when the leaves turn red

NCAA football + anime fall season + 90210 on the CW = I will have no free time this fall.

Summer has been very blah, but, as predicted and as on target, fall 2008 is shaping up to be M-O-N-S-T-E-R.

Rising for me are:

Corpse Princess (Shikabane Hime): Very intriguing series from GAINAX. Looks like they’re doing the Minami-ke thing where a second season by a different studio occurs after the first season… just the GAINAX to FEEL transition might be ten times more jarring than Doumu to Asread. (Yes, FEEL did Otome wa Boku, Da Capo SS, and Nagasarate…)

Gundam 00 SS: The preview did it for me. They had me at “Zombie da!”.

Kemeko DX (Kemeko Deluxe): I’ve always liked this series, and I’m looking forward to Hal’s adaptation. I just hope they realize that photorealistic effects aren’t exactly appropriate for this one.

Clannad After Story: Definitely considering blogging this one just so I can (a) complain about Nagisa every week (b) put up Tomoyo fanservice images every week (c) taunt all the Haruhi fans out there that it’ll be at least six more months before any more Haruhi and (d) start a homoerotic scene competition between Clannad AS and Gundam 00 SS.

Falling for me are:

Ga-Rei: The manga’s best qualities were the melonpan and typical harem moments. The rest was just typical shounen fighting stuff… and seeing that AIC is the production studio drops it a full grade.

Kurogane no Linebarrels: Gundam Seed character designer + Gonzo = pass. Though Mamiko Noto has a role in this one. (I remember the name having an “s” at the end… maybe my memory is going at this advanced age…)

Today in Class 5-2: Not animated by Doumu… this is like seeing “Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (Animation Studio: SHAFT).” Talk about a kick in the pants…

Random thoughts:

– At least two female readers (I have no way to vouch, but they assure me so…) have suggested Kuroshitsuzi and noted that Sebastian is the butler version of Sayoko… is this a good or bad thing?

– Looks like Xam’d will not be shown on the telly after all, which basically means if you want a non-crappy, analog-ripped copy, you’ll need to get a PS3. And that sucks xam’d. (And sucks about ten times worse if you live outside Japan and Los Estados Unidos.)

– Is Nodame going to go with a crappy j-pop song as the OP instead of something classical? The fact that the jdrama used Beethoven’s Seventh (even if it was the first movement and not the fourth) makes the jdrama ten times superior to the anime. (For the record, GTO live action was about a hundred times superior to GTO anime. That’s a distinction yet to the topped.)

Toradora: This will either be a great show or a very mediocre show. There’s no in-between.

– What I don’t see on this list are Shina Dark and Hayate, two shows also rumored to start fall.

– Since I hopefully will be done with Code Geass R2, Macross Frontier, and Kamen no Maid Guy by fall, there’s a possibility I’ll be picking up three shows for blogging. Start lobbying now for what you want. The only one I have penciled in presently is Gundam 00 SS. This will be more riveting to me this fall than the national election.

57 Responses to “when the leaves turn red”

  1. If moonphase is correct, Today in Class 5-2 will be done by XEBEC. *sigh*.

    I think Kannagi will be worth checking out; it has like half of Kyoto Animation’s staff in it (regardless, after reading the manga, it seems like the kind of light fun that I could enjoy).

  2. Chaos head
    Chaos head
    Chaos head
    and ef!

  3. The new season looks to be a gem. I can’t wait.

    Wait, is that a Shigofumi OVA I see there?

  4. Definitely Clannad After Story and Gundam 00.

    I would dare you to blog Vampire Knight Guilty, but I’m not THAT heartless.

    By the way, dude, Maid Guy’s gonna have a second season. I wonder when, though…

  5. EF!
    I wouldn’t mind a Shigofumi OVA
    Yeah fall looks pretty badass, I’m glad everything for me will be ending for the new season so I can start with a new palette, between Clannad AS, ef, and the knowing that Haruhi will soon be back, what else could I ask for?

  6. I got the [PLAYSonPS3] release of Xam’d 1+2 and it’s full HD (well, 720p).

  7. Today in 5-2 not being done by doumu? that’s a shame. hopefully it’ll still be good though. plus 00, After Story and Toradora. And i think that Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka is starting around the same time as well… And Ef too!

    Jesus.

    That settles it, i’m probably not going to survive until the end of the year, let alone pass any of my courses.

  8. >I got the [PLAYSonPS3] release of Xam’d 1+2 and it’s full HD (well, 720p).

    Show-off…while the rest of us humble folk must rely on rips of duious origin *coughtorrentscough*

    Why does doumu keeps having its licenses take on by other shows? Odd, considering that Class 5-2 and Minami-ke was mostly win.

    I was actually looking forward to Linebarrels, since the mecha looks good. Then again, most of this blog’s readers value melonpan and brokeness, so I’m in the minority (i think).

    @Keiya> And if you’re going to (pseudo)dare him to blog vampire knight, you might as well go the whole nine yards and (pseudo)dare him to blog Junjou Romantica 2. Of course, seeing as how it’ll attract rabid yaoi fangirls to this blog (which so far I don’t believe has happened due to afore-mentioned delicious levels of melonpan and clive barker-levels of brokeness)

  9. OMG Ga-Rei will have an anime? OMG YAY!

    seems like the mangas that Kagami read on LS before will be animated one by one.

    Probably Mirai Nikki will be next

  10. shikabane hime! re: its gainax
    Tora dora! re: the main character is cute! :D

  11. I demand the blogging of melopan, dfc, meido, wrathful loli, killer girls, train wreaks and loser male leads.

    You know, that pretty much covers the whole list. So… ummm…. Ya.

  12. GTOOOOOOOOOOO … It’s all about G00, maybe some Michiko to Hatchin, and Corpse Princess looks to intrigue.

  13. A Tales of the Abyss adaptation produced by Sunrise? I’m simultaneously scared and intrigued.

  14. Start lobbying for what I want, huh? Okay, here goes…

    Can we go one season without “ko”-ing a male? Pretty please?

  15. – Clannad After Story:

    pick B and C

  16. I’ll probably check out Shikabane Hime, simply because it’s Gainax. Maybe Tales of the Abyss too (but I haven’t played the game).

    As for everything else, probably not. I hate Nagisa too much to actually watch After Story, and I found ef boring…

    Can we go one season without “ko”-ing a male? Pretty please?

    NEVER!!!

  17. Oh yeah, let me warn you all… Kurogane no Linebarrel’s main lead(the guy) is another Shinji(Eva) in the making.

  18. Tales of the Abyss anime adaptation!? I’m jittery just thinking about it. Although Sunrise as the studio worries me a bit, hopefully they’ll just be animating and leave the story unaltered.

    lollerskates and anyone with a PS2 for that matter, I’d highly recommend playing Tales of the Abyss if you get the chance.

    I’m looking forward to Toradora, the premise reminds me of the always angry looking banchou in the later half of Ouran, which could prove to be hilarious. Also you can’t go wrong with Hokuto no Ken even if it’s basically a remake with a new perspective.

  19. Can we go one season without “ko”-ing a male? Pretty please?

    Not as long as Jason-ko’s our blogger! ~<3

    As for me, I won’t push the obvious (Clannad, Gundam). Shikabane Hime should be pretty good series, not sure if it will be blog worthy. It’s a Shounen Gangan series (just like FMA, Nabari no Ou, and Soul Eater) so it’s going to be a good standard shounen series I think. But that’s it. A standard Shounen series. With Gainax getting money from Square Enix. I see this show as Gainax’s “money-earner” so they can make other cool stuff. That’s how they operate (one of our classes while I studied abroad had one of the producers for the EVA movie come lecture). Gainax takes on shows like this and a few other things that of course they do a good job on, but not an excellent job–so they can make the money needed to put out risky projects like Gurren Lagan and other series. (This is why the company’s always riding the financial line)

    As for Chaos; Head, I think it could be great or bad depending on the studio. It’s a pretty awesome game by Nitro+ (Saya no Uta, Demonbane, Fate/Zero, etc). I want to say eroge, but its 16+ (Too much blood and violence for it to make all-ages like Clannad did.) But at least the game runs through pushing the idea of “what if your wild ideas(delusions) became reality?” The Engrish tag line for the game is thus:
    “If you are god, and the delusion becomes reality, about what kind of noids do you get? Is it the sensual world? The despotic society? The destructive sanctions? Or…” And throughout the game you can go off on your own delusions pretty much at anytime. Essentially just like this blog: All of a sudden you get derailed. Only in the game, it becomes real. So it’s kind of like giving a reader here Haruhi-powers. ^_~ Hi Jason-ko…
    Anyways, the point is it could be very interesting if the studio handles it well. If.

    For Haruhi Fans, I reccomend you all go watch Akane-iro ni somaru saka. The lead, Akane is played by Haruhi’s VA, Hirano Aya. both in the game and the anime. Also the little-sister type if I recall correctly.

  20. Gundam 00 SS is a given Jason, we must lvoe or hate SUNRISE for their next train wreck ^_^ hopefully, we won’t need a movie nor an OVA to end the series.

    Damn it! Why KyoAni, why did you pick Nagisa again…

  21. I don’t really care for After Story, mostly because I was let down by Clannad. (well, the first season anyway) Hmm, maybe if I lower my expectations AS will be better?

    I really did like Air and Kanon a lot better.

  22. I’m really liking the Toradora light novel. I hope the anime transfers well, although I don’t have much hope.

  23. Really? You want us to lobby for the shows we want you to blog? Like we know anything. Throwing darts at random will probably get you the same results (and possibly hilarious collateral damage).

    But, I might as well make my suggestions: Hell Girl 3, Rosario and Vampire 2, and Vampire Knight. Why? Because they all got sequels before O-Haruhi-sama, of course. T_T

  24. Now, now, boys, don’t be such crybabies just because KeyAni loves their dangos. (I get the feeling I’ll be posting this every week until you like it pretty soon…)

    Also, looking forward to Corpse Princess coverage. Gainax!!

  25. I thought GTO was “okay” until I watched the drama, it was so touching :__;

  26. I’ll definitely be following Gundam00, Vampire Knight Guilty (which I know you won’t watch), the Seto no Hanayome OVAs and Tales of the Abyss.

    Lobbying Time~:
    I’m not sure how much you’ll like Tales of the Abyss, but I can say that the general story of the game was pretty enjoyable even though the characters are what really makes the game (and hopefully the anime) interesting and the art style of the anime looks pretty good (not as good as in-game cutscenes, but they aren’t really game for comparison). With the full story laid out for Sunrise already, it’ll be hard for them to stray too much or make up their own trainwreck ending. At 26 episodes, this is the longest Tales-based anime adaption and will suffer less from the compression as with previous adaptions (by other studios). Still, minor events will probably be compressed since the game itself had a 40-some hour main scenario even though most of it was gameplay and visiting tediously designed dungeons with no real challenging puzzles *mumbles something about Shurrey Hill*.
    Here’s a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9zS3HntShE

    I probably won’t be following the Lucky Star OVA or the Clannad After Story, since I have a well-running reputation of falling asleep while watching all KyoAni adaptions with the exception of Haruhi. This is mostly due to my inability to connect with any “slice of life” type anime that has an extremely disproportionate amount of female main characters. Still, I’ll try the first 10 minutes and see what happens.

  27. gto may well be the pro-type for the facial distortion pantheon.

    um yea chaos head sounds interesting…

  28. Where is my Shina Dark dammit?!

    I refuse to call this a season if it doesn’t have delicious ‘nation building’!

  29. I wouldn’t hold my breath for Kamen no Maid Guy. Subs are way to behind.

    If I had to choose 3 for you to blog they would be:
    Corpse Princess
    Clannad After Story
    Gundam 00 SS

  30. I recommend adding Toradora! to your list of shows to blog. The summary given on that lineup image doesn’t do it justice at all (well, the general description of the two primary characters is fairly accurate, but the bit of plot at the end isn’t very accurate at all, or at least isn’t very precise.)

    Also, if you haven’t already, check out the translations of the first two light novels (the translation of the second is almost complete) over at Baka-Tsuki.

    …Also, what the hell? Why are they making a version of Lilo & Stitch set in Japan?

    And one last thing: w00t! More SZS! (Now I just have to finish watching ZSZS…****** has grown far creepier than I ever thought she would.) [note: censored for those who haven’t seen the show yet (note 2: if you haven’t, check it out. Some may not like it, but there are undoubtedly a few who haven’t watched it who will.)]

  31. Kemeko DX for sure. Its director Tsutomu Mizushima, who also directed my favorite non-J.C.Staff show Hare+Guu, is one of the few directors whose names I can actually remember. Kemeko DX manga has lots of the weirdness and silly fun that permeated Hare+Guu.

    And speaking of directors, Azumanga’s director Hiroshi Nishikiori is in charge of J.C.Staff’s Magical Index, picking up the Square Enix shonen action right when Nabari will end. And J.C.Staff is doing a good job with Nabari.

    Finally, it might be Index or it might be Toradora, but I have a feeling that a new J.C.Staff classic will emerge this fall. It’s not as much of a sure thing as when I predicted the success of Potemayo, but I have confidence.

  32. So I found a blown up picture of the Anime list and I saw some things that interested me:
    1st, that new Bones series Bonen no Xamdou, reminded me of the style used in Eureka 7, same colors and everything. But a new giant robat story from Bones is never a bad thing.
    2nd, Shikabane Hime, Gainax, nuff said. Well…. Gainax is always a good thing… or is it always a mixed up, Ff’ed up thing. I forget.
    3rd, Yozakura Quartet, Nomad. Nomad did Rozen Maiden, which I hated yet couldn’t stop watching. Also, that music. It will be interesting to see what they have with this one.
    4th, Kuroshitsuzi, which looks both interesting and slightly gay (as in homosexual, not a bad thing, just not my cup of tea). I know nothing about this one.
    5th, Macademi Wasshoi… WTF, are they actually courting the pedophile audience. What the hell is Wrong with Japan!

  33. Toradora might be a interesting novel but just look at who is going to make the anime … J.C. Staff.

    Also look at who is going to voice Taiga … Kugimiya Rie.

    I am not looking forward to seeing Louise Mk.II …

  34. “And J.C.Staff is doing a good job with Nabari”

    Indid, its so fucking homoerotic that I quited after 2-3 episodes from all the Yaoi atmosphere and I watched all episodes of Tactics.

  35. What? Maid Guy finished like, two months ago. Are you drunk, Jason?

    And JCStaff has a ton on their platter next season between ToraDora, Index, and Nodame. Index and Nodame have great directors behind them though. ToraDora’s the only one I’m really worried about.

  36. KimiKiss had H&C and Nodame director and look at how it turned out … a borefest.

    Index … lets see, same director of Gad Guard and same Series Composition as Soko no Strain …

    ToraDora is even worst that I thought, H&C II director and Vampire Knight Series Composition.

  37. Oh man! Talk about an uphill battle to watch all these shows! I spent the last month just catching up with Code Geass from the first ep of the first season! (and I still haven’t seen episode 17 yet!) and just started watching Clannad (I’m at ep 3!). Of course, the “watching an episode, read the associated blog post” doesn’t speed up things. And Jason is “eevul” incarnate, he doesn’t stamp the episode numbers to his blog posts! >_<!!

    Forget the olympics, forget speed-reading classes, following Anime series is *THE* ironman challenge of the 22nd century!

    With a little hope, I’ll reach the “kyou’s thighs get their own post” milestone within the next month (which episode is that??).

    Oi…

  38. Toradora might be a interesting novel but just look at who is going to make the anime … J.C. Staff.

    Also look at who is going to voice Taiga … Kugimiya Rie.

    I am not looking forward to seeing Louise Mk.II …

    …I doubt the fact that Taiga refers to Ryuuji as her “dog” at several points in the novels helps the case any. XD

  39. Addendum: any news on whether there’s going to be a Xam’d DVD release at some point? I mean, if they want to actually make money on it, they’ll probably have to….

  40. Cat Megex: Addendum: any news on whether there’s going to be a Xam’d DVD release at some point? I mean, if they want to actually make money on it, they’ll probably have to….

    … they’re not making money at $5 per episode rental which only lasts for 2 days, meaning you have to rebuy the previous episode to figure out where that other item came from? This is way more profitable than DVD’s, especially as there’s no costs to print, just bandwidth… and if you want to rewatch you have to buy again, like this was a weird DivX (the old DVD-based format, not the codec) experiment.

  41. Since I hopefully will be done with Code Geass R2, Macross Frontier, and Kamen no Maid Guy by fall
    Only if somebody subs Meido Guy, their only releasing like one ep per month.

    Also, the OVAs look nice.
    I love the Hell’s Angels manga, and Cafe Junkie looks good ;)

  42. Okay when the hell is Mirai Nikki coming out. I don’t even know anymore.

    SHINA DARK!!! I will lobby for this even if I am the only one. How can you not pick it? If it helps, there’s a meido with a melonpan complex…

    Also, Queen’s Blade anime adaptation. I smell trainwreck. The girls are all worthy haremettes, but there’s no men in the world of Queen’s Blade, so how they work that one is going to be interesting.

  43. Also look at who is going to voice Taiga … Kugimiya Rie.

    You know you’re broken when…

    …you ask yourself, “Perhaps Norio Wakamoto would be a better choice for Taiga. (In all fairness, it would certainly up the weirdness level.)

    Moving away from the straitjacket, I’d opt for Yukari Tamura.

    P.S.: I call a pre-emptive ban on Ryuji -> Ryuko. The poor guy’s got enough problems as it is.

  44. I VOTE FOR CLANNAD AFTER STORY.

  45. >> Can we go one season without “ko”-ing a male? Pretty please?

    Unlikely. Genderswap is the new trap (is the new tsundere is the new etc. etc. etc.). It’s “in” baby, and in two or three seasons we’ll be drowning in shows specifically about that fetish.

  46. … they’re not making money at $5 per episode rental which only lasts for 2 days, meaning you have to rebuy the previous episode to figure out where that other item came from? This is way more profitable than DVD’s, especially as there’s no costs to print, just bandwidth… and if you want to rewatch you have to buy again, like this was a weird DivX (the old DVD-based format, not the codec) experiment.

    Hm…for some reason, I had heard it being $2 an episode…

    But what I was referring more to was the fact that people with PS3s are likely only a fraction of anime-watchers out here, and by keeping Xam’d PS3-only, the potential profit to be made is reduced by a fair amount.

    …I was going to continue my argument here, but my thoughts started twisting around themselves and turned into a jumbled mess. I’m going to take a nap now.

  47. (So I suppose they will be making money on it, but not as much money as they could. Then again, considering that the PS3 is indeed fairly big in Japan, it’s probably not as much of a problem as it would be here in the US.)

    But yes, nap time now. x_x

  48. I didn’t know “Shikabane Hime” was doing the midway studio switch…
    That transition is going to be epic (don’t know if it’s in a good way or a bad way).

    “Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (Animation Studio: SHAFT).”

    Alot of people would hate that. But I could care less….No I don’t hate Haruhi.

    “Toradora: This will either be a great show or a very mediocre show. There’s no in-between.”

    Agreed. and the fact that J.C. staff is the studio does not change the odds at all.

  49. I was kind of surprised to see only 1-2 big name VA associated with ToraDora. Not to say the other people are nonames but I figured with all the buzz/fanbase for the novels we’d see more.
    For example, the male lead is a newcomer I’m pretty sure (probably not what most people care about, but a surprise to me).

  50. I’ve become intrigued with Toradora after reading some of Baka-Tsuki’s translation. It seems to have a weird “love-square” going on. Then I thought, hm, tsundere girl from a light novel, hoped they don’t use the studio and the voice actors from Znt and Shakugan no Shana. So I checked J.C. Staff on wikipedia. I now understand what you meant by, “Toradora: This will either be a great show or a very mediocre show. There’s no in-between.”

  51. as long as you blog Clannad AS, Gundam 00 SS, and some random show with at least one maid I’m happy.

  52. I have been reading it too Akira and its not a “love square”.

    Ryuji x Taiga … does not exist (at least yet)
    Ryuji x Minori … might exist.
    Taiga x Yusuke … might exist.
    Yusuke x Ami … might exist.
    Ryuji X Ami … might exist.

    So that “main leads” simply are not interested in formating a couple (of course the novel is always from Ryuji POV so Taiga is not even a co-lead) and that is what sets it apart.

  53. Gundam 00 SS is a given so in no particular order…

    ef – a tale of melodies
    Clannad After Story
    Kemeko Deluxe
    Corpse Bride

    for alternates we can go with…
    Kuroshitsuzi
    Chaos Head
    Ga-Rei
    Kurogane no Linebarrel

    I’d personally love to have Xam’d be blogged but due to how it’s being released the chances of that aren’t high…. Now I just need to figure out how to get the download of each episode off my PS3 when I rent them.

  54. Hmm, maybe Tales of the Abyss for some unintentional comedy from Sunrise.

  55. ill start cleaning my hard drive so i have no problem once fall starts

  56. Definitely Gundam 00 Season 2, Kemeko DX, Corpse Princess. I’m sure you’ll be taking up Clannad After Story too. Also adding Kannagi and To Aru Majutsu no Index (however that’s spelled), though it’s up to you if you’ll check it out.

    But please do a thin slicing on Casshern Sins and Tytania.

    Fall 2008 is awesome.

  57. Clannad MILF alert.
    Nekomimi Meido Cosplay Key MILF alert!!!

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