• Based, of course, on an eroge of the same name, and released by Feng in July 2007.
• The mainstreamified version of the game (released on the PS2) featured some serious seiyuu, and the anime keeps them: Rie Kugimiya (Shakugan no Shana’s Shana, Zero no Tsukaima’s Louise) voices Yuuhi, while Aya Hirano (Haruhi, of course) plays Junichi’s younger sister Minato.
• Director Keitaro Motonaga is best known for his work helming the controversial anime adaptation of the eroge School Days, along with Princess Princess, Amaenaideyo!!, and a dozen other series– usually shounen romances.

Notable:

• A complete reboot of the series, Casshern Sins features various cyborgs as the destroyers of humanity: the titular Casshern destroys our one hope, and humans are on the brink of extinction. Robots and cyborgs aren’t much better off, fearing their own destruction by corrosion. In the midst of this, Casshern himself has lots its memories and defends humans against robots while learning about his own history.
• The franchise itself isn’t the only familiar name: Casshern will be voiced by Tohru Furuya, best known for playing Ray Amuro in original Gundam.
• Shigeyasu Yamauchi, best known for helming all of Dragonball Z and Saint Seiya, is directing the new Casshern.

• The anime will feature the same voice cast as the games, including Eri Kitamura (Blood+’s Saya) as love interest Rimi and Ui Miyazaki (a princess of moe, with roles like Night Wizard’s Elis and Gift ~eternal rainbow~’s Kirino) as Takumi’s younger sister. Takumi will be voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino (Blood+’s Kai, Gundam 00’s Allelujah/Hallelujah Haptism).
• Director Takaaki Ishiyama is probably best known for the wacky Viewtiful Joe anime, though he also storyboards Naruto.
• Expect plenty of action in the script; it’s being written by Toshiki Inoue– of Dragon Ball, Kamen Rider, and Fist of the North Star fame.

• As those of you familiar with the game would expect, ~After Story~ animates the “After Story” arc of the original visual novel of Clannad, which expands on the story of Nagisa, the soft-spoken heroine of the first season.
• Tatsuya Ishihara returns as director– like you could have a Kyoto Animation Key adaptation without him? (He did Air and Kanon as well– not to mention The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.)

• There are no shakeups in the cast or crew of ef-melo versus that of ef-memo: from director Shin Oonuma (who also directed the Negima!? Spring and Summer OVAs) to theme song performer Elisa, everyone’s back for round two.

• Director Ei Aoki has the moe thing down: previous credits include Girls Bravo and Kara no Kyoukai: Garden of Sinners. Plus storyboarding a little Sex Demon Queen on the side!
• Eri Kitamura, who is already playing a lead in Chaos;HEAd, performs as Kagura this time around.
• Relative newcomer Tomoaki Maeno lays the lead this time around, with his previous starring turns including Atsushi Dojo in Toshokan Sensou (yay!) and Gouta in the recent Someday’s Dreamers anime.

• Not too many staff changes: Eiji Wakamatsu takes over art direction (for the first time!) from Takeshi Satou (Birdy the Mighty DECODE, Please Twins), and that’s about it.
• Gundam fans who love their Bleach soundtracks, rejoice! UVERworld (who performed Bleach’s second OP) will perform the first OP for 00 (I’m guessing there’ll be two again), with Chiaki Ishikawa (best known for the Bokurano OP) performing the ED.

Notable:

• Expect there to be some excellent humor in this shoujo adventure story: director Koichiro Soutome made his debut directing Kankei Zenraku Suiebu Umisho (you know, the one with the skinny dipper on the swim team?)
• Nana Mizuki (Nanoha’s Fate Testarossa, Shugo Chara!’s Utau Hoshina, etc) will play the Lydia to Hikaru Midorikawa’s (Code Geass‘ Li Xingke, Gundam Wing’s Heero Yuy) Count Edgar.
• Kyon alert! Tomokazu Sugita (who voiced the sarcastic narrator of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) has a role in this series: Raven, Edgar’s mysterious but loyal bodyguard.

Notable:

• I’m curious about this: Kenji Utsumi voiced Raou in the original FotNS TV series and OVAs, but the recent movies have featured Takashi Ukaji instead. Who do you guys like better?
• Mai Nakahara (My-HiME’s Mai Tokiha, Clannad’s Nagisa, etc) makes her first entry into the macho world of Hokuto no Ken by voicing Reina.
• There’s another newcomer to the franchise: director Masashi Abe, who directed Blue Gender and Tokko.

Notable:

• Haruhi alert! Aya Hirano will be voicing Ayumi (yes, she’s voicing the normal one, not the energetic bossy troublemaker– huzzah for casting against type).
• Speaking of casting against type: Fumiko Orikasa, best known for her turn a Rukia in Bleach, will play the aforementioned energetic bossy troublemaker. (Though she’s not all that typecast to begin with, having also played Code Geass‘ bastion of relative normalcy, Shirley.) Tatsuki will be voiced by Michiko Neya (Fullmetal Alchemist’s Riza, Full Metal Panic’s Melissa), and Suzume’s voice will be provided by Yurika Ochiai (ToHeart’s Konomi, Futakoi’s Rara).
• This will be the directorial debut of Michio Fukuda, who has storyboarded and art directed all over the place– including shows like Gankutsuou, Death Note, Ouran High School Host Club, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (which he actually did key animation for).

• Naruto alert! Junko Takeuchi, most beloved for voicing the youthful ninja, will play Mamoru Endou, the captain of the soccer team.
• Director Katsuhito Akiyama brings a unique resume to the project: he helmed the BL sci-fi drama Ai no Kusabi, Thundercats, Guyver, and all of the Gall Force OVAs.

Notable:

• Takahiro Oomori, who directed the first and second seasons of the show, has apparently stepped down to post-recording direction; it’s not entirely clear who’s doing the performance direction at this point.
• Have you ever noticed that Japan is much more loathe to change voice actors than America? It seems like most of the time they’d prefer not to do a show than to change the cast. That said: no cast changes this season.

Notable:

• The staff is so utterly unchanged for season 2, even the OP is being performed by the same group: pigstar!

Notable:

• Remember Yutaka Yamamoto? The director of the first four episodes of Lucky Star, who was removed? Well, he’s back for his second directorial attempt with Kannagi.
• Nagi will be voiced by Haruka Tomatsu, who played Lala in the To-LoveRu anime. Tomatsu is also performing the OP and ED songs.
• Joining Tomatsu is Hiro Shimono as Jin; Shimono’s other credits include KaleidoStar’s Ken and Cluster Edge’s Agate.

Notable:

• It’s triple duty for Eri Kitamura: she’s in Ga-Rei, Chaos;Head, and she also plays Sanpeita in this show. Joining her are Chiwa Saito (Pani Poni Dash’s Becky, Strike Witches’ Francesca) voicing Kemeko and Haruka Tomatsu (Kannagi’s Nagi).
• Director Tsutomu Mizushima has been busy lately: from spring 2007’s Ookiku Furikabutte to spring 2008’s xxxHOLiC Kei. He also directed Genshiken and Kujibiki Unbalance.

Notable:

• Based on the manga of the same name by Yana Toboso, who is best known for…the manga of the same name.
• You can’t deny the star power: Maaya Sakamoto (Host Club’s Haruhi, Gundam SEED’s Lunamaria) will play Ciel Phantomhive, the unfortunately-named wealthy brat mentioned earlier. Joining her is Daisuke Ono (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Itsuki Koizumi, Air’s Yukito) playing Sebastien Michaelis, the demon butler.
• Toshiya Shinohara is best known for directing the InuYasha movies, but he has his own history with suavity: he directed Lupin III: Crisis in Tokyo.

Notable:

• My first thought looking at this cast list is “DO TOTALLY WANT.” Mamoru Miyano (Host Club’s Tamaki, Death Note’s Light, Gundam 00’s Setsuna) plays Kuro, while Romi Paku (Fullmetal Alchemist’s Ed, Bleach’s Hitsugaya, Naruto’s Temari) as Kuromitsu. It’ll be a feast for the ears.
• Director Tetsuro Araki is coming off the the career high known as Death Note, so expect plenty of excellent drama in this series.

Notable:

• You may already be familiar with Koharu Sakuraba’s work: the very popular TV anime Minamike is also based on a manga of his.
• Always ready to make a liar out of me, the TV series will feature a different cast than the OVA. Ryota (previously played by Houko Kawashima) will be played by Yu Kobayashi (Negima!?’s Setsuna, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei’s Kaere Kimura). Chika, formerly Mai Kadowaki, now Asami Shimoda (her first lead role); Megumi Hidaka, formerly Kana Ueda, now Kana Asumi (Gurren Lagann’s Kiyal, Hidamari Sketch’s Yuno); Kazumi, formerly Mamiko Noto, now Mako (Kamichu!’s Yurie); Tsubasa Kawai, formerly Minori Chihara (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Yuki), now Ayahi Takagaki (D.C.II’s Otome, Special A’s Megumi).
• The TV series will also have a completely different cast and production company (the OVA was produced by Shinkuukan). The TV series will be directed by relative newbie Tsuyoshi Nagasawa; the OVA was directed by Makoto Sokuza.

Notable:

• This anime is based on the light novel series by Ichirou Sakaki and illustrated by Blade, with 9 volumes released from January 2003 to August 2007. So it looks like they waited until the story was complete before starting on the anime (which was originally announced in December 2007)! That’s usually a good sign in terms of staying true to the original content.
• Ami Koshimizu, best known recently for Code Geass‘ Kallen, will be voicing Takuto. Tanarot will be voiced by Mariya Ise, Yes! Precure 5’s Urara– she’ll also perform the theme song.
• Director Takaomi Kanesaki will debut as a director with this title; past credits include storyboard for Onegai My Melody and key animation for Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Notable:

• Yet another directorial debut here, this time from Sayo Yamamoto, who assistant-directed the Trava OVA and storyboarded Death Note and Samurai Champloo.
• Our leading ladies are also relative newcomers to anime: Suzuka Ougo was an award-winning child actress who played a young Chiyo in the recent Memoirs of a Geisha film; she’s playing Hacchin. Michiko will be voiced by Yoko Maki, another live-action actress who played Aya in The Princess Blade and Maki in Battle Royale II. Ougo did play “Sexy Voice” in the live-action adaptation of the Sexy Voice and Robo manga, however, and ANN claims that Maki was an assistant producer on the Cosplay Complex OVA (which seems odd to me, but eh.)

Notable:

• This mystery drama is being directed by Ryosuke Nakamura, his– you guessed it –directorial debut.
• And here’s your Mouryou no Hako all-star lineup! Hidenobu Kiuchi (Nana’s Ren Honjo, Darker than Black’s Hei) as Tatsumi Sekiguchi! Hiroaki Hirata (Black Lagoon’s Benny, One Piece’s Sanjo) as Akihiko Chuzenji! Houko Kuwashima (Clannad’s Tomoyo, InuYasha’s Sango) as Atsuko Chuzenji! And more!
• If the visuals look a bit familiar for this title, it’s because like Code Geass, Mouryou no Hako features character designs by CLAMP.

Notable:

• There is a bit of a staff shakeup: first season director Kenichi Kasai has left in favor of Chiaki Kon, who’s already working on Junjou Romantica 2 as well. Series composer Tomoko Konparu has also left, with Yoji Enokido (the script writer of FLCL) taking his place. Don’t worry though: the music is still being done by season one’s Suguru Matsutani.
• How about this for a notable item: no one has licensed the first season of Nodame Cantabile! What’s up with that, American anime companies? Especially since I’d consider Nodame to be a title with some potential for crossover.

Notable:

• One Outs is based on the manga by Shinobu Kaitani, whose work you may already be familiar with: his Liar Game manga was developed into a popular j-drama.
• In conjunction with the anime, the manga has re-started under the title One Outs: Miwaku no All-Star-Hen.

Notable:

• Same staff and cast all around. Yawn!

• Director Masahiko Murata is pretty at home with the supernatural and bizarre: he’s directed episodes of Lain as well as the entirety of Gilgamesh, plus the 2007 Giant Robo remake.
• Another live-action actress taking on a voice role: Nana Akiyama, who played Akira in the live-action tokusatsu Kamen Rider Hibiki, will voice Makino.
• Both the OP and ED will be performed by angela, whose Heroic Age OP “Gravitation” was arguably more memorable than much of the anime.

Notable:

• Although it has its own name, this is more of simply the continuation of the last season, which ended on September 27th. As such, there don’t seem to be any staff or cast changes.
• Interestingly, this new season of Shugo Chara! is going to have a late-night airing as well as the daytime airing. It won’t feature bonus content a la Soul Eater, but it says a lot about the show’s appeal to those who are only children at heart.

• This anime is actually running simultaneously in Japan and Taiwan. If only the U.S. was so lucky!
• Marina Inoue (Gurren Lagann’s Yoko, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei’s Chiri Kitsu) is set to play Kyouko, to my delight. Mamoru Miyano plays that dastardly Shoutaro, and Katsuyuki Konishi (Gurren Lagann’s Kamina, Blood+’s Haji) plays the mild-mannered superstar Ren, another love interest of Kyouko’s. Kamina x Yoko returns! Sorta…
• Director Kiyoko Sayama is going to be busy with this heavily-anticipated adaptation of Yoshiki Nakamura’s popular manga, as well as another: the sequel to Vampire Knight.

• Naturally based on the popular 2005 (2006 in North America) PS2 role-playing game, which is the…I believe sixth entry in the “Tales of” game series, Tales of the Abyss is being directed by Kenji Kodama, the man behind City Hunter (plus Kekkaishi and a bunch of Detective Conan movies).

• The original manga is by Makoto Kubota, who also did the illustrations for the kiddie gag series Shampoo Ouji.
• The titular Sunred (who I gather is the Genghis Khan lookalike?) is being voiced by Shun Takagi in his first lead role. Another character, Kayoko, is being voiced by Makiko Nabie, also in her first lead.

Notable:

• Linebarrels of Iron, as Gonzo is translating the title, is based on the manga of the same name by Eiichi Shimizu and illustrated by Tomohiro Shimoguchi.
• Our lead, Kouichi, is being voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara, also known as Minamike’s Fujioka and Gurren Lagann’s Simon.
• Aaaaand alongside Kakihara is Mamiko Noto (Jigoku Shoujo’s Ai Enma, Negima!?’s Nodoka) playing the girl, Emi.

Notable:

• Touma Kamijo will be voiced by the relatively new Atsushi Abe, voicing Souma Kuukai in Shugo Chara! and Akiyuki in Bounen no Xam’d.
• Meanwhile, Yuka Iguchi– Idol Master Xenoglossia’s Haruka and true tears‘ Aiko Andou –will be voicing Index.

Notable:

• Rie Kugimiya (Zero no Tsukaima’s Louise, Shakugan no Shana’s Shana, Hayate no Gotoku’s Nagi) adds a fourth character to her tsundere list by voicing Taiga.
• Junji Majima, Kodomo no Jikan’s lead Aoki-sensei and Shugo Chara!’s Nikaido-sensei, takes a break from playing a teacher to play a student, Ryuuji of course.
• Toradora! is based on the popular light novel series written by Yuyuko Takemiya and illustrated by Yasu– who also assisted on the video game The Promise of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Notable:

• The aforementioned boy, Jouslain, is being voiced by Daisuke Kishio, who is pulling triple duty– he’s Rosario to Vampire’s Tsukune and Vampire Knight’s Kaname Kuran.
• Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina!) is voicing a character named Fan Hulic, although his role isn’t really known yet.
• The anime is based on a novel series by Yoshiki Tanaka that started in 1988, is three volumes long to date, and is still technically ongoing…even though the third book was published in 1991.

Notable:

• Sing along with me now…no shakeups in cast or staff!
• Ahh, but we do have new OP and ED themes: the OP is “Rondo” by ON/OFF, and Kanon Wakeshima– who performed the ED for the first season –returns for the second, with “Suna no O-shiro.”

Notable:

• So, let’s talk seiyuu! Misato Fukuen (Rosario to Vampire’s Kurumu) as Hime, Saki Fujita (Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!’s Momoha) as Ao, Miyuki Sawashiro (Di Gi Charat’s Puchiko) as Kotoha, and Yuuki Kaji (a newcomer with three roles this season– in this, Kuroshitsuji, and Mouryou no Hako) as Akina.
• Music is a running theme in Yozakura Quartet, and the themes are no exception: Savage Genius performs the OP, “Just Tune,” while Round Table (featuring Nino) perform the ED, “Nagareboshi.”