I meant to do this a good few weeks ago, but I kept putting it off until finally realizing that the spring lineup is going to start in a few days. Procrastination, my mortal enemy, we meet again. So here we go, the WH staff’s little spring preview covering what shows we’ll be watching for the upcoming season.

Summaries are from AniDB and chartfag’s Spring 2009 list.

07-Ghost

Set in a gothic fantasy world, this is the story of Teito Klein, an orphaned slave who became the top military academy student. However, an unexpected turn of events left him pursued by the forces of the Barsburg Empire. Now an escaping convict, Teito’s sheltered by the church and it’s law of sanctuary. Here, he discovered many mysteries surrounding himself, the church, and the Empire itself. The fact that he might be connected to a dethroned king and the mystical stone of god, ‘The Eye of Mikhael’ made him the target of the empire more than ever. Fortunately the church is under the mythical 7 Ghost protection. But who are the Ghosts really. Will Teito be free from the military’s clutch, And what of his said mission to uncover the history. And who is the military’s Chief-of-Staff Ayanami exactly. Teito’s future seems to have spiraled into an unexpectedly perilous path.

Day Without Me: So, all you really need to know is that the manga its based on, while not explicitly BL, is somewhat homoerotic. Which is to say, I’m watching this… and I’m predicting that no one else on the blog is!

Noirsword: Damn straight.

Asura Cryin’

An anime adaptation of Gakuto Mikumo and Nao Watanuki’s Asura Cryin’ light novels has been green-lit for television release in 2009. The announcement was made during the final stage presentation at the Dengeki Bunko Aki no Saiten (Dengeki Books’ Fall Festival) event on Sunday. (Wolf and Spice’s second anime season was also announced at the same time.) The semi-serious school action story revolves around Tomoharu Natsume, a boy who has been haunted by a ghosty girl who was a childhood friend. Mikumo and ASCII MediaWorks will publish the 11th volume of the light novel series on Friday. Mikumo wrote a novel based on Takashi Shiina’s Zettai Karen Children manga, which was also adapted into anime.

Day Without Me: Well, on the one hand, it has the deadly childhood friend thing, but on the other hand… she’s dead. It could be interesting, although since Seven Arcs did Inukami and Sekirei, I’m a little leery.

Chi’s Sweet Home: New Address

Continuation of season 1. Chi is a sweet kitten who gets separated from her mother and is unable to find her way home again. A boy and his family find Chi and give her a home, although all Chi wants is to return to her mother.

Day Without Me: The only show I can comprehend sans subtitles. And Chi’s soooo cute! I loved having three minutes a day with Chi, it was a nice little way to de-stress. I’m definitely going to watch this.

Noirsword: It’s… Too… Cute… I’ll have to pass because I didn’t watch the first season. It does look like a cute little feel-good anime if that’s your thing.

DOGS/BULLETS & CARNAGE

Meultima: The only reason I’m even going to check this out is because I’ve read the manga, and at the same time it’s due to reading the manga that I’m apprehensive about watching this. The manga was largely and by far about pointless random violence with a plot thrown in somewhere which hardly gets coverage. It’s still slick though, and I hope the dual jester loli twins will have a decent showing here.

Noirsword: Jester loli twins? You have my undivided attention now.

Dragonball Z Kai

To mark the 20th anniversary of the original run, the series will be rebroadcasted and remastered using the latest HD digital technology, with new versions of the opening and ending themes, re-recorded souns, re-edited animation and less episodes. Son Goku’s Masako Nozawa will lead the cast of a new voice recording.

Noirsword: Is shounen in such a rut that we really need to revive DBZ? I only plan to watch a couple episodes to see the “new” HD changes. I wasn’t a big fan of DBZ as it strayed too far from the original formula that made me love the original series, and the focus was too heavy on the Super Saiyajins. Cutting down the amount of filler is good, but I’ll be utterly crushed if they cut the filler where Goku and Piccolo get their driver’s licenses.

Day Without Me: I never found any of this franchise appealing, so I don’t know why I’d suddenly change my mind about it.

Diego: This franchise was hugely popular amongst my peers, but I was immune to the hype back then and I’m still not biting this year. As far as anime goes, I’m a child of the 2000′s and anything that harks back to an earlier age – stylistically, amongst other things – tends to fall by the wayside.

Meultima: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAno.

Eden of the East

On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later… Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory. and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash.

Diego: Missile strikes. A naked vagrant. Billions of yen in digital cash. It’s got an interesting premise, but Eden of the East’s character designs (courtesy of Umino Chika) are seriously putting me off. I kicked out the Hachimitsu to Clover crew just because I didn’t like their faces – Hagu’s repulsive china-doll visage above all – and the same is bound to happen to this series unless the plot keeps me hooked. Which it well might, so I’m all for trying this one out.

Day Without Me: Wait a minute… there’s this naked guy with a gun (this is my rifle, this is my gun…) and a cell-phone with a ridiculous amount of money on it, and it takes place in America? How could I pass up such an absurd premise?

Noirsword: This one’s a pass for me. Ugly art is a huge turn off for me. Unless everyone says Eden of the East is super special, I won’t be watching it.

Meultima: I’ll probably check out the music. At least that seems decent. By itself it doesn’t seem too special.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Likely to be a faithful manga adaptation, this will be a remake of the first series.

Day Without Me: I’m not sure how I feel about re-doing the ground already covered in the first series, but at the same time I can understand why. I’m definitely going to watch this, I really enjoyed the first FMA, and I’ve been slowly making my way through the manga. But with Miki Shinichirou as Mustang? I don’t know if its sad or hilarious that I’ll just picture Yohji from Weiss Kreuz whenever I hear him speak.

Noirsword: lolwut reboot? So we’re going to start from the beginning and retread familiar ground to the point that the anime diverged from the manga, eh? I liked FMA the first time around, so I’ll give the reboot a spin.

Diego: I gave the first anime adaptation several episodes to impress me; it didn’t. The animation quality was great for its time, the character designs were tolerable and it had its share of high points (thanks in part to the comic relief supplied by doting family man Hughes and crazed muscleman Armstrong), but series that take seriously dark turns aren’t my cup of tea. I’m not throwing out the remake just yet, though at this point the chances of it going into my viewing queue are very weak.

Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou

Based on shoujo comedy manga series Gokujo!! Mecha Mote Iincho (The Best!! Extremely Cool Student Council President). The series, which has been serialized since January 2006, tells the story of Mimi Kitagami, a high school girl that aims to be her school’s best student council president despite having a crush on one of the school’s three most troublesome boy students.

Day Without Me: Is it bad that I saw the hamster and thought of Ebichu? It’d probably be better if it was and the lead was much, much older.

Noirsword: Not really my cup of tea. Sometimes a show is just too girly. Pass.

Hayate no Gotoku!! (Hayate no Gotoku 2)

Continuation of the first series.

Diego: I enjoyed the first season, so why the heck should I leave Hayate no Gotoku!! out in the cold? On the other hand, I’m a little apprehensive about the change in studios, which is something I still can’t quite understand given the splendid work that SynergySP did the last time around. Let’s hope J.C. Staff can do an even better job this year. (N.B.: I’ve seen the new OVA – J.C. Staff’s first crack at the franchise – and quite frankly, I’m a little disappointed. It just doesn’t look right.)

Noirsword: I have to agree with Diego, the character designs looked wonky in the J.C. Staff OVA. We’ll probably get used to it as the show progresses though. I know the plot will continue to chug along at a snail’s pace and not go anywhere for big chunks of time, but as long as the comedic formula remains the same, I’ll be content enough. A little bump in Isumi’s screen time also wouldn’t hurt things either.

Day Without Me: I only lasted about ten episodes of the first season. It’s just really not my cup of tea.

K-ON!

Adaption of kakifly’s seinen yonkoma manga series K-ON! (pronounced “kei on”). The story about four high school girls that try to sustain their school’s popular music club despite being unable to read music or play instruments has been serialized in Manga Time Kirara magazine since 2007.

Diego: I’m not big on music, I don’t know the seiyuu and the lead character’s skirt is way too short. But as KyoAni’s official representative for spring 2009, the music-themed series K-On! is automatically entitled to a place of honour on my living room couch. As long as the Great Ones keep up their high production values and penchant for surprises, the crew’s welcome to park themselves in my house all season.

Noirsword: They had me at KyoAni and as a guy that used to be involved with music, this is the kind of show I can identify with. Sure this is another one of those types of shows (slice of life centering a female main cast) that’s become so popular lately, but it looks like a fun little slice of life.

Day Without Me: Pass.

Natsu no Arashi

Thirteen-year-old Yasaka is a boy staying at his grandfather’s house during his summer vacation. One day he entered a store and met Arashi, a beautiful sixteen-year old girl working there. After trying to protect her from a man who claims to have been hired by her family to take her back by force, Yasaka ran away with her and now she stays at his grandpa’s place with him. It didn’t take much time for Yasaka to figure out that his new friend is far from an ordinary girl, as she possesses mysterious powers. The plot thickens when he finds a sixty-year-old picture of Arashi and another girl named Kaja, and to the surprise of all Kaja suddenly appears, and just like Arashi, her appearance hasn’t changed at all since then.

Noirsword: I would be lying if I said Jin Kobayashi’s name didn’t influence my decision to watch this. That said, the premise piqued my interest and I’m relatively excited for this to air. I hope SHAFT keeps the artistic stuff to a minimum as their art direction can be detrimental to serious shows.

Day Without Me: Well, the non-aging thing sounds like it could be a bit intriguing, but I’m always leery of shows which feature two girls and a guy as their leads. On the other hand, the male lead is 13 and the ladies pass themselves off as sixteen (and this isn’t Kanoporn), so it might be safe.

Pandora Hearts

Oz Bezarius, heir to one of the duke houses, has just turned fifteen. His life is rich and carefree, darkened only by the constant absence of his father. At his coming-of-age ceremony, however, everything changes. For no reason that he can discern, he’s cast into the prison known as the “Abyss”, only to be saved by a “chain” known as Alice, the bloodstained black rabbit. Why was he cast into Abyss, how does Alice factor into it all, and what does the organization known as “Pandora” want with him.

Noirsword: The summary is rudimentary at best and the show looks pretty generic, but I’m willing to give this one a trial run. The character designs are pretty nice though. As long as the action and story are halfway decent, that will be good enough.

Meultima: Yuki’s sounding decent here, and the gothic designs warrant a curious look-see from my part.

Day Without Me: I’ll check it out, if only because there’s a bloodstained rabbit named Alice. I’m not really sure why that makes me want to check it out, but it might be something to do with my dislike for rabbits (thanks a lot, Watership Down)… so bloodstained ones make me happy. Or something.

Phantom – Requiem for the Phantom

Adaption of the Nitro+ visual novel Phantom of Inferno. In the American underworld, Mafia leaders are being killed one after another, with rumours of “Inferno” and the organisation’s top assasssin “Phantom” circulating around them. A boy, traveling alone in America becomes involved in one of these incidents and unexpectedly encounters Phantom.

Noirsword: Hands down this is the show that pumps me up the most for this season. Noir, perhaps my all time favorite anime, drew inspiration from Phantom of Inferno. The two are spiritual cousins, even moreso with Bee Train at Phantom’s helm, and the thought of a decent Phantom adaptation has me giddier than a schoolgirl assassin. At the same time, I’m approaching it with caution because Bee Train has been in steady decline with many mediocre shows at best the past few years, and Nitro+ titles have a past history of not translating well to anime (the first Phantom OVA, Chaos;Head). I also have concerns to how the abundant violence will be handled. At the very least, Ein is all kinds of assassin girl hawtness, and the gunfights should be fun to watch.

Meultima: Eh, Noirswordy is watching this. I’ll give it a whirl. I probably need to watch Noir sometime too.

Day Without Me: Based on vis novel from same company that did Chaos;Head? No thanks.

Shangri-La

The story is set in a neo-futuristic age, in which Tokyo has turned into the world’s largest “jungle-polis” that absorbs carbon dioxide. A tower city called Atlas houses the rich and privileged, and is the object of yearning of all that are not allowed to enter. But Atlas also has ancient secrets which cause a sudden whirl of events. Festooned by colorful characters such as a riotous teenage girl, a child genius, a juvenile princess, a drag queen, a female doctor, an army major, and an elderly gentleman and lady, SHANGRI-LA’s hard-core world view plays out as an anime action saga.A striking vision of Earth’s future from some of Japan’s foremost creative talents, SHANGRI-LA is a tale of greed and division vs. bravery and the human spirit. Set against the backdrop of a Tokyo cityscape turned into a teeming jungle by runaway global warming, with the elite living in the comfort of the tower city, Atlas, and the less-privileged masses struggling in the squalor in the jungle – only one girl, Kuniko Hojo, and her band of guerrillas can find a way to preserve the future for everyone.

Diego: I’ve been a fan of Range Murata’s art since Last Exile, so my ears instinctively twitched at the news that he’s doing the character designs for Shangri-La. Trouble is, radical environmentalists have never been welcome in my house, and I’m not sure I’m prepared to make an exception just because the lead reminds me of Lavie. If the save-the-world slogans are kept to a barely audible whisper then we’ll talk, but if this series tries to ram another highly politicised, ultra-lefty “the-world-is-better-off-without-humans” message down my throat in the first few minutes, those darned tree-hugging carbonphobes are out on the pavement in two seconds flat. Leave the scare-mongering to network news and former vice-presidents; all I want is entertainment.

Noirsword: Tree hugging agendas doesn’t particularly bother me when done well (ie. Princess Mononoke). Even if the message is less than subtle, I still probably wouldn’t mind. People do need to realize just how valuable our environment is before it’s too late. This is what, the fourth Gonzo show to feature Murata designs? I’m not a particularly big Murata fan, but his designs always look nice and translate well to the anime medium.

Meultima: It’s Range Murata, so I’ll at least check it out for the first episode. Eventually, anyway. Plus, she’s got a friggin’ boomerang. Points for a non-cliche weapons at any rate. The last thing I remember with a real boomerang in it was freaking Avatar, and it was largely a comic device. And having watched the PV on the official site, it seems she uses it to bust up tanks?! Whew. That’s pretty whack. Some nice animation going there in any case.

Day Without Me: Did you know that some people believe that you can accidentally trip into Shangri-la in the mountains in and around Glastonbury, Vermont? Err, anyway, I’m actually fairly excited about this, as the cast of characters sounds pretty interesting. I just hope they can handle the ensemble cast appropriately. I also am a sap for politics, and the premise sure makes it seem like we’ll see a lot of it at play.

Senjou no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles

The game is set in Europa, a fictional version of Europe, in 1935. Because of its abundance of ragnite ore, which can be refined into a powerful fuel, the neutral nation of Gallia comes under attack from the East Europan Imperial Alliance, which is itself engaged in a war with the Atlantic Federation.

Noirsword: I played the game, and I’m curious to see how the anime adaptation will be handled. Gone are the game’s trademark watercolor visuals in favor of more traditional animation, which already knocks down my enthusiasm a bit. RPG-to-anime adaptations are rarely great, so all I’m expecting is a passable adaptation that tells and maybe even expands the story a bit. On a side note, I would like to see my favorite units make it into the anime (most notably one Marina Wulfstan).

Meultima: Being among the few left in the dust of not having a PS3, I’ll probably be checking this out to get a general idea of how the game was like. Not sure what to expect, but it’s by A-1 so eh. If anything at least they have some interesting animation choices in their past work.

Day Without Me: I’m allergic to shows based on games, unless those games have sad girls in the snow/sakura/sunshine.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Anime.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.