2009 SPRING ANIME PREVIEW : 30 NEW ANIME!

Season Previews:

- Winter 2009
- Spring 2009
- Summer 2009

Summary: This hit manga by Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara (story and art, respectively) revolves around a young man named Teito Klein, a graduate of the Barsburg Empire Military Academy-- and jail-breaker. Shortly after his graduation, Klein overhears a professor who turns out to be the man who killed Klein's father. After attempting to get vengeance, Klein is arrested, breaks free, and acquires sanctuary in a church...where he learns about his own mysterious past and, of course, the seven ghosts. Notable: Director Norihiro Takamoto's past is mostly in anime aired at younger viewers-- Sasami: Magical Girl Cluband Moegaku*5, for example. He did direct the recent anime version of Hatenkou Yuugi(aka Dazzle), though. You'll probably recognize the voice actress playing Teito, Mitsuki Saiga. She also plays Revive in Gundam 00, Rossiu in Gurren Lagann, and Genshiken's Kousaka. The music will be created by Koutaro Nakagawa, who also did music for Code Geass, Hayate no Gotoku, and Planetes.

Summary: Natsume Tomoharu jumps at the chance to live alone when he starts high school. Unfortunately, Natsume isn't a normal high school student...he's haunted by the ghost of a girl named Misao. Now that he lives alone, Natsume's home becomes a swingin' joint full of hot babes involved in the supernatural, as Natsume works to protect a mysterious trunk from those who would steal it. Notable: Inukami!, Nanoha, and Sekirei director Keizou Kusakawa helms this new piece, so you can probably expect a reasonable amount of fanservice. If you watched Heroic Age, you probably remember the awesome opening theme, performed by Angela. Angela will return to the anime world with the theme song for Asura Cryin'.

Summary: Somewhat in the tradition of space basketball anime Buzzer Beater comes Basquash!, which revolves around kids playing basketball...while riding mechs. I've seen people playing basketball while riding donkeys, so I guess the idea of playing basketball with robots isn't really such a stretch. Notable: This is one of those big pedigree productions: Shouji Kawamori, mech designer of Macross, Eureka Seven, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell, etc, came up with the original concept and is the project leader for Basquash!. Kawamori's partner in the conceptualizing is the French animator Thomas Romain, who has worked on a number of anime, including his own Code: Lyoko and ARIA the Natural.

Summary: The basic idea behind Charady no Joke Mainichi is that it'll feature a new joke every day for one full year. The jokes will come from all around the world, although they'll all be translated into Japanese...which may mean that this is the first anime I've ever heard of that didn't feature classice Japanese puns. We'll see! Notable: The joke-teller for the series will be gravure idol Misako Yasuda in her first anime voice-acting role. Director Ryuji Masuda is known for his comedy-- his past works include the CG kids' show Funny Pets and both created and directed the CG show Ga-Ra-Ku-Ta: Mr. Stain on Junk Alley. That said, given the image on the website for this show, I'm thinkin' this might be a move to slightly more adult stuff.

Summary: This is actually a TV special, not a regular TV anime. The story picks up shortly after the music competition that featured at the end of the first season, in which Kahoko Hino took part with the help of her magic violin and the fairy who gave it to her. In this new season she meets a brusque new fellow who doubtless ends up joining her growing reverse harem. Notable: Director Koujin Ochi, known for episode directing After War Gundam X and Case Closed plus assistant directing on a couple of Pokemon movies, will take up directorship of the special, although he didn't work on the original TV series. As expected, the cast list hasn't changed any, even if the staff isn't quite the same.

Summary: One boy, Kou Kitamura. Four girls, the Tsukishima sisters. One batting center/coffee shop. Kinda like “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Parlor,” otaku-style! This romantic comedy focuses on Kou and Wakaba Tsukishima, the second-oldest daughter...and baseball. Notable: Osamu Sekita has a long list of series he's directed, from hentai like Homeroom Affairs to the SD Gundam OVA series to the recent adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa's Hero Tales. The man's been busy, okay? The anime is based on an ongoing manga by the famed Mitsuru Adachi, creator of dozens of works, only one of which has made it to North America-- short story collection Short Program. Our leads will be played by Miyu Irino (Gundam 00's Saji Crossroad, Tsubasa's Syaoran) and Haruka Tomatsu (To LoveRu's Lala, and hey! Asura Cryin's Misao).

Summary You guys probably already know the drill here, but this is remastered and redubbed footage from Dragonball Z, minus all of the filler-- and I don't just mean filler episodes, but even time-wasters within the episodes (like long powerup scenes). Suffice it to say, it'll be a fair bit shorter than the original!

Summary: Another familiar name-- but it won't resemble the original series TOO closely. With the manga further along now, this series will stay truer to its print counterpart...especially considering the staff and cast shakeups! Notable: Romi Paku (Ed Elric) and Rie Kugimiya (Al Elric) won quite the acclaim for their first turn, and they'll be back for the new series. But almost all of the remaining characters have new voice actors, including Roy (Shinichiro Miki, Bleach's Kisuke Urahara) and Winry (Megumi Takamoto, Negima!?'s Chao Rinshen). There are a lot of staff changes as well, primarily the director-- Seiji Mizushima gives way to Yasuhiro Irie (who episode directed parts of the first FMA, and who directed Alien Nine and Kurau: Phantom Memory. There is one change that bothers me: Michiru Oshima did an amazing job with the soundtrack of the original FMA series. The new composer is Akira Senju, whose work I'm less familiar with-- he did Red Garden, Saiyuki: Requiem, and B'tX.

Title: Guin Saga Starts: Sunday, April 5at 11:30pm, on NHK

Summary: At its most simplified, Guin Saga sounds like pretty standard fantasy fare: a young amnesiac warrior must re-learn how to exist in a world of lies, danger, and magic. There are, on the other hand, some cool leopard masks. Notable: You may have heard of Guin Saga before-- Vertical has been publishing English-language versions of the novels. Of course, they're only something like five or six volumes in...of 124. And still going. No, I have no idea how long this anime series is going to wind up being! Kenyuu Horiuchi is set to voice the lead, titular Guin. You may remember him as Fist of the North Star 's Toki. Or, oddly enough, Jerry Seinfeld in the dub of the comedian's popular sitcom. Shoji Yonemura, script writer for Death Note and Glass Fleet , is doing screenplay for this series.

Summary: Picture it: you're the beautiful only daughter of an incredibly wealthy and powerful businessman. Your father places three beautiful, elegant, eligible young bachelors in front of you and tells you to marry one of them. Dutiful daughter that you are, you start to get to know the three fellows (who apparently later become four): Li Ren Fong, Carl Rosenthal, Eugene Alexander du Volcan, and Rumati Ivan Dai Raginei. Why do rich people always have super-long names in anime? Notable: Chiaki Kon, best known for directing Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Junjou Romantica , helms this reverse harem romance. Stellar cast: Aya Endo (Macross F 's Sheryl Nome, Lucky Star 's Miyuki) will play the lead, Kajika Louisa Kugami Burnsworth; Toshiyuki Morikawa (Final Fantasy VII Advent Children 's Sephiroth) is Li, Jun Fukuyama (Code Geass 's Lelouch) is Carl, Daisuke Ono (Haruhi 's Koizumi) is Eugene, and Daisuke Namikawa (Tsubasa 's Fay) is Rumati. Yowza.

Summary: Girls, girls, and more girls! Hatsukoi Limited. features a lot of girls. Now that that's out of the way, the original four-volume manga features short stories revolving around seven middle and high school girls. But this isn't some Azumanga Daioh slice-of-life comedy; it's all romance. And damn, do middle school girls look developed in Japan... Notable: Director Yoshiki Yamakawa is making his TV debut as director with this anime; in the past he directed the Hells Angels movie and has worked in several roles on series like Mushishi , Samurai Champloo , and DiGi Charat Nyo . With seven female leads comes seven female seiyuu: Mariya Ise (Air Gear 's Ringo, PreCure 's Urara) as Ayumi, Aki Toyosaki (Minamike 's Yoshino, Shugo Chara 's Suu) as Koyoi, Ayumi Fujimura (Kaze no Stigma 's Ayano, Kara no Kyoukai 's Azaka) as Nao, Minako Kotobuki (Yumedamaya Kidan's Chie) as Rika, Rie Tanaka (Rozen Maiden 's Suigintou, Strike Witches ' Minna Dietlinde Wicke) as Misaki, Ryouko Shiraishi (Hayate the Combat Butler 's Hayate, Mahou Sensei Negima! 's Kaede) as Meguru, and Shizuka Itou (Hayate the Combat Butler 's Hinagiku Katsura) as Kei.

Summary: The adventure continues! Hayate Ayasaki, son of two compulsive gamblers who ran off and saddled him with a huge debt, was rescued by the wealthy young Nagi Sanzenin, who bought his debt. Now he works as her butler, and is phenomenal at all of his tasks-- especially protecting young Nagi. Although he sometimes fails to protect her from his own social clumsiness. Anyway, they're joined by a cast of colorful characters in Nagi's friends, family, and schoolchums. Most of whom like Nagi or Hayate (but not all!). Notable: First season director Keiichiro Kawaguchi gives way to a new director this season: Yoshiaki Iwasaki, of Love Hina , Best Student Council , Zero no Tsukaima , Sky Girls , and Wagaya no Oinarisama. fame...to name only a few. There are, however, no cast changes, at least none that have been made obvious at this time. Another staff member that hasn't changed, to my delight: Kotarou Nakagawa, who has done music for the original TV series and OVA, as well as for Code Geass . Hee!

Summary: In the year 2010, ten terrorist missiles hit Japan. Oddly, though, the missiles resulted in no casualties or injuries, causing the incident to be forgotten years later. The mystery of the strange event will surely be explained by the union of a young Japanese high school student on a school trip to Washington D.C., and a naked young man bearing a gun and a cell phone charged with a ridiculous sum of money. Notable: You should be able to expect a very high-caliber anime from this team: the director is Kenji Kamiyama, who directed Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Seirei no Moribito , and wrote Blood: The Last Vampire . Expect epic music, too-- Kenji Kawai, of Sorcerer Hunters , Sky Crawlers and Irresponsible Captain Tylor fame, is composing. Interestingly, Chika Umino, creator of Honey and Clover , is doing character design for the new series, so if it looks a bit familiar, that's why!

Summary: Awwww....everone loves cute little baby chickens, right? Especially when they have...facial hair... Notable: Romi Paku, Fullmetal Alchemist 's Ed Elric, is voicing the gruff little chicklet, titular Higepiyo. This will be the directorial debut for Atsushi Takeyama, who has acted as Director of Photography for Angelic Layer , episode director of Honey and Clover , and visual effects supervisor for the original Hellsing TV series.

Summary: Four girls decide to join their school's club for “light music” (orchestral arrangements of classic and popular music usually used for “mood music”) in order to try and save the club from being closed by the school. The only problem? Not a one of them has any experience with music outside of listening to it. Notable: This anime is based on a 4koma comic strip by Kakifly, although the art style looks more like Kyoto Animation's than the original's, I think. The lead character, Yui Hirasawa, is set to be voiced by Aki Toyosaki, also known as Minamike 's Yoshino. She's playing double duty with Hatsukoi Limited. as Koyoi. Hisako Yamada is also debuting as a director this season; past credits include episode directing the Lucky Star OVA and key animation on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Air .

Summary: Confession-- I know next to nothing about Beyblade . That said, I feel very comfortable saying that this anime will feature some kind of tournament in which a bunch of kids play Beyblades. Notable: New director on the franchise: Kunihisa Sugishima, who directed Nabari no Ou , Speed Grapher , and the original Strike Witches OVA. I am not making this up! I'm just not clever enough to come up with that kind of thing myself!

Summary: Ahh, it's such an old tale: boy meets girl while staying at his grandfather's place; girl is on the run from maniacs trying to drag her back to her home, so boy lets girl stay with him. Girl, of course, turns out to have mysterious powers and a mysterious past to match! Notable: Mmm, it's another delicious SHAFT x Akiyuki Shinbo mash-up-- this is the team that brought you Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei and Maria Holic . So it should be pretty funny, even if the story sounds a little...typical. Ryouko Shiraishi, who is also performing as Meguru in Hatsukoi Limited. this season, is voicing the supernatural girl, Arashi (“storm”). Joining her as male lead is Yuko Sanpei (Eureka Seven 's Renton) as Yasaka.

Summary: I have no idea what this anime is about, but that trailer is soooo pretty! *drools* ...Okay, okay, I'm lying. Here's the scoop: a wealthy young heir lives without his father, and then is suddenly thrown into an abyss on the day of his coming of age ceremony. He is saved by Alice, a blood-stained “black rabbit.” Naturally, he wants to figure out why the heck it's all happening to him. Notable: Junko Minagawa (ARIA 's Akira, Negima!? 's Ayaka) voices our young hero, Oz. Director Takao Kato has a long list of credits, including the Sorcerer Hunters OVA, To LoveRu , and Rockman.EXE . Good music here-- savage genius (El Cazador and Yozakura Quartet OP performers) are doing the ending theme, “Maze,” while Yuki Kajiura is composing the OP theme-- it's unclear at this point if it will be a FictionJunction release (i.e. Kajiura will compose and keyboard working with a separate singer).

Summary: When a man witnesses a murder-- and the identity of the top assassin of a mysterious organization –he's usually killed before he can spill the beans. Instead, the hero of Phantom has his memories removed so he can be brainwashed into becoming a high-level assassin himself. His new name is Zwei, and he works with the top assassin, “Phantom”...who is a young girl named Ein. Notable: The name Koichi Mashimo should sound familiar-- he's the director behind Noir , Madlax , El Cazador , and Irresponsible Captain Tylor . Zwei will be voiced by Miyu Irino (Gundam 00 's Saji Crossroad, Cross Game 's Kou Kitamura); Ayahi Takagaki (True Tears ' Noe, Gundam 00 's Feldt) will play Ein. Everyone's favorite-- ALI Project is performing the ED theme for Phantom .

Summary: Who cares about the story? It's Queen's Blade , the height of all things fanservice!...really, I wish I could tell you more, but I can't find a damn thing. Mostly because the website doesn't seem to have any actual information. Sorry. That said...fanservice, fanservice, fanservice is probably a safe bet. Notable: And don't worry that the anime will skimp on the fanservice. Director Kinji Yoshimoto is helming, and his past credits include producing the hentai G-Spot Express , character designing for the infamous La Blue Girl , and...Genshiken 2. Hm. Haruhi returns! Aya Hirano will lend her voice to Nanael, one of the leads of the series. And finally...I can't help but want to point out the very odd time slot of the series. Kids' shows often air on weekend mornings; more adult-oriented in the very late evenings...but 8am on Thursday is just odd .

Summary: This anime seeks out a very unusual demographic-- women who like older guys. The plot revolves around a girl named Nicoletta, whose life changes immensely when she moves to Rome. She gets herself apprenticed at a charming little restaurant staffed by a handful of charming older men. Notable: Director Mitsuko Kase is one of relatively few female anime directors out there. She also helmed Glass Maiden and SaiKano . Fumiko Orikasa (the new Riza Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist , Bleach 's Rukia) will voice Nicoletta. David production is a young company; they assisted on Code Geass . This will be their first TV series on their own; they're also working on the OVA Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark .

Summary: This isn't a mahjongg murder drama like Shion no Ou -- it's a wacky comedy featuring a young girl who hates the game because she's been forced to play it with her family all her life. In spite of this, the games taught her a unique skill: keeping her score perfectly 0, so that she doesn't win or lose. When the mahjongg club members at her school learn about it, though, she's forced to join up. Notable: Director Manabu Ono has tried his hand at several different types of anime, including Dragonaut and Transformers: Cybertron . Hopefully this will prove to be somewhat more successful than either of them. Saki is based on the manga of the same name by Ritz Kobayashi; it's still running in Square Enix's Young Gangan . Kana Ueda (Fate/Stay Night 's Rin Tohsaka, Maria-sama ga Miteru 's Yumi, Shigofumi 's Fumika) will voice the titular heroine Saki.

Summary: Based on the popular game series, Sengoku Basara features powerful fighters with cool character designs and amazing abilities, and doubtless some kind of plotline to thread them together. Of course, the primary characters are the same as the game: historical warlords Sanada Yukimura and Date Masamune. Oda Nobunaga also makes a cameo! Notable: The cast list is about the same as the original games, and you know what that means-- WAKAMOTOOOOO! Norio Wakamoto will voice the aforementioned Oda Nobunaga. Kazuya Nakai (Gintama 's Toujirou) will voice Date, and Souichiro Hoshi (Code Geass 's Gino) plays Sanada. Director Itsuro Kawasaki isn't unfamiliar with game adaptations-- he directed the Arc the Lad and Chrono Trigger anime as well. Mmm, delicious abingdon boys school-- the rock group will perform OP theme for the series.

Summary: In a “neo-futuristic” (their words, not mine!) world, the tower city of Atlas is home to the wealthy-- and to ancient secrets. A colorful cast of characters including, but not limited to a “riotous” teen girl, a little princess, a child genius, and a drag queen, investigate the matters. Notable: Range Murata, Mr. “Robot” himself, offers up the lush character designs for the series. That alone makes this one drool-worthy for me! Gonzo must be aware of Murata's appeal abroad-- they opened an English-language site for the anime as well as Japanese. Of course, it IS streaming on Crunchyroll along with its Japanese airing. Director Makoto Bessho is best known for helming the Ah! My Goddess movie (which I liked rather better than most of the TV series, personally) and Armitage: Dual Matrix .

Summary: This unique remake combines elements of the original Mazinger Z and its later re-imagining Z Mazinger . The original series features a Greece-based scientist named Dr. Hell who goes insane and kills off his entire research team-- except for Professor Kabuto, who flees to Japan and creates Mazinger Z to combat Dr. Hell. Z Mazinger remakes the series into Greek mythology, with various characters representing Greek gods. I'm not entirely sure how this will be mixed in the new series, but it should be interesting... Notable: ...At least in part because original creator Go Nagai is working on the project. Yay! Not to mention the involvement of director Yasuhiro Imagawa, director of Tetsujin-28 , Gin Rei , and Giant Robo . The new show will also feature an OP by JAM Project and several other artists: Tamio Okuda, Kazuyoshi Saitou, and LAZY.

Summary: The continued adventures of humans and spirits in the magical world of Polyphonica, where musicians known as Dantists command a special respect and are typically contracted to powerful magical spirits. The series follows the new Dantist Tatara Phoron, and his tsundere conctracted spirit Corticarte-- one of the oldest and most powerful spirits in the world. Notable: The first season's director Masami Shimoda gives way to new director Toshimasa Suzuki, best known for his work on Heroic Age . It'll be interesting to see what he does with a very different sort of series. Haruka Tomatsu ( To LoveRu 's Lala, Basquash! 's Misao) and Hiroshi Kamiya ( Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 's Itoshiki Nozomu, Gundam 00 's Tieria) return as Corticarte and Tatara, naturally. Also returning-- eufonius, the musical group who performed the first series' OP, will perform the second series' as well. They also did OPs for Kashimashi , Noein , and True Tears .

Summary: This historical drama revolves around China's Han Dynasty, a time of considerable political unrest. Cao Cao, the last chancellor of the Han Dynasty, is portrayed as the protagonist in this particular Romance of the Three Kingdoms tale (unlike most of them). He struggles to lead China into a new era of pragmatism, which puts him at odds with the idealistic Confucian philosophies of most of the country. Notable: This tale is based on the 36-volume manga which was originally written by Hagin Yi and drawn by King Gonta. However, Yi died in 1998, and Gonta picked up the story-- which didn't diminish the series' popularity significantly, it seems. It's unusual for director Toyou Ashida to fully direct a TV series-- he's worked as animation director or character design on many, but in the past has mostly directed OVAs and movies. These include, however, Fist of the North Star 's movie and the Vampire Hunter D OVA. Mamoru Miyano, the seiyuu superstar behind Gundam 00 's Setsuna and Death Note 's Light, returns as protagonist Cao Cao here.

Summary: Yuuri is a high school student and the son of a shrine-keeper. One day he and his friends come upon relics of the town's past (namely the town's protection god, Tayutayu) on their school campus, and before much longer a mysterious girl named Mashiro appears as a transfer student at the school. I need hardly tell you that she is somehow related to Tayutayu and the town's history. Notable: Based on an eroge of the same name, Tayutama features a hoarde of women, including the fox-like Mashiro (I mean that literally), pigtailed Ameri, shy Yumina, arrogant Mifuyu, and the tiny Nue. Director Keitarou is very familiar with moe shows: he helmed Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka , Amenaideyo!! 's sequel, and the infamous School Days . That said, this doesn't look like a show with beheading. Noriko Rikimaru, who voiced Nori in Rozen Maiden and Manaka in ToHeart2 , will play Mashiro, while Satoshi Hino (Shakugan no Shana 's Yuuji) will voice Yuuri. Oh, and Norio Wakamoto also makes an appearance!

Summary: I feel like I've been seeing promo stuff for this series for ages ! The story revolves around a girl named Rhiannon who accidentally releases a demon king who had been sealed for a thousand years...so they travel together. Aww! Note that the trailer above is actually omake from the game, but I think it'll give a decent sense of what the animation will look like. Notable: Tears to Tiara is an adaptation of an eroge (or rather, the PS3 version was rated 12+, and the PC version was 18+). But not just any dating sim-- it was a tactical RPG with a fantasy setting. This is director Tomoki Kobayashi's first outing as director on a TV series; he's episode-directed a number of them and also directed the Ichigo 100% OVA. Yuuko Gotou, miss Mikuru herself, will be voicing Rhiannon, while her demon king Arawn will be played by Tooru Ookawa (Fullmetal Alchemist 's first Roy Mustang, Ghost in the Shell 's Saito).

Summary: Set in a slightly altered version of 1930s Europe, Welkin Gunther returns home to take his sister to a safe place, only to find himself forced to fight for his life (and hers) when the town his attacked. He allies with Alicia Melchiott, the captain of the town watch, and the two (and Welkin's sister) escape to the nation's capitol. There, Alicia and Welkin join the nation's military to protect their world. Notable: Based, of course, on the popular (but not as popular as it should be) tactical RPG, the game features its own 3D anime cutscenes. The anime, of course, will be 2D. And Alicia has had a slight upgrade in the chest department. Speaking of Alicia, she's voiced by one of my favorite seiyuu, Marina Inoue-- Skip Beat 's Kyouko and Gurren Lagann 's Yoko. Welkin is voiced by Susumu Chiba, who you may have heard as Gintama 's Isao or Vampire Knight 's Ichijou. Finally, director Yasutaka Yamamoto: it's his directorial debut. He seems to have risen fairly quickly, having only directed episodes of xxxHOLiC Kei and Big Windup! before. Let's hope that means he's a genius.