With a currently bad
Winter 2013 anime set and a promising Spring 2013 ahead, I'd say that I'm more
than ready to watch all of the series listed here.
Browsing through the
Spring 2013 Anime List, I'm seeing a number of pretty decent series. At the
very least that's what I think of them. I'm kind of eyeing on a few of them
already such as Devil Survivor 2 The Animation
which will be directed by Kishi Seiji (Persona 4 The Animation), Sunrise's
original mecha series Kakumeiki Valvrave
and another original series by Urobuchi Gen - Suisei
no Gargantia.
I decided to split
my watch list into 3 since I am trying to lessen the series I'll watch weekly.
I have 22 series all in all. My commentary on each series is divided into 2
short paragraphs - my general thoughts on the series and my thoughts on the
cast/voice actors. The series on my last list only have quick commentary since
I'm not entirely up for them.
Will
Watch Weekly.
The series that
falls under here doesn't entirely mean that they are my top picks for the
season. These are just series I want to watch and I can probably enjoy watching
on a weekly basis without over thinking or forgetting important details.
Genre: Action, Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Shoujo
Production: Manglobe
Synopsis:
Nai
searches for someone important to him, with only an abandoned bracelet as a
clue. Gareki steals and pick-pockets to get by from day to day. The two meet in
a strange mansion where they are set-up, and soon become wanted criminals by
military security operatives. When Nai and Gareki find themselves desperate in
a hopeless predicament, they encounter none other than the country's most
powerful defense organization—"Circus"!!
[OneManga
via MAL]
Thoughts:
I've read a couple
of chapters of the manga and I think that it's good. Depending on how Manglobe
will work on the flow of the story, this will definitely be decent although
seeing Touko
Machida (AMNESIA) handling the series composition
makes me a little scared of how it'll be. But based on the source material, I'd
say that there'll be a difference at how she worked on AMNESIA and how she'll work on Karneval.
The cast is looking
pretty nice being lead by Shimono Hiro (Shinomiya Kyouya,
Mikuriya Jin)
as Nai and Kamiya
Hiroshi (Araragi
Koyomi, Takemoto
Yuuta) as Gareki. I think that both voice actors fit their roles nicely :3
Then there's Hoshi
Souichirou (Kasamatsu
Yukio, Oogami
Makoto) as Arumerita Karoku who will probably play an important role later
on in the series(:
Genre: Demons, Supernatural
Production: Bridge
Synopsis:
Mysterious
invaders called the Septentriones arrive in Japan and begin attacking the country on a Sunday. To
fight back, the heroes in Devil
Survivor 2 signed a pact with the devil to become the
Thirteen Devil Messengers. The Septentriones show up at least once a day and
you have a time limit of seven days to defeat them.
[Megami
Tensei Wikia]
Thoughts:
It's another Shin
Megami Tensei series animation which will be directed by Seiji
Kishi who also directed Persona 4 the Animation. Just seeing
Seiji-san directing kind of made me excited for the series itself but looking
further at the staff, it looks like this series will definitely be promising
with Uezu
Makoto (Jinrui wa Suita Shimashita, Kamisama Dolls) for the series composition
and Nakagawa
Kotaro (GOSICK, Inu x Boku SS) handling the music. With this kind of staff,
I'd say that there's nothing to worry about despite how the animation company,
Bridge, handling the series doesn't have much experience.
Similar to Karneval, the cast is looking good. Being
headed by Kamiya
Hiroshi (Otonashi
Yuzuru, Ichinomiya
Kou) as Kuze Hibiki with Suwabe Junichi (Inaba Hiroshi, Aomine Daiki), Okamoto Nobuhiko
(Okumura Rin, Nizuma Eiji), Sakurai Takahiro (Matsuyuki Atsumu,
Oshino Meme)
and Uchida Aya.
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Super Power
Synopsis:
Several hundred
years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by giants. Giants are typically
several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and,
worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A
small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected
by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest of giants.
Flash forward to the
present and the city has not seen a giant in over 100 years. Teenage boy Elen
and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are
destroyed by a super giant that appears out of thin air. As the smaller giants
flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive.
Elen vows that he will murder every single giant and take revenge for all of
mankind.
[MangaHelpers
via MAL]
Thoughts:
Based on the
synopsis, I'd say that this will be an interesting action-drama series. I don't
know for sure but I think that Shingeki no
Kyojin has been getting its good share of attention which made people
started questioning its quality by making a 'Will it be horrible?' thread over at MAL. I personally don't
care so much about the hype its getting but Production I.G.'s stunning visual
series did let down a number of anime fans through Sword Art Online and Guilty Crown. Add to that the idea that Tetsurou Araki
will be directing this. Many anime critics will definitely have their eyes on
this one.
The cast isn't my
favorite but who cares about that if this series will be good? I'm kind of a
drama sucker. Anyway seeing Kaji Yuki (Saluja Alibaba,
Ouma Shuu) as the
main character tells me that Eren/Elen will be another annoying character to
hate or dislike. I just have that poor Kaji Yuki vibes about it and he kind of
works well when voicing a weak or pathetic lead who's trying to be strong but
fails miserably.
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School, Shoujo,
Reverse-Harem
Production: A-1
Pictures
Synopsis:
Second season of Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 1000%.
Nanami Haruka wants
to be a song writer, so she attends an idol training school filled with
beautiful bishounen. The school pairs each aspiring songwriter with an aspiring
idol, but Haruka finds herself paired with 6 bishounen idols. To make things
more difficult, Nanami is also not allowed to date any of her beautiful
partners.
[ANN]
Thoughts:
The main reason I'm
still watching this is because of the voice actors and their songs. The story
isn't anything interesting nor the characters have any depth. They are all just
out there to please Haruka Nanami (Sawashiro Miyuki)
because of her magical glowing golden eyes.
As
I have mentioned, the cast is exactly my type (although kind of missing some
-_-). Particularly, I'm looking forward to hearing more of Miyano
Mamoru (Mashima
Taichi, Lucilfer
Chrollo) and Terashima
Takuma (Aoki
Yoshifumi) — and probably a duet of the two if possible :3 I'm also looking
forward to hearing songs from the new members of the cast: Maeno
Tomoaki (Yukina
Kou, Takemura
Kai), Aoi
Shouta (Matsushita Ryunosuke), Morikubo
Showtaro (Makaino
Koji, Sadaakira) and Suzuki
Tatsuhisa (Takao
Kazunari, Yoshida
Haru).
Genre: Drama, Romance, School, Psychological
Production: ZEXCS
Synopsis:
Kasuga Takao is a
boy who loves reading books, particularly Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. A
girl at his school, Saeki Nanako, is his muse and his Venus, and he admires her
from a distance. One day, he forgets his copy of Les Fleurs du Mal in the
classroom and runs back alone to pick it up. In the classroom, he finds not
only his book, but Saeki's gym uniform. On a mad impulse, he steals it.
Now everyone knows
"some pervert" stole Saeki's uniform, and Kasuga is dying with shame
and guilt. Furthermore, the weird, creepy, and friendless girl of the class,
Nakamura, saw him take the uniform. Instead of revealing it was him, she recognizes
his kindred deviant spirit and uses her knowledge to take control of his life.
Will it be possible for Kasuga to get closer to Saeki, despite Nakamura's
meddling and his dark secret? What exactly does Nakamura intend to do with him?
[MangaHelpers
via MAL]
Thoughts:
Aku no Hana's plot is undeniably interesting.
The genre stating psychological romance is probably the best aspect of it. I'm
pretty interested to see how the relationship between Kasuga and Nakamura will
go and how she'll manipulate his life through that knowledge :3 AND just how
will Saeki be involve in this mess aside from being the girl whose uniform
Kasuga stole.
Looking at the cast Ise Mariya (Killua Zoldyck, Mine Riko) voicing
Nakamura seems really interesting. No complains there. Hikasa Yoko (Gabriella, Sakurakouji
Sakura) voicing Saeki… I'm thinking that she'll have her Akiyama Mio
voice. But these predictions are just based on the plot I read. I've never
really touched the manga… What we're all scared off is probably the one voicing
Kasuga, Ueda
Shinichirou, since he's a complete noob voicing a character in a difficult
position. I'll just hope that he'll be good.
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Shounen
Synopsis:
In a mythical world
where humans and gods co-exist, Arata has the unfortunate honor of being the
successor to the matriarchal Hime Clan. This means he has to pretend to be a
girl or face death if his true gender is discovered! On the day of his
inauguration, an assassination plot forces him to flee - and he somehow winds
up in modern-day Japan! Meanwhile, a boy named Arata Hinohara gets sucked into
the first Arata's world and finds himself dealing with people after his life!
[ANN]
Thoughts:
It's been so long
since I last heard of Yuu Watase (Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres). I've only seen the first half of Fushigi Yuugi and a couple of episodes of Ayashi no Ceres and I'd say that they were
both pretty interesting series but not entirely my type but maybe it's because
of its shoujo-historical style (majorly on Fushigi
Yuugi). Given the premise that Arata
Kangatari is giving, I'm a bit interested at how this will go. The
getting-sucked-into-another-world seemed like Fushigi
Yuugi and given that the original material came from Yuu Watase, I guess
it'll be decent.
The cast probably
gave me more reasons to watch this series. Just seeing Okamoto Nobuhiko
(Okumura Rin, Kijima Knight)
lead the cast together with Matsuoka
Yoshitsugu (Kirito)
is a big plus for me. Looking further at the characters, looks like Takagaki Ayahi (Karisawa Erika,
Lizbeth) as
Kotoha and Ono Yuuki
(Tsukahara
Kaname, Kagami
Taiga) as Kannagi will also play an important role (seeing how MAL gave
them the main character tag).
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Super Power
Production: J.C.
Staff
Synopsis:
The second season
will focus on The Sisters Arc. Lasting only a single volume in the Toaru
Majutsu no Index light novels, it was later expanded greatly in the Toaru
Kagaku no Railgun manga.
The arc focuses on
the ordeals of Mikoto Misaka after discovering the existence of the Radio Noise
sisters that are being used in the Level 6 Shift, an experiment where they are
killed in order for the highest-ranking Level 5, Accelerator, can achieve Level
6.
[Wikipedia
via MAL]
Thoughts:
I just finished
watching Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and I really
enjoyed it. Seeing that Nagai Tatsuyuki
and Minakami
Seishi will still be working on this second season, I'm definitely more
than excited to see this already. Since it was stated that this season will
focus on one arc, I'm hoping that it'll be a one-cour series with a nice
opening and concluding episode :3
I don’t really have
any problems with the cast since they all did a great job in the first season.
I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the rest of the cast and see how things
will go in this series(:
Will
Marathon at the end of the season.
The series that fall
under this part of my list are mostly series I think I'll be needing a little
bit of my mind into it although not so much, of course. I've placed all the
mecha series in here and depending on their length and some first impression posts
from other bloggers, I might move them to my weekly series.
Genre: Action, Mecha, School, Sci-Fi, Seinen
Synopsis:
In the latter half
of 21st century, humans leave the Earth and begin to live in space. In order to
adapt to the environment in space and deal with the hostile aliens in Jupiter,
genetically engineered children called "Princes" are artificially raised
and trained to be pilots of armed robots "AHSMB (Advanced High Standard
Multipurpose Battle Device). This is a story about one of the teenage
"Princes", Hitachi O Izuru, who studies in an academic city
Grandzehle.
[MAL]
Thoughts:
Aside from being a
mecha series, what probably pushed me into watching this one is the idea of
genetically engineered children. After I came across genetics engineering from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, I've become
pretty interested in it. But I kind of don't like the idea of fighting aliens.
And seriously? The aliens are from Jupiter? :)) I don't really know how the
team of Motonaga
Keitarou (Jormungand) and Yoshida Reiko (Bakuman.,
Kimi to Boku.) will go. Guess I'll just
have to see for myself to find out.
The main cast is
more or less okay and I was actually surprised to see that 2 of which are
actually actors - Aiba
Hiroki and Ikeda
Junya. Setting those two aside, Asanuma Shintaro
(Tsuda
Takatoshi, Crow
Hogan), Iguchi Yuka
(Araragi
Tsukihi, Furuya
Mero) and Hikasa
Yoko (Yukinokouji
Nobara, Yassan)
are pretty nice voice actors(:
Genre: Mecha
Production: Sunrise
Synopsis:
The story is set in
an era when 70% of the human race lives in space due to the development of
space cities. Between two major powers — the Dorushia Military Pact Federation
and the Atlantic Ring United States (ARUS) — there is a small neutral nation
called JiÅru that has prospered economically. The protagonist Haruto Tokishima,
a high school student who lives in JiÅru, encounters the mysterious humanoid
weapon "Valvrave" when the Dorushia army invades.
[ANN]
Thoughts:
The moment I read
the plot from ANN, I instantly thought of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Two major
powers/nation = Naturals (OMNI) and Coordinators (ZAFT); Neutral Nation =
Heliopolis; protagonist is a member of the neutral nation; Kira (SEED) meets Strike Gundam = Tokishima meets
Valvrave. Now all we need is someone who'll play the role of Athrun and based
on the promo-poster, I'd say that L-elf can have that part. Now I wonder how
this series will go(: Seeing that Okouchi Ichiro (Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch) is the
one handling the series composition, I'd say that this series is looking pretty
nice :D
The main cast is
looking pretty good. Despite how Ohsaka Ryota (Kidou Eita, Sasahara Souhei)
being around voice acting for 2 or 3 years, I'd say that I'm already a fan. I
really like him as Yuki
from Tsuritama. I think that he did a really
great job there. Seeing that he'll be working on a seemingly serious character,
I'm pretty excited to see how he'll do it(: Kimura Ryohei (Asaba Yuuki, Kise Ryouta) as
L-eft being the other main character is looking pretty nice. The two main
female's seiyuu is also to look forward to: Aoi Yuuki (Victorique de
Blois, Kirishiki
Sunako) and Tomatsu
Haruka (Takatsuki
Ichika, Anjou
Naruko).
Genre: Sci-Fi
Production: Production
I.G
Synopsis:
The story begins in
the distant future in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Human Galactic
Alliance has been constantly fighting for its survival against a grotesque race
of beings called "Hidiaazu." During an intense battle, the young
lieutenant Redo and his humanoid mobile weapon Chamber are swallowed up into a
distortion of time and space. Waking from his artificially induced hibernation,
Redo realizes that he has arrived on Earth, the planet on the lost frontier. On
this planet that was completely flooded by the seas, people live in fleets of
giant ships, salvaging relics from the seas' depths in order to survive. Redo
arrives on one of the fleets called Gargantia. With no knowledge of the
planet's history or culture, he is forced to live alongside Amy, a 15-year-old
girl who serves as a messenger aboard the Gargantia fleet. To Redo, who has
lived a life where he knows nothing but fighting, these days of peace continue
to surprise him.
[ANN]
Thoughts:
Suisei no Gargantia's popularity probably came
from Urobuchi Gen's
name over at the staff list. After the success of Madoka Magica, UroGen's next work, PSYCHO-PASS, became a series that intrigued a number of
anime fans. With his new work, Suisei no
Gargantia, comparisons aside, fans will definitely look forward to
seeing UroGen's style in this series.
The main cast isn't
totally eye catching with a new voice actor, Ishikawa Kaito
voicing Red and Kanemoto
Hisako (Kiriyama
Yui, Akishino
Himeka) voicing Amy. Setting that aside, the supporting cast looks great
but most of us will probably focus more on the story itself than the cast since
it's a series by UroGen.
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School, Seinen
Production: J.C.
Staff
Synopsis:
Youto
Yokodera is always thinking about his carnal desires, but no one acknowledges
him as a pervert. He learns about a cat statue that supposedly grants wishes.
The boy goes to pray that he will be able to express his lustful thoughts
whenever and wherever he wants. At the statue, Youto encounters Tsukiko
Tsutsukakushi, a girl from his high school with her own wish — that she would not display her real
intentions so readily.
[ANN]
Thoughts:
HenNeko's plot basically screams typical
boy-meets-girl harem series with that interesting cat-statue-that-grants-wishes
premise. Given this premise, I'd say that it's going to be a pretty good
rom-com series(: It all now depends on how Suzuki Youhei and Itou Michiko will
work on this which I still have no idea on how will go since both of which
don't have any prominent works.
The cast isn't really interesting with Kaji Yuki (Yachi Haruaki, Ouma Shu) and Ogura Yui (Ningyouhara Kuroe, Takenaka Hanbei) taking the lead roles. SO I'm really
just hoping for the series to go well given the premise～
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School
Production: Brains
Base
Synopsis:
This romantic comedy
revolves around an antisocial high school student named Hikigaya Hachiman with
a distorted view on life and no friends or girlfriend. When he see his
classmates talking excitedly about living their adolescent lives, he mutters,
They're a bunch of liars. When he is asked about his future dreams, he
responds, Not working. A teacher gets Hachiman to join the volunteer service
club, which happens to have the school's prettiest girl, Yukinoshita Yukino.
[ANN]
Thoughts:
Oregairu's a perfect example of what you call
typical series. The main character was forced to join a seemingly stupid club,
meets a somewhat peculiar girl and became friends with her and met more girls
and became friends with them. He falls in love with Girl A but turns out Girl A
and Girl B like him… I kind of think that it's a funny and reliable prediction
of how the story will go. It will now all depend on how they'll throw the
rom-com part of the story and if it turns out good, I might move this to my
weekly series.
The cast isn't
particularly great, just plain decent I guess. Seeing Eguchi Takuya (Watanuki Banri,
Hokaze Kon)
playing the lead role reminded me of the time when I read some people disliking
his role as Kujou
way back at GOSICK. I think Eguchi Takuya's a pretty
decent voice actor - he hasn’t entirely done anything off character yet nothing
amazing as well. Leading female roles are voiced by Hayami Saori (Azuki Miho, Okita Sawa) and Touyama Nao (Nakagawa Kanon,
Yune) which are both
pretty decent as well.
Genre: Fantasy
Production: P.A.
Works
Synopsis:
A modern fantasy
based on Japanese Shinto legends. Suzuhara Izumiko is a 15-year-old girl, who
has been raised and protected in a shrine deep in the Kumano mountains. She is
quite shy and destroys all the electric devices she touches. When she begins to
think about going out of the mountains and moving to the city, her guardian
Sagara Yukimasa recommends her to enter a high school in Tokyo and forces his
son Miyuki to serve Izumiko for life. Miyuki and Izumiko repel each other but
their relationship begins to change when a terrifying accident occurs on the
school excursion. Izumiko learns her fate as the last representative
(yorishiro) of a Himegami goddess and Miyuki learns of his duty as a guardian
Yamabushi of Izumiko.
[MAL]
Thoughts:
Before
I read the plot, I was like: Yay! P.A. Works!.
HAHAHA. Not that they've done anything amazing. All they did was a couple
of typical-a-little-boring slice
of life series, a suspense and
forced horror series, a boring action
series and a
supernatural-drama series with a huge plot hole at the end.Why am I getting psyched for? Well when it comes to outstanding
sceneries, I have to admit that P.A. Works knows how to pull it off nicely. And
I have to hand it to them, the story is a bit interesting. I'll just cross my
fingers that it won't have any plot holes at the end.
The cast is okay.
I'm really glad to see Fukuyama
Jun (Togashi
Yuuta, Mariandale)
and Uchiyama Kouki
(Asaba Yuuta, Yuuki Natsuno)
with Hayami Saori
(Azuki Miho, Okita Sawa) as the
main cast.
Genre: Martial Arts, Shounen
Production: Seven
Arcs
Synopsis:
The action story is
set in Edo-era Tokyo in the early 1700s. The eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune
ordered boxes to be installed so commoners can submit their thoughts. After
hearing their voices, the shogun creates a new magistrate unit—Mushibugyou—to
protect the people in the heart of the city. Each member is a specialist with
unique fighting skills.
[ANN]
Thoughts:
The story is
basically typical historical-shounen. It can be a long running series for all I
care. I just decided to watch this series on a whim and hoping that it'll be a
typical shounen which can be on my okay-series.
The
only reason I was convinced to watch this series was because of that amazing
cast. The cast is headed by KENN (Nanba
Hibito, Yuki
Judai) and Ookubo
Rumi (Miniwa
Tsumiki, Date
Masamune) which is okay for me. What pushed me on
clicking the 'Add to My List' button at MAL was the supporting cast consisting
of a few interesting voice actors: Fukuyama
Jun (Togashi
Yuuta, Mariandale), Miyano Mamoru (Mashima
Taichi, Kida
Masaomi), Han
Megumi (Hanano
Sumire, Gon
Freecss), Terashima
Takuma (Ittoki
Otoya, Aoki
Yoshifumi).
Might Watch when I feel like it.
I've placed in here series which I think I might consider watching but not entirely excited for. Depending on other bloggers' first impressions and probably series reviews, I just might consider some of these.
I've placed in here series which I think I might consider watching but not entirely excited for. Depending on other bloggers' first impressions and probably series reviews, I just might consider some of these.
Date A Live is probably one of those typical
harem series that I'd rather not watch but end up watching anyway. AND
seriously, the plot says something like this: Kotori
says, "I don't ask you to beat the spirit. Just let her fall in love with
you and save the world." !? :)) That sounds pretty mediocre to me.
Maybe I'll place this at the end of my list and decide to watch it when… I
don't know. But since I'm really into bad series, I just might take a peek at
it :P
I don't really see
any good reason for me to stick to this series. Sure it was a bit interesting
and I honestly like Kyousuke (Nakamura Yuuichi)
as an oni-chan :3 but looking at the series as a whole, I'm just not seeing
myself keeping up with the series most especially how the special episodes
didn't particularly pleased me.
he must work as a freeter to pay for his living
expenses! - I smell Gintama-plot similarity here but I doubt
that they'll be any more similar than that. Although I have to admit that I'm
kind of interested in the comedy this series will have. Add to that the pretty
nice main cast consisting of Ohsaka Ryota, Ono Yuuki, Hikasa Yoko, and Touyama Nao.
Nyaruko-san is a pretty fun comedy series with
a number of parody here and there. It starts of nicely but its downside is the
repetitive style of comedy which is something that bores me out. I don't really
know if I'll still look up into this with the number of series I'm watching
since Nyaruko is currently at the bottom
of my list, above Date A Live at least.
Photo Kano's plot reminded me of Tamayura who had that warm and relaxing
atmosphere yet at the same time, bored me at some point. But the huge
difference between Photo Kano and Tamayura is the addition of romance. This will
mainly give Photo Kano's huge
difference. And probably, the biggest let down of Photo
Kano for me is the huge number of female cast - meaning it's a harem
series. I smell something bad about this series...
Oh look, it's another hair
series :)) although Dansai Bunri no Crime
Edge gives off a pretty nice romance-mystery feel to it which seems like
something they'll give a bit seriousness into. But you see, this part of the
plot: he is obsessed with cutting other
people's hair takes out my seriousness on the series. HAHA. But given
the seinen genre there, I'd think that this series will be pretty interesting
given its premise of being in an 'old murder game'. I just might seriously pick
it up depending on first impressions :3
Aiura is definitely one of those seriously
senseless series but I still want to watch -_- I know I suck. But you see, I
find these kind of things fun to watch as well. Random slice of life is always
great: Their daily life is "what happens
when there is nothing happening.". How can you not watch something
who's plot says that!? HAHAHA.
Similar to Aiura, Yuyushiki, is one of those totally senseless
series that I'm a bit interested in watching. It's one of those girls doing
nonsense things but not entirely the K-ON!-type (I think). Similar to my thoughts on Aiura - random slice of life is always great.
And you see, they're from the 'Data Processing Club'. HAHAHA. Sounds weird～
*all images belong to
respective anime producers.
