Every three months, the anime blogosphere becomes filled with anime viewing guides for the upcoming season. It’s an exciting time for anime fans, as anticipation is at its highest and not yet sullied by disappointing series. It’s also the time where instead of creating my own guide, I do something which I think would much more handier – create a guide to the guides! Below are some of my favorite winter 2010/2011 anime preview guides.
Preview Guides
- The Cart Driver
Scamp’s blog continues to be uber-popular, and one reason is for his creation of beautiful and informative charts for each season. Providing pictures, vital information and summaries, his charts are one-stop destinations for those who want the skinny on new shows. They’re often updated, and are so well thought-of that many others use his charts for their own previews. Scamp also updates them often.
Grade A for proliferation and purtyness - T.H.A.T. Anime Blog
The fine folks of T.H.A.T. provide terrific guides each year. Their guides provides summaries, additional series information (like the animating studio) and trailers. Following each summary are comments by the bloggers, as well as those might possibly blog the series.
Grade A for depth and fun-while-you-get-informed - Random Curiosity
If you’re liking for depth, this is place to go. Random Curiosity presents plenty of details about upcoming series, along with an introduction and concluding impressions. Maybe most importantly, a release schedule and television schedule are also included.
Grade A for covering everything but the kitchen sink and need-to-know information - Major Arcana
Roundhouse Aorii and Honya of Lyrical Spark again co-wrote their impression of the season’s new anime. Unlike the others, the intent of this preview guide is to focus on just the few series that the two plan to watch or may watch. Their insights are great and the layout is very pleasing to the eyes. 🙂
Grade A for purtyness and making me want to watch series I wasn’t otherwise considering - Ani No Miyako
This site provides describes several upcoming anime, placing them in categories based on how much Raito expects from the series. By focusing more on opinion, the guide provide details that you might not otherwise encounter. It also features Cowboybebimbop’s terrific anime chart.
Grade A for depth and analysis - Emory Anime Club
Check this site out for descriptions and impressions about each series this fall, as Tsuki and Steve write plenty about each show. Add to that preview videos for most of the shows, and you might not have to go anywhere else.
Grade A for one-stop shopping and youtubing - Tenka Seiha
Another detailed site, this one differs from the rest because of the blogger’s personal thoughts. Not only are they insightful, but they’re also very opinionated and sometimes very funny. Plus, you won’t want to miss each series’ preseason swing rating!
Grade A for interesting opinions and unique-osity
Other Preview-related Sites
- Countdown Anime
This fun site provides countdowns for each of the new anime this winter. It’s a neat way to get even more excited about the upcoming season. - Moetron
Charts, charts, and more charts! Links to preview guide charts and extensive charts about each anime fill this page. It’s worth a look if you’re looking for specific information or for a catch-all!
What I’m Looking Foward To
Looking at the “guide to guides” I did last season, I’m surprise by how the season went. I intended to watch Star Driver, Bakuman, and Shinrei Tantei Yakumo. I ended up dropping the first two (despite my love for the Bakuman manga) and didn’t even touch the last. Instead, I finished OreImo and have on episode left of Fortune Arterial. So, this just shows what I plan to watch won’t end up being what I do watch. Either way, I only have two that are high on my radar right now: Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko), whose art I’ve already fallen in love with and whose storyline might be interesting to write on in light on my faith, and Fractale, which is just plain intriguing.
What are you looking forward to this winter?
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