Summer 2008 Anime

It’s the end of the season and the beginning of another! Well, not much this season I’m interested in. Which is a good thing for my hardrive and banwidth though but not a good thing for the boredom I’m surely going to encounter this summer.

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Chocolate Underground (June 12th)

Chocolate Underground is an anime produced by Production I.G based off/spinned off a novel by british author Alex Shearer’s Bootleg. The premise is something close to Library War (also produced by Production I.G) with chocolate replacing books. From what I managed to dig up, its currently being streamed on Yahoo!JP and is only available to residents of Japan. That is all I managed to find really. I’d love it if someone could fill me in the details of this anime since I interested in it. (official site)

My first impressions here.

Telepathy Shoujo Ran (June 21st)

Plot Summary: Ran is a bright and energetic first-grader in junior high school who possesses supernatual abilities. Together with Midori (her friend who also has supernatural powers) and Rui, the threesome are constantly embroiled in mysterious circumstances. Ran is troubled by her powers because it seems to spark off the ill intentions of people in contact with her. However, with the support of her family and peers, Ran learns to deal with her ‘other’ side and accepts who she is. The threesome also learn how to team up as a whole and solve these mysterious events. (from ANN)

This anime is based off a children’s novel is going to be animated by TMS Entertainment who did Itazura na Kiss this season. Animation wise is doesn’t look to bad and the plot seems interesting. The cast’s got Emiri Katou (Kagami from Lucky Star, Blair from Soul Eater) who will voice the main character Ran. (official site)

Ultraviolet: Code 044 (July 1st)

Ehhh … based off an american movie of the same name. It’s MADHOUSE and there’s Romi Paku so I’m slighlty interested. Never watched the movie and I don’t plan to either. I’ll preview this and see what I think. (official site)

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ (July 2nd)

This is a sequel of another anime also by J.C Staff. I haven’t seen the first series but I probably will before this airs. I see Namikawa Daisuke and Inoue Marina in the cast so I’m interested. (official site)

EDIT: Just saw the first six episodes of Mahou Tsukai [or Someday's Dreamers if you prefer] … it’s absolutely beautiful. I’ll probably review it when I’m done. This series is in my watch list now.

Sekirei (July 2nd)

Plot Summary: Minato is a total loser. He’s failed to make it into college twice, he’s unpopular with women, and he’s unemployed. But suddenly one day he met a girl dashing inhumanely fast down the road he walked, chased by 2 bandits with electrical powers. From that day on Minato’s life changed forever. The Girl, Musubi was not any ordinary girl she was a “Sekirei”, and suddenly she just bestows Minato with the power of an Ashikabi, one of a mysterious set of “masters” in an awesome battle royale between hordes of cute girls (and males) with individual special powers called “Sekirei’s”. Eventually Minato’s true capabilities will release his useless self into truly understanding all of the Sekirei’s that he embarks to gather, and his own strength. (Manga Plot from ANN)

One guy. One HELL OF A LOT of girls (108 when I checked Wiki). Ehh …. no. (official site)

Antique Bakery (July 3rd)

Plot Summary: Tachibana, grandson of a rich businessman and newbie in the world of managing; Ono Yuusuke, famous pastry chef and even more infamous “devilish homosexual”; Kanda Eiji, a retired young boxer with a thing for pastries; Kobayakawa Chikage, servant friend of Tachibana and current romantic interest of Ono, who is clumsy yet serious and stoic to a fault (most of the time). Together, these four men maintain a small yet elegant cafe known as “Antique”, where they and all their customers can come together to cherish one of the few but truly important things in life: cake. (Manga summary from ANN)

Obviously, this is what I’m looking the most forward to this season. This not BL but there is a homo-character, Ono Yuusuke, who’s going to be voiced by none other than Miki Shinnichirou! There’s also Miyano Mamoru in the cast and he’ll be voicing Eiji Kanda. The other two are voiced by Eiji Hanawa and Keiji Fujiwara who are voicing Chikage Kobayakawa and Keichirou Tachibana respectively. No need to explain Mamo since he’s popular enough as is and so is MikiShin (most recent I think of is Lockon). You might know Hanawa from Oofuri because he voiced Kawai (captain of Tosei who shed manly tears with Non-tan!) and Fujiwara (who’s quite the veteran now that I check) who did Maes Hughes from FMA and Aizawa from Death Note.

There isn’t an official site for this yet and I haven’t read the manga either so I’m short on info. I know there’s been a live adaption of the manga in which they took out all of the homo-elements. Here I am praying they won’t do that in the anime. The scriptwriter for Antique Bakery, Natsuko Takahashi, does the screenplay for Nijuu-Menso no Musume (or Daughter of Twenty Faces if you prefer) and did the script for a lot of other anime (like Seed Destiny, RomeoxJuliet, Spiral, Prince of Tennis, Full Metal Alchemist amongst others) … which is just wow. I don’t know the rest of the staff though.

Strike Witches (July 3rd)

An alternate retelling of the OVA Gonzo did a while back. The anime is also going to be animated by Gonzo. This anime will be about … witches who fly with airplane boots instead of broomsticks. Witches of the future? Well, I’ll give this a try for the hell of it. (official site)

UPDATE: Like Druaga and the rest, Gonzo’s going to post subbed Srike Witches episodes on Crunchyroll and Youtube.

Birdy the Mighty Decode (July 5th)

When I saw this was going to be animated by A-1… I was like “WHY CAN’T YOU ANIMATE ANOTHER OOFURI SEASON INSTEAD?!” but that aside.

Plot Summary: While pursuing a criminal, the pretty but reckless interplanetary police officer Birdy Cephon Altirra accidentally kills Tsutomu, an earthling high school student. To make amends, Birdy is forced to share her own body with Tsutomu’s spirit so that he can continue his own life. At first, Tsutomu knows nothing about his situation but soon discovers that his body is starting to take certain actions without his mind ordering it. In times of action, Birdy takes full control of their shared body, transforming it back into her original female form. (manga plot summary from ANN)

I LOL’d at the sharing bodies thing. Sounds ridiculous but I’m interested. The original manga dates 1985 to 1988. There was also an OVA produced by Madhous in ‘96. As the main male lead we’ve got Miyu Irino who I haven’t heard in a while and the female lead by Saeko Chiba (or rather the lady who voices the Table Humping-chan) (official site)

Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo -Ryoko’s Case File (July 5th)

I see Houko Kuwashima and Nojima Kenji in the cast. The above pic has me interested as well but I haven’t been able to dig up much information. It’s based off a manga and is going to be animated by a company I’ve never heard of. Baka-Updates’s summary tells me that it’s basically a mystery, police type story about a woman going around solving cases. (official site)

Zero No Tsukaima ~Princess no Rondo~ (July 6th)

Do I REALLY need to explain? Of course not. It’s more ZnT that’s all there is to say. (official site)

Natsume Yuujincho (July 7th)

Kamiyan, Inoue Kazuhiko AND Ishida Akira?! You got me at Kamiyan already. I’m in.

Plot Summary: Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him. Containing the names of these spirits, a binding contract was formed between the spirits and the owner of the book. Now, Natsume is determined to free the spirits and dissolve the contracts. With the help of a spirit cat, his days are filled trying to return the names to these spirits. (from ANN)

This is the second series I’m looking more forward too this season. The premise had me interested. I love the music playing on the official site (the intro) and there’s this site too. The animation doesn’t look to bad either (though I don’t know the animation company) and, of course, the cast! As I said, they got me in at Kamiyan. But add Inoue Kazuhiko AND Ishida Akira? There’s no way I’m NOT watching this.

Did I mention how Inoue’s voicing the cat?

Koihime†Musō (July 8th)

Eroge-based. The girl on the left looks like that girl in Candy Boy. That’s all I’ve got really. (official site)

Update 6/23: The official site was updated. Koihime’s starting to look like an-all female version of Koutetsu Sangokushi.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (July 10th)

Plot Summary: Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu centers around Yūto Ayase and Haruka Nogizaka. Yūto is seemingly ordinary, but Haruka is attractive, intelligent, and rich, which prompts other students to idolize her and even give her French nicknames like “Nuit Étoile” (The Silver Star of the Night) and “Lumière du Clavier” (The Shining Princess on the Piano). One day, Yūto wanders into the school library in order to return a book and accidentally stumbles upon Haruka’s deepest, darkest secret: she is a diehard fan of anime and manga, in other words, a regular otaku. Promising Haruka to keep this a secret, Yūto becomes her advisor and confidente of some sort and hangs out with her more, though earning some viciously envious glares from his fellow schoolmates. (from ANN)

Tell me … when the hell did “Nuit Étoile” become SILVER star of the night? It’s sounds pretty sure. But Nuit Étoile just means Night Star really. And “Lumière du Clavier” is Keyboard Light (or Piano Light if you prefer) … intriguing.

Haruka is an Otaku! I’m in! Sounds like fun really. The animation is done by Studio Barcelona who also did Kodomo no Jikan and Nanatsuiro Drops. Haruka is voiced by Mamiko Noto and Yuuto by Wataru Hatano. (official site)

World Destruction ~Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin~ (July 13th)

CAST CAST CAST AND CAST! Another Production I.G anime. But that isn’t what matters! Maaya Sakamoto, Miyano Mamoru, Ono Daisuke and Hiroyuki Yoshino. This is nearly as appealing as Natsume’s cast (nearly because I love Kamiyan much more). This anime is based off a game of the same name that isn’t even released yet (for the DS). (official site)

Update 6/25: The trailer looks epic. (I have bad experience with Game adaptations, but maybe this won’t be bad because the game isn’t even out yet)

Other things to look forward too: Lucky Star OVA and the rest of Gurren Lagan Parallel Works!