Another season, another slew of anime series to watch. With a whopping 49 different anime series to view this season, even the most veteran anime viewer could find themselves overwhelmed, so we at FAN have taken it upon ourselves to help guide you through the minefield and possibly even pick some hidden gems. This task was so big it required the combined efforts of all three of FAN’s resident anime aficionados, myself, Glitch, and Yves Zulueta. With that now out of the way, on to our picks!
The Main Picks!
Wanna be the Strongest in the World(Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai!)
Glitch: A show we can all get behind of, Japanese female wrestlers! This anime involves a former idol singer Sakura must avenge her fellow bandmate’s injury by entering into the world of professional wrestling. That sentence right there should reason enough to watch.
The studio Arms Corporation are handling production of the show, and are known for doing hentai and ecchi anime. And it looks likes Sekai De Ichiban won’t be lacking in boobs either(especially notable by watching the preview video for this series). Now the fan service could easily have a slippery slope effect on how good or the bad the show gets, but I have no problem with sitting through it to find out. Why? Joshi wrestling..that’s why!!!
Koda: This certainly looks interesting, and is a nice summary of what many of the series this season are about, boobs and sports, as this season is packed to the gills with sports series and fanservice series. Not often do you see a sports series with a female lead, either. And at the very least, the wrestling in this show can’t possibly be worse than what the WWE delivers in their Diva matches.
Yves: Oh yeah, wrestling! Female wrestling! Well, just from the preview pic alone I can tell that the series would have some fanservice-y flavors. I can only hope that we get some actual action to balance out the bouncing and whatnot. After going through the web-series ‘Touhou Tag Dream’ I think I’m quite ready for some fanservice and wrasslin’!
KILL la KILL
Koda: From the newly formed studio Trigger, the creators behind the well received short film Little Witch Academia, KILL la KILL focuses on two fighting schoolgirls, Ryuuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuuin. But more importantly, KILL la KILL’s director, writer, and character designer were the directing, writing, and key animation trio on a little known series called Gurren Lagann.
Yves: Fighting schoolgirls… seems like a common anime flavor nowadays. I’d have avoided this series, but I found myself quite interested with the character design. Since it’s made by the guys who worked on Lagann, it should be pretty nice to look at… so long as they don’t go overboard. The clothes the G-L cast during the last arc was loony.
My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy(Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru)
Glitch: This show with an incredibly long title involves the thing we all love on tests,multiple choice. Our protagonist is a guy who’s life all of a sudden ends up with multiple choices that will determine his future. This looks like it may be a fanservice anime but I’ll give it a chance due to the unique nature of the setting.
Koda: Holy tongue twister of a title, Batman! Long title aside, this series looks to have potential, but it could totally be a pure fanservice series as well. However, if the creators use the unique premise wisely, we could have another Henneko on our hands, ie a funny and well characterized, while still at some times pervy series. On the other hand, the creators could also just use the premise to show us as many bras and panties as possible. Either way, I’m game.
Hajime no Ippo Rising
Koda: At long last the king of boxing anime returns after four years of absence. The story revolves around Ippo, a timid high schooler who takes up boxing after being saved one day from being beaten up by a boxer named Takamura. Rising picks up after Ippo finally won his championship belt and pits him against boxers gunning for his gold.
Yves: I’m really looking forward to this. New Challenger was okay, but it was too short, and I’m kind of thinking that Rising would fall into a similar fate. Since the manga is still ongoing, I’m guessing that we’d only see a small handful of important fights. Whatever it is, I’m hoping like hell they put in Mashiba vs. Sawamura.
Unbreakable Machine-Doll(Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai)
Glitch: Circuitry and magic are combined to create technology that can bring objects to life, and give them personalities. A young man by the name of Akabane Raishin goes to an academy to learn the craft of this, and embarks on lots of deadly combat. This show looks like it’s gonna involve a whole lot of action, and it looks pretty good. Plus I always had a soft spot for robot girls.
Koda: A show about fighting magical dolls. Why am I getting flashbacks to Zatch Bell and Rozen Maiden? But seriously, this series does look rather promising, and could be a dark horse contender for the best series of the season.
Koda’s Additional Picks!
Ace of the Diamond(Daiya no A)
This series follows a baseball pitcher named Eijun Sawamura who transfers schools to play with an excellent catcher named Kazuya Miyuki. Based on the Shogakukan and Kodansha Manga Award winning manga by Yuji Terajima, Ace of the Diamond looks to be a premier sports anime, and I am a sucker for anything related to baseball.
Golden Time
Based on the light novels of the same name written by Yuyuko Takemiya, the creator of the light novels the popular anime Toradora! was based on, Golden Time revolves around Banri Tada, a college student who lost all of his memories before his high school graduation. The story follows Banri as he attends a college in Tokyo.
BlazBlue Alter Memory
An adaptation the colorful spiritual successors to the Guilty Gear fighting games by Arc System Works, BlazBlue Alter Memory focuses on Ragna the Bloodedge, a rebel with a huge bounty on his head, as he has to fend off the various challengers who have come to claim the reward.
Glitch’s Additional Picks!
Outbreak Company
Kanou Shinichi is a fanboy(and expert on MOE) who finds himself transported to a fantasy world. Turns out that he is given the position of “moe missionary” between the Japanese government and this world. a long the way he has to deal with things such as social problems, discrimination, and some espionage.
I picked this one just by for the odd take on the fantasy genre. Maybe some good laughs by it’s situations it may give us. It also looks like it’s gonna have some fanservice but nothing too overbearing.
Gundam Build Fighters
It’s time for some epic battles featuring Gundam!…model builders. Yes, eventually gundam battles would venture outside the show and into the realm of fans. Gunpla(the name used for Gundam models) are built and then used in a simulated battle on a computer. This anime seems like it’s gonna use a similar premise to Yugioh, as in the hobby is gonna be treated as an actual sport of mega importance. I am eager to see how gunpla plays out as serious bizness.
Coppelion
After years of Tokyo being blockaded off due to radioactive contamination, three girls are sent into the city to investigate. They are genetically engineered to be able to walk into radiation and are known collectively as Coppelion.
This anime was set to be made around winter 2011(it was actually one of my picks for that season) but was dropped due to the Fukushima crisis in Japan. I look forward to finally seeing this show air. Not only will it feature some great action, but features seiyuu Kana Hanazawa(now you don’t have an excuse to miss it)!
Beyond the Boundary(Kyoukai no Kanata)
Highschool student(and half demon) Akihito Kanbara has the ability to heal from any wound. One day he saves a girl who so happens to have the ability to control blood. What comes next is an unraveling dark fantasy. This one seems feature some cool action as well as a similar feature that I liked in Deadman Wonderland(the blood manipulation).
Super Seisyun Brothers
For the more shoujo oriented, this is a series involving two seperate pairs of brother/sister siblings that befriend one another. A daily life anime but it has an interesting take with the way the different combination of relationships look like.
Yves’ Additional Picks!
Non Non Biyori
It seems nowadays I need a regular dose of slice of life anime. Last season it was Servant x Service, and I guess for this season it will be this. The quiet countryside setting kinda reminds me of the series Sketchbook, though I guess the premise would be a bit more fast paced and gag-ridden, methinks.
Walkure Romanze
Eh… actually, I’m not quite interested in this one, haha. I do remember this title since it was originally an eroge, much like Princess Lover which I think was made by the same eroge company. That one had an anime as well. I guess this would be a harem anime, as well. It could have fight scenes, looking at the premise, but who knows?
Gingitsune
A random pick of mine. Kinda reminds me of Kamisama Kiss, really. A girl and her spirit friend/pet/whatever. I suppose you could apply that to many other titles. Seems like another slice of life series. I kinda like the design, though. It’s cute.
Pupa
Most of the ones I’m interested in this season have been fairly lighthearted, so I picked this one to balance things out a little. The design looks promising to me. Time will tell if this would be fairly violent and gory.
And there you have our fall season picks. With us picking 17 different series, at least one of them has to end up a winner. Right? Right?! Also, many of these series have already started airing their first episodes, so get to watching! The majority of our picks can legally be found split up amongst Crunchyroll, Hulu, and FUNimation’s own streaming service.