Same routine as every season, I made a primitive list of shows to 1) decide which stuff I might end up watching and 2) guess how much potential I presume they have at the moment. I didn’t mention any anime I won’t be sampling, and I know I need to make more cuts once the season starts. I wasn’t so excited at first, but on second revision I realized how fun Spring season might turn out to be. The big list here tells me that I have to act harsh to drop at least 8 shows from these by then. *inner monologue: yay XP*
A visual anime guide for Spring 2012 done by @animucharts
Alright then:
1. Accel World
One autumn day in 2046, Haruyuki has an encounter with Kuroyukihime, the prettiest girl in his school. For the middle school boy who is often bullied, the meeting changes his life. Through a mysterious piece of software from her, Haruyuki learns of the existence of the virtual Accel World. In that moment, the lowest of the “school caste” becomes “Burst Linker”, a knight defending a princess.
(Source: ANN)
Watching Potential: Average
2. AKB0048
In the beginning of the 21st century, a world war breaks out over interplanetary travel tech. The environment is pretty much destroyed so mankind leaves Earth and starts Star Calendar 00. Entertainment and songs become heavily regulated and eventually banned due to their power to move people, but a brave idol group puts on guerrilla performances in the name of a famous act from earlier times that sang to Earth’s bitter end, AKB48. The illegal revival group’s name is… AKB0048.
(Source: Crunchyroll)
Watching Potential: Average
3. Eureka Seven AO
The story is set on Okinawa’s isolated island of Iwado, which has seen a growing movement advocating a return to an autonomous government. Ao Fukai, a 13-year-old boy with a missing father, lives on the island with an old doctor named Toshio and is about to enter middle school. Ao’s mother was taken away a decade ago by unknown individuals. Naru Arata, Ao’s 13-year-old childhood friend and the story’s heroine, lives with her father, older sister, and grandmother. She has a “Yuta” power awakened within her due to an incident when she was young.
A mysterious entity called “Secret” suddenly appears and launches an attack on the Scub Coral lifeform on the island. Ao launches a certain military FP called “Nirvash” aboard a Japanese military transport in his fervent desire to protect the island.
(Source: ANN)
Watching Potential: High (err need to catch up on Eureka7 fast already)
4. Fate/Zero 2
Second part of Fate/Zero.
Fate/Zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night, detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. The War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the “Holy Grail,” which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences.
Founded by the Einzbern, Makiri, and Tohsaka families centuries ago, the Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three successive failures, no matter the cost. As a result, they have elected to bring the hated magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, into their ranks, despite his methods and reputation as a skilled mercenary and a hitman who employs whatever he can use to accomplish his goals. Though Kiritsugu had once wanted to become a hero who could save everyone, he has long since abandoned this ideal upon realizing that saving one person comes at the cost of another’s life. For the sake of humanity, he will ruthlessly destroy anything and anyone who threatens the peace of others.
However, Kiritsugu finds himself deeply torn between the love he has found for his new family – his wife Irisviel and their daughter Illya – and what he must do to obtain the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu’s greatest opponent appears in the form of Kirei Kotomine, a priest who cannot find any sense of fulfillment in his life and sets his sights on Kiritsugu as the possible answer to the emptiness he feels.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Watching Potential: Guaranteed
5. Ginga e Kickoff!!
The story follows a boy who was in a soccer team, but it was disbanded due to not enough players. However, after the boy meets a female professional soccer player, he aims to bring his soccer team back.
(Source: AniDB)
Watching Potential: Low
6. Hyouka
Oreki Hotaro is a high school boy, who always acts passively. One day, he enters “Koten Bu (Classic Literature Club)” as recommended by his elder sister.
There he meets Chitanda Eru, Fukube Satoshi, and Ibara Mayaka. Chitanda is a calm beautiful girl but she turns into an embodiment of curiosity once she says, “I’m interested in it (Watashi, Kininarimasu)”. Fukube is a smiling boy who excels in memory, but he never constructs his own deduction. Ibara is a short girl and is strict with others and herself. She loves Fukube, but he always dodges her approach.
They begin to investigate a case that occurred 33 years ago. Hints of the mystery is buried in an old collection of works of the former members of Koten Club. The collection is titled “Hyouka”.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: High
7. Jormungand
The series follows Koko Hekmatyar, a young arms dealer who sells weapons under HCLI, a weapons corporation.
As one of the company’s unofficial weapon sellers, she secretly sells weapons in many countries while avoiding the local authorities and law enforcements as most of her work is actually illegal under international law. Traveling with her is her team of bodyguards who are mostly composed of ex-military veterans.
Her latest addition to her crew is Jonah, a seemingly emotionless child soldier who is skilled in combat yet ironically hates arms dealers. Jonah joins Koko as he wishes to find the arms dealer responsible for his family’s death.
What follows is Koko and her crews escapades around the world.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Watching Potential: Guaranteed (both Katanagatari & Steins;Gate are in my favorite ever list, yup count me as a White Fox fangirl lol *praying for Jormungand to be a decent source material though*)
8. Kuroko no Basket
Kuroko is a member from the legendary middle school basketball team known as “The Generation of Miracles”, and while nobody seems to know about him, the main 5 players of the team all admit that he is a better player. When he joins the high school basketball team, everyone is surprised to find out that he is small, weak, and easy to miss. What is the secret that makes him so strong, and how will he help his high school team?
(Source: Mangafox)
Watching Potential: Average
9. Medaka Box
Kurokami Medaka, a first year, is elected as Student Council President, and the first thing she does is establish a suggestion box, later dubbed by students the “Medaka Box”. Medaka encourages students to submit any problem to the box without hesitation and promises to take on any issue from anyone.
Since Medaka won the Student Council elections with a staggering 98% of the vote, she ends up as the Council’s only member. She asks her childhood friend, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi, for help and he grudgingly agrees, becoming the Student Council’s lowest ranking member. Soon Medaka recruits two more people to the Student Council, the former judo club member Akune Kouki as secretary and the current swim club member Kikaijima Mogana, on loan for 300 yen a day, as treasurer.
Now the Student Council members spend their days solving the problems submitted through the Medaka Box, whether they be hooligans in clubs where they don’t belong, girls who need help writing love letters or people who’ve lost their pets, gradually earning the respect and admiration of the entire school.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: High (NisioisiN + Gainax = MAD AWESOME ?)
10. Natsuiro Kiseki
Original anime featuring the four members of sphere as voice actresses.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: Average
11. Ozuma
In the far future, the elevated irradiation from the sun has destroyed the environment of the earth and the birthrate of humans has drastically decreased. The government controls society with an army of cloned soldiers called “Ideal Children (IC)”. Sam Coin is a trader in a desert. One day, he saves a beautiful woman Maya, who has been chased by Theseus, a corps of IC. He shelters her in his trade ship, but the destroyers of Theseus surround Sam and Maya.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: High
12. Saint Seiya Omega
The first Saint Seiya TV series in 25 years. It will have an original story and new characters.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: Low
13. Sakamichi no Apollon (noitaminA)
Nishimi Kaoru has moved from city to city and school to school because of his father’s job. So the first day at his new school was just routine for him. Being intellectual and the new transfer student, he has always been seen as an outcast and all Kaoru had to do was bear it until the next time he moved. But things were slightly different this time. First, he started to get close to the class president, Mukae Ritsuko, and, secondly, unlikely as it seemed, grew closer to Kawabuchi Sentaro. Sentaro was infamous for getting into fights, skipping class and was an overall bad boy. Strangely enough, the three of them find common ground in music, namely jazz, and Kaoru finds himself actually enjoying the new town.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: Guaranteed
14. Saki: Achiga-hen – Episode of Side-A
The Achiga Girls’ Academy in Nara once defeated regional mahjong powerhouse Bansei High School. It advanced into the national team semifinals but lost to the eventual champion, and the mahjong club was later disbanded.
Six years later, elementary school student Shizuno Takakamo befriends transfer student Nodoka Haramura. The two eventually enter Achiga Girls’, but Nodoka transfers out of the school in the second year.
When Shizuno sees Nodoka on television the following year as the national middle school individual mahjong champion, she decides to revive Achiga’s mahjong club.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: Low
15. Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan
One day, a mysterious girl named Kaguya was washed ashore the island of Wyndaria after a great storm. She encounters Rick, a swordsman who wound up working at the island’s bakery. Apparently, Kaguya is suffering from having lost her memories and emotions. In addition, the usually peaceful Wyndaria is now swarming with pirates who came seeking for the special spirit stone that is worn around Kaguya’s neck. Knowing the situation, Rick and his co-workers, Nellis, Amyl, and Aerie decided to bring back peace to island and help Kaguya regain her lost memories and emotions.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Watching Potential: Low
16. Tsuritama (noitaminA)
Yuki Sanada is a high school boy who cannot communicate with people well and doesn’t have a single friend.
He lives on Enoshima island with his French grandmother. One day, he meets a boy named Haru. Haru calls himself an alien who visited the Earth for fishing.
Another high school boy, Natsuki, and a mysterious Indian, Akira, join the two and the island becomes the center of the event which determines the fate of the world.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: Guaranteed
17. Uchuu Kyoudai
One night in 2006, when they were young, the two brothers Mutta (born 1993) and Hibito (born 1996) saw what appeared to be a UFO heading for the moon. They decided that night to both become astronauts and travel out into space.
In 2025, Hibito has become an astronaut, and he’s going to go to the moon. Mutta ended up following a more traditional career path with an auto development company. However, Mutta just ruined his career through a violent altercation with his boss. Now, not only has he lost his job, he appears to be blacklisted in the entire industry. Maybe this is a rare opportunity for Mutta to once again chase his childhood dream and become an astronaut like his little brother!
(Source: MU)
Watching Potential: Average
18. Zetman
Jin is a strange kid with an angel mark on his hand. He lives a poor but peaceful life with his grandfather, along with the other destitute and abandoned vagabonds near the river. One day, his peaceful life changes when a strange monster named “player” appears, chopping off heads and killing everyone who appears in front of it.
(Source: MAL)
Watching Potential: High (wow both Miyano Mamoru & Namikawa Daisuke as mains?! Also Paku Romi & Hanazawa Kana.. seiyuu lineup of the season omg)
p.s. note to self: I should get back to this once my final watchlist is formed 2 months from now lol
Vanikawa Toppa 