Best season in ages. I feel almost unready for this somehow.
Anyway, since no one had made a thread yet, and usually I only come around these parts to post the seasonal roundup, I figured I'd just bite the bullet and make it myself. As usual, everything will get edited in as it airs, blah blah blah.
EDIT: It's all here now. Mostly just first episode impressions, but they left me thoroughly impressed.
Busou Shinki Moon Angel: Another simple little five minute show essentially advertising some original character designs by a figure company. It isn't the typical crappy flash animation I've come to expect from this sort of thing, and honestly I only have fight minutes to go off of, but might be a nice use of five minutes a week.
HunterXHunter: Remake of the original, seems to be handled pretty well so far. Lots of people excited to see this being back in production again.
Chihayafuru: The younger sister of a fashion model is a lazy schoolgirl who always says the first thing that comes to mind. As an elementary schooler, she was inspired to pick up a certain card game by the awkward transfer student who left a mark on her, and ever since she's been working on her skills. However, in high school, nobody wants to play it with her, and everyone she grew up with has definitely moved on to become different people. Seems like an interesting character drama, and the game might not be half bad to watch.
Guilty Crown: Schoolboy gets a superpower, everything is set up to be basically another Code Geass, so it's damn generic and really a bit silly from the outside. Really great animation, though, and a heavenly Supercell soundtrack. Top notch fight scenes.
UN-GO: Transforming cross dressing shota panda detectives reenacting Meiji-era mystery novels. Bones is pulling something weird again, and I like it. I like it a lot.
Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon: I'm not sure how this one will turn out. On one hand, Sunrise put massive honking mammaries on some of the cast members in a desperate attempt to fling some fanservice at us, it's all over the place in a odd feeling way, the cast is extremely thinly spread, and the central plot is something as dumb as a future society trying to recreate various past moments as they rebuild civilization on earth as we know it. On the other hand, the action was solid, the characters might amount to something, the protagonist was hilarious and somehow likable, and the visuals are really cool, with dazzling combat merging with a colorful world filled with digital virtual reality mixed in liberally. Impossible to tell at this point how it'll go. Could be great, could be complete tripe.
Persona 4: The Animation: Episode 1 was nice, if a bit oddly paced. Not really easy to tell at this point if it'll be a great show overall, but fans will enjoy seeing it so faithfully adapted.
Ika Musume S2: More delicious squid puns de geso~
Fate/Zero: What's this, a Nasuverse work not animated by a studio guaranteed to coat it in filth and CG dragons? And one that Nasu barely had the influence to taint with asspull upon asspull? The first lengthened episode didn't disappoint in adapting the novels, and it's really great to see some of it animated so far. Some of the exposition dialogue was poorly animated (just how long can Tokiomi Tohsaka walk in circles? A long time, let me tell you), but I'll just have faith and assume that's ufotable saving budget for the fightan scenes.
Kimi to Boku: Cute boys doing cute things at last. I'll watch this until the cows come home.
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukinai: I didn't much care for the source material of Boku wa Tomodachi, but I appreciated what it was doing. The anime seems to be coming off to me better, with the characters much more vibrant and fun to watch in full animation. Some fun, lighthearted ecchi-ish antics with a club of losers doing whatever it takes to make "real" friends.
Tamayura ~hitotose~: A relaxing little show about young photographers. Kind of slow even for a slice of life, but it's got some nice animation and music and atmosphere, so if you can sit back, chill out, and not let yourself get too bored, you might dig this.
Mirai Nikki: Despite how terribly the manga ended, I'm finding a bit of joy in seeing this animated. Some bad CG spread liberally, but nothing deal breaking.
C^3: A GIRL FELL OUT OF THE SKY INTO HIS LIFE... Okay, so she was delivered by airmail this time. A teenage boy living on his own while his parents work overseas receives a strange package from his father, who's fond of sending him strange antiques. The package itself IS the contents, a massive heavy strange cube, which he immediately disregards and tosses in the basement. The cube turns into a girl, who is some kind of cursed being who happens to be an adorable girl for now, who's tired of hurting everyone around her with her unavoidable curse. However, this kid is super special for no apparent reason and is immune to curses, so she's just going to chill out at his place for now. Lots of stereotypes in this one, but it wasn't painful to watch or anything. I've heard it seriously changes gears in episode 2 and gets some high octane grimdark action, but for now it's a simple watch.
Ben-To: Fight Club, but taking place in supermarkets. Some guy tries to grab a bento lunch right after a half price sticker goes on it, and ends up almost mauled to death, which is where he discovers the world of the Wolves, a society dedicated to the honor of fighting to the death over half priced lunches. It's as silly as it sounds, and a lot of fun.
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle: Seems to be some standard kiddie fare, but with the twist being that the main character is some kind of puzzle solving genius. He gets invited to some kind of underground labyrinth where he's to engage in some life or death puzzle solving (serious business, for real), where he finds a magic armband that lets him use all of his brain to solve some crazy complex nigh impossible puzzles. Slated for 24 episodes, so I hope the guys behind it know what they're doing, but the first episode was good fun enough.
Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam: More Last Exile, and this first episode is already feeling better than the last series, even though I loved the previous Last Exile. A great sequel so far. More high soaring, airshipping, tactical battling fun.
Working'!!: More hilarious quirky hijinks? I was drooling back when they jokingly announced this, but when a second season became a reality, rapturous joy ensued.
