This upcoming anime season sucks compared to my ridiculously high standards.
The only ones I’m looking forward to is this adaptation of a manga I’m reading that isn’t finished yet so I’ll complain about the adaptation having an original ending, and a sequel.
Is it my imagination, or has every season been getting worse since I started to become aware of every title coming out instead of the single stand-outs each year?
Copypaste this into every forum whenever you see someone complaining about the latest anime season being rubbish. Once you’ve done that, come back here for a less pessimistic and more in-depth surveillance of the upcoming season.
Chihayafuru
Madhouse have had their reputation dragged through the dirt recently. As if the Madhouse X Marvel fiasco wasn’t bad enough, their failure to create something worthwhile from Chaos;Head has been compounded by the quality White Fox have achieved with Steins;Gate (even though the chief director on Steins;Gate is a Madhouse veteran, but whatever). With that tumultuous period out of the way, here comes their latest anime about children playing card games AARRGHHH OK not quite. Chihayafuru is a josei manga about a classic Japanese card game where you match cards to poems. I read a bit of the manga and it feels less josei and more a girlier version of Hikaru no Go, which isn’t really a bad thing. They’ve brought aboard the director of Nana and Chobits aboard, so I’m quite looking forward to this. It’s nice to see Good Madhouse return.
Tamayura ~Hitotose~
There was an OVA of Tamayura a few months ago and I avoided it like it was the latest issue of Bestiality Monthly. This is director Junichi Sato, guy who did Aria, trying to replicate that feeling of ~healing~ anime, involving a bunch of girls being insufferably nice to each other while doing fuck all. I would probably die if I tried watching this, but good for you guys who like ~healing~ anime. Your only problem is Junichi Sato is directing a few anime this season, so a giant robot/mutant space creature/something fucking interesting might accidentally slip under his radar and into Tamayura.
Last Exile
Fam: The Silver Wing
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
No. This is going to be set in the same world but with different characters and new story
If I am to believe my own Top 30, the original Last Exile is my 12th favourite anime of all time. So obviously this paragraph should be nothing more than incoherent fanboying at the prospect of a new season, right? Well, not quite. You see, one of the best things about Last Exile was how complete it was. It covered every character, every aspect of the world, and explored the adventure from little kid with big dreams to world changing hero. There was nothing that needed to be added. Gonzo returning to Last Exile strikes me more of a studio desperately scrounging through their backlog to find something of theirs that is guaranteed to turn a profit. Now this obviously isn’t entirely true, otherwise they’d just stick to pumping out Strike Witches iterations over and over. They brought back most of the original staff, and I have faith that those guys wouldn’t return to Last Exile without having a good story to tell us. The trailer looks good too, capturing the fantastical adventurous element to the original I liked so much. Well, it did, until that generic J-Pop song started playing. I know people like Maaya Sakamoto and the prospect of her warbling fills you with so much glee that your ears start melting, but the original Last Exile opening song is one of my favourite of all time. To have that replaced with generic upbeat J-Pop is so… *le sigh* I’m just being nitpicky. I’ll remain upbeat about this new iteration for now. Cautious, but hopeful.
Phi Brain: God’s Puzzle
When I checked the Phi Brain ANN page, I was shocked to discover how much the original concept creator, Hajime Yatate, had done. Every from Cowboy Bebop to Code Geass to Mobile Suit Gundam to Votoms to Infinite Ryvius to Mai Hime to Escaflowne to…and then it finally dawned on me that Hajime Yatate is simply the name given to that den of pure evil that is the Sunrise boardroom. Anyways, Phi Brain is an original anime by Sunrise airing in NHK’s Educational TV station. That doesn’t means it will be simply educational fluff, the timeslot has previously held Dennou Coil amongst other things. Sunrise original in timeslot that veers away from otaku pandering sounds like a good combo to me. Then why am I not more excited? Maybe it’s the uninspiring trailer. Maybe because it’s Junichi Sato again, and I can’t help shake the feeling he’ll be concentrating more on his beloved ~healing~ anime Tamayura then he will on Phi Brain.
Un-Go
There’s a misnomer in anime fandom that says ‘because it is in Noitamina, it will be good’ (mainly a line touted by myself, but shut up). Un-Go is an anime by Bones with the key staff from the original Full Metal Alchemist, doing an adaptation of an old classic novel with their own modern take on it. I would be excited for this whether it was in Noitamina or not. If anything, the fact it is in Noitamina is irritating because that means it’s stuck to 11 episodes. On the flip side, no Noitamina would mean that these kinds of anime wouldn’t be produced in the first place. Anywho, after a stumbling start to the year with Fractale, Noitamina have regained their strength somewhat with No.6 and Bunny Drop, so I’m hoping they finish this year off with a bang (especially since 2012 gets instant flop status with Black Rock Shooter). Mind you, it’s the other Noitamina show this season I’m more interested in…
Guilty Crown
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating again: Guilty Crown is like God came down and asked me what anime I want to see made (but only after he rejected my proposal for a 24 episode TV series by Studio Rikka). A story by the two key guys at Code Geass, being directed by the man who directed Death Note, with animation by Production IG who, by the trailer, appear to be channelling the work they did on Eden of the East. Awesome multiplied by Glorious to the power of Fuckwin. Unless you are the kind of individual who prefers more down-to-earth series with simpler aims, you boring sods. The only problem is this is in Noitamina, and therefore restricted to that accursed 11 episodes again. Or maybe they’ll let Guilty Crown run for 2 cours, seeing as they haven’t announced the second of winter’s Noitamina duo yet. “Hey guys, instead of letting Guilty Crown run for 2 cours, let’s go against the entire philosophy of this timeslot and run Black Rock Shooter!” Yeah, I’m totally not bitter or anything.
Mirai Nikki
Mirai Nikki is an insanely popular manga about a diary that you can write the future in and YANDERE YANDERE YANDERE. Yeah, the fact that it has a yandere in it is all I ever seem to hear about it. So, for all you Mirai Nikki manga fans, prepare to weep tears of rage as you discover who is adapting it: asread. An animation studio so shit they don’t even capitalise their own name. Previously producers of Kiddy Girl And, the two Minami-ke sequels and both seasons Shuffle. Oh, and they brought back the director who did all those shows to adapt Mirai Nikki. Yes, the tears of you fanboys are delightful, if it wasn’t for the fact I was actually quite looking forward to this myself.
Bakuman Season 2
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
Yes
[sigh] Bakuman. When making that picture, I thought I would be oh so funny and scribble out that shitty female character. Then I realised I was probably scribbling out the wrong character, and should take my paintbrush and subject it’s digital ink all over Mashiro, the real reason I got sick of Bakuman. But then I might as well scribble out Takagi as well for adhering to Mashiro’s pratty ways. And then keep scribbling over the entire picture until all that’s left is Nizuma. I might as well check out this new season, in case some kind of miracle occurs and the Death Note creator I once knew and loved actually makes his appearance, but I might end up dropping it like an angry hedgehog. That has diarrhoea. And is on fire.
Mashiro-iro Symphony
Once upon a time, an animation studio with grand ambitions formed and tried to recapture the popularity of Cowboy Bebop, by making Samurai Champloo. Champloo was a pile of fun, ingenuity, wit and sheer unbridled coolness, and one of my favourite anime of all time. That was 2004. In the following years they tried to keep up this ambitious high quality, with anime like Ergo Proxy and Michiko to Hatchin. After 2008 though, they discovered this method wasn’t earning them enough money, so they gave up all pretence of quality and pumped out Sacred Blacksmith, a banal and dull fantasy show with the only redeeming factor being how hot the female characters were. Afterwards they adapted The World God Only Knows, an otaku in-joke panderfest manga with aspirations of parody but was really just another bland harem. Afterwards they made House of Five Leaves, a laid-back samurai anime for Noitamina, but it sold fuck all so they made another TWGOK. Next season, they’re doing Mashiro-iro Symphony, an adaptation of a visual novel by the man who also wrote Akane Iro Ni Somaru Saka. You are dead to me Manglobe.
Mobile Suit Gundam Age
Do I need to have seen the previous seasons?
No. This is a totally new story, world and characters
This latest Gundam doesn’t have the Gundam fanbase out there too happy. This is largely because…well no, it’s entirely because of the rather childish character designs. Apparently having a 14 year old Gundam pilot actually looking like a 14 year old boy is license to lose your shit. I couldn’t really care what the characters look like, but that’s mainly because I’m not a Gundam fan. Mind you, I can see where both sides are coming from. From the director of Sergent Frog movies, to the story being penned by the creator of Inazuma 11, to help from the animation studio and staff who made Danball Senki, Gundam Age has a younger audience set firmly in its cross hairs. DVD/BD exclusive Unicorn/IGLOO and fujioshi-bait Seed/00 have obviously not done much to bring in the younger generation. I’m certainly interested in seeing what a Gundam with a younger skew while trying to retain the shows largely serious tone looks like, but I can’t say I’m bouncing in my seat in anticipation either. It is 50 episodes long though, and I always like seeing big ambitious mecha anime. I just wish it wasn’t always more bloody Gundam.
I Don’t Have Many Friends
Prediction time! ‘I don’t have many friends‘ will be touted as a a potential hit by certain light novel fans, while large swathes of the more elitist audience will remain sceptical. However, once the first episode airs, the more adventurous of anime fans will check it out and declare that, apart from a few kinks, ‘I don’t have many friends‘ is a quality title about the loneliness of high teenage life and the anxiety and desire to fit in. Soon everyone jumps on the bandwagon, only for little things to start going wrong. As the anime proceeds beyond the first novel material, the original intent of the story starts to get lost. New female characters are introduced, and each one becomes less interested in being friends and more about wanting the male lead’s juicy manpiece. Soon the show starts introducing beach and hot spring episodes, leaning further and further into fanservice harem. The male lead starts accidentally undressing the female characters while falling onto them. Each character falls further away from what makes them unique and delve into cliche and stereotype, until finally the anime ends with some crowbarred attempt at conflict, no resolution and possibly some censored nudity. Call me back at Christmas when I’ve been proven correct.
C³
Wait! Before you go running off at the sight of Yet Another Shana Clone, take a look at the trailer. The animation is from Silver Link, whose previous outings have only been the Baka to Test series. Not exactly world beating material, but the animation style was certainly imaginative. Silver Link are a spin-off from Shaft, with the director of Natsu no Arashi and ef, so they’re a studio willing to actually use what animation is capable of doing. The other interesting fact is the guy in charge of the script also wrote the script for 8 episodes of Cowboy Bebop of all things, as well as plenty of other quality series like Hare Guu and Big Windup under his belt. Obviously you have to remind yourself that, yes, this is another Shana clone, and bears all the annoying fan-pandering near-pedo tropes that such a series often has. I read the first chapter of the manga, and it included an accidental falling onto childhood friends boobs. That all said, keep your eyes on this. Just in case.
Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere
Between Gundam Age, Phi Brain and this, Sunrise sure are busy this season. Mind you, they’re really only Sunrise in name, with none of the usual Sunrise staff apparently working on this. It’s based off a light novel, but with stuff like giant robots and fight scenes and fantasy setting, I started to get my hopes up. Then the trailer included bouncy boobs, absurdly large spiral twin tails, and a curious lack of noses. Worried, I checked the staff list and found the series was being directed by the people behind Dragonaut, Saki and Strike Witches. The cast of prats who produced Gonzo’s dying breaths! Argh nooooo, fuck these guys and their phobia of animating noses!
Invasion?! Squid Girl
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
Yes. It hasn’t got much of a plot, but it will assume you already know the characters
I’ve seen in season previews that people like to have a little whine about sequels to shows they’ve never seen before. Which always struck me as a bit of a silly complaint. Unless the show is ridiculously long to get through, why don’t you just watch the first season before the new version? You only have the right to complain about sequels when you’ve seen the previous season of unambitious trivial anthropomorphised moeblob anime and know how crap it is. Ah shucks, I’m joking. I like Squid Girl. It’s nothing special, but it has a good sense of comedic timing de geso~
Kimi to Boku
JC Staff doing an anime about cute boys doing cute things…wait, what? What is this madness!?! Talk about crazy new ideas. However, from checking out the manga, in reality this is less a genderswapped Azumanga and more a generic shoujo with the bland eternally nice/shy female lead removed. It really was incredibly bland, but then I’ve been well documented to dislike shojo so take that with a pinch of salt. Director isn’t half bad, having previously done Elfen Lied and Sound of the Sky (Sora no Woto for you weeaboos out there), so I guess if bland shojo is your thing then you might as well check this out.
Persona 4 The Animation
And the award to the most stylish anime trailer I have ever seen in my 3 years of season previewing goes to. Wow, does that ever look awesome. Persona 4 is based off a rather popular video game by the same name. No matter how many people try to assure me that the game has a great story, the words ‘video game adaptation’ send warning lights flashing everywhere. Asides from often paper-thin plotlines, trying to adapt the unique story-telling environment in video games to anime is a daunting and difficult task, one that often requires ignoring parts of the source material, much to the annoyance of the fans. So upon whom has this task of adapting this most daunting of games fallen on? Seiji Kishi, previous director of Angel Beats, Sunred, Kamisama Dolls and Seto no Hanayome. Now many people don’t like Kishi for his total ignorance of tone, but to my ADD addled mind, it’s something I’ve never really minded in his works. I personally like him, but I think he’s better suited for comedies, where his leaping between tones is best used for humour. That said, the trailer should show that the man also has a keen sense of style. Give him a game that is already stylish game to adapt and we have one of the most interesting anime of the season.
Ben-To
Ben-to is about…oh look, I’ll just copypaste the synopsis
Satō goes to the supermarket one day and discovers a bento on sale at half price. Just as he reaches to grab it, he ends up on the floor unconscious. Satō has just entered the fierce, no-holds-barred “supermarket survival battle” for half-price bento
Yeah. It’s one of those nonsense school setting anime, like Baka to Test except without the promise of at least some neat animation. The studio doing this are David Production, whose previous works consist of Level E and Book of Bantorra. Neither of which are bad, I’ll grant them that. But in neither case did I feel they were improved significantly by the anime version. Of course, I’m speaking out of my ass here, not having read the source material for Bantorra or Level E, but whatever. I really have no idea what to make of this.
Fate/Zero
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
Probably yes. It’s a non-canon prequel, but will probably require knowledge of the characters to understand the importance of their actions.
Now this is a genuinely interesting project. The Fate/Zero novel is essentially a piece of professional fanfiction from the Fate/Stay Night universe. Not that your average fanfiction writer could get their work adapted into an anime with animation by ufotable (Kara no Kyoukai) and music by Yuki Kaijura. It’s written by Gen Urabochi, the Nitro+ VN games writer and recently famous for coming up with Madoka Magica. All this comes together in this one big budget production Fate/Zero The Anime. So in anticipation for this, I started watching Fate/Stay Night and was shocked by how incompetent it was. I lasted a measly 2 episodes. I’ll probably still give Fate/Zero a whirl though. It’s meant to be a prequel of sorts, so you can probably jump in with no knowledge of the canon. Also, Urabochi is a much more succinct and capable writer than nasu, the Fate/Stay Night writer, in my totally biased opinion, so I’d prefer to see his iteration of the story.
Working’!!
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
Yes. Again, not much of a plot here, but it will assume you know the characters
Stop making sequels to anime I don’t like. Why don’t you make a sequel to this anime I like that has nothing to do with the creators of anime that did get a sequel, and didn’t sell very well anyway etc. etc. Yeah, I don’t like Working. Or Wagnaria, if we feel like reverse-weeabooing the name. Funny how the American title sounds more weeaboo than the Japanese title.
Maji de Watashi
The game I play with eroge adaptations is find out how it is connected to Akane Iro Ni Somaru Saka so I can justify never having to watch it. Right, eroge company is MinaSoft. Their only previous eroge turned anime was They Are My Noble Masters, which I honestly thought wasn’t half bad. How about the animation company? Err, Maji de Watashi is made by Lerche, whose previous productions include nothing else whatsoever. Well huh, maybe this won’t be so bad after all. How about the director Keitaro Motonaga? Aha! Here we go. Director of Akane Iro Ni Somaru Saka, both TV series and OVA. Oh well, so much for that~
Shakugan no Shana III Final
Do I need to have seen the previous seasons?
Yes
Well, at least JC Staff have stopped pretending. Instead of simply releasing yet another batch of Shakugan no Shana clones, they’ve finally gone back and made the actual Shakugan no Shana. I notice they’re calling this Final. I wonder if that means that this will be the end of JC Staff produced Shana clones and they’ll start innovating and producing new and excitin-BWAHAHA ok I couldn’t keep a straight face typing that.
Maken-ki
So, how many pantyshots did you count? I got 12. Pretty impressive for a trailer that’s less than 2 minutes long. Once you go beyond 3 in a trailer, that says all you need to know about the anime in question.
Hunter X Hunter Brotherhood
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
No. This is a totally new remake
Madhouse took a look at Bones remaking Full Metal Alchemist and though “hey, we can do that too”. Now if you had told me Madhouse were remaking a manga adaptation that never finished, I would have leapt out of my chair and proclaimed “CLAYMORE!?!”. But nope, that would be far too obvious and make them far too much money. Instead they’re giving the Brotherhood treatment to Hunter X Hunter. They didn’t even animate the first season to this. Oh well, at least it’s a remake, which means I can jump straight in. I tried watching the original TV series but I couldn’t get past the first episode.
World’s First Love Season 2
Do I need to have seen the previous season?
Yes
Hey girls, isn’t rape adorable~! Forcing yourself onto a weaker individual is totally OK because they can’t control their emotions, and it’s OK so long as the receiver enjoys it in the end. That’s what true love is all about!
Lupin III Thing
Do I need to have seen the previous seasons?
No. Every Lupin III special is written to be accessible to newcomers
There were some people saying this would be a new Lupin III reboot TV series. It’s not, stop getting your hopes up. It’s just another one of those specials Lupin III has every year. There were some other rumours going around that it would be headed up by a combination of Takashi Koike (the Redline director) and some Gainax folks, but again that’s just more wishful thinking rather than being based off any concrete evidence. I am a Lupin III fan, but the prospect of a new special doesn’t fill me with delight when there’s still 30-odd specials and the TV series I’ve yet to watch. While the good thing about the Lupin III franchise is that every one of these specials are made to be instantly approachable, the bad thing is that which ones are good and which aren’t are total crapshoots. Wait until reviews of this come out before you think about jumping in. For now, just go watch Castle of Cagliostro.
Busou Shinki Moon Angel
Do you have a fetish for 6 inch high young teenage girls with robot joints wearing one-piece swimsuits? Well Japan has the cartoon for you! Oh Strike Witches, look what you’ve wrought.
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Battle Spirits: Heroes, Digimon Xros Wars – Toki wo Kakeru Shounen Hunter-tachi and Cross Fight B-Daman. I’m including them simply for completions sake. Yeah I know some of you folk out there like Digimon and are probably watching/watched Xros Wars. But I know fuck all about the franchise, so you’re better off searching elsewhere for information on it.
Movies
Normally I devote a measly single paragraph to movies, but this year I want to give some of these a bit more lipservice. Remember, while there are anime movies coming out in Japan this season, the rest of the world won’t see these until they come out on DVD/BD. With that in mind, I’m covering the anime movies that are coming out on DVD/BD over the next 3 months.
Towa no Quon
This has been out for a while now, but nobody has subbed the blasted thing yet. Towa no Quon is a movie series in the same vein as Break Blade. 6 episodes, each 50 minutes long and getting a theatrical release before being released on home video. Like Break Blade (and Kara no Kyokai before it) these are beautifully animated big budget productions. It’s animated by Bones and directed by Umanosuke Iida, who passed away before he could see the movie reach the big screen. Shame, he was a really talented guy, working on Cowboy Bebop to The Big O to Hellsing to 08th MS Team. Admittedly a lot of the trailer and from what I’ve been hearing about it sounds awfully generic, but deliver tried and true concepts with enough flair and care and you’ll have a quality productions. Now we just need someone to sub the blasted thing…
Mardock Scramble
First Compression
24th August
Feels like I’ve been writing about this thing’s release for ages now. Mardock Scramble is another one of these movie series projects. 3 movies long, it’s an adaptation of a novel by the same name. I’ve seen the movie already at a film festival and I really wasn’t that taken with it. It was all right, but delved into the unintentionally hilarious and stupid more than once. However the novel it’s been based off has gotten many rave reviews, so maybe I’ll turn out to be in the minority on this one.
There’s also Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha coming out on the 9th December, but that has gotten awful reviews so far, so I’m not particularly looking forward to that. There’s Fafner Heaven and Earth coming out on 21st September. So hurrah for that massive Fafner fanbase that exists out there…somewhere.
The Cart Driver 
I for one am quite excited for the new season. So many things to check out, both old and new.
I was so excited when they announced the Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha anime film trilogy(?) and the trailer looked pretty decent. But apparently several reviews have said otherwise. =/
Those BokuTomo character designs have to be some of the ugliest I’ve seen in a long time.
You know, my standards have risen ever higher each season, but weirdly enough, I’ve also become easier to please, in a way. I’m watching just five series this summer — four of which I legitimately enjoy — but whereas before I might have been like, “Just four shows?! this season suxxxxxxxxxx” now I’m like, “Wow, four shows I like? FUCKING AWESOME” Just give me a few good shows, fall season, and I’ll be content.
Anyway, I’ve got no real comment to offer on the new shows, except to say the Tamayura OVA was boring as shit (and if I thought it was dull, then you would definitely hate it), and that I am not touching Bakuman’s second season unless the Internet has a collective orgasm from watching it.
Eventually you’ll reach the stage where all a season will give you is one half-decent show and the ebola virus and you’ll be all “sweet!”
And the ebola would be the one I blog.
I’ve already reached the stage where one anime a season is enough
for me. And sometimes, the anime is just tolerable. What have I become?
Old? You guys aren’t even half my age (probably) in the fandom, and you’re already this jaded ahaha.
The only difference is, will you be the crusty type of old anime fart, the beardy old anime fart, or the bitter old anime fart?
I’d rather be crusty. Being bitter is no fun at all, and I grow an awful beard.
Lol I definitely feel you EXACTLY on that. Just as long as there are 3+ shows…it’s fine for me 🙂
That’s the first time I heard something like ‘something intereresting might happen because this guy’s working on a lot of other shows!’. That just completely blew my mind
I thought Mirai Nikki’s 8-minute OVA wasn’t just a trailer, but it was just a trailer. I don’t know, people are saying how the manga’s awesome and how the manga’s awesome and how it’s awesome, so I guess the anime’s worth watching just because of that? On a completely unrelated note, how often does noitaminA go with two cour? I only remember Shiki from last Fall.
Bakuman’s manga seems much better than the anime from the one cour that I saw of it – not only are the faces more stupidly drawn but the faces are more stupidly drawn, and the dialogue somewhat makes sense, since it’s easier to ‘talk’ in a manga. I sorta feel the same for Sukunai judging only from the art – I didn’t watch BakaTest S1 the first time it came on because I didn’t watch stupid childish cartoons back then and the art looked bad, even though the manga was relatively funny. Sukunai’s manga is just hilarious-tier, though, and the art looks much better too. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if Sukunai relies more on cuteness or heartwarmingness or whatever crap slice of life shows are based on nowadays (not saying those are bad, but Sukunai isn’t suited to those), I’ll probably not watch, but if it keeps the same stupid humour as the manga does, I’ll definitely recommend it. And it has to be stupid humour, too, because that’s the whole point of Sukunai.
On a somewhat related point, BakaTest’s premise wasn’t /too/ stupid – Ben-To’s is just what is happening. I’m sure there’s a better explanation than the short one you posted, but I’m too lazy to research more.
tl;dr I always think new seasons are crap since most of them have new anime that I know nothing to expect from, but if I limit the amount of anime I watch due to school etc, all seasons will be awesome since the top ~10%’s average quality is about equal across all seasons. There aren’t many shows that are continuing from this season into the next, are there?
P.S. Somewan wan wan somewan wan wan
Nodame Cantabile, Honey and Clover and Shiki are the only 2 cours Noitamina anime.
BRS is going to be better than Guilty Crown.
I’ll be disappointed when whoever subs/simulcasts Persona 4 leaves Teddie’s name as Kuma and doesn’t make him use bear puns. It would be positively unbearable to watch Persona 4 without bear puns.
Well the subbers translate Nezumi as Rat so there’s hope yet
Awww yeeaaaahhhhh, I’m busy right now but I’ll come back and do all sorts of stuff with this list
Phi Brain is like the lovechild of Code Geass and Professor Layton.
Last Exile isn’t ‘whole’. Judging by the quality of the ending they completely forgot that they only had two episodes left in the show, and just pulled something out of their asses to wrap things up quickly.
I personally thought Last Exile had quite a good ending… it just sadly wasn’t included in the show. When you have to read the booklet supplied with the dvd to understand wtf just happened, it’s pretty much a given you’ve just experienced yet another cliché terribly executed ending. Oh, so they travelled to a new world in a spaceship, did they? Well thanks for making that clear to the viewer Gonzo!
they did?????
I’m excited and worried that this season will suck ass. There’s a lot of potential here (for my tastes) and at the same time, some of these titles look too good too be true. That said, I’ll still probably give some of them the 3-5 episode treatment before I slap a big fat NOPE.jpg on it.
What I’m watching: Shana III (obligatory, will drop), Guilty Crown, Last Exile – Fam the silver whatevers, I don’t have any friends IRL (story of my life), P4A (semi-obligatory).
I hope at least one of them will pass for mediocre.
On Last Exile: I watched the first episode at AX and it was impressive. Well animated, very nice story, interesting characters. I got hooked. (But then again, I watched the first season a month afterwards.)
Both of the main characters (the vanship duo) are female. I don’t know how that’s going to turn out. Apparently, Dio is going to make an appearance too. I don’t know how that’s going to turn out, either.
On Mirai Nikki: If the OVA is any indication of this TV series, it’s going to flop, then flop some more, and flop around until it explodes in a violent shower of excrement.
People told me that it was a good manga, but I read the entire thing and thought it was a terrible ripoff of Death Note. And the ending was terrible. And Yuno was the least likable female lead I’ve ever seen.
I thought Code Geass was a terrible rip off of Death Note when I first watched it. So yeah, calling Mirai Nikki a Death Note ripoff doesn’t turn me off in the slightest
I think you didn’t see the same first episode of the new Last Exile that I did. If you had, you would have seen Dio in the latter half of the episode. I was significantly disappointed by the first episode of the new Last Exile. When your opening scene involves one of the new female leads stripping down to her panties, you’re setting the bar pretty low. In addition, the CGI looked horrendous and worse than that in the first series, but they’re likely to fix that before the first airing.
Lots to watch this season (P4, the two Noitamina shows, Phi Brain, Chihayafuru etc). It looks to be a good one.
I have high hopes for HxH, but I’m suspicious of the fact that it’s running in the kid’s morning slot. Censoring of the violence and ediger stuff will leave it more generic shonen than it already is…
Also I want to add that I’m actually enjoying Madhouse’s Blade anime quite a bit. The first episode sucked but it’s since picked up considerably.
So does One Piece and Detective Conan, but that never stops them having plenty of blood and stuff in those kids shows either
I’m actually looking forward to this season unlike the one we’re in now. And I’m looking forward to forever being done with some shows (Shana). In the end, I’ve learned even bad stuff can be fun to watch and blog. As a Gundam fan I’m not even that worried about Gundam AGE. If it sucks then so be it, I still got Unicorn and I’ll just rewatch whatever series I like to wash taint out of my eyes. If it’s good then I’ll be surprised, but pleased.
What I’ll watch (or at least try to watch given my schedule): Shana III, Gundam AGE, Guilty Crown, Ika Musume (of course), Bakuman 2 (I survived the first, might as well finish), Maji de Watashi (b/c I need something pervy), Moon Angel (Strike Witches fan) & most of all Hunter X Hunter (b/c I LOVE the manga, but I’ve never touched the anime).
Most everything else I didn’t like when I watched the previous season, or just doesn’t interest me.
Great reviews, thanks.
Last Exile has a great chance of being good, and if the Dio-looking fellow is actually Dio, then the show has a great chance of being great.
Persona 4 the game has a great story, did anyone tell you?? Ha 😀 Anyway, it really does. It seems they’re sticking to the storyline, the art is extremely similar to the game’s and even the music sounds similar. I’d say this is going to rock too.
Two great shows in one season would be a wonderful thing. I’m actually excited (not necessarily in a sexual way, mind you).
The person who does the music for the Persona games is doing it for the anime version as well. Which is cool, I guess, if the song in the trailer is anything to go by
Shoji Meguro’s music was one of my favorite parts of Persona 4. It was funky, fresh, funky-fresh, and was fitting of the bright yellow color scheme. The only thing is that although Persona music is pretty catchy, it’s also fairly ambient. I guess we’ll see how his style transfers over to anime. You don’t seem to be one to put too much weight on anime soundtracks, though.
Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere, Un-Go, Guilty Crown, Mirai Nikki, Bakuman s2, Working!!, Fate/Zero, Invasion Squid G, Shakugan no Shana and Kimi to Boku.
All of them have something promising (Except Shana, I’m only watching it to make fun of of it), but I wonder which ones I won’t end up dropping. Well you should probably scrap Guilty Crown, Mirai Nikki and Working (yes, I think it has great humor). Also Scamp that Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere looks like it has a promising anti-generic male lead. It might turn out not so bad after all.
And fck Maken-ki! I regret ever trying to read that pile of copypaste bullsht.
Btw, I just noticed your JC Staff jokes never get old.
Nah, not looking forward to Horizon at all. Years of doing these previews has taught me never to trust an anime that doesn’t like noses
For some reason Un-Go reminds me of ‘Unko’ from Toradora. You know that ugly bird they got. Btw, unko means poop. Hehehe…
Rather than watching the full Fate/Stay Night anime, they released a 2-hour TV Reproduction summary video of entire series a while back. But you could easily get by without watching it, only a few characters return and it answers questions you won’t know about or care about if you haven’t seen the show. Just my two cents.
I might do that if Fate/Zero is interesting enough. If not, then I’ll just abandon the franchise as a lost cause
Jeez, thanks for killing my hope for Mirai Nikki. Jerk.
Chihayafuru seems interesting, but I might just read the manga, cause I am hip like that.
I plan on seeing the first season of Last Exile soon (I have the DVD’s 😛 ), so I can’t comment on the second.
I hope Un-Go and Phi Brain are good.
If you think that Guilty Crown will be good, then no doubt it will be good, I look forward to it.
Now, Shakugan no Shana 3 might suck, or just be not that special, but Shana was probably the first non mainstream anime (i.e. something that wasn’t Naruto or Bleach) that I watched. If I re-watched the first season, I probably wouldn’t like it as much as I did, but the fact remains, Shana was an important milestone in my entrance to the anime world, and as such, even if it sucks, I will watch all of season 3, and then cry because a chapter of my life ended or something.
As for everything else, I am going to wait for all the proactive anime bloggers (such as yourself) to tell me what I should and should not watch, I am just an impressionable fool like that.
Man, I have hyped up Guilty Crown too much. It is going to flop so bad, isn’t it?
Jinxed it you may have. Only have to wait and see!
Aria is lovely actually, you should give it a try. Tamayura OVA wasn’t that good, but not bad either. Maybe the TV will become better.
Also, for some reason I’m really looking forward to Hunter x Hunter. The manga is actually one of the better shounens (though I have only read to the start of Greed Island, and after that I heard the manga started to suck) and Madhouse might pull off a shounen anime with a good pacing. If so, then it will be pure win.
HAH! Getting Scamp to watch an iyashikei series is trying to get Aroduc to watch a mecha show past a single episode. In short, it’ll never happen.
Too bad then :<
I have watched them. I just come out the other side a frightened and scarred man
Damn there are some great looking shows for fall! I am really looking forward to Guity crown because I follow Redjuice on Deviantart for the original character designs.
Well like any new season I end up watching everything so I won’t spam the list 😛
Hey you’re my Redjuice-stalking comrade!
The only non-sequel/continuation that has my attention is Ben-To. Competitive shopping sounds like it has the potential to be the right kind of crazy. That, and David Productions’ tastes have been pretty unique up to this point since Bantorra and Level E differ from most of the other stuff getting made. It’s only two examples, but they seem to go for stuff I end up digging.
And I’m still pissed that the new Lupin thing seems to be yet another special. The world could use another decent length Lupin series. Doesn’t have to be 100+ episodes, but a 26 or 52 episode series would be perfect right now.
Yeah, animated adaptions of Kinoku Nasu’s works have been pretty bad. Tsukihime was supposedly terrible, Fate/Stay Night was pretty mediocre, and Kara no Kyoukai was…actually pretty good! Really, if you want an idea of what this guy’s stuff is like, watch Kara no Kyoukai. Not only does it have amazing animation and a brilliant soundtrack but the story is complex and intriguing (once it warms up) and the main character is one of the most interesting I’ve seen in a long time. Not to mention that the fifth film in the series is probably one of the best animated films of all time.
If you want to see the real Fate/Stay Night then you should just play the visual novel or something. It moves at an absolutely glacial pace, but the fight scenes are really well done, the characters are all fairly complex individuals and the story as a whole is a really interesting exploration of heroism through several viewpoints, from idealism through badassery to the shattering of hopes and dreams while clinging to what one holds dear. As a writer, Kinoku Nasu is pretty bad, but as a storyteller he’s actually one of the better ones of the past decade or so.
I’ve seen Kara no Kyoukai and found them impenetrable and dull. Beautifully animated, and there was something about Shiki’s character I found fascinating, but the blasted show never let me in and allow me to actually experience the story. I sat through 5 of those blasted movies before I finally gave up
I actually have no idea what to watch because so many of them looks watchable.. >..<
Since you mentioned it again, I decided to revisit the awesome website for Guilty Crown — except they replaced the awesome scrolly site with a regular one!
This is an outrage! I refuse to watch Guilty Crown until they bring back the awesome scrolly website!
Noooo, they didn’t? Damn you Guilty Crown, how dare you betray us like this!
besides everything yet again looking like your every day carp show for underage teens, this one – Last Exile Fam: The Silver Wing – strikes me bad. WHY!?
after reading about ben-to i was reminded of that old ass game show Supermarket Sweep. does anyone remember that show? good times.
I know that show! It would have been massively improved with assault rifles
clicks gun HANDS OFF THE DIAPERS
You can be such a cynical snark. It’s be fun to dislike you but unfortunately you’re smart and you write well, too. Plus I agree with you half the time or more. OK, I’ll go back to lurking.
Why thank you~! I do try
Lots of watchables, but no real keepables aside from the sequels of series I already watched and/or are part of genres I normally follow (this means that Working’!!, Ikamusume, and Tamayura are on my list).
Shana is kind of iffy, given the most recent novel STILL hasn’t given the series any proper closure. This means its possible that JC Staff will give us yet another anime-original ending, unless they do a ToraDora where they’ll try to squeeze a single book’s content into ONE EPISODE to top off the series.
Some friends have been raving about Mardock Scramble to me, so I suppose it can’t hurt to give that a whirl. Ditto on Fam, though that one worries me, as GONZO shows tend to crash and burn near the end.
That accursed title of Gonzo hovers over the entire production. I refrained from mentioning it in the post, but I’m not sure if Gonzo are even capable of creating good anime anymore. If they can’t make something worthwhile out of Last Exile, then all hope is truly lost
Actually J.C. Staff delayed this last season of Shana specifically so they could wait for the novels to finish (at least that’s what it seems).
The last novel ships on September 10.
Considering the show is likely to be 2 cour, I’d say that gives them plenty of time to use the material for the last few episodes.
Then again, I guess they’re still fully capable of pulling a ToraDora regardless.
Mecha!!! yosh! x10000
Shakugan no Shana 3? ffs!
Ben-To… ok im in.
Nice HxH joke.
Even if he has something of a reputation for it, Junichi Sato doesn’t just make “healing anime,” especially when you factor in shows like Kaleidostar and all of the various children’s magical girl shows he’s worked on.
That said, Tamayura is definitely that, but I highly doubt Phi Brain Puzzle of God is going to be anything close to that.
As if I needed any more reasons to look forward to this shit. As for the other shows I won’t keep my hopes up too much about Ika Musume 2, since Tsutomu Mizushima isn’t going to direct it. His style of humor was what made the first season so good.
Chihayafuru (I adore the manga), Un-Go, Guilty Crown, Kimi to Boku, and Persona 4. Sounds like a nice list.
Pff black rock shooter and noitamina. Ikuhara should adapt his Nokemono to Hanayome manga and put that on noitamina. Now that would be an anime I would be looking forward to. Or maybe SHAFT should to that. If a manga is SHAFTY, that’s the one.
Oh, and thank you for doing this list. It’s pretty damn early.
I’ve only played Persona 3, but the accuracy to the source material is instantly apparent upon seeing the P4 trailer. Same funky/dance/rap music, same animation designs, even the same quirky graphical touches like the split-screen mash-ups during fight sequences. I’m really looking forward to it.
Saying that, the Persona franchise is a very peculiar series; half dungeon rpg, and half high-school simulator (with VN-esque dating elements). Basically, this can either turn out a very stylish and unique show, or a complete mess of conflicting ideas! If the trailer is anything to go by perhaps P4 is a little too close to the source material. I guess we’ll see how it translates as an anime.
cue lurker who is finally posting a comment
Great preview! I’ve been super excited about Guilty Crown since you first mentioned it a few months ago. Chihayafuyu looks interesting, though it would be helpful to know the rules of the game. Also looking to check out Un-Go, Phi Brain (I’m a hopeless Sunrise fan, so I’ll at least give it a shot), Mirai Nikki, Kimi to Boku, Persona 4 (even though it’s a vg adaptation, I like the games too much), Ben-To, and Shakugan no Shana (obligatory). My absolute favorite character from the manga should be debuting in Bakuman this season, which is the only reason to check it out. (It has to get better, right? ;_;)
I don’t really care about these previews that much, because you can’t judge a book by its cover. So I’ll watch every anime I could and if I like it, then I like it, to hell with the haters!
Also its not guaranteed that a good director means a good anime, things can be unpredictable you know
But I like the sequels, because finally I can see those shows end
It would be really encouraging to know if Guilty Crown got booked for 22 episodes. For one, promo art indicates a ton of characters, and I’m not sure if 11 episodes will be enough time. Second, there’s never been a bad 2-cour Noitamina anime; they pick those carefully. Not that I expect the show not to rock. In addition to the great cast you’ve mentioned, they’ve also got the art director from Ghost in the Shell: SAC and Gankutsuou. It’s guaranteed eye candy.
Great job on this post! I agree with pretty much everything except for your dislike of Sato Junichi. 😉
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone tear apart a show that hasn’t even aired as savagely as you just did for “I Don’t Have Many Friends”. I was going to (I probably will) watch it, but you are absolutely right. I realize it, everyone else realizes it. We are just all in denial. We are in denial that these kind of shows can actually turn out decently. Dammit.
Also, Guilty Crown looks great! I got at least one thing to look forward to.
Ben-to’s actually a pretty highly acclaimed LN and the premise is so awesomely nonsensical.
People said that about Kampfer. So yeah. Salt. Pinch of.
I’m curious on how HxH will turn out. I’ve seen the old one and I gotta say it’s one of the best shounen animes out there. I hope they won’t rush the first arcs like what Bones did to Brotherhood. And it puzzles me why you couldn’t get past the first episode.
Also, I think new viewers should be informed that HxH came out first before Naruto because I’ve already been hearing comments like “Oh Kurapika is sooo like Sasuke” or “Hah, Hunter exam is sooo like Chunin exam.” Oh dear. They’re making it sound like HxH is a rip-off of Naruto when its actually the other way around.
knowing that I don’t have to watch the prequel to Last Exile is good or I would have missed it too. The anime I look forward to the most is Working!! so I better stop now before I incur your wrath.
I’ll do it instead of you, just because this is one of the rare chances I can provoke Scamp while knowing he wont mind it.
Working!! rocks!! Hell yeaaaah!! t(>O<)y
The only real worry right now for Working!! is the change in director, whose body of work includes… Ladies vs. Butlers. Oi.
Well shit, you already know my feelings on Persona 4(http://brianandrew.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/why-persona-4-the-animation-excites-me/#more-13389), but I absolutely understand your concerns, hell, at the back of my mind there’s this horrible feeling that something will go wrong, but i’m going to try stay optimistic. After, they can’t possibly mess up the story THAT badly…
Chihayafuru
Un-Go
Guilty Crown
Squid Girl 2
Kimi to Boku
Working 2
Hatsukoi 2 (umm)
My list was decent but then i got half way through and it went downhill from there~~~ lmao.
Your prediction on BokuTomo is wrong, all characters are pretty sterotyped from the beginning, so its impossible for them to become more sterotyped!.
about the manpiece part. . . .not bullseye, but you still get high points for a accurate shot.
still I think its pretty fun, just like bakaTest proves, it doesn’t have to be good to be fun to watch bakaTest will probably be better as anime then bokutomo, but since there will be no baka next season something must fill the gap, and I’ll bet more on bokutomo then ben-to
Still love this review, gonna watch it all with the exeption of the mecha, so lets see how right you are i think your pretty much right on the money with most of this stuff.
I only hopes that Mirai Nikki somewhat turns in a good adaptation. Sanae, bring that miracle power of yours!!
Persona and Fate/Zero looks nice too.
The rest…. MEH.
Wait, so Mirai Nikki might be more like Deadman Wonderland rather than Death Note/FMA?
Bloody
asshatasreadJust to add in about Lerche; not that I’m happy about Maji de! >>, they have animated Carnival Phantasm OVAs for Type-Moon’s 10th anniversary, which has been quite a rage with fans.
I think Kyoukai might still be good. Even if the director is the one who did Dragonaut. He’s gotta make a good one eventually right?
Also, Guilty Crown better be good!
Isn’t this like, the second time? What are you going to watch?
Guilty Crown is actually going to be a 2-cour Noitamina show.
Fuckin Claymore…..we need a remake in the worst way.
Guilty Crown.. oh! how I fear its instantaneous flop status and internet RAEG
somehow, I cannot get my hopes up for its exist. I cannot. I feel I will drpo it at episode 10, as I do with all bad shows that I wonder in retrospect how I lasted that long!
well i like all of them because that’s my favorite!?