Man, anime(h) is right: this season isn't exactly setting anyone's world on fire. However, I seem to recall previous winter seasons being pretty similar, so this isn't really anything new. Here's what caught my eye:
Rosario + Vampire - You can tell it's a slow season when I'm taking a chance on goofy moe-bait shounen comedy. I feel so dirty.
Hatenkou Yugi - Based on manga released in the US by Tokyopop as "Dazzle", here's what AnimeOnDVD has to say: "A young girl named Rahzel is abruptly sent off to see the world by her father. She is alone on her journey... until she meets Alzeido, a mysterious lone traveler on a mission to find his father's killer. Even though they initially don't get along, the two become travel partners, helping each other on their respective journey. Little by little, Alzeido opens his heart to Rahzel. They meet various people throughout their travels, including some with rather sinister intentions..." Hrm. Maybe I'll flip through the comic down at the bookstore.
Zenryoku Usagi - It's about a rabbit doing construction work. Okay, sure, I'll watch that.
Major 4th Season - I'm not sure why I haven't gotten around to watching any major yet, but considering my weakness for sports manga and the lack of must-see shows this season, I reckon this is my cue to try out the series.
Persona: Trinity Soul - It's not that I didn't like Persona 3 - it's my favorite release this year - or that the creative team looks incompetant - they've got a decent, if uninspired track record, and the guy in charge of series compisition worked on Bible Black which is a recommendation if ever I've heard one. (Okay, so I'm not serious about the Bible Black thing.) It's just that game to anime adaptations generally suck, so I'm not real optamistic. We'll see.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei - With the caveat that I haven't gotten around to the second half of the first series, this looks to be one of the highlights of the season. Hurray for more black comedy about neurosis and suicide!
Shigofumi: Stories of Last Letter - I'm not really sure what to make of this. I was turned off by the look of the main character - if she's young and has wings alarms start going off - but the creative team is interesting, with direction by the guy who did Cat Soup, Nadesico, and Stellvia and the series composition by someone who worked on Azumanga, Code Geass, King Gainer, Planetes, and RahXephon. Also, the trailer looks intriguing. Could be the season's wild card.
Spice and Wolf - From a description I found: "Lawrence is a traveling merchant who finds a 600 year old pagan deity/wolf girl named Horo in his wagon one night. She begins traveling with him, and her wisdom helps increase his profits. But her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church..." Huh. Might be okay, might be dull. Faced with slim pickings I'm willing to give it a shot.
Noramimi - Now, this is surreal. From ANN: "A world where mascots aren't just marketing tools. Families contact mascot agencies, to find a suitable one for their children. This story focuses on one such agency, which has its very own mascot: Noramimi, the syrup-stirring Kaminari Kozo (Lightning Kid)." Sure, what the hell.
Yatterman - While you've gotta admire a revival that has the original director and a solid scriptwriter behind it and just drips goofy retro style, at the end of the day Yatterman is still a kid's show. Worth checking out, but keep in mind that absolutely no one here is the target audience for this.
Mnemosyne - Excuse me, I have to drool over the main character a bit before I can go on. Yowsa! Right, sorry about that. Per ANN: "The official website has opened for the latest animation project from the studio Xebec (Martian Successor Nadesico, Fafner, Heroic Age): the Mnemosyne - Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi "hard-boiled science fiction action" series. The story revolves around a Tokyo woman named Rin, an assassin named Laura that is hunting her down, and the series of bizarre incidents involving angel-like creatures. Popular visual novel game illustrator Chūō Higashiguchi (Phantom of Inferno) created the original character designs, and Hiroshi Ohnogi (Gundam, Macross, Noein) is writing the scripts. The anime's director Shigeru Ueda is best known for Elemental Gelade and Tales of Symphonia." Okay, so the director isn't amazing, but the scriptwriter is pretty great and I'm all for violent SF OVA series where the main character has glasses and huge knockers. Yes, I'm shallow.
And there you have it. My picks for new shows (with mild reservations for each) are Persona, Mnemosyne, and Shigofumi; they've all got potential but there's an element of each that makes me a bit dubious. For ongoing shows, Major 4 and Zetsubou 2 should be solid continuations if you're already a fan; I'm going to see about getting on the Major bandwagon myself and I really need to catch up with Zetsubou-sensei. Zenryoku Usagi, Noramimi, and Yatterman aren't as likely to get subbed as the more standard fare, but you never know; I'm particularly curious about Noramimi. Finally, Rosario + Vampire, Spice and Wolf, and Hatenkou Yugi all look like pretty standard fare, but I'm hoping one of them might surprise me.
FnordChan
Rosario + Vampire - You can tell it's a slow season when I'm taking a chance on goofy moe-bait shounen comedy. I feel so dirty.
Hatenkou Yugi - Based on manga released in the US by Tokyopop as "Dazzle", here's what AnimeOnDVD has to say: "A young girl named Rahzel is abruptly sent off to see the world by her father. She is alone on her journey... until she meets Alzeido, a mysterious lone traveler on a mission to find his father's killer. Even though they initially don't get along, the two become travel partners, helping each other on their respective journey. Little by little, Alzeido opens his heart to Rahzel. They meet various people throughout their travels, including some with rather sinister intentions..." Hrm. Maybe I'll flip through the comic down at the bookstore.
Zenryoku Usagi - It's about a rabbit doing construction work. Okay, sure, I'll watch that.
Major 4th Season - I'm not sure why I haven't gotten around to watching any major yet, but considering my weakness for sports manga and the lack of must-see shows this season, I reckon this is my cue to try out the series.
Persona: Trinity Soul - It's not that I didn't like Persona 3 - it's my favorite release this year - or that the creative team looks incompetant - they've got a decent, if uninspired track record, and the guy in charge of series compisition worked on Bible Black which is a recommendation if ever I've heard one. (Okay, so I'm not serious about the Bible Black thing.) It's just that game to anime adaptations generally suck, so I'm not real optamistic. We'll see.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei - With the caveat that I haven't gotten around to the second half of the first series, this looks to be one of the highlights of the season. Hurray for more black comedy about neurosis and suicide!
Shigofumi: Stories of Last Letter - I'm not really sure what to make of this. I was turned off by the look of the main character - if she's young and has wings alarms start going off - but the creative team is interesting, with direction by the guy who did Cat Soup, Nadesico, and Stellvia and the series composition by someone who worked on Azumanga, Code Geass, King Gainer, Planetes, and RahXephon. Also, the trailer looks intriguing. Could be the season's wild card.
Spice and Wolf - From a description I found: "Lawrence is a traveling merchant who finds a 600 year old pagan deity/wolf girl named Horo in his wagon one night. She begins traveling with him, and her wisdom helps increase his profits. But her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church..." Huh. Might be okay, might be dull. Faced with slim pickings I'm willing to give it a shot.
Noramimi - Now, this is surreal. From ANN: "A world where mascots aren't just marketing tools. Families contact mascot agencies, to find a suitable one for their children. This story focuses on one such agency, which has its very own mascot: Noramimi, the syrup-stirring Kaminari Kozo (Lightning Kid)." Sure, what the hell.
Yatterman - While you've gotta admire a revival that has the original director and a solid scriptwriter behind it and just drips goofy retro style, at the end of the day Yatterman is still a kid's show. Worth checking out, but keep in mind that absolutely no one here is the target audience for this.
Mnemosyne - Excuse me, I have to drool over the main character a bit before I can go on. Yowsa! Right, sorry about that. Per ANN: "The official website has opened for the latest animation project from the studio Xebec (Martian Successor Nadesico, Fafner, Heroic Age): the Mnemosyne - Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi "hard-boiled science fiction action" series. The story revolves around a Tokyo woman named Rin, an assassin named Laura that is hunting her down, and the series of bizarre incidents involving angel-like creatures. Popular visual novel game illustrator Chūō Higashiguchi (Phantom of Inferno) created the original character designs, and Hiroshi Ohnogi (Gundam, Macross, Noein) is writing the scripts. The anime's director Shigeru Ueda is best known for Elemental Gelade and Tales of Symphonia." Okay, so the director isn't amazing, but the scriptwriter is pretty great and I'm all for violent SF OVA series where the main character has glasses and huge knockers. Yes, I'm shallow.
And there you have it. My picks for new shows (with mild reservations for each) are Persona, Mnemosyne, and Shigofumi; they've all got potential but there's an element of each that makes me a bit dubious. For ongoing shows, Major 4 and Zetsubou 2 should be solid continuations if you're already a fan; I'm going to see about getting on the Major bandwagon myself and I really need to catch up with Zetsubou-sensei. Zenryoku Usagi, Noramimi, and Yatterman aren't as likely to get subbed as the more standard fare, but you never know; I'm particularly curious about Noramimi. Finally, Rosario + Vampire, Spice and Wolf, and Hatenkou Yugi all look like pretty standard fare, but I'm hoping one of them might surprise me.
FnordChan
At least it didn't end with a cliffhanger or differently from the manga. I doubt we'll see a second season anytime soon as the series covered 4 volumes and #6 is due out in february.
