Spring 2013 – Season Preview

The Spring 2013 anime season already upon us with an extensive array of new and returning anime debuting over the next couple weeks. As with every season prior, this season preview is a complete and thorough glimpse at all the anime airing over the next three months, and paired together with my thoughts on each and what my current plans are for each show. So with that, onto the good stuff!

Before I begin, just a note that I will not be following any anime individually this season as I have over all the previous seasons. As you can guess by how many I missed and how late each one was, I don’t really have the time or capacity to follow even a single anime regularly anymore. Instead, I want to focus my time and attention to the Weekly Anime posts which are more balanced and feature every show in equal content. Hopefully this will allow me the opportunity to release posts more regularly but that is another issue entirely. Either way, don’t expect individual posts for anime from me anytime soon.

Like every other season, Spring 2013 features a number of sequels, spin-offs, alternative adaptations, and other forms of continuations of previously established anime and franchises. The popular and lucky shows that are returning this season are: Gundam Seed Denstiny Remaster, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W, Hayate no Gotoku! Can’t take my Eyes off You, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku Outbreak, Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai., Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live, Tetsujin 28-Gou Gao!, To Aru no Kagaku no Railgun S, Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199, and Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 2000%. As always, if you’re already planning on watching these shows or even the slightest bit interested, you probably have already experienced the anime once before and have a decent understanding of what to expect. If you don’t and you’re planning on watching one of these shows, watching the all the previous seasons will do more for you than anything I could ever do (especially since I don’t know most of them myself!). Of this line-up, I am currently up to date with four anime, all of which I plan to continue this season.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W

Opinion: Nyaruko-san surprised and delighted me with its first season last year with a steady dose of cute characters, amusing comedy and an energetic, enthusiastic atmosphere that made every episode a wild and entertaining ride. As with any continuing comedy anime, I have high hopes that the sequel knows what worked and what didn’t with the original run and improves off that, a pattern I’ve noticed with several comedies in the past year or so (Ika Musume, Working!!, Yuru Yuri, etc.) The romance is a bit rehashed and unoriginal in Nyaruko-san, the one strong negative with this anime, so hopefully this season deserts that theme and focuses on its comic appeal instead.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Bride

Opinion: Probably the least impressive of the four sequels, Hyakka Ryouran’s second season seems set up for more of the same from the first: a distinctive and beautiful art style, an enticing harem of busty babes and samurai-era super-battles featuring a whole new cast of villains to beat up the heroes in the first half and then get beaten up in the second half. Oh yes, and tons and tons of ecchi fanservice as was made very clear by the PV above. If I had to guess, I believe this second season will feature even more fanservice than the first (yeah… somehow) with minimal development on the characters or story. It’s not going to be pretty whatever they have planned, that’s for sure. So while I do have my reservations on a second season of Hyakka Ryouran, I still think this anime will be a pleasant combination of fun, fighting and fanservice and ultimately be an entertaining anime to watch this Spring.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai. (My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute 2)

Opinion: I thought Ore no Imouto ended at an excellent point with its true ending, the bonus episodes that paralleled the story of the light novel, so I’m rather bemused and curious at what a continuation of the popular OreImo will pursue. I suppose there is plenty of material to adapt from the light novels, but I can’t help but expect them to be a series of disconnected story arcs about the various girls having real world issues/feelings for Kyousuke and balanced lightly with comedy and otaku references. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the first series more than I was expecting, and I have high hopes for this continuation, especially if the comedy takes on more of a dominant role this time around. Also, the only difference between this title and the first season is that there is a period added to the end… so you can probably expect this to be referred to as OreImo 2 from this point moving forward.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (A Certain Scientific Railgun 2)

Opinion: I went through some hills and valleys with the first season of Railgun, largely dependent upon the stories and the characters present in each episode. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Even so, the first season proved to be charming and worthwhile, especially in terms of its comedy and action, and I find myself looking forward to the continuation though with some hesitations. The pacing of light novel story arcs really detracted from my enjoyment of the first season and I expect more of the same here. On the other hand, I’m sure there will be enough comedy and action to keep me smiling throughout, even if the anime continues in its unfavorable pattern of storytelling. Either way, I’m excited to see what the next season has in store for Railgun.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

With the sequels section complete, the other half of the Spring 2013 anime season will be concentrated toward the collection of all the new anime airing. With a total of 20 (give or take) new anime airing over the next two weeks, it seems as though this will be another light season in terms of anime, especially with few continuing over from the Winter into these warmer months. Still, there are plenty of anime to choose from and definitely enough to keep us intrigued, invested, entertained and delighted until it’s a bright and beautiful summer.

The order of anime listed below is neither chronological nor alphabetic but ranked in order of my personal anticipation and how likely I believe I will watch that anime this season. Every anime is evaluated and placed into one of five tiers ordered: Will watch, Likely watch, Maybe watch, Doubtful but it gets a shot, and No dice. Within each tier, the anime are listed alphabetically. Dates are not included because who knows when and where these shows will be subbed and available to watch (which really is the most important!). So with that, let’s take a look at the new anime for Spring 2013:

Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)

Opinion: Yeah, just a sec… watch that PV one more time because you know you want to. I can wait until whenever you’re ready.

Alright, so that’s an already outstanding use of art and animation (though I bet the first episode will be a lot of motionless talking heads), an novel and inspired setting and dynamic, a radical system of action and adventure, and a concept that unites everything together to create what is certain to be a spellbinding, absorbing and all-around gratifying anime. Sure, there might be some flaws or faults with certain characters or the story or something, but that setting (not just the town, technology and architecture but the giants and how the humans fight the giants), those battle animations and that style of art… yeah, there is no doubt in my mind that I will be watching this anime this season. Hopefully you make the right decision and watch this, too.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Suisei no Gargantia (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet)

Opinion: A gorgeous, vibrant setting, aided by a vivid and detailed art scheme, that’s populated by distinctive (and cute) characters and set in the middle of a massive space war with giant robots. What’s not to like with Suisei no Gargantia? Gargantia seems to be a rather serious, rather somber anime that will depict a story of how a lieutenant fighting in a galactic war ends up on a serene planet and must adjust his life accordingly. This anime has the foundation necessary for proper storytelling and character development as well as the potential for solid ideas and themes to build upon, especially that of exploration and understanding. Not only that but the action seems to be animated and directed magnificently. And if that weren’t enough, the music is rather charming in this PV, too. Yup, I can hardly wait for this anime to come out.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Devil Survivor 2 the Animation

Opinion: A suspenseful action/adventure story following an assortment of kids fighting back against these hideous alien invaders, Devil Survivor 2 sounds rather ordinary for an anime premise. And while that may be true, the anime features a number of positives in the way of its visuals and what its story can promise. The art and animation are both pleasing to the eye, a style that captures color and motion well which is certain to support the amount of action and fighting that will occur in this anime. The characters don’t seem to stand apart from the PV or the synopsis alone, but being an Atlus RPG (Persona 4), I expect each person to be strong and independent and that the cast will be one of the better aspects of the anime. I can’t say I’m too impressed with the setting thus far (modern Japan, invaded by monsters), but there might be enough variation and imagination to make it significant. Hopefully the same happens with the story too, but that might be even harder. Still, that’s enough for Devil Survivor 2 to get a chance this season.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Aiura

Opinion: It looks cute, it looks like it might be funny and it looks like it could possibly be worth watching, but it just doesn’t look all that exciting or alluring. It just seems rather… plain and boring. Without much on the characters, the plot or the set-up, I can’t really say I’m all that interested in another high school girl slice-of-life story with mediocre (at best) production values. Nevertheless, it has the potential to be a surprise this season, but that’ll be evident after one episode… which for now, is all it’s getting.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Aku no Hana

Opinion: The PV is mysterious, which is a plus, but it doesn’t really show much in what to expect from the anime. The story itself is intriguing as a psychological horror, having one’s life be taken over through blackmail, but to what degree and what the implications are aren’t clearly defined from the synopsis. The art and animation seem to be solid and the settings seems decent too, but I’m not sure whether it will be exciting or boring based on the material so far. What I am interested it is how the first episode does which will show me whether this is worth keeping or not.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge

Opinion: The PV of Crime Edge makes the anime appear to be quite stunning and fascinating, thanks in part to its pleasant art style and character designs. The actual material of the anime, that of the story and the characters, has me uncertain, though. It seems to be a story about a ‘murder game’ which undoubtedly will spiral into a romance, something I’m not really looking forward to, but it does seem to have the right combination of fantasy and action to keep me interested. Guess we’ll find out how it does after watching its first episode.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

Opinion: From the PV alone, Mystic Prince doesn’t seem too exciting, too original or that it possesses an impressive or distinctive art style. What it does have are giant robots fighting in space and the chance of having some decent comedy and action. I’m not too thrilled with any other aspect of the anime, such as the characters or the setting or the story, so hopefully it can deliver and be an entertaining anime to watch.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Hataraku Maou-sama!

Opinion: The premise seems to be derivative now with all these Hero/Demon King anime coming out lately (there seems to be a new one every season), but Maou-sama stands out a bit from the rest. Most notably, the production values as seen through the art and animation are remarkably high and the foundation of this anime doesn’t seem to be a pure comedy like the others before it. I can’t help but wonder what the remainder of the anime will be like but I am slightly concerned that this is a romance which might bring the anime down a bit for me. That and the characters don’t seem too exciting right now but who knows how that will change once I finish watching the first episode.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Kakumeiki Valvrave

Opinion: Valvrave’s setting is a bit exciting seeing as it takes place with mankind living among the stars but the set-up seems to be another derivative of ‘boy finds weapon, fights evil army’ given the synopsis. Doesn’t seem too exciting in that regard but the PV displays some pleasing art and animation, especially during the battle sequence with the giant robot. Should be worth an episode to see what it’s really like and then decide if it’s going to be worthwhile or just another boy-finds-mecha-and-saves-world anime.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san

Opinion: It looks to be a comedy-first, everything else-second anime which might make it a decent or respectable comedy anime but that all depends on how it uses and adapts its humor. Being an anime about fishing/mermaids/water, I can see the anime getting stale pretty quickly, so hopefully there’s some imagination and innovation behind the jokes to make it worth watching this season. Given the PV and the synopsis, I don’t have much in the way of optimisms for this anime, but it deserves a chance to see what it can do. The art and animation look a bit crude and the characters seem rather plain but those two aspects might be underappreciated right now, especially since they have the potential to grow on me as the series goes on.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Photo Kano

Opinion: Seems like another terrible high school harem rom-com with an unpopular guy suddenly becoming popular but it might prove to be interesting or worthwhile to some degree given its premise. The art and animation seem to be decent and a few of the characters seem cute but who knows how shallow they’ll be given that there’s 7 of them and probably only 12 episodes to work with. Still, I’ll give the first episode a chance and then figure it out from there.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Yuyushiki

Opinion: It looks cute and inoffensive but it also looks boring and imitative. The anime will survive based on its comedy and its characters, both of which seem to be pretty cliché at this point, but it’s worth checking out to see how it performs. I’m not expecting much from this anime but it should have some value if it’s able to make me laugh and smile for an entire episode.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

All that remain are the anime that I have minimal to no interest in watching, the anime that either appear to already be flawed, boring, or simply outside my demographic. While these anime may in fact be watchable to some, they do not appear to be for me. I doubt I’ll watch any more than the PV linked in their sections but there’s always a chance for me to pick one or two up every season, so not all hope is lost. However, for most of them, there’s already zero chance I’ll even think about them after writing my opinions for each.

Arata Kangatari

Opinion: Doesn’t really seem all that interesting with a guy running for his life after being framed for murder. It might be good but it doesn’t seem that way right now.