Without further ado, welcome to the first collaborative edition of the Random Curiosity season preview, now featuring more writers for you to love and adore than ever. (Please don’t stalk us too much though.) As you all probably know, Divine, our season preview writer/extraordinaire, is taking an indefinite hiatus so he has passed on the baton to the rest of us writers – and just in time for the spring preview too, which is generally one of the busiest seasons with 50 new shows and counting. As is standard fare, we have the usual batch of hotly anticipated sequels to recent shows such as Fate/Zero 2nd Season, Kimi to Boku 2, and Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? OF THE DEAD, but there are also sequels and spiritual successors to venerated older shows as well like Eureka Seven Astral Ocean, the return of the Saint Seiya franchise after 25 years, and the reunion of Cowboy Bebop’s director and composer for a new show after over ten. So dust off that TV, free up some hard drive space, or do whatever else it is you do to get ready, because this season looks highly promising. Long-awaited sequels, a diversity of genres, and a nice balance of original works and manga/light novel adaptations have filled the slate with many shows that merit more than just a passing glance, and made this is a season one where even the pickiest of viewers should be able to find something to enjoy.

— This preview will be kept at the top for the next while, so be sure to scroll past it or check the Recent Entries on your right for new posts.
— A season poll will be available a little later is available on the sidebar.
— Please forgive the tardiness of this preview, work on it wasn’t started until several weeks later than usual, due to the transition.

It feels like 2011 went by in the blink of an eye, as I haven’t even had a chance to look back on my favorites of the year. Before I do so, let’s first take a look at what’s just around the corner in the new year. Winter is generally not one of the busier seasons, but there are actually 23 offerings in 2012, which is pretty close to the 27 this past fall. Of the new titles, some of them stood out immediately — the sequel to my favorite romance of 2010 Amagami SS, the horror series Another, the sequel to Sousei no Aquarion, the TV version of Black Rock Shooter, the sequel to Bakemonogatari, and the fourth and final season of Zero no Tsukaima — but as is often the case when I put together a season preview, I discovered many are a lot more interesting than they originally appeared. Best of all, there is a wide variety of shows from various different genres, so there’s a good chance there will be something for everyone. Care to find out which ones I’m talking about? Then do read on.

* This preview will be kept at the top for the next while, so be sure to scroll past it or check the Recent Entries on your right for new posts.
* A season poll will be available a little later is available on the sidebar.