Introduction

Tofu// Wow. It really has been a long while since we’ve done a Season Preview hasn’t it? First of all, much apologies on behalf of the team. We were short on hands and time in the past but now with new minions writers, we present to you the one and only fall anime preview for 2012!

While my eyes itch and my nose run like a broken tap over here in Australia (it’s spring), I’ve got mixed feelings towards the season overall. We’ve got more female audience focused shows (or they’re just more noticeable) and unfortunately a big influx of children shows too. I don’t care about Cross Fight B-Daman eS or any other card game, Yu-Gi-Oh ripoff but catering to the females is definitely something fresh I don’t mind. Us boys have had our fair share of shounen (though 80% of them are regurgitated harem, ecchi, romances) so there’s a loss for both sides of coin. One thing’s for sure, with more shows focusing on females, there’s less likely we’ll be seeing unreasonable fanservice and more story-driven animes so that’s definitely a plus.

But besides my thoughts (which you will read later on) hear what our awesome new writers have to say about the season! It’s their first time participating as well!

☆☆☆

Yippy// Well, Summer’s turning into Fa-you know what? Why not just go crazy and write some poems for my Intro?  

I wanted hot shows;

But the five that I got;

The coldness and loneliness shows;

But fear not;

I do not regret;

Being late to Tofu’s call;

Since I have met;

Shows I enjoyed;

But with titles and impressions that bring no joy;

Also, I do plan;

To be the man;

To give the second, third, nay-fourth opinion!

On the other Autumn shows;

Thus, I shall proceed;

No ground to prejudices shall I cede;

For I am Yippy;

The otaku who wrote this ditty.

~Utakoi Made Me Do This!’ by Yippy

That’s more than enough bad poems intro for one day, don’t you think? Anyway, here’s to an entertaining Fall!

☆☆☆

Yerocha// Summer has come to an end, and for anime fans that’s usually a good thing. I know that the past summer may have had more going for it than many of those in the past, but I think I can safely say we’ve all been counting the days until fall finally arrived. There’s quite a lot to look forward to this season, with plenty of action, romance, science, and more than a few shows fans have been waiting years for! So it looks like there’s going be something for everyone. While I know not everything will be able to live up to expectations (recent seasons have taught that lesson pretty harshly), with all these shows there’s bound to be something amazing to look forward to.

☆☆☆

Umizi// As my favorite season rolls in, I become one year older as well! The Summer season was rather enjoyable, considering that I’ve been able to hold on to more than one series, but I’m always looking forward to a new season. Besides the strange onslaught of moe and a few random continuations of series I suddenly wished I watched (my friend is pressuring me into Gintama), this season looks promising – hopefully. My first impressions? There’s a lot of futuristic stuff – so many of these series have settings that are so far into the future, it may get a little mind-twisting. But there are ones that caught my eye –  Shin Sekai Yori, Kyousogiga, and K; maybe promo art really does plays a huge part in one’s first impressions. Hopefully, I’ll run into some new favorites – the art says it all!

☆☆☆

Myna// I can’t say I’m sad to see most of the summer shows go. Thank goodness the fall season is finally upon us. As per usual, there’s quite a large number and a respectable variety of new stuff airing this season. And I’m getting a serious deja vu with noitaminA again. That is not a good sign, but luckily there’s a bunch of other (relatively) awesome looking shit to check out!

☆☆☆

Zabi Legacy// Is it fall again? Flashbacks to the first season of Fate/Zero and the second half of Penguindrum tell me yes it is. It has been a surprisingly unappetizing year so far. Winter was pretty dry, leading into an incredible action packed spring. If only this energy could have stayed into summer, which soon found itself returning to levels of drought consistent with the winter. So the Zabi looking at this season is one disheartened by the summer deluge of crap, and ready for something new.

But, does the fall season have any real standouts? Well, the fall has typically provided some good continuing shows and just one show that is seriously capable of holding my attention. Last time around it was Type Moon’s smash hit that held my interest coming into the fall. The year before that it was Studio Bones and their absurd creation. This years doesn’t seem to be the exception. Coming in from the summer we still have more Spacce Bros to look forward to, and as close as SAO might be to my drop list, it’s still kicking ’round. A number of studio’s are putting forth a lot of effort on a wide range of new shows, many of which look very interesting. However, there is one show I’m awaiting with hushed breath. Probably my most anticipated show of the past year with the exception of E7 AO (Which even talking about makes me sad) and Fate/Zero S2 (XD). 

☆☆☆

Bakuman 3//Tofu’sThoughts

It’s finally here! Bakuman season 3 has finally arrived! Oh my god I. Am. getting to excited for this… *ahem* Well it’s practically self explanatory towards fellow Bakuman fans about what’s gonna go down with the introduction of Tooru Nanamine. If I go into describing his personality then it’d pretty much be a spoiler so I’ll leave that for you guys to witness. But wait, you’re probably wondering “how the hell does Tofu know him!?” and that’s because I’ve read and completed reading ALL OF BAKUMAN! I’m so proud of myself but it was practically one of the best decisions.

When someone tells you that the manga for Bakuman is better, listen to him/her! Sure there isn’t OST’s or moving images and voices but it jumped up into my Most Favourite Manga of All Time slot. From here on out, there will definitely be more focus on rivalry within the manga field and it’ll only get better and better from here on out folks! I’m only watching the anime because I want to see these characters animated and that beautiful conclusion in the manga! Hopefully the anime will go all the way to the end?

BTOOOM!//Umizi’sThoughts

I wanted to compare this to Sword Art Online, but with another careful read of the bio, I bet that won’t be happening. Actually, I’m just hoping it won’t turn out to become what Sword Art Online ended up being, but it seems that won’t be happening either. While I’m a little skeptical on the main female protagonist’s role in this whole thing, from judging her appearance, it still seems rather promising far an “immersive-video game” sort of anime. Judging from the little I know about this show, I’m guessing it’ll be rather nitty-gritty and dark; not that that’s a bad thing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but something about this show strikes me and reminds me of Persona – and that’s just from first impressions. I’m not very familiar with either of them.

Assuming Mimori Suzuko is playing the main female protagonist, I’m a little wary of the character development this one will face – but that’s just based off the roles she’s playing now. Hongou Kanata, assumingly the main character, isn’t a familiar name and upon further research, he’s a drama actor. Either he’ll rock the role and make the character amazing, or because he’ll be unfamiliar with voice acting, a total flop.

Busou Shinki//Umizi’sThoughts

The first of the “Why On Earth Am I Covering This Show?”, I picked this because I know exactly what I can say about it. When you have a future that is not post-apocalyptic/weirdly distorted from our modern world, you have a little bit of a problem with what you can do about it. The plot ends up ringing a bell and screams “CHOBITS” to me, and my brain just sort of short-circuits after that. Like I’ll say with Girls und Panzer, this could either end up being a whole mush of fanservice, or it could be something cheesy and overly poignant. But if the moe and mecha concoction is not enough, I’d say those outfits could really be a bad sign – unless they turn out to be as badass as the action figures.

On the plus side, the actual figures themselves are incredibly cool. And Chihara Minori’s a plus side too.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!//Myna’sThoughts

Those of you who have checked out MAL or read my blog should know that KyoAni is one of my least favorites studios. (Although they did pleasantly surprise me with Hyouka.) Upon first glance, I dubbed this Code Moe: Misaki Mei of the Guilty Rebellion. The summary makes it seem like this might be a rather amusing and heavily exaggerated take on the mindset of a middle schooler. (The worst age group there is. My god.) Unfortunately, the artwork and trailer have not instilled me with whopping amounts of hope. But if this ends up skipping along the parody route instead of falling into the pit of srs bsns, then there is definitely a chance that I might be able to enjoy this.

CODE:BREAKER//Tofu’sThoughts

I spy with my little eyes, something beginning with H. No it’s not hentai, it’s the one and only HIKASA YOKO~! Oh. My. God. It’s been AGES since I’ve heard her voicing acting. Sure she voiced in a few the previous season but they were none of the shows I watched (I’m not bias to be able to ignore all the bad stuff in Campione JUST so I can listen to Hikasa’s voice). Anyways, Code:Breaker has definitely caught my interest with its slight philosophical synopsis.

A cold blooded killer who believes in such sayings like “an eye for an eye” or “use evil against evil”? Do we have ourselves an anti-hero here? Well anti-hero or not, the two main characters have such opposing views on murders (and I could imagine the rest of the characters with their own reasons and purposes). so it’s definitely intriguing how well they’ll get along. Though it slightly feels as if we’ll be put in many philosophical situations that will question our beliefs in what’s right and wrong. Alongside with Irie Yasuhiro directing  (director of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), Code:Breaker is definitely a show everyone should try out.

Girls und Panzer//Umizi’sThoughts

All in all, this is probably the show that will eventually whittle itself down to the masses and be full of fanservice and yuri. If it pulls through well, we can expect something full of teenage-girl feels and something that will put itself under the ranks of the Hanasaku Iroha-style. (Though nothing will ever come close to that beautiful show.) Perhaps I picked this show to write a first impression on because it reminds me so much of a show that I’m ashamed of loving when I was younger – Skygirls. I quickly learned that moe and mecha do not go very well together. Actually, if you’re just given the plot, it doesn’t seem like too bad of a show. I think it’s the way the art is so moe-fied that makes me try to shut it out of my mind immediately. It’s a shame that I can’t recognize any of the seiyuus or artists – I’m wondering if that’s a sure sign of some sort of failure.

No, Girls und Panzer does not translate to “Girls and Panties.” With a quick look on Google Translate, it’s actually “Girls and Armor.” At least that’s a little bit more promising.

Haitai Nanafa//Yippy’sThoughts

The word ‘Okinawa’ caught my eye thanks to elements of this unique culture in Samurai Champloo; the word supernatural further increased my curiosity; however, the word ‘5-minute’ immediately dashed any hopes of mine for an anime with a meaty plot. The moe promo art does make me a bit interested though. Also, I want to see how the otaku-stereotype Ojii-san fits into all this. I have some worries about whether any subbers will pick it up, but if push comes to shove, then I’ll just use my meager translating skills to watch it. Overall, I’m neither hot nor cold on Haitai, but I’ll catch a few episodes out of curiosity. And hey, it’s an economical 5 minutes too!

Verdict: Will be covering it and sticking with it.

Hayate no Gotoku! - Can’t Take My Eyes Off You//Yerocha’sThoughts

Hayate seems to have a similar problem as Negima when it comes to anime, in that no two versions of the show are exactly the same. I personally don’t know much about the movie we got last year, aside from everyone saying it wasn’t worth my time. This anime season looks like it might turn out the same way, given the same production studio and character designs. Even so, I have to wonder exactly where the anime is going and why it would choose an original story by the author. The trailer I watched for this shows at least one character exclusive to the manga, which makes me wonder if there’s something special planned for this. If you’re already a fan of the series, I’m sure it’s worth an episode or two to see for ourselves, but otherwise I wouldn’t consider this a good starting point.

Hidamari Sketch X Honeycomb//Yippy’sThoughts

Before now, I’ve seen Hidamari Sketch pop up a few times in comments, Saimoe and etc. However, it’s never really been very visible in my to-watch list.

That, however, might change during this Fall. The premise sounds light enough with presumably no need for prior experience with the series-a plus for me since I hate playing catch up. What excites me most about Hidamari Sketch though, are the character designs.

Noticing something familiar about the characters features’, I glanced through the cast list and spotted a familiar name-Ume Aoki. That was when it dawned-the creator of Hidamari Sketch was also the character designer for Madoka Magica! Being a fan of the latter, I’m kinda obligated to sit up and take notice when any related staff or cast is involved in another show. I admit, I wasn’t as interested at first, but with an easy plot and some familiar designs to look at, I’ll most probably be drawing up some posts with Hidamari.

Verdict: Will be covering it and sticking with it.

Ixion Saga DT//ZabiLegacy’sThoughts

This looks like a bland forgettable video game adapted pile of insipid horse dung at first glance. There is usually some value in  it exclusively for people who actually know something about the source material, but most others avoid such shows like the plague. This one, however, might be worth at least a look. There are two factors that make me say that. Brains Base is on my list of studios that I generally give most everything they make the time of day (Minus sengoku pokemon). Second, the staff on this thing is much better then it logically should be. Lots of credits from legitimate shows. It may seem easy tow rite this one off, but I like to think the world can still surprise me. 

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure The Animation//Yerocha’sThoughts

It’s difficult to tell exactly how well this series will be adapted. Just by looking at a few pages of the manga, you can see how radically different it is in style from everything else. I admit that I initially thought it would end up doing poorly. Then I found out that the ending theme for the series would be “Roundabout” by Yes, a band from the 70s. Anyone who has read the series, or even a list of character names, would know how much this series loves old music, so there really is no better theme for it. That made me realize that the anime team really does have some understanding of what makes Jojo great. It’s fun, ridiculous, action-packed, and it likes to name stuff after bands. I’d say it’s definitely worth a shot if you’re into that kind of show. The first Part shouldn’t be longer than 12 episodes, so commitment isn’t as big an issue as you might expect.

Jormungand PERFECT ORDER//Yerocha’sThoughts

The first season of Jormungand was one of those shows we seem to be getting a lot of this year, where everyone is divided on whether it was good or not. I actually enjoyed the show, but I will agree it had some problems when it came to both the action and the episodic nature of the series. So the real question is whether or not it will be worth it to return for the second half. Given everything I’ve read about the series so far, I think the second half of the show will have a greater focus on story than the first half. The series was planned to cover the entire run of the source material, so it feels like it will at least be conclusive. I can’t speak for the action or direction, but it’s unlikely they can get any worse than before. I suppose the biggest question is how much you enjoyed the first half of the series. Unless you completely detested it, though, I’d say the second half is worth continuing onto.

K//Tofu‘sThoughts

There’s a bunch of trailers out for K. Ones with lots of dubstep and action that looks fricken awesome and another that featured school-life with lots of girls. Due to this, I’ve had mixed feelings about K and the studio behind this (GoHands) is only making me more hesitant to pick this up. Besides adapting one of my most treasured comedy series (Seitokai Yakuindomo), they haven’t done much at all: Asa Made Jugyou Chu, Mardock Scramble and Princess Lover? I’ve never heard of any of these and from the looks of them, I don’t really want to. Well to be completely honest, I watched Asa Made Jugyou Chu and that was horrendous! It was trying so hard to stand on the borderline towards hentai that it’d probably be better off as a hentai from the beginning.

But! As much as I say that, I would still recommend to check this out. Why? Because this is GoHands first original anime. Sure they’ve adapted some shifty stuff but I don’t think we should really judge a studio on WHAT they’ve adapted but HOW WELL they’ve adapted from the original source. PLUS, it’s an original! Anything can happen. It’s exactly like voice actors who go with anything they can get their hands on in order to make a living. Hikasa Yoko is a good example as she’s been in heaps of anime that I would consider to be… well… not my cup of tea. But besides that, I’m definitely hoping that K will turn out to be something great. They’ve got a great line up of seiyuu’s, now it’s up to the staff to get their act together and really surprise us.

Kamisama Kiss//Yerocha’sThoughts

When I first heard about this series, I thought for sure it was trying to cash in on the absence of Natsume Yuujinchou. That was a bit quick of me, since looking at it for more than a minute shows it to be very different. Of course seeing the previews quickly lets me see the kind of target audience Kamisama Kiss is going after, since the cast appears to be full of pretty men with youkai features gathered around a lone girl. It turns out the major influence behind this series is Fruits Basket, and that appeared to be the case even before Akitaro Daichi was asked to direct. I have more confidence in this show than in Sukitte Ii na yo, at least to the point where I plan on watching despite knowing that the target audience is women. I have yet to see any comparisons to books about sparkling vampires, so I consider that a good sign.

Litchi DE Hikari Club//Myna’sThoughts

This is undoubtedly the anime with the most original sounding premise. I like how it’s basically Frankenstein but how a single scientist is now a bunch of schoolboys. My main worry is the fact that none of the staff members have been announced yet, and the studio animating Litchi, Kachidoki Studio, has barely done anything. Hopefully the source material is good enough to make something really great out such an interesting sounding story.

Little Busters!//Tofu’sThoughts

Hater’s gonna hate and I don’t give a crap about all you haters because unlike you, I don’t stigmatize studio’s to the point I would put hate and disappointment on both the studio AND the adaptation. Unless you tell me that J.C Staff is a shitty adapter then I take my words back but if you’re only hating on them for the shows they’ve adapted NOT how well they’ve adapted then go away.

Most of you would know that I’ve played and extremely enjoyed the visual novel with my Little Busters Review post. This beautiful story left me in tears and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I expected Jun Maeda and the rest of the brilliant KEY staff that worked on the visual novel to really pull my heartstrings and open up the waterworks. They completely blew my expectations! The music, the characters, the texts, the expressions, the bonds… all of it were perfectly in sync; making this visual novel one of the best I’ve ever played.

In terms of the anime, I actually don’t think it will deliver as great due to the simple fact that I will be sub-consciously comparing the anime to the visual novel (even though I really don’t want to). It might ruin my enjoyment somewhat but I still expect it to be a great anime series for those who haven’t played the visual novel at all. These are the guys behind Clannad, behind Angel Beats, behind Air and other golden eggs that have – in their own way – left an impact within the anime industry and Little Busters will (hopefully) follow suit.

Magi//Myna’sThoughts

Damn, that promo art (no, not the one with the fucking emo moe girl) is so cool. Magi is an adaptation of a long-running shounen manga. And it’s not being animated by Studio Pierrot! Of course, a shounen spin on the stories from Arabian Nights does sound like it could be a really fun ride. A-1 is quite busy this season – including Magi and that thing called Sword Art Online, they’re animating four shows at once. Hopefully they can keep up their fluid animation. (Or rather put all their effort into Magi. Because I really fucking want this to be good.)

Medaka Box Abnormal//Yippy’sThoughts

Although a product of the talented Nisio Isin, I’ve been ignoring this series because of the generic art and story-line  Still, it’s better late than never I guess. Unlike earlier with Hidamari though, I’m afraid I might have trouble following the plot since I missed the first season. Ah well, I just have to hope that the series doesn’t leave newcomers like me in the dust.

Although the premise of Medaka Box sounds generic (president solves problems episodically), I’m also aware that mundane diplomacy isn’t the only thing this show has to offer. Seeing the pounding Medaka gets in the PV and some beat-up looking council members in manga shots, I think there’ll be some ‘hard’ diplomacy involved as well. Can’t say I’m thrilled to watch this, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Nisio Isin will surprise me like Bakemonogatari did.

Verdict: Will be covering it and sticking with it.

Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne-//Yippy’sThoughts

To be honest, I’ve never understood the appeal of incest. But hey, to each his/her own, right? After going through OreImo though (which has an incest overtone), I’m not sure if I’d want to watch a whole show dedicated to this somewhat controversial theme…

From the PV, unlike OreImo, it looks like the female will be playing the starring role instead of the Onii-chan. This might foretell a fresh outlook. Besides getting that nugget of info, I have to admit that the PV made me curious about the other female leads. Lethargic twintail girl looks like she could give the twintail tsundere stereotype a run for its money; short-cropped white hair girl is also looking mighty attractive (I have a soft spot for white/light-haired 2D girls); On the other hand, one-eyed Jane doesn’t really interest me. The PV also promises some quality animation, so I might be tempted to stick with OniAi for that.

Overall, I’d say OniAi sounds like OreImo, just without the otaku theme in it.

Verdict: Will be testing the waters, but I likely won’t stick with it.

PSYCHO-PASS//Tofu’sThoughts

Although the trailer shows hardly anything, Psycho-Pass reminds me a lot of Money and Intelligence from one of Mashiro’s and Takagi’s numerous works in the Bakuman series. I don’t think it’s using the same concept where you can transfer intelligence but it does have that futuristic, sci-fi feel to it that Money and Intelligence had within it’s own world. I have to say that I’m very intrigued as to how the use of ‘instantaneously measuring and quantifying a person’s state of mind and personality’ will play about for good and bad purposes, and how our enforcement officer will have to deal with such abilities as a crime fighter. And yes I do believe this is an original anime by Production I.G? Please do correct me if I’m wrong.

ROBOTICS;NOTES//ZabiLegacy’sThoughts

Last year, a show came out about a guy and his crazy band of friends who are girls including a tsundere a moeblob and a cat girl, going on adventures together in the middle of the main otaku block in tokyo. It also happened to be by a wide distance among the best shows I watched last year. Stein;s Gate was at a plot level very similar to most of the less well constructed shows anime seems to be loused with, but it turned those negative elements on their head with a strong script and genuinely engaging characters. It’s safe to say that it’s creators are ideal for taking seemingly cliche shows and making them legitimately good. Now they are making a show about a giant robot club in Japanese highschool.

That’s right, Robotics;Notes is the long awaited adaption of the giant robot visual novel made by the semi-colon guys. After Steins;gate proved one of last year’s best shows how could I not be looking forward to this? For those of you who follow Scamp at The Cart Driver, he makes a lot of points as to the quality of the staff involved in comparison to stein;s gate, but I would say that with a script this solid it’s very hard to get wrong. With any luck it will give a good go at being best of the year, despite it’s fourth quarter release. 

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo//Tofu‘sThoughts

This is practically going to be the moe series of the season. It’s got everything a slice-of-life, school-life, romance, comedy anime has, including the usual fanservice of course. There’s nothing ‘new’ to this at all yet I’m still interested in watching this despite the disturbing synopsis; describing their relationship as “a master and his pet”. The reason being is I’m a sucker for adorable character designs. With that simplistic art style, it is accompanied by light colours like the blue on their jumpers. It add’s a sense of light-heartedness to the whole show, making it one of the predicted guilty pleasures of the season. There’s no reason why anyone should take this series in a serious way due to how relaxing it seems. It’s just one of those animes that don’t need a story or a plot to make it enjoyable.

Shin Sekai Yori//Umizi’sThoughts

My personal favorite over all the ones I’m first impression-ing. Not only are those uniforms absolutely adorable, but it seems like the cast of characters, just from their appearance, seems rather promising. I like the concept of an utopia here, as well as the fact that they’re using the future-card to dig deeper into the plot, instead of using it as an excuse to have flying cars and robot servants. I guess utopias that have a war in their past just sort of fascinate me and frighten me at the same time. In fact, the more I look at it, the more it reminds me of last season’s Kokoro Connect, which I absolutely loved. Perhaps I’m just biased towards pretty art.

Hanazawa Kana is in the cast, and though I loved her in some roles, her character usually ends up being the useless and shy one that I end up disliking. I hope that’s not the case. I’ve heard some good things about Taneda Risa, though I’ve never heard her, so I’m looking forward to her role.

Sukitte li na yo.//Yerocha’sThoughts

I’ve been caught up on this series for a little while, and I could never find anything about the series to put it over all the other generic shojou out there. It’s your typical story of an antisocial girl getting the attention of a popular, charming guy and all his popular, charming friends. It does get a little interesting with some of the problems characters face, but most of them are stuff like weight issues and people who sleep around too much (which we see in some detail…). Those are the kinds of stories only serious fans of the genre would like, and it lacks many other selling points to attract a wider audience. I like how the production values have been focused on, but for now it doesn’t feel like the kind of series I’d like to watch a second time.

To Love-Ru Darkness//Yippy’sThoughts

Ecchi, hentai, pornography-whatever you choose to call it-the To Love-Ru series has plenty of it to keep you satisfied. I’m no saint, but when it comes to anime, I tend to give the ecchi and hentai section a pass. But who knows? Maybe To Love-Ru Darkeness can toss off another pleasurable Bakemonogatari combination of ecchi and plot?

Anyway, the sequel to To Love-Ru sports some delicious eye-candy characters such as Mikan Yuuki and Yami (imo). Besides the above synopsis however, I don’t know much about what Darkness will be serving up this season. But, one thing’s for sure-it’s going to be a bawdy adventure with money shots aplenty. Call me mildly interested, but I don’t think I’ll bite the ‘over-the-top’ scenarios that Darkness promises.

Verdict: Will be testing the waters, but I likely won’t stick with it.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun//Myna’sThoughts

We’ve got three shoujo series airing this season, and this one has the most hype behind it. The director has a respectable amount of experience and was also the chief director of one of the most popular romance series of recent years, Kimi ni Todoke. In addition to that, the guy in charge of the series composition also wrote the scripts for Baccano! and Durarara!! and also did the composition to Sankarea. I’ve read a little bit of the manga and it was certainly lackluster. But with the great staff members and that highly amusing trailer, I think this adaptation has a very good chance of exceeding its source material.

Zetsuen no Tempest//Myna’sThoughts

Being a thespian, as soon as I heard there were Shakespeare references and allusions I rushed on to this bandwagon like Romeo rushed in to drink his poison at not-dead-yet-Juliet’s side. Soon after, Nana was announced as a cast member which completely sealed the deal.

As far as I’m concerned, there are three main downsides to Tempest: 1. The chief director hasn’t impressed me with anything he’s chiefly directed before. (Hanasaku Iroha, Canaan, and Sword of the Stranger.) 2. The manga is unfinished. I’m all caught up on it and honestly it’s really dumb and the Shakespeare references are pretty awful. But like the majority of anime original endings, this could end as a total clusterfuck. Which leads me into my final reason: 3. Okada Fucking Mari is in charge of the series composition. I have an absolutely abominable track record with this woman. She has absolutely no idea how to restrain the melodrama and let the characters naturally drive the story. Plus, the way she handles male characters is simply dreadful. (Oscar in Lupin III anyone?) In the end I’ll probably just end up making fun of this, but I’m still excited for it.

LastWords

Tofu// Phew. What a list. I really have to thank the new writers and our awesome graphical genius Bass in getting this sexy preview out and most importantly EVERY ONE OF YOU for taking your time and reading our thoughts. Do put down your thoughts (whatever it may be) in the comments section. We would love to hear what you all have to say about these shows. Maybe certain shows you are looking forward to? Shows you hate? Some you’ll never touch because of a certain reason? A recommendation you’d like to make? Voice it all!

Though unfortunately I do have to break the bad news to everyone that I won’t be covering any series this season. I’m in my last year of highschool and we’re only 3 weeks away from the end of year examinations that will determine what university I go to and more importantly… my future. I do apologize but I’m sure the rest of the crew will do well in bringing you weekly anime/manga coverages and everything in between. I’ll definitely lurk around here and there whenever I have the time but don’t expect any posts from me until my exams are over.

Possibly Blogging: Little Busters!, K, Bakuman 3, Code:Breaker, Robotics;Notes

☆☆☆

Yippy// Alright, I admit that at first glance I thought that Fall was going to fell my expectations of an entertaining season. Other than ‘K’, nothing much really stood out for me in terms of animation quality (Most of the time, a show’s animation/art has to catch my eye for me to check it out). Most of the summaries were also pretty unremarkable. However, after giving the PVs a watch and their respective wikis a good reading though, I now know that I wasn’t being entirely fair…

There are the usual premises such as illogical harems and girl/boy meets supernatural/weird world, but there are shows that I’m eager to watch as well such as K, Hidamari Sketch and Code:Breaker. Overall, it isn’t a hyped up season yet, but it sure shows promise if you ask me.

Well, that’s all the preview thoughts you’ll get from me about this Fall’s lineup. I hope you give each of them a fair chance at entertaining you. Who knows? You might find some real gems in there. Until next time, keep up the anime-watching spirit!

Possibly Blogging: Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb, Haitai Nanafa, Psycho Pass, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

☆☆☆  

Yerocha// I’ve placed my faith into enough different shows this season that I’m sure to have picked at least one of the standouts. I’ve already got Jojo, Jormungand, Kamisama, Zetsuen no Tempest, Magi, Robotics;Notes, and those are just the ones I’ll be watching from the very beginning. The start of a new season is a fun time, isn’t it? All this discussion and speculation really gets the blood flowing. What will be the new Steins;Gate? The new Guilty Crown? Stuff like this shows me how impatient I really am. Whatever happens, I’m sure it will go much more smoothly than this season did. I’d like to watch more than four shows per week, thanks.

Possibly Blogging: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hayate no Gotoku! I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

☆☆☆

Umizi// Well, well, well, that was quite a blast to the future, wasn’t it? I wonder which of these predictions will ultimately come true…sad to say, I assume it’ll be Busou Shinki. Hey, it’s the most normal of all possible future-worlds! Anyhow, though there seems to be a great number of promising plots and characters, there doesn’t seem to be anything that will be talked about for the rest of the year – something Madoka Magica or Kokoro Connect worthy. That is, of course, unless I’ve skipped over something extraordinary, which I am always victim of doing. Here’s to hopes of a better-than-expected season and an even better winter season!

Possibly Blogging: Shin Sekai Yori, Kyousogiga, K

☆☆☆

Myna// At first glance, nothing really looks like it’ll be my favorite show of the year or the next Internet/anime phenomenon. My magical anime premonitions are also telling me that pretty much everything I will watch will most likely be hit or miss. The ones I’m most excited about are Magi (hit), Litchi Light Club (hit) and the Monster Seated Next to You (hit). The mid-anticipation level ones include Zetsuen no Tempest (miss) and Psycho-Pass (hit). Chuunibyou (miss) and Little Busters (miss) could either fill me up with endless hate or I could enjoy them for the wrong reasons. As long as history doesn’t repeat itself with Robotics;Notes (miss), or at least to the same degree of failure, I’ll be okay.

Possibly Blogging: Chuunibyou, Litchi Light Club, Magi, Zetsuen no Tempest

☆☆☆

Zabi Legacy// So there are a bunch of things worth looking at. A-1 is going to show us if they have the brains and the balls to try three shows at the same time, a task I doubt they’ll be able to handle. Studio Bones looks to continue infuriating me. There is probably going to be a million and a half fans of Little Busters and none of them are going to be able to admit that it just isn’t so good. Kyoto animation is going to continue rolling in cash like an asian Scrooge McDuck (Peking Duck? I am so bad). And the endless parade of harem garbage is never ever going to let up.

Am I down about this season like I was the winter and fall? No. Am I super pumped for this season the way I was coming into the spring? Not quite either. I like to think that I have good enough sense to predict whether or not a season is going to be good or bad, and I simply am not getting any strong readings either way on this season. Maybe it will be a nice, average paced season where I can stick with four or five shows for the entire time. Not too many, not too few. And maybe I am also a giant sloth from the planet Thanatosia.

Possibly Blogging: Robotics;Notes, K, Girls un Panzer, Shin Seki Yuri

☆☆☆

So what say you, dear blog reader? Anything here that tickles your fancy?

☆☆☆

Be sure to check out the poll below, as well as some other previews from other blogs (that will be updated over time). Don’t forget to sound off with your thoughts in the comments below. We’re excited to see what y’all have to say about the upcoming season.