The Spring 2012 anime chart is pretty complete already. There isn’t that much that tickles our fancy on the list, except for one title… And this isn’t directly Tiger & Bunny related, but close enough. T&B’s original character designer Katsura Masakazu‘s manga ZETMAN is getting a TV anime which starts in April.
Although we are really excited about this, we have some reservations.
- The staff. It seems that the director Nabeshima Osamu‘s biggest achievement so far is D.Gray-man anime. DGM anime was pretty uneven, but I think the ending was fine (I ragequit the manga at the weird zombie apocalypse arc). The screenwriter Tomioka Atsuhiro is mostly known for Inazuma Eleven and Pokémon, though he has also written stuff not aimed at kids. We’ll see how this turns out, especially because…
- …rumour has it that ZETMAN will be a one-cour show. I’ve got a bad feeling about this, because I am reading the manga and it doesn’t seem like 13 episodes will be enough. Of course, it’s possible they announce a S2 before the series ends, but it’s all too likely they’ll make the adaptation to cater to manga readers and leave out a lot of things.
- The lack of actual princess-carries (yeah I know the correct term in English is bridal carry but that’s how we roll here in Sternbild) in the manga! The original main visual of ZETMAN anime had Jin princess-carrying Kouga, but there’s no scene like that in the manga. I have a pretty good idea about who this advertising was aimed at…
- The PV.
Technically it looks pretty good, but the scenes don’t really connect. The colours look gritty but that’s fine considering the source material. I’m looking forward to see all those scenes animated. Aki hasn’t read the manga (and she doesn’t want to be spoiled), so here are her thoughts on the PV:
My first three thoughts were: a) great suit design (though I suppose that’s all thanks to Katsura) b) this video gives you this impression that the anime will have some nice and fast-paced action scenes and c) I like how different it feels from Taibani, since it is usually colorful and feels very “alive”, while Zetman goes the dark and edgy way. But I don’t think it’s the “bad” dark and edgy, I think they might actually pull this off and be more on the side of “epic dark” and not “emo dark”.
The cast choices seem pretty good to me. I’m a big fan of Namikawa Daisuke so I was happy to see him cast as Jin and I think he’ll be great for the role. There are a couple of familiar names from Tiger & Bunny among the cast: Kusunoki Taitem, Ise Mariya, and Yusa Kouji. Yusa especially seems like a great choice for Haitani’s role. Hanazawa Kana seems a bit typecast as Konoha, I hope she doesn’t end up annoying me.
More about what we actually wind up watching sometime later when the series have already started. I think we’ve dropped like over half of the series we started watching in the current season, so we filled some of that spare time by watching Maou (episodes 4-11 written by Nishida Masafumi). It’s good, by the way. We haven’t seen the original Korean drama that it’s adapted from so we can’t say how it compares, but it is definitely worth a watch. Like Aki said, it’s more serious than the usually goofy Japanese dramas, so even if you’re normally put off by them we’d recommend giving Maou a chance. The writing is great, and the acting is generally very good – only Ikuta Toma should lay off the caffeine since he’s over-the-top hot-headed most of the time. (Just remember to bring tissues if you decide to give it a try.)
This is Sternbild 
I’m definitely going to watch ZETMAN. I started reading the manga not long ago and it got me hooked pretty fast. What worries me is that some scenes of the PV happen REALLY LATE in the manga, so… I’m a bit worried about how they’re going to pull of the anime and how much they’re going to leave out. Maybe they’re going to work with lots of flashbacks…
But, just like you, I’m a big, BIG fan of Namikawa Daisuke, so this is pretty much a must-watch for me anyway ♥
That is my worry too, that they leave out too much stuff. Flashbacks might work but they might also make the story stumble if there are too many.
Yay, fellow Namikawa fan! ( ´∀`)
Chances might be the only one of the new line up I’ll watch. Nothing much really does catch my interest either.
I’ve only really been watching Fate Stay and Last Exile ~ Fam the Silver Wing. Tiger & Bunny made just about anything..dull. xD
Might be repeating but I do worry about the way it’ll play out given the scenes in the PV.
“Tiger & Bunny made just about anything..dull.”
Are you me? Hmmm? ^^
I haven’t read the ZETMAN manga but I’m definitely going to check out the anime. It looks pretty interesting and I’ve heard good things about the manga so I think it might turn out to be good.
As for the Spring 2012 anime chart… Is that seriously Thomas the Tank Engine I’m seeing there? lol
Yeah, I saw Thomas the Tank Engine on another Spring chart too so I guess it’s for real (or all chart makers are trolling).
whoa, new page layout! for a moment there, i thought i clicked on the wrong link 🙂
i’m definitely watching this. it’s already got that wonderfully gritty feel, as in the manga. my only concern is how much they’re going to cram into 13 episodes… they might end it hanging to encourage people to buy the tankos (seen this happen many, many times in other series).
that said, i still hope it comes out well. animation quality looks topnotch from the PV, so hopefully…
We decided to try some variety here, the old layout was pretty good but had some stuff I always wanted to change.
I’m not getting too excited over trailers after what happened with Togainu no Chi anime. Great trailer, but I could hardly believe my eyes at the first episode when the series turned out total QUALITY.
but…but derpchan, the zombie arc was just filler so hoshino could make some epic plot happen and for her art style to improve. Also hoshino really loves zombies for reasons i don’t know. ;(
Zombie arc didn’t work for me. I gave the manga another chance after she rebooted/retconned it and switched magazines but dropped it after two chapters.
;~;
even though the coloring and the character designs from the promo animation seem a bit dull, i would like to watch it. not because of TB, but for Mr. Katsura and my love of his art style.
here, here!
and if they pull it off really well, i’m going to be really poor this year….
Nice layout! I have the same thoughts as Team_Kaburagi when I’ve stumbled here. Anyway, I think it’s already confirmed that Zetman will get 13 episodes (according to ytv Japan http://www.ytv.co.jp/english/program.php?s_cate=Anime) as opposed to Uchuu Kyoudai (Space Brothers) which has 46 episodes. BTW, Hiroaki Hirata will play as Mutta, the afro brother….Afro brother XD Why the hell did I call him that ?! XD XD
I’ve seen Maou two years ago and it’s actually depressing. I won’t spoil the end but I love how Satoshi Ohno acted! Don’t worry, I’m not some uber Arashi fan XD XD
13 episodes, as I feared… we’ll see how this’ll turn out.
I was a bit surprised to see how good Ohno was in Maou, his acting was really impressive. I’m not a fan of Arashi either, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him in other productions if he can deliver a performance like in Maou.
I am definitely watching this since I love this kind of genre (the genre with mecha/suit stuffs since they are cool, and one of the reason why I actually pick up Taibani when it first aired cause Bunny’s suit look awesome, lol. And the series gives off a dark aura). The suit (?) definitely looks pretty awesome. *w*
The design is neat~ As expected.
Plus, they have Namikawa Daisuke and Hanazawa Kana, so it just made this show even more ‘HAVE TO WATCH’ for me. XD
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