Summer 2009: Your Expectations and Anticipated Series (was: Summer Anime 2009)

[DJLowrider]

I usually break down new season anime into three groups: Must Watch, Curious and Oh Hell No.

Must Watch:
None of these proposed series are that compelling.

Curious:
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
CANAAN

Oh Hell No:
Every other craptastic title listed this season.

[Falkor]

the summer season is coming very soon, I guess...

my picks:

• Spice and Wolf II: love the new character designs (not that there are a lot of differences) and more Horo is always good.
  
• Aoi Hana: yuri is always good ^_^
  
• Cannan: is there a reason not to watch this?
  
• Umineko: the show everyone should watch.
  
• Sora...: I liked the trailer for some reason; and the show seems to go in the Slice-of-Life direction...
  
• Taishou Yakyuu Musume: I dislike baseball, but... there's an all-female cast with no males in sight. what are my chances of seeing some yuri-skinship?
  
• Kanamemo: 4-koma adaptation, no males (see above)
  
• GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class: 4-koma adaptation, no males (see above)

[Sorrow-K]

Spice and Wolf II and Zan SZS deserve a watch based on the strength of their respective predecessors, while Umineko no Naku Koro ni comes from a proven author. But, as others have mentioned, whatever happened to variety?

[Westlo]

It's a pretty good line up for a minor season.. anyone expecting a Spring/Fall line up is kidding themselves...

Anyway I'll be watching the following.

Spice and Wolf II - First season was a top 3 title from 2008 for me so this is a no brainer.
Umineko - I'm expecting this to outdo Higuarshi
Canaan - P.A Works 2nd anime after their first in True Tears, looks the goods from the couple trailers I've seen.
Aoi Hana - Kenichi Kasai rarely disappoints. *forgets Kimikiss existed*
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Could be a gem and it's Notiamina, nuff said.
Bakamonogatari - Expecting big things after seeing a few people rave about the source material.
Needless - I enjoyed the first four chapters of the manga even though it's typical shonen fare... hopefully MADHOUSE aren't going through the motions with this one.

Everything else relies on word of mouth.

[Eater of All]

I try to overlook the school + girls thing, I really did. But it just doesnt work the fifth time around.
Granted, it's not fair to immediately label any series unworthwhile purely from a summary; good execution can patch any dull premise up. It's just that having a bunch of indistinguishable synopses really chokes a man's expectations to see new things.

Will Watch:
- Spice and Wolf II
- Canaan
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni
- Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Probably Will Watch:
- Bakemonogatari
- Umi Monogatari
- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Maaaaybe:
- Needless
- Element Hunters
- Taishou Yakyuu Musume

Probably... not...:
- [ everything else ]

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Emerald Emblem

For me there are a few I might check out, but so far nothing must watch, however I wonder if KyoAni will release something this season.

Small potatoes, I'm fretting at the apparent lack of mecha. Guess it's Umineko for me.

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Small potatoes, I'm fretting at the apparent lack of mecha. Guess it's Umineko for me.

Well most mecha series are two cours and you rarely see two cour shows premiere in a minor season. Probably only Umineko out of this season will be more than one cour.. Needless to maybe.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Eater of All

I try to overlook the school + girls thing, I really did. But it just doesnt work the fifth time around.
Granted, it's not fair to immediately label any series unworthwhile purely from a summary; good execution can patch any dull premise up. It's just that having a bunch of indistinguishable synopses really chokes a man's expectations to see new things.

That's it, in a nutshell. Studios are playing it safe and schoolgirl pap is what they consider safe right now. I hope it's a trend and not a downward spiral. I know it's easy to say summer is a write-off season for the most part, but look at summer '07 - you had Baccano!, Higurashi Kai, Umisho, Zombie-loan, Potemayo, SZS, Mononoke, Shigurui... Sure there were schoolgirls in some of them, but they were built around interesting characters of both genders. And a lot of those shows had a real edge to them, which we seem to be losing.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

That's it, in a nutshell. Studios are playing it safe and schoolgirl pap is what they consider safe right now. I hope it's a trend and not a downward spiral. I know it's easy to say summer is a write-off season for the most part, but look at summer '07 - you had Baccano!, Higurashi Kai, Umisho, Zombie-loan, Potemayo, SZS, Mononoke, Shigurui... Sure there were schoolgirls in some of them, but they were built around interesting characters of both genders. And a lot of those shows had a real edge to them, which we seem to be losing.

Eventually, though, there's going to be a backlash as seasons become flooded with moe slice-of-life anime. It's popular now, but it'll eventually get old.

I think.

[Sun Shine]

Spice and Wolf II - Really cannot wait for this, enjoyed the first season a lot!!
Zetsubou Sensei - Not interested in the previous seasons so not interested in this
Tokyo Magnitude - Sounds boring but will give it a go in hope of decent characters
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Sounds okay, nothing special
Sora no Manimani - Might be good if its consistantly light hearted with no depressing undertones
Bakemonogatari -- Not expecting much
Canaan - Don't know anything about
Needless - Looks and sounds childish, will wait for others opinions before giving it a go
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou - Don't expect much
Umi Monogatari - Definately avoiding
Aoi Hana - Another I'll be avoiding
Geijutsuka Art Design Class - Avoiding
Seitokai no Ichizon - Will check out but not expecting much
Kanamemo - Avoiding
Princess Lover - Avoiding
Element Hunters - Oh dear
Taishou Yakyuu Musume - Will check out, no feeling either way for this

Nothing I'm looking forward to apart from Spice and Wolf. I can't remember the last time I looked forward to a season was.

[Grif]

It appears i am the only one that thinks seitokai no Ichizon may suprise a few people and end up being actually quite decent.

That aside, I am really interested in CANAAN and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

[oompa loompa]

well i'm going to keep my hopes up.. I had labelled last season as pretty weak, but it came up with quite a few good shows.. err lemme count.. a good 6-7 i guess, with probably 10 watchable shows - when originally I was looking at best 4-5 shows. lets hope for the best -

as of right now, umineko, spice and wolf, canaan and bakemonogatari

[Fevvers]

Ah, that's a fairly tame summer season, shame there's not a lot of innovative shows.

Looking forward:

Aoi Hana - It's a manga by Shimura Takako, who has consistently amazed me with her down-to-earth character portrayals. I can only hope JC staff will be able to retain the subdued tone of the manga; Kasai was able to successfully adapt Honey and Clover, but I wasn't at all that impressed with Nodame and KimiKiss.

Umi Monogatari - It's got Junichi Sato on the helm, and I've missed the guy. Also being the shallow fangirl that I am, the picture looks really pretty and shiny!

Neutral:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Lots of people excited for this, but the studio worries me, and neither am I a big fan of the director's earlier shows.

Tokyo Magnitude - Premise sounds really stupid, reminds me of those disaster movies no one ends up liking, but I'll probably check it out being a Bones show and all.

[Raa]

The *plan to watch* list:
Hetalia 2 (sure thing, noway I would miss this)
Cobra (perhaps)
Needless (perhaps)
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (most likely)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (most likely)
Canaan (unlikely)
Bakemonogatari (still not sure)

Not interested in all others.

[Tamad]

Eh, nothing really stands out for me like this current season had. I'll pick up a few things that look cool and cute, namely [i]Aoi Hana, ELEMENT HUNTERS, CANAAN, Zen Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Sora no Manimani, Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou, and Seitokai no Ichizon.

I'm a very shallow person it seems.

[Shinigami_Mello]

The only thing I plan to watch as of now is Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. Ah, I'm expecting good, good things.

[Fujikira]

Definently Watching:
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Really hope DEEN doesn't screw this up.)

Probably Watch Later:
Dogs Bullets and Carnage, CANAAN

[DidCart]

For me, only these:

Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou
GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class
Seitokai no Ichizon

The other ones I'll check only if they receive good feedbacks after the first episodes.

[Dremora]

Needless - only have interest in this because madhouse is attached to it.
Bakemono– trailer has me very intrigued. I’m getting some horror vibes from it, but from what I little I’ve read it isn’t like that at all. It’s supposed to be a supernatural comedy? If that is the case it’s not likely that I’ll be watching…
Uminkeo no Naku
CANAAN

I typically love everything done by Bones (their last show was disappointing - I cant recall the name), but the plot synopsis for Tokyo Magnitude just turns me off completely.

[jsieczkar]

Exited About -- yes just one and it is a sequel
Spice and Wolf II

Possibly will like
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
Needless -- only due to being a Madhouse production, and I have been having good luck with their work. But then again AVEX is the one producing it.

Long Shots
Cobra: Rokunin no Yushi
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Aoi Hana
Canaan

Will Watch the first episode for the sole purpose of making downgrading comments about the shows
Hetalia Axis Powers 2
Element Hunters
Bakemonogatari
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou
Umi Monogatari
Kanaemo
Princess Lover!
Seitokai no Ichizon
GA: Geijutsuka Art Class
Sora no Manimani
Taishou Yakyuu Musume