Wishlist for 2008

• Gankutsuou-like art direction in Amatsuki

Since Amatsuki is set in a computer-generated recreation of Edo Japan (albeit with some supernatural stuff), I hope they may as well make it sassy and borrow a leaf from Gankutsuou's art direction. The manga covers themselves are full of bright, vibrant colours. I hope the colours will be no less a pleasure to look at in the anime.

• A revival of interest in Tanaka Yoshiki

I think the lately announced adaptation of Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jiken will be sure to bring it off. Tanaka Yoshiki has been rather off-the-radar since the Gineiden boom in the late 80s. Efforts to animate his other works such as The Heroic Legend of Arslan and Shichi Toshi Monogatari had been abandoned halfway. A pity that is.

• At least one adaptation from an old-school shoujo classic

In 2007, we had Toward the Terra (though there is some hairsplitting debate as to whether it qualifies as shounen or shoujo). The point is, I would love to see the likes of Ikeda-sensei's The Window of Orpheus (or something grand and epic in the old-school shoujo genre) animated. The original stories are so packed and meaty that the animators would have to try very hard in failing to produce an interesting series.

(Speaking of which, whatever happened to that The Rose of Versailles movie which was announced at TAF 2007?)

• At least one series of serious historic drama

Just as convention seems to have it that summer is usually the season for supernatural thrillers, one would have thought that the fall/winter season would be the time for serious historic drama. There was none to speak of in the fall/winter of 2007/2008, which was something of a disappointment.

• A new series from Watanabe Shinichirou

Likewise, Watanabe-sensei has been rather off-the-radar since Samurai Champloo in 2004-2005. There are directors out there who churn out work every season, but Wanatabe-sensei seems to have been on a rather long vacation. I hope 2008 will be the year he makes a comeback.

• Shinbo Akiyuki coming to his senses at last
  

The man who brought us Le portrait de petit Cossette is really doing himself a disservice with works like Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei and that what's-its-name series. Zetsubou-sensei is all the more heartbreaking to behold because there is so much promise in terms of graphical creativity – the show is like... a beautiful woman who is all dressed up but has nowhere to go.

• Something groundbreaking in terms of art direction

I am a big fan of art direction. The year 2004-2005 had Gankutsuou. The year 2006 had Kemonozume. The year 2007 had Mononoke. I am just hoping that there will be at least one such effort to break new ground every year.

So what is your wishlist for 2008? I would love to hear from you all.

Comments

[w]

I don't think it's fair to wish for groundbreaking art direction every year, but I really do agree about Shinbo - I would so dearly love him to "Get Serious" (as per my own opinion of him, that is). However, I figure it'll require more waiting as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is getting a second season so I don't know how free he really is...

As for Watanabe, didn't he do a short for Genius Party? I can't remember. And I can only hope he's been preparing for something really great - it'd be nice if it came out in 2008... I recently watched Samurai Champloo and feel silly for not having watched it earlier.

Personally I'd love to see another serious proper work by Satelight ala Noein - even if the story is meh, it's very fun seeing the kind of effort they put into their productions. It's quite rejuvenating.

Oh, and I so want to see something new by Mamoru Hosoda - I haven't really followed news of him closely but last time I vaguely remember he was involved in a GONZO movie with okama designs or something...

[Ialda]

"Shinbo Akiyuki coming to his senses at last" : alas, last time I heard about him he will be supervising Shina Dark which look like another moe-crappy show. We will have to wait some more time before seeing another Cossette or another SoulTaker from him, I believe T_T

I'm really looking forward to Alison to Lillia (same author than Kino). Other shows I will keep an eye on : Okami to Koshinryo, Persona, Kurogane no linebarrels, and Hatenkou Yuugi.

I really hope 2008 too will be see more promising shows, more artistically ambitious animes, and more historical series.

w : Isn't Satelight busy on Macross Frontier ?

[w]

Ialda: I entirely forgot about Macross Frontier. Meh. Even if it's got Yoko Kanno music and I heard the trailer was awesome, I can't bring myself to care about it. Oh well, at least that will have a good budget I suppose...

And you reminded me that I'd like to check out Alison and Lilia too - I'm not going to hope it'll be well-animated or even well-directed in general but if it basically has stories as interesting as Kino's then I'll watch it. And the fact that it's on NHK may possibly mean they will leave out any gratuitous bits. Maybe.
I'm not one bit interested in watching Ookami to Koushinryou seriously (I am guessing the animation will be awful) but I am so checking out the music! A ROCKY CHACK ED and Zabadak-composed OP? Bring it on, I say.

[manuloz]

On Watanabe> after Samurai Champloo he did work on Genius Party, his short his called Baby Blue. You can check the trailer on youtube :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AJAO7nfoUhw

On Mamoru Hosoda> He has been off that project at Gonzo for sometime now. His next project (a movie again) will happen at Madhouse and scheduled for release in 2009.

On Macross F> (this part his meant to W, who i suppose is Wao from AS boards) Well i though the animation on the first episode was pretty good. There's some interesting work by an animator called Ryoma Ebata (he worked on one episode of Kemonozume & 2 from Gurren Lagann). He will be animation director on episode 4 and Kenichi Kutsuna will show up :)
(thx to one frensh animator working there for the tip)

Ryoma Ebata part :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tbYtXda6-Iw

...

As for myself, well i expect some new sow from Gainax ^^. Coming from Madhouse i wait for those Batman shorts, the new tv series from Yuasa and Takeshi Koike'Redline.
I'm also interested in Shigofumi since it's directed by Tatsuo Sato.

I hope someone will think of Tadashi Hiramatsu and give him something to do (too bad is short from Genius party has been cancelled -_-).

[Ialda]

Ah yes, the Batman omnibus. I really expect something fabulous from Madhouse, and more than ever since we were informed that Bruce Timm will work on the project *_*

w: about M:F, and after having seen the first episode; I must say taht I didn't really succeed in caring about it ether. It's very pretty to look at, eye-candy galore, but it lacks a soul.

Please, could somebody tell me if, and when, a Genius Party DVD will be released in Japan ? I'm totally lost ^^

[Ialda]

Ookami to Koushinryou will have Kuroda as cd + big sakkan - at last it will be pretty to look at. And the reviews of the light novels on Andrew Cunningham's site are good.

[w]

Ialda: The thing is, you can have awesome people as cd/sou-sakkan but they do hardly anything in the anime itself ;( Reminds me of that JC Staff anime with Tetsuya Takeuchi as CD/sou-sakkan, even the first episode's animation was dead boring.

manuloz: Thanks for the info. The thing is over the past few months I've been so overwhelmed by good sakuga that I've given up earnestly watching anything based on the premise of sakuga :( Especially because it's harder for me to watch anime now so I can't just casually check anything out (and stuff gets deleted faster and faster over at nico)
But I guess I will eventually check it out, and that's pretty cool to hear a french animator's working there, I'm slightly envious of him (although the working conditions probably suck). You don't happen to know his name, I wonder?
Oh yeah and this is wao.

[manuloz]

Ialda> I suppose a DVD for Genius Party will be put out but we might have to wait until the second part is released into theaters.

W> Well, yep his name is on the credit it's Eddie Mehong. You can follow the discussion about macross on catsuka's board here (french) :
http://www.catsuka.com/interf/forum/viewtopic.php?p=285573#285573

you might also want to check this :
http://www.animeland.com/index.php?rub=articles&id=555

(with the healp of google translate you might get something readable ^^')

But he is not alone there, thomas and stan are also working there at satelight but they are more into art design and 3D, i think. You might remember thomas was art designer on Kissdum.
Stan worked on the first episode of Macross F and Kawamori's anikuri short.
Those 2 were also behind Oban Star Racer.

[Ialda]

manuloz: thanks !
Well, if it means only one DVD for all the 14 shorts, who I am to complain... ^^

W: Rescue Wing ?

[Wabisabi]

Re Shinbo:

So 'Shina Dark' is the what's-its-name loli series I vaguely remember but was too lazy to look up. Thank you for reminding me.

Re Watanabe:

Seriously, I wouldn't call producing a short in the space of a few years of inactivity 'real work'... But then I am a workaholic making my bread in a workaholic industry. -___-

Re Alison to Lillia:

I am just neutral about this. Kino is good in its own way, but I should very much like to know where Kino makes her money. I know the show is supposed to be fable-like et al, but its take on work and money....

Re Ookami to Koushinryou:

Fingers crossed.

Persona:

I honestly don't know much about the original game, so I will also just have my fingers crossed about this.

Macross Frontier:

Meh. I just don't get excited about this for some reason. Reviews of the first episode seem to be mixed, but we shall see.

[Snoop']

For 2008, I'd like... something that leaves me staring at the screen in awe. It can be thanks to art (Gankutsuou, Mononoke, Mushishi, etc.), psychology (Akagi, Kaiji), coolness, music, direction (Samurai Champloo), overall quality (Haruhi), and possibly a mix of everything I said.

More specifically, I'd like to hear from Watanabe Shinichiro and Maeda Mahiro. :)

[Snoop']

Oh BTW (sorry for the double-post... if you could merge it with my previous one), I had totally missed Kemonozume, which seems to be like lots of fun and style.

*must not forget to check it when I have done some tidying in my hard drive*

[Wabisabi]

I think you will love Kemonozume to bits. It's a spadeful of artistic stylishness. Kind of like 'Mind Game' which is not wide-known enough among anime fans to do its sheer greatness justice. See my earlier post here: http://www.iwanihana.info/2007/05/kemonozume_by_m.html

[Jordan S.]

A new Miyazaki Hayao movie, a Michel Ocelot TV series and a DVD of his early short films and series is enough to pencil in ticks in all the boxes in my own wish list. Now I'm left simply praying that all these sexagenarians can manage to stay alive and well enough to finish them…

I have heard of Persona, and know a decent amount about it, though I can't myself imagine how it could be interesting as an anime rather than an RPG. And the above is only true of what is being made, rather than what is being released in the English-speaking world. I'm still holding out for an English-subtitled Fuyu no Hi, and a R2 (UK) release of Gankutsuô.

[Wabisabi]

I saw the first episode of Persona on Nico Douga. I must say that it has a generic, plastic feel to it and I was on the whole underwhelmed. -___-

I am tempted to think that the only new Jan series worth watching will be 'Hakaba Kitaro'.

[w]

Yuasa's new TV series, カイバ is confirmed here: http://www.madhouse.co.jp/news/news_2008_01.html

SF love story, supposedely airing in April on WOWOW. Happy? Now the collective "we" have something to look forward to.

[Wabisabi]

Whoa! Many thanks for breaking the news to me. ^-^

I am sure the collective We is happy indeed.