Aiming for the [Summer 2011] Koshien anime

[Narnian]

Usagi Drop looks interesting as does No. 6. I'll probably check them both out, but I don't know how far I'll watch. That's probably all the new anime I'll check out for the summer. Looks like I'll be watching a lot of previous/older anime for the summer at least.

[Atria35]

Also going to try Usagi Drop due to Atria's super excitement and because I thought I would never really like drama before this season. Then I got sucked into Anohana and Hanasaku Iroha.

:lol: Yay! Now I'm super-excited to hear your opinion on it when it starts airing!

[blkmage]

I've been reading Usagi Drop and it is solid gold.

I'm wondering where Brain's Base is getting all of this money and staff to be able to crank it up to three shows this season.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I'm wondering where Brain's Base is getting all of this money and staff to be able to crank it up to three shows this season.

I have a guess.

[Cadence]

Eh...I unfortunately was spoiled for the end of the Usagi Drop manga and have since lost all enthusiasm for watching the anime...I'm still trying to pretend the manga just ended with volume 4...

I might watch Nyanpire instead...just because it is probably terrible.

[Atria35]

ANN linked to a CM for Bunny Drop:

http://www.usagi-drop.tv/09spe/index.html

[Sheol777]

Is there any decent chart up yet?


I love the chart

[blkmage]

Yes.

[MightiMidget]

Does anyone know if for Blood-C one will need to be familiar with the franchise?

[Atria35]

Does anyone know if for Blood-C one will need to be familiar with the franchise?

The anime is an original story.

[MightiMidget]

Hmm...okay then. Maybe I'll take a crack at that. CLAMP has some lovely artwork.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Actually, I just noticed Shaft isn't doing a show this season. I thought they did one every season, and it certainly can't be financial issues, so does anyone know what's going on with that?

[blkmage]

My guess is they're concentrating on the Negima movie.

[blkmage]

EDIT: I am dumb, this is not for spring anime.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Just saw a trailer for Dantalian no Shoka, or, as I like to call it, Gosick 2.

[blkmage]

Related: as it turns out, the mangaka for Croisée is the artist for Gosick.

Anyway, more Penguindrum CMs, including one with actual animation. [4, 5]

Also, there's some cast information, although most of them are newbies: Miyake Marie, Arakawa Miho, and Kimura Subaru. Kimura Ryohei is the only one who's appeared in other stuff, although he's also pretty new too (Angel Beats!, Cencoroll, Eden of the East).

[blkmage]

Trailers! We have the OP for Usagi Drop, a short CM for Kami-sama no Memo-chou, which reveals that Choucho (WHO IS AWESOME) is performing the OP, and a short CM for Ro-Kyu-Bu accompanied by a clip from the music video.

[Cadence]

I don't typically pay attention to trailers for upcoming anime, but that OP and the CM for Usagi Drop made me change my mind yet again about watching it...I forgot how much I adore the first half of the manga...and oh my gosh, Rin's voice is sooo cute!

Also, the promo for Natsume 3 brought me more joy in 30 seconds than most things can in 20 minutes...although, eh, being me, that wasn't exactly unexpected.

[mechana2015]

I see the FMA movie dropping July 2 on that chart. :>

[blkmage]

NATSUMEEEEE

[blkmage]

SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE, starting on Friday, so here's when you can expect your shows for the first week.

All times in JST (GMT+9)

FRIDAY July 1
2200 - Blade (Animax)
2330 - Ro-Kyu-Bu! (AT-X)

SATURDAY July 2
2300 - Kamisama no Memo-chou (AT-X)

SUNDAY July 3
0000 - Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% (Tokyo MX)
0228 - Sacred Seven (MBS)
1730 - Nurarihyon no Mago 2nd Season (Tokyo MX)

MONDAY July 4
0030 - Ikoku no Meiro Croisée (Chiba TV)

TUESDAY July 5
0130 - Natsume Yuujinchou San (TV Tokyo)
0145 - Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel (tvk)
0200 - Yuruyuri (TV Tokyo)

WEDNESDAY July 6
0130 - Kamisama Dolls (TV Tokyo)
0130 - Morita-san wa Mukuchi (KBS Kyoto)
2254 - Nyanpire (Kids Station)

[Atria35]

Any word on which ones will be simulcast yet?

[blkmage]

CR announcements are expected by the end of AX.

However, the first bit of streaming news may surprise you. Uta no Prince-sama and Blood-C will be simulcast by the English version of Nico Nico Douga. I'm not sure how English Nico Nico Douga works, but you'll probably need an account, which shouldn't be as hard to make as regular Nico Nico Douga because it's in English now. And if it's anything like regular Nico Nico Douga, Uta no Prince-sama could be made hilarious enough to watch. But don't worry, you can turn off comments when you watch Blood-C.

English Nico Nico Douga is at http://www.niconico.com (don't confuse it with regular Nico Nico Douga, which is at http://www.nicovideo.jp)

And iirc, you can watch videos from regular Nico Nico Douga on English Nico Nico Douga if you have the sm number, so that's even more of an incentive to get an account.

EDIT EDIT EDIT
WHOA WAIT A SECOND: http://ch.niconico.com/

So that's Uta no Prince-sama, Twin Angel, Blood-C, Itsuka Tenma no Kurosagi, R-15, and Dantalian no Shoka.

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT
Apparently, Natsume 3, Kamisama Dolls, and Yuruyuri have been announced for CR for now, with 9 more next week. That seems to cover a good chunk of the season. Also, rumours have been reported about CR getting Usagi Drop. And I hear Sacred Seven's on Hulu?

[blkmage]

Watched some new shows!

Watched Uta no Prince-sama to try out English Nico Nico Douga streaming. The subs were hardsubbed, unlike CR. The show itself is otome game stuff with bland insert heroine surrounded by hot guys. The only delightful parts were Wakamoto as crazy headmaster and the trap teacher. As for English Nico, the player's fine but there aren't enough people on it to inject hilarious commentary yet. It's super weird to be watching something without the complimentary walls of wwwwwwwwwwww.

Ro-Kyu-Bu is little girl fanservice and basketball.

I'm not sure what went on in Blood-C, but the fight was alright. I don't see it holding my interest for much longer until it decides to tell us something about what's going on.

[Atria35]

Crunchyroll has announced 3 of the titles they will begin streaming!

They will be: Kamisama Dolls, YuriYuri, and Season 3 of Natsume Yuujinchou

Apparently they are adding 9 others to their lineup.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2011/07/02-1/crunchyroll-ax-11-panel-new-titles-and-projects-abound

EDIT: Inital impressions of a few shows:
Kamisama no memochou 1- Eh.... An inferior Gosick. I'm very much not impressed. It doesn't get off to as interesting or solid a start as Gosick. I have no firm idea who these people are or what they're doing, and the girl? Nothing endearing about her yet. Apparently we're supposed to be taken in by the teddy bears and hair and love her.

Blood-C 1 - ...... She can run, jump, do amazing athletics, and yet manages to fall on her face and break her nose a lot? Really? Also, all the girls' bodies look exactly the same, except the taller they are, the longer the legs. The twin are also eerily similar to the ones from xxxHolic

Uta no Prince-sama- Ooooh, my goodness. Shoujo cliches and stupidity abound. The heroine is a red-headed, no-personality character. The plot? Seriously, a cat comes crawling into her room, gets a cloth, races out with it. Convenient? YES. All seven guys fall in love with her the moment they set eyes on her- one even 'staking his claim', so to speak, immediately.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Umm, eheh, this is embarassing, but is the only way to watch this stuff by the live stream? I see on the official channel they have Uta no Prince-sama up, but I don't see Blood-C or the little girl fanservice show, so I'm kind of confused about what's going on with that.

[blkmage]

Blood-C hasn't technically aired yet. I watched a sub that was timed to a pre-airing special raw. It begins on July 7, like the site says. And Ro-Kyu-Bu isn't on Nico Nico Douga, so that was fansubbed as well.

[blkmage]

MORE SHOWS

Sacred Seven had a fairly action packed introductory episode with cool things happening. Not very much explanation, but it was more interesting than Blood-C. It also reminded me that I should maybe undrop Tiger & Bunny now that I have more time.

Kamisama no Memo-chou was kind of modern day Gosick, except the wacky side characters were better. I want to like this one, so just like Gosick, I will be anticipating what it will have to offer.

La croisée dans un labyrinthe étranger is the best show I've watched so far this season. It features un narrateur qui parle en français at certain points in the show. Just as Aria is about a girl from MANHOME going to Mars and learning about 23rd century replica Venice and gondoliering, Croisée is about a girl from Japan who goes to France to learn about working for a metalworking shop and 19th century Paris. And the music is classy like Aria's, except with more woodwinds and less strings.

[gn6me]

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi - IT'S THE REVERSE TWILIGHT, YOU GUYS.

Same thought I had when I first read the plot, but for some reason it made it on my Plan to Watch list. Eh, I'll give it a try.

I'm really excited for Usagi Drop. Sounds like the plot will be amazing. Next in line is Blood-C, then No.6, then Sacred Seven, then Mayo Chiki!.

I did see the first episode of Blood-C and thought it was pretty good for a first episode.

[MasterDias]

So Summer has started for me.

Kamisama no Memo-chou: It's the NEET thing to do
Not bad actually. Although I think this is the sort of thing people are going to either really like or find sort of boring. The mystery wasn't especially compelling but I'll let this slide since it's the introductory episode. The oddball cast was really fun though and was consistently entertaining throughout the episode.

Sacred Seven:
Well, between the mecha-piloting butler, the army of maids, and the talking stone demon head; this is very definitely a Sunrise show. I'm not completely sold on it yet however. It heads straight into action with very little in the way of explanation, and doesn't give much time to really get to know the characters. I'm sort of reserving judgment on it.