Another year finished and another year the wannabe buzzards prognosticate the demise of anime even when the empirical data continues to defy their constructed narratives. I’d compare these people to climate scientists who close their eyes to the last decade plus of weather but I don’t want to get political here .

Instead I’ll point out that this year saw two young studios P.A. Works and Silver Fox create series which signaled their emergence as top quality anime studios. Also, this year saw two studios – Shaft and Brains Base –  take the plunge with original works and the resulting masterpieces pushed these already well-respected studios into the stratosphere.  Nor could it be forgotten how Kyoto Animation and Satelight, two veteran studios, stretched their creative legs and produce great series in genres that their not known for. Or how a quirky little studio, david production, that spun off from Gonzo a few years ago produced not one but two quirky quality series this year and finally attracted the attention of a large number of anime fans.

So, for those reasons and others, it’s easy to see that this was a banner year for anime –  one that I want to reminisce about and remember. There’s various formats that can be used to do so but the one I like involves ranking the anime in various categories because it just seems more orderly this way.

Before starting into the “nice” awards I first wanted to list the anime series that I watched from 2011 that are eligible for the various awards and to hand-out a few “not-so-nice” awards.

Winter Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (2): Star Driver, To Aru Majutsu no Index II

New shows watched this season (10): Fractale, Gosick, IS: Infinite Stratos, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, Level E, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu!, Moshidora, Rio – Rainbow Gate, Wolverine

Shows that got dropped (4): Dragon Crisis, Freezing, Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!, Yumekui Merry

Spring Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (1): Gosick

New shows watched this season (20): X-Men, Dog Days, Tiger and Bunny, Nichijou, Yondemasu yo Azazel-san, Hanasaku Iroha, Fireball Charming, Steins;Gate, Hyouge Mono, Hidan no Aria, A Channel, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera, Maria+Holic Alive, Ao no Exorcist, The World God Only Knows II, Seikon no Qwaser II, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, Deadman Wonderland

Shows that got dropped (8): Hen Zemi, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi, Sengoku Otome – Momoiro Paradox, 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku, Sket Dance, Sofuteni, Astarotte no Omocha!

Summer Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (6): Ao no Exorcist, Hyouge Mono, Steins;Gate, Hanasaku Iroha, Tiger and Bunny, Nichijou

New shows watched this season (13): Mawaru Penguin Drum, Kamisama no Memo-chou, Dantalian no Shoka, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, R-15, Sacred Seven, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, Natsume Yuujinchou 3, Yuruyuri, Kamisama Dolls, Blood-C, Mayo Chiki, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

Shows that got dropped (3): Usagi Drop, No. 6, The Idolm@ster

Fall Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (2): Hyouge Mono, Mawaru Penguin Drum

New shows watched this season (15): C3 – Cube×Cursed×Curious, Fate/Zero, Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!, Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, Hunter × Hunter, Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle, Tamayura – Hitotose, Chihayafuru, Persona 4, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Shakugan no Shana III (Final), Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam, Ben-to, Un-Go, Guilty Crown

Shows that got dropped (3): Shinryaku!? Ika Musume, Working’!!, Mirai Nikki

-

Total New Series Watched 2011:       78

Total New Series Completed:              53

Total New Series Dropped:                  18

Total New Continuing Series:             07

Now it’s time for the Anti-Awards. These are awards that the winners probably wouldn’t like winning and instead of spreading them out in the various parts, I’m going to put them here. Also, the awards will have a higher level of spoilers then  I normally use but I will still try to keep them to minimum.

-

Best Half and Half

Winner:  Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Runner-up: Blood-C

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko was improved by having Shaft/Shinbou adapt it but it was also hindered by being attached to Shaft/Shinbou. Hindered because so much of what Shaft/Shinbou does occurs admidst finding the fantastic in the common everyday hustle-n-bustle of life to the point of this being the expectation. There was Natsu no Arashi:  about a boy whose first crush is a girl he meets working in a café who just so happens to be a ghost of a girl who died in WWII. Sore de mo Machi wa Mawatteiru features a normal high school girl that encounters time travelers, aliens, and visits the afterlife. Bakemonogatari has a typical high school boy getting turned into a vampire (then mostly back to human) meeting gods, spirits, and curses. Arakawa Under the Bridge has a typical salary-man fall for a woman that lives under a bridge and declares that she is from Venus (and might actually be an alien). So, when Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko started with the main female character saying that she was an alien, this primed the viewers a certain way but then to throw this out for most of the series made it difficult to not compare it to other Shaft/Shinbou series and find it feeling a bit shallow.

-

Worst Half and Half

Winner:  Fractale

Saying half of Fractale was okay is probably stretching it a bit but among all the problems that it had there were several good ideas and positive aspects floating about. It’s just that these ideas and aspects were very poorly put together and then buried under a mountain of incompetence. I’m still wondering how the creators were able to take one of my favorite voice actresses – the very talented Kana Hanazawa – and made her voice about as appealing as screeching fingernails on a blackboard.

-

Most Disappointing Ending

Winner:  IS: Infinite Stratos

Why, oh, why did the creators of Infinite Stratos chicken out and try to tack on a boring “serious” ending to this show? Here’s how the show should have went – the climax should have been the reveal of Charlotte’s true gender and the build-up should have involved the generic male main character having to go to greater-and-greater lengths to hide the truth. It would have complimented the nature of the show much better and not have been such a letdown.

-

Most Disappointing

Winner:  Guilty Crown

Any questions? Okay, moving on…

-

Most in Need of Being Longer

Winner:  C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
Runner-up: Un-Go

One can’t look over the year in anime without complaining about the episode counts that noitaminA series get. Un-Go actually accomplished a fair amount over it’s 11 episode run which allowed C to slip past to win this dubious award. C had some very interesting things to say but the silly CG battles and the compression artifacts from trying to squeeze C into 11 episodes just overwhelmed those interesting ideas.

-

The You’re-Doing-It-Wrong Award

Winner:  R-15
Runner-up: Nekogami Yaoyorozu

Both of these shows should have been fun, light entertainment – perfect for the hot summer season – but both failed on a fundamental level and left the viewers saying, “you’re doing it wrong.” The bigger failure was on the part of R-15; the set-up was that this anime took place in a school of geniuses but somehow these “geniuses” were just a pack of boring, cliché characters. (And the one that plays the clarinet, if she’s such a genius then why does she spend the entire series practicing the same simple piece of music?)

-

The Best Almost Good Series

Winner:  Dantalian no Shoka
Runner-up: C3 – Cube×Cursed×Curious

In different hands I think both of these series could have been fabulous. C3 probably needed more work to get there since the source material needed a touch of help and the style was trying too hard to look Shaftian without adding anything unique to the animation style. Dantalian no Shoka was so very close. More episodes would have helped but if that was unobtainable then trimming down the number of cases covered and focusing on fleshing these cases out and developing the characters probably would have been all it needed. Even so, Dantalian no Shoka was an interesting experiment in visual style that will probably help Gainax in the future be a better studio.

-

The Series That Most Left Me Wondering “Why Did I Waste My Time Finishing This?”

Winner:  Deadman Wonderland
Runner-up: Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi had the characters and story of a really generic fan-service series and the low level of fan-service that’s typically found in a “serious” anime. Watching it every week left me confused and wondering when it would decide to fully commit to being one type of series or the other. This series was topped by Deadman Wonderland, however. I should have seen the signs early that the creators wanted to make a “dark” anime – like what all the cool kids are doing now – but lacked the ability and talent to do so. I even remember getting a chuckle over how the creators wanted to vilify private prisons but thought nothing of the implications to how the story would unfold. I did learn, though, when Mirai Nikki started resorting to implausible, silly turns-of-events to advance the story and I quickly dropped it.

-

Best Series I Dropped

Winner:  Usagi Drop

Usagi Drop was, is, and will be on many lists as a top 10 anime for 2011. Not mines and that’s because I broke a personal rule I have about not checking out the source material before the end of an anime series. Objections to how it ends was just part of the reason for dropping it. The other part was watching a few more episodes after spoiling myself and seeing how the author clearly had the ending in mind when laying out the story and how she forced the characters into that path instead of allowing the characters to develop naturally and organically. Which is a shame, there was much to like about Usagi Drop.

-

And on that note, let’s end part 0 and tomorrow I’ll put up part 1, the character awards.

-

Top anime 2011 Awards Part 0: Introduction and Anti-Awards <- you are here
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and General Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 4: The Misfit Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

After focusing on the characters that populate the various anime in part one, this – the second part – focuses on the parts of the show that are built around the characters (for the most part). This division is one that I’ve come to value when assessing a series. For example, series like Maria+Holic Alive have a strong core of characters stuck in mediocre constructed show and series like Deadman Wonderland have the tools for a well-constructed series but lack the characters to make it work.

Like I said last time, there was a pretty broad slate of shows this season but there always seems like a few genres are missing each season. Which genres that are missing change with the seasons; this time there was a surprising lack of quality fan-service series (the absence of series from AIC this season probably has something to do with this). And other genres never seem to have enough qualifying series to warrant the inclusion of a category. This time that meant no awards for best slice-of-life and SF series.

Okay, that’s enough rambling; let’s get to this group of awards and don’t worry I will explain the above screenshot.

Best Action

Winner: Nichijou

Runner-up: Tiger and Bunny, X-Men

Action equals money spent on extra frames of animation and this season there was no action series that was given a large enough budget to do more than show flashes of action. That wasn’t to say that the season was without a consistly action-packed anime series; we had Nichijou – a comedy series. German suplexes, epic chase scenes, explosions, festival shooting galleries, sisterly kendo matches over sweets, mosquito swatting and human missiles were just some of the action packed scenes from Nichijou this season.

-

Best Fight

Winner: Ep.12 of Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

The best fight was, without a doubt, episode 12 of Enma-kun. Brains Base took an already crazy show, jacked it up a couple orders of magnitude and removed all the restraints. The result was truly epic.

-

Best Comedy

Winner: Nichijou

Runner-up: gg’s fansub of Hidan no Aria

The top image of this post is related to the runner-up for best comedy – the fansub group gg’s sub of Hidan no Aria. J.C. Staff has always been weak at improving a show when the source material is bad but this time it felt like they weren’t even trying to make Aria a better show. The result was a show that’s painful to watch and it’s here gg stepped in. The result provided almost as much laughs as Nichijou this season and Nichijou was positively bursting with laughs.

-

Most Entertaining

Winner:  Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Runner-up: Tiger and Bunny, Hyouge Mono, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Comedy is definitely a subset of Entertaining but often the most entertaining shows are ones that only provide sparse comedy. Enma-kun was consistently entertaining by always coming up with some off-the-wall idea and keeping the viewers guessing. It was also entertaining because it’s retro feel made it a unique experience. I’m not complaining about the overabundance of anime that follow modern anime stereotypes and tropes but a little variety is nice.

-

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Hyouge Mono

Runner-up: Steins;Gate, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

I fell in love with the Sengoku era of Japanese history after the completely over-the-top series Sengoku Basara turned out to be a pretty historical show so when the chance to watch another show set in the same time period came up I jumped on it. So far they’ve introduced an even wider cast of characters that couldn’t possibly exist but actually do and there’s been political intrigue, posturing and double-crosses all by the end of episode 5. Also in the mix is seeing how western influence is just starting to affect Japanese society which includes the viewers being introduced to a Christian warlord who’s destined to flee to the Philippines after Tokugawa clamps down on Christianity.

-

Best Plot

Winner: Steins;Gate

Runner-up: Hyouge Mono

So far Steins;Gate has felt like X-Files when it was in it’s prime and that’s a great thing to be like. Hopefully, as more of the plot gets revealed it doesn’t follow X-Files into the boring mediocrity that was the ending of X-Files.

-

Best Story

Winner: AnoHana

Runner-up: Tiger and Bunny

After creating a group of flawed, compelling characters the creators needed a good story to fully realize the potential of the characters and trying to fulfill the final wish of a young girl was just that sort of story. It’s not that complex or unique of a story but in the right hands it didn’t need to be. AnoHana had those hands in the name of Tatsuyuki Nagai and everything just came together.

-

Best Villain

Winner: Heaven from Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Runner-up: CERN from Steins;Gate

Heaven was featured in another anime, Yondemasu yo Azazel-san, this season and there it was merely presented in a very unflattering light but Enma-kun takes it a step further and turns them into the villain that our rag-tag group of heroes (4 demons and 1 human) must  stop before a global apocalypse occurs. It reminded me of the Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman classic Good Omens, a book I highly recommend. Having heaven show up as the villain provided a nice twist like how the demons in Panty and Stocking were the law-abiding rule following citizens.

-

Best Final Episode

Winner:  Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Runner-up: AnoHana, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

I didn’t think it possible that an anime could squeeze through with a better final episode then AnoHana but Enma-kun did it. I already mentioned a few reasons why this episode was so awesome earlier when it won best fight but there were so many other reasons. For instance, this episode actually tied-up many of the story threads that got introduced earlier in the series, giving this series a real sense of closure. There were several elements to C that prevented it from reaching it’s full potential but it was still able to cobble together a very interesting final episode and ending. It didn’t make total sense but it was at least interesting.

-

Best Ending

Winner:  AnoHana

Runner-up: Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Overall, though, AnoHana had the best ending and it goes back to how well the show was executed. The biggest thing that helped the show was that AnoHana didn’t attempt an overly complex story that couldn’t be finished satisfactorily in 11 episodes like several recent Noitamina series. *cough*Fractale*cough*C*cough

-

Most in Need of a Sequel

No one does a better night sky then Shaft/Shinbou

Winner:  Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Runner-up: Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

I’d definitely watch a sequel to either of these anime but in both of these cases there are other series I’d rather see first animated by their respective animation studios. Enma-kun comes from Brains Base and I’d really like to see a third season of Spice and Wolf first (now that Natsume’s Book of Friends is getting a sequel). Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko comes from Shaft and I’d like to see a third season of Arakawa Under the Bridge or a fourth season of Hidamari Sketch and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei first.

-

That’s it for part 2, the next part is the VMA awards.

-

Spring 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #8 – #5
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #4 – #1

Homura tilts her head at you!

The sheer number of shows I’ve decided to try this season – 29 – has had the unintended side effect of making it quite difficult to find the time to then blog about the anime I’m watching. A horrible problem, I know . To help rectify this problem, I’m going to temporarily stop watching new episodes and finish this two-part post which will function as my first impressions posts for all 29 shows and a means to call attention to good shows that might be falling through the cracks within such a huge field of anime to watch.

Before we get to those good shows, we first have to start at the very bottom with …

(29) – 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 2/12  F

This anime from the animation company Gathering was, on paper, a potentially interesting anime about helping romantically challenged men in finding their groove and scoring with the lady-folks but it turned out to be a complete failure by every measure. It even failed at trying to be such a train wreck that it was fun to watch. Stay away.

-

(28) – Sket Dance

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 2/12  F

At one point in the opening song the animators make a very understandable, yet unfortunate, simple English spelling mistake; when, instead of using “Sket”, use the word “Skat” in very big letters. If they were native English speakers, I’d imagine this slip was a Freudian slip because that  pretty much describes the quality of this show. It finishes only second to last because it did actually briefly amuse me once during the three episodes I watched.

-

(27) – Hen Zemi

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 3/12  D

The first of two bottom-dwelling series from Xebec this season follows the story of a shy, straight-laced college girl that somehow ends up in Abnormal Physiology Seminar where she’s exposed to a class full of students with very odd fetishes and kinks. Hilarity should ensue but it doesn’t. The presence of the voice actress Kana Hanazawa pushes this slightly above the other really bad anime of this season.

-

(26) – Sengoku Otome – Momoiro Paradox

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 3/12  D

By my count this is the third recent anime to be adapted from a line of pachinko games. The first, Umi Monogatari, and the second, Rio ~Rainbow Gate~, were pretty decent anime in their own ways so I wasn’t going to discount Sengoku Otome until I caught a few episodes. Now that I’ve seen a few episodes I can conclude this show is a complete waste of time. It’s primary problem is that it’s too timid. If your anime is supposed to be an ecchi comedy then throw everything out that’s not needed like “a story” and “character development” and focus on creating characters that are appealing to the eye and putting these characters into constantly new absurd situations. It worked for Rio ~Rainbow Gate~ and it could have worked here.

-

(25) – Hidan no Aria

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

Remember when J.C. Staff could be counted on to make at least decent anime? Quickly has that time started to fade into distant memory and Hidan no Aria does nothing to slow the decent of J.C. Staff into obscurity. Everything here is a poor facsimile of their past series like Shana with only about a quarter of the animation quality of those old shows.

-

(24) – Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

The complete lack of anime from AIC this season (probably because they’re working on the Sora no Otoshimono movie coming out this summer) has left a huge hole that no other animation house can seem to adequately plug. Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi takes a swing at being this season’s high production values/ecchi comedy that’s funny, entertaining and completely underestimated by the snooty anime fans but it strikes out. Don’t waste your time with this; I recommend sampling (or rewatching) recent AIC shows like Amagami SS, Asobi ni Iku yo!, Sora no Otoshimono, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai instead.

-

(23) – Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 4/12  C

The ADHD television channel changing motif worked for AMV Hell 3 but not Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai. One problem is the character designs are so generically similar that it’s easier to figure which lump of metal is which Transformer during a fight in the live action movies then it is to figure out who is who for this anime. Another problem is how generically similar each story line is to each other. I’ll repeat the same advice I gave for Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi and suggest checking out AIC’s vastly superior recent work like Amagami SS, Asobi ni Iku yo!, Sora no Otoshimono, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai instead.

-

(22) – Sofuteni

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

The second new anime from Xebec for this season and it manages to marginally do better then Hen Zemi but it still has a ways to go before it can aspire to be “watchable” anime. I won’t repeat for a third time my advice given above but it still stands for Sofuteni.

-

(21) – Astarotte no Omocha!

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

Ranking this high is actually a small victory for Astarotte no Omocha! because I was all set to give this my lowest rating based on the premise of the show – a young succubus living in a fantasy world turns 10 and is required to start her male harem but she happens to hate men. I wanted to be fair so I watched a few episodes and it appears that this anime will skew more towards heart-warming but it doesn’t skew enough to keep me watching.  There’s still the problem of fan-service I don’t want to see and cringe worthy aspects like the human male she ends up picking turning out to be 23 years old, who happens to have a 10-year-old daughter that he brings along when he agrees to live in the fantasy world with the succubus.

-

(20) – Dog Days

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 5/12  C+

Dog Days does just enough right to become the first title on this list that I’ve not dropped and plan on continuing to watch. Just barely though, it helps that Norio Wakimoto voices one of the side characters. I have to admit that the unique system used in the fantasy world of Dog Days that replaces traditional war actually is a really good idea – I wish a similar system could be implemented in real life.

-

(19) – Deadman Wonderland

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 5/12  C+

After a genuinely dark and well-thought-out anime like Puella Magi Madoka Magica the wannabes like Deadman Wonderland just seem so lacking. It’s case is not helped when I can’t take this show seriously but it wants me too. For example, I’m supposed to believe that in the future Japan decides that basic CSI and forensics work is not needed and no one notices that the explosion that killed those kids occurred outside of the school building. I’m willing to give it some slack with it’s story but if it doesn’t improve quickly (which includes reducing the number of glaringly large plot holes I have to accept) then I’ll be dropping this.

-

(18) – Ao no Exorcist

Rating for episodes 1 to 2 – 5/12  C+

The first of two anime series coming from A-1 Pictures, Ao no Exorcist also suffers a bit from coming right after Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Feeling despair after learning that you’re the son of Satan? Just imagine what it would feel like to be the son of Kyubey. It’s not all bad news, though, I actually think A-1 has done a better job then Manglobe has done with Deadman Wonderland so far and there is potential for this anime to become a pretty decent anime.

-

(17) – Seikon no Qwaser II

Rating for episodes 1 to 2 – 5/12  C+

I actually finished about half of the first season of Seikon no Qwaser before becoming bored with it. The highlight for me was Aya Hirano doing her best vocal work since she voiced Haruhi. Since the plot isn’t that important for this show, I figured that I could start watching the second season without finishing the first and by-n-large I was able to drop right back into the show. I missed the explanation why our male main character has to cross-dress as a busty girl to attend an all-girls school when there’s several female characters that could go undercover but, like I said, the plot isn’t important and I can just roll with this plot development. This turn of events has created a situation where the guy is on the receiving end of some of the same discomforts that he’s perpetrated on the female characters up to this point and it’s actually pretty interesting.

-

(16) – C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 5/12  C+

This is another anime that feels like there’s a potential for it to become a pretty decent anime; but, so far, I’ve only been mildly impressed by it. I’d have even more faith that it’ll end up being a good anime since it’s running in the noitaminA block but Fractale’s extremely poor performance last season is still a little too fresh in my mind.

-

That’s it for part 1 of the spring 2011 anime season impression countdown. Based on which shows I’ve already covered I wonder if anyone can guess my top 5 shows . Part 2 should be up in a day or so, that is, if this incessant rain doesn’t wash me away first.

Alright, so we’re pretty much on the eve of the start of the Spring 2011 season, which means it’s time for our previews. Below, you’ll read what each of the 4 of us think of the many many shows that are coming up. It seems that noitaminA is creating great anticipation again with its financial thriller [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, and the much hyped urban fantasy/scifi thriller Steins;Gate has caught our attention. We fork in our interests quite a bit from there, which is expected given the huge number of shows next season, but studio Shaft’s works seem to be on all our radars, a sign of the respect it’s earned over the past 2 years.

Rakuen

I would like to start by saying there is entirely too much anime airing this season. This is both good and bad. On the positive side, with at least 48 series listed on the latest guide I found, there’s a little something for everyone. If you can’t find a show you’re remotely interested in here, anime might not be your thing. On the negative side, it also makes it very difficult for me to watch everything I want to see. Right now, I have 15 series on my list. I am a little enthusiastic about 7 of them, while I’m definitely ready to try out the remaining 8. I expect to see this number dwindle rapidly. 7.5 hours of anime viewing per week is almost impossible to keep up to date, let alone remembering all the characters, plots and so on. Enough of my kvetching. I should get into the meat of my little segment.

I decided to order my lists by airing date, starting with the series I have a little interest in watching. Dog Days occupies the earliest spot on the list. I expect this to quickly devolve into harem territory, but I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for the summoned hero bit. Next up is the new season of Kaiji. The titular character participates in a gambling event where the stakes are his life. Joojoobees piqued my interest in his post about the first season, but I haven’t gotten to it. So, this go on the Want to Watch list by default. Then, we have Hidan no Aria, which gets a first episode watch based solely on adorable girls with lethal weapons.

A Channel seems to be going with a typical four-girl band for a school comedy, but it is a school comedy, so I’ll give it a shot. The little one, Tooru, also has a baseball bat that shows up all over the promo art… so it could be interesting. Next, we have Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, or in shorter terms, a new Shaft show. I loved Soredemo, but didn’t like Arakawa. This seems to lean more towards the latter, what with the main girl insisting she’s an alien. Ao no Exorcist continues the “son of Satan will fight his fate” trend. I wonder if this theme comes up because many people have a desire to fight their own fates. What better example is there than the son of evil trying to do good? Finally, The World God Only Knows rounds out this portion of the list. I went back to finish the first season, which means the series did hold some interest for me. I just don’t know if it can do it for another 12 episodes.

The rest of my list comprises of shows I have stronger interest in, and Moshidora has the “earliest” airdate. Giant Killing got me into sports anime, and Big Windup has continued to strengthen my view of the genre. Like Big Windup, we have a female manager trying to lead a baseball club to victory. However, its airdate has been postponed, so it might have to wait for a later season. KyoAni’s Nichijou also airs this season, but I didn’t even realize they animated it until I started writing this. The synopsis itself got me hooked. A principal might wrestle a deer? This is a school comedy I’ve got to see! Hana-Saku Iroha kind of reminds me of Love Hina with the hot springs centric plot, but that’s where the similarities end. It looks like it completely lacks the male lead, meaning no harem, and the plot sounds more focused on drama. I think both of those aspects are Good Things. Showa Monogatari adds another drama to my list with its family orientation and historical setting. This is a more tentative entry on my list, but the Olympic setting piqued my interest.

Now we’re to two of my most anticipated shows. First, STEINS;GATE, which just looks phenomenally awesome in both the artwork and the synopsis. It has the whole time-travel thing, as well as the struggle for survival with the SERN organization on their tails. I get a little Persona vibe from it too, but it might only be me. Sket Dance is yet another school series, but this one stood out from the pack. The premise reminds me of Haruhi, except with less aliens, time travelers, and espers. Unlike the rest, this has the best chance of a strong overarching plot, which I’m really hoping happens. If someone who’s read the manga could confirm it, it’d be much appreciated. Returning to the outlier series on my list, there’s C, plus its long title. It’s got an economically crapsack Japan and a main character who gets sucked into the shuffle. Sounds interesting, and with its noitaminA slot, I’ve got hopes for it. Last, but not least, is Deadman Wonderland. The fight for survival premise fittingly relates to the old Coliseum. It could have a bit too much violence for my tastes, but want to give it a good shot.

Looking back at my list, there’s plenty of comedy, action, and drama with a variety of premises. This could very well be my most anticipated season since I first got into currently airing shows. I hope school and work don’t kick my ass too hard, so I can have the time to watch all these shows.

Top 3: Steins;Gate, Sket Dance, C

lvlln

There sure are a lot of shows coming out next season, but somehow the only ones I’m looking forward to are the sequels: The World God Only Knows, Maria+Holic Alive, and the Kampfer specials.

Just kidding; besides those 3, We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day (AnoHana) on noitaminA’s block sounds like it has potential, simply for being a real-life drama on noitaminA. Oh, and it also contains a character type that’s near and dear to the hearts of everyone here on this site, a hikikomori. Then again, noitaminA has been really hit or miss lately, with the trainwreck that is Fractale and the hugely disappointing Kuragehime, even if AIC’s Wandering Son is absolutely knocking it out of the park this season. AnoHana is being made by A-1 Pictures, which is responsible for some pretty poor shows such as Kannagi and last year’s Anime no Chikara duo Sora no Woto and Occult Academy, so I’m very prepared to be disappointed. Still, the director has A Certain Scientific Railgun on his resume, and that didn’t suck too much, and I’ve heard his Toradora! did drama well.

Besides that, only 2 other non-sequels have caught my eye: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko and Steins;Gate. Denpa Onna because it’s Shaft, even if it sounds just like another version of Arakawa Under the Bridge, which turned out… alright. Steins;Gate because I’ve read some other people really excited about it. Plus, I like modern-day scifi stories.

But really, the sequels are what I’m looking forward to.

The World God Only Knows was a surprisingly entertaining show for which didn’t have a bit of faith in going in. But Keima’s cynical, almost nihilistic personality combined with his occasional outbursts made for good comedy. A show that was as meta as that could have been a lot more meaningful, sure, but it was a fine source of dumb laughs. The 1st season ended on a planned cliffhanger, and though I doubt the pickle Keima got into will last more than an episode, I look forward to seeing how he will continue to add to his transient harem.

What I liked about Maria+Holic was Asami Sanada‘s Kanako, the perverted lesbian man hating protagonist. Her smooth, soft voice is unique, and seeing her character constantly abused somehow didn’t get old. Didn’t hurt that it was Yuu Kobayashi as Maria doing the abusing. She plays male characters well, and she does crazy well, too. Then there’s Marina Inoue as Matsurika. I like to think of it as a gay Stalker-tan being forced to live with an abusive Kaere and her snarky maid Symmetrical-tan. What more whacky antics will these 3 and the rest of the cast get into?

And bottom of the sequel list is Kampfer. Now here’s a show that was pure guilty pleasure. Looking for things like action, plot, character development, or meaningful relationships was a fruitless endeavor. I just loved seeing Natsuru and his/her thick head be dragged around by his psychotic harem. And this show’s cast is pretty much a who’s who list of female voice actors right now. I wish they’d do a 2nd season instead of just a couple episodes, but I suppose they’ll do.

Top 3: The World God Only Knows, Maria+Holic Alive, We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day

Raphael

Pleasantly, there’s a good bit of original anime in this crop. Tiger & Bunny is among them and has received more press for the large amount of product placement it’ll employ than for the fact that Sunrise is doing a superhero show. I’m hoping it will be fun and won’t drag. Another of these original shows is Dog Days by the team behind Nanoha. The setting and premise don’t appeal to me, but I may well give it a whirl; it’ll probably at least look nice. The most promising of this lot in my eyes is C. Strong staff, very interesting premise, noitaminA. Unfortunately, the trailer didn’t meet my expectations, with the wonderful character designs not translating as well as I’d hoped and the animation looking a tad under par. It’s still the season’s series I’m most eagerly awaiting. The last two original anime, Hana-saku Iroha (which, judging by trailers, will look stunning) and AnoHana seem to fall squarely into the slice of life/drama genre zone. They also have the same head writer in Mari Okada. Both could be enjoyable if done well, but I feel like both could also try my patience, especially given that Hana-saku Iroha is reportedly 26 episodes. I’ll give them a go.

Moving onto the adaptations, we have manga-based slice-of-life comedies in A Channel and Nichijou. I’ve read the source of the former, and I was expecting to discard it quickly… but I found myself really enjoying it. It’s nothing new, but the humor has a slightly mean bent and I got several good laughs out of it. I’m curious to see how it translates to anime, as there’s a fairly new studio on board but also the director and series composition guy who did Saki. The latter is Kyoto Animation’s spring offering and, like Hana-saku Iroha, is supposedly two-cour. I found the prequel OVA nowhere near as funny as I do A Channel’s manga, but I definitely felt it had charm to it. I’ll give both of these series a try. Other comedies include Xebec’s entries Hen Zemi and Softenni. I’ll be watching Hen Zemi because I liked its OVA for its disgusting humor, but I do wonder if things will get cleaned up for TV. In addition, the OVA’s director will not be returning for the series; instead he’s been replaced by the director who did Rio – Rainbow Gate! and To Love-Ru. Meanwhile, the man behind the OVA will be working on Softenni, which I get big Saki vibes from. I’m also a massive tennis fan, so – though I’m sure I’ll feel silly for thinking there might be actual tennis-playing involved – while I really, really doubt I’ll enjoy it anywhere near as much as Saki, I’ll give it a shot. Hopefully I won’t want to be shot because of it/need several shots of something to get through it. (Punning is hard, give me a break (ha!).) Shaft will also have two comedies airing: the sequel to Maria+Holic, and the bizarre enough for me to check out Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko.

To the action/adventure side of things, Steins;Gate stands out as having potential to be very entertaining and entertainingly technobabble-filled. Premise sounds great, art looks great, and Jukki Hanada is at the writing helm. Really looking forward to this. We also have Ao no Exorcist, Deadman Wonderland, and Hidan no Aria. The first has good buzz and the director of Darker than Black going for it, and it could be interesting. As for the latter two, I’m up to date with what’s been translated of the manga of both. Deadman Wonderland is packed full of gore, action, good characters, and plot twists, and I love it. I’m unsure whether it’ll get the treatment it deserves, though, as Manglobe will be dividing its efforts between it and the second season of The World God Only Knows. But I’m hoping for the best. Hidan no Aria has been less fun for me to get through. I would’ve dropped it very quickly (for its mix of mostly-loli fanservice, poor art, and storm of cliches) if I hadn’t found the concept of a school for armed detectives so enticing. I plan to be watching the anime too, even though Rie Kugimiya as yet another flat-chested tsundere should’ve deterred me, and – despite my grumbling – I’m sure I’ll have some fun. Interestingly, this (along with Gosick) will make two shows airing simultaneously that focus on a foreign-loli-Holmes/Japanese-high-school-boy-Watson duo.

As for the rest? Moshidora‘s unusual premise has piqued my interest, and I plan to check it out; Hyouge Mono, Toriko, Sket Dance, and Showa Monogatari don’t appeal to me; OreTsuba (We Don’t Have Wings) and HoshiKaka (A Bridge to the Starry Skies) look very similar and similarly uninteresting; and Astarotte no Omocha! does not exist. And finally, though I’m almost certain I’ll be unable to get through an episode, I feel obligated to check out Sekaiichi Hatsukoi because BL anime adaptations are just so rare.

Top 3: C, Steins;Gate, Deadman Wonderland

CPAnime

Despite the overwhelming amount of new anime coming out, it feels like most of the stuff out there is either for teens or a generic (adult) drama. Thankfully, there are enough shows out there that choosing which anime I will be watching will still be a difficult task. The following are a few of the anime that I have the most interest in for varying reasons.

It has been about two years since I started watching anime on a season by season basis, and one of the first shows I watched in this way was Maria+Holic. So, with the benefit of two years of full time anime watching experience, it will be interesting for me to see if I find Alive anywhere as interesting as the original was in 2009. Sometimes I wonder if the only reason I tuned in on a week to week basis was to see the OP and ED, so it will be interesting to see if my tastes have changed, or if this show is actually as awesome as I remembered.

I am also pretty interested in the other Shaft show, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, but mainly because I don’t know anything about it. Shaft has built up some serious street cred over the past few months with Madoka Magica, but there is also the possibility that this could turn into an Arakawa under the Bridge 2 situation, especially given the synopsis. Another thing that worries me is that Shaft is doing two shows this season, and seeing as how they can barely manage one most of the time, I think the quality is inevitably going to suffer. Still, girls with mysterious pasts are kind of one my things, so I’ll be checking this one out for sure.

C is another interesting show for me, but for some different reasons. It reminds me a lot of Madoka in that there is a contract being made, though I doubt that the main character will be naive as some of the characters in Madoka, as the show doesn’t seem to be hiding its cards. From the previews I’ve read up to this point, it seems like the show might have a difficult time with its first few episodes as there looks to be a lot going on. Hopefully, a deeper understanding of economics or business won’t be needed for this show, as that could turn off some viewers. Personally, I have confidence that this shouldn’t be a problem as it is part of the noitaminA time slot, but even that is no longer a guarantee.

Staying on the business end of things, the one show I am looking forward to the most this season is Moshidora. While its broadcast schedule kind of seems up in the air, I’m looking forward to watching this during the baseball season. Since I’m a business student and a baseball fan, this show is kind of a no brainer for me, and I can potentially see myself blogging this. Still, I do have my doubts as to whether this will work, despite its popularity in Japan. Mainly, I am concerned that the translation of the material into an anime will fail to jump off the page, if you will, and just become another boring class lesson, though I doubt it.

Finally, the one show that will undoubtedly be my guilty pleasure is Hen Zemi. I recently watched the first episode of the OVA and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The only real criticism I could levy against it, besides the obvious, was that it took too long to get to its punch lines. I am a bit concerned that the TV broadcast will be impeded by those god forsaken censors (Kiss X Sis‘s OVAs, for example, were and are infinitely better than the censored TV broadcast), but as long as the staff is witty enough, it can probably work around this. Though, it is XEBEC. So… that could be good or bad, depending on your preferences (btw, where is my LxB sequel?).

Top 3: C, Moshidora, A Channel

And that about wraps it up. Which of the dozens and dozens of shows are you looking forward to this spring?