Posts Tagged ‘xebec’

After the first week, it’s easy to understand why everyone would lose a little excitement for the rest of the month but come on everyone, there’s still so much good stuff to look forward to! Featured in the last two weeks of the summer season are the returns of Strike Witches and Sengoku Basara and the much talked about premiere of Shiki. How can you not be excited? Asobi ni Iku Yo? Alright yeah good point.

So here it is, the last installment of the summer season preview! I know that in part 1 I said I’d be splitting this into three parts but I’d rather just get this all done in one swoop.

Strike Witches 2
Studio: AIC
Genre: Moe/Fanservice Action
Adapted From: Manga, OVA, First Season… and here we are 
Premiere Date: 7/7
Trailer 

First Impression: Didn’t want to watch season 1, feeling much the same for season 2 right now.

The girls who refuse to wear pants while flying around the sky are back for a second season. All pants should beware.

Why You Should Care:

- This is the third series that AIC is producing this season (there are four total if you count Asobi ni Iku yo from AIC+). Extra notably, this is also the series that was originally scheduled to be produced by Gonzo before they were replaced with AIC.

- Other than that, it appears that things are going to stay roughly the same with the cast and crew.

- If you had this one on your summer simulcast radar congratulations; Crunchyroll recently announced this one for their lineup.

Shiki
Corpse Demon
Studio: Daume
Genre: Horror
Adapted From: Manga 
Premiere Date: 7/8
Trailer

First Impression: Horror series haven’t been getting very far this year but this looks interesting.

A remote mountain village with 1300 residents are starting to drop like flies shortly after a family moves into an abandoned mansion. After doing some investigating the village realizes that they are under attack by vampires.

Why You Should Care:

- While he made a small guest appearance in the Tono no Issho OVA, this is the time pop singer Gackt has voiced a lead anime character.

- Not surprisingly, Shiki has already been announced for simulcast by Funimation. The series will be airing during Fuji TV’s Noitamina block which Funimation started simulcasting in the spring with The Tatami Galaxy and House of Five Leaves.

Asobi ni Iku yo
Let’s Go Play
Studio: AIC+
Genre: Sci-Fi Romantic Comedy
Adapted From: Light Novel 
Premiere Date: 7/10
Trailer

First Impression: I’m not sure you could drink this series watchable.

While attending a memorial service, a boy named Koi meets a mysterious girl with cat ears named Eris who claims to be an alien. Now Koi’s life involves living with a strange alien and protecting her from the government agents and his scheming best friend who want to take her away.

Why You Should Care:

- I’ll admit it, this is a tough one.

Sengoku Basara 2
Studio: Production I.G
Genre: Historic Action
Adapted From: Video Game
Premiere Date: 7/11

First Impression: As Funimation put it, the manliest manly anime ever.

The series that re-imagines famous figures from Japanese history as pizza eating shonen warriors (the non-turtle kind) returns for a second season.

Why You Should Care:

- Replacing popular Japanese rock band led by Takanori Nishikawa, Abingdon Boys School (Darker than Black, Soul Eater, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0), for the OP will be T.M. Revolution (aka Takanori Nishikawa).

- The cast remains the same for this season but a new director, Kazuya Nomura, will be leading them.

- Yup, Funimation will be simulcasting this one too.

OVAs/OADs are notoriously hard to get any sort of information on before their release. Consider below a rough primer for what’s coming up but keep in mind details might be sketchy in places.

Kure-nai OAD
Studio: Brains Base
Premiere Date: 7/2

In the original manga and anime series (which aired in 2008), a teenage boy works for a woman doing odd jobs that often involve putting his life on the line. On one occasion, his mission is to protect a young girl who is being hidden from her family for her own safety.

Why You Should Care:

- New character designs (that some fans are saying aren’t actually an upgrade)

Shin Koihime Musou
Studio: Dogakobo
Premiere Date: 7/7

In the newest release, the lady warriors return for a story set in St. Francesca Academy. After a fierce battle between students, everyone visits a southern island to unwind.

Why You Should Care:

- “visits a southern island” means this is going to be one long beach episode filled with fan service and bikinis.

Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail
Studio: Madhouse
Premiere Date: 7/17

The long awaited 3rd season takes the form of a 5 episode OVA focusing on warrior maid, Roberta.

Why You Should Care:

- Funimation wasted no time with this one so count this as licensed and set for release in the US next year.

Hen Zemi
Abnormal Physiology Seminar
Studio: XEBEC
Premiere Date: 7/23
Trailer

Based on the manga, the comedy series focuses on Nanko Mutsutaka who has been placed in an Abnormal Physiology class filled with weird students despite being fairly ordinary herself.

Why You Should Care:

- A comedy from the director of Hidamari Sketch and the studio that brought you Heroic Age, Kanokon and Shuffle.

Aki Sora Yume no Naka
Studio: Hoods Entertainment
Premiere Date: 7/30
Trailer

After receiving an OAD earlier this year, Aki Sora returns in an OVA telling the story of a forbidden relationship between siblings and their quest to keep it a secret.

Why You Should Care:

- Very ecchi in content (one of the trailers for this release was a 30 second sex scene with a voice over) so take that for what its worth.

- I didn’t get into the manga series but the OAD released earlier this year was a surprisingly enjoyable and well done release.

Queen’s Blade: Utsukushiki Toushi-tachi
Studio: ARMS
Premiere Date: 8/25

The warriors of Queen’s Blade return though no information is available on what they’ll be doing besides fighting.

Why You Should Care:

- Media Blasters has already picked up the TV series, could an OVA license be far behind?

- The ED theme features all 19 characters!

Sora no Otoshimono OAD
Premiere Date: 9/9

The super dangerous 14th episode of the TV series that was deemed too risqué to even be released as a DVD extra finally gets to see its release along with Vol. 9 of the manga.

Why You Should Care:

- Another one where the TV series has already been picked up (Funimation currently has it) so perhaps we’ll see it stateside eventually?

- The title of this bonus episode roughly translates to "Here and peep locker room girls!" And that sound you hear is my head banging against my desk as I think about how many people probably already have this pre-ordered.

- So apparently this episode was too hot for TV and too risky to be included as an extra on the DVD but it’s just safe enough to be released as a limited edition manga extra? Whatever.

And that’s it for the summer season! Be sure to keep checking back over the next couple of weeks as I make my way through as many of the new premieres as I can before the end of the month/end of the season wrap up post. So what’s been good for you so far this season? Anything coming up that you’re really excited about?

In the new issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, it has been announced that comedy harem series To Love Ru will be getting a brand new anime adaptation. Details are sketchy right now with the only thing to really be confirmed is that the cast and crew will be mostly the same as the previous TV and OVA releases (so not sure yet if it’s going to be a TV release or an OVA). Atsushi Ootsuki (Ladies vs. Butlers, Kanokon) will be taking over for Takao Kato as director but XEBEC will still be producing the animation and all the original cast will reprise their roles.

I’ve only seen the first 13 episodes of the series so I’m not quite ready to say I’ve jumped on the (already crowded) Lala bandwagon. Seriously, why is it that the characters who are the biggest doorknobs the ones who are always held up as such shining examples of moe?

The company responsible for keeping anime studios Production I.G and Xebec alive is in bad shape according to their latest financial report (Japanese .pdf link). According to their latest Income Ratio report, parent company IG Port suffered a loss of $2.2 million last year due to the allowance of bad debts. Some of the debts came from an unnamed Production I.G anime tanking. Most of the debt is listed as coming from Xebec however after the studio failed to collect payment for an anime movie being partially produced by them (MyAnimeList notes that they are currently involved with Break Blade and Fafner: Dead Aggressor ~Heaven and Earth~) and the cancellation of a TV series connected to the movie which makes the team behind Fafner as the more likely culprits in this mess.

Hm, now that I think about it that movie was announced back in December and it’s been all quiet since.

If I’m reading things correctly, this is the first time that IG Port has suffered a loss since their stocks became publically traded. This doesn’t mean that either studio or its parent company are on the verge of bankruptcy. I do suspect some interesting times are ahead for these two studios though so it’ll be interesting to see what comes out of each in the next year. Hopefully IG Port is able to send some persuasion over to the Fafner team and manages to get things “fixed”. 

<Via MyAnimeList>

Ladies vs. Butlers
Studio: Xebec
Premiere Date: 1/5
Genre: Ecchi Comedy

The Story

In the very high class private school, Hakureiryou, there is an upper class of students who are served and a lower class which are trained to serve them. This leads to a life of daily boredom for Selnia Iori Flameheart: just one little thing to make things interesting is all she needs. Luckily the school is about to receive a new transfer student by the name of Akiharu Hino.

After losing his family and gaining their inheritance, Akiharu is transferring in as the newest member of the servant training class. After spending ten minutes listening to Selnia whine audiences will watch Akiharu literally grope his way through a string of introductions to the rest of the female student body.

Every season there’s at least one series which I will watch and then spend hours, sometimes days, trying to figure out what the hell I saw. Guess which series gets that honor this season? In the first episode of Ladies vs. Butlers, a few things are established very early. This is a series for those who enjoy large doses of slapstick comedy with a healthy side of ecchi. For the first half of the episode, the story revolves around Selnia Flameheart and her desperate need for something interesting to happen followed by ten minutes of Akiharu groping girls on accident. And that’s about it.

Twenty minutes of the same three jokes being told over and over, this series is getting off to a terrible start. The one thing that it has going for it in the first episode is very nice animation throughout. Backgrounds and scenery look crisp and bright in most scenes though even this ‘good point’ is sullied by an abundance of shadows being cast over characters. A few characters are introduced in this episode but it’s hard to call any of them interesting this early on. While a couple of supporting characters are showing some early signs of being interesting (the eroge playing female principal made me chuckle a bit), weak leads have already started to weigh this series down.

Music

Matching the very rich nature of the characters and setting, the tone for the background score is mostly string themes. With so many sight gags being thrown in, it was hard to notice the music in this episode all that much leaving an average impression. When it did manage to stand out slightly, it failed to impress leaving me only with the idea that it’s going to be one of the less impressive things about this one.

Overall

Predictable and just not very funny, Ladies vs. Butlers is off to a terrible start. Previews for upcoming episodes promises that this isn’t aiming for high comedic standards and might even seek the lower path of resistance. It’s hard to imagine that even this will make things much worse. This is a pure fluff, ecchi comedy title. If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll probably find a few laughs but don’t be shocked if these characters turn you off before you even have the chance.

Let the winter series promotion begin! The AT-X satellite network has scheduled an hour long special for the upcoming Ladies vs. Butlers anime series for December 29^th. The hour long special will feature interviews with the cast to discuss the episode and special sneak footage from the first episode which will air a week later. The Xebec produced series based on the light novels was announced for the winter season in September. The story follows a high school student named Hino Akiharu who looks like a delinquent. After enrolling in a fancy academy, he is placed in the school’s new servant training program to train to be a butler getting caught in the maid vs. butler war.

Looks like we’ve officially started the winter season windup… which means I should probably start putting together the winter season preview.

<Via AnimeNation Blog>

In the second half of Heroic Age, the war between the Iron and Silver tribes is continuing to escalate. After the early victories of the first half, Deianeira’s brothers are feeling secure with having their own Nodos to fight for them. With the idiot brothers at the command, the Iron Tribe is led into an endless succession of battles to reclaim their own planet and the home planet of the Bronze Tribe before charging head long into the Silver Tribe. The Iron Tribe will fight battle after battle with both the Bronze and Silver tribes while all the while wondering what they are truly fighting for and who are they really fighting against.

Meanwhile the five Nodos continue their deadly fight in every star system and asteroid belt they can find. Driving them into frenzies, the fight between the Nodos will serve as the catalyst for understanding their roles in the plan of the Golden Tribe. But when the Princess shares a moment with the Silver Tribe, a new mission will be born and the true destinies of all will be made clear.

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Two new anime adaptations have been announced in the last twenty four hours with light novels and live action both being covered. In the first announcement, the light novel series ‘Ladies vs Butlers’ (Redi x Bato) has been confirmed for a television anime series. The light novels revolve around a high school student who enrolls in a very right academy. After he is placed in the new servant training department he finds himself in the middle of the bickering maid and butler groups. A website has already been set up for the series revealing Atsushi Ootsuki (Kanokon) as director and animation produced by Xebec. For those of you who might have caught the drama CDs upon their release (all three of you?) consider yourself reassured that the vocal cast will remain the same.

For those of you who thought that this upcoming season was seriously lacking in shorts, you’re now covered. Seiyuu Sakura Nogawa has made it public that a series of five minute animated shorts based on the 2006 live action ‘Kotatsu Neko’ will begin airing in October. Originally a live action movie, the story is about two cats who live under a kotatsu watching their hikikkimori owner play games and not confess to the girl he likes. Nogawa will be playing the role of the white cat Shito.

<Via [1], [2]>

Pandora Hearts
Studio: XEBEC
Premiere Date: 4/2/09
Genre: Fantasy

Not nearly as impressive as it was made out to be, Pandora Hearts is merely a disappointing mind trip.

The Story

Oz Bezarius is the heir to the Bezarius duke and is set to have his coming of age ceremony to be recognized as such. Before the party however, he’s still a kid and as such decides to go play with his servant, Gilbert, and little sister Ada. While out, he discovers a mysterious hidden grave with a pocket watch. When the ceremony actually begins however, his fate is changed as three gods of death appear condemning him to an eternity in the abyss, a fantastical prison where only the worst of the worst are sent. When he arrives, he meets one of the many beings born in the abyss called ‘Chains’ named Alice. With the only way to escape being to form a contract with her, he does and has his life completely changed as he seeks answers to who sent him to the abyss and why.

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Asura Cryin
Studio: XEBEC
Premiere Date: 4/2/09
Genre: Harem Action

Alright so it’s not great but…

The Story

While sick as a child, Tomo was visited by the spirit of his dead childhood best friend Misao. Ever since then, Misao has remained by his side as a constant companion that only he can see. Now starting his first year of high school, Tomo has moved into a new house on his own. Right away though he visited by a mysterious girl from his school who gives him a trunk that was owned by his older brother and his life changes completely. Now Tomo and Misao are caught in a literal battle between warriors of god, devils and a mysterious dark society who all want to control the power within the trunk.

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