[New January 2012] Aquarion Evol

Japanese title: アクエリオンEVOL
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/10447/Aquarion_Evol
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Mecha / Supernatural / Sexual?
I've watched: 1 episode-ish

Summary: Another story about people piloting Aquarion robot combating enemies from another dimension.


First impression score: 63 - Mecha stupidity

Personal comments: Half way through episode one, I remembered why I stopped watching the first series: people piloting robots, powered by orgasms. While this one is not quite there yet, I can sense it's definitely heading that way. On top of that, I don't quite understand mecha animes in general. When I hear people talk about mecha anime, it's always like "oh have you seen the part where the mecha did ... and ..., man that was awesome fight." But it's not like it actually has much to do with the person piloting it. The superiority of mecha fighting always comes down to either the supernatural power the pilot possesses or the better technology the mecha possesses. Neither of them has anything to do with the battle itself and outcome would be more or less predetermined by those two factors ahead of time. So basically most mecha animes that spend much time on mecha battles always end up being either the quest to gain the supernatural power or the quest to obtain the superior technology. How does someone find it amusing over and over? That's beyond my comprehension.

[New January 2012] Inu x Boku SS

Japanese title: 妖狐×僕SS
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11013/Inu_x_Boku_SS
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/inu-x-boku-secret-service
Genres: Drama / Supernatural / Comedy?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Ririchiyo moves into an apartment complex where everybody has a bodyguard called "Secret Service" (SS). Every resident of this apartment, including her is anything but normal human. Even though she didn't want an SS, she ends up getting one that knew her since long ago.

First impression score: 84 - Interesting and Weird

Personal comments: It's a bit difficult to digest at first since everything looked so strange. But once they cleared up a couple of things, it become clear where everything lies. The whole setup actually reminds me much of Kuroshitsuji. It could be interesting, but we'll have to see.

[New January 2012] Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!

Japanese title: パパのいうことを聞きなさい！
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11179/Papa_no_Iukoto_wo_Kikinasai!
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Comedy / Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Yuuta just entered college as a freshman. He got involved with some strange club. One day, his sister asked him to babysit her daughters for a couple days while she's on a trip. Little does he know fate is about to take a strange turn for him.

First impression score: 85 - Kind of Weird...

Familiar voices: Yui Horie (堀江由衣) as Raika Oda. She is a veteran voice actress that has done tons of voices including Naru from Love Hina and Yuki Cross from Vampire Knight. Eri Kitamura (喜多村英梨) as Miu Takanashi. She has a pretty distinctly recognizable voice that was featured as Sayaka from Madoka Magica, Kanade from Mayo Chiki, and Yachiyo from Working!. 

Personal comments: The official synopsis sounds very similar to Usagi Drop, though so far it doesn't seem to be nearly as, um, pure as Usagi Drop is. It could be interesting though.

[New January 2012] Ano Natsu de Matteru

Japanese title: あの夏で待ってる
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11433/Ano_Natsu_de_Matteru
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/ano-natsu-de-matteru
Genres: Comedy / Drama / Scifi
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Some dude was making a film when he's hit (and killed?) by something from space. Next day he found himself waking up in his bed. Then a mysterious transfer student came to his school and ends up staying in his house.

First impression score: 90 - Strange comedy


Familiar voices: Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり) as Remon Yamano. It didn't take long before I recognized her voice as Togame from Katanagatari, since I recently just heard her voice. Another famous role she played is Rika from Higurashi series. She also recently appeared as Fear Kubric in

Personal comments: Yet another tried and true concept where some alien accidentally kills somebody and have to redeem herself (it's always a her for some reason) by saving the person she killed and ends up living with him, very much like Tetsuwan Birdy series. But this one seems to have more comedy worked into it without breaking into something completely ridiculous like ToLoveRu did. So far I'm liking what I saw.

[New January 2012] Senki Zesshou Symphogear

Japanese title: 戦姫絶唱シンフォギア
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11751/Senki_Zesshou_Symphogear
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Action / Musical? / Eva clone?
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Human is under the attack of something called "Noise", and only few people with special ability can battle against them.

First impression score: 80 - Strange, but not Original

Personal comments: First of all, it doesn't feel very, um, original. It's like a mix and blend of three very well know animes: Evangelion, RahXephone, and Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, taking different elements from each movie and blend them into one. I'm not sure how this will play out, but as it is right now, there're too much copy and paste from other anime going on here...

[New January 2012] Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

Japanese title: 男子高校生の日常
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11843/Danshi_Koukousei_no_Nichijou
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: It's the story of a couple of high school students.

First impression score: 89 - Laughing my teeth off

Personal comments: This reminds me very much of Arakawa Under the Bridge, except the setting is a normal high school instead of some weirdo's hangout. If you liked Arakawa, then you'd love this. If you didn't, well, still give it a try, you might like it since it doesn't have the strange weirdo's hangout environment.

[New January 2012] Mouretsu Pirates

Japanese title: モーレツ宇宙海賊
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/8917/Mouretsu_Pirates
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/moretsu-pirates
Genres: Drama / Comedy Space Opera
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Marika is a regular high school student. One day she was told that she's the next captain of a space pirate ship.

First impression score: 85 - Interesting start


Familiar voices: Omigawa Chiaki as Endou Mami. I think anybody has seen Soul Eater or Arakawa Under the Bridge would recognize the voice of Maka and P-ko. Her voice just doesn't change, period.

Personal comments: It's an interesting concept, but I think you can already tell that the story seems to fit the very typical "sudden inheritance" plot so far. Maybe they'll get something new going soon, until then, this is just so so.

[New January 2012] Another

Japanese title: アナザー
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11111/Another
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/another
Genres: Mystery / Horror
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Rumor has it that in the school there is a girl that everybody likes. One day she died of an accident. But to remember her, the entire class keep pretending she is still there. But the story doesn't stop there, there seems to be more than people pretending seeing a dead girl. Sakakibara is a new transfer student who was sick right after he came to the town. While he doesn't know much about the local legend, he starts to see some strange things...

First impression score: 93 - Creepy

Personal comments: This is my most anticipated anime from this season, one reason being that I always love a good horror story. (Horror mystery that is, I hate gore horror). From this opening episode, it seems to be as good as I hoped it was. I'm actually spooked enough at the moment that I'd be somewhat scared to ride elevator in a hospital. This is definitely a keeper.

[New January 2012] Rinne no Lagrange

Japanese title: 輪廻のラグランジェ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11227/Rinne_no_Lagrange
Watch Online: http://www.hulu.com/lagrange-the-flower-of-rin-ne
Genres: Drama / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A girl was asked to pilot a robot as a favor (WTF?!), now she has to save the earth from alien invaders.

First impression score: 85 - Huh?

Personal comments: The setting seems a normal world, but when the main character is asked to pilot a robot, the reaction is...less than you would normally expect. Then they just suddenly break out into this Evangelion type battle with aliens out of nowhere. There are some interesting dry humors which I though is pretty good and right on cue because it lightens up the atmosphere without disrupting the flow of the story. There are still a lot of explanation needs to be done, but I find the way they dropped us right in the middle of the action just like the main character was pretty interesting. I think this one has potential.

[New January 2012] Highschool DxD

Japanese title: ハイスクールD×D
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11617/Highschool_DxD
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Action / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Some dude got killed by some devilish girl, then resurrected by another devil to become her servant.

First impression score: 83 - Slightly excessive on fan service

Personal comments: I don't know if it's just me, but it's giving me a distinct vibe that is very similar to Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou. Not only the whole daemon king part feels the same, it also have the same excessive usage of similar R-rated fan service. But despite being fan service heavy, Daimaou actually has a pretty good story, I hope the story quality for DxD is on par here as well.

[New January 2012] Brave 10

Japanese title: ブレイブ・テン
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11241/Brave_10
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/brave-10
Genres: Action / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Another fantasy story related to Sengoku era. Sanada Yukimura is trying to assemble 10 warriors to fight against Tokugawa.

First impression score: 88 - Very interesting start

Personal comments: This is definitely one of the more interesting version Sengoku stories, though nothing could top Sengoku Basara, this in my opinion is coming pretty close. It feels like Basara with a bit more seriousness injected into it, while it doesn't forget to be a comedy from time to time. I think this is a keeper, at least for now.

[New January 2012] Nisemonogatari

Japanese title: 偽物語
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11597/Nisemonogatari
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/nisemonogatari
Genres: Comedy / Mystery / WTF
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: The long waited Bakemonogatari sequel.

First impression score: 95 - Still strange and mysterious and funny and conversation heavy...

Personal comments: This is one of the most anticipated series from this season by many, including me. Bakemonogatari is about one of the most unique piece of work I've ever seen. It's strange and mysterious yet funny all at the same time, mostly expressed through dialogs and some simple actions. The director for this anime series is pure genius. It is so unpredictable that you can almost never tell what's about to happen a second later. If you still haven't seen Bakemonogatari, you'd be a little lost, on top of that, you're missing out a lot.