Summer 2011 Anime Preview

(Unfortunately no Sawako this season, but plenty of nyanko-sensei~)

Sometimes I feel the best way to do these anime previews is by punching them!  That’s how I feel about the upcoming summer season. :3 Just watching the trailers so far have not elicited any type of exciting response at all. Given that I temporarily suspended my spring anime watching for a few weeks to address my anime burn-out, they really need to bring out more unique series and a better variety of them.

Another rather lackluster summer season for anime. Plenty of shows to watch and some that may end up being an enjoyable use of time but nothing seems very likely to remain a memorable show for years to come. Also I hope RO KYU BU is a Japanese version of How to Catch a Predator, and they will arrest everyone who watches it.

Here’s a chart from Zana again. And as usual, Random Curiosity for a detailed preview.

Appleseed XIII (06/02 Thu)

With something like this, you can’t help but hope for high expectations. Ghost in the Shell did pretty well as a television series, especially for two seasons. As this comes from the same tree, this has to perform well. Although the settings are somewhat similar, I’m sad at the lack of Tachikomas. I just hope I won’t get turned off by the low quality CG animation they could possibly be using. Can’t really expect them to use the budget and make this into some visual masterpiece.

I have seen the past movies and such for this series and judging by that this series will likely be more of the same. Not the best series by far as the characters and story have always been lacking for a series that is more about animation quality and gimmicky appeal with a female protagonist. Come to think of it Appleseed was very similar to the Ghost in the Shell TV series, good animation, enjoyable setting, watered down, childish, and poorly written and implemented everything else. If you absolutely must have a science fiction show this season Appleseed fits the bill, though if like me you care for more than the genre label, chances are you will continue to lament the lack of anything decent under the sci fi umbrella.

Inumaru Dash (06/?? Fri)

I don’t think so :( Despite the shows that I do manage to watch, this seems way out of my age range. I would have to regress far lower than I already have in order to sit through this.

I feel just commenting would lessen my integrity, so no, just no.

Blade (07/01 Fri)

Please no more. I can’t take anymore adaptations of Western media. Although I wouldn’t mind a new Blade movie versus this anime, the culture gap really threatens this piece of work as an anime adaptation. Then again, even without the cultural gap, it’ll end up sucking either way. If you’re looking for a Dhampir fix, it’s best to wait for the television anime series adaptation of Vampire Hunter D that’s supposedly in the works. Now that is one dark, sci-fi, fantasy setting that I really want to visit instead!

It just gets worse and worse with the western adaptations, I always found blade stupid even among its peers. Just imagining the monstrosity that turning this into an anime will produce is enough for me to lose faith in the future of anime. One can only hope this fails fast so I never have to bear mention of it again.

RO-KYU-BU (07/01 Fri)

A lolicon’s dream come true. I weep for little girls everywhere. Yet I want to gently pat the heads of those 2D lolis :3 Just like Astarotte no Omocha, this anime has a horrible premise of a young boy becoming a coach of a loli basketball team after the captain of his own high school basketball team is suspected of being a lolicon. He’ll probably be able to achieve his dreams of a loli harem and make his captain proud, given his protagonist status. This is most likely why I’m drifting back into shounen anime/manga.

Really Japan, you can do better than this I know it and you know it. This is just insultingly bad, and obviously catering to a pedophile audience. Anyone saying they watch this for the story is lying and trying to cover their asses, this is pretty obviously not supposed to be something heartwarming and sincere else they could have easily changed the setting and designs to suit it. As I am not complete lolicon and though irrelevant as far as this series is concerned I hate basketball with a passion I refuse to watch this show.

Kami-sama no Memo-chou (07/02 Sat)

As the second successor of Gosick, we go from gothic lolita detective to a NEET detective. I’m pretty sure they’ll be banking on the charm of the show’s awkward female NEET lead, which will probably downplay everything else and turn this into a modern version of Gosick. When I used to hear the word detective in stories, I expected a lot more. However, now I’m associating it with loli moeblobs :(

Well first thing that comes to my mind is how is she a NEET if her job is being a detective, after all her Employment is taken care of, she just chooses not to go out as much as possible which is a hikkikomori rather than a NEET.. That aside I think I passed over some of this in manga form, not sure as it was awhile ago and I don’t recall if it has the same title but if so it may be somewhat amusing? I never read far enough to judge properly but it was at least better than GoSick. Most likely wont be anything spectacular but then again what is these days.

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% (07/02 Sat)

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought this to be a Starry Sky sequel. Can’t tell the difference from looking at these pictures.

It’s shoujo, meaning basically Infinite Stratos in reverse, likely with even less story. Shows like this should be against the Geneva convention.

Sacred Seven (07/02 Sat)

With Star Driver over, we have a successor to the the ginga bishounen! With a design that heavily reminds me of Scryed’s Kazuma, the setting and vibe resembles Asura Cryin. I do wonder if this will be some sci-fi version of the Seven Samurai :(

No real point for me to watch a show I know I will hate before even starting it. I grew out of shounen battle anime a long time ago, and this appears to be little more than that, good or bad it won’t amount to anything spectacular.

Nurarihyon no Mago (07/03 Sun)

Yuki-Onna is cute but this anime ended up being too shounen for my tastes.

I agree completely with Wanko here, Yuki-Onna is cute, and the rest of the show follows the usual shounen plot.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee (07/03 Sun)

I have to give this anime some credit for taking place in Paris. Yeah, that’s about it.

Girl moves to paris, is forcibly related to boy there, reluctantly they overcome differences, romance ensues, drama comes next, everything is solved, the end. There ya go detailed synopsis so you don’t have to waste four hours of your life.

Natsume Yuujnchou (07/04 Mon)

Natsume and his ayakashi friends return for a third season! Although I did like the series, what I found was the lack of variation with the plot. Helping ayaskashi A with this and that, then being terrorized by ayakashi B etc. The story isn’t grand and is as slice of life as it goes for this supernatural story. But its development and pacing heavily reminds me of Mushishi. If you happen to enjoy the atmospheric feel of series such as Mushishi, then this comes as close as it can get to that series. Of course it pales in comparison to Mushishi however! (If you want to consider something less bittersweet, Kamichu is my favorite light-hearted, supernatural slice of life. You’d be amazed at the high production values that show had.)

As this is a continuation from previous seasons there is little need to say much, other than perhaps I will not be watching. This show was too slow and too devoid of any real plot for me to get into it.

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel (07/04 Mon)

Mahou Shoujo, nuff said. We won’t be seeing a Madoka for awhile :3

I still hold to my belief that mahou shoujo are the bane of sentient life.

Yuruyuri (07/04 Mon)

They should just rename this to Yuriyuri. That’s what I first read this as anyway! But overall what I’ll be expecting here is cute girls doing cute things to each other. Slice of life, schoolgirls, yuri, loli, and moe. For once I want to see a season that doesn’t involve a school-themed slice of life anime. But then again there’s probably a huge demand for this.

I didn’t realize that the name was not “Yuriyuri” till Wanko pointed that out.. Seems to be the standard schoolgirls slice of life which there has been all too much of lately, only this time it looks like a sub par attempt at the genre along the lines of A Channel. Unless you absolutely need simple slice of life loli schoolgirl moe, chances are you would be more entertained watching paint dry.

Kamisama Dolls (07/05 Tue)

I can’t tell if this will be a lighthearted series disguised by the murder plot, or the other way around. Thanks a lot for giving me two different trailers to look at! Oddly enough, Narutaru briefly comes into mind.

No matter which way this show goes, like the rest of this season I have little to no interest in it. Frankly this entire season bores me to the point I don’t even care if the shows are good or bad, so far it seems unlikely I would be able to even get three episodes into even a single show.

Morita-san no Mukuchi (07/05 Tue)

Wheeee, another slice of life! They always come in fours don’t they? I guess starting with five would be too sentai-ish. No need to read the plot summary for this, rejected like A Channel!

Why can’t they make a slice of life about a school girl who hates everyone and is a serial killer doing her part to clean up the world while hiding it from her friends and living the lie of a normal life? At least then it would be a life that is interesting to follow and could be identified with. the focus on an all too nice girl and the various friends who come together and do stuff is old, lets move on from here, we have enough of these shows to last a hundred years.

Nyanpire the Animation (07/06 Wed)

Although I call myself a fan of animal mascots, this is definitely beyond me.  I rather hang out with that animal mascot in Henshin. ^_^ Dumping this for looking like Hello Kitty’s cousin.

Oh the pain this series inflicts upon my fragile psyche. If I ever meet someone who watches this in real life I will be punching them in the face no questions asked.

Usagi Drop (07/07 Thu)

With all of this other stuff out, I guess we needed a heartwarming story. Guy takes in the illegitimate daughter of his grandfather, and each episode is supposed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sounds okay so far, until the insidious nature of the story takes place in the later half! Fun and innocence turns into a forbidden relationship! This is one horrible message to convey to the audience!

Aww how nice of him to adopt this particular jailbait as a future investment. While the premise itself is innocent enough, this could be one scary show depending how far it goes. Another of those shows that tries to use shock factor to appeal to anyone besides lolicons perhaps? If the show stays clean I would be fine with it, if not well.. I’ll forget this show ever existed.

NO. 6 (07/07 Thu)

Not much information to go by, but it looks like two young men running away in order to consummate their forbidden romance! Although I’m exaggerating, the show could possibly be shounen-ai but at least not in the category of Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi. Allen Walker x Yu Kanda.

Why can we never have a wholesome story with two male leads? There are plenty of female variants where they stay friends or have separate interests, but whenever you see two guys filling the protagonist roles together there is almost guaranteed to be shounen ai elements. Predictably I will avoid this as I would a mahou shoujo.

THE IDOLM@STER (07/07 Thu)

I guess they won’t be piloting mecha like their previous incarnation. I’m more worried about Kento Miura taking a break from Berserk. If the anime manages to interest him like the game did we’ll be seeing more delays in the Berserk manga, which is already taking a long time to come out as it is. ;_;

Boring waste of talent and money, I’ll pass.

Blood-C (07/07 Thu)

I wonder how many Blood adaptations we’ll end up getting. At least the big plus here is CLAMP being involved. I’m pretty sure this vampire hunter will beat out Blade without a problem, but anything this season will probably be better than Blade.

Ah the Blood series, few things elicit the same degree of disgust from me as this terrible wannabe show. If I wanted to watch half assed battle girl dramas based on Chupacabras then I would move to Mexico. This is the sort of show that appeals to the action equivalent of “Moefags”, people who only care that a good looking, and usually emotional girl is slicing things up. A shame really, as had they perhaps looked beyond the lame Mexican myth, and actually made a story and characters worth developing this series may have been so much better than the bottom rung trash it is. I do have to admit that I agree it will probably be better than Blade though, not that it says much.

Mayo Chiki (07/07 Thu)

Harem anime with a reverse trap + her twin sister to conquer. Nothing new, and even as a reverse trap, she won’t be too different from a standard tsundere.

Almost feels like Ladis vs Butlers all over again here. If I am particularly bored I may watch some of the series, but not too interested in a rather run of the mill looking ecchi harem comedy.

Baka Test to Shoukanjuu (07/07 Thu)

With all the school anime out, at least Baka Test was amusing compared to the others with how it used its setting. It was fun seeing the summoning system in action and the way they waged their class wars. But most importantly, the variety of characters helped kept everything interesting. From the sadistic Kirishima Shouko to the popular trap Hideyoshi, the character interactions are notably the highlight of the series. Gotta love how Akihisa and Yuuji tries their best to screw each other over :3

This show was just as stupid as the lame protagonist it revolves around in my opinion. The characters were more of the boring and standard fare, the story was predictable and generally worthless with no real interesting developments or cunning character decisions. Setting? Setting was just lame aside from one gimmick that was made use of poorly. All around this series was one giant failure in my eyes, while I’m sure it has plenty of fans given they decided on a new season, I will never be one of them.

Itsuka Tenma no Kurosagi (07/08 Fri)

Just when I thought this season couldn’t get any loli-er. We now have a Rosario Vampire loli edition for those out there who prefer their vampires with a flat chest. I guess it’s okay since she’ll probably be a 700 year old loli or something along those lines. But this does make three vampire shows this season. Between an African American Dhamphir, Saya version 3.0, and a loli vampire, I am sure that the outcome will point towards the loli :3 If they’ll loli-fy 30 year old characters back into a grade schooler for their JRPG games, it’s a safe bet that’s what people want now.

I feel that Wanko did a good job in describing this as “Rosario to Vampire loli edition” since that is pretty much all the story is. Shows like this are why I hate Saimoe and the people who aid terrible cookie cutter character designs in winning it. There is little doubt the industry pays keen attention to which character designs are popular and is why you see more and more loli and more of the standard tsundere heroines each and every year. It shows people care little for the stories as they used to, and care more if a character is cute emasculating jailbait.

Nekogami Yaoyorozu (07/09 Sat)

Aside from Natsume Yuujinchou, we have another supernatural slice of life this season. Although focused more on comedy vs the drama in Natsume Yuujinchou, this does have a higher chance of piquing my interest compared to the normal slice of life anime out this summer season. Not to mention it’s looking awfully cute…  kemonomimi… dog days…

Nothing spectacular plot wise, but as a comedy that can be forgiven as something that is only there to make you laugh. Will it be funny though, I don’t know, I can see it going both ways although even if it is enjoyable it will most likely not be something remembered in years to come.

R-15 (07/09 Sat)

How can a kid be a pornographic novelist? Another ecchi harem comedy to fulfill the lust of harem lovers everywhere. With Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo as my first harem anime, it’s quite silly to see the lack of effort they’re putting into this. These lazy premises have already begun the countdown to the death of anime. As long as they churn out stuff like this, I can’t complain about shounen anime/manga.

Ok so apparently our perverted protagonist this time is an author for pornography, and this is apparently enough to get him into a school centered around catering to genius. Now don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate artistic merits regardless of subject matter or medium, I do play eroge after all, but it does seem odd to me that someone writing such content would be categorized in the ranks of “Geniuses”. To the best of my knowledge there is no author who is regarded as being particularly exceptional from writing such content. Even in eroge the best writers stay well clear of nukige, the bottom of the barrel of  the genre, so it boggles my mind how they couldn’t come up with a better excuse for this otherwise typical ecchi comedy. How hard is it to make him an actual novelist who has a talent but only wants to write perverted stories which he submits under a pen name elsewhere…I have to laugh that it is not only me who thinks anime is just getting lazier and less impressive with each year, new series rarely compare to the old.

Manyuu Hikenchou (07/10 Sun)

“In this current era, breasts mean everything”. I grabbed that line from a summary, but I think you get the gist of how this show will go. For those of you who prefer girls of the flat chested variety, I don’t think you’ll enjoy this. :3 Who needs story when you think you can hypnotize the audience with a full assortment of jiggling breasts. I do recommend they should pick up story ideas that don’t resemble an H Doujin.

My brain hurts just from reading this, I find it hard to believe a story so stupid can possibly exist. I suppose there will always be at least one show that caters to lolicons antithesis, the group of perverts who think along the same lines only with different tastes. I feel nothing but pity towards people who have to work on shows this bad, I would want my name stricken from the credits where I involved with the creation of this show or any like it for the sake of my pride and dignity. 

Dantalian no Shoka (07/16 Fri)

Not just one, but two shows to succeed Gosick in the summer season. Unlike the NEET detective coming up after the next entry, we’ll still have our gothic lolita detective in the form of Dalian. Housing forbidden books within herself, I can imagine her being a cross between Victorique and Index. With that in mind, she’ll go around chomping on the head of her new blonde partner and use her cute pouting face to draw viewers to the power of moe that she silently possesses. It’ll be a battle of detectives this season as Gosick’s successors face off!

Book girl who is forbidden in more ways than one. While the premise can be interesting, I doubt it will be made proper use of. Still at least it is a series that has enough potential to tread the minefield even if I have no hope of clearing it.