Saturday, October 3, 2015

2015/2016 Winter Anime Line-Up

New anime! And they look good. I picked 5 titles right off the bat. Hopefully, I can find time to watch them.

AJIN
Polygon Pictures
Adventure. Seinen. Mystery. Supernatural. Horror.
January 2016

For high schooler Kei—and for at least forty-six others—immortality comes as the nastiest surprise ever.

Sadly for Kei, such a feat doesn't make him a superhero. In the eyes of both the general public and governments, he's a rare specimen who needs to be hunted down and handed over to scientists to be experimented on for life—a demi-human who must die a thousand deaths for the benefit of humanity. (MAL)

I love the poster. It looks rad. Not sure about the story. The staff is not exciting me but I like this anime genre, so it definitely has potential. I'm putting it on the list.



DIMENSION W
3Hz x Orange
Action. Drama. Seinen. Sci Fi.
January 2016.

In the year 2072, the world's energy problems seem solved by a network of cross-dimensional electric-field inductors—"coils"—that extract energy from a seemingly infinite source. That source is the W dimension, a fourth plane that exists beyond the X, Y, and Z dimensions.

In this world, unofficial "illegal" coils harness powers that the police can't hope to counter. Dealing with these coils is the job of coil-hating repo man Kyoma, whose run-in with the unique coil android Mira leads the two to form a reluctant partnership. (MAL)

Kamei Kanta directs this. He was involved in key animation of Blood: The Last Vampire and Ergo Proxy, both animes I'm quite fond of. Although, now that I think about it, Ergo Proxy had some animation problems. Good thing he's directing this time around. *crosses fingers*


GOD EATER
ufotable
Action. Demons. Fantasy. Military. Supernatural.
TBA

Set in a post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 2071. The world has been mostly destroyed by mysterious monsters known as the Aragami. An organization known as Fenrir was made to exterminate Aragami using 'God Arcs', weapons made from Aragami cells. Those who specialize in exterminating Aragami are known as God Eaters. Their God Arcs originally could only keep a single form, however a new type has been discovered that can switch between gun and blade form. Since then, they have been classified new-types and the previous as old-types. (MAL)

I feel like this has been announced before. Why is this showing up again? Anyway, I don't normally pick up overly heroic stories like this but the voice work is giving me hope. Sakamoto Maaya is playing the female protagonist and Hirata Hiroaki and Sakaguchi Daisuke don't have a bad line-up of prior works. So it's all good. Plus, ufotable made Kara no Kyoukai, which is the shit in production quality. So yis, on the list now!


SHOUWA GENROKU RAKUGO SHINJUU
Studio Deen
Drama. Historical. Josei.
January 2016.

When a certain man is released from prison, he knows exactly where he's heading first. After falling in love with a traditional comic storyteller's rendition of the story called "Shinigami," he is determined to become his apprentice. The performer, Yakumo, has never taken an apprentice before, but to everyone's surprise, he accepts the eager ex-prisoner, nicknaming him "Yotaro."

As Yotaro happily begins his new life, he meets others in Yakumo's life, including Yakumo's ward Konatsu. Konatsu was the daughter of a famous storyteller, and Yakumo took her in after her father's tragic death. Konatsu loved her father's storytelling, and would love to become a performer in her own right--but that path is not available for women. (LIVECHART.ME)

This is the bomb. Josei? Check. Historical? Check. Manga-like art style? Check. Drama? Check. Romance? Check. On the list, baby. Not to mention Hayashibara Megumi is on the voice staff. 


PRINCE OF STRIDE: ALTERNATIVE
Madhouse
Sports.
January 2016

The series is about an extreme form of sport known as "Stride." It involves 6 players on a team that runs relay races in towns. The story takes place at Honan Academy where first year high school students Takeru Fujiwara and Nana Sakurai try to recruit members for their "Stride" club. They request Riku Yagami to join with the help of Takeru and Nana. Their goal is to compete and win the "End of Summer," a top competition hosted in Japan alongside other schools.

I'm not really that into sports anime. But because I have a studio Madhouse bias, I'm just putting it on the list. Also, I think it's interesting that this anime is getting a first time director, a woman, Ishizuka Atsuko, whose prior works include Aoi Bungaku, Btooom!, Chihayafuru, Kurozuka, Monster, Mouryou no Hako, Nana and Piano no Mori. That's a pretty stellar portfolio right there.

0 comments: