With another season of anime over, we are now into the Autumn Season of Anime in Japan. There is a nice mix of strong series for those more inclined for a good storyline as well as the lighter story-lines for the younger anime viewing audience. In terms of discussions, I will both be mentioning my thoughts on the series as well as the viability of it being simulcast in English legally by an anime company either in North America and/or Australia. As with previous months, I am expecting quite a few of them to be snatched up pretty quickly, with some such as Last Exile – FAM- already confirmed for simulcast and English dub release. The series blurbs have been taken from a mixture of AnimeNewsNetwork and MyAnimeList, both anime databases which I would highly recommend. As always, just the official word… I will now be reviewing any of these series until at least one of the following criteria is met:
a) There is a legal simulcast available of it.
b) There is a DVD release of it or
c) I suddenly come into a sum of money and can purchase Japanese releases.
and also do not forget I am using the Sakutarou Scoring System as mentioned HERE. Oh, and this is not all of them, just the ones I felt inclined to mention.
Description
The anime revolves around three girls — Mai, Ruri, and Kei — who are into music and dance, Ryubu or Okinawan stage productions, and karate. Long-time voice actress Noriko Hidaka (Touch’s Minami, Inuyasha’s Kikyo, Ranma ½’s Akane, Aim for the Top! Gunbuster’s Noriko) plays the title role of MiRiKa — a name coined from Musical, Ryubu, and Karate.
Thoughts
As a title being sponsored by the prefecture of Okinawa, it is as you would expect in the series, a childrens anime program that features on three children who live in the area and show off their normal life filled with the culture and activities only present in the region. Whilst I have no qualms about childrens anime series, having started up The Chibi’s Study last month (and will be working on soon!) – I am not one to enjoy series where too much culture is pushed into your face. However, it seems like they will be including some super natural elements most likely related to legends which might prove interesting. I have never been to Okinawa before, but would love to at some point, so I hope this might be released outside of Japan to promote tourism to the area.
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Description
Squid Girl has come to the land from the depths of the sea to conquer humanity for its pollution of the ocean. Unfortunately she ruins the first house she uses as an invasion base and has to work to pay for repairs. Of course, she can’t overcome the Aizawa sisters who manage the house, so who knows whether she can subjugate humankind.
Thoughts
This is a series I have been interested in checking out for a while now, eagerly awaiting proper distribution channels. The first season of this show will be released in North America this month under the title Squid Girl from the Publisher Media Blasters. As I have not watched the series before, it is hard for me to make out what this second season will be like, but hopefully if you enjoyed the first season of the series, you should enjoy the second season. As Media Blasters hold the license for this franchise and they have never delved into simulcasting before – I have my doubts if we will be seeing this title before the DVD release. t does seem like an enjoyable series however so I will be giving it a score of what would correspond to a B-Grade.
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Description
Set in a family restaurant in Hokkaido, the northern prefecture of Japan, 16 year old high school student Takanashi Souta works part-time along with his strange co-workers: Taneshima Popura, a high school girl who’s a year older than Souta who’s easily mistaken for a elementary/middle schooler, and Shirafuji Kyoko the 28-year old store manager who doesn’t bother to do any work at all.
Thoughts
Only last month I released a review of Working!! / Wagnaria!!, the first season of the series released by Nippon Ichi Software America with English subtitles and a Japanese dub. Despite a couple of little problems here and there – primarily in the storyline department, the series was a real enjoyment to watch and hopefully, this trend will continue when the series is released in October. As NIS America hold the rights to the distribution of this series, as it was with Squid Girl, I think this series will only be released on DVD without a simulcast.
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Description
Daimon Kaito is a high school boy, who loves puzzles. One day, the president of the student council gives him a mobile device and it leads him to an underground ruin buried in the school. He challenges an ” insolvable puzzle” hidden in the ruin with his girlfriend Nonoha, but the puzzle turns out to be the dangerous “The Puzzle of Sage” created by the black society “POG”. He manages to solve the puzzle but it’s the beginning of a puzzle battle against POG.
Thoughts
I think this series could go a long way provided the storyline is implemented right – however also runs the risk of becoming another repetitive series. Apparently this series is slated to go for 25 episodes in length, so this whole “puzzle” related storyline does have me curious. I wouldn’t want 25 episodes of “A Thousand Ways to Complete a Rubiks Cube” or “Chess For Dummies”. Either way, I think this would be an interesting one to see released and might be a series targetting those who want a more intellectual series then Fanservice Festival Extravaganza! – The Animation.
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Thoughts
This series essentially follows Fu Sawatari, who has a hobby of taking photos. This is your normal High-School slice of life series featuring a group of girls and their daily activities but this time with a photography theme. I will hand it to them that the design quality is higher then what I was expecting. They currently have what I assume to be the first episode up for free on their official website HERE, and perhaps what is more surprising, there is no IP Ban on actually viewing it outside of Japan. Shocking I know… I have a strong feeling that we will see this series simulcast at some point given the genres recent history of releases and whilst I am tempted to try it out, I get the odd feeling I may be left disappointed. I look forward to hearing the responses from other writers.
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Description
One day, Shingo’s school combines with a girls’ school. As a specially selected student, Shingo temporarily joins the girls’ school until they officially consolidate. He meets various unique girls there, but they all dislike male students. To improve their relationship, Shingo works hard, and…
Thoughts
Nothing screams fanservice series like the above storyline. Male student joining an all girls school – nothing new here in terms of concept. Originally based off a R18+ visual novel, you will no doubt see traits indicative of that during the storyline but of course, no actual hentai content. While the storyline seems to be kind of a flop to me, the design concept looks pretty good, with a male protagonist that is not forced to cross-dress and female main characters that actually look well designed, it might be able to redeem itself with a surprise decent (or better) storyline,but until then – I shall not be considering to watch this. Series such as these seem to be a mixed bag when it comes to simulcasting, so it could go either way.
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I hate to cut it short there, but my computer is now seemingly messing up, so as it is getitng late, I will postpone the rest of the summaries and thoughts for a special Part 2 of my Anime Season Analysis which should be out later on today. While the first couple of series into the series offer a mixed selection of promising and not so promising series, there are still many big name titled such as LASTEXILE, Persona 4: The Animation and Shakugan no Shana III which I need to put my opinion across about. So until then!
Related posts:
- Winter 2011 Anime Analysis
- Scoring System for September-November Season of Anime Thoughts
- New Anime/Manga Titles for September 2011 in Australia
- Nippon Ichi Software America Releases Trailers for Newly Announced Anime Series + My thoughts on another anime….
- Madman Entertainment – SMASH! 2011 Anime Acquisition Announcements
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