Capsule animu previews (Fall '10)
by dochaus
[Disclaimer: cross-posted from a similar post of mine at Anime Vice, because some people here apparently like anime or are curious enough to troll those who do, but don't like to visit that other Whiskey site after gia and John left. Also, my 360 has officially red-ringed last night and I'm pissed at the possibility of having to shell out lots of money to get it repaired/replaced , so you will...
Now that the official list is taking shape as opposed to those briefly heart-shattering fake lists that portrayed a sequel to Baccano! (oh Brain's Base and Funimation, why don't you want my money?) among other things, we can start placing bets on which will become the sleeper hit and which overhyped series will fall short. And if you don't like that one, this is how the Spring '11 season is shaping up.
Anyways, let's get on with the my predictions/previews, summed up in a few sentences in no particular order...
Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge: A Shaft & Shinbo production and a sequel to a show based on a 4-panel gag strip about a budding young businessman who ends up living with a cast of odd characters under the bridge on the Arakawa river. Surprisingly funny and occasionally even heartwarming. Watch it if you can.
Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru ("Still, the Town Keeps Spinning"): Another Shaft & Shinbo show, can one season handle this much awesome? This one's about a girl who works in a cafe and dreams about being a detective. Strangely enough, most of the VAs in this show are pretty low-profile considering the people Shaft could have brought in. I might actually like this one.
Star Driver: Think Code Geass as done by Studio BONES, with robots piloted by high school-age kids and Jun Fukuyama returning to voice a leading character. This will either be on par with Macross or it will be the last gasp of a studio that couldn't move on from its former glory.
Iron Man: Here's what Madhouse promised us early on. Here's what we're getting now. The first of four planned Marvel franchise adaptations, I don't forsee good things, but hey, I'm willing to be surprised.
Panty and Stocking (and Father Garterbelt): Angels sent from heaven and like having sex with people transform their panties and stockings into pistols and swords (respectively) as they battle demons. Yes, the summary sounds atrocious, but it's not meant to be taken seriously. A lot of the people behind FLCL and Gurren Lagann are involved in this, so you should keep your eyes peeled for this one anyway.
Psychic Detective Yakumo: Bee Train adapts a series of novels about a guy who can see spirits. Don't really know much about this one.
Kuragehime: Girl travels to Tokyo to pursue a dream of being a mangaka, ends up living in a home with a handful of fujoshi (think: female otaku) and one cross-dressing dude. Doesn't sound like my kind of thing, but half the team behind Durarara!! and Baccano! are involved in the production, so I will give it the 3-episode test (and you should too).
Bakuman: Meta as fuck about a couple of high-schoolers trying to make it big in the manga industry. Granted, I haven't read the manga, but I hear this should be on your "to watch" list.
Letter Bee Reverse: Sequel to Letter Bee. I really should watch the first series some time. Don't know what the pistol in the preview pic is for...maybe the cute kid from the first series became "Darker And Edgier?"
Togainu no Chi: Something like a mix of Battle Royale, post-apocalyptic Tokyo and based off a yaoi-ish game. Draw your own conclusions.
The World God Only Knows: A world in which dating sims = valid relationship advice. I've stopped following the manga, but it was more entertaining than I thought it would be at first.
Otome Youkai Zakuro: Fox-eared demon-chicks and young human soldiers try to promote interracial understanding or some shit in an alternate Meiji-era Japan.
A Certain Magical Index Second Season: Guy with a special arm that can cancel out any special power and he has a girl from a church who likes biting him and has several volumes of information stored in her head and he has to protect her while enduring the loving advances of a tsundere who also can turn her body into a makeshift railgun and hopefully the scenes will not have a few seconds of fighting interspersed with several lines of dialogue before the next attack hahahaaaaa.
Super Robot Taisen OG--The Inspector: Based on the story behind the Super Robot Taisen OG2 game. Could be good for all you mecha fans out there.
Samurai Girls: On one hand, the animation looks interesting. On the other hand, everything else about it screams fanservice for the sake of fanservice. I think Gia did an article about it back when she roamed the site.
Everything else on that list: No, no, and fuck no. Everything else on that list is either a kids show I don't care about, a plot to sell toys, or guys trying not to act out their crushes on "totally legal, we swear" little girls.
OVAs/Movies to look out for:
Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail (If you even sort of like shows with crazy gun fighting, watch this shit)Red Line (Hardcore racing cartoon, trailer looked pretty cool, and it's already being licensed for release in the US and UK)
Gundam 00 ~Awakening of the Trailblazer~ (ehhhhh...depends on if you liked Gundam 00)
Queen's Blade--Utsukushiki Tōshi-tachi (LOL)
Welp, that's it. Floor's open for comments.