[New April 2012] Saki Episode of Side A

Japanese title: 咲-Saki-阿知賀編 episode of side-A
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/10884/Saki:_Achiga-hen_-_Episode_of_Side-A
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/saki-episode-of-side-a
Genres: Mahjong / Sports? / School Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Story of Nodoka Haramura old school's mahjong club.

First impression score: 84 - Mahjong Excitement

Personal comments: As a fan of mahjong, I was rather fond of the original Saki. I'm hoping this is just as exciting. 

[New April 2012] Sankarea

Japanese title: さんかれあ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11499/Sankarea
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: School Drama / Zombie
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: A dude who is hot for zombies, not the normal way, rather, the moe way. One day, his wish came true.

First impression score: 88 - WTF?!
 
Personal comments: I've read some of the manga this series is adapted from, and it was quite good. If executed correctly, this would be a great series.

[New April 2012] Natsuiro Kiseki

Japanese title: 夏色キセキ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/12119/Natsuiro_Kiseki
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: School Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Four girls, made a wish with a stone says to possess magical power to grant wishes. To their surprise, their wishes came true.

First impression score: 80 - Light
 
Personal comments: So far there's nothing special that separates this anime from all the other girl school dramas--put in plain words, I'm not impressed by it at all. However, my favorite voice actress, Haruka Tomatsu is playing a main character (Yuka), that'll be enough reason for me to see it to the end. Her voice is still playful as ever.

[New April 2012] Medaka Box

Japanese title: めだかボックス
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11761/Medaka_Box
Watch online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/medaka-box
Genres: Comedy / School Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Medaka is a first year high school student, yet she's elected as student body president with a landslide victory. She's out to build the best student council in history.

First impression score: 87 - Somewhat Unique

Personal comments: The blunt personality of Medaka feel somewhat like Haruhi Suzumiya when she was first introduced. While the concept is rather old (there are only like a thousand different animes about student councils...), I can sense some fresh ideas in this series. Most importantly, the original author of the story is Isin Nisio, the original author of Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, and Katanagatari. That alone would be enough to stick around to see what this series has to bring us.

[New April 2012] Zetman

Japanese title: ゼットマン
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11837/Zetman
Watch Online: http://www.hulu.com/zetman
Genres: Scifi / Action
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: When artificially created superhuman called "Player" escaped, mysterious murders in the city started to occur.


First impression score: 87 - Violent

Personal comments: This is an anime adaptation of manga written by Masakazu Katsura, who is well know for authoring acclaimed series such as D・N・A², Video Girl Ai, and my personal favorite, I''s. It's sometime hard to believe how versatile he could be--not only he can draw and write a long and emotional love drama like I''s and Video Girl Ai, but also capable of doing shounen action series like Zetman and D・N・A². He is a truely amazing artist. Back to the anime itself, the respect to original author alone would probably be enough for me to stay with this series because knowing the quality of his work, this series should be at least semi-decent, given the animators did not totally mess up in the adaptation. 

[New April 2012] Ozuma

Japanese title: オズマ
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/12677/Ozuma
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/ozma
Genres: Scifi / Post Apocalyps
I've watched: 3 episode

Summary: In the future where the surface of the earth become mostly sand. People are trying to survive in the harsh environment while fighting battles underneath the sand.


First impression score: 84 - Somewhat exciting

Personal comments: I mark it as April season new anime, but this started air way early in March and it is only 6 episodes long. So it soon will be ending. The first thing you'll notice about this series is its unique style, since it's based on manga written by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士), the author of Galaxy Express 999. It's a little odd at first, but it'll grow on you. The first two episode felt very much like one of those classic WWII submarine battle movies, except the battle is done in liquid sand, not sea.

[New April 2012] Hiiro no Kakera

Japanese title: 緋色の欠片
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/12461/Hiiro_no_Kakera
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/hiiro-no-kakera
Genres: Fantasy / Supernatural / Reverse Harem
I've watched: 2 episode

Summary: Because of her father's job change, Tamaki came to live with her grandma, only to find out that she is the descendent of a sacred blood line and is being asked to be the shrine maiden to protect the world from daemons.

First impression score: 87 - Reverse Harem

Personal comments: Since reverse harem are so few and far between, you can always smell it from far away. However, because it's so rare, the average quality of reverse harems tend to be much higher than its counterparts. So far this is no exception.

[New April 2012] Saint Seiya Omega

Japanese title: 聖闘士星矢Ω
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/12929/Saint_Seiya_Omega
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/saint-seiya-omega
Genres: Action / Fantasy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Seiya is now gone, the duty of protecting Athena is now upon the next generation.

First impression score: 83 - Revived Classic

Personal comments: It's been more than 25 years since Saint Seiya was aired originally. After a series of finale OVAs, Seiya finally passed on. While the title still bear the word Seiya, the story of Omega is all about the next generation, given Seiya, the one unkillable person in the entire Saint Seiya series gets finished off within the first 5 minutes of episode 1.

[New April 2012] Accel World

Japanese title: アクセル・ワールド
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11759/Accel_World
Watch Online: http://www.hulu.com/accel-world
Genres: Scifi / Action / VR
I've watched: 2 episode

Summary: In the future, when everybody is linked through "Neural Link", there exists a secret program called "Brain Burst" where people who are capable can accelerate 1000 times beyond normal perception of time.

First impression score: 88 - Intriguing

Personal comments: Interestingly enough, this is a series that is based on an environment very similar to the world described by Dennou Coil, where I just mentioned a couple of days ago about google's Project Glass. I always find this kind of story intriguing, so long it doesn't focus too much in the drama that exists purely because of the technicalities of VR environment, like the later .hack series (not .hack//sign or .hack//Quantum though). I'm much interested in seeing what this series has to offer.

[New April 2012] Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead

Japanese title: これはゾンビですか? OF THE DEAD
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/10790/Kore_wa_Zombie_Desu_ka_of_the_Dead
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Magical Girl (lol) / Zombie / Vampire / Supernatural / Comedy
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Our beloved zombie magical girl man is making an return.

First impression score: 90 - Kick it up a notch
 

Personal comments: One of the most outrageous anime of 2011 is making a return. If you haven't seen the original yet, you should. Most notable property of the original series is the wild mood swing. From the feel of this new series so far, I think they're going to be just as wild.

[New April 2012] Uchuu Kyoudai

Japanese title: 宇宙兄弟
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/12431/Uchuu_Kyoudai
Watch Online: http://www.crunchyroll.com/space-brothers
Genres: Drama
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Year 2025, two Japanese brothers, one is about to go to the moon on a NASA mission, the other one has just gotten fired from his work as an automobile designer. They both had a dream once upon the time to go the the space. Now they both set off the achieve them.

First impression score: 82 - More interesting than I thought

Personal comments: It's series like this, where I had pretty much no expectation what so ever, would once a while surprise me. Whatever it is, it somehow grabbed me, despite it isn't in any art style that I'm fond of, nor do I have any interest in the topic. For now, I'd say I'll at least give it to mid season to decide whether this is a keeper for good.

[New April 2012] Queen's Blade: Rebellion

Usually, I try to wrap up the previous season before I put out new season posts. But since I've accumulated so much backlog and the new season has already been trickling in since last week, I figure I'll just go ahead start on this season while slowly finish up my reviews for previous season. And what's better than kicking of the new Spring season of animes with the biggest and bounciest boobs in anime history--Queen's Blade
 
Japanese title: クイーンズブレイド リベリオン
Info: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11859/Queens_Blade:_Rebellion
Download: available through http://www.nyaa.eu/
Genres: Action / Drama / Ecchi / Boobs
I've watched: 1 episode

Summary: Queen Claudette now is in charge, and she repealed Queen's Blade law. Now new civil unrest start to appear.

First impression score: 78 - ... It's still Queen's Blade

Personal comments: It's still Queen's Blade, though the boobs aren't appearing nearly as often as the original series. While I was rather fond of the original series' plot, I'm not sure whether this series will be at par. For one, take that screen cap for example, while dressed like that, some how people still manage to think she is a "he", until a couple of seconds later her breast plate blew off and her boobs are shown. I don't remember the original series had any stupid ignorance like this. This is not a good sign.