best case scenario
Categories: anime
Tagged: haruhi suzumiya, high school of the dead, higurashi, kanokon, spice and wolf, to heart, zero no tsukaima
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Ahhh… that fresh new year smell.
Letting bygone be bygone and so on and so on. 2008 has just began, and I’m hoping for a few best case scenarios…
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya… finally!
I think the biggest mystery about Haruhi’s disappearance is that Kyoto thought it would be more bankable to work on a series that was previously made 4 years prior and a series whose ranking at #9 could potentially cause a riot, but that’s water under the bridge, my friends. 2008 brings hope that Haruhi’s adventures continues, and the director change to Yasuhiro Takemoto seems to suggest that (Takemoto and Ishihara had been trading off every other series, and Ishihara is currently directing Clannad). The best case scenario would be to get a full 26 episode season to bring Haruhi’s animated tales even with the novels more in vein with 12 and less in vein of 8. And, of course, continuing Mikuru goodness wouldn’t hurt.
Resurgence of Old Friends… hopefully!
Higurashi and Jigoku Shoujo both aired the same season as Haruhi Suzumiya, and potentially, they both could have 78 episodes in the bag before we ever see Itsuki again. Egads. The original Higurashi was great for its b-movie-ish train wreck nature and the psychopathic killer lolis, but season two was weak sauce and became waaaaay too complicated. I hope Higurashi returns to its killer lolitastic ways. I’m also not sure if another season of Hell Girl is necessary; I’m running out of ways to make fun of it. Similarly, the original Zero no Tsukaima was non-terrible, and hopefully season three can rebound to “average.” Now that’s a best case scenario. (Though with Saito getting a MacBook and a tank in his future adventures, short of turning into an H series, I’m not sure how this is salvageable.)
… On Second Thought… considerably!
The best case scenario would be animation studios stop milking their franchises dry. I can only imagine the horrors of a Gurren Lagann sequel… just leave well enough alone. (A prequel involving Kamina’s dad and Lord Genome… mmm… shoot! Don’t tempt me.)
Something New, Something Furry… anxiously!
2008 brings two new series that I’m looking forward to (never a good sign, BTW… getting on Derailed’s “looking forward” list is almost as bad as a Madden jinx) are Kanokon and Wolf and Spice. I hope at least one makes it, but I’m guardedly optimistic. If both make it, and I’m forced to create a “best furry” category for 2008, it’ll be a best case scenario.
Sunrise… respectability!
Honestly, I think whatever goodwill and respect Sunrise has incurred with the so-far very good Gundam 00, they’re just going to give it back with the second season of Code Geass, which currently looks trapped between “train wreck” and “Koi Koi 7” status. I don’t think Code Geass is salvageable as is, but if they reboot it, got rid of the ridiculous “terrorist” cells, got rid of Cheese-kun, and morphed it into a harem comedy, I think it has a chance. Best case scenario would be some salvaging of Code Geass (even if it means just “train wreck” status) and don’t let Gundam 00 27-52 become Gundam Seed Destiny.
A Healthy Tamaki-nee for a Healthy Industry… profitability!
Of course, I’m also hoping that the industry is healthy so we can continue to get awesome shows like Avengers, Pumpkin Scissors, Negima, Black Blood Brothers, and Eyeshield 21 over in the US and sitting (forever) on the shelf at Best Buy. Best case scenario would be the industry wising up and understanding that we really don’t want to wait 270 days to see a series, and, if they do want to continue selling DVDs, sell them like normal TV series in a seasonal bundle. (And, of course, stop licensing crap shows. I’d happily give out suggestions as to what not to license… “Moe-tan… eh… ? Sure you can’t license Minami-ke instead?”
Derailed by… giddily!
I’ve been motivated the past two years just because of the quality of anime, mostly from sources unknown to me. I hope to continue to thin slice, to fanboy, and to write beautiful prose like “LOL FANG-TAN almost caused a 1989 Loma Prieta-sized haruhigasm” in 2008. That’s either a best case or worst case scenario. I’m still not sure which. (I don’t think I will ever will that Pulitzer…)
The Longshot… excitedly!
In my wildest dreams, the best case scenario for 2008 would pit two franchises that deserve their shot at anime immortality against each other. It’ll be like Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, if only Oden didn’t crack his leg. I think Mirai Nikki anime going up against High School of the Dead anime would qualify. Just please, please keep Shaft, Sunrise, Gonzo, AIC, and JC Staff out of any possible negotiations. Now that is a true best case scenario.
In any case, enjoy the new year smell… happy new year and have a great 2008.
22 Responses to “best case scenario”
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Yes. Mirai Nikki And HSotD. And yes no Sunrise, Shaft, Gonzo, AiC, or JC Staff touching it in any way, shape or form. Hmmm which studio would be preferable? Other than KyoAni, of course. OH YEAH. And happy 2008, heres to more blogging and another year of laughs and keen observations. GAR.
Personally I wouldn’t mind too much if 2008 started out kinda slow; I still have a lot of older series to catch up on. But of course a year full of epic win would still be preferable.
My hope for Higurashi would be that they run with the setup in the last few minutes of Kai and turn it into a school romance drama where every episode is a NICE BOAT type deal.
But judging from what happened with Kai we’ll get an answer arc to the answer arc where we learn the super secret truth behind Tokyo, rendering the previous seasons completely irrelevant. Probably won’t even see any of the killer loli brigade except for a eight episode stretch of Satako abuse thrown in the middle, the rest will be all Ooishi and mysterious car lady.
Im looking forward to my Horo-service. Hopefully Wolf and spice is decent as well. :p Also i hear they are making an Omamori Himari anime as well, which is fine by because im always open for some dark killer demon loli seductress (thats Shizuku).
And moetan is not crap, its glorious fanservice. Not for everyone, its a niche anime, and you hardly have the right to call it crap because it wasnt ever meant for people like you to enjoy.
I am waiting for an episode of Haruhi where Kyon goes to Mikuru’s classroom. KyoAni, being KyoAni, I half expect a Lucky Star reference in that classroom to mirror a single Mikuru looking student in Konata’s class. Can we imagine Konata, Miyuki, and Tsukasa in Mikuru’s class dressed as North High students…with both LOL FANG-TAN and LOL FANG-SENSEI in the room? They need not say anything. Just being there would be enough for a mixed grin and groan for KyoAni.
Well, unless some kind of surprise comes out and blows me away like ef did, all I’ve got to wait for now is Haruhi.
HotD anime would be great as well as a Melty Blood anime, I’m fine with JC Staff as long as they reuse whatever they were doing pre-spring ’07, of course Kyoto is always excellent.
I’ll take this starting of ’08 season to watch so called good animes like TTGL, Baccano, and Guardian of the Sacred Spirit, sadly there is no force strong enough in this world that could make me sit through Potemayo, no, never.
For me in Winter ’08, it’s looking like Mnemosyne (come February) and Rosario + Vampire will be the ones I check out initially, with SZS2 if it gets any fansub love, and probably “Spicy Wolf” (LOL @ babelfish translations).
I expect Mnemosyne to either make me wait too long for the PV-implied hardcore lesbian fanservice (or censor it) or, you know, suck, so I probably won’t stick with it for the long haul.
Rosario + Vampire looks to be fun as long as they keep the “monster of the week” interactions in the first part tied to one a week, and get to the meat of the story ASAP. Vampire fanservice FTW!
Only problem I see with Wolf and Spice so far is that if she’s a goddess of the harvest, she should probably be a little more “bountiful” if you know what I mean. Still looks to be at least worth a look.
Also very stoked about SHnS, and think that the change to the director of FMP! TSR for the considerably darker Disappearance arc is a genius maneuver, especially considering his successful previous experience with the franchise (ep director and storyboard for the excellent “Day of Sagittarius” adaptation). If we do get some 26-ep lovin’, maybe we’ll get to see up to Volume 7 or 8 animated as well.
Giant Humaniod Robot: “Probably won’t even see any of the killer loli brigade except for a eight episode stretch of Satako abuse thrown in the middle, the rest will be all Ooishi and mysterious car lady.”
Wouldn’t be Higurashi without a momentum-killing stretch of Satoko child abuse, would it?
“I think Mirai Nikki anime going up against High School of the Dead anime would qualify. Just please, please keep Shaft, Sunrise, Gonzo, AIC, and JC Staff out of any possible negotiations. Now that is a true best case scenario.”
Considering neither of those is even close to their end, by my understanding, I think it’s a bit too soon. I don’t know much about Mirai Nikki except what I’ve seen here, but HSotD should be animated by Madhouse. Their style and quality would be a good match.
Got a high res version of picture 2?
I’m not sure I do want to see a 24 ep series of Haruhi – 12/14 episodes forces better planning, and encourages less pacing sloppiness (I’m looking at you Shana…) even KyoAni falls a little prey to this, spending more time than they really should on certain early arcs (Makoto, Fuko, I’m looking at you…).
And with the novel/chapter separated nature of the source material it isn’t the case that you need 24 eps to do it justice like with whole stories such as Kanon and Clannad, you just focus on the main Disappearance arc and a few chapters round the side. But if they can pull off a full length series with each episode being fantastic or at least good then more power to them.
A 12-14 episode run would also have me less worried about the disappointing sequel syndrome we’ve seen a lot of in the last year too. Still if they just follow the novels in the same way as they did in the first everything will be all right I’m sure…
Please?
Another promissing year… maybe, maybe not…
We’ll see then…
Stand by ready!
I wouldn’t worry too much, Neriya. I’m thinking if they give Haruhi a half-year run, it’ll be split up (storywise but hopefully not releasewise) into two arcs. One for Disappearance (officially Vanishment?), and the second for Intrigues (officially Scheme). This would work out well, as the prologue of Intrigues actually takes place in part during Disappearance. Of course they will have to pad those out with one-shots to make two 12-14 ep cours, but there’s enough in the novels up to Volume 8 to do so without needing any anime-only material. Not that I didn’t enjoy Someday in the Rain, of course.
If they take long enough to release all this, they might even be able to tack on Volume 9 and a by-then completed Volume 10 and get a third cour, which taken together (as they should be) would be enough for another full 12-14 eps, without any extras.
Only one thing needs to happen for 2008 to be a good year, and that is for there to be a good series from J.C.Staff. I can forgive all their failures in 2007 because of Potemayo. J.C.Staff seems to have an epic fail rate equal to their epic win rate, and giving them any series is a huge gamble. Nevertheless, I have hopes for the continuation of Kimikiss and the new Shigofumi (which gives me an initial impression of Ballad of a Shinigami). The best case would be a year like 2005, when we were treated to Shana, Honey and Clover, and Mahoraba.
And although I do love J.C.Staff above all, I agree that they should stay the hell away from High School of the Dead and The Future Diary. J.C.Staff is best suited to heartwarming cutefests, and those two comics don’t seem to be like that.
Best case scenario is if KyoAni and whoever does Higurashi combines forces to make a twincest special starring Kyou and Ryou, Kagami and Tsukasa, and mion and Shion. Well, maybe not that last two, as given their tendencies, we may end up with a snuff film instead. Maybe their stunt doubles….
Best case scenario: Toei finally stops making Key adaptations so Kyoani won’t have to keep halting production on other series to salvage them.
Worst case (and most likely) scenario: Toei produces a Little Busters movie/series, causing Kyoani to ninja announce their version midway through Clannad. Haruhi gets pushed into 2009, while FMP continues to drift in limbo…
It would take a small miracle for the Wolf and spice anime not to suck, given the staff in charge for it… Well at least the manga is very good so far (even if it’s only 3 chapters), and with some luck it will generates enough interest for someone to pick up the light novels.
Not really, light novels usually animate somewhat well … its ongoing manga series that usually derail in a spectacular way.
Besides looking at the staff … I see no problems in there.
Still can’t understand the Higurashi kai disappointment though… I thought it was done really well, but given the remaining PC game material they were working with (the last 3 answer arcs + Matsuribayashi-hen), I think people were expecting more bloody murders (sorry, the story shifted track to solving the mystery of the timeloop at this point).
I expect the PS2 ‘remake’ to feature in the third season of Higurashi (the ‘true’ end to Higurashi) plus the ‘After-Matsuribayashi’ arc, and maybe the hilarious ‘Daybreak’ arc.
“Haruhi gets pushed into 2009, while FMP continues to drift in limbo…”
Rumor has it that Gato Shoji finally stop procrastinating and is writing the last FMP novel (well, the one that finishes the main story arc anyway). Perhaps Kyoani is simply waiting for him to finish the damn thing already.
>>if only Oden didn’t crack his leg
if only Oden didn’t sit on his couch
Cheap shots aside I’m looking forward to Kamen no Maid Guy which I’m projecting as the Al Horford of this class.
Maid Guy would be an awesome anime! I’ve only read the first chapter of the manga, but I know it will be made of win!
What? No love for Macross Frontier? :(
Awesome picture, my man. XD
A wish for Genshiken 3. Everything else is just salad.
Say what you will about Higurashi, but you must admit an adult Rika is fine too.