Summer 2015 Anime

Here is my list of Summer 2015 anime series that look interesting

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– Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace

Mysterious murders solved by middle school kids. Either an homage to, or based on the works of the author Edogawa Ranpo, a respected mystery novelist who died 50 years ago.

– Overlord

Fantasy setting and an interesting idea, in that the main character looks like a giant skeleton and he wants to take over the world.

– Gate

People from our world take tanks and guns through an inter-dimensional gate to explore a magical world. Not sure what to make of this, but I always check out shows with a fantasy setting.

– The Red-headed Snow White (Akagami no Shirayuki-hime)

Another fantasy setting (!) and there are some interesting ideas here, too. Snow white is a doctor.

Spring 2014 ~ Abandoned Factory viewing list

The first episodes of the new anime viewing season are being aired over the next couple of weeks, so it is time for a site update. As I mentioned in my preview, I have just a couple of shows I’m interested in this season, with Ping Pong: the animation foremost amongst them. I also revealed that I am building an anime-blogging robot, named Alpha, to assist me with the reviews here at the Abandoned Factory, which means I will be able to pick up a couple more shows.

The final list for Spring 2014:

Title	Premiering	Blogger
Kindaichi R	April 5	Alpha
No Game No Life	April 9	Alpha
Escha to Logy	April 10	Alpha
Insufficient Direction	April 10	Joojoobees
Ping Pong	April 10	Joojoobees
Mekaku City Actors	April 12	Alpha

I added Mekaku City Actors, and No Game No Life, because I thought they would be good shows for Alpha to watch. Mekaku City Actors is a Shaft production, and No Game No Life is Madhouse, so despite the fact that I don’t think I could stand to sit through the subject matter, they might be interesting shows visually. Insufficient Direction is a late add; I just think the premise (living with Hideako Anno) is a funny one.

Shows listed as being covered by me (Joojoobees) will actually be covered by both of us.

I probably will post sporadically, and Alpha’s reviews will begin later in the season, since she is still under development, but is intended to provide context, not episodic impressions. That being said, I’ll probably post something as soon as I have it, as part of my process of bringing her perception and analytic faculties online.

Happy anime viewing everybody!

** Update April 6: moved Insufficient Direction to April 10, which seems to be the Tokyo premiere; I think the earlier date was a premiere station that has early access to certain shows.

Spring 2014 Anime Pre-season Info

TL;DR :  “Go see what Cara said.”

For the most part the Spring 2014 Anime season seems to be samey-sameness, with one important exception.

Ping Pong: the animation

Ping Pong: the animation

This one looks really interesting! Masaki Yuasa is back in the Noitamina slot. All the visuals so far really stand out. Should be a good watch.

Honorable Mentions

Atelier Escha & Logy ~Alchemists of the Dusk Sky~

Atelier Escha & Logy ~Alchemists of the Dusk Sky~

I have written before about the Atelier franchise. I liked the emphasis on Alchemy, there were some interesting mechanics in the title I played, and it had some good art and music. Given that, I will be checking this anime adaptation out, but with some trepidation. They seemed to have played up the bishoujo elements, instead of some of the more interesting aspects. One of the most interesting aspects of this title is the very weird pun: the Japanese pronounce & (“and”) as toe (long O), so the characters names with an ampersand in it is pronounced as the word Eschatology, which is a sub discipline of Theology concerned with the End Days (with questions like What is Heaven? What is Hell? What happens after death? How will the world end?)

Kindaichi Case Files Returns

I have previously written about an earlier anime adaption of Young Kindaichi’s Case Files. The should be an actual mystery genre title. The mysteries in the previous series that I watched (I also saw a series of anime movies about Kindaichi) were fairly detailed and developed as actual mysteries (as opposed to masquerading as mysteries, but really being an action show, or something else). The author of the manga also did another mystery genre series that I enjoyed: Detective Academy Q. The problem with the author, as I see it, is that the characterization is very weak. I wrote about this before, too. Basically my view is that this could be a well-plotted Mystery series, but the characters are likely to be little more than one-dimensional.

Conclusion

I may seem dismissive in blowing off 9/10ths of the anime coming out this upcoming season, but three new shows to watch is actually not that bad. I still have some catching up to do from previous seasons, and #ESO Elder Scrolls Online will be launching April 4, 2014, so I’ll need to reserve time for that.

Enjoy the Spring, everybody!

Anime Season Winter 2014 ~ thoughts

The Winter 2014 anime season begins.

January means it is time for another preview post, although I am not genuinely excited about the anime series this season is offering. (Maybe I am overly obsessed with the thought of Elder Scrolls Online coming out on 4/4/14; by contrast nothing in the new season seems as epic and engrossing).

Hamatora

Take, for example, Hamatora. On paper it sounds pretty good: people with psychic powers investigating a serial murder who is hunting their kind. The preview, however, just didn’t work for me. It looks more like a bishounen show than an action or a mystery.

Wizard Barristers

Every time I start watching a preview for this show, I think, “hey, this looks pretty good!” The action looks exciting. There are older characters. The idea of “Wizard Barristers” is intriguing. Then, about half-way through the protagonist gets introduced and I think, “No. No. No. There is no way I am going to be able to put up with this series series.” I’ll probably check it out anyways. Then hate myself for it.

Inari Kon Kon Koi Iroha

This is the RomCom that looks the most interesting of the season. A girl falls for some guy and gets the power to shapehift by saving a fox. I like shows about supernatural beings at temples. Unfortunately the artwork seems a bit lackluster. Still worth a shot.

Houzuki no Reitetsu

Speaking of supernatural beings, the most promising comedy seems to be about the everyday life of a demon.

Space Dandy

Normally I would be immensely excited for a show by Shinichiro Watanabe. I certainly will be checking it out, but the trailer (and premise) has me thinking it is going to be too campy to hold my interest.

Why you so dissatisfied, dog?

I think it is a fair question for someone to ask me why, with all the shows I just mentioned, I’m just not feeling it this season. I just don’t feel like there is anything substantial this season. I read about some old favorites over on Metanorn last month, as people were writing up their Secret Santa posts, and it just left me thinking, when was the last time we had something really substantial, like Serei no Moribito? My top three favorite series are Haibane Renmei, Twelve Kingdoms, and the Crest/Banner of the Stars series. I don’t expect every show to be that great, but series like Dennou Coil have deep world-building, unique characters, mystery, action, comedy, and innovative art styles. I just don’t see anything from this season reaching that level (although I would be happy to be proven wrong).

Anyways

Enjoy 2014 (and get ready ‘cuz Elder Scrolls Online is coming)

Summer 2013 Picks and Prediction

Suigintou from the 2013 Rozen Maiden reboot

It is time once again to look ahead to the upcoming anime season, to pick some shows to discuss, and to predict a show that will beat them all. As usual, I warn you, the reader, that this is my personal selection of shows that look interesting, and I have by no means included everything that is supposed to be airing (some 35 shows)! If you want to see a more comprehensive account of the upcoming season, check out a preview by some other folks such as Psgels, the Star-crossed Anime Blogger.

The shows included in the post are:

• Tamayura ~ more aggressive ~
•  Gin no Saji (“Silver Spoon”)
• Rozen Maiden
• Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (“On Sunday, God Abandoned the World”)

Now that you know what to expect, let’s anime!

Spring 2013 ~ Picks and Prediction

A character from the Otona Joshi no Anime Time project.

The Spring 2013 anime season will be here in just a few weeks, and that means those of us hangin’ ’round the abandoned factory are looking ahead to predict the greatest anime of the upcoming season, as well as picking a few others to keep an eye on. It is also our tradition to point you to other sites if you want a comprehensive analysis of the new season, since we only look at the good shows, and don’t waste our time on the rest.

Fall 2012 Picks and Predictions

The approach of the Fall season means a strange new world of anime opens before us.,

Welcome to the Abandoned Factory Fall 2012 Picks and Predictions. Each season I attempt to do three things,

1. Point you toward comprehensive season previews,
2. Provide you with a list of my picks for the interesting shows to keep an eye on in the new season, and
3. Predict which show will stand the test of time, despite being sadly overlooked while it is airing.

So … I suppose it should be called “Pointers, Picks, and Predictions”. Eh, whatever.