天下制覇

IkkiTousen: Great Guardians
http://www.ikkitousen.com/
Studio: ARMS
Genre: Action
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers June 11th

Summary: 
The continuing adventures the spirits of the Three Kingdoms reincarnated in mostly high school girls.

Personal Outlook: 
I cannot understand how anybody can hate IkkiTousen. It has Chinese warlords, busty high school girls, martial arts, lesbians, and dragons. If you don’t like IkkiTousen, I don’t like you. Well, except for you, Hinano. We shared Night Wizard, KimiAru and Mushi-Uta. Bonds made over giant soul eating insects and man-maids are not easily broken. Also, this show has already been airing for a couple weeks, so… you know… I’m already well on board this train. Choo choo!

Preseason Swing Rating: 
Aria still has absolutely nothing to do with this show.

Telepathy Girl Ran
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/anime/ran/
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Genre: Mystery
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers June 21st

Summary: 
A young girl discovers that she has telepathic abilities when she comes in contact with another esper. Together, along with their mutual friend, they suddenly start to get drawn into various mysterious occurances and called upon to solve them.

Personal Outlook: 
Episode one already aired. I was pleasantly surprised, even though that picture at the left was absolutely nothing like the episode. Nor was the summary above really. The actual episode contained a possessed flame shooting dog, and Midori was quite the bitch. Oh well. I’m cautiously optimistic for it, but by Saturdays are pretty booked as it is with Kyouran Kazoku Nikki and Zettai Karen Children. We’ll see how episode 2 goes.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
What would a telepathic monkey cover?
   

UltraViolet: Code 044
http://www.animax.co.jp/campaign/ultraviolet/
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: Science Fiction, Action
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread 
Premiers July 1st

Summary: 
Vampires are threatening the world, so the government has specially made Agent 044, a genetically modified warrior to take them down.

Personal Outlook: 
I don’t know. I’m not a huge fan of serious business shows, and the vibe I get from this one just doesn’t sit well with me. I give it three episodes before 044 is involved in some terrible government conspiracy, probably involving clones and how she’s one of the monsters and then angst! SUPER ANGST! SUPER VAMPIRE ANGST. Well, as always, we’ll see how the first episode or two go.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
  
Why don’t people with vampire issues just call a Belmont?

Sekirei
http://www.sekirei-tv.com/
Studio: Seven Arcs
Genre: Comedy, Action
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread 
Premiers July 2nd

Summary: 
Minato is jumped one day by a girl being chased by people shooting electricity at her. He quickly becomes involved and learns that she’s a "Sekirei," one of 108, all with special powers and fighting to be the last one standing.

Personal Outlook: 
Seven Arcs has yet to produce anything that I didn’t like. The closest they’ve come is the Triangle Hearts OVA, which was still really impressive from a directorial standpoint (of course, it was Shinbo and not whose-his-face, their new guy). Also, I’m so not skipping out on a 108 Stars of Destiny show. This one is also getting a fair bit of attention for the VA casting, which is almost a complete roster of all the standout rookies from the last year or so. I expect most of the reactions otherwise to be more or less the same as IkkiTousen’s, ie "ZOMG, fanservice and boobs means it’s crap. Now let me go back to staring at CC’s ass." Chip on my shoulder? Me? Naaaaah.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
          
Contains more meat than Koihime, less meat than IkkiTousen.

Slayers REVOLUTION
http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/slayers_revolution/
Studio: JC Staff
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 2nd

Summary: 
"When monsters rampage, I’m ready to take them down. Where treasure glitters, I’m there to claim it. When an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine!" The fourth season of the formulative new-age fantasy adventure, Slayers.

Personal Outlook: 
I’ve been gushing with joy over Lina being in Magical Battle Arena since before this show was even announced. I’m already certain that everybody else is going to hate it because A.) Lina’s no longer unique in the category of "solving all your problems by blowing stuff up," B.) It’s cool and hip to hate JCStaff, C.) "I never watched the first three seasons or the movies so I don’t understand any of these jokes or background," and/or D.) I hate everything made after 2003 even things that are continuations from 1997. Nevertheless, Lina Inverse is the original self-made magical girl intent on blowing up the universe, so damn right I’ll be on board.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

My official Slayers fancard^tm. Now get the hell off my lawn, you whippersnappers!

The Things Precious to a Mage ~The Summer’s Sky~ (Someday’s Dreamers)
http://www.tuchinoko.com/
Studio: Hal Film Maker
Genre: Slice of Life, Magic
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 2nd

Summary: 
Sora leaves her home to travel to the city and formally learn all about magic and its uses. However, the attitudes towards magic are different in the city and she’ll learn that not everybody is as open and accepting of it as her old family and friends.

Personal Outlook: 
You might know this better as Someday’s Dreamers, as that’s the name that the localization was given. Nothing about this interests me really. I like things exploding, loud noises, party favors, and pound cake. I’m pretty sure this will have none of those things. This is such a Totali show.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Two and one third munchlaxes.

Antique Bakery
–None?–
Studio: Nippon Animation/Shirogumi Inc
Genre: Slice of Life, Man on Man Loafs, Comedy
Information Links: ANN Entry
Premiers July 3rd

Summary: 
Four men come from different walks of life come together to run a bakery. Granted, only one of them is (supposedly) gay, but they maintain their quiet little cafe and touch the hearts, souls and occasionally man parts of their guests with moist, delicious men cake.

Personal Outlook: 
Alright, it’s only as gay as four men baking together can be. Which… well… is pretty gay. I mean, kitchens are a man’s domain, but bakeries? These guys are no freaking Wolfgang Pucks or Bobby Flays. Let me tell you, a chef shows his heterosexuality by boffing the entire waitstaff. When the waitstaff is all men… well, he’s probably got to boff them anyway, because that’s what chefs do and at that point, he’s screwed. Well, technically the waitstaff is, but you get what I mean. My view of professional kitchens may be somewhat skewed though. Sweet, now I’ve filled up the requisite amount of space just to say "this really isn’t my kind of show." NEXT!

Preseason Swing Rating: 
       
Cake, lie, etc etc etc.

Hidamari Sketch x365
http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/hidamari/ 
Studio: SHAFT
Genre: Comedy 
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread 
Premiers July 3rd

Summary: 
Sequel series to… you guessed it… Hidamari Sketch. Girls going to art school and… being all girlish… and arty… and Shafty…

Personal Outlook: 
This really isn’t my kind of show. I suggest hitting up Totali. Not that I mind slower paced shows, but I just prefer to stay awake as I watch things. Also, Hiro is totally the best/cutest of them all. Including the teacher. Yeah, I went there.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
Art is more fun when the process involves mastication. That’s not red paint, you know.

Nogizaka Haruka’s Secret
http://www.nogizaka-haruka.com/
Studio: Studio Barcelona
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread 
Premiers July 3rd

Summary: 
Nogizaka Haruka’s the class princess, loved by all and a perfect young woman. Except that one that someone stumbled upon her terrible terrible secret. She leads a secret life as an otaku. Now she’s got a new friend and someone to share all her forbidden desires with.

Personal Outlook: 
I find that italics makes sarcasm so much more fun. Anyway, Penguin Girl: The Hetero Romantic Comedy Edition. Could be alright, could be awful. Otaku jokes wear kind of thin for me pretty quickly, and Mamiko Noto in the lead role makes the bananas churn in my gullet preemptively. Hopefully it’ll be more wacky like Comic Party Revolutions or Penguin Girl and less… boring, like Doujin Work or… er… Comic Party.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
     
This will be the six pack of Dr Pepper for the season. I’ll figure out what that means later.

Strike Witches
http://s-witch.cute.or.jp/
Studio: Gonzo
Genre: Science Fiction, Action
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread  
Premiers July 3rd

Summary: 
The adventures of a strike force of airpilots that fly around on rocket brooms and cater to every possible fetish, but mostly to people who love the underaged and girls with dog/cat/rabbit/marmoset ears and tails.

Personal Outlook: 
Gonzo Gonzo Gonzo… when will you ever learn? Like all of Gonzo’s shows, I expect a strong start for 2-3 episodes, then tapering off to tepid mediocrity around the episode 9-10 or so before collapsing entirely afterwards. You’d expect that they’d learn eventually and just start making 12 episode shows to head this off, but clearly that’s not in the cards. The fact that they opened up advertising for it with panty shots for every character is also a sign that this will probably be going nowhere fast.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
     
Six toads out of a possible nineteen for not catering to the amphibian fetishists.

Birdy the Mighty: Decode
http://www.birdy-tv.com/
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Genre: Action
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread 
Premiers July 4th

Summary: 
Intergalatic police officer Birdy Altirra accidently kills an earth boy while in the pursuit of a dangerous criminal. In order to make things right, she’s forced to give up her body for him to inhabit, but when her duty calls or the body is in danger, she re-emerges to fight.

Personal Outlook: 
Well, it’s a remake of a I guess a decent if somewhat poorly written OVA, but there’s absolutely nothing about the staff list that excites me about this one. A-1 has only really done Persona – Trinity Soul before this, which I gave up on out of boredom at episode 5 or so, and the director’s only big shows were Escaflowne and Noein, both of which I felt could have used some… well… direction, especially after around episode 12 or so. I’m hoping it’ll turn out fun, but I don’t know if I’ll hold my breath for this one.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

I’m pretty sure this was also the plot of at least one Darkwing Duck episode.

Ryoko’s Case Files
http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/yakushijiryouko/
Studio: Dogakobo
Genre: Mystery
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 5th

Summary: 
Ryoko’s an elite detective that gets called in to handle the most unusual cases, often involving supernatural beings causing various kinds of harm or mischief. Aside from fighting ghosts or demons, she has to keep her rival, Yukiko, off her back and away from stealing her cases and prestige.

Personal Outlook: 
Dogakobo… what are you doing? You went from no shows ever to two in one season. Well, it looks alright I suppose, though I’m not certain I’d last. Conspiracies and mysteries and normal detective faire just doesn’t excite me all that much. Ryoko herself sounds like she’d be a fun character though. Cocky, sensuous, fiercely anti-authority, and with big… pistols. The BGM on the website makes me think of the old Sega Game Bonanza Bros. Take that as you will.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
Show may contain trace amounts of Andre Agassi’s head.

Zero no Tsukaima ~The Princesses’ Rondo
http://www.zero-tsukaima.com/
Studio: JCStaff
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure
Information Links: ANN Entry
Premiers July 6th

Summary: 
Third season of Zero No Tsukaima featuring Saitou, stranded in a magical land as the legendary familiar and his somewhat inept dominatrix loli master. Featuring a new legendary familiar, the elf Tiffania joining his harem and other associated fantasy adventures.

Personal Outlook: 
For what it is, I enjoy Zero. I’m not sure what rose tinted glasses people had on that led them to think the second season would be anything other than more fanservice and Saitou whipping, but apparently it fell short of its supposedly ‘epic’ roots. Never mind that the novels are pretty much just softcore porn that you’d find in the states next to Vagrant Tales: The Swashbuckler That Ravished Me in the girl porn romance section of the book store. Regardless, I’m sure Totali, Hinano, and Omni will have this one wrapped up. Maybe if it’s a slow day, I’ll do quicky entries though.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
      
Just like tofu. Little taste, somewhat filling, and goes great with… uh… squid.

Mission-E
http://avexmovie.jp/lineup/mission-e/
Studio: Studio DEEN
Genre: Supernatural
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 7th

Summary: 
Sequel series to Code-E set five years in the future with a different main character. A girl who inadverdantly destroys electronics around her is almost kidnapped one day, but two girls with similar powers and wearing battle suits come to her rescue and invite her to join OZ, an association attempting to integrate people with powers into society while the Foundation attempts to control and limit them.

Personal Outlook: 
As sort of silly as this sounds, this actually looks right up my alley. Code-E was boring as sin and my lasting memory of it was that one of the characters didn’t have a nose. Add in fighting, drama, and a plot, and I’m all on board. Then again, I only made it to episode 2 of Code-E before falling catatonic, so I may be out of my depth here. We’ll see how the first episode goes.

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Code-E is the story of a future where the robot Rockettes are threatened by little girls.

Natsume’s Book of Friends
http://www.natsume-anime.jp/
Studio: Brains Base
Genre: Supernatural
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 7th

Summary: 
Natsume inherited a book that once belonged to his grandmother. Inside the book, he finds the names of all the spirits that he can see in the world, now bound to him.  His job is to now free the spirits from their contracts and return each one’s name to its rightful owner.

Personal Outlook: 
This one, on the other hand, should be quite good. Brains Base has a rather impressive portfolio, including Baccano and Kamichu and the director is the same person that has done Hell Girl, so certainly knows his way around supernatural themes. The cat makes me nervous that this might be a little more happy and pleasant, with far less bloodshed than I prefer, but I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
   
Spoiler: This spirit’s name is Hercules.

World Destruction ~ World Eradication by Six People
http://wd.sega.jp/index.html
Studio: Production IG
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread 
Premiers July 7th

Summary: 
Not to be confused by the game: "World Destruction ~ Guided By Intentions" or the manga "World Destruction ~ The Two Angels." Kirie holds within him the power to destroy the world. He’s soon recruited into a group of adventurers that want to use his power to eradicate the cursed world and from the ashes, begin anew.

Personal Outlook: 
Wonderful. IG’s toy selling division combined with a Sega RPG. Wonderful. I’d normally ask when the last time a console RPG was made into a decent show, but damned UFOTable had to cut me off from saying that with their excellent adaptation of Tales of Symphonia. Still, Production IG is no UFOTable, and (lord help me for saying this) Sega’s RPGs don’t hold a candle at all to Namco’s. Maybe if you took the best Shining Force against the worst Namco… meh. Although, this is one of three different pieces of media, all with a different subtitle and assumably a different plot. The anime comes out a month before the manga starts and two months before the game. Hopefully it’s not all just to create buzz.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
 
All of these consoles have never had even a passable game adaptation to dat

Koihime†Musou
http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/koihime/
Studio: Dogakobo
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 8th

Summary: 
Kazuto sees a thief try to steal an ancient mirror. He gives chase, but the mirror glows and draws him in. When he wakes up, he finds himself in Ancient China embroiled in the War of the Three Kingdoms where all the warlords are young girls and he’s suddenly thrust into the role of Liu Bei.

Personal Outlook: 
Do you know how confusing Tuesdays are going to be? Two shows about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which means two sets of identically named characters running around at once. I don’t even want to think about it. I played the game this was based on very very briefly (mostly because the ‘game’ part was a complete joke), but it really wasn’t that impressive. The studio and staff are pretty unremarkable, but my weakness for Chinese warlords is pretty well documented already. Why fight your own nature? So little actually points to this being decent though. *sigh*

Preseason Swing Rating: 

Guan Yu is rolling in his grave as we speak.

Blade of the Immortal
http://mugen.kc.kodansha.co.jp/
Studio: Beentrain
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Information Links: ANN Entry, Animesuki Thread
Premiers July 13th

Summary: 
Manji was a cruel man cursed with immortality. He welcomed it for a time, but eventually became tired of life and now wanders Japan in slaying the evil in an attempt to break his curse and finally die.

Personal Outlook: 
I’ll be fair. I liked Murder Princess, which is the last thing that Beetrain did, but it wasn’t really that impressive, especially for an OVA. Aside from that, they completely muffed up Tsubasa Chronicles and I haven’t liked any of their "girls with guns" shows (Madlax, Noir, and El Cazador) and… man… I don’t even know what else notable they’ve done. .hack//? I don’t think it’s impossible for Beetrain to turn out a good adaptation (though I’m not familiar with the manga), but they really haven’t done a single thing to impress me yet, so I don’t really know that this one will turn out any better than maybe average.

Preseason Swing Rating: 
                            
Like many things, this is just going to end in tears. The only question is whose tears.