Spring '08 Anime

[niko]

The upcoming Spring anime season in Japan has a more promising lineup than I've seen in a while, with quite a few shows that I'm really, *really* eager for, and several others that look quite promising.  I'm going to try to make an effort to sample them all for at least a few episodes this year.   This is just a quick, personal-reference post with the titles/dates I need to watch for.

March 14
Bus Gamer  - A no-brainer.  Minekura-sensei FTW! :)

April 3:
Allison to Lillia  -  This is from the same author as Kino, and given my Kino fixation, this is another no brainer.

Macross Frontier  -  It's Macross.  Gotta at least give it a shot.

Kure-nai  -  "16-year-old Shintaro Kurenai, a specialist in settling squabbles between people, is approached by the daughter of a powerful plutocratic family asking him to be her bodyguard."   Sounds like it has the possibility to be a little slow, but with a lot of heart.  I like that.

April 4:
Amatsuki - Looks lightweight, but main character seems likeable. Worth a look, maybe.

The Tower of Druaga  -  I'm not really eager for this, but it seems like an old-school fantasy adventure, and those are often up my alley.

April 7:
Monochrome Factor  -  Premise sounds pretty ho-hum, and I'm not too sure about the character designs, but the title's grabbing me or something.  I dunno.

April 8:
Himitsu - Top Secret  -  Another detective-y thing.  I'm intrigued that this looks very shoujo, but not the traditional girly boy-dilemma shoujo.  Also: Seki!! SQUEE!

Crystal Blaze  -  Mostly of interest because Miki Shin-ichiro is voicing the main character, but it's got a hard-boiled detective sort of vibe going for it that might be worthwhile.   (Edit:  Oh! Oh! Two seconds after posting this, I noticed a new item about this on ANN, billing it as a "hard-boiled buddy" show.  It looks like a character I assumed was a girl is really a guy.  Making this a "buddy" show just upped the excitement level about 120%. )

RD Sennou Chousashitsu  -  Kinda hot main character.  Concept is surreal and cyberspacey enough to make me curious.  (LOL. My first thought on reading the premise was that it sounded kinda "Ghost in the Shell"-ish.  And I just noticed that it *is* based on a story from Masamune Shirou.  Good eye, Jen. :)

April 10:
Toshokan Sensou - An anime about librarians in a war against an evil army of censorship.  What's not to love?  :)   Something about the character designs reminds me of Planetes, which is another plus.   I'm cautiously excited about this one.

April 12:
Nijuu Mensou no Musume  -  The kinda Gothic/European flare in the trailer is intriguing, and seems like it has potential to be a caper sort of anime to go with the two detective series.  As long as it's not as cheezy as DNAngel or as pompous as Noir (the two series that sprang to mind when I watched the trailer and read the synopsis), it could have potential.