Spring 2008 Preview!

April means that another new season is upon us, and like the past fall season, it’s chock full of premieres, including some big names like CODE GEASS and Macross. With the exception of a few shows, I was relatively disappointed with the past winter season, so hopefully this one will be better. As usual, I’ll watch the first episode of most shows within certain parameters (in other words, not the kiddie shows), and what I list here are the chances of me actually blogging something based on my initial impressions from promotional material. However, even if I list the chances for a show as good or guaranteed, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll stick with it for more than a few episodes.

By no means does this list reflect every single anime series that is going to be aired, though I did try to be as comprehensive as I could. Check out MOON PHASE for an entire listing, syoboi’s calendar for specific air-times, and Fansub Wiki’s Spring 2008 page for who’s tentatively subbing what.

Technical Note: All times are given in a 24-hour, relative-day format where times are extended to show which day they belong to. For instance, Friday morning at 1:30AM would become Thursday at 25:30 to show that the episode aired late Thursday night.

Kanokon
http://www.kanokon.com/
Premieres April 5th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Saturdays at 10:30
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Fridays at 21:30
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
One of the two series this spring season featuring fox girls, Kanokon is about a weak-looking boy who transfers into a city high school from the countryside and, on his first day, he’s approached by a beautiful, big-breasted girl who’s fallen in love with him and is actually a fox demon. I put emphasis on big-breasted because every single description of her I’ve read includes some variation of that, and I think it should give you a good idea of what this series is really about. If you’re still unsure, just check out what the artwork on the official website changes into if you wait long enough, or see these magazine scans. The rest of the cast is made up of various other types of youkai, including a female wolf one who also falls in love with the main character. I don’t really have high hopes for this show because I see it as simply an outlet for fanservice, but there are enough big name voice actors working on this series (including Noto Mamiko and one of my favorites, Kawasumi Ayako) that I may have to watch the first episode.
Odds I’ll Blog This: Decent
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki
http://www.kyouran.jp/
Premieres April 12th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Saturdays at 25:00
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Saturdays at 12:00
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
If there’s one really wacky series this season, this could be it. In Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, an incarnation of destruction was defeated by humanity, but it had left a curse before dying: its child would awaken in 1000 years and destroy the world. Approximately 1000 years later, mankind is able to use DNA testing to figure out a group of people who could be that child, but they still can’t pinpoint exactly who. What they decide to do is to put all these people together in one family with the hope that the person who is the real child would develop love for their family and would no longer want to destroy the world. The wacky part comes in when you consider some of the characters in this family: a cat-eared loli (who’s the mother figure no less), a lion, a biological weapon, and a jellyfish. That’s got dysfunctional written all over it, so I think this has the potential to be hilarious.
Odds I’ll Blog This: Good

Note: This is a rather long and fairly comprehensive list of the shows coming in April. Much much more after the jump, including the torrent link for promotional material.

Random Musings – Being Swamped And Sick Sucks

The Spring Preview is 95% done, but I’m about to fall over because of a cold and have a meeting in the morning, so it won’t be until tomorrow that I finish it. It has taken me a lot longer than usual because there are a lot more series than usual (30 at current count, not including kiddie shows), and I’ve probably spent 20-25 hours researching everything. Unfortunately, writing it and getting myself ready for the new season (plus all the normal school work and work work I have to do) means that I won’t have time to blog the new KimiNozo DVD, the Darker than BLACK DVD episode, or the School Days Kokoro-chan DVD. Regardless, I guarantee that the Spring Preview will be posted tomorrow, and here’s a sample to tide you over until then.

The Spring 2008 Preview is up now, so I’ve removed the sample.

CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ – Announcement Commercial

As expected, the After Story continuation of CLANNAD was announced today. MOON PHASE broke the news earlier with information from the May edition of Dengeki G’s Magazine, including how the staff and cast will be staying the same, but it wasn’t until after the extra summer episode that we got our first glimpse of the production via a 15-second commercial. As you can see in the screens above, the commercial hinted at more of the illusionary world story and shows a certain new character that many of you probably already know. There’s been no information, however, regarding length or when this will air, though fan speculation has it at 13 episodes and a possible Fall broadcast. A lot of people have told me that the good stuff in CLANNAD is in the After Story, and so while I thought CLANNAD was ultimately average (not great, not horrible), I’m still definitely looking forward to this.