Fall Season 2012

I am happy to say that the new anime season has some pretty fun new series that look like they will be worth watching.    This post will be a sampling of a few I’ve tried so far, and my impressions after just the first two or three episodes.

My favorite of the season so far is probably Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.  This series is a slice of high school life series which follows a mismatched couple, the studious, impervious, girl honor student Mizutani Shizuku and the misunderstood, difficult boy who never comes to school, Yoshida Haru.   They meet when the teacher asks Shizuku to take printouts to Haru.  The rest, as they say, is history.  But this is a fun history.  All the characters so far are unique and interesting and their interactions keep you smiling and asking for more.  There are also hints of a darker back story to come.  Even though I rarely enjoy high school slice a life a lot, this one shows considerable promise.

Zetsuan no Tempest is another one I’m continuing to watch after two episodes.   This series appears to be a battle between two magicians.  The bad guy magician, Kusaribe Samon, starts the battle (and the series) by marooning the good girl magician, Kusaribe Hakaze, alone on a shielded island, and proceeding with his plans to bring major badness to the world.  Even though she’s a powerful magician, Hakaze’s capabilities are limited by the shielded island, but via a message bottle she hooks up with a teenager looking for revenge and reasons for his sister Aika’s death.    The teenager, Fuwa Mahiro, and his best friend, Takigawa Yoshino, are swept up into the magical battles.  I’m watching this one because it’s pretty and interesting so far.  I hope it fulfills its promise.

Kamisama Hajimemashita is also one I’m watching.  This one looks like it will end up being a reverse harem anime, but the first couple of episodes had me either smiling or laughing pretty much all the way through, so I’ll continue to watch it as long as I’m enjoying it.  This series is about a poor girl, Momozono Nanami, whose father skips out on his gambling debts and house is repossessed.  She has nowhere to go so when she helps a stranger he offers her his house to stay at.  His “house” is an old temple, and he has just turned her into the new god of that temple.  She has no powers, even as a god, so she traps a strong fox-youkai named Tomoe to be her servant and help her.  The interactions between them are simply priceless, so I have great hopes for this series too.  

Another one I almost dropped after the first episode is K.  Lots of violence in the first episode, but I decided to watch episode 2 and now I think I’ll keep watching.  Episode 2 was funny!  I have no clear idea what is going on in K.  Right now all I know is that several different groups are all looking for a particular kid named Isana Yashiro, with the intention of killing him.  The kid seems innocent and pure but they’re after him for killing one of their own people.   The series is full of people who can wield magic to some extent, and one of the main characters is a cat who becomes a naked woman.   So basically I don’t know what’s going on or what the basic plot line will be, but if you read this blog much at all, you know I like a mystery.  I’ll watch this one a bit farther.

The last one for today’s post is Shinsekai Yori.  The premise for this one seems to be a future world where humans have evolved to have extrasensory powers.  It’s not completely clear yet, but it seems that people with those powers have run rampant in the past and caused much evil, so in the current world, kids with powers are raised carefully and strictly.  Any signs of deviation cause those kids to disappear.   The series is following the current class of kids through their training and lives, with occasional flashbacks to the bloody history that led to the current state of affairs.   It’s interesting enough to keep me watching for now.

So those are the series from the new season that I’m currently watching.  And of course I’ve picked up the second season of Jormungand.  I’m enjoying them all quite a bit so far.  It’s great to have new series to watch and I hope at least some of them turn out to be outstanding series.