Spring 2009 Season TV Anime
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With the winter anime season already underway, this year's spring anime season is heating up with some interesting offerings for this April. As before, this post will be continuously updated whenever there's any new announcements, and some commentary from yours truly. Oh, there's quite a few kid-targeted shows which I didn't include, search elsewhere for those.

To keep the forums tidy, all discussion about any of the listed anime below should be kept in this thread.

Now, here's the Spring 2009 anime lineup (35 total):

07-Ghost ~ Action/Fantasy
Airing: April 6th
TV adaptation of the manga series of the same name where students of an elite military training school graduate as trained super soldiers. However, for Teito Klein, nothing will be the same after passing his final exam.

Asura Cryin' ~ Action/Supernatural
Airing: April 3rd
Tomoharu Natsume is bothered by a ghosty girl who is also a childhood friend of his.

Basquash! ~ Sci-Fi/Sports
Airing: April 2nd
On the planet Earthdash, Dan JD becomes interested in a sport known as Bigfoot Basketball, a fast-paced sport played with big-footed robots.

Charady no Joke na Mainichi / Charady's Daily Joke ~ Comedy
Airing: April 1st
Charady, from San Francisco, will tell jokes from around the world for 365 days.

Sims: You read that right, this anime will have 365 episodes beginning on April 1st.

Chi's Sweet Home ~ Comedy/Slice of Life
Airing: March 30th
Continuation series about a lost kitty named Chi raised by the Yamada family.

Cooking Idol Ai! Main! Main! / Cooking Idol I! My! Mine! ~ Edutainment
Airing: March 30th
A 10 minute long segment featuring both animated and live-action segments targeted at elementary school students to learn how to cook.

Cross Game ~ Comedy/Drama/Sports
Airing: April 5th
Kitamura Koh is a fifth grader and his family runs a sporting goods store and really enjoys baseball. Through his family-owned store, one of the regulars is the Tsukishima Batting Center, owned by the Tsukishima family. Koh gets to know all four daughters of the Tsukishima family (Ichiyo, Wakaba, Aoba, and Momiji) and is often over there to practice in their batting cages. An unexpected tradegy occurs, and he hasn't practiced baseball for four years since the tradegy until he enters high school.

Dragon Ball Kai / Dragon Ball Z ~ Action/Drama/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Airing: April 5th
A 20th year anniversary re-broadcast of DBZ in full HD. "Kai" in the title that can mean "changed"/"updated"/"altered", quite possibly related to the remastering of the series for broadcasting in high def.

Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-Chan!! ~ Comedy
Airing: May ??
Plug, an unusual girl from a parallel world, is a "juuden-chan" capable of recharging people down on their luck.

Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou / The Best!! Extremely Cool Student Council President ~ Romance
Airing: April 4th
Follows a student body council president who tries her best to handle a rebellious group in school who do not follow school rules. Eventually, she sees there is good in each one of them.

Guin Saga ~ Adventure/Fantasy
Airing: April 5th
Adaptation of a best-selling heroic fantasy novel series, with similarities to Lord of the Rings and Conan the Barbarian.

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 2 / Fullmetal Alchemist 2 ~ Action/Adventure/Drama/Fantasy
Airing: April 5th
Remake series for the FMA franchise that sticks true to the original manga series.

Sims: This is NOT a sequel, it's a remake, and will run for roughly one year, looks like it'll be around the 50 episode mark.

Hanasekeru Seishounen ~ Mystery/Romance
Airing: April 5th
A daughter must pick a husband out of three candidates her father, a powerful industrialist, has chosen for her.

Hatsukoi Limited / First Love Limited ~ Comedy/Romance
Airing: April 11th
Follows the lives of several junior high school and senior high school girls. Light-hearted romance and comedy, fan service, and love triangles.

Sims: Folks are comparing this to Ichigo 100% where there are some similarities.

Hayate no Gotoku!! / Hayate the Combat Butler!! ~ Action/Comedy/Romance
Airing: April 3rd
Continuation of Hayate no Gotoku! (note the number of exclamation points). A special one episode OVA of Hayate will air on March 6th, before the second season airs, that will be released as episode 0 of the series.

Sims: Recommended that you watch the first season, there's a lot of references and parodies - a great anime for those of you who have watched A LOT of anime. Nagi's back, remember: when watching Hayate no Gotoku!(!), make sure you are in a well-lighted environment and a good distance from the TV/computer display. Got it? Wink
Another note: It's being animated by J.C. Staff rather than SynergySP that did the first season.


Higashi no Eden / Eden of The East ~ Drama/Mystery
Airing: April 9th
On November 22, 2010 ten missles strike Japan, but does not result in any victims and is soon called as "Careless Monday" and soon forgotten. Morimi Saki is on a graduation trip in the U.S. and once in front of the White House, she gets into trouble only to be intervened by a mysterious man who introduces himself as Takizawa Akira.

Higepiyo ~ Comedy
Airing: April 3rd
Literally "Mustache-Peep". The story revolves around Hiyoko, a surreal bird that has, well, a mustache who is able to communicate with Hiroshi, a human boy who won her from a fair. Hiyoko teaches Hiroshi how to win fights at school, but what Hiroshi doesn't know is that Hiyoko is an experimental test subject escapee.

K-ON! ~ Music/Slice of Life
Airing: April 2nd
Story follows four high school girls who are attempting to rescue the school's light music club, even though they are all beginners on reading music and playing instruments.

Konnichiwa Anne / Before Green Gables ~ Drama
Airing: April 5th
Based on Budge Wilson’s Before Green Gables, a children's novel. Prequel to the well-known Anne of Green Gables by the same author.

Mainichi Kaasan / Everday Mom ~ Slice of Life
Airing: April 1st
Adaptation of the manga of the same name about a mom and her troubles with her two children.

Natsu no Arashi! / Summer Storm! ~ Comedy/Fantasy/Romance
Airing: April 5th
In an old town coffee shop, Yasaka meets Arashi, a high school girl who possesses mysterious powers. From there, an unforgettable summer begins...

Sims: Animated by SHAFT, start your Photoshop filters!

Pandora Hearts ~ Action/Fantasy/Supernatural
Airing: April 2nd
Oz Bezarius, heir to one of the four great duke houses, has come of age and is suddenly sent to prison known as the "Abyss" who is later saved by a "chain" known as Alice, a bloodstained black rabbit. He becomes involved in a mysterious group called Pandora to find out why he was sent into Abyss and how Alice ties into this.

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ ~ Drama
Airing: April 2nd
The TV series for the 3-part original video animation "Phantom - The Animation". Zwei witnesses an assassination and meets a young girl named Ein, however both are captured. His life is spared by accepting this only condition: train to become an assassin along with Ein.

Queen's Blade -Rurou no Senshi- / Queen's Blade -Wandering Warriors- ~ Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Airing: April 2nd
A competition will decide who is the next Queen, the strongest warrior will rule the country and expand it. The rules are simple: must be 12 years of age or older, need not be human, murder is allowed, and, oh, any weapon of your choosing can be used.

Ristorante Paradiso ~ Drama/Slice of Life
Airing: March 29th
A story about Nicoletta moving from the countryside to Rome and a peculiar restaurant where she begins her apprenticeship under skilled, yet odd, hospitality staff.

Saki ~ Sports
Airing: April 5th
Miyanaga Saki, the titular character, is a very skilled mahjong player and is one day dragged into the school's mahjong club, where she surprises all the club members by winning every round. The only problem: she hates mahjong.

Sengoku Basara / Devil Kings Basara ~ Action/Fantasy/History
Airing: April 1st
Based off of the manga which was based off of the PS2 game. During the age of warring times in ancient Japan.

Sims: It has Wakamoto Norio in the voice cast, if anyone cares.

Senjō no Varukyuria -Gallian Chronicles- / Battlefield Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles ~ Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Airing: April 4th
Otherwise known as Valkyria Chronicles in the U.S., a PS3 game turned anime adaptation.

Sims: In other related news, the production company responsible for Valkyria Chronicles held a competition for the winner to sing the theme song. Out of over 3,000 entries, the majority originated within Japan, a contestant in Canada won and will be going under a new stage name, Himeka.

Shangri-La ~ Sci-Fi
Airing: April ??
In the middle of the 21st century, global warming has turned Tokyo into a tropical city and is reborn as the world's largest forest city and renamed "Atlas". Many are unable to live in this new city, and with this, the city is threatened for deforestation by anti-government guerillas.

Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen ~ Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Airing: April 4th
Not to be confused with the classic Mazinger Z series, both are separate stories but are related.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica crimson S ~ Drama/Fantasy
Airing: April 4th
Sequel to Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica, continues the story of a Dantist, or a divine music player, and her contract to a spirit. In order to keep such spirits alive, they must play a type of music known as Commandia, which is a representation of a Dantist's soul.

Souten Kouro / New Tale of Three Kingdoms ~ Action/Adventure/Drama
Airing: April 7th
Historically-themed taking place in China during the year 2A.D.: the corrupt Han Dynasty brings the entire country into utter chaos. Chao Chao Men De, portraying as the hero and main character, will soon face it off with two others: Zhu Ge Kong Ming and Sun Quan Zheng Mou. These three men will rage war through China.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ~ Supernatural
Airing: April 3rd
Second season, beginning off of the light novel volume "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" Re-airing of the first season. Who knows? It certainly isn't disappearing now is it? D:

Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity- ~ Romance
Airing: April 5th
Yuuri Mito, a student and only son of the Yachimata shrine, learns of a legendary deity named Tayutayu-sama who protected the area, but this deity and other "Tayutai" has been lost in time. It isn't until the opening day of the school year does Mito meet a girl named Mashiro.

Sims: For some reason, this reminds me of a mixture of Inukami! and Kanokan.

Tears to Tiara ~ Adventure/Fantasy
Airing: April 5th
In a world resembling the middle ages, Riannon is to be sacrificed to appease a resurrected demon lord known as Arawn. Her brother, Arthur, is set to rescue Riannon; however Riannon defies those who resurrected him. Instead, he frees Riannon from her captors and leads the group off for an adventure.
SimsHsia
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"
#2
Added in Saki and Suzumiya Haruhi Season Two One !!??!!. If you're a fan of Haruhi, this is no doubt big/exciting news. Nope, we've been trolled by KyoAni (Rolleyes) or someone didn't read Newtype's March issue correctly, they will be re-airing (re-broadcasting) the first season, that first premiered in April 2006, this spring. Oh well, here's hoping that, in one lucky year, Haruhi S2 will be announced. Who really knows, the wording in Newtype is too ambiguous! It could be a repeat or it really isn't, wait until April to find out the truth, sheesh! Tongue

Well, well, well, looks like this spring is having three main anime series debuting (one re-airing): FMA, Hayate, and Haruhi. With the recently reported decline in anime since the peak year of 2006, perhaps these three series (as well as the others listed) may help revitalize the industry.

A tiny note about Hayate Season 2: It's being animated by J.C. Staff rather than SynergySP. We'll see if there's any character design changes between the two studios when the OVA airs March 6th.
SimsHsia
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"
#3
Hirano Aya, voice actor for Suzumiya Haruhi, recently leaked information regarding Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu stating that, “Reprising the role of Haruhi was a pleasure!” Hirano may be referring to either the Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu and Nyoro~n Churuya-san YouTube short web episodes that "air" irregularly on KADOKAWA's YouTube channel or something regarding a possible secretive production by Kyoto Animation (KyoAni) for a second season. In addition, there is a renewed promotional image featuring the three main female characters with the only change noticeable is Haruhi wearing a bunny suit instead of her school uniform in the previous promotional picture. So this puts the rumor list to the following possibilities:
  • Complete re-airing of the first season of Haruhi in its original broadcast order (non-linear)
  • Complete re-airing of the first season of Haruhi in chronological order
  • Actual airing of Haruhi's 2nd season
  • 1st season this April and premiere of the 2nd season this October (likely; 10th novel volume available this summer)
  • Mix of Haruhi's 1st and 2nd seasons in non-linear order
  • Mix of Haruhi's 1st and 2nd seasons in chronological order
Sure, sure, you could bring in "the cake is a lie" analogy and apply it here, someone, somewhere is enjoying that delicious cake hidden somewhere in the depths of the unknown. Despite the protests from fans last month angered about the re-airing of the first season of Haruhi, you have to wonder how KyoAni can manage if this were the case since they are animating K-ON! Whatever the case, the folks shall know on April 3rd what the result will be. At least Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san webisodes are great to fill the void. Smile

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Anyways, I've updated the Spring 2009 list. It has bumped up from 22 to 35 total entries, with roughly 8 of them not having a solid airing date. You read that right, after 20 years DBZ's getting a re-air in HD but there's a slight name change.

EDIT: Apparently, Hayate no Gotoku!! has two exclamation points to denote a second season, whereas the first season only had one exclamation point.

So far, I'm interested in K-ON! (whatever, I'm a KyoAni fanboy Tongue), Hayate no Gotoku !! (gotta finish the first season), and Eden of the East. The "maybe's" are Fullmetal Alchemist 2, Saki, Valkyria Chronicles, Ristorante Paradiso, Tayutama, Hatsukoi Limited and 07-Ghost. Oh, alright, maybe Shangri-La because the major I'm in deals with the environment. Tongue

This one's not airing on TV, but it's a six-part ONA (original net animation) that I recently watched that's quite good known as Eve no Jikan or Time of Eve. Despite it being an Internet animation, the quality is quite amazing. The setting takes place in the future and probably in Japan where androids are accepted into the norm of society, but humans take these androids for granted. There are social implications where people use them merely as tools to complete tasks they assign but there are others who sympathize with them because of their humanoid appearance. Rikuo, the main character, observes a strange line in Sammy's activity log, his family's android. He and a friend plot the coordinates from the activity log and soon discover a cafe where humans and androids are not discriminated as the major rule. This anime premiered in August, then the next two episodes in October and December. The remaining three episodes begins with episode 4 this April until completion with the last episode in August.
SimsHsia
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"
#4
Eh, sorry about the lateness but the list has been updated to include the last few shows (except Fight Ippatsu!) with confirmed airing dates. The bulk of this season's shows air toward the end of the week, oh boy.

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Small note about Haruhi: it is airing in chronological order (Haruhi order). However, the interesting thing is that instead of having 14 episodes airing this season, it'll be 28 episodes. We'll have to see if KADOKAWA/KyoAni is trolling us again if they air Haruhi in the non-linear order after the first 14 episodes air or there's actually going to be the 2nd season mixed in with the first season's episodes.

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Just some thoughts in the order I watched as each series airs their first episodes, as such this reply will be continuously updated as I get through each series:

April 2nd: It has begun! Starting it off with bosoms and music; a.k.a fanservice and moe-service.
Queen's Blade: Uh, yeah. Since AT-X is airing this uncensored, there's a lot of ecchi, so it's borderline hentai...sort of. Err, I can't believe acid can come out from such a place. ARMS is animating this series (which has done a lot of hentai and crappy fan service shows) and it has one heck of a voice actor line up. To sum it up: fanservice (boobs) and the first episode finishes off with exploding boobies. I kid you not. (On another related note, DVD and Bluray pre-orders shot up the roof the moment it aired in Japan.)

Yeah, not sure if I'll be following this every week, maybe once in a while just for laughs - that exploding boob scene in the last few minutes was just hilarious. 12 episodes

K-ON!: I used to play the guitar (acoustic steel string) back in middle school and high school, so I can sorta relate to this anime. It lives up to the usual KyoAni expectations. The main character, Yui (see animated picture below), is a very cute and likeable character (walking blob of moe, as they call it) who is late for her first day of high school but is really an hour early (damn daylight savings!). After the school ceremony, she is bombarded with tons of club fliers that request that she join one of their clubs. She doesn't know which club to join as she fears of being labeled as a NEET.

Hirasawa Yui [200 KB]
[Image: zu05s8.jpg]

Eventually, Yui notices a flier for the light music club, known as the K-ON! club, and soon joins the club as the guitarist with three other female club members, Ritsu (Drums), Tsugumi (Keyboards) and Mio (Bass). Although Yui can't play the guitar, the three encourage her to join, after a brief music performance showing Yui their talents (EDIT: they play an instrumental version of "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" or "Lend me your Wings", a 1971 B-side single. This song was featured at the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998), because without a fourth member their light music club would not be recognized by the school. I spotted a nice reference relating to another music-related anime in there as well. Well played KyoAni, well played.

Animation wise, there is some jaggedness to it - i.e. how the characters walk - and some funky stuff with the hands; but I guess that's just how KyoAni wanted to style the characters. Funny, how the backdrops have better details than the characters themselves. Oh well, choice of the style they wish to convey the anime in - to each their own.

The OP and ED sequences are nice to listen to and nicely animated, however, I'm favoring the ED ("Don't say 'lazy'") more than the OP ("Cagayake! GIRLS"). I'm sure the OP will grow on me over time, though.

In any case, I will be following this series as it is refreshing and there's only three other anime series that I know that are about music, Detroit Metal City, Nodame Cantabile, and White Album, with the first two I need to watch at some point. 13 episodes

April 3rd: Making my way!
Hayate no Gotoku!!: Alright, the second season is a-go! The first episode pretty much starts the story off a month after Hayate becomes Nagi's butler and thus it re-introduces the plot, as said by the narrator, in summary (something about a 150 million yen debt-ridden butler) and characters, as shown by on-screen text, and the first crazy event is a school marathon that's oddly held on the first of February. A quick side note, this is in the manga and was appropriately chosen since almost all the characters are featured in that story arc. Nothing says athleticism more than having a nice marathon on a cold, wintery February afternoon. Even though the animation studio handling this second season is different than the first, it still maintained the general of Hayate, but I'm wondering where KOTOKO went since she did both the OP songs for the first season.

Not sure what to expect in this second iteration of Hayate because I didn't see any references, parodies or over-the-top humor yet, since it was just a re-introduction of all the characters along with some new ones (Ayumu's little brother) - but it still had some laughs (Max Heart Super Maids!). By the way, Hinagiku ED sequence is just awesome! Here's for more Hinagiku and Hamster (Ayumu) love! Well, I'll be sticking with this series as well, hopefully I'll recognize some parodies this time around, if any. INB4NAGI-TAN (Specials that J.C. Staff usually does). ?? episodes

Asura Cryin': Right, so the summary above in the list is quite short but pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. Tomoharu the main protagonist talks to a ghostly figure, a girl named Misao. As crazy as it may sound, they made it apparent when Tomo talked to Misao during the school opening ceremony and several classmates sitting around him looked at him as if he went mentally insane. The first episode was all centered on this mysterious box and when Tomo opens that box, while in a Mexican-stand off in the last few minutes of the show, darkness surrounded him and a mecha appeared. The first episode certainly brings up a fair number of questions and some of them are answered, but I didn't expect this to be a mecha show. Oh well, in any case I'll see how this series goes for a few more episodes. 13 episodes

April 4th Glass windows probably aren't the best cover and mecha basuke.
Valkyria Chronicles: Alright, so this takes place in an alternative reality WWII setting in a town known as Bruhl in the country of Gallia preparing for an imminent attack from Imperial forces. A female soldier known as Alicia hears word from one of her subordinates that there's a spy down by the riverside. The alleged spy, Welkin Gunther, explains that he was taking sketches of the trout residing in the river. Alicia doesn't believe him and takes him hostage, she also doesn't believe that Welkin has given her his real name since there was a famous war hero with the same last name. Eventually, Welkin escapes captivity and Alicia chases after him, where she soon finds out that Welkin is going to where his little sister is, but are then caught in enemy fire when they are discovered. As they both make their way inside the Gunther's house and meet Isara, Welkin's younger sister, they are surrounded by Imperial forces and are under heavy attack. The only heavy weapons they have against enemy forces are a box of grenades and a later revealed tank.

Alicia, who's voiced by Inoue Marina, easily put is a favorable character in Valkyria and it certainly does look like both she and Welkin are compatible with each other - so there's your romance aspect. Although I haven't had a grand experience with Tales of the Abyss (I still must somehow finish it) and Valkyria is also based on a game, I wasn't as confused or bombarded with RPG vocabulary (to note: Valkyria is a tactical RPG) and it made my watching experience so much better without it; only RPG vocabulary that will remain central to the story line is "ragnite ore" a vital yet powerful fuel resource. I hope Valkyria can fit the bill for this season, it certainly has a lot of potential going for it. The OP song by HIMEKA, who (as noted in the list above) won the competition to sing the theme song, was quite good; the ED was "cute" (at a lost for another word for it) with a flying pig walking around as it travels past various characters in chibi form. The watercolor/pencil sketch-like overlay used for the shadowing, the hair and the like makes the series itself visually appealing in an artistic way, in my opinion. 26 episodes.

Basquash: Take one part basketball and one part mecha and you have yourself a basketball mecha show. As crazy as it may sound, the concept of it is quite refreshing to see animated. In this series you have a young boy named Dan JD who's quite good at basketball and begins to wreck havoc by destroying television screens televising a live Bigfoot basketball match while avoiding Bigfoot police cars - hey, they even have to obey duck crossings! Dan has a problem with Bigfoot basketball because a Bigfoot-induced accident caused his younger sister to lose her ability to walk and tries any way possible to abolish Bigfoot basketball. He later meets with a girl, who he later recognizes through a dream going by the name of Miyuki - whom he liked when they were younger, who forces him to try controlling a Bigfoot which peaks his interests. Dan later goes under the pseudo name of Dunk Mask and participates in a rather boring Bigfoot basketball game where hardly any of the players showed any real skill until he showed up - while he also amazingly manages to avoid a group of police - until the very end when he destroys the basketball stadium and is sentenced to prison. A year later, Dan is released from prison thinking he completely abolished Bigfoot basketball, the first thing he notices is Bigfooted mechas playing basketball in the street. It turns out that Dan JD has become a legend for Bigfoot basketball.

I wasn't expecting very much from this series and was slightly curious to find out what it was all about. The visuals are certainly appealing and fluidly animated, since there was no OP song for this episode the ED song is catchy but OK, in my opinion. It looks like Dan may have a possible love triangle between Miyuki and a briefly introduced Sela later in the serious. If most of the series can be like the eye-opening first episode, I might continue watching Basquash for my weekly dose of sports action. 26 episodes

April 5th: The Elric brothers have returned, tiles competition, and what did I just watch!?
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: The remake of the original FMA series that will follow the manga closely, thus the small addition to the series name to differentiate between the original and the remake. I repeat, this is a remake, not a sequel, to follow more closely to the manga. Other than Ed and Al, there are a number of characters featured in this episode such as King Bradley (as well as spoiling his hidden power), Col. Mustang, Lt. Col. Hughes, Maj. Armstrong, Lust, and a few other characters appear. This first re-introduction of the series starts off with an original episode, taking place before Ed and Al head off to Lior, where everyone is chasing after Isaac, an ice alchemist with powers to spontaneously freeze and boil water - including the water content in the human body. The true beginning of FMA begins in the next episode with the history of two Elric brothers. The first episode has a good share of action to get folks back into the flow of the series, and it doesn't disappoint. On the humor side, it re-introduces everyone poking fun at Ed's height in comparison to Al ― folks mistaking Al as the Fullmetal Alchemist since he's bigger than Ed ― along with a few amusing moments ― Mustang calling Hughes an "annoying man".

For myself, I've seen a number of episodes here and there of the original run, in English no less, of FMA; so this is my first time watching this remake in its Japanese dub. I have to say, I'm joining the hundreds of people who probably wouldn't have known that Kugimiya Rie was voicing Al until you read the cast list; she definitely sounds VERY different from her usual roles in other series. On the music side, both OP "again" by YUI and ED "Uso (Lies)" by SID are very good with the former featured in a sequence featuring several characters in the series and the latter featured in a hand-drawn watercolor sketch sequence. I'm currently favoring the OP over the ED since it is a rather powerful song, about one's mistakes in life and trying to accept what has been done (perhaps a lyrical analyst can do better than I can, mere novice), that is perfect for the FMA series. By the way, full versions of both songs have been released prior to the series premiere and are out there for your enjoyment. Since I hardly have anything to watch on Sundays, FMA:B will surely and easily fill in a spot during my day until completion. Fullmetal Alchemist has returned! ?? episodes

Saki: Alright, I had to watch the Crunchyroll subs since I have absolutely no experience with mahjong. Yeah, I don't know what to say about this one once the mahjong vocabulary came in and the CR subs made me very lost as to what was happening on screen. Chow, Tsumo, Tsumo after a Kong. Maybe these terms you may already know but for the rest of us, it's going to be a bit of a struggle to get used to all these terminology and strategies. If you want more epicness in your mahjong anime, go watch Akagi; if you want to hear Kugimiya Rie's character talk about and eat tacos or want to see moe mahjong, watch Saki. I'll see how this goes for a few more episodes. ?? episodes

Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen: Don't ask why I watched this, I heard it was awesome beyond epic proportions. Well, it is true if you want to watch a series where there's explosions, fighting, fires, and the like. This first episode was more of a summary of the final battle that will occur at the end of the series, thus the next episode and ones after that will go back into the past and retell the story -- if you've watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, you can relate to a few similarities. Um, this episode was entirely random with the blurting of character names that randomly appear out of no where, explosions everywhere, screaming of attack moves (e.g. BIG BANG PUNCH! or BREAST FIRE!), and absurdly long names for mechas (e.g. Machine Beast Brocken V2 Schneider). Yeah...I have no clue what I just watched or what happened, just hot-blooded action and explosions. By the way, there's even female-gendered mecha molestation, oh-ho-ho! I'll end it off with stuff blowing up, explosions everywhere, going on forever. I will probably not complete this series unless if I want to have a random laugh at the sheer randomness and need a heavy dose of explosions and violence on a Wednesday afternoon. 26 episodes

April 6th: This one's a bit late one.
Sengoku Basara: This should have been put under April 1st, but I only started watching the new season offerings the day after. Well, if you're into 16th century Japanese history, particularly the Sengoku period, or just slightly curious about it, then perhaps Sengoku Basara is your ticket - even though its loosely based off of what actually occurred, minus the nuclear-like explosiveness as swords clash and over-the-top human strength. I have to say, the anime itself, like Shin Mazinger, has over the top action and, as mentioned in the previous sentence, the key individuals have strength that surpasses a regular human - hey, it is loosely based off of what actually happened, keep that in mind! Date Masamune in this anime uses English phrases, e.g. "let's party!", which I found odd until I found out that Date was interested in foriegn cultures and thus one of the few traits of his character is to randomly speak English. I also found that when Nobunaga Shingen (I suck at ancient Japanese history, apparently) and Yukimura were calling each other repeatedly that reminded me so much of the running gags in the first season of Minami-ke (Sensei! Ninomiya-kun! Sensei!! Ninomiya-kun!! Sensei!!!! Ninomiya-kun!!!!!!!). I'm not sure if I'll be following this anime through its entirety. If nothing else, it could also fit in with Shin Mazinger for that weekly dose of hot-blooded action. 12 episodes

April 9th: Carbon credits, the economy, and you!
Shangri-La: Alright, so I was expecting to hear the techno-babble that has been drilled into my head for the past two years about carbon dioxide gas emissions and carbon credits, but the first episode wasn't so bad. OK, if you haven't been exposed to what carbon dioxide does to the Earth's atmosphere, particularly the ozone, or what carbon credits are and why countries purchase these credits to offset their total carbon emissions, then perhaps the 2 minutes that this sort of stuff is discussed in this episode will make you lost as to what the heck they're talking about.

I'm reminded of hearing a segment on NPR about how the carbon market is a growing economic market where countries actively trade to offset their total carbon emissions by buying credits off of countries that pollute less. I found that this anime conveys what might happen several years down the road, where there's a bunch of government officials and workers continuously monitoring the carbon market and making note of any spikes or dips in a country's carbon emission. Well, the first episode has a fair share of questions and answers to shape things up, I might as well follow this since this is perhaps one of the very few anime series out there that addresses the environment. 24 episodes

April 10th: Little Johnny, Washington DC and Careless Mondays; Harem Romance Anime; Glasses-Man Man
Higashi no Eden: Perhaps my most anticipated anime series of this season is Higashi no Eden, or Eden of the East. I'm actually quite happy with the premiere of this series because 1.) it starts off in Washington DC; 2.) the English is much better than most other series; and 3.) the two lead characters, their voice actors, and character design. Yes, it starts off in Washington DC, which is 30 minutes from where I'm presently located and should be easily recognizable by anyone in the States who watches this series. The first episode features the usual tourist attractions: the White House, Washington Monument and recognizable buildings like Reagan National airport, the International Spy Museum (oooh! related to the anime!), oddly, the Department of Commerce on Constitution Ave. The English, I have to applaud the good job Production I.G did with getting native speakers of English to speak some of the roles e.g. the police officers, the food stand attendant, the neighboor, etc rather than having Japanese voice actors try their luck on saying a few phrases. The two lead characters, the shy yet likable Saki and the mysterious Akira, and it certainly does seem that both of them are compatible with each other.

There were a lot of hilarious moments, such as when Akira suddenly came out stark naked and asked if Saki was alright since she was about to be intervened by DC Metropolitan police officers near the White House; the scene when Akira stands in front of an embarrassed Saki; right outside a "CVS Phamcey" Akira is given a pair of pants from a nearby office worker; and when a DC Metro police officer asks Akira if he could show his "Johnny" and drops his drawers with another embarrassed Saki right next to him. I won't comment much on the animation or art because you just need one look at the OP and ED sequences to see how high the production quality is for this series; however I will comment that the art itself reminds me of Honey and Clover (which is no surprise since the manga-ka did design the characters). Speaking of which, the OP features a kinetic typography sequence intermittently revealing several quotes (one key quote is "The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power") with the featured song "Falling Down" by OASIS, an English rock band which does quite well. The ED features paper-animation of missile attacks with "futuristic imagination" by school food punishment is just a wonder to gaze at as the credits roll. I'll definitely follow this series faithfully until its completion, I just hope that this series will maintain itself over the course of the next 10 weeks and can continue to exceed my already high expectations of it. 11 episodes

Tayutama -Kiss on my Deity-: I won't comment on this one too much, so I'll just say: generic romance harem anime. Basically, this Goddess fights spiritual monsters until she seals herself and these spiritual, then 500 years later that seal is broken, not by any of the heavy construction machinery...noooo, but by a scooter bike - and all hell shall break loose over the course of the series. Said Goddess is formed in to a young girl's body then makes a promise with the guy that she will be his wife and the next morning she's roughly the guy's age now. Begin ecchi scenes, the harem, the romance, the comedy. Yeah, after watching the first episode, it still reminds me of Kanokon and Inukami! Hopefully this will have a more satisfying ending than Kanokon. I guess I'll be following this whenever I get a chance to watch for that dose of harem romance. 12 episodes

Ristorante Paradiso: One thing you'll notice in this anime: glasses. All the male characters featured in this anime has glasses. I'm pretty sure this anime will have the characters dealing with glasses. Glasses! Sure enough, it's all explained in the middle of the first episode. The setting takes place in a cozy, yet popular restaurant in Rome and all the employees there are older gentlemen wearing reading glasses, the reason being Nicoletta's, the main character, mother requested it to be so; the restaurant itself is owned by the her mother's husband. This series is very slice of life, so this genre may not be your cup of tea - but it certainly isn't boring. I was kind of uncomfortable with the opening sequence since it featured all the male characters with their reading glasses in different positions on their faces that sort of screams male harem. Thankfully, this isn't the case, since a few are married, one is looking for divorce, etc. Thing is, is that most of them are old men like ~50-60 and it also appears to be geared more toward girls. Well, this anime does have a rather powerful message: it makes you hungry. Animation-wise, it looks like it combines both drawn figures and CG art that makes the show very artistic in nature -- just like the food. 11 episodes
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#5
Some thoughts on a few second episodes of some series (I still have Hatsukoi Limited and 07-Ghost to go through):

Hayate: I'm not sure when this series takes place; it feels as if some of the events that take place occur before a certain someone developed feelings for Hayate, but it might not be the case. I don't know, but at least there's a few references in this episode e.g. the densha otoko reference. EDIT: Late, but I heard that this season will pretty much be centered around HayateXHinagiku relationship, so here's for more Hinagiku no Gotoku! Smile

FMA: Brotherhood: The second episode focuses on Ed and Al's past childhood and how they attempted to perform human transmutation, the aftermath, and Ed's exam to ultimately become instated as a State Alchemist; while the two brothers travel by train to Lior as the backdrop as these flashbacks occur. They sped through all that material in one episode, thus I believe the episodes that are repeated from the first iteration of the series will be quick, one episode summaries until they reach a point (which is soon, I believe) where they focus on new material straight from the manga. The next episode, of course, will be about Lior with some noticeable character design changes: Rose is less tan than before (which is, again, inline with the manga). I'm still digging that OP song.

Sengoku Basara: Same over-the-top action, but with something out of the ordinary. Apparently Date Masamure DOESN'T ride on a horse but instead on a horse-like MOTORCYCLE. Still, this series is still freaking awesome; sort of like a mix with other series with a Sengoku era-like plot and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann-like hot-blooded action.


---

Episode three thoughts (this will likely be the last for this new season):

FMA: Brotherhood: Now, the reason why Rose is less tan than before is because the first iteration of FMA had Lior in a desert, whereas in Brotherhood it isn't, thus the noticeable changes in skin color (if you're in a desert, skin pigmentation tends to be darker than other areas). They summarized the once two episodes arc of Lior into one episode and had a fair mix of humor and seriousness and followed the first few chapters of the manga almost word for word. It left out Tear hidden inside Al's metal body and the "bird" man (Rose's love). Next episode will be all about Nina, time to get prepared for that one, poor thing.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#6
Good news for you Haruhi fans: the upcoming eighth episode on May 24th is not a repeat episode, but a new episode. The episode title is Sasa no Ha Rhapsody or Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody. Some background information on this episode reveals that this particular episode was written up but not animated in the first run of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu series. Until it airs, it's hard to tell whether or not if this follows within events in the first run or the first episode for the second season.

EDIT: This episode chronologically occurs after the baseball game episode, "The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi" (ep. 4 in broadcast/Kyon order; or episode 7 in chronological/Haruhi order).

This new episode begins (probably) two weeks after the Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu and Nyoro-n Churuya-san series concluded with the 25th and 13th episodes respectively on KADOKAWA's YouTube channel. As for me, when I see it I'll believe it.

Update 5/18: It's been retracted, probably. Always good to err on the side of caution when KADOKAWA and Suzumiya Haruhi are in the same sentence. Anyways, the episode in question will air first on the SUN TV channel early May 22nd.
Update: 5/21: Confirmed. First new episode of Haruhi since its first air turns out to be true. Now, was that so hard KADOKAWA? Man, the hype machine is strong in this one. Anyways, it's good to see that there's a continuation for Haruhi - which is most likely based off of the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya novel. Yes, I've seen this new episode, it's authentic. Haruhi's back for a second season! Next episode occurs three four weeks from now (3rd week of June) with the episode "Endless Eight", after the Lone/Remote Island Syndrome story arc.
SimsHsia
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#7
Apparently I couldn't count how many weeks it'll take from May 21st until June 18th, its been fixed. Tongue

Anyways, here's an approximate timeline for the second season of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 2009 (again, remember that they're mixing in the first season episodes as well, all in chronological order):

This list is based off of the following facts: this run-through will be 28 episodes long (14 of them new episodes; 14 from the original run), episodes referenced from Baka-Tsuki, these new episodes air on a Thursday with SUN TV (but looks slightly better on Tokyo MX airing Fridays), and episode numberings are pretty much straightforward since they are in chronological order.

Please take the air dates with a grain of salt, they begin to get fuzzy beginning with the 18th episode.

EDIT: Yeah, I left out ep. 13, it's been added.
EDIT2: Please see the new revised schedule of possibility for the Haruhi airing dates HERE. Now with 50% more italicization and uncertainty!

Episode #: Title ~ SUN TV Air Date/Tokyo MX Air Date
Ep 08: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody ~ May 21st/22nd
Ep 12: Endless Eight ~ June 18th/19th
Ep 13: The Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi ~ June 25th/26th
Ep 18: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi ~ July 30th
Ep 19: Charmed at First Sight LOVER ~ August 6th/7th
Ep 20: Snow Mountain Syndrome ~ August 13th/14th
Ep 21: Where Did The Cat Go? ~ August 20th/21st
Ep 22: The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi (Prologue) ~ August 27th/28th
Ep 23: The Melancholy of Asahina Mikuru ~ September 3rd/4th
Ep 24: The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi ~ September 10th/11th
Ep 25: Editor in Chief ★ Straight Ahead! I ~ September 17th/18th*
Ep 26: Editor in Chief ★ Straight Ahead! II ~ September 24th/25th*
Ep 27: Wandering Shadow ~ October 1st/2nd
Ep 28: The Dissociation of Suzumiya Haruhi ~ October 8th/9th***

*Just a quick afternote: Ep. 25 and 26 might be a two-part episode judging by the amount of material it has; if they combine the two episodes as a special one-hour episode then move the remaining episodes thereafter up a week.
**This episode is based off of the 9th volume of the light novel. If you've read up to this point, you're still anxiously waiting for the final(?) 10th volume of the novel which has been on hold for 2 years.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#8
Some quick news about sequels for this season's lineup:

Sengoku Basara has been given the go ahead for a second season coming after a DVD-only release of the final 13th episode in January 2010.

Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi has also been given the go ahead for a second season. The Japanese title is Queen's Blade: Gyokuza wo Tsugu Mono (lit. Queen's Blade: The One who Succeeds the Throne) and it's English title Queen's Blade and the Evil Eye (probably a sign of things to come?).

Higashi no Eden has two films that are green-lit for production. The King of Eden debuting November 28th and Paradise Lost debuting in January 2010. It looks like these films will be a continuation and will complete the series (depending on how the 11th episode will end) or these two films will summarize, or an alternative retelling of, the series as a whole (similar to the recent Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann films, Gurren-hen and Lagann-hen).

EDIT: Post HnE ep. 11: these two movies will be a continuation of the series, due to the events that occur in the 11th episode. All I can say is, this episode ended with a BANG!
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#9
Not really diggin' the Haruhi 2 OP.

...That is all.

EDIT: Or maybe that's not all. Random thought: If the drinking game for FMA: Brotherhood was to take a shot every time someone says "alchemy," the average person would likely be drunk by the time the opening credits started rolling.
Of A Revolution Wrote:And we would sit, and wonder about the future,
But now I'm thinkin' that today sounds fine to me.


[Image: toriban.png]
#10
(Sat Jun 20 2009, 01:39 AM)Toriban Wrote: Not really diggin' the Haruhi 2 OP.

I took a quick look earlier today at the new OP for the latest, new, episode of Haruhi. The music is so-so, but the animation sequence is certain something to look at.

(Sat Jun 20 2009, 01:39 AM)Toriban Wrote: EDIT: Or maybe that's not all. Random thought: If the drinking game for FMA: Brotherhood was to take a shot every time someone says "alchemy," the average person would likely be drunk by the time the opening credits started rolling.

ZING! Big Grin
SimsHsia
EZS Web Services
"I've reached field capacity!"
#11
And so, K-ON! is complete, the whereabouts of whether they'll make it to Budokan in another series release (be it TV or OVA) is anyone's guess. For the series itself, it was a pretty average show, but I've seen a better music-genre series (Nodame Cantabile) where there's actually plot advancement and character goal achievement. If nothing else, K-ON! is your run-of-the-mill slice of life/music show. I have to say, for the last episode of this series, Ritsu looks better without her hairband on. I had to take a step back and say, "wait...is that Yui...no, different hair color, different house, etc. Er, new character? No wait, that looks like...ah! Ritsu."

As for the Haruhi series, episode 13 is the 2nd part for the Endless Eight story arc, with a 3rd part coming next week - certainly true to the arc's title of "Endless Eight". Thus, the schedule I made four posts up is incorrect. Something unforeseen like a three-part story arc definitely throws off the schedule, especially if you're guessing that there's only one story arc that occurs at the climax of the season.

EDIT: I've updated the possible schedule. From the previous, and now obsolete, schedule, the series still looks like it ends on the second week of October. The updated one will be as follows, below:

Note: the part of the schedule that is italicized and grayed out is predicted and may not be entirely correct. Please take the following information with a grain of salt.

Episode #: Title ~ Air Date
Ep 08: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody ~ May 21st/22nd
Ep 12: Endless Eight I ~ June 18th/19th
Ep 13: Endless Eight II ~ June 25th/26th
Ep 14: Endless Eight III ~ July 2nd/3rd
Ep 15: The Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi I ~ July 9th/10th
Ep 16: The Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi II ~ July 16th/17th
Ep 17: The Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi III ~ July 23rd/24th
Ep 18: The Sighs of Suzumiya Haruhi IV ~ July 30th/31st
Ep 23: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi I ~ September 3rd/4th
Ep 24: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi II ~ September 10th/11th
Ep 25: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi III ~ September 17th/18th
Ep 26: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi IV ~ September 24th/25th
Ep 27: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi V ~ October 1st/2nd
Ep 28: The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi VI ~ October 8th/9th
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#12
To save some viewers some time: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu Season 2's fifth new episode continues with the Endless Eight arc (iteration #15,513 by Yuki's source). And the result? Tune in next time for another episode of Endless Eight! OK, then! Take care now, bye bye now!

I feel sorry for the voice actors if they had to do this for every episode and Yuki for going through 595 years worth of those two weeks ((15513 * 14) / 365).

OK, so I took a quick look at the light novel (The Rampage of Suzumiya Haruhi) which features Endless Eight. All you have to look for to know that it is the end of the Endless Eight story arc is: Yuki wearing a kappa head (or rather, something less alien-like). Although the light novel doesn't state when the last iteration is for the end of Endless Eight, the last iteration mentioned was 15,498.
From an unconfirmed source, The Endless Eight arc will end next week (with the sixth episode of the new season) and then we go to the Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi story arc until this season's completion.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#13
Yup, tune in next week for the (possible) exciting (we hope) conclusion (oh, please, please!) to the Endless Eight story arc (iteration #15521). As for this sixth episode of the new second season of Haruhi, they not only loop the episode, but they loop within this episode! Poor, poor Yuki...

Also, methinks this arc has something to do with the "Disappearance" story arc coming up in two weeks. I also think the Endless Eight arc should have ended two episodes ago. But, eh, I guess they wanted to make the point real clear for everyone (I dunno, somehow with this repetition; perhaps Yuki getting sick with Kyon's inaction) that will be closely tied in with the succeeding story arc.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#14
On a completely different note, announced today: there's a K-ON! DVD/Bluray-only episode coming this coming January with the 7th volume of the K-ON! DVD/Bluray series.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"
#15
Going back to Haruhi...yeah, it ain't ending on the sixth episode (iteration #15524). Sorry if you had any hopes of it ending so soon. Anyways, Endless Eight continues on next week with a seventh episode, let's see if it lives up to its name, literally, by actually ending on its eighth episode two weeks from now.
SimsHsia
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"I've reached field capacity!"


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