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Hyped Thriller-Mystery Visual Novel to be animated this coming january!

It has been recently announced that popular mystery-thriller PSP Visual Novel Okami Kakushi is slated for broadcast this coming January, next year. The VN is authored by Ryukishi07 of 07th Expansion (Higurashi, Umineko) with art by Peach-Pit (Rozen Maiden, Shugo Chara) and published by Konami.

The premise goes with a boy named Hiroshi who recently lived in a town divided in 2 by a big river. Although still undergoing culture shock, he enjoys living in the new neighborhood. But one day, his class president suddenly told him not to go to the old half of the town. What lies for him there?

Though there are no PVs for the anime yet, I’ll just leave the OP for the PSP here.

Cromne

2 years ago

October 29, 2009
Okami Kakushi Ryukishi07 Peach-Pit PSP Konami isual Novel Anime
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Witch Hunt on 15% of Umineko’s episode 5

According to the Witch Hunt’s website, progress on the recently released 5th episode of Umineko no Naku Koro ni is already in 15% editing.

It won’t be long now, until we get the full patch for episode 5. This is worth the wait for readers and fans like me.

Sieg

2 years ago

October 6, 2009
Umineko Witch Hunt visual novel translation news anime
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Bakemonogatari schedules unaired episodes

Bakemonogatari has not ended yet, much to the rejoice of the fans and Senjougahara lovers.

NisiOisin’s news revealed the date of the first unaired episode for Bakemonogatari. The official site will stream the episode “Tsubasa Cat part 3” for free on October 28th. The remaining 2 episodes have yet to be scheduled. They will however still be freely streamed on the website.

We should thank the people responsible for Bakemonogatari for providing a closure to the series. The “Tsubasa Cat part 2” certainly left us hanging and wanting for more.

Source: Bakemonogatari Official Site

Sieg

2 years ago

October 6, 2009
Bakemonogatari Senjougahara news anime
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Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge: Complete Series Review

There is a real flutter in my heart whenever I see romantic comedy anime. Unlike most people my age who watch anime, I don’t care much for watching guys who are fifteen but look twenty-five, smacking at each other with large swords that turn into flower snakes or ice dragons. Romantic comedy anime brings a much needed sense of slice-of-life realism in an otherwise fantasy-overrun genre. Yamato Nadeshiko delivers a fresh perspective in romantic comedy, and delivers comedy on all accounts, in every episode. The romantic part, however?

… Not so much.

The premise of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge (or, in English, The Wallflower) is all about a group of pretty boys (and in the anime, if you don’t pay attention – you actually start to THINK they’re women until they speak) who live all in one dormitory. They make a promise to their landlady that they will be able to turn her social recluse of a niece into a prim and proper lady. You can tell, of course, that this goes horribly awry the moment her niece arrives. But before we delve into the main female protagonist, let’s delve into these young men.



Character-wise, this man-harem falls pretty flat on the personality spectrum. They all fulfill a certain fantasy of any fangirl. They don’t have much character development because of this – most of them retain their personality throughout the series. The only real change evident in them is how they see the main female protagonist, and even then their characters seem never to deviate from their stereotypical selves. They all look like women, if not for the fact that they’re tall and have flat chests.

Unlike most anime heroines, Nakahara Sunako is a glaring inconsistency to the norm. She is ugly, a social recluse and above all things, scary. From the moment she arrives, you can tell that the plot of the boys in the dormitory was destined to fail. She is perhaps the glowing gem in The Wallflower, being the extremely large inconsistency in a group of “absolute perfection.” She is quirky, weird, a fan of splatter horror and creeps the hell out of everyone she meets. Also, her best friends are an anatomy model and a pair of skeletons. (What?)

Since the series was created while the manga was ongoing, the story had to tie loose ends rather quickly. Even now, the manga is running in Japan, and shows no sign of stopping due to its fan following. However, having this factor added into the anime makes it feel lacking – even more so with the animation style.



It seems that almost every episode, animations-wise, is just a filler for something bigger and better. If you’ve watched a long-running anime series like Bleach, they create “filler arcs” in their storyline while the manga is ongoing. However, this being a romantic comedy, it doesn’t get the same treatment. Ergo, the animation is done poorly. Everyone is drawn, at one point, like a colorless blob. Crowds are drawn as a “general” white cloud. Sunako is more or less chibified the whole series, save for the parts when she becomes serious or angry. While this provides comedic effect, after a while you just seem to ask yourself, “why are the animators so lazy?”

It becomes tedious to watch because you just –know- the next scene will have some sort of white cloud in it. The only characters who seem to be drawn the whole series are the Goth-Loli quadruplets, who were drawn rather ugly even from the start. The animation style may be overlooked by someone who is looking more for substance, but after awhile even they start to get tired of it.

The whole series is great, overlooking countless little discrepancies. Animation, for one – most of the characters, you will see drawn to their real looks at least once. But it really overplays the pretty boy aspect, and most of them really don’t change. Even the main heroine, who I must say is pretty awesome, doesn’t change much at all.



As a whole, I don’t think I can give a recommendation to watch Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge unless you’re looking for a laugh on a lonely Saturday night. For all you bishounen fangirls however, I’m going to give this an A+ solely on the amount of fan-service it gives. Aside from that, I’d rather a normal person watch something else.

Sound: 6.5 (Aside from the third ending theme, the music is largely… bland.)
Voice-overs: 8 (Just average, as well.)
Animations: 5
Story: 9

Total Score: 7.1/10

Aschlotte

2 years ago

October 4, 2009
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge anime review Aschlotte
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Canaan: Complete Series Review

Another interesting series comes to an end. To those who don’t know, Canaan is the anime adaptation of the Nintendo Wii visual novel 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de (428 〜封鎖された渋谷で〜 Yonniihachi: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de?, literally “428: In a Blockaded Shibuya”). I’m assuming some or most of you readers are unfamiliar with the VN too. In any case, the game was hailed as one of the very few games to garner a perfect score by the games publication Famitsu.

As the series ended, we ask one question: Did Canaan live up to the hype and legacy of its Wii counterpart?

Canaan revolves around the a lady protagonist of the same name. She’s a mercenary for hire currently situated in Shanghai. Other core characters include Alphard, and Maria Oosawa (no, she’s not who you think she is, you dirty…)

I saw Canaan’s story to be partly typical. The idea of a terrorist organization stirring up chaos is something overused in these days. However, Canaan attempted to renew that idea by instead giving life and purpose to the core characters of the series. What I like about the series was the notion of having the bioterrorism plot as a mere secondary aspect to the series. The series instead focused on the personal goals of the characters. Given heavy emphasis, the portrayal of each character was definitely integral to the success of the anime. It turned an all-too-typical plot to something more interesting and engaging. Canaan is not your mindless action anime; it’s something better, something more compelling. I had the feeling of being drawn in by the characters’ stories.

Character development polished this series into a real gem. We’ve seen how Canaan, Alphard, Maria and the rest of the characters are sewn in together. We’ve seen their growth as a key player to the series. However, some characters seemed stale and uninspiring, like Yunyun, for example. Her quirky and genki antics were a comedic welcome to the series. However, her role as a Borner (surviving test subject of the Ua Virus) and her apparent defection to Minorikawa’s side seemed unimportant and could’ve been taken off the script and impose little change in the script (We could say that the possibility of finding out about Borners can be done by Hakko or revealed by Alphard instead). It was also frustrating to see little development from Yuri Natsume, Canaan’s contractor. Her true role in the series was only revealed at the epilogue parts of the series. Her intent was typical and completely shallow, to say the least. For some reason, I merely saw her breeze through the series while everyone else was trying hard to survive. And she even got what she wanted in the end, without breaking a sweat.

As far as the story itself goes, it was gripping and exciting overall. I just wished Maria didn’t always serve as the damsel in distress. But her role became important to Canaan along the way. The fate of the other characters like Hakko and Santana were definitely unexpected. I had wished a good outcome for this pair, but hey, tragic endings call in more interested viewers. I just wished they resolved their issues way before they died. Hakko and Santana literally live and work under one roof, so what gives? The Ua Virus plotline was questionable for me though, most especially the scientific nature of its existence. How would blood vessels / capillaries form that flower-shaped symbol on different parts of the body? This means, the blood vessels are already blocked, something like varicose veins. The flower shape was consistent, and we all know that blood vessels have different pathways and locations. It was impossible for that shape to constantly take form in different parts of the body. I also assumed that the virus was airborne, since this was the scenario pictured to us when they trapped the US President inside an airtight chamber with an infected person. If so, why weren’t Unblooms (failed Ua Virus test subjects) able to infect other people too? What about Borners and their ability to infect others? Why wasn’t that tackled? Another question was how vulnerable Unblooms were to UV rays. If that was the case, they shouldn’t just be wearing head masks. They should be hiding inside buildings, away from the sun. Yet, they’re roaming around in short-sleeved shirts and shorts, with masks on. Why weren’t the UV rays affecting other exposed areas of their body?

One last thing I am not able to reconcile was the fact that Siam also trained and named Alphard as “Canaan” before our protagonist “Canaan” was trained. It was hard figuring out in what chronology did Alphard then exist. Or were Canaan and Alphard both trained at the same time? Perhaps, only a short time after Alphard was trained, Siam already met Canaan? Or maybe Alphard is not as young as we assume her to be. Maybe she’s 10-20 years older than Canaan then? If so, Siam would’ve had aging signs too when he trained Canaan.

The ending left me hanging. Alphard is still alive, and Canaan is still working under Natsume. It would be nice to see how Canaan and Alphard ultimately settle the score between each other.

Canaan sadly falls a few short notches lower than its Wii counterpart. If the story from the game was well-played, Canaan, sadly, had a few bumps here and there. But still, the series proved itself to be worth watching. The general plot pulls you in deeper, the comedy relief of some characters provide a healthy transition from one stressing event to the next, and most of the core characters generally have achieved a certain degree of growth as the series ended. Canaan served as a smooth transition from this year’s Spring to Fall.

Scores: (out of 10)

Sounds - 9

Animation - 9

Voice Overs - 9

Story - 10

  • Overall: 9.25/10

2 years ago

October 3, 2009
Canaan anime review
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“Hora Hora! Naku nai yo, BATTLER!”

Spoiler Warning!

Episode 14 should probably be one of the best episodes of Umineko so far. We see two progressions in this episode: one was by Battler, going on the offensive against Beatrice; the second came from Eva, having solved the riddle of the Epitaph.

We start off the episode with some fancy light show a fantastic battle between Virgilia and Beatrice. Sadly, Virgilia lost because of two towers sniping from behind her. Okay, I know this involves magic and all, but Beatrice acted like some stubborn and bratty kid. True, I am impressed with her voice, her wits… and if she was a real person, I’d even applaud her for that acting. But… like some brat, she wanted her own way and twisted the battle against Virgilia. I’d say it’s cheating, having done that backstabbing maneuver. Virgilia, on the other hand, was an idiot for falling into Beatrice’s trap. She taught Beatrice! How could she not see through that farce of a magic. She’s supposed to be prepared, be more knowledgeable about this stuff, and more adept at magic than Beatrice!

I haven’t fully read the visual novel, so I don’t know if this next one has been explained properly. This third chapter showed a living Beatrice taught by Virgilia. She even died last episode 13. Only then were her memories restored as a witch. If she was then taught by Virgilia, how was she able to reach 1000 years old like she claims to be? Okay, so maybe anything’s possible here, so even paradoxes could be a possibility. But let’s move on…

We’re in a new puzzle now. Six servants are dead, each with an envelope containing a room key. It’s actually a chain of murders: a dead body plus a key to the next room containing another corpse and another key. This time, the episode employs the idea of Schroedinger’s Cat, the idea or existence of having multiple truths until one has been proven the absolute truth. It’s a good move from Battler’s side, and we give credit to Virgilia for that. Why didn’t Battler think of this before? It’s the same ultimate question we raise whenever Battler attempts to solve the puzzle. Personally, I think this time, Battler doesn’t contribute much to the game. Virgilia did all the homework and Battler just followed through like some freeloader.

The puzzle was also laid out to the viewers in a predetermined orderly fashion. This hides one other assumption: that the murders were done in a different or random order, and the keys were placed thereafter, giving it a “planted” order. Could we then safely assume that the killer might not be one of the 6, but from the other mansion residents instead? That the keys were gathered after the murders, and replanted to create a closed-door situation?

Moving on. Eva managed to solve the riddle of the epitaph, with the help of her schizophrenic symptom. Yeah, she’s deranged, talking to her “younger self” like that. Yay, she found the gold! Wait… she found the gold?! I prefer Natsuhi or Kyrie to spot the gold! Kyrie is definitely smarter! But hey, Eva will definitely be a renewed piece of the chessboard now.

It was irritating not to know what the river and village truly meant. I was expecting an answer to the riddle when she found things out. And I’m hoping the next episodes will do so.

One last thing before I conclude. This is the first time I saw Beatrice really flustered and agitated over Battler’s offensive. It was a pleasing sight to behold after all that Battler-bickering and despair-throwing antics she’s had in the past episodes. This provides a certain balance to the story between two opposing sides. After one side’s victorious offensives, it’s time we saw the other side take action. Such viewing pleasure is the epitome of anime excitement.

Overall, episode 14 is nothing but gorgeous. There are, of course, unanswered questions. So let’s hope they get answered by the time the series ends.

Sieg

For someone who’s read the SN, all I can say is that a lot of segments rushed too much of the exposition and details were left out from the anime compared to the SN. So as a fan of the series, it is a letdown.

But please, enjoy the anime, even if you read the sound novel. The artwork is relatively better but the sound is terribly lacking - even in this episode. Take this comment as an promotion for the sound novel. And that both adaptations have their strong points — now; only if they merged those things…

Cromne

2 years ago

October 2, 2009
Umineko anime
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Anime Nostalgia: Azumanga Daioh

If you remember an anime, it means that it struck a particular cord within you: it doesn’t matter whether you’re forty-four and living in your mother’s basement, eating string cheese and playing World of Warcraft, or you’re twenty-five and trying to get into the corporate world. Sometime ago, no matter if you liked it or not, most of you were able to dabble into Japanese anime. Whether the anime be something tokusatsu or mahou shoujo, as we grow up, we have a certain anime that gave a tug at our heartstrings or made us go into school wanting to play as them with your classmates, beating each other and running around in school with a fake sword.

There are those days when you wonder where time’s gone, as well – and that feeling of nostalgia creeps up on you more and more, and you start feeling the need to relive the glory days. It doesn’t matter if you want to watch something from the 1970s or something a little more recent – you do tend to feel that tender pluck when you watch a certain anime.

Nothing brings that tender pluck more familiarly than Azumanga Daioh. To the older ones out there and the ones who miss their glory days of high school, Azumanga Daioh brings you a slice of life as clear as a sunny day – highlighting the zany antics of your childhood and the pressures of high school life. It’s a cheerful, lighthearted comedy that brings a delightful twist to your everyday adventures.

Created in 1999 by Kiyohiko Azuma, Azumanga Daioh first started out as a manga in Dengeki Daioh. It was then turned into a television show following the end of the series in 2002, with its first broadcasts in Japan in the span of April to September that same year. DVD sales were first brought internationally by 2005, though it was so well renowned even before that year that Azumanga Daioh began to have a cult following throughout the world.

Even until today, nothing beats seeing ten year old child prodigy Chiyo Mihama and her gang of friends beat everyday life. From musings about vending machines to battles with their teachers, Azumanga Daioh has a very fun and very light touch to a rather tumultuous time in a person’s life. Lighthearted in approach and definitely fun, Azumanga Daioh is the kind of anime you should watch when you feel that need to relive your days with your old friends back in High School.

Each character is well-created in such a way that each one of them has a clear-cut stereotype within the school setting. In this way, we all begin to relate to them and we all begin to understand them more and more. In some ways, it begins to broaden our light to the stereotypes of the characters we see in the everyday.

Although many would often note its lack of the more serious tones of the teenage life, its main goal, for me, is being able to cater to a wide majority of audience with its easy-to-grasp humor and its family friendliness without being too Disney-esque (not that I am dissing Disney in any way, just to note for clarification’s sake) in its way of presentation, and it has achieved more.

Bringing in the laughs and that lighthearted feeling of nonsensical cheer and wonder, watching Azumanga Daioh should be a requirement for when you feel depressed and in need of reminding that life shouldn’t be as serious as you make it out to be. Take a good moment to breathe, laugh, and look at everything in a more positive light – that’s what Azumanga Daioh does to your high school life.

It doesn’t matter whether you were popular or you were a loser back in High School. Chances are that this particular anime did, and still will, pull a number of heartstrings from all ages. Remember your own Tanizaki-sensei or Minamo-sensei, or the Osaka-chan in your class. Chances are you will remember a person in your own class that resembles them, and you’ll start feeling your melancholy disappear.

This has been the first edition of your Anime Nostalgia writer, signing off. If you have any other anime you’d like for me to write a review and an opinion about, please write a comment below.

Aschlotte

(Sieg’s notes: Aschlotte is one of our guest writers. Hoping for more of your contributions!)

2 years ago

September 26, 2009
Azumanga Daioh anime nostalgia
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Katekyo Hitman Reborn! - Arcobaleno Filler Arc: Short Review

[Spoiler Warning]

After the battle inside the Millefiore Base, Sawada Tsuna and his guardians have been given special box weapons in order to gain enough power to battle Millefiore’s main force. However, in order to open the boxes, he must first clear the Arcobaleno Trials and obtain their 7 seals. Thus, Tsuna was given a week to return to the past and face the challenges of the following: Colonello the Arcobaleno of Rain, Mamon (Viper) the Arcobaleno of Mist, Skull the Arcobaleno of Cloud, Fong the Arcobaleno of Storm, Verde the Arcobaleno of Lightning, Aria the Arcobaleno of Sky and of course, Reborn the Arcobaleno of Sun. If Tsuna fails the trial, their last hope of defeating the Millefiore will all be naught.

Despite the usual negative assumptions on fillers, Katekyo’s Arcobaleno arc did not do harm, flaw or any modifications over the canon manga storyline. Arcobaleno arc proved to be an exceptionally entertaining thriller without the risks of destroying Katekyo’s overall plot. Another good thing from this arc is how the story managed to introduce the Arcobalenos, who of course had a great impact and role on the whole Katekyo story. Perhaps, the only quirk in the filler arc was Tsuna’s “X-burner.” If you’d notice (I know I did), it somehow got too imbalanced in this arc. Nonetheless, The Arcobaleno Seals is a worthy addition to the whole Katekyo storyline, moreso having retconned the main characters of the story, the Arcobalenos.

Sairil / CrimsonExia

(Sieg’s notes: We forgot to tell you readers that Sairil is one of our guest writers. He’ll be offering more articles soon!)

2 years ago

September 26, 2009
Katekyo Hitman Reborn Arcobaleno anime filler
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Fall 2009 Anime Overview

Fall is right around the corner and with that, the next season’s anime line-up as well!

Battle Spirits
Genres and Themes: Action, Card Battle
Studio: Sunrise

Comments: Yes folks, this would be another story in the Battle Spirits franchise from Bandai. And as we all know, Bandai has sweet relations with Sunrise so they’re animating it.

Queen’s Blade: Gyokuza no Tsugumono
Genres and themes: Action, Ecchi, Fantasy
Studio: ARMS

Comments: Seuquel to this spring’s Queen’s Blade anime. Never have I jaw-dropped to something so blatant and borderline erotica in an anime. Just looks at those breasts! And they GROW! On a more serious note, despite the previous series having lack luster reception from the world-wide general anime community, can we expect improvements to the story?

Nyan Koi!
Genres and Themes: Romance, Comedy, Supernatural
Studio:AIC

Comments: Based on a manga by Sato Fujiwara, Nyan Koi is about a guy who dislikes cats and has an allergic to them; but despite that, he has a crush on a girl who just adores cats. And one day, he accidentally damaged a shinto shrine statue for the cat gods. He is then cursed and is able to talk to cats, and if he doesn’t complete 100 tasks for cats he will turn into one himself! I have high hopes for this anime as the manga is enjoyable. That said, I’ll most likely give a follow-up entry on this in the following weeks.

Kampfer
Genres and Themes: Action, magic, ecchi, gender-bender, school life
Studio: Nomad

Comments: Based on the manga by Toshihiko Tsukiji, Kampfer (which is german for fighter) tells the story of a guy who, by a sudden twist of fate, is chosen as one of the fighters (thus Kampfer). But there is a catch, one can only fight as a Kampfer in a girl’s body - yes, you get it now, the guy turns into a girl and fights other guy-turned-girls or girls to win.

11eyes
Genres and Themes: Action, fantasy, romance, harem
Studio: Dogakobo

Comments: Based from the visual novel by Lass, 11eyes is one of those ‘dragged into a fantasy world’ stories. Meet Satsuki Kakeru who lost his sister recently and is down as anyone can be. Until one day, he gets transported with his friend to the world of “Red Night”. Here, he needs to to fight with Dark Spirits and the Black Nights.

Asura Cryin’2
Genres and Themes: Action, supernatural, mecha, school-life
Studio: Seven Arcs

Comments: Second season of the anime based on the light novel by Gakuto Mikumo. The story continues for Tomoharu Natsume, a boy haunted by his child-hood friend who then recieves a mysterious trunk that propells him into an unknown conflict between contractors and demons.

Tatakau Shisho -Book of Bantorra-
Genres and Themes: Fantasy, Seinen, Action
Studio: David

Comments: Based on the light novels by Ishio Yamagata, Tatakau Shisho is a dark story about a world where all the dead are turned into books. The protagonist, Koria Tonisu who lost all of his memories is ordered to kill the most powerful book keeper. However, he falls in love with the librarian and is thus placed in between conflict for the library of the dead.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
Genres and Themes: Action, comedy, sci-fi, shoujo-ai, supernatural
Studio: JC Staff

Comments: Side story of To Aru Majutsu no Index by Kamachi Kazuma. Welcome to a world where the supernatural magics and advanced sciences are melded together via religion. The story is centered around Mikoto Misaka as the main character and her friends.

White Album
Genres and Themes: Drama, Romance, harem, music
Studio: Seven Arcs

Comments: The second half, and finale, of the anime of the same name earlier this January. From the proud visual novel maker, Leaf, which brought you Tears to Tiara, Utawarerumono, To heart and more, White Album tells the trials and tribulation of  Toya Fuji and his girlfriend, Yuki Morikawa. Will a love divided by Toya’s College life and Tuki’s singing career indeed conquer all?

Seitokai no Ichizon
Genres and Themes: Slice of life, comedy, romance, harem, school life
Studio: Deen

Comments: Based on the light novel by Sekina Aoi, Seitokai no Ichizon revolves around the character Ken Sugisaki as he is voted by majority to become part of an otherwise all bishoujo (pretty girl) student council. Here, they discuss the daily activities of the students and the well-being of their school.

Inuyasha: Kanketsuhen
Genres and Themes: Adventures, comedy, fantasy, romance, drama, historical
Studio: Sunrise

Comments: The anime will encompass the final volumes of the Inuyasha manga by Takahashi Rumiko.Kagome, an ordinary modern girl, is transported in a well to feudal Japan where he awakens a demon dog, Inu yasha. Together, they go in an adventure to collect all of the shards of the Shikon Jewel.

Tegami Bachi
Genres and Themes: Adventure, fantasy, mystery, supernatural
Studio: Pierrot

Comments: Based on the popular manga by Asada Hiroyuki, Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) is an otherwordly tale of Lag Seeing, a delivery boy of Amber Ground, a world of eternal twilight and only illuminated by an artificial sun. Together with his companion, Niche, he aims to be the best courrier just like his idol, Cauche Suede.

Seiken no Blacksmith
Genres and Themes: Action, Fantasy, Adventure, Ecchi
Studio: Manglobe

Comments: From the light novel series by Isao Miura, this fantasy-setting world is of a time after a war after being ravaged by a ‘devil’s contract’. Cecily Campbell, our young heroine, has set out in an adventure to look for a legendary blacksmith who can repair a broken sword given to her by her father. She then stumbles upon a man who dispatched several bandits with a sword made from the same devil’s contract. Unknowingly, she learns that he is the blacksmith he is looking for, thus the start of their adventures.

Shugo Chara! Party!
Genres: Comedy, fantasy, romance, school-life, Shoujo, live-action, Chibi, mahou shoujo
Studio: Satelight

Comments: Sequel to the Shugo Chara! series by mangaka Peach-Pit. Shugo Chara! Party! will have live-action segments, chibi anime shorts as well as continuing the story where the first series left off.

MIracle Train -Oedo-sen e Yokoso-
Genres and Themes: Slice of life, anthropmorphic characters, trains, bishounen
Studio: Yumeta Company

Comments: Earlier this season we were presented with the fun world of Hetalia; and now, Japan presents, Miracle Train! Athropmorphized train station of Tokyo!

Yumeiro Patissiere
Genres and Themes: Romance, tournament, cooking (baking)
Studio: Pierrot

Comments: Based on the manga by Matsumoto Natsumi. Amano Ichigo is a girl who dreams to become a patissier. And by some stroke of luck gets admited into a high class patissier school.

Natsu no Arashi!
Genres and Themes: Comedy, romance, supernatural
Studio: Shaft

Comments: From the creator that brought you School Rumble, Jin Kobayashi, Natsu no Arashi continues where it left off last season with a sequel. Hajime Yasaka meets a country girl named Arashi a girl who can leap through time.

Sora no Otoshimono
Genres and Themes: Comedy, Ecchi, romance, fantasy
Studio: AIC A.S.T.A.

Comments: From mangaka Minazuki Suu, Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven’s Lost Property) centers around tomoki Sakurai who often dreams about a girl asking for help - in which he subsequently forgets after waking up in tears. One day, an Unidentified Mysterious Animal (U.M.A.) drops from the sky, only to find out she was an angel.

Shin Koihime†Musou
Genres and Themes: Adventures, comedy, fantasy, ecchi, historical, yuri
Studio: Dogakobo

Comments: Based on the visual novel and strategy game by BaseSon, Shin Koihime†Musou is based on the popular Chinese Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. The anime will have new characters including the old ones from last year.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza
Genres and Themes: Comedy, romance, school life, ecchi, otaku culture
Studio: Diomeda

Comments: Based on the popular light novel series by Yusaku Igarashi. Meet Ayase Yuuto, an average high school student who one day stumbles upon the school idol’s deepest secret - being an otaku. The series continues with their misadventures in school life trying to hide Haruka’s secret and perhaps a budding romance too.

Kobato

Genres and Themes: Adventure, comedy, romance, fantasy
Studio: Madhouse

Comments: The newest anime brought to you by CLAMP. Kobato sets out in an adventure to collect the sadness of people’s hearts and to do so, she needs to help them heal those sadness. There is a catch though, she cannot fall in love while doing so. Accompanying her is her rude plush dog, Ioryogi. Watch out for this anime, you might just see some of your other favorite CLAMP cahracters crossed over in this season.

Kimi ni Todoke
Genres and Themes: Comedy, romance, school life, slice of life, drama
Studio: Production IG

Comments: From author, Karuho Shiina. Kimi ni Todoke is about a socially shunned Sawako Kuronuma aka Sadako (yes, from The Ring movies) by her peers due to her ghostly and weird appearance. She only wishes to make friends which is tough until the school idol, Kazehaya begins to take notice of her.

Sasameki Koto
Genres and Themes: Comedy,  School Life,  Seinen,  Shoujo Ai
Studio: AIC

Comments: From mangaka Takashi Ikeda, comes the story of Sumika Murasame, tall, intelligent, athletic andgifted in looks, is only attracted to her best friend, Ushio Kazama who also likes girls - cute adorable girls only.Much to Sumika’s dismay. With their day-to-day trouble making lives; will things ever work out?

Darker than Black: Ryusei no Gemini
Genres and Themes: Drama, psychological, sci-fi, supernatural, action
Studio: Bones

Comments: (From Anime News Netowork)
Two years have passed since Hei and Yin escaped the Syndicate after the events of the first season. Making their way to Russia, Hei encounters a young girl named Suou Pavlichenko, whose family is gradually pulled into the war between contractors and various intelligence factions. Meanwhile, Misaki Kirihara has quit her position in Foreign Affairs to begin her own investigations into Hei, the Contractors and the Syndicate.

Aoi Bungaku
Genres and Themes: Historical, Psychological, drama

Comments: Japanese literary classics will be animated this coming season with Takeshi Obata (Death note, Hikaru no Go, Bakuman), Kubo Tite (Bleach), and Takeshi Konomi (Prince of Tennis) as chief illustrators and character designers. The literary novels include, No Longer Human, Kokoro, Hellscreen (Jigoku Hen), and Run, Melos!

Fairy Tail
Genres and Themes: Action  Adventure  Comedy  Fantasy  Shounen  Supernatural
Studio: A-1 Pictures Inc. and Satelight

Comments: From the famed mangaka who brought you RAVE, Mashima Hiro. Meet Lucy an aspiring full-pledged Celestial wizard and join the most coveted mage guild, Fairy Tail. She then stumbles on some trouble when a man named Natsu saves her from some pirates. It turns out Natsu is from the Fairy Tail guild and offers her an invitation, which she accepts. Then starts her missions together with the other Fairy Tail members for the guild.

Kiddy Girl-and
Genres and Themes: adventure, sci-fi, mecha
Studio: Statelight

Comments: (from Anime News Network)
ES members Éclair and Lumière once were involved in a battle to decide the fate of the galaxy. They prevailed and peace was restored to the galaxy. Now, 50 years later, the galaxy once again stands on the brink of chaos. This conflict will see the dawn of two new heroines; Ascoeur and Q-feuille.

Winter Sonata
Genres and Themes: Romance, drama
Studio: G&G and JM Animation

Comments: Based on the popular Korean live action drama, Endless Love: Winter Sonata. It is a story about Joon-Sang who is tormented for being an illegitemate child but finds solace and love in school-mate, Yu-Jin. Unfortunately, Joon-Sang met an accident which wiped his memories. Not wanting her son to be tormented by being an illegitimate son, her mother brings her to America to live a new life. Ten years have passed and Joon-Sang goes back to Korea only to meet with Yu-Jin again. A love divided by missing memories and times, will their love overcome these tragedies?

Sangoku Engi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
Genres: Historical, action, drama, war
Studio: Future Planet and Beijing Glorious

Comments: an anime adaptation of the famous Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Well, those are the general line-ups for next season’s anime. Watch out for our weekly updates on some of the titles we’re going to cover.

Cromne

2 years ago

September 19, 2009
11eyes, Kobato, Kimi ni Todoke, Kiddy Girl, 2009 fall anime Battle Spirits Queen's Blade Nyan Koi! Kampfer Asura Cryin' Tatakau Shisho -Book of Bantorra- To Aru Kagaku no Railgun White Album Seitokai no Ichizon Inuyasha Tegami Bachi Seiken no Blacksmith Shugo Chara! MIracle Train Yumeiro Patissiere Natsu no Arashi! Sora no Otoshimono Shin Koihime Musou Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Sasameki Koto Darker than Black Aoi Bungaku Fairy Tail
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Japanese Literary pieces get the Aoi Bungaku treatment

Japanese publisher Shueisha chose 3 (initially 4) Japanese literary pieces to transition into a 12-episode Aoi Bungaku (Blue Literature) series.

The chosen literary pieces are:

  1. Osamu Dazai’s  No Longer Human (Ningen Shikaku)
  2. Hashire, Melos! again from Dazai
  3. Soseki Natsume’s Kokoro

Ryunosuke Akugatawa’s Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) was recently removed from the list.

Manga artist Takeshi Obata, responsible for Death Note and Hikaru No Go, will be responsible for Kokoro and Ningen Shikaku. Takeshi Konomi, of the Prince of Tennis fame, will be at the helm of transitioning Hashire, Melos to anime form. Also worthy to note, Hashire, Melos! was already converted into two japanese animated films in 1981 and 1992, both made by Toei Animation.

Anime premiere of these pieces is slated on October 10, 2009.

Interested cat is interested!

Neko-chan Sieg

2 years ago

September 19, 2009
Shueisha anime bungaku
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