Fall 09 anime season prejudging thread

[blkmage]

Welcome to the thread for a very preliminary look at the shows that will be landing in the fall season. Let's just get this out of the way.

Boilerplate season thread preface
This is a thread I created for the discussion of new anime that will be airing on TV in Japan in the fall season. Anime typically gets released and runs for a number of seasons. The year is divided up into four seasons: January to March is winter, April to June is spring, July to September is summer, and October to December is fall. Each season is approximately 13 weeks.

Here, we can talk about what shows look interesting, what we plan to watch, and generally get giddy and excited for things that we've been anticipating for a while. There's a handy chart of all the shows that are coming up, with a short blurb about the premise of the show and what studio will be handling it. As we get closer to the season, more information shows up, like the first airing date. Other information like staff and cast obviously won't fit, but it's not too hard to use the Google to find out.

Go figure, that after an abnormally stacked summer season, we'd get one of the most disappointing fall seasons I've ever seen. Seriously, I'm in despair.

CHARTS ARE A GREAT WAY TO ORGANIZE INFORMATION, LIKE THE SHOWS THAT WILL BE AIRING IN THE FALL ANIME SEASON.

This time around, I'll try to give impressions about every show, because going through each show that I'm interested in would result in a very short list. My picks in bold.

Trapeze (Kuchu Buranko): I've heard good things about Mononoke, but I haven't seen it so I'll have to rely on others' opinions.

Armed Librarians: Book of Bantorra: The description is hilariously madlibs.

Darker than BLACK: Comet of Gemini: I'm actually in the middle of watching DtB and it's great. I'm definitely looking forward to this, unless the ending somehow turns me against this show.

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Didn't like A Certain Magical Index, but I liked what I saw of Misaka. I hear this spinoff manga is worlds better than the Index anime, so I'll be checking it out.

Letter Bee: Yeah, I don't know.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms: So after tons of crazy anime versions of Rot3K, it looks like we'll be getting a serious business version of the story. It'll depend on how interested I am in Rot3K in October.

The Sacred Blacksmith: Looks like generic fantasy.

Fairy Tail: I'll probably take a look at this just because I've been too lazy to check out the manga. Good news for you shounen fans, though, I guess. And, two interesting studios working on it: A-1 and Satelight.

Kobato: Apparently, it's CLAMP. Might pick it up randomly.

Kimi ni Todoke: (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞ I really, really like the manga, so this is a guaranteed pickup for me. You should all read the manga unless you hate shoujo.

Sasameki Koto: Another yuri drama? （　´_ゝ`）

Winter Sonata: Let's see if this actually gets aired this season or if it'll get pushed back again lololol. ┐( ´ー`)┌

Nyan Koi!: Looks like a terribly generic harem/romance.

Natsu no Arashi! 2: The first season was entertaining enough. Everyone other than the main character was interesting enough, although I'm not sure where they're going to go with this.

White Album 2: Funny story. My housemates were watching this and they like to mock the show. I heard some terrible sounding crying and I thought they were mocking it as usual. It was the main character crying. （　´_ゝ`）

11eyes: People seemed to be interested in this and much like Pandora Hearts, I'm not sure why. Probably will check it out for the same reason.

Inuyasha Final Act: I'm sure Inuyasha fans are excited. I'm not one of them.

Asura Cryin' 2: I found the first season not very interesting, but I guess if you liked it, go ahead.

Kampfer: What is this I don't even

Heaven's Lost Property: Another generic harem, by the looks of it.

Seitokai no Ichizon: Painfully harem.

Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne: I don't understand how this exists. Well, actually, I guess I do. （　´_ゝ`）

Shin Koihime Musou: It's sad that this will probably be more popular than Rot3K. （　´_ゝ`）

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza: Didn't see the first season, but it's a romantic comedy featuring a closet otaku ojou-sama if otaku girls entertain you.

Yumeiro Patisserie: I am genuinely curious as to whether this is a kids' show or if it's something more slice-of-life-ish.

[EricTheFred]

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu was cute enough to keep watching, so I'll probably watch the second season. It didn't live up to what it could have been, but I think that was inevitable, considering what a blatant wish-fulfillment character poor Haruka is.

I actually thought Asura Cryin' was fairly good. Considerably better than I expected, anyway. And the sad revelation at the end of season one certainly put a more serious spin on the scenario.

I personally have my doubts Rot3K is going to be a good adaptation. IMHO, there are very few good animes made from the classics. Gankutsuo, I suppose. I can't think of any others off the top of my head.

A Certain Scientific Railgun should be good.

[CrimsonRyu17]

Too many harem anime, wtfbbq. D: Some of the titles interest me though.

Letter Bee: I like the art in that pic (possibly from manga?) but don't care for the anime's. I may check it out anyway.

Rot3K: Looks very interesting. I have my doubts but I rly hope it turns out awesome.

11eyes: Looks kinda interesting.

11eyes: People seemed to be interested in this and much like Pandora Hearts, I'm not sure why.

Probably because of hidden potential and darker tone. Pandora Hearts seems like it's setting up for another typical shonen for the first 3 or 4 eps but is actually quite different. It's pretty darn awesome if you stick along with it. I've noticed that people either don't care for it or absolutely love it so I guess it all depends on your tastes.

Jungle Emperor Leo: This looks pretty awesome. I loved Kimba as a kid and haven't seen it in forever. Please be goooood.

[MasterDias]

It's a bit early for this, isn't it? That shouldn't be the final schedule.
I know Kiddy Grade 2 (yeah, that same KG2 that was announced three years ago. Hah.) was announced for October a few days ago, and there should be at least several others airing.

Otherwise:

Railgun for me. It should be fun. Fairy Tail and/or Letter Bee for my shounen action fix, I guess.

Armed Librarians: Books of Bantorra and The Sacred Blacksmith look interesting, so I'll check them out.

I would be interested in DtB2, but I never watched series one so...

Rot3K...eh...I'm sort of having trouble actually finishing shows in that timeslot, so I'll probably pass.

[minakichan]

FINALLY, an awesome season after the crapload of crappy crap from summer!!

Definite watches:
Darker than BLACK 2 - I suspect it won't be as great as the original (no Yoko Kanno?!), but I loved the original and its characters, so I'm really excited for this.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms - A join production with China? Awesome. Also, Three Kingdoms that ISN'T moe-ified or bishified? AWESOME.

Kimi no Todoke - This series is adorable~ A cute and quiet shoujo series.

Going to test first:
Armed Librarians - It sounds stupid, but in a B-movie kind of way. AKA, awesome.

Winter Sonata - It's freaking Winter Sonata... as an anime... ahahahahaha this is just too great to pass up. I'm really curious how it'll turn out. Copious melodrama for the win.

Fairy Tail - I like Fairy Tail loads better than other shounen action *coughjumpthreecough*, but I'm pretty sure I can't handle watching an anime of it. Will just watch the first couple eps <s>to hear Hirano Aya as Lucy</s>.

Will watch (and probably drop):
Nyan Koi! - Sounds retarded. But cats are evil. It sounds like it might be a little funny, so I'll see if it's better than it sounds.

Kampfer - Sounds retarded. B-but it's gender bender... I think I'll watch the first ep just for those funny awkward gender bender scenes and then drop it.

Yumeiro Patissiere - Sounds retarded. But it'll have delicious drawings of sweets... And who can give up a name like "dream colored pastry chef"? If she gets some cake-themed transformation sequence, my life will be complete.

[blkmage]

It's a bit early for this, isn't it? That shouldn't be the final schedule.

It's definitely not final, but I tend to make a thread whenever a season preview is out and I'm sufficiently bored.

Probably because of hidden potential and darker tone. Pandora Hearts seems like it's setting up for another typical shonen for the first 3 or 4 eps but is actually quite different. It's pretty darn awesome if you stick along with it. I've noticed that people either don't care for it or absolutely love it so I guess it all depends on your tastes.

I feel like it's one of those series I might enjoy as a manga. Everything about the production quality of the anime really bugged me.

FINALLY, an awesome season after the crapload of crappy crap from summer!!

_██_
ಠ​_ಠ

[CrimsonRyu17]

I feel like it's one of those series I might enjoy as a manga. Everything about the production quality of the anime really bugged me.

It is. The manga's art is way better (Alice's B-Rabbit form is bad***), there aren't any fight scenes that make no sense, and Oz is more sly.

[Fish and Chips]

Trapeze
I'm more interested in the percieved artstyle than the plot really, but hey, maybe it'll have a good plot anyway.

Armed Librarians: Book of Bantorra
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT-

Darker than BLACK: Comet of Gemini
How many times are you going to do this to me BONES? No, never again. Never.

A Certain Scientific Railgun
This may be the single greatest title to any anime ever. Too bad I'm probably not going to watch it.

Letter Bee
I'll give this a watch, sure.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
This had better be good because I am going to watch it.

The Sacred Blacksmith
Seems kind of a step down for Manglobe.

Fairy Tail
*Insert derivative One Piece comment.*

Kobato
I stopped reading at the part where she's a very naive girl.

Kimi ni Todoke
See below.

Sasameki Koto
See above.

Winter Sonata
As seen in real life.

Nyan Koi!
Another hapless everyman production. With cats.

Natsu no Arashi! 2
Didn't watch the original.

White Album 2
Didn't watch the original.

11eyes
Whether or watch this or not will be directly proportional to how awesome the black knights are.

Inuyasha Final Act
Oh boy, time for the satisfying conclusion to Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship. Though that this exists gives me hope for a continuation of Berserk.

Asura Cryin 2
Oh, this doesn't sound generic at all.

Kampfer
Because we needed a gender bender that didn't occupy the already filled adorable (Ouran) and morally preturbing (Maria Holic) niches.

Heaven's Lost Property
I'm sure they have wonderful personalities.

Seitokai no Ichizon
I don't watch absurdly powerful student council shows.

Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Shin Koihime Musou
The dissonance between the screenshot and the description is unnerving.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza
:|

Jungle Emperor Leo
It's Tezuka, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Battle Spirits: Shounen Gekiha Dan
I also don't watch card game shows.

Yumeiro Patisserie
Oh no, girl with a dream but she's clumsy, what'll we do now.

[Davidizer13]

Huh, I was just reading RotK a week or so ago; it's a really good book (and a not-too-bad game, if you're into complex strategy games). I don't watch a whole lot of anime, but maybe I'll keep an eye on that one.

Also, everything's better with railguns. Even certain scientific ones.

Oh, who am I kidding? I can't even keep up with the older shows I'm trying to watch, so anything here is going to be irrelevant to me until word-of-mouth/Internet comes in.

[blkmage]

I realized that the description for Shin Koihime Musou doesn't immediately make it seem hilariously bad and that you may be wondering why I compared it to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Basically, you know all of those warlords that you knew from Romance the Three Kingdoms? They're all girls now.

[EricTheFred]

I realized that the description for Shin Koihime Musou doesn't immediately make it seem hilariously bad and that you may be wondering why I compared it to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Basically, you know all of those warlords that you knew from Romance the Three Kingdoms? They're all girls now.

Hmm. As opposed to certain other shows, where some of them are occasionally boys...

[CrimsonRyu17]

Basically, you know all of those warlords that you knew from Romance the Three Kingdoms? They're all girls now.

Wat.

11eyes
Whether or watch this or not will be directly proportional to how awesome the black knights are.

Game OP

I think they're there in 3-D form. It looks interesting, I can say that. Though the girls to guys ratio isn't something I care for at all. O well.

[Yamamaya]

I can't wait for the new Darker than Black season.

[SPOILER]It better make up for its crappy ending. That was the most anticlimatic ending I have ever seen. Also they tried to summarize way too many plots and sub plots during that episode. [/SPOILER]

[TriezGamer]

Game OP

I think they're there in 3-D form. It looks interesting, I can say that. Though the girls to guys ratio isn't something I care for at all. O well.

It's based off of a visual novel. Can't say I expected any different. That said, it got EXTREMELY good ratings for a VN.

[Fish and Chips]

I think they're there in 3-D form. It looks interesting, I can say that. Though the girls to guys ratio isn't something I care for at all. O well.

Because when we need someone to take on the forces of evil my mind jumps straight to highschoolers.

I can't wait for the new Darker than Black season.

[SPOILER]It better make up for its crappy ending. That was the most anticlimatic ending I have ever seen. Also they tried to summarize way too many plots and sub plots during that episode. [/SPOILER]

The new Darker Than Black season would have to make up for a lot of things before I started watching it.

[Debitt]

I caught a preview of Letter Bee/Tegami Bachi at a Jump 40th Anniversary event. It managed to pique my interest just enough, so I might give that a watch when it comes out. The manga art is gorgeous. Kind of reminds me of D.Gray-man. The animation is OK -- some of the snow effects were a little cheesy, though. >:

[minakichan]

........megane!Li... suddenly my anticipation for this series has shot through the roof.

[AngelicTotoro]

I gotta agree with Davidizer13's last comment, I can't even find time to watch the older shows that I have on my to watch list.
Still, none of these shows appeal to me very much at the moment, so I'll just wait and see what reviewers say about them.

[Yamamaya]

Wonder who the girl in the center is?

I love Bones's animation style.

[blkmage]

I noticed that a lot of studios that I usually follow aren't really doing that much in fall. Granted, there may be some announcements in the month or two that's left. KyoAni is strangely missing again. JC Staff, SHAFT, and Production IG are all only doing one new show and IG isn't doing action shows. Madhouse doesn't have any of their more actiony or artsy shows either. Brains Base doesn't have anything either.

[MasterDias]

Wasn't JC Staff planning to have a new Shana something for this fall?
Gonzo is, so far, rather conspicuously absent as well after doing two shows in the spring.

[blkmage]

I think they're doing the third season of Shana after they release the OVAs, the first of which will be in October, so I'm assuming it'll be too late for fall.

[Sheol777]

Is Japan ever going to release another season that is more.....I dunno....manly?

I am really not into romance/shojo and that seems to be the bulk of its makeup in recent seasons. Do any studios intend to release more shonen/seinen in the future?

Granted there are a smattering of titles here and there that are shonen/seinen, but nothing like the glut of shojo that is put out now. Is this just where the market is heading? Or is there something I am missing here.



...that being said the only thing that mildly interests me is Jungle Emperor Leo.

I am predicting that Inuyasha will be a hit.....even if it is horrible.

[MasterDias]

Technically speaking, "shojo" is only the correct term for one or two of those. The others would be bishoujo visual novel/manga adaptations and harem series, but I understand what you meant.

Basically, it goes with what's popular among Japanese anime fans at any given moment and visual novel series and the like are the "it" genre currently. Keep in mind that part of this is the economy as well. There will probably be more variety when the economy gets better.

[blkmage]

Really? Looking at the seasons over the past year, I'd say that spring, winter, and fall had a good proportion of their lineup in non-romance sort of stuff. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean those were good, just that they existed if that's what you're into. The same goes for the seemingly huge tide of harem titles. The majority of them will probably be trash and ignored for the most part. If you really look at what aired in the last few years, I'm sure you'll find that not much is different.

[minakichan]

Haha, if you can call harem anime "shoujo" because of romance then you could probably call magical girl anime "shounen" because of action.

I think this season isn't as bad proportion-wise as we've seen before.

[blkmage]

Haha, if you can call harem anime "shoujo" because of romance then you could probably call magical girl anime "shounen" because of action.

I think this season isn't as bad proportion-wise as we've seen before.

(☝ﾟ∀ﾟ)☝ Nanoha could probably crush most shounen protagonists.

[Yamamaya]

I am probably going to watch A Scientic Railgun just because the title is so good.

The guy who came up with that title deserves a prize.

And btw, that depends on what your definition of shojo is. There's some romance based seinan/shoueun animes like Chobits.

[GeneD]

I am excited for the new Darker than Black season and I've seen some other art from Letter Bee which was really cool, but it might be from the manga and it doesn't mean the show will be any good.

Also, I can't believe non of you are thrilled about or are even mentioning Stitch 2 and Tamagotchi! Those totally make this season!

[blkmage]

It's time for Comiket! That means tons of trailers should be surfacing in the next few days.

moetron's C76 trailers

These aren't only for fall shows though. We've got stuff like the Shana S OVA, the Fs/n UBW movie, and the Nanoha movie as well. That page should be updated with more stuff all the way through Sunday. The existence of the Hidamari Sketch x365 special is probably the thing I'm looking forward to most in October now. WASSHOI WASSHOI-SHOI (X '________' X)