random thought of the moment

Time is an essential and precious thing to men, for it is finite, and very limited, for every single person. It is to one's great sorrow when one is deprived of the right to spend his own time as he wishes, for he has essentially been robbed of a part of his life, so another can prop up with it his own life's fantasy for a little while.

Upcoming anime: Winter 2010

This upcoming season's anime certainly seems to be rather thin on options, judging from the list here:

The anime series that jump out at me are:

So-Ra-No-Wo-To

PV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTbJbHCSUUE

MAL description:

The story takes place in an imaginary town Seize (the model cities are Cuenca and Alarcón Fortress in Spain). A long war brings a gradual decline to the world. People disappear from the town and fishes cease to exist in the sea. In this quiet world, five girls guard a fortress and play brass vividly.:

K-on face design aside, this looks to be a very promising work. It's post-apocalyptic, has a melancholic tone, and gorgeous scenery porn. Basically, it gives off a Haibane Renmei-like vibe, which makes it a must-watch. It's made by A-1 Pictures, the folk who produced decent anime like Valkyria Chronicles and the Birdy Decode series, and their track record seems pretty consistent too.

It's pretty much the best-looking series for the season.

Dance in the Vampire Bund

PV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlhFfy2BupM

MAL description:

After millennia in hiding, Mina Tepes, the Princess of the ancient covenant and ruler of all vampires, wants change. Using the vast wealth of the Tepes line, she has paid off the entire gross national debt of Japan and in so doing, gained the authority to create a "special district" off the coast of Japan that is to become the future haven to vampires the world over!
Now, on the eve of the landmark press conference announcing the existence of vampires to the world, terrorists and rival factions are plotting to assassinate Mina Tepes before she has a chance to make her world-changing announcement.

I don't know what to expect. It's by SHAFT, so it will be expected to be decent at least. But the VA for Mina just doesn't seem to fit. (Though honestly, I can't think of any voice actress that could pull off this role.) Also, the PV is pretty badly done: it doesn't flow well, doesn't present a clear idea of the premise, and just throws in random scenes that only give the idea that the plot is all over the place. Plus the music just sounds cheap.

That said, it's certainly going to be anything but the usual generic crap, so I'll certainly be picking this up.

Katanagatari

PV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBhOyWWE3MQ

MAL description:

A swordfight story taking place in Edo era (17th - 19th century). Yasuri Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotou school of Japanese sword martial arts and lives in Fushou Island with his sister Nanami. With the order from a female samurai general Togame, he sets out for a trip to collect the twelve treasured swords created by a legendary swordsmith Shikizaki Kiki

White Fox, which debuted with Tears to Tiara, is behind this work, and it actually looks to be way more interesting than a first glance suggests. The unique art style is the obvious main catch, and its light novel origins means that short of any ZnT-style directorial butchering, the story is going to be at the least non-retarded. Its premise's seeming similarity to the disaster that was The Sacred Blacksmith is going to put most viewers off, unfortunately.

Durarara!!

PV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YVNwzhaR78

MAL description:

The story takes place in Ikebukuro, a district of Tokyo. Teenage punks gang up and fight against each other. The gangsters are afraid of an urban legend called "Dullahan", a headless rider, who rides a black motorcycle without head lights or engine sounds. Ryuugamine Mikado is a normal high school boy who seeks peculiar beings. When he moves in to Ikebukuro, a mad scramble for Dullahan's missing head breaks out.

Alongside Dance in the Vampire Bund, this looks to be the anime that everybody's going to watch. It's hard to argue against its credentials too. High production values courtesy of Brains Base and the team responsible for Baccano!, dark themes and an intriguing atmosphere permeate the PV, capturing (and keeping) attention from start to finish. I'm wary though, since I can't remember the last time a pre-hyped anime lived up to its expectations.

I'm also going to be picking up Nodame (though I honestly don't harbour much hope of it being good after the mediocre Paris Chapter). Other than Hidamari, which I haven't started on, the rest pretty much look to be generic or crap. Three promising anime series are pretty good for a season so lean on new offerings though, so I'm looking forward to it.