The List of New Anime This Fall Season

Here is a list of new anime which will premiere in Japan this fall season.

A. TV Anime Series

10/01 Rockman.exe Beast / TV Tokyo / Sat.08:30 / XEBEC
10/01 Idaten Jump / TV Tokyo / Sat.09:30 / Trans Art
10/01 Fighting Beauty Wulong / TV Tokyo / Sat.24:55 / TMS Entertainment
10/01 Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's / UHF Local / Sat.25:35 / Seven Arcs
10/02 Canvas2 ~Nijiiro no Sketch~ / UHF Local / Sun.24:00 / Zexcs
10/02 Happy Seven ~The TeleviManga~ / UHF Local / Sun.24:30 / Trinet Entertainment, Studio Hibari
10/03 Angel Heart / Yomiuri TV / Mon.24:58 / TMS Entertainment
10/03 ToHeart2 / UHF Local / Mon.26:15 / OLM Team IGUCHI
10/04 capeta / TV Tokyo / Tue.18:00 / Studio Comet
10/04 Animal Yokochou / TV Tokyo / Tue.18:30 / Studio Gallop
10/04 Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) / Kids Station, Mainichi / Tue.24:00 / Studio Deen
10/04 Touhai Densetsu Akagi / NTV / Tue.24:50 / Madhouse
10/04 Cluster Edge / TV Tokyo / Tue.25:00 /Sunrise
10/04 Gunparade Orchestra / TV Asahi / Tue.26:40 / Brain's Base
10/05 Shakugan no SHANA / UHF Local / Wed.24:45 / J.C.STAFF
10/05 ARIA The Animation / TV Tokyo / Wed.25:30 / HAL Film Maker
10/05 IGPX -Immortal Grand Prix- / TV Asahi / Wed.26:40 / Production I.G
10/06 Kotenkotenco / TV Tokyo / Thurs.18:00 / IMove
10/06 Beet The Vandel Buster -Excerion- / TV Tokyo / Thurs.18:30 / Toei Animation
10/06 BLACK CAT / TBS / Thurs.25:25 / GONZO
10/06 My-Otome (aka: My-OtoHiME) / TV Tokyo / Thurs.25:30 / Sunrise
10/06 Solty Rei / TV Asahi / Thurs.26:40 / GONZO, AIC
10/08 BLOOD+ / TBS, MBS / Sat.18:00 / Production I.G
10/08 Lamune / UHF Local / Sat.25:00 / Trinet Entertainment, Picture Magic
10/08 Ginban kaleidoscope / TV Tokyo / Sat.26:50 / Karaku
10/11 Noein ~Mou Hitori no Kimi e~ / UHF Local / Tue.25:30 / Satellite
10/13 Paradise Kiss / Fuji TV / Thurs.24:35 / Madhouse
10/19 Manga Nihon Mukashi-banashi / TBS / Wed.18:55 / Group Tac
10/20 Rozen Maiden traumend / TBS / Thurs.25:55 / Normad
10/22 Mushishi / Fuji TV / Sat.27:45 / Art Land
11/03 Karin / WOWOW / Thurs.24:00 / J.C.STAFF
11/12 Gaiking / TV Asahi / Sat.10:50 / Toei Animation
11/-- Ginga Densetsu WEED / Animax / --.-- / Studio Deen
12/-- Papillon Rose / WOWOW / --.-- / ?
12/-- Saint Seiya ~The Hades * Chapter-Inferno~ / SkyPerfect TV PPV / --.-- / Toei Animation
12/-- Rean no Tsubasa (The Wings of Rean) / Bandai Channel / --.-- / Sunrise
--/-- MAJOR (second season) / NHK / --.-- / Studio Hibari
--/-- Soukyuu no Fafner -RIGHT OF LEFT- / TV Tokyo / --.-- / XEBEC

B. OVA

10/02 Kirameki Project - Episode 3 / Kids Station / Sun.25:00 / Studio Fantasia
10/16 Top o Nerae2! - Episode 4 / AT-X / Sun.23:00 / GAINAX
10/21 KARAS - Episode 3 / SkyPerfect TV PPV / Fri.15:10 / Tatsunoko Pro
11/11 Stratos4 Advance CODE:205 / Kids Station / Fri.24:30 / Studio Fantasia
11/23 Papa to Kiss IN THE DARK Vol.1 / TNK
11/24 "Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho" Memorial Bonus BOX / Makoto Shinkai, Comics Wave
11/25 Prayers -Tsumetai Koe- Episode 2 / KSS
12/07 Itsudatte My Santa Vol.1 / TNK
12/09 HELLSING OVA Vol.1 / Satellite
12/09 I"s Pure Vol.1 / ?
12/17 Saint Beast ~Ikusen no Hiru to Yoru~ /
12/22 School Rumble OVA / Studio Comet
12/22 Kaleido Star Legend of phoenix ~Layla Hamilton Monogatari~ / GONZO
12/22 Tales of Phantasia The Animation Vol.4 / Actus
12/23 Super Robot Wars Original Generation The Animation Vol.3 / Brain's Base

C. Hentai Anime

WARNING: the following linked pages include graphic nudity.

09/30 Shintaiso Shin etude.1 / Discovery
09/30 Tsuma Tsuma Part 2 / Studio Ten
10/14 Chibo - first part / Vanilla
10/21 Yakin Byouto 2 OPE:04 / D3
10/25 Ryojoku Hitozuma Onsen - Episode 1 / Waki Production
10/25 Shin Bible Black Chapter 4 Recollection ~Souki~ (aka: Bible Black La lanza de Longinus) / Studio Jam
10/28 MAID in HEAVEN SuperS Vol.1 / Green Bunny
11/11 Daisshikin Herena - second part / Y.O.U.C
11/25 Innocent Blue Karte.1 / himagin
11/25 Cambrian 1st stage / Milky
11/25 Nikuyome ~Takayanagi-ke no Hitobito~ Vol.2 / Milky
11/25 Nee, Chanto Shiyouyo! Vol.1 / D3
11/25 Yakin Byouto Kranke Nanase Ren / Discovery
12/22 Hininden - Gausu ~Oborozuki no Sho" / ARMS
12/22 Kininaru Kimochi Vol.3 / schoolzone
12/23 True Blue Gaiden / himagin
12/-- Nanase Ren / ?
--/-- Hana to Hebi (Flower and Snake) / Pink Pineapple

D. Anime Movies

10/29 Zeta Gundam II ~Koibito-tachi~ / Sunrise
12/10 Pretty Cure Max Heart2 ~Yukizora no Tomodachi~ / Toei Animation
12/17 The King of Beetle "Mushiking" ~Road to the Greatest Champion~ / TMS Entertainment
12/17 Black Jack ~Futari no Kuroi Ishi~ / Tezuka Production

Looks Like we will have a long list to chose from. 😄

Rockman.exe Beast (aka: Megaman Beast)

This show is the 4th season of Rockman series. Rockman project is a pretty rare case that a great synergistic effect between games and anime was generated. This is why Rockman has been going on for 4 years. As far as watching the first episode, Beast differs little from past three shows. Rockman and his allies stand up against the new challenge of an unknown enemy. Episode 1 is not so bad, but it doesn't have a magnet for me.

Angel Heart

Angel Heart is being aired by Nihon TV (NTV) every Tuesday late-night. Almost all of late-night anime programs are usually targeted at otaku or hardcore anime fans. But there are two notable exceptions, that is, anime programs which has been broadcasting on Tuesday late-night of NTV and Thursday late-night of Fuji TV. The shows in these two time slots are aimed at not only otaku but also casual anime fans and common people in their 20s or older.

Animal Yokochou (Animal Street)

I gave a little giggle to hear Kenta's words. "The reason there are only indoor scenes in this episode is that it's actually only Ami's dream. She's actually not a child but an adult female. She fell asleep at the office because she's so tired from an overtime work". This show is generally lighthearted, but black humors are studded with the story.

Mai-Otome (My-Otome)

Title (English): Mai-Otome (romanization by Hepburn system), My-Otome (notation recommended by the producer)

Staff

Director: Masakazu Kohara
Series Composition: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Character Design: Kazuhiro Hisayuki
Art Director: Shinji Takasuga
Sound Director: Masafumi Mima
Music: Yuki Kajiura
Producer: Hisanori Kunisaki, Naotaka Furusato
Production: Sunrise

Cast

Arika Yumemiya: Mika Kikuchi
Nina Wang (Neena Wang): Ami Koshimizu
Mai Tokiha: Mai Nakahara
Natsuki Kruger: Saeko Chiba
Mikoto: Ai Shimizu
Shizuru Viola: Naomi Shindoh
Yukariko Steinberg: Kikuko Inoue
Shiho Huit: Sakura Nogawa
Mashiro Blan de Windbloom: Yukana
Akane Soir: Junko Iwao
Nagi Dai Arutai: Akira Ishida
Erstin Ho: Minami Kuribayashi
Chie Hallard: Mitsuki Saiga
Juliet Nao Zhang: Yuuka Nanri
Tomoe Marguerite: Rie Tanaka
Sergay Wang: Katsuyuki Konishi

more info

Internet Radio: Arika & Nina no Otome-tic Radio (half-hour program)
Internet TV: Arika & Nina no Otome-tic TV (5 minutes program)

You can hear/watch it on this page.

First impression

Mai-HiME was set in Japan, but Mai-Otome is set in a fictional kingdom in another world. The characters in Mai-HiME appear in the new series, however, their setting and roles have been changed. The girls having supernatural ablilty are called not hime but otome. I think otome should always keep her ears clean, because to activate her special power, she must be kissed on the ear by her master

The new series got off to a great start, I really enjoyed the first episode. OP & ED theme is okay, though I feel like it's a little inferior to 1st season's. Animation quality leaves nothing to be desired, as TV anime go nowadays. Music composed by Yuki Kajirura may as well be gived a passing score.

There are many characters in this show as well 1st season. Only about one-third of characters came into the story in episode one. Nevertheless, you can tell one from the other because of skillful character designs. Shizuru in this series is significantly cooler than in the previous season. Her battle scene is truly eye-grabbing. Yukana's voice acting fairly surprised me, not at all like her performance in Pretty Cure. Another surprising thing is that Mikoto is reincarnated as a cat. She seems to have human form.

As for the story, I think slapstick-school-comedy (and action) is probably going to continue for a while. As the previous season, the new series is not going to be moe anime. One years ago when they're promoting Mai-HiME, the producers boasted that they did outstanding moe anime. But it ended in complete failure. On the next week's episode of Mai-Otome Arika shouts "moe! moe! moe yo!" but Nina says "moe ga chigaun'ja nai?" it means, Mai-Otome is aimed at being moe anime, but somehow, it wouldn't work out. It seems Sunrise has some awareness of lack of aptitude for moe

BLOOD+

STAFF

Director: Junichi fujisaki
Character design: Chizu Hashii
Animation Director: Akiharu Ishii
Production Studio: Production I.G

CAST

Saya Otonashi: Eri Kitamura
Hagi: Katsuyuki Konishi
Kai Miyagusuku: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Riku Miyagusuku: Akiko Yajima
Greorge Miyagusuku: Houchu Ohtsuka
Mao Jahana: Ami Koshimizu
Kaori Kinjo: Mai Kadowaki

BLOOD+ is a new TV series spined off from BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE movie. The setting of characters and the story are changed completely. It will be 52 episodes in total. The story of the new series is set on Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japan, in 2005. The concept of "girl with a sword" in the movie has been carried over into the TV series.

The following quote is parts of an interview with Yutaka Ohmatsu, a producer of BLOOD+.

"As character design is directly connected to the basic direction of the story, so we had to thrash out what to do about it. We faced difficulty finding a character designer for BLOOD+. BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE's characters designed by Katsuya Terada are really attractive, but his design is not suitable for TV series having 50+ episodes. I felt a strong need for the new character design.

In the first stage of BLOOD+ project, we intended to use the original design by an animator. In fact, we invited outside animators to this project and developed ideas for the character design with them, but it didn't work.

I desperately needed the design to boost workplace morale, that is, it's important to give animators the design that they want to draw. Additionally it must be easy for them to draw because BLOOD+ is a year-long program. Finally we reached the conclusion that we should look for a new character designer in a different field, who is not an animator. Then I began to find the designer on the Internet.

...in the end I found Chizu Hashii, a manga creator living in Osaka. Last January he came to Tokyo to attend the party hold by Kadokawa Shoten. I took the opportunity to meet face to face with him at the party. To my joy, he told me he really liked Production I.G's works. I decided to take a chance on him.

His character design was well received by BLOOD+ staff, regardless of male or female. What is character design appealing to a wide viewer? It always turns into a wild goose chase. Honestly I can't be sure that this design will ring the bell with viewers, but I think making choice of Hashii's design is a great success because the production staff like his character designs so much".

Hashii's character design gave me a neat, clean feeling. Saya and Kaori is for males, Kai and Riku is for females. There is an acceptable balance among chracters as early-evening anime that should be primarily targeted at casual anime fans.

As early-evening anime, the first episode contains a fair degree of visual violence. But it will be not going to matter as much. The first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist, which was aired in the same time slot as this show, was not seen as a problem at all. Animation qualty is pretty good. Background art for each scene is beautiful and accurate.

Watching only first several minutes in the first episode, you might mistake this show to be yuri or shoujo-ai anime. Kaori is Saya's best friend, but at lunch scene she picks rice off Saya's cheek and eats it

Eri Kitamura who is doing Saya is very funny. She's well known as otaku, I was often suprsied at outrageous illustrations drawn by her. Sad to say, recently she has been a littel too good at drawing and her illustrations are not so outrangeous as before.

Battle scenes have excellent sound effects. The design of Yokushu (winged monsters) is rather conventional. In the second half of epi.1 Saya is injured in Yokushu attack. Am I the only one who feels bleeding from a cut on her thigh is erotic?

As for the story, it's hard to say at this stage. The series still has 51 episodes left to go. At any rate, the first episode is considerably satisfying to me.

noein ~mou hitori no kimi e~

STAFF

Director: Kazuki Akane
Charcter Design: Takahiro Kishida
Sub Director: Kenji Andoh
Art Director: Takeshi Sato
Music Director: Hitoshi Aketagawa
Production Studio: Satellite

CAST

Haruka Agenogi: Haruka Kudo
Yuu Goto: Fujiko Takimoto
Karasu: Kazuka Nakai
Isami Fujiwara: Yuki Miyata
Ai Hasebe: Saeko Chiba
Miho Mukai: Kaori Natsuka
Fukurou: Kohei Kiyasu
Kyouko Uchida: Sayaka Ohhara
Yukie Nijo: Mai Nakahara

Wow! The first episode is close to the best in this fall's new anime. The opening battle scene is really dynamic and smooth animation. I scarcely ever felt sense of discomfort in combination of 3D CG and 2D animation. Animation quality of other scenes has as the closest high level as OVA.

The story is set on Hakodate, an atmospheric city in Hokkaido which is northern island of the Japanese Archipelago. As I've been to Hakodate before, I can say the background art is highly accurate without the least difference and beautiful. Music composed by Hitoshi Aketagawa is magnificent, masterly workmanship. With regard to character design, people either like this type of design or don't like it.

Haruka kudo, a female voice actor who is playing the leading character, is a beautiful woman, but her voice acting is a little weak. Meanwhile Kaori Natsuka who is doing Miho showed excellent performance. The plot development in epi.1 has the way of attracting viewers' interest.

This series will be 24 episodes in total. I hope they will keep the current quality in the future episodes.

Kotenkotenco

This series is an airy comedy for little kids. You might enjoy this show if you were empty-headed or 6-year-old child.

Beet The Vandel Buster -Excerion-

Excerion is the sequel to Beet 1st season. It's going to be 50+ episodes in total as well the previous series.

The last several episodes of 1st series were rather crappy, but the first episode of the new series is fairly well done. Animation quality has got better. Most of the Japanese anime fans' attention focused on Rie Kugimiya's voice acting and new character Rion played by her. Kugimiya is one of the most popular voice actor in Japan.

In the beginning of the 1st series it was entirely targeted at male viewers. However, the number of scenes talked from a woman's point of view was gradually increasing in the story as the the series progressed. I don't know why, but maybe it's because there're a number of women in the main production staff. It's clear that the new series is aimed at not only males but also females. New main character Rion who is 12-year-old bishounen (a cute boy) gave a strong impression on both men and women viewers.

Ramune

This show is an anime adaptation of bishoujo game produced by Neko Neko Soft. It will be 12 episodes in total.

It was precisely the fact that I didn't expect this anime at all. Surprisingly, the first episode is not so bad. Animation quality differs from scene to scene. Nanami is a typical "childhood sweetheart" character. Her panty shots are satisfying to the original game's fans. The plot line is really conventional, but it has a leisured, comfortable and sweet atmosphere. I prefer the OP sequence of the original game rather than of the anime.

Although the quality of the show is not very high, some people would be able to enjoy it.

Paradise Kiss

STAFF

Director: Osamu Kobayashi
Art Direction: Asami Shimizu
Art Director: Shinich Uehara
Costume Design: Atsuro Tayama
Color Coordination: Yoshinori Horikawa
Character Design: Nobuteru Yuuki
Production Studio: Madhouse

CAST

Yukari Hayasaka (Caroline): Yu Yamada
Jouji Koizumi (George): Kenji Hamada
Miwako Sakurada: Marika Matsumoto
Arashi Nagase: Shunsuke Mizutani
Isabella: Chiharu Suzuka
Hiroyuki Tokumori (Hiro-kun): Noriyuki Uchino

This series is an anime adaptation of popular shoujo manga created by Ai Yazawa. It's going to be 12 episodes in total. Ai Yazawa is one of the most popular shoujo manga creator of the day, so there are tons of devoted fans in Japan and outside of Japan. The first episode got a viewer rating of 3.5%, which achieved the highest rating among all late-night anime programs last week in Japan. This means that the first episode was watched by not only hardcore anime fans but also casual anime fans who are a follower of Ai Yazawa even though it's late-night anime.

Japanese viewers are split into two clear-cut camps on the first episode. One speak very highly of it, the other tear it into pieces.

cons:

-Their voice acting hardly fit the image of characters in the original manga.
-Yu Yamada's voice acting is really terrible. I can't bear it.
-There are too many cryptic scenes in the show.
-Using deformalized character in many scenes shattered the original manga's image of delicate art.
-I can't stand Kobayashi's directing style.
-Kobayashi just want to satisfy his own ego-trip! He should have made a faithful adaptation of the original.
-A lot of psychological description of characters has been cut. But realistic psychological description is one of the greatest attractions of the original manga.
-I really hate Arashi of the anime version. He's not Arashi. It just sucks.
-It's very different from atmosphere of the original manga. I'll never ever see it again.

pros:

-I'm very surprised at beautiful animation in episode 1.
-brilliant character design, especially Isabella.
-I love the OP theme, and The ED is good.
-The TV series is deeply colored by Kobayashi's style. I'm a big fan of Kobayashi, so I really like it.
-Miwako is so kawaii!!
-This show gave me somethin new and fresh. I'm not an anime fan, but I can watch this.
-I've never read the original manga, however, I think this show is the best in this fall season.
-Cool. Art & design of the show is great, especially costume design.
-Animation quality is really good. I knew Madhouse could do it.

My first impression:

Art design in the show is really elaborate, such as dressy costume designs by Atsuro Tayama, snifty car design, catchy froufrou, artful background and swanky fixtures & gadgets designed by Asami Shimizu. Color Coordination is well done, vivid and beautiful. Animation quality is good enough to satisfy most of anime fans. For better or for worse, this show is heavily tinged with Kobayashi's personality. The OP animation&theme may be the closest to best in this season, and the ED anime&theme is funny.

Yu Yamada is a very popular fashion model, but her voice acting is pretty bad. She read the script exactly as it is in a monotone voice. She should not have been selected as the role of Yukari (Caroline), the leading female character. Miwako is really cute, and her costume is also kawaii.

I could enjoy watching the first episdoe, but I think this show would be one of those "love it or hate it" anime. I want non-Japanese opinion on this show.

Ginban Kaleidoscope

STAFF

Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Character Design & Animation Director: Momoko Makiuchi
Script: Akatsuki Yamatoya, Natsuko Takahashi, Michiko Yokote
Music: kouichiro Kameyama
Production Studion: Karaku

CAST

Tazusa Sakurano: Ayako Kawasumi
Pete (Peet): Hiroyuki Yoshino
Yuji Takashima: Jurota Kosugi
Yoko Sakurano: Chiwa Saito
Kyoko Shidoh: Kazusa Murai
Leah G.J.: Mamiko Noto

This series is an anime adaptation of the popular novel written by Rei Kaibara. The series is going to be 12 episodes. It's very rare that anime deal with figure skating. I saw ep.1 & 2 last week.

The first two episodes emphasize a comical side of the original novel. It has worked out on this approach, so I could enjoy ep.1 even though the animation quality was rather poor. I'm glad to say that the animation quality of ep.2 got better than ep.1. The original novel series is not a comedy but a fairly serious sports drama. The first half of the novel vol.1 is only comical part.

In Japan there is a rumor that says Takamatsu, the show's dierctor, resigned to protest Aniplex's stance on production process of this anime. But the script-writing staff (Yamatoya, Takahashi and Yokote) is strong and well-balanced. Therfore, if the animation quality get worse again in the future episode, the story itself would be still enjoyable.

BTW, they didn't cut the subplot on a fuss over Tazusa's defecation from ep.2. Pete say to Tazusa "Kono Koedame Onna! (You're just a stercorary girl!)". Hilarious!

Shakugan no SHANA

STAFF

Director: Takashi Watanabe
Series Composition: Yasuko Kobayashi
Character Design: Mai Ohtsuka
Music: Kou Ohtani
Production Studio: J.C.STAFF

CAST

Shana: Rie Kugimiya
Yuji Sakai: Satoshi Hino
Kazumi Yoshida: Ayako Kawasumi
Margery Daw: Hitomi Nabatame
Marchosias: Mitsuo Iwata

This series is an anime adaptation of the popular novel written by Yashichiro Takahashi. A lot of unique settings and concepts are built into Shana novel series, so there appears frequently Shana-world-specific terms in the story. Half of ep.2's time is spent for explaining the meaning of the terms. The original novel is serious from a big point of view, but it contains quite a number of moe elements.

The first two episodes were made up into a purely serious story. I could enjoy watching tension-packed scenes in the first episode. I like the music used in the beginning of A part of ep.1, which's composed by Kou Ohtani. The OP song by Mami Kawada is good, and the ED song is okay. Animation quality is better than average, but they're kind of cutting corners in background art. The character design preserves the flavor of Noiji Ito's illustration used in the novel.

Shana, the girl with a sword, is a typical "tsundere" character. Tsundere is an abbreviation of 'tsuntsun deredere'. Tsundere-type character normally has an unaffable attitude, but she/he breaks out behaving like a moonstruck calf for some reason, such as for falling in love. A lot of bishoujo/bishounen games usually contain one or two tsundere character, because some people love such a character. The term 'tsudere' spreaded rapidly into Japanese game/anime/manga/novel fan community in recent years. Lately tsudere became an indispensable term for otaku, such as moe, yaoi, yuri and shota.

Shana performed by Kugimiya is one of my favorite character. This show doesn't have outstanding quality, but it's enjoyable enough to encourage me to follow it. My concern for this anime is that Takashi Watanabe is a director of the series.

1) capeta

STAFF

Director: Shin Misawa
Production Studio: Studio Comet

The TV series is based on popular shounen manga created by Masahito Soda. It's the story of a boy who aims for the cart race champion. I watched first three episodes. The first ten-odd episodes would be spent for the elementary school arc of the manga counterpart. During elementary schoo arc, real children are used as a voice actor for three main characters in childhood. It's a pretty rare (one thing to keep in mind is that they're a child but a professional actor).

Animation quality is not bad and the story is not very boring, but I feel that something is missing. The character design in the elementary school arc is a bit annoying. In the original manga the junior high school arc is interesting and it has good character design, so the anime counterpart may be going to get better in the future episode. But I'm not really sure I can wait until the junior high school arc starts.

2) ToHeart2

STAFF

Director: Norihiko Sudo
Serise Composition: Hiroshi Yamaguchi
Production Studio: OLM team IGUCHI

CAST

Konomi Yuzuhara: Yukari Ochiai
Tamaki Kousaka: Shizuka Ito
Manaka Komaki: Noriko Rikimaru
Mayu Tonami: Hitomi Nabatame

This show is an anime adaptation of the bishoujo game produced by Aquaplus. It will be 13 episodes in total.

It's obvious that this anime primarily aims for the people who played the original game. For this reason, the plot of some episode will be reset in the future episode and go back in time, as is the way with the game. The viewers are not given any explaining the situation. There is little consideration for viewers who have never played the original game before. But if you blame them on this matter, you are barking up the wrong tree. This anime is entirely for a fan of ToHeart game series, thinking nothing of the other people in the first place. The original is the best-selling game series, which have many enthusiastic fans in Japan. And so there is a business opportunity for game-fan-only anime as this.

Konomi in ep.1 is really cute, and her plot line is okay. In ep.2 Tamaki of the anime version is not good in both character design and the depiction of her face compared with the game counterparts. I sensed a slight discomfort at Tamaki's personality of the anime version. The OP theme is okay, but its animation is not good enough. The plot is progressing in a low-keyed way. Some people would like this show, but I don't feel so much like watching the next episode.

Solty Rei

STAFF

Director: Yoshimasa Hiraike
Sub Director: Hirotaka Endo
Character Design: Suzilow.HA
Conceptual Design: Kenichi Sonoda, Renji Murata
Music: Toshiyuki Ohmori
Production Studio: GONZO, AIC

CAST

Solty: Momoko Saito
Roy: Joji Nakata
Rose: Masumi Asano
Miranda: Sayaka Ouhara
Kasha: Natsuko Kuwatani
Celica: Yukari Tamura
Andy: Tatsu Suzuki

After watching episode 3, I've realized that Solty Rei is what is called serious baka anime (baka means idiot or stupid). If you see only episode 1, you might misconstrue this as a hard-boiled story. Solty reminds me of Arare-chan from Dr. Slump. Roy is a middle-aged tough guy, but he's of small use because he's too weak compared with Solty. In fact Solty is ridiculously ultra-strong. If she had not been in Roy's side, he would have been dead at least three times.

Just as expected of a joint project between GONZO and AIC, this show seems to be made from mix of Bakuretsu Tenshi (Burst Angel) and Gun Sword or Burn-UP Scramble. I gave a giggle to see the action scene in ep.3 the robber trio raided the transport truck (These three robbers are regular, secondary characters). They look cool, but are just baka after all.

The OP sequence is nice, Rose looks cool. The ED song is okay. The first three episodes have good quality in animation. If you can just think of this as serious baka anime, Solty Rei might be enjoyable enough for you.

[url=]Mushishi[/url]

STAFF

Director: Hiroshi Nagahama
Character design & Animation Director: Yoshihiko Umakoshi
Art Director: Takeshi Waki
Music: Toshiro Masuda
Production Studio: Art Land

CAST

Ginko: Yuto Nakano
Adashino: Yuji Ueda
Renzu: Mariya Ise
Shinra Ioroi: Yukiko Sampei

Synopsis

"Mushi" is neither an animal nor a plant nor a microorganism, they're shapeless entities are closer to essence of life than the other beings. Only a very few people can see them. Ginko, the leading character of the series, is one of those people. Drifting from one place to another, he's always studying the reality of mushi and tries to solve bizarre problems caused by them.

This series is an anime adaptation of popular seinen (=for young adults) manga created by Yuki Urushihara. The manga series is still going on Monthly Afternoon magazine. The TV series is going to be 24 or more episodes in total.

First Impression

The first episode is very well done. I was really impressed by the background art and the bueaty of green, for example, a green sake cup and a mountain greenery. I like the charcter design of Renzu taking the shape of a girl. Animation quality is strikingly good.

The first episode sticks very closely to the original manga. After watching ep.1, I read the manga counterpart over again, and it was surprising to me when I realized that even the screen layout of anime and manga was almost identical.

Ep.1 is one of the most tranquil tales among Mushishi's stories, and so Ginko could bring about a peaceful solution of the issues in both of Shinra and Renzu. Half of Mushishi's tales don't have a happy ending. Even "Midori no Za" (ep.1's story) doesn't have a simple happy-ending, because Shinra and Renzu paid a high price for it. There are not a few sad or grotesque tales in the series. Every tale in Mushishi is bizarre, cruel, beautiful and nostalgic, making us bask in the afterglow.

Mushi are the entities beyond good and evil, which transcend the limits of human knowledge. Human and mushi making a overcommitment to each other often causes tragedies (or sometimes miracles coming with a price). Despite this, Ginko is always facing off againt those entities. Mushishi is a mature story of considerable depth.

I felt satisfaction with ep.1 in both the animation and the story. I've decided to follow this series until the last episode.

Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi (Manga Japanese Folk Tales)

STAFF

Production Studio: Group Tac

CAST

Etsuko Ichihara
Fujio Tokita

This is not a new anime series, to be exact. Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi (MNMB) was aired for 20 years between 1975 and 1994, and the total number of episodes reached 1467. It enjoyed an enormous popularity in those days. MNMB is an anime adaptation of Japanese folk tales or literary lores which are handed down from ancient times.

1) Production staff differs from episode to episode.
2) Therefore, viewers can enjoy watching various animation styles in each episode.
3) A lot of the masters of the genre in anime worked on this series, such as Tsutomu Shibayama, Rintaro and Gisaburo Sugii.
4) Each episode is created by elaborate, unique producing techniques.
5) There appear only two voice actors, Etsuko Ichihara and Fujio Tokita, in every episode throughout the series.
6) MNMB registered the highest viewer rating of 33.6%. It's a monster.
7) MNMB is one of the landmark works in anime history.

The new program is a digital-remastered version of MNMB. The episodes scheduled to be broadcasted are selected from among early MNMB series. The first episode achieved the highest rating of 12.1% among this fall's new anime TV programs. It ranked 3th in all anime programs of the week. The remastered version showed overwhelming strength as was widely predicted. Incidentally, Eyeshield21 is a counterprogram of remastered MNMB (both anime programs are aired on a same time slot in Japan), but MNMB had no influence on the viewer rating of Eyeshield21. This fact indicates that MNMB's viewer group is totally different than that of Eyeshield21.

I got more like a fresh impression than nostalgic feeling from the first two episodes. MNMB was already unique among anime programs of the time, today all the more so. Most of episodes are based on folk tales, the story itself is generally simple and earthy. I recognized anew MNMB had many different types of animation from an orthodox style to an experimental one.

I don't think MNMB is the type of anime that become popular outside of Japan. The non-Japanese people who are interested in this title would be very few, probably only ultra-hardcore anime fans or students specializing in Japanese culture. At any rate, this is an interesting work.

Ginban Kaleidoscope ep.3, ep.4

Ep.3: The animation in the scene where Tazusa makes a performance at figure skating competition is very poor, even if it's a climactic scene of ep.3. The script writer did a fairly good job, the story is still enjoyable.

Ep.4: The animation quality in a figure skating scene has improved drastically. And ep.4's plot development made me feel exhilarating. Good episode.

Fighting Beauty Wulong ep.5

Ep.1 was awful. Ep.2, 3 and 4 were below average. The show finally reached a average level at ep.5.

Akagi ep.4

Wow! Akaigi is really, really enjoyable! There are wonderful tension-packed scenes in every episode, which are created by skillful screen directing and penetrating scripts. I can't wait the next episode.

Canvas2 ep.4

This week's heroine always puts the next week's one down with snide wisecracks in every next-episode-preview. It's fun.

Mahou Shoujo Lryrical Nanoha A's ep.4

Nanoha A's is still very popular with active anime fans in Japan. Nanoha is a good show, but I have to point out an extraordinary similarity in appearance between the characters.

IGPX ep.4

Most of animation staff of IGPX is made up of younger animators of Production I.G. It seems like to me this series is a kind of a study for them.

Shakugan no SHANA ep.4

I'm interested in this show in a lot of ways. The original novel is emblematic of the third generation of otaku culture (at least, one of them). Do you have any idea what makes up the foundation for adding sense of reality on the worlds/characters created by the third generation of otaku culture?

Mushishi ep.2 ep.2

Ep.2 has high quality in almost everything. I definitely think Mushishi is ranked in the top 3 of all this fall season's new anime.

Animal Yokocho (Animal Street) ep.4

There appear many rabbit characters in currently ongoing shows; Iyo (Animal Yokocho), Meso-Usa (Pani Poni Dash!), Mymelody and Kuromi (Onegai My Melody), Shaggy (Beet The Vandel Buster) and Laplace (Rozen Maiden). Iyo might be the most enigmatic rabbit among them.

Rozen Maiden traumend ep.2

I'm a fan of Rozen Maiden, both manga and anime. I'm content to just watch the Rozen dolls in anime.

Solty Rei ep.4

The fans who have a moe feeling for the middle guy Roy are now increasing rapidly in number Solty Rei might end up an unexpected winner.

Gunparade Orchestra ep.4

The second TV series is better than the first season so far. But there is undeniable sense that GPO is the TV program to promote the new Gunparade game.

Mai-Otome ep.4

The quality of the show is stable enough to satisfy most of viewers. Arika gave us some fan service scenes, but Arika is so healty that I couldn't have an ecchi feeling for her fan-servicing 😛

BLOOD+ ep.4

Ep.3 and 4 didn't have massive flaw. The scenes Saya fights against Yokushu (winged monsters) are rather anticlimactic. As it's been only 4 episodes since the series started, that's just the way of it? (BLOOD+ will be 50+ episodes...)

ARIA The Animation ep.4

The first three episodes are well done. Both plot and animation in ep.4 are a little weak, but it still has a warm atmosphere.

Cluster Edge ep.3, 4 and 5

What the hell is that?! Agate, You're nuts! I feel kind of dizzy. I can't help thinking this show is gag anime. The plotline/script written by Ikeda is truly insane, but it's fun in a way. Hey, Ikeda & Sunries, why don't you change all bishounens appearing in the show into biking-shorts-clad boys? 😛

Animal Yokocho ep.9 and 10

Kenta said "Hey Ami, are you really 5 years old?" I totally agree with him. Ami is a super kindergartener who has highschool-level judgment. Watching ep.10, I bet Iyo is a deathless rabbit.

capeta ep.4 and 5

Honestly first two episodes were a bit boring to me, but the show is getting more interesting. They keep good animation quality so far.

Mushishi

Fantastic! Episode 2 is entirely satisfactory in both the story and the animation quality. I'm surprised to know the animation of mushi fluid gushing from Sui's eyes is drawn by hand, not using CG. Though some people see a problem with Yuto Nakano's voice acting, it doesn't bother me. This episode is worth watching twice, as with episode 1.

Angel Heart ep.5

Episode 5 is not very good nor very bad. I'm not so attracted to Glass Heart. We can no longer see Roy's mokkori (bulge)?

Karin

STAFF

Director: Shinichiro Kimura
Series Composition: Yashunori Yamada
Art Director: Rie Oda
Sound Director: Miwa Iwanami
Production Studio: J.C.STAFF

CAST

Karin Maaka: Sayuri Yahagi
Kenta Ushui: Katsuuki Konishi
Anju Maaka: Yuka Inokuchi
Ren Maaka: Junichi Suwabe

Synopsis

There is a certain vampire family who settled down in a certain town in Japan. They lead a sheltered life as they suck humans' blood sometimes. But Karin, their daughter, has a secret never to speak to anyone. She's not a normal vampire who sucks human's blood, but is abnormal one who produces her own blood. Yes, she's a 'blood-making vampire'! Blood building up in her body too much, she has a large amount of nose bleeds. To avoid such situation as this, she has to give blood to anyone by administering nips to the neck. Nonetheless she is a shy, ordinary highschool girl in the course of day-to-day activities. But her school life has drastically changed by Kenta Ushui's appearance.

This show is an anime adaptation of popular manga created by Yuna Kagesaki. He has now injured his health by continual overwork. The TV series will be 24 episodes in total.

First Impression

The last scene of the first episode is really striking. Karin gets too much nosebleed and crouchs in a pool of blood. Animation in ep.1 is crispy, and they use a lot of character's movement like watching a video on fast-forward. Ep.1 doesn't contain the OP song and animation, because Shinichiro Kimura, the director of this show, sticks to his principle the OP is never used in the first episode. The ED theme is okay. Though the character design of the manga is better than of the anime, I don't mind so much. I predict that some viewers will say Kenta Ushui resembles Ueki in The Law of Ueki or Sawamura in Midori no Hibi. There is no panty shot in ep.1, but Karin's bleeding scene gives us more ecchi feelings than conventional fan services. The story of ep.1 is fairly enjoyable. I don't think this anime is going to be a great show, however, it might become a good school-romance-comedy. Kimura's work is usually either pretty good or rather poor.

ARIA The Animation ep.5

The swimsuit episode is one of fixtures in bishoujo anime. But ARIA is not a typical bishoujo anime, so their swimsuits aren't seductive. This episode also warms the cockles of our hearts.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's ep.4 and 5

Watching the first five episodes, this is more like a fighting girl show than a magical girl one. The battle scenes are exciting and appeal strongly. Fate's new transforming sequence in ep.4 is really cool. Raging Heart in the second season speaks more often than in the first season.

Akagi ep.6

Akagi is engaging in a fierce clash with Ichikawa. The struggle between a young genius and an inordinately sly old fox is truly impressive. The excitement of this anime is tough to beat. I can't wait the next episode!

Shakugan no SHANA ep.5

Episode 5 is the most well-done in the first five episodes. They merged two story arcs of the original novel into one, developing two plotlines simultaneously. They added some new plots to the story of the anime version for this reason. They succeeded in heightening more oppressive feeling in the anime than in the original novel. I wouldn't have guessed that I could see the fight scene between Friagne and Margery Daw. I'm looking forward to ep.6 because I might enjoy watching a different plot development from that of the original novel.

Ginban Kaleidoscope ep.5

In the anime version they changed cause of Pete's death to an airplane crash. It would be safe to say they took a suitable arrangement. This show should have aired in not a late-night time slot but early evening or morning time slot because this show is shoujo sports anime for casual anime fans.

capeta ep.6

Team Capeta is formed with the backing of Cappeita's father and his friend. Animation quality is as good as always. His team is to enter the junior cart racing league. This is going to be fun.

Gunparade Orchestra ep.6

The writer who drew up ep.6's scenario should hang himself. Though the first five episodes were not so bad, I'm disappointed at ep.6. GPO is relatively realistic military action anime (at least partly), isn't it? The scramble for military supply among corps is not so uncommon in history, but such a robbery as this is too unrealistic.

Animal Yokocho ep.11 and 12

Ami is really something. She is crossing swords with unspeakable rabbit Iyo as equals! They didn't leave their house again in these two episodes.

Canvas2 ep.6

This is a swimsuit episode, the traditional pleasures of bishoujo anime. I'm surprised to know there is no Kyonyu (big boobs) character in this show, though the other stereotyped bishoujo characters mentioned below already appeared in it.

Imouto (a little sister)
Osana Najimi (a childhood sweetheart)
Loli (lolita)
Ojou-sama (a preppy)
Meganekko (a girl with glasses)
Tsundere (icy manner -> squishy manner)
Fushigi-chan (a flabbergasting girl)

Beet The Vandel Buster -Excerion- ep.6

Beet is no match for his 'wife' Poala. She does seem to be his true wife, his ball and chain Milufa is flirty with Kiss again in ep.6, but her effort dosen't bear fruit. This show is basically shounen adventure, however, the second season contains some shoujo-anime-like elements.

Karin ep.2

Ep.2 is as enjoyable as ep.1. Sayuri Yahagi is showing a good performance of her voice acting as Karin, though she made her debut as seiyuu in this anime.

The OP sequence appeared in the show. It contains some ecchi things. I think I can understand why animation staff did it. There are very few fan services in the original manga, and so they can't draw explicit ecchi stuff in the body of the show.

Almost all of animators have strong instincts that they want to draw anything they can draw. If animators aren't controled by the director or producers, they will run out of control and every expression drawn by them will escalate to a dangerous level. Take a panty shot, for example. First they draw panties simply, then add some pattern to it, then draw wrinkles in panties, then elaborately do the patterned indented surface of it and finally they begin to draw no panties version. Much the same is true on violent scenes. It appears to be a reality that most of directors/producers are having a hard time placing a restraint on animators' overdoing.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's ep.6

It's revealed the true intent for the Knights of Wolkenritter to fight against Nanoha and Adminstrative Bureau. The truth is considerably surprising, the script writer did a good job for the show. I think we can look forward to the dramatic plot development in the future episodes.

Gaiking ~Legend of Daiku-Maryu~

STAFF

Series Director: Masahiro Hosoda
Series Composition: Riku Sanjo
Mecha Design: Ken Ohtsuka
Character Design: Takeshi Yamazaki & Noriyoshi Yamazaki
Art Drector: Mitsuki Nakamura
Production Studio: Toei Animation

CAST

Daiya Tsuwabuki: Mayumi Tanaka
Ruru: Tomoko Kawakami
Pyuria: Reiko Kiuchi
Captain Garis: Toru Ohkawa
Naoto Hayami: Naomi Shindo

What is Gaiking?

Maginger Z that began in 1972 was an epoch-making work in the history of robot anime. A new, great trend was created by enormous popularity of both Maginger Z and its Chogoukin (superalloy) toy series released by Popy (Bandai's subsidiary). Under the influence of this trend, it was followed by many others along similar lines, for example, Getter Robo, Getter Robo G, Great Maginger, Rydeen, Grendaizer, Koutetsu Jeeg, Daiapolon, Combattler V, Gowapper 5 Godam, Guroizer X, Machine Bluster, Ga Keen, Mechander Robo, Gingaizer, Baratac, Voltes V, Zambot 3, Daimos, Daitaan and Danguard Ace. The mid-70s was the golden age of super robot anime. Daiku-Maryu Gaiking (1976) was also one of the same kind of shows in the golden age. Gaiking was the first robot anime produced by Toei Douga (Toei Animatino) on their own. It had some characteristics, such as the sci-fi-style story setting, the character design getting influenced by gekiga manga and the bold scenario backed by Uehara-ism. To put it simply, Gaiking was very powerful and very sloppy.

Impression

This TV series is the remake of classic Gaiking. The OP song has a very 70s super-robotic feel. I don't feel a sense of incongruity about the mecha design of new Gaiking and Daiku-Maryu. The protagonist is changed from a 18-year-old baseball player to a 13-year-old junior highschool boy. The character design is refined to contemporary style. I'd say Ruru is a moe character. Robot battle scene is dynamic and well-done. It's made to imitate 70s' giant-robot style as much as possible. Gattai (combine) sequence of the Gaiking robot is drawn by Masami Ohbari, the foremost expert on robot animation.

The story of ep.1 is simple and straightforward. That's a really typical plot development of the super robot genre, it's pretty rare nowadays though. I laughed at a segment on fortune-telling at the end of the show. The animation of the segment must have been drawn by Gen Sato (Crasher Joe, Ojamajo Doremi, Pretty Cure, Futago Hime). At any rate, ep.1 is enjoyable enough for me.