The final subbed episodes of Spice and Wolf and Shigofumi being released overnight reminded me that it’s about time for another anime-related post. And that is what’s coming up next season. And it’s a biggun!
Update: I’ve dug up a few of the PV’s on Youtube and added them to the post.
Update 2: Argh, curse you Moonphase. As it turns out, a few shows here aren’t actually happening this season. Scratch KG2 and Hidamari Sketch.
Code Geass R2
Ok, let’s get this one out of the way. The series obviously needs no introduction, but there’s a few notable things that have piqued my interest about this season.
First off, it occurs a year after season 1. There’s a new character named “Rollo”. Zero has a new look, and may not actually be Lelouch at all. Sunrise really do love to string us along with cliffhangers, after all, and saying whether or not Zero is actually Lelouch would probably ruin the ending of the first season. Apart from that, it seems to be pretty similar, except Lelouch is taking the fight further from Japan, and there will supposedly be more battles and more romance. C.C. also has a rather sexy new outfit, expect a few traces of that one.
Unfortunately, Bandai have taken it upon themselves to make life difficult, and R2 is already licensed. I’m sure it will still be subbed though.
2 minutes worth of PVs here. Do want.
Hidamari Sketch x 365
(actually starts in the Summer season — July, according to Moonphase)
Strangely enough, in all the blogs I found listing anime for next season, I couldn’t find any mentions of the next season of Hidamari Sketch. Which is a little odd, because the first season was fantastic. The quirky art style and slice-of-life plot both made it really different to anything else out there. Not much information out there on it, but it’ll be great regardless.
Promo here, looks just as awesome as the first season.
Real Drive
Ok, let’s see. Production I.G. Masamune Shirow. Set in the near future. Ai Nonaka. Ayako Kawasumi. I’m fucking sold.
Masamune Shirow’s influence is clearly showing in the plot, because it sounds like the red-headed step child of Ghost in the Shell. That’s not at all a bad thing: GITS is one of those franchises that has been hugely influential on the anime world. There’s only so much blood in that stone though, so something new that retains everything that made GITS so great is always a good thing. I will be watching the hell out of this one.
PV is here. The shots are small, but the artwork and animation in this series looks nothing short of brilliant.
Vampire Knight
This one looks kind of interesting. It’s about a school where normal humans go during the day, and vampires at night, and the headmaster’s adopted daughter, Yuki, has been assigned to keep the peace between them. The series has a few things going for it. Voice actor lineup is solid, the plot looks good, and at 13 episodes, it’s certainly not going to overstay its welcome. It’s also not Rosario to Vampire, which means instant brownie points. Extra points for not being a GONZO series either.
There is a downside to that though: Studio DEEN. Some of the stuff they’ve done has been fantastic (ROD -the TV-) but most has been mediocre at best.
In short: might want. The PV doesn’t look too reassuring though.
Birdy the Mighty
This one sounds completely bloody bizzare, but I’ll probably give it a run on that basis alone. Here’s a rundown of the plot: an interplanetary police officer kills a student, and is then forced to share her body with his spirit as punishment. It certainly sounds different. The character designs look fantastic to boot, and the fact Birdy is being voiced by Saeko Chiba is icing on the cake.
Can’t find any videos of this one yet, unfortunately. I’m tipping this one should be good, but I’ve been known to make mistakes occasionally.
Library War
As above: sounds crazy, but might just be crazy enough to be awesome. It sounsd like the bastard child of Full Metal Panic! and Read or Die. It revolves around an “underground militia” formed to protect books and libraries from over-zealous censorship. And it’s another series with a palatable length at 13 episodes. And it’s the second series thiss season produced by Production I.G. to boot! Definitely giving this one a shot, pardon the pun.
Preview here, though it doesn’t show a lot.
Soul Eater
This one looks kind of interesting. It’s apparently a “cool & pop action fantasy” that revolves around the Shinigami Weaponry Vocational School, where people, uh, take the souls of 99 humans and one witch to turn a student into a Death Scythe. It’s produced by BONES, the character designs look brilliant, and it’s (again) only thirteen episodes. Worth a look.
PV is here. It actually looks a lot like Gurren Lagann - only without the Gainax fail or the whiny bitch of a protagonist that goes with it. Very much looking forward to this one!
Kiddy Grade 2.. sort of..
I’ve deliberately left this one till last, because if the date on Anime News Network is correct, it’s at the end of April - a little too late for the Spring season, and a little too early for the Winter season. Details are still scarce too since the pilot was released (what seems like decades ago), but if there’s any morsels to be found, they’re most likely to end up at Shiroi Hane’s blog.
Still, I can’t wait for this one. It should be epic.
KG2 isn’t dated according to Moonphase. It’ll be keeping Duke Nukem Forever company at this rate.
So that just about wraps up the spring season. There’s a lot more than that (many of them sequels - xxxHOLIC season 2, Pretty Cure, Kyou Kara Mao season 3), but I can only watch so much.
To be honest I wasn’t aware that there was going to be another season of Hidamari Sketch coming, but now that I know about it I certainly will be watching it.
When I first read the description for Real Drive, my first thought was that it was an alternative name for Kaiba, which is also airing this season.
It will be interesting this season, as both Madhouse and Production IG have their strong points. Both have experience dealing with complex plots set in a future ruled by technology, as well as excellent character development, plot pacing and animation.
From the looks of it there’s going to be plenty to watch this season, which is nice considering I only watch a couple of shows this season past (though that’s more the fault of fansubbers dragging the chain than there being a lack of interesting shows).