Normally, or if you take a look at past season previews, I’ve done it compendium style, where I provide a bunch of information and also choose to link to any useful season preview guides so you can stay informed and in the know.
Welp, not this season!
Work has kept me busy, and due to certain events, I’ve had to work more hours in the past few weeks, so, with the season getting ready to start soon, there was no way I’d properly be able to do the compendium this year. Instead, you’ll just get a special formatted version where I’ll only share with you 5 anime I’m definitely watching, 5 anime that you should keep an eye on or wait for response from others, and 5 anime to avoid completely. The same rules apply to past compendiums though: no shorts or movies, no sequels included (so sorry Psycho Pass and Log Horizon 2), just brand new shows.
So, without further ado, let’s get to it!
5 Fall Anime To Watch
Amagi Brilliant Park
I know, I know, KyoAni hasn’t exactly been the greatest lately, as they haven’t knocked it out of the park for the past year. I think their last truly good to great work was Hyouka back in 2012. It only makes sense that I’m interested in Amagi Brilliant Park because of that connection. You see, the same director and series composer is staff on this show. Even more interesting is the series composer, Shoji Gatoh, is also the creator of the Full Metal Panic light novels, which were adapted into an anime and I did watch them all. Even Fumoffu!, because Fumoffu! was hilarious. But it’s definitely been a while since I’ve seen any of those, so it’ll be interesting to check out how he has evolved since then, especially considering Amagi Brilliant Park’s storyline revolves around the premise of a possibly bland but genius high school student getting threatened to attract hundreds of visitors to a dead amusement park by a transfer student carrying a musket gun.
Yeah, despite it being KyoAni, I have to check this out.
Donten ni Warau
I probably should consider having something else on this list instead of a show that definitely seems marketed towards the female crowd, and also involves samurai. (At least it’s no Nobunaga spinoff) But I’m starting to like the direction Dogakabo’s going. After starting out with some harem/ecchi stuff, they’ve been pumping out some pretty solid shows (Majestic Prince, GJ-Bu, Love Lab, Mikakunin de Shinkousei), and they might have garnered some more attention with their work on Monthly Girls Nozaki Kun. And in an upset, the manga that’s being adapted is already finished! An anime based off a manga that’s already finished? Does that mean no ridiculous endings that make no sense and no narratives need to be changed? Yes!
Of course this can still suck, but I’ll give it a look to see if it’s still Dogakabo rising to be a great studio.
Sanzoku no Musume Ronja
Not much to actually say about this. It’s Ghibli — yes, not normal Ghibli but still Ghibli — doing an animated TV series based off a children’s book written by a Swedish author. You know I’m hyped for this, CGI aided or not!
Terra Formars
There’s not a ton of justification for Terra Formars on this list, except almost out of spite. Ok, the trailers were ok, the plot sounds interesting, but I’m mostly including it on this list because of the backlash. Oh, it’s racist, people say, oh, it’s sexist, people say, oh, it’s one of those series that the manga community or has a large fanbase somehow that hypes it up and says it’s great when it’s actually not…
So, I actually don’t have a problem with the first two reasons why you’d mark off a show, so in that case, I’ll find out myself. For the third part, just say it doesn’t look interesting to you instead of saying you’re not gonna watch it because a lot of people say it’s popular and they’re not people you trust. I mean, whether the reasoning is wrong or not, we can find out. I do agree that a lot of stuff that’s been hyped to death (Guilty Crown, Sword Art Online, Mahouka) turn out to be really bad, and that’s been a trend with that type of stuff. It doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff that’s popular that you can’t like (like Space Dandy over in the US at least, Attack on Titan, and to an extent, Akame ga KILL! for me), so in the end, I’m curious as to why this work has been praised and followed, and who knows, I might like this enough to check out the manga!
…Or it could suck. The staff of this show doesn’t give me great confidence.
Parasyte
There is a justification for this being on the list though. Parasyte is based off Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga serialized in Afternoon a long time ago, and hey, old stuff is getting revitalized in 2014! But this is pretty deserved. It’s been well loved in the manga community, and in reading the premise and watching its trailer, it looks pretty great. Also, horror is rarely done well in anime, so it’ll be interesting to see how it looks here. Overall, with Madhouse working on it, it looks like we got an anime to watch.
5 Fall Anime To Keep An Eye On
Cross Ange
Well, two things stand out when looking at Cross Ange, aside from it being another Sunrise show — one, it’s not another boy gets into the goddamn robot, it’s actually a girl getting into the goddamn robot…well, actually, there’s a lot of girls getting into the robot. We then get to two, and welp, here comes the fanservice! But I’m not too harsh on fanservice unless it’s boring and bogs down everything. So what’s the problem with the show?
Well, two things: one, the trailers don’t look all that impressive. Maybe I’m just starting to tire out of seeing mecha anime, but it just visually and character design wise look so great right now. And then of course, you search around the internet long enough, you’ll know that it aired early for an event, and apparently not only is the fanservice a lot, but there’s even a rape scene. Of course, it’d probably be best to see for my eyes, but I’ll instead defer to those who will be tempted enough to watch this show and they’ll let me know the contents of the anime.
Denkigai no Honya-San
Well, the trailer that I watched was…interesting, at least.
Well, probably more amusing actually because from what I watched of it, it wasn’t anything that kept my interest, and that’s probably because of the character designs. Sure looks like anime doesn’t it? Well, whatever the case, the idea of having a story based on people working at a doujin shop is a neat idea, but with a first time director and a inconsistent series composer (hi Fudeyasu), I think I’ll take my chances on letting others choose to watch it.
Madan no Ou to Vanadis
Tatsuo Satou, what are you doing on this project!?!? How are you going to save this anime from being hopelessly generic? Because that’s what it does look like: hopelessly generic. It could be something solid, but the trailer didn’t really impress me. Overall, it’s gonna have to take people telling me it’s any good for me to take a chance on this.
Magic Kaito 1412
Admission: I’ve totally stalled on Detective Conan watching due to my laziness, work, and well…work! But I will get back on that beat at some point. It’ll probably help that Magic Kaito, a work that predates Conan, will air this fall for…some reason. Making sure we honor the old by bringing them to life in 2014? Let’s go!
But in all seriousness, the actual character, who has appeared in Detective Conan, is a pretty cool thief, so letting him have his own anime is neat. A-1 Pictures is animating it, so that generally, based on what they’ve done in their history, means it’s a must watch. Also doesn’t hurt to have Taku Iwasaki on the bump too. The only question for now is whether or not this will get licensed for streaming. I mean, there’s still no legal translation of Detective Conan, as it looks like Funimation’s not bringing anymore so…
Well, I guess we’ll find out, but yeah, an anime to keep an eye on for sure.
Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji
Hey, while all of you will be checking out some mediocre anime series, keep an eye out on what most likely might be the surprise of the season. Looks interesting, the trailer was very enjoyable, Kenichi Kasai’s the director (he did Aoi Hana, Bakuman, and recently Love Stage!!), and it’s based off a shoujo. I think this should be a pretty great title.
5 Fall Anime to Avoid
Girlfriend
It’s by Silver Link, is based off a mobile game, and has no real TV trailer to speak off. Pass.
Shirobako
After what I heard what Glasslip did to some people, pretty sure I’m not trusting P.A Works with much of anything — especially original work — unless this turns out to be great or good, and they finally go with some different character designs. I mean geez…
Ushinawareta Mirai o Motomete
Uh…this was the trailer I found for this show. That certainly looked boring and bad. Definitely passing.
Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai
Not really interesting in the slightest, based on summary and the trailer.
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru
It’s a Studio Gokumi and Seiji Kishi collaboration. That spells trouble, even if this thankfully isn’t based off a manga series.
So…I know there are some titles I didn’t talk about, so share some anime that you’ll be interested in watching this Fall! You don’t have to do what I did!
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Justin
Justin is the founder of Organization Anti-Social Geniuses. Anime & manga fan that likes to blog about anime and manga, is addicted to sports, and weak to crossovers. You can follow Justin on Twitter @Kami_nomi.
Latest posts by Justin (see all)
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