Spring 2009

[blkmage]

As the remaining fall and winter shows wrap up with a month left to go, we look towards what the next big season, spring, has to offer. As with the ones I've made before, this is a thread for discussing what might possibly look interesting in the months to come.

Handy chart: http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4011/spring2009vers2smallfu4.jpg

So for some reason, the show with the biggest buzz this season is some anime called Fullmetal Alchemist. You might have heard of it. There's still a question of how exactly the adaptation this time is going to work. For one thing, there's no way they can fit everything into 50 episodes like they did for the first season. On the other hand, the manga storyline is awesome.

The other big show is another remake, but of a much older show: Dragonball Z. Apparently, it's going to be done in HD and I hear that there's some significant trimming done so the pacing doesn't drag on, as it were. Don't know if I'm interested enough to check it out.

After that, there's Hayate the Combat Butler 2 and the accompanying OVA. Interestingly enough, the studio that's doing the second season has changed to JC Staff, who've done stuff including Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, and Toradora. The first season wasn't bad and was a pretty good adaptation of the manga. It's a comedy with a lot of anime references and it's pretty fun.

KyoAni made some waves a few weeks ago by revealing that they're re-airing Haruhi or something? I don't know since it's not on the latest revision of the chart. However, they are producing something that, again, is not The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. This time, it's not another Key game, but a 4-koma manga called K-ON, which is about some high school girls who try to form a music club but don't know anything about music.

And apparently, Lupin III vs Detective Conan is huge news. I am not old school enough to know why.

Other shows of note:

GONZO is producing Saki which had an interesting trailer at the last Comiket and is about mahjong. I haven't gotten through enough of the manga to form a strong opinion on it yet.

There's Valkyria Chronicles if you're into the RPG adaptation thing.

The SHAFT anime this season is Natsu no Arashi. I don't know how Shinbo is going to work his crazy into this show.

Pandora Hearts seems to be getting a lot of buzz, I don't know why.

I don't know why, but I'm fairly interested in Cross Game, which I hear is actually more dramas and less baseball.

OVAs that I care about:

Denpateki na Kanojo is a light novel by Kentarou Katayama. He's wrote Kure-nai and apparently, Denpateki na Kanojo takes place in the same world. Maybe we'll see some of our beloved Kure-nai characters again? Also, Brains Base, who also produced Kure-nai, will be handling this one.

Spice and Wolf II isn't airing until Summer 2009, but it's getting a pre-airing OVA near the end of April. More character development and medieval economics? Yes, please.

So based on these few sentences of plot summary and a small picture each, what will be catching your eye come April?

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Full Metal Alchemist is what I'm looking forward to. I can't wait to see how the re-do it. I'm excited about the fact that its going to be closer to the manga plot.

[Fish and Chips]

HA, Guin Saga. They know that series is over 100+ volumes, right? I wonder how they're going to condense it. Inspired Berserk though, so I may give a couple episodes a watch.

FullMetal Alchemist and Sengoku BASARA are the only two that jump out at me besides that, the quality of Basara relying heavily on just how much of it is old Japanese warriors beating the crap out of each other mixed with some political intrigue (though it's based on a game, so I am not optimistic). FullMetal Alchemist needs no explanation, and shall recieve none.

Pandora Hearts might be good, but given my luck for chosing series like this, it's probably going to be terrible. Same with Shangri-La, which I sort of doubt is going to actually be drawn like the image caption would have you believe.

A couple of the rest may be worth checking out.

[MasterDias]

FullMetal Alchemist
Shangri-La(scifi + Range Murata's character designs...)
Eden of the East(deserves a look based on that summary alone...)
Valkyria Chronicles
Pandora Hearts
Basquatch!(Shoji Kawamori...)

Those are what immediately catch my eye. Might give some of the others(Guin Saga, Sengoku Basara, Asura Cryin, etc.) a look depending on time or what I hear.

Heh. I might watch the Detective Conan vs. Lupin III special.

[blkmage]

So what exactly is Pandora Hearts about? The plot summary is really cryptic, but everyone seems to be interested in it and all the shows that I know about that Xebec has produced are not very good.

[minakichan]

A lot of interesting new series, it looks like it'll be hard for me to figure out what to watch...

I definitely going with Saki because while I feel like mahjong anime are usually for a really specific audience but the fact that this one is about normal girls makes me feel like it'll be softer and more plot driven. Will also probably watch K-On because I like the KyoAni art style. As for the others, I think I'll have to wait for more input because I can't tell what really jumps out.

I'm not sure if I'll watching Fullmetal Alchemist because I'm 105% sure it will be awesome and then when I finish it, I'll feel like there is no good anime left on the planet. Call me paranoid, but that's my sole biggest fear in life and I don't think I'm emotionally prepared to face that kind of situation...

[Danderson]

A remake of DBZ with less "dragging on" u say? I might now have a reason to see if I could watch what inspired the last fight scene in The Matrix Revolutions....

[MasterDias]

So what exactly is Pandora Hearts about? The plot summary is really cryptic, but everyone seems to be interested in it and all the shows that I know about that Xebec has produced are not very good.

Heh. Your guess is as good as mine. I hope the actual series is more coherent then that. But it looks sort of intriguing, and I somewhat like the character designs(well, mostly...it's probably going to wind up having an overload of bishounen like Nabari no Ou and Kuroshitsuji.)
I'll check out the first episode or two, at least.

[Sheol777]

Thanks for posting this thread, I appreciate the seasonal 'grids' that come out.

Well the two standouts to me are Full Metal Alchemist - but why is it a remake and not a continuation? Did they think the first series mangled the plot so much that they couldn't continue with it? ....but I digress.

The second is Guin Saga, I am curious to see what they do with it.

[minakichan]

Did they think the first series mangled the plot so much that they couldn't continue with it? ....but I digress.

In a word, yes.

[Fish and Chips]

Well the two standouts to me are Full Metal Alchemist - but why is it a remake and not a continuation? Did they think the first series mangled the plot so much that they couldn't continue with it? ....but I digress.

They basically stranded their cast in the original. There isn't much you can salvage from that.

[MasterDias]

Regardless of how good the first anime was, there isn't anywhere further they could actually go with it. I don't see how a sequal to it would be possible. Also, the director Mizushima has more or less stated that he is finished with the Full Metal Alchemist anime anyway.

Also, keep in mind that this "remake" is due to popularity, not to any sort of perceived quality issues. It's unlikely they would have bothered with this if it weren't so popular. But, anything to cash in on a major property...

[blkmage]

There are two problems with the anime original plot. The first is that, while it's not actually that bad, the fact that the manga is so much better makes the anime plot worse. The second is that there's not much to continue off of, especially after the unfortunate attempt that was Conquerors of Shambala.

That said, I am surprised that Bones took the same route with Soul Eater and effectively closing the door on any possibility of another season with more manga material. Again, it's unfortunate, because the manga has some really cool stuff that we'll never be able to see.

[MasterDias]

That said, I am surprised that Bones took the same route with Soul Eater and effectively closing the door on any possibility of another season with more manga material. Again, it's unfortunate, because the manga has some really cool stuff that we'll never be able to see.

Problem is, anime continuations (to finish adapting the original source) are not very common generally. I think Bones would rather have gone original than leave an open ending with the possibility of never finishing it. Although, Soul Eater is popular enough to justify a sequel, I would think.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

I'm not sure if I'll watching Fullmetal Alchemist because I'm 105%]

But if you think its going to be so awesome, how could you NOT watch it?

Well the two standouts to me are Full Metal Alchemist - but why is it a remake and not a continuation? Did they think the first series mangled the plot so much that they couldn't continue with it? ....but I digress.

IMHO I think that the plot was a lot better in the manga and the anime took an almost totally different route. So to continue that plot, it wouldn't really be based on the manga anymore, and that being said, could you call it FMA at that point?

[ShiroiHikari]

Is there really gonna be a DBZ remake? I might have to check that out.

Oh wait, it's not a remake, it's a remaster and a re-edit. Still might be worth checking out though.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

If they are taking out the lengthy, totally unnecessary scenes were Goku or some other "Z warrior" of your choices has a stare-down with the enemy, and they make it shorter and easier to watch by removing the unnecessary lengthy scenes (I seriously can watch an episode while doing something totally different that requires some concentration and still know what is going on in that episode, all because of the lengthy, unnecessary scenes).... it would be better and something to look forward to. XD

[MasterDias]

Can they actually pull off removing the pointless filler and stalling, assuming that is indeed what they will do? This is the question.

[blkmage]

K-ON is interesting for trying to figure out what is up with KyoAni. Before this winter, KyoAni only ran one show per season. This winter, we have the second half of Clannad After Story and Sora o Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai (henceforth known as Munto TV). When it was originally, announced, Munto was going to be airing Spring '09.

Now it wasn't confirmed until fairly recently that KyoAni was producing K-ON. The other interesting thing about K-ON is its cast. There are no huge names like there were for other KyoAni productions. In fact, most of the cast is really new, even the main characters.

And of course, there's the ongoing joke that KyoAni still has three Key games that they can turn into anime: Tomoyo After, Planetarian, and Little Busters. Tomoyo After and Planetarian are probably more suited for OVAs, though, but everyone who's a fan of Key and KyoAni are guaranteed to love those.

Ultimately, all of this is to sort of gauge when Haruhi 2 could possibly be in the pipeline. The latest rumours are saying that it could be as early as Summer 09, what with the alleged re-airing of the first season in spring. What doesn't make sense to me about that is that spring is the big season and summer is not when you typically launch a high-profile series. With the exception of Munto, all of KyoAni's releases have come during fall and spring, the two big seasons.

[MasterDias]

Here is a trailer/promo for Guin Saga. Epic battle scenes ahoy. My interest level increased.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Can they actually pull off removing the pointless filler and stalling, assuming that is indeed what they will do? This is the question.

True. Still nice to hope for, I guess.

[blkmage]

Apparently, the new Dragon Ball will be closer to the pacing of the manga and looks to be about half as long as the original TV series. That said, that's still over 100 episodes, so we're looking at a run of about two years.

Some information you might care about: apparently, Natsu no Arashi was done by the same mangaka as School Rumble, which I hear ended poorly. Also, Eden of the East is done by Honey and Clover's mangaka.

Finally, after reading more of peoples' impressions of Pandora Hearts, it seems like the general consensus is "I have no idea what it's about, but I'll give it a shot anyway."

[TriezGamer]

Apparently, the new Dragon Ball will be closer to the pacing of the manga and looks to be about half as long as the original TV series. That said, that's still over 100 episodes, so we're looking at a run of about two years.

Some information you might care about: apparently, Natsu no Arashi was done by the same mangaka as School Rumble, which I hear ended poorly. Also, Eden of the East is done by Honey and Clover's mangaka.

Finally, after reading more of peoples' impressions of Pandora Hearts, it seems like the general consensus is "I have no idea what it's about, but I'll give it a shot anyway."

The SR anime ended poorly -- I believe a third season was expected but ended up as an OAV instead, basically preventing proper closure. The manga was a bit rushed toward the end, but my understanding is that it was being axed by the publisher, not the mangaka, and thus needed to be wrapped up quickly.

For what it's worth, I enjoy SR immensely in both forms.

[Benn]

I found two tv trailers of the new FMA... enjoy ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idozY4yijIw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUTBQXdOKBg

[blkmage]

http://www.moetron.com/2009/03/06/fullmetal-alchemist-09-voice-cast-changes/

So the new FMA has a ton of new voice actors. About half of the list that they revealed were new and it's a mix of major and minor characters. Thoughts?

[Roy Mustang]

Doesn't really bug me that much that they are changing them. So far, the sub fans are really not upset with this that much.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[minakichan]

Thanks for the link, blkmage.

I gotta say, I'm kind of **** about this >< Is it because the original seiyuus weren't available? That's a HUGE number of changes! Because I can't help but notice that the new cast includes a few big(ger) names, as if they think we'll be more inclined to watch it that way >< I hope they at least asked the originals first mou...

Well... at least this cast is pretty solid, so I suppose I really can't complain. Miki Shinichiro gets typecasted again pffft XD On one hand, I want the original seiyuus, but on the other, I care more about some of these guys as actors... hmmm....

[Roy Mustang]

Here is the list of who played in FMA and who will they have for the new FMA and a better idea on who was in the first series.

Edward Elric: No change
Alphonse Elric: No change
Winry Rockbell: Toyoguchi Megumi -> Takamoto Megumi
Roy Mustang: Okawa Toru -> Miki Shinichirou
Riza Hawkeye: Neya Michiko -> Orikasa Fumiko
Alex Louis Armstrong: No change
Maes Hughes: No change
Jean Havoc: Matsumoto Yasunori -> Ueda Yuuji
Vato Falman: Murozono Takehiro -> Hamada Kenji
Maria Ross: Saiga Mitsuki -> Natsuka Kaori
King Bradley: No change
Scar: Okiayu Ryoutarou -> Miyake Kenta
Lust: Satou Yuuko -> Inoue Kikuko 17 years old
Gluttony: Takato Yasuhiro -> Shiratori Tetsu
Envy: Yamaguchi Mayumi -> Takayama Minami
Kimblee: Ueda Yuuji -> Yoshino Hiroyuki

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[MasterDias]

Romi Paku and Rie Kugimiya were probably already set in stone from the beginning, I'd imagine. But, I'm not sure why they completely changed this many seiyuu. I suppose it could be that the director wanted a fresh start.

It looks like Kimblee's old voice actor is cast as Havoc this time. What's up with that one?

[minakichan]

Hmm, with this many changes, I suppose it's trying to distance itself from the original series, but without changing the 2 most important roles because tons of people would probably throw a hissy fit (myself included, admittedly) if Park and Kugimiya were replaced.

That's fine by me. Those two (OK, well, more Paku Romi since I'm totally not biased nope not at all whatchu talkin bout) made the show, I might not have watched it otherwise.