Anime Spotlight Fall 2014 – The List

• Series Director:Seiji Kishi(Angel Beats, Galaxy Angel Rune, Persona 4 The Golden)
• Original Concept: Takahiro(Akame ga KILL! )

The story takes place in the era of the gods, year 300. Yūna Yūki lives an ordinary life as a second year middle school student, but she’s also a member of the “Hero Club,” where club activities involve dealing with a mysterious being called “Vertex.”

• Director: Hatsuki Tsuji (Cardfight!! Vanguard: Legion Mate-Hen, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX )
• Series Composition: Tatsuhiko Urahata( A-Channel, Black Bullet, DNA²)

The new series takes place 3 years after the Legion Mate arc. The 2nd Card Capital Shop along with new Vanguards will make there appearance.

• Director: Naotaka Hayashi(Morita-san wa Mukuchi))
• Series Composition: Michiko Yokote(Love Stage!!, Haré+Guu, xxxHOLiC )
• Music: Kenji Kawai (Eden of the East, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Ranma ½)

The anime adaptation of CyberAgent’s popular social romance simulation game.

• Director: Noriaki Akitaya(Bakuman., Persona 3 The Movie #1 Spring of Birth)
• Sound Director: Toshiki Kameyama(Kantai Collection -Kan Colle-, Hidamari Sketch )

Based on the popular mobile app game Bonjour Koiaji Pâtisserie tells the story of Sayuri Haruno, a young girl who dreams of opening her own pastry shop. She attends the elite Fleurir confectionary school via scholarship and meets several handsome and charming young men.

• Director: Goro Miyazaki (From Up On Poppy Hill (movie), Tales from Earthsea (movie))
• Series Composition: Hiroyuki Kawasaki(After War Gundam X, (The) Irresponsible Captain Tylor)
• Original creator: Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking)

Ronja is the only daughter of Mattis, a bandit leader who lives in a castle in the middle of a large forest. When Ronja grows old enough, she ventures into the forest to interact with the strange and magical creatures that live there. She learns to live in the forest through her own strength, with the occasional rescue from her parents. Ronja’s life begins to change, however, when she happens upon a boy her own age named Birk.

• Director: Hiroyuki Kanbe(Viper’s Creed)
• Series Composition: Naruhisa Arakawa (Blue Seed, Outbreak Company )
• Character Design:Kazuaki Morita (Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Danganronpa The Animation, Assassination Classroom)

Sōji is an ordinary high school student with an extraordinary love for pig tails (or “twin tails”). One day a mysterious girl from another universe named Thouars appears in front of him. At the exact same time, monsters begin attacking the city where Sōji lives, declaring they will drain the world’s energy in the name of the Twintails. Sōji receives a powerful armor from Thouars called “Tail Gear” which transforms him into a female Twintail warrior named Tail Red.

• Director: Tsutomu Mizushima(Blood-C, Big Windup!, Squid Girl)
• Original Character Design: Ponkan8(My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU)
• Series Composition: Michiko Yokote(C³ , Red Data Girl)

A “shirobako” refers to the white box into which a finalized tape of a film is put, full of the effort of everyone who worked on it. Five girls have their eyes set on getting in a white box as they try to find success in the anime industry through writing, production, and voice acting.

• Returning Director: Naoyoshi Shiotani (Psycho-Pass, Blood-C: The Last Dark (movie))
• Returning Character Design: Kyoji Asano(Attack on Titan, Psycho-Pass)
• Series Composition: Tow Ubukata(Heroic Age, (Le) Chevalier D’Eon )

Having learned the true nature of the Sibyl System, Akane Tsunemori chose to obey the system, believing in both humanity and the legal order. She’s part of a new police section and spends her everyday life facing down criminals. Unbeknownst to Akane, however, a monster who will shake the system to its core is about to appear before her.

• Director: Kyōhei Ishiguro(Psycho-Pass (Eps.9 Director),Amagami SS+(Eps. 7 Director) )
• Series Composition: Takao Yoshioka (DearS, Bladedance of Elementalers, WATAMOTE)
• Character Design: Yukiko Aikei (Accel World, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere )

Kōsei Arima was a piano prodigy until his mother died when he was eleven years old. The shock of losing her made him lose any interest in piano, and his life has felt monotonous ever since. Then, when he’s fourteen, his childhood friend Tsubaki introduces him to her classmate Kaori, a free-spirited violinist. Her enthusiasm reignites his interest in music and in life.

• Cast: Aya Hirano as Migi ( The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Haruhi Suzumiya, Fairy Tail’s Lucy Heartfilia ) Nobunaga Shimazaki as Shinichi Izumi (Free’s Haruka Nanase, Silver Spoon’s Shinnosuke Aikawa)
• Series Composition: Shoji Yonemura (Glass Fleet, Guin Saga )

Shinichi Izumi is a normal high school boy whose right hand has become infected with an alien parasite that names itself “Migi” (“right”). Migi is the first parasite to develop a symbiotic relationship with its host, as he and Shinichi slowly develop a grudging friendship. Migi isn’t the only Parasite on earth, however, and as cases of Parasites killing humans begin to emerge, humans seek to kill off Parasites. Shinichi and Migi find themselves caught in between these two sides of the struggle over planet earth.

• Returning Director: Soichi Masui (Chaika – The Coffin Princess, Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzū )
• Returning Series Composition: Touko Machida (Tears to Tiara, Allison & Lillia )
• Original creator: Ichiro Sakaki (Scrapped Princess, Magician’s Academy )

Toru Acura is a 20-year-old retired soldier meandering through life now that the war has ended. He encounters Chaika Trabant, a 14-year-old sorceress carrying a coffin and follows her in hopes of finding meaning to his life again. The two travel with Toru’s adopted sister, Akari, the employed member of the group and thus Toru’s source of income. Chaika’s goal is simple, hunt down the remains of the deposed emperor, each a powerful magical artifact in it’s own right. However when girls who look just like Chaika appear before the trio, each claiming to be Chaika and sharing the same goal the question has to be asked, just who is Chaika?

• Series Composition:Kiyoko Yoshimura (Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing, Riddle Story of Devil )
• Original Character Design: Bekkankou (Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku, Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni – Operation Sanctuary)
• Cast: Eri Sendai as Kana Suzuki (Rocket Girls’s Yukari Morita, Girls und Panzer’s Caesar)

Kyotaro Kakei is a shy student at a prestigious academy known for its massive library. The sole member of the school’s library club, Kyotaro’s always been better with books than girls – until a text message from the mysterious “Shepherd” hints that his fate will soon be changing. Life gets wild in a hurry after a vision allows Kyotaro to rescue Tsugumi, a beautiful girl who also received a text message from the “Shepherd.” Soon, Tsugumi announces her intentions to join the Library Club and, with Kyotaro’s help, make school life much more interesting! It doesn’t take long for a host of other pretty girls to follow Tsugumi’s lead and join the club in the hopes of spicing up their boring academy lives. But just who is this “Shepherd,” what does he or she have to do with the Library Club’s sudden popularity, and how in the world will Kyotaro survive being surrounded by all these girls!?

• Director: Kazuhiro Yoneda (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Episode Director (Eps. 13), Tiger & Bunny Episode Director (eps. 4) )
• Series Composition: Shinichi Inotsume (Hayate the Combat Butler, Sket Dance)
• Character Design: Maho Yoshikawa (Amnesia )

King Il of Kouka, a land said in legends to have been founded by four dragons, has only one remaining heir, a daughter named Yona. She lives a happy life in the palace with her cousin Soo-won, who she loves in spite of her father’s opposition to them marrying. Her life is turned upside down when Soo-won murders her father and steals the throne. Yona, with her childhood friend and bodyguard Hak, must retreat to gather allies and reclaim her place as ruler of the kingdom.

• Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori (A Certain Magical Index, Azumanga Daioh, Ghost Slayers Ayashi )
• Series Composition: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Macross Frontier)
• Cast: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Arata Kasuga (Sword Arts Online’s Kirito, The IDOLM@STER’s Shōta) Ryoka Yuzuki as Akio Fudo (Kill la Kill’s Satsuki, Naruto Shippūden’s Ino) Nao Tōyama as Liselotte Sherlock (The World God Only Knows’ Kanon, Nisekoi’s Chitoge)

In this “romantic comedy but sometime serious magical school story,” life as Arata Kasuga knows it is wiped out by a bizarre incident known as “Collapse Phenomenon,” which causes worldwide destruction and takes his cousin Hijiri Kasuga to the next world. To resolve the “Collapse Phenomenon” and bring back Hijiri, Arata enrolls in the Royal Biblia Academy. Waiting in the school are seven beautiful female magic users — the Trinity Seven.

• Director: Yukiyo Teramoto (Doraemon: Shin Nobita to Tetsujin Heidan – Habatake Tenshi-tachi (movie), Cosmowarrior Zero Episode Director (Eps.2) )
• Series Composition: Dai Sato (Eureka Seven, Freedom (OAV))
• Main Character Design: Miho Shimogasa(Gravitation, Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z )

The thief Mysterious Joker doesn’t just steal things. An audacious and elusive miracle-maker, he travels the world searching for treasure with his partner and cook Hachi. As they circle the globe, they must avoid traps set by the police and compete in various competitions to reach their final goal, the Timeslip Treasure.

• Chief Director/Series Composition: Masahiko Otsuka (Kill la Kill Episode Director (Eps.13,24) Whisper of the Heart Assistant Director(movie) )
• Director: Masanori Takahashi (Angel Beats Episode Director (Eps. 10), Witchblade Episode Director (Eps. 14 )
• Original Character Design: 029((The) Devil is a Part-Timer! )

Six months ago, the five-member literature club all awakened superpowers. Unfortunately this has not led to them having anything else interesting happen in their lives, like epic battles or saving the universe. They go about their ordinary lives, just happening to have superpowers, waiting for the call to battle to finally happen – assuming it ever comes at all.

• Original Creator/Director/Character Design: Sōta Sugahara (gdgd Fairies, Hi-sCool! Seha Girls )
• Cast: Maaya Uchida as Alice Bon (Gatchaman Crowds Hajime Ichinose, Rail Wars! Haruka Koumi ) Mutsumi Tamura as Sokura Bon ( anohana’s Jintan (child), Buddy Complex’s Lasha Hakkarainen) Yuiko Tatsumi as Prato Bon ((The) Irregular at Magic High School’s Shizuku Kitayama, Bodacious Space Pirates April Lambert)

The story follows Black.inc, the three Soyogi sisters who live in space.

• Director: Keiichi Satou (Karas (OAV), Asura (movie) )
• Character Design: Naoyuki Onda (Gantz , Blassreiter, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I&II (movie) )
• Music: Yoshihiro Ike (Tiger & Bunny, Cobra The Animation, Sands of Destruction)

Mistarcia is a magical world where humans, gods, and demons mingle together. In the past, the black-and-silver winged Bahamut has threatened to destroy the land, but humans, gods, and demons overcame their differences to fight together and seal its power. The key to that seal was split in two, one half given to the gods and the other to demons, so that they would never be united and Bahamut never released. Now, two thousand years later, the world is in an era of peace – until the day a human woman steals the gods’ half of the key.

• Director/Series Composition: Hiroshi Negishi (Tenchi Universe, Amazing Nurse Nanako,Sonic Soldier Borgman )
• Original creator: Masaki Kajishima (Tenchi Muyo! (OAV 1/1992), Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure )
• Music: Yoshihisa Hirano (Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians, Super Robot Wars OG: Divine Wars )

In the story, the world is in trouble because Washu is stirring up trouble again. In order to save the world from crisis, Tenchi goes undercover as a teacher in a girls’ school. However, many problems arise as Tenchi is predisposed to finding trouble.

• Director: Sayo Aoi(Kids on the Slope Episode Director (Eps. 4), Deadman Wonderland Episode Director (Eps.6 ) )
• Series Composition: Yuniko Ayana(Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl, Futsū no Joshikōsei ga Locodol Yattemita )
• Cast: Nobunaga Shimazaki as Tatsumi (Buddy Complex’s Tarjim Vasily, GLASSLIP’s Yukinari Imi) Yuichiro Umehara as Wakasa (Binan Koukou Chikyuboueibu Love!’s En Yufuin)

Tatsumi is a high school student who lives on his own, until a merman named Wakasa takes up residence in his bathtub. His solitary lifestyle is turned upside down by the self-centered (but handsome) new roommate.

• Returning Director: Osamu Nabeshima(D.Gray-man, Hamtaro, Clamp School )
• Returning Series Composition:Reiko Yoshida(K-ON!, Majestic Prince)
• Returning Character Design:Takahiko Yoshida(Welcome to the NHK, Big Windup!)

The Inter High story arc continues as Sakamichi Onada and his team return for another season of exciting bicycle racing!

• Director: Tensho(Kinmoza! Kiniro + Mosaic )
• Series Composition: Hideyuki Kurata(Samurai Flamenco, Oreimo)
• Music: Elements Garden(Senki Zesshō Symphogear, Bodacious Space Pirates)

The story of the anime takes place at the private Mihama Academy, where five girls who seem normal attend the school due to “certain reasons.” A sixth student “with reasons” named Yūji Kazami transfers in. Yūji has an ego with such darkness that he does not fade in comparison to the five girls, who are so different from the norm. As they each meet each other, they deepen their understanding of one another. Through the small bits of progress they make, each of their hearts will be affected. When Yūji arrives, a story of girls who are trapped by their pasts begins.

• Director: Kenichi Kasai(Love Stage!!, Nodame Cantabile)
• Character Design: Maki Fujioka(Itazura na Kiss, (La) Corda d’Oro Blue Sky)
• Music: Go Sakabe(Date A Live, SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation)

Erika talks to her friends about boyfriends and romance, but in all her sixteen years she’s never actually dated anyone. She thought her lies had reached a limit until one day she takes a surreptitious video of a good looking guy she saw in town. She brags that he’s her boyfriend, but it turns out that his name’s Kyōya Sata and he’s just transferred to her school. She tells him what’s going on and offers to admit to her lie, but it turns out that under his sweet exterior, he’s actually a malicious sadist. Seizing on Erika’s weakness, he orders her to be his dog.

• Director: Tensai Okamura(Blue Exorcist, Android Kikaider – The Animation)
• Series Composition: Shôtarô Suga(Darker than Black, Lagrange – The Flower of Rin-ne)
• Character Design: Keigo Sasaki(Night Raid 1931, World Conquest Zvezda Plot)

In a world where humans and non-humans have not yet been separated, the kingdom of Leones is protected by the Holy Knights, powerful magic users both revered and feared by the people. Supposedly the strongest, most fearsome of these knights, the Seven Deadly Sins, betrayed the kingdom and made enemies of all the other knights. Queen Elizabeth doesn’t believe this story, and sets out to find the Sins – but when she meets the first Sin at a tavern, his name is Melodias, and he’s nothing but a boy in charge of the pigs.

• Director: Masayuki Sakoi(Princess Resurrection, Strawberry Panic!)
• Original Character Design: QP:flapper(Girl Friend BETA, MM!)
• Music: Tatsuya Katou(Buddy Complex, Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club)

The story begins one winter day when the wish of a few girls was realized with a miracle, changing the landscape of a town. “In the skies above this town, a disc is always there.”

• Series Director: Mitsuru Hongo(Outlaw Star, Magical Angel Creamy Mami)
• Series Composition:Hiroyuki Yoshino(Accel World, My-HiME)
• Character Design:Hitomi Tsuruta((The) Comic Artist and His Assistants, (The) Knight in the Area)

One day a gate to another world opened in Mikado City. This entities of the other world, called Neighbors, sent out an invasion force that overran the area surrounding the gate. Given the technological superiority of the Neighbors, the destruction of the city seemed only a matter of time. But then suddenly Border appeared in the town, an organization that researches the technology of the Neighbors to protect this side of the gate. In a short time they built a huge base and became established as the line of defense against the Neighbors. One day a student named Yūma transfers to the same middle-school class as Osamu, a teenager who belongs to Border. He has a weapon called Trigger that is only allowed to be possessed by people in Border, and claims to have come from beyond the gate.

• Returning Director: Shinji Ishihira(Fairy Tail, Tokyo Majin)
• Returning Series Composition: Toshizo Nemoto(Dog & Scissors, Inu X Boku Secret Service )

Veteran gamer Shiroe and other players have been trapped in the world of the online game Elder Tales for six months. The once chaotic city of Akiba has regained its everyday hustle and bustle following the formation of the self-governing organization Round Table Meeting. The earthlings, who are originally from the game world, have gained the trust of Shiroe by waging a defensive war against the Goblins in Zantleaf Region. This has led Princess Rayneshia of the Cowen family, the highest-ranking Earthling Aristocrats, to live in Akiba.

It’s almost winter, and the Adventurers are thinking about what they’re going to do and what their goals are in this other world. Will they remain in Akiba or go to the city of the West? Or will they travel to the land of the North or another faraway country? The opinions of the Adventurers begin to diverge. What adventures await the members of the Shiroe team in this second series of Log Horizon?

• Original creator: Gosho Aoyama (Detective Conan)
• Director: Susumu Kudo(Hoop Days, Mirage of Blaze)
• Music: Taku Iwasaki(Gurren Lagann, R.O.D -The TV-)

High school student Kaito loves magic. His father was a genius magician with a secret identity as the Phantom Thief Kid. Unfortunately his father died in an unforeseen accident in a magic act. Eight years later, Kaito unexpectedly learns of his father’s secret identity, and that he may have been murdered. In order to uncover the truth, he dons a silk hat and a white cape to follow in his father’s footsteps as the Phantom Thief Kid.

• Original creator: Kinoko Nasu ((The) Garden of Sinners )
• Original Character Design: Takashi Takeuchi(Fate/Zero, CANAAN)
• Theme Song Performance:Kalafina (ED1) (Aldnoah.Zero, Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

The new Fate/stay night series will tell the story via the Unlimited Blade Works route.

• Director: Yuichiro Hayashi (PES: Peace Eco Smile (ONA),)
• Series Composition: Yasuko Kobayashi(Attack on Titan, Casshern Sins)
• Theme Song Performance:JAM Project (OP) (Nobunaga The Fool, Robonimal Panda-Z: The Robonimation)

Mendosa, the chief adviser of the king of Valiante, begins a campaign to hunt down “witches,” resulting in the deaths of many magical knights and their sorcerer assistants. Anna, a sorceress married to the knight Herman Lewis, gives birth to a son before her execution. Herman takes their child, Leon, and flees, raising him to be the heir of the legendary Golden Armor. By the time Leon grows up, Valiante is completely in the control of Mendosa, who drives out Prince Alfonso and his mother. Alphonso decides to seek out the man who inherited the Golden Armor to reclaim the throne and save his people.

• Returning Director: Takuya Satō (Steins;Gate, NieA_7)
• Returning Series Composition: Mari Okada(AKB0048, M3 the dark metal)
• Returning Character Design: Kyuta Sakai (When They Cry – Higurashi, Pita Ten)

WIXOSS is a hugely popular card game, particularly among middle school children. But few know of LRIG Cards, “the female cards who possess their own will.” Only special girls can hear the voice of LRIG, and those who possess these cards are called selectors. Selectors are given the choice to battle using the WIXOSS card game and have their wish granted if they defeat three other Selectors. However, the timid Rūko and her friends come to find that the system is not as straight-forward or pure as it seems…

• Director: Hiroshi Haraguchi (Eureka Seven – good night, sleep tight, young lovers (movie))
• Original creator: Kemuri Karakara(Countdown 7 Days (manga), Takeru: Opera Susanoh Sword of the Devil (manga Karakarakemuri))
• Music: Shuichiro Fukuhiro (Genshiken Second Season)

In the eleventh year of the Meiji era carrying swords was forbidden by the government and those known as samurai were slowly fading away. However, there were plenty who didn’t like those changes taking place in Japan and inevitably the crime rates increased. The country’s only solution was an inescapable lake prison. Since the prison had no other way to access it except by water, the three boys of the Kumo family were assigned to transport the criminals to their new “home”.

• Director: Masafumi Sato(Saint October)
• Series Composition: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu(Hetalia The Beautiful World, Magical Warfare)
• Cast: Ryota Ohsaka as Umio(Valvrave the Liberator’s Haruto Tokishima, Shōnen Hollywood – Holly Stage for 49’s Kakeru Kazami) Satomi Satou as Tsumorin (K-ON!’s Ritsu Tainaka, (The) irregular at magic high school’s Mizuki Shibata)

Umanohone (Horse Bone) is a comic book store in the electronics district. The story follows the lives of the workers at the store as well as their colorful customers, all of whom are hardcore fans of one genre or another.

• Returning Director: Ryuichi Kimura( Sakura Taisen: New York NY. (OAV))
• Returning Series Composition: Yoichi Kato(Duel Masters VS, Yo-kai Watch )
• Music: monaca(Star Driver, Wagnaria!!)

This season the series will focus on Akari Ozora, a first year at Starlight Academy who seeks to become a top idol like her upperclassman, Ichigo Hoshimiya

• Director/Script: Shinpei Nagai( Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, )
• Cast: Kenichi Suzumura as Hajime (Macross Zero’s Shin Kudou, Star Blazers 2199’s Daisuke Shima) Yukari Tamura as Kaoru (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha’s Nanoha Takamachi, AKB0048’s Mayuyu)

Kaoru is a serious office lady who’s passionate about her job. Her husband Hajime, on the other hand, is a hard-core otaku who lives a nearly shut-in lifestyle. Kaoru worries about her husband, but they get along better than you’d think.

• Director: Hiroshi Hamasaki( Texhnolyze, Shigurui: Death Frenzy )
• Series Composition: Shogo Yasukawa(Invaders of the Rokujyōma!?, Hyperdimension Neptunia)
• Character Design:Masanori Shino(Black Lagoon, Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (OAV) )

Twenty years ago, Shokichi Komachi was part of the Bugs 2 mission to Mars that discovered Terra Formars, human-cockroach hybrids that resulted from a terraforming accident. Shokichi was one of only two survivors. Now, the AE virus that came from Mars is raging wildly on earth. Shokichi boards the spacecraft Annex 1 to go back to Mars to find a sample in order to create a vaccine. They will face an unanticipated accident, a multinational conspiracy, and even more advanced Terra Formars.