So it’s action figure girls fighting in armor? The action sequences actually do seem pretty cool and FAR better than anything Infinite Stratos ever did. If it is just girls fighting in mechs for 5 minutes, I could watch that.

When the first season of Ika Musume aired last year I avoided it like the plague. It just sounded like a stupid anime, but subjected to a massive amount of boredom I decided to marathon this series a few month back and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. Ika Musume was actually a lot of fun. As comedy goes it is a goldmine of gags and strange characters. Interestingly enough Rie Tanaka voices one of the main characters for the anime. The series itself wouldn’t be good if Ika Musume herself wasn’t fun and she grows on you quickly and the moe never stops for her. I doubt season 2 will differ much from the original so I am looking forward to it. If you haven’t checked out season 1 and are looking for a good laugh, then Ika Musume is quick and a lot of fun.

Remember when X was the popular letter? When did C take over? It’s very appropriate that this series be called C3 after [Control] and Blood-C aired during the previous 2 seasons. 

Personally, anime stories like this type and character designs like these have never really enthralled me in anime, like they just don’t quite gel together with the dark scenery and the action never seems to tip the scales of awesome. The show seems to have some strange lore about the curse that has been placed on the lead girl. Reading the first chapter of the manga didn’t really help change my view of this as the male protagonist is typical, the bits of comedy are ordinary and that ecchi will come in and out of the series. Director Shin Oonuma’s most notable work is Baka to Test (also joined by character designer Miwa Oshima), but I don’t really know how comedic C-Cubed will end up being or if it’ll hit the right notes overall.

Season 1 of Working!! surprised me a lot. It wasn’t something that I was expecting and it turned out to be a solid anime. That is pretty much how I would describe Working!!, it isn’t something that is really good, but it provides quite a bit of entertainment value. This series is far from original, but the characters do a good job of holding the anime up. The most interesting part about this anime is the stellar voice cast it has, especially when it comes to the male characters. It has Fukuyama Jun, Ono Daisuke, and Kamiya Hiroshi all packed into this tiny series. The other more interesting aspect of the series is that it has quite a bit of story progression in it. Series like Working!! tend to focus on the daily lives of the characters and the crazy antics they get in without ever moving pass the various gags. Working!! wasn’t like that, the story actually progresses and each episode builds onto the next. The next season starts soon, but the previous season is only 13 episodes long and proves to be a quick watch. I recommend you check it out as soon as possible so you can watch this season as well.

This continues on from the first season of Bakuman, a series I enjoyed quite a bit. The series is painfully slow and waiting on this season made me want to read the manga just to continue on. Bakuman is a very interesting series because it does focus heavily on the procedural part of the manga world, so you learn quite a bit about how everything works. Bakuman is also made by the same guys that brought us Death Note, which this series is nothing like, but it does a good job in showing us the range of genre that those guys are capable of. The main two characters are the draw of the anime. Mashiro and Takagi are a great pair that keeps the often slow pace of Bakuman interesting. I am excited about season 2 and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.

I certainly have a knack for taking these eroge-based animes, don’t I?! MinaSoft developed this one, and their previous eroge was They Are My Noble Masters, an anime which I really liked a few years ago. Masters had some interesting characters, so I’m hopeful Maji de Watashi can bring me more likable babes. Though this show has action when Masters really didn’t have any much of, I do think its eroge roots might provide a half-decent romance story and be the most watchable and overall enjoyable of the ecchi offerings this season; certainly moreso than Maken-Ki. There’s lots of the typical cute girls swinging weapons around, Hiroshi Kamiya (surprisingly) as the lead, and a purple robot named Cookie. Huh? What is this robot doing here? Anyways, I get a good vibe from this show and am looking forward to its premiere as AT-X is a listed broadcaster.

Damn was it hard to get a summary for this show, as what little information there is about it hardly makes any sense. That aside, it really doesn’t matter because just from watching the trailer, I’m already intrigued by this show. It appears to be a mish-mash of genres, with both school and sci-fi elements present and accounted for. The show is being animated by Sunrise and is planned for multiple seasons, so this could certainly be a show to keep an eye on.

We know what ufotable has done with a previous Nasuverse series, now it’s time to let them adapt a Fate series into anime form! I remember really enjoying Fate/Stay Night when it aired back in 2006 and feel like I have a good grasp of everything that happened in the story, though DEEN did make some changes toward the end. I also remember seeing scans for stuff like Zero or Hollow/Ataraxia back in the day and wanting even more of the series, so I’m glad to see at least Zero is getting an anime series finally as we’ll get to see Emiya Shirou’s father Kiritsugu controlling Saber. Reminder again, this is a TYPE-MOON, Nasuverse property, so expect the standard dose of Nakata Jouji. A personal fave of mine, Megumi Toyoguchi has a small role in F/Z also. Yuki Kajiura provided great music for Kara no Kyokai as well as Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles, so I’m expecting the OST to be a definite want. With it being a two-cour anime, I believe that might be enough to complete the light novels in anime form. Each PV being put out adds to the excitement, and I’m sure the hardcore F/SN fans that play the visual novels are in for a treat with Zero! 

Bonus note: Atsushi Ikariya, one of the character designers, did the key animation for the first episode of Sacred Seven, which was widely considered to be pretty awesome action.

I am a big fan of the original series and when I heard this was going to be a remake I was somewhat dissapointed. The original series was brilliant and they did a great job in translating it from the manga. The ending was still left open and continuing it on seems like a better decision. The original anime still holds up to today as well. I rewatched it not too long ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. I wasn’t happy either when I heard that they recasted the voices as well, but they did pick some interesting actors to take over the roles. Even with that all said, I am stoked about the remake because Hunter x Hunter is one of the best shounen series out there. If you don’t know, its mangaka is Togashi Yoshihiro, the same guy who made Yu Yu Hakusho and Level-E. I love both of those series, but Hunter x Hunter is better in my opinion. HxH had a set back a few years ago when Yoshihiro got sick and had to take a very long break. The good news is that he completely recovered and HxH is back in full swing with a lot of life still left in it. 

The most interesting part about this series is that it is being produced by Madhouse, which should keep to the often violent action that the series has. My concern is whether or not they plan to keep the series ongoing. It would piss me off to no end if they only animate a part of the series especially since the previous work is still good, even if they aren’t in HD. The series is very long as well. The original series had 90+ episodes. If Madhouse plans to keep it up, then I will love them to no end. This should be one of the best titles of the fall season.

Another show this season by Sunrise, with Hajime Yatate (aka the collective pen name for the sunrise writing staff) credited with the original story. It’s clear that this will be a very shounen-esque show. The premise doesn’t sound terribly interesting, and it’s hard to imagine what a deadly puzzle looks like. That is until you watch the PV. Having to solve a tough puzzle with deadly traps threatening your life could make for some interesting stuff. The character designs aren’t particularly interesting, but I’ll give this a shot anyway. If nothing else, the opening theme is by May’n, so there’s that to look forward to. On a funny note, Daimon is voiced by one Jun Fukuyama and we clearly see…something going on with his eye in the trailer. Hmmm.

After reading up a bit on the OVA this show is based of, it sounds like a really chill show. The OVA being only 4 episodes sounds like an easy enough watch, and that should be a good indicator as to whether you’ll want to watch the series or not. I will say that doing research on the show has made me interested enough to check out the OVA, so I’ll likely be following the series as well.

I read through the first few chapters of the manga because I felt like I knew nothing about the anime when I looked into it. The thing that caught my attention the most was that this is for boys. It has a very shoujo manga feeling to it. The use of chibi characters and sparkle backgrounds remind me of the many shoujo manga I’ve read. Not that I am against shoujo manga, just that this series puzzles me because it isn’t one. The first few chapters were entertaining to say the least. It didn’t impress me or hook me, but it did make me interested enough to at least tune into the first episode of the anime. It is being produced by J.C. Staff, which has a huge stigma attached to it for most people, but I don’t really care because even if J.C. Staff has trashed a few series, they have plenty of great ones too.

An adapted ecchi manga from the director that brought me Ikkitousen (a favorite of mine) is working on more ecchi action? I’m a victim of my own ecchi interests, so I’ll be watching this. Now, when I see an anime like this, I have a simple three-item checklist of things to research. First, run to a manga site and fast click thru chapters (you know why I fast click). Then, if available, I look for when blu-rays will be released. Then finally, I check if AT-X will be airing this so it can be aired on TV, uncensored, in a horrid 960×720 resolution. To answer those questions: the manga is included in Gekkan Dragon Age, a magazine that doesn’t allow nudity (much like Air Gear), so the volume releases of the manga are uncensored; the only thing I see available for sale as of writing is a body pillow; and AT-X is not listed as a broadcaster. Oh, one more thing, that opening is catchy as I’ve ripped the audio from the PV and like that song.

There are two things about this anime which have peaked my interest. First is that the manga won the Manga Taisho award in 2009. To be honest the premise of the series sounds rather boring. I know anime has done a good job in bringing seemingly boring professional Japanese sports into anime and making them interesting, most notably Go from Hikaru no Go, but this particular card game doesn’t look that good. If you watch a lot of anime you have probably seen people playing Karuta before, like in the Kore wa Zombie OVA. The other thing that interests me is that it is being produced by Madhouse, a group known for their action packed series. Every once in a while they venture out into these drama based anime and when they do they are particularly good. Series like Kobato. and Tatami Galaxy, which were some of my favorite drama titles from last year. There really isn’t anyone spectacular working on the project as well. I will keep my eye on this one, but I have my reserves.

What has this world come to when Manglobe is forced to animate this kind of filth? The series is based off of an adult game, which was subsequently turned into a manga last year. I doubt there will be any kind of “adult” flavor in this anime because Manglobe is the one producing it. Manglobe is easily one of my favorite studios and it is disappointing, to say the least, to see them do this kind of anime. I am getting flash backs to 2009 when they made the POS called Sacred Blacksmith. Out my shear love for Manglobe I will give this a shot, like Sacred Blacksmith, and check out the first episode or two, but the only expectation I have is the feeling of regret and a loss of 20 minutes of my life.

AIC Build’s first series you may recall was the ever so popular Ore no Imoutou, so their next adaptation involves a high school club that gets together and plays games and other fun activities. I’m weary when an anime says something like “other activities” in its description, but I did really enjoy OrenoImo and I like the animation here (most specifically the lips), so I will give this a chance. I’ve read the first 3 chapters of the manga (there’s also a light novel of Boku wa Tomodachi) and there were a couple funny moments, but it seems like it fights an uphill battle to separate itself from every other high school anime of its kind like Seitokai no Ichizon as the girls don’t seem extrordinary so far; I’m thinking a lot hinges on Kodaka’s likability as the lead male protagonist. I’ll say that I did like the art in the manga and must admit that I got a crush on blondie (Sena, voiced by Kanae Itou), and there’s other great seiyuu like Marina Inoue and the super-busy Kana Hanazawa.

Last Exile is one of Gonzo’s best work, so when I heard they where bringing it back I got really excited. The original Director of the series is even back to work on this anime. The good news for those of you that haven’t seen the original, this might be a sequel, but it takes place long after the original and it more or less uses the Last Exile universe so you don’t need to see the original to watch this one, however, I do recommend that at some point in the future you watch it because it is a good anime. They previewed the first episode back in July at the Los Angeles Anime expo and I read a couple of impressions on it and they were a bit leery about it. The main characters have moe traits that might rub some of us the wrong way. Either way it has been a while since I’ve really enjoyed a Gonzo production and I have my hopes that this will spring them back into a studio that produces the excellent work I know they are capable of. 

Possibly the anime I’m most looking forward to this fall season. I played Persona 4 for the first time last year, and it is easily my favorite PS2 game of all time, which is saying a lot considering how strong a library the PS2 is. With that said, the announcement of a P4 anime got me excited enough to go back and play through the game again, this time putting in roughly 90 hours in about a week’s time. Anime adaptations of games can be hit or miss, usually skewing more towards misses, but Persona 4 the Animation has key staff from the game is returning and looks be set, not to disappoint. With the announcement of more Persona 4 games on the way, it seems like the Anime might be a well-timed advertising ploy. Regardless of that, now’s a good time to be a Persona fanboy.

To be completely honest, I had forgotten all about Shakugan no Shana. I did remember parts of the anime, but I did not remember if I had even watched season 2. After looking at my MAL list, it started to all come back to me and that is when I remembered something important, I really liked Shakugan no Shana. I didn’t watch the movie nor the OVA and because it has been 5 years since season 2 I had forgotten about Shana. Since then I downloaded all of Shana so I could rewatch it and I must admit, even though I am only half way through the first season, I still like this series. I am now really excited about the final season. For starters, it is the final season! That alone gets me pumped up because I know the story will be completed and that is something worth quite a lot these days, especially long running anime like this. 

Kugimiya Rie has stared in a lot of bad anime recently and that is because they are all trying to imitate this series. This show has a very typical set-up: Young powerless guy gets involved with a super fighting loli girl. The story however does a good job drawing you in and from what I remember, there are some great twists that keep you involved. Shana has many attractive characters that pull you into the story as well. Yuji is a great character that from the start shows off why he is useful. As the series progresses he even gains his own abilities and stands up to fight along side Shana. The relationship between Shana and Yuji is one to remember as well. You find yourself often routing for them and you get that half smile while watching them interact because you just can’t help, but like their relationship. If you haven’t watched any of Shakugan no Shana, then you need to put it on your list of anime to watch. As of right now, the series itself is over 50 episodes long and with season 3 on the way you’ll have even more to watch. Even though that is a lot of episodes, it is soooo worth it. Needless to say, I am excited about this one.

Joking aside, if you haven’t watched season 1, then you probably won’t be interested in season 2. Due to selection order I ended up having to watch this show for the podcast preview we did, but I was surprised to find that it actually was interesting enough to stick with it and I ended up watching the entire season. I won’t lie, while I felt uncomfortable at times, the story is actually pretty good. The anime is actually complied of three stories each staring various members of the Marukawa Shoten shoujo manga department. It would shift between those stories during the season and it did so fairly well. For the most part the characters are eerily similar, but they have just enough variance in each of the story lines and the character match ups to keep your interest. I am somewhat of a completionist, so because I watched season 1 I will probably watch this one as well. As long as it stays the course, it should prove to be entertaining.

The OVA trailer to the left was released last year with Volume 11 of the manga and provides what we can assume to be how the show will look like in animation form. I picked up the manga, and 10 chapters in, I’m hooked and will continue reading all the way to the end. And that’s a good thing about the show; the manga (59 chapters in whole) has been completed and the show is slated for 2 cours. Chapters are a lengthy 40+ pages, but I think you could animate 1.5/2 chapters per episode and complete the manga in anime form. Ultimately, I’m concered about the adaptation because of possible censorship and story changes/skipping/etc, so the best thing for me to do here is expect the worst and hope for the best. And just real quick on the animation, my only complaint is the CG for Deus, which I hope asread just brings back to a handdrawn style. 

The game features 12 competitors, each with a different type of [diary] that’s unique to their own professions and personality. This could make for some interesting mind games, though I wouldn’t be comparing it to Death Note anytime soon in terms of smarts. One of the competitors, Gasai Yuno, is bound to gain popularity as a stalker, yandere-type girl who is obsessed with Yukiteru and kisses him on multiple occasions early on. She becomes easily irritated and violent when Yuki’s life is at stake. Yuno isn’t nearly as dynamic of a character as Mawaru Penguindrum’s Ringo is in a sense, but her yandere tendencies are sure to make her a favorite with some fans.

If you’ve been around the block when it comes to Gundam shows, you know the cycle. New Gundam show gets announced, it’s the end of Gundam, show airs, it’s enjoyed by those watching it, show finishes, and then it’s the worst Gundam until the next one gets announced. The number of dislikes to likes for the PVs on youtube is frankly kind of ridiculous. This time a lot of the pre-hate seems to come from the art style. What’s my stance on this? I’m going watch it because it’s Gundam. If it’s good, then it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad. At the very least I’m going to give it a chance. The show’s designs have grown on me since it’s been announced, and the plot has some interesting themes. The most interesting of which is the generational story and how the Gundam will be passed on from father to son to grandson. The fact that the same Gundam will grow and evolve along the way is also really interesting.

Fight-o! For lunch? Angel Beats fought over meal tickets, so Ben-to seems to be making a full-scale war out of lunch boxes. Judging from what surprising little information we have so far (I was surprised that the manga isn’t really findable online), Ben-To would seem like an ecchi comedy series with action scenes tossed in about battles for lunches in grocery stores. I’d initially assume it to be a boobs and fighting brand of anime with a rather strange premise, but maybe the comedy device of food can work for some people and the two girls on the feature image are attractive, or at least I think the light blue-haired girl is. 

I can already see the censorship tricks from a mile away if it’s as ecchi as I’m thinking it is. I’ll definitely take a bite and see if I like it; perhaps the premise and the comedy can separate itself from other ecchi offerings this Fall. And why is mentioning SEGA important in the synopsis, anyways?

As No. 6’s time on noitaminA concludes, Un-Go will be BONES’ next series on the well-revered anime hour. Another BONES mystery anime, Gosick, took place during the 1920s and while Un-Go is adapted from Sakaguchi Ango’s stories which take place during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), the series will be set slightly in the future which should hopefully add an interesting spin to the story. I get a good feeling about the main detective characters Shinjirou and Inga. Shinjirou seems like a cool dude, and while Inga might have child-like qualities, he seems like someone who could flip a switch and be a factor in solving cases. 

Seiji Mizushima is directing the series, and he was the director for the original Fullmetal Alchemist series; while we’re well aware of Brotherhood’s brilliance, the first anime rendition is still amazing in its own right and I’m hopeful for an interesting tale of these two guys (Yuki and Inga) solving cases. I also want to mention Shou Aikawa, who is doing screenplay. This guy created Ayakashi Ayashi, a previous BONES series I remember enjoying despite most people’s negative reaction to it, enough so to cancel the series at 25 episodes. That’s mostly a bad thing, but at least he also worked on the first FMA anime with Mizushima.

There’s starpower here. Production I.G. on animation, Supercell’s Ryo on music, famed illustrator Redjuice on character designs, Death Note director Tetsuro Araki and Code Geass story composer Ichiro Okouchi are involved as well. You had me at I.G., Guilty Crown, and then you kept getting more enticing! This series airing on noitaminA is perhaps the most impressive and anticipated series this Fall, and the PV shows off the excellent key animation I.G. is doing here with some rather sexy character designs and mecha-esque themes. Judging from what we’ve seen, we know I.G. and Redjuice are bringing it big time, but perhaps the only matter of concern is that noitaminA is an 11-episode slot; can guys that worked on longer series like Geass and Death Note tell a good story in 1 cour?