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Summer 2009 TV Anime - SimsHsia - Sun May 17 2009

With the spring anime season halfway through, here's yet another list of what's coming in less than two months time. Make note that there are several from this Spring season that's continuing on as July comes, and as such will not be listed here.
I have to admit that this Spring season has been quite good, however this summer seems a bit more lacking than this Winter's series lineup.

There's some slight modifications with this list now, instead of in alphabetical order it is now in order by airing dates, as well as what studio is producing it (and its previous works) and other such relevant information. Kids shows have been excluded (i.e. Element Hunters and Ukkari Penelope).

List may be finalized. Last update: June 7th, 2009.
Update history: May 17th, May 24th, May 25th, May 29th, June 1st, June 2nd, June 7th

Summer 2009 Lineup (18 total [1 tentative]):

Umi Monogatari ~ Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto ~ / Sea Story ~ Fantasy
Airing/Length: June 24th / 12 episodes
Studio: ZEXCS (Da Capo, Chrome Shelled Regios)
Notable Seiyuus: Asumi Kana (Hidamari Sketch), Kotobuki Minako (K-ON!), Horie Yui (Toradora!, Kanon, School Rumble)
Marin and her sister Urin live in the sea until one day they see a ring on the sea floor and come out on to land to meet a girl Kanon, the owner of the ring. Kanon doesn't want the ring anymore because she recently broke up with her boyfriend. When Marin goes back to retrieve the ring she accidentally breaks a seal on the sea floor.

Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!
Airing/Length: June 25th / ?? episodes
Studio: Studio Hibari (Major 1st-4th Seasons, Isshoni Training OAV)
Notable Seiyuus: Fukuhara Kaori (Lucky Star), Takagaki Ayahi (Chrome Shelled Regios, Da Capo II, true tears, Special A), Miyazaki Ui (ChäoS;HEAd, Da Capo Second Season), Yahagi Sayuri (Shugo Chara!, To-Love-Ru)
Plug, an unusual girl from a parallel world, is a "juuden-chan" capable of recharging people down on their luck.

Sims: This one still is technically airing in the spring season, but this time it has a confirmed air date in June. Animated by the studio that brought you Isshoni Training OAV /facepalm

Umineko no Naku Koro ni / The Moment When the Seagulls Cry / When the Seagulls Cry ~ Horror/Mystery/Psychological
Airing/Length: July 1st / ?? episodes
Studio: Studio DEEN (Fate/stay night, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series)
Notable Seiyuus: Inoue Marina (Minami-ke, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), Ono Daisuke (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Horie Yui, Kugimiya Rie (Toradora!, Shakugan no Shana, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gintama)
Taking place between October 4th and 5th in the year 1986 on a secluded island named Rekkenjima (translates to "six/sixth island"), the head of a wealthy family named Ushiromiya Kinzo owns the entire island. He's near death and each of his eight family members, as well as three additional members living on the island, arrive to his residence to discuss how his assets will be divided upon his death. After they arrive, a typhoon traps them on the island and residents on the island are mysteriously murdered...

Sims: From the maker of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, I thought the title of this series seemed familiar. Piece of advice: if you don't want to be spoiled, try avoiding any threads about it. Yes, I totally put red in the title on purpose.

Aoi Hana / Blue Flower ~ Romance/Slice of Life
Airing/Length: July 1st / ?? episodes
Studio: J.C. Staff (Toradora!, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Shakugan no Shana, Nodame Cantabile)
Notable Seiyuus: Horie Yui
Fumi begins her first year at Matsuoka Girls' High School heartbroken from a previous relationship, but is reacquainted with an old friend from 10 years ago, Akira, who is also starting her first year. During their reunion, they deal with their own romantic problems and support each other to get past them.

NEEDLESS ~ Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi
Airing/Length: July 2nd / ?? episodes
Studio: Madhouse Studios (Death Note, Black Lagoon, Akagi, X series)
Notable Seiyuus: Katou Emiri (Lucky Star), Endo Aya (Macross Frontier, Lucky Star), Kitamura Eri (Toradora!, Minami-ke), Touchi Hiroki (Trinity Blood), Taniyama Kisho (Midori no Hibi), Makino Yui (Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE series)
In a time after the third world war, "Blackspots" form across large regions all over Japan and large walls are constructed to quarantine these areas. Among the survivors in these "Blackspots" they are labeled as "those who are unneeded" and thus began those who possessed abilities: fire, wind, brute strength, etc. Because of these abilities, those fearful of their powers expelled them from society and identified them as "Needless".

Taisho Yakyuu Musume. / Taisho-era Baseball Girls. ~ Sports
Airing/Length: July 2nd / ?? episodes
Studio: J.C. Staff
Notable Seiyuus: Noto Mamiko (Clannad, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, School Rumble), Nakahara Mai (Clannad, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series, Midori no Hibi), Ueda Kana (Shigofumi)
Taking place in 1925, two 14-year old high school girls, Koume and Shoko Akiko, decide to start a baseball team. The two have to figure out how to find nine players, how to use the equipment, and what the rules of the game are.

Hetalia Axis Powers Second Season ~ Comedy/Historical
Airing/Length: July 3rd / 26 episodes
Studio: Studio DEEN
Notable Seiyuus: Namikawa Daisuke (Black Lagoon, Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE series), Takahashi Hiroki (School Rumble, Yu-Gi-Oh!)
Continuation of the Hetalia series, more comedy shorts about WWII.

Bakemonogatari ~ Fantasy
Airing/Length: July 3rd / ?? episodes
Studio: SHAFT (ef series, Hidamari Sketch, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
Notable Seiyuus: Kamiya Hiroshi (Honey and Clover series, Natsume Yuujinchou series, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 series), Katou Emiri, Horie Yui, Sawashiro Miyuki (Kannagi, Rozen Maiden), Hanazawa Kana (Kannagi, Asu no Yuichi), Saito Chiwa (Aria series)
Title is a word play consisting of bakemono meaning supernatural creatures and monogatari meaning stories. Senjogahara Hitagi falls into lap of a high school boy, Araragi Koymi, only to discover that she is weightless.

ELEMENTHUNTERS / Element Hunters ~ Sci-Fi
Airing/Length: July 4th / ?? episodes
Studio: NHK, HeeWon (Beyblade)
Notable Seiyuus: Kuwashima Houko (Azumanga Daioh, Clannad, Bamboo Blade), Kobayashi Sanae (Elfen Lied)
The year is 2029 and vital chemicals such as oxygen, carbon, gold, molybdenite, and cobalt mysteriously disappear from the Earth's crust. The end result is a sunken Mediterranean Sea three kilometers wide, forests dying, and life on the planet slowly begins to fade away. Sixty years later, the human population has been reduced by 10%, but, after tireless research, it is discovered that the disappearing elements went to another Earth in a different dimension. A team, consisting of teenagers and children under the age of 14, known as the Element Hunters embark on an endeavor to investigate and bring back these vital elements from this world.

Sims: Originally planned not to include it in the list, but after watching the first two episodes of Basquash! this might actually be worth a shot. I expect there will be tons of chemical element edutainment in this one, though. Yay, learning! Tongue

CANAAN ~ Adventure/Drama
Airing/Length: July 4th / 13 episodes
Studio: P.A. Works (true tears)
Notable Seiyuus: Sawashiro Miyuki, Tanaka Rie (Hayate no Gotoku series, Azumanga Daioh), Sakamoto Maaya (Ouran High School Host Club)
Based from a visual novel game for the Nintendo Wii about a detective, a young man, a virus researcher, a freelance writer, and a cat mascot character brought together by bizarre events occurring in Shibuya.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei / Repent: Goodbye Mr. Despair ~ Comedy/Parody
Airing/Length: July 4th / ?? episodes
Studio: SHAFT
Notable Seiyuus: Sawashiro Miyuki, Kamiya Hiroshi (Honey and Clover, Natsume Yuujin-Cho series), Goto Yuko (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Shuffle), Kobayashi Yuu (Maria Holic, Minami-ke), Inoue Marina, Nonaka Ai (Clannad, Negima!)
Third season for the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series, this season for the third time will leave you in despair! Nozomu Itoshiki, perhaps the most negative person in the world, teaches a high school class who often shouts "I'm in despair!" and attempts suicide several times. When his name is written horizontally, it turns out to be zetsubou or "despair".

Sims: ZETSUBOUSHITA!

Cobra the Animation: Rokunin no Yuushi / Cobra the Animation: The Six Heroes ~ Action/Sci-Fi
Airing/Length: July 4th / 13 episodes
Studio: Magic Bus (Cobra the Animation: The Psycho-Gun OVA)
Notable Seiyuus: Sakakibara Yoshiko (Various Gundam series)
Cobra, a well known space pirate, decides to change his face and clear all of his memories. He lives out a normal life but soon begins to remember old memories and sets forth to begin new adventures.

Sims: This is the second TV series for the Cobra series, the first one debuting back in early 1980's and is most likely a sequel.

Cobra the Animation has been striked from the list, the official website states that they have postponed production of this series until 2010.

Princess Lover! ~ Comedy/Harem
Airing/Length: July 5th / ?? episodes
Studio: GoHands
Notable Seiyuus: Wakamoto Nori (Code Geass, Hayate no Gotoku series), Shiraishi Minoru (Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Toyoguchi Megumi (Black Lagoon series, Burst Angel, Fullmetal Alchemist), Katou Emiri
Arima Teppei loses both of his parents but his grandfather holds influence in Japan's economy and demands that Teppei become his successor.

Sims: With Wakamoto Nori in this series, it can either mean he has some tie with the main character (friend) or a villian; or maybe both. Whatever, his voice is awesome! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!

Kanamemo ~ Comedy/Slice of Life
Airing/Length: July 5th / ?? episodes
Studio: feel (D.C. ~Da Capo~ TV series, Shikabane Hime TV series)
Notable Seiyuus: Toyosaki Aki (K-ON!, Akikan!), Horie Yui, Kitamura Eri, Endo Aya, Kugimiya Rie, Mizuhara Kaoru (Ga-Rei -Zero-), Hirohashi Ryou (Clannad, kimi-kiss, Bamboo Blade)
Based from a four-panel manga of the same name. Nakamachi Kana is a junior high schooler recently lost her last family tie when her grandmother passes away. She is employed as a newspaper carrier and lives within her office. She discovers that there's a hole in her room and from the other side her beautiful, yet charming, female co-workers come through and thus begins their wild adventures.

Sims: All that's missing from the cast is Noto Mamiko.

GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class ~ Slice of Life
Airing/Length: July 6th / ?? episodes
Studio: AIC (Seto no Hanayome, Special A)
Notable Seiyuus: Sawashiro Miyuki, Nazuka Karoi (Code Geass), Tomatsu Haruka, Horie Yui
Revovles around five freshmen girls in a high school art class.

Sora no Manimani / At the Mercy of the Sky ~ Comedy/Romance/Slice of Life
Airing/Length: July 7th / ?? episodes
Studio: Studio Comet (School Rumble)
Notable Seiyuus: Hayami Saori (Higashi no Eden), Koshimizu Ami (Code Geass series), Tomatsu Haruka (Kannagi)
Saku returns to his hometown after seven years and is soon reacquainted with his childhood friend, Mihosi, who has founded an astronomy club at their school. Their reunion is far from merry when the last memory they had together is her falling off a tree and him saving her, but Mihosi is determine to fix things up and brings Saku to join her in the astronomy club.

Spice and Wolf II ~ Adventure/Fantasy/Romance
Airing/Length: July 9th / ?? episodes
Studio: Brains Base (Kure-nai, Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, Akikan)
Notable Seiyuus: Koshimizu Ami, Fukuyama Jun (Code Geass, xxxHOLiC)
The series focuses on how business and religion is done in the medieval world as both Lawrence, a peddler, and Horo (or Holo), a wolf girl, continue their adventure traveling to each town contracting business and returning Horo to her hometown.

Sims: More macro-economics, FTW! An OVA, released a few weeks ago, reintroduces the characters and plot. BTW, the studio producing this is different than the first season. Just a heads up.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 ~ Drama
Airing/Length: July 9th / ?? episodes
Studio: Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist series, Cowboy Bepop the Movie, RahXephon), Kinema Citrus (Higepiyo)
Notable Seiyuus: Kaida Yuko (Ikki Tousen series)
Mirai, a first year middle schooler, goes to Tokyo's artificial Odaiba Island to see a robot exhibition with her younger brother during summer vacation. Their vacation is cut short when a powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench in the Ring of Fire destroying the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge. With the help of Mari, a delivery woman they meet on the island, both siblings make their way back to Tokyo.

Sims: This will replace the Higashi no Eden timeslot.

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou / Properly Learned Modern Magic ~ Fantasy/Magic
Airing/Length: July 11th / ?? episodes
Studio: Nomad (Honey and Clover, sola, Rozen Maiden)
Notable Seiyuus: Nonaka Ai, Tomatsu Haruka
Morshita Koyomi, a freshmen in high school, is often mistaken for a grade-schooler because of her height. She becomes a disciple of Misa Anehara, a 25 year old graduate student who is one of the most powerful modern-day magicians.

Sims: Voice of Fuuko as Koyomi? Very fitting for that character.

Seitokai no Ichizon / Student Council's Judgement ~ Comedy
Airing/Length: July ?? / ?? episodes
Studio: Studio DEEN
Notable Seiyuus: No info yet.
Members of the student council are chosen by popularity vote and as a result all members are girls except for one, Sugizaki Ken, who records the minutes of each council meeting regarding students and their interests.

Sims: Expect parody references to other anime series, i.e. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Dragon Ball.

This series is on the bubble, I can't find any concrete info on whether it'll air this summer and lack of voice actor info.


Rei - Toriban - Sun May 17 2009

Simshsia Wrote:Umineko no Naku Koro ni / The Moment When the Seagulls Cry / When the Seagulls Cry ~ Horror/Mystery/Psychological
Airing/Length: July ?? / ?? episodes
Studio: Studio DEEN (Fate/stay night, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series)
Notable Seiyuus: Inoue Marina (Minami-ke, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), Ono Daisuke (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Horie Yui, Kugimiya Rie
Taking place between October 4th and 5th in the year 1986 on a secluded island named Rekkenjima, the head of a wealthy family named Ushiromiya Kinzo owns the entire island. He's near death and each of his eight family members, as well as three additional members living on the island, arrive to his residence to discuss how his assets will be divided upon his death. After they arrive, a typhoon traps them on the island and residents on the island are mysteriously murdered...



*fanboyish squeal*

Whoo! Ridin the slow ass Rei train to something new.

No. Seriously. Rei is coming out soooooo slow. Like, milking money slow. Like horri-bad slow. Like....I'll just shut up now.


RE: Rei - SimsHsia - Sun May 17 2009

(Sun May 17 2009, 03:40 PM)Toriban Wrote:
Simshsia Wrote:Umineko no Naku Koro ni / The Moment When the Seagulls Cry / When the Seagulls Cry ~ Horror/Mystery/Psychological
Airing/Length: July ?? / ?? episodes
Studio: Studio DEEN (Fate/stay night, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series)
Notable Seiyuus: Inoue Marina (Minami-ke, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), Ono Daisuke (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Horie Yui, Kugimiya Rie
Taking place between October 4th and 5th in the year 1986 on a secluded island named Rekkenjima, the head of a wealthy family named Ushiromiya Kinzo owns the entire island. He's near death and each of his eight family members, as well as three additional members living on the island, arrive to his residence to discuss how his assets will be divided upon his death. After they arrive, a typhoon traps them on the island and residents on the island are mysteriously murdered...



*fanboyish squeal*

Whoo! Ridin the slow ass Rei train to something new.

No. Seriously. Rei is coming out soooooo slow. Like, milking money slow. Like horri-bad slow. Like....I'll just shut up now.

Heh, that's nearly monthly OVA releases for ya. You could say the same thing for the Evangelion series. Wink

Looks like there's pretty solid lineup in the cast (as long as it is) with those announced so far are well-known from other series. I might as well pick this up for this summer and prepare for a wild ride. Smile

By the way, character designs were previewed several days ago: http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/1224157_1558.html


RE: Summer 2009 TV Anime - SimsHsia - Fri May 29 2009

List updated.

Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-Chan!! joins the summer 2009 lineup, previously from the spring 2009 lineup. So that brings it up to 20, with 11 remaining for their confirmed air dates.

In other news: Umineko no Naku Koro ni has a confirmed air date of July 1st (really, early July 2nd).

Key's next anime adaptation, after Clannad and Clannad ~After Story~, will be Angel Beats!, something about humans (maybe mainly girls) with guns vs. angels with supernatural powers. No word on the animation studio nor when it'll air has been announced yet. Say as much as you want about the character design looking almost exactly like Haruhi. Whatever, I'm in it for the music soundtrack, as long as that gets me by. Wink


RE: Summer 2009 TV Anime - SimsHsia - Sun Jun 7 2009

Summer lineup is pretty much finalized with Seitokai no Ichizon (It's Student Council's Decision/Judgement) on the bubble; whether it'll pop and be pushed until the Fall or really air sometime this summer is anyone's guess, but the lack of voice actor info this late in the game is a good indication it probably won't air this July. So, there's 18 total in the line up (minus 3 or 4 kiddy shows totaling 21 or 22 TV series this summer).

Horie Yui has 6 roles (compared to 3 in the spring) with Tomatsu Haruka and Katou Emiri close behind with 3 roles.

On the OVA side this summer, here's some new additions to note: Minami-ke (after Minami-ke Okaeri) ~ June 23rd and Nodame Cantabile OVA (after Nodame Cantabile: Paris Chapter) ~ August 10th. I would have added a note for Akane iro ni Somaru Saka OVA that's coming June 26th, but because of the ending...yeah. I might just randomly watch it for the heck of it because it is a continuation.

On the continuing OVA series side: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei will release the 4th volume July 24th then the final 5th volume August 21st; Eve no Jikan with the 5th volume releasing July then completing with the 6th volume in August.

---

As for me, I'll be be picking up Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Spice and Wolf II and Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei on the side (just for the heck of it and despair).
I'll do recon on the following:
- Aoi Hana; looks like yuri romance
- CANAAN; drama, Sawashiro Miyuki
- NEEDLESS; apparently it's an action comedy gag
- Taisho Yakyuu Musume.; because of the voice cast lineup
- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0; drama
- Sora no Manimani; director did School Rumble and Gintama ~ the latter of which I really enjoy because of the comedy
- Kanamemo; voice cast lineup
- GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class; reminds me of Sketchbook ~full color'S~

I'll probably watch one episode Princess Lover as well because of Wakamoto Nori and two voice actors from Lucky Star, but the storyline probably has been done a thousand times. It could go, for example, the Clannad way (guy decides on one girl), or the Zero no Tsukaima way (guy can't decide and thus the love polygon grows) EDIT: or the School Days way (Nice Boat) but very doubtful it'll go that way.


RE: Summer 2009 TV Anime - SimsHsia - Sat Jun 27 2009

Thus begins the first impressions...

June 25th Charge Up! and Mermaids with legs, dooms world.
Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-Chan!!: The story revolves around a Juuden-chan known as Plug who inserts a power plug into folks and literally charges up their luck back to full to increase motivation and determination; Sento, who is a university student who manages the household (and his nose just bugs me); Hakone, the younger sister and junior high school student; Iono, friend of Hakone and seems to have a crush on Sento; and a soon to be revealed second Juuden-chan named Aresta. Sento is the only human who is able to see her and is always violently assaulting Plug (baseball bat, check; electric guitar, check; cup rack, check...) and is likely to be involved in Plug's adventures to recharge people's luck. There's certainly fan service, but perhaps not to the extent of, say, Queen's Blade but a few ticks below, say, Kanokon. By the way, expect a lot of accidental urination and perhaps the occasional tentacle rape (yes, there is one in the first episode) throughout this series. I'll give it another shot next week, but I'll likely drop it in favor for another show.

EDIT: After the second episode, it's definitely a few ticks below Queen's Blade and a few ticks above Kanokon, thus it's between these two series.

Umi Monogatari: Marin and Urin (worst name for her) are mermaids, and sisters, the latter of which is the younger one, who one day receive a ring from the sky people, otherwise known as us humans. They then set forth to visit the land of the sky people and try to find the ring's rightful owner and soon find Kanon and return it to her only to have the ring thrown away once more. The remainder of the episode is spent Kanon venting over seeing her ex-boyfriend with a new girlfriend and Marin and Urin searching for Kanon's ring. Urin eventually finds the ring near a sealed tomb and accidentally breaks the seal and unleashes a fury of evil; probably the shrine folks used cellophane tape of the cheap variety - you can't skimp on this stuff when sealing evil folks! And, thus begins Sea Story, although the first episode pretty much didn't have any story to begin with the second episode will most likely go in depth with the plot. If nothing else, I think the series will be: mermaids save the ring, save the world. There's also something about an elderly turtle, alrighty then.

The series has a similar feel to Sketchbook ~full color'S~ where both have a wonderful BGM soundtrack and incorporates similar ways of introducing humor and slow-pace results in a very relaxing watch. The ED sequence is nice to watch, it's both Marin and Urin watching the story of The Little Mermaid. There is a small bit of fan service which is not only witnessed by the viewer but by the background characters as well, especially with Marin's behind poking up everywhere searching for that ring. I'll stick around for a few more episodes to see how this goes, by the time I figure that out, I might as well complete the series.

July 2nd Yuri, Fighting, Where are the seagulls...oh butterfly! and Baseball girls.
Aoi Hana: Fumi and Akira (or Aa-chan) are childhood friends who are reacquainted long before they even realize they have been reacquainted on their first day of high school until both their mothers reacquaint themselves later that evening. How's that for the first episode summary in one sentence? Anyways, Fumi's family moved out of their old town 10 years before and 10 years later they move back. Despite them not seeing each other for 10 years, the one thing that remains unchanged is how Akira says the same phrase she says back then whenever Fumi cries as a first resort when she's troubled or something happens to her. Pretty much the OP and the way that Fumi thinks to herself confirms that this is a yuri romance show.

NEEDLESS: Before this episode aired, I took a quick peak at the first four chapters of the manga. Pretty much the first episode follows these first four chapters. The animation felt reminiscent to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, however the plot itself seems pretty generic. You have an older sister and younger brother running away from a large mecha, then the older sister (possibly) sacrificing herself to hold up said large mecha while younger brother escapes through the sewer system. Cue in large mecha a little while later and the hero comes in and saves the day, fights another enemy again, and saves the day once more. Now, this is an action-comedy gag, so yes there was some comedy but not enough to make me rolling on the floor laughing. Of the few moments that were supposed to be hilarious I either smiled a bit or had no change in my emotion. Needless to say, I'll keep it up for a few episodes and see how it goes on from there.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Since you can already find probably billions of sites blogging/posting about this show, I'll pass on the first impressions and leave it at that. Other than that, it has begun. Uu~uu~!

Taishou Yakyuu Musume.: This show replaces the same timeslot that was once K-ON!, thus what was once girls in a school band is now girls in a baseball team. It's going to be about 12 (or 13) episodes long and the baseball team's enrollment is nearly halfway complete. Unlike K-ON! where one member had to learn how to play their instrument, the majority of the girls in Taishou must learn the rules of the (baseball) game. Koume and Akiko get a couple of potential members and go to a baseball game played by boys. After witnessing the brutal play for a few moments, said potential members run away in fright, but toward the end of the episode both Koume and Akiko get two members to total four out of the nine members they need. The musical at the very beginning was kind of random, but lighthearted comedy and a brief look at history until 1925 (with scrolling background info) to start the show off. I'll see how this shakes out, but I'm beginning to wonder who they're going to play against if they start baseball competitions. So far, it looks like a nice replacement to K-ON!, despite Taishou having mainly A-list voice actors and animated by J.C. Staff rather than KyoAni; plus this is like one of the very few baseball-oriented shows with girls.

July 3rd The supernatural.
Bakemonogatari: Typical SHAFT animation, if you're wondering, but it had very impressive visuals. OK, so you have Senjougahara Hitagi who is nearly weightless due to an event before her first day of high school where she encountered a crab (omoshikani / weightless crab) which left her weighing a total of 5kg (~11lbs) who is saved after slipping on a banana and falling from a long spiral staircase by Araragi Koyomi, who was once a vampire and now mostly human. After being threatened by Hitagi and putting a staple inside his mouth, Koyomi offers to help Hitagi regain her weight by visiting the person who made him successfully transform from vampire to human known as Oshino.

Julu 4th Guys with assault rifles going down.
CANAAN: This is a TYPE-MOON production, the only other one that I've watched was Fate/stay night (my first anime, other than the kiddy shows). So, the first episode takes place in Shanghai, China and somehow the evil organization DAEDALA Corp is involved with the terrorism that occured in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo. Canaan, the titular character, is up against said organization. Now, most of the events that take place in during a Chinese festival and there's several weird events that take place.
One, guys with animal heads over their heads who, once these heads are taken off, seizure up and cough up blood and promptly die then nearby kids/adults who don't notice this oddity begin to dance with them (while they're seizuring) thinking they're dancing and kids playing around near (and one time, with) the blood.
Second, the guys with animal masks are after these guys with animal heads and are armed with guns and/or assault rifles.
Third, while Canaan is shooting down said guys with animal masks, they're exploding blood everywhere. Keep in mind, this is taking place during a public event where there's tons of people out in the open. I don't know about these folks, but if you see a guy armed with an assault rifle and blood gushing out of their body you'd use common sense by screaming and running as fast as you can. However, for these folks, they hardly notice at least 4 guys in the crowds dying.
Lastly, but related to the previous point, there are a few gun fights in broad daylight and near evening that folks get a bit surprised when the bullets are ricocheting everywhere but then continue on with their day like nothing happened. Maybe they're too focused on that enormous festival dragon to even notice that there's folks dying around them.
Well, since it is 13 episodes long, I'll most likely see it to the end since I want to know what the heck is up with these people not noticing public gunfights. Pretty much, the most impressive first episode of the season so far--we'll see how Tokyo Magnitude stacks up in a few days...

EDIT: A quick second look through the last few moments of the gun fight scene shows that a few in the public notice that these guys with animal masks are getting shot. However, it's just that, they look but don't run away or use any of that common sense any sane person would do. Curious...

July 7th Yeah, gonna be a bit late with these. Starting off with another moeblob show with 1000% yuri and Art Design class.
Kanamemo: Kana's a 2nd year junior high school student who recently lost her last living relative, her grandmother, and is forced to leave the house. She then proceeds to find a job and eventually ends up with the Fuhshin Shinbun after getting into a bicycle accident with one of its carriers, even though she already past that place already when witnessing weird events going on there. So, what's the show about? It's about a couple of girls who run a newspaper delivery service who deliver their newspapers (extremely late, like late afternoon/early evening) to their patrons. Said girls live on the second floor of building and come downstairs to do their work.

OK, so let's introduce the characters. Kana is voiced by Toyosaki Aki who's best known as the voice of Yui from K-ON! (and I should note: the only K-ON! voice actor to be in this show). For further comparison sake between Kanamemo and K-ON!, Kana's more like a mix of Yui and Ui. For one she can cook, but on the other hand she can misunderstand a setting; e.g. when the movers came into her house to take away her grandmother's possessions, she assumed that the movers would take her too and she grabs whatever she can to survive for a few days and runs far, far away. Next, you have Saki, possibly the youngest assistant chief and worker I've ever seen. You see, she's still in grade school and yet she orders around folks her who are (nearly) double her age. You have the two college students: the overly energetic Ritsu Yume who likes to add sugar to everything (hey, she is a patisserie student after all) and the cool yet beautiful Mio Yuki who has a thing for Yume. You see, Yume and Mio, how do I say this, are in that certain relationship where two girls love each other...so, yes, they do kiss a few times in this first episode. Last, but not least, you have the *ahem* alcoholic pedophile molester Haruka.

Quite a mix of characters, if I may say so. I didn't read too much into this series so I didn't know what to expect other than that the main character is homeless and will work/live at a newspaper delivery service building. So, I was actually kinda surprised when I saw Yume and Yuki kissing. So, pretty much the first episode went back and forth between the "aww" moments and humorous moments.

GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class: The glasses Yamaguchi Kisaragi wears bothers me...alot. Being a glasses wearer myself, those lenses sure are far down on her face. You can certainly tell that each scene is executed quickly that feels almost as if one is watching the manga in animated form (oh, wait a tick, we are!) so you have setup, consequence, and humor executed one after another quickly. The first episode moves from making food out of paint that turned into jelly, then making various drawings out of road/warning/info signs and finally with GA Power Rangers (GO!) among with other small shorts. It certainly isn't like Sketchbook or Hidmari Sketch, but seeing as it's 12 episodes long...I guess I won't lose much be finishing this series up...eventually.

July 8th Astronomy Club looking for members. Anyone?
Sora no Manimani: From the director who brought you Gintama and the School Rumble series (along many other series), Takamatsu Shinji brings you his latest work, Sora no Manimani or At the Mercy of the Sky. If you've watched a bit of School Rumble or Gintama (or both) then you'll definitely fit in nicely with this series as there is a good deal of humor which hit of a good note for me. So, what's this series all about? Well, it's all about Ooyagi Saku, a book-lover, who, seven years prior to moving back to his old town, recalls the memory of saving Akeno Mihoshi, a star-lover and the "hoshi" (lit. star) in her name really fits this description (if you're even remotely wondering: her name literally means beauty/beautiful star), who fell off a tree when taking a closer look at the stars on the very day that he starts his first day as a high school student. The saving of Mihoshi resulted in his right arm being injured and this dream only reminds him of that fact. After reluctantly allowing his mom's request that she even more take pictures of him (she took many during the entrance ceremony), Saku arrives at his school only to see golden stars confetti falling from the sky and a girl on the rooftop is advertising that the astronomy club is looking for new members. This girl turns out to be Mihoshi and Saku accidentally says her name, and because of this slip Mihoshi realizes, to Saku's worst fears, that it's him. Throughout the day Saku would continuously chase Saku or visit his classroom after every single class break and most of the time he would escape just in time just to get him to join the astronomy club. Eventually Mihoshi gets her wish and Saku agrees to join her club, after settling his past behavior after the tree incident seven years ago. It was actually quite fun to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode, regardless of the fact that it is pretty short being 12 episodes long I'll definitely watch this through.

July 9th O, ye, hime-sama.
Princess Lover: The first episode introduces us to Arima Teppei and his parents, but soon he loses his parents to an "accident". So after this "accident", Teppei is on his way to his grandfather's residence via motorbike when he spots a girl in a horse-drawn carriage being chased by a gang of hooligans in a Jeep. To sum it up: dedicated butler and Teppei defeat hooligans and Teppei saves the girl along with that sort of situation where one accidentally gropes her when getting up (hey, it happens...when you fall 30 some feet off a cliff and the trees cushion your fall). The two introduce each other, the girl's name is Charlotte Hazellink - and one of the four potential love interests for Teppei. Right after meeting up with his grandfather, Arima Isshin, he's at a party and he's introduced as his grandfather's successor for the Arima business conglomerate and furthermore the girl he saved is of a princess of the Hazellink kingdom. We also meet potential love interest girl #2: Fujikura Yuu a.k.a one of the maids. While having a short conversation with Yuu, he notices a flash of light in the distance, and Teppei being the swordsman that he is (thanks to his father), he runs out and begins to duel with none other than potential love interest girl #3, Sylvia van Hossen. Both are exceptionally talented and it is at the moment the duel is broken up by Isshin that Teppei learns that Sylvia is his fiancee. Wakamoto Norio, who voices Arima Isshin, had quite a few lines here and it made the watching experience much better. Not to say that it was boring without him, it was just an added treat since there was quite a bit of action in this first episode. Now, it's too early to tell if that's the end of the action and it goes all into lovey-dovey mode with Teppei and whoever is his current love interest. Now, I've watched some so-so romance harem shows, the most recent being Tayutama which, for the most part, had a predictable ending due in part to a certain someone's angst. Anyways, it's still too early to tell how Princess Lover will play out, but again I'm a fan of short anime series that are around 12 episodes, so I guess I won't lose too much by picking this one up as well. Tongue

July 10th Earthquake
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: The events that unfold take place a day before the actual earthquake occurs. Onozawa Mirai, a first year middle school student, has just wrapped up school for summer vacation and dislikes her life, her parents, everything - she's going through a rebellious period. So, the parents and younger brother are introduced; the parents don't get along well and Yuuki is a sort of a happy-go-lucky kind of younger brother. It just so happens that the day before the earthquake, it is their mother's birthday and although their mom bought cake...she doesn't eat it because she's on a diet. Even so, hearing the word "cake" makes Mirai jolt up in happiness, but then despair sinks in when she sees it is a few slices of individually wrapped cake rather than a whole cake. The following morning, Yuuki suggests that he go to a robot convention at Odaiba Island, an artificial island located in Tokyo, but both parents have to work on that day so it shifts over to Mirai to take her younger brother to Odaiba. To sum it up their experience at Odaiba: they take the train there, get off a stop early, meet someone we'll see in the not so distant future, eventually reach the convention center, play around with robots a bit, buy a present for their mom, and then they were just about to go home when, in the last 30 or so seconds of the episode, the earthquake occurs...

A nice choice to replace Higashi no Eden's timeslot from the previous season. I find that the characters are realistic, you have parents who have issues getting along, a bratty older sister and a little angel of a younger brother. Although I was somewhat disappointed that they ended the episode with a cliffhanger of the earthquake just kicking off, most of the episode was building up to the point before the incident to provide us, the viewer, some background information. It reminds me of Barefoot Gen, an animated film I watched a few months ago where it slowly builds up to the incident then shows the events proceeding the aftermath. Hopefully, Mirai will develop her character as the series unfolds, as tragic incidents always tend to change people's vision about themselves and life. On the music side, you have abingdon school boys performing the opening music with various transitioning images of a destroyed Tokyo; and Tsuji Shion performing a catchy ending music featuring the three main characters with real pictures of various locations throughout Tokyo as the backdrop. This series, like Higashi no Eden, is also 11 episodes long so you can guarantee I'm picking this one up as well.