Anime UK News Autumn 2014 Anime Preview Part 1
It’s time for another season preview because at the end of September we get 30+ new anime shows to enjoy, so it’s best to start picking what you want to watch now!
It will be a shame to see the summer season end, given the large variety of awesome anime. In fact it might be possible to say that 2014 is shaping up to be a rather excellent year for anime with many titles in many genres providing the sort of adventurous and exciting entertainment that creates otaku out of ordinary people and the titles aired over the summer have played a massive part.
The autumn season is just like every other season in that it is made up of a variety of titles aimed at different audiences and all of that content can fill hundreds of hours of air time. There are ikemen comedies, moe titles, and lots of fantasy action titles that will appeal to everyone from shounen and shoujo to beyond. Even if there are fewer original shows with insane synopses it is simply mind-boggling to take it all in, which is why preview guides like this exist.
Anime UK News have put together a two-part Autumn Season Preview which lists nearly all of the new television shows that will air in Japan from September to December and there is a lot to enjoy.
I was able to get this entire thing together thanks to a season guide, Anime News Network and MyAnimeList. I hope you can find something to watch when the autumn season launches. Stay tuned to the forums for streaming announcements!
Terra Formars
Synopsis
In the 21st century Earth’s scientists were tackling the issue of colonising Mars. They needed to warm the planet so that humans could survive the atmosphere and their solution was to send moss to the surface so it could gather sunlight. This moss would be accompanied by cockroaches and their corpses would serve as a food source for the moss.
In the year 2577 the first manned ship to Mars lands on the planet but what the crew find are giant mutated cockroaches that look human and have incredible physical strength. The crew are wiped out but they send one last transmission back to Earth warning their people back home about the threat. Humanity responds by sending elite warriors to Mars to destroy the roaches!
Let battle commence!
Genius title aside, this one will be for those who love their sci-fi action. Anime fans will already have had the opportunity to taste this TV anime because the first of two OVAs was released back in August and directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki. He is an interesting character because his career includes work on storyboards on the likes of Tatami Galaxy, episode direction on Space Dandy, and working on key animation for the Ninja Scroll movie. He also worked on Mouryou no Hako (I had to work in a reference to it at some point!). He’s a bit of a journeyman which is why the OVAs had an interesting old-school feel as it got down to giving solid action straight away. The characters, technology and setting had a more mature look and felt reminiscent of something like Blue Gender; even if the enemies were bland, they were still very creepy and the final shot of a hive promised more to come. Series composition is orchestrated by Yasukawa Shogo who is another interesting character because he has worked with the so-so Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? but also handled work on the stellar JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders.
Staff: Hiroshi Hamasaki (Director), Yu Sasuga (Original Creator), Shogo Yasukawa (Series Composition), Kenichi Tachibana (Original Character Designer)
Voice Actors: Hidenobu Kiuchi (Shokichi Komachi), Ayako Kawasumi (Nanao Akita), Tookazu Sugita (Ichiro Hiruma), Ami Koshimizu (Victoria Wood), Jouji Nakata (Alexander Gustav Newton)
Studio: LIDEN FILMS
Airing Date: September 27th, 2014
Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte: The Maxim)
Synopsis
High school student Shinichi Izumi lives a normal life with his mother and father in Tokyo but that all stops when worm-like aliens called Parasytes invade Earth. They plunge from the sky and take over the brains of humans by entering through their ears or noses. Shinichi was targeted while he slept but since he was wearing headphones, the Parasyte was forced to burrow into his arm and occupy his right hand and settled there.
Shinichi wakes up horrified and finds that the alien has its own intellect and personality and it is named Migi. The two join forces as they become targeted by other Parasytes who want to destroy Shinichi because he can still think for himself. The two battle other Parasytes and try to save humans from being snacks for aliens!
Madhouse has been busy with Hunter x Hunter and odd series like Sunday Without God but there seems to be a push back into making a big banner show with the TV anime of Parasyte. The quality of the animation on all of the teasers suggests that there is a budget and that the animators are going all out to bring a classic to the screen! It has 24 episodes listed and there’s a big push to turn Parasyte into a multimedia franchise what with a live-action film coming out in the same season and another a few months later. This looks like it could travel to the west because Funimation picks up titles like this.
Curiously, the director is rather untested as a director but has worked on many other anime titles handling key animation like Monster, Roujin Z and Symphogear. Visually, the big stand out, apart from the great animation, are the characters who have a lot of life and distinctiveness to them and that’s thanks to Tadashi Hiramatsu, a man with a long career with a filmography stuffed full of classics like the rom-com His and Her Circumstances, and sci-fi action titles Dennou Coil and Moldiver. Good things can be expected from the writing department considering the source material and the fact that a veteran like Shoji Yonemura is in charge of series composition. Yonemura has worked on series like Berserk, Death Note, Hunter x Hunter and the loveable Monster Rancher.
Staff: Kenichi Shimizu (Director), Hitoshi Iwaaki (Original Creator), Shoji Yonemura (Series Composition), Tadashi Hiramatsu (Character Designer), Ken Arai (Music), Fuminao Akai (Art Director)
Voice Actors: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Shinichi Izumi), Kana Hanazawa (Satomi Murano), Aya Hirano (Migi), Atsuko Tanaka (Ryoko Tamiya), Miyuki Sawashiro (Kana Kimishima)
Studio: Madhouse
Airing Date: October 01st, 2014
GARO: The Carved Seal of Flames (Garo: Honoo no Kokuin)
Synopsis
The king of Valiante launches a witch hunt that endangers both Makai Knights and Makai Priests. One man connected to all of this, Herman Luis, finds his life torn apart when his wife dies at the stake while giving birth to their son, Leon Luis. Herman spirits Leon away to safety and trains him to inherit the title of Garo and battle evil. Years late when the king of Valiante falls ill, his throne is usurped by his advisor and the king’s son Prince Alfonso San Valiante seeks out the aid of Leon to reclaim his the royal thrown.
This looks like pure super hero fantasy action in the spirit of the Garo franchise. The tokusatsu series Garo started life as a television series back in 2006 and has become a big franchise. Many people have no idea how big Garo actually is and it isn’t until checking the amount of films and television series based on it that one gets a sense of its popularity. It’s surprising that it has taken this long to get an anime project going but it’s in the hands of some interesting people like writer Yasuko Kobayashi who has worked extensively on Attack on Titan and handled series composition for it. Kobayashi is also responsible for another standout, the recent reboot of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise and she regularly oversees scripts and series composition for that. Kazuyuki Hashimoto (Cowboy Bebop, Mai Mai Miracle, Spriggan) handles the art direction here. Another name that stands out is monaca (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU) who will be responsible for the music. The teaser doesn’t reveal much but what it does show is stirring, with strongly defined visuals and music.
Staff: Yuichiro Hayashi (Director), Keita Amemiya (Original Creator), Yasuko Kobayashi (Series Composition), Toshiyuki Kanno (Animation Character Designer), monaca (Music), Kazuyuki Hashimoto (Art Director)
Voice Actors: Daisuke Namikawa (Leon Lewis), Katsuhito Nomura (Alfonso San Valiante), Romi Park (Emma Gusman), Kenyuu Horiuchi (Herman Lewis)
Studio: MAPPA
Airing Date: October 01st, 2014
Gundam Build Fighters Try
Synopsis
Sei Iori made history for his hometown when he won the 7th Gunpla Battle Championship World Tournament and now Gunpla Battle has become massively popular. Fumina Hoshino is the president of the Gunpla Battle Club at Sei’s old school, Seiho Academy, but in order to take part in the next All-Japan Gunpla Battle Championship tournament she needs to assemble a three-person team. Fortune smiles when she meets a martial artist named Sekai Kamiki and a young Gunpla builder named Yūma Kōsaka. The three form Team “TRY FIGHTERS”, and enter the tournament.
It is hard to keep track of the Gundam franchise because there’s just so much of it. We’re on safe territory with this since it’s a sequel and its concept is one we’ve seen many times before in shows like Medabots and Robotics;Notes. Also familiar are the staff involved.
Director Shinya Watada has a long history working on various Gundam series as well as Tiger & Bunny and Sword Art Online and he is overseeing the entire show here. Yousuke Kuroda, the writer, handled series composition for the first Gundam Build Fighters. His filmography is stacked with a lot of other Gundam titles but he also has writing credits for various shows like Excel Saga, Tenchi Universe and Madlax. I’m going to bring up Robotics;Notes again because the composer for that show’s music was Asami Tachibana and she is here with Yuuki Hayashi, composer on the same show and others like Blood Lad.
Staff: Shinya Watada (Director), Hajime Yatate, Yuuki Hayashi (Original Creator), Yousuke Kuroda (Series Composition), Kenichi Ohnuki (Character Designer), Asami Tachibana, Yuuki Hayashi (Music)
Voice Actors: Kazumi Togashi (Sekai Kamiki), Aya Endo (Mirai Kamiki), Yuma Uchida (Yuma Kosaka), Yui Makino (Fuina Hoshino)
Studio: Sunrise
Airing Date: October 08th, 2014
Le Fruit de la Grisaia (Grisaia no Kajitsu)
Synopsis
Mihama Academy seems like a school for students who find it hard to fit into the world but it also serves as something of a prison for malcontents with troubled pasts. There are five female students whose lives are now in stasis but an outsider arrives. Yuuji is the first male student to enroll in the institute and his appearance shakes things up as the girls wake up to him and their circumstances.
This is based on a popular adult visual novel but the premise is one that we have seen in other anime and manga. The anime is directed by Tensho (NAKAIMO) and the scripts are adapted by Hideyuki Kurata who has been attached to much loved anime like Read or Die, and was also attached to extremely divisive titles like Samurai Flamenco.
Staff: Tensho (Director), Keita Amemiya (Creator), Hideyuki Kurata (Series Composition), Akio Watanabe, Fumio (Original Character Designer), Akio Watanabe (Chief Animation Director)
Voice Actors: Takahiro Sakurai (Yuuji Kazami), Hiroko Taguchi (Amane Suo), Ai Shimizu (Sachi Komine), Kaori Mizuhashi (Michiru Matsushima), Tomoe Tamiyasu (Makina Irisu)
Studio: 8-Bit
Airing Date: October 01st, 2014
Trinity Seven
Synopsis
Kasuga Arata lives a normal life in a small town but all that changes when the Black Sun appears and initiates the Breakdown Phenomenon which destroys everything and spirits away his cousin Hijiri to another world. Following this disaster he meets a magician and finds his life is artificially reconstructed by a Grimoire once owned by his childhood friend. Kasuga enrols in the Royal Biblia Academy where he meets seven beautiful magic users who go under the name Trinity Seven. What will Kasuga do in his new life?
Magic, a harem of girls with huge guns in a school and a funky soundtrack reminiscent of the music heard in Persona games. A lot of it seems clichéd but the PVs and music suggest that this could be a surprise. Fans are salivating over the prospect of seeing a harem made up of deadly girls battling monsters and it looks like the staff could deliver the action goods.
Hiroshi Nishikori is the director. He is well-known for his work on the comedy Azumanga Daioh, and, perhaps more fittingly for this anime, the sci-fi school action series A Certain Magical Index. Hiroyuki Yoshino is another name that bodes well for the anime because of work on Accel World and Black Butler: Book of Circus. The anime is created at Seven Arcs Pictures who did sterling work in the underrated Mushibugyo.
Staff: Hiroshi Nishikori (Director), Akinari Nao, Kenji Saito (Creator), Hiroyuki Yoshino (Series Composition), Shinpei Tomooka (Character Designer/Chief Animation Director), Technoboys Pulcraft Green-Fund (Music)
Voice Actors: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Arata Kasuga), Yumi Hara (Lilith Asami), Aya Uchida (Arin Kannazuki), Ayane Sakura (Revi Kazama), Nao Toyama (Liselotte Sherlock), Aya Suzaka (Serina Sherlock), Ayaka Suwa (Hijiri Kasuga), Ryoka Yuzuki (Akio Fudo), Yoko Hikasa (Mira Yamana)
Studio: Seven Arcs Pictures
Airing Date: October, 2014
Inou-Battle within Everyday Life (Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de)
Synopsis
When the members of a literature club are endowed with supernatural powers, they expect to be plunged into some conflict or other but, alas, their everyday school lives continue unabated. There are no monsters, aliens or wars, just studying. That doesn’t mean that they can’t have fun with their gifts. Ando Jurai can create black flames using heat from a hot water bottle. Tomoyo Kanzaki can control time. Hatoko can control different elements of the natural world. Chifuyu can create matter and space. Sayumi Takanashi can return things to their original form. What chaos can happen with these powers?
Magic, a harem of girls in a school… wait, I’ve written this before in the preview… and other previews. This sounds like a set-up we’re all very familiar with but the execution could be what separates it from the rest of the pack because we have Studio Trigger animating it. Studio Trigger, as in the guys behind Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia. The brains behind this in terms of writing and direction are Masanori Takahashi and Masahiko Otsuka. Takahashi has handled similar types of titles with stints as an episode director on Angel Beats! and Strike Witches. The one to watch is Otsuka who has a career working as an assistant director on Whisper of the Heart and Pom Poko, writing the scripts for Little Witch Academia.
Staff: Masahiko Otsuka (Chief Director), Masanori Takahashi (Director), Kota Nozomi (Creator), Masahiko Otsuka (Series Composition), Satoshi Yamaguchi (Character Designer), 029 (Original Character Designer), Elements Garden (Music)
Voice Actors: Haruka Yamazaki (Tomoya Kanzaki), Nanami Yamashita (Chifuyu Himeki), Nobuhiko Okamoto (July Andou), Risa Taneda (Sayumi Takanashi), Saori Hayami (Hatoko Kushikawa), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Shizumu Sagami), Emiri Kato (Madoka Kuki)
Studio: Trigger
Airing Date: October, 2014
Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis
It is now impossible to see the word Shingeki and not think of Attack on Titan and hear its opening theme! This visual fantasy is based on a series of card games launched in 2012 by Cygames, the anime is directed by Keiichi Satou (Tiger & Bunny) with scripts overseen by Keiichi Hasegawa (The Big O). Goki Nakamura, art director on the first two Berserk movies, takes the same role here and the person designing the characters who exist in the world is Naoyuki Onda who has worked on Ergo Proxy and Gantz.
Staff: Keiichi Satou (Director), Cygames (Original Creator), Keiichi Hasegawa (Series Composition), Naoyuki Onda (Character Designer), Naoyuki Onda (Chief Animatio Director), Yoshhiro Ike (Music)
Voice Actors: Shuuichi Ikeda (Walfrid), Ayako Kawasumi (Reesha), Yoko Hikasa (Anne), Mamoru Miyano (Roux), Saori Goto (Aiteru), Yui Horie (Tina), Haruka Tomatsu (Feena)
Studio: MAPPA
Airing Date: October, 2014
Searching for the Lost Future (Ushinawareta Mirai o Motomete)
Synopsis
It is September and Uchihama Academy is going to shut down an old building and transfer everything to a newly constructed school building. The students are all working hard to make the final General Club Festival at the old building a success. One of the clubs trying to make things happen is the Astronomy Club and one of its members is Sou Akiyama. When Sou receives a request from the student executive committee to calm the uneasiness among the students, he discovers a series of mysterious incidents like ghost sightings, accidents, and sleeping sickness are connected to the old building. When a transfer student named Yui Furukawa meets Sou, things get stranger.
Proust now writes anime. Another adaptation of an adult VN (created by Trumple and released in 2010), the anime is directed by Naoto Hosoda (Mirai Nikki, Shuffle!). I’m personally excited about watching Ibsen’s forthcoming two-cour series The Lady from the Sea: Magical Girl Mami. I hear it’s meant to be the next Symphogear!
Staff: Naoto Hosoda (Director), Rie Kawamata (Series Composition), Sadayuki Murai, Tatsuya Takahashi (Scenario), Ikuo Yaakado (Character Designer), Kurehito Misaki, Shinobu Kuroya, (Original Character Designer), Fuga (Music)
Voice Actors: Takuma Terashima (Sou Akiyama), Akane Tomonaga (Yui Yoshikawa), Hatsumi Takada (Kaori Sasaki), Atsumi Tanezaki (Yaeko Azuma), Satomi Satou (Karin Fukazawa), Kappei Yamaguchi (Eitaro Kenny Osafune), Masashi Hirose (Sakunoshin Honjo)
Studio: feel.
Airing Date: October, 2014
World Trigger
Synopsis
When a mysterious inter dimensional gate opens, gigantic aliens called “Neighbors” attack humanity! The military are powerless because conventional weapons are useless but a mysterious group of warriors with control over alien technology step in to save everybody! These guys are known as the “Border” defense agency and we witness some of them in action!
This is based on Daisuke Ashihara’s manga serialised in Weekly Shounen Jump since February 2013. Little is known about the staff.
Staff: Daisuke Ashihara (Original Creator)
Voice Actors: Tomo Muranaka (Yuma Kuga), Hideyuki Tanaka (Replica), Jun Fukuyama (Kyosuke Karasuma), Kana Hanazawa (Ai Kitora), Rie Kugimiya (Kirie Konami), Yuuki Kaji (Osamu Mikumo), Keiji Fujiwara (Takumi Rindo)
Studio: Toei Animation
Airing Date: October, 2014
Ronia the Robber’s Daughter (Sanzoku no Musume Ronja)
Synopsis
Ronia is the only daughter of Mattis, the chief of a tribe of bandits who live in a large castle in a forest. Ronia studies the ways of the mysterious creatures who also live in the forest.
This one is going to be divisive. As soon as the fans saw the CG animation, tears were shed, teeth were gnashed and people took to forums and YouTube to argue over it. Billed as Studio Ghibli’s first foray into TV anime, this sees the might animation studio unite with POLYGON PICTURES (The Sky Crawlers, Knights of Sidonia) to animate a children’s fantasy story created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. It is directed by Goro Miyazaki, a director who still attracts ire from fans who doubt his abilities thanks to his debut film, Tales from Earthsea (an interesting project, just not that enjoyable for many). He did win plaudits for his sophomore effort, the romance From Up On Poppy Hill. The series composition is orchestrated by Hiroyuki Kawasaki, writer on numerous anime series like Sakura Wars and El Cazador de la Bruja. The series theme song is “Haru no Sakebi” (Spring’s Shout) by Aoi Terashima.
Staff: Goro Miyazaki (Director), Hiroyuki Kawasaki (Series Composition), Astrid Lindgren (Original Creator)
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: POLYGON PICTURES
Animation Production Cooperation: Studio Ghibli
Airing Date: October, 2014
Wolf Girl & Black Prince (Oukami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji)
Synopsis
Erika Shinohara is a high-school girl who likes to brag about her romantic life to her friends. Except she’s totally inexperienced and has no boyfriend. Not that that fact stops her from claiming that her schoolmate Kyoya Sata is her main man and so when pushed to show him off, she has to make him her fake boyfriend. Unfortunately for Erika, he’s a rather nasty guy who treats her like a dog.
It’s hard not to think of the word ‘misogynist’ when reading a synopsis which involves a guy treating a girl like a dog but this is based on a popular manga in Bessatsu Margaret, a magazine which has been home to popular titles like High School Debut, Strobe Edge, and Chocolate Underground so it will probably be sweet and nice rather than sadistic and nasty.
Director Kenichi Kasai has handled all sorts of anime with similar themes like Nodame Cantabile, Love Stage!! and episodes of His and Her Circumstances. He also worked on Bakuman. Character designs are handled by Maki Fujioka (Itazura na Kiss, La Corda d’Oro Blue Sky) and Sawako Hirabayashi, writer on series like My Little Monster, is in charge of series composition.
Staff: Kenichi Kasai (Director), Ayuko Hatta (Creator), Sawako Hirabayashi (Series Composition), Maki Fujioka (Character Designer), Sawako Hirabayashi (Scripts)
Voice Actors: Kanae Ito (Erika Shinohara), Takahiro Sakurai (Kyoya Sata), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Takeru Hibiya), Mariya Ise (Marin Tachibana), Mikako Komatsu (Aki Tezuka)
Studio: N/A
Airing Date: October, 2014
Ai Tenchi Muyo!
Synopsis
Tenchi must save the world from mad scientist Washu and to do this he goes undercover as a teacher in a girls’ school…
TENCHI MUYO! IS BACK!!! In a series of 5 minute shorts… That will air over 50 episodes… And it’s set in a girl’s school… It seems disappointing that the 20th anniversary project is reduced to this instead of getting a brand new series. The reason for disappointment from some quarters is that Tenchi Muyo was the first introduction for many to harem anime and it is much-loved. Tenchi aired in the UK on Cartoon Network’s Toonami slot alongside Gundam Wing and it provided a laid-back and sweet (though still racy) harem anime. The original can be viewed on Funimation’s YouTube channel and it is well worth a shot to see what older UK anime fans could enjoy.
The director is Hiroshi Negishi and he was the chap who helmed Tenchi Universe and two Tenchi Muyo films. The character designs are by Suzuhito Yasuda, creator of Yozakura Quartet and character designer on Durarara!!
Staff: Hiroshi Negishi (Director), Masaki Kajishima (Creator), Suzuhito Yasuda (Character Designer)
Voice Actors: N/A
Studio: AIC
Airing Date: October, 2014
Mushishi Zoku Shou 2nd Season
Synopsis
Ginko is a Mushishi (mushi master) who studies strange creatures named Mushi. Mushi are creatures connected to nature which take various forms and they have strange effects on people who encounter them. As Ginko journeys around he finds how humans interact with them.
The second season of Mushishi Zoku Shou.
Staff: Hiroshi Nagahama (Director/Series Script Supervisor), Yuki Urushibara (Original Creator), Yoshihiko Umakoshi (Character Design/Chief Animation Director)
Voice Actors: Yuto Nakano (Ginko), Mika Doi (Narrator)
Studio: Artland
Airing Date: October, 2014
Ore, Twin-tails ni Narimasu (I, Will Become a Twin Tail)
Synopsis
Souji Mitsuka is a high school student who loves the “twin-tails” hairstyle. One day he encounters a beautiful girl from a parallel world named Thouars and she grants him the power to transform into the twin-tails. He can now turn into the female warrior TailRed and just in time too, because monsters invade Souji’s town and these guys want to devour the spiritual energy of people. Now Souji, with the help of his childhood friend Aika, who can become the twin-tails warrior TailBlue, must fight in order to protect the peace on Earth.
Yume Mizusawa’s light novel series gets adapted for the screen by Hiroyuki Kanbe, director of Oreimo and its sequel. Series composition is handled by Naruhisa Arakawa, the man behind the ecchi title So I Can’t Play H, the moe meta-comedy Outbreak Comedy and the mercantile fantasy adventures Spice & Wolf and MAOYU. Character designs are created by Kazuaki Morit (Danganronpa).
Staff: Hiroyuki Kanbe (Director), Naruhisa Arakawa (Series Composition), Yume Mizusawa (Original Creator), Ayumu Kasuga (Original Character Designer), Kazuaki Morita, Masahiro Yamane (Character Design)
Voice Actors: Maaya Uchida (Thouars), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Souji Mitsuka), Sumire Uesaka (Tail Red), Chinatsu Akasaki (Erina Shindo), M.A.O (Mikoto Sakuragawa), Yoko Hikasa (Isna)
Studio: Production IMS
Airing Date: October, 2014
Amagi Brilliant Park
Synopsis
Seiya Kanie is a high school student blessed with good looks, athletic abilities and a massive intellect. This is probably why he’s kidnapped by a mysterious transfer student who carries a musket gun, and taken to a deserted amusement park, Amagi Brilliant Park, which will close unless it can get 100,000 visitors in two weeks. Seiya is in a battle to bring his brains to the business world and make Amagi Brilliant Park a success!
Kyoto Animation follow up fujoshi-bait swim team anime Free! with Amagi Brilliant Park, a comedy drama based on Shoji Gatoh’s light novel series. Shoji Gatoh is the creator of Full Metal Panic! and we can spot Bonta-kun in the promos. Yasuhiro Takemono, director of the beautiful mystery romance Hyouka, exercises his comedy credential with this slapstick show, a return to his work on Full Metal Panic! and Hare+Guu. Fumihiko Shimo, the person adapting the Amagi Brilliant Park series, is also another veteran of Full Metal Panic! as well as writer on Dai-Guard and Clannad. Music comes from Shinkichi Mitsumune (Sky Girls, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Speed Grapher).
Staff: Yasuhiro Takemoto (Director), Fumihiko Shimo (Series Composition), Shoji Gatoh (Original Creator), Yuka Nakajima (Original Character Designer), Miku Kadowaki (Character Design), Shinkichi Mitsumune (Music)
Voice Actors: Ai Kakuma (Isuzu Sento), Kouki Uchiyama (Seiya Kanie), Yukiyo Fujii (Latifah Fullanza), Ai Nonaka (Tirami), Ayako Kawasumi (Moffle), Yuka Aisaka (Muse), Tomoyo Kurosawa (Sylphy), Shiori Mikami (Kobori)
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Airing Date: October 02nd, 2014
Madan no Ou to Vanadis (The King of the Magic Bullet and Vanadis)
Synopsis
Western Europe is in the grip of war and some of the mightiest warriors on the battlefield are Vanadis, beautiful girls who wield weapons given to them by dragons. Eleanor “Ellen” Vertalia, a silver-haired, red-eyed woman known as the Vanadis of Zhcted, invades the nation of Bruhne where she defeats a minor noble named Tigre and takes him prisoner!
Tatsuo Sato, director of Bodacious Space Pirates and Martian Successor Nadesico, is heavily involved in this fantasy war drama as he writes and directs this over at the animation studio Satelight, the house that provides many magical and mecha anime like Macross Frontier, Log Horizon, AKB0048 and Aquarion. Quite fittingly for a fantasy show, the music is composed by Masaru Yokoyama, the guy behind the scores for Nobunaga the Fool and Queen’s Blade titles. He also scored the far superior Arakawa Under the Bridge.
Staff: Tatsuo Sato (Director/Series Composition/Screenplay), Tsukasa Kawaguchi (Original Creator), Hinata Katagiri, Nobuhiko Yanai (Original Character Designer), Yousuke Kabashima (Character Design), Masatoshi Kai (Art Director), Masaru Yokoyama (Music)
Voice Actors: Haruka Tomatsu (Eleonora “Ellen” Viltaria), Kaito Ishikawa (Tigrevurmud “Tigre” Vorn), Ai Kayano (Sophia Obertas), Mariya Ise (Ludmilla Lurie)
Studio: Satelight
Airing Date: October 02nd, 2014
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (The Shepherd of the Great Library)
Synopsis
The story is set at Shiomi Academy, home to a massive library (daitoshokan) which Kyotaro Kakei, one of the Library Club, loves frequenting so he can read the many books stored there by himself. Then he meets a second-year girl named Tsugumi Shirasaki. Intrigued, he finds out that she was brought there by somebody going under the title “shepherd” and soon, more girls enter the library and want to join the library club…
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai is based on an adult game and animated by Hoods Entertainment (Mysterious Girlfriend X). The anime has an interesting set-up because the jobs of direction, character design and animation direction are shared by five people under the collective name Team Nico. The people in the team are Ken’ichi Konishi, Tomomi Kamiya, Asami Sodeyama, Kaori Hayashi and Yū Shinoda.
Ken’ichi Konishi has worked on numerous Ghibli films like Whisper of the Heart, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke.
Tomomi Kamiya has worked on key animation for titles like Psycho-Pass, Space Dandy and Attack on Titan.
Asami Sodeyama has worked on key animation for The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Penguindrum and Fairy Tail.
Kaori Hayashi has worked on key animation on Garden of Words.
Yuu Nobuta has directed episodes of Red Garden and Sacred Seven.
Staff: Team Nico (Director, Character Design, Animation Direction), Kiyoko Yoshimura (Series Composition/Screenplay), Bekkankou (Original Character Designer), August (Original Creator)
Voice Actors: Atsumi Tanezaki (Nagi Kodachi), Eri Sendai (Kana Suzuki), Junji Majima (Kyotaro Kakei), Madoka Yonezawa (Tsugumi Shirasaki), Rina Satou (Miyu Serizawa)
Studio: Hoods Entertainment
Airing Date: October 02nd, 2014
And that’s it for Part 1 of the Autumn Anime Preview. Keep checking Anime UK News for Part 2 and also for the streaming announcements which are put on our News Forum.
