Winter 2012 Picks and Predictions

Marika Kato of Mouretsu Space Pirates.

In all honesty, the up-coming Winter 2012 season hasn’t grabbed my attention. Typically by now I would be looking forward to some show, and this post would be about those few shows that really caught my eye. I usually link to other bloggers who do a fine job of providing the comprehensive picture. You can check out the following guides that will provide synopses and possibly trailers for just about every new show of the season:

• Hanners provides his usual round-up with succinct comments on each new series.
• Psgels organizes the shows by his own subjective “potential” rating, and points out the positives and the negatives.
• Sapphire Pyro has a less comprehensive view, but she reads a lot of manga, so her opinions on a show’s potential are quite useful.
• Caraniel takes the comprehensive route, but doesn’t mince words when sharing her point of view.

There are probably a lot of other worthy season previews that have already come out, or will shortly. Sadly, regardless of which one I read, I can’t shake the feeling that this season doesn’t have an awesome show that I am ready to commit to on the spot. Nevertheless I present three shows after the jump that just might be worth watching.

1. Thermae Romae
2. Mouretsu Pirates
3. Daily Lives of High School Boys

Thermae Romae

In a normal season, this is probably the show I would be picking as the show I am most interested in. It airs in the Noitamina slot, has historical elements, and the main character is an adult. I enjoy quirky shows that include observations about how people other than junior high students live. Here we have a show about an architect from ancient rome who gets transports through a “hot tub time machine” to present day Japan. The show seems to be set up to explore the social significance of public bath houses in the Rome of antiquity and Japan today.

So why am I hesitant about this project? It will have only three episodes and uses flash animation. I’ll watch the show if subs are available, but it seems like this is little more than a commercial for the up-coming live-action film based on the same material.

Mouretsu Pirates

This one has a lot of name variants floating around, including: Miniskirt Space Pirates, and Bodacious Space Pirates. The show is supposed to be about what happens to a high school girl when she inherits her father’s space pirate ship. On the one hand: Space Pirate. This could be a fun adventure tale in the spirit of Captain Harlock. On the other hand: moe antics and school life could drag this one down. I still think it is worth checking out to see how it goes, but I can’t trust my hopes for this season on something with so little weight.

Daily Lives of High School Boys

I usually don’t pick comedies, but I have to say that the previews that were released for this show had me laughing. I’ll definitely be watching this show, and hopefully enjoying it. The humor is a curious mix of insightful situation-based humor, and wacky intensity.

Predictions

The crystal ball is cloudy this time, dear readers. In addition to new shows, Chihayafuru will be airing its second course, and there are several shows from seasons past that I never had the chance to see before. I’ll certainly find some interesting anime to watch, even if it isn’t from the new season. I hope you find something worthy of your time as well.