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 :)

My mission, of course, is more about giving an opinion on the shows coming than the actual information – although I’ve included that as well – and I hope you’ll find it useful. This is also the first time I’ve actually completely finished one of these previews 0.o – even if it is a tad on the late side. Both of the above have already released initial Spring 2012 charts, so I’m going to be getting started with that relatively soon on my side as well.

Having gone through the series approaching, my pick for this season – or at least the shows I’m really keen to watch are the following:

• Amagami SS+
• Another
• Ano Natsu de Matteru
• Black★Rock Shooter
• Papa no Iu Koto wo Kikinasai!
• Zero no Tsukaima F
• Nisemonogatari
• Kill Me Baby!

There are a few other shows which kind of pique my interest, and will probably get a watch down the line, although I’m not driven to see them as soon as I can.

Below – the charts – click on them to get the full sized versions:

Neregate Winter Chart v5	Animu Charts Winter Chart v4

… 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.

There are, of course, series that I’m a little more excited about than the rest – series in which I’m particularly interested in happen to be the following:

• Shinryaku!? Ika Musume
• Working’!!
• Fate/Zero
• Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing
• Guilty Crown
• Persona 4: The Animation
• Tamayura ~Hitotose~
• Ben-to
• Shakugan no Shana: Final

There are a few other series which I will possibly be watching in order to make my mind up about them, and a couple I will probably watch in order to just kill time and switch my brain off (C³ happens to be one of them). And as you’ll probably see when you look at the preview page, it’s still very much incomplete.

Before I close off – I have been asked in the past to do a series of  “first impression” type posts, something I’ve never been too keen to do for various reasons:

1. Time – mostly – as you can see I have a hard enough time just posting regularly, and
2. I don’t really believe in first impressions. I’ve watched a number of series that I wanted to put down initially, but which ended up being difficult to put down, and conversely, I’ve also seen a few series that started off great and turned into a major disappointment down the line.

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.

I’m going to be taking a slightly different approach to what I’ve been doing thus far. Previously, I’ve taken a couple of series, put my thoughts about what’s coming together, put them in a post, and then organised a collection of posts on the main preview page.

This put everything together in one place, kind of – but there was still a lot of extra hopping about needed in order to find the preview you were looking for. So this time, all the series are going to be listed on one single page, and I’ll merely pop a post in once I actually update the page. Of course, update announcements will be made on my Twitter feed, and on the Facebook page at the same time – so which ever channel you follow, you’ll know as soon as I do.

The visual summer guide below is provided by Twitter user cowboybibimbop – and the full release schedule is posted on Moetron’s Summer Preview page – for those who want to know specifically when a show is starting. All the info is not available yet, but the visual guide and page get updated as new information becomes available.

For the time being the Spring 2011 preview will remain available, but I’ll be removing it from the main navigation within the next few weeks. For now – the Summer 2011 preview page is up, and I’ve covered some details from my first, very much anticipated series, Blood-C – the Studio IG and CLAMP collaboration.

The Visual Anime Release Guide for Summer 2011

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.

However, they are quite able to disguise themselves as humans, and a secret government organisation dispatches Saya to the US Yotsuga Air Force base – where tension is already quite high due to the events transpiring in Vietnam.

Saya

Disguising herself as a high-school girl, Saya enters the school on the base searching for the presence of chiroptera that may have infiltrated the base.

Many of you may already be familiar with the Blood franchise – more specifically with Blood+, which is more or less the spiritual sequel to The Last Vampire. However, apart from the timeline, characters and events, the connection is fairly tenuous, since Blood+ takes place in more of an alternative reality (or universe, if you will) – and you will no doubt notice several key differences. But I’m not going to get into those details right now.

The Saya we see here is a very different creature from the bright, peaceful and gentle Saya we initially encounter in Blood+ – she has a dark and broody personality and has a healthy dose of contempt for any humans she encounters. In other words, eminently suited to running after monstrosities and ending their reigns of terror with brutal efficiency.

I won’t say that I was immensely at ease with the character designs used in The Last Vampire – but it certainly managed to fit very well with the atmosphere the movie was trying to convey. While Saya is generally described as a beautiful girl, her image in the movie pretty much conveys the image of permanently wanting to go for the throat. More particularly, the throat of anyone who happens to piss her off.

Visually though, the movie is very appealing – while the character designs almost seemed not to fit, the quality of the environments used in the movie are excellent and suited to the overall violent and dark atmosphere the movie was trying to create. And violence there is, at some points quite graphic, and dare I use the word again, brutal.

As befits a title that contains the word vampire - lots of blood and violence

IG Production went the somewhat unusual route of filming the movie almost entirely in English, with subtitles at those points where Japanese was spoken, apparently attempting to reach a more world-wide market – with, it must be said, some level of success. Although I should probably mention that on one or two occasions conversations sounded a bit unnatural – pronunciation was near perfect, but the inflection was a little off. This was only really noticeable if you paid attention to it.

Although Blood: The Last Vampire is a movie, it’s very short, coming in at about 48 minutes and as such it tends to forego such niceties as plot and character development – the story itself is basically an excuse to move from one set of action to the next. It also didn’t have any definite conclusion, but the positive take-away from that is the fact that it left room for the development of Blood+. As was mentioned in the synopsis, this movie takes place immediately before the Vietnam war and those of you who have seen Blood+ will remember flashbacks about Saya’s involvement there.

As I also said, Blood+ shouldn’t be considered a direct sequel as there are some differences; specifically, the killing of chiropterids – in Blood+ Saya’s blood does the deed. Here, however, chopping them up enough to stop them from recovering is enough to do the trick. The inconsistencies between the two series are fairly minor in my book though, so moving from this to Blood+ won’t leave you struggling to grasp any new concepts.

So. Worth watching? I’d say so, regardless of whether you’re a fan of vampires or not – there’s plenty of action to be had, and it gets pretty gory and violent at stages.

Chances are you’ll enjoy this if you liked Witch Hunter Robin, which atmospherically speaking shares some similarities, and of course, we probably also need to remember Hellsing – our other favourite gory vampire title.

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.

Kampfer fur die Liebe

Natsuru: Both sides

Synopsis: A continuation of the adventures of Senou Natsuru, who became a Kampfer, a fighter with magical abilities who is supposed to fight against other Kampfer – with the sides being indicated by the colour of the bracelets on their arms. The only catch is, Kampfer are supposed to be female, and Natsuru is most definitely a person of the male persuasion. The solution to that is simple – if he turns into a girl, it’s not a problem.
Genre: Action, comedy
Release Date: 31 March 2011 (2 Episodes)
Official site: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/kenpu/

I really enjoyed the first season of Kampfer – it was a genuinely fun show to watch, but it had an ending so open you could fit an oil-tanker through it, so I was expecting a sequel, and as such was rather looking forward to this one. I’m just a little bit disappointed that it’s going to be short, effectively becoming episodes 13 and 14 of the first season. Since episode 12 was kind of pointless (the actual season finale took place in episode 11) – I’m left wondering if these episodes will lead to any kind of resolution – somehow I have my doubts. It was also reported that the television networks would only be airing one of the episodes, meaning that you’ll have to wait for the Bluray/DVD releases if you want to see all of it. I’m still going to try and get hold of it though.

Nichijou

Nichijou

Synopsis: Nichijou is a simple slice-of-life comedy anime following the daily events of a group  of students at school. The school itself is a little, well … strange.
Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-life
Release Date: 3 April 2011 (13 Episodes)
Official site: http://www.shinonome-lab.com/

There isn’t a lot I can say about this particular series. The manga is a mixture of 4-panel comic strips and normal comic format stories, and it doesn’t have a plot-line per se – so I’m guessing this would be pretty similar to Lucky Star in that respect, and will very likely follow a set group of friends throughout their high-school life. Unlike Lucky Star however, it seems events in this particular school are a little more on the wierd side, so I don’t think we need to expect a complete Lucky Star clone, although I’m sure there are going to be similarities enough that they will be pointed out. Nichijou can be translated as daily or day-to-day – so that gives you an idea. Probably another series you can relax and have a laugh about.

A Channel

A Channel

Synopsis: Toeru – a girl – happens to like Run, another girl, and as a result takes an entrance exam in order to go to the same high-school as Run does. Much to her delight, she passes, but when she runs to tell Run, she finds Run hugging another girl she’s never seen before.
Genre: Slice-of-life, Comedy
Release Date: 8 April 2011
Official Site: http://www.a-ch.jp/

I seem to be saying this a lot, but this almost seems like another Lucky Star clone. The synopsis above serves as a starting point, since the manga (and the anime, by extension) follows four friends at high-school. Given the synopsis, I was tempted to add Yuri in the list of genre’s above – but I have no basis for that at the moment. I don’t think you’re going to see any steamy girl-on-girl action; just plenty of moe moments – again similar to Lucky Star in that respect, which involved no romance on the part of the characters, although a mass of doujin creators would have you believe otherwise. Any search on Google for “Konata x Kagami doujinshi” is almost certainly going to have it’s partner in searches where A Channel is concerned (do NOT go search that phrase – it’s guaranteed to be NSFW!!) [edit: I just know search volumes for that phrase is going to rocket now]. So A Channel is going to be of middling interest – I’ll probably end up watching it down the line somewhere.

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi

Synopsis: Due to his brother’s illness, Kazumu’s family moves from the city to a rural town to allow him to recover. On their way to their new lodgings they manage to get lost, and while wandering around the town Kazumu bumps into Nagatsukawa Ui. This becomes the first of many interesting encounters in his new hometown.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Release Date: 6 April 2011 (12 Episodes)
Official site: http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/hoshikaka/

Based as it is on an adult bishoujo game, Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi (Bridge to Starry Skies) is setting itself up to be a typical harem-type anime ie. relatively normal bloke surrounded by a ton of incredibly pretty girls who are all for some reason incredibly interested in him. I’m willing to put bets down that you’re going to see many of the stereotypes I mentioned in my harem anime post in this one. It’s fairly short, so at the very least it won’t be dragging on, but you probably won’t see any worthwhile conclusion coming out of it either, and don’t expect any kind of significant plotline. The backstory just explains why they ended up there in the first place. All the same, I have a little bit of a soft spot for anime of this type (thanks to series like Shuffle!, Da Capo et al), so I’m pretty sure I’ll end up watching it eventually. Just not right away.

That ends my take on the releases for this cycle, and yes, I’m aware that there is a lot I haven’t covered – but given the amount of time I have on hand, covering a massive set of releases turned into a bigger challenge than I expected.

I’ll be updating the Spring Releases page in due course, including the series that I intend to watch and for which you may encounter reviews at some point in the future.

I’ll be changing my approach to the summer release schedule slightly – I’m planning my way through that. I hope all of you found something worth enjoying during this cycle – look forward to the next one.

Right, back to reviews.

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.

Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland

Synopsis: Igarashi Ganta is a former high-school student – the lone survivor of a class massacre, and as such becomes the prime suspect and is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. He is sentenced to Deadman Wonderland – a massive, privately owned prison. Because of the nature of the crime he is accused of, Ganta receives continious injections of a poison that would kill him except for the existence of an antidote in the form of a candy. The candy is earned by participating in lethal games held by the prison. While trying to clear his name, Ganta befriends and is helped by other inmates, a mysterious girl named Shiro and a kleptomaniac named Yoh.
Genre: Sci-fi, Action, Horror
Release Date: 16 April 2011
Official Site: http://dwl.jp/

Well, now. This one sounds pretty darn interesting. It’s set in the near future, after Japan suffered a particularly devastating quake; a tragedy in which Ganta lost his prior memories, and I’m guessing that this will have a fairly pivotal effect on the storyline. The illustration and character designs were done by Kondou Kazuma, who also wrote and illustrated Eureka Seven, and if you see the main character, the resemblance is rather obvious. I’m not entirely sure how many episodes the series is going to last for just yet, but I’m betting on your longer than average run. The manga contains a fairly large cast, and there’s a big mystery behind Ganta’s conviction. Based on the synopsis, and the eventual direction the story takes, I’m expecting to see a fair bit of graphic violence. Deadman Wonderland makes it onto my “Must Watch” list.

Hana-Saku Iroha

Hana-saku Iroha

Synopsis: The story follows 16-year-old Matsumae Ohana who leaves Tokyo to stay with her grandmother, who she has never spoken to or even met,  in a hot springs inn in the country side. While it may not be the kind of lifestyle she would have chosen for herself, Ohana decides to make the most of it, and starts working in the inn, making friends with the other employees.
Genre: Slice-of-life
Release Date: 3 April 2011 (12 Episodes)
Official site: http://www.hanasakuiroha.jp/

Hana-saku sounds like a straight slice-of-life with no real plot-line, or if there is one, it’s definitely going to be in the background and not really central to the happenings of each episode. In this respect, the series reminds me a little bit of Aria, and I’m expecting the pacing, if not personalities, of the central characters, to share some similarities. Given how much I ended up enjoying the Aqua/Aria series, this makes me inclined to give this series a watch for some less serious entertainment. There doesn’t seem to be as much scope for emotional scenes as Aria had though, but I believe this series has the potential to be quite enjoyable. Pity it’s so short though.

SKET DANCE

SKET DANCE

Synopsis: SKET DANCE follows the activities of the Campus support group (Suketto Dan) – a club focussed on solving problems of the students and staff and working to improve the general life on campus. The club, however, gets mostly trivial assignments, and consists of only three members who happen to be a bunch of misfits, and as such doesn’t really get a lot of respect around the campus.
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: 7 April 2011
Official site: http://sketdance.jp/

Once again, we have a series with no real central plot. The manga is described as taking place in a bunch of self-contained stories which focus on cases and activities undertaken by the club. The manga that the series is based on has been in serialisation for a while and currently consists of about 17 volumes, so I’m going to assume that it’s reasonably popular. Nothing about the series particularly pulls me to watch it, but I’ll rate it as one of those anime you’ll sit down and watch when you’re looking for a laugh and you want to give your brain a rest.

Ao No Exorcist

Ao no Exorcist

Synopsis: Okumura Rin lives in a world that consists of two joined dimensions: Assiah, the world of the humans, and Gehenna, the world of the demons. Travel between the two worlds is impossible – except when the demons posess a creature of Gehenna. Rin is Satan’s (the Lord of the Demons) illegitimate son living in the human world, specifically created so a container powerful enough for Satan to posess would be available. After Satan engineers the death of Rin’s foster father in order to bring him to the demon world, Rin chooses to become an exorcist in order to find and defeat Satan.
Genre: Action, Supernatural, Drama
Start Date: 10 April 2011 (26 Episodes)
Official site: http://www.ao-ex.com/

Ao no Exorcist looks set to be a pretty action-filled series, and most likely to follow the one-demon per episode format – Rin’s mission after all, is to defeat Satan – and to do that he’s going to have to slaughter his way through all the minions first. Once again, I’m not expecting much from this one on the mental exercise side – it will most likely be pretty straightforward in terms of plot and story development. I’ll most likely end up watching this series, for entertainment, if nothing else.

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 …

Hyouge Mono – Tea for Universe, Tea for life

Doesn't look excited either

Synopsis: It was the Sengoku-era, when the warlords usurped each other. There was a man whose soul was overtaken by the ways of tea and material greed, as he worked his way up toward greater power and status. His name was Sasuke Furuta, a subordinate warrior of Nobunaga Oda. With his world broadened by Nobunaga the Genius, and his spiritual insight learned from Senno Soueki the Master of Tea, Sasuke drove road to Hyouge Mono. To live or not to live. For the power of the art. [source: MangaHelpers]
Genre: I haven’t a clue O.o
Release Date: 7 April 2011 (39 Episodes) Official Site: http://www9.nhk.or.jp/anime/hyouge/

The Sengoku era was one of the most tumultuous periods of Japanese history – in English it’s known as the Warring States period – 200 years of near constant warfare and social upheaval which only ended when political power was consolidated under Tokugawa Ieyasu. And that’s about as much background as I have on this series, because I have absolutely no idea what this series is about – my usual sources of information – Wikipedia, and Anime News Network – are practically bare. So I had to hunt for that synopsis, and it didn’t do much to clear up my confusion. Going by that and the title, it seems tea is somehow involved. Maybe as a potential weapon of mass destruction, or the protagonist was practicing some obscure form of biological warfare. No idea. However, if you’re going to be promoting a series, it may be advisable to actually release something that will tempt people to watch, and I feel nothing pulling me towards this one. So it goes into the skip tray.

Also couldn’t track down a trailer for it.

Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate

Synopsis: Steins;Gate follows a group of friends who have customised their microwave and turned it into a device capable of sending messages to the past. As they perform various experiments with the device, an organisation known as SERN – having been working on their own time-travel research – catches wind of it and starts tracking the friends down, resulting in a chase as the group scrambles to avoid them.
Genre: Action, Sci-fi, Adventure
Release Date: 5 April 2011
Official site: http://steinsgate.tv/

My first reaction to this was: Why on earth would you want to turn a device for cooking food into a device for sending messages. Net loss in functionality. Then the sending back messages to the past bit registered, and all sorts of possibilities tapped me on the shoulder. This could be interesting. Of course, for those of you who have seen The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, you will realise that it’s never going to be as simple as sending a message to the past and warning your mates that the baddies are gonna be outside the door at 5am, and could you get out by 4:55 at the latest please? Steins;Gate is based on a visual novel, with time and time-travel being central themes, and the concept of cause and effect featuring strongly. This series sounds different enough that it warrants a watch, although a lot depends on the overall execution.

Appleseed XIII

Appleseed XIII

Synopsis: Appleseed takes place in the 22nd Century, in the time after the Earth was decimated by a non-nuclear 3rd World War. In the aftermath of the war, countries have a hard time maintaining order. The main characters, former SWAT members of the LAPD, are invited to join the prestigious ESWAT in city-state Olympous – now the worlds most powerful state.
Genre: Action, Sci-fi
Release Date: April 2011 (13 Episodes)
Official Site: http://appleseed13.jp/

The series is an adaptation of  the Appleseed manga, penned by Masamune Shirow, whom most of you will probably recognise as the original creator of the Ghost in the Shell series. That in itself is enough to make me sit up and take notice. It’s only 13 episodes long, but since the manga itself was only 4 volumes in total, assuming they stick to the original storyline, it shouldn’t leave too much out. Masamune Shirow’s works tend to be quite graphic in terms of factors such as violence and nudity, but I have no idea whether the series is going to follow the same conventions – to be on the safe side though, I would probably only recommend this series for adults, since it features themes like politics and sociology.

Couldn’t find a trailer a time of writing this.

Out of this particular section, Steins;Gate manages to capture my interest to some degree, and Appleseed XIII may also be worth a watch, especially for big fans of Masamune Shirow’s works.

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.

The World God Only Knows

The World God Only Knows

Synopsis: Katsuragi Keima is a second year high-school student, known online for his near godlike ability to conquer any girl in any bishoujo game. However, in real life, at school, Keima is viewed as nothing more than a rather depressing geek. When he receives an e-mail inviting him to conquer more girls, he accepts, thinking it an invitation to a game, but is rather surprised when a demon turns up telling him that he’s supposed to help her capture runaway spirits by capturing the hearts of girls these spirits are hiding in. Keima is rather appalled by the idea, since he has zero interest in 3D girls, preferring the 2D variety …
Genre: Comedy, romance, supernatural
Release date: April 2011
Official site: http://kaminomi.jp/index.html

What we’re seeing here is actually the second season of The World God Only Knows (Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: [Kaminomi]) – and this is merely a continuation of the first season. While the synopsis makes the show seem rather cliched – the first season was actually very well received, with one of the reviewers on Anime News Network stating “…the show’s sharp sense of humor, honest emotions, and polished production values prove that working with familiar clichés doesn’t have to result in a clichéd product”. The show spends a fair bit of time parodying themes from dating sims, and making some fun of otaku and pop-culture. Of course, one would expect Keima to be completely out of his depth – learning about girls using dating sims has been parodied quite often (Seto no Hanyome made a fair bit of fun of it in one episode) – and one might wonder how they persuaded him to take part. Well … keeping your head attached to your body is pretty good incentive, I think. I’ll add this to my list.

Hidan no Aria

Aria of the Scarlet Bullet

Synopsis: The story takes place in Tokyo Butei High School, a special school where armed detectives — “Butei” — are trained to use weapons. Kinji Tooyama is a second-year-student who has a special ability, but he keeps it a secret to maintain an ordinary, peaceful life. However, when he gets caught in a bombing on the way to school, he encounters H. Aria Kanzaki, the most powerful S-Rank Butei student in Assault Studies.
Genre: Action, comedy
Release Date: April 2011
Official site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/aria/

I experienced a strong sense of deja vu when I read this synopsis – doesn’t this sound horribly similar to Freezing which debuted amongst the winter releases? It does, doesn’t it? It’s based on a series of light novels and by all  accounts, Hidan no Aria isn’t going to be quite as fanservice focused as Freezing is –  this may just be a glimmer of expectation on my part, but with a rating of PG13 it probably won’t be completely off-putting to those who disapprove of such things. In any case, this is one of those anime series that I’m a little uncertain about – I may watch the first few episodes to get a feel for it, but nothing at this point compels me to sit down and take notice.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Synopsis: The story follows high-school student Niwa Makoto, who moves in to live with his aunt when his parents leave the country on business. Once there, he meets his cousin Touwa Erio, a girl of the same age as himself. However, she went missing for six  months at  one stage and was found floating in the ocean with no memory of what happened during that period – but ever since that time she’s been a little bit … well … strange.
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: April 2011
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/denpa/

Once again, the parents are away for an extended period of time – this seems to be the standard explanation for parents not being around when their kids get up to all kinds of shennanigans. In any casae, Makoto’s first impression of his cousin is based on the fact that she’s a self-proclaimed alien, lives off pizza to the exclusion of nearly everything else (sounds great, in my opinion) and ties a futon around her upper body and starts wandering around town. Still wearing the futon. Yes .. a little bit wierd. The story is based on a series of light novels, with a manga starting serialization in October 2010 – so there must be some level of popularity going. Again, I might watch the first couple of episodes to get a feel for it. I’m expecting some level of fanservice from this one.

I haven’t been able to track down a trailer for this title yet

So, after Part IV my list of anime I’m looking to watch has grown a little longer with the addition of Kaminomi – while Hidan no Aria and Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko both get a passing grade for the time being, as I’ll decide on their watchableness after taking a look at the first episode or two.

Part V of the Anime Spring 2011 Preview is in progress – although I’ll be drifting off on a bit of a tangent over the next two weeks, since I’m going to attempt to cover something of AnimeMusicVideo.org’s VCA2011 – which is moving into the final voting phase as of tomorrow, and then some additional info is coming up with regards to Miku’s Live Party – which is now only nine days away. Also, one or more reviews are coming up as well. Stay tuned!!

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.

Misaki’s life takes a drastic turn when Usui Takumi, one of the more popular boys at school bumps into her outside Maid Latte while she’s in her maid uniform. Much to her surprise, he keeps her secret, but on the flip side, despite his general disinterest in girls in general, he takes a great deal of interest in Misaki’s doings, completely putting her off her stride.

Misaki and Usui

And this is pretty much the premise of the entire series. It’s a romantic comedy, although Kaichou wa Maid-sama! took a lot of different approaches that set it apart from more generic versions of the theme.

The first being Misaki. Unlike most of the girls you’ll find in this type of series, she’s not cute, big-breasted, permanently dressed in skimpy outfits (even the maid uniform is quite decent in that respect, but it earns a lot of moe points ^_^) – in addition to that, she’s extremely smart and hard-working, terrifically sporty, and packs a hell of a punch, as Usui and a couple of boys find out to their own cost. Pretty much a tomboy, really. Oh, and she hates boys.

The second is Usui Takumi – who in this series plays the perfect counterpart to Misaki. Despite his popularity amongst the girls at school, he has zero interest in girls until he meets Misaki. So much interest, as a matter of fact, that Misaki takes to calling him a perverted alien stalker. Usui himself is a complete mystery to Misaki, and it’s probably this reason that she spends so much time trying to figure him out. And thus, a love-hate relationship is born.

You see, it is during the frequent interactions between the two where you discover that, wait, Misaki actually can be cute. And that cuteness is brought out in the countless embarrassed and/or angry expressions Misaki tends to wear whenever Usui mercilessly teases her. And despite the fact that Usui almost permanently infuriates her, he seems to be determined to get Misaki to like him.

Misaki - usually cute when embarrassed

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! isn’t the kind of laugh-out-loud comedy I was expecting, and, unless you count maid uniforms and the one episode featuring swim-suits, it’s practically fan-service free. Not to say you might not end up giggling a few times – the characters were pretty well defined in general, and I found the story quite refreshing, actually. The animation was clean and straight-forward, and dead-pan faces, particularly on Usui, were pretty much a given – and I found that facial expressions, especially Misaki’s, were really well done.

But she freaked the boys out a bit ...

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! consisted of 26 episodes which aired from April 2010 to September 2010, and is based on the manga of the same name by Fujiwara Hiro, which first started serialisation in 2005. At this point the manga consists of 12 volumes in total, and is still ongoing by all accounts.

Would I recommend it? Yes, definitely. It was relaxing and fun, and even though to a point it was fairly predictable it wasn’t a waste to watch.

It shares similarities with the following anime series – Kare Kano (romantic drama) and Special A (romantic comedy), since both these series feature a similarly strong-willed female protagonist who have a strong will to perform, but find themselves competing to some degree with a male rival.

Below is the trailer (subbed) and the official site is available here (in Japanese).

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.

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

Synopsis: The synopsis for this one is a little incomplete – but bear with me. The story follows a guy with schizophrenia – a really, really bad case of it – in that he doesn’t have just one or two alternate personalities, but many, many more. Each of his personalities operates at different times, and as such meets different people (mostly girls, of course) – and all the personalities are aware of the others, but his main personality isn’t able to deal with reality, and so the others are basically his body’s caretakers.
Genre: Romance, drama
Release date: April 2011

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai is based on an eroge (dating sim) created by Navel, the same group that created Shuffle! Shuffle! has gone on to become one of the most well known eroge of recent years; with good reason. It had a great story, clean and cute character design, and above all a range of engaging characters that were really easy to like. The artwork for Oretachi is certainly very recognisable – but fans of Shuffle! should note that Oretachi is portrayed as having a much darker atmosphere than Shuffle! – apart from a few episodes in the middle Shuffle! was actually very light-hearted for the most part. Even though Oretachi is a hentai dating sim (with all that implies), I’m expecting the anime adaptation to follow the same route as Shuffle! did – some fanservice (cleavage, limited nudity, pantsu – with the infamous shimapan making a return, no doubt), but nothing over the top. Maybe not something you’d sit down and watch with Gran, but entertaining and worth watching nonetheless. I’m a huge fan of Shuffle!, so I’m definitely adding this one to my list of “Wanna see!”

30-sai no Hoken Taiiku

Education in progress?

Synopsis: 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku (Health Education for 30-year old men) is a guidebook that teaches men of 30 years and older who happen to be shy and reserved how to find girls, date them, with the ultimate objective being having sex with them. The book was released in 2005 after a report stating that roughly 25% of Japanese men aged 30 – 34 have never had sexual intercourse; in a country with a rapidly aging population and declining birthrate, this is a major problem.
Genre: Comedy, Ecchi
Release Date: April 2011

Okay, no matter how you look at it, this particular series has the potential to be pure gold. The target demographic for this particular series is pretty easy to figure out (y’know – males aged 30 and older), although I’m almost certain the viewership is going to be a hell of a lot wider than that (including the male 16 – 29 bracket). Of course, there’s always a chance that it’s going to be seriously mucked up, but considering the fact that it actually does attempt to address a serious crisis Japan is currently facing, I’m willing to wager that some quality control took place. Pretty much everyone is expecting this series to be incredibly funny – I’m included, whether it’s meant to be that way or whether the shock value is going to pull laughs. All that aside, the art-work and character designs are a little unconvincing – that’s 30 plus?!? But yeah, expect plenty of …ummm … dodgy situations ^_^ And not for the kids …. obviously.

Showa Monogatari

Synopsis: Showa Monogatari is a slice-of-life drama series following the daily doings of a Tokyo family during the same year Tokyo hosted the Olympic games (1964) Showa 39.
Genre: Drama
Release Date: April 2011 (13 Episodes)

The concept behind this series isn’t exactly tried and tested – THINK Corporation, the production company behind Showa Monogatari, has stated that the series is the first anime targeted at seniors, although families are also targeted. While I generally won’t shy away from drama series, I can’t really say anything about this series sounds tempting, but that may also be because I have too little information to go on right at this moment. So I may just give the first couple of episodes a try to get a general feel for what the series has to offer. It’s only 13 episodes though, so it’s not really a lot of time wasted. The first four episodes have already received an advanced airing at the beggining of the year, and a movie was released at the end of 2010.

And that concludes Part 3 of our preview series. As you can no doubt guess, we have 2 series in this post that I actually really want to see. There are a couple of series still coming up that I’m interested in – I’m probably going to add a list of the series I’m pretty interested in to the Spring 2011 preview page – having said that, if you haven’t caught up with the previous two posts yet, go visit it.