So, firstly, let me start with wishing all of you who read this a happy new year. 2012 is lying ahead of us, full of glitter and promise – just waiting for us to come along and screw things up again ^_^

Of course, I’m trying to get away from all of the screwing up by making plans and setting goals, and hopefully this year, I’ll even meet some of them … but more on that in a later post.

The main reason for this post is to announce that I’ve completed my preview opinion of the series for the Winter 2012 season. I’ve used various sources for the information gathered on my preview page – although primarily I need to give thanks to the producers of two rather excellent charts (I’m including them both in the post below – you can choose which one you like best) – cowboybibimbop and Zana@Neregate. A fair amount of info also came from Moetron.com. More after the break :)

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… although, while I would like to call it a preview – it’s turning into more of a review thing, since I’m running a little late as per usual. But time caught up with me, unfortunately.

So, incomplete as it is, the list of anime releases for the Autumn/Fall release cycle – with my thoughts attached, are available here – I’ll be updating with relevant information as we progress.

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We’re moving on towards June, and with that comes the latest anime release cycle – with a whole raft of new series about to come our way. The bulk of these will start airing in July, but the first couple of OVAs will be making an appearance in June already. Borrowing some info from Moetron, I’m going to be giving my (now usual) uptake and thoughts on what’s coming over the course of the next three months.

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I’m not going to beat around the bush. Apart from that rather unfortunate Twilight episode, I’m quite fond of vampires. Not fond as in looking to meet up and cuddle, but stories surrounding them. I suspect actually meeting one (provided it’s possible) may change my point of view. Vampires in anime tend to fall into two distinct categories: There are the cute, (usually female) well-endowed ones, which, depending on the situation you’ll be quite happy to let them take a bite (Rosario+Vampire, Karin), and then there are some that are a little more violent.

Blood: The Last Vampire drops fairly neatly into the latter category, although our protagonist spends her time hunting monsters rather than eating people. This may be a good thing.

Set in Japan in the mid-1960’s, we meet Saya, the last remaining pure vampire and hunter of chiropterids, bat-like monsters who live by consuming human blood – pretty much vampires themselves. Except, not as good looking.

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Although I haven’t managed to cover all the new releases taking place this season, due to the fact that the first of the series have started airing I’ve decided to finish off the previews with this particular post. If you’re wondering what I haven’t covered, you can see the full list of releases on Moetron’s post – and as you will quickly be able to see, the list of releases was massive. I’m going to be updating the Spring Releases page here on Animated Meanderings with a list of the anime I’ll most likely be following – and which with any luck will eventually be reviewed.

Assuming of course, I can find the time to watch them all. Read the rest of this entry »

Hang with me guys, we’re almost done here. I’m slowly approaching the end of the list – this post looks to be the one of the last – there will be a part VII, and then the final summary, in which I will also make mention of those series that I skipped. Most of them due to complete lack of anything resembling interest, although time is also causing some pressure.

I’d like to make a note with regards to those series where I’ve mentioned the release dates – due to the recent quake and tsunami it’s entirely possible that some of the dates may shift (we’ve already seen some of the currently airing series being pushed back by a week). So don’t take the dates as gospel.

In order to hurry things along a bit, I’m covering four of the new series in this particular post.

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We’re now roughly half-way through our series of posts about the Spring 2011 Anime release cycle. I’ll be honest though, I’m skipping a few shows, mostly because I just cannot drum up the enthusiasm needed to actually do any research about them.

But no worries, I’ll give them all a mention (and hopefully a link or two) in the final post of the series, so you won’t be missing out on anything much.

This is of course, a relatively big week too, with Miku’s Live Party taking place tomorrow – something, sadly, I’ll be missing out on – although I’ll very likely be watching YouTube like a hawk in hopes of spotting anything uploaded before SEGA comes along and clears them. It was also announced this week, that NHK, one of Japan’s broadcasting corporations, has decided the Vocaloid phenomenon is big enough to warrant it’s own radio show. More about that on TokyoHive.

Some info was also released about the upcoming resumption of the K-On! manga – two seperate strips will be serialised, with one following Yui and Co. in college, and the other following Azusa, Ui and Jun in high-school. I’m also quite sure they’ll rejoin at some point, since Azusa is also in her third year. Good news for all the characters’ fans. Anime News Network has some more on this.

And now, we move on to the previews again …

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Moving on with the previews for the Spring 2011 release cycle.

The very long list of anime presents us with a number of sequels – one of them appearing in today’s preview. Sequels are not always a bad thing, but they do seem to be making more and more regular appearances. K-On! is already expecting a movie sequel to the second season, while it was announced recently that the manga would be resuming in March/April 2011.

The question on everyone’s mind now, of course, is what K-On! will be focusing on next. With the senior members of the keionbu (Yui, Tsumugi, Mio and Ritsu) having graduated from high-school, are we now looking at a new chapter following Azusa (or Azu-nyan, as everyone seems to prefer) rebuilding the club, or is it going to be following the seniors while they are at college. Or a combination of both.

I’m throwing my bets on the latter option – since K-On! without any of the members of the cast as at the end of the second season wouldn’t be K-On! The characters made the series.

With that slice of news aside, it’s time to move on to the next couple of series making their debut in April. Read the rest of this entry »

Meet Ayuzawa Misaki. She’s a second year student Seika High, a former boys school that only recently became co-ed and its student body has a reputation as a delinquent and unruly lot. Misaki, the first female Student Council president has taken it upon herself to reform the school and improve its image.

And so, to the boys in the school she’s a demon dictator who is permanently on their cases, and to the teachers and much smaller female student body, she’s a shining beacon of hope. She’s hard-working and intelligent, tough as nails … but she has a secret that could destroy the image she has built for herself if it was ever discovered – in order to help her single mother and maintain her household, she works part-time as a maid at Maid Latte, a maid cafe.

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Up until this point, the series previewed haven’t offered up a lot that I found particularly interesting – with the exception of Moshidora, pretty much everything has seemed a little on the bland side.

This may be a good thing, since I only have so much time available in a day, and I do have a lot of catching up to do :) In any case, we’re  a little more than  half-way through February, and I thought it prudent to speed things up a little bit – so I’m giving the info for three new series in this particular post.

It goes without saying that at some point something had to arrive that piqued my interest, and this post has two of them. Forwards and onwards – let’s get the previews started.

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