There's usually a lot of buzz when it comes to the fall anime season every year. It seems that anime production companies usually bring out the big guns, showcasing titles that feature great animation, serious themes or adaptations of popular works (manga, light novel, video games, etc.). Although, you can still end up with generic animation and light storytelling every once in a while.
The first episodes of Zetsuen no Tempest, K, BTOOOM!, PSYCHO-PASS and Code: Breaker are enough to show you the potent combination of great animation (for TV, that is) and serious themes. The chase and fight sequences on a couple of these titles are pretty impressive to watch.
For some reason, though, my top picks for the season involve high school romance, with Sukitte Iinayo. and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun showcasing some unusual, but endearing, couples. I was particularly looking forward to the former ever since I stumbled across its ongoing manga version (which is way too short and the chapters too far in between).
I only have two sequels in my list, mainly the third season of Bakuman (have yet to finish season 2, though) and the second season of Jormungand. There were notable sequels in the form of Hayate the Combat Butler: Can't Take My Eyes of You, To LOVE-Ru Darkness and Hidamari Sketch X Honeycomb, but I didn't include them since I have yet to watch their original counterparts.
After watching a couple of episodes, I've already dropped Aikutsu!, Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de and Ixion Saga DT! for different reasons. I'm still planning to watch a few more episodes of Girls und Panzer and Kamisama Hajimemashita to find out if I'm keeping them on my list or dropping them entirely.
Here is my list of selections from the Japan anime fall season. All of the summaries and images below are from My Anime List.
Sukitte Iinayo.
Mei Tachibana has spent her 16 years without a boyfriend or friends. One
day, she injures the most popular boy in school, Yamato Kurosawa, due
to a misunderstanding. For some reason though, it seems that he takes a
liking to her and one-sidedly claims that they're friends. Furthermore,
he not only protects Mei from a stalker, but does so with a kiss.
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Mizutani Shizuku is the type of person who only cares for her own
grades. But when she accidentally delivers lesson notes to Yoshida Haru,
he becomes convinced they are friends. Haru turns out to have a very innocent personality, but who would've thought that Haru would actually confess to Shizuku? A cold-hearted girl and super-troublemaker romance with a fresh new perspective.
Sakurasou no Pet no Kanojo
The school romantic comedy revolves around a second-year high school
student named Sorata Kanda who lives in Sakurasou, the dormitory for
problem children at Sorata's school. One day, Mashiro Shiina - a cute
girl who happens to be also a cosmopolitan, brilliant artist - moves
into Sakurasou.
Sorata thinks to himself that he should protect Mashiro from the weirdos
at Sakurasou, but Mashiro has a surprising secret: she has no idea how
to take care of herself. She gets lost if she goes out, and her room is a
complete mess. Sorata's dorm mates designate him as the "master" of
Mashiro, and thus, an ordinary boy and a brilliant girl must live like
"a master and his pet."
BTOOOM!
In the blink of the mind's eye, Ryouta Sakamoto suddenly finds himself
transported from playing the hit Btoom! video game to being stranded on a
mysterious island, equipped with a day's worth of provisions, a bag of
bombs, a strange crystal embedded in his left hand and a huge gaping
hole in his memory. But it doesn't take long to figure out what's going
on, especially after the first person Ryouta meets tries to kill him.
Someone is attempting to recreate the ultra-violent Btoom! game in real
life, and the island has been filled with an army of other unwilling
players, each armed with one of the multiple variants of explosive
weapons called BIM. Fortunately, Ryouta's an ace Btoom! player, but this
insane version of the game has no reset switch or second lives, and
there's only one way off the island: kill seven other people before they
can kill you! Can Ryouta repurpose his game based skills fast enough to
survive?
Zetsuen no Tempest
The story revolves around Mahiro Fuwa, a teenager whose family was
mysteriously murdered one year before and his friend Yoshino Takigawa.
Mahiro is contacted by Hakase Kusaribe, the leader of the Kusaribe clan
who was left stranded on an unknown desert island by her followers, and
agrees to help Hakase in exchange of her help to find out the culprit
for the death of his family. Upon learning of his friend's intentions,
Yoshino joins him on his quest to stand against the Kusaribe clan who
intends to awake the "Tree of Zetsuen" whose power can bring ruin to the
entire world.
Several dialogues and plot elements in Zetsuen no Tempest pay homage to the works of William Shakespeare.
K
Set in a world where history has taken a slightly different course from
the one we're familiar with, K follows the story of a young boy whose
life is caught in a psychic war between seven kings.
Ashinaka High School is known for its unique setting: the entire campus
is built on an island. Yashiro Isana, aka Shiro, is having lunch with a
cat on one of the school rooftops. After his lunch break, Shiro goes on
an errand for his classmate Kukuri to prepare for their upcoming school
festival, only to be chased by some intimidating-looking men.
Bakuman. 3
Third season of Bakuman.
Jormungand: Perfect Order
A ruthless arms dealer on a quixotic quest for world peace. A child
soldier born into chaotic conflict. Their lives will intertwine as they
journey together through the seedy underbelly of the world's arms
market.
Magi
This story is about the flow of fate and the battle to keep the world on
the right path. Aladdin is a boy who has set out to explore the world
after being trapped in a room for most of his life. His best friend is a
flute with a djinn in it named Ugo. Soon enough, Aladdin discovers he
is a Magi, a magician who chooses kings, and he was born to choose kings
who will follow the righteous path, battling against those who want to
destroy fate. Follow his adventures as he meets others from 1000 Arabian
Nights, like Ali Baba and Sinbad, and fights to keep the balance of
world in check!
Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!
Yuuta Togashi suffered from chuunibyou while he was in middle school.
When he graduated, he put that dark history behind him and forgot about
it... or he was supposed to. High school was smooth sailing and full of
enjoyment - until the unavoidable, sad event occurs. The event that
locks Yuuta into a contract with Rikka Takanashi and disrupts his
desperately ordinary life.
Little Busters!
Riki was a child when his parents died, leaving him hopeless and
depressed. What saved him was a group of four kids calling themselves
the Little Busters. They took Riki out and played with him during his
time of need. He really enjoyed being together with them, and his grief
gradually faded away. Now in his second year of high school they still
hang out, fight and live together, and enjoy their school life.
Code: Breaker
Riding the bus one day, Sakurakouji Sakura looks out the window to see
people being burned alive with a blue fire and a boy her age who's
unharmed and standing over the people.
She comes back to the site the next day and there are no corpses or
evidence of any kind of murder, just a small fire. She then goes to
class to find there's a new transfer student, Oogami Rei, who looks
exactly like the boy she saw before and wears a black glove only on his
left hand.
Oogami is a Code Breaker, one who "does not exist". He is a seemingly
cold-blooded killer who follows the principle of "an eye for an eye", to
"use evil against evil". Convinced that killing is not right,
Sakurakouji sets out to stop him and penetrate his icy heart.
PSYCHO-PASS
In the future, it is possible to quantitatively measure a person's
emotions, desires, and every inclination. In this way, it is also
possible to measure a person's criminal tendency factor, which is used
to judge criminals.
This is the story of a team of policemen dedicated to maintaining public
order. Some of them work in the Enforcement Division, responsible for
the apprehension of criminals, while others belong to the Supervisory
Division which oversees their colleagues in Enforcement.
Shinsekai Yori
The story is set in Japan a millennium from now. Five children — the
protagonist Saki, Satoru, Maria, Mamoru, and Shun — have been born and
raised in a tranquil town that can be described as a utopia, overflowing
with water and green foilage.
After a certain incident, Saki and the others come to realize the true
nature of their world. The five throw themselves into life-threatening
adventure and fighting to protect friends and a world on the brink of
collapse.
Robotics;Notes
2019, Divergence Ratio 1.048596. The near future, where a device
popularly called the PokeCom, packaged with PhoneDroid OS, spreads,
bringing the Augmented Reality world close to existence.
Chuuoutanegashima High School's Robot Research Club is in danger of
losing its club status. Kaito Yashio, one of only two members, is only
obsessed with robot fighting games, showing no interest in the Robo Club
even in this situation. The reckless, useless club head, Akiho
Senomiya, aims to complete a giant robot, struggling hard to avoid
losing the club's status.
Then, one day, Kaito discovers the A.R. annotation that becomes the
Kimishima Report. Written in that report is the indictment of someone
named Kou Kimishima's conspiracy involving the world.
Girls und Panzer
You may have heard of kung fu, but the girls at Oarai High School
practice gun-fu - really, really BIG 75mm gun-fu, in fact. It's called
Sensha-do, and it's the martial art of operating armored tanks! They
take it seriously too, and since winning the national Sensha-do
championship is such a huge deal at Oarai, they sometimes go to extreme
ends in order to get the best students from Panzer class to sign up.
Which is how Miho Nishizumi, who HATES operating tanks, gets drafted to
join doomsday-driven driver Mako, even-triggered gunner Hana, highly
receptive radio operator Saori and combustible tank-fangirl and loader
Yukari as the incomparable Anko Team. They may not be on the half-track
to fame and fortune, and maybe a few of them would rather shop for tank
tops than become tops in tanks, but once their focus is locked and
loaded, they're absolutely driven.
Kamisama Hajimemashita
Nanami Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade
his gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her
apartment. So when a man she's just saved from a dog offers her his
home, she jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a
shrine, and Nanami has unwittingly taken over his job as a local deity!
Nanami has all kinda of new responsibilities she doesn't understand,
dangers she's unaware of, and a cranky ex-familiar who's... actually
pretty hot. What's a new-fledged godling to do?
Those who want the full anime list for this year's fall season, you can check out this handy (and rather heavy on the browser) guide by Squidoo.
Happy viewing!! Labels: Anime, Fall, Must-Watch, TV
