Anime UK News Summer 2014 Season Preview Part 2
This is the second part of AUKN’s preview of the show’s airing in Japan when the summer season starts next month and so it is time to decide what you will be watching. There are some major changes that are striking with this season compared to the last. Of the titles getting aired in July there are:
9 original ideas,
5 based on games,
9 based on light novels,
21 based on manga,
No incest shows,
Not as many moe girls,
More shounen-ai,
More titles targeting fujoshi,
More women in the writing and directing departments of each show.
The summer season looks so different, more feminine, or at least more open to the idea that not every show has to pander to socially awkward males… and yet there are certain things that remain the same like the sequels (but at least some are based on good ideas) and the Nobunaga obsession. There are also those 5 minute flash anime like Yami Shibai and “Medamayaki no Kimi Itsu Tsubusu?” or, in English, “When Do You Break the Yolk of an Egg Fried Sunny-Side Up?”
Thanks to Anime News Network, an anime chart and My Anime List, you can see what will be screening in the next season next month!
Here are the rest of the titles airing on Japanese television:
Ao Haru Ride (Blue Spring Ride)
Synopsis
Futaba was in love with a boy named Kou Tanaka in middle school. Alas, a misunderstanding means they part on bad terms but when Futaba meets Kou again in high school, she gets a second chance. But what’s the deal with him changing his name from Tanaka to Mabuchi? Surely it won’t complicate things for them…
Ao Haru Ride looks like it will be a solid romance. Again, women are dominant in the staff credits with Ai Yoshimura, the director of the understated and underappreciated My Teen Romantic Comedy is a Failure as Expected, getting another project to direct. It is based on a manga by Io Sakisaka who has had her work turned into anime when WIT studio adapted HAL for the big screen. Series composition comes from Tomoko Konparu who has had a long career in anime, having worked on boisterous comedies like Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Urusei Yatsura and the fantastic Master Keaton.
Staff: Ai Yoshimura (Director), Tomoko Konparu (Series Composition), Io Sakisaka (Original Creator), Rena Igawa (Character Design)
Voice Actors: Maaya Uchida (Futaba Yoshioka), Yuuki Kaji (Ko Mabuchi), Ai Kayano (Yuri Makita), Daisuke Hirakawa (Yoichi Tanaka)
Studio: Production I.G
Strange+ Second Season
Synopsis
Takumi looks for his older brother who has gone missing in the big city. He finds him rather quickly and it turns out that his bro works for a detective agency made up of weirdoes.
This is the second season of Strange+, a series of shorts with exploding butts… So expect more absurd humour and esoteric references thrown at you super quickly.
Staff: Takashi Nishikawa (Director/Series Composition), Verno Mikawa (Original Creator), Hiroyuki Furukawa (Character Design)
Voice Actors: Jun Fukuyama (Takumi), Ryotaro Okiayu (Masamune), Satsuki Yukino (Miwa), Tomokazu Seki (Ko)
Studio: Seven
Magimoji Rurumo
Synopsis
Kouta Shibaki is the biggest pervert in his school and also the possessor of magical tickets that are connected to a witch named Rurumo. It turns out she has been demoted from a full witch to an apprentice and must train with these tickets in the human world. Shibaki can use the tickets to get his wishes granted because Rurumo must make them happen as part of her training but with each ticket used, Shibaki finds his life shortened!
A story about a witch and a normal guy together. Another season of Witch Craft Works? Nope. The story has a slightly different set-up with the pervert male character and cute witch who has him in a contract. There’s potential for the familiar mechanics to be upset. Another factor that might make this different is that it is based on a manga by Wataru Watanabe and he was the chap who did Yowamushi Pedal. The director is Chikara Sakurai (Little Busters!) and the writer adapting the manga is Mariko Kunisawa (A Certain Scientific Railgun). Bringing things back to Witch Craft Works again, this is being animated by J.C. Staff who were the company behind that anime.
Staff: Chikara Sakurai (Director), Mariko Kunisawa (Series Composition), Wataru Watanabe (Original Creator), Kazunori Iwakura (Character Design)
Voice Actors: Suzuko Mimori (Rurumo), Makoto Takahashi (Kouta Shibaki), Shizuka Ishigami (Sumiko Inoue), Mari Shiraishi (Kyouko Izumi), Misato Fukuen (Chiro), Yurika Endo (Tanak Kujirai),
Studio: J.C. Staff
Invaders of the Rokujyouma!?
Synopsis
Koutarou Satomi has entered high school and has moved out of his family home and into an apartment. The price is dirt cheap at 5,000 yen a month! There’s gotta be a catch. There is. The room is soon invaded by a ghost named Sanae, a magical girl named Yurika, the underground dweller Kiriha, a space alien named Theiamillia and her attendant Ruthkhania.
And here’s another with a familiar premise and a harem of girls who make this a bit strange. It is directed by Shin Oonuma (Pani Poni Dash!) and written by Shogo Yasukawa (Ben-To, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure).
Staff: Takehaya (Series Director), Shin Oonuma (Director), Shogo Yasukawa (Series Composition), Takehaya (Original Creator), Hideki Furukawa (Character Design)
Voice Actors: Yuuichi Nakamura (Koutarou Satomi), Maria Naganawa (Theiamillis “Theia” Gre Fortorthe), Eri Suzuki (Sanae Higashihongan), Saori Hayami (Ruth), Aoi Yuuki (Korama), Ayana Taketatsu (Karama), Masumi Tazawa (Kiriha Kurano)
Studio: Silver Link
Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen
Synopsis
N/A
Silver Will Argevollen is XEBEC’s newest mecha anime and while some details are unknown, the cast and crew have been revealed and are a familiar bunch with the direction being handled by Atsushi Ootsuki (To Love-Ru), and the scripts overseen by Tatsuo Sato, the chap behind Bodacious Space Pirates and Lagrange – The Flower of Rin-ne. He has also worked on other great anime like Azumanga Daioh, Kino’s Journey and Paranoia Agent but that is in roles other than writer.
Staff: Atsushi Ootsuki (Director), Tatsuo Sato (Series Composition), Yuichi Ouka (Character Design)
Voice Actors: Ryota Ohsaka (Takimune), Saori Onishi (Jamie Hazaford), Hiroshi Tsuchida (Samonji Uko), Sayaka Ohara (Suzushiro Saori)
Studio: XEBEC
Hanamonogatari
Synopsis
Tsubasa and Hitagi discover that Koyomi has gone missing and has urged them in a text message not to look for him. However, in his absence new dangerous apparitions begin to appear and target Tsubasa and Nadeko, who are left to try and deal with them on their own. Meanwhile, Koyomi and Shinobu are dealing with serious problems of their own. Akiyuki Shinbo, director of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari, is back with the latest part of the franchise alongside other familiar names like Tomoyuki Itamura and Fuyashi Tou.
The Monogatari franchise is a big hit amongst the hardcore anime crowd so expect much weeping at the news that Hanamonogatari has been delayed until August 16th. It will return with Akiyuki Shinbo, director of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari, taking the helm as chief director and series script supervisor. Tomoyuki Itamura is one of the directors and he has handled Nekomonogatari and Nisemonogatari. He also directed a few episodes of the wonderful And Yet the Town Moves for which we should thank him!
Staff: Akiyuki Shinbo (Chief Director), Eita Higashikubo, Tsuguyasu Uchiyama, Tomoyuki Itamura (Director), NisiOisin (Original Creator), Akiyuki Shinbo, Fuyashi Tou (Series Composition), Akio Watanabe (Character Designer), Hisaharu Iijima (Art Director)
Voice Actors: Chiwa Saito (Hitagi Senjougahara), Hiroshi Kamiya (Koyomi Araragi), Eri Kitamura (Karen Araragi), Yuka Iguchi (Tsukihi Araragi), Kana Hanazawa (Nadeko Sengoku), Maaya Sakamoto (Shinobu Oshino), Takahiro Sakurai (Meme Oshino)
Studio: SHAFT
Medamayaki no Kimi Itsu Tsubusu?
Synopsis
Jiro Tamiyamaru is obsessed with how to eat, so much so that he agonises over the different ways of eating…
“Medamayaki no Kimi Itsu Tsubusu?” in English is “When Do You Break the Yolk of an Egg Fried Sunny-Side Up?”, which is a good indicator on the absurdity to be expected in the main protag’s journey into the rules and types of gourmet dining in this four-episode Flash anime/live-action show.
Staff: Rareko (Director)
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: Fanworks
Kantai Collection –Kan Colle-
Moe battleships! Kadokawa Games launched a free-to-play browser game where players compete with cards featuring female moe characters that are anthropomorphised Japanese World War II warships who lose clothes when they are damaged. It’s directed by Keizou Kusakawa (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) and scripts come from Jukki Hanada (Steins;Gate).
Staff: Keizou Kusakawa (Director), Jukki Hanada (Series Composition)
Voice Actors: Saki Fujita (Akagi), Sumire Uesaka (Fubuki), Yuka Iguchi (Kaga)
Studio: Diomedea
Barakamon
Synopsis
Seishuu Handa is a 23-year-old calligrapher and former city-slicker who has moved to the remote Gotou Islands off the western coast of Kyushu. He now has to deal with people who drive tractors and have strange local customs. Worse is to come as Seishuu’s house becomes the place the local kids love to hang out in.
A slice-of-life about a man (not a teenager or a girl) who is learning calligraphy in rural Japan. The world must be spinning backwards. The man is handsome and young but the set-up for this shouts classy. It is based on Satsuki Yoshino’s manga and it is being adapted by director Masaki Tachibana who handled Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. The other noticeable thing about this is that Kenji Kawai is composing the music and he should be familiar to UK anime fans thanks to his work at Production I.G with Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell.
Staff: Masaki Tachibana (Director), Satsuki Yoshino (Original Creator), Pierre Sugiura (Scripts), Hiroshi Kato (Art Director), Majiro (Character Designer), Ungai Hara (Calligraphy), Kenji Kawai (Music)
Voice Actors: Daisuke Ono (Seishuu Handa), Suzuko Hara (Naru Kotoishi), Fumihiko Tachiki (Vice Principal), Junichi Suwabe (Takasei Kawafuji), Rumi Ookubo (Tamako Arai)
Studio: Kinema Citrus
DRAMAtical Murder
Synopsis
Aoba lies with his grandmother on the island of Midorijima. He works at a junk shop which is located in the island’s Former Residents’ District after Toue builds the Platinum Jail resort on the island and boots residents to another part. People aren’t happy about this and Aoba gets drawn into an unfolding plot.
Fans of hardcore shounen-ai games will rejoice at having a second game getting an adaptation. This one is being directed by Kazuya Miura who has worked on AKB0048 and Boogiepop Phantom. NAZ is the animation studio doing the animating and it was founded recently for the Hamtora anime.
Staff: Kazuya Miura (Director), Nitro+CHiRAL (Original Creator), Touko Machida, Kabura Fuchii (Scripts), Yukiko Ban (Character Designer), Yuuki Hayashi (Music)
Voice Actors: Atsushi Kisaichi (Aoba), Hiroki Takahashi (Koujaku), Kenichirou Matsuda (Mink), Masatomo Nakazawa (Clear), Ryota Takeuchi (Ren)
Studio: NAZ
Rail Wars!
Synopsis
In a parallel world where Japan did not privatise its national railways, high school boy Naohito Takayama dreams of scoring a cushy job with Japanese National Railways. He is assigned a post as a trainee in the Railways Security Force alongside man-hater Aoi Sakurai and the two – alongside their teammates – face an extremist group called “RJ” who want to privatise the Japanese National Railways.
This crazy concept comes from a light novel and is directed by Yoshifumi Sueda, a man who has worked on different shows like Un-Go, MAOYU, and Gosick. Masashi Suzuki (Tactics, Level E) is writing.
Staff: Yoshifumi Sueda (Director), Takumi Toyoda (Original Creator), Vania 600 (Original Character Design), Masashi Suzuki (Series Composition), Makoto Uno, Sayaka Koiso (Character Designer)
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: Passione
Minarai Diva
Synopsis
Minarai Diva (Diva-in-Training) is an anime series with the MikuMikuDance software and motion-capture technology. The lines, movements and songs are being performed live.
Rie Murakawa and Nozomi Yamamoto take on the this tough-looking show where they have to think up lyrics for songs, deal with fans on Twitter and via e-mail, and dance and it’s all done live via mo-cap and CG animation. It will be broadcast via video streaming. The chaos is directed and planned by Koutarou Ishidate (gdgd Fairies) and character designs come from Shingo Adachi (Sword Art Online).
Staff: Koutarou Ishidate (Director, Scripts), Shingo Adachi (Character Designer), Junichi Inoue, Hajime (from LiLi) (Music)
Voice Actors: Rie Murakawa (Ruri Aoi), Nozomi Yamamoto (Ui Harune),
Studio: N/A
Tokyo Ghoul
Synopsis
Tokyo is haunted by “ghouls” who are devouring humans and people live in fear of these mysterious creatures. When a college student named Kaneki encounters a girl named Rize, his life takes a very, very deadly turn…
Dark stuff in the PV and it will come as no surprise to fans of Sui Ishida’s fantasy manga about a Tokyo where “ghouls” devour people. Pickman’s Model in contemporary Japan? Sounds too good to resist! Promo art is also strong and, if nothing else, having something as dark as this makes it the perfect counter-programming for people who aren’t huge fans of cute shows. The director is Suhei Morita, famous for engaging in cool projects like the omnibus movie Short Peace and Freedom.
Staff: Shuhei Morita (Director), Sui Ishida (Original Creator), Chuuji Mikasano (Series Composition), Kazuhiro Miwa (Character Designer)
Voice Actors: Natsuki Hanae (Ken Kaneki), Kana Hanazawa (Rize Kamishiro), Sora Amamiya (Touka Kirishima), Mamoru Miyano (Shuu Tsukiyama), Takahiro Sakurai (Uta), Sumire Morohoshi (Hinami Fueguchi)
Studio: Studio Pierrot
Maido! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku
Synopsis
Follow an energetic gradeschooler named Kotetsu Osawagi and his family and friends as they get into mischief in the city of Urayasu which lies near Tokyo.
Kanji Hamaoka’s comedy manga Maido! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku (Super Radical Gag Family) is getting an anime adaptation. This will be the sequel to the 1998 anime but no actors from that series will be returning. The new series is directed by Akitaro Daichi (Fruits Basket).
Staff: Akitaro Daichi (Director), Kenji Hamaoka (Original Creator/Original Character Design)
Voice Actors: Suzuko Mimori (Kotetsu Osawagi), Izum Kitta (Sakura Osawagi), Kanako Toujo (Junko Osawagi), Kazuya Ichijou (Daitetsu Osawagi)
Studio: Studio Deen
Sengoku Basara: Judge End
Synopsis
This series of Sengoku Basara depicts the epic and pivotal Battle of Sekigahara which decided the fate of Japan!
This is based on the third Sengoku Basara game and it is directed by Takashi Sano who has previously worked on episodes of Blood+. Series composition is orchestrated by Natsuko Takahashi (Moyashimon) and the character designer is Michinori Chiba (Basilisk).
Staff: Takashi Sano (Director), Natsuko Takahashi (Series Composition), Michinori Chiba (Character Designer), Capcom (Original Creator)
Voice Actors: Kazuya Nakai (Masamune Date), Tomokazu Seki (Mitsunari Ishida), Soichiro Hoshi (Yukimura Sanada), Tooru Ookawa (Ieyasu Tokugawa)
Studio: Telecom Animation Film
Yami Shibai Second Season
Synopsis
An old man rocks up to a playground with a kamishibai, a way of telling stories using paper scrolls and paper figures. These stories are based off rumours and urban legends from around Japan.
Anybody who has seen TV Tokyo’s Folktales from Japan will recognise this set-up as a series of short tales, around six-minutes long, are used to showcase a selection of ghost stories. The thing that makes this cool is that the second season has live-action J-horror geniuses like Takashi Shimizu (Reincarnation), and Noboru Iguchi (Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead).
Staff: Takashi Shimizu, Noboru Iguchi (Director)
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: N/A
Tokyo ESP
Synopsis
Rinka is a poor high school student who lives with her father in Tokyo. When she sees a flying penguin, she chases it to the top of New Tokyo Tower – only to have “fish swimming in the air” suddenly appear before her. One of the fish goes through Rinka and gives her powers – like the ability to slip through solid objects.
The final anime in this season guide is Tokyo ESP, which comes from a manga by Hajime Segawa, creator of Ga-Rei-Zero. Shigehito Takayanagi (Cardcaptor Sakura) directs and series composition comes from Hideyuki Kurata (Read or Die).
Staff: Shigehito Takayanagi (Director), Hajime Segawa (Original Creator), Hideyuki Kurata (Series Composition), Ryouka Minoshita (Art Director), Shintetsu Takiyama (Character Designer)
Voice Actors: Ibuki Kido (Rinka Urushiba), Keisuke Koumoto (Kyoutarou Azuma), Sachika Misawa (Minami Azuma), Hirokazu Hiramatsu (Casey), Megumi Ogata (Ayumu Ohzora)
Studio: XEBEC
