Spring 2013 Anime Season Preview

So as the 2013 winter anime season draws to a close we begin to look forward to the spring season, one that has numerous interesting series, and a few that look to be potentially fascinating but I have yet to make up my mind on. I have to admit that I never really look into a new season until just before it begins, I also rarely watch the preview videos because I have yet to watch one that really demonstrated clearly what the series would be like. Instead I simply prefer to base my initial viewing off of the art, synopsis, and any other material that might be about such as manga adaptations, or original source etc. It is also very hard to really come up with a clear understanding or any real idea of what the season will be like purely based off of the series previews and ploy synopses. You can get a general idea of what a series may involve based on artwork and description, but from past seasons, and years there are always those hidden gems that at first look dull, boring and generally flat but turn into something that is truly wonderful. In a similar vein, there are series that start off well, but ultimately lose their way and become disappointments despite the talent and ability behind them.

There are quite a few Light Novel adaptations in the coming season, like with every season – hardly surprising considering the immense popularity of manga and light novels in Japan when compared to anime. I have never really had a problem with light novel adaptations, so I am reasonably looking forward to Date A Live, Photo Kano, Hararaku Maou-sama, Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko, and Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru. We also have the second season of Ore no Imouto ga Konnari Kawaii Wake ga Nai, and Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride – I know many will dismiss such series, but I certainly enjoyed the first seasons, although with Hyakka Ryouran, it had a terrible, entirely unsatisfactory ending, so I hope that this second season will at least change that somewhat. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge on the other hand is a completely made series, with the manga pushing things up to 11 much like Mirai Nikki, so I am certainly looking forward to seeing how that anime has been adapted. Similarly, Devil Survivor 2 and Aku no Hana look really rather interesting – I have never played the Devil Survivor game, but I have read the Aku no Hana manga, and it is pretty warped.

Red Data Girl also looks rather fascinating, interesting to see how this series that involves elements of Shintoism when compared to Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (a series that I found so utterly and monumentally dull that it was dropped within three episodes). P. A. Works have produced some wonderful series in recent years, with Hanasaku Iroha being one of my favourites of 2011. So with that in mind, and having the same character designer on the team for this series I hope it will be entertaining and fascinating.  I also have a bit of a soft sport for reverse-harem, particularly those that are played as camp as possible. Uta no Prince-sama – Maji Love 1000% was one of those special series that was so utterly camp and ridiculous it was absolutely brilliant on every level. The characters were fun to watch, especially Shining Saotome, a character that brought a huge grin to my face whenever he appeared. It was simply one of those utterly over the top and ridiculous series that is enjoyable to watch. So I am clearly looking forward to the second installment of the series, coming in the form of Uta no Prince-sama – Maji Love 2000%, with twice the fun if the title is anything to be believed. We also have Karneval, an interesting looking series, although I have only glanced at the manga – I must admit that while I am not entirely sure about this series, the plot synopsis, and my brief glances at the manga do intrigue me, so I will certainly give this series a chance.

Shingeki no Kyojin is one of those rather interesting series that is based on a critically acclaimed manga essentially about the end of humanity. Based several hundred years in the future, we see humanity having to live behind massive walls because of the ever-present danger of giants called titans whose sole purpose in life appears to be devouring humans. The manga itself is rather fascinating in its depiction of the continuing struggle for survival while also trying to work out what these titans are and why they are trying to wipe out humanity. The central character of the story Eren is rather interesting and has certain unique abilities that help him in his own quest to protect humanity and discover where the titan’s come from. I very much like the manga’s aesthetic, with numerous devices that have a very steampunkesque look. There are lots of mysteries about the titans, and about Eren himself, who seems to have a mysterious link to these devastating humanoid beasts. Overall it looks like a fascinating story and I do hope it has been adapted well. I am also very much looking forward to Haiyore Nyaruko-san W – the more Nyaruko the better basically – especially if she brings more unspeakable bar things. Then of course we have the second Railgun series – Railgun has always been the series that Index wanted to be, the story is concise and the characters are all very interesting.

And now we get onto the mecha series with Kakumeiki Valvrave and Suisei no Gargantia – I am not a massive mecha fan like some, but I do like a good mech series if it is pulled off properly (aka, Aquarion EVOL). Valverave is basically high school in space while piloting robots, something I have no issues with, and I am certainly looking forward too based on the mecha designs. The series I am unsure of however is Suisei no Gargantia. As many who have at least seen my tweets or read a few of my blog posts may no, I am not the biggest fan of Urobuchi Gen, finding his writing pretentious, longwinded, and generally lacking interesting characters and story. He is someone who comes up with fascinating settings, but proceeds to generally ruin them for me, and basically turn them into fairly boring stories where characters get killed in generally gruesome ways. So, with this in mind I am not entirely sure about Suisei no Gargantia, although I am willing to give it a look, partly because it is an original series by Production I. G. (although we all know how Guilty Crown turned out), and because I like the character designs and the plot synopsis. My hope is that it will be a good series and that maybe there is more control over Urobuchi’s tendency to put massive quotes from whatever book he has been reading that week into his script, time will tell. And then we have the rest, series that I am not entirely sure about, but will give them a cursory glance and perhaps even watch the first three episodes to see if I enjoy them. I like to do this, because as I mentioned earlier, I have found numerous entertaining anime that I might not have watched based purely on the description, simply by watching the series and giving it a chance. All in all, quite an interesting season actually.