Spring 2012 Anime Season Preview

God last season was crap wasn’t it? There were a few good shows but overall it seemed to disappoint just about everyone. I’d make some joke about how the anime that aired failed to keep you warm through the Winter but, no. On that note, look at what we have here! A pretty decent looking season when you get right down to it, there’s something here for pretty much everyone. Like shonen fights? Saint Seiya’s getting a new season for the first time in about 25 years! A fan of Shinichiro Watanabe? (And let’s face it, who isn’t, well, apart from some bloggers here, but they don’t count) Well here he is directing something new for the first time since 2004! Even those of you with gun fetishes have something to look forward to in Upotte! So let’s get fired up in anticipation of the new season with our preview, arriving just in the nick of time!

Saint Seiya Omega

Toei Animation

Shounen, Supernatural

01/04

Trailer

Kōga is a 13-year-old boy who assumed the role of the Saint of the Pegasus constellation. His undefeatable spirit and rebellious nature are strong, as is his single-minded determination. Saori Kido (the goddess Athena) also appears as the protector of peace and all living things — and the woman who raised Kōga like a parent. Mars kidnaps Athena to establish a new world order, and Kōga stands up against Mars

	Meh… I remember watching something like this when I was a kid. Even I fell asleep watching it then. Not much has changed.
	I too remember watching this as a kid, though all I remember was that it was the supposedly butchered dubbed version and that the OP had been replaced by a Bowling for Soup cover of “I Ran” by a Flock of Seagulls. Why that’s all I remember from it (and I remember that quite vividly) is beyond me. I’ll give this a shot.
	All I could remember about Saint Seiya, or Knights of the Zodiac, was… Actually, I remember nothing. It was so boring that my brain rejected all content from that show. I expect Omega to be bor…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
	IF I ever watched this before which I cannot be 100% sure, I sure as hell don’t remember a single thing about it. Reading the synopsis it seems to be an allegory for Greek/Roman mythology in space, now I love mythology stuff so at the risk of being shounen’d to death I’ll give this a chance.
	I like Greek Mythology – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll like this … especially when everyone’s saying it’s so boring. I might check out the first episode or two, but I doubt it’ll stick.
	The original series ran for >100 episodes, which is generally a bad sign in my opinion. Unlikely that I’ll touch this for that reason and also because this seems like it’s just drawing out the original.

Uchuu Kyoudai

A-1 Pictures

Drama, Sci-Fi

01/04

Trailer

One night in 2006, when they were young, the two brothers Mutta (born 1993) and Hibito (born 1996) saw what appeared to be a UFO heading for the moon. They decided that night to both become astronauts and travel out into space. In 2025, Hibito has become an astronaut, and he’s going to go to the moon. Mutta ended up following a more traditional career path with an auto development company. However, Mutta just ruined his career through a violent altercation with his boss. Now, not only has he lost his job, he appears to be blacklisted in the entire industry. Maybe this is a rare opportunity for Mutta to once again chase his childhood dream and become an astronaut like his little brother!

	Read the manga. Dropped it because not interesting enough for me. I don’t think some random car designer can become a astronaut so easily. You need some scientific research and masters in something other than car design to get on a god damn million dollar spaceship. Due to the economic downturn after this manga was made, the possibility of a space program to Mars is almost zero because NASA got nerfed harder than Udyr and his Inervating Locket or Morphling and Ethereal Blade.
	I’m a huge fan of sci-fi in the vein of Planetes, where the science behind everything is a large part of the focus, and the story is generally used to tell remarkably grounded and human tales. This seems to be similar to that, and the manga was fantastic. Probably my most anticipated show of the season here, even if the director’s only worked on Doraemon before.
	Sci-fi has never been my cup of tea. I’ll probably find this anime to be the most boring thing of the season. Yes, maybe even more boring than Saint Seiya Omega.
	The guy turns his life around and becomes an astronaut, that’s cool. But if there are no aliens on that damn moon at the end, this show will be a write-off. No anti-climatic bullpoo is what I’m try to say. Please!
	A show that’s showing people that, at the age of 32, it’s not too late to chase your childhood dreams? Ahww. I’ll probably watch a couple of episodes to get a better feel of the atmosphere of the show and make a decision then. … Would you really classify this as sci-fi though? It seems more slice-of-lifey to me.
	Wise advice: don’t fight with your boss, especially not with your fists. This show doesn’t seem interesting to me.

Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden

Studio Pierrot

Shounen, Ninja’s

03/04

Trailer

The gag comedy anime centers around the secondary Naruto character Rock Lee.

	No Thank You!
	What Poro said, I have no interest in Naruto whatsoever, and this looks horrible.
	This might actually be better than watching the regular Naruto anime! Bushie-Brow > Naruto.
	Is Rock Lee even a secondary character?
	I love Rock Lee. I think he’s adorable.
	So… ugly.

Ginga e Kickoff!!

TYO Animations

Sport

03/04

Trailer

The story follows a boy who was in a soccer team, but it was disbanded due to not enough players. However, after the boy meets a female professional soccer player, he aims to bring his soccer team back.

	Whatever!
	Nope, I tried football anime last season, and I didn’t like it, I don’t expect better results from this.
	Unless we’re getting Yuri Soccer anime, I only have this to say: ENOUGH WITH SOCCER!!
	Don’t listen to these guys for they know not what they speak of! Keep the sports anime rolling in, the more female soccer players the better. This one is actually based on a novel as opposed to a manga, curious as to ow that will work out.
	jGLZA must be happy. Eyeshield 21 was the only sports anime I ever watched and liked (assuming Karuta in Chihayafuru doesn’t count) and it’ll probably stay that way.
	Pretty much agree with everyone other than jGLZA. Sorry!

Sengoku Collection

Brains Base

Historical, Sengoku Era

05/04

Trailer

Anime adaptation of Konami’s Sengoku Collection social networking service game, set in the tumultuous Sengoku Era of historical Japan, when military masters circle the figurative throne of Japan’s first shogunate.

	Wait, what happened, Brains Base? Surely you can do better than this, maybe some bizarre lightning will strike and this will be good, but the odds of that are tiny. So I’ll give this one shot.
	This strongly reminds me of Sengoku Otome. You know; that horrible show that no one watched.
	This strongly reminds me of Sengoku Otome. You know; that horrible show that no one watched.
	I really, really want to say no, but some of the characters look really cute. So I might watch the first episode. I hope it doesn’t turn out like Brave 10 where I start watching a stupid show that for some unknown reason, I can’t stop!
	It may be good if Brains Base knows how to script well. Who knows, I’ll award this the 50/50 title.
	Social networking game? Like, Farmville o_O? I don’t know what to think about this.

Upotte!!

XEBEC

Action, Supernatural

07/04

Trailer

A teacher is looking for a school by the name of Seishou Academy, as he is a new transfer teacher for that school. Seishou Academy is known for having students with excellent marksmanship. However, he gets lost along the way and decides to look for someone who knows where the school is at a summer festival. He encounters a girl at a shooting range and finds her marksmanship skills to be professional. The girl tells the new teacher that she is an assault rifle, not a student. Her name is FNC and is an assault rifle of Seishou Academy. The new teacher attends school the next day to find students, including FNC, practicing shooting M16s and realizes that he has come to an unbelievable school. How will his experience be at Seishou Academy?

	This sure does look like an anime that can be viewed on a monitor of your choice, that’s pretty much the best thing I can muster up to say about this, except that maybe it’ll be a camp classic much like Rio: Rainbow Gate, that’d be brilliant. Still, it’s a little disappointing to see Xebec take a break from Lagrange, their best show in ages and revert back to stuff like this.
	Upon the hype of an acquaintance of mine on Twitter who believes this will be the next big MOE title, I decided to read the manga. My verdict: It was boring. But, I can really see this anime becoming popular thanks to the fat fanboys.
	I’m confused, so they are the guns? But in the trailer they’re holding the guns, so are they holding themselves or each other? Either way it’s highly unlikely that I’ll watch this.
	This kind of reminds me of Soul Eater, where people could be weapons. I suppose I’ll give this a … chance. (Was going to say “shot” but I’m not in the mood for puns.)
	If Tychus Finley has taught me anything, it’s that guns and girls go well together. :3
	The synopsis is… really weird! I’d rather see girls with guns than girls who are guns. I doubt this will be particularly interesting.

Kuroko no Basuke

Production I.G.

Sport, Basketball

07/04

Trailer

Kuroko is a member from the legendary middle school basketball team known as “The Generation of Miracles”, and while nobody seems to know about him, the main 5 players of the team all admit that he is a better player. When he joins the high school basketball team, everyone is surprised to find out that he is small, weak, and easy to miss. What is the secret that makes him so strong, and how will he help his high school team?

	“easy to miss” hmmm…. *imagines a butter with a on it.*
	I may have disliked my experience with football anime, but this looks like goofy fun going by the manga, so I’ll try this out. It’s interesting to note that the screenplay comes from the guy who brought you stuff like Durarara! and Baccano! So hell, it could be much better than expected.
	Kuroko no Basuke is one of my favorite basketball manga. Then again, it’s easy to say that considering I don’t read a lot of them. Glad that this is getting an anime. I was getting tired of soccer anime series.
	Is it just me or does everyone on the team have the same face but different colored hair. But hey, Production I.G. making another sporting anime, hell yeah! I really enjoyed their last one (Moshidora) so I got high hopes for this one. I’m not the biggest Basketball fan, never really got into Slam Dunk but it’s sport so I’m happy
	Don’t make me eat my words about Sports Anime!
	Oh man, I wanna know his secret. But alas, sports is not my thing.

Eureka Seven AO

BONES

Sci-Fi, Mecha

12/04

Trailer

Set in the same universe as the original but a new story. The story centers around a boy named Ao who “sets ‘destiny’ in motion again when he holds the ‘power’.”

	I love the original Eureka 7, and even if this doesn’t have scripts courtesy of the wonderful Dai Sato (who worked on the original Eureka 7, Cowboy Bebop, and Ergo Proxy among others) it should hopefully still provide solid mecha entertainment and the great universe of the original
	Never liked the original. Didn’t like the E7 AO’s first two manga chapters either. I’m not even going to bother with the anime.
	Never even watched the original despite my friends raving about however I’m told that it’s not necessary to have watched the original. I must say the animation is nice and clean which I like, soooo maybe I’ll give it a gander. It depends on when it airs and stuff like that.
	I’d never seen the first Last Exile and when Fam of the Silver Wing or whatever it’s called came out, I said I’d watch it. I didn’t. I have a feeling it would be the same way with Eureka Seven Ao.
	Eureka7 was pretty decent. Solid anime. But Last Exile: Yuri Fam made me think twice about redo’s with new protagonists….
	Never watched the original, but I may sometime.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

SILVER LINK

Supernatural

08/04

Trailer

A young woman, by some strange occurrence, was left to die alone in the former building of the Academy for Sincere Teachings. Mysteriously, there is one person who can see her in ghost form: Niiya Teiichi, a freshman. Now they both seek to find out the reasoning behind her death, and what could have caused it.

	I was given Another to blog after one of our bloggers died mysterious *hides bloody knife and necromancy book* and I was scared shetless. TT_TT not again plz
	So as Poro pointed out, I totally died last season and he stole Another off of my corpse, I got better though, most likely because of that book he carries around with him. Anyway this doesn’t look too special, and Silver Link has thus far only brought duds like C3. I like the premise quite a bit though, so I’ll give this the benefit of the doubt.
	As I was trying to scout Tasogare through the manga, I fell asleep due to boredom before I could find anything scary. P.S.: OMG Poro, you found Another scary?
	Not a fan of the horror/thriller anime, I find they move too slowly for me which I now is the point but still too slow for me. That aside, the trailer had some beautiful (and scary!) visuals so at least the fan-art should be good.
	Have we learned nothing from my 50 Answers post? I am scared of ghosts.
	Films are better for horror than anime, I think.

Hyouka

Kyoto Animation

School, Mystery

??/04e

Trailer

Oreki Houtarou is a self-proclaimed “energy-saver” – that is, he will not actively waste energy doing things that aren’t necessary. Though he had no interest whatsoever in joining any clubs upon entering Kamiyama High School, he was commanded by his older sister Tomoka to enter the school’s Classics Club, which was in danger of getting abolished as all previous members have graduated. Together with his old friends Fukube Satoshi and Ibara Mayaka, as well as the elegantly ladylike and curiously inquisitive Chitanda Eru, the newly reformed Classics Club find themselves involved in all sorts of mystery-solving escapades. Houtarou soon finds out that the Classics Club, as Tomoka has promised, is actually “quite interesting”

	nge? That’s cool, I’ve loved most of your output thus far (Nichijou was hugely underappreciated, it remains a favourite recent comedy of mine) and I like a good mystery, so this is right up my street.
	If this is anything like Kamisama no Memochou, I may end up watching it and possibly liking it.
	Animation. Looks. So. CUTE!
	Like blindability this animation makes me really want to watch this but the premise sounds a bit meh. However I love that the guy is an “energy saver”, lol, I totally relate to that. Will definately give it a trial run. I’m personally hoping its more random slice of life as Kyoto does that really well as opposed to be more on the mystery solving side.
	Lazy people ftw. I, in contrast, hope this isn’t random slice of life, I think it’d be more interesting otherwise.

Zetman

TMS Entertainment

Shounen, Supernatural

02/04

Trailer

Jin is a strange kid with an angel mark on his hand. He lives a poor but peaceful life with his grandfather, along with the other destitute and abandoned vagabonds near the river. One day, his peaceful life changes when a strange monster named “player” appears, chopping off heads and killing everyone who appears in front of it.

	I dunno, the trailer was better than expected, but those character designs look retarded beyond belief. It could be a quality dark, mature show if it plays it’s cards well, but so far the premise does little to instill faith in me.
	If everything is kept from the manga, I’ll call this anime a freaking masterpiece.
	This looks so serious. Yes the animation looks a bit cheesy but it might turn out to be a pretty good superhero anime. I’ll watch the beginning but it’ll have to impress me heavily (or not so much as was with the case of Brave 10) for me to keep watching it over other shows.
	F-YEAHZ!!!!! The trailer made me want to go punch someone, that’s a good sign! I’m punching the keys on my keyboard as I type this. So SO watching this.
	I’m hesistant, I think the manga’s pretty popular though.

Jormungard

White Fox

Drama, Action

10/04

PV1 PV2

Jonah is a child soldier, born into the chaotic conflicts that rage across Africa, his family lost to a war fueled by weapons supplied by the so-called “Merchants of Death”–international arms dealers. Despite Jonah’s hatred of weapons and violence, he employs both extremely well in the service of high-flying arms dealer Koko Hekmatyar and her band of mercenaries. Their journey through the dark underbelly of the world’s arms markets may lead only to damnation, but will Jonah one day make his way back to the light. Only one thing is certain: it’s going to be a long, hard road out of Hell…

	If there’s one show I want to cover this season, it’s this. (By the way guys, I’m totally reserving this) It’s not my most anticipated anime, sure (that belongs to Uchuu Kyodai, then Apollon, but I have reasons for not wanting to cover those) but this show appears to be a mix of Black Lagoon (which everyone should watch) and Lord of War (which everyone should also watch) and it looks awesome. I like White Fox, so I have high hopes for this, I want to see them capitalise on their potential.
	I have read 5 volumes of this manga thanks to the trailer. It surprisingly has some good humour, funny enough to make me think: Where the hell is the “it’s going to be a long, hard road out of Hell…” from the synopsis? If the anime keeps all the psychopaths and the humour, and changes some of the lazy dialogues from the manga, you got yourself there a great action series. And for the sake of my wallet, Funimation needs to stop licensing boobs and get this series before Sentai Filmworks does.
	Definitely getting Black Lagoon vibes from this, easily one of my favorite non-mecha anime of all-time, so I’m big time interested in this. I absolutely love it when anime takes real life topics seriously and there are some big name staff working on this too. Good prospect this is.
	The title is interesting, and it made me wonder if it had any relation to Norse Mythology but it seems not. Regardless, I’ll still watch it.
	Yeah, similar to Black Lagoon. Looks really interesting. Not too many anime based in the real world outside of Japan.

Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan

Production I.G.

Game, Fantasy

??/04

PSP OP

One day, a mysterious girl named Kaguya was washed ashore the island of Wyndaria after a great storm. She encounters Rick, a swordsman who wound up working at the island’s bakery. Apparently, Kaguya is suffering from having lost her memories and emotions. In addition, the usually peaceful Wyndaria is now swarming with pirates who came seeking for the special spirit stone that is worn around Kaguya’s neck. Knowing the situation, Rick and his co-workers, Nellis, Amyl, and Aerie decided to bring back peace to island and help Kaguya regain her lost memories and emotions.

	This is based on an RPG I really want to play, but alas, I don’t speak Japanese, so I can’t. I’m skeptical of this, Production I.G. has disappointed lately, and RPG adaptations rarely work well. (Persona 4 was good, but I still dropped it for various reasons, including my aforementioned lightning blues) I’ll still give this a shot.
	Ninpou, I-Don’t-Care-No-Jutsu.
	Game adaptations almost always suck. I suppose it would be cool for those that have played the game though as it has 90% of the original voice cast but for the rest of us… not so much. Pretty pictures though.
	This seems kind of interesting, but not interesting enough to really make me want to watch. I have doubts about this washed-up-on-shore girl with no memories and no emotions.
	Undoubtedly she will be some sort of extremely important entity involving some sort of magic. However, I am skeptical of games turned into anime. Damn, I wish I could play the game, maybe I should learn Japanese just so I can play untranslated games…

Acchi Kocchi

AIC

Comedy, 4-Koma

??/04

Trailer

Acchi Kocchi follows the misadventures, screw ups and idiocy of 5 schoolmates: Io, Tsumiki, Hime, Mayoi and Sakaki.

	This sure is a 4-koma adaptation…
	The next Lucky Star? The LS opening song gets stuck into my mind everytime I see the trailer of Acchi Kocchi.
	I won’t lie, I’m sure I’ll laugh for these jokes but really it doesn’t look great. Cute characters though.
	I think K-On! is the only yonkoma anime for me.
	Blah.

Sankarea

Studio DEEN

Zombies, Romance

??/04

Bootleg PV

Furuya’s obsessed with zombies. He collects any figurines, watches any movie, and plays any game with the living dead, and is even only interested in zombie girls. When his cat dies, Furuya begins trying to raise it from the dead using an ancient book of the occult he bought from a shop. But what will happen when he sees the idol of a nearby all girl’s school walking close to where he conducts his experiment, wishing to die and be reborn as a different person?

	Another show brought to you by the screenwriter of Baccano! I do love my zombie media, (I’d make a good stand-in for the protagonist, it seems, minus the romantic zombie love part) so I’ll give it a shot, but the manga wasn’t too great. Still, I’ll give this a chance.
	Studio Deen should be renamed Studio Zombie, because zombie anime may be the only things this studio knows how to make competently.
	That summary is misleading because I thought for a moment that the cat would be resurrected into the girl’s body. Despite being about zombies, it doesn’t seem scary so I’ll probably give this a watch. Plus there’s a cat – albeit a zombie cat, but a cat nonetheless. Now kids, don’t go looking for “How to Raise the Dead” books at your local book store just so you can have yourself a zombie girlfriend – and cat.
	THIS… actually sounds good. I mean he likes zombies (I’d like to hear his opinions on the Walking Dead tv show versus the comic) and she wants to be reborn as someone else, I mean thats kind of consensual.
	Interesting. I read the manga but it was a while ago and there were limited chapters available. I think it’s still ongoing, so I wonder how the anime will turn out.

Natsuiro no Kiseki

Sunrise

Slice of Life

05/04

Trailer

Original anime featuring the four members of sphere as voice actresses.

	Director of Un-Go and FMA!? What? Is this basically just Tamayura season 2?
	Aside from saying I want more Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, I only have 3 words: “Moe Moe Sunrise”. P.S.: Gooney, this is more like A Channel Season 2.
	I was really wrong about Tamayura Hitotose so I’ll probably watch the first few episodes of this. Of course I’ve never heard of the band Sphere and I wonder why exactly they’re making their own anime but I guess I’ll find that out when I start watching.
	Like some kiddies version of Hanasaku no Iroha, animation is similar, very clean and realistic and Rinko certainly looks like Ohana. And as Gooney mentioned it has some skilled staff on it so it shouldn’t be crap and I was extremely skeptical about Hana no Iro and that turned out very well… watches end of trailer ~ WTF, ok – interest piqued.
	Probably not something I would enjoy.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

XEBEC

Supernatural, Sci-Fi

09/04

No Trailer

The story centers around Nyaruko, a formless Cthulhu deity of chaos (Nyarlathotep) who can take on the shape of a seemingly ordinary silver-haired girl. Mahiro Yasaka is a normal high school boy who is chased by aliens one night, until Nyaruko saves him.

	Yep, another adaptation of moe Cthulhu, it can’t be worse than the previous flash anime, but it still looks crap.
	Xebec continues to prolong their streak of garbage anime.
	Pass, pass.
	The girl’s cute, but the anime probably won’t have much substance to it.

Medaka Box

GAINAX

Comedy, Supernatural

04/04

PV1 PV2 PV3

Kurokami Medaka, the strongest girl in Hanokiwa Gakuen (Academy), leads the school’s student council. The student body can submit pleas for help, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, into the suggestion box that Medaka installed. Together with council members Zenkichi, Akune, and Kikaijima, Medaka takes on the challenges in the school that range from mundane tasks to supernatural battles.

	This barely feels like it was written by NisiOisin, and it barely looks like a Gainax show. The manga’s fun, for what it’s worth, but I don’t expect much from this.
	Oh Gooney, one does not associate a series to NisiOisin through his writing, but through the amount of sociopaths and taboos found in the story. Hopefully, Gainax makes this anime a bit long; at least long enough to have an arc with Kumagawa.
	This reminds me of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi except with big boobs and plunging necklines (for both male and female). I think I’d rather re-watch Ookami-san.
	Funny story, I’ve noticed a few people tweeting about this on the twitters recently and I was wondering why the hell everyone was spelling Madoka wrong, lol. Back on topic… the premise seems like a coked up SKET Dance but with more b00bs which is always a good thing and it certainly has enough elements for GAINAX to put their mark on it – “supernatural battles” – Hello Nurse!
	I read the manga of this. Boobs are certainly prominent. In addition, it turns into some sort of battle anime after a volume or two and really deviates from what I would have expected.

Hiiro no Kakera

Studio DEEN

Reverse Harem, Supernatural

??/04

Trailer

Tamaki goes back to her old village and suddenly she is attacked by monsters. Her grandmother then tells her that she’s the “Tamayorihime”, and her duty is to guard a powerful sword called Onikirimaru together with her 6 male guardians.

	Nope, no bishie fests for me thanks
	Why Studio Deen Why? Y U No Make Good Romance Anime?
	Reverse harem, at least they trying to balance the scales, I mean this is a season with Queen’s Blade in it. In these anime I like playing spot the personality of the characters, I’ve noticed that they delegate certain personality types (& character traits) depending on the colour of the characters hair or is it the hairstyle. More to the point, this anime is going to suck because they don’t even show the damn sword in the trailer and I’m not even sure which girl is Tamaki!?
	No, no, no. ‘Tamaki attacked by monsters’: good. ‘Six male guardians’: BAD. (Thaivu! Your broken English rubbed off on me!)
	I was interested by the female main character but then I read about the male guardians and ‘ed.

Sakamichi no Apollon

MAPPA

Music, Slice of Life

12/04

Trailer

Nishimi Kaoru has moved from city to city and school to school because of his father’s job. So the first day at his new school was just routine for him. Being intellectual and the new transfer student, he has always been seen as an outcast and all Kaoru had to do was bear it until the next time he moved. But things were slightly different this time. First, he started to get close to the class president, Mukae Ritsuko, and, secondly, unlikely as it seemed, grew closer to Kawabuchi Sentaro. Sentaro was infamous for getting into fights, skipping class and was an overall bad boy. Strangely enough, the three of them find common ground in music, namely jazz, and Kaoru finds himself actually enjoying the new town.

	Yeah, this looks fantastic. Animated by an offshoot of Madhouse made exclusively to produce things that they know would have a hard time getting greenlit, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (His first show in 8 years since making one of my personal favourite series, Samurai Champloo), music by Yoko Kanno. Everything here sounds perfect (and the manga’s great too), I can’t wait to watch this.
	This might be another of these “Everyone likes this, except me” series.
	Once again music brings us all together. Manly tears will surely be shed. This much more of a noitaminA anime than Black Rock Shooter, thank god.
	Oh the jazz one; I heard about this. It sounds really interesting and I’m curious to know how much of a role music is going to play in the story so I’ll definitely watch this and see how it unfolds.
	Jazz? Not so much of that around anymore. Thaivu, you’re not alone!

Tsuritama

A-1 Pictures

Sci-Fi, Comedy

12/04

Trailer

Yuki Sanada is a high school boy who cannot communicate with people well and doesn’t have a single friend. He lives on Enoshima island with his French grandmother. One day, he meets a boy named Haru. Haru calls himself an alien who visited the Earth for fishing. Another high school boy, Natsuki, and a mysterious Indian, Akira, join the two and the island becomes the center of the event which determines the fate of the world.

	This is the kind of bizarre premise that I’m inexplicably attracted to, and when last was there an anime about fishing? The director’s quite unique and tackles some brave projects, but his technique is a little rough, so I’m hoping this’ll be good, but there’s a slight nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Let’s hope that goes away soon.
	This reminds me of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, but without the chicks. I guess this could be interesting. On a more serious note, if a character in this show speaks french, I wonder if it will be the Gankutsuou french (the awkward sounding one) or the Ikoku Meiro no Croisée french (the one that sounds good).
	Wierd and bizarre premises make the best anime and I’m sure this will be no different. I mean noitaminA really owes us after last season, they REALLY do.
	If I’ve learned anything from the past (Arakawa Under the Bridge), it’s that aliens and fishing go well together. Plus the animation looks great. I know there’s no Nino-san, but it’ll still be worth watching.
	I think bizarre premises make for either great or terrible shows. I’ll wait to decide which this anime is.

Accel World

Sunrise

Fantasy, Sci-Fi

06/04

Trailer

One autumn day in 2046, Haruyuki has an encounter with Kuroyukihime, the prettiest girl in his school. For the middle school boy who is often bullied, the meeting changes his life. Through a mysterious piece of software from her, Haruyuki learns of the existence of the virtual Accel World. In that moment, the lowest of the “school caste” becomes “Burst Linker”, a knight defending a princess.

	The manga this is based on is solid, if a tad generic (Barring it’s protagonist, I don’t think I’ve seen a character like him front and center in ages, if ever) and the director has done Mai-Hime, which was good, but he also did Mai-Otome, which was, well… Shit. I still want to see this though.
	Fatso’s voice really doesn’t fit.
	Fully behind this anime, big boned people need to stick together yo! I hope it’s as good as it looks. The alternate world also allows the creators to really let loose, I hope they do.
	I haven’t watched the trailer which is probably why I have no idea what my fellows are talking about. (Big boned protagonist?) But off-hand, the summary doesn’t interest me at all: just because you’re suddenly called “Burst Linker” doesn’t make you any different of a person. But, on the other hand, thanks to the above comments of my fellows (aside from Thaivu, haha) I will give this show a chance and endure the first few episodes.
	Having a fat guy fighting as the main character is kind of odd. But futuristic settings are always interesting and the the girl is quite pretty indeed.

Nazo no Kanojo X

Hood’s Entertainment

Ecchi, Romance

07/04

Trailer

One day, a strange transfer student appears before Tsubaki. Urabe Mikoto is an antisocial girl, whose hobby is just sleeping during class-breaks. One day, Tsubaki goes to wake her up and accidentally tastes her drool… And gets hooked on that! After that, he starts going out with her and gets to know her better. Her second hobby, as it turns out, is carrying around scissors in her panties and cutting paper into flowers…

	Like I said with Tsuritama, I’m drawn to bizarre plots, and this is absolutely the strangest show of the season. I have no idea what to expect from this, and the director is the guy who’s also handling Uchuu Kyodai, and these two shows are the first thing he’s done outside of Doraemon. So this’ll be a surprise to me no matter what happens.
	Finally something I wanted to see animated. Nazo no Kanojo X is just a refreshing romantic comedy that doesn’t make you wait for an eternity before the 2 main characters finally get together. We don’t need the millionth romance anime about 2 persons struggling to get together, but rather a series about 2 characters working things out as a couple. So, I strongly welcome this series with open arms. The only thing that bothers me so far is Urabe’s voice which does not fit her cold-like personality.
	“accidentally tastes her drool”… oh lord I love you Japan!
	How on Earth do you accidentally taste a person’s drool!? And even if it’s not accidental (depending on which summary you read; one said Akira decides to taste it), why would you ever want to taste a stranger’s drool? I just want the drool incident clarified for me, and it’ll probably happen in the first episode, so I’ll watch that at the very least.
	Yeaaah I dunno how he would manage to taste that. The girl also seems rather… odd, to put it nicely.

Saki: Achiga-Hen episode of Side A

Studio Gokumi

Sport, Mahjong

08/04

Trailer

The Achiga Girls’ Academy in Nara once defeated regional mahjong powerhouse Bansei High School. It advanced into the national team semifinals but lost to the eventual champion, and the mahjong club was later disbanded. Six years later, elementary school student Shizuno Takakamo befriends transfer student Nodoka Haramura. The two eventually enter Achiga Girls’, but Nodoka transfers out of the school in the second year. When Shizuno sees Nodoka on television the following year as the national middle school individual mahjong champion, she decides to revive Achiga’s mahjong club.

	Saki was lightly enjoyable fluff that ended with a clear opening for a sequel, so why are they making a spin-off instead of that? Should be entertaining, if the first season is anything to go by.
	What the hell is Saki without Saki?
	More sporting anime, squeel!
	Now I feel like I should have learned to play mahjong really well when I was little, so I could join the grandma’s game and play for money. Instead I struggled to learn fractions; and that’s made me no money.
	Ditto with Thaivu. Also I wish I learned Japanese mahjong instead of the Chinese version I know so I could fully understand the stuff that goes on in Saki/this.

AKB0048

Satelight

Music, Sci-Fi

??/04

Trailer

In the beginning of the 21st century, a world war breaks out over interplanetary travel tech. The environment is pretty much destroyed so mankind leaves Earth and starts Star Calendar 00. Entertainment and songs become heavily regulated and eventually banned due to their power to move people, but a brave idol group puts on guerrilla performances in the name of a famous act from earlier times that sang to Earth’s bitter end, AKB48. The illegal revival group’s name is… AKB0048.

	Yep, most of the time when someone makes something just to promote an idol group, you get stuff like Natsuiro, other times the people in charge go balls crazy with what they have, and you get stuff like this, from Shoji Kawamori no less! Colour me intrigued.
	I’m saddened that Mayuyu is the only one among the main members who got a role in the anime. I can feel this might become the next…Idolm@ster: Xenoglossia. O Shoji Kawamori, have you been saving your weed for this?
	Well this certainly changes your perspective on anti-government groups. Unfortunately, their sugary sweet songs of rebellion and days of yore will be lost on my deaf ears as I have no interest in idol shows – of any kind.
	GUERRILLA PERFORMANCES LOL. The dystopian setting kind of gets ruined by the idols. I am saddened that it was not a real rebellion-overthrow plot.

So what do you all think? Looking good? I certainly think so, and we didn’t even mention some of the best looking stuff on here (for various reasons, top secret stuff) such as the first Lupin III TV anime in decades! Decades, I tell you! Some of our writers haven’t even been alive for two of those, even Saint Seiya’s done that! And I’ll tell you what, this AKB0048 business has inspired us here at Bokutachi no Blog, we’ll position ourselves as the first guerrilla anime blogging group, bringing you posts when no one else will! No need to thank us, just enjoy the spring season, that’s all the thanks we need for our hard work. We’ll see all of you again soon with our first impressions in the coming days. Until then, spread the word in the underground blogosphere, we’re here to liberate you all! (Or just write some words, whatever works for you)