girls before, and a few episodes of Master Keaton. Let’s hope he learned from his past experiences, because this is one premise that shouldn’t be wasted.

Library Wars

Summary: Based on a light novel series. In the year 2019, the explosion of information and misinformation became a direct threat to society. In a daring decision, it was decided to create a new government agency dedicated solely to information management. Now some thirty years later, the government still monitors and controls information, suppressing anything they find undesirable, but standing against their abuses of power are the libraries, with their special agents called ‘the book soldiers.’ – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: I must say that this is one interesting and daring premise. It’s another series by production IG, so I’ll definitely be looking forward to this one. The director behind it is also currently working on Wellber no Monogatari, one of my favourite series of the shows that currently air. Here’s one potential underdog.

Crystal Blaze

Summary: A corner of near-future Asia. A world where through the manipulations of national governments, freedom and eqality have been established as mere pretenses. “The Trash City” Lags Town, an assemblage of all peoples composed of those whose lives have burned out. This tale, playing out in the symbol of false glory, Lags Town, is a near-future detective story shown through gun action and sexy action. The Lags Town Jack-of-all-trades “S&A Detective Agency”. Its members are Shu, who stands against the powers that be through pulse-pounding incidents even though it’s forced him out of society, and Akira, a complicated, beautiful young man. And the young detectives-in-training, high school girls Manami and Ayaka. Unfulfilled, Shu lives day-to-day as a detective, when he meets the amnesiac heroine Sara. Investigating an incident which rocks Lags Town, he takes new steps forward with friends who accept his past. That drama plays out in a hard-boiled and stylish detective story, symbolised by the Smith and Wesson model 29 and the ’80 Trans Am. – (Summary by Mandoric)
Thoughts: Anime News Network labelled this one as mystery, so how could I ignore it? It’s been a while since a pure mystery-series showed up, and I’m hungry for more of my favourite genre. The director has been around for a long time, and he assisted in the directing of They were 11, and his latest work was Saikano. He also did a bunch of episodes of Mahou Tsukai Tai, which should give enough experience to work with this series. The animation-company did Soukou no Strain before, and while the cast behind it is not stellar, they give me enough reason to look forward to this premise.

Real Drive

Summary: The story takes place in 2061, 50 years after humanity developed the “Net society” that depended on information networks despite their security issues. To improve security, a new network called Meta Real Network — or “Metal” for short — was developed. People`s personal memories are reduced to information and placed within “protected virtual stand-alone organic cyber enclaves called bubble shells” online. The result was a virtual “explosion” of creative freedom as people felt safe enough explore instincts and desires on Metal that they would not otherwise explore in real life. This “friction” between the Metal`s alluring lack of restrictions and rules-bound reality led to trouble and incidents that investigators known as “cyber divers” must handle. Masamichi Haru is one such cyber diver. – (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Ah, the new potential epic by Production IG. The director of Chevalier is behind it, animating another manga by Masamune Shirou. I’m not saying that nothing can go wrong, but the potential is incredibly high for this one.

xxxHolic: Tsugi

Summary: Yuuko is a witch who grants people’s wishes, but in return the person has to give up something precious. Watanuki Kimihiro, a man who has visions, encounters Yuuko and she promises to get rid of the spirits that torment him. In return Watanuki must work in Yuuko’s shop and help her grant other people’s wishes.
– (Taken from AniDB)
Thoughts: Now this is what I’ve been waiting for! Production IG is on fire for this season, with three major series planned. Of course I’m looking forward to the second instalment of xxxHolic, as the first one was absolutely terrific. I can’t wait to see Watanuki’s antics again.

+ Not Really Looking Forward To + Rosario to Vampire Summary: Based on a shounen manga by Ikeda Akihisa, serialised in Monthly Shounen Jump. By a bizarre coincidence, Tsukune Aono has accidentally gotten himself admitted to a youkai academy, a school attended by monsters. Just when he thinks he’ll run away from there, he meets the beautiful girl Moka and his mood turns ultra happy. However, she transforms into her true form when the rosary on her chest is taken off, she’s a super vampire! – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: Ugh… I don’t even want to imagine what would happen when Bad Gonzo gets combined with Shounen Jump. Dragonaut may have its issues, but at least it tries to come up with an interesting plot, something I can’t say from this… thing. A guy who meets a girl who happens to be a “Super Vampire”? Come on. And I’m not going to even bother ranting about the art on the official site. Ayakashi Summary: Adapted from the 2005 adults-only superhuman battle action visual novel game Ayakashi. Ayakashi is a parasite life force that gives superpowers to its host, taking in return the host’s entire life force. Kusaka Yuu is a student that lost his will to live after the death of a dear childhood friend, until the day a mysterious girl, named Yoake Eimu, appears. From that moment on, his life would never be the same again. Hunted by Ayakashi and their hosts, the power within Yuu awakens and a never ending battle begins. – (Taken from shomazta) Thoughts: Well, first of all this is a hentai-game adaptation, which already works against it. Second of all, am I the only one who’s reading a synopsis that sounds awfully similar to that of Mushiuta? Just replace “Ayakashi” with “Mushi” and change a few names here and there and voila, there’s hardly a difference. Still, it might be interesting to see a different take on the same premise, with a little less angst than Mushiuta… but then we return to the first point in that this is a hentai-game adaptation, and the screen will probably be filled with generic character-designs, pantyshots and other kinds of fanservice. H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ Summary: ??? Thoughts: Nothing much can be said about this series, apart from the fact that it’s got cute girls and it’s a hentai-game adaptation. The staff behind it also is unimpressive, with the only one standing out being the guy behind the series composition: Jukki Hanada. He worked on all kinds of series, ranging mostly from bad to mediocre, but also Red Garden, Abenobashi and Ichigo Mashimaro are among them. I doubt that he’ll be able to save this series, though. The characters look generic, and it’ll probably end up being another cheesy love-story. + Shows With Small Potential + They are my noble masters Summary: Seems to be another hentai-game adaptation Thoughts: Nothing is really known about this series, but judging by the title and the promo-art, it’ll probably involve some guy who gets to work under that boss-like looking girl. Ah well, at least it gets a few points for putting effort into the character-designs. No staff is known, other than the voice-actors, but I don’t really care for that. Ookami to Koushinryou Summary: Wikipedia JP says the series talks about a peddler named Craft Lawrence, a travelling merchant who’s wandering around the country-side selling and buying various things in villages he visits. His life changes one day when he finds a beautiful girl sleeping inside his coach full of the village’s finest sheaves. What’s more, she looks to be a cat girl. More like a wolf girl, to be exact, as she introduces herself as the village’s wolf sage who’s kept it blessed with good harvests for years and years. Her name is Horo and she wishes to return to her hometown in the North. The cocky girl bargains her way out of the village by making a deal with Craft to take her with him. The story is described as a fantasy novel with neither swords nor magic. – (Taken from Toua) Thoughts: Well, it’s definitely got the shounen-premise, but it does sound more interesting than your usual story, and the travelling premise does hold potential. But then again, this is from the same staff that was behind three notorious series whose only purpose was to deliver as much ecchi as possible: Hit wo Nerae, Cosmopolitan Prayers and Love Love. That can’t be a good sign… + Interesting-Looking Series + Persona -Trinity Soul- Summary: Aniplex’s A-1 Pictures is adapting the Persona 3 PlayStation 2 role-playing game as a television anime series under the name Persona -trinity soul- for a January 2008 premiere. The anime is set a decade after the game, and will centre around three brothers in a future city where the dead have risen with their skins turned inside out. The Persona games themselves are spin-offs from the long-running Shin Megami Tensei series. – (Taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: Ah, another RPG-adaptation, and yet again I have no idea what to expect from this one apart from zombies. The people who worked on it worked on both masterpieces (the guy behind the screenplay did the series composition of The Third and the script of Darker than Black, another one worked on the script of Chevalier), they also worked on a bunch of hentai-series and Innocent Venus. It also has the director behind Blood+, which was a great series but had a terrible finale. Ah well, at least the potential’s there. Let’s hope it doesn’t get screwed up. Noramimi Summary: A world where mascots aren’t just marketing tools. Families contact mascot agencies, to find a suitable one for their children. This story focuses on one such agency, which has its very own mascot: Noramimi, the syrup-stirring Kaminari Kozo (Lightning Kid). – (Taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: This series comes from the IKKI magazine, which has seen three other adaptations so far: Tetsuko no Tabi, Bokura no and Narutaru, all of which I loved. That’s basically the biggest reason why I’m looking forward to this one, despite the rather strange style of the manga. I’m not sure about the director, who did a couple of random episodes here and there, including a few from xxxHolic. The guy behind the series composition also doesn’t say much, all the noteworthy things he did before was write the script for the Snow Queen and the screenplay for the movie Air, both of which I’ve seen almost nothing. + Definitely Looking Forward To + True Tears Summary: Dreams, hopes, and aspirations … are things that all people draw their visions of what the “future” may hold for them. Some are pastel-coloured; others are darker in hue; still others shine radiant and unblemished like the hands of the rain. What are my dreams? What are my hopes? What do I aspire to become? These are questions that the characters of this story ask themselves. But must all of them turn at last to weeping? Must they all harbour such darkness under the shadow of the wings of their hearts? Some of them carry the wounds of the past with them still, the burden causing them to lose sight of their dreams. Others see insurmountable walls between them and the things they dream of, causing them to walk away and give up. And still others — worst of all — have forgotten what it is to dream altogether. And so they smile, smile warmly and widely, in order to hide away the darkness and pain in their hearts … in order to shut out the future itself. But the moment a girl should step forth and say “no more” — that is the beginning and the end. – (Taken from Insani.org) Thoughts: Finally! It may be me, but I believe that this series has been delayed for almost a year now. Still, it looks like it’s finally getting its adaptation in the upcoming winter-season. If I recall correctly, it’s based on a visual novel, though I’m not sure if it was adult or not. In any case, the premise sounds much better than a random hentai-game, so I’m going to assume it isn’t (correct me if I’m wrong), and for some strange reason, I’m quite interested in how this one will turn out. Especially considering that this series has the genius behind Simoun as its director! The series composition is also done by the woman who did the script for epics as Popolocrois, Red Garden, Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club and again Simoun. Okay, I know that Code-E could have been better, but seriously, it’s hard not to get excited when seeing these names. + Top-5 Looking Forward To + Wellber no Monogatari Second Season Summary: After the adventures of the first season, there’s still the matter of Tina’s back-story. In the meantime, I don’t expect the other countries in the world to sit around idly after what happened to Guernia Thoughts: Ah, this is what I’ve been waiting for! I’m still not exactly sure why I enjoyed the first season so much, and while it wasn’t in any way epic or awesome, the storytelling was excellent and varied. Not to mention the cute shoujo-ai scenes. ^^; Shigofumi Summary: A story about a miracle, involving Fumika, a quiet but hard working girl who wears a uniform of a mail carrier, and her talkative staff and partner Mayama. The Shigofumi is a posthumous letter, the last resort of relaying a deceased person’s last message to his/her loved ones: family, friends, and significant other. – (Taken from AniDB) Thoughts: Well, this series has been delayed a few times, but that only increased my curiosity in the premise, and it looks like it’s really going to arrive in the Winter-Season now. The guys who will be working on it are also some big names, who worked on many big titles (of which I admittedly only saw half or so): the director directed Cat Soup, Tokyo Tribe, Stellvia, Shingu and Nadesico and planned and produced other gems as Kino’s journey, Figure 17 and Azumanga Daioh and let’s not forget the hilarious script of Tsukikage Ran. The guy behind the series composition worked on famous series as RahXephon, Angelic Layer, Planetes and Eureka7 (seriously, this reminds me of how many good series I’ve still got left to see). Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei Second Season Summary: I think we all know this by now. A teacher with an extremely pessimistic outlook on life unleashes his frustrations on the class he teaches. Thoughts: Well, with a bit of luck the subs for the first season will be finished right before the start of the second one. The first season really has been an excellent comedy-series that not only managed to crack me up over and over, but also was witty and smart, and tackled a lot of topics considered taboo. While others might hate the typical animation-style of Shinbo, I love it. Hatenkou Yuugi Summary: A young girl named Rahzel is booted out of her house one day by her father with the instructions to ’see the world.’ And so her journey begins, However, she won’t be doing it alone, for she befriends a stoic young man named Alzeido seeking revenge for his father’s murder. Alzeido and Rahzel are like oil and water, but even still, they feel strangely drawn to one another. This could be either the result of an underlying attraction — or their shared powers with magic. And so, the two reluctant allies travel from town to town, using their powers to help the helpless, while discovering their own respective places in the world. – (Taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: Strangely enough, the premise sounds a lot more interesting than when I first read it. This winter-season is definitely going to be a good season for travelling-series, and it’s going to be interesting to see the people that Rahzel and Alzeido run into. The father’s murder seems to suggest that there’s an underlying plot as well, so this could very well be a title to watch out for. To make things even better, it’s got the director of Sasami Mahou Shoujo-club and the series composition is done by the guy who directed Giant Robo and did the screenplay for Pet Shop of Horrors; these guys can really make something special out of this series. Porfy’s Long Journey Summary: Part of the World Masterpiece Theatre. In the original novel, Porphyras (Yuki Kaida) is a Greek boy who was orphaned with his sister Mina (Ayumi Fujimura) by an earthquake. The two siblings decide to embark on a journey across Europe instead of staying in their foster home in an unfamiliar country. – (Taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: I think it comes to no surprise that this is my most anticipated series of the season. Les Miserables has been a brilliant series, and I can’t wait what the next instalment of the World Masterpiece Theatre will be. To make things better, it’s going to be directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, who has been a director for decades. While I haven’t seen most of his most famous works (Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Princess Nine), I have seen what he did with the first season of Ranma 1/2, Seraphim Call, Here is Greenwood and Ocean Waves, and I really can’t wait. This guy is excellent in combining light-hearted quirkiness with serious scenes.]]>

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

+ Not Really Looking Forward To + Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi Summary: “Meet Louise, a budding magician. The students at the Tristein Academy call her “Zero Louise”, due to her current record of zero successes with magic. In fact, her magic tends to go spectacularly wrong. Now, as an important test of her aptitude for magic, she must summon a familiar to be her servant. At this critical moment, she summons up all her magic and wishes for a familiar that is “devoted, beautiful and powerful”, and gets… Hiraga Saito, an ordinary Japanese boy. It’s difficult to say who is more surprised and dismayed, but the rules don’t allow for second attempts. Louise is stuck with her strange familiar, and he with her.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: I remember hating the first episode of the original series, back when it aired. It was just oh so similar to your standard harem, where the main character would be surrounded by a bunch of pretty stereotypes. When I later read that at some point, he gets his own personal maid to play with, I knew that this wouldn’t be a series I’d like. Moetan Summary: “Moetan originally was a game, aimed at otaku to help them study english.” Thoughts: This concept can only be saved when this anime starts to heavily parody the English language. Otaku-based shows have been rather notorious with me for the lack of an interesting storyline and a preferred focus on cute girls, rather than substance. The director did Getsumen to Heiki Mina and Hayate the Combat-Butler, two series which got stale really fast. The guy behind the screenplay and series composition also wrote the manga “To-Love-Ru”, which features a boy who finds a naked magical alien girl in his bathtub, also convinces me that this’ll most likely become a trainwreck. Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho: Tou Summary: “In the night of Tokyo, mysterious deaths involving the ‘Reborn Dead’ occur. Mysterious transfer student, Tatsuma Hiyuu, and delinquent student, Kyouichi Houraiji, fight these undead every night. They, along with the rest of their group, soon realize that a greater threat, that involves even more powerful demons, is near.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: I remember dropping this series, back when it aired, because it was too boring. I might pick it up again, I might not. Buzzer Beater Summary: “Hideyoshi is a homeless boy living in New York in the near future, who survives by hustling other kids in basketball games. But now he’s been drafted into a pro team-a pro team with a very unique goal. There once was a time when humans dominated the game of basketball. But times have changed, and now the physically superior alien players have taken over the game, and there are barely any human players next. But Hideyoshi’s team-the first all-human team to compete in the Space League-intends to change all that, and bring the championship back home to Earth.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: Okay, I don’t really get this. I already wasn’t excited by the fact that this is a sports-anime, but this appears to be a remake of a series that aired back in 2005. Why the heck would ANYONE want to remake a show that aired such a short period of time ago? The story also sounds everything but exciting. Nanatsuiro Drops Summary: “Tsuwabuki Masaharu, or Haru as is friends like to call him, is your normal middle school student. Now in his second year, his friends push him to speak with his classmates whom he have yet to speak to, but this was still a difficult thing for Haru due to his clumsy nature. One afternoon, his life met with a 180° during a strange encounter in the hallways of Hoshigaoka School. During that fateful encounter, he accidentally drinks a magical potion which transforms him into a stuffed animal sheep during the night! Through later events, Haru learns that in order to return to his original self, he needs to collect “star droplets” that fall from the sky. However, being that his innards are now made of cotton, he will need the help of a “special person,” little did he know that special person was someone from his class. Living a double life between his day self and his sheep form “Yuki-chan”, page one of his story, her story, and the story of Nanatsuiro Drops begins~” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: Ah, what have we here? Another harem. This time, the main character is a goat and he needs to get intimate with a girl from his class in order to change back. The main character himself is a perfectly ordinary boy who is a little clumsy. Yup, sounds just like all those other harems out there. There’s just one thing that intrigues me: the guy behind the series composition worked on several of the later World Masterpiece Theatre-series, as well as Kaze no Shoujo Emily. Will he be able to save this series alone? I doubt it, though. + Shows with Small Potential + Doujin Work Summary: “Doujinwork is a story about the main character’s exposure and adventure into the world of doujinshi. We follow Osana Najimi, a high schooler tempted into becoming a doujin artist after seeing how much her friend can make at a convention. A sucker at drawing, Najimi soon learns that the road inside the doujin world is not paved with roses as she expected, but, as she attends more conventions and meets more people, manages to find a group of very interesting friends.” – (taken from Cardcaptor’s Blog) Thoughts: Probably another romantic comedy. With all series of this genre, I have to see it work first before I’ll start to see any potential in it, as most series who attempt this are just a bunch of trainwrecks. Wangan Midnight Summary: “When high school student Akio Asakura loses a high speed race to Tatsuya Shima, he goes to a junkyard to find parts for his car – only to discover a blue first-generation Datsun Fairlady Z (S30), which he buys. Akio later discovers that not only is the Z tuned to 620 bhp, it’s had a dark history of unfortunate accidents with its previous owners. Behind the wheel of the Devil Z, Akio now poses a threat to Shima and his “Blackbird” Porsche 911 Turbo.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: A long-running manga is finally getting animated. If I recall correctly, it’ll feature high-speed highway-races. It should prove to be a decent action-series, but I doubt that the story and characters will receive a lot of attention. Code Geass Episode 24 and 25 Summary: Episodes 24 and 25 have been extended to a special, to air in the summer-season. Thoughts: Now that I managed to finish watching the first series, I’m too far in to just drop it, but I do hope that these episodes will fix the many mistakes that the original series made. Something, however, tells me that it’s going to try to be as spectacular and drawn-out as possible, almost like a soap-opera. Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho Summary: “Kaname Okimura, a student of Prefectoral Umineko Shougyou High (”Umisho” for short), joined the school’s swimming club in order to learn how to swim, but the club is filled with weirdoes, let alone teach him swimming. Then, a sunny, happy-go-lucky girl named Amuro Ninagawa who was transferred from Okinawa joined the club. Her extraordinary underwater speed and unorthodox swimming style (plus her personal habit of nude swimming — a powerful magnet to teenage boys) surprised every club member, especially Okimura, because she reminds him a mermaid-like creature he saw only once in his early childhood.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: Wow, I first believed that this would definitely become the worst show of the season, but the people behind the screenplay actually do show some potential. They both were involved in Himawari!, one of them was behind the script of Tsukikage Ran, some episodes of Fruits Basket, while the other did the script of Deltora Quest and a few episodes of Popolocrois. While I usually loathe romantic comedies like these, this does have potential to become rather funny. Now let’s hope that the manga itself doesn’t limit them. Potemayo Summary: ? Thoughts: I still don’t know what to think of this series. It looks like a comedy where five children get to take care of two rather eccentric chibi-witches, but the question remain whether it’ll actually become funny enough to not get boring. School Days Summary: “The story is about a love triangle between the male protagonist Makoto, and the two heroines Kotonoha and Sekai. Makoto develops a love interest in Kotonoha, a girl in the same year but different class. Although they both take the same train to school, she is unaware of his existence. His classmate, Sekai, manages to put the two together despite holding strong feelings towards Makoto.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: You know, the concept of a horribly bloody ending is nice and all, but do you really think the people behind Amaenaideyo and Yumeria will be able to pull this off well? Right now, it looks like this is just going to be your usual romantic comedy-harem with an unorthodox ending. I first have to see this before I’ll start believing that something good might come out of this. + Interesting-Looking Series + Zombie-Loan Summary: “When a human is marked to die, a faint gray line that is invisible to most appears around their neck. As time passes, that ring becomes darker and darker, until it is eventually black, and that person dies. Kita Michiru has an unusual gift, she posses “Shinigami eyes,” which allow her to see these rings. When Michiru notices that two of the boys in her Class, Akatsuki Chika and Tachibana Shito not only have rings, but that they’re jet black, they reveal to her that the were supposed to die in a tragic accident six months ago. With the help of the Zombie Loan loan office, they were given a second chance at life, should they be able to pay for their debt by doing the work of Shinigami and killing malicious zombies. They petition Michiru to assist them in their efforts, and she finds her everyday life changing dramatically.” Thoughts: While the concept is garbage, I admit that I like the director, he’s currently directing Hitohira, he did Rumic Theater in the past (a series I recently finished and really liked) and the storyboard of none other than Gintama. Unfortunately, the series-composition is done by the same guy who did Good Witch of the West, and probably was the one responsible for its rushed story. Let’s hope he’ll be able to learn something from the director. Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files Summary: “Caught up in an illegal mission to steal military secrets, Armored Trooper Chirico Cuvie is on the run from his own army. Left to die by his traitorous commanders, Chirico makes his way to Uoodo City – a hive of criminals and refugees – where he`ll need all of his battlefield-honed skills to survive. Driven by the image of a mysterious woman whose destiny is linked to his own, Chirico begins a quest that will shake the foundations of the entire galaxy! (U.S. Manga Corps)” – (taken from AniDB) Thoughts: The interesting thing about this anime is not only the fact that nobody seems to talk about it, it’s also the director who can send it into a really interesting direction: Ryousuke Takahashi. He’s worked on many series in the past, but most importantly: he directed Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, Flag and Hi no Tori. This means that we can expect an extremely solid and realistic piece of work here. Mushiuta Summary: “In near future in Japan, there appear grotesque monsters called “Mushi”, who parasitize people and give them supernatural powers. “Mushitsuki”, the hosts of “Mushi”, are frightened, hated, and abandoned from the society. The story features a high school student Kusuriya Daisuke, who encounters a girl on his way to school on the first day he transfers. Somehow, he and the girl, Anmoto Shiika, stand near the railroad crossing and feel attracted to each other. As if they are seeking for something missing in themselves, their relation gets close rapidly. However, Shiika is a fugitive from GARDEN, a secret asylum of “Mushitsuki”. Tokkan, or Special Environment Preservation Agency, which is responsible for finding “Mushitsuki” in order to put them into the asylum orders Kakko, their top agent and strongest “Mushitsuki” to hut down Shiika. However, there are people who fight against “Tokkan”. The resistance, Mushibane, is looking for “Mushitsuki” whose existence is deleted from the society. The female leader, Lady Bird, orders the member to save Shiika before Tokkan finds her. The fights between “Mushitsuki” and “Mushibane” over Shiika, breaking normal life, their super natural powers sparkle. During the fights beyond one’s imagination, young people are losing their lives miserably. However, the Mushitsuki have the destiny they cannot escape from. The mushi eats the host’s dream in exchange for of giving him supernatural power. When, the mushi eat up host’s dreams, he will die.” – (taken from AnimeNfo and corrected some obnoxious spelling and grammar-errors) Thoughts: I’m no big fan of the boy and girl who get together, teenage romance is so easy to screw up. The rest of the premise, though, does show promise for a tragic story, but I’m a bit disappointed that the “Mushi” turned into huge monsters instead of the buzzing creatures that I originally thought they were. I’m also intrigued by the person behind the series composition: Reiko Yoshida. He or she (?) really has a huge amount of experience, and worked on lots of excellent series in the past, like Saiunkoku Monogatari, Popolocrois, Ghost Hunt and Deltora Quest. But the character-designs are done by the same guy who did them for Bakuretsu Tenchi? I fear. + Definitely Looking Forward To + Shigurui Summary: “Based on a seinen manga by Yamaguchi Takayuki, serialised in Champion RED. We are in the sixth year of the Kan’ei era (1629), at the beginning of the Edo period. The story takes place inside the castle of Suruga. The first duel of a tournament which, in contravention of all existing laws, allows the use of real swords, brings together for the last time two mighty swordsmen whose intertwined past is as beautiful and gruesome as the wounds upon their bodies… An exceptional manga artist decides to tackle the forbidden work by the last giant figure in samurai literature, only to give birth to a colossal period drama filled with unspeakable tragedy and cruelty!” – (taken from AniDB) Thoughts: Even though it sounds rather bloody, I’m actually really excited about this. Apparently, the manga isn’t afraid at all to show mature themes, which might turn out pretty interesting if handled well. Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei Summary: “Sayonara Zetsubousensei is a episodic manga that plays around with japanese terms/parodies/popular culture and anime culture kinda like the author’s previous work Katte ni Kaizou. The protaganist is Itoshiki糸色 Nozumu 望but when you combine the kanji for itoshiki and nozumu, it becames zetsubou (despair) 絶望 hence the title of the work. The supporting cast is made up of dysfunctional students(each having his/her own unique character) from his class and he is not teaching at an all-girls high school.” – (taken from Meikuuzanshouken) Thoughts: That main character sounds like a very interesting character, and while I’m not too fond of the all-girls high school he ends up in, I can see myself enjoying seeing him getting tortured by his students, and worry about his situation at the same time. The director did series as Pani Poni Dash and Le Portrait de Petit Cosette, so he should know how to handle the despair of Nozomu. Tetsuko no Tabi Summary: “This is a slightly odd sort of manga: basically the “story” is that a manga artist is asked by her boss to accompany him and a travel-writer on various train trips around Japan and draw a manga about it. The kicker though, is that it’s completely non-fiction — the creator really did go on all these trips, and the manga simply records what happened, with no embellishment. There’s a little disclaimer at the front that says “This is non-fiction, so I apologize for the lack of drama,” and indeed, it mostly is just about them riding trains from place to place, waiting on platforms, etc.; there’s none of the silly artificial melodrama that sometimes accompanies info-manga. Despite the disclaimer, however, it’s really very entertaining.” Thoughts: The character-designs that can be found on the official site made me probably even more enthusiastic than I already was about this anime. I’d love to see whether such a concept will actually work, and by the looks of the characters, they might actually pull it off. + Top-5 Looking Forward To + Code-E Summary: “The story of Code E deals with a new female highschool transfer student who has the strange ability to disrupt electronic equipment.” – (taken from AniDB) Thoughts: Why am I so excited about this series? Well, it’s all about the people working on it. The director, Toshiyuki Kato previously did epics as Full Moon wa Sagashite, he did a few episodes of Simoun (episode 16 included, an episode I just can’t stop praising for its awesomeness), and he also did Ginga Densetsu Weed, which had some truly remarkable death-scenes. Junji Nishimura is one of the people behind the screenplay for Code-E, and he was the one who directed Simoun, and did a whole bunch of episodes for that series as well. Another guy who will do the screenplay is Toshifumi Kawase, or the guy behind the script of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and The Law of Ueki. With people like these behind it, how can this possibly go wrong? Tales of Symphonia Summary: “The story follows Lloyd, who among others accompanies a chosen girl, who will bring salvation to the a fictional fantasy-world. At least, that’s what he originally thinks. As the story unfolds, the problems the world is currently currently suffering from will really become clear. It’s a story to save people who can’t live anywhere without being shunned and looked down upon.” Thoughts: When I started this blog, there were two major anime that played a big factor in it. The first is obviously Mahou Shoujotai, and the second series was Tales of Phantasia. Now that a sequel of the game it’s based on is getting animated, is there any way for me not to blog it? 🙂 I’m just a bit worried about the official site, though, since all important characters have been removed from the main-page apart from Lloyd and Cosette. I don’t hope that the creators will make their love-relationship the biggest focus of the story, since the parts that focused on racism and the protection of loved ones were much, much more interesting. Baccano! Summary: “Baccano is Italian for noise, but Narita translates it as “stupid commotion.” Each of the stories in the series involves several unrelated plots intersecting and crossing each other as events spiral farther and farther out of control. Immortal alchemists, mafia operated speakeasies, and many other elements of pulp fiction mashed together for a world straight out of the movies.” – (taken from Anime News Network) Thoughts: I already knew that this anime was going to be produced, and I quite liked the art. But when I read the premise above, I fell in love with it. A collection of stories, unrelated to each other, crossing each other, playing in the 1930s, with trains and immortal alchemists? Directed by the people behind Jigoku Shoujo? Sign me up!! Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai Summary: The anime consists out of a number of arcs. In each arc, certain characters will live the same time-line, but their actions and focus is totally different. The first season featured the first six arc, now the second season will feature the last three arcs, including one that is completely original, and serves as a bridge between the first and second season. Thoughts: Even though the first season may have had its bumps, its good parts were really good, and I adored its huge degree of mystery. I’m so glad that the second season is finally getting near. Mononoke Summary: “The spin-off of Bake Neko, the third part of Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror” Thoughts: Bake Neko already was pure awesomeness, and now we get it in 12-episode format. I seriously can’t WAIT for it to air!]]>

+ Not Really Looking Forward To + Nagasarete Airantou “Touhouin Ikuto runs away from home at the age of 14 and jumps onboard a ship. He falls off into the ocean and drifts for 5 days until he is swept up in a storm. He wakes up on Airantou, an isolated island inhabited, coincidentally, by girls roughly his age who have never seen a boy before. After being thwarted in his attempt to escape by the fierce whirlpools that surround the island, he decides to accept his fate and remain. One boy to an island of girls? Let the fighting — err, I mean fun, begin!” – Unless the characters decide to REALLY make fun of themselves, then I think that this is going to be the worst show of the season. -_- Keitai Shoujo This appears to be an OVA. The exact synopsis hasn’t been translated yet, but it seems to be based on one of those cell-phone games in which you have a virtual girlfriend, whom you have to buy gifts with real money, in order to keep her pleased. Um… yeah. Exciting. *cough* Hayate The Combat Butler “With a debt of 1.5 million, 16-year old Hayate Ayasaki’s parents sell him to the yakuza to pay it off. Not wanting to be cut up and sold on the black market, Hayate escapes from the yakuza thugs, and finds a very rich girl by the name of Nagi wandering in a park at night. Deciding to kidnap the girl for ransom money, Hayate’s kidnapping speech was wrongly taken as a confession of love to Nagi. She finds out about the debt, and, feeling sorry for Hayate, pays it off, as long as Hayate will be her butler until he pays off the 1.5 million (which will take about 40 years).” – My initial verdict still stands, and the concept remains crappy. Just another one of these popular moe-shows. Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo “This is a heartful school adventure at a high school on the isolated island. They are enjoying their life there, sometimes reacting against each other. – (taken from Himeyashop) – Heartful it may be, but it’s also a harem and hentai-game adaptation. Yawn. Idol Master Xenoglossia You can count on Sunrise to transform a game in which you have to manage your own idol into a mecha-anime. While that is a definite improvement, the trailer makes me suspect that we’re dealing with another one of those unrealistic moe-shows, in which teenage girls are the only ones who can pilot the mechas without a good reason. Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica “The story’s about Folon, who’s studying to be a “spirit contractor” of some sort in a famous school. He meets two new students, the twins Prinesca and Perseti, who are eager to become just like him. Folon, however, is pretty much your average “wimpy good-for-nothing” protagonist. That’s until one night, while the twins accidentally meet Folon who was practicing his arts by himself, he was able to summon a powerful entity who almost killed them and destroyed a good part of the school’s insides. Good thing though, that Folon was able to calm the entity down with the use of his “commedia” (it’s a tad like F/sn’s Mana). It’s then revealed Folon already summoned the entity long ago, and his practice that night reawakened it. The spirit’s name was Cortikarte, and when Folon was still a kid, she made a “contract” with him allowing her to feed off Folon’s “commedia” while providing assistance to him in any way. Though, it has been a long time since Folon properly gave her any, so she was summoned now… in a red-haired loli’s body. The school didn’t punish Folon for destroying a part of the school, as the spirit that he summoned was quite a high level one, and was eventually given a chance to graduate. Some time later, Prinesca and Perseti were accepted into the school. All the freshmen were supposed to have a sempai to guide them, and the one that they chose was poor Folon. Not to mention that Cortikarte was now living with him , and also has begun to treat Folon like a slave… which is a total reverse of what was normal (Spirits are supposed to obey the wishes of their Masters, not the other way around). Thus starts Folon’s life with his new kouhai, his Contract Spirit and the numerous other people around him in the academy.” – summary by meganeshounen – Well, it’s obvious that I’m not really interested in this anime about a girl with an almost unnaturally large amount of hair, who gets to treat our main character like a slave (*wink wink, nudge nudge*). How many times have we seen that again? Kotetsushin Jeeg “The story of Kotetsushin Jeeg takes place fifty years after the original and features a new cast of characters—primarily the new main character Kenji Kusanagi (voiced by Daisuke Ono), a high school student who becomes Kotetsushin Jeeg to fight the sudden reappearance of “Haniwa Genjin” (“Phantom Gods,” or clay robots) from the Yamatai Kingdom ruled by Queen Himika. Other characters include Tsubaki Tamashiro (voiced by Kana Ueda) and Kyo Misumi (voiced by Susumu Chiba). New versions of the Build Base (commanded by Senjiro Shiba, whose relation to Steel Jeeg’s “Machine Father” is unknown) and Big Shooter will also appear.” – Taken from Wikipedia – Another remake of an ancient mecha-series, like Reideen and Giant Robo. I’m not really enthusiastic about it though. Mostly because of the main character. He just looks way too much like your standards shounen-hero. -_- Lucky Star “The story portrays the lives of several school girls attending a Japanese high school with a very loose humour tone. The serialization began with the four main characters in the first year of high school. As the years progress, they move onto their second and third year. Konata, nicknamed “Kona-chan” by her friends, gets bored easily when something doesn’t interest her. She can be smart, but she hates studying so her grades are a bit uneasy. However, she is an expert in pulling an “all-nighter”. In contrast to her studying habits, she loves video games to the extent that she can compete against Kagami on knowledge of games. In addition to video games, she loves anime which is also due to her father’s influence along with the games. Her father also buys ero-games for himself, so she is able to play and enjoy them as well. In fact, When she became 18, Konata was overjoyed since she could now go buy and play ero-games legally. Tsukasa is the younger fraternal twin sister of Kagami and lives in a six-member family household with her parents. She is in the same class as Konata though isn’t good at studying or at sports, but excels in cooking. Kagami is the older fraternal twin sister of Tsukasa. In school, her grades are excellent as studies very hard. She was even the class president of her class in her first year. She is in a different class than Konata and Tsukasa, but she frequently comes to their class during lunch time to eat with them. Additionally, Kagami chose the humanities course in her second year so that she could be with her friends, but she was the only one separated into a different classroom; the same occurred in her third year. Kagami, seldomly referred to as “Kagamin”, is a bit egotistic, but is somewhat weak in cooking.” – Taken from Wikipedia – Strange to see that there isn’t a website of this series, despite it’s being produced by Kyoto-animation. I guess web-design isn’t their strongest point. Ah well, this time, they seem to be doing a slice-of-life series. Ah, it could be interesting, it could be boring. sola Oh, great. A harem. Just when I thought they were gone, one comes, sneaks up and kicks me from behind. Touka Gettan Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabi seemed to be very good, from the things I heard about it. That may be nice, and I’m definitely going to check that series out, but that doesn’t mean that I’m looking forward to Touka Gettan, as it’s another one of those Hentai-game adaptations. + Shows With Small Potential + Kaze no Stigma “The Story is about the Guy, who got kicked out of his fire Clan because he had no talent. 4 years down the road he comes back to Japan and has power to manipulate the wind, and on his return to Japan he is a Suspect in a murder.” – (summary by evil-samurai) – You know, the art on the covers of the light novels looked interesting, but the art of the anime took a huge step back. It’s a bit of a disappointment, the art looks just way too standard. Nothing seems to stand out. Ah well, let’s hope the story is better. Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula “The human race has recovered from the cataclysmic disaster now known as the “Equator Winter”. Now, each country begins to battle one another with robots to establish the new world order. A 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl operate Japan’s robot. Now begins their robot battle.” – (taken from AnimeNfo) – Ah, yes. The anime with 14 different people behind its mecha designs. That should be interesting, but I’m really worried whether the creators did right to put a bunch of high-school kids in charge of saving the world with one of these mechas. Saint Beast “In the ancient past, the Highest level of angels, the Six Saintly Beasts reigned supreme as the beast kings. Two of the Saint Beasts disobeyed Gods order and was sealed away in a Hellish place. Now after thousands of days and nights, the barrier has weakened and they escape. So the remaining four must go to Earth and stop them from causing trouble.” – Taken from Anime News Network – This seems to be a prequel to a 2003-series. It’s strange, because I didn’t see anyone talk about this. Heck, it doesn’t even have its own thread on Animesuki. I can guess why, as it seems to be screaming “bishounen”. ^^; Darker than Black “Suddenly anomalous field impossible to analyze appears in Tokyo. As if they responded to the field named “Hell’s Gate”, people that have new powers and completely different from the current human begins appear. They have lost their minds and sometimes kill people cruelly. People call them “Contractor” with fear.” – (taken from AnimeNfo) – “The main character, Hei is some super top-class agent, at ‘The Organisation’. He’s one of the best in this group of people with supernatural powers, called “keiyakusha”. As such he’s an invaluable member of The Organisation. He seems to be a solitary guy who won’t allow others in his heart. Currently he is posing as a timid Chinese university student called Li Shun Sheng. The seemingly lead female, Yin is a support staff in Hei’s team. She seems normal but she’s got absolutely no emotions at all and is sometimes called “Doll”. She’s also blind, but her other senses have been honed to such a level that she can… instantaneously understand the physical situation around her for a radius of 50m.” – (Translated by wao) – Okay, the concept sounds interesting, but that main character… Can he be something other than “perfect”? Lovely Complex “Koizumi Risa, current height 170 cm. Her surname is translated to “small river”. A girl taller than most other girls her age. Otani Atsushi, current height 156 cm. His surname is translated to “big valley”. A guy way below the average height of a high-school boy. They’re both known all around school as the comedian duo for looking like nothing but funny while standing beside each other. Due to this fact, they’ve been on one another’s bad side ever since they first met. One day, a new transfer student shows up and he happens to be very tall! Koizumi immediately gets interested in this boy and Otani suddenly proposes a silly idea to Koizumi. The idea is that they are to help each other out to get their respective love interests by all means! Koizumi undoubtedly agrees to this but as in all other shoujo mangas, things never turn out the way people want it to.” – Ah, the shoujo-romance series of the season. While I like a good shoujo-series, I’m not too much of a fan of the slice-of-life romances. Not because they’re bad or anything, but mostly because they’re just boring because nothing happens. Let’s hope that this one will be more than just a love-story. Overdrive “The story centres around a boy who aims to become the number one bicyclist in the world.” – (taken from manganews) – I’ve never been a big fan of sports-anime, but the strange thing is that I’ve never really had a good reason to. I did see one anime-movie about cyclists, though: Nasu – Summer in Andalusia. That movie showed me how directed sports anime can be. I hope that that won’t be the case here. Princess Resurrection “The story centres on the character of school boy Hiro Hiyorimi who is struck by a car in an accident. Unbeknownst to him, his life is saved by a princess of darkness who feeds him her blood immediately after the incident.” – (taken from Anime News Service) – This will be a really bloody series, but I have no idea whether it’ll be good or bad. Ah well, there’s only one way to find out. + Interesting-Looking Shows + True Tears ” Dreams, hopes, and aspirations … are things that all people draw their visions of what the “future” may hold for them. Some are pastel-coloured; others are darker in hue; still others shine radiant and unblemished like the hands of the rain. What are my dreams? What are my hopes? What do I aspire to become? These are questions that the characters of this story ask themselves. But must all of them turn at last to weeping? Must they all harbour such darkness under the shadow of the wings of their hearts? Some of them carry the wounds of the past with them still, the burden causing them to lose sight of their dreams. Others see insurmountable walls between them and the things they dream of, causing them to walk away and give up. And still others — worst of all — have forgotten what it is to dream altogether. And so they smile, smile warmly and widely, in order to hide away the darkness and pain in their hearts … in order to shut out the future itself. But the moment a girl should step forth and say “no more” — that is the beginning and the end.” – Taken from Insani.org – I have absolutely no idea what this is going to be. It looks like a very sad harem, but this one actually seems to have potential. Maybe, perhaps maybe it’ll turn out good. Devil May Cry “The game revolves around P.I. (Private Investigator) Dante and his one-man devil hunting agency “Devil May Cry”, which he runs in hopes of finding and killing the demons that killed his mother. Dante also has a twin brother named Vergil, whom we however learn little about during the course of this first game in the series. The story alludes to The Divine Comedy in the game’s areas (roughly resembling and representing inferno, purgatorio, and paradiso) as well as in some of the character names; however it is purely an aesthetic similarity, and indeed the game borrows from a very wide range of sources for inspiration. After a less than proper introduction, a woman named Trish, who bears a striking resemblance to Dante’s mother, convinces Dante to help her defeat Mundus, the Emperor of the Underworld, who is the leading antagonist of the game. The duo then sets off to Mallet Island, where Mundus’s resurrection is about to take place, and where the majority of the game plays out.” – I like the dark-gothic undertones, but the question will remain whether this is going to be aimed at the mainstream or not. It could become another shounen-flick, but then again, it could also become very interesting. Gegege no Kitaro “Kitaro is a yokai boy born in a cemetery, and aside from his mostly-decayed father, the last living member of the Ghost tribe. He is missing his left eye, but his hair usually covers the empty socket. He fights for peace between humans and yokai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter. Kitaro has an assortment of strange weapons at his disposal, including: remote-controlled geta sandals a detachable hand, also remote-controlled, a magic chanchanko vest which can protect its wearer from danger, Spiny hairs which can be shot like arrows and another hair which can serve as an antenna for detecting spirit activity.” – taken from Wikipedia – This one probably never will become popular. Heck, I’m sure of it. Apparently, character designs like this are a turn-off to many people. Still, I’m willing to give this one a chance, as the weapons used by the different characters look very promising and creative. Oh! Edo-Rocket “Year 1842, 12th year of the Tenpô era. To the twilight of the Edo era, we follow the steps of a Master bomb disposal expert and his young friend in Tokyo where fires of artifices became illegal with the eyes of the imperial capacity. While the reforms of Mizuno Tadakuni make devastations in main Japon. The bomb disposal expert receives one day a strange request of a young woman of the name of Sora: to carry out a fireworks which will rise to the skies in order to awake the population tokyoïte.” – Taken from Sonhex – This looks like a fun little show, but probably destined to be unpopular. Still, a story about the Tenpou Era about fireworks can turn out to be pretty interesting. 🙂 Seto no Hanayome Nagasumi visits his grandmother near the sea during the summer. While visiting, he goes for a swim, and drowns right after entering the water. Fortunately for him he is saved by a young mermaid. Later as he tells the story to his family, a young girl named San appears at his home and begs Nagasumi to marry her. She’s followed by two large thugs and they take both him and his parents to San`s home under the sea. If that wasn’t strange enough, it turns out San`s parents are mob bosses. Nagasumi is left with the choice of either death or marrying San. He chooses to marry a mermaid. This would likely be that, except San`s father and some members of the mob are not exactly thrilled to have Nagasumi courting San and are determined to bring an end to their relationship–or him. And there is also the matter of keeping it a secret that San is a mermaid.” – taken from AniDB – This one’s being anticipated by a lot of people, and I can imagine why. After all, it’s got everything, a mermaid, mob bosses, marriages, drowning, angry parents. Hitohira “A transferred student Asai Mugi is a painfully shy girl. She is so shy that she can’t speak when she becomes seriously nervous. However, for some reason, she is spotted and recruited as a member of drama club.” – Taken from AnimeNfo – I’m a lot more positive about this show after watching the trailer. There were no signs of fanservice-based character-designs, and I didn’t see anything that hinted at the girl falling in love or something. I suspect that this will turn into a school-based show. While it’s not my favourite genre, a series about a shy girl, can definitely turn out interesting. Blue Dragon “Blue Dragon follows Shu and his friends as they find themselves capable of manifesting their actions through surprisingly powerful shadows. Not long after, the main cast sets off on a grand adventure that, in true RPG fashion, determines the fate of the world.” – (summary by Mr. Sephiroth) – Yup, like expected, this is probably one of the first times in which character designs actually turned me off. It’s such a shame, as I’m really looking forward to this series. Damn you Akira Toriyama!! Gurren Lagann “In the future, people are digging holes in the ground. They build houses and have domestic animals there. They have been living secretly fearing occasional earthquakes and roof-falls for hundreds years. Jeeha is one of such villages. One day, a boy, Shimon, is digging holes to expand their village. He happens to find a small shining drill. On the other hand, Kamina is a guy who believes there is the ground over the village, and he made a gangster to break the ceiling to get out from the hole. In those days, the ceiling falls down due to an earthquake, and a big robot falls. Kamina becomes sure that there is a world over them. Then, to be reckless, he begins to fight against the robot. At the moment, someone also comes from the above. It is a girl Yoko with a rifle in her hand. She is following the robot. However, only she can do is to keep the robot from going. Then, simon shows what he found in the ground to Kamina and Yoko. It is a mysteries robot whose body is only a face.” – Taken from AnimeNfo – You know, I expected this to be just another shounen-flick, but the trailer which can be seen on the official site and youtube actually looked kind-of nice. The art style of the characters definitely looks interesting, the only worrisome element is the main female side-kick. -_- The Skullman “There are mass murders and catastrophes all over Japan, committed by a masked/caped psychic madman called the Skull Man, and his shape-shifting aide Garo (named after the manga ninja Garo created by Sanpei Shirato), who can turn into various powerful mutant monsters. The calamities caused by the Skull Man are investigated by the Tachiki Detective Agency, with the help of a young man named Tatsuo Kagura, the son of a yakuza in the Kagura Clan.” – Taken from Monir – The concept still sounds interesting, and there isn’t really anything new I can say about this one. It’ll become a great anime about an anti-hero, period. Claymore “The setting of the story features a fictional world where towns are abundant and Humans live in coexistence with demons called Yoma. The Yoma consider humans as their main source of food, and are capable of concealing themselves among human society until they strike. In response to this horrific threat, a group of skilled warriors formed a un-named organization for defending against the demons. Due to their immense Claymore weapons, the people came to call them “Claymores”. To combat the demons, the “Claymores” have willingly infused themselves with demon flesh and blood, becoming half-human hybrids. The organization hires out their warriors for profit, answering calls from needy villages. The story of Claymore follows the adventures of a beautiful Claymore warrior named Claire, as she fights demons and struggles to hold on to her humanity.” – Also referred to as the “female Berserk”. While that doesn’t say anything to me (I only managed to see the first two episodes of Berserk). So far, the things I read about it sound very interesting. + Definitely Looking Forward to + Heroic Age “Answering the call of the “Gold Race”, all the sentient races launch into space. The human race is the last to launch, and are thus known as the “Iron Race”. Much time has passed since then, and humanity is threatened with extinction at the hands of the more dominant “Silver Race”. In order to save her people, Queen Deianeira sets out on a journey to a galaxy far away, following the prophecies of the Gold Race handed down by the royal family. Then, she meets a boy named Eiji. Their encounter will change the fate of the universe… – Taken from AnimNfo – I’m impressed. Both the newly arrived website and the description have an epic feeling. I like that. The character designs really look interesting. Which reminds me, I need to finish Fafner someday. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Strikers I loved the original two series, mostly due to its deep character studies. Strikers plays a few years after A’s, with Fate and Nanoha who’ve grown up. The series also is going to have 26 episodes, as opposed to the usual 13. I wonder what kind of changes that will make to the formula of the first two seasons. Koutetsu Sangokushi It’s interesting, I know nearly nothing about this show, but for a strange reason, it looks very interesting. And hey, it’s got the guy behind Master of Epic on the staff, can’t go wrong with that, can you? ^^; Flag Second Season “In 20xx, a civil war broke out in a small country in Asia is getting hard in spite of dispatch of UN forces. But a picture taken by accident in the battle field accelerates the peace process. It is a picture of a flag. Although they are enemies, they cooperate together to fly it in a sanctuary, and the flag becomes the symbol of the peace. However, just before the peace agreement is achieved, the flag is robbed by an armed extremist group in order to obstruct the truce. UN decides to send SDC (Special Development Command) and a cameraman to record their activities. The cameraman is Shirasu Saeko. She is the cameraman who took the picture of the flag. At first they think the mission is easy because they wear latest armed suits, HAVWC (High Agility Versatile Weapon Carrier), but they get in trouble by unexpected attacks.” – Taken from AniDB – It’s been almost three months ago that the second instalment of this series started airing in Japan. Unfortunately, this was on a paid channel, so the chance of raws appearing soon was nihil. Fro the first season, the first raws came when the DVDs were released, which was about three months after the original airdate. Based on this, we can probably expect the second season somewhere in half-April. I’m looking forward to it, as the first season was one of the most realistic war-themed anime I’ve seen. Tetsuko no Tabi “This is a slightly odd sort of manga: basically the “story” is that a manga artist is asked by her boss to accompany him and a travel-writer on various train trips around Japan and draw a manga about it. The kicker though, is that it’s completely non-fiction — the creator really did go on all these trips, and the manga simply records what happened, with no embellishment. There’s a little disclaimer at the front that says “This is non-fiction, so I apologize for the lack of drama,” and indeed, it mostly is just about them riding trains from place to place, waiting on platforms, etc.; there’s none of the silly artificial melodrama that sometimes accompanies info-manga. Despite the disclaimer, however, it’s really very entertaining.” – This probably is going to be the Spring-anime with the most original concept. I have no idea how this is going to turn out, but I can’t wait for it. ^^; Shining Tears “In the beginning of the story, an elfen girl named Elwyn finds Xion washed up on the shore of a river. She checks if he’s still alive and as she looks, a ring fell by the water. As Elwyn tried to take it, Xion was on the verge of death so she took him quickly to the village doctor, Pios. When Xion wakes up, he finds himself in The Heroes’ Hearth, the tavern of the town Heroes’ Way. He is then confronted by Pios and Elwyn, questioning him on what happened. He would say he can’t remember and even vaguely remembers his name. The two introduce themselves to him and he finds both his hands with two strange rings. They wouldn’t come off his hands as Pios tries to investigate the rings. The two then explain that the rings could possibly be the Twin Dragon Rings, the legendary rings of power. Discarding the thought, Pios investigates more on the rings as Xion falls asleep.” – taken from Wikipedia – Ah, another RPG-adaptation, and another fantasy anime. If the director doesn’t mess up, this one can promise to be great. Romeo x Juliet I haven’t read the entire novel, but I have read bits of it during classes, and I know the general storyline. It’ll be interesting how Gonzo will portray this, as it seems that the story will get a few fantasy-elements. It’ll be interesting if the characters talk just as poetic as they did in the novel. ^^; Wellber Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber “10 years since the great war, tensions were mounting within the country of Wellber, which was barely capable of keeping peace, as war could commence at any time with its neighbouring country, Sangatras. In order to avoid warfare, the king of Wellber, Haidel planned on marrying off his daughter, Princess Rita, to Sangatras` Prince Guernia. However, Rita stabbed her groom to be and ran away. Infuriated, Sangatras` King Ranbahnhof threatens to wage war unless Rita is captured and publicly executed within 14 days. In order to avoid the worst case scenario, Rita decides to head for the neutral country of Greedom. Meanwhile, the woman thief Tina sneaks into Castle Wellber, seeking its treasures, when she happens to witness the stabbing of Guernia by Rita. Whether it be by coincidence or necessity, Tina receives information that the “Wasp Man” she was after is in Greedom, her sworn enemy who took the life of her parents. Tina agrees to become Rita`s bodyguard as they head out to Greedom. Shouldering their fate and destiny, the two meet, leave, and set out on their journey. What awaits them is war or peace, vengeance or death…” – Taken from AniDB – I love a good fantasy story, and something’s telling me that Wellber Monogatari is going to be one of them. Seirei no Moribito “Once every 100 years, a Water Fairy implants an egg into a person who then becomes the Guardian of Fairies. This time, the responsibility falls on Chagumu, the second prince of the New Yogo Kingdom. Chagumu’s life isn’t easy. The king finds Chagumu an inconvenience and attempts to have him killed. As a result, the queen asks a female guard, Valsa, to protect Chagumu. In addition to this, beings from another world, known as Nayugu, constantly attack him in order to eat the egg carried in Chagumu’s body.” – Taken from AnimeNfo – Another very interesting-sounding fantasy-series. If this one actually manages to turn out well, then the spring-season will be something to look forward to a lot for all the fantasy-fans. 🙂 Kamichama Karin “Kamichama Karin is about a 7th grader named Karin Hanazono. Her parents and beloved cat, Shi-chan recently died, she’s getting horrible grades and is forced to live with her aunt. One day, Karin meets a young, orphaned, 7th grade boy named Kazune Kujyou, and discovers that her mother’s ring has the power to transform her into a goddess. She soon moves in with Kazune and his cousin Himeka. She and Kazune, who has godlike powers of his own, have to fight to protect Karin`s ring and Himeka from the evil intentions of Kirio Karasuma (whom Karin calls Mr. Glasses Man), who is also divine. The trio embark on crazy adventures and go on trips along the way. They also meet new friends and people, such as Micchi, who may know a lot of information not only about the divine transformation of the gods and goddesses, but also about Kazune-kun’s long lost father…” – Taken from AniDB – This series will probably be more than enough for my dose of cuteness for the spring-season. The story itself sounds very fun and interesting, despite a bit childish. But that never stopped me from watching a series anyway. ^^ Saiunkoku Monogatari Season 2 I guess it won’t be a surprise that I’ll be watching this. ^^; + Top-5 Looking Forward to + Towards the Terra “Light-years from Earth, where every aspect of life is controlled by the great master computer, if you are a Psychic (called a MU) you’re dead. Hunted tirelessly, the MU have been hiding for centuries from the general populace.” – taken from Anime News Network – I don’t know what it is, but I’m really attracted to this anime. I’ve been getting more and more interested in science-fiction anime lately, and this one seems like a great epic story. Definitely something to look forward to. Kaze no Shoujo Emily “Emily Starr is sent to live at New Moon Farm on Prince Edward Island with her aunts Elizabeth and Laura Murray. She makes friends with Ilse Burnley, Teddy Kent, and Perry Miller, the hired boy, who Aunt Elizabeth looks down upon because he was born in ‘Stovepipe Town’, a poorer district. Each of the children have special gifts. Emily was born to be a writer, Teddy is a gifted artist, Ilse is a talented elocutionist, and Perry has the makings of a great politician. They also each have a few problems with their families. Emily has a hard time getting along with Aunt Elizabeth, who doesn’t understand her need to write. Ilse’s father, Dr. Burnley, ignores Ilse most of the time because of a dreadful secret concerning Ilse’s mother. Teddy’s mother is jealous of her son’s talents and friends, fearing that his love for them will eclipse his love for her. As a result, she hates Emily, Teddy’s drawings, and even his pets. Perry isn’t as well off as the other three, so his Aunt Tom once tries to make Emily promise to marry Perry when they grow up, threatening that unless Emily does so, she won’t pay for Perry’s schooling.” – (taken from Wikipedia) – I’m still in love with this concept. The characters are promising to become really great if they’re going to be carried out well. 🙂 El Cazador de la Bruja “It’s about a girl named Elis, who finds herself on the run from the so called Hunters of the underground society due to being a suspect of a murder. She meets up with a bounty hunter named Nadi who offers her help and guidance to pursue the truth of her past. For some reason the Hunters are now after her as well.” – summary by Monir – The director of .Hack//Sign, .Hack//Roots, Popolocrois, Tsubasa Chronicle and the sister-anime of Noir and Madlax, the music of Yuki Kajiura, what more could you want? Bokura No “On a typical day during a summer vacation, a group of 15 children discovered a mysterious man living in a seashore cave, along with his high-tech gadgets. The man claimed to be a game developer creating a video game with 15 giant robots defending Earth from alien invaders and asked those children to test the game for him. The kids agreed happily at first, but soon they began to find the game horrifying, not only because of its realism but also for the first fatality among them happened right after their first victory. Worse yet, they had no idea how to stop or leave the ‘game.’” – No, GONZO, you can’t do English, so don’t even bother! For those who are wondering what I’m talking about, visit the official site of Bokura No, and you’ll understand. I seriously hope that the series isn’t going to feature the same quality of Engrish, because the concept is way too awesome to ruin. The combination of lots of different, normal children, being forced to play with mechas in a really realistic, gritty view. Sounds awesome. *pokes Gonzo once more and threatens with knife* Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children “It is the year 202x in the mysterious city of Daikoku. Kokonogi Yasako is a 6th grader in elementary school. The Kokonogi family, which includes Yasako, her little sister, and their parents, are a typical family. They move to Daikoku where Yasako’s grandmother lives. It is a historic city with many shrines and temples. Daikoku is also a special political district that has the latest computer facilities.” – Taken from AnimeNfo – This is the series I’m looking forward to the most. It’s still a bit of a wait before it arrives, as it’s scheduled to start airing in the middle of May, but it sounds and looks so interesting that I’m willing to wait that long. The graphics will be done by people who also worked on Beyond, which means that it’ll probably be a visual treat, and don’t forget that this seems to be the child-project of one man. That’s always good for consistency. 🙂 + Blogging List + The question for each season always remains: which shows to blog. For the upcoming season, I’m probably going to blog a whole lot of different series. I can’t exactly say which ones yet, I’ll decide for each series after watching its second episode whether I’ll be blogging it or not, thanks to my handy system of the quick first impressions. Still, I can give a small indication. 100% – 90% Chance of blogging There’s one show I’m definitely going to blog: Saiunkoku Monogatari. I got so far into the series already, it would be a pity to abandon it at this point. And hey, ever since I started blogging it, it’s been one of the biggest contributors in terms of readers to Star Crossed. Dennou Coil also has a really good chance of being blogged. 90% – 60% Chance of blogging With the other series, it’s going to be difficult to decide. Overall, I’ve blogged a lot of different shows in the past year, but I have found that shows with a degree of mystery or a complex story have been really fun to blog. Towards the Terra and Bokura No seem like two series which will be excellent for my inner-mystery fanboy. 60% – 40% Chance of blogging I’m also really enthusiastic about the upcoming fantasy-anime. Seirei no Moribito, Wellber Monogatari, Romeo x Juliet and Shining Tears are all proving to be very interesting. El Cazador de la Bruja also has an iron cast behind its anime, so blogging about could turn interesting. 40% – 25% Chance of blogging Akazukin is going to finish in March, which will eliminate my main dose of cuteness for each week. Kamichama Karin sounds like a very decent replacement for this. If the story has a bit of mystery in it, then I’ll be really happy. Kaze no Shoujo Emily will prove a challenge, as I haven’t blogged that many quiet series, apart from Mushishi and Asatte no Houkou, perhaps. I also really have no idea what’ll be worth blogging about Tetsuko no Tabi, but it’ll be interesting to find out. I also know a bit too little about Koutetsu Sangokushi and Heroic Age, but they seem blogworthy, from the things that I saw. And of course any hidden gem that I managed to overlook. ;)]]>

Okay, finally here’s my Winter-Season preview. As usual, I tried to be as complete as possible, but I must have missed a few. For as far as I know, the only three that aren’t on this list is Major’s third season, the new Hello Kitty anime and the new series of Wa Wa Wa Wappi-chan.

+ Not really looking forward to +
Project Blue Chikyuu SOS

“Now, unknown menace is approaching to the human being from outer space to invade. AD 2000, highly developed science reaches its acme, and the human begins are enjoying their brilliant age using dream engine, “G reactor”. At the opening ceremony of a bullet train, Inazuma-go, which runs from the capital Metropolitan to New York only for 90 minutes, Billy Kimura, Benny Carter, and Lotta witness a mysterious event. Inazuma-go is swallowed into iridescent light and gone. While Billy and Lotta are investigating the event, they know other disappearances occur all over the world. However, these events are not informed citizens, and they haven’t noticed them. United Nations organizes the Earth Defense Organization, Labyrinth, to investigate the event in order to confront the menace.” Seriously, why the heck is THIS getting a continuation? Its first episode was too horrible, beyond repair. Well, let’s hope that the creators decided to completely change the personality and background of the main characters. And manage to make the story a bit more coherent. And come up with a believable background story. And delete all other non-sensical stuff that we had to endure in the first episode. If that’s the case, this may stand a chance.

Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny

“Seven schools are constantly `at war` with each other, and the students within – both male and female – have become skilled fighters and constantly battle with rival schools. Their lives and fates are guided by strange jewels that contain the spirits and destinies of warriors from the Sangokushi period. One girl, Sonsaku Hakufu, has recently moved to Japan and is apparently destined to unite the schools as her counterpart united seven countries long ago. But, like all heroes, there is a darker side to her fate, and as always there is a constant struggle by those around her to break the chains of their own destinies and make their own lives.” Ikkitousen is another one of those shows which belongs in the category “Questionable Anime Which Get Second Seasons For Reasons Oblivious To Mankind”. It’ll probably be a huge fanservice fest from start to finish.

Sky Girls
“A.D. 2079, A mysterious mechanical cellar cluster begins “Human Being Sweep Operation”. After two years’ war, the human beings are outnumbered by the cluster, and they finally decide to use the ultimate weapon. Sacrificing their continent, they manage to eliminate the enemy. However it causes most of the continents to split, Antarctica disappears and 50% of the world slips under the sea. Three years later, the enemy cluster that is supposed to have been destroyed is found by the Midway. To identify them, an aircraft carrier, The Koryu, leaves a Japanese port secretly. The Koryu carries three fighters designed by scientists of the Japanese Navy. They are Aviation Exoskelton Sky Divers, Reijin, Fujin, and Raijin. The pilots of these fighters are three young girls called Sky Girls, Sakurano Otoha, Sonomiya Kren, and Ichijo Eika. It’s time to fly into the air carrying the future and dreams of the human beings.” The OVA ended rather inconclusive, but now that it seems that Sky Girls will be getting its own anime, this does make sense. Still, that doesn’t mean that I’m looking forward to it. It may have the good ingredients for a mecha-story, it does seem more keen on showing as much action and cute “lolis” as possible than on delivering an interesting and coherent story.

Rocket Girl

“A high school girl Morita Yukari visits Axia of the Solomon Islands in order to look for her father who became lost during his honeymoon trip. There, she meets a man named Nasuda of Solomon Space Agency, and she is hired to work part-time. That job is – an astronaut. She is chosen as one of the crews of the first Japanese manned spaceship only because she is little and light. Where is her future going to?” This isn’t exactly one of the most realistic storylines out there. You’d wonder why the Space Agency is so desperate that it’d just pluck a random girl off the street. I’m currently hoping that the creators will be stuffing lots of realism into the rest of the series, but I’m fearing that that’ll be futile hope.

Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique, Second Season
“Angelique is a dating simulation game for girls, like Meine Liebe and Harukanaru Toki no Naka de. The story revolves around two girls who were selected from different planets to protect the universe. In order to become the sole protector of the universe, they must go through many trails to test their worth. They have nine guardians of the elements, who help them. But the girls find themselves noticing feelings for the guardians who help them, will they choose to fall in love or to protect the universe?” I was about to check the first series out, until I read Azure Flame’s review. Suddenly, I lost all of my motivation to touch this series again. It’s indeed too cheesy to really become good.

Kemono Soukikou Dancougar Nova
Nothing is really known about this series, apart from the character designs and some of the people who will be working on it. I do admit, the characters look interesting. The director, though, worries me a bit. He’s the guy behind some of the anime with the worst reputation ever. I’ve never actually seen them, but the things I read about Gravion and Fatal Fury weren’t exactly positive.

Getsumen to Heiki Mina

“An animated spin-off from the Densha Otoko (Trainman) tv drama. In the drama, actor Itoh Atsushi plays the otaku Yamada, who`s main love in life is the Mina anime, a cutesy busty heroine with floppy rabbit ears and carrots sticking out her rear. Mina itself is a character homage which triggers back to the Daicon Animation done by GAINAX where a similar nameless bunny girl appeared. Densha Otoko futher featured an opening with scenes which were appearing back in the Daicon Animation.” It’s like I said before. This anime will probably only appeal to the Bunny-Girl-Fetishists and the ones who watched Densha Otoko. Ah well, at least it’s short.

Shuffle! Memories

“When two doors are discovered in an ancient ruin, the gateways to shinkai, the realm of the shinzoku (Gods) and makai, the realm of the mazoku (Demons) are irreversibly opened. The races of human, shinzoku, and mazoku come together in the mortal world and nothing will ever be the same. One day, two new families move next door to a boy who had previously been living a very peaceful life. In one house lived the family of the King of the Gods, and in the other lived the family of the King of the Demons. Both families had one daughter whose single wish to live next to the boy they had fallen in love with years ago has just been fulfilled. Also living with the boy is his childhood friend. With these three girls vying for his affections, the boy finds that his new life filled with despair, jealousy, and just a little hope is beginning.” Ah, Shuffle’s OVA. I wasn’t really enthusiastic about the original season, mostly due to the fact that it’s another standard harem (a lesson for all young boys: be nice to each girl of your age that you run into. She will remember you when she gets older and when she sees you again, she’ll fall in love with you without question). Still, I liked the Kaede-arc. If this gets as depressive as that arc, this series might turn out good, though I’m fearing that this will just be a badly-acted sappy love story.

Naruto: Shippuden

After almost two years of filler, Naruto finally looks like it’s going to continue with its normal story again. Still, I think that somewhere, I stopped caring about this series. The fact whether I’m going to see this series or not depends on whether I’ll have the motivation to catch up with 30 episodes, or something along that line. Ah well. Even when the fillers weren’t present, this wasn’t one of the better series out there.

Reideen

“The story takes place in Japan’s near future. Saiga Junki enjoys his school life as a normal high school student. One day, he hears that his father, an archaeologist missing for the past 10 years, was found dead in ruins located at Iwate Prefecture’s Mt. Kurokami; thus, Junki travels there. Junki blacks out while in the ruins and witnesses a strange vision. Upon waking, he finds a gold bracelet left beside him with an inscription that reads, “The Great Reideen…” At the same time, a meteor falls from the sky and a large mechanical beast appears out of a lake. What is this gold shining object that appeared from out of Mt. Kurokami as if in response to the mechanical beast? The story illustrates Junki’s transference between his normal life during the day and his strange life of fighting by night, the embarrassment of peers, conflict, and human drama in detail. Will the great power that Junki happened to obtain bring him glory… or fear?” It’s a remake of a cheesy mecha show from the seventies. So far, I’m not really impressed by this. The fact that he’s a superhero by night, though a normal guy during the day also has been overused way too much.

+ Shows with potential +
Venus Versus Virus

“Luchia is an exterminator of Virus, the demon that eats men’s souls. When the needle of Luchia’s brooch happens to stick a psychic girl Sumire, she obtains strange power to see demons. Since then, demons begin to attack Sumire as if they were attracted by her power.” My initial verdict still stands. The characters look interesting, but this is rather doomed to be a standard action series. I hope I’m wrong in this.

Hidamari Sketch

“Yuno has just begun school where she always wanted, Yamabuki High School. She moves out and into an apartment by herself in a complex called Hidamari-so, which is right in front of the school. There, she meets a classmate, Miyako, and a senior student, Hiro. Yuno’s days become hectic as she begins meeting the strange artists that live in her complex. Although she’s not used to her new life style, she begins to actualize her dream while being with these gentle friends.” This will probably your usual cute fluff series. I’m not really fan of the slice-of-life genre, though.

Giant Robo

“In the brave new world of the future, Earth has gone through its third energy revolution, and now all power is based on a new invention called ‘the Shizuma Drive,’ a complete indispensable and pollution free energy system created ten years ago by a group of five scientists. The Shizuma Drive powers everything and there is absolutely no danger of nuclear radiation, or waste of rare petroleum resources. Even though it sounds like an ideal society, there are still problems. There are two major powers who are locked in a fierce struggle. The first is the Big Fire Organization, which is a very powerful evil organization, and threatens to conquer the world, with the help of their numerous robots. The only people capable of putting a stop to their plan is the International Police Organization. They consist of a team of agents, all having their own special powers. They also have the most powerful robot in the world, Giant Robo, which is controlled by Kusama Daisaku..” At least, this is the description of the original 1992 Giant Robo-series. It seems to be preceded by two OVA, I’m not sure if this is a remake or a sequel. In any case, the story does sound cheesy. Good empire vs evil empire. Main hero powers the strongest mecha ever. Still, the trailer did look promising.

Yes! Precure 5

Nothing is really known about this series. I haven’t heard many good things about it, but I’ll probably check it out, due to the fact that it does remain a mahou shoujo. This genre has surprised me more than once. 🙂

Deltora Quest

“The story goes that our main character is the heir to the throne, though he grows up in a village, away from the castle. A Shadow Lord meanwhile takes over the country, and exiles the current king.” Your standard shounen-fantasy series. Like I said before, it does seem to have a good base. It’ll probably be really focused on fantasy. Since I like that genre, I’ll be looking forward to it, now let’s hope it doesn’t mess up.

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho

I finally managed to find a description of this on AnimeNfo: “The story takes place in Shinjuku, Tokyo. In spring, a mysterious student transfers to Magami Academy. His name is Hiyu Tatsuma. Then, he meets Horaiji Kyoichi of the kendo club, Daigo Yuya of the wresting club, Sakurai Komaki of the kyudo (Japanese archery) club, and Misato Aoki who is the student leader, as if they were attracted by something. Being influenced by Ryumyaku or Dragon Vein, which became active suddenly, they are awakened as “persons who posses powers”. Since that day, monsters called “Oni” appear and begin to assault Tokyo. Also, those who use evil power to control Oni appear. To protect Tokyo from them, Tatsuma and his friend stand up to fight. Then, they have to face their destiny.” Actually, now that I’ve read it, I wish I didn’t. This concept has been way too overused. It’s basically a collection of clichés. I’m now hoping that the creators will manage to put something original to these elements. It’s definitely possible, but I’m not seeing any signs yet that they can.

Kyoshiro to Eien no Sora

“10 years have passed since the most serious crisis of human beings. The story takes place at the giant academic city, Academia, which is the symbol of the recovery. The main character Shiratori Ku is a high school girl who enjoys school life but she thinks her routine lives empty. She sometimes has the same dream, the dream in which a prince meets her. While all the students are preparing for the school festival, the prince whom she has met over and over in her dreams appears. This is not in a dream, but in a real life. The prince named Ayanokoji Koshiro asks her in the same way like in the dream, “Come with me…”” Ah, the next work from the creators of Kannazuki no Miko. Chikane and Himeko will also be appearing as cameos, this time as the major antagonists, if I understood things correctly. Just be sure expect a lot of melodrama from this one. ^^

Saint October

“Whether it is the future or the past… it is the world of fantasy and horror hiding in the shadow of the demon city. In the city, consecutive mysterious incidents that cannot be solved by science have occurred. To solve the incidents, they gather three girl detectives possessing special abilities. Hayama Kotono. She is an orphan living in a convernt. Shirafuji Natuski. She is Kotono’s classmate and a pop idol. Hijiri Misaki. She is a mysterious girl who fights against nightmares of her previous life. Those who want to bring the Judgment Day to the world. Those who want to save the world. Which is justice, and which is evil? When Kotono encounters a boy who lost his memory, the wheel of the story begins to move a little. Then, solving the mysteries, the three girls will confront the fate that will influence the existence of the human beings.” A mystery-OVA, always nice, seeing as it’s one of my preferred genres. The character designs seem to be based on being as cute as possible, though I can live with that. I still find this description rather vague, but it does look promising.

Moonlight Mile

“Two men attemtped to climb Mt. Everest in the winter. One was Saruwatari Gorou, a Japanese, and the other was Jack F. Woodbridge, an American know as “Lostman”. The two, having succeeded in climbing the world’s steepest mountains, gaze at the international space station above, which was the instant it became their next target. In January 2005, mankind found new value for the moon, in the form of a natural resource Helium 3, a replacement for fossil fuels. The ample reserve was enough for a thousand years worth of energy for the entire mankind. Concurrently, NASA announced the next generation energy development project “NEXUS”, soliciting construction workers globally to work in space. Accepting NASA’s offer, Gorou heads off the NASDA as an astronaut-in-training. At the same time, Lostman, who at the time was the ace of the U.S. Navy, was invited by NASA to pilot the shuttle, meets the crew of the ISS (International Space Station)” The problem with this concept is that I’ve heard some bad things about the manga this is based on. It’s such a pity, as the concept sounds interesting. I don’t know why, but lately I’ve been getting more and more interested in science-fiction series (note: science-fiction and mecha are NOT the same). Ah well, the only way to really find out is checking it out yourself. ^^

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight

“The story takes place in 2035, 30 years later from now. Because of the number of children decreases, many schools are in peril of continuance.
A student transfers to such a lifeless school, “Saio private high school”. What kind of wind will this active student, Amamiya Manabi, bring to the school?” This actually seems like an interesting concept. It’ll probably be another cute high school comedy, but I appreciate the twist. The question remains: will this show focus on the future, or the present?

Nodame Cantabile

“Shinichi Chiaki is the top piano student at his university and an excellent violinist, but Chiaki doesn’t care about playing these instruments as much as he dreams of someday being a conductor. Chiaki, however, has several deeply rooted fears about travelling, and so finds himself “trapped” in Japan. Because he’s trapped, Chiaki starts to question exactly how far he can possibly go in music, especially when he’s passed over again and again for others he thinks are less worthy of musical scholarship and fame. Recently dumped by his girlfriend for a “sausage” looking fellow, passed over for a chance to go overseas, removed from his star spot in the piano competition because he walked out on his piano instructor, Chiaki is at his limit. This is when he meets Nodame, or Megumi Noda. Nodame is a free — if filthy — spirit who reminds Chiaki that music can be fun. She reminds him what drew him to be a conductor in the first place and, in learning how to deal with Nodame, Chiaki learns how to deal with others. Chiaki begins to realize what is possible for him, even on the tiny island of Japan. For Nodame, Chiaki is everything she isn’t. Clean, neat, dedicated, studious and inherently arrogant about his accomplishments and capabilities, Chiaki constantly bullies her into being more serious about life. He sees potential in her and her abilities as a pianist that she doesn’t care about. She loves Chiaki and wants to be with him, but, because she’s not serious about her piano studies nor her personal hygiene, Chiaki denies her affections again and again. But Chiaki and Nodame complete each other in ways no other can, a musical compliment that neither of them can completely escape entirely. Watching them grow as people and musicians, and even as a couple, is an interesting ride.” I apologize for the lack of a descriptive promo art. When I went to visit the website, that was the exact picture which stood on the front-page. Don’t ask me why, though. In any case, this seems to be a typical character study. It’s promising to become interesting, though I’m not sure what Nodame exactly is. Is she a spirit, or a human being?

+ Definitely looking foward to +
Les Miserables~Shoujo Cosette

“Jean Valjean is released after 19 years in a quarry for stealing bread. He is hardened till he met a Bishop to stay for a night. Valjean changed and became the mayor after 9 years. Inspector Javert (Geoffrey Rush) recognises him and tries to reveal who he is. Fantine a factory worker is fired because she has a bastard child. As a result, Fantine became a prostitue and became sick. Valjean realised what happened to her and takes care of her. Inspect Javert finally manage to reveal Valjean for who he was. Fantine dies and give Valjean the authority to take care of her child, Cosette. Valjean escapes and finds the child and lived in a church for 10 years. Cosette (Claire Danes) now grown up goes to Paris with Valjean during a revolution. Cosette met a man, Marius and falls in love. Inspector Javert finally realises that Valjean was in Paris and tries to find him again.” I’m still looking forward to seeing this classic get animated, even though I’ve never read the original work.

Flag, Second Season

“In 20xx, a civil war broke out in a small country in Asia is getting hard in spite of dispatch of UN forces. But a picture taken by accident in the battle field accelerates the peace process. It is a picture of a flag. Although they are enemies, they cooperate together to fly it in a sanctuary, and the flag becomes the symbol of the peace. However, just before the peace agreement is achieved, the flag is robbed by an armed extremist group in order to obstruct the truce. UN decides to send SDC (Special Development Command) and a cameraman to record their activities. The cameraman is Shirasu Saeko. She is the cameraman who took the picture of the flag. At first they think the mission is easy because they wear latest armed suits, HAVWC (High Agility Versatile Weapon Carrier), but they get in trouble by unexpected attacks.” Like I said before, the fact that the first raws for the first season only appeared three months after it originally aired, we can expect to see the rest of this unique anime around April. The first three episodes may have been rather slow, they built up perfectly for the rest of the series.

Himawari, Second Season

The first season mostly spent its time developing its characters. Each of the major side-characters received one episode dedicated to her, which most of the times featured a rather strange love-relationship (to give you an indication: one girl has a kappa for a boyfriend and another gets befriended with a giant robot). Most of the other episodes focused on Himawari herself. Now that the characters have been fleshed out a bit, the real fun can begin, as it seems that the girls will have to participate in some kind of war, or something like that.

Master of Epic

After lots and lots of waiting, Master of Epic finally is about to arrive. I also took a small look at the people involved in this project, and this rather startled me. I’m not yet sure if that’s in a good way or in a bad way, seeing as these people were working on some masterpieces and horrible pieces of garbage at the same time. Four people are responsible for the storyboard. One among them is the guy who was behind the script of Fantastic Children (Yay!), the scenario of Ragnarok The Animation (seeing as its second half rocked, Yay!), the script of Magikano (strange combination… seriously…), though, get this, for some reason, he also was responsible for the series composition of Zaizen Jotaro (seriously… wtf?!). Also, the character design is done by the guy who did character design for cutesy shows as Sugar Sugar Rune, but the animation of the serious and mature series like Ghost in the Shell and Boogiepop Phantom (really strange combination…). With people as eccentric and diverse as these guys, I really don’t know what to expect of this. Especially with Gonzo behind the animation.

Animeblogger did a very nice job in collecting as much data as possible on the upcoming winter season. You can find it here.

Well then, here follows a preview of the upcoming anime:

Magikano
The description is a bit fuzzy for this one, so I have no idea what to think of it. I believe that we have here a typical harem anime, as all the characters mentioned are females (with the maid and the sempai who’s secretly in love, of course, included), except for the main one. I think I’ll watch the first episode of this before I make my conclusions.

Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rinbukyoku
"That tale from the heart, where wishes are granted, the endless tale of ‘Alice.’" This can be pretty interesting. I’m really into fantasy stories and tales. I’ll definately watch this. I’m just a bit worried about the rediculously huge amount of hair this person has.

Tonagura!
A dirty guy returns to his childhood friend after 10 years of absence and tries to hit on her. No doubt this series will have the two of them coming together and accepting each other… I don’t think I’ll like this one.

REC
Voice actress, that’s a new one (if you don’t include Puni Puni Poemy, of course). Again, I’m suspecting some kind of love story between the main characters. I may see this, I may not. Although I like the art of this one.

Kashimashi ~Girl meets Girl~
I really don’t know what to think about this one: A guy confesses to a girl, and gets turned down. Then he gets hit by a UFO and aliens turn him into a girl. I’m suspecting that this will be Shoujo Ai with a lot of life-lessons. I think I’ll watch this out of curiosity.

Shinigami no Ballad
This series consists of six episodes, with each of them a different story, all revolving around a girl in white robes with white hair, who wields a scythe and acts as death. I am SO wanting to see this. The premisse sounds awesome, and the art looks TOO cute.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
While a guy was hospitalized, he kept getting bothered by a girl his age, who was acting extremely rude. After a while, he found out why. This sounds like it’ll be good for some interesting drama. I also like the art of this. I think I’ll watch this.

Yomigaeru Sora – Rescue Wings
A guy wanting to pilot a fighter gets assigned to a helicopter-rescue-department. I doubt I’ll watch this, I hate these kinds of concepts.

Kage Kara Mamoru!
A geeky-like boy is in reality a ninja that protectsone certain family. Judging from the fact that he’s surrounded by five girls on the image provided by the link above, I can really say that this will be a harem anime with lots of action thrown into it. I’m not really fond of these kinds of anime, but who knows, I may watch this.

Rakugo Tennyo
Six girls get summoned into the end of Edo period by the power of mystic stones. They become celestial nymphs to protect cities from evils. Each girl obtains her own power. The power one f those girls obtained was “word”. She fights against evils by her “words” that gave people hope. If this gets to be more then just a mahou shoujo series, then I’ll be satisfied. I especially like the fact that she got the power "word", instead of the cheesy fire.

Binchotan
"Binchou-tan doesn’t have parents. She lives alone in the mountain in her private residence, but someone called Ubamega-san gives her assistance." She also carries a lump of charcoal on her head. Judging from the art, it’ll probably be a kids’ show. But still, I may see one episode to see how it turns out.

Ginyuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe Wieder
The second season of Meine Liebe. I still got to see the first one.

Sasami -Mahou Shoujo Club-
No further info is given, except for one picture of it. I’m predicting that it’ll involve some mahou shoujo. I may see this.

Fate/stay night
This is the big thing everyone’s waiting for. I’ll watch it to see if it is as good as people think.

Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyosei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro
This anime’s got an incredibly long title… It’s based on a political intrigue detective manga. It has some potential in it. I’ll probably watch the first episode of it before jumping to conclusions.

The Third
OMG! I like this! The art looks amazing. I’ll really be looking forward to this one.

MAJOR 2nd season
The second season of a baseball anime. It doesn’t really catch my eye…

Wings of Rean
Judging by the art, this is going to be some sort of mecha/familiar anime… Maybe I’ll check it out…

Lemon Angel Project
Another singing anime, unlike beck more focused to pop music…. yuch. I have a bad feeling about this.

Furthermore, I’ve also found some interesting titles to appear from this site. I’ll be listing a few of them.

Ayakashi~ Japanese Classic Horror
Horror stories. I’ll keep an eye on this. The artwork also seems very impressive.

Zero no Tsukaima
I’m liking this. A girl summons a guy from another world so he can become her servant. The art also seems of decent quality.

XXXHolic TV
I am SO looking forward to this series. It’s supposed to be similar to Tsubasa Chronicle, and I loved that.

Yoshinaga-san Ie no Gargoyle
I have no idea what this is, but I like the art. 🙂

Arusu The Adventure
Sorry if I’m a bit scary now, but OMG!!!!!!! I can’t believe Mahou Shoujo Tai is having a second season. I’m currently still following Anime-Forever’s fansubs, but afterwards, the goodness will continue. I WILL definately be following this.

Hellsing Ultimate
Another series I’ll be looking forward to. The original Hellsing went on a totally different path from the manga (which I never read, by the way). This one is following a bit more. I’ll be following this one.

Utawarerumono
"The main character was helped when he was wounded lying on the ground in woods. When he woke up, he didn’t remember who he was. Furthermore, he had a mask that he couldn’t put off. By favor of the people in the village, who had animal ears and tails by the way, he began to live in the village." I don’t know what to think of this. I’ll probably watch the first episode of this.

Highlander: Vengeance
It’s got an interesting setting. It’s lots of years into the future, and there are lots of celtic influences. I’m really liking celtic aspects, so I’ll be following this when it comes out.

Ergo Proxy
This is supposed to be THE anime with the best graphics ever. I’ll probably watch it to see if it’s really what they say.

Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z
I’m still having twitches from when I discovered what this anime is about. I have no idea what to do: to cheer, or to run away screaming…

Tsubasa Chronicle 2nd Season
Another anime I’ll be looking out for. I loved the first season, and I’m hungry for more.

Brave Story
Hmmm, a fantasy adventure story for what appears to be little kids. Still, I like the idea as well. I’ll probably watch this.

Afro Samurai
I have just one thing to say: ……..

Makai Senki Disgaea
I haven’t played the game, but I love the art. I’ll probably watch this.

So, that’s it. Lots of great is anime coming up in 2006. I can’t wait. 🙂