First off, let’s see what sequels are restarting this season.  Obviously, since these are sequels, you know what you’re getting into since you’ve already watched the first season and if you haven’t, then you should go back and watch that first before starting off with these shows (unless you love being confused and lost when watching anime).  It appears Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Natsume Yuujin-chou will be reappearing as continuations of their previous series this summer.  I’ve watched the first seasons of both BakaTest and Nurarihyon no Mago but not Natsume Yuujin-chou, so I won’t be watching that any time soon.  And while I did watch the first season of Nurarihyon no Mago, I’m leaning against watching the second season since I thought the first season was pretty mediocre.  I’ll give it an episode but if it’s still lackluster, then I might as well stop before I force myself into something I know I won’t enjoy.  BakaTest will be watched, seeing as I loved the first season, but I already know this season won’t be as good as the first.  I just see its novelty and originality slowly becoming mundane and tiresome, but we’ll see where the series goes now that it’s back again.

Gee, that’s kinda a downer start to this preview.  Well, I guess this season does feel a little bit uninspiring to me, but that might just be because I’m pretty indecisive about this summer’s lineup.  Guess we’ll be the judge once the shows start and we can accurately decide on this season for ourselves.

Usagi Drop

Opinion: Easily the anime I’m looking forward to the most this season.  Usagi Drop looks like to have a healthy blend of serious, silly and cute, along with an original story to make an extremely enjoyable anime.  Add in the fact that Production I.G is producing this and it’s a noitaminA anime (which really doesn’t mean a whole lot besides they have nearly a perfect record with me) and you’ve got a recipe for an anime that I am confident I, and many, will enjoy.  And what’s great is I know I’m not the only one anticipating it for the summer season.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Blood C

Opinion: I’ve never fully watched any of the Blood series before, so I was a little skeptical of this anime at first.  After seeing it is a collaboration between Production I.G and CLAMP, I could hardly contain my excitement.  I’ve been a fan of most of CLAMP’s work for a long time, especially their character design, and Production I.G has been a part of many anime favorites as well, largely due to their high production values.  I, and I assume many others, will be watching this anime without any prior knowledge of the Blood franchise, so hopefully there is no schism between fans of the original Blood series and fans of the new one.  I am a little curious if this story will be very different from the original or if it’s just an updated script being used by CLAMP.  Either way, I’m sure the anime will be nothing short of amazing.

Plans for this show: Will watch

No. 6

Opinion: Honestly, if this didn’t have the noitaminA tag, it’d be in the category below “Likely watch” but the power of noitaminA just has that effect on upcoming anime.  Whether it delivers will be up to the anime itself, as it always is, but the anime looks promising.  It has a very artistic feel to it and has the animation, characters, and scenery to back it up.  People seems less positive about them compared to Usagi Drop, probably due to some scenes/themes in the manga but just because it’s below the top anime of the season doesn’t mean it will be anywhere near terrible or mediocre.

Plans for this show: Will watch

Dantalian no Shoka

Opinion: It’s been a while since I’ve gotten into a supernatural/fantasy anime like this but I am somewhat excited for this anime.  The setting of a European-style, time-period anime seems like the perfect backdrop for something like this, as it lacks modern technology that can disrupt the supernatural atmosphere the story wants to create.  Gainax delivers in the animation, art, and music, and the overall product shows stellar production qualities.  Seems to be one of the top anime for the summer.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

Mawaru Penguindrum

Opinion: I’m always hungry for a comedy and this fits the bill for the top bizarre anime this season.  Looking at the preview alone, you can tell the anime shows decent animation and high levels of energy.  The style of hitting the audience with several quick, minor jokes seems like a fitting style for this type of comedy and hopefully it does not fatigue itself as the season progresses.  Looking forward to laughing this summer with this anime.

Plans for this show: Likely watch

The Idolm@ster

Opinion: And this is where the season begins to drop off.  I am not a fan of Idolmaster and was thinking about how boring an anime would be off this game but I want to give it a fair shot since it’s such a famous franchise and it might be a decent product.  I am not expecting much from it, thinking it will be a slice-of-life with all the idols and turn into something like K-On but, instead of instruments and being amateurs, the girls will actually perform and have the anime relate around their careers rather than high school life.  My two favorite voices are Makoto and Miki (had to rewatch that preview to get their names right) so I hope they have major roles in the anime.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Opinion: Another European-style, time-period anime but this one appears to focus more on cuter characters and boring storylines.  Depending on how the story goes, this anime could be entertaining or extremely tedious.  The character designs seem to be a little too cute for me to take seriously and it looks like there’s no real action or comedy to keep me interested, but if the romance is there and the setting is awe-inspiring, then I wouldn’t mind keeping it as a summer anime.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Nekogami Yaoyorozu

Opinion: Another comedy anime that appears to be less random and more structured than Mawaru Penguindrum.  The animation, at least in this preview, appears to be subpar but the character design makes up for the weaknesses being an array of cute kitty deities.  And since comedy is my favorite genre, I don’t mind overloading this genre for the summer season, especially if this one makes me laugh.  I am a little worried about the production qualities but hopefully they do not detract from the jokes as all.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Nyanpire the Animation

Opinion: Another cat-themed anime already?  Guess so, although this one seems to be entirely cute with little room for much else.  But can this anime simply survive on cuteness alone?  It’s doubtful but I’m sure the story and characters will be enough to make a proper season of anime out of these… things.  I’m willing to invest the time to try it out since it might end up being amusing but until then, I have no real clue.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Sacred Seven

Opinion: Sunrise has a sufficient enough track record with me that I’ll try anything they make.  I’m not entirely into the whole superhero/mecha aspect of the show and am against the school/maids aspect but aside from that, it might be awesome.  The animation looks gorgeous, especially during the fights in the preview, so if I want to watch it for the action and nothing else, then I’ll probably watch the entire series.  If there’s too much other stuff going on, then I can see myself dropping it pretty quickly.

Plans for this show: Maybe watch

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi

Opinion: Judging from all the straightforward shots that detailed what panties each girl was wearing, I guess this will be the ecchi anime of the season.  I typically like to watch one fanservice anime a season, just because they can have some decent action (Freezing) or comedy (Softenni) but this appears to have neither.  If it’s censored, it might as well be dropped now and if it isn’t, then I still expect it to be terrible from start to finish.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Kami-sama Dolls

Opinion: Nothing in this preview really stood out to me besides some small child completely controlling this massive doll-weapon for whatever reason.  It appears to have elements of action and comedy, which is why I’d watch it, but nothing else appears to be worthwhile.  Also, those boobs seems to indicate there’ll be some fanservice in this anime, likely in the form of bikinis and bathing, which would quickly turn the product from something negative into something dropped.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

Manyuu Hikenchou

Opinion: Boobs.  Everywhere.  Moving in every direction.  Aside from being the next colossal ecchi anime out, there isn’t much else to write about for this show.  Having the setting in Feudal Japan where breast-size determines socioeconomic status is certainly an unheard of setting but probably for all the wrong reasons.  Depending on the action and the story, I might watch this as my fanservice anime of the season but I’m going to assume it’ll be censored and therefore worthless.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

R-15

Opinion: What appears to be the latest school/harem/ecchi/comedy/terrible anime out there, R-15 is the last on the list because… why?  I’m hoping the comedy element is the strongest out of those and, if it is, then I’ll give the anime a go.  However, I forsee a ton of ecchi jokes and probably some cliché humor since it appears to be a rather uneventful anime.  It’ll likely be censored and, like all ecchi anime that are censored, a pain to watch.  I’m guessing it will last not even a full episode before it is dropped.

Plans for this show: Doubtful but it gets a shot

And below are the shows I’ve already marked with a big, red X.  I seriously doubt I’d follow any of these unless they turn out to be the best anime of the season, and even then, I probably still wouldn’t watch them.

Blade

Opinion: I’d watch the American movie version before the anime version and I still haven’t watched the American one.

Plans for this show: No dice

Inumarudashi

Opinion: Looks cute but would bore me to death, I think.

Plans for this show: No dice

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel

Opinion: Doesn’t seem like the kinda magical girl anime I’d ever enjoy, so a no go here.

Plans for this show: No dice

Kami-sama no Memo-chou

Opinion: It’s a JC Staff adaptation of a light novel revolving around a NEET girl?  Couldn’t imagine the series would ever be exciting, let alone entertaining.

Plans for this show: No dice

Mayo Chiki

Opinion: The character designs look pretty good and might be interesting, but it’s a harem-anime lead by a reverse trap butler.  Why are there animes like this released every season?

Plans for this show: No dice

Morita-san wa Mukuchi

Opinion: I felt the PV was really dull.  Can’t see myself watching a full season of it.

Plans for this show: No dice

Ryo-Kyu-Bu!

Opinion: Ugh, no.

Plans for this show: No dice

Uta no Prince-sama

Opinion: It might as well be labeled: Not for you Avv.

Plans for this show: No dice

Yuru Yuri

Opinion: I don’t know if I’d enjoy any aspect of this anime.

Plans for this show: No dice

And with that, the Summer anime season preview is over.  Now all that’s left is waiting for the season to start and see where we all end up.  I am imagining I’ll end up with probably a half-dozen new anime and pick two to blog (a Brain On and Brain Off) and spend the rest of the season catching up on older anime I know I’ll like rather than sticking with something new and mediocre.  Hopefully I’ll be able to start posting reviews of older series over the course of the season, but we’ll see how many I can cover and how well the quality of those reviews turn out.  There will also be a number of anime carrying over from the Spring season, including one I am in the middle of blogging (Steins;Gate), so the Summer season already appears to be one of the busier ones considering all that I plan on trying to accomplish.  Guess we’ll start to find out how this summer will be in a few weeks.