Spring 2007: What Looks Really Interesting?

So I’ve been looking at the listings of what’s coming out this upcoming (or, actually, just already started) season in anime. The winter has been rather disappointing, after the astonishingly good run from spring to fall of last year (or maybe it was just filled with shows that I happened to like a lot, like Honey and Clover II, NHK, Higurashi, Haruhi, Black Lagoon, etc). I haven’t done nearly as many episode reviews as I would have liked, as a result, because I only ended up following a couple of shows regularly.

So in this post, I’m going to take a glance at the shows that I find the most interesting this upcoming season, the ones I’m most likely to follow right off the bat. Tomorrow, I’ll follow up with info on shows that might look all right but I’ll wait to see what others think. But for today, these shows are shows I’ll pick up and follow, barring unexpected levels of suckage.

Feel free to add any more suggestions for things you think look extremely promising, but I may have overlooked based on my genre prejudices. 🙂 (Or if you think one of these looks very likely to suck.)

The info/list of everything next season is taken from animeonline, who have formatted it very nicely. Kudos.


El Cazador de la Bruja–There seems to have been a real action renaissance lately, with Black Lagoon taking top honors, and now the old master director of Noir is back. Plus, it has Yuki Kajiura composing music; ’nuff said.

Gurren-Lagann-Can Gainax redeem themselves after making so many unbearably generic and sometimes just plain bad works (I’m looking at you, This Ugly Yet Beautiful World)? Diebuster certainly helped in that direction. With character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, but directed by a newcomer to the Gainax fold, this wacky-looking and retro mecha anime should at least hold some fan-exploiting fun.

Romeo x Juliet–Well, it’s Shakespeare, as done by Gonzo, and I’ve always loved Shakespeare’s tragedies (more than his comedies). It will thus be very, very well animated at least. They just better not screw up the story too much, though I don’t see how you really could if your goal is to depict teen romantic angst well anyway (no play is better for that than Romeo and Juliet). Or worse, make it a kiddie one, like the ongoing Les Mis series.

Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Spirit)–Princess Mononoke, the TV show? It’s about a female warrior who is charged with protecting a boy who is the “Guardian of the Sacred Spirit.” This is a Production IG show, which means the animation should be of high quality, and the music will be done by the excellent Kenji Kawai, who made the Ghost in Shell movies much more watchable.

Sisters of Wellber–a fantasy series about a princess locked in an arranged marriage, but who’s caught up in the impending war between different countries. It’s another Production IG show, which means the animation will be excellent. The story vaguely reminds me of Scrapped Princess, one of my favorite shows, but with more political intrigue. I have some high hopes for this one.

Terra E (Toward the Terra)–I need some epic sci-fi in my diet and this one looks very promising on that end. It features a race called the Mu, just like in RahXephon! (Or, considering the story dates to the early 80s, maybe it’s more like RahXephon ripped off Terra E.)

Tomorrow: less promising but still interesting shows.