Winter 2015 Watchlist

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!
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 (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.