Subculture Anime Blog

Another season, another clear slate to fill up with anime. My original plan was to do my usual lazy impression post, but after coming up with things to say for a large mass of the new shows coming out, I’ve decided to do a season preview for only the second time since last fall. There’s a LOT of new shows coming out this season, but having reached the point where I cannot cover 7-9 shows a week anymore, I’m going to have to play the pick and choose game this time around. Anyways, let’s get on to it!

Toradora!

Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/toradora/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 1st
Studio: J.C. Staff
Genre: romance, comedy
Notable Cast: Rei Kugimiya, Yui Horie, Rie Tanaka

Likeliness of Blogging: Very High

Summary: Takasu Ryuji has a gentle personality, but because of the frightening eyes that he inherited from his father, he comes off as intimidating to most people. Aisaka Taiga has a bad reputation as the most dangerous girl at school. When these two meet through certain circumstances, they discover that they both have crushes on each other’s friends. Further more, Taiga lives next door to Ryuji! The two begin to help each other find love, but this makes rumors generate throughout the school…

Impression: So I heard everyone is going to watching this. I guess I’m an everyone. I’ve absolutely loved what I’ve read in the manga that this will be adapted from, and I have very high hopes from J.C. Staff’s production and the strong voice cast. This is the type of love comedy I like. Not excessive in fanservice, extremely funny, and involving a great romance story that can actually be related to real life situations. If you’re a tiger, then I’ll be a dragon!

Rosario + Vampire Capu2

Website: http://www.rosa-vam.com/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 1st
Studio: Gonzo
Genre: romance, comedy, action, supernatural
Notable Cast: Nana Mizuki, Rei Kugimiya, Saeko Chiba, Chiwa Saito

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: Aono Tsukune is an average boy who is sent to a private school full of yokai. There, he meets Akashiya Moka who quickly takes a liking to him. Tsukune soon learns that Moka is actually a very powerful vampire, whose true powers are unleashed when the item around her neck is removed. While attending the school, Aono also meets several other yokai who take a liking to him. This includes a succubus, two witches, and an icewoman.

Impression: Some of you might remember me giving the first series a somewhat decent review when it came out in the winter, but pushing it aside after wanting to cover other shows. I did enjoy the first series for its story, but like most everyone else, I hated the way Gonzo adapted it. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t cover this. If anything, I can’t seem to think of what I would say for an entire season besides, “OMG OMG NANA MIZUKI OMG OMG….”

Hyakko

Website: http://hyakko.jp/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 1st
Studio: Nippon Animation
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Notable Cast: Aya Hirano, Yui Horie, Fumiko Orikasa, Michiko Neya

Likeliness of Blogging: Medium

Summary: This is the story of four girls who enter a private academy. Yup….that’s it.

Impression: This was a series I originally skipped over while glancing through the season’s new shows. After watching the pv though, I got excited about the light comedy premises and art style similar to Sketchbook or Bamboo Blade. I can’t say I’m the biggest Hirano Aya fan though, and she will be playing the main protagonist. Eh, she did well in Manabi Straight….

CASSHERN Sins

Website: http://casshern-sins.jp/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 1st
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: action, science fiction
Notable Cast: Tohru Furuya, Akiko Yajima, Yuko Minaguchi

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: A powerful robot leader named Braiking rules over humanity, and when a girl named Luna is summoned to save her people, he has her killed with three cyborgs known as Casshern, Dio, and Reda. Hundreds of years later, humans are almost extinct from the world. Casshern returns after a long disappearance, then fighting for the humans because of his now lost memory. With this, he searches for his true purpose.

Casshern Sins: Although I haven’t watched the first series this is based on (really, I wasn’t even alive back then…), I did watch the live action film. I thought it had its ups and downs, but it was enough to get me excited about this anime. This isn’t the type of series I would cover though. I can already imagine how much Demian would out-fanboy me about it too. You know what they say: “If you can’t out-fanboy Demain, don’t cover the series.”

Clannad ~After Story~

Website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/clannad/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 2nd
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Genre: romance, comedy, drama
Notable Cast: Mai Nakahara, Ai Nonaka, Mamiko Noto, Houko Kuwashima

Likeliness of Blogging: High

Summary: Okazaki Tomoya is very apathetic towards his life because of the way he was been brought up. Tomoya one day meets a girl named Nagisa, and through interaction with her, his life slowly starts to change.

Impression: Ah, Clannad. The show that will probably get me the majority of hits I don’t care about for the season. With everyone and their pet boar covering this in the next season though, and with so much other potentially great shows appearing, I can only wonder if I should change my current completion policy. I even had similar thoughts before covering the first series, which I thought I might have enjoyed more without talking about by the end of it all. I guess it will just depend on how many episodes of Fuuko there are for me to go gaga about.

Shikabane Hime: Aka

Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/shikabanehime/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 2nd
Studio: GAINAX
Genre: action, supernatural
Notable Cast: Saeko Chiba, Yui Horie, Tomokazu Sugita, Mika Kikuchi

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: Hoshimura Makina has made a deal with a buddhist monk named Keisei in order to reach heaven. This requires her to find and eliminate 108 corpses as the “Corpse Princess.”

Impression: I was very attracted to this series after reading up on its premises and seeing that it would be produced by Gainax. After watching the pv though, I just thought it looked a bit more silly than I was hoping it would be. Fans of the recent Gurren Lagann style will be all over this too, and well, I can only see this series as already having a large fanbase for it. I’ll leave writing about this to others.

Yozakura Quartet

Website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/yozakura/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 2nd
Studio: Nomad
Genre: action, comedy, supernatural
Notable Cast: Rei Tanaka, Daisuke Ono, Miyuki Sawashiro

Likeliness of Blogging: Medium

Summary: A quartet of teenage heroes named Hime, Kotoha, Ao, and Akina use their unique powers to defend the city of Sakurashin from supernatural threats.

Impression: This was another series I originally pushed aside, but after looking into a bit more due to Aroduc’s suggestion, I actually started getting quite excited about it. From what I can recall in my vague memory, the manga is supposedly quite popular too (at least, popular enough to give it an anime adaption). If anything, I will be watching this just to hear the OP/ED from savage genious and ROUND TABLE. In the end though, this is….well….Aroduc anime.

Kannagi

Website: http://www.nagisama-fc.com/anime/index.html
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 4th
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Genre: comedy, magic, slice of life
Notable Cast: Haruka Tomatsu, Hiro Shimono, Mai Nakahara, Miyuki Sawashiro

Likeliness of Blogging: Very High

Summary: Mikuriya Jin one day carves a statue out of wood from the Kannagi tree. To his surprise, the statue comes to life in the form of a goddess named Nagi. Despairing at what has happened to the status of her once powerful tree and her own now weakening abilities, Nagi has Jin help her to regain her powers and destroy the impurities that are hidden throughout the town.

Impression: I actually became interested in this series after aurabolt kind of, sort of recommended it to me. I only sampled the manga for a couple of chapters, but I really liked what I read. You can call it comedy, magic, slice of life, or whatever you’d like. Either way, I am almost certain that I will enjoy talking about this show. I also have fairly high hopes from A-1 Pictures’ adaption, after enjoying shows like Ookiku Furikabutte and the recent Birdy the Mighty Decode that they have produced.

To Aru Majutsu no Index

Website: http://project-index.net/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 4th
Studio: J.C. Staff
Genre: action, comedy, fantasy, drama
Notable Cast: Shizuka Itou, Rina Satou

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: Kamijo Touma lives in a world where science clarifies supernatural powers. A girl named Index shows up to him one day, claiming that she is being chased by sorcerers. With this, Touma is forced to help her with what ability he has.

Impression: I skipped over this until I watched the pv, which was awesome. This show reminds me of Shakugan no Shana, with the visuals from J.C. Staff and the Mami Kawada track being used for the OP. I can definitely see myself enjoying this, but I can only talk about so much fighting anime. I’ll probably leave this one to other writers.

Shugo Chara!! Doki

Website: http://shugo-chara.com/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 4th
Studio: Satelight
Genre: comedy, magical girl, romance,
Notable Cast: Nana Mizuki, Kanae Itou, Yuuichi Nakamura

Likeliness of Blogging: Medium

Summary: Every child holds an egg in their soul, which has the ability to fulfill hopes and dreams. In these eggs are Shugo Chara, who certain kids gain the ability to see. Hinamori Amu is special in that she has four Shugo Chara, three of which are always with her. Amu continues her daily activities with her friends in the group known as the Guardians, as well as continuing to learn more about the boy named Ikuto and his sister Utau who has now befriended her as well.

Impression: I don’t know how many of you guys know this, but I’m actually a huge fan of the current Shugo Chara series. I originally pushed it aside when it showed up sometime last year, but that just goes to show that books shouldn’t be judged by their covers. Peach Pit has never let me down when it comes to great stories, and the amount of COOL AND SPICY in this show gave me a new respect for mahou shoujo anime. I actually like the filler episodes in this series, and with the major bloggers from last year seemingly abandoning the series this time around, I might feel up for covering it myself. The only problem is that it will be running for another full year, and I’m just not sure if I’m ready for a task like that yet.

Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae

Website: http://www.jigokushoujo.com/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 4th
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: horror, supernatural
Notable Cast: Mamiko Noto, Takayuki Sugo, Mariya Ise

Likeliness of Blogging: Medium

Summary: A certain website exists that can only be accessed when one feels a great grudge against someone. By entering the hated person’s name into the website, one may summon the Jigoku Shoujo. With the help of the Jigoku Tsuushin, Emma Ai carries out these people’s requests by bringing their enemies to hell.

Impression: I will probably sound crazy for this, but I actually watched both of the previous series from start to finish and liked them quite a bit. Even though this is no Shigofumi, I definitely have a soft spot for these series dealing with death and other dark themes. Garten covered the first two seasons more than well though, and I bet my black voodoo doll that he will do just as well covering the third.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Second Season

Website: http://www.gundam00.net/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 5th
Studio: Sunrise
Genre: mecha, drama, science fiction
Notable Cast: Mamoru Miyano, Shinichiro Miki, Hiroshi Kamiya, Chiwa Saito

Likeliness of Blogging: Very Low

Summary: In the year 2312 A.D., four years after Celestial Being and the UN Forces battled, humanity has reformed in several ways. Not all is just in the world, however, so Setsuna F. Seiei once again enters Gundam to fight for what he believes in.

Impression: Yes, I liked the first season. I love mecha as much as everyone else. Talking about it just isn’t for me though, so I’ll leave this to those who can actually take “0.4 seconds” science seriously. Besides, this is definitely an Omni show.

Skip Beat!

Website: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/s-beat/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 5th
Studio: Hal Film Maker
Genre: comedy, romance
Notable Cast: Marina Inoue, Mamoru Miyano

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: Kyoko has devoted her life to Shotaro for several years, following him since his debut as a singer in Tokyo. When Kyoko one day hears that she means nothing to Shotaro, and that she is only seen as a convenient housekeeper, she vows to get revenge. Since Shotaro is now a very popular singer, Kyoko must enter showbiz to become even more popular than him. Having lost the ability to love due to Shotaro, however, Kyoko struggles in the new agency she has entered.

Impression: So, usagijen tells me this is going to be awesome. I believe her. I do watch a fair amount of shoujo, but as far as covering it goes, I’ll leave that to……the girls.

Today in Class 5-2

Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/gononi/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 5th
Studio: Xebec
Genre: comedy, romance
Notable Cast: Yu Kobayashi, Kana Asumi

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: This is the story of Satou Ryota and the odd situations he gets into with his other elementary school friends. He gets along particularly well with his childhood friend, Koizumi Chika, but he does not realize the love that she has felt for him for a long time.

Impression: I loved the OVAs preceding this series, and this was originally on my “highly likely” list. Well, that all changed as soon as I learned that Xebec was doing the adaption. After trainwrecks like Kanokon and To-Love-Ru, I just don’t think I’m ready to forgive the studio anymore. I also don’t want to give my friends any more excuses to make fun of me for supposedly watching “anime porn”. Damn it.

ef – a tale of melodies.

Website: http://www.ef-melo.com/top.html
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 6th
Studio: SHAFT
Genre: romance, drama
Notable Cast: Kouichi Toochika, Mai Goto, Yumiko Nakajima

Likeliness of Blogging: Guaranteed

Summary: Continuation of the first series, which revolved around multiple romances and shocking revelations about the people involved. The sequel focuses on the three characters who previously did not have much revealed about them.

Impression: Huh? Romantic drama? Shaft? The sequel to one of my favorite shows of 2007?? WHY WOULD I BLOG THAT?? Seriously guys, people who say this is a studio milking a series can go back to thinking that the only thing this show has is lens flares and rendered clouds. I’m looking forward to learning about the gaps that weren’t filled in the first season, as well as the hella artsy symbolism that my favorite studio is sure to give us.

Vampire Knight Guilty

Website: http://www.vampire-knight.jp/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 6th
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: action, drama, romance, supernatural
Notable Cast: Yui Horie, Jun Fukuyama, Mamoru Miyano, Souichiro Hoshi

Likeliness of Blogging: Very Low

Summary: Wanting to know more about her mysterious past, Yuki begins research. Yuki, Kaname, and Zero also start what will become a new mystery and forbidden love.

Impression: I watched the first series and only liked it to an extent. My guilty pleasure (forgive the pun) from watching vampire anime was probably what got me through it, and there were already plenty of other bloggers covering it. I will be watching the second season, but I don’t know when or even how frequently. Yuki with long hair is nice though.

Nodame Cantabile: Paris

Website: http://www.nodame-anime.com/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 9th
Studio: J.C. Staff
Genre: action, drama, comedy, romance
Notable Cast: Ayako Kawasumi, Tomokazu Seki, Shizuka Itou, Mamiko Noto

Likeliness of Blogging: Medium

Summary: After the success he has experienced as a conductor at college, Chiaki Shinichi travels to Paris to continue his studies. Of course, Nodame chooses to follow him.

Impression: Like a lot of others, I did enjoy the first season. But unlike slice of life/drama series like Beck, I just didn’t think I could relate to it as much as I should have been able to. I would probably credit this to my not being in the band in high school and my general lack of interest for classical music. This is a definite watch for me, but I don’t think I will have as much of an opinion about it compared to other more qualified writers.

Chaos;HEAd

Website: http://www.chaoshead.jp/
Info: ANN
Premiers: October 14th
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: horror, psychological, supernatural, thriller
Notable Cast: Eri Kitamura, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Ayumi Tsuji, Hitomi Nabatame

Likeliness of Blogging: Low

Summary: Nishijo Takumi is a secluded high school student who isn’t interested in real life. One day while chatting on the internet, he is suddenly sent a URL by a mysterious man. The website contains a blog image which suggests a prediction of murder. The next day, this prediction proves to be true.

Impression: The premises for this show seems really interesting, and I love psychological anime. The pv was very unrevealing, with only live action shots and concept art, but Madhouse does a pretty good job with most of their series. Besides, I don’t think they can afford to disappoint the already established fanbase of game players. With so much coming out though, I don’t think I would likely be covering this even if I do end up watching it.

Overall Impression:

All of this leaves me with ef, Clannad, Kannagi, and ToraDora for likely coverage, with room for one or two more shows that I feel like I would enjoy talking about. Besides that, it looks like I’ll be watching a lot more than I cover this season. I will also be watching the Shigofumi, Eve no Jikan, and Seto no Hanayome OVAs that will be released during the fall season, though I am very bad with fitting those into my schedule (I haven’t even gotten around to watch Negima or School Rumble yet). Aroduc has provided a large collection of PVs in his preview, and I’m sure Omni will come out with his massive preview only a few days before the season starts. Research has shown that myself, Random Curiosity, Memento, Tenka Seiha, and Ex-fansubber Hitorigoto are the most consistent with weekly coverage these days, so allow us to balance most of your basic needs while we sit on our raw watching elitist high horses. Note that this is not a comprehensive list of all that will be airing in the fall, but more of an extended version of my seasonal first impressions. I left out several series that I do not believe I would even come close to covering past the first episode, if at all, and previews for these shows can be seen on various other blogs. If I do take interest in one of these forgotten shows, I will be sure to mention it in my usual batch of series introduction posts.

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