[i]Spring is here, ah, spring is here/Life is skittles and life is beer/I think the loveliest time of the year is the Spring!/I do! Don't you? 'Course you do![/i] After a particualrly cold, dark winter spring is upon us and it's officially okay to admit to liking Japanese cartoons again in public. Which ain't to say that there isn't a lot of crap floating around out there as well. Here's what's coming your way, well, real soon now. [url=http://fansubwiki.com/Who_Subs_What:_SPRING_2008]Everything listed here is courtesy of the Fansub Wiki, where you can also find air dates[/url]. Got it? Okay, here we go. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/seiya.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/sp/seiya/]St. Seiya - The Hades Chapter: Elysion[/url] - Frankly, at this point St. Seiya is beyond criticism. Our young heroes don their god armor and climb a lot of stairs. You either like it or you don't. The director drips old school street cred (I mean, he directed Arcadia of my Youth, for god's sake) and he also worked on the Hades Chapter: Inferno segments, so if you liked those, here ya go. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/koharu-biyori3.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.koharubiyori.net/]Koharu Biyori OVA 3[/url] - The third installment in the saga of a maid robot who finds herself owned by degenerate fanboy scum. I'm sure it's all moe and shit. Joy. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/bus-gamer.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.fwinc.co.jp/busgamer/]Bus Gamer[/url] - In order to make some cash, three men sign up to be part of the bus game, whose organizers put them together on a team where they find themselves fighting for their lives. Could be interesting but, as there's only so much of the comic available, this will be all of three episodes. The creators aren't inspiring, however; the manga artist is best known for Saiyuki, and the director hasn't worked on anything exciting. Still, might be worth checking out. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/ikuze.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.ikuze-gensan.com/]Ikuze Gen-san[/url] - This appears to be a simultaneous anime and PSP game release from Irem about a carpenter who, in the game at least, hits people in the head with his hammer. Huh. It's cute, but probably not terribly interesting beyond that. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/amuri.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.amuri.jp/]Hoshi no Umi no Amuri[/url] - Or, Amuri in Star Ocean. The character designs are degenerate moe-bait but the preview footage (under the Story link on the website) is about raging space combat and it's from the director of GaoGaiGar. I still think it's creepy, but at least it looks to be trying a bit harder than most worthless moe fare. Oh, and it's a one-shot OVA. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/chis-sweet-home.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/chissweet/]Chi's Sweet Home[/url] - When a boy finds a lost kitten, his family decides to take care of it despite apartment rules against pets. Beyond that I know virtually nothing, except that the creative line-up is pretty solid, which may make Chi worth a look. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/yugioh5.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.konami.jp/th/yugioh_5ds/]Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's[/url] - Yep, that's more Yu-Gi-Oh, alright. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/kkm3.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.maruma-ova.jp/]Kyou Kara Maou! 3rd Season[/url] - Yep, that's more Kyou Kara Maou, alright. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/allison.jpg[/img] [url=http://allison-web.net/images/allison_Re06.jpg]Allison and Lillia[/url] - Okay, this is more like it. This is an adaptation of two manga by Keiichi Sigsawa, the creator of Kino's Journeys, both set in a 1940's-like world where two countries have been waging war for a hundred years, where a couple of try to find a treasure that could end the war, with the second half of the series following the results of their efforts. It's directed by someone who has mostly worked on Tezuka adaptations, who seems to have brought some of his creative team with him. Intriguing! [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/macross-f.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.mbs.jp/macross-f/]Macross Frontier[/url] - FUCK YEAH. You know it, you love it, it will be awesome. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/to-love-ru.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=9091]To Love-Ru[/url] - Shounen jump manga adaptation about a hapless dork, the girl of his dreams, and a alien girl who shows up and decides she wants to marry him. You know, this all sounds kinda familiar. No, wait, she shows up naked and he accidentally gropes her. Ha! Hysterical! I take it back, I've never seen anything like this at all! What will those wacky Japanese people think of next? [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/amatsuki.jpg[/img] [url=http://amatsuki.com/web/index.html]Amatsuki[/url] - After flunking yet another history test, our high school protagonist has to attend a virtual Edo period museum. Inexplicably, he finds himself stuck there, where he teams up with another person trapped in the past and a female samurai. Cue adventure, presumably. The director has worked on a slew of perfectly solid shows, including Le Chevalier D'Eon, Zipang, YUA, and Kenshin, so Amatsuki should turn out to be pretty decent. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/kanokon.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.kanokon.com/]Kanokon[/url] - It's about a hapless dork exchange student and how hot girls who happen to be animal spirits fight over him. I'd elaborate, but the picture sums it all up, really. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/pipopa.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/pipopa/]Internet Ghost Pipopa[/url] - Kid's show. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/zetai-karen.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.z-child.com/]Zetai Karen Children[/url] - In a world where psychic powers are becoming more common, governments are scrambling to get as many high-powered espers on their side as possible. Naturally, in Japan this means a trio of ten year old girls, who fight evil with the aid of their 20 year old handler. This would be creepier except the manga this series is based on is by the creator of Ghost Sweeper Mikami, which was pretty great, so I'm cautiously optamistic. Continued next post. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/code-geass2.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.geass.jp/]Code Geass Series 2[/url] - Back for round two, at this point you should know whether or not you like Code Geass. While I never got past the first few episodes (distraction, not dislike), my roommate recently caught up on the whole shebang and tells me that by the end of the first season all hell is breaking loose and it's pretty damn good. Here's hoping they continue the insanity in the second season. Maybe I'll catch up with it one of these years... [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/nabari.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.nabari.tv/]Nabari no Ou[/url] - As often happens in Japanese high schools, our average hero turns out to have incredible abilities within him just waiting to be unlocked by ninja from Iga. This is an improvement over the usual incarnation of this sort of thing because, you know, Iga ninja. I've been to Iga-Ueno and the trains there have giant paintings of ninja on the side, which is totally awesome, so hopefully some of that carries over here. Also, the series composition is by a woman who worked on Cowboy Bebop and Genshiken, while the director worked on shows like Oishinbo, Planetes, and Ryvius. Okay, so he's mostly known for directing Yu-Gi-Oh, but he also worked on Tonde Burrin, which is totally awesome. None of this really applies to this show, which appears to be standard shounen fare, but you never know. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/vampire-knight.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.vampire-knight.jp/]Vampire Knight[/url] - If Nabari no Ou has the standard shounen adventure plot, I reckon Vampire Knight gets the shoujo equivalent: our heroine attends an elite private school where she secretly acts as a protector of vampires while being friends with both the head of the school vampire faction and a childhood friend who hates, hates, hates the blood suckers, both of whom are bishounen to the hilt. Cue supernatural melodrama. If you're curious, the manga is running in the US in Shoujo Beat and appears to have been widely translated elsewhere. As for the anime adaptation, it's directed by the guy who brought us Princess Tutu, so I'm optamistic. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/monochrome-factor.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.monochro.tv/]Monochrome Factor[/url] - Meanwhile, we're back with the standard shounen plot. In this case, our boy must become a creature of the Shadow World in order to keep the balance between their reality and ours by fighting shadow critters. Direction and series composition are by the folks who did Loveless, so it should at least be competent, with an outside possibility of weirdness to look forward to. It's all based on manga available in the US from Tokyopop. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/3shimai.jpg[/img] [url=http://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/press/2008/02/200848530.html]Uchi no 3 Shimai[/url] - Family comedy set in a world where children have terrifying black pits for eyes. Chilling! [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/real-drive.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.ntv.co.jp/RD/]Real Drive (RD Sennou Chousashitsu)[/url] - Near future SF about a world where everyone spends a lot of time in a virtual reality network and our hero is a net cop trying to keep things in line. This is more promising than my blurb sounds (you can find the full description [url=http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=5538]here[/url]) in large part because it's based on an idea by Masamune Shirow, with series composition by the guy who's worked on all of the Ghost in the Shell TV adaptations. The director is the same guy working on Amatsuki this season, so let's hope he phones that one in and focuses on Real Drive instead. Go, Production I.G., go! [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/himitsu.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.ntv.co.jp/secret/]Himitsu: Top Secret[/url] - Near future shoujo forensics SF about technology that allows someone's mind to be scanned for memories even after their death, from the mangaka behind the awesomely deranged [url=http://shaenon.livejournal.com/54616.html#cutid1]Moon Child[/url]. The director hasn't done a lot, but his resume includes Rocket Girls and a few episodes of Master Keaton, so that's good enough for me. I'm definitely interested in seeing how this turns out. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/kamen-no-maid-guy.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.maidguy.com/]Kamen no Maid Guy[/url] - Wacky hijinx about a young woman who will be the heir to a vast fortune if she can survive to her majority. Fortunatly, she's got a masked hulking thug in a maid outfit to help play bodyguard. Cue wacky hijinx. Okay, I'm sold. Wait, the team adapting the manga are pretty uninspiring. Damn, maybe I'm not completely sold just yet. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/kaiba.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.wowow.co.jp/anime/kaiba/]Kaiba[/url] - The new series from Masaaki Yuasa, the man who brought us Cat Soup, Kemonozume, and Mind Game. I am so there. I don't even care what the show is actually about, I'm still there no matter what. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/soul-eater.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.souleater.tv/]Soul Eater[/url] - Wikipedia provides the an impressively incoherent description of this shounen series: "Set in the Shinigami technical school for weapon technicians, the series revolves around 3 groups of each a weapon technician and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by the Shinigami, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and 1 witch." Okay, whatever. On the bright side, it's from the director of Ouran High School Host Club and is produced by Bones, so it's got a fighting chance to be at least halfway decent. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/golgo13.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/golgo/]Golgo 13[/url] - FUCK YEAH. 'Nuff said. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/kyouran.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.kyouran.jp/]Kyouran Kazoku Nikki[/url] - Or "Deranged Family Chronicles". Okay, this appears to be a black comedy based on a light novel about how in the distant past a monster destroyed everything and then claimed it's child would return 1,000 years ago. The cat girl above? The mother. From [url=http://www.animeondvd.com/forum/showpost.php?post/657171/]a post at Anime on DVD[/url]: "She's twenty years old, smokes, drinks, and believes she is a god. Nobody knows why she wears fake cat ears and tail. She is able to speak directly into people's minds and control their emotions; she calls this ability her cell phone." Like the man says, this will either be awesome or god-awful. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/crystal-blaze.jpg[/img] [url=http://anime.biglobe.ne.jp/crystal-blaze/index.html]Crystal Blaze (aka Glass Maiden)[/url] - About the only info I could find is based on [url=http://www.fujicreative.co.jp/intldept/new/glassmaden/Top.html]a Quicktime video with the following crawling text[/url]: "In the near future...Lags Town is located in a corner of Asia symbolizing a negative side of false prosperity. A hard-boiled buddy story is staged in this town presenting spectacular gun-battles! Glass Maiden is a stylish and full-blown animation, and props and gadgets are depicted in meticulous detail whole through the story. Having gone through 5 years of preparation, this original story is finally about to unfold..." It looks to be a show about straight mystery stories, which sounds good to me. You an get an idea of what the show will look like by checking out [url=http://anime.biglobe.ne.jp/crystal-blaze/chara_top.html]the website's characters page[/url]. From the director of Saikano. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/dacapo2.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.hatsunejima.com/top.html]Da Capo II Second Season[/url] - Moe dating sim crap, round two. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/sugar-bunnies.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.sanrio.co.jp/anime/sugarbunnies/]Sugar Bunnies Second Season[/url] - Moe dating sim crap, round two...no, wait it's a Sanrio kid's show. Okay, that's not as bad as I'd feared. Continued next post. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/library-war.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.toshokan-sensou.com/]Toshokan Senseou (aka Library War)[/url] - It's the light novel equivalent of Fahrenheit 451. In the near future, it's decided that there's just too much information floating around and it needs to be regulated. However, a few hidden libraries fight back, which brings in our characters as soldiers protecting the precius archive. The premise ain't exactly Bradbury, but it does sound fun. Production I.G. is on the case, with direction by the guy who did Sisters of Wilbur (sorry, Wellbur), which was competently executed if not overly exciting. Fortunately. series composition is by the guy who came up with Texhnolyze, so things are more promising here. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/wagaya01.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.mediaworks.co.jp/contents/oinarisama/index.php]Wagaya no Oinari-sama[/url] - For those of you who said, "Spice and Wolf was okay but would have been totally awesome if it was about a fox girl instead", well, here you go. Based on light novels and directed by the guy who brought you Love Hina, the good news is that the woman on series composition also did Kaleido Star, Maria-sama ga Miteru, and The Cat Returns, so hopefully she's on her game for this show. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/chico.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.chico-tv.com/]Nijuu Menzou Musume[/url] - AKA Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief, this is about the successor to Kaijin Niju-Menso, a character by famed mystery novelist Ranpo Edogawa. You can find a more detailed synopsis [url=http://www.fujicreative.co.jp/intldept/animation/detail/1_0056.html]here[/url], but the short version is that it's about our heroine following in the footsteps of a famous art thief. The creative team isn't anything to write home about but should do a perfectly good job, so at this point it's up to the source material. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/xxxholic-kei.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.tbs.co.jp/holic/]xxxHolic Kei[/url] - For all you xxxHolic fans, the creative team is returning to give you another season. Despite the impressive resume of the director, I found the original xxxHolic series to be as dull as dishwater, so I'll be taking a pass on this one myself. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/kure-nai.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.samidareso.com/]Kure-Nai[/url] - The [url=http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=5535]AniDB description[/url] is fairly incoherent, but it looks like the show is about a high-school student who moonlights as a mediator and takes on an assignment that winds up with him living in the house of a rich 7-year-old girl who has a crush on him. Cue wacky mediation hijinx. There are enough high school aged and older women in the show (check the [url=http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=5535]character page[/url]) that this probably isn't as creepy as it sounds (as opposed to, say, the raw horror of Kodomo no Jikaan), but I'm reserving judgment until I see the show in action. Direction and series composition come from the guy who brought us Red Garden and Dead Girls, which is pretty cool, and Rozen Maiden, which is not so cool. We'll see. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/sa.jpg[/img] [url=http://special-a.jp/]S.A.: Special A[/url] - Based on the comic running in Shoujo Beat, this is a high school romance about two childhood friends and their life-long rivalry. Apparently [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=8769]wrestling is also involved somehow[/url], but probably not to the point that the show will be awesome. The creative team doesn't inspire me but doesn't fill me with dread either and, based on [url=http://special-a.jp/sa_info.html]these screenshots[/ulr] it looks like the vibe might be like Ouran High School Host Club, except with more than one girl. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/junjou-romantica.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.suzukisan.info/index2.html]Junjou Romantica[/url] - Meta-shounen ai about a high school student studying for his college entrance exams whose tutor, his brother's best friend, is a shounen ai novelist who is completely infatuated with his student. Cue wacky boy's love hijinx. This is basically impossible to criticize - if you like shounen ai, here's the show for you, with a perfectly decent creative team working on the series. Everyone else will want to run screaming. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/druaga.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.druaga-anime.com/]The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk[/url] - If you're Japanese and of a certain age, you're probably inexplicably fond of the old school Namco arcade game The Tower of Druaga. Apparently Gonzo decided it was a good idea to adapt this into an animated series. The hell? This is the equivalent of an American studio deciding to license a Gauntlet cartoon this year. That said, they basically have a blank slate to work with and as the director did Last Exile, Brave Story, and the Tokyo Babylon OVAs, with series composition and scripting by the guys who brought you the Full Metal Panic franchise, this could turn out to be a solid fantasy series. Still...The Tower of Druaga? The hell? [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/itazura-na-kiss.jpg[/img] [url=http://itakiss-anime.jp/index.htm]Itazura na Kiss[/url] - Our ditzy heroine has been crushing on the aloof guy you see above for a couple of years and is ready to give up when he rejects her love letter. Then her house collapses and she and her father wind up moving in with said aloof guy's family. Cue wacky romantic comedy hijinx. Based on a manga that also had a live-action adaptation, direction is by the guy who did Towards the Terra and Gallery Fake, so there's some promise here. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/neo-angelique.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/neoangelique/]Neo Angelique Abyss[/url] - Another in the series of crap bishounen dating sim adaptations. [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/blassreiter.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.nitroplus.co.jp/pc/lineup/an_01/]Blassreiter[/url] - I know virtually zilch about this new Gonzo series except that the [url=http://www.nitroplus.co.jp/pc/lineup/an_01/]trailer[/url] shows futuristic racing and giant robots blowing shit up and that the director worked on Gantz, Angel Cop, and Megazone 23 Part 2, so that should give you an idea of how this will turn out. And, last but not least: [img]http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/spring08/biyori3.jpg[/img] [url=http://www.kids-station.com/minisite/gag3/]Gag Manga Biyori Season 3[/url] - It's back, bitches! And there you have it. My picks for the season are Allison and Lillia, Macross Frontier, Vampire Knight, Real Drive, Himitsu: Top Secret, Kaiba, Golgo 13, Crystal Blaze, and Library War, with some of the other shows above having the potential to be solid. Thank god the winter season is behind us. Again you can find the broadcast dates at the [url=http://fansubwiki.com/Who_Subs_What:_SPRING_2008]Fansub Wiki[/url]. FnordChan