With the Fall 2013 anime season about to kick off and many of our anime writers already putting out their picks, I figured that it was time that I make my own list. While we started this back in the Winter 2013 season and continued into Spring 2013, I skipped the Summer season but in place of that, I’ve come back with a rather massive list of shows that I’m giving a shot this season.
Coppelion
In the year 2016 a nuclear meltdown has caused the Japanese government to evacuate and abandon Tokyo. However despite their attempt at rescuing people, nearly the entire population of Tokyo is killed in the meltdown. After twenty years have passed, a distress signal triggers the formation of a Special Forces unit consisting of three girls called “Coppelion.” The girls are sent into the city to find survivors but will likely find much more waiting for them in this long abandoned land.
Despite being the first pick on this list, which is ordered by debut date not preference, there isn’t a whole lot attracting me to Coppelion outside of its premise of adventuring through an abandoned city after a nuclear fallout. However after checking out a few previews it looks like it is going to feature some nice sci-fi action and special abilities, making it worth a shot.
Outbreak Company
Picture your standard otaku who loves anime, visual novels, manga and all kinds of things moe and place him in a household where the father is a light novel author and his mother designs eroge games and right there is an interesting, albeit bland sounding, series. However take that otaku and suddenly make him the “moe” ambassador to a brand new nation in a parallel world and you have yourself a show.
Being a light novel adaptation there is always the chance that this might fall short of expectations or suffer from a terrible cliffhanger ending, but it does feature everything I like in a show. It has a fair share of politics and it will tackle some social issues as the world the character ends up travelling to ends up on the brink of war. With politics, harem building and some cute looking character designs this is an easy pick up for me.
IS: Infinite Stratos 2
Would saying that I watched the first season of Infinite Stratos count as enough of a reason for picking up this second season? Well it pretty much is going to have to. Despite there being more than a few years between the two adaptations, I’ve always hoped that a second season would be introduced as it was one of the better harem series in recent memory since, while a few girls ended up being relegated to comedic relief, there were still three frontrunners for the winning girl. It looks like the harem antics will continue throughout season 2 as well as the introduction of a few new girls that may or may not end up in Ichika’s harem.
Kill la Kill
Studio Trigger has been making quite a name for itself. Made up from GAINAX members who were with the company back when Gurren Lagann was created, Kill la Kill is probably one of the most talked about shows this season. The anime will be an original series that seems to be very action oriented with the students’ uniforms providing them with special powers.
The pedigree behind this series is worth at least checking out and when you add in the interesting looking character designs and combat samples that they have shown so far it makes Kill la Kill an easy pick up this time and probably an early winner for anime of the season.
Freezing Vibration
Same as Infinite Stratos 2, Freezing Vibration is the second season of the Freezing series and after checking out the first season I am going to continue to follow this action fan-service series throughout its second season. Despite featuring plenty of breasts and panty shots, there is much more to Freezing than fan-service as the combat has always been bloody and, occasionally, gory, as fighters have limbs sliced right off of their bodies.
While it is worth noting that Freezing Vibration will apparently skip over a story arc involving main heroine Satellizer’s family, it is likely for the best as it wouldn’t be fit for television, especially when it would take place right at the beginning of the season.
Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku o Ketsui Shimashita
Raul has trained his whole life to become a hero and slay the demon lord. However just before he becomes a certified hero, the demon lord is defeated by someone else, leaving him with no valuable skills in society. While working at a magic shop as a part-timer, a new hire comes in asking for a job and on her resume it says that the reason she is looking for a job is because her father was defeated and that she is the demon lord’s daughter.
There have been A LOT of anime adaptations for demon lords and heroes coming together this year and not only have I seen them all, I’ve enjoyed them and this one looks no different. From the sounds of things there will be some heavy comedy aspects as well as bits of romance here and there making this romcom an easy pick up as it is right up my alley.
Log Horizon
Sword Art Online is fresh on the minds of many people and love it or hate it (hate it), the idea of becoming trapped in an MMO is something that many people are familiar with now. However it looks like Log Horizon may just be able to take that plot and run with it far better than SAO ever did. After logging into a fantasy MMORPG, 30,000 gamers are suddenly trapped in the fantasy world and after getting acclimated to their new world, a group of gamers join together to form a guild.
There are two reasons that this could easily be better than the aforementioned anime, first the author for this anime happens to be the one behind the Maoyuu Maou Yuusha series which was intricate in plot and detail and also this series appears to focus more on the group working together with a bit of a lighter tone and a more fantastical element than simply one man running around like a loner in a black coat.
Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai!
Wrestling fan-service. Wait I need to mention more than that? Well “Wanna be the Strongest in the World” follows an idol who has turned into a pro wrestler because her friend and co-worker were hurt when they encountered an aggressive female wrestler by the name of Rio. To try and get revenge, the former idol Sakura enters the ring to try and climb the ranks and take out Rio.
One look at the series will immediately tell you why this show is one for me. While probably very basic in plot, the amount of ecchi fan-service offered in this series is simply too much to pass up.
Unbreakable Machine-doll
The source material for Unbreakable Machine-doll is something that I’ve been following for a few months now so seeing an anime adaptation makes this an easy call. The story revolves around Akabane Raishin who enters into the Royal Academy of Machine Arts where all of the students have special Automatons that fight in their place. However Raishin is accompanied by a very special Automaton named Yaya who acts just like a normal human and is unbelievably strong… which is good since his test scores place him as the second to last ranked student in the entire school. There is a lot of potential for some good action in this series as well as some nice character interactions between Yaya, Raishin and the various classmates he comes across.
Non Non Biyori
If you had showed me Non Non Biyori a few years ago I would have ignored it and went to watch something else entirely. Recently however the simple slice of life shows and moe anime have begun to look better and better to me with their simplistic stories and gags that almost always make me laugh. Sure this may end up being forgetful but hell; moe comedy is going to keep me watching it no matter what.
Tokyo Ravens
Despite being born into a family of powerful spirit users, main character Harutora lacks any ability with the supernatural. This lets him live a relatively normal high school life until his childhood friend returns and drags him into a world where his dormant powers awaken.
Supernatural action is always high on my list of shows to watch and thanks to the animation style and the premise, it is going to be an easy series to check out.
Blazblue Alter Memory
Would saying that I’ve played most of the Blazblue games be enough of a qualifier here? Well anyways, Blazblue Alter Memory will be a video game to anime adaptation and while it works sometimes, like with Hyperdimension Neptunia in Summer 2013, it can easily go wrong. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the various twists and turns that make up Blazblue’s storyline and where exactly the anime will jump in to the series, though from the looks of things it will feature content mostly from the second game.
Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Lovecome o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru
Damn, long list and here we are at the end with the anime of the season with the longest name. Anyways, the story follows a boy named Kanade Amakusa with the power to literally choose his own future. At random times he is given multiple choice questions in his head that will determine the outcome of events. Despite what may seem like a gift, the choices aren’t always good ones and when it may involve you in a harem filled journey through high school things are going to get difficult.
A romcom is an easy pick up here and while it may not sound all that different from your standard light novel high school romcom, the multiple choice aspect of choosing your future seems to be an interesting enough hook that will keep me interested if it is worked into the series well enough.
Unlike the others I have no honorable mentions, if they are on this list they’ll be the ones I check out unless someone convinces me otherwise sometime after the season starts.
