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Welcome to the first edition of the Random Curiosity season preview since the relocation of the site to its new home, randomc.net! While this is only my second time writing one, I hope everyone liked what they saw in the Spring 2010 Preview and found it an informative resource for upcoming new shows at the time. I do plan to keep the tradition of writing up the previews this site became renowned for over the years and will continue tweaking the format ever so slightly for the better.
First up is the weekly schedule that doubles as a table of contents for navigating around the post itself, which will be a mainstay from now on. For the information links, out are less useful resources such as AnimeNfo and in are each series’ Japanese Wikipedia pages. In addition, the animation production (studio) information is now readily available, the first broadcast station to air is made note of, and the number of episodes each series will run for is listed (if known and confirmed from a reputable source). A subtle change is “Odds I’ll Watch This” rather than “Blog”, as I’ll likely end up watching more shows than I end up blogging. That wasn’t the case back in spring when I ended up blogging 16 shows concurrently to share thoughts on the wide range of shows I watch every season and give some limelight to the less popular ones, but it’s something I’d like to cut back on.
As my tastes are fairly diverse, 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. With my usual genres as a guideline, 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 series more clearly, in hopes that they’ll help you determine if it coincides with your own tastes.
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, movies, and shows deemed oriented towards younger children 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.
Technical Note: The list is ordered by the date and time that the shows premiere. The links in the schedule will take you to a series’ corresponding entry and the “Top” links on the right will bring you back. 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.
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sengoku BASARA Two 17:00 CBC/MBS/TBS (7/11) |
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD 11:30 AT-X (7/5) |
STRIKE WITCHES 2 25:30 TVS (7/7) |
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi 09:00 AT-X (7/1) |
Shukufuku no Campanella 25:30 MX (7/2) |
Seitokai Yakuindomo 24:30 tvk (7/3) |
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| SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement~ 23:30 MX (7/4) |
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin 25:30 TX (7/5) |
Shiki 25:15 CX (7/8) |
Mitsudomoe 26:00 CBC (7/2) |
Asobi ni Iku yo! 25:58 MBS (7/10) |
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| Nurarihyon no Mago 25:44 ytv (7/5) |
Kuroshitsuji II 25:20 MBS (7/1) |
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| Tono to Issho 26:14 (7/5) |
Amagami SS 25:25 TBS (7/1) |
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| The Legend of the Legendary Heroes 26:15 TX (7/1) |
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Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi | オオカミさんと七人の仲間たち Top
http://www.otogi-bank.com/ Animation Production: J.C. Staff Genre: Romance, Comedy Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 09:00 on AT-X Premiere: July 1st, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Based on a collection of light novels known as the Ookami-san Series, an anime adaptation taking on the title of the first book, “The Wolf and Her Seven Friends”, is scheduled to air this summer only three months after the manga variation started its run. As a self-proclaimed zealous romantic comedy, the story takes place at Private Otogi Academy where the three main characters are members of the “Student Aid Society”, better known as the Otogi Bank. What’s unique about this series is that all the characters are loosely modeled after fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood in the case of Morino Ryoushi (Irino Miyu), Ookami Ryouko (Itou Shizuka), and Akai Ringo (Itou Kanae) — Hunter, Big Bad Wolf, Little Red. They all have unique personalities and various nuances as well, which includes Ryoushi’s anthropophobia and scopophobia. Things pick up when he suddenly confesses his love to Ryouko after only knowing her for a week and gets invited to the Otogi Bank by Ringo to see if he’s suitable for her. As a romantic comedy at heart with character designs reminiscent of those in J.C. Staff’s Toradora adaptation, this is one of the new shows that I’m looking forward to the most this season. In addition to a quirky cast of characters, it also features Arai Satomi as the narrator, who often gets interrupted by the characters breaking the fourth wall, similar to what happens in Hayate no Gotoku. Some other notable names include Kugimiya Rie, Horie Yui, and Toyosaki Aki, making this an absolute shoo-in with Shizuka starring as the tsundere Ryouko. Having J.C. Staff behind the production and May’n performing the opening theme are just roses on top of an already promising series.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — possibly the show of the season |
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Kuroshitsuji II | 黒執事 II Top
http://www.kuroshitsuji.tv/ Animation Production: A-1 Pictures Genre: Fantasy, Action, Comedy Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 25:20 on MBS Premiere: July 1st, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia The adaptation of a manga about a demonic butler and his young master whom he has a supernatural contract with is getting a sequel, but of the anime original variety. Early this year, it was announced that the story would revolve around a new butler named Claude Faustus (Takahiro Sakurai) and his young master Alois Trancy (Mizuki Nana), who were designed by manga artist Toboso Yana herself and share the same type of demonic agreement that Sebastian and Ciel do in the original story. As a series that combines dark supernatural mystery with an air of comedy, I normally categorize this as something that strays from the norm and catches my attention for that very reason, but I actually never got into the original anime adaptation beyond a few episodes. It’s based on a popular manga and has a good following, so I’ve felt inclined to go back and finish it in preparation for this sequel even though this doesn’t suggest that you need to have watched the original for it to make sense. For now, it’s unknown if Sebastian and Ciel will even make appearances here, but the prospect of hearing Nana play a lead role has piqued my interest a bit, young boy or otherwise. Sakurai also plays a butler just as well as Ono Daisuke, and I actually like that how this is anime original, meaning it may lead to some good surprises and won’t disappoint any manga faithfuls out there. With A-1 Pictures in charge of the production again — backed by their recent collaborations with TV Tokyo in “Anime no Chikara” projects — I’m leaning towards following this series, which has been suggested might even run for three-cour (~9 months).
Odds I’ll Watch This: Decent — might hold off until I finish the original |
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Amagami SS | アマガミSS Top
http://www.amagami-ouen.com/ Animation Production: AIC Genre: Romance, Drama Number of Episodes: 26 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 25:25 on TBS Premiere: July 1st, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Enterbrain, the makers of the romance simulation game turned anime KimiKiss, is getting the same treatment for their other PlayStation 2 game, Amagami. Unlike the KimiKiss adaptation that featured three male protagonists, Amagami focuses on one second year high school student named Tachibana Junichi (Maeno Tomoaki), who has feelings for his air-headed yet gorgeous senior Morishima Haruka (Itou Shizuka). After a negative experience in the past, Junichi’s had difficulty handling both relationships and Christmas, which he hopes to overcome this year with Haruka as her graduation draws near. In the process, he encounters various other female students at school and the story develops further as a result. Given how I enjoyed KimiKiss despite its somewhat slow progression, this series has been on my radar ever since I first heard of it. In addition, it features a plethora of well-known female seiyuu, such as Nazuka Kaori, Satou Rina, and Yukana, the last of which I’ve been dying to see in a high school role lately. It’s hard to tell if the anime will adhere to the story set forth in the game, as Junichi could technically end up with any girl there. It’s likely the anime will focus on Haruka, but some of the spin-off mangas about the other girls already has me hoping it’ll be Yukana’s character Nanasaki Ai. Whatever the case, I’m always for romantic comedies that aren’t overly ecchi in nature, so this one is right up my alley. I’m just hoping it won’t end up like Akane Iro Somaru Saku where there was also an awesome cast, but really poor development made me eat my own words in the end.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — romantic comedy with lots of my favorite seiyuus |
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The Legend of the Legendary Heroes | 伝説の勇者の伝説 Top
http://www.denyuden.jp/ Animation Production: ZEXCS Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy Number of Episodes: 26 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 26:15 on TV Tokyo (TX) Premiere: July 1st, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia As voted by the readers, the co-winner of the fourth annual Dragon Cup in 2002 — a competition that selects new light novels to be serialized in Dragon Magazine — is coming its way to television airwaves in an adaptation by ZEXCS. A manga version began its run in 2008 and depicts a mythical story with swords and magic centering around one lethargic Roland Empire student named Ryner Lute (Fukuyama Jun). After getting dragged into a war and losing many of his friends, Ryner is asked by the soon-to-be enthroned king, Sion Astal (Ono Daisuke), to help rebuild Roland postwar by searching for legendary relics. Accompanying him is a beautiful, capable, yet arrogant swordswoman named Ferris Eris (Takagaki Ayahi), who’s always quick to insult and abuse Ryner. Meanwhile, a new turmoil begins to approach Roland. My immediate reaction upon seeing the promo material was that FukuJun is playing another character with a Geass, but Ryner’s special eyes are actually known as Alpha Stigma and allow him to copy magic spells upon seeing them (think Sharingan from Naruto). Now despite the somewhat cheesy graduation theme in the first trailer, the key emphasis is that this is an “anti-heroic fantasy”, meaning that it gets fairly lighthearted and comedic a lot of the time. The two other promo videos give a better idea of the darker story-driven side of the series. After reading the first bit of the manga, I found that it featured an awesome balance of action and comedy in a fantasy adventure setting akin to Scrapped Princess, which likely attributes to its overall popularity. Even the title is rather amusing given its redundancy, which goes doubly in Japanese. I wasn’t sure what to make of this series at first, but I’m definitely planning to watch it now that I’ve had a taste of what the manga had to offer.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — anti-heroic fantasy |
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Shukufuku no Campanella | 祝福のカンパネラ Top
http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/campanella/ Animation Production: AIC Genre: Fantasy Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 25:30 on Tokyo MX Premiere: July 2nd, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia In the oceanic city-state of Ert’Aria, merchants, tourists, and adventurers alike gather in hopes of having their dreams come true. Also known as “The World’s Treasury”, the city is busier than usual in preparation for a harvest festival that only happens once every seven years when crystal energy sources known as Ale are collected. Coinciding with the harvest, a meteor shower takes place, which adventurer Leicester Maycraft (Okamoto Nobuhiko) goes to see with his childhood friend Carina Verritti (Koyama Kimiko). Along the way, they run into Temple Knight Chelsea Arcot (Imai Asami) and self-proclaimed best doll maker in the world Agnes Boulange (Mizuhashi Kaori). On the night of the meteor shower, a meteorite strikes the nearby Cathedral and reveals a secret chamber with a cute girl laying in bed, who awakens to find Leicester before her and calls him “Papa”. Named Minette (Kodokawa Mai), the girls turns out to be an exquisite automaton and thus begins Leicester and his friends’ mysterious adventure. Based on the description and promo material, it’s not obvious that this is based on an adult visual novel by Windmill; however, that’s exactly what we have here as all the female seiyuus who shared their lovely voices in the game under aliases are here for the anime as well. Like most adult visual novel adaptations, this series isn’t intended to be overly ecchi in nature, which is actually a good thing since they tend to have surprisingly good plots. My experience with them has been fairly good, so I usually don’t mind diving into them somewhat blindly to see what they have to offer. There’s generally a fair bit of plot to work with, but they can also be pretty hit and miss just like any anime series. For this one, my plan is to check out the first few episodes and see where things go from there.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Good — eroge visual novel plots are full of surprises |
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Mitsudomoe | みつどもえ Top
http://www.mitsudomoe-anime.com/ Animation Production: Bridge Genre: Comedy Number of Episodes: 13 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 26:00 on CBC Premiere: July 5th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia In yet another adaptation of a gag manga, this one is much more openly slapstick as the story focuses on the sixth grade Marui triplets — Mitsuba (Takagaki Ayahi), Futaba (Akesaka Satomi), Hitoha (Tomatsu Haruka) — who turn out to be an absolute handful for their teacher, Yabe Satoshi (Shimono Hiro). My impression of the manga is that it’s very similar to Kodomo no Jikan, except the girls are older, have much more extreme personalities, and are intent on trying to hook up Satoshi with the air-headed school nurse Kuriyama Aiko (Saitou Momoko). By extreme personalities, Mitsuba is precocious sadist, Futaba is a perverted muscle girl, and Hitoha is a mysterious gloomy girl, who loves reading erotic books and is a huge fan of “Gachi Ranger”. The three sisters are relentless in using their teacher as a plaything, which I found absolutely hilarious while reading the initial chapters. I honestly found myself laughing out loud more often than not, to the point where it almost hurt. I can already picture Hiro playing the often victimized Satoshi in what I deem a perfect casting, though I feel Ayahi and Haruka should have swapped roles for Mitsuba and Hitoha judging from the second promo video. In any case, don’t let the quirky round-headed character designs sway you from checking this out if you’re looking for some good slapstick laughs. It’s being produced Bridge, a new studio I’ve never heard of before, but the promo material already gives indication that this will be a good adaptation of the manga. The series has Minami-ke season one’s director Oota Masahiko and writer Aoshima Takashi on board too, which is reassuring since I actually found that season the funniest. I was already thinking Kodomo no Jikan and Hanamaru Youchien when I first saw some images of this new series, so I’m quite pleased to learn that it’s somewhat similar but much more of a riot. This may very well be the funniest show of the season.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — laughed a lot reading the manga |
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Seitokai Yakuindomo | 生徒会役員共 Top
http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/seitokai/ Animation Production: GoHands Genre: Comedy Number of Episodes: 13 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Saturdays at 24:30 on TV Kanagawa (tvk) Premiere: July 3rd, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Adapted from a 4-koma manga, this student council anime takes the opposite spin on Kaichou wa Maid-sama‘s premise by revolving around an all-girls high school that recently turned co-ed due to declining birthrates. In what could be deemed a paradise by men everywhere, the ratio of male to female students at Ousai Academy is a grossly lopsided 28 to 524. The premise here focuses on four members of the student council in gag-like fashion similar to Seitokai no Ichizon, albeit without the heavy emphasis on references. Things start off when student council president Amakusa Shino (Hikasa Youko) appoints new first-year male student Tsuda Takatoshi (Asanuma Shintarou) as her new vice president, and lighthearted hilarity ensues from there. With them are secretary Shichijou Aria (Satou Satomi) and treasurer Hagimura Suzu (Yahagi Sayuri) to round out the four main cast members. For K-ON fans, this means we have Mio and Ritsu together in a student council setting, which should be a lot of fun since practically everyone’s a bit of an oddball except Takatoshi, Suzu, and a few support characters. While highly respected by her peers and the smartest student in her grade, Shino is far from being the composed model student personality-wise, which should drive a lot the comedy as she makes a lot of dirty jokes and is somewhat of a masochist too. Produced by GoHands, the slender character designs are reminiscent of their work in Princess Lover minus the oversized breasts since Shion doesn’t really have any — a complex of hers that comes up over the course of the series. When it comes to high school comedies, especially ones starring Youko, it really goes without saying that I intend to see this one through to the end. She is the seiyuu I have my eye on at the moment after all, and the promo videos already make it look like something I’d enjoy.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — student council comedy starring Hikasa Youko |
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SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement~ | セキレイ～Pure Engagement～ Top
http://www.sekirei-tv.com/ Animation Production: Seven Arcs Genre: Fantasy, Action Number of Episodes: 13 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Sundays at 23:30 on Tokyo MX Early Premiere: June 13th, 2010 Normal Premiere: July 4th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia As for a sequel that comes as absolutely no surprise following the “to be continued” message at the end of its short 2008 run, the series featuring female fighters who form contracts with “Ashikabi” partners to realize their abilities in a 108 combatant, free-for-all, last person standing game known as the Sekirei Project is back. Things last left off with Minato and his Sekirei harem helping Haruka and Kuno flee the city and escape the clutches of the game, where the defeat of a Sekirei leads to their removal by the M.B.I. organization that’s coordinating it. In essence, this is a heavily fan-service-oriented affair none too different from the likes of Ikkitousen and Tenjou Tenge, as the girls often get their clothes torn off during battle. To top it off, it’s also heavily harem-esque at the same time, as the male protagonist Sahashi Minato (Tachibana Shinnosuke) serves as the Ashikabi to a group of Sekirei that can’t stop fighting over his attention. Given the series’ clear target audience, it’s hard to imagine that anyone who’s not a fan or possibly even offended by the prospect of the above would be watching it, but I’m personally a bit desensitized to the idea of girls losing their clothes and flocking around one guy when it comes to anime. I did cover the first season after all, so following the sequel is more or less a given, especially considering the way things were left completely open-ended with no conclusion whatsoever. The main draw for me in this series when the first season began airing was the cast, starring the likes of Hayami Saori, Inoue Marina, Endou Aya, Hanazawa Kana, Yukana, Paku Romi, and even Fukuyama Jun as one of the antagonists. Of course, cast isn’t a good enough reason for many viewers, but in my case it always “plays a part” when I’m deciding on new series to watch.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — sequel |
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Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD | 学園黙示録 H.O.T.D. Top
http://www.geneonuniversal.jp/rondorobe/anime/hotd/ Animation Production: Madhouse Genre: Panic, Action, Horror Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Mondays at 11:30 on AT-X Premiere: July 5th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Now for something you don’t see every day, the survival horror genre normally associated with video games and movies is getting an anime. Based on the manga of the same name, “Academy Apocolypse HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD” features voluptuous characters by Satou Shouji, who’s no stranger to doing hentai illustrations. Drawing inspiration from the Grandfather of the Zombie, George A. Romero, the series is quite graphic and spares no expense in the gore deparatment, so much that anyone would be pleased to have pretty girls to look at when all hell breaks loose from an epidemic that brings about the living dead. As the title suggests, the story centers around a group of high school students who manage to survive the initial outbreak and not get bitten, with Kumoro Takashi (Suwabe Junichi) taking on the lead role. Accompanying him in his fight for survival is his childhood friend Miyamoto Rei (Inoue Marina), senior Busujima Saeko (Sawashiro Miyuki), classmates Takagi Saya (Kitamura Eri) and Hirano Koota (Hiyama Nobuyuki), and school nurse Marikawa Shizuka (Fukui Yukari) as they escape the school grounds only to learn that the entire world is in chaos. What’s misleading is that the story quickly extends beyond the confines of their school, to the point that nuclear weapons are involved once panic spreads throughout all the world’s superpowers. This is definitely not for the faint of heart and any potential romance and fan-service can only offset that to a certain degree, but there really isn’t any better studio to be taking on a horror project than Madhouse. With the prospect of seeing the work they excel in alongside a cast that’s nothing to scoff at, my immediate thought was that I’d be following this one. After skimming a bit of the manga, it’s clear the panic state of affairs leads to rapid developments and little to no lapses in plot development, which should make for an exciting series. My only hesitation is that I’m not a huge fan of overly excessive gore in general, even though I don’t mind the occasional horror flick now and then. As such, I’ll see how I feel about this one when I actually start watching a few episodes.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Good — hot girls kicking walking dead ass care of Madhouse |
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Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin | 世紀末オカルト学院 Top
http://www.occult-gakuin.jp/ Animation Production: A-1 Pictures (Anime no Chikara) Genre: Supernatural, Comedy Number of Episodes: 13 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Mondays at 25:30 on Tokyo TV (TX) Premiere: July 5th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Coming fresh off the completion of their second project, Senkou no Night Raid, the anime collaboration between A-1 Pictures and TV Tokyo is back with a third original series — this time about the occult world. The year is 1999. The setting is Minakami mountain on the outskirts of the historic town Matsushiro in Nagano city. There, mysterious and unexplainable paranormal activities are an everyday occurrence at Waldstein Academy, which is often referred to the “Occult Academy” as a result. The school chairman and students are keen in investigating these phenomenons, but one cool and beautiful student named Kumashiro Maya (Hikasa Youko) despises it all. However, as the daughter of the chairman, Maya is drawn into the occult world when he suddenly dies. Before long, she runs into Uchida Fumiaki (Mizushima Takahiro), who’s time slipped from the year 2012 and possesses spoon bending abilities since he was a child. Amidst the abuse Maya gives him, they work together towards unraveling the mysteries behind the paranormal activities and gradually uncover why Fumiaki was sent back in time. As per their previous two projects, Anime no Chikara has spent a lot of time gathering reference material and going location hunting in preparation for this series, as seen in the commercials below. While the predominant sentiment in the English-speaking fanbase seems to be that Anime no Chikara projects have been poor, I personally love how they’re constantly striving to produce interesting and original series that are drastically different from the norm. Even going project to project, they focus on completely different and unique niches that aren’t easily pigeonholed. Upon reading the premise, my interest was easily piqued since I love mysteries and time travel and enjoyed Ghost Hunt a great deal, which this is right along the lines of. Again, it never hurts to have Youko starring in another series, plus a support cast rounded out by Chihara Minori, Takagaki Ayahi, Hanazawa Kana, Koyasu Takehito, and Takahashi Hiroki. Much like I feel Night Raid deserved much more attention than it got, the same can be said about Occult Academy, especially if you’re getting tired of rehashed themes in anime. So with that, it goes without saying what my intentions are with this one.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — Anime no Chikara project starring Hikasa Youko |
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Nurarihyon no Mago | ぬらりひょんの孫 Top
http://www.nuramago.jp/ Animation Production: Studio DEEN Genre: Fantasy, Action Number of Episodes: 24 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Mondays at 25:44 on Yomiuri TV (ytv) Premiere: July 5th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia For a supernatural spin of the shounen kind, an alternative this season is the “Grandson of Nurarihyon”. Following a one-shot publication in Akamaru Jump back in 2006, the manga won Weekly Shounen Jump’s 35th “Gold Future Cup” the subsequent year and has been serialized in their weekly issues ever since 2008. With ten volumes to date in its ongoing run, the story of 13-year-old Nura Rikuo (Fukuyama Jun) who’s a quarter youkai has plenty of material to be adapted into a manga. As a shounen series, the premise is somewhat open-ended and allows the story to run on for as long as need be, focusing on Rikuo inheriting the head position of the Nura clan from his grandfather Nurarihyon and effectively becoming the ultimate ruler of all youkai. The spin on things is that he’s come to reject the mischief and malice that youkai are known for and has devoted his everyday efforts into doing good deeds for humans. That is, until he transforms into his youkai self and leads a troop of them through the night in Hyakki Yakou fashion. For the most part, this is a modern day take on a young boy with the power of demons and spirits to drive the fantasy element as he’s pitted against other youkai factions that want to take his title. Among his ensemble of spirits are his close attendant Yuki-Onna (Horie Yui) and childhood human friend Ienaga Kana (Hirano Aya). My impression of the first couple chapters is that it’s fairly lighthearted and easygoing a lot of times and delves into the shounen fan-service aspect whenever Rikuo transforms into his badass version. However, I’m a bit apprehensive approaching any shounen anime nowadays — particularly ones based on long-running weekly publications — simply because I like seeing endings sometime in the near future. Produced by Studio DEEN, it’ll be interesting to see how long this series will end up running for, but I don’t see myself following it regularly if at all. The biggest appeal for me are the seiyuus (especially Horie Yui), so I’ll likely check out the first few episodes to see how it is.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Decent — wary of shounen series with multiple stage power-ups |
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Tono to Issho | 殿といっしょ Top
http://tono-anime.com/ Animation Production: Gathering Genre: Comedy, History Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Mondays at 26:14 on Yomiuri TV (ytv) Premiere: July 5th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Only three months after the release of its OVA, Hara Jun’s gag-filled 4-koma manga based on the historical figures during the Sengoku period is back with a full TV series. At first glance, this series came off as something I’d quickly overlook without a second thought, but my impression of the OVA is that it’s actually fairly amusing at times if you’re familiar with this era of Japanese history. It’s completely over-the-top and not realistic whatsoever, but that’s exactly the niche it strives for in all its manzai routines. The title translates to “With My Lord” and the comedic angle is that the lords/samurai are the idiots (boke) and their followers are the more serious ones (tsukkomi). The cast is full of hilarious seiyuu, such as Suzuki Tatsuhisa, Ono Daisuke, Sugita Tomokazu, Noto Mamiko, and Kobayashi Yuu, whereas big historic names such as Date Masamune, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, Chousokabe Motochika, Naoe Kanetsugu, and Oda Nobunaga are just some of the characters we have here. One of the ongoing gags focuses around Masumune a.k.a. the “one-eyed dragon” and his eyepatch, and another is Motochika being as beautiful as a woman even though he isn’t one. Also, the addition of musician GACKT playing Kenshin becomes a gag all on its own (in the OVA at least). Believe it or not, there is a huge audience for this kind of stuff in Japan as variety shows involving it are what fill up primetime TV hours, but I found that you have to be familiar with the history to get any real enjoyment out of this one. The gags poke fun at a lot of historic references and blow them drastically out of proportion, which would completely go over your head if you’re not in the know. As I’m somewhat familiar with the Sengoku period, I found the OVA much more enjoyable than I thought it would be, but this still isn’t something I’d be watching regularly nor is its format something that blogs well. If you’re looking for an action-packed take on the warring period of Japan however, then look no further than the second season of Sengoku BASARA below.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Poor — not the format I look for in my comedies |
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STRIKE WITCHES 2 | ストライクウィッチーズ2 Top
http://s-witch.cute.or.jp/ Animation Production: AIC Spirits Genre: Mecha-girls, Military Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Wednesdays at 25:30 on TV Saitama (TVS) Premiere: July 7th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia The 501st Joint Fighter Wing comprised of a plethora of cute girls with magical powers and Striker Unit boosters attached to their legs takes to the skies again in the ongoing battle against the alien threat known as the Neuroi. Back when I covered the first series, there was a lot of controversy centering around on the sole fact that the girls don’t wear pants in his world, which soon started branching off to the realm of pedophilia. As I’ve already addressed those concerns with my take on it, I’ll move past that and say I’m looking forward to the sequel since I found the huge cast of characters played by numerous well-known seiyuus absolutely adorable to watch with all their little nuances. Yes, there’s a fair amount panty shots along the way and the DVD release was even uncensored for the bath scenes, but the characters themselves are still by far the main appeal to me. The story thus far hasn’t been overly profound, but still enjoyable to watch considering how it coincided with a lot of the air-to-air combat scenes that I’m looking forward to seeing more of. Taking over the production of the sequel from GONZO is AIC, who assisted with the animation work in the original. Quite frankly, this is a welcomed change since I’ve been pretty happy with AIC’s work in the past year, which can’t be said about GONZO given their disappointing track record and lack of new shows. The one change I’m not so keen on is the replacement of Chiba Saeko by Seto Saori for Sakamoto Mio’s role. I haven’t seen much explanation for this change, but suspect it’s related to Saeko’s decrease in seiyuu activity ever since she got married. It’ll probably take a bit of time to adjust to Saori’s voice as Mio, but I don’t imagine it’ll be too difficult. I’m just happy we have AIC at the helm of this sequel, though I’m admittedly a bit wary of the sheer number of shows they’re taking on this season.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — sequel |
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Shiki | 屍鬼 Top
http://www.okiagari.net/ Animation Production: Daume Genre: Horror Number of Episodes: 22 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 25:15 on Fuji TV (CX) Premiere: July 8th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Horror and supernatural seem to be the themes this season, as an adaptation of Ono Fumiyo‘s light novel “Corpse Demon” is coming our way in one of noitaminA‘s two time slots. She’s best known for writing the Twelve Kingdom fantasy series, but here we have one of her horror stories that takes place in the small remote mountain village of Sotoba in the year 1994. It’s a peaceful village where much hasn’t changed since olden days, including the firmly rooted burial customs. One day, the bodies of three villagers are discovered in their homes and the sole doctor of the village, Ozaki Toshio (Ookawa Tooru), suspects that they died from a disease of sorts. Before long, the 1300 inhabitants start dying mysteriously one after another and the village is surrounded by death. In addition to Toshio, the story centers around a teenager named Yuuki Natsuno (Uchiyama Kouki), who hates living in the village after his parents decided to move away from the city life. Other notable characters include a classmate who has an unrequited love with him, Shimizu Megumi (Tomatsu Haruka), and a 13-year-old girl who lives in a western-style house on top of the hill, Kirishiki Sunako (Yuuki Aoi). What’s impressive is that Fumiyo has over 150 characters in this story, which she’s stated is a homage to Stephen King‘s ‘Salem’s Lot, but I also find it draws parallels with Higurashi no Naku Koro ni given the setting and premise. Unlike Higurashi though, things start branching away from the idea that this is the cause of a mere disease. While the setting is a bit overused, I actually enjoyed Higurashi a whole lot when it was airing, so the thought of seeing something similar again puts this series on my To Watch list. Having Minami-ke’s anime character designer Ochi Shinji doing the ones here kind of throws things off, but cute-looking characters didn’t take away from the horror aspect in Higurashi one bit. I’m also looking forward to hearing Kouki in a lead role again since his major debut in SOUL EATER. Of course, having Haruka and Aoi on board is always a huge plus in any series. Surprisingly, musician GACKT has a role here too.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — mysterious deaths in a small isolated village |
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Asobi ni Iku yo! | あそびにいくヨ！ Top
http://www.asoiku.com/ Animation Production: AIC PLUS+ Genre: Sci-fi, Romance, Comedy Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Saturdays at 25:58 on MBS Premiere: July 10th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Whether it’s a catgirl orphan at a run-down pâtisserie, magical witches with animal ears and tails in a battle against aliens, angeloids from outer space, or a combination of all three, AIC and its subdivisions are always ready to deliver adaptations of this kind and I’m always ready and waiting to watch them! With the announcement of a second season of Sora no Otoshimono on the way, “Let’s Go Play” may prove to be the series to fill that sci-fi romantic comedy void in the meantime. The premise is a rather simple one, beginning with high school student Kakazu Kio (Tamura Mutsumi) running into a beautiful girl with cat ears and a tail in a skin-tight plug suit named Elice (Itou Kanae) during a family gathering/celebration in memory of one of his ancestors. Not too long after, Elice makes herself at home at Kio’s place and introduces herself to everyone as an alien here to play and study the Earth. In short, we have the “unassuming high school boy lands bombshell babe from the sky” type of anime, where things get more interesting when his childhood friend Kinjou Manami (Tomatsu Haruka), meganekko classmate Futaba Aoi (Hanazawa Kana), and Elice’s “Cathia” alien friends, Coone (Inoue Kikuko), Melwin (Toyosaki Aki), Chaica (Kotobuki Minako), all come into the picture with their unique personalities. I’m not expecting anything other than to be entertained by what will likely dip into harem territory, but I am looking forward to just that with the nice character designs backed by an all-star female cast led by Kanae’s moe voice. All members of seiyuu group sphere have roles here as well, which of course warrants an opening theme performed by them. In addition to the cat-like Cathia alien race, there are also various others that resemble animals such as dogs and birds, all of which make this series come off as completely ridiculous. However, the same could be said about angeloids yet I enjoyed that show to death, so I plan to approach this light novel/manga adaptation in the same easygoing way and hope to be pleasantly surprised.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Guaranteed — sci-fi catgirls with an all-star female cast |
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Sengoku BASARA Two | 戦国BASARA 弐 Top
http://www.sengokubasara.tv/ Animation Production: Production I.G Genre: Action, History Number of Episodes: 12 Airtime (JST, GMT+9): Sundays at 17:00 on CBC/MBS/TBS Premiere: July 11th, 2010 Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AniDB, MyAnimeList, syoboi, Wikipedia Production I.G. is back with a sequel to the their adaptation of Capcom‘s feudal Japan action video game franchise, but this time in the coveted Sunday 5pm primetime slot that’s been occupied by Fullmetal Alchemist for the past 15 months. In this over-the-top action-packed take on the Sengoku period, the story picks up after the defeat of Oda Nobunaga at the end of the first season. Following that, the battle over the unification of Japan rages on between protagonists Masamune Date (Nakai Kazuya) and Yukimura Sanada (Hoshi Souichirou) over Kawanakajima. However, as they continue fighting for control over the eastern provinces, a new power rises up from the west up led by Nobunaga’s successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Okiaya Ryoutarou) and guided by his strategist Takenaka Hanbei (Ishida Akira). With the introduction of those two historical figures as the new antagonists in this sequel, things are surely going to get heated in a flurry of jam-packed fight scenes of Dragon Ball Z proportions that Production I.G. delivered exceptionally well last spring. For whatever reason, the original adaptation was lost in the shuffle of shows such as K-ON, Fullmetal Alchemist, Phantom, and Eden of the East airing at the time that it totally slipped off my radar. I never did get around to watching it, but I’ve been meaning to given all the good things I’ve heard about it. The fact that the series has been upgraded to this Sunday time slot is another thing that catches my attention. With crisp and fluid animation that Production I.G. is known for, the loose basis on the struggle for power during 16th century Japan, and hot-blooded samurai played by Kazuya and Souichirou, I’m contemplating doing a quick marathon of the 13-episode first season just so I can watch this sequel. If you haven’t checking out the original and are a fan of action in general, you’re best advised to do yourself a favor and check this series out. If you happen to be into Asian history too, that’s just bonus.
Odds I’ll Watch This: Decent — depends on whether or not I finish season one |
Above are the 16 shows this season that fall under the usual criteria, which may not seem like much, but I find there are plenty of good ones to pick from. Scheduling-wise, Sundays aren’t as busy as they usually tend to be in favor of Mondays, whereas Thursdays are chock-full of shows as always (marking the start of the season). Wednesdays surprisingly has one show this season, while Tuesdays actually have Digimon Xros Wars and Stitch ~Zutto Saikou no Tomodachi~, which I decided to leave out of this preview for obvious reasons.
Seeing as I tend to watch a lot more shows than the average viewer, each entry is as descriptive yet concise as possible in introducing all the new series and are based on my first-hand research into each and every one of them. My hope is that this preview will tell enough about each of the new shows much like a full-blown post on the first episode would, as it’s unlikely I’ll get around to covering the premieres of everything that I marked down as Good or Guaranteed. Quite honestly, aside from Tono to Issho, I can see myself getting into any of these new shows fairly easily, so please use the information here to decide what to watch based on your own personal interests.
However, if I had to recommend one series above all others to keep your eyes on it would be Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi. I get the feeling that The Legend of the Legendary Heroes will turn out pretty well in its two-cour run too, whereas I’m looking to Amagami SS to serve as my main romance series of the season. For sheer slapstick laughs, Mitsudomoe would be my first pick if you’re okay with the slightly lewd stuff, followed by Seitokai Yakuindomo. Then there’s the more fan-service-oriented romantic comedy, which Asobi ni Iku yo should slot in nicely as. After which you have a good assortment of shows to fill in whatever niche you so desire. Given all the options, I’m already looking forward to the summer season.
Again, I can’t make any promises from a blogging standpoint, but keep in mind that I’m going to try to reduce my load like I mentioned earlier. As always, comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.
Just so there are no “first” comments, I’m going to take this by saying, “KITAAA!!!”
Lulz. Thanks a lot for the preview Divine.
Reading your own introduction post from two-years ago I realized how much your writing style and tastes have evolved (and yet retained that odd irrational disparity of yours). The new preview is very insightful and the fine-tuning just further helps the reader and makes the preview your own.
Looking forward to at least 4 shows from this season, and you’ve listed them all as something you’d certainly watch, and if I’m lucky might even blog. 😉
Fir—
Damn it…
High School of the Dead is the highlight for me.. TITS + ZOMBIES + GORE = DIVIDE BY ZERO
Shiki since it’s Deen I’m staying from it unless word of mouth says it’s awesome sauce.
Whoah.. It’s not Deen? Then I’m watching it!
That’s alot of shows this season you are planning on watching and alot of shows to blog for a single person.
Saw this list somewhere else and was thinking not much looked interesting but maybe not 🙂
Haha, thanks for the preview, divine XD
Uhhhhh que pedazooo de series algunas ya las esperaba grax por la informacion Divine por cierto no vas agregar High School of the Dead ¡? o sera como se vaya desarrollando ..
si me cae que esa madre es como left for dead de andar matando diestra y siniestra a los zombies
fine.. second!
Thanks Divine. a hot anime summer incoming ano go sai ?! lol
Eh? Why is there so many love-comedies this time around? Only thing got my interest was Highschool of the dead, Shiki and Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi.
Hope they bring more interesting shows…
;D been waiting for this, thanks
What about Digimon Xros Wars!!!??
Never mind, I need to remember to read the entire preview
Amagami will be in an omnibus format, meaning that each girl will get her own story arc.
YAY!!!!!
You do seem to want to watch A LOT of these shows! Don’t hurt yourself!
Ahh Horror seems good. For some reason I feel content that I will get enough combat this season. Still waiting on mecha, but fighting zombies seem fun.
For some reason while watching the promo for Seitokai Yakuindomo, it reminded me of Sailor moon for some odd reason.
Yay! You’re blogging all the shows that I want to see. Good stuff.
Thanks Divine.
Hey, divine. I’ve been a follower of this blog for over a year now, and I just want to say THANKS for maintaining it and providing anime viewers with great resources like these previews. They really help out with finding out what’s out there and determining what to watch. About 90% of the shows I have watched have been because they have been blogged here or I saw in the previews. Once again, thanks a million for the free service you provide!!! 😉
Well, I have to say these are nice. I am now interested in many more shows then the two I had originally picked out. Thanks Divine!
I thought you would blog High School of the Dead for sure, Divine. Kinda surprised about Strike Witches 2, I need to finish the first season.
Great work Divine, thanks.
lol can’t wait for kuroshitsuji II <3
and shiki looks interesting.
thanks for the neat calendar and synopses ^^
lol Divine. I didn’t know you never finished season one of Sengoku Basara. XD
The zombie fanservice one is a definate watch for me. 😀 BTW, is there no anime at all on Tuesdays now, or did you just skip shows that air that day? I’m assuming Bleach is never going off the air 😛
The schedule is only for the new shows listed and don’t include the ones carrying on.
10 Guarantees?
Holy, that’s a lot!
Only when it comes to watching them. Blogging-wise, I’m going to pick up a handful or so.
yay!! someone who watches roughly 10 per season!! *highfive*
i dont feel like an alien anymore 🙂
btw divine thanks for all the time and effort put in blogging regularly and writing up this preview for us!! 🙂
All of these anime look decent, but the one I’ll keep an eye on will be Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi. Sekirei never quite appealed to me, especially since one of the men becomes a gender bender.
you sure have many shows to watch/review this season. I too think Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi will be the show of the season, because for one thing, JC Staff never fails us before. It will only be a matter of time before Yotsubato gets an anime.
Zero No Tsukaima was a failure considering how good the novel is and how bad, specially the season III turned out to be. In Japan Kimikiss was an utter failure as well.
Any plans on previewing the OVA series that will be coming up?
It’s not something we’ve done in the past, so I’d say it’s highly unlikely. OVAs tend to be short, so there isn’t much of a commitment to make when you just dive into them somewhat blindly. They’re often just extra episodes to a series that already aired too.
lots of interesting shows but looking forward to shiki the most
girl from Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tach looks exactly like taiga
interested
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
Amagami SS
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Mitsudomoe
ones I’ll check out
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Shukufuku no Campanella
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD
Seikimatsu Occult Academy
Shiki
Asobi ni Iku yo!
Is this your way of saying “I want to blog more shows”?… hehe
hopefully you and Kiiragi are used to blogging by now. Let’s hope you try and help Divine by adding atleast 1 or 2 on your list.
If not, then.. sorry Divine, you’re on your own with this list ^^
YESSSS! new anime makes me feel giddy inside!! =D =D =D. So much anime to watch, so little time
Definite:
Amagami SS
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement~
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD
Might watch:
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
Shukufuku no Campanella
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Mitsudomoe
Seikimatsu Occult Academy
Asobi ni Iku yo!
Nurarihyon no Mago
Shiki
Asobi ni Iku yo!
Wonder what happen to Shina Dark thou, seem the news for the anime just vanish.
When you said you were working on it I didn’t expect it so soon. Anyway, thanks & good job.
The first show you covered seems like a go for me. Damn those rom-coms!
Divine you have any idea which handful of shows you are leaning toward to blog?
Anyway thank you so much for the previews, you are the bestest!
Ookami-san, Amagami SS, and Seitokai Yakuindomo are the only ones that I’m leaning strongly towards. I kind of want to cover SEKIREI and STRIKE WITCHES for completion sake too.
dude i just notice this that there r alot being guaranteed to be blog maybe just put the first episode and think about it if u wanna blog them all.
To quote Divine’s words a few replies up ^^^^:
“Only when it comes to watching them. Blogging-wise, I’m going to pick up a handful or so.”
’subtle change is “Odds I’ll Watch This” rather than “Blog”, as I’ll likely end up watching more shows than I end up blogging.’
at least read the post
Aw… the “Legend of the Legendary Heroes” is such a terrible name… for a brief moment, my eyes were glazed with the raw hope of seeing more Legend of Galactic Heroes material. Oh well.
Amagami looks like it may be entertaining, and I found the Nuraryion no Mago manga to be very entertaining (because it avoids most Shounen cliches and ruts… nice fast pace, good comedy, nice mood, etc.) but there’s nothing here that really stands out to me.
Kudos to the preview, though.
I dunno, maybe it’s just me. I’m enjoying “classic” anime now a lot more than the current stuff. Watching Macross Seven again and hoping to start SDF again soon… shame there’s nothing like that being produced any time soon.
Though, wait–weren’t we supposed to get some new VOTOMS material this year?
Despite Legend having a totally ridiculous name, it might actually pretty good since they had enough budget for 26 episodes 😛
Hmm what about the BLACK LAGOON 3rd season? The OVA start soon, and after this the 3rd season. > > – http://www.blacklagoon.jp/
I personally looking forward to the Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Amagami SS, The Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Seitokai Yakuindomo, SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement~, Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD, Seikimatsu Occult Academy and Asobi ni Iku yo! anime. ^ ^
I’ll be watching:
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Shiki
Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin
Gakuen Mokushiroku: Highschool of the Dead
Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~
I’m disappointed that after the announcement of .hack//LINK airing this summer, it ended up not happening. Anyone know when it’s been rescheduled for?
HOLY SHIT!
Nurarihyon no Mago and HIgh school of dead are getting and ANIME 😀 MY GOD!
*an ANIME
omg I’m so excited! All those guarantees!! I was a little worried. I was wondering how the heck you were gonna blog all those. D: Looks like some tough choices. Most of them are sequels and the originals are looking promising too!! I think I’m gonna need a vacation from my job… for a while. :}
8}
I almost forgot to give thanks!! Shame on me.. We really appreciate it, Divine! x3
What about Black rock shooter?
Technically, Black Rock Shooter is a Spring 2010 OVA, so it wouldn’t be here in the summer season preview. It is coming out on July 24, 2010, which is pretty late, but still considered part of spring.
Thanks so much, Divine! I don’t know where I would be without RC. :]
My top 3 are Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi, Amagami SS and High School of the Dead.
Though I will say I’m a little weary of watching HSoD. The animation looks gorgeous with character designs perfectly reflecting the manga style. Violence and gore I can deal but if it involves women then I start to detract. Seeing young high school girls get turned into zombies in the worst fashion makes me turn away. It was hard enough just reading the manga but watching it animated (Watching the demo, one particular scene where one girl watches her friend get ravaged then slowly steps back but into the clutches of her zombified classmates who instantly grab both sides of her face before the screen cuts to black made my blood boil to no end). I’ve developed favorites in the cast such as Rei and Saeko for sure, them being the two leading lady protagonists.
The one thing I don’t like about the whole undead/zombie genre is that there is a higher degree of uncertainty that your favorite character will actually survive. All it takes is one bit or scratch and they’re goners. I know that is what drives the whole basis of the storyline but still, it’s not my cup of tea. I’ll need to see some previews of the first few episodes before making a decision of whether or not to torment my spirit with bliss and bastardry.
I suppose the suspense and gore is what defines horror
LOL.
I tend to watch my anime late nights before I go to bed with the lights off. I do this just in case I doze off. My laptop screen will turn off after 1 hours of inactivity.
Watching a survival horror in the dark could be fun.
Highschool of the dead!!! *squee*
Looks like an exciting season!
Highschool of the Dead is the top of my list. I read this manga a few years ago and I got hooked.
My “definitely going to watch list”:
– Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi: This sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun to watch and I loved Toradora’s art style, so that alone could’ve sold me lol.
– Amagami SS: Even though I don’t like the “one girl per arc” format, I’m a sucker for visual-novel based romance anime and maybe I’ll come out liking it anyway.
– The Legend of Legendary Heros: The plot sounds really interesting to me and by the way its described in the preview it sounds like a well balanced action/fantasy series, so I can’t miss out on that. Also, the art reminds me of Code Geass lol.
– SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement: I follow the manga. Watched the first season. Pretty much a done deal.
– Shiki: Just can’t resist a good, dark mystery thriller series. I haven’t watched one since Umineko ended last year so I’m itching for another ride.
I’ll try out everything else but chances are that the only ones I will end up actually watching are HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD and Seikimatsu Occult Academy.
What I’m really looking forward to though is the fall season, with BAKUMAN and Toaru Majutsu no Index S2 confirmed to be airing. We might also get Shana 3. As far as I’m concerned this summer season is just filler for that lol.
Oh yeah, and thanks for the preview divine, really appreciate it. No one does it like RC does. 😀
Nurarihyon no Mago>>> any of those shows, the manga is epic and awesome, and the main character is actually badass unlike Ichigo,Naruto and Tsuna.
so you are basically watching everything lol.
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
Amagami SS
Shukufuku no Campanella
Seitokai Yakuindomo
SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement~(1st episode already aired)
Asobi ni Iku yo!
I have to consume my time watching them while the remaining anime from April 2010 still in our list
Hmm.. not too many shows I’m interested, but maybe I’ll pick some up as first impression posts start to come out. Right now I probably will try out Shiki for sure.
I’ll definitely be watching Setokai Yakuindomo, just because I loved Setokai no Inchizon. Netx on the list is High School of the Dead (looks like a decent horror anime) and finally Amagami SS. Thanks for the preview divine! 🙂
Haha, Oh dear, divine, your Preview has made me want to watch LITERALLY everything @_@;; FFFF that’s not good in the long run, but nice since I hit the holidays when Summer 2010 comes along. My top picks are Ookami-san and High School of the Dead. Ookami for Shizuka Itou and Kanae Itou – DOUBLE the Itou! I still can’t believe the loli is Kanae, new voice for me to implement in my seiyuu registration lol. And High School of the Dead coz I enjoyed the manga and is a rarity in this kind of genre, also from the seiyuu cast: MARINA INOUE MORE (she’s been lacking lately T_T) and my brain exploded at Miyuki Sawashiro as the senior.
I like the layout/setup of the preview and the table is very handy 😀
Will be watching Sekirei, Highschool of the Dead, and Sengoku Basara. Seems like there are a few more decent ones out there as well, but I’ll have to find the time somehow.
BLESS THE GODS (if there they exist =P), this season its full of awesome series!!, im expecting it to be way better than i expect! im seeing most of the series… and thanks for always gathering all this info for us, mostly of the series i see are based on whats on this web!
Oh cool, I didn’t know High School of the Dead is airing this summer. I really wanna check out Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi since it’s a J.C. Staff and the characters break the forth wall. Seitokai Yakuindomo caught my attention too since it’s a 4koma adaption and Yoko Hisaka and Satomi Saito are voicing characters! The other anime will somehow make it’s way onto my list depending on what people say about it.
so many things to watch mostly likely going to be watch 11 shows this 🙂
Brilliant preview, helped add one or two more shows on the consideration list,
too bad I immediately forgot everything the minute it got down to BASARA…
My suggestion would be giving a definite yes to that marathon of the first season
that you were considering, as it was every bit as flamboyant and over-the-top as depicted,
ending with a spectacular bang…
I was going to try and cut down on anime this summer season, but after seeing what’s going to be airing I just can’t.
looking at your preview makes me realize that a there a lot more great anime I wanna/can watch this season…
too bad school is coming back tomorrow…
I’ll end up watching most of it, but i have a bad feeling about some of it like “highschool of the dead”…i also think it will disappoint me me
@yeah i feel you with the “High school of dead thing” that was pointy tittie fan-service at best “nothing wrong wit dat just..” but man! check out all the pedo bait! they seriously need to stop in japan hahahahahah! but at least this upcoming season looks more interesting than the current one..talk about BORE-FEST!
ohhh yeah!!! and THANKS Divine!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an ungrateful shit i am to not say that, i like how u STEPPED IT UP from OMNI’s format with the instant schedule graph, nice.
BTW- Legend of the Legendary Heros??????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH TALK ABOUT REDUNDANT!!
Yo, I cracked up at the sight of that too!! xDD Wonder what comedy it has in store for us with a title like that..! lol
Well i don’t know about “comedy” BUT I’m sure its gonna feature ADVENTURERS ADVENTURING while Reminiscing about their LEGENDARY ADVENTURES……or something like that, HA!!
Highschool of the Dead on my top list…
Wow!! I have never seen so many “Guaranteed” in my life! But that’s awesome since it shows you really are a person who watches a lot of things then make judgements. Anyway, I’m looking forward to everything and also was very happy when an anime of Campanella was greenlit because the game was quite fun.
When you mean “quite fun”, were you perhaps referring to the “action CGs”? 😉
LOL! Perhaps hahaha. Actually, it was fun because when I played it, for some reason I felt rather giddy all over. It’s probably due to the atmosphere of the game created by the awesome art and music.
Just a quick sidenote: it would be nice if you blogged Black Rock Shooter when it came out, if only for the considerable hype around it.
Anyways, in terms of blogging, I’d push Strike Witches 2 and Sekeri at you just because you blogged them before 😛 I haven’t watched either series before (…though I do look at the Sekeri manga…) sooo…
Lots of good horror shows this season! Shiki is the number 1 show I’m interested in. I’m actually also really looking forward to Nurarihyon no Mago. Though the manga was so-so for the first volume or so, it really picked up the pace further in and has some great art. Highschool of the dead also looks cool, but I’m afraid it’ll start to suck after a while. I’ll still try it though.
Digimon Xros Wars needs more love. D:
I’ve been looking forward to this ever since Savers ended.
The original english theme for the first anime is forever 😛
Nothing beats “Digimon digital monsters~ Digimon are the champions~” :]
Lolz, the original theme is like the soundtrack to my life.
“Change into Digital Monsters, To Save the Digimon WORLD!!”
:Db
I love the English Dub of Digimon Season 1 & 2 to bits. Only anime that I prefer the dub for.<3
I love how the majority of the listed shows are “guaranteed.” Though, after reading the previews, I’d say those would be my picks as well especially for the ones I’ve seen the manga for. I’m looking forward to this summer season considering I found several disappointments for the spring season (won’t bother naming them). I’ll probably pick up 6-7 of those listed compared to the 3 I’m following now for this sping
I’m glad the spirit of Random Curiosity (especially the season previews) lives on. Thanks for your hard work!
Guaranteed @ Strike Witches ?????
:facepalm: 😆 :facepalm:
I find it sad that I am only interested in “Seikimatsu Occult Academy”, when I had 4 shows I watched faithfully during Spring.
I am going to give a few of the others a try, but for the most part they all seem to be the same fan-serviced high school romance that is EVERYWHERE these days…
I take that back…
Recently I have found that I am interested in several shows that I did not think I would like before.
My list for the Summer is:
1. Seitokai Yakuindomo
2. Occult Academy
3. Shiki
4. High-school Of The Dead
5. Amagami SS
6. Shukufuku no Campanella
7. Mitsudomoe
8. Den yuden.
*Squeal* It is almost July, I am so excited! 😀
Highschool of the Dead? Niiiiice 🙂
I’ll definitely check that one out. Looks pretty faithful as adaptations go, though. I wonder what they’ll do since the manga kind of got suspended on an open note?
Legend of the Legendary Heroes looks like it might be worth a look as well.
So many guarantees lol. I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU IF YOU BAIL OUT!!! ^_^. Great preview for the popular upcoming anime series for this summer. Definitely can not wait. Good luck with everything, keep up the fantastic work~!
preliminary picks:
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi – loved ToraDora, might like it
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD – I’ve read the manga,loved it,and it has girls with guns – my fave trope by far
Seikimatsu Occult Academy – hoping it gets better sub coverage than Senkou no Night Raid…
Shiki – isolated community, mysterious disease and doctor trying to solve things – my fave dish 🙂
Thanks for the preview, Divine. Will be watching 7 series for summmer 2010.
Alot of dark dark animes.
At first glance the number of titles maybe scarce,but hopefully the quality makes up for it.Here’s to a great summer!!!
needs more tsundere queen, i only counted one with her in it, unless i missed some?
WTB more kugi-chan
Whoa, Thursday is packed… I’m glad I’m on holiday, seriously. Here’s to summer!
English Wikipedia is pretty useful too.
Thanks a lot for putting this together! I was glad to hear about the details for some of those. Hope you can manage your load well…
DEFINITELY WATCHING:
Kuroshitsuji II
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement~
DEFINITELY CHECKING OUT:
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
Amagami SS
Shukufuku no Campanella
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD
Asobi ni Iku yo!
Nuff’ said.
Why is there so many crap again… cant they make a decent show like neon genesis evangelion or durarara something that is interesting and watchable who caes about school anime nowdays or that tsundere crap make something new and diferent or destroy all anime till someone comes up with something good its only a waste of money and paper that trees had to die for.
G-G-GRAMMAR FAILLLLL!
We have similar tastes divine. Still, don’t you agree True tears wins Permanently in the Romance department.
One of the best titles in the romance department ^.^
Yeah, it’ll be hard to top true tears. It’d be cool seeing another P.A. Works romance/drama again, though I am enjoying their work in Angel Beats in the meantime.
Looks like Yoko Hikasa is getting popular now. I’m marking the student council anime for the future. Let’s see how this goes.
Wow, lots of shows that I wanna watch =P. Now I have to watch a bunch now first seasons now lol, and I’m already behind on what we have out in the Spring season xD.
awesome this season damn good
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD waaaaaaaw i read the manga it’s really cool but there is a plenty of ecchie it may even become hentai but to be honest i’m happy that it will be aired alsos SEKIREI ~Pure Engagement and
Nurarihyon no Mago i was waiting for them this summer will be really cool
Wow, thank you for the Summer Preview. Seems like horror is the theme this Summer. Haven’t decided what to watch yet aside from sequels like KSII and SBII. But Ookami-san and Amagami will probably get on my watchlist.
Spelling error in highschool of the dead? Should be “Faint of heart” instead of “Feint of heart”?
Thanks for the correction.
why are male leads always losers. *sigh* a boy who is scared of people, ill still watch it anyway it look a pretty good line up as well. looking forward to high school of the dead. Hopefully there aint a cliche “childhood friend who wake me up” series coming out
Prediction only series worth watching during this summer is… none, unless Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi has a decent plot and does not follow the same old same old just under a different premise.
It seems its gonna be a while until we get another Code Geass, FMA, Death Note etc…..
is it possible for there to be a genre note under each anime, for quicker reference
eg:
Name: ____________
Anime Production:
Genre:
Number of ep:
Airtime:
Premiere:
Information Links:
thanks
Hmm, good suggestion. I’ll see what I can do.
Thank you Divine for the preview list of new anime..
Definitely watching:
Kuroshitsuji II
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Sengoku BASARA Two
🙂
“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” -> Admiral Ackbar approves this title.
Anyway, I’d definitely watch High School of the Dead. Seikimatsu Occult Academy looks promising but I hope it doesn’t bore me like Night Raid.
Well, despite being a fairly short list, it’s looking like a good season already. I haven’t fully read the synopsis for each series yet, but I’m already considering watching more than I am this season.
Good to see some of my favourite VAs in the promising series (Jun Fukuyama, Yui Horie, Rie Kugimiya) though there seems to be a saddening lack of Norio Wakamoto here (and in the current season too, if I’m not mistaken). 🙁
Thanks again for the preview, Divine!
Yeah!
A lot of good titles this summer, I may need to buy another drive ^.^
I thought ‘Kami nomi zo shiru sekai’ would be included on the list but I guess it airs in fall …
Its going be a cool summer season.
looks like i will be pretty busy this season
Definitely watching
Sekirei
Ookami san
Legendary heroes
On Probation
Amagami
Shukufuku
Nurarihyon
Shiki the manga definitely had potential but the pacing was so so so so so slow might watch one ep
I’ll start watching quite a few on this list, will most likely dwindle down to only a handful as the season progresses, but im excited for these.
hi. first time visit this website.
your review is really awesome ^^v and the summer anime this year is good even a few of anime isn’t much good as i expected, but anime like SHIKI or Nurarihyon i think i will definitely watch it.
Thank you for the review.^o^v
does anybody know if/when the black lagoon OVAs will start ?
thanks divine for this comprehensive list.
July 17th according to the official website.
anyone mind telling me why iron man isn’t on the list? I heard madhouse is making an anime on it but it’s not listed here. Release date says october 1st though, so is that summer or autumn and if summer why isn’t it listed?
October would make it a fall show. Broadcasting-wise, summer is the three month period from July to September.
Oh lol I’m so stupid, even thought I read and wrote down October, I thought it was after July. And no i’m not stupid just really tired today @_@
summer looks promising 😀
btw is there a news for Bakemonogatari 15?
The last I heard it was delayed yet again and pushed back the release of the final DVD/BD volume.
ah… i wonder how long will they make us wait..
awesome site dude
Wow I really love your previews some shows that didn’t looked much appealing to me like Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi before are now on my watch list.The only ones i was sure to watch are Shiki and High School Of the Dead .I’ll go with these 3 for now and the first break blade movie.
No show by SHAFT this season?
afraid of too many ‘guarantees’
guaranteed to watch =/= guaranteed to blog
Thank you, and awesome! Looks like there’s a lot of good shows to look forward to next season.
Thank you very much! Love your preview!
Spring 2010 has probably been the most busiest for me as a regular anime watcher, with a whopping 8 shows in my watching list. (FMA, K-ON, Angel Beats, Maid-sama, Working, kissxsis, B Gata H Kei and Qwaser)
Though that means most of my free time is bogged down trying to catch up with the latest episode, I notice I’m getting lethargic from sleep as well, so I guess I’ll be cutting back for Summer 2010. XD (At least this has made it easier for me to make the crucial decision to finally drop the Neverending Shounens: Naruto and Bleach for good)
Fortunately, most of the Spring 2010 shows end soon (including FMA and regrettably, Angel Beats), leaving just K-ON and Maid-sama to carry over into Summer 2010, which means I’m able to cut down my watching list somewhat to give myself some breathing space.
Ookami-san and Strike Witches 2 would be my top choices and maybe I’ll check out Campanella, Asobi ni Iku yo and Seitokai Yakuindomo if I can squeeze some time. My roster is mostly light-hearted routine, as the heavy stuff like zombies and suspense is just too much for my hectic life. XD
When I saw the teaser trailer for Ookami-san a few months ago, first thing I thought “TAIGA!!!!” lol
Campanella I’ve noticed for some time when I was “window-shopping” for what eroge to get. Having seen the girls “in action” (ero CG) has certainly helped my choice in watching this. 🙂
wow looks cool, many horror, special that school girl with zombis, i love zombis, looking forward for it.
LOL there is like 10 guaranteed.
By guaranteed do you mean your guaranteed only to watch and not guaranteed to blog or guaranteed for blog too.
Is this all the Anime coming out this summer? It seems less than I imagine…
Yeah to many “Guaranteeds”. But maybe the season is just that good. ^^
Those sequels dont interest me much anyway so I have more time for the other shows.
Seems a lot more promising than the Spring season where I only followed Angel Beats, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou and (to some extent) Mayoi Neko Overrun… Hope Animeseason doesn’t skip half the shows like they did to the current season…
I’m still looking forward to Skakugan no Shana III and Toaru Majutsu no Index 2 though…
Yo megalith, have you seen this and this? Looks like someone pretended to be you and trolled the AniBlog Tourney pretty hard after RandomC lost to a small blog because almost no one from here cared about the contest and apparently they don’t like RandomC over there. I loled at some of the opinions.
Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~!! That’s probably the only thing I’ll keep up with.
so Lelouch is back as Ryner Lute
https://randomc.net/image/Miscellaneous/Summer%202010%20Preview/denyuden.jpg
Look his face and eyes, they are screaming “Lelouch!”
Exactly what I was thinking!! Lulu was reincarnated into an alternate world! But as long as he keeps his badass personality I don’t mind watching even a wanna be spin-off
Actually, his seiyuu is going to be the same too.
O damn so much good shows an so little time…
@Divine
You also could have mentioned on your Nurarihyon no Mago preview that it will be directed by True tears director Junji Nishimura…
i haven’t been interested in zombie-like anime but HOTD looks amazing,can’t wait <3
Will watch for sure:
HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD – fucking love the manga. Its not your typical zombie flick. Sure it has main characters skewering zombies and etc, but what it really focusses on is society itself and the decline of society in apocalyptic scenario. Each main character is suprisingly well layered and the story basically covers their descent into sociopathic insanity
SHIKI – fucking love the manga. IF anime manages to adapt the art creepyness and story quality – then i am all in.
Summer season’s gonna be crappy… compared to the spring one… What’s up with all those boobie-full and plotless shows… Like, ten clones of KissxSis =.=
I’m gonna watch only Kuroshitsuji 2, Shiki, and Occult Academy, and maaaaybe Ookami-san.
But thanks a huge bunch for the preview! A great job!^^
I hope you don’t kill yourself blogging all of these, seems like a bit too much to handle.
…careful man. It looks like your eyes may be bigger than your stomach 😛
I’ll be looking forward to reading your first episode reviews of all your guaranteed series ^^
I’m familiar with that idiom, but please take note of the following:
I have no difficulty following this number of shows and I think it’s fair to say that blogging about 16 shows and 1 manga concurrently is a testament to that. However, it’s not a pace I plan to keep up indefinitely on the blogging side of things, so expect that number to be reduced to 10 or so series next season, which includes the shows I have carrying over from spring. I do plan to watch everything I’ve marked down as Guaranteed though.
I noticed that, I meant more along the lines of “I look forward to reading the first episode posts of the shows you end up blogging, of which I’m particularly interested in seeing any further posts on the series you marked as guaranteed since I found those all rather interesting”. Poor word choice, I guess >.<;;
thank you for this… it’s the first preview i’ve seen that makes me feel good about some of the shows. i’m actually looking forward to a couple now.
wow thanks this season is looking awesome. I’m looking forward to almost all the new ones here. Also a sequel to strike witches, the first season and sky girls always interested me loved the flying around in underwear XD
Can’t wait till High School of the Dead comes is released (one of my fav new upcoming series). I just hope that the animation quality is the same as the trailer. Just the thing I’m worried about is that since the manga is only out till volume 5 I’m afraid there’s going to be an original ending or the series might hold off for a few years until the manga catches up. Either way I’ll still watch it 😀
K-ON!! will never end. If it does, K-ON!!! will emerge.
About a quarter through this, I expected everything to simply be guaranteed lol xD. I have to say it, thanks for giving a chance to so many series. It seems you have a lot more time than Omni, and while Omni is obviously missed, you’re doing an excellent show. Definitely looking forward to the series you’ll blog. For what I’ve heard, Highschool of the Dead should be guaranteed in that list. It sounds really great, a combination of ecchi and violence, and apparently this has a “plot”. I’ve only read till chapter 10 of the manga, and I haven’t seen that much plot to speak of, but overall it’s ok. Give it a good chance.
Whoo !!, a lot of series to watch this summer, thanks a lot Divine :), but where’s bakuman? D=
o wait, nevermind, forgot it was coming on fall, sorry 😛
@divine – if all of the shows happened to be so good, i’m pretty sure you will have some crazy time balancing your life between anime and human 😀
– if that is the case, any chance of taking an extra blogger? so you can take a deep breath 😀
The thought has crossed my mind, but I’d be stricter on the requirements this time around. Kiiragi and Prooof were brought in to cover One Piece and Bleach primarily, so I omitted the main requirement of understanding Japanese. However, I would like to recruit another writer who can watch raws, so that he/she isn’t hampered or held up waiting for subs and can cover new shows as they air.
The key requirements are:
1.) Sufficient understanding of Japanese to be able to watch raws
2.) Good English writing skills with an insightful style
3.) Passionate about anime to stay committed to blogging a few shows
It’d also be nice if the person had some technical understanding about image editing and video encoding, but I can always teach the former and do the latter myself. Somewhat hefty requirements I know (particularly the language one), but I basically need someone who would be able to fill in for me and take on anywhere from three to five shows per season. If there’s anyone out there who fits the bill and is interested, feel free to send me an e-mail. Be forewarned that it’s kind of a big commitment to take on. Being passionate is essential.
I looked at Basara and thought “YES Wolverine anime!” 🙁
I thought I saw Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I would love it if they would start a remake.
Personally when i saw the overal summer 2010 anime, I wasn’t excited, but the moment I read this review, I SUDDENLY WANT TO WATCH ALL THE ANIME I DISMISSED!
Oh how long I’ve been waiting for the summer review, let’s get it on!!!
Ugh. This season sure is infested with moe and fan-service. The only summer shows I WANT to see (which aren’t listed here) are Digimon Cross Wars and another one I know nobody but me will care about. Maybe I’ll use this season to finish up a lot of other anime I’ve been lagging behind on.
high school of dead?
wolverine’¿¿¿?¿
whew can wait any more!!!!!!!!!
Kyoto Animation not doing anything for the summer?
Thankfully and hopefully no.
At least one summer clear of overrated moe-school-life-kanon-clannad-whatevad bullshit 🙂
What are you talking about? This season is still filled with moe BS that takes place in high school. Seems like it’s the same thing that’s been going on for the past few years now.
when i looked at the list the first time on a different site, i was like, “sigh. disappoint.”
but when reading this, you make me excited for the upcoming season.
… Wait a minute. Legend of the Legendary Heroes? I’m not so sure about the title, so someone tell me if I’m wrong or right. In the first chapter(s) of the manga, they uncover a stupid artifact and summon a dragon, but can’t get it back in.
Sekirei & Highschool of the dead boy this ll be one hell of a Summer!
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD really caught my attention especially that im fan of survival horror of RE and the fact that is MADHOUSE is a plus
also, i’ll look forward to shiki and Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
oh yeah thanks divine for your hard work!
Thanks alot for the preview!! It looks like hardwork but it was well done and very informative!! thank you.
As for the anime themselves, their seem to be alot of idiotic ones…. dammit, i want some good animes, wherever happen to arrange of taste T_T anime is so going down hill these days… T_T
Thank you Divine for all your hard work making this preview!
I’m definitely going to watch:
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
Kuroshitsuji II
Shukufuku no Campanella
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD
Seikimatsu Occult Academy
Strike Witches II
Shiki
Maybe I’ll watch Seitokai Yakuindomo, Mitsudomoe, and Asobi ni Iku yo! depending on my first impressions of them. Also, I should get around to watching Sengoku Basara as well.
You’re a hardworker, Divine – I compliment you for that.
Sengoku Basara II for me, because of Date Masamune and his Engrish XD
These look alright, some look pretty good, but none look amazing to me.
Oyakata-sama!!!
Satomi Arai as the narrator of Ookami? Bwahahahaha!! With Kuroko voice?? Maybe I’ll try that anime.
Geez, why is this season so unappealing? Seems like each season gets more and more moe as the years go on. It’s so damned frustrating to people like me, who don’t want moe or super cute high school girls or harems. Crap, I really hope Fall 2010 doesn’t disappoint. Occult Academy, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Shiki are the only ones who don’t seem like they’ll be automatic fail. Some others looking like they might be okay, but there are far more that I’m staying away from.
Despite my wank, I give my thanks to Divine for this great preview. You’re very thorough, and now I know exactly what to avoid. 🙂
You’re welcome. I’m glad you found it informative and could figure out what shows interest you.
Generally speaking, I don’t expect anyone to watch as many shows as I do, nor do I expect most people to enjoy a lot of the ones I do. There are a lot of viewers who only have time for a few shows and some who only care to watch the odd “FMA caliber” shows when they come along, both of which are perfectly fine.
However, I’ve found that some people misunderstand the point of this preview and think I’m forcing my views and tastes on them, which generally means they didn’t read the beginning or end of the post. I’m just not an incredibly harsh critic when it comes to anime, which I’d like people to realize.
Note: If there is anyone who watches just as many shows as I do per season, I’d sure like to talk to them and potentially coax them into blogging.
Haha, sorry, didn’t mean to make it seem like I was hating on the kind of shows you (or anyone else) like to watch. I know everybody’s got their own cup of tea that may or may not be my flavor. Thanks again for making this great preview. 🙂
One of these days I really want to try out blogging, since despite my admitted pickiness, I do tend to watch a lot of shows each season. Unfortunately, I don’t meet requirement number one (understanding of Japanese) past a basic level, yet. Maybe in the future, when I’ve learned more of the language. Self-study is hard work!
I wasn’t directing the latter parts of my comment to you specifically, so there’s nothing to apologize for.
Your comment was just along the lines of what I was hoping readers would get out of the preview. i.e. Realize what shows are and aren’t for them (which has no bearing on what I personally plan to watch) and go from there. If someone doesn’t like high school harems like yourself, then I’m happy that I helped them identify which ones to avoid.
Damn, and here I thought we’re gonna have Hayate The Combat Butler season 3 this summer… (What’s the latest news on that, divine?) Guess I’ll have to wait for fall or winter then…
At least there’s K-On!! and Kaichou wa Maid-sama (Really? Is Maid-sama slated for 20-something episodes, then?) continuing into Summer 2010. And with Kiss x Sis, B Gata H Kei and Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou winding down, I can backtrack and check out the other Spring shows I missed (Mayoi Neko Overrun, for one).
I might check out Seitokai Yakuindomo and Amagami in passing, though it would be nice to see another collaboration between Youko Hikasa and Shizuka Itou. 😀
A third season of Hayate no Gotoku hasn’t been announced as far as I know, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up about seeing one anytime soon.
I haven’t heard anything about Kaichou wa Maid-sama being more then one season either, but we’ll find out in a couple of weeks.
Addendum: syoboi calendar does suggest that Maid-sama will run for 26 episodes. Oh snap!
I agree with you that there are tons of good show, but there’re too many guaranteed in your review. For example, Sekirei isn’t worth to be a guaranteed show (I know that there’re readers in this blog that might wanna kill me). Reading your review left me little undecided which show I should watch. I don’t know if you understand what I’m saying.
but anyways, Thank you !
I think it would be somewhat foolish to watch a show just because someone else is watching it. There’s no guarantee that you’ll like it just because I like it. People simply enjoy different things and I’m not some omnipotent being when it comes to anime who can decide for you what you’ll like. (Maybe you guys saw Omni as one since that’s his name.)
Because of that, I like to take the approach of presenting a series in an unbiased manner and giving my take on it before letting you decide for yourself. I’m not trying to “sell” a series to anyone here. Some other previews like to just throw out their opinions without even letting readers know what a show is really about, which leads to a lot of people thinking every season of anime is terrible.
I’m not an anime critic, nor would I like to be perceived as one. I would never call my posts “reviews”. I’m just an anime fan and share impressions with people who have similar interests. 🙂
Agreed with Divine 100%, thats how i get along too. I dont necessarily follow what others watch. Just take Sekirei for example, some may say its just another harem series, but to me, who read the manga and watched the first season, would definitely watch the season 2. =p
I just wanted to say thanks so much for doing the summer preview — i cannot imagine how much work goes into each preview, considering the research and time it takes to find each show, when its broadcasted, etc…i personally really appreciate it! its always really nice to have an organized list of shows, along with pictures and opinions from some of the most knowledgeable anime people out there ^_^ thanks again! 🙂
The research part always takes the longest, since I’m pulling information from various Japanese sources, plus trying to get my hands on original source material if a series is based on a manga, etc. My impressions are usually based on a more thorough understanding than the synopsises in each entry, as those were purposely kept as brief as possible.
Ah, another set of new anime to watch~ Thank you for this informative post! ( ^ o ^)+
@Divine,
I doubt you’ll read this, but I’m going to say it anyway.
I’d like to offer my services in assisting you in reviewing/blogging some of these new series. Let me know if you’re interested.
Like what Divine said, email him instead.
HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD!!! OH, YEAH!!! XD
HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD ~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FINALLY~! IM SOO HAPPY
Thank you for making this, really helped! <3
@Chris,
Kinda hard to do that when his e-mail is hidden, that’s why I posted here.
I sent you an e-mail already Snicket, but you can always refer to the Contact page if you need to get in touch with me directly.
Anime series i will be watching for the summer season
Strike Witches 2
BLACK ROCK SHOOTER OVA!!!! (where’s the review for that one?)
possibles:
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Gakuen Mokushiroku HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Also the reason why Chiba Saeko was replaced by Seto Saori was because Chiba is on Maternaty leave. that’s right. she’s pregnant.
I just wanted to say your have the best anime blog I’ve ever seen.
I appreciate you doing what you do here. It would take me too long
to figure out what’s out there and what I want to watch otherwise.
Thanks for this, your season previews are how I found the original site.
Cool! divine, you’ve really gotten into this! I’m not going to bore anyone by listing what I’ll watch, but as always I’m loving the Preview. Horror stuff still freaks me out way too much though . . . although I may give Shiki a try (okay so I lied. I bored you a little. I
m sorry. :P)
Could you unpin this from the top?
Seitokai Yakuindomo is the only guarantee watch for me this season, but i will probably watch more as u guys blog them.
Quite a review of whats to come, only a few have caught my eye! see if I can see them online maybe!
Go! Go! Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi 😀
Looking Forward to the Highschool of the Dead! So HOT!!!!!*d*
spring season was a disaster and summer season looks even worse if it doesnt get better ill go back to porn.
Shiki is the only one that doesn’t look like complete shit.
Why does anime suck so much these days?
Funny, I’ve mistaken Seitokai Yakuindomo for Seitokai no Ichizon. Haha. My bad. Damn!
None of them seem to interest me.
I might give a comedy or two a try. Maybe Mitsudomoe.
Other than that, I’ll probably check out Shiki and that Occult one, only because they’re probably slightly less shitty as the rest…. and seriously, what kind of name is Gackt?!…. sounds like a choking/coughing sound.
There doesn’t seem to ba any show with the same feel/style as stuff I typically like (
Yojou-Han Shinwa Taikei, Trapeze, Aoi Bumgaku, Rainbow, Kaiba, Mushishi, House of 5 Leaves…. a bit more seinen and a bit less idiot, basically)
I did enjoy the Kurenai series, so I’ll probably check out the OVA, whenever it comes out.
Is it me or are there a lot of horror/mystery shows this season.. None of them really caught my eye either ):
Even less interesting animes for the upcoming season.
Voted but I’m not too enthusiastic on 90% or so of the new titles.
I wonder, will High School of the Dead be connected toward Left 4 Dead 1 and 2? If it is, HSotD will be beyond awesome.
SENGOKU BASARA 2 !!!!
Can’t wait!
my god divine, the entire season will almost blogged by you >_<
anyway thanks for the preview, still burning the torch of RC splendidly ^^
That would only be true if I were planning to blog everything I’m watching again, which won’t be the case this time around. Thanks for the feedback on the site though. 🙂
Thanks for the review, Divine.
Another wasted season, but well, I got used to, sigh. 🙂
When the 3 “Marías” end, that’ll really be the end, darn. So many years without a new anime worth watching (for me, of course). Hope for a nais remake as FMA:B, but from a better series (One Piece FTW :).
Thanks again!
Those two are a must:
Highschool of the dead
Sengoku Basara 2
I didn’t like Sekirei and Sky girls among other sequels, and I’ve been waiting for SB2 since it was announced.
Divine you should watch the first series, because it is an eye candy with lots of laughter, and a few tear jerker moments. It is a fun ride.
Sengoku Basara 2 and The Legend of the Legendary Heroes are must-watches for me. There were two others I initially had interest in but trailers dissuaded me:P I must admit though this season’s lineup look a lot more promising to me than the spring lineup.
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi fail for now noncreative bull… lets see if theres any good new anime i kinda hope Amagami SS will be something interesting with alot of chicks mabye an interesting drama like toradora but yeah i can only hope this season wont suck as much as the last 2 seasons of anime did.
There is no series like Code Geass or Death Note, what a pity ….
l33t
I’m gonna go for Digimon Xros Wars.
Digimon is always worth watching. This season 6 seems a lot more like sentai than Frontier though
I haven’t posted in a while (last was around May) and it’s already the summer season for anime O_O
Anyway, I appreciate your work on the season preview once again, divine; hopefully, I will get around to watching one of your suggestions ^_^