Before you start grilling me about my sources, don’t get too excited, Otou-san from SOS pointed me in the direction of this excellent post over at THAT Anime blog that previews new TV series to air this fall. After combing through the list twice I’ve got a better grasp of what awaits us in fall; go have a looksie, you might be surprised at the variety of new offerings in stark contrast to summer and its draught of worthwhile shows.
Plot summary from THAT's article: "This is a school setting comedy, with students going to a magical school." Wooooooooooooooooow.
My OCD has yet again taken over so I worked overtime separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, into categories of increasing interest. You know what to click if you want to know more!
Not In A Million Years:
OH LAWD.
Vampire Knight Guilty – I have no bishounen needs for this show to cater to. If I wanted to observe young effeminate men sucking each other’s, uh, blood, I wouldn’t spend my Friday nights at home writing blog posts, would I?
Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin – Card game anime in the same vein as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblade and other crappy, spastic shows whose plot revolves around zomg pulling another card from your deck when least expected!!1!!1 As a general rule I avoid card game anime like the plague. I see that trend holding for the foreseeable future.
Kyou no Go no Ni – Ecchi show with fifth graders. I’ll stick to Naisho no Tsubomi, thanks.
Bihada Ichizoku – Allow me to quote from THAT’s summary:
The Bihada Ichizoku concept was created by cosmetics company Love Labo and Bandai as a promotional tool for Love Labo’s line of Bihada Ichizoku cosmetics. The concept debuted as advertising imagery and developed into a manga story about an annual “World Beautiful-Skin Competition.”
Will watching this show cause you to spontaneously exfoliate? Only time will tell. I won’t, however.
Junjou Romantica 2 — When first skimming through the article my eyes caught the words “yaoi manga” and glanced over the attached picture. One tenth of a second later my index was working my mouse’s scroll wheel so frantically I have the blisters to prove it.
The “Definitely Maybe” Pile:
Oh. My. God. Becky, look at her butt. It is SO big.
Michiko To Hatchin — Call me crazy but the art (above) tickles my anime bone juuuust the right way. The pairing of a bodacious femme fatale and a teenage troublemaker also intrigues me. Thelma and Louise anime-style?
Hakushaku to Yousei — Lydia the “fairy doctor”? 19th-century England? Chance of steampunk? Victorian romance? It’s a long shot, but maybe the atmosphere will fascinate. I’m not holding my breath but remain open to surprises. Especially after summer and Antique Bakery.
Tales of the Abyss – Wonder if it’ll turn out better than World Destruction. And is the red-haired person in the picture a man or a woman? I can’t tell for the life of me.
Rosario to Vampire CAPU2 – I… like the art?
Toradora! – Sounds like it could turn out Tsubomi-esque. Little girl + kitty = awwwwwwwwww. Yeah, yeah, I’m a big softy with a heart of gold.
Kurozuka – This one screams “potential”: a man living in feudal Japan realizes he can’t die and we follow his story as he witnesses Japan’s development for the next millenium. So far I’m digging the sci-fi trend for the fall, and this show could easily move into the next category, but there’s so little information to chew on I’ll leave it here for now.
Might Turn Out To Cure Cancer Too:
Prepare face for impact in three, two, one...
Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden: Ten no Haoh – You know what? I’ve never watched any Fist of the North Star anime before. So in the same spirit that made me pick up Macross Frontier, I’ll give this one my best try. I surmise the show will involve punching people — quite possibly within the vicinity of a star and/or under the night sky — and plenty of GARRR. Who doesn’t enjoy a dose of GARRR to start their day?
Tytania – I loves me some tasty dystopian sci-fi. Towards the Terra was one of the first series I watched after I caught the anime bug, and I’ve tried again and again to follow up on it, with mixed results: Heroic Age was passable entertainment, Vandread a steaming pile of you-know-what, and Macross Frontier very serviceable… And yet missing a je ne sais quoi that Tytania may be able to supply.
CHAOS;HEAD – Sci-fi/horror adaptation of a video game. Yuuuuuum. Granted, the Japanese and I tend to differ in our conceptions of what’s scary, but when they overlap I am entertained without fail.
Shikabane Hime: Aka – All you need to know about this show is encompassed by the following two words:
Gainax.
Zombies.
I’ll let you run with it.
Casshern SINS – A hero who willingly undergoes cybernetic augmentation to fight evil robots in a dystopian future? Animation by Madhouse? And a remake of an old-school 70s anime? How can I pass?
Backburner Spot:
Clannad ~After Story~ and Ef ~A tale of melodies~ — Two romance/harem shows whose first installments have yet to materialize in my vicinity. I was spoiled a bit by True Tears but, to be fair, both series received a majority of positive reviews. Do I feel like having a solid manly cry? Eh, not so much at the moment, yet I’ll keep them in mind and perhaps revisit them after watching the first seasons.
-Mr. K
Today’s Karen is: CURIOUS
I read the manga for Vampire Knight. It was pretty disappointing (but with great art). It’s made for teeny-bopper girls, with not much else to do but spaz over their favorite boybands. I’m more than certain that the anime is the same.
There’s actually a character named “Zero” in Vampire Knight! Haha! It’s that white-haired one with the gun. He’s the super emo of anime. Eh.
I’m actually looking forward to Michiko To Hatchin. Manglobe was behind Samurai Champloo, so it just might be good. *crosses fingers*
Oh and since you’ve already seen episode 20: “WHAT THE HELL SUZAKU?!?!??!”
I somehow missed Galactic Heroes, which everyone my age absolutely poops their pants over. I guess that’s why Tytania missed making an impression on me.
Casshern I never saw the original anime of, but a few years ago a live-action movie was made with all-animated backgrounds, much like the recent Frank Miller adaptations, and I bought it on a whim. It was actually pretty neat, but story-wise it was a pretty standard anime fighty-fight thing.
If you’re going to watch any VN adaptations, Ef is the one. It pulls out all the melodramatic stops with an artsy twist. Dunno if the sequel/prequel/whatever it is will deliver, though.
Michiko To Hatchin is a big “maybe” for me, Casshern should be entertaining, Shikabane Hime is interesting, a little Hokuto no Ken never hurt anyone…and Tytania is a definite “yes” since I’m hoping it has enough of the good old Legend of Galactic Heroes spirit left.
I’d never heard of LOGH until about a year ago, but then I was quickly hooked and haven’t regretted it.
Clannad and Ef depend on my finding the time to watch their predecessors too.
Everything else…don’t know yet.
[...] day started with an anime that I’d half-jokingly stuck in the “Maybe” category of my preview post. To tell the truth, I wasn’t expecting much from the show, apart from some colorful character [...]