A Summer-Season Outlook

Washi

It may not look like it, but I’ve been doing a considerable amount of research and casual observation in regards to the upcoming summer season. I can say I’ve become accustomed to informing myself of the approaching season forecast; it’s an important thing to consider if you don’t want to wind up watching the wrong shows (guilty pleasures aside). I’ve written up a lazy, but earnest, look at the season and comment on what I think I’ll be watching and/or blogging. There will be free candy at the end of this post for all who read!

Overall I’d say the spring season looks promising, with quite a few shows that have the potential to turn out well, but there are no real stand-out shows or guaranteed winners (aside, arguably, from H&C II). Then again, I knew Ergo Proxy was going to be the best thing in years, and look how that turned out! (Not the best thing in years). This time I’m sitting back, awaiting the show that will surprise and impress.

Binbou Shimai Monogatari

Smells like slice-of-life drama with an air of tragedy. Two sisters, abandoned by their father, live poor lives together trying to make ends meet, and, presumably, trying to not meet their ends. If executed well, this kind of show could be right up my alley, but it’s a little hard to tell how this one will turn out. I like the character designs and everything I’ve seen of the promotional stuff (very little).

Verdict: Watching, possibly blogging.

Bokura ga Ita

Boy is popular with the girls. Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Let the romance ensue. Honestly, this sounds like a fairly generic love-story shoujo deal, which, while not necessarily bad, interests me very little. That combined with the fact that the show is somewhat of a mystery to me, means I doubt I’ll even try it, unless everyone else recommends it.

Verdict: No thank you.

Chokotto Sister

Some college student has, for reasons I’ve yet to discern, always wanted a younger sister, and the gift he receives turns out to be just that (no, his mother did not deliver him a fellow sibling, Santa Claus gave him one). There seems to be some chatter about this one, and I’ve heard many comments regarding the quality of the manga. Omni is not a fan of the anime-ised character designs, though, and nor am I. Could be cute and/or lolirific, or could fail miserably.

Verdict: I’ll give this a go.

Coyote Ragtime Show

It would seem that pretty much everyone has seen the trailer for this show, and a lot of people have been throwing around predictions of its quality, most of them siding with “good” or “awesome”. Frankly, I just don’t see it. Production values do look good, but this IS a trailer, and the character designs are certainly a mixed bag, with only a few of them really likeable. Some people seem to like the music, likening it to Yoko Kanno’s work on Bebop, in terms of the jazzy soundtrack. Personally such a comparison is an insult to Kanno-sama, because if you listen carefully to the music on the trailer you’ll realise it’s SHIT. Well, bad, anyway. It does look like it’s aiming to be a Bebop clone, which is not an appealing thought, nor will it be anywhere near as good.

Rating: It has one chance t o prove originality and quality, before I kill it with fire.

Night Head Genesis

This show has actually had me intrigued for several months, actually. This intrigue evolves from my attempts to gain any kind of useful information from the website only to be presented with red squares and the images of a brain. Now that I am one trailer closer to getting an idea of what the show will be like, I cans ay I am pretty damn interested. Production values look solid, but not flashy, but I’m more interested in the potential combination of a dark story and action.

Verdict: Watching, possibly blogging.

NHK ni Youkoso!

Now this is the series I really wanted to talk about. Why? I’ll tell you why. Will you? Yes. The reason for my enthusiasm is that I have read the manga! I’m not a big manga reader, so this is my first opportunity to compare an anime to its comic counterpart critically with comments like “the manga is superior” or “go read the manga instead”. Honestly, though, I’m quite excited about the show. There have been some comments of distaste about the character designs, but I think they look great, and as long as GONZO stick to the manga as closely as possible it will be a highlight of the season. However, those expecting something like Genshiken: be warned. This approaches otakuism of a different form, and in a much darker way. I wonder if the black humour of the manga will translated well onto screen.

Verdict: Watching, BLOGGING

Powerpuff Girls Z

Haha oh wow! This is like..some kind of reverse trap. Okay, so it could turn out to be a masterpiece, who knows? I personally don’t want to.

Verdict: I’d hit it..with a hammer.

Le Chevalier D’Eon

I.G steps up to take command of a new show, yet another sword-wielding “heroine” kind of thing, this time set in 18th century France and telling the tale of Le Chevalier D’Eon, who was an actual person. I have faith in I.G, and the trailer certainly made it look good, but, to be frank, the premise, nor the setting, interest me at all. I can’t explain why..I just don’t find it appealing for some reason. But I’ll give it a go, because I shouldn’t let that get in the way of the chance to miss something potentially awesome.

Verdict: Watching, maybe blogging.

Tsuyokiss

Looks like a typical moe-harem series, with your generic cute schoolgirl characters and your average setting. The spin? It’s a proud supporter of tsundere. I suggest you look that up if you don’t know what it means. I must say I quite like the tsundere type characters; it’s certainly a moe-inducing quality. However I do not think it deserves a show, and I have this suspicion that all the characters will end up as annoying rather than cute or attractive. I’ll give it a go, but I very much doubt I’ll be watching.

Verdict: Tentatively watching.

Mamotte! Lollipop

This show interests me so little I’m going to have to direct you to Omni for an indication of the plot/genre. Unappealing character designs, and premise, make this show essentially useless, unless it pulls out some quality fanservice and doesn’t suck hugely.

Verdict: GTFO

Tona-gura!

Well, this is another mystery-show-that-doesn’t-look-crap show for me. The character designs and promotional artwork look rather nice, and although it could easily become a conventional harem romance series, of standard suckage, the fact that the male lead is rumoured to be a pervert of sorts, it could actually be a little different. I’m sure he’s no HiMM’s Yoshitaka, but it could still be fun. For this reason alone I will give it a go, a cautious go mind you.

Verdict: We shall see (tentatively watching).

Muteki Kanban Musume

Something about a girl who works at a family owned Chinese restaurant, but who, rather than serving the customers food, engages them in some kind of combat? I’m not too sure about that, but I think that’s the gist of this new comedy series. Apparently the manga is not exactly brilliant, but I’m not too sure so I’ll give the anime the benefit of the doubt. It has a couple of eps before benefit turns to doubt, however, so I hope it’s funny from the start!

Verdict: Watching

Innocent Venus

Despite not having seen any trailers, or heard any news on the show, something about it screams quality, and that is something I most definitely enjoy, especially when it’s quality + sci-fi. It’s a mech show, which is actually kind of a negative for me, because I’m beginning to get utterly sick of them, and I just hope we don’t get an awesome story marred by intrusive mecha, which happens all too often. The character designs look good, both the guys and the pink-haired loli (who doesn’t have pink hair these days?), and it looks kinda dark and post-apocalyptic (which I’ll NEVER get sick of).

Verdict: Watching, maybe blogging.

Honey and Clover II

The anticipated sequel season to the very successful Honey & Clover series, this is something that I know a lot of people will watch and enjoy, and that I know will be worth watching, but, alas, will not watch. This is due to my foolishness of not watching the first season. I feel left out in the cold..so cold..so lonely.

Verdict: Not watching.

Kemono Zume

A new version of Blood+; Saya and Haji have switched roles and..oh wait, sorry, I was wrong. In actuality it’s a show about a potentially tragic love story between a monster and a monster hunter. Depending on the direction the show runs with this, it could turn out very good, because I love any romance tale as long as it has a twist of tragedy, and some other fantastical element to remove it from the tedium of normality. The promotional image is unfortunately rather similar to Blood+, but I guess I’ll ignore that if the show itself remains original.

Verdict: Watching, maybe blogging.

Mardock Scramble

I haven’t been able to gather any solid plot details on this one; the trailer told me that it might be about a bunch of angst-ridden lolis in some kind of dark, sci-fi setting. That could work for me. It’s already working for me in that Range Murata is at the helm of the character designs, and everything he attaches his name to turns to gold. GONZO have handled a project with him brilliantly in the past, so I have faith in them to do it again.

Verdict: Watching, BLOGGING.

Taiyo no Mokushiroku Special – Nihon Bundan

This would have to be one of the only shows that actually has me interested as a result of some knowledge of the storyline. It looks to be some kind of political thriller/drama, with perhaps a hint of survival-story. Japan is bought to its knees by a ravenous assault of natural disasters, turning the population into refugees and a faction who remain and most likely have to struggle for nationality, and to rebuild. According to KT, this is a one off thing, which is fine by me, even if it sounds like a good premise for a longer series. I’m excited about this one.

Verdict: Watching, BLOGGING.

Otogi Jushi Akazukin Bundan

Quite some time ago I watched the OVA for this franchise, only to be pleasantly disappointed for its lack of anything very good, cute characters aside. I have watched series of this nature before (Ichigo Mashimaro anyone?), so this isn’t the end of the line, and I’m actually interested enough to check out the series.

Verdict: Watching

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So there you have it! It’s not an all-inclusive list, but it’s all the shows that showed up on my personal radar. I omitted FLAG because we won’t be able to follow it this season properly (subbers will have to wait for DVDs). It’s a season of doubt, hence all the maybes. At this stage it could turn out to be awesome or absoloute rubbish. Only the passing of time will answer that one.