Anime UK News Spring 2014 Preview Part Two
The first part of this season preview went live on Monday and this is the second part. From here on out, all of these shows will be released in April, many starting in the next fortnight. Reading through the different shows, one might think that there were nothing but shows aimed at NEETs and hikikomori but dig deep and there are some gems. I was able to get this together thanks to a season guide, Anime News Network and MyAnimeList.
I have split this Spring Anime Guide into three since there are so many shows getting released and I have tried to cover as many as possible so check back soon.
Sadon-Desu
Synopsis
The place is a private high school. The protagonist is Koume. The conflict at the heart of the story? Which club should she join… A tough decision to make is rendered easy when her friend Sasuga informs her that the tea ceremony club allows members to eat snacks. Cue an anime full of cute girls doing inane things as Koume, Sasuga and their friends Mikaeru and Momij join the tea club!
Gainax try their hand at a slice-of-life comedy by adapting a gag-manga that also goes under the name “Sudden Death” but can they make it different from the rest?
Staff: Kyo Hatsuki (Original Creator)
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: Gainax
The Comic Artist and His Assistants
Synopsis
The anime is all about a professional manga artist named Yuuki Aito and his relationships with his assistant Ashishu Sahoto. Aito doesn’t understand the feelings of the characters in his stories and needs his assistants to help…
Hiroyuki’s 4-koma manga gets adapted by ZEXCS. Judging by the trailer, this won’t be another Bakuman, rather it will be a harem comedy full of fan service. Takeshi Furuta (Giant Killing) is directing the series while Aki Itami (Flowers of Evil, Mushi-shi) is overseeing the scripts.
Staff: Takeshi Furuta (Director), Aki Itami (Series Composition), Hiroyuki (Original Creator), Hitomi Tsuruta (Character Design), Kenichi Tajiri (Art Director)
Voice Actors: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Yuki Aito), Arisa Noto (Mihari Otosuna), Rie Kugimiya (Sena Kuroi), Manami Tanaka (Matome Minano), Saori Hayami (Ashishu Sahoto), Yuka Iguchi (Rinna Fuwa)
Studio: ZEXCS
Kamigami no Asobi – Ludere Deorum
Synopsis
We all know Zeus as the mightiest of Greek gods, one who would regularly zap people with lightning and mac on innocent women. Did you know he was also the headmaster of a school? Did you know that the school is populated with beautiful boys? Did you know that the school was created to teach them love and so heal the bond between the world of humans and the world of the divine through the power of love? Our lovely protagonist Yui Kusanagi and the audience will soon find out how the whole thing works when she is ordered into the school!
The second otome game adaptation and this one comes from Nippon Ichi Software and Broccoli’s popular PSP game released last year. Tomoyuki Kawamura (Good Luck Girl!) is directing the anime series with Tomoko Konparu (Kimi ni Todoke – From Me to You) writing scripts and Minako Shiba (Red Data Girl) designing the handsome boys and beautiful girls.
Staff: Tomoyuki Kawamura (Director), Tomoko Konparu (Series Composition), Yone Kazuki (Original Character Design), Minako Shiba (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Saori Hayami (Yui Kusanagi), Daisuke Ono (Hades Aidoneus), Hiroshi Kamiya (Balder Hringhorni), Miyu Irino (Apollon Agana Belea), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Thoth Caduceus), Houchu Ohtsuka (Zeus)
Studio: Brains Base
Pretty Rhythm All Star Selection
Pretty Rhythm All Star Selection features the three main heroines from the previous Pretty Rhythm anime series as they teach a new girl to become an idol through their past Prism Shows.
Staff: Masakazu Hishida (Director), Shuji Iuchi (Series Composition),
Voice Actors: Emiri Kato (Naru Ayase), Himika Akaneya (Lala Manaka), Rumi Ookubo (Mia Ageha), Kana Asumi (Aira Harune),
Studio: Tatsunoko Production/DongWoo Animation
Baby Steps
Synopsis
Maruo Eiitirou (Ei-chan) is a hard working 15-year-old schoolboy with great grades but poor fitness. He checks out a tennis club in order to get fit. He’s hooked by the sport. Even better, while there he meets a girl named Natsu who is totally dedicated to tennis and totally hot. He soon finds a passion for tennis awakening within him…
Move over Prince of Tennis, there’s a new contender in town! Most of the guys in the staff have covered stuff OTHER than sports anime like Taishi Murata, director on shows like Corpse Princess and Saiyuki, and Katsuhiko Chiba, writer on shows like Rune Soldier and Outlaw Star, who is overseeing scripts.
Staff: Masahiko Murata (Director), Katsuhiko Chiba (Series Composition), Junki Takegami, Katsuhiko Chiba Natsuko Takahashi (Script), Hikaru Katsuki (Original Creator), Masayuki Kouda (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Taishi Murata (Eiichiro Maruo), Minako Kotobuki (Natsu Takasaki), Daisuke Namikawa (Takuma Egawa), Hiro Shimono (Yukichi Fukasawa), Takuma Terashima (Kojiro Kageyama),
Studio: Pierrot
Dragon Collection
Based on a card game released by Konami, the protagonist gets involved with mythological monsters and epic adventures.
Staff: N/A
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: N/A
Monster Retsuden Oreca Battle
This is based on another card game released by Konami and it looks a lot like Pokemon since we follow a young boy named Ash… I mean, Fire! Who fights, captures and raises monsters in an effort to take back the twelve dragons stolen by the devil king.
Staff: N/A N/A
Voice Actors: N/A N/A
Studio: N/A N/A
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V
This is a part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise and it features a new protagonist in the shape of Yuya Sakaki.
Staff: Kazuki Takahashi (Original Creator),
Voice Actors: Kensho Ono (Yuya Sakaki), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Reiji Akaba), Yuuna Inamura (Yuzu Hiiragi),
Studio: N/A
Tenkai Nights
Synopsis
Guren, Ceylan, Toxsa and Chooki are normal boys until they fall through an inter-dimensional portal and find themselves in a world where they become the legendary Tenkai Knights.
Based on a card game released by Konami
Staff: Masaaki Yuasa (Director), Taiyo Matsumoto (Original Creator), Nobutake Ito (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Fukujuro Katayama (Yutaka “Peco” Hoshino), Kouki Uchiyama (Makoto “Smile” Tsukimoto), Masako Nozawa (Obaba), Shunsuke Sakuya (Ryuuichi “Dragon” Kazama), Subaru Kimura (Manabu “Demon” Sakuma), Yosei Bun (Kon “China” Wenga), Yuusaku Yara (Jo Koizumi)
Studio: Bones
Website
Haikyuu!!
Synopsis
Shouyou Hinata was inspired to play volleyball after seeing the “small giants” who played the sport when he was in elementary school. Unfortunately, his rival Tobio Kageyama ensured he suffered a defeat in his first and last tournament in middle school but this just inspires Hinata to try harder when he hits Kurasuno High School’s volleyball team which is the same team that Kageyama is on… The two soon form a legendary pairing when they join forces, just in time for a national tournament.
Production I.G., fresh off Kuroko no Basket, has gotten a taste for shounen playing with balls in gyms and so they have turned their attention to volleyball. Those looking for oppai will have to stick with Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball.
Staff: Susumu Mitsunaka (Director), Taku Kishimoto (Scripts/Series Composition), Takahiro Kishida (Character Design), Haruichi Furudate (Original Creator)
Voice Actors: Ayumu Murase (Shouyou Hinata), Kaito Ishikawa (Tobio Kageyama), Kouki Uchiyama (Kei Tsukishima), Miyu Irino (Koshi Sugawara), Daisuke Namikawa (Toru Oikawa),
Studio: Production I.G.
Hitsugi no Chaika (Chaika – The Coffin Princess)
Synopsis
Toru Acura is a lazy man to many but he was once a soldier. His adopted sister Akari is not impressed with his laziness and forces him to leave their house and look for work. While travelling through a forest he meets Chaika Trabant, a 14-year-old sorceress with a coffin and a huge rifle. Strange, right? Things get stranger when they are attacked by a monster!
Girls and coffins. Those two words may remind you of Sunday Without God, only this one looks to be more of a fantasy action title than a strange meditation upon life and death. The anime is adapted from light novel series is written by Sakaki Ichirou, the writer behind Scrapped Princess and Outbreak Company, and illustrated by Ookuma Nekosuke. Having mentioned Scrapped Princess already, I’m about to evoke the name again since Chaika’s director, Soichi Masui, adapted that light novel into an anime. The series scripts come from Touko Machida (Karneval) and character design comes from Nobuhiro Arai (Blast of Tempest).
Staff: Soichi Masui (Director), Touko Machida (Series Composition), Nobuhiro Arai (Character Design), Kouji Okamoto (Art Director)
Voice Actors: Chika Anzai (Chaika Travant), Junji Majima (Toru Acura), Yuko Hara (Akari Acura), Chiwa Saito (Fredrica),
Studio: BONES
Akuma no Riddle (Riddle Story of the Devil)
Synopsis
The private girls’ boarding school Myoujou Academy is the location for a twisted story of love and violence. Twelve of the students in the 10th year’s Kurogumi class are actually assassins who are targeting Haru Ichinose. A transfer student named Tokaku Azuma has joined in but begins to feel something for Haru and decides to protect her…
Yuri and deadly assassins. Makes a change from cute girls doing inane things. The character designs from Naomi Ide may not look totally original but they are still neat and hint that all of the anime character types we are familiar with will be present. The director is Keizou Kusakawa (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) and Kiyoko Yoshimura (Dogs: Bullets & Carnage).
Staff: Keizou Kusakawa (Director), Yun Kouga (Original Creator), Naomi Ide (Character Design/Chief Animation Director), Kiyoko Yoshimura (Series Composition), Ayuna Fujisaki, Masahiro Yokotani (Script)
Voice Actors: Ayaka Suwa(Tokaku Azuma), Hisako Kanemoto (Haru Ichinose), Azumi Asakura (Isuke Inukai), Miho Arakawa (Sumireko Hanafusa),
Studio: Diomedea
Atelier Escha & Logy ~ Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi ~ (Alchemists of the Dusk Sky)
Synopsis
The world we visit is the “Land of Dusk,” and in this world there is a nation that prospered thanks to its use of alchemy. There, in order to survive the eventual arrival of the “Dusk End,” the people work hard to rediscover and recreate lost alchemic technologies and gather them in the alchemy research city known as “Central,” where research is conducted on how to halt the advance of the twilight. There are two heroes: one is a girl from a small frontier town named Escha and the other is a young man named Logy who researched alchemy in Central. Escha has tremendous knowledge of ancient alchemy and works with the Development Department. Logy has learned the newest alchemic techniques in Central and soon meets Escha when he is assigned to the Development Department as well. The two work together to bring success to the Development Department.
Ah, the Atelier series. The most realistic alchemist girl RPG series ever created is back with a new entry where the player gets to choose between two protagonists with separate endings and indulge in alchemical battles. There’s an anime adaptation and it will be interesting to see how the separate endings and stat building will make the transition. The writers have credits like Haganai, Kin-iro Mosaic, and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere. The director, Yoshiaki Iwasaki can do cute and fantasy as his work on El Hazard and Love Hina reveal. Prepare to live the life of a cute alchemist girl who goes on an adventure!
Staff: Yoshiaki Iwasaki (Director), Tatsuhiko Urahata (Series Composition), Tatsuhiko Urahata, Tatsuya Takahashi, Yoriko Tomita (Script), Keiya Nakano (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Rie Murakawa (Escha Malier), Kaito Ishikawa (Logix “Logy” Ficsario), Ami Koshimizu (Linca), Kana Ueda (Marion Quin), Mariya Ise (Nio Altugle),
Studio: Studio Gokumi
Black Bullet
Synopsis
The year is 2021 and mankind has entered an era of fear. A parasitical virus named Gastrea has wiped out many and resulted in the survivors retreating behind walls made of a metal able to repulse it. There have been people born infected with the virus. These “Cursed Children” are able to control the virus and gain superhuman abilities and so they are recruited by Civil Securities to fight back against Gastrea. Each child is called an Initiator and paired with a Promoter. Kisara Tendou is an Initiator and her childhood friend Rentaro Satoi is a Promoter and the two are tasked with protecting Tokyo.
This sci-fi story is directed by Masayuki Kojima (The Piano Forest) and the scripts comes from Tatsuhiko Urahata (Cardfight Vanguard).
Staff: Masayuki Kojima (Director), Tatsuhiko Urahata (Series Composition), Shiden Kanzaki (Original Creator), Saki Ukai (Original Illustrator), Chiho Umishima (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Yui Horie (Kisara Tendo), Yuuki Kaji (Rentaro Satomi), Tamio Ohki (Kikunoko Tendo), Rina Hidaka (Enju Aihara), Aki Toyosaki (Seitenshi),
Studio: Kinema Citrus, ORANGE ANIMATION STUDIO
Broken Blade
This is a recompiled 12 episode version of the six Break Blade films that aired in 2010/11. They have new scenes added to them with more epic mecha battles to be expected.
Staff: Tetsuro Amino (Chief Director), Nobuyoshi Habara (Director), Yunosuke Yoshinaga (Original Creator), Takushige Norita (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Souichiro Hoshi (Rygart Arrow), Chiwa Saito (Sigyn Erster), Yuichi Nakamura (Hodr(Crishuna the 9th)), Kana Hanazawa (Cleo Saburafu), Hiroshi Kamiya (Zess),
Studio: Production I.G./Xebec
Isshuukan Friends
Synopsis
Yuuki Hase has a classmate named Kaori Fujimiya. The girl seems to have no friends and is only alone. He approaches her and finds out that she loses every memory of her friends each Monday. Despite learning this, Yuuki decides to become her new friend every week.
Matcha Hazuki’s manga seems to be the closest that this season will get to a straight drama and romance. The trailer is thoughtful. The staff includes Shotaro Suga who worked on The Eccentric Family.
Staff: Tarou Iwasaki (Director), Matcha Hazuki (Original Creator), Shotaro Suga (Series Composition), Eri Yamazaki (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Sora Amamiya (Kaori Fujimiya), Yoshitaka Yamaya (Yuuki Hase),
Studio: Brains Base
Hero Bank
Synopsis
When an elementary school boy named Kaito finds himself saddled with a debt of 10 billion yen he turns to cyber sport named “Hero Battle” to make money.
Based on a video game released by Sega for the 3DS.
Staff: Yasutaka Yamamoto (Director), Atsuhiro Tomioka (Series Composition),
Voice Actors: Yuko Sanpei (Kaito Kosho), Houko Kuwashima (Ai Kosho), Bin Shimada (Kurayasu Kosho), Ayumi Fujimura (Sen Tatsuzato), Banjou Ginga (Sennen), Yuka Komatsu (Hikari Takarano),
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Mekaku City Actors
Synopsis
Shintaro Kisaragi is a HikiNEET who has not seen the outside world for 2 years but when a mysterious cyber girl named Ene appears on his computer screen and messes with his PC, he goes outside for the first time…
This is based on a series of Vocaloid songs called Kagerou Project. It doesn’t sound too promising but the director is Akiyuki Shinbo, one of the brains behind Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari.
Staff: Akiyuki Shinbo, Yuki Yase (Director), JIN (Original Creator), Genichirou Abe (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Takuma Terashima (Shintaro Kisaragi), Kana Asumi (Ene), Kana Hanazawa (Mary Kozakura), Nanami Kashiyama (Momo Kisaragi),
Studio: Shaft
Gokukoku no Brynhildr
Synopsis
High school boy Ryota Murakami is haunted by the death of his childhood friend whom he let die in an accident. He persists in trying to prove the existence of aliens, something he promised to do with her. One day, a girl named Neko enters his life. She looks like his childhood friend but what’s weirder is that she can use magic…
Lynn Okamoto, writer of Elfen Lied, gets another work adapted and it’s about another girl from a research facility. ARMS (Quwwn’s Blade) are animating (hints of fanservice in the trailer) and it looks like it will mirror Elfen Lied by having lots of violence. Kenichi Imaizumi (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!) is directing and Yukinori itajima (Senran Kagura) is writing.
Staff: Kenichi Imaizumi (Director), Lynn Okamoto (Original Creator), Yukinori Kitajima (Script), Hiroaki Karasu (Character Design/Chief Animation Director),
Voice Actors: Risa Taneda (Neko Kuroha), Ryota Ohsaka (Ryota Murakami), Aya Suzaki (Kana Tachibana),
Studio: ARMS
Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin
Synopsis
A boy named Jugo is sent by his father to an artificial island called the “Special Student Zone,” where he has to live in a low-rent apartment with a small allowance. It turns out that Jugo’s apartment is haunted by the ghost of a girl who was murdered ten years earlier. Her name is Nanana, a woman who was very beautiful but also a NEET and she had a treasure called the Nanana Collection. Jugo and members of the school’s adventure club join a “treasure hunt royale” and look for the Collection.
The title translates as Nanana’s Buried Treasure and it’s based on a light novel series by Kazuma Otorino. It is directed by Kanta Kamei (Bunny Drop) and the series has been adapted by Hideyuki Kurata (Read or Die).
Staff: Kanta Kamei (Director), Hideyuki Kurata (Series Composition), Kazuma Otorino (Original Creator), Tetsuya Kawakami (Character Design),
Voice Actors: Yuuki Ono (Jugo Yama), Rui Tanabe (Nanana Ryugajo), Kana Asumi (Tensai Ikyu), Harumi Sakurai (Sansa Kurosu), Misaki Kuno (Saki Yoshino), Kana Hanazawa (Daruku Hoshino)
Studio: A-1 Pictures
I have split this Spring Anime Guide into three since there are so many shows getting released and I have tried to cover as many as possible so check back soon.
