Summary: Part girl. Part railgun. All awesome.

I'm going to be honest: the only reason I started watching A Certain Scientific Railgun is because it had "railgun" in the title. As a sci-fi nerd, I'm always interested in anything that involves linear accelerators which fire projectiles at over seven times the speed of sound. Aside from that, having never seen A Certain Magical Index, I had no idea what Railgun was going to be like. In other words, I was going into this series cold turkey. Four episodes later, it was my favorite show of the season.

Railgun is set in the technologically advanced Academy City, which exists in a world where both superhuman psychic powers and magic are real. The city is devoted to the training of psychics, and has several institutions and programs designed to foster the powers of the students there. Law and order in Academy City are maintained by Judgment, a "moral committee" made up of students who serve as peacekeepers, as well as Antiskill, a SWAT organization.

Summary: Excellent story and art based on classic Japanese literature, but don't expect to be feeling happy when it's all over.

Aoi Bungaku (Blue Literature) has been an anime to pay attention to for a while now. The concept of Madhouse teaming up with Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman), Takeshi Konomo (Prince of Tennis), and Tite Kubo (Bleach) to do renditions of classic Japanese literature was a good one -- it sounded like someone in the industry had the right idea. With great anticipation I awaited the retelling of these Japanese classics, not really sure what I was in for, but completely sold on the talent behind it. The list of stories being covered in the show is impressive, and the first, No Longer Human, has just finished, leaving us waiting for more. Hit the jump for my impressions of the show so far.

Summary: A clumsy girl who's always been the screw-up of her family gets admitted to an elite chef school.

This show can be evaluated in two ways: as a shoujo anime, or as a brilliant piece of propaganda put out by a secret society of bakers who aim to take over the world.  Their plan is to get so many people salivating over the elaborately-made pastries on this show that bakeries all over the world will be flooded with customers. Filling their war chest with this ill-gotten sugar-money, while simultaneously giving everyone diabetes (and suddenly, the state of health care in the U.S. starts to make sense), they triumph.  As the climax of their scheme, they will build a layer cake high enough to reach the moon, and populate it only with the elite, ruling class;  the future of humanity is a sea of chefs' hats, brightening the lunar landscape, as far as the eye can see.

Now that I think about it, I kind of wish the above were true because this plot for world domination is so much cooler than most of the ones going on currently.  Today's secret societies need to get their act together; it's stupid to fight your war with explosives when you can fight it with marzipan instead.  But you should probably hit the jump if you'd like to find out how Yumeiro Patissiere rates as an anime, as opposed to a conspiracy theory.

Summary: Now I'm watching the sky for my very own Pet-class Angel Android.

Summing up Sora no Otoshimono as one of stories where a hot alien/angel/robot subservient girl happens to pop up in the life of an undeserving boy is an injustice. No, wait. No it's not. That's exactly what it is. You could just as easily call it 'that show with the flying panties.' Another horny robot show. But there's a story here, and you might miss that if you write this off too early. 

I always feel like I'm defending anime of one type or another, and it may be too early to call, but I think that 'the flying panties' show is headed somewhere. Main character Sakurai Tomoki is the horny pervert that, once given the power, goes around groping girls, turning invisible and printing money. He's a turd. But he also has dreams of a mysterious  flying girl, dreams so moving that they bring him to tears.

Summary: An episodic series about treating peoples' problems that make me question storytelling itself each time I watch the show.

I tend to not have a lot of time to watch shows, and so I tend to lean more towards shows that will either capture my heart or make me think. I picked Trapeze because it looked weird and interesting. I only had a vague awareness of the show, and didn't quite know what I was getting into.

And I'll admit: it actually took me a few tries to watch the show. I couldn't get used to the strange art style that I was first presented with: it reminded me of Cromartie, and I couldn't deal with it. But once I got through the first episode, I was utterly hooked.

Find out why after the jump.

Summary: German gender-swapping magic leads to fanservice galore. Oh, and sometimes they fight too.

I'm a big fan of gender-swapping anime, to the point that I will watch any show that includes genderbending as part of it's premise. Whether or not this betrays deeply buried personal desires is another issue. That's the reason I put Kampfer on my list this season, but I honestly didn't expect too much out of it. I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. Kampfer is a flawed but fun mix of action, comedy, romance and fanservice that, after A Certain Scientific Railgun, is my favorite show this season.

*ahem* Prepare for imminent gender pronoun confusion!

Senou Natsuru wakes up one night to find he has become a girl. His stuffed animal Hara-Kiri Tiger, who has suddenly gained the ability to speak, explains that he has transformed into a Kampfer (or Kenpufa, if you  translate the katakana literally). Kampfers are female warriors who, for no adequately explained reason, are chosen by the "Moderators" to fight and kill each other. Before long, Natsuru encounters other Kampfers, both allies and enemies, and is forced to fight for his life... but these pitched battles soon give way to fanservice as "she" is transferred to the girls' half of Seitetsu Gakuin High School

Summary: Exactly what I expected, but that's not looking down on Shonen anime. Fairy Tail is actually a lot of fun.

Either you have a stick up your ass about shonen stuff or you don't. I don't, and I loved the Fairy Tail manga, so I expected to love the anime. I do. It's not perfect, but I enjoyed it. Granted, you're not going to be blown away by the formula. You know how it goes by now: comedy and action intertwine, and the episode usually ends with some kind of battle. Stories gradually lead into plot arcs, growing casts, etc...

Fairy Tail follows Lucy, a young, perky magic user in a world where magic guilds, magic shops and wizards are the norm. Lucy is no novice, but she's looking to step up the action and join the notorious magic guild called Fairy Tail. In her journeys she runs into Natsu, a fellow magic user. They meet, have lunch, and then part ways...until Lucy later finds herself being saved by Natsu with his incredible fire-breathing (and eating) magic. It turns out that Natsu is a member of Fairy Tail himself.

Summary: Two very different cops are challenged to solve the mystery of the appearance of a young girl with no memory ... but they both have their own baggage to deal with too.

The funny thing about being an American fan of Japanese television is thinking you know what to expect. For example, the moment I heard about Tokyo Dogs, I was absolutely thrilled. Not only did it feature two of my favorite actors, Oguri Shun and Mizushima Hiro, but it also sounded like a grittier drama than what I've seen them both in before. The whole cops with opposing personalities thing has been done before, so I thought I knew what to expect. That is, until I watched the premiere episode and learned I was absolutely wrong. 

There's nothing wrong there, though. Tokyo Dogs is definitely unpredictable so far, but refreshing in the way it goes about it. Hit the jump to hear more on this new drama.

Summary: Maid cafe antics abound, coupled with panties jokes and slapstick. My memories of the original Kiddy Grade have been ruined.

The original Kiddy Grade was a futuristic female buddy cop anime, featuring plenty of fanservice mixed with a serious (if slow-paced) plot that addressed such weighty themes as transhumanism, economic inequality, racism and immortality. Despite a mixed critical reception, it was considered by many fans (including myself) to be a spiritual successor to Dirty Pair, as well as a fun and thought-provoking series.

Kiddy Girl-and takes that weighty legacy and throws it out the window.

Like its predecessor, the series is set in the far-flung future, when mankind has spread throughout the galaxy and formed a united government known as the Global Union.  The Planet Aineias is one of the GU's central worlds, and is home to the headquarters of the Galactic Trade Organization, formerly the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tarrifs (pointless name change FTW). The GTO fields a special "shadow unit" known as the ES, which acts as a galactic police force. Each ES member has a special superpower, as well as access to all the latest technologies (even illegal ones) to aid their crime-fighting escapades. However, none of this matters, because the primary setting of Kiddy Girl-and is actually the GTO headquarters' maid cafe.

Summary: A loli elf. Sword and sorcery. It's like Thursday night D&D all over again.

The Sacred Blacksmith takes place in and around the "Independent Trade City of Housman" (pictured after the jump.) Unwieldy name aside, it's actually a pretty nice place, save for the fact that it's located on the edge of the Ashen Forest, a grey -colored woodland on the slope of a volcano.

Housman is haunted by the memory of the Devil's War, which occurred 44 years ago. This conflict pitted humans (many of whom became cursed) against demons and their leader, Vanbanill. Now, it appears as if a mysterious man, dressed in black, is signing the Devil's Contract with various bandits and lowlifes, creating demons that attack the human population, with the ultimate goal of reviving Vanbanill to destroy the human world.

Sound cliche? Yeah, I think so too. Nevertheless, it's an intriguing enough backstory to hold my interest.