Spring 2011 Anime Season Part 2 (Update added for A Channel)

30-sai no Hoken Taiiku ("A 30 Year Old's Health and Physical Education"):

An adaption of a guidebook "teaching shy men around 30 how to date and have sex with women."

Congratulations, 30-sai. You're one of the strongest contenders for the Spring 2011 award for, "Show least likely to be bought in public by its fans."

PV streaming here.

Nazuka Kaori and Kitamura Eri have roles.

Air date: April 6

A Channel:

Based on a Manga Time Kirara 4-koma.

Four boring girls hang out. (I've tried the manga.)

PV available here.

Yuuki Aoi, Kotobuki Minako, Sawashiro Miyuki, Chihara Minori, and Ono Daisuke have roles.

Air date: April 7

Update: A shout out to angelx03, who told me via Twitter that A Channel has the same staff as Saki- specifically, the same director (Ono Manabu), assistant director (Seto Kenji), and person in charge of the series composition and screenplay (Urahata Tatsuhiko). What does this mean? (If anything?) We'll see.

Ano Hana (short for "Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Boku-tachi ha Mada Shiranai", or "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day"):

A Noitamina show.

"Six childhood friends grew apart in high school. One of them is Jintan, now a shut-in. He gets a request to fulfill a wish for Menma, the only one of their friends to have stayed the same over the years. In order to grant her wish, he will have to find and reunite their old friends."

The premise sounds sweet, and it's a Noitamina show. I'll try it.

PV streaming here.

Tomatsu Haruka and Takahiro Sakurai have roles.

Air date: April 14

Ao no Exorcist ("Blue Exorcist"):

Rin, the son of Satan by a human mother, is raised by a priest who dies because of Satan (more or less), so Rin becomes an exorcist.

Could be good, even though it'll probably fall into a "demon of the week" pattern.

PVs streaming here.

Fukuyama Jun, Hanazawa Kana, Nakai Kazuya, Satou Rina, Kamiya Hiroshi, and Kitamura Eri have roles.

Air date: April 17

Astarotte no Omocha! ("Astarotte's Toy!"):

A 23 year old is spirited away to a magical world, where he becomes part of the harem of a child succubus queen.

Ick.

Air date: April 10

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control:

Another Noitamina show.

"The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro, raised by his maternal grandmother after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, is a scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life. One day, however, he meets a man who offers him a large sum of money if he'll agree to pay it back. From then on his fate is radically altered as he's drawn into a mysterious realm known as "The Financial District.""

Could be an interesting fantasy/suspense/social commentary series.

PVs available here.

Tomatsu Haruka and Takahiro Sakurai have roles.

Air date: April 14

Deadman Wonderland:

A boy named Ganta is falsely accused of a crime and sent to a privately owned prison, where "the inmates are the main attraction in a modern day twist to the gladiatorial coliseums of ancient times. " Super powers are involved, somehow.

I'm not crazy about prison stories, since they run a high risk of being lurid under the guise of being honest. (It's a fine line to walk, although some stories have managed it. The "inmates as main attraction in a gladitorial game" aspect makes me think that Deadman won't.)

Hanazawa Kana, Paku Romi, and Honda Takako have roles.

Air date: April 16

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko ("Electromagnatic Wave Woman and Adolescent Man"; note: "denpa" literally means "electromagnetic wave", but it can also be used to refer to someone who's nutty or highly eccentric):

A high school boy named Makoto goes to live with his aunt and meets his eccentric cousin Erio, who thinks that she was abducted by aliens. Wah-wah-waaaaah~

*shrug*

Nonaka Ai and Emiri Katou have roles.

April 7

Dog Days:

The princess of a magical land tries to summon a hero to save her kingdom from attack, but what she gets is a middle school boy from Japan.

Pass.

This series easily has the biggest list of noteworthy seiyuu: Koshimizu Ami, Taketatsu Ayana, Asumi Kana, Miyano Mamoru, Mizuki Nana (who is also singing the OP), Koyasu Takehito, Hikasa Youko, Horie Yui, Asami Seto (in her second role after Takatsuki in Hourou Musuko), Ono Daisuke, Hanazawa Kana, Kotobuki Minako, Tange Sakura, and Sakurai Takahiro have roles.

Air date: April 2

Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera:

Because youkai are causing trouble in the human world (in the 1970's), a demon prince named Enma and his sidekicks, Yukiko-hime (or "Yuki-chan", a snow woman), Shappo-jii (the talking hat on his head), and Kapaeru (guess what he is) travel from the demon world to get rid of them.

Based on a Nagai Go comedy manga, with all that entails. From what I tried of Enma, it's entertaining, but has more of a kids' series feel than Cutey Honey. (Can't...help comparing. XD) While CH has had a gajillion anime incarnations, Enma-kun has gotten one TV series adaptation, in 1973-74- so yup, this is a re-boot.

PV streaming here. And for the heck of it, here's the original Enma-kun anime OP.

Noto Mamiko, Yamaguchi Kappei, Koyasu Takehito, Kawasumi Ayako, and Inoue Kikuko have roles.

Air date: April 7

Fireball Charming:

The sequel to Fireball, a series of 3D animation shorts produced by Disney, taking place "during a war between robots and humans." Fireball Charming features "a female robot duchess named Drosel von Flügel and her guardian servant robot Gedächtnis. "

PV streaming here.

Air date: April 4

Gintama (back from hiatus):

Even though it's a juggernaut, I haven't tried Gintama in either anime or manga form. I just know its basic plot: aliens invade Edo Japan, crazy stuff happens.

The main cast includes Kugimiya Rie, Sugita Tomokazu, Ishida Akira, and Nakai Kazuya.

Air date: April 4

Hanasaku Iroha:

Matsumae Ohana goes to live with her grandmother, who she hasn't spoken to or met before, at an onsen inn that was built in the 1920's and adjusts to her new life.

I'm definitely interested in this one. It's P.A. Works' 10th anniversary project, and it's being directed by Ando Masahiro, who worked on the utterly different, but utterly awesome CANAAN.

Five PVs have been rolled out, two animated.

Itou Kanae, Toyosaki Aki, Tomatsu Haruka, Noto Mamiko, and Honda Takako have roles.

Air date: April 3

Happy Kappy:

9 year-old Suguri picks up a rock that turns out to be a creature named Kappy, prince of the magical land Kapimeshia.

*shrug*

Emiri Katou has a role.

Air date: April 6

Hen Zemi ("Abnormal Physiology Seminar"":

A pervy university professor encourages his seminar students to act out their fetishes in the name of research.

This doesn't sound like bad porn, no siree.

Air date: April 8

Hidan no Aria ("Aria the Scarlet Ammo"):

Kinji is a student at Tokyo Butei, a high school that trains "armed detectives." He has a special ability that he keeps secret so he can be ordinary. On the way to school one day, he gets caught in a bombing and meets Aria, the strongest "S-rank" student in Assault Studies at Butei.

I'm not interested- partly because of the character designs. (It should be obvious what my beef is with them.)

PV streaming here.

Kugimiya Rie is playing the lead, and you know what that means. Nakahara Mai also has a role, and May'n is singing the OP.

Air date: April 7

Hoshizora he Kakaru Hashi ("Bridge to the Starry Sky"):

Based on a groundbreaking eroge, about a boy who moves to a new town and catches the attention of the girls there.

PV available here.

Shimizu Ai has a role.

Air date: April 11

Hyouge Mono: Tea For Universe, Tea For Life:

Based on a manga that won Grand Prize among the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes.

Hyouge Mono is a comedy about Furuta Sasuke, a vassal of Oda Nobunaga's whose duty to his lord is compromised by his love for the tea ceremony. (Think 16th century nerd, for sadou.)

Definitely different- I'm interested.

PV streaming here.

Air date: April 7

Jewelpet Sunshine:

The latest show in the Jewelpet franchise, which features magical animals from a magical land finding girls to partner up with.

Toyosaki Aki, Hirano Aya, Sawashiro Miyuki, and Shimizu Ai have roles.

Air date: April 2

And...couldn't resist. (Spoilery for Madoka Magica.)

Kaiji 2:

The second season of Kaiji, which began thus:

Kaiji is a young, unemployed man living in Tokyo, who whittles away his time drinking, gambling, and generally doing useless crap that will never land him a job. He once co-signed a loan for a former work mate but the work mate disappears, leaving Kaiji with his debt, which includes an obscene amount of interest. A loan shark tells Kaiji that to pay off his debt, he must gamble even more money against other debtors.

Kaiji is a popular seinen franchise in Japan, based on a manga running in Young Magazine, but I haven't seen or read any of it. I've heard it compared to Death Note.

Air date: April 5

And that's it! ^_^