Fall is coming soon, and along with it comes the ripest season for good anime to come out. Lately, there has been a trend of some of the nicest and most memorable anime series coming out in the fall season of the year. Coincidence or not, fall is probably the season I look forward to the most of all seasons for good things to watch. You can be sure I will expand my watchlist quite a bit come autumn 2008.

Gundam 00

2nd season. What can I say? This sequel to the awesome first season last year needs no introduction. Gundam 00 is back with more GAR and stolen mecha awesomeness than ever before. It seems UVERWorld is doing the OP for Gundam 00 and we seem to be promised some new Gundams after the two got destroyed in the fights at the end.

Win: High
Love: Low
Will watch: Maybe

Shikabane Hime

Shikabane Hime (lit. Corpse Girl Princess). An undead girl Makina Hoshimura must hunt down 108 corpses to go to heaven, which is absolutely absurd in real life but is a good basis for awesome action and gore and blood. Possible successor to the awesomeness shown in Mnemosyne? I hope so. I’ve been loving the violence lately and Shikabane Hime might just be the very thing ther world needs most right now.

Win: Not sure
Love: Medium
Will watch: Let the jury speak

Ga-Rei Zero

Kensuke Nimura was supposed to be a normal high school boy, but met an agent from a government agency that kills evil spirits using a beast called Ga-rei. He joins the agency and starts fighting evil spritis together with the agent (who is a girl I must mention). It looks like we are in for some hot loli action in this series. Can’t wait.

Win: Possibly High
Love: Medium
Will watch: Possibly

Today in Class 5-2

Finally, a series! Following a 5-episode OVA spanning 3 years, they have finally come around to making a series. This is a story about a group of middle schoolers curious about themselves and struggling to understand what they are growing up into. This comedy series has always made me go “AWWW” and “AHAHA” over the antiques of a yet-to-be-shaped bunch of students who would look anywhere, listen to anything and philosophize to learn new things about themselves. Looking forward to some hot collarbone action.

Win: Very high
Love: Up there
Will watch: Definitely

Kannagi Crazy Shrine Maiden

An art student Jin Mikuriya carves a statue from the wood of the Kannagi tree, only to have the statue come to life in the form of a goddess, who has now taken over the statue. He, and Nagi work together to destroy the impurities gathering in the town. From the looks of it, this is going to be some wonderful nun-fanservice and hot loli-yuri action and lots of pantyshots from bad-spirit-exorcism winds. Looking forward to a verdict after the first few episodes.

Win: High
Love: Medium
Will watch: Maybe

Jigoku Shoujo 3 Mitsuganae

Another series! Enma Ai continues to send people to hell as requests from people who get pushed across the limit of sorrow, grief, despair and torment continue to flow in during midnight. Mitsuganae will being more emotional play

Win: Very very High
Love: High
Will watch: Fo’ sure

Toradora

“You are a pathetic waste of space!” or so Takasu Ryuuji tells the star loli of this series Aisaka “Taiga”, a typical tsundere. Aisaka is the daughter of a very very rich family and meets the normal highschool boy Takasu Ryuuji. Both of them conspire to get the boy and girl that they love but eventually, create more mishaps than what they would be comfortable with. Awesome sauce needs awesome anime.

Win: Very very High
Love: High
Will watch: Definitely

Hyakko

A comedy about four freshman students in private combined junior and middle school in the same class. This looks like a Hidamari Sketch-type anime but with more laughs and less slice-of-lifey and nice loveable character types. A possible winner next year?

Win: High
Love: High
Will watch: Very likely

ef – a tale of melodies

Ooh. More ef goodness. I enjoyed ef – a tale of memories and its lovely little storyline which involved very few characters but very full development. This anime, from its trailer looks a bit less SHAFTy than the first, but with that title, I’m definitely going for it. There seems to be a new cast here and new protagonists in this series, but with the old characters also making cameos in it. This would be a good opportunity to see where the kids from the first ef have gotten to.

Win: High
Love: High
Will watch: Very likely

Clannad After Story

Nagisa and Tomoya are back in this enchanting series based off Key’s visual novel of the same name. The story looks like it will be focusing more on the after-school life of Tomoya and Nagisa as they go through the ordeals of entering society, and the troubles that life has in store for Tomoya. A definite must-see from world-class animators Kyoto Animation.

Win: Very high
Love: Through the roof
Will watch: Zettai & Kanarazu

Lucky Star OVA

The crazy four are back as an otaku, a tsundere, a dojikko and a meganekko continue to surf through life in this amazing slice of life anime. One of the best anime series ever made, and extras coming out of it is always good. Definitely looking forward to more Konata x Kagamin action.

Win: Yama hodo
Love: KONATA I LOVE YOU
Will watch: Is that even a question?

After finishing ef I finally discovered how lame an ending can be, and how much effort an anime studio can put in to impressing people and ultimately fail. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed this show while it lasted, and I believe it is one of the few shows that have left a lasting impression with me as being “not as bad as it really is”. I always had my reservations when I knew SHAFT was going to be doing an anime adaptation of a hentai game. Somehow I had the feeling that it was going to be somewhat similar to the style used in Negima!?. However, the animators took it one step further and used many art styles and tried many tones and expressions of space in the animation. I say they “tried” because this anime seems more of an artistic experiment more than anything else. An attempt to try out new and random ways of portraying the characters and the mood in the show, and to gauge its effectiveness in immersing the viewer in the show. I feel that they have succeeded in some, and failed in others. Sometimes the show gets pretty nice, because the effects somehow immerse the viewer into the mood. Sometimes its just plain random. Of course, beauty is in the the eyes of the beholder.

As much as I feel like writing lots of philosophy about beauty and arguing semantics and how people define what, I am here to rant. Yes. I am here to rant and complain about how disappointed I am with a fansub group that I had tremendous respect for in terms of fansub quality. I think they just plain became lazy on this one.

“Itsuka atarashii sekai ni habatakeru no”
Someday I will flap my wings towars a new world

First of all, WTF IS THIS!? Which part of it says, fly high or make it or believe!? That doesn’t make any sense. You could argue that flapping could be flying but where the hell does the “believe” come in?

“yuuyami semaru machi no keshiki ni tatazumu hitori de”
I hang around by myself in a city bathed in the twilight

Oh yes, I see the lonely nights part hehe. its written in the full stop -.- wait, there’s no full stop. LOL.

“Kasumu sora yuragu kuuki sae”
Under the hazy sky and the trembling atmosphere…

… takes a deep breath?

“Zutto nanika sagashite”
What have I been looking for?

Not being able to find something sure makes you feel like a loser doesn’t it? But it’s alright. Says who? XD nyoron~

“Shizumu kurai yoru no”
The depressing and dark night…

Yes! Break thru it! Fight the dark night and fight the depression! \o/. Man, I really have no idea how the subs below relate to the lyrics. Maybe menclave is trying to make a parody of ef. Maybe I downloaded the wrong one.

“mukou e hashiridasu”
..run beyond it!

But I’m Afraid that this Time I can’t? Because that’s not what the lyrics are saying!!

“Takanaru mune no kodou furikiru GEEJI”
The drums in my chest beat faster and faster, shaking free from the gauge

Again, I think I see some similarity between the lyrics and the subs given here. I don’t know about the be alive part though. BOOM BOOM I SURELY FEEL MY HEARTBEAT

“Afureru namida wo kechirase”
Get rid of the overflowing tears

Yes, you can say goodbye to your tears that you don’t need. Who said anything about overflowing? They singer is just kidding.

“Yume o tsukande”
And reach for your dream!

Don’t forget to believe in your dream too, lest you won’t catch it.

I don’t see how a bunch of very simple translations for a few lines of lyrics can be difficult for the masters at Menclave. Man, I don’t have a JLPT but I did this in like, 5 minutes, it might not be entirely accurate and such but hell it’s better than the shit we’ve been given. I pity the poor guys who want to learn Japanese by reading this stuff. They’ll be spending hours and hours of their lives trying to relate the lyrics from the subs which are never related in the first place -.-;