Xebek:

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu ~Purezza~
I loved the first season of this show. The only problem I had with it was that it ended to suddenly, which is to be expected, was to be expected when it comes from some other source. Getting a second season is nothing but great, as this show has some very fun characters, a charming and sweet love story between the two main characters, and some very good comedy to it. I can’t wait to see more of this show and only hope they continue to make anime seasons for it, or give it a good anime end.

Inuyasha – The Final Act

I have to admit that I was absolutely floored by the news of this. It’s not something I would have expected in a million years. The show actually became this perfect example of a show that just ends abruptly due to source material having not finished. Sure there are plenty of other series that do this too, but this was just the perfect example. They didn’t make anew ending, they didn’t end on some small arc, they just up and stopped. This show seems like it’s just a classic and there is no way I would miss it, no matter how mainstream and over commercialized it has become. Plus, the boomerang girl is hot. What’s her name again…Sango? Why do I know that name after so many years having passed since I’ve seen it…

Koihime +Musou – Otome Ryouran Sangokushi Engi

I was quite surprised by the news of this show getting another season. It didn’t seem like something that was popular enough or really honestly good enough to get another season. It was still fun to watch even if it wasn’t the best, it had some interesting characters in it and sometimes it’s fun to watch a semi-bad show just for the entertainment aspect. Since I stuck with it for the first season I have to give this one another go.

Sasameki Koto

It’s yuri, what more reason do I need?

Kampfer

I don’t have any delusions of this being very good. I don’t expect it to have some epic story and in depth character development to it, but as I’ve said before sometimes you just want to watch something because it’s simply fun to do so, it doesn’t have to be extraordinary for it to e fun to watch, which is precisely why I wish to watch this series. It seems like it will be very stupid and ridiculous while also being fun to watch.

11eyes

I picked this mainly because I was looking for something a bit different then what I already had. It seemed semi interesting, and although not in the style or genre I most watch, it’s not really one that I would hate, or so I hope. Plus, pretty all the other shows I was watching from last season are ending, so I needed something and figured what the hell.

FlareKnight:

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun

It’s not just because I covered Index that I’m interested in blogging this series. I honestly felt Mikoto was the best character and getting to watch her in her own series will be great. I did stumble onto the manga for this one so again I have a pretty good idea what to expect. Still it will just be nice to see Mikoto much more often and watch her deal with the situations she has to face. Besides should be fun to watch her interactions with Kuroko. Since there should be some fun things happening each episode I’m more than happy to cover each episode.

Fairy Tail

Well having read the manga I was pretty excited to hear about the anime coming out for it. I do like my action series so this will be a good one to add to my blogging list. Besides do like fitting in some elemental fighting into the series I’m watching so Natsu should be a good lead to follow. It just seems like a good option for a series with some adventure. I’m curious to find out whether this will go a normal length like 26 or join some of the longer running series. Anyways the promo looked good so I’m pretty confident this will be done well.

Asura Cryin’ 2

It does seem right to continue where I left off with this series. There were some surprises in how they dealt with things and it did fail to answer some questions that I had. So it’s good that the sequel is coming out so we can hopefully get those answers. Besides they left on somewhat of a cliffhanger so I’ll be glad to get right back into this. Misao really was the star for me in this show so hopefully she continues to shine in the sequel.

Flare Full

Spice and Wolf
This was an easy series to decide to pick up. Much like Natsume this was a show I enjoyed the first season of but just wasn’t blogging when it aired. Ever since the first season ended I’ve been anticipating a sequel and now it has finally arrived. It’s not a show that many would see as exciting on the surface. But the interactions of Horo and Lawrence really drove the first season. Long as the second season can live up to the first this will probably be my favorite show that is currently airing. I never would have anticipated that the travels of a special wolf and a merchant could be so entertaining. Will definitely enjoy following their exploits as they continue to travel North.

Flare Quick

Umineko
Now I heard about the source material around the end of Higurashi Kai. While this isn’t a sequel there is a connection between the series. So since Higurashi has ended up near the top of my favorites list I was interested in following this one. It should have plenty of suspense from the synopsis and could end up being a pretty messy series by the end. There is some nice voice talent coming into play here as well so there is plenty to be excited about here. This kind of series probably won’t be for everyone but I’ll see where it goes.

Xebek Full

Umi Monogatari
I’ve always loved Mahou Shoujo; in fact it’s a tie for my favorite genre with just normal drama/romance. Mix them together and it would really be something. I’m not actually thinking this show will do that, but being semi mahout shoujo will be enough to catch my interest. Interestingly enough it seems that although its mahout shoujo and seems like it would be light hearted from some early screen caps it seems to have a high ecchi content which I wasn’t expecting. I just hope they also mix in quality.

Xebek Quick

Yoku Waka
Eh. It caught my eye. I don’t have any hope of this being epic or anything but it seem s like it could just simply be fun to watch and having a show be fun to watch is enough of a reason for me to watch it.

Aoi Hana
There is something about yuri that is always attention catching for me it seems… However I’ve been disappointed in recent history with pseudo yuri shows like Mariya + Holic turning into just random slapstick. I want this show to have seriousness towards the romances like Strawberry Panic had. That s not to say I want this show to be like Strawberry Panic, but they just focused on the yuri relationships as serious, and it was a nice change of pace. I hope that happens here.

Well, as this site has always done the spring post here isn’t so much to tell you what is out there, but what the people on this site will be watching and blogging, so you know what to expect from the posts. As a recent post has mentioned this site will be doing a LOT more posts that just go arc by arc, not episode by episode. So we’ll have posts scattered throughout the series based on arc endings or character introductions. That way we can do a lot more series and also make the posts for those series far more interesting. Well, without any more delay here are the lists:

Xebek

Tears to Tiara

Well, I picked this series for several reasons. First off, although I seem to be alone in this, I really did like Utawarerumono. I haven’t played the game, but liked the series enough. Seeing as how the game source for this anime is made by the same people as Utawarerumono, Leaf, I want to give this a try. An even bigger force behind really paying this show a lot of attention is I plan to very soon play and beat the game version, as I have it available to me. Hopefully I’ll be able to beat the game before the anime and give impression on how they differ.

Flare’s Comment: I’m looking forward to watching this one. The story sounds interesting from what I’ve heard. Do like seeing what kind of fantasy world the people behind this kind of series can create.

Hayate no Gotoku

I watched and LOVED the first season of this series. Nagi is just such a fun character to watch, being a perfect tsundere/loli that is obsessed with anime and games and very lazy. So many of the qualities I have…Combine that with some of the most impressive and hilarious content that parodies other anime and breaks the fourth all, it looks to have promise.

Flare’s Comment: It’s always easy to relax while watching an episode of Hayate. Sometimes the series fell off my radar for a while, but it always came back. Mostly I’ll enjoy watching for Hinagiku who ended up being my favorite part of the first season.

K-ON

I don’t really have a choice as to whether or not I watch this or not, KyoAni are my gods and they command me to watch, so here I am. While I don’t’ think it will be some epics anime that will live up and make everyone praising it I doubt it will be horrible. It looks like it will be a nice charming comedy, while not being flat out hilarious, still being a lot of fun, so I’m giving it a chance.

Flare’s Comment: The musical element of this show is what will likely keep me watching. I’m not sure how good this will be, but expecting a pretty solid show.

Scott’s Comment: Well like Xebek, its a KyonAni (which I’ve been pleased with in the past) so I’ve gotta at least check it out. Not sure I dig the music club thing but I think its bound to have some comedy in there due to the fact the girls don’t know jack about music.

Shangri-La

While I usually end up going with less serious series, or series with a heavier romance focus or even action, this series just seemed intriguing so I figured I’d take a look even if it’s not what I normally watch. It seems to have a very epic and over compassing plot with some serious elements that I hope are very interesting.

Flare’s Comment: I’m mostly curious since this show has an interesting premise. The lead has an appeal to her along with what she is carrying. A show like this could be solid or it could just be a miss.

Scott’s Comment: The premise of this sounds very interesting to me. I’m not entirely sure what they mean by forest city but that alone makes the series sound interesting.

Natsu no Arashi

Well, seeing as how I’m a huge fan of romance anime, I feel I have to check this one out. It looks to have promise as it will be a bit more serious the some other harem comedy romance mixes. Although I don’t think this will be super serious all the time, it does at least have some promise for actual story ad character development.

Scott’s Comment: Totally not sure why this interests me but it seems like something I might like. It’s based off a sci-fi lovecom manga. The scifi part /comedy part sounds like it should be interesting but I will see how it goes.

FlareKnight

Fullmetal Alchemist

It’s an interesting thing when the past happens to appear in front of you. I had some great memories of this series when I watched the dub years ago. The ending and the movie that followed just didn’t sit right with me. So the news that this would be redone and follow the source material closer clinched it as something I had to cover. Like following adventures like this and seeing the characters overcomes obstacles. The action should be good and I’m excited about it.

Xebek’s Comment: I watched the first series a while ago and I liked the basic premise and plot throughout most of it, but it fell apart at the end. This will hopefully combine what I liked about the first series and fix the bad stuff.

Asura Cryin

The summary for this series really drew me in. Something about haunted by a childhood friend leaves me with a smile. I do honestly like some romance and think there is some potential here. This should allow me to mix my support for series with action with possible romantic development. I don’t have a lot of information to go on, but have a good feeling with this.

Scott’s Comment: This sounds intriguing but this is one of those series I’m not sure I’m gonna watch. I’m placing this in the maybe pile. It might be good. I don’t know. I will have to see. The pic of the series looks cute.

Pandora Hearts

I seem to be falling into a more action based comfort zone for this season. The story summary I’ve heard so far has made me interested in seeing what might happen. I’m not expecting more than a hint of romance in a series like this, but never know what might happen. There seems to be good potential in the story and that’s enough to make me want to follow this.

Valkyria Chronicles

Now this is almost a replacement for Tales of the Abyss. It’s a similar position since I have played the game this is based on and know the story is good enough. Not often that I follow a good war story so this will be a nice change of pace. It stays within the action genre that I’m already focused on. Definitely looking forward to seeing how they transfer events into the anime setting. This could end up being a very good entry to the Spring anime season.

Scott’s Comment: Omo got me really excited about this series so I will watching. I’ve never played the game so I really don’t know much about it. But it seems like it will be an interesting series nonetheless.

Scott

Queens Blade

Ok, this series alot of people are probably not watching because it will a very heavy on the fanservice. But that is one reason I wanna check this out. Maybe it will be similar to Ikkitousen, which I enjoyed (for some reason). Anyways, another interesting thing about it that has some big name voice actors: Hirano Aya, Kugimiya Rie, and Noto Mamiko (my goddess). (Those are the only one’s I’m familar with. Not sure about the other voice actors.) I’m looking forward to hot girls with big tits fighting it out. How can you go wrong?

Eden of the East

This series looks like it should be really interesting. The premise sounds a bit stupid but from what I’ve heard it should be good. Not sure. I will have to see how this plays out. The artwork seems to be the same as Honey and Clover so I’d like to see that. The big kicker of this series is that, besides being a Production I.G. series, the director did both Ghost in the Shell and Seirei no Moribito. I enjoyed those series, especially Ghost in the Shell. Sound promising but I’m not sure if I will like it.

Hatsukoi Limited

It seems that this will be a romantic slice-of-life series dealing with several different high school and middle school girls (reminds me of Kita e ~Diamond Dust Drops~). It seems that eventually the individual stories will come together. Not sure how that plays out but I’d like to at least try it out. Plus, the girls look cute.

Full Post

Xebek:

Kurokami the Animation

Although shows of this genre aren’t usually the shows I fall in love with, that’s usually drama/romance shows. However there is something about this series that really has me interested. It almost reminds me of Shana, some supernatural girl with powers runs into an effectively normal person and they have to spend a lot of time together. I hope that this will mean that there will be some romance, as I always hope for romance in anime but even without it the supernatural and plot aspects of the show seem to be promising.

Maria + Holic

As I said above, I love romance in anime so even shows that are usually in genres known for bad shows, I’ll watch them. This series seems to be full of promising romance mixed with a lot of not good stuff, but it will be fun to watch. With this huge obsession on traps and yuri, this is like the perfect combination for those obsessed with it. Not that I am, but the romance promise is enough to pull me in.

The Tower of Druaga ~The Sword of Uruk~

I watched the first season, so I pretty much have to watch this one. Although the first season wasn’t the best of all time or anything like that, it got interesting enough to draw me in. The plot in the first season surged all of a sudden near the very end. And it only went up in the mystery behind what was happening. The first season is nowhere near complete, so I need to see this so I can know what will happen.

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FlareKnight:

Zoku Natsume Yuujin-chou

Choosing the series for my second season blogging was pretty interesting. For the first one went with something I was familiar with. When I saw that first season it was uncertain how good a series this would end up being. Surprisingly it turned out to be one of my favorites of that season. So choosing to go with the second season for the series wasn’t’ too hard a decision. Liked how the first season slowly developed Natsume’s character and also made many of the episodes emotionally charged. Looking forward to where the story will end up going in this season.

White Album

Interestingly as I will be leaving Akane-Iro behind a new series that looks to be right in the romantic category comes out. Don’t know much besides what is in the summary, but sounds like it will be a series full of charged emotions. Combing romantic relationship with an idol with the problem of having feelings for someone else. Anyways, have to give credit for the leads for the girls in this one. Think many will end up watching this for those girls alone. But honestly it sounds like it will be interesting at least. Hopefully it’s not another case of me being wholly supportive of the underdog.

Slayers Evolution-R 4th Season

It was tougher to choose Slayers than I might have thought a year ago. Slayers was one of the first anime series I had ever seen so it has a special place for me. The first seasons managed to mix humor, action, and tension in a good way. When watching the first half of this fourth season thought they lost a bit of the magic. Probably hurt that this was not part of the original novels and they were tossing in characters like Zel and Amelia without giving them proper power development. Still looking forward to this one since Slayers is usually a fun series to watch so will likely enjoy this one.

Quick Post:

Xebek:

Minami-ke Okaeri

The first two seasons, despite their differences between animation companies and so on are some of my favorite comedy shows of all time. I laughed so hard at points throughout the first two seasons so I have to watch this and I think that for a pure comedy show, there’s not much that can really disappoint. I think the comedy will be fine.

Asu no Yoichi

As I’ve said before I’m a fan of horrible shows that are school/romance/comedy and I’m pretty much expecting this to be one of those. An ecchi series with no real plot, but sometimes I feel like watching a mindless show, and this will be it.

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FlareKnight:

Birdy the Might DECODE:02

Really have to say the issue with the first season of this anime was having a stupid sounding title. You put that aside and you will find a nice series hidden in there. Not often you have lead characters meeting each other in the fashion you see in this one. Besides Birdy’s power is pretty overwhelming and that makes it fun to watch animated. Hoping she’ll get some solid action over the course of the second season. Uncertain how often I’ll be posting since it will be in quick post fashion. But expecting a nice combination of action and hopefully some character development for Birdy.

Full Posts:

Xebek series:

Clannad ~After Story~
I don’t even feel a need to explain this at all. I absolutely loved Kanon, and the first season of Clannad. I almost had a heart attack when I heard After Story was getting animated, so it’s pretty much guaranteed I’ll come into this loving it.

Rosario + Vampire ~Chu~
While the first season of this show may not have been the most outstanding show, full of ecchi and considered by many to be useless fluff I still found it extremely fun to watch. Seeing as I watched and enjoyed the previous season, not to mention blogged it, I want to give this one a shot.

Ef – a tale of memories ~Second Season~
I fell in love with ef. It is officially my all time favorite anime. When I found out about it getting another series I thought I was dreaming. I thought the animation was beautiful, I thought the characters were interesting, and the overall show just amazing. I expect to love this one just as much.

Hyakko
Eh, why not. I always find it fun to get some comedy shows. This one seems promising, following some of the trend that shows like Minami-ke put out. Plus, Hirano Aya….I mean….come on! Aside from that, there’s not much else. I don’t expect this to be something epic, but I expect it to be fun.

FlareKnight series:

Tales of the Abyss
This is a series I was looking forward to when I heard the announcement for it. After playing the game some months back it seemed like a great chance to see the story through a different medium. One of the major reasons for picking this was knowing that no matter what else happens it would be a good story with good characters. Even though I know what is likely to come will still be happy to give this my full attention. Am interested in how they do with the fight scenes while still doing service to the character interactions.

Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka
Since I do like to see some romance in the anime I cover this felt like a good choice. The character designs looked nice and some interesting voices will be coming into play. Based on the game should have good conclusion for at least one pair. Appears there will be some laughs along the way as well. Sometimes you’ll get a quality series with some romance and sometimes it will be not that great. From some trailers and research done, I think this will fall into the first category. Long as the story can give these characters somewhere to develop I’m going to be fine with it. Think this will turn out as a solid series.

Chaos;Head
Continuing with taking a variety of series comes CHAOS;HEAD. Now horror isn’t a genre that I’m always delving into. But have followed some series like Higurashi that had some scary moments. The plot sounds pretty interesting and should lead to some great moments along the way. From what I saw there should be some cute character designs which can actually make things scarier. Looking forward to seeing what kind of interactions the lead ends up having with other characters along the way.

Quick Posts:

Xebek series:

Kannagi
Well, I figure why not. It looks like it may be fun, and I don’t only watch series that will be something epic. I expect this to be attacked by many, but all I care about is that it be fun to watch.

Toradora
First off, the series has Rie Kugimiya in it, that itself is a pretty big selling point, if not a big enough one to make all the difference. It seems to contain a tsundere and romance aspects. All of those aspects make this very interesting to me.

FlareKnight series:

Gundam 00 Second Season
After following the first season I will of course be watching this one. While I wasn’t too involved at the start it did begin picking up and by the end was very into the series. This won’t be a series that I’m covering episode by episode, but will certainly come in every few weeks to discuss how things are evolving. Do like certain mecha series so wanted to at least give this one some coverage.

To Aru Majutsu
This is another show I will be posting on, but not as heavily as the first 3 series. What drew me to this one was the plot and that it sounded pretty interesting. A world where science and the supernatural exist together should lead to some good adventures. I’m also looking forward to the interactions with the two main characters. The roles they play in that world appear to be pretty unique. So a good mix of adventure and character interaction should yield a fun series.

So without further delay, I’ll post on the shows I’ll be watching this new season, and why. However since this is already late, and so I have more time to catch up on the posts I still have to do, I won’t include pictures.

Regular Blog Shows:

Telepathy Shoujo Ran

Seems interesting and shoujo enough for me to watch it, so I will. Not much more to it then that. It doesn’t seem like it will be random romance comedy anime and have a bit more mystery and fantasy element to it, so I’m looking forward to that.

Zero no Tsukaima ~Miyoshi Hime no Rondo~

This is an absolute no brainer. I watched and blogged the first two seasons of this show and absolutely loved them. Kugimiya Rie is one of my favorite seiyuus of all time as well. Although I’ve heard that the ending to the second season was radically different then the way the novels end, so a third season will be interesting. They may have to change things a bit. Either way, I mainly hope for serious romance advancement. The second season had a lot of it, but what really pissed me off in the last season it’s that they kind of undid a lot of the progress they made with the romance. I just hope they have some more romance progress. Hell, aren’t they technically married. Having Louise be tsundere is good and all, but not at the cost of romance development.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

This seems like it has quite a lot of potential to it. A fairly unique premise with a cute/hot girl who is extremely into anime and manga. That alone is enough of a reason to watch it, not to mention I’ve heard of several people who are fans of the source material. It seems very promising.

Quick Blog Shows:

Sekirei

I don’t really have any hope of this showing being something amazing and outstanding, however I’m not completely opposed to just watching an anime that’s main point is to be stupid, fanservicy, and funny. This definitely seems like it will be full of fanservice and some slapstick and less then high society humor, but its sometimes fun to just watch those kinds of shows.

Natsume Yuujin-chou

This seems interesting. It seems like it has a lot more going for it then some of the other shows this season which are likely to be mainly full of comedy and useless fluff like content. However this seems like it has a lot of good potential.

Strike Witches

This reminds me of Sky Girls a lot, and although Sky Girls didn’t turn out to be the epitome of an amazing show, it was still pretty interesting enough. It’s not like this is related to that though, but I watched Sky Girls and I like the genre this seems to fit in, so I’ll definitely be watching.

Hidamari Sketch x365

I watched and blogged the first season, and loved it. It wasn’t absolutely fall down hilarious, but it was still funny. It was a nice slice of life. No huge drama or romance or anything, but it was a sweet heartwarming slice of life like show and the characters were good. However because of its calm nature it’s a bit hard to do an episode by episode post, so it goes here.

Koihime + Musou

Well one of the main things I heard about this show is that it has or comes from a game that has an all female cast, lots of comedy and romance with hot girls, from an eroge adaption. That is enough for me, especially for a show that I’m just going to watch for fun, and this definitely sounds like it will be very fun to watch.

Well, again I’m a bit late in posting this but this posts intention isn’t really to inform everyone of what shows will be airing this spring, but just what shows I will be watching and blogging.

Again I intend to have normal blogging shows and quick post shows, quick post shows being posts that I will give an initial and ending impression on, and then posts in between whenever a moment in the show is good enough.

Anyones, here are my picks beyond the jump.

Normal Shows:

Macross Frontier

This one is kind of already decided. I blogged the first episode of Macross Frontier when it was released at the beginning of Winter Season and I loved it. I haven’t actually watched the other Macross series but I liked the episode of this I watched so I’ll be blogging it. I just really really hope there is romance in it, even though it is pretty much a mecha show, I still want romance.

Da Capo II Season II

I know A LOT of people look down on Da Capo and I’m not really trying to justify it. But I personally love the show. I loved the first Da Capo, and thought the second season was alright. I also liked the first season of Da Capo II mainly because I knew this was coming. Da Capo II didn’t really have a conclusion to it, and this will be its conclusion. Partially because Da Capo Second Season anime was actually based off of the Summer Special game and both Da Capo II seasons are based off the main game Da Capo II. Anyways, I love Da Capo. I love ero game adaptation anime like this, even if it is generic or whatever, I love it. I don’t have delusions of it being epic or anything like that, but I can still enjoy it so I’m looking forward to this a lot. I’m not really going to defend myself more on it, as I shouldn’t have to defend me liking something. You can hate it if you want, I don’t.

To Love Ru

Well, seeing as how I love romance shows, even the kind that are comedy and school based like this one, I’m definitely interested in watching this. Although I don’t expect this to reach an amazing degree of quality, it should still be pretty fun to watch. I would assume though that this anime won’t reach anywhere near a conclusion. I think the manga is still ongoing and even if its not shows like this tend to wrap up inconclusively where the manga might go into who the guy ends up with. Still, tit should be fun to watch. Not everything has to be serious.

S.A. Speical A

Again, another anime falling into the category of having high romance content. Though, this one seems to have a lot more indications of a shoujo like style so I am expecting a bit more serious romance form this show and just it being a bit better. Still, it looks like it will have a good amount of comedy but most importantly it seems to have a bit better premise of quality then some of the other more generic shows that focus on the same kind of romance.

Itazura na Kiss

Do I even have to say it again? Perhaps you’ve noticed a pattern with my reasoning for all shows above except maybe Macross, but I love romance. This is definitely a romance anime, and more shoujo’ish to boot. Hopefully it will bring a bit more to the story then some others have in the past. It seems interesting since the girl confesses to the guy, but he rejects her, yet that’s all in the first episode. Even more interesting is that the series spans over 10 years. You hardly ever see that…..ever. At most you get an epilogue ten years later where they show you 30 seconds of content. A combination of these things makes this a must watch for me.

Quick Post Shows:

Kanokon

Well, although this seems like its completely just mindless ecchi slapstick comedy, that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun and interesting to watch. Although, I am putting it in the Quick Post section as I doubt the plot will get serious enough for me to have anything meaningful to write about it on a regular basis. Still, nothing wrong with ecchi comedy as long as you don’t expect it to be something else.

The Tower of Druga ~the Aegis of URUK~

This show is deviating a bit from my usual target show genres, but partially because it sounds interesting and partially because Yui Horie is one of the seiyuus, I want to watch it. I do really like fantasy type stories, so I’m a bit surprised I don’t’ watch that many, but this is part of trying to correct that.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

I really know very little about this show except in several descriptions cat girls and maids were mentioned, which kind of sold me. Still, with so little information I won’t blog this like a normal show, as I’m not sure if it will really have much serious content. It seems like it will be kind of random and a bit weird.

Allison to Lillia

This seems interesting since it seems to be a compilation of two different manga. It seems like it will more or less have two stories that kind of meet up in the end. That seems interesting enough for me to watch it, though it doesn’t have enough of the parts of shows I like for me to blog it fully like the other normal ones.

Anyways, here they are: (after the jump)

Normal Series:

H20 – Footprints in the Sand

ROCKS YOUR SOUL! Ok, not really, but I have to say that because that phrase will forever be engraved in my mind and associated with this show. This show certainly seems to be getting some mixed opinions. I don’t really think the show is bad, but its not really as good as I had hoped. There are some rally interesting things going on with it, some dark and serious back stories to the characters, but the way they are handling it isn’t the best. They build up to some important parts and then kind of forget about them almost. This is defiantly a story I could see being good if told a little better, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see a bit. So far I would say it’s interesting but has some definite flaws that get in the way of it really being that good.

Rosario + Vampire

This show is pretty much how I pictured it. It’s completely filled with fanservice and ecchiness, stupid slapstick comedy abound. However even though its definitely not a “quality” show and I have no hope or thoughts that it will rise and become anything more, its still rather fun to watch as long as you don’t really hope for it to be anything more then that.

True Tears

I would have to say this is my favorite of the new season. The show seems to be done so well, it’s a wonderful romance series. They have three girls and the one guy but it doesn’t fall into any harem clichés really. I would hardly call it a harem at all, seeing as how everyone’s feelings are rather well developed and mysterious the show is much more interesting then your average harem. The girls aren’t fawning over the guy or anything, they all have real feelings and there are some rather serious topics and a continual metaphor about giving away your tears that makes this series engaging and just draws you in. It’s wonderful.

Quick Post Series:

Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de

This is probably my least favorite show I’ve picked up for the new season. However it’s pretty much what I thought it would be. I knew going into it that it would be a stupid slapstick like comedy with stupid happenings. However partially because of lack of things to watch…well mainly just because of lack of things to watch, I picked it up.

Minami-ke: Okawari

I was a bit skeptical about this. I absolutely loved the first series but I, as well as pretty much everyone, was unsure of how this new series would be handled. This wasn’t just a second season but it was made by another studio. Luckily it turned out great. In fact it actually takes off where the other series ended, same time of year, same things have happened such as Makoto cross dressing, so it really feels like a second season. This being more or less a second season is great because this show wouldn’t have done well if it just re-did the content from the first series, apart from the animation they are pretty much the same.

Shigofumi

I wasn’t originally planning on blogging this. Hell, I wasn’t even going to watch it. However it was recommended to me so I decided to pick it up and give it a shot. I’m so glad I did. I’ve only seen up to episode two for this, which comprises the first story. It seems like it will be broken into two episode long segments that tell pretty much different stories. I really thought this was going to be some touchy feely show but it’s really so much darker and more serious, touching on some moral questions. It really just blew me away as something that is unlike any other show I’ve seen.

For the most part this season isn’t very impressive. In fact it is one of the most uninteresting seasons of anime I’ve seen since I started watching anime as it aired in Japan. Still there are a couple of series I’ll be blogging just because they are there pretty much, anyways here they are.

As was the case with last season I have decided to break up the shows I watch into normal posts and “Quick Posts” For quick pots I wont post on every episode, only on episodes that were particularly funny or did something interesting, or perhaps the series suddenly changed direction. They won’t have full screencaps and such like that but I’ll still give my initial and final impressions, as well as the occasional posts along the way on how the series is doing. I was a bit lax with this last season but I’ll try and do better with the new season and doing the occasional poss.

Normal Posts:

H20 Footprints in the Sand

H20 ROCKS YOUR SOUL! That’s all I should really have to say about this show. I laughed so hard after watching the promo for this that I could watch it over and over again and continually laugh when the narrator said H20 ROCKS YOUR SOUL. Aside form that though I’d still watch it. As I’ve said before I’m a huge fan of eroge adaptation anime. Not that I’m saying they are all good but I like watching them.

True Tears

If only ^

I am a bit disappointed I have to say. I was looking forward to this show for a long time because I’ve had a picture of the main girl form the game on my bulletin board. From the ad for the actual game so I was expecting the anime to be like a normal school comedy romance, even though those aren’t that unique I still like watching them. However this seems to be a lot different. Still, it seems like a romance anime and really there isn’t that much else.

Rosario + Vampire

This anime is obviously going to be full to the brim with ecchi type comedy. However that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think this show will be a great show to watch. Not all shows have to be super amazing and epic, something that has good ecchi comedy will be FUN to watch and this looks like a great one.

Quick Posts:

Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de

I’m a bit unsure of how this show will turn out. From just the premise it doesn’t seem like it will be a really stand up great show, it seems as if it will be a bit low brow but as I said with Rosario, that’s not bad.

Minami-ke: Okawari

This just seems odd. I have been watching and absolutely loving the first series and even though I’m not fully blogging it, I am quick post blogging it. For the most part it’s episodic and hard to say much meaningful in each post so that’s why this series is also only a quick one. Hopefully I’ll be able to say more about this series by just comparing it to the first one. I doubt this will be as good and I’m really unsure of what they are doing with the age swap with Kana and Chiaki. I don’t’ think they are doing that though – from the pictures Chiaki still is wearing an elementary school backpack, but we’ll see.

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For the most part I’m taking a rather light load. There are still several fall seasons that I am fully blogging that are ongoing so I’ll have more then just these to worry about. Also as I said there isn’t too terribly much that is that good.

There are two more shows that I will be watching and blogging about but they are a bit different from the other series so I’m listing them separately. The Kimi ga Nozomu Eien OVA and the Ah! My Goddess OVA. They have already aired at least one episode so it’s a bit unsure of if they are really in the “winter season” Plus, they are OVAs so their release schedule isn’t necessarily normal. I’m doing KGNE because I think it’s interesting to have an alternate ending be an entire OVA series, and AMG because I’m a fan.

I will say a quick thing about two shows I didn’t include, Aria and Gunslinger Girl. Oddly enough these two seem to be the most promising of the new season yet I’m not going to be watching them mainly because I haven’t really watched the other season of these. Yes I know I know, what am I thinking. I plan on watching them, they are downloaded and sitting on my hard drive by I literally have, no exaggeration, terabytes of anime unwatched sitting on external hard drives so I’ll get there eventually. Anyways, just my explanation for not picking those shows.

One of the surprising things is how many shows I was surprised about how good they turned out. Hell I had even planned on having many of the shows just be quick posts, doing one or two posts on the show for the duration of their run however they made such a huge impression on me that I had to do full posts on them. Many shows I had no hope of being good yet already I’m looking forward to them every week.

A quick note on each show I picked is after the break.

Clannad

This series wasn’t a surprise at all. I had huge expectations for this show and was looking forward to it ever since the end of Kanon. Even for something that I had such high expectations before it still does amaze me at how much I love this show. I haven’t really paid attention to other people’s opinion on this show, and for the most part I don’t really care. I love the show and no amount of me explaining it will really change other peoples mind. It already within the first couple of episodes mixes great amounts of serious focus and comedy. No surprise of what it was going to be about or that I would like it, however I guess I didn’t expect to like it THIS much.

Da Capo II

So far this has been what I thought it would be. It’s very very similar to the first Da Capo and really most harems. It hasn’t shown any uniqueness yet from them. I guess I do have a bit more high hopes for this show just because of knowing the other Da Capo. The fact that there has already been a confession does point towards the show having some real drama and romance focus and if it does indeed have that I would just love that.

Ef – a tale of memories

This show was certainly one of the big surprises for me of this season. It certainly is the most surprising in the sense that it is absolutely nothing like what I thought it would be about. I just picked this show because it seemed to have some good character designs and I guess I misread the synopsis because I thought it would really be focused on comedy and nearing something that was just ecchi and had fluff episodes. However this just jumped out and surprised the hell out of me. Not just in the sense it was nothing like I thought it would be, but how much I instantly fell in love with the show. It’s amazing, it seems to mix these three different stories together, leaving them separate and having their own focus yet also connecting them at the same time.  I can tell this is going to easily become an all time favorite just because of the feel of the show already.

Goshuusho-sama Ninomiya-kun

This show was really no surprise at all. It’s what I expected it to be completely, as all it is really is just some ecchi comedy. That’s all. I don’t have any hope or really want for this show to rise above what it’s shown already. Really its just comedy that really focuses on some slapstick like comedy and just a lot of ecchi and sexual comedy. However in not expecting it to be much more it is rather humorous and fun to watch but I can tell its not going to become something fantastic. Still, it’s funny to watch.

Kimikiss Pure Rouge

I am having a fun time watching this as it really is pretty much a shoujo romance while also mixing in some elements of some shounen romance. It’s hard to describe exactly and I don’t really want to however I can already tell that its heavy shoujo content will focus this more towards the romance, and I love romance in anime so just the romance aspect alone has me liking this show already.

Myself; Yourself

This was the other really big surprise of the season for me. Not quite in the same way as ef as it wasn’t that different form what I thought it would be. However it was certainly a huge surprise just in the sense that I had no idea I would like this show this much. It’s bating out Shana II right now for second place, and I loved the first season of Shana. I thought this show would just be another common harem like school romance/comedy show. In a bit it kind of is but at the same time it is much much more then that. It focuses on the return to this town after five years drawing a lot of the interest in what happened over the five years he was gone, what happened to so and so and if things can return to normal or become better. It’s rather obvious who the main character will end up yet this show has already made it so interesting as to HOW that’s going to happen it’s just completely drawn me in.

Rental Magical

This show was no surprise at all either. It’s pretty much pure shounen. I don’t really see anything too special about it right away that would really beak the show away from any other normal generic shounen however it still might be an interesting watch, but I’m glad I just choose to do posts whenever as I don’t see it being interesting enough for it to reach about normal shounen.

Shakugan no Shana II

I was really looking forward to this season of Shana as I am I huge fan of the first season. The second season hasn’t really just jumped out with anything too great, but at the same time it is setting up for interesting things right off the bat. They’ve already started to deal with the main bad guys that just escaped at the end of last season so hopefully this being a second season will allow for this season to be nonstop interesting. I just really hope for there to be more romance.

Sketchbook

I suppose this show wasn’t really a surprise. I had heard that it was based on a 4koma just like Lucky Star and really one of the best comparisons I can make is that this is kind of a cross between Lucky Star and Hidamari Sketch. Really that’s the best I can explain it. Its really completely centered on comedy and a lot of that comes from some really weird and random things like Lucky Star, yet it is a bit more calm and serene at times and focused a bit more on some normal slice of life things like Hidamari Sketch. It’s not quite as impacting as Lucky Star, but it is still fun to watch.