The next season: 36 new series, and that’s probably not even the total amount, since I’m quite early with my preview this time. There will probably be a few more announcements next week for the latecomers. What sets this season apart is how relatively little bad series there are. I mean, there are a number of kids series and bad fanservice shows and all, but much fewer than usual for an Autumn season. Plus, for some strange reason the kids’ shows nearly all have really good people working on them, do not ask me why. That’s another theme of this season by the way: really talented people working on relatively dull or just outright questionable premises.
With most of these previews, I usually have a clear one that sticks out. This time though, I don’t. I’ve got about 7 shows that all intrigue me equally, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg here. Seriously, this season is definitely going for the quantity, because there were a lot of shows that piqued my interest. On the other side of the coin though, it does have one major weakness: everything looks the same! There are a lot of very similar premises out there and series with the exact same genre. On top of that, just about every show deals with teenagers again. We definitely don’t have the sheer amount of imaginative premises that we’ve gotten used to from the past half year here, unfortunately.
Also, do note that I’ve decided not to include Kyousogiga for now. We just don’t know yet whether it’ll be an OVA or TV-series. However, I do want to note that if it does turn out to be a full fledged TV-series, helmed by the same director, then it will immediately rise to the top of the list of shows I’m looking forward to.
Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne—
Summary: “The story centers around Akito Himenokōji (Ryota Ohsaka), a boy who was separated from his twin sister Akiko six years ago, but they end up living under the same roof together during high school.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Silver Link
Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Series Composition: Kazukyuki Fudeyasu
Original creator: Daisuke Suzuki
Other Notable Staff: Kyousuke Kawamura (Character Designs)
The Positives: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu… in theory could make this into something enjoyable, after what he did to Milky Holmes.
The Negatives: If you don’t understand what the title means: BE GLAD!!!
First-Glance Potential: 0%
To Love Ru Darkness
Summary: ” The story is about Yuuki Rito, a high-school boy who cannot confess to the girl of his dreams, Sairenji Haruna. One day when coming home and sulking in the bath-tub a mysterious, nude girl, appears out of nowhere. Her name is Lala and she comes from the planet Deviluke, where she is the heir to the throne. Her father wants her to return to her home planet so she can marry one of the husband candidates, but she decides that she wants to marry Rito in order to stay on Earth.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Xebec
Director: Atsushi Ootsuki
Original creator: Saki Hasemi
The Positives: I see no positives about this one whatsoever.
The Negatives: Good lord, they’re still going with this show? This makes 52 episodes of mind-numbing fanservice. Or am I really missing something beyond the boobs that makes this worth watching?
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Hiiro no Kakera 2
Summary: “Tamaki Kasuga has supposedly gone to live with her grandmother after her parents are transferred overseas. But the real reason for her arrival is that she must continue the role, handed down from her ancestor Princess Tamayori, to seal the sword Onikirimaru. Five young men serve as her guardians against the mysterious Logos.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Studio Deen
Director: Bob Shirohata
Series Composition: Yoshiko Nakamura
The Positives: It has bishies.
The Negatives: Studio Deen, for god’s sake stop making these crappy bishie series and get back to actually doing justice to the shoujo genre.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Monsuno
Summary: “Chase Suno and his friends, Jinja and Bren, are on a search for Chase’s father, Jeredy Suno. However, they soon become involved in something else upon reaching their father’s lab and becoming involved with an organism known as Monsuno. Chase, choosing to side with his father’s work, denies S.T.O.R.M. access to the Monsuno and escapes. They are now on the run from the military organization, S.T.O.R.M., while still looking for Chase’s father. However, a mysterious organization also has his eyes set on Chase and the group’s Monsuno.” – (Taken from Anidb)
Produced by: Jakks Pacific
Director: Yoshiaki Okamura
Series Composition: Michael Ryan
Other Notable Staff: Michael Tavera (Music)
The Positives: An American-Japanese co-production…
The Negatives: … about spinning tops that summon monsters. Yup, it’s another kiddie show. The director also isn’t looking good, being the director of Element Hunters and all. Moving on…
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Seitokai no Ichizon – Hekiyoh Gakuen Seitokai Gijiroku
Summary: ” The series, which is also called Hekiyō Gakuen Seito-kaigi Jiroku (The Records of the Hekiyō Academy Student Council’s Activities), revolves around a private high school whose student council is chosen entirely by popularity vote. Because of this, Ken Sugisaki is the only male representative, in the otherwise all bishōjo student council, that may enter the “sacred sanctuary” of the council’s meeting room. At the behest of Council President Kurimu Sakurano (pictured at right), Sugisaki records the minutes of the council meetings, which devolve into daily conversations about the students’ lives and interests.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: AIC
Director: Kenichi Imaizumi
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Original creator: Sekina Aoi
The Positives: Staff change! This season is handled by AIC, adapted by Reiko Yoshida (a very experienced writer) and directed by the director of Kateikyo Hitman Reborn.
The Negatives: I did not like Seitokai no Ichizon. It was like, funny for one episode and then it lost all of its charm. Most of the jokes were bad moe jokes anyway. Do I think that this will change with the new people working on it? Not really, bad moe jokes is everything that this show is. The creators are going to have to try really hard to make this consistently hilarious, and I don’t see that happen.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes
Summary: “The story is set 14 years after Atlantia, the largest country in the world of Legendia, was torn apart by riots. The protagonist Tsurugi Tatewaki was secreted away from the chaos at a young age. Oblivious to his true birthplace, Tsurugi grows up as a spirited boy in the neighboring rocky land of Pacifis. One day, Tsurugi suddenly comes across the ‘Shining Sword,’ and his great adventure begins. An army of darkness is hunting down the 12 Sword Braves, and as the army pursues Tsurugi, a figure appears before him. Bringer is a Card Battle Droid entrusted with the duty of protecting Tsurugi. Trained by Bringer in the ways of the Battle Spirits combat, Tsurugi joins the other Sword Braves in rising up against the army of darkness with his Key Spirit ‘Shining Dragon’.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Masaki Watanabe
Series Composition: Atsuhiro Tomioka
The Positives: The thing with the Battle Spirits franchise is that Sunrise keeps enlisting actually competent writers and directors to its installments (heck, Dai Sato worked on one of them). This time they got the director of Bartender. I am not kidding with that. Atsuhiro Tomioka, many of you may know him better as as the guy who adapted Zetman. The potential is definitely there.
The Negatives: The thing however with this franchise is that even though it isn’t among the worst of the kiddie series, it’s clear that the creators are forced to dumb themselves down a lot. From the few episodes that I did watch, they were trying way too hard to conform to the standards of kiddie series that really limits creativity, for the sake of selling toys through a business model that has proved to be lucrative. But then again, I only watched the first episodes of these series, so perhaps they got better later. With so many episodes however (all previous four seasons had 50 episodes, this one will likely have that as well), this franchise is just way too long for me to actually give it a chance.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Bakuman 3
Summary: “Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi have come a long way since they started making manga in middle school, but trials still await them as they head towards their goal of getting an anime adaption for one of their manga. As they continue to grow as artists and as people, they will be faced with new friends, new rivals, and new hurdles to overcome.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Noriaki Akitaya,
Kenichi Kasai
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Original creator: Tsugumi Ouba
The Positives: For those of you with enough time and patience this will be a treat.
The Negatives: Sorry Bakuman, you could have been a nice series for me. But there is no way I’m going to watch 75 episodes of you dragging on. You’re just not worth it, especially after you pulled a bunch of soap operas in the second season. This might be bearable for a series with a regular length, but not one that is as long as this one. Zero potential, because I already know that I’m not going to continue watching it.
First-Glance Potential: 0%
Haitai Nanafa
The Positives: Passione is relatively new, and this will be their first full series to produce. Nice.
The Negatives: The thing is, that this is like Recorder and Randsell: it’s got five minute episodes and even the same director, so I really fear that it will be as dull and under-produced as that series.
First-Glance Potential: 10%
Hayate the Combat Butler: Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
Summary: “Abandoned by his parents and given a monumentally large debt as a Christmas present, 16-year old Ayasaki Hayate is at the lowest point of his life. Desperately trying alter his hapless fate, he decides to kidnap someone to hold for a ransom. Due to an ill choice of words, the girl he tries to kidnap misunderstands the action as a confession of love. His plan is totally crushed when he gives his real name out. Realizing his wrongdoing, Hayate proceeds to rescue the girl from the yakuza, who had instead kidnapped her. The girl, as a token of thanks, offers Hayate a job as her butler. Hayate, overwhelmed by her kindness, vows to protect her even at the cost of his life.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Manglobe
Series Director: Yooichi Ueda
Director: Masashi Kudo
Series Composition: Rie Koshika
Original creator: Kenjirou Hata
The Positives: Manglobe is… well, I guess I can’t use that argument anymore, can I? Anyway, the character-designs at least look better now, although I’ve heard that they really don’t work in animation-form.
The Negatives: Hayate the Combat Butler has been recommended to me quite a few times now, but really: with this instalment it will probably have 100 episodes. Is such a huge amount really worth it? Does it really stay hilarious enough for its entire run? Is it really fun enough to make up for Rie Kugimiya in yet another of her tsundere roles? On top of that, this season will be directed by the director of the ultimately very dull Asobi ni Iku Yo.
First-Glance Potential: 10%
Aoi Sekai no Chūshin de
Summary: “All the characters are parodies of Nintendo or Sega games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda etc. Segua Kingdom has been losing the war against Ninterdo Empire but the tables are turned by the appearance of a boy called Gear (a parody of Sonic the Hedgehog).” – (Taken from MisaoFan)
Produced by: ?
Director: Tetsuya Yanagisawa
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Anastasia Shestakova
The Positives: Perhaps this has potential for a few classic game jokes or something?
The Negatives: It’s very hard to find something about this series, but basically we have an adaptation of a parody manga with a lot of fanservice, adapted by the guy behind Kannadzuki no Miko and High School DXD. I’m not expecting much from this one.
First-Glance Potential: 20%
Teekyuu
Summary: ” Even though the four high school girls are in the tennis team, they hardly play any actual tennis.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Mappa
Director: Shin Itagaki
Original creator: Tsugeo Terada
The Positives: This is a case of awesome people working on… what!? I mean really: Mappa, the people who broke off from Madhouse studio that did Sakamichi no Apollon is now going to work on somehting that sounds like K-On with tennis. It’s also directed by Shin Itagaki, who is someone who really knows how to make exciting action scenes, as shown by Ben-To and Basquash.
The Negatives: What really worries me is the original source material here. Looking at some of the other works of Tsugeo Terada, there is a lot of hentai doujin among them. This is not looking good and I predict a lot of bad fanservice.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Hidamari Sketch × Honeycomb
Summary: “Yuno has been accepted to her dream school: Yamabuki Arts High School. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Hidamari Apartments located near the school. Once there, she starts making new friends like her classmate Miyako and the second year students, Hiro and Sae. Surrounded by good friends, Yuno starts moving towards her dream of being an artist.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Shaft
Original creator: Ume Aoki
The Positives: Hidamari Sketch is not one of my series. I tried watching it, but after around four episodes, I came to the conclusion that just too little happened. It was just too slow and boring to hold my attention. I can understand the appeal though.
The Negatives: However, there is one thing that I’m wondering about: how can series like this last for four entire seasons? Is there really enough material to warrant 50 episodes, or are the creators just repeating themselves over and over? I mean, me and Shaft sequels have a very bad relationship, so I’m very sceptical about this one.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Aikatsu
Summary: “In the card game, players use collectible clothing cards to help their idols pass auditions in pursuit of becoming the top national idol singer.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Sunrise
Director: Ryuichi Kimura
Series Composition: Yoichi Kato
Other Notable Staff: Seiji Mizushima (Supervision),
Hiroko Yaguchi (Character Designs)
The Positives: Oh great, another show based on a card game. Prepare yourselves, because this season really has a ton of them and… Seiji Mizushima?! The Director of Un-Go, Natsuiro Kiseki, Hanamaru Youchien, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam 00… what’s he doing here with the supervision? And you know about the director? He was the assistant director for Natsuiro Kiseki and Hanamaru Youchien.
The Negatives: And on the other side of the coin we have the guy who wrote the utterly terrible Miracle train. This season is bizarre in these choices, really.
First-Glance Potential: 30%
Busou Shinki
Summary: “The slice-of-life battle story is set in a future that has neither World War III nor an alien invasion — just an ordinary future set after our current age. In this world, robots are part of everyday life, and they contribute in various aspects of society. “Shinki” are 15-centimeter-tall (about 6-inch-tall) cute partners made to assist humans. Equipped with intelligence and emotions, they devote themselves to serving their “Masters.” These Shinki can even be equipped with weapons and armor to fight each other. Such Shinki are named “Busou Shinki” (literally, “armed divine princesses”). In particular, the Shinki Ann (Arnval), Aines (Altines), and Rane (Altrane) serve a high school freshman named Masato. Things change when a new Shinki, the bellicose Staarf, joins them.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: 8-Bit
Director: Yasuhito Kikuchi
Series Composition: Masahiro Yokotani
Other Notable Staff: Ryouma Ebata (Character Designs, Chief Animation Direction),
Takahiro Kishida
The Positives: To think that they actually made a full fledged anime about this. And take a look at the character-designer, Takahiro Kishida: he also designed the characters for Baccano, Durarara, Noein and Madoka Magica, so the producers are definitely gambling on this as an advertisements for their action figures (because yes, that’s what this series is).
The Negatives: So yeah, this basically requires an original storyline to be written for these figures. So who do the producers get? The director of Infinite Stratos. Sure, he also directed Macross Frontier, but that was under Shoji Kawamori. But I guess that he’s not all bad, with that series and Kurogane Communication under his helm. My real worry here lies with the guy who is going to have to write everything: This is the guy adapted World Destruction, Beelzebub, and Maria Holic. His one original story is from Reideen, which was more wasted potential than anything and saved by good directing. Add that to the story of the OVA which just involved a boy finding one of these girls, even though it did have really good staff behind it, and it seems that on top of that these guys will probably be facing a lot of restrictions in this adaptations from above. To be honest this isn’t sounding too good.
First-Glance Potential: 40%
Chou Soku Henkei Gyrozetter
Summary: “The card game this is based on depicts battles between cars that transform into robots. The arcade machine for the game features a steering wheel for controlling the game’s cars, but the machine “transforms” into a lever control setup for piloting the robot mode. Square Enix claims that this is the first physically transforming arcade machine.” – (Taken from )
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Series Composition: Dai Sato
Other Notable Staff: Naoki Sato (Music)
The Positives: My very first impression when I saw this was: great, not another kiddie show to promote toys. And then I found out who were involved: the director of Daily Lives of High School Boys and the first 100 episodes of Gintama will direct, and Dai Sato will be writing it. On top of that it also turned into a show to promote various cars, the soundtrack is composed by the same person who composed the awesome soundtracks of X and Blood-C and they got a lot of different designers together for the various mecha designs. And on top of that A-1 Pictures will animate it. That’s a lot of ambition for a kids’ series, don’t you think?
The Negatives: As much as I’d love to see more Dai Sato (this is the guy who wrote Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy and various episodes of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell, and he’s characterized by his very intelligent dialogue), I want to see him do an actual non-kiddie show again: one that can take itself seriously. Because he already did this before with Battle Spirits and also with the Tekken movie. After he went off and created his own writing studio, he unfortunately had to take a lot of jobs for the heck of it in order to make some money, it appears. It’s a bloody shame, because a writer like him really needs to get his chances.
First-Glance Potential: 50%
Girls und Panzer
Summary: “The “military teen battle action” manga is about “high school girls x battles in tanks.”” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Actas
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida
Other Notable Staff: Takaaki Suzuki (Military Advisor)
The Positives: From the creators of Squid Girl: a series with a bunch of girls and a tank. Okay, fair enough. These people know what good comedy is, and this time they’re dealing with an original story so they can go all out. Just don’t let this get a sequel.
The Negatives: Reiko Yoshida is busy this season: three series at the same time. Also, it’s a bunch of girls with a tank! I can just imagine the creators coming up with this “Quick! We need another premise! What do people like besides girls?” “Uh, tanks?” “Good enough! Let’s go!”
First-Glance Potential: 65%
Suki-tte Ii na yo
Summary: “Mei Tachibana has spent her 16 years without making either boyfriend or friends. One day, she drop-kicks a popular boy in school, Yamato Kurosawa, because of a misunderstanding but for some reason it seems that he takes a liking to her and one-sidedly claims that they’re friends. Furthermore, he not only protects Mei from a stalker, he does it with a kiss…?!!” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: Zexcs
Series Director: Toshimasa Kuroyanagi
Director: Takyua Satou
Series Composition: Takuya Satou
Original creator: Kanae Hazuki
Other Notable Staff: Yuuji Nomi (Music),
Yoshiko Okuda
The Positives: This most definitely looks unlike anything Zexcs have ever done before. I think we can blame Yoshiko Okuda for that, who has an interesting track record as an animator so far with experience on episodes of Casshern Sins and Shigurui. Yuuji Nomi also did the soundtrack of Bokura no and Hi no Tori, so that also sounds very promising. On top of that, this will both be directed and adopted by one of the two directors of Steins;Gate. The series director meanwhile is completely new. He worked as an animator for a few years, after which he moved on to a few series for episode direction (Ao no Exorcist, Inu Boku, Working and Kimi ni Todoke) and this will be his first chance to direct an actual series. Interesting.
The Negatives: For the negatives, I unfortunately have to turn to the original source material. Looking at the author’s other works, she seems very fond of smutty shoujo romances, and to be honest, that’s exactly what this series sounds like. It’s so entirely typical, so the execution really is going to have be good here to prevent us from watching yet another couple of paper bags in a “will they won’t they” relationship.
First-Glance Potential: 65%
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Summary: “The romantic comedy centres around Shizuku Mizutani, a girl who has absolutely no interests except for school and her plans for the future. One day she delivers print-outs to the chronically absent Yoshida. After delivering the school materials to Yoshida, he believes the two of them are friends.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Brains Base
Director: Hiro Kaburaki
Series Composition: Noboru Takagi
Original creator: Robico
Other Notable Staff: Masato Nakayama (Music),
Chikako Shibata (Art Direction),
Hitoshi Tamura,
Norihiro Naganuma
The Positives: It’s a bit difficult to explain what a director of photography does, but he basically is in charge of the camera work, and making everything look good. Now, the guy who does this for Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun also did this for the various seasons of Natsume Yuujin-chou, Durarara and Kuragehime. Add that to the director of Kimi ni Todoke and we’ll probably have a very pretty looking series here. Noboru Takagi is also a very good writer, having adapted Baccano, Durarara, Koi Kaze and Sankarea in the past.
The Negatives: Now the question is: can they make this story work? I’m glad to see more shoujo romance, but if it’s just going to be like “will they won’t they” like with Kimi ni Todoke, then I’m not feeling like sitting through that again. The set-up is really clichéd for a shoujo series: especially dating a bad boy has been done to death, so something definitely needs to set this one apart in its progression or execution. I’ve taken a look at some of the other stories that Robico, the writer of the manga this is based on, has written and they’re typical romances, although all of them aren’t as plain as what Kimi ni Todoke was: from what I could gather she always tries to at least give a side or story to her character. She also seems to like to use irony in some of her short stories, so let’s see whether her longer ones can also make use of this.
First-Glance Potential: 70%
IXION SAGA DT
Summary: “The game and anime follow Kon Hokaze, a boy who embarks on a journey from our world to an alternate world known as Mira, which is full a mysterious energy known as Alma. After saving Princess Ecarlate from attackers, he soon finds himself in the middle of a struggle around Alma.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Brains Base
Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Series Composition: Akatsuki Yamatoya
Original creator: Capcom
Other Notable Staff: Shinji Takeuchi (Character Designs, Chief Animation Director),
Junpei Fujita,
Hiroshi Fujima (Music)
The Positives: So here is the thing: Ixion Saga is based on an MMORPG. Since these games are known for their plots, the main creators will need to put a lot of new and original stuff to make it work. And wouldn’t you know, they happen to be the people behind the Gintama anime: its series composition guy and the director of my personal favorite first 100 episodes, so be exact. That series had some really good fillers, so they have shown that they’re able to create original content. Atsuki Yamatoya also worked on the series construction of Simoun, which I found to be utterly brilliant.
The Negatives: The downside is that these two don’t always try to deliver good stories. Akatsuki Yamatoya is just as well fine with doing stuff like To Love Ru and Blue Dragon. Also, how on earth did they succeed in making this show this ugly? Shinji Takeuchi is the character designer of Gintama, so he should know how to correctly portray colourful characters.
First-Glance Potential: 75%
Medaka Box 2
Summary: “Medaka Kurokami, a first year student at Hakoniwa Academy, excels at everything she does. She becomes the Student council president and along with her childhood friend, Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, she plans to solve all of the student body’s problems that are submitted to a suggestion box, dubbed the “Medaka Box.”” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Gainax
Director: Shouji Saeki
Series Composition: Shouji Saeki
Original creator: NisiOisin
The Positives: Well, even though this involves Gainax’s worst director and Nisioisin, I enjoyed the first season. It was nothing special, but the craziness it evolved into… I could appreciate that, and the second season is promising more of that, if you liked that, then you’ll probably like this sequel as well.
The Negatives: It remains a shounen jump adaptation that needs to squeeze in 52 chapters in one year. That rather scares me, because that gives this series the danger of dragging on horribly, like so many other of its predecessors have done as well. When I see the first signs of this happening, I’m bailing out.
First-Glance Potential: 75%
Chuu-2 Byou Demo Koi ga Shitai!
Summary: “In the novel, Yuuta Togashi, a boy who used to suffer from “chuu-2 byou” (adolescent thoughts that teenagers commonly have — especially delusions of grandeur or the belief that one is special compared to everyone else.), and Rikka Takanashi, who still has the syndrome, made a true contract with each other (that is, they are dating). They are in the middle of enjoying “real life” to the fullest … or should be. However, Satone Shichimiya a.k.a. “Sophia Ring SP Saturn VII,” a friend from middle school and the one suffering the most from “chuu-2 byou,” appears and turns Togashi’s life upside down. And so, a battle between “Saturn” and “Jaou Shingan” (True Eye of the Devil King) begins.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Kyoto Animation
Director: Tatsuya Ishihara
Series Composition: Jukki Hanada
Original creator: Torako
Other Notable Staff: Kazumi Ikeda (Character Designs, Animation Director),
Hiroyuki Takahashi (Setting)
The Positives: Trying to find information about light novels is really hard on the internet. I’m surprised nobody has yet set up some kind of AniDB for light novels yet. Because of that, I also have no idea what the source material is going to be like. It does sound interesting if it goes in-depth to what that “Chuu-2 Byou” actually does to teenagers, despite the really bad title. Jukki Hanada is a good choice to adapt this material, and on top of that Kyoani put its best director on the job: Tatsuya Ishihara was behind Air and Clannad, whose adaptations I really loved.
The Negatives: But it can just as easily turn into yet another show in which cute girls fight and a male lead is in the middle of them. There are too many of those, so this show will have to set itself apart, and not just with Kyoani’s trademark really good animation. Is this the right type of material to make Kyoani shine, or have they just gotten more generic?
First-Glance Potential: 75%
Magi
Summary: “This story is about the flow of fate and the battle to keep the world on the right path. Aladdin is a boy who has set out to explore the world after being trapped in a room for most of his life. His best friend is a flute with a djinn in it named Ugo. Soon enough, Aladdin discovers he is a Magi, a magician who chooses kings, and he was born to choose kings who will follow the righteous path, battling against those who want to destroy fate. Follow his adventures as he meets others from 1000 Arabian Nights, like Ali Baba and Sinbad, and fights to keep the balance of world in check!” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Koji Masunari
Series Composition: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Original creator: Shinobu Outaka
Other Notable Staff: Toshifumi Akai (Character Designs, Chief Animation Director),
Takashi Hashimoto
The Positives: Oh god, this will definitely be the eye candy series of the season. A-1 have really managed to improve themselves even more, and with this they also brought in Takashi Hashimoto in for the special effects. The list of series this guy has worked on is HUGE, and includes things as direction the animation of Mononoke and Bake Neko, including their conceptual designs and the Special Skills director of Karas. And then there is the director: the guy who directed the really imaginative Read or Die, Risky Safety, and Kamichu. Whole premise is loosely based on the Arabian Nights. Interesting!
The Negatives: Oh god no! Not Hiroyuki Yoshino! The guy behind the script of Guilty Crown, Macross Frontier, Mai Otome, Seikon no Qwaser and Code Geass. This guy’s name is nearly synonymous with train-wreck. Thankfully he is adapting a story this time, but when I look at who wrote it, I’m not really positive either: he’s the guy who wrote Sumomomo Momomo before this, a series whose only redeeming quality was its catchy name (Plums and peaches too!), otherwise it was just a run off the mill romantic fighting school comedy. Magi thankfully sounds much more creative, but can he really do justice with a story based on the Arabian nights? I mean, such a setting sounds really promising, but not when it’s chock-full of shounen cliches. Especially not with Hiroyuki Yoshino having to adapt it.
First-Glance Potential: 75%
Jormungand 2
Summary: “The series follows Koko Hekmatyar, a young arms dealer who sells weapons under HCLI, an international shipping corporation that secretly deals in the arms trade. As one of the company’s unofficial weapon dealers, she secretly sells weapons in many countries while avoiding the local authorities and law enforcement as most of her work is actually illegal under international law. Traveling with her is her team of bodyguards who are mostly composed of ex-military veterans. Her latest addition to her crew is Jonah, a seemingly emotionless child soldier who is skilled in combat yet ironically hates arms dealers. Jonah joins Koko as he wishes to find the arms dealer responsible for his family’s death. What follows is Koko and her crew’s escapades around the world.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: White Fox
Director: Keitarou Motonaga
Series Composition: Yosuke Kuroda
Original creator: Keitarou Takahashi
The Positives: Well, those who watched this series know what to look forward to: snarky military action with a lot of intrigue.
The Negatives: The first season for me missed something. The characterization was just one-sided, especially on the villains’ side. That’s something that this sequel is definitely going to have to fix.
First-Glance Potential: 75%
Initial D New Season
Summary: “High school student Takumi Fujiwara works as a gas station attendant during the day and a delivery boy for his father’s tofu shop during late nights. Little does he know that his precise driving skills and his father’s modified Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno make him the best amateur road racer on Mt. Akina’s highway. Because of this, racing groups from all over the Gunma prefecture issue challenges to Takumi to see if he really has what it takes to be a road legend.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Shuuichi Shigeno
The Positives: I’ve actually never watched anything of Initial D, but who knows? A hot blooded racing anime has potential, especially now that the creators are giving it a modern touch. This series will air twice every month, so it’ll follow the same formula as Wangan Midnight, allowing the creators to just take their time. Nice choice.
The Negatives: I’ve heard that Initial D was not the best looking series (to the point where the car CG stood out way too much, and one particular character resembling a potato more than a human being), so I wonder if this new series will have the same problems or not.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
K
Summary: “?”
Produced by: Gohands
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Other Notable Staff: Gou Nakanishi (Producer)
The Positives: This is an original project by Gohands, and the only thing we know so far is a bunch of voice actors, a bunch of promos and that it’s got a producer who worked on most notably Fafner, Stellvia and Heroic Age. Based on the promo images, this seems like an action series with good animation and a lot of different characters walking around. The trick will now be to give them all character and make them all interesting, so I hope they went with the right people behind this.
The Negatives: One warning sign though was that everyone looked around the same age. If you want to have a diverse cast, then go for it. Switch up the ages as well. Also, make sure not to go overboard on the CG, Gohands.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Code:Breaker
Summary: “Riding the bus one day, Sakurakouji Sakura looks out the window to see people being burned alive with a blue fire as a boy her age remains unharmed and stands over the people. When she goes back to the site the next day, there are no corpses or evidence of any kind of murder, just a small fire. When Sakura goes to class, she discovers the new transfer student is the same boy she saw the day before. Sakura soon learns that he is Ogami Rei, the sixth “Code: Breaker,” a special type of assassin with a strange ability and also a member of a secret organization that serves the government” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Kinema Citrus
Director: Yasuhiro Irie
Series Composition: Yasuhiro Irie
Original creator: Akamine Kamijou
Other Notable Staff: Masayuki Sakoi (Assistant Director),
Yukie Akitani
The Positives: Kinema Citrus, with the director of Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood and Kurau Phantom Memory. Hell yeah! This guy knows how to portray action scenes and how to do characterization properly, and he’s doing both the direction and series composition.
The Negatives: This does seem like the least interesting story he’s worked on so far, though. The original mangaka seems to have written Samurai Deeper Kyo before this. The premise for Code Breaker just seems… plain in comparison to what Yasuhiro Irie and Kinema Citrus did before this, so let’s hope that it at least has some good character development.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Summary: “This is the story of the Joestar family, and their battles against bizarre enemies. Jonathan Joestar’s battle against the vampire Dio Brando starts it all, and it continues into roughly each second generation of Joestars through all parts of the story.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Hirohiko Araki
The Positives: Finally a show that doesn’t look like the others! I tend to love remakes of classic series, so I’m very interested what the creators can do with this, and the character designs at least look very artistic. We still have no bloody clue who will end up doing this, but they definitely plan to make it interesting to look at.
The Negatives: However, try to look at that trailer on the official website and you get treated to some very jumpy and awkward animation, showing that character designs like this are hard to move around.
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Btooom!
Summary: “Ryota Sakamoto is one of the top-ranked players of BTOOOM!, an online battle game. But no amount of simulated warfare could have prepared him for what is to come …Ryota wakes one evening to find himself dangling from a tree by a parachute with no recollection of how he got there. Before he can orient himself to his unfamiliar surroundings, Ryota is attacked. As a barrage of explosives rain down on him, Ryota realizes that he too has a pack of bombs …bombs that look very similar to the ones used in BTOOOM! Ryota may have mastered the online game, but can he come out on top in this real-life game of survival?!” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: Madhouse
Director: Kotone Watanabe
Series Composition: Yosuke Kuroda
Original creator: Junya Inoue
The Positives: Yosuke Kuroda as the scriptwriter is a really solid choice. This guy is really experienced. The director is also very interesting: he hasn’t done much, but the episodes that he did work on were really, really good: A Spider’s Thread of Aoi Bungaku, plus a few episodes of Madoka Magica, Chihayafuru and Supernatural. I wonder what he can do with the actual series here.
The Negatives: So… basically we have Sword Art Online again here, only this time with a survival theme and instead of an MMORPG the focus is on an action game. Okay, sounds promising. The mangaka of Btooom seems to like a lot of horror as well and his stories definitely have potential. There is that fact that the manga isn’t finished yet though…
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Robotics;Notes
Summary: In Robotics;Notes, the player assumes the role of Kaito Yashio, someone who enjoys fighting games. He is in his school’s robot club. The story begins when the protagonist finds out that one of Robotics;Notes’ main heroines is actually a genius programmer who created the game engine for a world renowned fighting game. The main character then decides that he wants to create a robot based around command inputs and motion capture technology. He decides to go to the karate club to look for someone to perform the motion capture sequences. – (Taken from Wikipedia)
Produced by: Production IG
Director: Kazuya Nomura
Series Composition: Jukki Hanada
Original creator: Chiyomaru Shikira
Other Notable Staff: Chikashi Kubota (Animation Character Designs),
Tatsuya Matsubara (Producer),
Naotaka Hayashi (Scenario)
The Positives: Well, so after Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate there is Robotics;Notes. The whole futuristic approach really reminds of Eden of the East. And yes, for those wondering: Naotaka Hayashi is a member of 5pb, the company who published the game that this is based on. He’ll be able to keep Jukki Hanada in check, who sometimes manages to lose himself in his own scripts. Beyond that Jukki Hanada managed to turn into a very solid writer who manages to deliver when he needs to in his adaptations recently, as shown by Level E and Steins;Gate. This is also necessary for Kazuya Nomura, the director of Sengoku Basara 2 and its subsequent movie.
The Negatives: So yeah, the big challenge will be to stuff everything into just Noitamina’s 11 episodes. This is pretty much tackled by people with pacing problems. Sengoku Barara’s second season for example had its awesome moments, but near the end you could see that Kazuya Nomura was unable to make everything come together due to his excessive focus on build-up. Also, Noitamina is for adults, put them in there for god’s sake!
First-Glance Potential: 80%
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
Summary: “After being kicked out of the main dorms for bringing in a stray cat, Kanda Sorata is forced to live in the smaller Sakura Halls where problem students are sent to live. Although he doesn’t mind his room-mates, Sorata can’t wait to move out of Sakura Halls. But when Shiina Mashiro moves into the dorm, everything changes. Mashiro is an artistic genius who, at a young age, won many awards for her skills, but due to her childhood being so focused on art, she has no common sense and social skills. Forced to take the role of taking care of Mashiro, Sorata learns about himself and begins on a path of self improvement” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Atsuko Ishizuka
Series Composition: Mari Okada
Original creator: Hajime Kamoshida
Other Notable Staff: Masahiro Fuji (Character Designer)
The Positives: Mari Okada! That definitely gives it a plus, because even though she writes really good original script, she is also brilliant at adapting other works, as shown by Hourou Musuko, Gosick and the Armed Librarians. What’s also good is that there is character-development in the premise of this series. And to make things even better: they got the director of the final two stories of Aoi Bungaku, and half of Supernatural, both which were really artistic and well directed. And on top of that she worked on a ton of awesome episodes of series like Mouryou no Hako, Monster, Nana, Chihayafuru, and Himitsu. My favorite female director out there is Sayo Yamamoto, but damn: she comes close.
The Negatives: So of course the next move for these two would be a seinen romance. A bit strange when you consider that they’re both women, and from the outside this does look like wish fulfillment for the common fetish of helpless girl (pretty much like Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko). On top of that, JC Staff is a lot more conservative than the companies that they usually work with. The thing with both of them is that they need freedom. But something tells me that Mari Okada is going to grab that anyway. Also, I don’t really like the character-designer: she was the one behind the IMO ugly designs of Zero no Tsukaima and Hayate the Combat Butler.
First-Glance Potential: 85%
Zetsuen no Tempest: The Civilization Blaster
Summary: “Yoshino Takigawa is visiting his friend’s family grave. After getting there, he encounters Evangeline Yamato, a woman in search for his friend, Mahiro Fuwa, who left a month ago to find his family’s killer without any clues to who it might be. Evangeline informs Yoshino that two places where Mahiro has been spotted have been quarantined, due to an epidemic. When Evangeline is questioning Yoshino at gun-point, Mahiro comes out of nowhere and swiftly saves him and can stop bullets in mid-air, claiming to have a deal with a sorceress; not just any, but the strongest sorceress, Hakaze Kusaribe, who promised to help find his family’s killer with her magic so he can kill the killer himself. After saving Yoshino, Mahiro informs him about the epidemic, a curse that turns living things into metal, claiming the Kusaribe clan plans to revive the Tree of Zetsuen that could destroy the world.” – (Taken from Mangaupdates)
Produced by: Bones
Director: Masahiro Ando
Series Script Editor: Mari Okada
Original creator: Kyou Shirodaira
Other Notable Staff: Michiru Oshima (Music),
Hiroki Kanno (Chief Animation Director)
The Positives: From the original author of Spiral, very interesting. This guy knows how to write mind games really well. But what about the rest? Well, the plot for this story definitely sounds much more interesting than that of Spiral. Add that to that it’s going to be adapted by Mari Okada, who is excellent at adapting stories, along with a chief animation director who previously designed the characters for Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood and Rahxephon, along with none other than Masahiro Ando, the director of Sword of the Stranger, Hana-Saku Iroha and Canaan, and you might just have something that can surpass Spiral very easily.
The Negatives: Unfinished manga alert! Abort! Abort! With Spiral this ended in a disaster where this caused the series to be unable to answer just about every single damn question that it asked.
First-Glance Potential: 85%
From the New World
Summary: ” In the future Japan has become a fractured country, and small towns now exist. The rulers of this world have the cursed power of Telekinesis. When an incident occurs, 5 children come to realize the world is not as it seems, and learn the bloody history behind this world. These 5 children unite and help the world as it falls into a downward spiral of chaos.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: A-1 Pictures
Director: Masashi Ishihama
Series Composition: Masashi Sogo
Original creator: Yuusuke Kishi
Other Notable Staff: Chikashi Kubota (Character Designs)
The Positives: A-1 Pictures adapting the work from an award-winning novelist about a dystopian science fiction mystery story. Count me in! The director is a very interesting guy. He doesn’t direct often, but he did the really stylish OP for Senkou no Night Raid, he did half of Speed Grapher (which I unfortunately didn’t watch), he was the chief animation director of Read or Die and directed the animation for Welcome to the Space Show. This guy needs some freedom (he also designed the characters for Eiken of all things), but he can really make this work. Masashi Sogo meanwhile is a decent scriptwriter for this. He worked both on good and lesser series, but he can really make this work I feel. I especially enjoyed his work for Yukikaze.
The Negatives: The big potential pitfall: the 5 children. The promotional material already made it clear that they’re just a small part of this world, but make sure that they can play out their role, instead of forcing them in the midst of struggles they don’t belong, having to pull deus ex machina to get them out again.
First-Glance Potential: 85%
Little Busters
Summary: ” The story follows the life of Riki Naoe, a high school student who has been a member of a group of friends named the Little Busters since childhood. Riki brings multiple girls at his school into the Little Busters to have enough people to play a baseball game.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: JC Staff
Director: Yoshiki Yamakawa
Series Composition: Michiru Shimada
Original creator: Maeda Jun
Other Notable Staff: Magome Togoshi (Music),
Maruko Iizuka (Character Designs, Aimation Director)
The Positives: After Air, Kanon, Clannad and Angel Beats, this will be the next Key work. This one’s another adaptation, and this time it’s JC Staff’s turn to have a go at it. I’ve heard from various sources that the original story is even better than Clannad, so I’m definitely interested here. Michiru Shimada can make it work. On one hand she did a very botched adaptation of Before Green Gables, but her adaptation of Kaze no Shoujo Emily was amazing and very well thought out.
The Negatives: I haven’t seen Hatsukoi Limited enough, but I do wonder: is the director of that one good enough to make this work as a tear-jerker? Beyond that he also directed Kill Me Baby, but such a gag manga isn’t really comparable to something by Key. And here is the thing: what made Air and Clannad stand out (both with the movies and the TV-series) was that there were some amazing people working on it. Can these people live up to that in their own way?
First-Glance Potential: 85%
Psycho Pass
Summary: There is a gun involved. And it’s about a Ministry of Wellfare Public Safety Bureau Criminal Investigation Department. And Psychopaths (Psycho pass -> Psychopath, get it?)
Produced by: Index
Director: Huh?
Series Composition: Wut?
Other Notable Staff: Where?
The Positives: The creators are being really mysterious with this one. And it’s really working as well. This will definitely be some sort of police series, an interesting new direction for Noitamina, and the way in which it does this will probably involve some sort of science fiction. But the exact how and what are still completely unknown. This is unique for a Noitamina-series, but goddamit whoever the people behind this are: they definitely wet my appetite.
The Negatives: The only promotional material was of a gun that looked very CG-ish. Be sure to use your CG well, Psycho Pass!
First-Glance Potential: 85%
Litchi DE Hikari Club
Summary: “Nine sexually frustrated teenage boys build a robot fuelled by lychee fruit to help them kidnap girls and aid them in their plot for world domination.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: ?
Director: ?
Series Composition: ?
Original creator: Usamaru Furuya
The Positives: And the winner of the most creative premise of the season: Lichee Light Club. I mean, this just looks bizarre from start to finish, and with such ideas behind it it’s bound to have a few laughs. A horror comedy isn’t done often, so this definitely has potential, and it also definitely stands out from the rest. Good job.
The Negatives: We still don’t know who will adapt this, nor if it’s actually going to be able to make it on October, since there is no official art yet on the website to be found. The above image was either that, or some strange live action picture.
First-Glance Potential: 85%
Kamisama Hajimemashita
Summary: ” After her father having run away due to gambling debts, and being evicted from her apartment, Nanami meets Mikage, a strange man who is afraid of dogs. Nanami “saves” Mikage from a dog and tells him her story. He gives Nanami his house as a thank you for saving him. Nanami accepts the offer, due to having nowhere else to go. Mikage draws her up a map showing her where to go. Upon arriving, she finds that it is a rundown shrine. Nanami is then almost killed by Tomoe, who was expecting Mikage to finally return after his 20 year absence. She is then greeted by both Onikiri and Kotetsu, as the new land god of the shrine. Unable to accept Nanami as the new land god, Tomoe mocks her then leaves the shrine, which, without Tomoe’s power transforms back into a run-down state. Not wanting to rob Tomoe of his home and realizing that her powers as a god are too weak anyway Nanami leaves, but eventually is brought back by Tomoe after she seals a contract with him, making him her familiar.” – (Taken from ANN)
Produced by: TMS Entertainment
Director: Akitaro Daichi
Original creator: Julietta Suzuki
Other Notable Staff: Junko Yamanaka (ANN)
The Positives: YES! YES! For more than three years I have been waiting for Akitaro Daichi to actually direct a proper series again. I mean, he’s doing a wonderful job with Poyopoyo right now, and his adaptation of Gag Manga Biyori also was hilarious, but remain just random gag series. For those who are unfamiliar with him: I consider him to be the single most consistent comedy director out there, who at the same time gets even better when he has something serious in his hands (he was the guy who directed Now and Then, Here and There for example). On top of that, the premise here sounds like we’ll finally get another good shoujo series again, and Julietta Suzuki has potential as a writer: her short stories won a few awards and her stories overall seem much more imaginative than what I’ve been used to from most shoujo-series of the past years. TMS Entertainment, I really like the complete change in direction you took this year.
The Negatives: My one worry is TMS Entertainment, in the way that they’re obviously taking a huge risk this year. Now don’t get me wrong: I really like that, but I fear that like with Zetman, they won’t have enough support to fully animate it. Especially considering how the manga has 13 volumes currently published… and is still ongoing.
First-Glance Potential: 85%
