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Anime Spotlight Spring 2013 - The List

by Bamboo Dong,

Featured Series (Click for more)

(Jump to additional shows)

ARATA THE LEGEND

Date A Live

Flowers of Evil

Gargantia on the verdurous Planet

Hayate the Combat Butler! Cuties

HENNEKO (The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat)

Karneval

Mushibugyo

Oreimo 2

The Severing Crime Edge

Red Data Girl

Valvrave the Liberator

Additional Shows

Title: Aiura
Starts:Thursday, April 4 at 12:35 AM JST on TV Tokyo / Nico Nico
Studio:Liden Films
Genre:comedy
Website: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/aiura/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Music: Shusei Murai (Allison & Lillia, Supernatural: The Anime Series)
  • Character Designs: Mieko Hosoi (Aoi Bungaku Series, Nerawareta Gakuen)
Summary:

Based on a four-panel comic, Aiura focuses on three girls—energetic and annoying Amaya, motivationless Iwasawa, and quiet Uehara. The series chronicles moments in their daily lives when nothing is happening.
Title: Danchi Tomoo
Starts:Saturday, April 6 at 9:30 AM JST on NHK-G
Studio:Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment
Genre:comedy
Website: http://www9.nhk.or.jp/anime/tomoo/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Director: Ayumu Watanabe (Mysterious Girlfriend X, Space Brothers)
  • Series Composition: Takashi Yamada (Yumeiro Patissiere, Onegai My Melody)
Summary:

Based on a three-time Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize nominated manga, this comedy follows fourth grader Tomoo Kinoshita, who's always getting into misadventures with his classmates, and the other residents in his apartment complex.
Title: Devil Survivor 2 the Animation
Starts:Friday, April 5 at 2:05 AM JST on MBS
Studio:Bridge
Genre:Action, Supernatural
Website: http://ds2a.jp/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Director: Seiji Kishi (Persona 4 The Animation)
  • Series Composition: Makoto Uezu (Is This a Zombie?, School Days)
Summary:

This series adapts Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 role playing game for the Nintendo DS. In the game, mysterious creatures start invading Japan, but a group of high school students form a pact that enables them to summon demons to fight the monsters.
Title: Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
Starts:Thursday, April 4 at 10:30 PM JST on Tokyo MX
Studio:Doga Kobo / Orange
Genre:Science fiction, Mecha
Website: http://mjp-anime.jp/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Director: Keitaro Motonaga (Getbackers, Phantom - The Animation)
  • Character Designer: Hisashi Hirai (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, Infinite Ryvius)
  • Series Composition: Reiko Yoshida (Girls Und Panzer, Bakuman.)
Summary:

Genetic engineering has made it possible for humans to adapt to new frontiers in space. One such evolved child is main character Izuru, who enrolls in a special academy to help protect humanity using robotic mecha.
Title: Hataraku Maou-sama!
Starts:Thursday, April 4 at 10:00 PM JST on Tokyo MX
Studio:White Fox
Genre:Fantasy, Comedy
Website: http://maousama.jp/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Cast: Ryota Ohsaka (tsuritama's Yuki Sanada), Yoko Hikasa (K-ON!'s Mio Akiyama), Nao Toyama (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere's Margot Knight), Yuuki Ono (Medaka Box's Zenkichi Hitoyoshi)
  • Director: Naoto Hosoda (Future Diary)
Summary:

Demon king Satan is close to conquering his alternate world when he's suddenly transported to our Tokyo. In order to make ends meet, he ends up having to work at a fast food joint, but he'll have to work his way up if he wants to take over Japan. Meanwhile, he's being hunted by the heroine Emilia.
Title: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride
Starts:Friday, April 5 at 10:30 PM JST on AT-X
Studio:ARMS
Genre:STUFF
Website: http://www.hyakka-ryoran.tv/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Returning Director: KOBUN (Samurai Girls)
  • Series Composition: Satoru Nishizono (Welcome to the NHK)
Summary:

A followup to Hyakka Ryoran Samurai Girls, the series is set in the early 21st century, in an alternate world where the Tokugawa shogunate never lost power, and Japan maintained its seclusion from the rest of the world. A military academy at the foot of Mt. Fuji trains students to enforce the supression of rebels.
Title: Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san
Starts:Sunday, April 7 at 1:15 AM JST on Tokyo MX
Studio:Tatsunoko Production
Genre:Comedy
Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/muromisan/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Cast: Yukari Tamura (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's Nanoha Takamachi), Takahiro Mizushima (Giant Killing's Daisuke Tsubaki)
  • Character Design: Kikuko Sadakata (Corpse Princess)
Summary:

Adapted from Keiji Nashima's manga of the same name, this comedy follows a mermaid named Muromi-san, who is caught by Takuro Mukojima, a boy in his high school's fishing club.
Title: Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live
Starts:Saturday, April 6 at 10:00 AM JST on TV Tokyo
Studio:Tatsunoko Production
Genre:Comedy, Drama
Website: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/prettyrhythm/rl/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Returning Director: Masakazu Hishida (Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream, Pretty Rhythm Dear My Future)
  • Original Character Design: Okama (Himawari!, Aquarion)
Summary:

The third in the Pretty Rhythm series, Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live follows a group of young gals who are auditioning to Prism Dance, one of whom can visualize music as color.
Title: Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)
Starts:Sunday, April 7 at 1:58 AM JST on MBS
Studio:Wit Studio
Genre:Action, Fantasy, Horror
Website: http://shingeki.tv/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Director: Tetsuro Araki (Death Note, Highschool of the Dead)
  • Series Composition: Yasuko Kobayashi (Claymore, Shakugan no Shana)
  • CHaracter Designer: Kyoji Asano (Psycho-Pass)
Summary:

The Attack on Titan anime is an adaptation of Hajime Isayama's manga of the same name, which depicts the battles between humans and the man-eating giants who currently rule the world.
Title: Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Starts:Sunday, April 7 at 5:00 PM JST on TBS
Studio:AIC / Xebec
Genre:Science fiction
Website: http://www.yamato2199.net/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Chief Director: Yutaka Izubuchi (RahXephon)
  • Character Design: Nobuteru Yuki (Escaflowne, Record of Lodoss Wars)
Summary:

The first Space Battleship Yamato television anime series in 30 years, this fourth installment will be similar in story to the first series, about a spaceship named Yamato that is constructed to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats.
Title: Tetsujin 28-gō Gao!
Starts:Saturday, April 6 at 4:52 AM JST on Fuji TV
Studio:Eiken
Genre:
Website: http://www.eiken-anime.jp/works/wks_gao.html 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Original Creator: Mitsuteru Yokoyama (Babel II, Mars)
Summary:

This series of anime shorts will focus on protagonist Shotaro Kaneda's everyday life, rather than battle scenes. In the original story, Shotaro uses a giant robot to fight evil.
Title: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S (A Certain Scientific Railgun S)
Starts:Saturday, April 13 at 12:30 AM JST on Tokyo MX
Studio:J.C. Staff
Genre:Science Fiction
Website: http://www.project-railgun.net/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Returning Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Waiting in the Summer)
  • Returning Cast: Rina Satou (Mahou Sensei Negami's Negi Springfield), Satomi Arai (Glass Maiden's Manami), Aki Toyosaki (Medaka Box's Medaka Kurokami), Kanae Ito (Queen's Blade's Airi)
Summary:

This second season of A Certain Scientific Railgun S will follow the Sisters arc from the source material.
Title: Train Heroes
Starts:Tuesday, April 2 at 5:30 PM JST on TV Tokyo
Studio:Carloon Animation
Genre:Action
Website: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/trainheroes/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Character Designer: Pat Lee (Transformers)
Summary:

The story follows a rescue team that handles disasters on high-speed trains.
Title: Uta no Prince-sama - Maji Love 2000%
Starts:Thursday, April 4 at 2:05 AM JST on TV Aichi
Studio:A-1 Pictures
Genre:Comedy, Drama, Romance
Website: http://utapri.tv/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Returning Director: Yuu Kou (Loveless)
  • Music: Elements Garden (Bodacious Space Pirates, Senki Zessho Symphoger)
Summary:

The second season of Uta no Prince-sama - Maji Love 1000%, which follows aspiring songwriter Nanami Haruka as she attends an idol training school filled with bishonen.
Title: Yuyushiki
Starts:Wednesday, April 10 at 12:30 AM JST on Tokyo MX / UHF
Studio:Kinema Citrus
Genre:Slice of life
Website: http://www.yuyushiki.net/ 		Notable Cast/Staff:
  • Cast: Minami Tsuda (Pretty Rhythm Dear My Future's Karin), Risa Taneda (Oreshura's Kaoru Yuui), Rumi Ookubo (Yuyurui's Chinatsu)
  • Series Composition: Natsuko Takahashi (Moyashimon)
Summary:

This series, based on the four-panel manga by Komata Mikami, follows the school life of three girls in the data processing club.
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