Winter 2009 anime season

[blkmage]

ITT I make another thread for the upcoming season in which I attempt to induce some discussion about our impressions of the shows that will start airing and which ones we will be interested in and will hopefully continue to serve us throughout the season as we come back and talk about how the shows compare to our impressions when the new season actually begins.

So, here is a lovely chart of all the stuff that we will be seeing in winter:
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/1328/winterseason0809chartv2ux6.jpg

It looks like there are tons of sequels: Marimite, Druaga, Minami-ke, Natsume Yuujinchou, Slayers, Shikabane Hime, Birdy the Mighty, Afro Samurai. There are also some remakes you might be interested in: Mazinger, Hajime no Ippo.

For myself, I have the following TV series:

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, the second season of Natsume Yuujinchou. I watched the first season during the summer and it was decent. It's pretty episodic and some episodes can be fairly emotional.

Minami-ke Okaeri, the third season of Minami-ke. I loved the first season of Minami-ke. It's one of my favourites, comparable to Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh. Unfortunately, the second season is really disappointing. It was done by a different studio, which is also doing the third season. I'm holding out, hoping that they learned their lesson and this will become excellent again.

Kurokami. It's based on a manga, which I hear is fairly violent. But, the main character is not in high school and is a game programmer. Here's to hoping that he saves everyone with regular expressions.

Hetalia Axis Powers. Based on a webcomic, I think. Basically, all the countries that took part in WW1 and WW2 are represented as boys and their personalities are based on national stereotypes. This will either be immensely hilarious or absolutely terrible.

The Tower of Druaga ~the Sword of Uruk~, which is the second season of The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of Uruk~. The first season was underwhelming. The only reason that I'm even considering this is because the first season was left unfinished.

Genji Monogatari Senneki. I don't really know much about this, but it's taking the noitaminA slot, which has featured some anime that you may have heard of, like Honey and Clover, Moyashimon, Toshokan Sensou, and Nodame Cantabile.

And for OVAs, there's:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei. I recently finished Higurashi and Higurashi Kai and think that they are awesome and have some of the best storytelling in an anime that I've ever seen. I eagerly await more Higurashi, as well as the new TV series based on their new game, Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Despair and references to other anime continues with trippy animation sequences. RUMBA RUMBA RUMBA RUMBA RUMBA.

Essentially, nothing stunning this season. I'll be kept well entertained with whatever's carrying over from this fall. I guess whatever I pick up from winter will just serve as a replacement for whatever's finishing by January.

[minakichan]

AAAH I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS oh noes.

Hmm, a lot of sequels this season... to stuff I haven't seen yet. YOUR CHART IS AMAZING.

Might check out Genji Monogatari, since that WAS the first novel ever written, right? Worth a shot.

MARIA+HOLIC piqued my interest-- I'm not usually into yuri, but it sounded silly and funny to me (AKA I love crossdressing stories), so I'll sample it and see how that goes.

Hetalia Axis Powers: I DON'T CARE IF THIS IS BISHOUNEN BAIT, I'VE WANTED TO SEE THIS FOR A LONG TIME. It sounds HYSTERICALLL and I say that bishounen anthropomorphism is better than bishoujo anthropomorphism.

Also: Akikan! scares the pants off of me.

Not many amazing titles, but it IS a winter season =/

[Fish and Chips]

Axis Powers Hetalia.

I think that covers everything.

My backburner this year is huge. This isn't a problem, since that's how I weed out weaker shows, but this does mean I'm several months behind everyone. I might jump on Kemono No Soja Erin earlier though, if it's actually drawn and animated like that.

[Elycien]

Hetalia!!! <333 I'm looking forward to this so much. xDDD I read the webcomic recently and it's hilarious, but the side-stories did have some scatterings of shonen-ai and crude humor that I didn't care for. Apparently they pretty much cut that out of the manga adaption, though, so there's a good chance that the anime won't have it. x3 Equal Opportunity Moe for the win

[MasterDias]

I'll be watching Birdy the Mighy Decode: D. I enjoyed the first series/season quite a bit. Probably also be checking out Kurokami and Kemeno no Soja Erin. I'll take it from there.

Also: Akikan! scares the pants off of me.

I admit I laughed at that summary. It strikes me as one of the silliest and most hilariously absurd ideas ever.

[blkmage]

I was looking at the cast for Hetalia and there was one that stuck out in particular:

Katsuyuki Konishi as America

Also, I am highly disappointed that Canada appears to be absent from this anime, or at least the cast list so far.

[minakichan]

but the side-stories did have some scatterings of shonen-ai

orz.

France and Germany is TOTALLY my OTP. It's a steamy hot love-hate relationship-- Germany's totally the seme, so France feels conflicted and has trouble admitting that he really enjoys the invasion and occupation.

REALLY hope this isn't in the anime. MY HEAD HURTS FROM THE HEADDESKING.

[Midou]

miname ke looks interesting. Im to busy with ongoing stuff like tales of the abyss (and old stuff..I have 250gb of anime to get through) to get interested in new stuff. `oh wait do i see afro samurai 2?

[blkmage]

Interesting Kurokami news follows. First of all, there's a promo video on the site somewhere, but I can't seem to watch it because it requires IE and I have no Windows computers anywhere. But more interesting is this:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-12-14/bandai-entertainment-gets-kurokami-anime

Kurokami will be broadcast simultaneously in Japan, Korea, and the US. The broadcast versions are dubs. Unfortunately, it seems to be airing on some channel that I've never heard of with a bad website, and it does nothing for me, since I'm in Canada.

However, what does this mean? It means that it is physically possible for simultaneous broadcasts to take place. They were even able to dub the entire thing. This means that, provided the GONZO-Crunchyroll or Hulu/Joost models provide enough revenue, it is viable to offer subbed simultaneous broadcasts through Internet streaming and the excuses for not doing so are evaporating quickly.

[minakichan]

However, what does this mean? It means that it is physically possible for simultaneous broadcasts to take place. They were even able to dub the entire thing.

In other words, Funimation is a big stanking liar.

[Roy Mustang]

Kurokami will be broadcast simultaneously in Japan, Korea, and the US. The broadcast versions are dubs. Unfortunately, it seems to be airing on some channel that I've never heard of with a bad website, and it does nothing for me, since I'm in Canada.

However, what does this mean? It means that it is physically possible for simultaneous broadcasts to take place. They were even able to dub the entire thing. This means that, provided the GONZO-Crunchyroll or Hulu/Joost models provide enough revenue, it is viable to offer subbed simultaneous broadcasts through Internet streaming and the excuses for not doing so are evaporating quickly.

Yep, we have been talking about this in the Anime license deals for North America thread as about Kurokami and it airing on TV.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[blkmage]

So according to http://www.munto.com , Sora o Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai (空を見上げる少女の瞳に映る世界, The World Reflected in the Eyes of a Girl Looking Up at the Sky) is going to be airing in winter and not spring like everyone originally thought.

This is the TV version of Munto, an original OVA that Kyoto Animation did in 2003 and 2005. This is significant for a number of reasons. First of all, this is KyoAni's first original TV anime. So far, everything they've been doing has been an adaptation. Second of all, this will be the first time KyoAni has two shows airing at once, the other being the latter half of CLANNAD After Story, which started airing this fall. Third, this frees up spring for KyoAni to release something bigger than a Munto TV series.

[blkmage]

So Comiket 75 is happening right now, which means a bunch of trailers for upcoming anime in 2009:

http://www.moetron.com/2008/12/28/c75-trailers-higurashi-rei-pandora-hearts-maria-holic-queens-blade-more/

Maria Holic looks interesting because of the SHAFT-iness and based on the animation, Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai looks pretty cool. Other than that, I'm happy that it looks like Umineko no Naku Koro ni is going to be airing next year.

[initialdfreak]

/me shows his hatred for all shojo-ai and shounen-ai. not right, so weird.... There should be more aumanga/yotsuba-ish shows. GITS Season 3 anyone?

[blkmage]

So, how's everyone enjoying the new season so far? I decided to take a look at the Maria+Holic pre-airing preview since it's SHAFT and, well, it's very SHAFT. Other than that, I found the trap more hilarious than I thought I would. Anyhow, I'd love to see the OP for this one.

Normal airing shows I intend to watch are the new Natsume Yuujinchou and Minami-ke. Natsume Yuujinchou is more of the same, which is excellent for an episodic series. The interaction between Natsume and Nyanko are even better now that they start out having been developed.

As for Minami-ke, it looks like the studio took note of the criticisms of Okawari. The direction and writing are definitely closer to the first season, which is promising. What's not so great is the noticeable drop in animation quality.

Anyone watch the preview for Kurokami or the first episode of White Album or Druaga? I'm still undecided about those ones and I want to see what you all think about them.

[MasterDias]

Anyone watch the preview for Kurokami or the first episode of White Album or Druaga? I'm still undecided about those ones and I want to see what you all think about them.

Kurokami had a spectacular fight scene, high production values and a catchy opening. It has an interesting premise, although not one that completely grabbed me. But it was surprisingly brutal at points.
Otherwise, it looks like it will probably be worth looking into. I am fairly biased towards action shows however.

[blkmage]

Kurokami was kind of boring except for the intensely violent parts. Right now, I think that is the only thing that is keeping me from just dropping it. The premise was kind of meh to me, although I guess presenting it via infodump isn't the best way to grab the audience.

RideBack on the other hand was really cool. That CG had me worried until I saw it in action, and combined with the main character, it was pretty neat. There still isn't much about the overall story though. I'll be watching this one.