Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Winter 2015 Watchlist

Yuri Kuma Arashi Manga Image

Once again, Happy New Year everyone! It's time to kick off a brand new twelve months of anime! This season is a bit sequel heavy, but it's covering a lot of series that I'm interested in, so I'm pretty excited. Even with my upcoming busy schedule, I couldn't help but add a lot of new titles to my watchlist!

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! Preview Image
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!

Several times last year I asked for a magical boy anime. Kamigami no Asobi got really close, but I don't quite count it because that show was about gods, so they are magical by default. This time we're getting the genuine article. I literally do not care about the quality of this show's storytelling. I am all in it for the premise alone. I have waited so long for this. I am so excited. ANIME OF THE YEAR.

Assassination Classroom Preview Image
Assassination Classroom

I don't know too much about this one, except that whenever I see anyone mention it online it's with nothing but praise. I first heard it mentioned back when I started following the Dangan Ronpa fan translations, and if this really is anything similar I'm pretty excited to see it. That said, even without knowing much about the source material I hope that this adaptation does a better job than Dangan Ronpa's did.

Death Parade Preview Image
Death Parade

Back in 2013 when everyone (including myself) was losing their mind over Little Witch Academia, there was another stunning short from the same Anime Mirai collection that didn't get much attention. It was called Death Billiards, and it was a short and wildly creative piece about a bar that probably exists somewhere in limbo where two people were pitted against each other for a second chance at life. It had several interesting twists, with even the ending itself left up to interpretation. Overall, it presented an interesting premise that I thought would make for a good episodic show in the same vein as Hell Girl. Now that it's getting that chance, I'm really excited to see how this turns out.

Durararax2 Shou Preview Image
Durararax2 Shou

I'm really excited about this sequel, but for the life of me I do not remember what was going on when the series left off in 2010. I mainly remember being disappointed that the second half of the series focused on teenage gangs rather than the more interesting things that were going on. And that one of the characters was possessed by a sword, I think... Where was I? Maybe I should hold off on this until I get the chance to rewatch the first season, but I'm really happy to have it back.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders 2 Preview Image
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders 2

This is the part with Dio, right? I kid, I kid. Despite what I said in one of my 12 Days posts about not really feeling Stardust Crusaders so far, I am still interested in seeing where the second half goes.

Kamisama Hajimemashita 2 Preview Image
Kamisama Hajimemashita 2

I honestly cannot think of the last time a shoujo series got a sequel, and it's one of my personal favorites! I started digging into the manga after the first season finished airing, but I didn't get too far, so whatever this season will cover will be a surprise for me! I'm just really happy that this show did well enough to come back for another season.

Kuroko no Basket 3 Preview Image
Kuroko no Basket 3

I used a good chunk of my winter break to catch up with everything I missed, and Kuroko was one of those series. I'm really happy with my timing on that, since now I don't have to wait much longer to see what happens next! Time to find out whether or not I'll become a Akashi fangirl (since I seem to love all characters voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya by default).

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes TD Preview Image
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes TD

Once upon a time, there was a show that stated that it would be about a group of girl detectives that would use their supernatural powers to solve mysteries. Despite the premise, it looked like it would be a "club full of cute girls does nothing" show, since those were coming out in droves at the time. Instead, the show went completely off the rails into absurdist humor, including episodes where the characters do things like escape from a prison island and fight off a villain who wants to steal the world's lard. Yes, you read that right. I completely fell in love with the show for this reason. However, for whatever reason the third season decided to "reinvent" itself and take its premise seriously, removing what made it different and fun in the first place. After my heart was broken I didn't hear anything else about that version and assumed that Milky Holmes was over. However, it's somehow resurfacing for yet another season. If the zany humor is back, I'm all over this. If it's a continuation of what they did last time, Milky Holmes will remain dead to me.

Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls Preview Image
Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls

The first Idolm@ster anime was a pleasant surprise for me, and it was one of the shows that sparked my current interest in idol anime. I'm definitely more of a Love Live fan myself, but I've got high expectations for this anime thanks to the previous series' focus on the characters and their growth. And who knows, maybe this will generate enough interest to get an English release of the game...?

Tokyo Ghoul √A Preview Image
Tokyo Ghoul √A

I have made no secret of my love for Tokyo Ghoul. It made my Top Ten Anime List for 2014, and the fantastic final episode of the first season also made my 12 Days of Anime. After finishing the anime, I followed the manga spoilers and am completely caught up. I was very excited to see the anime cover some of the darker stuff that the manga gets into after the point where the anime leaves off...until it was announced that this season's story would be anime-original. I'm not completely sure how I feel about that, but it's been reported that this season's story was written by the original author, so there's probably not much to worry about in terms of continuity. Still, I'm hoping that this season will continue to build on where the finale left off, since I think that the anime version of this series has the potential to become something really amazing.

Yuri Kuma Arashi Preview Image
Yuri Kuma Arashi (a.k.a. literally "Yuri Bear Storm")

And finally, the show I'm most excited for this season: lesbian bears! Although, in complete honesty, Ikuhara could announce that he was making a show about paint drying and I would watch it. For a while there I thought that "Penguinbear" was some sort of leftover joke from Penguindrum that Ikuhara forgot to put in, but nope! It's yet another show. I can hardly wait for the SYMBOLISM. And the staircases. Can't forget those.

What are you planning to watch from the Winter 2015 season?

Images from MyAnimeList.Net. Top image from the Yuri Kuma Arashi official manga. Series information from AniChart.

6 comments:

  1. I am planning to watch Kamisama Kiss 2, Tokyo Ghoul A, and Death Parade.


    I know what you mean. I am so excited for Kamisama Kiss. I actually finished it last Summer in 2014 and then I felt like I wanted to see more but then it ended with only 12 episodes. And while I believe most series are fine with 12 episodes, Kamisama Kiss,is a series that deserved another season. To finally know it is getting another season is very rewarding. Glad to know your a fan of Kamisama Kiss :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. May watch Kamisama Kiss 2, Death Parade and Samurai Warriors/Sengoku Musou. Everything else depends ATM.

    Durarara!!: I saw a bit of Season 1 before; the most interesting plot for me was the headless Irish ghost and who stole her head. I can't remember if that mystery was ever solved though.

    Kuroko: I hear the Kuroko series has some pretty dedicated fangirls. I once saw a Japanese show interviewing local female anime fans; one 20-something girl had pictures of Kise Ryota ( and various Kuroko cast) plastered all over her apartment (and bathroom) walls. Intense.
    Cute Defense Club: Look up 'oden' and 'chikuwabu' before watching episode 1; it features heavily throughout the show.
    There was a similar show to Club with an equally wacky premise last season, 'I'm Gonna be a Twintail'. It featured a twintail-loving boy who transforms into a superpowered twintailed girl to fight off perverted aliens. Did you see that one yet?
    Last season:What were your impressions of PsychoPass Season 2? I hear a lot of people disliked the approach the new storywriter took for that; hoping the new movie will fix things up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep, I was a really big fan when the first season aired! I can't wait to see where it goes this time. :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some of these might get dropped based on my schedule. There were others that I was interested in too, but I'm going to wait and see what the general reaction is to them and put them on the backlog for later.


    Durarara!!: The headless Irish ghost was my favorite part. And no, they didn't resolve that. The end of the first season focused on the kids and their gang issues. Which was, uh... It was okay, but definitely not the most interesting thing going on in the plot at the moment.


    Kuroko: Yeah, I enjoy it but I've got nothing on those fangirls. They love love LOVE it. And I can see why, although I haven't quite fallen in love with any one character that much just yet. XD


    Cute Defense Club: I already saw it and had no clue what chikuwabu was. I guess that kind of worked in the episode's favor though. XD


    I've heard a little bit about that! It seems like a love it or hate it kind of series. I might check it out later.


    For Psycho Pass 2... Yeah, it was really terrible. The first half wasn't too bad, but the direction they decided to go in completely missed everything that was good about the first season. I'll be happy to pretend that it doesn't exist and wait for the movie instead.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just watched the first episode of Tokyo Ghoul Root A, and it's great. Though others are not a fan of the genre, I totally like it. I'll be planning to watch Death Parade too as soon as it comes out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds awesome! I'll be watching the Tokyo Ghoul episode soon. :D

    ReplyDelete