Season Preview – Spring 2011

Well, all I can say about the winter 2011 season of anime is that is has turned out rather surprising. I had expected to not follow too many shows, but I ended up watching a majority of the winter season, and *gasp* thought a lot of it was actually good. Considering the recent moe heavy anime nowadays (which often panders to a certain niche fanbase), I wasn’t quite expecting any amazing anime this winter season. Note that I don’t really have anything against moe shows, its just that there were quite a few of them in the winter season.

That being said, all good thing must come to an end, and in this case, we’ve got the Winter season of anime ending in a few weeks and the Spring 2011 season coming up right afterward. There are a grand total of 47 new series debuting this fall season, which is an absurd number in my opinion. Out of those 47, I’ve covered 44 of them in this season preview (the rest you could look around for, but they’re children’s anime). I can spy a few Spring Season shows that look interesting, but you know there’s only so much you can get from brief preview videos and summaries. Special thanks to Steve for all his help with this Season preview.

Either ways, continue reading ahead for a sneak peek at the upcoming season shows, preview videos, a basic overview of their plots, and for our impressions of each show.

Note: All information and images are sourced from Anime News Network, MyAnimeList, Moonphase, Japanese wikipedias, various season preview charts, and the official websites of each series. There may be inaccuracies in this preview, and will be updated as new information is revealed about these new shows. Shows I don’t have enough info on haven’t been put up in the preview, but will be added once certain info about those shows are confirmed. Oh, and I was feeling lazy and didn’t include two kids shows in this preview.

Also, for those reading this through a feed aggregator (Google reader, etc), the preview videos may not show up through the feed aggregator. You should go to the post directly if want to see the preview videos.

[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 14, 2011
Animation Studio: Tatsunoko Production
Channel to be aired on: Fuji TV at 24:45
Official Site: http://www.noitamina-control.jp/

Overview:

Anime original Noitamina series. The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro, raised by his maternal grandmother after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, is a scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life. One day, however, he meets a man who offers him a large sum of money if he’ll agree to pay it back. From then on his fate is radically altered as he’s drawn into a mysterious area known as “The Financial District.”

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 90% – The one thing that automatically puts this show on the radar would be the fact that it’s a Noitamina show. Noitamina has had a great string of good shows in recent times, and I don’t really see why that would be stopping here. We’ve also got the story being written by the same guy who worked on Durarara and Baccano, which were both amazing series in their own ways. Animation looks like it’ll be pretty good too if the production cast is an indicator of anything. Now I just have to hope this longer than the standard 11 episodes that Noitamina shows tend to be.

Steve: 83% – The fact that C will be directed by Nakamura Kenji interests as he did a wonderful job of directing Mononoke, which is a Japanese classical horror-story anime and it is one of the very few shows that I can give 10 out of 10 without much regret. However, Tatasuonoko production hasn’t produced anything noticeable recently and the shows I can recognize from this company is Time Bokan Series: Yatterman, which I did enjoy in my early childhood,  and Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which I just started watching after finishing the Macross Frontier. Anyway, those two shows from 1970s and 1980s won’t really be relevant to this show, but I wouldn’t be able to make any substantial prediction about this show until I see a preview with actual “in-show” animations. The synopsis does sound pretty interesting  though, as it reminds me of Eden of the East, which is considered one of the most successful Noitamina series.

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Deadman Wonderland (デッドマンワンダーランド)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 16, 2011
Animation Studio: Manglobe
Channel to be aired on: TV Kanagawa at 25:00
Official Site: http://dwl.jp/

Overview:

The story is set after the destruction of most of Tokyo by a major earthquake. Ganta Igarashi, a middle school student framed for the murder of his classmates, is sent to a bizzare privately owned and operated prison that is one part incarceration and one part public spectacle for tourists. There is the standard weird girl character, some super powers, and a conspiracy theory in the works.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 75% –I’ve heard a ton of good things about the manga for this series, and it also has a very interesting sounding premise. Not to mention, Manglobe is adapting this series; for those that don’t know, Manglobe has made some genuinely great series such as Michiko to Hatchin and Samurai Champloo. Considering Manglobe’s track record and their strength with less mainstream anime, I’d like to hope that they do a good job with this series. Considering the disappointing adaptation of Kaminomi by Manglobe last season, I really hope they don’t mess up this anime.

Steve: 80% – I haven’t the read the manga version of Deadman Wonderland yet, but I hear it was written by the same author who worked on Eureka Seven, and I suppose it wasn’t a coincidence when the poster of the show looked so familiar to me. Anyway, this is going to be little bit of gamble for Manglobe as it will be the first show to be directed by Hatsumi Koichi. The fact that the two main characters are voiced by two veterans, Paku Romi (aka Edward Eric in FMA) and Hanazawa Kana (believe or not, I now consider Kana-chan as a Seiyuu veteran.), definitely excites me. The manga is known for having some gores, but I think Manglobe is the right man to do the job.

Preview Video:

STEINS; GATE (シュタインズ ゲート)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 5, 2011
Animation Studio: White Fox
Channel to be aired on: Teletama at 26:05
Official Site: http://steinsgate.tv/

Overview:

Steins Gate is set in the summer of 2010, approximately one year after the events of the Chaos Head anime series. A group of friends have customized their microwave into a device that can send text messages to the past. As they perform experiments, an organization which goes by the name of SERN tracks them down. Now the main cast has to avoid being captured by SERN, which also seems to have been research on time travel tracks.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 75% –The idea of time traveling text messages via microwaves sounds pretty interesting. Considering the good work White Fox did with Katanagatari, I’d like to hope that they will do a good job here. The story premise sounds like it has potential, but I’m just hoping this show doesn’t turn out like the very psychotic Chaos;Head series, which I couldn’t really get myself to finish. Chaos; Head was created by the same visual novel developers that made Steins;gate, which is my only real concern here.

Steve: 75% -Steins;Gate is anime adaptation of a visual novel from 5pb. and Nitroplus, and it is currently considered one of the most well-received video game in Japan as it received average of 99/100 on 4gamer.net. Well, the problem is none of the anime adaptations of visual novels from Nitroplus has turned into a success and it’s been literally haunting them like a bad curse. Well, you can argue that Katanagatari from White Fox was a big success, but that could be due to the fact that it was written by a genius writer Nisioisin and it was an OVA series with each episode coming out almost every month. I’m not sure how White Fox will be able to handle TVA series, so I’ll probably have to stay reserved on this one.

Preview Video:

Ao no Exorcist (青の祓魔師(エクソシスト))

English Name: Blue Exorcist
Air Date: April 10, 2011
Animation Studio: A-1 Pictures
Channel to be aired on: TBS/MBS at 17:00
Official Site: http://www.ao-ex.com/

Overview:

The world consists of two dimensions joined as one, like a mirror. The one in which humans live in is called Assiah, while the world inhabited by demons is called Gehenna. Normally travel between the two is impossible, but demons can cross over by possessing any object in the human world. Satan is the god of demons, but there is one thing he can’t find; a container that can contain his existence. For that reason he created Rin, his son from a human woman. Rin Okumura is a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto, only to discover his status as Satan’s son after an argument between the two. Rin eventually decides to fight his fate and joins the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 80% –There haven’t been any shonen series as of late that I’ve held interest in. I am watching Bakuman, which does count as shonen, but it certainly doesn’t feel like one. Ao no Exorcist is a pretty popular series, and while you might think of it as typical shonen at first, this show has Tensai Okamura of Darker than Black and Wolf’s Rain fame directing off scripts, which in itself is a great sign of some potential. The story will probably start off as typical shonen fare (based on the preview video), but anything could really happen from there.

Steve: 73% – The fact that this show is full of stereotypes that Chūnibyou(中二病) folks love does turn me off quite a bit, but I heard good words about the author being able to create quite the interesting and clever story line from what could have been clich és of the Satan genre. For this reason, a lot of readers describe the manga as the adequate successor of D-Gray Man in Shonen Jump. Also, I expect the show to have a solid production quality from A-1 Pictures.

Preview Video:

Hana Saku Iroha (花咲くいろは)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 03, 2011
Animation Studio: P.A. Works
Channel to be aired on: Tokyo MX at 22:00
Official Site: http://www.hanasakuiroha.jp/

Overview:

The anime is the 10th anniversary work of the animation studio P.A. Works. The story centers around Ohana Matsumae, a 16-year-old Tokyo native who ended up working at a onsen ryokan (hot spring inn). She moves from Tokyo to out in the country to live with her grandmother at an old hot spring inn named Kissuisou. Ohana has yet to decide what she wants to do in the future. Ohana begins working at the inn and makes friends with the other employees, and becomes friends with Minko and Nako, who are also seeking their dreams, as well as some adventures.(From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 80% –While I’m not quite liking the premise for this show, P.A. Works has made some pretty decent series, the most memorable one from recent times being True Tears and Angel Beats. That being said, I don’t quite see why P.A. Works decided to make this show their 10th anniversary show, if only because it probably won’t be well remembered unless it becomes a huge hit. Hanasaku has some staff who have previously worked on Canaan and Sword of the Stranger, which is an odd choice for a slice of life show, but it could make things interesting. I do think this could turn out to be a successful slice of life show, but I have some reservations as to how the story will turn out. Then again, I don’t have too much info on this show so I may be overgeneralizing a bit here.

Steve: 90% – Perhaps one of the most anticipated show of this spring season, I think Hanasaku Iroha has the potential to live up to the True Tear’s reputation, which was known for its excellent production quality and genuine romance story. Perhaps, the only downside was that the soap-opera-like storyline (almost all episodes ended with some kind of cliffhanger) wasn’t very well received with some of the Western viewers.  Anyway, I’m loving that fact that all three major female characters in the show are voiced by my favorite seiyuus such as Itou Kanae (Elsea, Saten, Amu)   for Matsumae, Toyosaki Aki (Uiharu, Yui; she just won a Seiyuu award recently), Omigawa Chiaki (Hotori and Maka) for Tsurugi Minko. Even the supporting characters are voiced by veterans such as Tomatsu Haruka and Noto Mamiko. As long as they can keep the production quality consistent with what was shown in the preview vidoes, I definitely this one will be one of the strongest show entering this season.

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Moshidora (もしドラ)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: March 14, 2011 (Delayed to April 8th)
Animation Studio: Production IG
Channel to be aired: NHK at 22:55
Official Site: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/anime/moshidora/

Overview:

Moshidora is based on Natsumi Iwasaki’s “Moshi Kōkō Yakyū no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no Management o Yondara” business novel from 2009. The title of the book roughly translates to “If a Female Manager of a High School Baseball Team Read Drucker’s Management Book…”, and focuses on a female high school student named Minami Kawashima. She becomes the baseball team manager at the Tokyo Hodokubo High school, and accidentally ends up buying Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices — a classic productivity guide by the Austrian-American management guru Peter Drucker — and uses it to rally her dispirited team.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 70%- Well, this definitely isn’t something you’d normal expect to be an anime; I mean, Moshidora is pretty much just a nicely packaged advertisement for Peter Drucker’s management book. That being said, there is the chance that this show will have a decent mix of baseball management, character development, and slice of life. However, from what I’ve heard from a few Japanese speaking friends is that the original story was very poorly written; hopefully the anime adaptation won’t be the same. Hopefully the bestseller status for this series isn’t for nothing.

Steve: 83% – Having sold more than 2 million copies in Japan on December 2010, Moshidora is not only one of the best selling light novel in Japan, but also in business management categories as it did a wonderful job of explaining Drucker’s “Management” using baseball team (as well as moe characters) as a medium. Heck, the book is also going to be made into a live action movie, which is expected to be shown on 2011 June. Considering it is going to be produced by Production I.G., there’s a good chance that this show could come close to the mainstream success of Kimi ni Todoke. Also, the two main characters are going to be voiced by Hikasa Youko (Akiyama Mio & Amakusa Shino) and Hanazawa Kana. Anyway, as a fan of Major League Baseball and Ookiku Furikabutte, this is a show I’ll definitely be following this spring season.

Preview Video 01:

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない)

English Name: We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day
Air Date: April 2011
Animation Studio: A-1 Pictures
Channel to be aired on: Fuji TV at –:–
Official Site: http://www.anohana.jp/

Overview:

Anime original Noitamina series. Six childhood friends grew apart in high school. One of them is Jintan, who now lives as a shut-in. He gets a request to fufill a wish for Menma, the only one amongst the group of friends to have stayed the same over the years. In order to grant her wish, Jintan will have to go out and reunite with their old friends.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 85% –While the story premise doesn’t exactly sound amazing, this series has a very solid group of people behind this anime adaptation. AnoHana has Tatsuyuki Nagai as the director, working off scripts by Mari Okada. These two were both pretty heavily involved in the acclaimed Toradora series, with some involvement in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun series as well. Oh, and Tatsuyuki has worked on Honey and Clover II, which was a superb romance anime. The character designs are from Masayoshi Tanaka, another Toradora veteran. All in all, this series has quite a few interesting people working behind the scenes, and not to mention, this is the second Noitamina series for the Spring Season. For those that haven’t heard my raving about Noitamina already, Noitamina series have mostly been great to watch in the past few years.

Steve: 80% – Another Notimania series from A-1 Pictures, AnoHana features a number of Toradora staff (especially Okada Mari who worked on Fractale and Gosick recently) and I like how the story focuses on anti-Hikikomori themes and childhood memories. I’m not a big fan of character designs of some characters that were shown in the PV, but I guess what matters more is the storyline for such kind of anime. I’m expecting this one to be as good as A-1 Picture’s Fractale of this winter season.

Preview Video 01:

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Nichijou (日常)

English Name: Everyday Life
Air Date: April 02, 2011
Animation Studio: Kyoto Animation
Channel to be aired on: TV Aichi at 26:20
Official Site: http://www.shinonome-lab.com/

Overview:

Nichijou is Kyoto Animation’s new TV series that is set to air this spring. While the title suggests a story of simple, everyday school life, the contents are more the opposite. The setting is a strange school where you may see the principal wrestle a deer, or have random slices of salmon fall from the sky. There are still normal stories, like making a card castle or taking a test you didn’t study for.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 65% –Well, it looks like the big name studio KyoAni is finally back to making TV anime, and it’s not really a surprise that they’re adapting another 4-koma comedy manga. Nichijou right off the bat has some extremely quirky humor, and dare I say it, perhaps even more quirky than the very well known Azumanga Daioh series. From what I read of the first few manga chapters, this will probably turn out similar to the Lucky Star in terms of humor, which might turn some people off. Lucky Star and Azumanga are both  famous for having very quirky, odd humor, and I get that same impression from this show. Humor in the manga chapters I read were kind of hit or miss, with more misses than hits in terms of funniness. The thing is, KyoAni is known for often creating superior anime adaptations of their moe manga counterparts, which I really hope applies here.

Steve: 85% – I don’t think there is better animation productions studio than KyoAni for handling this type of slice-of-life yonkoma manga. So far, I loved the preview video with quirky background music and “Hakase” reminds me of Rebecca Miyamoto from Pani Poni Dash, though I think she has somewhat nicer personality. Anyway, I don’t think this one will be well received with Western viewers, but rather Akiba-kei folks, so I’m certainly all up for Nichijou. Don’t be surprise if this becomes the next Lucky Star in Japan.

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Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (電波女と青春男)

English Name: Electromagnetic Wave Woman and Adolescent Man
Air Date: April 07, 2011
Animation Studio: SHAFT
Channel to be aired on: TBS/BS-TBS at 25:55
Official Site: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/denpa/

Overview:

The story revolves around a highschool boy named Niwa Makoto. He lives with his aunt’s family since his parents are away on business. It is there where he meets his mysterious cousin of the same age Touwa Erio — who happens to tie a futon mattress around her upper body and is a self-proclaimed alien. Her staple food is pizza. Erio had been missing for half a year and was found floating in the sea. She doesn’t remember anything about what happened during that period of time, but she began to think that it was the act of an alien and wanders the neighbourhood wrapped in the futon. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 60% –I actually haven’t been able to find much info on this series, but it’s target demographic is seinen. In other words, this show’s primary target is in general young adult males (18-30 years old). Hopefully the story reflects that, because the story premise sounds kind of generic. I am expecting this series to be very quirky though, especially if you consider how this is being directed by the infamous Akiyuki Shinbo (famous for his odd yet flashy directing style), and the animation being done by Shaft.

Steve: 85% – Well, the fact that SHAFT is animating this series Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko kinda eventually led to me to buying the light novel series. Before I talk about how the light novel was like, I’d like to point out that it is written by Iruma Hitoma who won  some prestigious awards with light novel Usotsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan. Anyway, I realized that the main character in the light novel had a sarcastic yet very analytic view  towards characters around him, and it definitely reminded me of characters from Bakemonogatari and Zaregoto from Nisioisin, both of which I have also read quite recently. It’s no wonder why the two writers are compared to each other very often. The story of Denpa Onna revolves around a high school guy, Niwa Makoto, who just moved into his aunt’s house as his parents have moved to some kind of island in a foreign country for business reason (yes, it does sound like a cliche but the main character is certainly aware of that) and he’s hoping to gather what he calls “seishun” (translated as “youth”) points as he tries to make memorable events before he graduates the high school which would give him positive points up to five. Anything regrettable would give him negative points and the story basically starts to go downhill with his “cousin” wrapped in futon like Kamaboko. Anyway, I think SHAFT with Akiyuki Shinbo would make a perfect pair with this light novel series and I’m full of anticipation. 🙂

Preview Video:

Hidan no Aria (緋弾のアリア)

English Name: Aria the Scarlet Ammo
Air Date: April 07, 2011
Animation Studio: J.C. Staff
Channel to be aired on: TBS/BS-TBS at 25:25
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/aria/

Overview:

The story takes place in Tokyo Butei High School, a special school where armed detectives — “Butei” — are trained to use weapons. Kinji Tooyama is a second-year-student who has a special ability, but he keeps it a secret to maintain an ordinary, peaceful life. However, when he gets caught in a bombing on the way to school, he encounters H. Aria Kanzaki, the most powerful S-Rank Butei student in Assault Studies. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 60% – The premise to the story is nothing really special, where we’ve seen plenty of similar stuff out there before. Not to mention, this is another JC Staff “magical girl meets boy” story, which means two things. Just to see how the story is like, I read the first 10 chapters to the manga adaptation, and the story was very generic, and not to mention we have the typical loli-tsundere (voiced by Rie Kugimiya…) main heroine. Unless the anime significantly deviants from the manga, or the director behind the anime puts an interesting spin on the series, this show probably won’t be anything more than your typical magical girl meets boy anime (with some ecchi). Admittingly, the director is the one behind Yumekui Merry and Casshern Sins, which were both relatively well received as anime, and I personally like Yumekui Merry and it’s mysterious atmosphere. Hopefully this series won’t disappoint.

Steve: 73% – Okay, this is another light novel series which I was kind of forced to purchase as it recently became one of those main stream light novels in Japan like Zero no Tsukaima and Shakugan no Shana. Alright, hold your breath, because I’m going to try to explain the main heroine character in one sentence.  Her name is Kanzaki H. (Holmes) Aria, who is a pink-haired detective girl and a descendant of Sherlock Holmes; treats the main character as a slave just like a certain pink-haired flat-chested tsundere magician (voiced by Kugimya Rie);  is a competitive flat-chested red-eyed fighter (also voiced by Kugimiya Rie) who likes a certain type of Japanese bread; is a flat-chested twin-tailed tsundere who acts like a little brat (also voiced by Kugimiya Rie…); and a little tsundere girl who keeps asking the main character for food (yes…also by Kugimiya Rie). Do you get the pattern now? The light novel basically combines success formula (or rather cliches) from all the popular light novels into one and adds quite a bit of ecchi fan services to it. Oh yes, did I mention that the main character has a genetic trait that allows him to power-up when she is sexually turned-on just like this character? Alright, I’ll stop right there, and even though I seemed to sound really harsh on this show, the light novel was actually pretty fun to read and I think Hidan no Aria would be a good entertainment show to pass on some free time.

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Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai II (神のみぞ知るセカイ II)

English Name: The World God Only Knows II
Air Date: April 11, 2011
Animation Studio: Manglobe
Channel to be aired on: TVTokyo at 25:30
Official Site: http://kaminomi.jp/

Overview:

Second season of the popular Kaminomi manga, adapted by Manglobe. Keima Katsuragi is an avid galge gamer known at his school as “Otamega” and his nickname on the internet a “The Capturing God.” One day he receives an e-mail offering him a contract to “capture” girls. He accepts thinking it’s a challenge, and instead a demon from Hell named Elsee appears. She asks for his help in capturing runaway spirits that are hiding in “real” girls. After eventually accepting the job, Keima has been capturing many runaway spirits though “love”, with the most recent one being Shiori at the end of season one.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 55% –The Kaminomi series is a pretty well known manga amongst certain fans, and has some pretty good humor. The big issue here is that the manga doesn’t exactly translate well to an anime, which was painfully obvious in season one. Manglobe was partially at fault for having some terrible pacing issues, which I hope they’ll change with this second season. There should be quite a few more new character introductions in this season, though whether that will improve this series or not is debatable.

Steve: 75% – Even though the story in the first season was pretty predictable, the show had a decent production quality (I was especially impressed with Itou Kanae’s performance of Elsea.) and I did find some of the otaku elements in the show quite funny, kinda like Seitokai no Ichizon did for me. I haven’t read the manga yet, but I expect the show to be on the same line as the first season unless the studio is planning to make any major change.

Preview Video:

Preview Video Currently Not Released

Appleseed XIII (アップルシード XIII（サーティーン）)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: Tentative 6.13.2011
Animation Studio: Production I.G.
Channel to be aired on: TBA at –:–
Official Site: http://appleseed13.jp/

Overview:

Following a world war that killed half the world’s population, the city-nation of Olympus stands as a beacon of hope in a world of chaos and conflict. The utopian metropolis is governed by Gaia, a vast artificial intelligence, and administered by a genetically engineered humanoids known as Bioroids.Although Olympus seems like a peaceful city on the surface, racial (human vs. bioroids vs. cyborgs), religious, and political conflicts lurk underneath — threatening to overturn the delicately balanced “peace.” Security threats such as terrorists and anti-government criminals abound, so the use of force becomes a necessary evil even in this so-called “utopia”. Deunan, a young female solider, and Briareos, a veteran cyborg-soldier, are both partners and lovers, as well as members of ES.W.A.T., the elite special forces serving Olympus. They are deployed wherever trouble strikes. Conspiracy, terrorism, deadly military weapons technology, greedy corporations, and power-hungry politicians — these are just some of the threats that Deunan and Briareos must contend with as they fight to protect Olympus and save mankind from plunging into another war. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 55% – There is little info available about this series, but the story certainly seems interesting enough. Considering Production I.G. is behind this series, I do have high hopes for the animation and such. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything else to say beyond that. Heck, I’ve heard that this series might actually get delayed, so no guarantees here.

Steve: 68% – It is supposed to be a full CG show from Production I.G. and it seems to have some resemblance to Ghost in the Shell, though I think it will end up as some kind of gimmicky 3D-animated show. The show is full of question marks, but there’s still good chance that it could end up being a decent show to watch. I guess I’ll just have to wait.

Preview Video 01:

Gintama’ (銀魂’)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 4th, 2011
Animation Studio: Sunrise
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 18:00
Official Site: http://www.j-gintama.com/

Overview:

Sequel to Gintama series. The residents of Japan living during the Edo-period suffers a big cultural shock. First, aliens invaded the earth, overpowered the nation’s government, and banned carrying swords for the once proud samurai. These aliens then took over people’s jobs, and are currently running sweatshops using people as laborers. Going with the flow Sakata Gintoki, a vagrant samurai whose personal trademark is his naturally permed silver hair, is living out life in these chaotic times. He is self employed in a do-it-all shop named Yoruzuya Gin-chan who offers to do any job for any amount of money. Their jobs range from searching for lost kittens to saving the world. Gintoki lives with Kagura and Shinpachi, taking on odd jobs to make the world a better place…and to pay their rent.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 60% – Considering how many episodes this series has so far (at least 200+), it’s rather impressive how Gintama proves to be popular amongst fans. I’ve personally never watched Gintama, but I’ve heard that it is one of the best comedy shows out there. Unfortunately, I don’t really intend on catching up with this series, which means I won’t be following this new season of this show. If you’re looking for a gag heavy comedy show, Gintama should fit the bill.

Steve: 75% – Now that the production of Keroro (a similar parody show from Sunrise) is expected to stop pretty soon (or has it already stopped), I’ll have to do some catchup with that show before starting with Gintama from scratch. I heard a lot of good words about Gintama, so I’m pretty sure the existing fans will enjoy the sequel with no problem.

Preview Video 01:

Hen Zemi (TV) (変ゼミ)

English Name: Abnormal Physiology Seminar
Air Date: April 2, 2011 (Delayed to April 8th)
Animation Studio: Xebec
Channel to be aired on: MBS at 27:13
Official Site: http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/hensemi/

Overview:

Nanako Matsutaka is an innocent university student who is participating in a sexual perversion seminar led by the deviant professor Kenji Meshiya. She desperately tries to keep her morals as well as her sanity while amidst the strange group of students in the study group. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 50% – First thing worth noting is how this show most likely will not be for younger audiences. It focuses in on a group of college students who are taking a class about sex. If what my impressions of the OVA apply here, while at times this show is very blatant with it’s sexual undertones, it’s kind of refreshing to see a series actually have the guts to approach sex in a more normal manner as opposed to the oversexualized fanservice shows we see all the time nowadays. That being said, I really hope the studio doesn’t dumb down this show into a regular fanservice moe anime, because we’ve already got plenty of those…

Steve: 65% – I did actually enjoy the OVA version of Hen Zemi to certain extent as it presented hentai topics in very interesting ways along with SHAFT-life stylish visual presentations and quirky OP/ED themes. Anyway, there could be two kinds of changes coming to this show. First, the fact that Hen Zemi is now TVA means that it could suffer some quality drops, which could be a very bad news for a hentai-niche show like Hen Zemi. On the other hand, it could be a good opportunity for them to tone-down the hentai level (as the censorship on TVA is definitely stricter than DVD/BD), so it could become watchable for slightly broader number of audiences. Anyway, I’m definitely interested in checking out this Hanazawa-Kana-featured Hentai-themed show.

Preview Video 01:

Honto ni Atta! Reibai-sensei (ほんとにあった！霊媒先生)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 12, 2011
Animation Studio: DLE Inc.
Channel to be aired on: NTV at 25:29
Official Site: http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/content/top.php/1000004480

Overview:

The story revolves around Kibayashi-sensei, an eccentric teacher of a junior high school whose hobby is speaking with the dead and whose special talent is exorcism. Kibayashi-sensei knows everything about the other world, but nothing about our own world. Her pupils get involved in the troubles caused by ghosts and yokai demons summoned by Juri. In a history class, Juri summons the spirit of Nobunaga into a calm girl called Nitta Eri which makes her a spunky girl. (From MAL and ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 30% –The original source material for this is a 4-koma horror comedy manga. That automatically gets me worried, mainly because 4-koma manga aren’t exactly known for their stories. As a comedy though, I can certainly see potential here, but aside from that I probably won’t be following this series.

Steve: 35% – Occult-themed, especially with yokais and demons, shows generally don’t go very well with me, so I won’t probably be watching this one.

Preview Video:

Preview Video is currently unavailable

Maria † Holic: Alive

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 7, 2011
Animation Studio: SHAFT
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 26:15
Official Site: http://www.mariaholic.com/

Overview:

Sequel to the first season. The story centers on a sophomore named Kanako, who enrolled in all-girls school because she has a phobia of men and wants to find her destined yuri partner. She meets a captivating freshman named Mariya who fits her criteria — except her seemingly ideal mate happens to be a cross-dressing sadistic boy. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 35% –I’ll be extremely honest here; While I’ve heard the first season wasn’t too bad, I personally didn’t like the first season at all. There is little chance I’ll be following this show at all, though it is supposed to be funny (or so I hear).

Steve: 75% – Maric Holic is a love-it-or-hate-it type of show for many Western viewers as it is a full of jokes on parodies of classic Shoujo mangas (like Glass Mask and Maria Sama ga Mitteru), S/M (Sado-Masochism), Yuri, Fujoshi, old school vintages, and freaking monologues that is like three-quarters of the show. Believe or not, this is a show aimed at otaku audience (both males and females), not the mainstream viewers, so I guess I belonged to the former, because I actually quite enjoyed the show.  Anyway, there was a huge cliffhanger ending at the end of the first season, so I’m definitely planning to continue to watch the show.

Preview Video 01:

Tiger and Bunny (タイガーアンドバニー)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 2, 2011
Animation Studio: Sunrise
Channel to be aired on: MBS at 25:58
Official Site: http://www.tigerandbunny.net/

Overview:

Tiger and Bunny offers a different take on the conventional superhero mecha genre, with the story taking place in a fictional city where ordinary people and superheroes live shoulder to shoulder. The superheroes featured on television enjoy great popularity, but at the same time they must stay competitive in this cutthroat environment. Their contracts describe them as “heroes”, where in actually being a “hero” is pretty much being a company employee. The gimmick to this series would be that the sponsors for these “heroes” can be real world companies listed in the Japan Nikkei stock exchange here in our world.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 40% – Well, the title certainly is misleading; I didn’t expect “Tiger and Bunny” to be a TV-original mech series. Like the summary mentions, the gimmick here is that the robots will have “sponsors” from real world companies, which means this show is really just a giant advertisement for some Japanese companies. That being said, there are some good things this show has got going for it. For one, it has Keiichi Satou as the director, who has been involved with anime projects like Big O and Karas, and Yoshihiro Ike doing the music (Karas, Dead Leaves). The story description is so vague that I don’t quite know what to think of it, but if you think of how the “heroes” will be fighting each other while being sponsored by companies, maybe this series will turn out like a “superhero” olympics or something, which could turn out interesting.

Steve: 55% – This show could be one of those Madhouse’s adapation of Marvel Comics series, which were mostly failures, or something very creative like the Panty & Stocking with Garterbelts from Gainax. I’m not sure which way it will turn out to be, but I’m probably more likely to bet on the former than the latter…

Preview Video:

A-Channel (Aチャンネル)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 7, 2011
Animation Studio: Studio Gokumi
Channel to be aired on: MBS at 01:30
Official Site: http://www.a-ch.jp/

Overview:

A 4-koma manga adaptation about four highschool friends who find small bits of enjoyment and hilarity in every aspect of life. The story revolves around the everyday life of these four high school girls: the flighty Run, the reckless Tōru, the timid Yūko, and the level-headed Nagi.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 50% –Meh, I don’t really have much to say for this series. It is another 4-koma manga adaptation with a very laid back, slice of life feeling to the series (or that’s the impression I get from the preview video). It looks like there will be a charming cast of cutesy moe characters, which may not be good depending on your preferences. I get a slight K-On vibe here, though I guess that applies to any generic high school slice of life show (which there are quite a few of this season).

Steve: 78% – I expect A-channel to be somewhat of mix of Lucky Star (minus the Otaku-theme) and somewhat laid-back jokes from Sketchbook: Full Colors’s. The manzai-style jokes may not go well with Western viewers, but I’ll gladly take them for some nice entertainment value, even though I don’t expect the show to become anything really that great.

Preview Video 01:

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Showa Monogatari (13 episodes)

English Name: Showa era Story
Air Date: April 2011
Animation Studio: Wao World
Channel to be aired on: Chiba TV at –:–
Official Site: http://www.showa-movie.jp/

Overview:

The series follows the story of Kouhei Yamazuki as he lives in Japan in the 1960s, together with his friends, parents, grandmother, brother and sister. The series follows his every day life, along with some of the major points in his childhood. Dramatic story of the Yamazaki family during the year Showa 39 (1964), the year that Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics. (From MAL and ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 60% –There were some preview episodes aired for this series, and from what I hear, it’s a pretty decent slice of life anime during the 1960’s in Japan. Production quality is nothing special, but it does a good job at representing Japan’s culture and traditions around that era. Expect a laid back slice of life anime in Japan about two decades after the end of World War II.

Steve: 60% – I think fans of Zetsubou Sensei and Natus no Arashi will probably like this show, though this show could be more aimed at more general Japanese viewers, which overlaps with the territories of Sazae-san and Chibi Maruko-chan, rather than the typical  “anime viewers” in Japan. I’ll probably check out the show for the sake of curiosity.

Preview Video 01:

Hyouge Mono (39 episodes) (へうげもの)

English Name: Tea for Universe, Tea for Life
Air Date: April 7, 2011
Animation Studio: Bee Train
Channel to be aired on: NHK-BS2 at 23:00
Official Site: http://www9.nhk.or.jp/anime/heuge/

Overview:

The story is set during Japan’s Sengoku Jidai (Era of the Warring States) and centers on Furuta Sasuke, a vassal of the great warlord Oda Nobunaga and a man obsessed with tea ceremony and material desires in his pursuit of a fortuitous life. Having learned from Oda and the legendary tea master Sen no Soueki, Furuta walks the way of the Hyouge Mono. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 30% –It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a series longer than the typical 1-2 season length, which tends to be 12-26 episodes long. The director behind this show, Mashimo Koichi, was the same guy behind most of the //.hack series, as well as directed Noir and Tsubasa Chronicle. While he may not have directed the best shows, he does bring some potential here. The story premise might turn out a little lacking, though that is debatable.

Steve: 45% – To be frank, I’m not a big of Japanese feudal stories, so I’ll be either skipping this one or check out at least the first episode because of my interest in tea drinking culture.

Preview Video 01:

Young Animator Training Project (10 episodes)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: March 5, 2011
Animation Studio: Various
Channel to be aired on: MBS at 26:58
Official Site: http://pp1-e07a.blogspot.com/

Overview:

A project where Young animators collaborate with various animation studios to produce short anime. Curently four short series slated for release in this project.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 35% –Considering how each story for this series will only have two episodes, I’m not expecting any sort of amazingly detailed stories or anything. Instead, I’m curious as to exactly what kind of stories and animation we’ll be seeing here, mainly because everything about this show is pretty much a blank slate. We have young animators making this from scratch, which could mean we will see some interesting ideas, or something extremely generic.

Steve: 30% – On the surface, it looks like a educational shows for little kids who want to be animators in the future. (seriously?!) This show could be overlapping with Animation Runner Kuromi, which an OVA series depicting rather harsh realities(?) of anime productions.

Preview Video:

Sofuteni (そふてにっ)

English Name: Soft Tennis
Air Date: April 2011
Animation Studio: Xebec
Channel to be aired on: TBA at –:–
Official Site: http://www.softenni.com/

Overview:

Kasuga Asuna is a junior high school girl who is a member of a soft tennis club. This tennis comedy centers around the members of a female middle school soft tennis team and the twists and turns that their lives take as they aim for the national championship.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 20% –Studio Xebec and an ecchi comedy story? I’d like to say this will turn out terrible, but Xebec has had it’s share of decent shows such as MM! and a few others. Then again, Xebec tends to be hit or miss (with A LOT more misses than hits), so this is probably for those that are specifically looking for a ecchi show.

Steve: 25% – After the disastrous result of Rio: Rainbow Gate, I don’t think this one will fare well in this spring season. I wouldn’t be surprised if Xebec’s Hen Zemi turns out better than this one.

Preview Video 01:

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa nai (俺たちに翼はない)

English Name: Those without Wings (I’ve also heard this being called Under the Innocent Sky)
Air Date: April 4, 2011
Animation Studio: Nomad
Channel to be aired on: UHF/AT-X at 08:30
Official Site: http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/oretsuba/

Overview:

OreTsuba is an anime adaptation of Navel’s visual novel that goes by the same name. The original game follows the coming of age of our main characters in Yanagihara city. The city itself is a grand spectacle, filled with lots of people, buildings, love, anxiety, and hopes; a city where countless people’s destinies cross paths.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 25% – This Anime will be appealing to you based on your preferences. The source material itself is from the same people that made the classic Shuffle! harem series, which was probably one of the first shows I remember watching with a blatant harem-esque setup. While I say it is a classic, Shuffle! as a series wasn’t very good, which most of the fanbase generally agrees on. That being said, OreTsuba is supposedly much better in story setup than Shuffle, which hopefully is progress. I’m still expecting this to be a slice-of-life/harem/romance anime, so unless the creators get the character relationships and stuff done properly, this might turn out messy. That, the director Shinji Ushiro isn’t exactly one of my favorites, having done stuff like Shukufuku no Campanella. Oh, and did I mention that I have a bias against harem anime? Unless a harem anime is entertaining, I usually end up dropping the show very, very fast.

Steve: 60% – Even though it seems like some kind of generic visual-novel-based show aimed at AT-X viewers, the visual novel is known for having decent humors as well as characters with unique background stories and personalities. In 2009, it was voted as one of the best visual novel among 2ch and Getchu users. I’m worried about the fact that Nomad hasn’t produced anything decent recently and this type of show is a high-risk gamble, I expect something equivalent or slightly better than Yosuga no Sora and Fortune Arterial, though

Preview Video 01:

Visual Novel OP sequence:

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi (星空へ架かる橋)

English Name: A Bridge to the Starry Skies
Air Date: April 5, 2011 (Delayed to April 11th)
Animation Studio: Dogakobo
Channel to be aired on: AT-X at 9:00
Official Site: http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/hoshikaka/

Overview:

Kazuma Hoshino and his family movies to a new town for the sake of his younger brother’s health. On his first day of school, he meets a girl named Ui Nakatsugawa, who ends up helping him get to his new school. On the way, though, Kazuma trips and accidentally kisses Ui. To make matters worse, Ibuki Hinata (Ui’s friend) sees the entire event unfold. Kazuma eventually meets Madoka Koomoto, the daughter of a priest at a local shrine, and a third year girl named Tsumugi Toudou. We also meet Tsumugi’s younger sister Koyori. With Kazuma’s first day of school being rather eventful, what will happen in his new school life?

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 25% –Well, this isn’t any different from OreTsuba that there seems to be a harem in the works here. As I mentioned in the OreTsuba, I do have a bias against harem anime. There isn’t really any notable staff here, though we do have a pretty much unknown director. I don’t really know if he’ll make much of a difference in the show at all, but considering how the story screams “generic slice of life harem”, I certainly hope it’ll be more interesting than the show seems.

Steve: 60% – HoshiKaka is the last visual novel of trilogy series that includes Akasaka and Aozora Mieru Saka. Just as a trivial fact, it is based on a first visual novel to use binaural effect (Just google it, if you don’t know what it is).  Anyway, the show has a lot of overlapping staffs with Myself; Yourself which was a light novel based show that was received pretty well. It will be interesting to see which of OreTsuba or HoshiKaka will turn out to be the better one, but I think the former is based on a more well-received visual novel, while the animation studio of the latter has better reputation.

Preview Video 01:

Sket Dance (スケット・ダンス)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 7, 2011
Animation Studio: Tatsunoko Production
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 18:00
Official Site: http://sketdance.jp/

Overview:

Sket dance is about the misadventures of the “Campus Support Group”, also known as the “Sket-Dan”, at Kaimei Gakuin (their school). This group was formed to try and solve any troubles in the student body. However, due to the lack of meaningful assignments and unglamorous reputation as a “group of handymen”, the Sket-dan is treated with widespread contempt and has only three members. The club consists of Himeko Onizuka, a “yankee” girl who has a weakness for cute things, Switch, a smart otaku who talks through a computer, and Yuusuke “Bossun” Fujisaki, the creator of the club.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 40% –It’s a surprise seeing Tatsunoko Production producing an anime, especially if you consider how they’ve only really made kids anime in recent times. What I’m not liking about this show, though, is how the ones behind this anime are the same ones responsible for Nyan Koi, which wasn’t a very good anime by any means. Based on the preview video and my brief investigation of the first few manga chapters, Sket Dance looks like it will be a standard shonen jump comedy series. Now I just hope this doesn’t end up like Beelzebub, another Shonen Jump comedy that got a very mediocre anime adaptation (or at least, from what I’ve watched of it).

Steve: 60% – This looks like a typical talent-based shounen comedy manga stuff. This will be one of the “safe” choice for shounen manga fans, but I’ll probably skipping this one as  I don’t really fit into that demographic unless the show is a must-watch classic shounen manga like Bakuman.

Preview Video 01:

Dog Days (DOG DAYS公式サイト)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 02, 2011
Animation Studio: Seven Arcs
Channel to be aired on: Teletama at 25:35
Official Site: http://www.dogdays.tv/

Overview:

The Republic of Biscotti faces a dire situation with the potential invasion of the Garrette Leo Knights from the neighboring fiefdom of Garrette. In order to save her country, Princess Millhiore decides to summon a brave warrior from an alternative world. this “Brave warrior” ends up being a boy named Shinku, a junior high school boy who was living on Earth until then.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 20% –Sounds like your generic fantasy adventure anime to me. I mean, the story description is as generic as it gets, and not to mention, the story premise (or a variation of it) has been done plenty of times. I don’t see anything else particularly notable about this series, with the only thing worth noting being that this is produced by the studio behind the Nanoha series.

Steve: 40% – When I was browsing through my NewType magazine, the puppy-eared characters drew in quite a bit of interest from me, though I don’t expect anything great from Seven Arcs these days…

Preview Video:

Preview Video Currently Not Released

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen (逆境無頼カイジ)

English Name: Kaiji Season 2
Air Date: April 5, 2011
Animation Studio: Madhouse
Channel to be aired on: NTV at 24:59
Official Site: http://www.ntv.co.jp/kaiji/

Overview:

Adaptation of the “Chika Chinchiro” and “Pachinko Numa” stories from the Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji manga. Itou Kaiji is a bum who steals car emblems and slashes tires on what seems to be a regular basis. This routine changes one day when he is paid a visit by a man in a trench-coat. Once the two get talking, it seems that the visitor is a debt collector. The reason for his visit is an unpaid loan which Kaiji had previously co-signed for a work-mate. The original loan was 30000 yen and once Takeshi had disappeared, the loan then fell on Kaiji. Kaiji is then told of a way to clear the interest compounded debt (which stood at 3,850,000 yen), which involved gambling with borrowed money. (From ANN and MAL)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 60% – This is a continuation of the original series, which automatically means that I probably won’t be following this series. That isn’t to say it is bad; the first season had a surprisingly good reception amongst fans mainly because of it’s down to earth, intense gambling as it’s main focus. The only notable seiyu I’m seeing here is Namikawa Daisuke, who has done voicework for characters like Kazehaya (Kimi ni Todoke), Hohenheim (Full Metal Alchemist), and Fai (Tsubasa Chronicles).

Steve: 75% – I heard great words about Madhouses’ first season of Kaiji, so I kinda feel bummed out for not watching this one. Even though I probably won’t be watching the season season this spring, I’ll probably do some catch-ups with the first season if I can find some free time.

Preview Video:

Preview Video is currently unavailable

X-Men

English Name:
Air Date: April 2, 2011
Animation Studio: Madhouse
Channel to be aired on: Animax at 26:20
Official Site: http://bd-dvd.sonypictures.jp/marvelanime/

Overview:

Under a cloud of increasing anti-mutant sentiment, Professor Xavier created a haven at his Westchester mansion to train young mutants to use their powers for the benefit of humanity. Xavier recruits several mutants, calling them “X-Men” because they possess special powers due to their possession of the “X-Gene,” a gene normal humans lack but which gives Mutants their abilities. (From Wikipedia)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 15% –This is the third series that is being animated as a collaboration between Marvel and Madhouse. Considering how the past two series adapted in this collaboration, Wolverine and Iron Man, I’m rather skeptical as to how good this show will turn out. The preview video is flashy, but I’m a little wary of the preview video considering how when Madhouse released the preview video for Iron man, it looked like it had some awesome production values. When Iron man actually came out, though, it was a completely different story….

Steve: 30% – I have kind of lost hope for Madhouse’s adaptation of Marvel comics after Iron Man and Wolverine. Pass…

Preview Video:

Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (戦国乙女～桃色パラドックス～)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 4th, 2011
Animation Studio: TMS Entertainment
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 26:00
Official Site: http://sengokuotome.com/

Overview:

An anime adaptation of Heiwa’s Sengoku Otome Pachinko game. It is a reimagination of Japan’s Sengoku era with all the famous warriors portrayed as females. In the story, a modern middle school girl named Hideyoshi is suddenly transported to a mysterious land where she meets Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, Data Masamune, Imagawa Yoshimoto, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takada Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and other famous Sengoku era warriors. Nobunaga is assembling the “legendary crimson armor” to unify Japan, and Hideyoshi ends up helping Nobunaga in his attempts to conquer the entire nation.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 25% –There seems to always be some sort of Sengoku era anime every few seasons, and like a lot of them I don’t expect this one to be particularly amazing. We do have some notable staff on this show that have worked on series such as Baccano, but I don’t see much else here. That being said, maybe I’m just tired of constant Sengoku Era anime; I mean, there have to have been several dozen by now.

Steve: 25% – A Pachinko-based anime after Umimonogatari and Rio: Rainbow Gate? Pass… The red-haired girl from the poster reminds me of Naga from Slayers series though…

Preview Video 01:

Toriko (トリコ)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: Tentative April 2011
Animation Studio: Toei Animation
Channel to be aired on: Fuji TV at 9:00
Official Site: http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/toriko/

Overview:

In the Toriko world, the taste and texture of food is held in very high regards. There are many extravagant and delicious ingredients in the world that exist in the most dangerous of places. Toriko, a “Bishokuya” (gourmet food provider) of tremendous skill, hunts down ferocious, evasive, and rare animals to complete his perfect dinner course. Komatsu, his current accomplice, is a weak timid chef who is being trained in the art of food. He is inspired by Toriko’s greatness and follows Toriko on his journey.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 35% – From what I’ve heard about this series, it has a lot stereotypical shonen jump jokes, and not exactly the best plot. In fact, knowing that this is Shonen Jump, I wouldn’t expect a deep plot at all. However, the fact that this show is being run by a completely new director (Akifumi Zako) could take things in an unexpected direction. That being said, nowadays anime usually follow the source material very closely, which means that the anime should reflect the original manga relatively well. I’ve read the first few chapters of the manga, and nothing really sticks as something out of the usual shonen stereotypes. It’s really silly though, so maybe you could get a good laugh out of it or something.

Steve: 70% – Toriko is one of Big Three (best selling manga) of Shounen Jump right now along with Nurarihyon no Mago and Bakuman. I’m not sure how Toei will do its job of animating this series, but, as a fan of gourmet food and quirky humor, the unique setting and storyline of this manga definitely interests me and I will definitely be checking this out.

Preview Video 01:

Kämpfer für die Liebe (2 episodes)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: March 31, 2011
Animation Studio: Nomad
Channel to be aired on: TBS/BS-TBS at 25:25
Official Site: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/kenpu/new/

Overview:

A two-episode special. They are designated as Episode 13 and 14, and the first episode is a direct sequel to the previous series and the second episode is about the trans-sex of Natsuru. Senou Natsuru is your normal, everyday high school student. However he´s been chosen to be a Kampfer, who´s objective consists on fighting other Kampfer with either guns, swords or magic, however, there´s catch; first you can´t chose if you´re a Kampfer or not, and second, you must have the body of a girl to use your powers. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 10% – This is technically a sequel to the original Kampfer series, though it is only two episodes long. What’s odd about this series is that only the 1st episode will air on TV, the other will be aired online only. Either ways, for those of you unfamiliar with this series, it’s a very fanservice heavy harem-esque anime, and while it does have a few interesting characters, for the most part this show is a very generic fanservice show.

Steve: 25% – I was so disappointed with the first few episodes of the TVA series, so I won’t be watching this for sure…

Preview Video:

Lotte no Omocha! (ロッテのおもちゃ！)

English Name: Lotte’s Toy
Air Date: April 10, 2011
Animation Studio: Diomedia
Channel to be aired on: Chiba TV at 23:30
Official Site: http://www.rotte-omocha.com/

Overview:

In the medieval fantasy world of Alfheimr, succubus princess Astarotte Ygvar, the first princess of the kingdom of Ygvar, has just reached the age of 10. For the coming years of a young succubus’ life, it is necessary for them to have a male harem. In order to maintain their body and preserve their beautiful appearance, they must consume a substance only found on males. This substance is a liquid called Sauzfryma, better known as semen. The princess, however, bears a great dislike towards men, and only agrees to create a harem if a human male is to join. The story begins when a human boy named Naoya is brought to the magical world to be a candidate for the harem of the princess.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 25% –Everything looked relatively normal for this series, until that it is I read the “Saufryma” part to the summary. Seriously, will this be the new fanservice heavy “Seikon no Quaser” for the season? I certainly hope not, because the preview video makes the series actually look half-decent. The story is rather generic, but it does have the unique twist where it is the girl gather up a harem as opposed to the guy. Hopefully this turns out as a good comedy or something, because there is no way I would be able to watch this while treating it as a serious show.

Steve: 25% – No, this show has nothing to do with the giant Japanese conglomerate Lotte! Anyway, if anything looks familiar, it’s probably because the manga was drawn by the illustrator of light novel Baka to Test. Anyway,  the storyline seems pretty revolting and I don’t expect the show to be anything other than generic fanservice R-rated show…

Preview Video:

Preview Video 02:

Seikon no Qwaser II (聖痕のクェイサーⅡ)

English Name: Qwaser of the Stigmata II
Air Date: April 11, 2011
Animation Studio: Hoods Entertainment
Channel to be aired on: UHF/AT-X at 26:30
Official Site: http://www.qwaser.jp/

Overview:

This is a continuation of the first season of Seikon no Qwaser. In St. Mikhailov Academy, Oribe Mafuyu meets a silver haired boy called Alexander. He is a Qwaser, a being who can manipulate iron and draws his power from breast milk. A mystery surrounding an icon tranforms the academy into a setting for conflict between the various Qwasers. (From MAL and ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 5% – Fanservice, fanservice, and more fanservice. There’s a lot of boob fanservice here, so unless you’re specifically looking for fanservice here, I’d stay away. I certainly couldn’t stand the first season to this show, which makes me extremely wary of this second season.

Steve: 10% – I was actually surprised at the fact that I managed to watch through the first two episodes of this show. It was a heavy price to pay though, because I think my mind was permanently altered by this mammal-fanservice anime…

Preview Video 01:

Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi (世界一初恋)

English Name: World’s First Love
Air Date: April 2011
Animation Studio: Studio Deen
Channel to be aired on: UHF at –:–
Official Site: http://sekai-ichi.jp/

Overview:

The story follows Onodera Ritsu, who just transferred from his father’s publishing company to Marakawa Shoten. Assigned to the shoujo manga division he ends up crossing paths with Takano Masamune, the editor in chief for the division. The story follows the tension between the newly recruited manga editor Onodera and his tyrannical editor in chief, whom both happen to share a common past.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 40% – The anime adaptation is being done by the same people that did Junjou Romantica, which is definitely a good sign. However, I’ll be perfectly honest here and say right now that my chances of following this show are pretty much nonexistent. I am not a fan of boy’s love (shonen ai) shows, which means I’ll certainly be passing on this one. That isn’t to say that this won’t be a good romance, it’s just not the type of show I would ever follow.

Steve: 60% – Even though I’ve learned so many things about Fujoshis and their BL interests in many animes (Seitokai no Ichizon and Ochinko to name some…), I never really braved myself to watch a BL anime, but perhaps I should give my first tryout this spring season. Let’s see how many episodes (or how many minutes) I’ll be able to last, though I did hear some good words about the manga the show is based on… The director Kon Chiaki who worked on Higurashi, Umineko, and Nodame Cantabile series as well as the main character being voiced by Nakamura Yuiichi  definitely brings me some interests.

Preview Video 01:

Ring ni Kakero 1: Sekai Taikai hen

English Name: Put It All in the Ring 1: World Tournament Chapter
Air Date: April 10, 2011
Animation Studio: Animax
Channel to be aired on: Tokyo MX at 21:00
Official Site: http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/sp/rin-kake1_wcs/

Overview:

The story follows Ryūji Takane’s rise to the world junior boxing championships. After defeating Black Shaft’s makeshift Team USA and proving their worth to the Shadow Clan, Team Golden Japan Jr. will finally enter the World Jr. Boxing Tournament. In order to fulfill their goal of a perfect victory they’ll have to take on teams from countries like Mexico, Italy, France, Germany, and the mysterious and godlike Team Greece.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 10% –Well, this is one of those long running series with no end in sight, similar to Detective Conan. The bits of the manga I read had some very over the top, filled with unnecessarily cheesy and stupid boxing moves, along with a poor story and stereotypical characters. This is an automatic pass for me.

Steve: 20% – A boxing anime with old-skool characters?! Pass.

Preview Video:

Preview Video Currently Not Released

30 sai no Hoken Taiiku (30歳の保健体育)

English Name: Health and Physical Education for 30 year olds
Air Date: April 6, 2011
Animation Studio: Gathering
Channel to be aired on: Tokyo MX at 27:00
Official Site: http://30sai.jp/

Overview:

This guide book teaches shy men, around 30 years old who have no luck with women, on how to date and have sex with women.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 10% –I seriously hope that this is a comedy series, because if this is meant to to be a serious “guide to get a girl”, then it just sounds pretty pathetic. Seriously, it’s probably better to go out there and actually get some experience rather than watch this show. That being said, based on the preview video it looks like it’ll have a moe art style, which doesn’t really help with the premise of this show. It will be the end of my anime watching days if this kind of stuff becomes the norm in the anime community.

Steve: 35% – Hey, Hen Zemi! It looks like you’ve got a legitimate rival here! I found it hilarious that the main character is voiced by Shimono Hiro, who has done voicing for a lot of playboy characters like Kasugano Haruka, and that the main heroine is voiced by Nazuna Kaori (Nunnallym, Eureka, Ayatsuji). Some people might be surprised by the latter choice, but remember that she has also done some hilarious voice acting for Gag Manga Biyori, too! XD

Preview Video:

Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream (プリティーリズム オーロラドリーム)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 2, 2011
Animation Studio: Sonokong
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 10:00
Official Site: http://prettyrhythm.dive2ent.com/

Overview:

Based on a shoujo game made by Takara Tony. In the game, a girl named Rizumu Amamiya aspires to compete in Prism Show, a new sport that combines skating and dancing. Players can collect heart-shaped Prism Stones by winning in the game.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 5% –Well, when an anime is made for to sell a line of children’s toys, you know that there isn’t much to really expect. I’ve heard the story is pretty bad (for the manga, at least), and I wouldn’t be surprised if this show is the same. It’s similar to those toy franchises in the west such as Barbie and Bratz, though not nearly as large in scale. I certainly will not be following this series, that much is guaranteed.

Steve: 15% – This one looks like a low-budget anime outsourced in Korean animation studio for marketing purpose. Perhaps, it is one of those TV shows inspired by Yuna Kim and Mao Asada…

Preview Video:

Preview Video Currently Not Released

Dororon Enma-kun (Dororonえん魔くん メ～ラめら)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 7, 2011
Animation Studio: Toei Animation
Channel to be aired on: MBS at 26:10
Official Site: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/dororon-enmakun/

Overview:

Remake of a 1973 TV-series. Demons are coming to the human world from the Hell in order to get human spirits. As people’s minds are slowly getting contaminated, the demons break from Hell to go attack these very tasty looking people. Tsutomu, a boy who goes to Yokai Elementary School, is suddenly assaulted by such demons. Enma-kun, the son of Enma, Yukiko, a snow woman, and Kapaeru, all save Tsutomu from these monsters. They are members of a Monster Patrol that were sent to the human world to arrest such demons.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 20% –It feels kind of random on Toei Animation’s part with the decision to remake an anime from 1973. That being said, this feels like standard kids fare in terms of anime. There are some notable cast working on this show, though, in particular the same guy behind the music for Tokyo Godfathers. I doubt this will really turn out to be an amazing show, but considering this is a remake of an old series, I’m guessing there was something good about the original that warranted the remake.

Steve: 20% – It looks like one of those kiddy shows I probably won’t be watching.

Preview Video:

Danball Senki (ダンボール戦機)

English Name: Cardboard War Chronicles
Air Date: March 2nd, 2011
Animation Studio: OLM, Inc.
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 19:27
Official Site: http://www.danball-senki.jp/

Overview:

Danball Senki is a TV anime series that is being released in conjunction with the Danball Senki PSP game. In the game, you play as a boy named Ban Sanya in the future, 2050. Children then play with tiny controllable battle robots called LBX (Little Battler eXperience) that they plae in mini-cardboard diaramas. A mysterious woman gives Ban a super high powered LBS, named Achilles-V, which could have a tremendous impact on the Danball Senki World.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 10% – Well, this series makes me think of common franchises such as Yu gi oh, Bakugan, Beyblade, etc. I don’t really see any potential here in the story, and if you consider how this is being animated by the same studio that animates Pokemon, I’m not really expecting anything complex or special. More likely than not, this is meant for a younger audience, which means I’ll probably be passing on this series. However, this series is from the game studio Level 5, which has also created the famous Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven, and Ni no Kuni video games. Whether that affects the quality of this show remains to be seen.

Steve: 15% – Another anime that seems to be aimed at marketing to the kids…

Preview Video:

Tono to Issho Zokuhen (殿といっしょ)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 2011
Animation Studio: Gathering
Channel to be aired on: Yomiuri TV at –:–
Official Site: http://tono-anime.com/

Overview:

Based on a 4-koma gag manga that parodies famous samurai generals and historical events. Follows the daily lives and eccentricities of Masamune Date, Uesugi Kenshin, and other famous figures of the Sengoku Era.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 5% – Another Sengoku Era based show? And a comedy series? No thank you, especially if you consider how the OVA for this series was rather poorly made and not very funny. The OVA for this series had some terrible comedy that I personally didn’t like at all whatsoever. That being said, comedy is a very subjective thing, but even then I think most people wouldn’t find this funny.

Steve: 15% – I haven’t checked the OVA yet, but it looks like a Sengoku version of Gag Manga Biyori and Hetalia to me.

Preview Video:

Yu Gi Oh! Zexal

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 11, 2011
Animation Studio: Gallop
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at –:–
Official Site: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/yugioh-zexal/

Overview:

The series is set in the near future. Yuma Tsukumo is the number one bad boy at his school. Something unexpected happens as Ryoga Kamishiro challenges him to a Duel. When the mysterious entity Astral appears before them a new legend begins; Astral is a mysterious lifeform from a parallel world.

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 5% –Another season of the highly popular (or at least well known) Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. The previous seasons for this show weren’t very good, though I guess if you consider the younger target audience here it makes sense. You’ve activated my trap card! =.=;

Steve: 15% – I’m surprise Yu-Gi-Oh managed to survive this far. It looks nothing like the original Yu-Gi-Oh though…

Preview Video:

Happy Kappy

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 6, 2011
Animation Studio: Shogakukan Music & Digital
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 07:30
Official Site: http://family.shogakukan.co.jp/kids/netkun/kappy/

Overview:

The story revolves around Suguri Kinoshita, a nine-year-old third-grade girl who loves animals and making fashion accessories. One day, while Suguri is out buying materials for accessories, she comes across an unusual rock. Thinking it would look cute on a bracelet, she goes to pick up the rock and discovers a creature named Kappy. Kappy happens to be the three-year-old prince of Kapimeshia. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 15% –The scriptwriter, Tomoko Komparu, was the one behind one of my favorite series, Nodame Cantabile. The downside here is that the rest of the production crew behind this show are rather new, and the fact that this show is aimed towards very young girls. This has all the makings of your typical kids anime. I have doubts about this show turning out good, but hopefully that proves to be wrong.

Steve: 20% – It looks like one of those adorable-looking shows aimed at little Japanese girls. I mean somebody’s gotta keep them happy with their TVs, right?

Preview Video:

Preview Video is currently unavailable.

Fireball Charming

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 2011
Animation Studio: Jinni’s Animation Studios
Channel to be aired on: Tokyo MX / Disney at –:–
Official Site: http://www.disneychannel.jp/dc/program/anime/fireball/new_series/index.html

Overview:

Sequel to the original Fireball series. The story focuses on a female robot duchess named Drosel von Flügel and her guardian servant robot Gedächtnis.
They are involved in a war between Robots and Humans. (From ANN)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 5% –Well, the artwork is cool and all, but 2 minute long episodes don’t sound very promising for this show.

Steve: 15% – Probably some kind of experimental film demonstrating 3D CGs.. Hmm…

Preview Video 01:

Jewelpet Sunshine (ジュエルペット サンシャイン)

English Name: N/A
Air Date: April 2, 2011
Animation Studio: Studio Comet
Channel to be aired on: TV Tokyo at 09:30
Official Site: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/jewelpet2/

Overview:

A third series based on the Jewelpet line of toy products made by Sanrio and Sega. In Jewel Land, Jewel pets are creatures that can naturally use magic. They attend a Magic Academy with witches, which they live with in harmony. (From Wikipedia)

Potential/Impressions:

Tsuki: 25% –Kids anime based on a line of toy products, which means this series is probably out to sell some of these toys. I’ve actually heard the first season for this series was decent, but each successive season seems to have been rather lacking. I doubt there will be much of a difference in this third season, but I guess anything is possible. There is the off chance that this will turn out to be a surprise hit, like Heartcatch Precure (another kids anime which was actually considered pretty good), though those chances are extremely small if the production cast behind this is indicative of anything.

Steve: 50% – Jewel Pet is one of those decent little girl shows that is actually watchable for average viewers, kinda like Shugo Chara. I watched a few episodes from the first season and I actually found some of the quite amusing to watch, especially the one with Valentine’s day. I’ll probably watch a few episodes from this season randomly when I feel really really bored for some reason…

Preview Video:

Preview video is currently unavailable

 

Other resources available would be spring preview charts, which I put a post up about earlier on. You can find the preview charts by clicking (here)