Fall of 2009 is approaching, meaning new animes / seasons / sequels will be airing soon. Ocha! sits down and share their watch list for this season !

Kiddokun

Okay, I’ll start out first. This fall lineup looks pretty good, at least we have more new shows than sequels, although most of them are moe type. After looking and studying the list, I finally decided on what anime that I will be watching and following this season. I don’t have much on my must watch list, only 4. The rest I will watch depending on the reviews.

It’s funny that my first must watch anime for this season is a shoujo manga adaptation. Despite that, I’m not embarrassed for it to be my number one , and I’ll explain why. Kimi ni Todoke ( Reaching You ) focuses on Sawako Kuronuma, a 15 year old girl who is often misunderstood by her classmates as a scary and cursed because of her appearance. She is feared so badly that her classmates gave her the nickname Sadako, the ghost character the movie Ring. In reality she’s a shy and honest girl who wants to be friends with her classmates. Things started to change when her classmate Shota Kazehaya began to talk to her. She finds herself in a new world, slowly being able to make new friends and meet new people. She is thankful to Kazehaya for giving her courage to move forward and begins to idolize him. However little does she know, a sweet love is blossoming between them. The introduction sounds like a generic shoujo manga, but later the story evolves into a sweet story about love and friendship. It does a great job in conveying the characters emotions and feelings, making you feel and care for them.

So, aside from the storyline and the fact I’ve read the manga, why is it my number one ? 2 reasons; First  its being produce by Production I.G; who are well known for their serious and deep anime like Eden of the East, GITS, and Blood: The Last Vampire. I know that they have done other titles that are not too serious, but for me I know Production I.G through these anime. So, its interesting to see how their approach will be for a shoujo anime, and their past works have been impressive. My second reason is because of Mamiko Noto. When I found out that she will be voicing Sawako, I knew that it was a right choice. In fact I can already imagine how will Sawako sound like, because Mamiko is known for voicing gentle, calm, and feminine female characters. Hell, I would even go far to say that this character was made for Mamiko Noto to voice.

All those reasons makes this anime my number one must anime.

One of the best anime in 2007 returns this fall after 2 long years. I loved the first season although there’s many questions that still needs to be answered and it left me quite confused. I guess with the sequel coming, those questions will be answered, hopefully. The story is deep and serious, so I suggest you to check out the first season before watching the second, as it takes place after the end of the first season. It will probably take me a while to explain it, so read it here and here. It seems that aside from the old characters returning, a new character will be introduced ; Suou Pavlichenko.

The reason I’m putting this on my watch list is because I loved the first one, so I’m definitely going to follow the second one.

A Certain Scientific Railgun (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun) is a spinoff to the anime/manga ‘A certain Magical Index ( To Aru Majutsu no Index‘.  Index story was a bit confusing and they focused too much on other characters rather than the main characters. I still enjoyed Index though, and Mikoto is a fun and energetic character. Mikoto vs Touma is fun to watch, as Touma always runs away from the fight while Mikoto wants to beat him. Sometimes when I was watching Index I asked myself, “Why isn’t she the main character ? She should get her own series !” Guess my thoughts came true.

The story is set in a world where super powers exists because science, and magic exists through religion. There’s a place called ‘University City’ which holds 2.3 million inhabitants. 80% of the students are involved in the ‘Brain Development Program’ and out of that percentage, only 7 are Level 5’s. Mikoto and her friend Kuroko are maintainers of peace and order at the University district one of the members of ‘Judgment’.

The anime is produce J.C Staff. Looking back all their past works, I’m pretty sure I will not be disappointed. Definitely a must watch in my list.

Last but not least is a yuri manga adaptation. The storyline is very simple; Sumika Murasame, a 15 year old girl is secretly in love with her female best friend, Ushio Kazama.  Although Ushio likes girls too, but  she’s only into cute girls, opposite to Sumika who is tall, good at sports and has a cool personality. The reason why this is on my watch list because I’ve read the manga and I enjoyed it, so I look forward to see how the anime will turn out.

So there you have it, my watch list for this season of fall. I might check out others, depending on the reviews. Others that I’m interested to check out Nyan Koi, The scared Blacksmith, Kiddy Girl-and and Kobato.

edo

I’m looking forward to some of the few titles that others mentioned, so I won’t bother mentioning again (or just to lazy to mention about it again). BUT…

For the lolz, I’m just curious how Madhouse is going to re-imagine Lilo & Stitch.

Another for the lolz again, I wanna know how the insanely popular “Winter Sonata” Korean drama is going to fare in anime form. What makes it even more interesting is that all of the original casts are returning to lend their voice for this anime. Fascinating, really curious about the results.

( not a Winter Sonata fan btw. Just curious. My mom is a big fan of it though )

… and yeah, “A Certain Scientific Railgun” for my weekly yuri-theraphy.

HolyCow

One of the titles I’m anticipating the most is Fairy Tail, based off the manga by the creator of RAVE, and in my opinion it’s much better. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for magic and guilds and stuff.

Fairy Tail tells the Tale (pun not intended) of Lucy Heartfilia, a young sorceress who dreams to become part of the titular guild Fairy Tail some day. One day she meets and befriends a guy called Natsu, who unbeknown to her happens to be a mage of Fairy Tail.

The manga is pretty solid so far, so I’m definitely going to give the anime a chance. Now to pray that they don’t start adding filler Orz

Another title I’m looking forward to is Seitokai no Ichizon

Whoops wrong image.

Seitokai no Ichizon is adapted from a series of Light Novels revolving around a student council whose members are elected from what is basically a beauty contest. Due to this, it is more widely known as “Paradise” and just as fate (or the author) would have it, Vice President Sugisaki happens to be the only guy in the council.

So here we go with another harem series. As seen with the Higurashi parody above (it’s a scan from the manga), this series is chock full of references to popular series like Haruhi and Keroro Gunsou. Sugisaki also happens to be aware of his harem (even openly addressing them as his harem), so hopefully this won’t be painful to watch.

Other titles I’m interested in are The Sacred Blacksmith, Darker than Black and Scientific Railgun.

NaviX

The quality of anime nowadays has gone down the drain. Anime is now divided into three main categories, the moe blob, the softcore porn and the marketing campaigns. Sometimes, when they get really creative, they might mix two or more elements. However, there is hope, and after going through the Fall 09 season, there are a few that might be worth watching.

Kuuchuu Buranko (Trapeze)

The concept of Kuuchuu Buranko is interesting. The main character has an Oedipus complex and I love a nicely done Oedipus complex. Everything else is going to revolve around how he uses his genius and solve cases so here’s to hoping it doesn’t get stale fast. It also has a unique art style which blends live-action with anime. Generally, unique art styles don’t go down well with the mainstream anime enthusiasts so lets’ see how Kuuchuu Buranko overcomes this.

Darker Than Black: Ryūsei no Gemini

I loved Darker than Black and although it betrayed my expectations, it was pretty good. The main gripe I had was with the fact that they never really explained much. Hopefully the second season will fix that and have new interesting Contractors to enjoy. Kiddokun’s probably gonna be writing about this so maybe I’ll hitch his posts.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Adaptations of historical pieces can be hit or miss. I doubt this will appeal to the masses but if RotTK can continuously give awesome battles and strategies, it’ll be a winner in my book.

I’ll also be looking forward to Silencers movie recommendations too as they tend to bring a breath of fresh air to the bland animesphere.

Silencers

While everyone else on the interwebs are busy getting their moe blob fix from TV series, I’m looking forward to several movies instead. The thing about movies though, is that it will take a while after the Japanese theatrical premiere before they release a DVD/BD for the rest of the world to see. Still, while we wait, there’s a few good stuff I’m waiting out for.

First on the menu is Summer Wars. What got me interested in this movie is the fact that it’s directed by Mamoru Hosoda, the man who brought us The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Heck, looking at the movie poster I could swear the two movies shared the same character designers. (They don’t, by the way.)

Summer Wars is about Kenji, a math genius who is accused of hacking a virtual world, and through a series of events, he must prevent virtual world disasters from affecting real-life situations. We’re talking about GPS system malfunctions, traffic systems down, computer networks crashing, digital disasters that threatens to bring Japan to its knees. Kenji and his friends will quickly find themselves in an online summer war in order to restore order between the two worlds.

It will be animated by Madhouse, a studio I have long respected for creating fantastic animation in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (ca-ching!), Black Lagoon and Death Note (among other fantastic titles). Apparently, Summer Wars has received a lot of critical praise for its “fresh, contemporary and dazzlingly imaginative” ways.

Next on the list is Cencoroll. If you haven’t heard about it, let me first say this: it is written, designed, directed AND animated by ONE person. I saw the trailer and I couldn’t believe that one person took up the four key tasks – it looks STUNNING.

I think I’ll just rip the synopsis off ANN:

A huge monster shows up on the top of a building of an ordinary city, prompting the Defense Forces to go into action and causing the citizens of the city to start an uproar. Yuki, a brave-hearted and naturally inquisitive girl, happens to know a secret. Her friend Tetsu has been keeping and raising a strange creature called Cenco. Instantly becoming fascinated by Tetsu and his pet, a mysterious boy appears with control over the huge monster threatening the town. With that, an unexpected battle begins.

I don’t know what to say about it but. I. Must. See. It.

Being the big, BIG (albeit poor) Type-Moon fanboy that I am, I simply cannot, cannot wait for the final chapter of the Kara no Kyoukai movie series. I’m not going to bother introducing it to plebeians, so go look for a synopsis somewhere else.

For those who have seen at least the first movie, I shall have you know that the ’series’ is not chronologically linear. What this means is that the plot in Episode 2 does NOT pick up after Episode 1. Instead, Episode 1 picks up from where Episode 3 left off – which actually picks up from another episode, so on and so forth.

Episode 7: Murder Speculation II will first pick up where Episode 2 left off; it turns out Shiki didn’t turn comatose from a mere traffic accident, but an encounter with the powerful mage Araya Souren. Once the flashback is over, the story will move on to the present, where Shiki will confront the true criminal behind the murders in Episode 2. It will be an epic, climactic chapter to close the series and judging from what Ufotable has done so far – it’s looking good.

Also note that there will be an epilogue OVA – at least the Episode 7 pamphlet said so. I’m not exactly sure what the title is or what it will be about, but I’m going to guess (and pray) that it will involve a girl named Ryougi Mana.

thewan

Probably the 1st anime I would be following is Kämpfer. Why? Because of a few reasons, the 1st one being, ITS A TRANSGENDER ANIME (Ranked Higher Than Traps). The second reason would be that I’m part of a certain fansubbing group which subs this show. As the encoder, I’m gonna make the video all shiny and freakingly sharp, just for myself to enjoy. Yes, I enjoy looking at my own QUALITY encodes. Now I would like to present a female character which I would rank as the best in the whole show, which will probably fill your entire screen.

Yes, thats a guy. Did you enjoy that?

The 2nd anime I would follow is To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. For some reason Ive developed a liking for Misaka Mikoto (who wouldnt?).  And I wouldn’t mind seeing Kuroko going at her “onee-san” with her yuri-like antics. A bonus would be J.C. Staff and their awesome fanservice scenes, which makes this already a winner. Oh and did I mention the Opening Song, titled Only My Railgun, is already what I consider one of the best songs this season. Plus, Im sure you all out there have thing in common with me, we all think Railguns are seriously cool. So….yuri route…anyone?

The third anime after that would be Nyan Koi! Why? Because I hate cats. Maybe its because I was allergic to them when I was younger, but I still hate them even now. So why would I watch a show about a guy helping out cats in order not to turn into a cat? Because the guy himself hates cats, so I could imagine placing myself in his shoes and doing what he does. So yeah I’m watching it because I think I’m as pathetic as the main character, who cannot even confess to the girl he likes, let alone stand up against cats. I wouldn’t mind being a cat however, as the below picture shows.

Yes, if you all noticed…I’ve picked nothing but moeblob shows. Yes I’m a moefag, hunt me down if you want too, but its a fact. That doesnt mean I’m not gonna watch other shows, but moe shows get the top priority.

Aoshi_88

Only two shows are in my list so far…

Aaaaandddd……..

Bantorra Library

Plot Summary: In a world where dead people turn into books and are stored in the Bantorra Library where anyone who reads a book can learn their past. Bantorra Library is maintained by Armed Librarians who wield psychic powers and their enemy is a religious society known as Sindeki Kyoudan.

Culled the synopsis off Anime Shrine. Many thanks to Stormy001.

ganaeshd

Kämpfer, I’m staying away from it. Unless the humour is as razor-sharp as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, I’m not even gonna touch it with a stick. (Sorry, Silencers.) Same case with Queen’s Blade, and Nyan Koi, and Battle Spirits, and… *sigh* This is the usual case with every new season, innit? 95% of the shows are crap. And people wonder why the anime industry is imploding.

But this season looks to have some pretty interesting stuff:

Kimi no Todoke

The first thing that attracted me was the soft watercolour artwork of the promo image. It instantly brought back memories of Honey and Clover, one of my all-time favourites, and all the emotional ups and downs I felt while watching it. I haven’t read the original manga, and I’m not planning to start until this series is over. It looks like a sweet romantic comedy that has the potential to be full of LULZ, sweet and emotionally devastating at the same time.

The fact that it’s being made by Production I.G is another factor. I’m an I.G fanboy, and dammit I’m proud of that fact! I’m absolutely 100% head-over-heels in love with whatever they produce (yes, even Innocence… please pick your jaw up from the floor), and they absolutely ooze with quality. They very rarely let me down, and I see no indication of this show being a flop. Definitely one to watch out for.

Aoi Bungaku

This looks to be some serious exercise for my gray matter, and I like giving my brain workouts. An anthology of four separate “literary masterpieces”, this looks to be a very interesting experiment by Madhouse. Five separate directors, six separate screenwriters, eight character designers in total… the number of creative talents involved in this project is astounding.

Like Kimi no Todoke, I’m purposely keeping myself from any spoilers or plot outlines. I want to be surprised with each new episode, and based on Madhouse’s track record I think I’m gonna be in for quite a treat.

Trapeze

“From the staff of Mononoke“. That’s all I needed to read. I was literally blown away by Mononoke, and I’m definitely keeping an eye out for this. I hope Trapeze is as crazy and weird and amazing and creepy as disturbing as Mononoke was. If you’re interested in a series that’s out of the ordinary, you owe it to yourself to watch Mononoke. Seriously.

———-

These are the shows I’m eagerly anticipating, but there might be more when the season actually starts. Gokyoudai Monogatari looks like a potentially interesting slice-of-life story, but the character designs give an impression that it could have quite a serious storyline. (I could be wrong, so don’t hold it against me.) I’m also interested in Natsu no Arashi, but season 1 completely flew under my radar.

My choice in movies is similar to what Silencers wrote, so I just leave it to him to leech get it for me. Hurr~

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Credits to Chartfag for the chart.

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