Winter 2011: Your Expectations and Anticipated Series

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by kyouray

How about ufotable in your list ?
There're also recent studios which are promising like Gohands, Ordet or 8-Bit.
However I think having expectations according to studios may give some hints but it isn't totally relevant.

Ah well I'm not really considering ufotable's Kara no Kyoukai as really part of this season, but they rock the house for sure.

However, while studios are not necessarily an ultimate death sentence to a show, it's a good indicator of its production quality and style. Certain studios have shown to not be trustworthy whatsoever (DEEN) or at least makes you very dubious about them (J.C. Staff).

So yes, maybe I'll miss some shows that seep through the cracks, but I usually end up hearing about them later or while its airing. Is this very common? From my experience no. I usually am pretty good at judging which shows are good for me or not based on summaries, studios, directors, and a few images.

The last show that I missed like that was Kurenai. But really, it's not too common for me.

[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Just going to mention that Higurashi had to be rescued by its creator

wait, what

I've never heard of this, what happened?

Really - is that official? Last I heard was winter.

Same here, I read January 2011.

[Zip]

I wonder if Tailenders will be successful against Redline. Redline may have the better animation, but it looks like Taileneders will deliver the better plot (flaming-red Kamina with an ENGINE for a heart, anyone?)

[Washi]

A better chart with a few added series has been made: http://yfrog.com/f/6dt3pij/


Personally, I'm looking forward to:

Fractale - I find Yamakan to be an interesting (if not always highly competant) director, and because he said he'd retire (from anime) if this series fails, the stakes are high! A-1 Pictures and Studio Ordet work really well together, and as this is a noitaminA series, I'm expecting them to raise the bar a little.

Infinite Stratos - I'm curious to see what fledgeling studio, 8-bit can pull out from this one! On the downside, it sounds fairly generic.

Yumekui Merry - I just love the cute character designs, so I'll check this out and hope it goes well.

Kimi no Todoke will be good, but sadly I never saw the first season.

Gosick - because it looks interesting. Although, the director of Heroman.. If BONES' better staff are still working on Star Driver, this might not turn out all that great.

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka - I like the designs and the manga has some nice fanservice. So it could be good light entertainment!

There are also a bunch of OVAs I'm looking forward to!

It's not a great season overall is it. I'm getting the vibe that next season will be better.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

wait, what

I've never heard of this, what happened?

I don't know the full details (someone like Klashikari might know more) but I do know that a whole arc needed to be added in the second anime in order to provide the whole set of clues the first one skipped.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

wait, what

I've never heard of this, what happened?

Short story short, the first season of Higurashi had 6 (out of 8!) arcs crammed in there, and thus a lot of things would make very little sense. The first arc of Higurashi Kai was actually an anime orginal part to explain some of these missing things.

Quoting wiki's Higurashi page:

Spoiler for Higurashi Kai:

Yakusamashi-hen (厄醒し編?, Disaster Awakening Chapter)
This arc was introduced in the second anime series, airing before Minagoroshi-hen and Matsuribayashi-hen.[4] It was made by the request of Ryukishi07 to include important plot details that were left out from the first season so as to tie the two seasons together.

[Albafica]

In your Winter 2011 page, I'm only interested by Wolverine anime and Beelzebub.
I really want to know how Wolverine will looks in japanese animation.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Albafica

I really want to know how Wolverine will looks in japanese animation.

Have you not seen the trailer? A lot of people were turned off by it.

[FlareKnight]

After skimming through I'd say Gosick is the one series I'm most looking forward to. Fractale kind of sounds interesting.

I'll give the rest a chance, but from the summaries not that excited about too many others. I mean damn what the heck did they do to Wolverine? Looks like he spent too much time trying to impersonate a werewolf....

Will wait and see how the season turns out.

[Dist]

Meh.

None of the animes for Winter looked interesting in that chart, except for Fractale. Seems kinda small amount of animes too, didn't Fall have much more ? Not sure about Fractale's story either, but since Ordet is part of it ... It's a must watch. I loved their work with BRS. A-1 Pictures has done good work with some animes I liked, as well.

[Dremora]

Fractale would be my number one pick atm, but it's still a big mystery. I love some of the background art I've seen; looks like it has potential to be something different.

Other than that, Wandering Son and Gosick look alright.

Also looking forward to continuing Kimi No Todoke and Mistudumoe (to a lesser extent).

Looks to be a couple of interesting OVAs, Koi Sento being the standout.

[hinakatbklyn]

Kind of looks like a slow winter concerning new series. Using the preview synopsis to determine what interests me:

I'll check out Gosick, Merry Dream Eater, and Dragon Crisis.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Looks like more OVA's for me. Big surprise.

I'm inclined to offer that TV anime has looked less and less appealing and OVA's more and more so for about a year now. I'll gladly trade off overall length for the general superior quality of production and maturity in storytelling that come with OVA's much of the time. Especially considering the way TV anime is going the 12/13 episode season is now the norm and OVA's are starting to see a rise in one hour features of six episodes or more a piece that are released every couple of months. Break Blade and Gundam UC being recent examples.

I think we're seeing a return to form for OVA's to what they were in the 80's (independent features) instead of simply sequels and a cheap way to make extra profit off of a successful TV franchise without having to requisition a TV block to air it. Of course the latter still exists, but I consider them OVA's in name only since they aren't "original video", but just animation that is little better than what we see in the TV side versions of the show in question.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Looks like more OVA's for me. Big surprise.

I'm inclined to offer that TV anime has looked less and less appealing and OVA's more and more so for about a year now. I'll gladly trade off overall length for the general superior quality of production and maturity in storytelling that come with OVA's much of the time. Especially considering the way TV anime is going the 12/13 episode season is now the norm and OVA's are starting to see a rise in one hour features of six episodes or more a piece that are released every couple of months. Break Blade and Gundam UC being recent examples.

I think we're seeing a return to form for OVA's to what they were in the 80's (independent features) instead of simply sequels and a cheap way to make extra profit off of a successful TV franchise without having to requisition a TV block to air it. Of course the latter still exists, but I consider them OVA's in name only since they aren't "original video", but just animation that is little better than what we see in the TV side versions of the show in question.

Nice insight there. I wouldn't mind the OVA route if it means more quality over quantity-- that area will probably be where I set sights on.

[Cabrini6000]

Mostly, like many others, I'm interested in Gosick. I also want to watch Beelzebub, Fractale (Anybody eles notice that it's spelled wrong in the New Announced Anime Thread?), The 2nd Season of Mitsudomoe, and Hourou Musuko. Although, based on the plot of other animes, I might end up watching them after I see the preview.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot Starry Sky. I'm angry with myself, I've been waiting for this to come out for a while.

[ReinZwei]

As of now I'm really concerned on Fractale,, looks like this one will be a gem for winter but at the same time I think it will be bad if I'm expecting that much from the series.

Kimi ni Todoke of course *moar Sawako*

[kuroishinigami]

Definite watch :

-Gosick

High probability of continuing after first few episode :

- Infinite Stratos
- Dragon Crisis
- Fractale

Checking first few episode only

- Beelzebub
- Kore wa zombie desuka

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Nice insight there. I wouldn't mind the OVA route if it means more quality over quantity-- that area will probably be where I set sights on.

Looking at these PV's which just came out for a handful of Armored Trooper Votoms OVA's I completely forgot about I'm 100% certain I'm making the right call now:

http://www.votoms.net/festival/votom...ne_pv_102s.asx
http://www.votoms.net/festival/votom...er_pv_124s.asx
http://www.votoms.net/festival/votom...bi_pv_130s.asx

There you go folks, that's what I'll be watching.

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Nice insight there. I wouldn't mind the OVA route if it means more quality over quantity-- that area will probably be where I set sights on.

While I am somewhat partial to the "quality over quantity" approach - I often find it's the top few shows that make a particular season memorable for me, rather than the season as a whole - I definitely prefer the TV format to OVAs. I like to consume my media at a steady, consistent rate, and TV series are one of the few formats well suited to this.

That said, I'm not exactly happy with the number of anime these days that utterly fail to provide a complete story. I don't mind this in 4Koma adaptations where the journey is the point, but adaptations of "ongoing" light novels seem to be really bad about this. Not only do many lack a good ending (because the source material is incomplete), but many seem to pad the series with fluff rather than actually advancing a story. And of course, previews do very little to help me separate the series with these faults from those that don't have them - that usually only becomes apparent a few episodes in.

[Featherine B.]

I guess I'll be checking out Gosick, although I don't really know what to expect, and Starry Sky, if it doesn't end up getting canceled of course. Other than that, as a huge fan of the TV series, I know at least that I'll definitely be watching Supernatural, even though I can't say I'm not the least bit concerned about the way the anime is going to look. I'm also curious as to what episode format they'll use (40 minutes per ep just like the tv series would be the best choice, and that would explain why it's categorized under OVA as opposed to a normal anime).
Beelzebub sounds like fun, I might give it a shot, and the Mirai Nikki OVA is definitely a must-watch.