I'm starting off the season this time around with a look at some sequels to series I haven't watched, some short shows that don't really hold up to in-depth scrutiny, and series meant for young children. There are a larger number of sequels this time around than I'm used to. While I could probably count Fate/Zero amongst them since I attempted to watch Fate Stay/Night multiple times without much luck, it appears to me that its tone is separate enough that it will most likely get its own entry.
Sequels
Shakugan no Shana: Final
Number of Episodes: TBA
Production Company: J.C. Staff
ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Promo Video
There are some long-running series that are relatively easy to step into blindly, like Natsume Yuujinchou. Then there are series like Shana which are so completely full of complicated character relationships and jargon that it's nearly impossible to start watching at any place other than at the very beginning. That in itself isn't necessarily bad, but with the various seasons of the show and its OVA incarnations having been released so far apart, it would be difficult to expect all but the most hardcore of fans to keep everything straight. As you've probably already guessed, I'm far from a hardcore fan (in fact, I've seen 3 episodes of the franchise, and that includes this one).
From what I can gather, the male lead of the series, who was himself just a recreation of a real person who had already died, has vanished from existence. Shana and some of her close companions are certain that he's not really gone, and intend to do what they can to find out the truth and bring him back. Additionally, other factions are... up to something. There's some reference to different worlds that art at war, there are a lot of people in funny costumes wandering about both the real world and the alternate one, and the whole ordeal is incredibly difficult to piece together by a newcomer like myself.
At this late hour I can hardly chastise a show's creators for assuming that the audience for the show is already full of dedicated fans, and this episode is clearly aimed at those people. It's also competently animated and features very little of Rie Kugimiya's shrieking, which is a definite plus. But I'll be darned if you don't have your work cut out for you if you decide you're interested in knowing what's going on; this is definitely not for newcomers.
This series will be streaming at a future date as a result of Funimation's streaming partnership with NicoNico
Wagnaria (Working) 2
Number of Episodes: TBA
Production Company: A-1 Pictures
ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll
Hey, guess what, everyone? Poplar is really short and cute. In fact, Poplar's small stature and the way that Takanashi teases her for it is just about the extent of this episode's narrative arc. I recall not being particularly charmed by the first season's opening episode, but I'd heard some positive things said about the first season as a whole so I was kind of curious to see whether things eventually smoothed out. It appears that the major things that bothered me before, those things being the characters and their goofy hangups, haven't really changed that much since then.
When I think of what I'd like more from a series about a restaurant, I recall what it was like when I worked in customer service back in high school. Most of the stories that I found worth telling to others were those that involved bizarre or angry customers making unreasonable requests of or complaints to the staff. My co workers were mostly just a bunch of kids my age trying to make a few extra bucks after school, and none of them exhibited any really bizarre personality traits. I think that this show would be more appealing to me if it featured more conflict with the diners at the restaurant, but unfortunately Japan's culture of customer service makes that approach unlikely. So instead the show is about a boy with a fetish for "cute," a girl with a violent fear of men, and a tiny girl whose sensitivity about her height hasn't really improved much. Nothing that happens is very funny and despite having done similar work, I'm having a difficult time sympathizing with the characters. I still don't really get it.
Bakuman 2
Number of Episodes: 25
Production Company: J.C. Staff
ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Official Site with Trailer
This series is licensed by Media Blasters
Takagi and Mashiro are on the cusp of having their manga serialized in a magazine. They're placed under the management of a new editor, are assigned a group of assistants (one of whom is a girl! Oh noes!) led by a consummate professional whose skill is intimidating, and receive an invitation to the company New Year's party. There, they meet all sorts of famous manga creators and pledge to reach first place in the magazine's popularity poll through hard work and dedication, something that Mashiro's late uncle was never able to achieve.
I'm actually surprised to be saying this, but I was much more impressed by this episode than I was by the first season's opening episode. It has much less of the laughable sexism and machismo that made the previous season's first couple of episodes so irritating, and more of the nuts-and-bolts manga industry bits that are more interesting to hear about anyway. It also doesn't seem to have any problem being welcoming to newcomers, since it was relatively easy to extrapolate the major events of the previous season from what was discussed in this episode (mainly that the two main characters had worked on developing their skills and were on their way to being published, despite still being in high school). I'm sort of curious to see whether or not things continue to be interesting, so I may stick around for a while to watch how this season unfolds.
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi (World's Greatest First Love) 2
Number of Episodes: 12
Production Company: Studio DEEN
ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll
Onodera has been promoted to production leader of the shoujo manga division, but has quite a bit of trouble getting the others to respect his authority. His inexperience shows in almost every decision he makes, especially when dealing with the printers and printing timeline. He's become the target of another employee when he stakes out a book store to see how one of the books he edited is selling, though the conflict turns out to be more about his relationship with Takano. After a drinking party to celebrate Onodera's success, he continues drinking at Takano's place, then says and does a lot of things he later forgets.
I ended up not bothering with this series after the second episode of the first season due to one major reason - like many BL stories, the primary relationship seemed to be based around a lot of bad touch, sexual harassment and non-consensual physical romance. Despite any other decent qualities that the show might have, I really can't look past that sort of thing. This episode is more of the same, with Takano making passes at Onodera left and right, then kissing him (and, as it's suggested, probably more) without his consent. What's worse is that these things are alternately presented as romantic and comedic, which in reality is so far from the truth that it kind of makes me ill. I'm glad that more material aimed at BL fans is getting animated, I just wish that the things that were popular were also just a little bit less insensitive to people who've been harassed or assaulted.
Shinryaku Ika Musume 2
Number of Episodes: TBA
Production Company: Diomedea
ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll
A lot of people were charmed by the first season of Shinryaku Ika Musume, so much so that it was licensed in the US. I'm sorry to say that I never really saw the appeal, and only watched a couple of episodes of the first season because of it. I admittedly have odd tastes when it comes to comedy - I really enjoyed the weirdness of Nichijou and Astro Fighter Sunred, but a lot of the more standard stuff leaves me cold - so perhaps Ika's style of humor just wasn't weird enough to attract me when it was clearly more than adequate for many anime fans.
The second season seems to be pretty much the same as the first, with the same sort of jokes and episodes that are split into multiple bite-sized pieces. The content of the episodes is pleasant enough and it's nice that none of the scenarios drag on too long, but there are some occasionally off-putting elements like the girl whose obsession with the titular character borders on stalkerish. I'm fairly certain that this show just isn't for me, but on the upside it is pretty cute and it's never seemed particularly fanservice-oriented, which is a definite plus. Also, the squid-related puns in the dialog are pretty clever.
Shorts
Busou Shinki Moon Angel
Number of Episodes: TBA
Production Company: TNK, Kinema Citrus
A new kid moves to town, and despite the fact that the local boys aren't very friendly to him, he still aspires to one day own one of the newest toys, a Shinki (a battle-doll of sorts). One night as he's walking home, he notices something shining in a tree. When he moves closer, he sees that it's a Shinki that's been abandoned. What he doesn't realize is that this particular Shinki is being pursued by forces much larger than he can imagine.
I don't think it's any surprise that my immediate thought upon watching this short episode was that the premise and the look of the little robots was reminiscent of Angelic Layer. There's obviously not much else here to chew on, since the run-time for the episode is less than 5 minutes. The first episode sets up what appears to be a relatively standard story of a normal kid who finds his own kind of glory participating in a faddish competitive game, but it is pretty nicely animated (the scene where the main character is grasping for the toy in the tree features some cool frames of his fingers wiggling. Yes, I'm a nerd). One could certainly do worse when it comes to kids entertainment (as seen below).
Chibi Devi!
Number of Episodes: TBA
Production Company: SynergySP, Half H.P. Studio
ANN Encyclopedia MAL Wikipedia Episode 1
Honoka is a lonely girl without family or friends who gets picked on at school daily. The mean girls in her class always bully her and stick her with the class cleaning duties. One morning, Honoka wakes up with something extra hiding in her bed - a little baby with a tail. Not quite knowing what to do with him (and worried about how she'll manage school while taking care of a baby) she dresses him the best she can and leaves to go find food for him. She meets the bullies on the way, but this time her new charge comes to her rescue and spits fire at them.
First of all, there's no way that I'm going to be convinced that these characters are 14-year-old middle school students. They look and act like children much younger. Secondly, the bully characters are just mean for no reason, which makes the entire situation ring pretty false. To complain about how unrealistic it would be to wake up with a baby in one's bed would go against the spirit of the series, of course, but when the bits and pieces of a series that are supposed to reflect reality feel false, it's difficult to go along with the more fantastical elements. I'm glad that this show is made of 5 minute episodes, because I think any longer and it would be an overload of sugary-sweet shoujo cuteness. Right now it's just kind of pointless and barely tolerable. If I wanted to watch a show about a strange creature living with a human kid, I'd just re-watch Higepiyo, since at least it was funny.
Bakuman--well, the sexism and macho never really go away, but we are now at the point where the nuts and bolts of keeping a manga series going once you've finally got a publishing contract take center stage. Plus, much more of the interesting supporting characters have been introduced and at least in the manga we get frequent cuts to them and their goings on.