With Omni announcing his retirement and the spring season well upon us, the thought of not having a season preview on Random Curiosity didn’t sit right with me, especially considering how so many people seem to look forward to it. As such, I’d like to present my version of the Spring 2010 Preview. While I can’t make any guarantees from a blogging standpoint, I felt the least I could do is give an overview of what’s coming up and what I’m personally looking forward to. I hope it lives up to expectations.

As many of you may already be aware though, my tastes are a bit more diverse than Omni’s. I’ll often watch mediocre and even controversial series for the sake of variety or so that I can make an informed judgment at the end. However, I would only recommend such shows if you’ve seen something similar, enjoyed it to a certain degree, and know what you’re getting yourself into. That said, I still have my usual genres, so it’s usually not too difficult for me to decide what to watch based on premise, art style, production, and cast (a big one for me) after going through some promotional material. For the purpose of this preview, I’ll try to identify the reasons why I’m planning to watch a given series more clearly, in hopes that they’ll help you determine if it coincides with your own tastes.

As usual, by no means does this list reflect every single anime series that is going to be aired, though it’s meant to be as comprehensive as possible. OVAs, one-off specials, and movies are omitted, so check out MOON PHASE for an entire listing, syoboi’s calendar for specific air times, and Fansub Wiki’s page for who’s tentatively subbing what.

Angel Beats! | エンジェルビーツ! http://www.angelbeats.jp/ Premiere: April 2nd, 2010 Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 26:00 Airtime in Canada/U.S. (PST, GMT-7): Fridays at 10:00 Number of Episodes: 13 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi One of the series I’m really looking forward to and can safely recommend to all audiences is Angel Beats. For some, it might be enough if I just say, “Key and P.A. Works.” For everyone else, this means the visual novel company that brought us AIR, CLANNAD, and Kanon, and the studio that produced true tears and CANAAN. Maeda Jun from Key is writing the script and screenplay, depicting an afterworld where one girl forms a war front, the Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS), in defiance to god for giving her an unreasonable and short life. In this supernatural afterlife setting, we follow male protagonist Otonashi, who has no memories of when he was alive and gets dragged into the SSS’s struggles. Guns and superpowers are involved, but so is a seemingly normal school life at the same time. Original character designs are by Na-Ga, Hirata Katsuzo (Strike Witches) is overseeing the animation, and Lia is doing the opening song like in all Key series. Kamiya Hiroshi (Araragi in Bakemonogatari) takes on the lead role, which is another big plus. There are lots of good promo videos showcasing how great this series looks, including one detailing how they did a concert scene (PV #7), so be sure to check them out. Everything looks great on paper and the premise is a bit unusual, so I can’t wait to see how this one plays out. Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed, period.

K-ON!! | けいおん!! http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/k-on/ Premiere: April 6th, 2010 Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Tuesdays at 25:25 Airtime in Canada/U.S. (PST, GMT-7): Tuesdays at 09:25 Number of Episodes: — Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi It was only at the end of last year that K-ON season two was announced, but three months later we already have more of our favorite light music club. Now with one more exclamation mark in the title! The extra DVD/BD live house episode helped tide things over a bit, but it’s not quite the same as a full season where we’re bound to hear a bunch of new songs. For those unfamiliar with this series, it’s Kyoto Animation‘s adaptation of a lighthearted 4-koma manga that follows a group of girls who revive their high school’s music club by forming a band called “After School Tea Time”. It’s published in a seinen manga magazine and features quirky humor and a very cute cast of female characters. In short, it’s moe overload. When the original season aired last spring, the cast of seiyuus were all relatively low-profile, but that all changed with this series. The opening and ending theme songs they sang debuted at #4 and #2 on the Oricon music charts respectively, and they’ve all been in numerous series now, especially lead actress Toyosaki Aki. There are 28 broadcast stations lined up to air this highly anticipated sequel, which absolutely dwarfs every other series by a long shot. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be watching this and it’s a safe series to recommend to almost anyone. Go watch the first season now if you haven’t! Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed, without a doubt.

Note: This is a rather long and fairly comprehensive list of spring shows. Much much more after the jump, including a full schedule and a bunch of promo videos.

Another year of anime is drawing to a close, but not before the long-awaited fall season. While the number of shows pales in comparison to the 43 offered in spring, the quality of the 25 new titles is a lot higher. There are numerous sequels and spiritual successors: The third and final season of Shakugan no Shana, studio GONZO’s big return with a new Last Exile eight years later, the prequel to Type-Moon’s Fate/stay night, and more of our favorite squid girl, Ika Musume. In addition, we have plenty of original series, including a new Gundam and two noitaminA shows by BONES and Production I.G. Equally impressive is the fact that many of which are slated for two-cour. Anime fans everywhere should be excited. I know I am.

Note: I purposely left out Digimon Xros Wars: Toki wo Kakeru Shounen Hunter-tachi and Cross Fight B-Daman from this preview because they’re targeted towards younger audiences. If you’re interested in either, feel free to check out their official sites.

* A season poll is available on the sidebar. It will automatically close on October 1st at 12:00 AM PST to coincide with the start of the season.
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