Spring 2012 Anime: Completely Early Preview

This might be a bit early, but I think I have enough information to formulate my opinion on everything next season. Might as well, right? So without further ado, let’s dig in, itadakimasu!

First off, the entire first row of that chart. Those never get subbed, so whether or not I want to watch them is irrelevant. But I guess I’ll go over them briefly, so I can cover all the bases.

Ozuma: (Synopsis) Indeed by 73-year-old manga and anime creator, Ozuma’s art style is mad old. Like… wow, I feel like I’ve been taken back to the times of The Rose of Versailles. It looks like the series will get turned into a 6 part OVA. My feelings about this? On the fence. Considering how the plot is set in a “future Earth that has gone to ruins in a sea of sand,” I am fully expecting some sort of old-space-opera-with-mecha anime, which I for one am not fond of (one of the obvious reasons why I’m actually not a Gundam fan). However, if this series ever gets subbed, by all means I’ll check out at least the first episode and see where it goes.

Saint Seiya Omega: (Synopsis) I feel like this is one of those long, long series that you either watched  when you were younger, and keep on watching, or that you’ve never watched before and never end up diving into. I’m part of the latter, so I won’t be watching this.

Uchuu Kyoudai: (Synopsis) Brothers that aim to be astronauts, one ends up successful and one gets a fateful encounter. Not particularly interested in this setup.

Naruto SD: Rock Lee… : Looks cute, but I won’t be following this. It kind of sounds like a waste of time, unfortunately.

Gakkatsu!: Since this one is lacking a premise blurb, I can’t say much about this series other than: looks like it’ll be a chibi-gag anime, it’ll most likely come out in 5-minute segments, doesn’t look extraordinary. Not watching.

Onwards to the next several rows!

Ginga e Kickoff!!: (Synopsis) Thus, another soccer anime appears. Technically, it doesn’t look bad, and the idea of being inspired by a professional female soccer play is pretty novel, however I rarely watch sports anime (especially soccer, which I know absolutely nothing about) so this will be a miss for me.

Arashi no Yoru ni…: (Synopsis) I’d watch this if it came out in movie form. But waiting for a weekly release of a Pixaresque series is just silly.

Sengoku Collection: (Synopsis) Well, I’ll admit to being a Japanese history anime junkie, so I might as well check this out. Art style looks okay, general staff looks decent, but the concept of adapting an SNS (social networking service) game is making me doubtful of this series’ potential to be good.

Kuroko no Basuke: (Synopsis) More sports anime! This time it’s basketball. Due to the recently Linsanity, I might just check this one out. The art style really catches my eye as well, since it’s very simple and well-proportioned.

Pretty Rhythm Dear My Future: Sequel of something similar to IdolM@ster. Not interested.

Jewelpet Kira Deko: (Synopsis) I’d totally watch this if I were 8 again. Alas, I feel like I’ve either outgrown this genre or my tastes are just different now.

Upotte!!: (Synopsis) This looks like it’ll be a better version of that Sora no Wo To show, with slight harem undertones. Moe military girls and their transfer teacher. Well, it’s either harem undertones or yuri. Either way I’ll be checking it out at least since the art style looks very clean, and Studio Xebec’s most recent stuff has been quite good (Rinne no Lagrange and Broken Blade).

Fushigi no Umi no Nadia Remastered: (Synopsis) Looks like it’s a remaster of an old series. This will probably come out as DVD releases, so I won’t be watching it.

Kikansha Thomas: It’s Thomas! Gosh, those Japanese are really jumping the bandwagon with redoing American shows. Needless to say, I’m a purist for the most part, so if I wanted to watch Thomas I’d just watch the original in English.

Phi Brain 2: (Synopsis) I tried watching the first episode of the first season, but it was really bad. So I won’t be watching the second season either.

Cardfight!! Vanguard S2: Another sequel, that I will not being watching because I didn’t watch the first season.

Eureka Seven Ao: (Synopsis) The main character looks like Eureka and Renton’s child, which is rather comedic. In any case, I’ll definitely give it a shot, since I watched the original Eureka Seven series.

Fate/zero S2: I’ll be watching this one for sure, just like everyone else, since we all got hard-ons for the first season of Fate/zero when it was airing.

Hyou-ka: (Synopsis) Finally we’re starting to delve into the stand-alone one-season series. This looks like a slice-of-life thing, with some mystery and of course romance. The art style is simplistic and really cute, and already I spy the comedic best friend, gentle-natured love interest and the tsundere love interest. And of course a nonchalant, lazy main character. It’s a combination that pops up a lot, but I still love it however many times it gets reused since it provides a great base for good character interaction and many instants of light humor and recurring gags. Also, from the coloring, you can tell that the mood will be a fairly calm and slow-paced, which means there won’t be any high-end animation. But that’s actually good as well, since the anime team will then (ideally) put more work into making a solid plot.

Acchi Kocchi: This looks like it’ll be pretty cute. I’ll be checking it out, although I think the series will turn out to be at most decent, and most likely just mediocre. I also apologize for the video’s low volume.

Accel World: (Synopsis) First off I’d like to say that Sunrise has really been disappointing these last few seasons. Although Daily Lives of High School Boys is hilarious, their only other good series (for me) was Tiger and Bunny, way back from the spring of last year. In addition, Sunrise usually does multiple series per season, so you can see why I’ve been pretty disappointed by them. So let’s get to Accel World, which also looks pretty stupid. The premise comprises of the loser main character becoming a knight for a princess in a virtual world, it seems. The whole thing with “virtual world” only ever works for me if it’s used in a serious context or involves a smart high school netizen/hacker, neither of which this main character probably falls under. He’s probably just some generic good-hearted guy who’s pathetically useless. And who the hell names their kid Kuroyukihime. Her name literally means Black Snow Princess. Kuroyukihime is the name you give your Neopet when you’re in 5th or 6th grade, because Kurohime and Yukihime were taken. From the trailer, it kinda looks like Kuroyukihime is a bitch, and the only thing I’m interested in is how Haruyuki will grow as a person. Thus, my impression of this series is that it has a lot of hype, but it’ll fall flat. So Sunrise will once again disappoint.

Kore wa… OF THE DEAD: (Synopsis) Kore wa Zombie was a show that really surprised me in its first season. Its plot and pacing was all over the place. By the end the anime was just trying to fix up all the loose ends in time for the last episode. And then the last episode had nothing to do with the overarching plot (wait, which overarching plot?!). All in all it was all sorts of bad, but the one thing that it had going for it was its characters and the kinda-there character development. The main character was awesome. He was a zombie and he was hilarious. The chemistry he had with the girls just worked really well, so it really was the characters that carried the show for me. I’m really looking forward to this second season, so count me in on following this series.

Zetman: (Synopsis) This shit promises dark and GAR-ish goodness. Instant win. It feels like it’s been ages since a real serious seinen manga got animated.

Kimi to Boku. 2: (Synopsis) I’m one of those people who loved the first season of this. Sure, it was too girly or gay for most people, but it was a really light and relaxing show with droll comedy, featuring twins with deadpan voices and faces, an easily annoyed four-eyes, one really girly male and an energetic and short German transfer student. I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since they announced there would be a second season.

Tasogare OtomexAmnesia: (Synopsis) I normally dislike fanservicey anime, but this one looks like it might be an exception; it might have a decent plot! Basically a first-year middle school student named Teiichi Niiya is the only one who can see a ghost named Yuuko. They team up together to solve a general array of mysteries, and also the mystery of how Yuuko died (of course the overarching plot). This episode layout is pretty formulaic, but it allows for a good deal of main character development, and it’s flexible enough to incorporate various elements and genres into the smaller arcs so it doesn’t feel too jarring. This allows for a good variety in the show, and keeps it from getting monotonous. As you can see, I’m really hoping for the best for this series.

Hiiro no Kakera: (Synopsis) One word: No. One thing I learned from watching adaptations of otome games is that they suck. They are just awful, so no.

Tsuritama: (Synopsis) If there’s anything going for this series, it is that it is really quirky. The plot, the characters, the art style. From what I’ve watched, quirky stuff is either hit or miss for me, but 80% of the time it’s been hit. So, it is a given that I will watch this, even without having to know much about it yet.

Shining Hearts ~Shiawase no Pan~: (Official Site)Have they really gone and done that? Yes, they have, they have gone and titled an anime series ~Bread of Happiness~. This alone is enough to dissuade me from watching this. But I also see that this is a game adaption. It’s a double no-no.

Sankarea: (Synopsis) So we have a guy who is obsessed with zombies and a girl who wants to be a zombie. Match made in heaven right? Well, yeah. If they were dead, that is. Or, undead. The art is a little too ecchi for me, but I’d really consider watching this if not for the utter absurdity. This isn’t crazy anymore, it’s just plain stupid. The girl wants to get away from her problems by becoming a zombie? Doesn’t that mean, like, uh, dying? And that desire the guy has to “kiss a zombie girl,” is pretty strange too. We know he’s not into zombie guys, at least, but those quotes are pretty much the words of a necrophiliac. This one’s a no go for me.

Natsuiro Kiseki: (Official Site) Sunrise… well, it’s not spectacular looking, but at least it looks good. What can I say. The music is bound to be decent, since the voicing AND the OP/ED sequence will be done by sphere. I’ll give this one a shot since it’s an original anime, about seiyuus! And everyone knows I love my voice actors.

Jormungand: (Synopsis) I actually read the first couple chapters of this a long time ago, and all I wished was for more chapters to come out. This anime will be really dark; it deals with pretty serious matters, since it’s about an illegal arms dealer… who actually has to avoid the law. Having to deal with consequences is a pretty rare theme in anime, and I for one will welcome this as a refreshing reminder of closer-to-reality.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san: (Synopsis) So, more Cthulu legends meshed with moe. Although it’s by Studio Xebec, which I mentioned earlier to have been doing well for me recently, I can’t say I can see a particularly great deal of potential from this series. Just because it’s centered around a Cthulu deity won’t mean that it’ll be different from any other moe anime. The “Cthulu” is just an afterthought.

Yurumates: (Synopsis) Something to watch when I feel aimless and don’t wanna continue studying in school. It’s like… hey, maybe I should do something so I don’t turn out like them later in my life. … even though I’m older than them. So I’ll check it out.

Beyblade Zero-G: (Synopsis) No Beyblade, please.

Sakamichi no Apollon: (Synopsis) As mentioned in fenrir’s article about jazz, this is an anime about growing up in the 1960′s… with jazz. It looks awesome, it will sound awesome because the composer is Yoko Kanno, and it will be awesome all in all.

Nazo no Kanojo X: (Synopsis) This looks pretty quirky too. Why the hell is the main character addicted to the girl’s drool? It’s just a really weird premise, I guess, but old-school-ness of the art makes me want to believe that the plot might actually be good. Therefore, I might just wait for a trailer to come out before formulating an opinion.

Shirokuma Cafe: (Synopsis) So much win in this one, if it ever gets subbed I’m a fan.

Medaka Box: (Synopsis) All I have to say is that the art is enough to tell me not to watch, due to my disdain for too much fanservice. It’s just so obviously fanservice, in fact, so it cannot be offset by any plot short of amazing. Which is unlikely. This thing is more up Judge’s alley, who would watch just for the boobs. Because that’s all it has. Boobs.

Train Hero: (Synopsis) Rescue trains! Well, it’s a step better than that other train anime with not-so-hot-guy embodiments. What was it, Miracle Train? In any case, this looks like it could be a train junkie anime so I’ll pass.

Queen’s Blade Rebellion: (Synopsis) Another sequel. With boobs and fanservice. Please allow me to decline.

AKB0048: (Synopsis) An anime about an idol group?! No way! And it looks badly drawn as well! Guess what other show I’m not watching this season? (to be fair, I was never one of those people who liked idol groups)

Saki: Achiga-hen…: (Synopsis) This definitely looks great, I only wish I watched Saki, so I’d watch this as its sequel/spinoff.

Koi-ken!…: (Synopsis) I’m not even sure if I can watch this, since it’s a mobile anime adaptation. In any case, I’m not interested in dating sim adaptations either, and the art looks pretty bad… so you know my answer is no.

FINAL VERDICT: All in all, there are a lot of good sequels, but in terms of actual original works and new stand-alones, the quality isn’t particularly promising. Hopefully I’ll be proved wrong, but until then…

Over and out, gochisousama deshita!