The New Anime of Spring 2008!!!

Shadow_Strider

Oderint Dum Metuant
#1
Ok so the first Amine series of the spring season start Aprill 2nd (today for us and not much longer for Japan) an there are a lot of great looking new series and some Epic continuations of series such as CODE GEASS.

Here is a link where you can find information for 30 of the big titles coming this season (be warned this site is a blog site which gives detailed blogs on current anime series so stay on the page the link sends you or risk being spoiled)

Spring Anime Series

Here are the ones I have my eye on:

[Spoil]To LOVE-Ru
http://www.j-toloveru.com/
Premieres April 3rd, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 25:25
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Thursdays at 12:25
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
To LOVE-Ru is a series that?s about a boy who one day meets an alien princess that falls in love with him. And then fanservice ensues. And then some more fanservice. And if you?re reading the tankobans instead of the weekly chapters, there?s explicit nudity. What I?ve read of the manga makes me think that there?ll be little to no substance to this series and that it?ll just be one fanservice episode after another. There?s technically nothing wrong with that, but it isn?t really the kind of show I want to be following week after week. In fact, if I were really looking to follow a pure fanservice show, then I?d probably choose Kanokon (see below) instead. Still, at least the animation quality in the promo videos doesn?t look too bad.

The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~
http://www.druaga-anime.com/
Premieres April 4th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 25:15
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Fridays at 12:15
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Gonzo?s big series for the spring is a joint MMORPG and anime project that continues the fantasy Tower of Druaga franchise. The fact that there?s an MMORPG being produced along with this anime is a big enough red flag in my book, but seeing that Gonzo is behind it makes me want to just completely ignore it given all the subpar series they?ve put out lately. However, the saving grace here is that the staff working on this show isn?t the typical Gonzo group. In fact, Gatou Shouji, the author of the Full Metal Panic! novels, is writing the screenplay for this, and he?ll be reunited with Chigura Kouichi who directed both the first FMP! anime and the acclaimed Last Exile series. The description of the story on the official site (ANN has a translation) sounds like typical fantasy fare, and the various promotional videos don?t do much to change that notion, though they did have some rather powerful RPG-sounding music courtesy of Final Fantasy XII composer Sakimoto Hitoshi. Druaga is also interesting because Gonzo is trying something different by offering free streaming video and official subtitles, available on the same day as the Japanese broadcast, via YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST TV. That in itself might be worth checking out for me just to see what their translation are like.

Itazura na Kiss
http://itakiss-anime.jp/
Premieres April 4th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 26:25
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Fridays at 13:25
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Mizuki Nana?s other leading role this season is as the protagonist of Itazura na Kiss, a popular shoujo manga that ran during the 1990s until the mangaka suddenly died in an accident. The story is about a normal girl who has an unrequited love for a popular and handsome guy, and after her house collapses, she moves in with him because their fathers are old friends. Given the relatively poor luck I?ve had with anime adaptations of shoujo manga (with the exception of Ouran), there?s a pretty good chance I?ll skip this entirely, especially after I tried reading the first volume and got kind of bored of it.

Amatsuki
http://amatsuki.com/
Premieres April 4th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 26:30
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Fridays at 13:30
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Based on a manga, Amatsuki is about a boy who is visiting a high-tech museum of Edo during the Bakumatsu when he gets attacked by a monster and is sent to the actual time period. By coincidence, he meets a classmate who had also been sent there but had arrived two years earlier, and the story follows their adventures. I thought one of the manga?s strongest points was its artwork, and so the character designs for this anime adaptation aren?t that appealing to me, but the story here (which doesn?t take place entirely in the Edo period world) is interesting enough for me to want to watch this. Plus there?s some strong voice talent featured here (Paku Romi, Fukuyama Jun), and I liked the music that was in the promo video.

Kanokon
http://www.kanokon.com/
Premieres April 5th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Saturdays at 10:30
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Fridays at 21:30
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
One of the two series this spring season featuring fox girls, Kanokon is about a weak-looking boy who transfers into a city high school from the countryside and, on his first day, he?s approached by a beautiful, big-breasted girl who?s fallen in love with him and is actually a fox demon. I put emphasis on big-breasted because every single description of her I?ve read includes some variation of that, and I think it should give you a good idea of what this series is really about. If you?re still unsure, just check out what the artwork on the official website changes into if you wait long enough, or see these magazine scans. The rest of the cast is made up of various other types of youkai, including a female wolf one who also falls in love with the main character. I don?t really have high hopes for this show because I see it as simply an outlet for fanservice, but there are enough big name voice actors working on this series (including Noto Mamiko and one of my favorites, Kawasumi Ayako) that I may have to watch the first episode.

Kamen no Maid Guy
http://www.maidguy.com/
Premieres April 5th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Saturdays at 25:35
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Saturdays at 12:35
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Kamen no Maid Guy may be the single title I?ve been waiting the longest to see animated (nearly three years now). The story involves a normal girl who?s half a year away from turning 18 and thus getting the right to inherit her grandfather?s massive fortune. To protect her, her grandfather assigns her a shark-toothed warrior maid (to quote Dom, ?a superpowered weirdo in a maid suit who doesn?t know the meaning of restraint?), and hilarity ensues. It?s a very fun manga to read with the scenario being similar to the funnier parts of Full Metal Panic!, and I?m hoping the anime adaptation can capture the style of humor that makes it so great.

Nabari no Ou
http://www.nabari.tv/
Premieres April 6th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Sundays at 25:30
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Sundays at 12:30
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
One of those Sundays shows is Nabari no Ou, a story about a boy who has a very indifferent attitude and becomes involved in the world of ninjas thanks to the fact that he carries a legendary power inside of him. I know that might sound generic, but it?s hard to explain without delving deeper into the all the ninja terminology involved. The manga is pretty interesting, and the promotional video for the anime made it look promising. It?s also noteworthy that is a J.C.STAFF production that once again features the Kugimiya Rie (voicing the male lead) and Hino Satoshi (voicing one of the ninja friends) combination, so if you liked them in Shana or Zero no Tsukaima, you might like them here too.

Special A
http://special-a.jp/
Premieres April 6th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Sundays at 25:30
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Sundays at 12:30
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Special A is about a group of high schoolers who are the most successful out of all the students at their school. It focuses on the girl who?s ranked number two and how she continually challenges the boy who?s ranked number one in pretty much anything she can think of. The story?s setting and sense of humor reminds me a lot of Ouran, and I really wish that BONES was animating this, but instead, it?s being done by Gonzo (and AIC). That?s not to say that Gonzo can?t do a good job, but as I mentioned above, my faith in them right now is at an all-time low. On the plus side though, Fukuyama Jun is voicing the aforementioned male lead, and he appears to be using his serious Lelouch/Zero voice. Gotou Yuuko is also in this as the main character, but it has taken some getting used to the voice she?s using here (as heard in the promo videos), so I?m not sure that?s necessarily a good thing. The prebroadcast special that aired a couple of days ago gave me a decent good idea of how this show will be, and though I wasn?t really impressed by it, I?ll probably still watch the first episode because I enjoyed the manga story so much.

SOUL EATER
http://www.souleater.tv/
Premieres April 7th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Mondays at 18:00
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Mondays at 5:00
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Soul Eater is a fun series about a group of Shinigami students who are after 99 human souls and 1 witch soul so that they can change their partner weapons into Death Scythes. I was a little surprised when it was announced that BONES would be animating this because the manga has a very distinct style that can be a bit crude at times, so I had a hard time imagining this being done by almost the exact same team that did Ouran (in fact, both Sakamoto Maaya and Miyano Mamoru are voicing characters here too). Still, having that BONES team work on this can?t be a bad thing. The added gimmick here is that there are two versions of this series airing every week: a regular 6PM version and a late night version that?ll supposedly have additional stuff. However, the late night version doesn?t air until three days after the regular version does, so if I do end up blogging this, I?d probably be following the regular one.

Vampire Knight
http://www.vampire-knight.jp/
Premieres April 7th, 2008
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Mondays at 25:00
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-4): Mondays at 12:00
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo, AniDB, syoboi
Itazura na Kiss may not be a shoujo series that I?ll watch, but Vampire Knight certainly is. It takes place in a school where there is a Day class and a Night class, and the two need to be kept separate because the former is made up of humans while the latter is made up of vampires. The heroine is one of the few humans that knows that secret, and of the two male leads, one is a human who hates vampires and the other is a vampire who saved the heroine?s life when she was little. It?s more interesting than I might make it sound, and I?d watch this just for the story. As an added bonus though, this has a pretty strong vocal cast too with the likes of Horie Yui, Miyano Mamoru, and Fukuyama Jun.[/Spoil]
 

Shadow_Strider

Oderint Dum Metuant
#6
@Tyrone - lol well talk to our Uploaders about that since they are the ones doing all the hard work and putting up all our downloads. I for one will be downloading probably all the ones I listed via torrent so if you want the torrent library I find all my torrents at just pm me (I gave a few other members the link and they all seem to like it).
 
#7
Vampire Knight ftw. Also its not one that list but Bus Gamer just started and is pretty good based off the first episode.
 
#9
i am waiting for xxxholic, amatsuki, lelouch 2, nabari no ou, Neo Angelique Abyss, specila A, Vampire Knight, Monochrome Factor, and the one i most look forward Junjou Romantica :D

there are also Yuu-Gi-Ou! 5D`s, Kyou Kara Maou! - 3rd Series, Blassreiter: genetic , that i look forward this month :D
 

Shadow_Strider

Oderint Dum Metuant
#12
@ Jecht - yeah it was I like how the first ep was pretty much making fun of the majority of fantasy adventure anime, there were so many lol moments but I have a feeling the rest of the anime is not going to be all light hearted haha. From what I hear its going to get pretty action packed with drama and conflict abound. =
 

Shadow_Strider

Oderint Dum Metuant
#14
lol yeah what a dream lol, it even had xxx themes in it lol at the one guy having them wait to save the girl from the tentacles. And when the "Hero" knocked out the guy and said wait for me here while leaving him for dead. Oh and the red flags galore lol.
 
#15
yeah that was great, he says wait for me and I'm like wait those monsters are a few steps away and then (forget his name) gets left behind lol
 

Shadow_Strider

Oderint Dum Metuant
#16
Yup the first ep definately did it's job and got people interested, but now we will get to the romance, action and drama of the real plot (or at least what I have heard).
 

Myrk

Dying from moe overdose.
#18
There are really many there that I'd like to see, I guess my summer will be just like my second one, but well I'm atleast working this year:p

To LOVE-Ru
The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~
Itazura na Kiss
Amatsuki
SOUL EATER

These are the ones my eyes are on, maybe more to come that I'd like to see (6)
 
#20
so far I've watched

Code Geass R2
The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~
Vampire Knight
ToLoveRU
Kure-nai

about to watch

soul eater

no subs yet

Amatsuki
Nabari no Ou

liked the ones i've watched already.