IMPAKTUS

Blue Drop(Tenshitachi no Gikyoku)-Animation of a prequel story to a sexy yuri shounen manga by the author of Ray and Eat-Man. The story involves intended conquest of the Earth by a race of humanoid aliens who are all female. Against a background of school life, affection grows between a human schoolgirl and an alien spy masquerading as a schoolgirl. The alien starts off instinctively hating the schoolgirl, but eventually comes to doubt her own mission of conquest.

The mangas are more Kashimashi than Marimite, but intriguing anyway. They create a world. The trailer is good and promises an artistic approach. Strong cast includes Yajima Akiko (Crayon Shin-chan), Sawashiro Miyuki (in her fourth show of the season), Gotou Yuuko (Mikuru in Suzumiya Haruhi, in her fourth show of the season), Yukino Satsuki (Ai in Planetes, in her third), Nonaka Ai (Mikan in Manabi Straight). OPED by Suara/Elements Garden. Director Ohkura Masahiko's second anime, after Yukikaze. Top sound director Tsuruoka Yota did Lucky Star, Rozen Maiden, etc. Animation by Ashi, BeSTACK. 13eps.
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Prism Ark-Fantasy adventure-romance set in an alternative-universe medieval crusades era. Giant flying dragons, school uniforms, and medieval moe included. Based on an ero-game. The game has a very good reputation, particularly for its visuals.
Interesting cast: Sakakibara Yui (singer, Haruhi in Happiness), Kakihara Tetsuya, Nabatame Hitomi, Mizuhashi Kaori, Momoi Halko, Asakawa Yuu (Rider in Fate/Stay Night), Kobayashi Yu (Setsuna in Negima!?), Asano Masumi, Gotou Saori (Barasuishou in Rozen Maiden), Koyama Kimiko (Uzuki in Happy Lesson).
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Juushin Enbu - Hero Tales-Shounen historical action. Taitou and his sister Laila learn that he is the incarnation of a mysterious star. This gives him great power he has yet fully to master. From a manga drawn (but not written) by Arakawa Hiromu, who did both on FMA. Anime adaptation by Sekijima Mayori (Kaze no Stigma, Zegapain).
The preview was a pleasing combination of heroic and comic, and some people are very enthusiastic, but it worries me that this is directed by Sekita Osamu (Ichigo 100%). Good cast includes Suzumura Kenichi (Asuka Shinn in Gundam), Sakurai Takahiro (Suzaku in Code Geass), Yuuki Tai (the Chevalier D'Eon), Hayami Shou (Julious in Angelique), Kanda Akemi, Kaida Yuko and Fukuyama Jun. Studio Flag.
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Night Wizard The ANIMATION-From an RPG. Nice character designs. The game involves Wizards fighting against Emulators, creatures immune to physical attack. The director of Welcome to the NHK (Yamamoto Yuusuke) and a writer who did a lot of work on ARIA (Fujisaki Ayuna) make this seem interesting. Starring Satou Rina, Miyazaki Ui (Iroha in Sumomomo) and Gotou Yuuko, as well as the male lead from the Galaxy Railways shows (Yanagi Naoki).
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Dragonaut-The Resonance- Space combat on flying armored dragons? Animation by Gonzo (with a first-time director), but starring Ono Daisuke and Chihara Minori from Suzumiya Haruhi as romantic leads. This is Minorin's third starring role of the fall, along with DaCapo II and Minami-ke.
The starry cast also includes KyoAni stalwarts Gotou Yuuko, Sugita Tomokazu, and Hirano Aya (in a minor role). Suwabe Junichi, Sawashiro Miyuki, Mizuki Nana, the recently married Chiba Saeko (Natsuki in Mai-HiME), and Kobayashi Yu round out a truly outstanding group of seiyuus. And sound director Tsuruoka Yota comes over from KyoAni to guide them.
The preview looks good -- highly romantic -- but the fact that no lead writer is credited on the official site worries me. OP by eufonius. GONZO.
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Ghost Hound- Written by the writer of Lain (Chiaki J. Konaka) from a concept by the writer of Ghost in the Shell (Shirow Masamune). Directed by the director of REC and Kino no Tabi. VAs include Fukuyama Jun, Houshi Souichirou (Maebara in Higurashi), and Yajima Akiko (Crayon Shin-chan).
"An eternal spiritual story for adults who have the minds of boys." An ancient electronic brain allows interchange between the open and the hidden world. This could be triumph or travesty, but it's Production IG's "20th anniversary" production, so I have high hopes. The trailer animation is interesting.
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Shakugan no Shana II-Second season of the wildly popular Shana. Personally, the only things I liked about the first season were the character design (originally by Itou Noizi) and the voices, Kugimiya Rie's in particular. Monsters don't work for me.
Director Watanabe Takashi did Shana, Starship Operators and Ikki Tousen. Lead writer Kobayashi Yasuko did Shana, Claymore, Witchblade, and Yume Tsukai. In the preview, the characters look either a bit older or a bit closer to the original character design from the novels. JCStaff.
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Clannad-One of the most anticipated shows of the fall. KyoAni animates another visual novel by Visual Art's/Key. Director Ishihara Tetsuya did Kanon, AIR, and Suzumiya Haruhi. Writer Shimo Fumihiko did AIR and Kanon. Glittering cast includes Nakahara Mai, Kanda Akemi, Kuwashima Houko (Shuurei in Saiunkoku), Nonaka Ai (Iriya), Noto Mamiko, Yukino Satsuki, Enomoto Atsuko (starred in KareKano), Inoue Kikuko (Belldandy), Hirohashi Ryou (Alice Carroll in ARIA). The male lead is played by Nakamura Yuuichi (Abe in Ookiku Furikabutte).
Okazaki Tomoya is a high-school senior who doesn't take his studies seriously. Always late for class, he's seen as a delinquent by the rest of his classmates, who are busy preparing for their entrance examinations. One day he meets a girl, Furukawa Nagisa, all of whose friends have already graduated. What a clumsy girl, he thinks. But while helping her, he meets some other girls. Although he doesn't care much about them at first, he soon opens his heart to them and they get to know each other better. If this has character, relationship and mood approaching what Kanon had, I'll be watching. Kyoto Animation.
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Tales of Symphonia THE ANIMATION-Based on the Game Cube and Play Station game. Two worlds exist, each unaware of the existence of the other. In order for one world to flourish, the other has to perish. On the dying world, a Chosen one is sent on a journey to restore that world's mana by awakening the Spirits and becoming an angel. Colette Brunel, the Chosen of Sylvarant, sets out on her journey accompanied by her best friends Lloyd Irving and Genis Sage. As they travel further they meet more friends and even more enemies, while they learn more and more about the truth behind World Regeneration.

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Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro-Yako's father was murdered in a locked room. She meets a man named Nougami Neuro who turns out to be a demon from Hell who "eats riddles." He forces Yako to act as a detective so he can solve mysteries. Neuro longs to eat the ultimate mystery.<br>Neuro can be "creepy, charismatic, sarcastic, and downright nonchalantly sick. Great leading cast: Koyasu Takehito (Gym Ghingnham in Turn A Gundam) and Ueda Kana. Long-running Shounen Jump manga. I'll be there to see what's up with this one. Madhouse.

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