I’ve noticed that with most seasonal previews, movies and OVAs tend to be largely ignored. That’s why I decided to come with a preview, entirely dedicated to them. Sure, in the case of the movies it’s probably going to take nine months before we can actually get the chance to check them out, but this seems like a good point to look forward to them either way.
This post contains previews for the upcoming movies and OVAs that are scheduled in June, July and August as indicated on Moonphase. I’ve left out the porn and the continuing ones such as Negima and Break Blade. Aside from that, the order is mainly based on my preference: the ones I’m looking forward to the most are at the bottom, and the least interesting ones to me are at the top here.
The trend seems to be kids’ movies, but certainly not in a bad way. There are a ton of interesting looking family-movies scheduled with excellent staff behind them. There are also quite a few continuations of franchises, ranging from short to long and ambitious OVAs and CG movies. Anyway, I hope that this list is going to be useful for some people. I had a lot of fun making it in any case.
Shin Koihime Musou OVA
Summary: Kashin is afflicted with a disease that will turn her into a cat if an antidote is not found, and Kada is still seeking the Crucial Ways to the Key of Peace, so he entrusts Kanuu’s group to go seek the ingredients for an antidote. At the same time, Choujou is plotting something between the Kingdoms, and Kashin may have been only the first in a line of dominoes set to fall. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: One or a bunch of OVAs next to the TV-series.
Why you should look forward to it: I don’t get the director, Nobuaki Nakanishi: he actually did some pretty good stuff in the nineties: a few WMTs, Mahoujin Guruguru. What happened to this guy?
Why you should not look forward to it: Seriously though, how long do they still think that they can keep milking this thing out?
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Metal Fight Beyblade VS Taiyō Shakunetsu no Shinryakusha
Type: Kids’ movie.
Why you should look forward to it: If you’re under the age of 11.
Why you should not look forward to it: It’s a beyblade movie.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl: Genei no Hasha Zoroark
Summary: Celebi sees Raikou, Entei, and Suicune fighting in the future in an attempt to stop this from happening, Celebi then travels to the past. Ash encounters a shadowy figure that looks identical to how he looks, but the other appears to be evil. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie (The thirteenth one already)
Why you should look forward to it: More pokemon.
Why you should not look forward to it: More pokemon.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Zettai Karen Children
Summary: In a world where ESP is common, only three people have them at the highest possible level – Level 7. Those three are the special ESP team, The Children. The Children work for BABEL, a special ESPer organization committed to stopping crimes before they happen. Kouichi Minamoto is assigned to watch over them, and he’ll need to, because three superpowered ten year olds are a problem on their own. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: An OVA for the series, whether it’s a continuation, side-story or one-shot isn’t known yet.
Why you should look forward to it: To be honest, when I dropped it (it just wasn’t funny and the characters and premise were just stupid for my tastes), I did not expect this show to go on for 52 episodes. Zettai Karen Children is at least a franchise that gets enough time to show off, and for the characters to actually grow up.
Why you should not look forward to it: Obviously, I do assume that you need to have seen those 52 episodes in order to get this OVA, something which was very hard for me considering how boring the early episodes of the TV-series were.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Abnormal Physiology Seminar
Summary: In the story, Nanako Matsutaka has been assigned to the Abnormal Physiology Seminar, even though she herself is a rather ordinary person with no abnormalities in particular. On the other hand, her classmates, including the college upperclassman Komugi Musashi, have just about every abnormal condition to speak of. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: One-shot OVA bundled with a manga-volume.
Why you should look forward to it: The staff itself is decent. Nobody stands out, but it’s got the director of the first season of Hidamari Sketch (aside from Shinbo, I guess)
Why you should not look forward to it: Takamitsu Kouno is behind the script, and his work unfortunately only ranges from mediocre moe series. This is going to be yet another one of those slice of life comedies.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Hiyokoi
Summary: Hiyori, a small and timid girl, goes to school for the first time in a year since an accident left her hospitalized. Follow her as she struggles with her social skills, tries to make friends and maybe even a little bit more…? – (Taken from Myanimelist)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: This movie still is a big mystery at this point, but it’s quite rare for such a shoujo manga to be actually adapted into a movie of all things. It looks very cute in either case.
Why you should not look forward to it: But at the same time it’s also very typical: weak girl (probably weaker than ever here) who is being taken care of by a strong guy who is very popular. It’s standard shoujo fare. Can the movie-format really make this work?
First-Glance Potential: 40%
Kyou, Koi wo Hajimarimasu
Summary: Self-conscious Tsubaki Hibino enjoys hairstyling, but doesn’t think that style suits herself. When she arrives at her new high school, she is immediately teased by her delinquent-like classmates for maintaining such an old-fashioned look. That’s not the worst part — the top student of the grade, Kyouta Tsubaki, not only shares the same name as her, but is also an arrogant, promiscuous playboy. After Tsubaki cuts Kyouta’s hair in defiance, he ominously threatens to steal all of her first experiences. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Seems like a one-shot OVA that gets shipped along with a volume of the manga it’s based on.
Why you should look forward to it: It’s got an interesting director: Shigeyasu Yamauchi, whose other works include a bunch of Dragonball Z Movies… and Casshern Sins, and he also co-directored the first Digimon Movie. Enough hints that the manga will be portrayed accurately here.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, it’s just one episode of a much, much longer shoujo series. Still, the mangas seem to be selling quite well. Perhaps this hints at a full blown adaptation somewhere in the future. In that case, if the director remains the same things could get interesting.
First-Glance Potential: 40%
Black Rock Shooter
Summary: Not sure, but it seems to be based on some moe karaoke character called Hatsune Miku.
Type: OVA, though the exact format doesn’t seem to be known yet.
Why you should look forward to it: Ordet is a newcomer as an animation-producing company, founded by Yutaka Yamamoto (among others) after Kyoani fired him. This is going to be their first full fledged production, and it’s always good to see new people here. The director also is usually just a storyboarder or a key animator, so there’s probably going to a lot of eye candy here.
Why you should not look forward to it: I never really understood what that “Vocaloid”-thing was all about though. Can you really make an OVA out of a karaoke program? Ah well, with enough imagination it’s possible I guess.
First-Glance Potential: 50%
Gunpla Builders
Summary: The main character of the story is Haru Irei, a boy who becomes a “Gunpla Builder” after a fateful encounter with the Beginning Gundam plastic model. (In real life, Bandai is producing a Beginning Gundam model kit in 1/144 scale, but has not set a release date or price.) Rina Noyama is an always cheerful girl who, like her friend Haru, is a big fan of Gunpla. Haru’s pal Kenta Sakazaki is a boy who loves Gunpla and gives advice to Haru about building them. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: Just… no.
Why you should not look forward to it: Sunrise… just surpassed itself. Seriously for god’s sake, raping your own franchises over and over is one thing, but stop hogging all of those awesome directors for these pointless side-stories of yours, who you’re probably not even going to give the freedom they need to really make something awesome. First there was Kazuhiro Furuhashi, then my favourite director ever Kazuki Akane, and now also Kou Matsuou, the director of Red Garden, Rozen Maiden and Kurenai, along with the rest of an all-star cast. Sunrise is like that rich dorky kids who keeps paying all of the cool kids to stay around him. These people should be working on so many better shows, compared to the same Sunrise Mecha franchises that should have died by now. Apologies for this rant, but I’ve gotten even more tired of Sunrise than I already was after finding this out.
First-Glance Potential: 50%
Ginmaku Hetalia: Axis Powers – Paint it, White
Summary: The movie will adapt Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia – Axis Powers web manga, just as the two earlier television seasons did and the upcoming new television season will in March. The film will retain the same main staff and cast from the television version, including director Bob Shirohata and the animators at Studio DEEN. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: I have no idea what to expect of this, really. I mean, Hetalia consists out of short one-minute sketches. Are they going to keep this up for sixty entire minutes or something? In any case, the creators did an interesting job of epic-ifying the main cast in the promo image there.
Why you should not look forward to it: The reason why Hetalia works is because the episodes are just five minutes long. I’m too afraid that those sixy minutes will be more like a test of patience instead.
First-Glance Potential: 60%
.Hack//Link
Summary: The .hack//Link game is intended as the final chapter in the popular .hack franchise. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Seems to be a 3D CG Movie, though not certain.
Why you should look forward to it: Well, so the .Hack franchise is finally coming to a conclusion with this one. It’s an incredibly diverse genre with just about every visual medium used to tell its story in: games, anime, movies, CG, manga, OVAs. It’s a bit of a shame that the finale can’t get a TV-series, but nevertheless this should be watched for its ideas.
Why you should not look forward to it: Having said that though, I’ve given up on trying to follow the entire continuity of this franchise. Leaving alone the different anime that got produced, I have not watched any of the other canon. Will the movie also be worthwhile to the ones who aren’t fully known to the entire franchise?
First-Glance Potential: 60%
Honeybee Hutch The Movie
Summary: The original anime followed a honeybee named Hutch who survives the destruction of his beehive by wasps. Hutch embarks on a journey to find his mother. The film will have a new story that deals with interactions with humans, as well as a new girl character named Amy. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Remake Movie.
Why you should look forward to it: Aww, this brings back memories. I remember how the original anime was shown on Dutch TV when I still was a kid. I disliked it though: Hutch looked rather stupid. Still: the creators are actually giving a totally new story to this movie. Hell yeah, remakes like this rock.
Why you should not look forward to it: Tetsuro Amino… isn’t this guy a bit busy right now? I mean, he also has to direct Shiki at this point.
First-Glance Potential: 70%
Kurenai OVA
Summary: Based on a series of light novels, Kure-nai is about the adventures and misadventures of 16-year-old Kurenai Shinkurou. Shinkurou is an authority in settling disputes between people, and finds his life turned upside down one day when he is assigned as a bodyguard for Kuhouin Murasaki, the daughter of a powerful plutocratic family. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: A One-shot OVA bundled with a manga-volume
Why you should look forward to it: Awesome to see more of this. It’s not known whether the original director is also going to come back to handle this series, but I really hope he does, because it’ll mean that we get more of the amazing voice-acting, in which the voices get to be recorded before they actually get animated.
Why you should not look forward to it: At the same time though I also hope that this isn’t one of those “screw the people who haven’t read the manga”-OVAs, but that it’s also going to be for the fans of the anime.
First-Glance Potential: 70%
Black Lagoon – Roberta’s Blood Trail
Summary: The story revolves around a typical Japanese businessman who gets caught up in the escapades of modern-day pirate mercenaries off the Asian shores. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: 5-Episoded OVA
Why you should look forward to it: I just love how the director of this series, Sunau Katabuchi, has other than this series mostly been working on cute and innocent anime. He’s the director of Princess Arete, for Christ’s sake. 😛 In any case, I absolutely loved the first season of Black Lagoon. It’s going to be awesome if he can get back on track here.
Why you should not look forward to it: But yeah, my big problem with the franchise is that the second season kind-of lost focus of what it was about, and it dropped the interesting theme of modern-day pirates to instead focus on random action arcs. Either that, or I just was overreacting back when I watching. That tended to happen a lot back then.
First-Glance Potential: 70%
Loups Garous
Summary: Virtual reality. Murder. Werewolves. And teen girls! In a future where nothing is as it seems, can old legends come true? In the near future, humans will communicate almost exclusively through monitors, making real interaction a rarified and weak occurrence for those living in a near totalitarian society. In this new world of communication, children are only allowed to interact personally on school grounds. So when a serial killer starts slaughtering junior high children the communication routes go under further surveillance. And despite all the safeguards put in place to avoid physical interaction, the killer’s latest victim turns out to have been in contact with three young girls: Mio Tsuzki, a certified prodigy; Hatsuki Matsuno, a quiet but opinionated classmate; and Ayumi Kono, her best friend. And as the girls get caught up in trying to quell curiosity under such terrorist scrutiny, Hatsuki learns that there is much more than meets the eye of their monitored communications. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: It may be about teenagers, but it’s definitely an interesting premise for a horror movie that we’ve got here. It’s done by production IG. Junichi Fujisaku (Blood+) will direct it, but the best thing is the original creator: Natsuhiko Kyogoku, who also wrote Mouryou no Hako.
Why you should not look forward to it: Trans-Arts, responsible for a lot of the less impressive works of Production IG over the past few years. The director also has screwed up a few times when it comes to series composition, so let’s hope he can see the general picture with this movie.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Colorful
Summary: The “heart-warming comedy” follows a person who finds himself trapped outside the normal endless circle of life and death. Thanks to “winning” a lottery in the angel world, the protagonist is brought back to inhabit the body of a 14-year-old boy — who is planning to commit suicide. Thus, the protagonist begins a new life. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Movie
Why you should look forward to it: At least I’m glad that at least a part of Sunrise is trying out interesting concepts. This movie is definitely based on an idea that kicks ass. Keiichi Hara is going to direct it, which seems like a solid choice after Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi. The scriptwriter of Nodame Cantabile is also going to help.
Why you should not look forward to it: Movies shouldn’t advertise themselves as a “heart-warming comedy”. Let the viewers determine instead. 😉
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Ai no Kusabi
Summary: On planet Amoi, a great society has developed, creating a computerized city called Tanagura, ruled by supercomputer Jupiter. The populace is almost entirely male and is based on hair color; silver and/or blonds are the elitist, ending with dark/black haired as the bottom of society, often known as “mongrels”. Blondies keep “pets”, young boys kept for a few years, especially made for performing sexual actions for the Blondie’s voyeurism entertainment. Blondies aren’t suppose to keep pets for long or interact sexually with pets, but one blondie named Iason Mink has kept a pet named Rikki, for years and is rumored to sleep with him. Iason refuses to let go of Rikki, even with Jupiter’s disapproval. Rikki fights with his emotions and society problems, unable to decide what to do about his old friend/lover Gai (Guy) and their gang. Iason is obsessed with keeping Rikki, and Rikki doesn’t know what to do; fight against him or surrender to him. – (Taken from ANN)
Type: Really long OVA: 13 episodes.
Why you should look forward to it: This has been delayed quite a few times by now, which seems to indicate that the creators really want to take their time to make this one turn out well, rather than trying to rush things. They even got the director of the original Ai no Kusabi OVA (released in 1992) back, Katsuhiko Akiyama, even though he hasn’t been involved into any anime during the past ten years, and Rieko Yoshihara, who created the novel that this show is based on is also involved everywhere, from the series composition to the screenplay. Yaoi it may be, but this seems much better than the regular bishie shows we get to see. Oh, and have I already mentioned that the characters are designed by Naoyuki Onda, who also designed the characters of Ergo Proxy, Blassreiter and Gantz? He’ll also be doing the animation direction.
Why you should not look forward to it: AIC may not be the strongest animation company though, and that does show in the character-designs: they just don’t look as good as on the promo of the 1992 OVA of Ai no Kusabi.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Karigurashi no Arrietty
Summary: The Borrowers is a children’s fantasy novel by Mary Norton about tiny people who “borrow” things from humans and keep their existence unknown. The central characters are the Clock family: Pod, Homily and their spirited teenage daughter, Arrietty. First published in 1952, it won the Carnegie Medal for that year, and was selected in 2007 by judges of the CILIP Carnegie Medal for children’s literature as one of the ten most important children’s novels of the past 70 years. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Type: Movie (adaptation of this classic novel)
Why you should look forward to it: A novel adaptation by Ghibly. What’s not to look forward to here? Hayao Miyazaki will even be planning out the movie, but the direction is in the hands of Hiromasa Yonebayashi. I’m not sure who he is, but he worked on the animation of various movies such as the Yamadas, Gedo Senki, Howl’s Moving Castle, Jin Roh, Spirited Away and even series as Monster and Serial Experiments Lain. New talent is always interesting to watch.
Why you should not look forward to it: Well, I guess it’s a children’s novel, so those looking for a story about adults shouldn’t look here.
First-Glance Potential: 90%
Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW
Summary: A tiny mountain village in a remote woodland region. Five primary school kids have come together in this idyllic spot in order to spend their summer holidays at a camp. At first the children enjoy carefree days amidst unspoiled nature far away from adult supervision. But their life changes dramatically when they come across what they believe to be a small dog, badly in need of help. The creature – known as Pochi – turns out not to be a dog at all but an alien on an important mission. It seems there is a mysterious substance on earth that is coveted throughout the universe. Pochi had almost found it but was so badly injured during a fight that he had to give up his search. Thanks to the children’s help, the alien survives – and decides to reward them generously. “Where would you most like to travel?” is the question Pochi puts to his rescuers. Their answer is prompt, if vague: “As far as possible!” Pochi suggests they try the moon first of all, and so, the alien whisks away the kids to the satellite next door. This marks the beginning of an absolutely amazing adventure. During the course of their travels they discover that the substance coveted throughout the universe is in fact also integral to Japanese cuisine – and it just so happens that one of the kids has some of this mysterious substance in his pocket.
– (Taken from AniDB)
Type: Movie of two hours and 16 minutes.
Why you should look forward to it: The title really has something cheesy yet awesome here. And take a look at who’s producing it: Koji Masunari, the director of Read or Die and the incredibly charming series as Kamichu and Risky Safety. I’m predicting an incredibly charming family movie here with a ton of imagination. To make things even better, Yoshihiro Ike, one of my favourite composers, will be doing the soundtrack. The screenplay will be done by Hideyuki Kurata, who also wrote the Excel Saga, Now and Then, Here and There, Read or Die, Sasameki Koto and Brigadoon. It’s also going to be the first movie of A-1 Pictures to produce. If that isn’t the formula of an awesome family movie then I don’t know any more.
Why you should not look forward to it: I’m blank on this one, though I guess it remains a movie about a bunch of kids.
First-Glance Potential: 100%
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.]]> 
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 
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.]]> 
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!]]> 
“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 
“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. ;)]]>