Anime Blog
Neverending New Beginnings: Spring 2011 Anime Preview - Part 1

8 Apr 2011


Posted by

Haruka Takahashi

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Spring 2011 Anime Preview - Part 1

(Note: Due to the earthquake that happened while typing on 7 April, it's not known how this would affect the already-affected schedule from the 11 March earthquake.)

This year's Spring line-up offers more interesting choices than before for quite a while. Spring and autumn seasons are when these usually happen. Due to the intensive news coverage earthquake in Touhoku and its resulting tsunami, the schedule of some has been changed around, most commonly by a week. Anime like Moshidora, a winter anime originally scheduled in late-march, is pushed to a month later.Its OP/ED CD releases, due early April, seems unchanged.

nichijou
日常

Produced by Kyoto Animation, the same studio that produced anime like K-On and Lucky Star, this anime gives me this warm fuzzy feeling that I've never felt for quite a while. Something most anime I've watched lately seem to lack a lot.


Screenshots:



As with most anime made by them, the opening and ending themes are so good that it makes you want to watch it over and over again. This has the x-factor that most anime I've watched lately seem lack, especially the ending where there's only a static image that zooms (High School of the Dead; Summer 2011), scroll (Durarara!!; Winter 2010), or the characters running without moving or changing scenery (Infinite Stratos; Winter 2011).

There seems to have an another anime in the spring line-up, A-channel, is said to be of the same genre as Nichijou, but better. It's still to early to tell though.

Oh, before I forget here's the ending:


Fundamentals of Blooming
花咲くいろは

This is an anime original produced by PA Works to celebrate their 10th aniversary.
The story surrounds a girl called Matsumae Ohana (松前 緒花) in Tokyo who is tired of living in the city. Her mother doesn't seem to care for her and has found a new boyfriend. Ohana too doesn't know her other relatives as her mother never introduces them. With this, she moves to her grandmother's place in the countryside that, upon arriving, finds out that it is a large Ryoukan built in the Taisho era.

A surprise thrown to her is that her grandmother saying that she is "a product of that ungreatful child" and having to work right away. She meets up with the other people working there, including her uncle.

The background of a broken family is something serious, especially from the child's point of view. Being an original, there are no references to say what will happen next. I will stick around to watch it.



Most anime with potential intense atmosphere have the opening moved to the very end, with the actual ending animation not appearing. This can happen in certain episodes (usually the first and 2nd last) of that anime.



Well, this is shorter than what I wanted to be, but the schedule is so stretched out that the above mentioned anime would already be in their 3rd episode by the time the last in the Spring lineup starts airing. Next up would be part 2, most likely to talk about Steins Gate and Sket Dance as I've just watched those earlier on the day this post is published (late night of 7 April).

I'm currently doing the draft of the Winter 2011 end-review alongside and doing some fine-tuning to it, so this could take a while as I'm only done with only the entry of 1 anime out of the several I plan to list in that post.

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