New Anime Season!

Here we are again. Its been awhile since I've done one of these, or it seems like its been awhile. Troubles with my connection have been making me pull back on anime a bit. Hopefully that won't last for much longer. As always, the giant chart is posted above. (Click it to get the full image.) Or go here. (More HQ version.)

I actually haven't read it yet, so this will be a new experience for all of us!



Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne


Brief Summary: The super fanservice-y show from this Spring returns with a sequel! (...Scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren't we?) You know the deal: There's a competition to decide the next Queen, where the winner will be allowed to rule, while the contestants need only be older than 12. They can be from any race, or country.


Why I'm Interested: Well...why not? The first one, as I understand it, was full of complete insanity, so the second should be the same, if not crank it up a notch. After all at this point, it has an established fanbase.



Interest Level: C+

Nyan Koi!



Brief Summary: Junpei Kosaka is allergic to, and thus, despises cats. However, his high school crush, Kaede Mizuno, loves them. One day, Junpei kicks an empty can and awakens a guardian cat deity, and then finds he can now understand the language of cats. However, if he does not grant 100 wishes from cats, he will become a cat himself.


Why I'm Interested: Kittens rock. TALKING kittens rule even more. (Any time an animal talks in a show, it gains points from me.) Plus, this looks like it'll be a decent comedy, and I need that.


Interest Level: A-


Kampfer



Brief Summary: Natsuru Seno, an ordinary high school boy, suddenly wakes up one morning to find he is a girl, as explained by a disemboweled plush tiger. Natsuru eventually discovers that (s)he has been chosen to participate in Kampfer battles with other girls.


Why I'm Interested: Gotta say. Normally I dislike these "x character wakes up a boy/girl!" series. Waking up as another gender sounds...well, terrifying. Right now my interest hinges on exactly what a Kampfer fight is, and whether or not I care.


Interest Level: B-


Asura Cryin' 2


Brief Summary: Semi-serious school action story revolves around Tomoharu Natsume, a boy who has been haunted by a ghostly girl who was a childhood friend. (Wiki)


Why I'm Interested: Y'know what's funny? I didn't even know there was an Asura Cryin' 1. I don't really try to remember things I don't think will be good, so I actually had to Wiki this thing, then look back on my Spring chart. Asura Cryin' 1 had the exact same description, except the picture above it had a boy and girl back to back in school uniforms and a sakura tree in the background.

That's so boring my eyes wouldn't LET me see it the first time. The new picture (in the chart) features a hot sniper girl, a cute warrior miko, and mecha in the background. The large disparity between the awesomeness of the picture and the blandness of the description tells me there's GOT to be more to this series than I initially guessed, so I'll be looking into season 1 to see exactly what's up with this show, and hopefully it'll be worth my time.


Interest Level: B


Armed Librarians: Book of Bantorra




Brief Summary: In a world where dead people turn into books and are stored in the Bantorra Library, anyone who reads a book can learn their past. Bantorra Library is maintained by Armed Librarians who wield psychic powers and their enemy is a religious society known as Sindeki Kyoudan. (ANN)


Why I'm Interested: A library made interesting? Sure, why not? Whole story seems to promise at least a halfway interesting plot. Good Fights (almost a necessity if the series isn't a comedy) seem to be promised as well--last series I saw with crazy psychic powers (I believe) was Scryed, and that one definitely delivered.


Interest Level: B+


Tegami Bachi



Brief Summary: Lag Seeling is a young boy born on The Day of Flicker, when the man made sun disappeared. His ambition is to be a Letter Bee, couriers that deliver mail throughout Amber Ground, and follow in the footsteps of the disappeared Gauche, a precious friend from his early childhood.


Why I'm Interested: Huh. A shonen series not about ninjas or pirates or spells. You don't see these every day. I'd been seeing the manga pop up on TheSubWire every few weeks or so, but really didn't have the drive to check it out. Still, as its now gotten an anime, I think the series deserves a shot, no? Hopefully the adaptation will be pretty tight, as this has a lot of potential to be one of the more original shonen series.


Interest Level: B


Seiken no Blacksmith



Brief Summary: Once upon a time, there was a tragic war, in which the power of the devils was involved. After the war, the devils' power was banned and the world was restored to peace. Cecily Campbell is a knight, who has been looking for a blacksmith to repair her old sword given by her father. One day, she saw a man fighting with a ruffian who used the tabooed devil's power. The man defeated him with one blow of his weirdly shaped sword. The man turned out to be a blacksmith called Luke. The fateful encounter was the beginning of the adventure. (MAL)


Why I'm Interested: Swordfights. Every season needs a good sword dueling anime. The show need only have Cecily either start out as, or become a good swordswoman, and I'm sold. Even the plot doesn't have to be all that. The swordfights can make up for them.


Interest Level: A


Shin Koihime Musou



Brief Summary: The continued adventures of Rinrin and Aisha, the Bandit Hunters. A loose (very) adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.


Why I'm Interested: 'Cause Koihime Musou turned out to be as awesome as I thought it was, hah! Lots of comedy, relatively little fanservice (...seriously, for this series SO much more could've happened), and even some decent action scenes! Shin should come a bit closer to the actual events of Rot3K, since essentially KM was like a prologue to everything before the countries began fighting one another. Personally when they first ended this thing I was just beginning to love it, so to learn a second season's coming out makes me happy. Now who do I petition for more Kachou Mask and more Ryofu Housen and her puppies?


Interest Level: A+


Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Pureeza



Brief Summary: Continuation of last summer's Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. "In the story, Yuuto Ayase is an ordinary boy in an private high school with the usual cliques. Haruka, the school's most unattainable girl, is so idolized in the school for both her beauty and smarts that her classmates nickname her Nuit Étoile (The Silver Star of the Night) and Lumière du Clavier (The Shining Princess on the Piano). However, in the school's library, Yuuto stumbles across her and her darkest secret — she is a diehard fan of anime, manga, and otaku culture." (Source: ANN)



Why I'm Interested: Well, obviously I was interested in last year's. Comedy/Romance, when done right, is actually capable of hooking me now--hence my watching (and liking) what I saw of Special A. Bonus points for involving otaku/anime culture.


Interest Level: B


Fairy Tail



Brief Summary: Lucy Heartfilia aims to join the world's most notorious mage guild, "Fairy Tail". During a daring rescue, Lucy encounters Natsu, a teenaged practitioner of the Dragon Slayer magic and a Fairy Tail member. Lucy is welcomed into the guild to start a life of quests and mages.


Why I'm Interested: Mage Battles rank right under sword battles in terms of interest for me, so there's that. Plus I liked what I read of the manga, the only complaint being that I didn't like the artstyle too much. Its a shonen series, so it should run for quite a while (yay), now I only have to hope they have the good sense to switch villains like Yu Yu Hakusho, rather than stick us with only one for the duration.


Interest Level: A


Kiddy Girl-and



Brief Summary: The story is set in the Star Century year 0379, roughly two centuries after the original Kiddy Grade and about five centuries after our present day. The spirited Asukuru and serious Que Feuilles work for the galactic government known as GTO. The two girls are members of ES and are training to become GTO's finest secret agents.


Why I'm Interested: Kiddy Grade is my fourth favorite anime series of all time. There've been rumors of a second series for nearly a half decade now, but I couldn't focus on them lest I get too impatient about it. Now its confirmed though, and I'm absolutely elated about being able to revisit one of my favorite universes of all time. It may be centuries later, but, well...if you've seen the show...


Interest Level: A++



Romance of the Three Kingdoms



Brief Summary: 52 episode adaptation of the original Chinese novel that depicted the warring period of second century China and the political intrigue between the different factions. It is a joint partnership between Japanese and Chinese animation companies.


Why I'm Interested: Finally a true, classic rendition of the Chinese legend. Now, presuming they don't get bogged down in the more boring parts of things (I don't need to know when Zhou Yu showers), this should be quite the quality series. Its even being done by Chinese animation companies as well so it'll be a lot closer to the source material. Not saying it'll be exact--check out the C-Dramas (several of them exist) to see about what we'll be getting.


Interest Level: A


And that's about it. 12 series. Not too horrible out of 34 series. I'll be checking out all of these, and the best six or seven or so I'll be sticking with. Of course, I can't forget the number of OVAs being released. Check the chart. I'll be looking at a few of them, but REALLY the one that matters is....



Yu-Gi-Oh! 10th Special




Brief Summary: Crossover movie made for the 10th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh. It'll feature the three main characters of the television series: Yugi Mutou, Judai Yuuki, and Yusei Fudou.


Why I'm Interested: 'Cause I love Yu-Gi-Oh. The surprisingly well done awesomeness of 5D's reminded me of that, so obviously I'll be the one in Yusei's camp. Go Yusei and Stardust! "Clustering hopes will become a new, shining star! Become the path its light shines upon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!" He is sooo much cooler than Yugi and Judai.


Interest Level: A++