Nisemonogatari
01.08.2012
Comedy, Drama, Supernatural
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Shaft
Synopsis:
The black swindler Kaiki Deishu, who once deceived Hitagi, returns to town and spreads the incantation which cursed Nadeko before.

Koyomi’s sisters Karen and Tsukihi try to capture Deishu but…

Jrow’s Thoughts:

The -monogatari series could become one of the bigger ones in anime if this one plays out as well as its predecessor. There’s also that Kizumonogatari movie that’s still in development, so while that gets done, Shaft will jump to the 3rd -monogatari book following Araragi’s sisters. What’s great is that the staff is basically identical from Bakemonogatari, so zero concerns of how someone new will handle the series. This anime is SHAFT at its Shaftiest; all of the angles, all of the pop-up graphics, etc. are sure to make some people run away than embrace the weirdness, but the visual fidelity of Bakemono was incredible and it was quite effective at telling a story in addition to all of dialogue voiced by an all-star cast. If you have not seen Bakemonogatari, Nise might be alright to jump into and see if you like the series’ vibe.

Brave 10
01.08.2012
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Sakimakura
Synopsis:
Sanada Yukimaru is a powerful warlord in the Sengoku era who seeks the 10 best warriors in the land in order to change the course of History. Saizou is an Inga Ninja who meets Isa Nami, a Izumo priestess whose shrine was destroyed after siding with Sanada. Saizo vows to protect her on her journey to Sanada, but once he arrives he gets drafted into the Brave10.
steev’s Thoughts:

I am not really into historical retellings like this anime. Although, It did grab my interest because Saizo is voiced by Ono Daisuke, who happens to be one of my favorite voice actors. Other than Ono Diasuke, there isn’t really much to say. The studio that is producing the work is new, so I don’t even know what to expect in terms of the quality of animation. Still, I will give it a chance because it does give off a Samurai 7 feeling, so it might be unexpectedly good. The trailer also shows off a lot of action, which is always a draw for me.

Rinne no Lagrange
01.08.2012
Action, Sci-Fi, Mecha
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Production I.G.
Synopsis:
Madoka is the lone member of her school’s Jersey Club. She is one day recruited by a mysterious girl named Lan to pilot the robot “Vox” and protect her city from space invaders. They are joined by a third girl, Muginami, who has a different goal than Ran. Meanwhile, they still don’t know their enemies’ true goal, or what “Rinne” might be.
Amuro’s Thoughts:

Cute girls, giant robots fighting mysterious enemies, and Production IG. Yeah, this looks and sounds like my kind of show. From the trailer, the mecha seems to be a mix between cg and handdrawn, but overall it looks good, if a bit unoriginal. Interestingly, this is set to be split into two 12 episode seasons aired separately.

Ano Natsu De Matteru
01.09.2012
Comedy, Romance
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
J.C. Staff
Synopsis:
No sufficient info atm.
Jrow’s Thoughts:

Here we have Tatsuyuki Nagai, a guy who has directed Toradora, Honey & Clover II and most recently Ano Hana. Popular animes that all feature love stories, heartbreaks and so on, almost challenging its viewer not to become emotionally invested. We also have Onegai Teacher/Twins Yosuke Kuroda involved in what is a reuniting with Nagai and also character designer Masayoshi Tanaka. Oh, and JC Staff too. This all culminates what might be one of Winter’s most intriguing shows. Am I excited for this anime? Quite frankly, no. Does it have the chance to surprise me in the way Ano Hana did so early on? I’m admittedly placing doubt there. JC Staff isn’t the deterrent for me so much as the idea of yet another adolescent romantic comedy. I like Ano Hana; it was a good anime and I really liked the unique character designs for Menma and the others, but I’m really having trouble gaining interest in kind of in some sense watching the series again and surprisingly disappointing character designs as I find no appeal in them. Any kind of supernatural element this show might have would be a turn-off more than on.

Daily Lives of High School Boys
01.09.2012
Action, Fantasy
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Sunrise
Synopsis:
The original gag comedy manga follows the humorous yet “realistic” everyday life of Tadakuni, Hidenori, Yoshitake, and other students at a boys’ high school.
Jrow’s Thoughts:

PV’s are usually boring music montages of scenes from an upcoming anime, but for DLoHSB, they featured 5-minute sketches of typical days in the lives of the 3 main guys on the show. My favorite was the RPG parody with the image of Tadanuki holding a sword by the blade taking 5 damage; the mini-skirt ep was also a winner and the lyrics to the ED theme with self-aware lyrics. Episodes are apparently only 6 minutes, but this already looks way more interesting than past short-shows like Morita-san wa Mikuchi or Nyanpire. Don’t compare this to Fall 2011’s Kimi to Boku; this is much more like Spring 2011’s Nichijou which I’m sure will lead to Amuro enjoying this series. Also, director Shinji Takamatsu was the director for the first 100 episodes of Gintama, one anime steev is a big fan of. The voice cast will go a long way with this show, and Tomokazu Sugita heads that up as Hidenori along with other popular seiyuu like Kenichi Suzumura, Yoko Hikasa and Namikawa Daisuke having some key roles to play.

Another
01.10.2012
Horror, Drama, Supernatural
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
PA Works
Synopsis:
26 years ago a middle school student Misaki died under mysterious circumstances. Misaki was a popular honors student and her classmates decided to carry on as if she never died until graduation. Now it is spring of 1998 and a boy by the name of Skakibara Kouichi transfers into that class. He grows suspicious of the fearful atmosphere and of a beautiful girl named Misaki Mei who is always alone drawing pictures.
steev’s Thoughts:

Ever since Flags last appeared on our podcast and mentioned this series I have kept it in the back of my mind as an anime to look out for, but honestly nothing has captivated me about it. The cast is filled with fairly unknown people and the crew has no well known tallent. The director, Tsutomou Mizushima, also directed xxxHolic, which means he has experince in working on supernatural horror, but he also directed Blood-Crap. Even the trailer doesn’t do anything to grab my attention. It is done by PA Works so I do expect the animation to be top notch, but I just don’t know what to think of this series yet. I won’t shoot it down, but my expectations will be fairly low.

Papa Iu Koto o Kikinasai!
01.11.2012
Comedy
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Feel
Synopsis:
Segawa Yuta was orphaned at an early age, and was raised by his elder sister, Yuri. He began living on his own when Yuri married an older man. Now a university student, Yuta unexpectedly finds himself taking care of Yuri’s three daughters while she and her husband go on a trip. However, when the two go missing, Yuta decides to become the three girls’ guardian so they won’t be forced to be separated. The two older daughters, Sora (14) and Miu (10) are from Yuri’s husband’s first marriage, while the youngest, Hina (3) is Yuri’s daughter. The story is about the daily life of this unlikely family in a tiny apartment.
Amuro’s Thoughts:

Well, this can either be heartwarming and funny, or really creepy depending on how things play out. My first impression is that the two elder sisters aren’t blood related so that they can be put into romantic comedy situations with the main character Yuta. Sora is a tsundere, Miu is a capricious little devil, and Hina is of course there to be adorable. The series is listed as a comedy in the seinen genre, and it’s based on a light novel series. According to Steev and the rest, this is prime Amuro series material, so I’ll be keeping tabs on it to see if it gets the seal of approval.

Black Rock Shooter
01.12.2012
Action, Fantasy
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
Sanzigen & Ordet
Synopsis: (OVA)
Mato Kuroi just got into junior high school, and on the first day, someone catches her eye; her classmate Yomi Takanashi. The two meet.The innocent and naive Mato. The mature Yomi. Seemingly opposites, but the time they spend together only strengthens a growing friendship. But as they go into their second year at the school, they get placed in separate classes, and they begin to grow apart. But somewhere simultaneously… In another world, a young girl, blue fire residing in her eyes, Black Rock Shooter faces another young girl; this one holding a jet-black scythe, Dead Master, and a battle to the death begins to unfold.
Jrow’s Thoughts:

When the OAV came out, all I knew was that vocaloid was a huge deal and that this was a big thing in the anime community. I came away from it feeling like the action stuff looked really great, but not totally enjoying the parallel world theme and also the lack of dialogue BRS and Dead Master have. It wasn’t a total hate for the school side of things as I felt that the dark, barren geometric realm of BRS could’ve done a little more to help out with balancing. Honestly, with only 8 episodes, there shouldn’t be any excuse for making half of the anime into easy school crap when people just want to see Black Rock Shooter fight.
I’ve been keeping up with the Black Rock Shooter news on Anivision, and with each press release, my thrill for an anime series takes a big hit. I’m not bothered that Ordet is coming back to do animation production since I enjoyed the action sequences of Black Rock Shooter, but the problem lies in what I’ve seen of trailers so far, which is rather average CGI use for action scenes. A huge deal breaker for this anime could be battle sequences lacking in comparison to the OAV, and I really hope I’m wrong there. Ryo’s back for music, all well and good considering the great music both in the OAV and also Guilty Crown, and more of huke’s character designs like Strength and I think Black Gold Saw will get a chance to show up. noitaminA picking up this show is certainly a headscratcher still to many, but it’s only 8 episodes and will be done and out before we can blink.

Inu x Boku SS
01.13.2012
Comedy, Shounen, Supernatural
Trailer: [spoiler][/spoiler]
David Production
Synopsis:
Shirakiin Riricho is a young girl from a rich household. She moves out of her house in order to live independently and away from the protection of her family. She moves into a mansion, Ayakashi Kan, were those who live in it have a guardian, aka, a secret service agent that protects them at all times. Riricho quickly rejects the idea of an SS agent protecting her, but she soon discovers that the person protecting her is actually a Fox Spirit whom she previously rescued.
steev’s Thoughts:

This series seems more like an Amuro series because it involves a loli and a body guard, but to be honest, I have heard a bunch about this series and my interest has been peaked. First off, this is being produced by David Productions, which brought us Ben-Tou and it is easily one of the best from the Fall 2011 season. Thus, even though this series looks like the generic loli-comedy it might actually prove to be something far better. Even thought my interest has been peaked, I do not have exceedingly high expectations for this anime, merely I am ready to check it out. Other than hearing some interesting things and being produced by David there isn’t much about the series that stands out, so I set my bar accordingly.

Gokujyo.
??.??.2012
Comedy, Ecchi
Trailer: N/A
???
Synopsis:
Minami Kurihashi transfers into the all girls’ high school Gokurakuin after returning from Los Angeles, and she plans to rule the school with her cutness. However, a girl named Aya Akabane finds out her plans and vows to stop her. Minami doesn’t know what to do because Aya isn’t your typical high school girl.
steev’s Thoughts:

Not much is known about this series yet, but while looking into it I had the chance to read the first few chapters of the manga and what I found was both parts equally disturbing and arousing. The first chapter was about Aya Akabane and about how she lost her underwear while going to school. She didn’t even realize she had lost her underwear. Once she finds out she makes it her mission to steal her friends underwear which leads to them rolling down the hall into their class room ass up so everyone can see. Yes, that is what this series is. The following chapters show a plethora of nudity as one chapter she decides that her breasts are too small and she must find a way to make them bigger. Stupid? Yes, but something most guys will want to watch especially if the anime is done with the nudity, but I fear it will probably be horridly censored and we all will be waiting for the DVD releases. Aya is a very interesting lead as well because she is so over the top that it is very funny at times. Even censored this anime might be hilarious, which actually makes me pretty interested in this anime.

steev’s Thoughts:

Most Promising: Nisemonogatari

Bakemonogatari is easily one of the best anime ever and hearing about a sequel, I am stoked. Even though our protagonist, who was the star of the show isn’t here, we will be finally meeting his sister whose roll consisted of only waking him up in the previous series. I am very curious about them, but I do hope that this doesn’t turn into a moe version of Bakemonogatari, which it has the potential to do.

Worth Checking Out: Daily Lives of High School Boys

I love comedies and Gintama is one of the best out there. Bringing in not only the director of Gintama and some of the voice talent has me a bit excited for this anime. I watched several of the previews and I laughed hard every time. I am expecting this show to be a lot of fun.

Trash Anime: Amagami SS+

Amagami SS was a great anime last year. It redefined the romance genre and the main character was absolutely fantastic, not to mention the plethora of awesome side characters. When I head there was a sequel I got excited because there are still a lot of girls I want to see Junichi conqure, but that is when I heard the unfortunate news. This is not a sequel filled with new girls, but continuations of the old girls. That is very disappointing and I am not looking forward to this at all.

Jrow’s Thoughts:

Most Promising: Nisemonogatari

I really fell for Bakemono last year as we talked about some in our 2010 awards podcast and how unique and quirky the visual style of Shaft was. While the likes of Senjougahara and Araragi will play second fiddle to their sisters, it should be a pretty fine show.

Worth Checking Out: Another

I’ve really come to enjoy P.A. Works over the past couple of years and am really intrigued by this anime as it should sport a bit of a darker tone than the likes of a Clannad or Angel Beats or Hanasaku Iroha.

Trash Anime: Highschool DxD

I list it as trash anime, but that won’t stop me from watching!

Amuro’s Thoughts:

Most Promising: Rinne no Lagrange

This show is from the prestigious Production I.G. and it seems to have everything I would love in a series. It’s sort of disappointing that I’ll have to wait for the second season, but things I’ve seen from the preview and trailers have me looking forward to it.

Worth Checking Out: PapaKiki! and Recorder to Randoseru

Both these shows have interesting premises that could lead to lots of humor. Papakiki is also a lolicon’s wetdream, but let’s not go there for now. As for Recorder, I’m just wondering what kind of hijinks an adult looking 11 year old will get into.

Trash Anime: Highschool DxD

Yep, you can already see what I think of DxD from what I’ve already written. It looks generic, badly censored, and just not particularly interesting. Granted…I might just be checking it out when the uncensored version are out, because that’s my civic duty and what not.