Let's Preemptively Judge the Animé Season!

[H-Man]

Okay, so SomethingAwful has a series of threads where people do nothing but discuss the animés that are coming up before they even start. And I understand it's not really the most exciting subject topic, but then I remembered that I was pretty much ignorant of what was going to start this season until after I was shown it, and I figure other people are like this too. Therefore, we shall use this thread to discuss all the old shows that ANN likes to insist are new shows every three months or so.

To start with, here's the latest new lineup, with some comments by yours truly!

Code:
Titles in Bold: Yes Please or May Try!
Titles in Italics: No Thanks.

Series:
-Akame ga Kill!: in a fantasy world, the patriarchy is evil. Only a bunch of terrorists with funny eyes can save the world! ~SEEN~
-Ai Mai Mii: more Ai Mai Mii. Which is more 'cutesy little magical girls fighting EVIL'. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Aldnoah Zero: it's the War of the Worlds when Martians start invading Earth in 1972 with giant robots! ~SEEN~
-Ao Haru Ride: high school lovemance, it seems. Not gonna be the next Nisekoi. ~SEEN~
-Bakumatsu Rock: in the grim darkness of the Warring States, there is only rock. Ryouma Sakamoto is an up and coming rock star fighting against THE MAN with his rock n'roll! ~SEEN~
-Barakamon: slice of life about a guy living in a seaside town. ~SEEN~
-Black Butler: Book of Circus: it's Black Butler. ~NOT WATCHING~
-DRAMAtical Murder: a guy joins the strange world around him when he ends up accidentally into a rhyme battle. Now he has to do more rhyming if he wants to be an hero! ~SEEN~
-Fate/kaleido star whatever I can't spell this: it's Fate/Stay Night again. Watch it if you're a fan, don't watch it if you're me. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Francesca: Hokkaido is a zombie desu. ~SEEN~
-Free! Eternal Summer: more swimming guys in the tightest of tights. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Futsuu no Joshikousei ga Locodol Yattemita: Normal Female Students Wanna Become Locodols. Or, the story of two girls who become small-town idols. Maybe it'll be the next Bakuman, who knows. ~SEEN~
-Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: the lovemance between a girl and a shoujo artist guy. ~SEEN~
-Glasslip: the lovemance between a glass blower and a guy who hears voices. Slice of life, maybe? ~SEEN~
-Gundam Reconguista of G: Tomino returns to direct the sequel to Victory Gundam in the distant future of Universal Century. Don't expect him to Kill'Em All.
-Hanamonogatari: Monogatari sequel. No clue what it's about. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Hanayamata: perfectly normal girl goes to magic world to learn magical dances. ~SEEN~
-Himegoto: a loser is forced to spend high school dressed up as a girl. Um... it's wishing it was Ranma, or something? ~SEEN~
-Invaders of the Six-Mat Room!: six bizarre girls move in to a guy's small apartment. Presumably, they're gonna fight for the right to be the only invader. ~SEEN~
-Kantai Collection: about ****ing time.
-La Bonne Vie: boy works at school newspaper with three hot chicks to solve the problems of unhappy people. Medaka Box before it showed its true colors. ~SEEN~
-Love Stage!!: BL between a guy who loves mahou shoujo and is the child of a bunch of celebrities and a guy who falls in love with him when he dresses up as a girl. Go figure. ~SEEN~
-Maido! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku: Super Wacky Family 2. Nobody's going to watch this. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Magimoji Rurumo: Sora no Otoshimono with a witch, and every wish will kill you a little more. ~SEEN~
-Medamayaki no Kimi Itsu Tsubusu?: Gourmet mangá has an adaptation. I give it so few yolks.
-Minarai Diva: MikuMikuDance the TV show.
-Momo Kyun Sord: Momotarou Densetsu, if Momotarou was a girl. Nobunaga the Fool shall be blamed for this. ~SEEN~
-Nobunaga Concerto: boy travels through time and must become Oda Nobunaga. And not die, I suppose. ~SEEN~
-Nyanpuku Nyaruma: silly thingy about daruma dolls that are shaped like cats.
-Persona 4 the Golden Animation: Was anyone actually expecting this? I mean, Persona 4 already had an animation, did the remake need one? ~SEEN~
-Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Crystal: the classic miniskirt-wearing high-school student series... made to not suck? I 'unno. It's very hairful. We may see another infestation of FukuFics with this. ~SEEN~
-PriPara: Idolmaster for little girls. Possibly as bad as Idolmaster. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Rail Wars!: the Badguy wants to privatize Japan's railroad system. It's up to high-schoolers and hot chicks to stop him. ~SEEN~
-Re: Hamatora: Hamatora the second. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance: a guy accidentally into a girl's spirit partner. So, Dragonar Academy only it's the other girl. I just hope it won't reach the same depths of owful. ~SEEN~
-Shounen Hollywood: Idolmaster with guys. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen: all we know is that it has a silver mecha. I'm hoping the lead pilot does not actually fall into the cockpit this time. ~SEEN~
-Sord Art Online 2: more Sord Art Online. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Space Dandy 2: it's about a dandy guy in the space. ~SEEN~
-Strange +: sequel to Strange +. Was anyone even watching this one? ~NOT WATCHING~
-Survival Game Club: shoujo series about girls going on survival camp. The first pic I found has the lead girl smiling happily as she points a gun at the audience. Clearly this is not serious enough. ~SEEN~
-Tokyo ESP: humans get psychic superpowers. Sounds like one of those that's better than I put it. ~SEEN~
-Tokyo Ghoul: Twilight meets zombies. AND I just Kumagawa'd everyone's interest in the series. Hey, it might be better because at least it's not JUST wish-fulfillment! ...yet. ~SEEN~
-Yama no Susume: Girls Climb Mountains: The Series. Season two. ~NOT WATCHING~
-Zankyou no Terror: terrorists attack Japan with what I can only assume are earthquakes. WTF. ~SEEN~

I'd post on the movies and all, but my computer started failing, so...

 

[gaiamegu64]

Wow I dont give a crap bout half of these! I cant believe I used to like stuff like this when I was a kid!

 

[MastaofBitches]

I notice the new Monogatari isn't on that list...

 

[H-Man]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime/upcoming/tv - you'll notice it's not on this list, indeed.

 

[MastaofBitches]

That's weird. It's out in August though, so maybe that's it.

 

[FinalMax]

I was already going to check out Akame ga Kill, since we have to see the death flags raised in full motion. That and see the girl whose weapon is literally powered by setting off every single death flag ever created. Bakumatsu Rock, on the other hand, now sounds interesting. Warring States meets Rock Band. Hilarity may ensue, or awesomeness.
Aldnoah Zero: Might check out on an off day or something, depends on where I can find it.
P4 the Golden: Maybe this one won't have the actual ending be in an OVA or film. Maybe we'll see some different routes, and more of pimp Yu is usually good.
Rail Wars: I don't know what to make of it, but it might be interesting.
SAO2: Yeah, I'll probably watch it. I don't quite mind the things that irritate people about Kirito.
Space Dandy 2: I'll probably watch it on Toonami anyways, so that's covered.

 

[MastaofBitches]

Is it just me, or does the brunette from Rail Wars looks suspiciously like the Manager from Yuushibu?

 

[H-Man]

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS

GUYS

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's getting 52 episodes.

GUYS

 

[daniel_gudman]

-Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: the lovemance between a girl and a shoujo artist guy.

-Magimoji Rurumo: Sora no Otoshimono with a witch, and every wish will kill you a little more.

-Sord Art Online 2: more Sord Art Online.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Magimoji Rurumo are both based on manga, that have been scanlated, that I've read.

GSN was hilarious, so I'm going to watch it.

Rurumo only has a few chapters, but it was also pretty good. I hope they keep protag's mom; she was insane.

SAO2... eh, for certain reasons, I'll spend the whole season wondering where the hell Ilya is. But I'll watch it.

I hope they stick Mother's Rosario in this one.

 

[Hoki]

Time to give my comments on some that piqued my interest.

-Akame ga Kill!: Sounds like its action packed, will definitely give this one a shot.
-Aldnoah Zero: It had me at Giant Robots. I hope it doesn't turn like Valvrave.
-Bakumatsu Rock: I find the concept of using the power of rock (or music for that matter) as a means of saving the world strange. I'll avoid this one.
-DRAMAtical Murder: Is this supposed to be "Rap battle: the Anime"?
-Fate/kaleido Prisma Illiya: Apparently this is is a Magical Girl show with Illiya I-can't-spell-her-surname as the protagonist, and the Heroic Spirits are summoned from cards. Rin is apparently part of the cast.
-Himegoto: The premise sounds funny. Might watch
-Invaders of the Six-Mat Room!: Are the invaders irkens? This has potential. Might watch.
-Kantai Collection: I've heard a lot about this, what's the big deal anyway?.
-Persona 4 the Golden Animation: The only reason I'm watching this is because Aigis and Elizabeth are in it. I preferred P3 over P4.
-Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Crystal: Finally! Been waiting for ages to see whether or not the remake will be better.
-Rail Wars!: Saw some of the artwork, Might be fun to watch.
-Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance: So is this like Shaman King?
-Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen: Please, don't turn into another Valvrave.
-Sword Art Online 2: My brother is looking forward to this one, I'm not.
-Space Dandy 2: Wow, this actually got a second season? I'm impressed.
-Survival Game Club: So basically Battle Royale with an all female cast right?.
-Tokyo ESP: I'm mildly interested at the prospect of Espers fighting each other.
-Tokyo Ghoul: First vampires, now zombies? Ayumu Ayukawa is the only cool zombie.
-Zankyou no Terror: This is quite something. Definitely interesting.

 

[H-Man]

Actually DRAMAtical Murder is more ridiculous than I thought.

See, you have 'Rhyme' battles on what appears to be the internet. And the protagonist starts out fighting virtual bunnies with rocket-powered fists.

Really, it's worth looking to figure out what's so ridiculous about it.

Kantai Collection turned the WW2 Japanese fleets into girls. Who apparently still eat ship-making materials instead of food.

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance is a bit more like Seikoku no Dragonar, rather, in that the guy accidentally steals the girl's spirit so now he has to be her spirit instead. So maybe it's more like Soul Eater.

Space Dandy 2 was confirmed once Space Dandy ended. The surprise is that it wasn't actually canceled.

Survival Game Club: Nope. Seems like comedy.

Zankyou no Terror is done by the Cowboy Bebop man, so there's that bonus to it.

 

[H-Man]

I'm treating this as the 'animé news thread' and people are invited to add news if they find those relevant.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is getting an English dub.

 

[H-Man]

ITT: I'll be talking about my opinion on new animés as I watch them, AS LONG AS they're part of the lineup above.

For now, Survival Game Club.

I'm reminded of Ika Musume. It's got the same three-act structure, it's got the same level of nonsense [there's going to be blood despite the guns being completely harmless because IMAGINATION], it's got a main character who is quite aggressively normal relative to the other, insane ones... it does tend more to the fanservice, but it's not really a bad show. It does start out promoting feminism by having one of the main characters' first action be 'stop a train pervert', which is good in my opinion.

I'm not sure I would recommend this one, but I'm going to watch it until I'm bored or something.

[This was going to include Rail Wars but I could only watch half of the first episode, and the least I can say is that it feels so unpleasant sometimes...]

 

[H-Man]

I'm the only one, huh?

Bakumatsu Rock is joseibait, I think. The artstyle is quite stylized, the men are so beautiful that a few of them look like women, and there's more than enough fanservice to make it seductive. The lead guy shoots lasers out of his nipple area, for crying out loud.

I can't exactly hate it, though. I mean, really: most of the rock bands I know and love are male-only. They're often loud and odd and they tend to have issues fueled by all their drug abuse. At least two of my favorite bands had lead singers who were ambiguous to worse. And besides, I then have to take into account Gackt, visual kei, and all that bizarre stuff.

Mostly I watch for the sake of seeing if they have any tunes on par with Fire Bomber's production. If I come out of this without one of the songs in my head, I'm going to be very disappoint.

Now to watch Argevollen.

 

[H-Man]

Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen.

Okay, so apparently someone realized the RaiOh from SRW needed an animé. They couldn't get the rights to the RaiOh, which is why we have this. Argevollen is a military war animé where so far all the mecha involved are slow and clumsy and terrible at war, and then the lead mecha is introduced. It's fast, agile, and works on a direct mental connection to the pilot without lag. It has a flying kick.

I don't think we'll get more of the RaiOh's unique abilities - after all, this is completely unrelated other than the fact that we have a giant robot kicking enemies in the face - but it doesn't matter as long as they can make Argevollen have interesting abilities. I do wonder how they'll have other robots on par with it and hahahaha like they would make the rest of the troopers any strong, since it'd make our lead mecha lamer than 'SUPER COOL AWESOME'.

So far, the best of the lot.

 

[Hoki]

I'm still waiting for the things that really interest me, so i'll hold off the reviews for now.

I haven't played persona 4 golden. but I heard it was a fighting game, so I guess the anime will be action packed

 

[MastaofBitches]

I'm still waiting for the things that really interest me, so i'll hold off the reviews for now.

I haven't played persona 4 golden. but I heard it was a fighting game, so I guess the anime will be action packed

That was Persona 4 Arena. Golden was a remake,m with two extra Social Links: New Character Marie and Adachi.

 

[H-Man]

I was bored enough so I picked one show at random to finish the day.

Glasslip is slice of life indeed. About chicken adoption.

I think there's some kind of plot involved, but... really. I just watched ten minutes of dealing with adopting chickens. It wasn't even trying to be funny.

I'm gonna try another one another time.

 

[Hoki]

I'm still waiting for the things that really interest me, so i'll hold off the reviews for now.

I haven't played persona 4 golden. but I heard it was a fighting game, so I guess the anime will be action packed

That was Persona 4 Arena. Golden was a remake,m with two extra Social Links: New Character Marie and Adachi.

Damn, so Aigis and Elizabeth won't be there? Well, I'm not interested in it anymore. -_-

 

[MastaofBitches]

I'm still waiting for the things that really interest me, so i'll hold off the reviews for now.

I haven't played persona 4 golden. but I heard it was a fighting game, so I guess the anime will be action packed

That was Persona 4 Arena. Golden was a remake,m with two extra Social Links: New Character Marie and Adachi.

Damn, so Aigis and Elizabeth won't be there? Well, I'm not interested in it anymore. -_-

Nope, but you should give it a chance. I played the game, and Marie's a really good character, with a unique Dungeon. Plus, an extra Beach Episode.

 

[H-Man]

Time to watch Rail Wars!

It's not exactly good. I already know the rumors of how the author has it hard for nationalized railroads and how the badguys' plan is privatizing it. It also doesn't make the action scenes very exciting.

Really, the only thing worth watching is Haruka's fanservice, and that's not really a good thing. I'll watch it to see if it gets better, but...

Okay, guys, here's the thing. I've been watching these shows and noticed a lot of the ones I wasn't interested in have been starting, and I'm getting curious as to see which ones might result in a Bakumatsu Rock reaction. But would anyone care to see those posts?

 

[H-Man]

Tokyo Ghoul's gonna require a startup point.

I hate Saya no Uta. And all of Urobuchi's works, but especially Saya no Uta. I don't like the idea of the plot as presented, I don't like the fanbase, I don't like it period. When I saw the plot to this show, I didn't really want to like it due to the fact that it reminded me of Saya no Uta, but because I'm bored and have nothing better to do, I decided to watch the first episode.

It's actually really strong. It's scary as it needs to be, but it's not the type of scary that drives me off through reliance on horribly drawn monsters and art. I know it's censored, but it works to its benefit in my opinion. And the protagonist, at least right now, is more interested in humanity than in the monsters. [This is a GOOD THING, as contrasted with Twilight's "HUMANITY SUCKS" portrayal.] I didn't remember the plot of the preview when I started watching, so I was surprised enough by it as well.

I don't think I'll necessarily keep on watching it, but it is one of the more interesting shows so far.

 

[Hoki]

I'm holding out since I'm still waiting for our new ISP's, hopefully more reliable net service. Since I live in the sticks, it'll take a while for them to set it up. *sigh*

These reviews are helpful to me so take a rep.

Also, that guy who shoots lasers out of his nipples? Are you sure he isn't Aikuro Mikisugi?

 

[H-Man]

Absolutely. Mikisugi-sensei is completely useless and Ryoma Sakamoto, if nothing else, is a badass with a guitar.

I would watch Locodol but I'm too tired now... was busy working on stories to get them all cleaned up and ready for publishing. Tomorrow will be a good day for me, however, because that means SPACE DANDY!

 

[H-Man]

Sailor Moon Crystal is not a bad show. Which I think had been the internet consensus already, but I'm confirming it.

Not to say there aren't bad points in my opinion: I don't particularly like the fact that everyone has noticeable lips, Mamoru/Darien being a full head bigger than Usagi looks really weird and makes him look, like, crazy old [because the artstyle makes him look even taller than he was, plus the framing being much closer-in than it used to be], and I'm still completely skeptical that they're going to adapt the best storyline, PSSM Another Story.

But I like that it's not too dull and there's still comedy at Usagi's expense, that the pacing doesn't feel very bad, and the animation and plot seem to make more sense now. [Also, Tuxedo Yarou is only attractive to Usagi if she can't see his face, hyhyhy.]

So yeah, 'animé is saved', whatever, gonna watch Locodol today.