Winter Season Preview

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

+ Not really looking forward to +
Project Blue Chikyuu SOS

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

Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny

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

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

Rocket Girl

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

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

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

Getsumen to Heiki Mina

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

Shuffle! Memories

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

Naruto: Shippuden

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

Reideen

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

+ Shows with potential +
Venus Versus Virus

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

Hidamari Sketch

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

Giant Robo

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

Yes! Precure 5

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

Deltora Quest

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

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho

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

Kyoshiro to Eien no Sora

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

Saint October

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

Moonlight Mile

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

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight

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

Nodame Cantabile

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

+ Definitely looking foward to +
Les Miserables~Shoujo Cosette

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

Flag, Second Season

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

Himawari, Second Season

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

Master of Epic

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