Beginning of Autumn Season '08

Several promising series and a lot of new seasons from older ones. At last, after many barren seasons this one looks really solid! First of all the second part of ef - a tale of melodies finally airs; additionally, the delayed second season of Penguin Musume Heart has already started. Also, there are several promising series, at least judging from their promos (Ga-Rei: Zero, Kannagi, Chaos;Head, Kurozuka, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Toradora, Yozakura Quartet, Hyakko). Finally, Kyou no Go no Ni gets to air on the TV and Jigoku Shoujo gets a third season, though for these two I am not so sure that can keep up with their predecessors.

EDIT: How could I have missed Shikabane Hime from GAINAX !?!

Click on the links below to find more about the upcoming series (links, descriptions, promo images and ... videos) !!!

Saturday, 6.9
Penguin Musume Heart
Sunday, 28.9
Hakushaku to Yousei
Wednesday, 1.10
Toradora!
Casshern Sins
Rosario to Vampire Capu2
Hyakko
Thursday, 2.10
Shikabane Hime
Kuro Shitsuji
Yozakura Quartet
Clannad After Story
Friday, 3.10
Tales of the Abyss
Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden Ten no Haoh
Kurogane no Linebarrels
Saturday, 4.10
Jigoku Shoujo: Mitsuganae
Kannagi
To Aru Majutsu no Index
Sunday, 5.10
Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 2nd Season
Ga-Rei: Zero
Kyou no Go no Ni
Skip Beat!
Monday, 6.10
Vampire Knight Guilty
ef - a tale of melodies
Tuesday, 7.10
Kurozuka
Thursday, 9.10
Chaos;Head
Tytania
Nodame Cantabile: Paris-Hen
Saturday, 11.10
Junjou Romantica 2


Hakushaku to Yousei
伯爵と妖精
AniDB, AnimePlanet, ANN, Official, Thread@AnimeSuki, TV-Tropes
The story is set in 19th century England and centers on a "fairy doctor" named Lydia. Her life takes a 180-degrees turn when she meets a legendary blue knight count named Edgar and his crew. He hires her as an adviser during his quest to obtain a treasured sword that was supposed to be handed down to him by his family.
Studio (Artland) and director (Soutome Koichiro) are the same as in Umisho and Bokura ga Ita, which are like day to night, especially in animation style. The concept seems also a bit too shoujo for my taste, though sometimes they turn out to be good. On the other hand, when anime deal with historical (or semi-historical) Europe, a lot of things tend to go wrong.


Toradora!
とらドラ！
AniDB, AnimePlanet, ANN, Official, Thread@AnimeSuki, TV-Tropes
Despite Ryuuji Takasu's gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent so he is utterly hopeless about his chances of getting a girlfriend anytime soon, and does not have many close friends either. After being greeted by his hungover mother in the morning, Ryūji goes to school and is happy to find that he gets to be in the same class as his best friend Yūsaku Kitamura and crush Minori Kushieda. However, it is then that he unexpectedly knocks into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level" — Taiga Aisaka — who just happens to also be in his class, and is a good friend of Minori.
From J.C.STAFF, which is at least a guarantee that the series will be watchable. The director (Nagai Tatsuyuki) has also done IDOLM@STER and the second season of Honey & Clover; Okada Mari is responsible for the series composition, has also supervised Simoun, Aria and Kodomo no Jikan (among others) and is tried and tested against not ruining the original work. All in all, apart from the fact that most love comedies turn out to be boring, this can be an exception ... time will tell.














Shikabane Hime
黒執事
AniDB, AnimePlanet, ANN, Official, Thread@AnimeSuki, TV-Tropes
The title "Corpse Princess" belongs to Makina Hoshimura, an undead girl who seeks to hunt down 108 corpses in order to go to heaven.
Promo looks pretty interesting and being animated by GAINAX at least ensures two things: 1) fan-service and 2) weird ending ;) What I am really worrying about is the director Murata Masahiko (of Jinki & Gilgamesh, both of which had serious, if not crippling, problems). On the other hand, the script is handled by Aikawa Shou, who has worked on a lot of my favorites (12Kingdoms, Miyu, Urotsukidoji, among others) and conveys the original work successfully on the animated versions (a crippling problem especially with Jinki).


Kuro Shitsuji
黒執事
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One of the noble families of England Phantomhive's butler Sebastian Michaels
has got unquestionably perfect knowledge, manners, talent with materials, martial arts etc but is also able to serve a 12 year old master. Wearing a gray tailcoat, gracefully brewing the worlds strongest red tea ... how such a perfect butler copes with such a master?
The studio (A-1) has recently done Birdy the Mighty and Persona, both of which had several issues with their animation consistency. Series composition is again from Okada Mari (see Toradora! just above) and character designs from Shiba Minako who also did them for Noir, .hack//SIGN, Madlax and Rental Magica, which IMHO are very good (the designs, not the series). My only problem is how interesting the original plot is; based on a shounen manga with protagonists a bishounen and his "über"-butler ... makes me quite doubtful.


Yozakura Quartet
夜桜四重奏 〜ヨザクラカルテット〜
AniDB, AnimePlanet, ANN, Official, Thread@AnimeSuki, TV-Tropes
Akina, Hime, Kotoha, and Ao are four members of the Hiizumi Seikatsu Soudan Jimusho (Hiizumi's Everyday-life Consultation Office), which, in addition to helping kinder-garteners deal with tough times, strives to preserve the peace of their little town, Sakurashin, by hunting down the troublemakers who dare threaten it. Hime is a super-heroine. Ao can read minds. Kotoha can conjure up anything with the right word. And Akina…well, he's just a regular guy, surrounded by three super-girls! Together, they protect the town of Sakurashin. But that's not easy, as the town faces demon dogs and other supernatural threats!
Produced by the team of Rozen Maiden (Studio Nomad, directed by Matsuo Kou, series composition by Hanada Jukki and character designs by Kikuchi Satonobu), gives me some hope about animation quality and certainly reassurances about its consistently, but falls flat on my expectations on plot and character development. Maybe the material from the manga is good, but still I am very doubtful since its branded as shounen.


Tales of the Abyss
テイルズ オブジ アビス
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Luke fon Fabre, the son of Duke Fabre of the Kimlasca Kingdom, is 17 years old. He is the Light of the Sacred Flame who is destined to bring prosperity to Kimlasca. But since being kidnapped seven years ago by the Malkuth empire, he has been kept confined to the Fabre family mansion. The shock of the kidnapping erased all of Luke's memories prior to the event. But one fateful day, a mysterious woman breaks into the mansion and sets off a chain of events that will change the world forever...
Produced by the fan-service giant ... Sunrise (Code Geass, Mai-Hime/Otome, IDOLM@STER, etc.) and directed by Kodama Kenji of Kekkaishi; I expect a healthy amount of fan-service and all the shounen trappings. As for plot ... well first it is based on a game, second it is a fantasy game and third it is a japanese fantasy game ... I can hardly think of a couple of anime based on that combination that were even watchable!


Kurogane no Linebarrels
鉄のラインバレル
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Kouichi Hayase was involved in an accident and falls into a coma for half a year. Due to this accident he becomes depressed and lonely. However, unbeknownst to him he attained a great power and three years later a giant robot (Linebarrel), which was the cause for the incident, appears before him, causing Kouichi's life to change.
OK, this has what might be the ultimate recipe of utter failure:
1) animated by GONZO
2) directed by Hidaka Masamitsu of Pokemon
3) it a mecha


Kannagi
かんなぎ
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An art student named Jin Mikuriya carves a statue from the wood of the Kannagi tree only to have the statue come to life in the form of a goddess, who has now taken over the statue. He and "Nagi" work together to destroy the impurities that are gathering in the town.
Now things are getting interesting composition and screenplay are from Kurata Hideyuki of Read or Die and Ima Soko ni Iru Boku, which for what concerns plot and character development were excellent. On the other hand the animation studio (A1, see Kuro Shitsuji, above) does not offer many guarantees, as is the case with the rest of the staff. The story sounds interesting, though hardly original.


Ga-Rei: Zero
喰霊 -零-
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Freshman Nimura Kensuke has the ability to see ghosts, and his life changes when he meets Kagura, a girl with the power to summon a "Ga-Rei" called Byakuei. The two work together to find evil spirita and devour them with the Ga-Rei.
Animation by asread of Shuffle and Minami-ke, directed by Aoki Ei of Rakyo of Fuukan Fukei and Girls Bravo, series composition by Takayama Katsuhiko of ef and HanTsuki and character designs by Horiuchi Osamu of FMP, BakuTen and Hayate are certainly a winning team. But, if the original material, with which I am unfamiliar proves weak, nothing and no one is capable of salvaging a show based on it.

























Skip Beat!
スキップ・ビート！
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Kyoko has devoted her life to Shotaro. When Shotaro came to Tokyo to debut as a singer, she followed him and worked to provide for him. But one day, Kyoko overhears Shota telling his manager that Kyoko means nothing to him. She's just convenient, a housekeeper. This makes Kyoko furious, and she vows revenge on Shotaro. But Shotaro just laughs at her, saying she won't be able to touch him because he's now a popular singer and she's a nobody. So Kyoko decides to get into showbiz and become even more popular than Shotaro to humiliate him. Unfortunately, Shotaro has destroyed Kyoko's ability to love, and she discovers that it is a prerequisite for her to debut from her chosen company, LME. The president of LME puts her into a new section made for those who caught his eye but have something missing. It's name... Love Me Section. On her way to become a pro actress she's meeting new people like Kanae Kotonami, Maria Takarada, Yukihito Yashiro and the important person in this story - Ren Tsuruga.
Oh my god, hardcore shoujo romance! OK, for the record the studio (Hal) is pretty good, but these kind of shows are not my cup of tea ;)


Tytania
タイタニア
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In a future where mankind is spread amongst the stars in the vastness of space, the TAITANIA family has been able to build a large empire through intimation and economic might. In the year 446, the city-state of EURIA rebels against the tyranny of TAITANIA control. Their isolated act of revolt starts a sequence of events which strains the careful alliances and agreements within the empire, as factions and associations take action to exploit the situation to their best advantage. In the ensuing turmoil, ambitious members of the Taitania Royalty begin to move against each other in an effort settle old grievances and seize control of the family. What started as an act of rebellion in EURIA, quickly expands to a civil war - with the wealth and power of the empire up for grabs for who ever is brave enough to aspire for it.
Another show by Artland (check Hakushaku to Yousei, in the beginning) and directed by the space opera veteran Ishiguro Nooboru. If you're into this kind of stuff, I think this is a very promising series ... for you!

Kurozuka
黒塚
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Kuro, a 12th-century man, flees into the mountains after losing to his brother, where he meets a strange, beautiful woman named Kuromitsu. Kuro falls in love with Kuromitsu but realizes she conceals a dark secret. She is unable to die and continues to live for thousands of years as Japan evolves into a future society.
Animated by MADHOUSE, which is capable of the best and the worst, directed by Araki Tetsuro of Death Note (which at least for what concerns direction was pretty good) and character designs from Shino Masanori of Black Lagoon and GunGrave. The original story sounds promising, though I will not enumerate in how many ways it can go wrong ...


Chaos;Head
カオス；ヘッド
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Takumi is a troubled young man who struggles to distinguish reality from his delusions, while being pursued by the perpetrator of a series of bloody murders, (or so he thinks). His travels take him in and around Shibuya, Tokyo and his adventures bring him in contact with various pseudo-scientific themes such as the concepts of matter, antimatter, and the Dirac sea.
Another show from MADHOUSE (as Kurozuka above). The promo seems promising, though I am somewhat doubtful about the combination of pseudo-science, psychological thriller and harem ;)


To Aru Majutsu no Index
とある魔術の禁書目録
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Set in a city of scientifically advanced superhuman students, but in a world where magic is also real. Toma Kamijo's right hand, the Imagine Breaker, will negate all magic, psychic, or divine powers, but not his own bad luck. One day he finds a young girl hanging on his balcony railing. She turns out to be a nun from the Church of England, and her mind has been implanted with the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum - all the magical texts the Church has removed from circulation.
Animation by J.C.Staff and directed by Nishikiori Hiroshi (Azumanga Daiou and Boukyaku no Senritsu). The story doesn't sound all that exciting, but given that the characters are fleshed out well it can actually prove to be good. Also the promo is quite interesting.


Casshern Sins
キャシャーン SINS
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Cassern is about a cyborg who rises against the robotic armies that have subjugated all of humanity. Remake of Shinzou Ningen Casshan, of which I have seen a couple of episodes dubbed when I was a kid.
Well as I said before MADHOUSE is capable of making both art and crap, my guess is that this falls into the later category.


Hyakko
ヒャッコ
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Hyakko is a manga whose main heroines were four girls when the story started. But as the story goes, many unique classmates show up. Those girls sometimes twist the heroine around their little finger or vise versa. In many situations, they all have noisy get-togethers with each other, and that is really fun.
The studio Nippon Animation only works in children series and with the exception of Locke (yes, the one from 1984) I have not seen anything else from them. So except from the obvious comedy / slice-of-life featuring exclusively girls, I have no idea what to expect from this one.


OLD SERIES, WITH NEW SEASONS

Penguin Musume Heart
ペンギン娘♥はぁと
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Sakura Nankyoku is a total otaku. Due to a fluke, she gets elected as her class' Student Council President. Everything takes off from there into a series of crazy misadventures revolving around Sakura, her family, and her classmates.
Finally, the second season of 7-min. insane humor has started! As another blogger said, this is like Lucky Star, only FUNNY!













Rosario to Vampire Capu2
ロザリオとバンパイア Capu2
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The new season is set to continue to follow the manga, introduce new characters from the manga and characters created strictly for the anime. This series is just for the fan-service and GONZO to make money in order to produce crappy mecha (see Kurogane no Linebarrels above).


Clannad After Story
AniDB, AnimePlanet, ANN, Official, Thread@AnimeSuki, TV-Tropes
Events in After Story take place immediately upon Tomoya graduating high school. After declaring his love to Nagisa, they begin to have a close relationship. BUT, Nagisa is hiding a secret from Tomoya and the truth of it will change their lives forever.
I dropped the first season in the midway, it was too much like Kanon and Air ... a.k.a. boring!
Plus I am getting increasingly pissed with the studio, which promotes the second season of Haruhi for one year now, but actually delivers crap like CLANNAD and Sucky Star.


Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden Ten no Haoh
北斗の拳 ラオウ外伝 天の覇王
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Youkow Osada's Ten no Haoh - Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden manga spinoff (pictured at left) will be animated as a series this fall. Unlike most of the previous Fist of the North Star anime, this story focuses not on the protagonist Kenshiro, but on the early life of his oldest brother and frequent enemy Raoh.
I never especially like the whole FotNS franchise, so I do not really have an opinion.

Jigoku Shoujo: Mitsuganae
地獄少女三鼎
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The third season of Jigoku Shoujo. Jigoku Shoujo, the Hell Girl. Enma Ai, what has become of her? At the end of last season she became separated from subordinates; so what will happen to Ichimoku Ren, Hone-Onna, and Wanyuudou now? What stories of hatred, lasting grudges, and revenge are being prepared for us this time? This new season promises to have a newly powered-up Enma Ai and a number of "reunions", so look forward to it!
The "damned" of the week concept got too boring for me and thus I dropped the second season midway, but I will give it a try again since this is the only series where I can hear Noto Mamiko's voice!










Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 2nd Season
機動戦士ガンダムOO 第2シーズン
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2312 A.D. Four years have passed since the final battle between Celestial Being and the UN Forces. Humanity, after having established the Earth Sphere Federation, forms an independent security force, Arrows, separate from the formal Federation army to further unify nations and the will of mankind. But the reality is the inhumane oppression of anti-government powers, doctrines, and ideologies in the name of unity. Setsuna F. Seiei, after surviving the battle four years ago, has decided to once again fight with his Gundam.
I tend to ignore mecha based on concepts before Evangelion, they tend to be somewhat childish.


Kyou no Go no Ni
今日の５の２
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The series portrays the fifth grade in a ... different light.
I really loved the OVA, I just hope that the TV-series keeps the same pace and POV. Though this is unlikely since all staff and VAs are different.
OP of the OVA


Vampire Knight Guilty
ヴァンパイア騎士 Guilty
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Yuuki wants to know more about her true family and her forgotten past and starts a research. The secret will be revealed. Yuki, Kaname and Zero will show the begining of a new mystery and a forbidden love.
The hardcore shoujo alarm sound again!


ef - a tale of melodies
AniDB, AnimePlanet, ANN, Official, Thread@AnimeSuki, TV-Tropes
Continuation of the excellent ef - a tale of memories. From what I've been told the two stories handled here are on par with the previous ones. Also staff and VAs are the same.
This is by far the most anticipated series of the season in my book.


Nodame Cantabile: Paris-Hen
のだめカンタービレ 巴里編
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The two music students now drive themselves and eathother to greater artistic heights, in Japan and now Europe.
I never really got interested in the first season. Hence I have no real opinion also on the second one too.

Junjou Romantica 2
純情ロマンチカ２
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Gay teacher-student "couple" return for more action! I really wonder who watches stuff like this.