Credit to Branduil for anything that I was too lazy to change.
---
Simulcast Schedule
Sunday
CR,DS,HL - Magi: The Kingdom of Magic - 1:30am PST
FN - Space Dandy - 6:00am PST
CR, FN - Nobunagun - 7:00am PST
FN - Noragami - 8:00am PST
CR - Wizard Barristers - 10:00am PST
CR - Saki - The Nationals - 10:30am PST
CR - Tonari no Seki-kun- 11:00am PST
CR - Nobunaga the Fool - 12:15pm PST
Monday
CR - Bottom Biting Bug - 3:00am PST
GU - Gundam Build Fighters - 4:00am PST
CR - The Pilot's Love Song - 7:00am PST
CR - Super Sonico - 9:00am PST
CR - Yowamushi Pedal - 11:00am PST
FN - Buddy Complex - 7:00pm PST
CR - Toriko - 11:00pm PST
Tuesday
CR - Hamatora - 10:00am PST
FN - Tokyo Ravens - 10:00am PST
CR - Hunter x Hunter - 11:00am PST
CR - Wooser’s Hand-to-Mouth Life: Awakening Arc - 11:00am PST
Wednesday
CR - Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! REN - 9:30am PST
CR - Witch Craft Works - 11:15am PST
CR - Onee-chan ga Kita - 12:00pm PST
CR - Phi Brain Season 3 - 12:00pm PST
CR - Saint Seiya Omega - 12:00pm PST
FN - Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
FN - Maken-ki! Two
Thursday
CR - Naruto Shippuden 3:00am PST
CR - Mikakunin - 6:45am PST
CR - Nagi no Asukara - 8:00am PST
CR - Strange+ - 9:30am PST
CR,DS? - Silver Spoon - 9:50am PST
CR,DS,HL - Kill la Kill - 10:30am PST
CR - Samurai Flamenco - 10:30am PST
CR - Z/X Ignition - 10:50am PST
CR - Hoozuki no Reitetsu - 11:00am PST
CR - Golden Time - 12:30pm PST
CR - Mahou Sensou - 12:30pm PST
CR - Pupa - 12:30pm PST
Friday
CR - Sakura Trick - 9:00am PST
CR - Wake Up, Girls! - 10:30am PST
CR - Strike the Blood - 11:00am PST
YT - Future Card Buddyfight - 3:30pm PST
Saturday
CR - Space Brothers - 6:30am PST
CR- Recently, My Sister is Unusual - 8:00am PST
CR, AP, DS? - Nisekoi - 9:00am PST
CR, AP, DS? - World Conquest Zvezda Plot - 9:30am PST
CR - Seitokai Yakuindomo* - 10:00am PST
CR - Hajime No Ippo: The Fighting! - 11:00am PST
CR - Kuroko's Basketball 2 - 11:30am PST
CR - Ace of the Diamond - 5:30pm PST
CR - Folktales from Japan - 5:30pm PST
CR - One Piece - 6:00pm PST
CR - Cardfight!! Vanguard Link Joker - 6:30pm PST
Legend:
CR = Crunchyroll
VZ = Viz Anime
FN = Funimation
DS = Daisuki
HL = Hulu
GU = Gundam.info
AP = AniplexUSA
YT = Youtube.com
(regional streaming restrictions may apply)
---
TV Line-up
Space☆Dandy
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Animation Production: BONES
Opening Date: 1/4
Official Site: http://www.space-dandy.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoZ2udQkr3c
Five episodes in and opinion is split on exactly how entertaining Space Dandy is, which is just another reminder that hype makes no promises. It is easily one of the best-animated shows in recent memory, but given the staff pedigree involved and freedom afforded to each episode director, the refinement of its comedy and creativity of its scenarios come up lacking. There are flashes of something "greater", but more often than not it relies on doofusy slapstick and basic pervert humor rather than genuine absurdism. Still one of the better shows of the season.
Recently, My Sister is Unusual
Director: Hiroyuki Hata
Animation Production: Project No.9
Opening Date: 1/4
Official Site: http://imocyo-anime.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpLDtLLWyL4
The imouto genre reaches new lows of depravity. Do you have or fantasize about having a little sister? Do you get an erection just by thinking about her? Do you like rape? Do you have a pissing fetish? If so, for the sake of public safety I sincerely hope you're incarcerated/institutionalized, in which case you probably don't have access to Crunchyroll anyway, so forget I said anything.
Buddy Complex
Director: Yasuhiro Tanabe
Animation Production: Sunrise
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://buddy-complex.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Y5PEEmwQw
Calling this babby's first mecha is giving it too much credit. Sunrise continues its fruitless struggle to establish a successful new mecha IP, this time applying the impeccable logic that their new attempt needs to be less original and creative than their previous attempt.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions II: Chuu Harder
Director: Tatsuya Ishihara
Animation Production: KyoAni
Opening Date: 1/8
Official Site: http://www.anime-chu-2.com/tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZZgn8xNdJs
Everyone's favorite anime that fetishizes autism returns, this time with no pesky conflict or drama to get in the way of Utah's social consequence-free weeb LARPing, because, like adulthood and responsibilities are just, like, social constructs that limit our ability to be our, like, inner anime character, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang.
D-Frag
Director: Seiki Sugawara
Animation Production: Brains Base
Opening Date: 1/6
Official Site: http://www.d-fragments.net/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0NzWpD4Hvg
This is just Brains Base's next stepping stone on the path to Baccano! S2. This is just Brains Base's next stepping stone on the path to Baccano! S2. This is just Brains Base's next stepping stone on the path to Baccapfffffffffahahahhahfhahfhahahahahafhahfashfkhaahh.
Silver Spoon
Director: Kotomi Deai
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.ginsaji-anime.com/
Silver Spoon returns to noitaminA to take the bad taste out of our mouths left behind by Galilei Donna.
Hamatora the Animation
Director: Seiji Kishi
Animation Production: NAZ
Opening Date: 1/7
Official Site: http://hamatorapj.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgG2mbdxyrA
K meets Un-Go, or in actual terms people can understand since only a pitiable few have seen both of those, the rainbow-blasted fusion of Un-Go's shoddy, corner-cutting detective fiction and K's ultra-hip hippity-dip urban aesthetic. I wouldn't still be watching this, but the antagonist--a mad scientist with a love of tiki torches, pseud speeches on HUMAN NATURE, and a sexual attraction to brains in jars who looks like Rin from Free!--is so unbelievably corny that I can't help myself.
Cool-headed Hoozuki
Director: Hiro Kaburaki
Animation Production: Wit Studio
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.hozukino-reitetsu.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZHTHUWcL0
Reitetsu has an impressive visual style that resembles traditional Japanese artwork depicting the underworld, but much of the humor is completely impenetrable to cultural outsiders. Some viewers continue to be sufficiently amused by it so try it for yourself.
Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
Director: Toru Takahashi
Animation Production: Production IMS
Opening Date: 1/15
Official Site: http://inarikonkon.jp/
The entertaining adventures of a shrine maiden girl and a somewhat neurotic cat lady of a fox goddess who gives the girl the power to
. It's actually quite good and the central conteit is used to great effect. If you tried Gingitsune and couldn't stomach it, you may be much better served by this.
Magical Warfare
Director: Yuzo Sato
Animation Production: Madhouse
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/mahosen/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTg8bgMga5U
[THIS REVIEW SPACE AVAILABLE FOR LEASE. CONTACT ME VIA PM FOR HOURLY, WEEKLY, AND MONTHLY RATES]
Maken-Ki! Two
Director: Hiraku Kaneko
Animation Production: Xebec
Opening Date: 1/16
Official Site: http://maken-ki-two.com/ NSFW
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Ypf_Sl6Wo NSFW
Lame softcore featuring grotesque mutations of what at one time may have been human females. Where is Hentai Miyazaki to make the procalamation that hentai artists need to observe real women?
Mikakunin de Shinkoukei
Director: Yoshiyuki Fujiwara
Animation Production: Dogakobo
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://mikakunin.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g30-vTU-IIo
Don't get your hopes up from the trailer. The shrill, precocious loli and the protagonist's sister constantly plotting to molest her ruin what otherwise could have been a pleasant romcom.
Nisekoi
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Animation Production: SHAFT
Opening Date: 1/11
Official Site: http://www.nisekoi.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImaD8AbGUE
SHAFT's trademark visual techniques actually complement this romcom, giving life and flavor to the awkwardness and panic of
. Nisekoi's story is apparently "infamous" according to manga readers, so be ready for anything.
Nobunaga the Fool
Director: Eiichi Sato
Series Composition: Shoji Kawamori
Animation Production: Satelight
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://www.nobunaga.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1jXxiLDn1k
This is sort of a throwback to a kind of terrible-but-sincere sci-fi drama anime that just don't exist anymore (many of which were also, not coincidentally, produced by Satelight.) It's kind of ugly and stupid, but damn it if it isn't trying to be something. If you have a soft spot for stuff like Kiss Dum, Glass Fleet, and Fafner, you might actually perversely enjoy this.
Nobunagun
Director: Nobuhiro Kondo
Animation Production: Bridge
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://www.vap.co.jp/nobunagun/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqzo7tvEj6A
Nobunaga is indeed a gun in this, but the first few episodes have made it clear that it just doesn't have the budget or directorial vision necessary to adapt the concept for the animated medium with the relentless bombast that it needs. As it stands, it's just the poor man's Symphogear.
Noragami
Director: Kotaro Tamura
Animation Production: BONES
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://noragami-anime.net/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpFjMtWTmsY
The superior BONES show this season. Strong direction, good comedy, aesthetic cohesion, and a superior OST elevate a pretty average shounen story about battling evil spirits into something great. Watch it!
Nourin
Director: Shin Oonuma
Animation Production: Silver Link
Opening Date: 1/11
Official Site: http://www.no-rin.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYtwYijnZxk
This managed to hit just about every bad LN trope in the book in a single episode so I didn't watch past that. Hopefully someone just compiles all of the scenes with the Christmas Cake teacher and uploads it to youtube.
Romantica Clock
Opening Date: 2/4
Wait, is this even airing?
Saki Zenkoku-hen
Director: Manabu Ono
Animation Production: Studio Gokumi
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://saki-anime.com/
I swear I'll get to nopan mahjong lesbians someday, but, yknow, that whole learning to play mahjong thing gets in the way.
Sakura Trick
Director: Ken'ichi Ishikura
Animation Production: DEEN
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/sakura/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHxwu_Ak5GY
Possibly for you if you can get hard watching kittens frolick with each other, because that's the only way that I can describe the "lesbian romance" in Sakura Trick.
Seitokai Yakuindomo*
Director: Makoto Nakamura
Animation Production: GoHands
Opening Date: 1/4
Official Site: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/seitokai/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB6_wMkg0lU
I never watched S1 but apparently they're still finding new jokes about dildoes and semen to keep the fans laughing, so I guess check it out if you like gross-out sex comedies.
Sekai Seifuku ~ Bōryaku no Zvezda
Director: Tensai Okamura
Original Character Design: Kouhaku Kuroboshi
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Opening Date: 1/11
Official Site: http://www.sekaiseifuku-zzz.com/
Trailer: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7xo9gYv3Ab8Rk1zZzhQcFFicEU/preview?pli=1
This comic in application.
SoniAni -Super Sonico the Animation-
Director: Kenichi Kawamura
Animation Production: WHITE FOX
Opening Date: 1/6
Official Site: http://soniani.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJqYhUxQjg
This is the sadness-tinged tale of a girl who simultaneously juggles three jobs and degrades herself for lustful men with money just to be able to afford her dead-end marine biology course at the local community college and to keep her cats fed. Born with malformed ears that impair her hearing, she still aspires to be a guitarist and simultaneously navigates several social circles, but she can only open her heart and her home to animals, whose nonverbal communication makes her feel truly at ease.
Too young to cope with the ennui and stress of unending responsibility and toil, she spends what little free time she has eating rich desserts from chic patisseries, putting her at odds with a culture that fiercely rejects overindulgence and endangering the commoditization of her body that she relies on to support her lifestyle. How will she balance all of these conflicting considerations and achieve her dream of breaking onto the Japanese pop music scene with her all-girl band?
Especially when her manager is Japanese Sweet Tooth?
Strange+
Director: Takashi Nishikawa
Animation Production: Seven
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.dreamcreation.co.jp/stpl/ NSFW
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAZ6kSyUf-E
2Strange4Me.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
Director: Toshimasa Suzuki
Animation Production: TMS Entertainment
Opening Date: 1/6
Official Site: http://koiuta.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmI3TnFHKPo
Stolen from Branduil:
Wake Up, Girls!
Director: Yutaka Yamamoto
Animation Production: Ordet
Opening Date: 1/10
Official Site: http://wakeupgirls.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-CZKcRRPE
In a year where idol shows have risen above merely being a curious novelty to be poked with sticks from a safe distance by viewers perversely engrossed by this creepy, sexually-stunted, purity-obsessed subculture, Yamakan still manages to make one that stymies everyone on the question of whether or not it's glorifying or criticizing this creepiness. That would be an impressive feat in and of itself if anyone could actually bring themselves to believe that it was intentional and not simply Yamakan's usual laughable ineptitude.
Witch Craft Works
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://www.witch-cw-anime.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA3CLxPX-VY
This is very much a sudden magical girlfriend show with lots of high school and "anime magic" elements. I couldn't handle the anime tropez for more than two episodes, but I also recognize that it had good qualities like some whimsical visuals and good gags that, depending on your own tastes and tolerances, might result in an entertaining product.
Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil
Director: Yasuomi Umetsu
Animation Production: ARMS
Opening Date: 1/12
Official Site: http://wizardbarristers.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxx2pnBKHes
I really, really want to like Wizard Barristers. It has some cool concepts (LAWYERS THAT DEFEND MAGICAL CRIMINALS IN WIZARD COURT?!? DUUUUUUUUDE), solid production values, NORIO WAKAMOTO AS A FUKKEN TALKING FROG
, and ferromancer Canadian girls on mopeds, but when the concept meets execution, it's kind of uneven. Everything outside of the courtroom ranges from decent to great and I love the show's eccentric supporting cast and pleasantly garish color palette, but the actual legal component is sort of a mess, and trials suffer a near-total absence of procedure, logic, believable cross-examination, and some really hamfisted messages on discrimination and judicial hypocrisy. Especially after Galilei Donna's final episode resulted in the worst depiction of a courtroom trial in the entire history of fiction, Umetsu might just want to abandon doing anything with courts altogether.
I still recommend trying it, but only so long as you go in with the expectation that it sort of tries and fails to be Fantasy Anime Law and Order and ends up as something else entirely. Some including myself refer to it as a kind of lost 90s OVA.
Z/X IGNITION
Director: Yuji Yamaguchi
Animation Production: Nippon Ichi Software
Opening Date: 1/10
Official Site: http://zxignition.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5gQ2NOpe7Q
Ugly, cliched, and enough shaky cam to kill a baby. Don't be fooled into thinking that this will scratch your Yu-Gi-Oh itch because it's more like a super ghetto version of Digimon with military weapons and magical turf warz.
(cont'd)
---
Simulcast Schedule
Sunday
CR,DS,HL - Magi: The Kingdom of Magic - 1:30am PST
FN - Space Dandy - 6:00am PST
CR, FN - Nobunagun - 7:00am PST
FN - Noragami - 8:00am PST
CR - Wizard Barristers - 10:00am PST
CR - Saki - The Nationals - 10:30am PST
CR - Tonari no Seki-kun- 11:00am PST
CR - Nobunaga the Fool - 12:15pm PST
Monday
CR - Bottom Biting Bug - 3:00am PST
GU - Gundam Build Fighters - 4:00am PST
CR - The Pilot's Love Song - 7:00am PST
CR - Super Sonico - 9:00am PST
CR - Yowamushi Pedal - 11:00am PST
FN - Buddy Complex - 7:00pm PST
CR - Toriko - 11:00pm PST
Tuesday
CR - Hamatora - 10:00am PST
FN - Tokyo Ravens - 10:00am PST
CR - Hunter x Hunter - 11:00am PST
CR - Wooser’s Hand-to-Mouth Life: Awakening Arc - 11:00am PST
Wednesday
CR - Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! REN - 9:30am PST
CR - Witch Craft Works - 11:15am PST
CR - Onee-chan ga Kita - 12:00pm PST
CR - Phi Brain Season 3 - 12:00pm PST
CR - Saint Seiya Omega - 12:00pm PST
FN - Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
FN - Maken-ki! Two
Thursday
CR - Naruto Shippuden 3:00am PST
CR - Mikakunin - 6:45am PST
CR - Nagi no Asukara - 8:00am PST
CR - Strange+ - 9:30am PST
CR,DS? - Silver Spoon - 9:50am PST
CR,DS,HL - Kill la Kill - 10:30am PST
CR - Samurai Flamenco - 10:30am PST
CR - Z/X Ignition - 10:50am PST
CR - Hoozuki no Reitetsu - 11:00am PST
CR - Golden Time - 12:30pm PST
CR - Mahou Sensou - 12:30pm PST
CR - Pupa - 12:30pm PST
Friday
CR - Sakura Trick - 9:00am PST
CR - Wake Up, Girls! - 10:30am PST
CR - Strike the Blood - 11:00am PST
YT - Future Card Buddyfight - 3:30pm PST
Saturday
CR - Space Brothers - 6:30am PST
CR- Recently, My Sister is Unusual - 8:00am PST
CR, AP, DS? - Nisekoi - 9:00am PST
CR, AP, DS? - World Conquest Zvezda Plot - 9:30am PST
CR - Seitokai Yakuindomo* - 10:00am PST
CR - Hajime No Ippo: The Fighting! - 11:00am PST
CR - Kuroko's Basketball 2 - 11:30am PST
CR - Ace of the Diamond - 5:30pm PST
CR - Folktales from Japan - 5:30pm PST
CR - One Piece - 6:00pm PST
CR - Cardfight!! Vanguard Link Joker - 6:30pm PST
Legend:
CR = Crunchyroll
VZ = Viz Anime
FN = Funimation
DS = Daisuki
HL = Hulu
GU = Gundam.info
AP = AniplexUSA
YT = Youtube.com
(regional streaming restrictions may apply)
---
TV Line-up
Space☆Dandy
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Animation Production: BONES
Opening Date: 1/4
Official Site: http://www.space-dandy.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoZ2udQkr3c
Five episodes in and opinion is split on exactly how entertaining Space Dandy is, which is just another reminder that hype makes no promises. It is easily one of the best-animated shows in recent memory, but given the staff pedigree involved and freedom afforded to each episode director, the refinement of its comedy and creativity of its scenarios come up lacking. There are flashes of something "greater", but more often than not it relies on doofusy slapstick and basic pervert humor rather than genuine absurdism. Still one of the better shows of the season.
Recently, My Sister is Unusual
Director: Hiroyuki Hata
Animation Production: Project No.9
Opening Date: 1/4
Official Site: http://imocyo-anime.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpLDtLLWyL4
The imouto genre reaches new lows of depravity. Do you have or fantasize about having a little sister? Do you get an erection just by thinking about her? Do you like rape? Do you have a pissing fetish? If so, for the sake of public safety I sincerely hope you're incarcerated/institutionalized, in which case you probably don't have access to Crunchyroll anyway, so forget I said anything.
Buddy Complex
Director: Yasuhiro Tanabe
Animation Production: Sunrise
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://buddy-complex.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Y5PEEmwQw
Calling this babby's first mecha is giving it too much credit. Sunrise continues its fruitless struggle to establish a successful new mecha IP, this time applying the impeccable logic that their new attempt needs to be less original and creative than their previous attempt.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions II: Chuu Harder
Director: Tatsuya Ishihara
Animation Production: KyoAni
Opening Date: 1/8
Official Site: http://www.anime-chu-2.com/tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZZgn8xNdJs
Everyone's favorite anime that fetishizes autism returns, this time with no pesky conflict or drama to get in the way of Utah's social consequence-free weeb LARPing, because, like adulthood and responsibilities are just, like, social constructs that limit our ability to be our, like, inner anime character, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang.
D-Frag
Director: Seiki Sugawara
Animation Production: Brains Base
Opening Date: 1/6
Official Site: http://www.d-fragments.net/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0NzWpD4Hvg
This is just Brains Base's next stepping stone on the path to Baccano! S2. This is just Brains Base's next stepping stone on the path to Baccano! S2. This is just Brains Base's next stepping stone on the path to Baccapfffffffffahahahhahfhahfhahahahahafhahfashfkhaahh.
Silver Spoon
Director: Kotomi Deai
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.ginsaji-anime.com/
Silver Spoon returns to noitaminA to take the bad taste out of our mouths left behind by Galilei Donna.
Hamatora the Animation
Director: Seiji Kishi
Animation Production: NAZ
Opening Date: 1/7
Official Site: http://hamatorapj.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgG2mbdxyrA
K meets Un-Go, or in actual terms people can understand since only a pitiable few have seen both of those, the rainbow-blasted fusion of Un-Go's shoddy, corner-cutting detective fiction and K's ultra-hip hippity-dip urban aesthetic. I wouldn't still be watching this, but the antagonist--a mad scientist with a love of tiki torches, pseud speeches on HUMAN NATURE, and a sexual attraction to brains in jars who looks like Rin from Free!--is so unbelievably corny that I can't help myself.
Cool-headed Hoozuki
Director: Hiro Kaburaki
Animation Production: Wit Studio
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.hozukino-reitetsu.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZHTHUWcL0
Reitetsu has an impressive visual style that resembles traditional Japanese artwork depicting the underworld, but much of the humor is completely impenetrable to cultural outsiders. Some viewers continue to be sufficiently amused by it so try it for yourself.
Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha
Director: Toru Takahashi
Animation Production: Production IMS
Opening Date: 1/15
Official Site: http://inarikonkon.jp/
The entertaining adventures of a shrine maiden girl and a somewhat neurotic cat lady of a fox goddess who gives the girl the power to
transform into whoever she wishes
Magical Warfare
Director: Yuzo Sato
Animation Production: Madhouse
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/mahosen/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTg8bgMga5U
[THIS REVIEW SPACE AVAILABLE FOR LEASE. CONTACT ME VIA PM FOR HOURLY, WEEKLY, AND MONTHLY RATES]
Maken-Ki! Two
Director: Hiraku Kaneko
Animation Production: Xebec
Opening Date: 1/16
Official Site: http://maken-ki-two.com/ NSFW
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Ypf_Sl6Wo NSFW
Lame softcore featuring grotesque mutations of what at one time may have been human females. Where is Hentai Miyazaki to make the procalamation that hentai artists need to observe real women?
Mikakunin de Shinkoukei
Director: Yoshiyuki Fujiwara
Animation Production: Dogakobo
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://mikakunin.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g30-vTU-IIo
Don't get your hopes up from the trailer. The shrill, precocious loli and the protagonist's sister constantly plotting to molest her ruin what otherwise could have been a pleasant romcom.
Nisekoi
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Animation Production: SHAFT
Opening Date: 1/11
Official Site: http://www.nisekoi.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImaD8AbGUE
SHAFT's trademark visual techniques actually complement this romcom, giving life and flavor to the awkwardness and panic of
a boy and girl who dislike each other forced to pretend to be lovers to prevent a yakuza gang war between their parents
Nobunaga the Fool
Director: Eiichi Sato
Series Composition: Shoji Kawamori
Animation Production: Satelight
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://www.nobunaga.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1jXxiLDn1k
This is sort of a throwback to a kind of terrible-but-sincere sci-fi drama anime that just don't exist anymore (many of which were also, not coincidentally, produced by Satelight.) It's kind of ugly and stupid, but damn it if it isn't trying to be something. If you have a soft spot for stuff like Kiss Dum, Glass Fleet, and Fafner, you might actually perversely enjoy this.
Nobunagun
Director: Nobuhiro Kondo
Animation Production: Bridge
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://www.vap.co.jp/nobunagun/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqzo7tvEj6A
Nobunaga is indeed a gun in this, but the first few episodes have made it clear that it just doesn't have the budget or directorial vision necessary to adapt the concept for the animated medium with the relentless bombast that it needs. As it stands, it's just the poor man's Symphogear.
Noragami
Director: Kotaro Tamura
Animation Production: BONES
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://noragami-anime.net/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpFjMtWTmsY
The superior BONES show this season. Strong direction, good comedy, aesthetic cohesion, and a superior OST elevate a pretty average shounen story about battling evil spirits into something great. Watch it!
Nourin
Director: Shin Oonuma
Animation Production: Silver Link
Opening Date: 1/11
Official Site: http://www.no-rin.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYtwYijnZxk
This managed to hit just about every bad LN trope in the book in a single episode so I didn't watch past that. Hopefully someone just compiles all of the scenes with the Christmas Cake teacher and uploads it to youtube.
Romantica Clock
Opening Date: 2/4
Wait, is this even airing?
Saki Zenkoku-hen
Director: Manabu Ono
Animation Production: Studio Gokumi
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://saki-anime.com/
I swear I'll get to nopan mahjong lesbians someday, but, yknow, that whole learning to play mahjong thing gets in the way.
Sakura Trick
Director: Ken'ichi Ishikura
Animation Production: DEEN
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/sakura/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHxwu_Ak5GY
Possibly for you if you can get hard watching kittens frolick with each other, because that's the only way that I can describe the "lesbian romance" in Sakura Trick.
Seitokai Yakuindomo*
Director: Makoto Nakamura
Animation Production: GoHands
Opening Date: 1/4
Official Site: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/seitokai/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB6_wMkg0lU
I never watched S1 but apparently they're still finding new jokes about dildoes and semen to keep the fans laughing, so I guess check it out if you like gross-out sex comedies.
Sekai Seifuku ~ Bōryaku no Zvezda
Director: Tensai Okamura
Original Character Design: Kouhaku Kuroboshi
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Opening Date: 1/11
Official Site: http://www.sekaiseifuku-zzz.com/
Trailer: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7xo9gYv3Ab8Rk1zZzhQcFFicEU/preview?pli=1
This comic in application.
SoniAni -Super Sonico the Animation-
Director: Kenichi Kawamura
Animation Production: WHITE FOX
Opening Date: 1/6
Official Site: http://soniani.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJqYhUxQjg
This is the sadness-tinged tale of a girl who simultaneously juggles three jobs and degrades herself for lustful men with money just to be able to afford her dead-end marine biology course at the local community college and to keep her cats fed. Born with malformed ears that impair her hearing, she still aspires to be a guitarist and simultaneously navigates several social circles, but she can only open her heart and her home to animals, whose nonverbal communication makes her feel truly at ease.
Too young to cope with the ennui and stress of unending responsibility and toil, she spends what little free time she has eating rich desserts from chic patisseries, putting her at odds with a culture that fiercely rejects overindulgence and endangering the commoditization of her body that she relies on to support her lifestyle. How will she balance all of these conflicting considerations and achieve her dream of breaking onto the Japanese pop music scene with her all-girl band?
Especially when her manager is Japanese Sweet Tooth?
Strange+
Director: Takashi Nishikawa
Animation Production: Seven
Opening Date: 1/9
Official Site: http://www.dreamcreation.co.jp/stpl/ NSFW
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAZ6kSyUf-E
2Strange4Me.
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
Director: Toshimasa Suzuki
Animation Production: TMS Entertainment
Opening Date: 1/6
Official Site: http://koiuta.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmI3TnFHKPo
Stolen from Branduil:
Apparently this is a prequel to The Princess and the Pilot, a movie nobody watched besides me. It wasn't exactly a good movie, but it might have potential. Too bad all the dogfighting looks to be in ugly CGI.
Wake Up, Girls!
Director: Yutaka Yamamoto
Animation Production: Ordet
Opening Date: 1/10
Official Site: http://wakeupgirls.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-CZKcRRPE
In a year where idol shows have risen above merely being a curious novelty to be poked with sticks from a safe distance by viewers perversely engrossed by this creepy, sexually-stunted, purity-obsessed subculture, Yamakan still manages to make one that stymies everyone on the question of whether or not it's glorifying or criticizing this creepiness. That would be an impressive feat in and of itself if anyone could actually bring themselves to believe that it was intentional and not simply Yamakan's usual laughable ineptitude.
Witch Craft Works
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Opening Date: 1/5
Official Site: http://www.witch-cw-anime.jp/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA3CLxPX-VY
This is very much a sudden magical girlfriend show with lots of high school and "anime magic" elements. I couldn't handle the anime tropez for more than two episodes, but I also recognize that it had good qualities like some whimsical visuals and good gags that, depending on your own tastes and tolerances, might result in an entertaining product.
Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil
Director: Yasuomi Umetsu
Animation Production: ARMS
Opening Date: 1/12
Official Site: http://wizardbarristers.com/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxx2pnBKHes
I really, really want to like Wizard Barristers. It has some cool concepts (LAWYERS THAT DEFEND MAGICAL CRIMINALS IN WIZARD COURT?!? DUUUUUUUUDE), solid production values, NORIO WAKAMOTO AS A FUKKEN TALKING FROG
-bon
I still recommend trying it, but only so long as you go in with the expectation that it sort of tries and fails to be Fantasy Anime Law and Order and ends up as something else entirely. Some including myself refer to it as a kind of lost 90s OVA.
Z/X IGNITION
Director: Yuji Yamaguchi
Animation Production: Nippon Ichi Software
Opening Date: 1/10
Official Site: http://zxignition.tv/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5gQ2NOpe7Q
Ugly, cliched, and enough shaky cam to kill a baby. Don't be fooled into thinking that this will scratch your Yu-Gi-Oh itch because it's more like a super ghetto version of Digimon with military weapons and magical turf warz.
(cont'd)