Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

Director: Takayuki Inagaki (Marginal Prince)

Studio: Satelight (Moretsu Pirates, AKB0048)

Airing Date: July 1, 2012

One of this summer's earliest shows may well be one of its most anticipated, at least based on how beloved the Muv-Luv are, even though those fans ended up having to plow through a lot of high school drudgery to get to the good stuff - that is, alternative-history hardcore giant robot action. 

That said, some neophytes may be well-served by Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse, as it stars a new cast, with a new story involving test pilots and seemingly independent of the high school fluff. Better still, it's from Satelight, the new go-to people when you want an anime robot (or sci-fi idol) done up in CG.

Our own mecha-expert Pedro will be taking a look at the show when it airs (it's also streaming on Crunchyroll) and tell just how tight those pilot suits are. Seriously, it's like they're dressed in cling-wrap.

Tari Tari

Director: Masakazu Hashimoto

Studio: P.A. Works (Hanasaku Iroha, Angel Beats!)

Airing Date: July 1, 2012

From the people who brought you the lovely soap operatics of Hanasaku Iroha comes another show about a bunch of small-town teens doing adolescent things. Yay?

Certainly Hanasaku Iroha delivered the goods when it came to delicious drama, but from the basic premise ("the daily lives of three high school girls who are too young to be adults, but don’t regard themselves as children anymore"), I don't quite see the potential for histrionics. I could be entirely wrong, though. Angel Beats certainly brought it to the yard once the chips were down.

Either way, we'll be relying on Marcus Speer's tightly tuned drama-sense (it tingles in the presence of danger, as well) to tell us all about it.

Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita (Humanity has Declined)

Director: Seiji Kishi (Angel Beats!, Persona 4)

Studio: AIC ASTA (Persona 4, Heaven's Lost Property)

Airing Date: July 1, 2012

One might think that a series whose premise begins with the near-extinction of humanity would be a dark, serious affair, but check out that trailer. It starts with a headless, defeathered chicken giving a speech while holding a cigar in its wing.

Also, the story seems to involve the world's last public school graduate, a girl who just calls herself "Me", appointed as the UN liason with...a race of weird little fairy elf things?

Yeah, I'm watching this. 

Binbou-gami ga!

Director: Tomoyuki Kawamura

Studio: Sunrise (Accel World)

Airing Date: July 4, 2012

Some people are just lucky. Blessed, you might say. Like my dad. He won luggage in a raffle when I was twelve, the lucky git.

Where was I? Oh right, Binbou-gami ga! It's about some chick named Ichiko who is exactly That Person, one blessed with good looks, fortune, talent and all that stuff. And in a classic reflection of the envious mainstream's mind, it's all because she's apparently (and unknowingly) leeched all the luck meant for more equitable distribution. 

That's where Momiji, a goddess of poverty, comes in. She's there to bring some "mis-" into that broad's fortunes and do some proper redistribution. Thanks, Obama!*

Hijinks are scheduled to ensue, and Marcus will be on hand to schadenfreude it up.

_*POLITICS!

Moyashimon Returns

Director: Yuichiro Yano (Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture)

Studio: Shirogumi (Antique Bakery)

Airing Date: July 5, 2012

It's back! It took years, and frankly no one thought it would happen, but Moyashimon is back! That's what I'm told, anyway, as I've never actually seen the original series. It's allegedly very good though, involving a young man who can see germs and other microorganisms, but instead of freaking out like in Invader Zim at the sight of all those tiny bugs, he has fun and adventures! 

Can Josh Totman have fun and adventures with a young man's germ-fetish? He'll watch and see!

Hakuoki Reimeiroku

Director: Osamu Yamasaki (Hakuoki)

Studio: DEEN (Fate/stay night)

Airing Date: July 9, 2012

At this point the Hakuoki franchise has practically become an institution in the for-the-ladies line of anime pandering. Now the undying tales of pretty, attractive samurai of the Shinsengumi and their adventures is set to continue on through a new season of anime based on the third original PSP game: Hakuoki Reimeiroku. 

Kristina Pino, our resident expert on all things otome, has pledged herself to watch this chronicle of attractive samurai men.

Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi

Director: Kenichi Kasai (Bakuman)

Studio: TYO Animation (Tamayura)

Airing Date: July 2, 2012

Hey, you know Chihayafuru, that dumb, boring card game anime? It's centered around the game of karuta, which in turn is centered around cards which themselves are centered around the Hyakunin Isshu, a collection of one hundred classic poems. This show is centered around the poems themselves, or rather, the author's "super-liberal", romantic interpretation of them, hence the title, which can be translated as "Super-Liberal Hyakunin Isshu: Love Song".

This looks like it could be an intriguing watch, if for no other reason than that it's been a while since we've seen anime adapt something that isn't a light novel or videogame (though Uta Koi was technically a manga first). The classic lit twist might be a good angle to take, provided that the "super-liberal-ness" of the interpretation doesn't end up being a cop-out excuse for using overly familiar setups or tropes.

Our newcomer Eric Koziol will be taking a look at the show.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous

Director: Kou Matsuo (Rozen Maiden)

Studio: Dogakobo (Yuruyuri)

Airing Date: July 5, 2012

Courting someone who's been in love before isn't an easy task. One can't help but feel a little haunted by your loved one's past loved ones, and the specter of competition and comparison will always haunt the mind.

That poignant observation aside, Natsuyuki Rendevous looks to be taking that "haunting" idea in a more literal fashion. Ryusuke's in love with Rokka, a woman eight years his senior (Gasp! Age gaps in my anime?!), but unfortunately she's sworn off love since the death of her husband Atsushi. And it seems that Atsushi himself is still around...as a ghost that only Ryusuke can see.

While I'm hardly an avid consumer of romance fiction (animated or otherwise), I quite like the setup. The difficulties of helping the bereaved let go has good potential for high drama, and the supernatural twist introduces some possibility for light-hearted laughs. Plus, the show's NoitaminA time slot holds some branding power (Guilty Crown notwithstanding), as well.

No one on staff's volunteered to take the show yet, but it would be a shame to let it go unsampled.

Joshiraku

Director: Tsutomu Mizushima (Big Windup)

Studio: J.C. Staff (ToraDora!)

Airing Date: July 5,2012

Oh hey, an anime about a group of girls talking about random crap!

Well, at least this time they're not just doing it at their school desks or in their club rooms. Instead, these girls talk about random crap in the backstage area of some theater, while sitting on pillows and dressed in traditional clothing.

If that sounds a bit specific, it may be because Joshiraku might be taking a page from Rakugo, a Japanese comedy performance  that plays out like a heavily formalized, sitting-down version of American-style stand-up. Except in this case, these rakugo girls are doing it in a group setting.

Sounds like a lot of random-ass conversations to me! When the time comes, though, Marcus will be telling us if we heard right.

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate

Director: Toru Kitahata 

Studio: AIC Build (Haganai, OreImo)

Airing Date: July 5, 2012

Here's your customary H-game adaptation anime of the season, and it's about a guy, Yuki Ohjima fighting to save his club from dissolution at the hands of the overzealous (and attractive) student council president, who has the temerity to consider axing do-nothing organizations that leech away school resources. Clearly, just eating snacks in the club room is a truly worthwhile venture.

How to save the club, you ask? Enter the school elections, apparently. Hijinks, romance, and maybe boobs, are likely, but Josh Totman will be telling us if this show's worth the vote.

Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru

Director: Munenori Nawa (Da Capo Second Season)

Studio: Gokumi (A Channel)

Airing Date: July 5, 2012

The Premise: A young man is forced to transfer to a prestigious all-girls' school  as a condition of his late father's will, that he might find a wife.

The Dilemma: He receives a creepy phone call revealing that one of the young women trying to seduce him is his younger half-sister.

 The Twist: She will only reveal herself when he falls in love with her!

The Genre: Harem romance with an incestuous stripe.

The Staffer That Volunteered To Watch This Show: Jeff Chuang

Oda Nobuna no Yabou

Director: Yuji Kumazawa

Studio: Gokumi (A Channel) and Madhouse (Iron Man the Anime)

Airing Date: July 8, 2012

Just as H-game adaptations and light novel adaptations and boobs anime are becoming a fixture of any given season, so the trend goes for anime starring gender-bent samurai-era personalities. This is that, pretty much.

This time, though, the protagonist is male, an ordinary high school student time-jumped to the sixteenth century, only to inadvertently cause the death of the man cute girl who would later become Toyotomi Hideyoshi (second of the three most influential Sengoku-era warlords). Whoops.

That having happened, he hooks up with Oda Nobuna, the man cute girl who would unite the nation under her flag.

So far we've got no takers for this time travel genderswap action show, but if it proves to be as ambitious as the Sixth Demon Lord himself, we'll likely give it a second look.

La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia

Director: Chiaki Kon (Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi)

Studio: J.C. Staff

Airing Date: July 1, 2012

Another part of this season's otome offering is an adaptation of a PSP game that to me, looks rather unique for an otome title, at least in the sense that the likes of Hakuoki tend to establish the most common character design conventions. Here everyone looks more "boyish" than "effeminate", and as a result it could pass for a Blue Exorcist-like action show.

The premise is also intriguing, lined up around a group of Mediterranean superhero mafia families duking it out for succession, power, and the affection of the sole female lead.

Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne

Studio: XEBEC

Airing Date: July 1, 2012

This actually isn't so much a second season as a long gap between episodes, just like it was with Fate/Zero. Unfortunately, Elliot dropped Lagrange back in Winter, and it doesn't look like he'll be picking it back up again anytime soon. If the spirit moves one of us to play catch-up with the first half of the series we'll be sure to spill some text out for this.

Yuru Yuri♪♪

Studio: Dogakobo

Airing Date: July 2, 2012

It's the second season of lesbian slapstick daily life anime Yuru Yuri! I have to admit that I'm beginning to dislike anime's tendency to not use numbers to indicate seasons. Subtitles are fine, but really, music notes? A double exclamation point?! Have mercy on us people who like to talk about anime rather than just write.

Anyway, we failed to give Yuru Yuri the time of day back when it first aired, but that was before we had Chris Walden, who was thankfully more open-minded! He'll be covering the show this season.