When the summer 2015 season was about to air I remarked that it did not look especially interesting to me, and happily that impression was proven wrong. Quite wrong. I was pleasantly surprised by several series and by the season as a whole. However the fall 2015 season not only does not look especially interesting to me but I have had a very strange experience in looking it over several times the past few weeks: not a whole lot looks appealing to my tastes and I find myself with lotsa lotsa hoping to be pleasantly surprised once again. First season in several years that I had no real reads on or anticipation for, and it is more so that the type of anime that looks to be airing may be very good or enjoyable or whatever, but they frankly don’t look terribly interesting to me. :\
No doubt one of the reasons why the upcoming Fall season looks so … bleak … is because of the prevalence of mecha stories. As I have mentioned ad nauseum the mecha genre is just a hard one for me to enjoy. Anyhoo, as before, there are a number of sites that have well developed anime previews, including these: http://static.neregate.com/2015/09/neregate.com-Fall-2015-Anime-Chart-v2.png, http://anichart.net/fall, and https://www.livechart.me/fall-2015/all .
Let’s give the season a look-see then, shall we? ^^
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I think the section normally dedicated to my most anticipated series in the coming season containing one OVA and two movies is kinda indicative of the impression it is making on me at the moment. But there is ONE series that I am incredibly hyped about, and that is:
Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka Season Two. The young girl Cocoa arrives at the cafe Rabbit House one day, excited for rabbits. She actually all but lives in that cafe. She meets lots of different girls there, including a tiny and cool girl named Chino, a tough and soldier-esque girl named Lize, a spacey and quintessentially Japanese girl named Chiyo, and the ordinary but dignified Sharo. Season two has Cocoa still living and working at cafe Rabbit House (no big surprise there). More shenanigans will ensue, but having read some of the manga chapters that this season will cover I know there will be a few new characters popping up as well. I can’t tell you how glad I am that this is airing this season. If it were not for this I … well … would feel even more lost on what to think of following than I am now! XD
Aria the Avvenire OVA (1 of 3). Drift peacefully into Neo Venezia, a city on the planet Aqua (formerly known as Mars). By the 24th century, humans have found a way to colonize the previously uninhabitable planet. As futuristic as that sounds, Neo Venezia is still teeming with rustic beauty; gondolas on wide canals and waterways are the main mode of transportation. The city itself is a faithful replication of Manhome’s (the planet formerly known as Earth) Venice. To make sure that residents and tourists alike get the most from Neo Venezia’s many wonders, companies offering guided tours via gondola were formed, one of which is named Aria Company. This is the workplace of Akari Mizunashi, a free spirited young lady from Manhome who is now a novice Undine (the title given to tour guides). The OVAs are a sort of finale to the three seasons of this absolutely wonderful series that are an incredible adaptation of the source manga – which is perhaps a smidgeon better, if such a thing can be imagined. The first OVA episode’s story starts with Ai practicing on the gondola with Akari. As they travel through a canal, they meet Aika and Alice. All three have not had much time to meet since becoming Prima Undines. Considering even the little time they spend together a “miracle,” Akari remembers a certain incident and relates it to Ai.
Girls und Panzer Movie. I was a big fan of the Girls und Panzer anime series, and the OVAs and the endless manga adaptations are enjoyable as well. For those unfamiliar with the series itself, it is essentially an alternate timeline and history of earth where highschools and even towns or small cities exists on gigantisized Air Craft Carriers and sail around the oceans, periodically putting in at dock. One of the past times of the day is called Sensha-do, a sort of “martial art” related to the operating of armored tanks in a sort of “airsoft” style survival game setting. This is actually an internationally competitive sport, and the main character, Miho, is a member of a family that has practised Sensha-do for generations, but has left the family for personal reasons. The movie is reputed to be set in a time that takes place after the events of the anime proper. Needless to say I am very much looking forward to more of this series.
. The third of four movies is set in the autumn this time, when Fuu, Kaoru, Norie, and Maon have been promoted to third-year high school students, while Kanae has graduated. Two kouhai already joined the photography club. Even though they bring in new friends, their lively daily life remains unchanged. Yet, the four third-year students are slowly thinking about their own future dreams and paths as they face graduation in about a year. Specifically, the third movie appears to take place during the October bamboo festival and the tagline for the movie is something like: “Little by little and without us noticing, our everyday lives that we had taken for granted are changing.”
Even with this, there are a few series that look like they could be fairly interesting, some because I kinda enjoyed the first seasons, though they were not without their weaknesses. These are mostly shots in the dark, to be honest, but include:
K- Return of Kings. In modern Japan, where history has strangely overlapped with reality. There, seven “Kings” with great superpowers existed. Along with their clansman to whom they shared their own power with, the kings each formed clans. Order bound by blue, red flames that cause chaos, irregularities that shine in white, and reforms branched off into green. I kinda liked the odd, awkward first season of this series and the movie that recently came out. The second season could be interesting, I think?
Comet Lucifer. The story takes place on the planet Gift, where precious crystals called Giftjium are buried in the earth. A young man named Sōgo lives in Garden Indigo, a prosperous mining town. Sougo’s hobby is to collect rare crystals. One day, he gets wrapped up in a riot caused by his classmates Kaon, Roman, and Otto, and he loses his way until he finds a lake deep under the ground’s mining ruins. There, he meets a mysterious girl with blue hair and red eyes that gaze straight ahead. The story follows the adventure of what happens after this meeting. I was all on board this one until they introduced a key visual including a mecha in the background. I still am not quite sure what to think of it, but a pv for the series featuring some lovely singing and visuals raised my hopes a teensy bit. Not sure why this one is on the edge of my radar, but it has been for some months now, so will give it a try.
. The source material for this series is a novel. It revolves around Shoutarou Tatewaki and Sakurako Kujyou. Shoutarou is a normal high school student with a serious demeanor who likes to show off his girlfriend Sakurako. Sakurako is an extraordinarily beautiful woman in her mid-20s from a rich family who loves “beautiful bones.” The two live in the city of Asahikawa in Hokkaido, and they get involved in various incidents regarding bones. Mystery novel material with an eccentric ojou-sama lead who is a genius, basically. Have been getting potential sleeper vibes from this one – hopefully they will pan out.
. Here is a summary of the first season: “When I came to, I realized I was standing in the middle of a vast, snowy plain I knew nothing of. I didn’t know how I got there. And to add to that, I couldn’t remember anything, not even my name. I stood there, dumbfounded at my absurd situation. But then, as if to spite me further, a gigantic monster suddenly appeared, an insect-like creature that began to bear down on me. I tried desperately to run, but it cornered me into a hopeless situation. It was then that the girl appeared. Her name was Kuon. It was this beautiful girl, who bore an animal’s ears and tail, who saved my life.” As far as I have been able to gather this is essentially a retelling of the same story with different characters. I kinda liked the first season, and though the ending was only okay for me it had a very strong beginning, I thought. Hopefully this series will be better. As far as I remember this is a multiple cour series too.
. The stage is set in “another Japan” as a banquet of diverse superhumans unfolds… In an imaginary “age of gods” about 20 years after the war, Japan has grown and developed by leaps and bounds. What if all the superhumans ever written about in fictional stories existed at the same time? Superhumans who came into existence through different circumstances, and who are special in different ways — Titans from outer space, lifeforms from a mystical world, phantoms and goblins from ancient times, cyborgs created by scientists, relics that rose out of the ruins of ancient civilizations, and the list goes on. One segment of these superhumans makes no secret of their existence and has gained popularity in society. Others cloak their identities and fight in secrecy. There are enemies of superhumans as well, organizations that operate in the shadows. The Japanese government has taken many measures to secure peace and order. One is the establishment of an organization under the Ministry of Health and Welfare — the Overpopulation Research Laboratory, a.k.a. the Superhuman Bureau. Their mission is to identify and approach superhumans, then oversee and safeguard them. One member of the Superhuman Bureau, Jiro Hitoyoshi, is protagonist of this series. I … don’t know what to think of this one. It is studio Bones, though, and I am usually up for giving their work a try at least.
In terms of carryovers from the previous season there are only two that I am following, Ushio to Tora (which is really, really good) and Go! Princess PreCure (also one of the stronger PreCure seasons thus far). There are a handful of shorts in the Fall 2015 season which look like they might work out to be interesting, including Komori-san wa Kotowarenai! (the 4koma manga is pretty good), Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note and Onsen Yousei Hakone-chan. Other than that an perhaps the occasional OVA special (like for Nagato Yuki-chan or Himouto! Umaru-chan) not a whole lot looks really engaging to me at the moment. Here’s hoping that I can be equally or even more pleasantly surprised than I was with the Summer 2015 season! At the moment I do not have a clear idea of which series I might take up to blog, but in any event I will definitely be doing the third Tamayura movie and the first Aria the Avvenire OVA. Definitely.
