Part 2 of our Fall guide features Sound! Euphonium season 2, which is possibly the most anticipated show of the season. As for the rest, it’s the usual mixed bag of sex and violence and dumb comedy, but there may be a few hidden gems lurking in this batch. No, I’m not talking about Keijo!!!!! Hip Flip Girl, at least I don’t think so… take a look and let us know what you have your eye on.

If you missed Part 1 of the guide, you can find it here.

Scorching Ping Pong Girls

Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, I’m Sure There Will Be a Clever Localized Title

Manga Adaptation by Kinema Citrus Air Date: 10/4/2016

Director: Yashuhrio Irie (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Code:Breaker) Series Composition: Hideyuki Kurata (Oreimo, Maria the Virgin Witch, Kannagi)

The girls’ middle school ping pong club has not been the same since after suffering a crushing defeat. Will the new transfer student get them out of their slump? With a premise like that I’d love to say this was the second coming of Sound! Euphonium but with ping pong, but I think the best we can aim for is some Sabagebu! style irreverent humor. That’s actually a pretty lofty goal coming from me, but despite this show’s similar color palette and terrible animation I wouldn’t get my hopes too high. Besides looking awful, that trailer isn’t giving us much to be interested in. Maybe if they have some funny hot blooded ping pong matches? I guess we’ll see.

Nanbaka

Nanbaka – The Numbers, Prison School After Story

Manga Adaptation by Satelight Air Date: 10/5/2016

Director: Shinji Takamatsu (Gundam Wing, School Rumble, Ixion Saga DT yes I need to mention that) Series Composition: Mitsutaka Hirota (Sweetness & Lightning, Prince of Tennis II)

A bunch of weirdos are trying to escape from prison and apparently they are very bad at it, seeing as the prison is also run by a bunch of weirdos. Not much of a premise but by the looks of things that’s all we need. The trailer pretty much had me at the different pitches of censoring for the various characters, leading me to believe this show will either be incredibly stupid or incredibly hilarious. If we’re lucky, maybe it will be both. Dumb comedies are my jam so I’ll definitely be checking this out.

Brave Witches

Strike Witches Cinderella Girls, Strike Witches Sunshine!

Anime Original (sort of) by Silver Link Air Date: 10/5/2016

Director: Kazuhiro Takamura (Strike Witches, Vividred Operation) Series Composition: Striker Unit (Strike Witches, which apparently no one wants to admit)

After 2 seasons and a movie worth of anime, the Strike Witches franchise is continuing the War on Pants with a brand new squadron. Frankly they look exactly the same as the previous group, but I’m sure the important thing for fans is the butts are back. Butts everywhere, butts for everyone. If you are interested in the “plot”, it’s a vaguely WWII era story about magical girls who can grow animal ears and airplane legs and shoot magic out of machine guns. They also don’t wear pants. I will make a confession to you dear readers, many years ago I actually watched the first episode of Strike Witches solely to see if there is some given reason why they don’t wear pants and rest assured there is none. So that alone should tell you the purpose of this show.

Flip Flappers

Anime Original by Studio 3Hz Air Date: 10/5/2016

Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Debut) Series Composition: Not Credited

Two girls from different dimensions join together in a quest to find magical shards that will grant their wishes. The shards they collect also transform them magical girl style, because we just can’t get enough of that this season. Cynicism aside, the trailer actually looks impressively colorful and creative. It seems to lean more toward a surreal, fantasy adventure than the usual pandering otaku bait. Also, Flip Flappers may be the best anime title since Samurai Flamenco, or maybe it’s actually the worst? I’m having trouble deciding.

Hip Whip Girl

Keijo!!!!!!!, No I Did Not Make Up Hip Whip Girl

Manga Adaptation by Xebec Air Date: 10/5/2016

Director: Hideya Takahashi (TV Debut) Series Composition: Takao Kato (Series Composition Debut)

“Keijo” is a new sport where girls stand on a platform above a pool and try to knock each other off. The catch? They can only push with boobs and butts. Yup. ANIME. Yes this is trashy and degrading, but I’ve seen bits of the manga floating around before and I will say that it takes itself so ridiculously serious that it’s kind of hilarious. We’re talking full on hot blooded shonen sports anime, with crazy borderline supernatural special attacks and everything. You can kind of get a taste of that in the trailer. Is that enough to make the good outweigh the bad? I don’t think so, but I think there’s a little more entertainment value there beyond fan service.

Sound! Euphonium 2

Hibike! Euphonium 2

Novel Adaptation by Kyoto Animation Air Date: 10/5/2016

Director: Tatsuya Ishihara (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions) Series Composition: Jukki Hanada (Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Beyond the Boundary)

As the direct sequel to one of the best shows of last year, season 2 of Sound! Euphonium is arguably the most anticipated series of the Fall season. Personally, I am very wary of this one. KyoAni’s track record for second seasons aside (still salty about Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions season 2), the first season told such a tight thematic story with a beginning, middle, and end that I’m hard pressed to see where we go from here. Yes, there are more competitions to be had but the message has already been delivered through Kumiko and Reina’s story. They are the heart and soul of this series and perhaps the most troubling thing is how much I’m seeing the new girls in all the new promotional materials, with the their story seemingly tied up more with annoying bow girl and Asuka than the main duo. It’s possible just going in a different direction is the best thing to do at this point, so maybe season 2 will add something new to the experience. Still, I’m really concerned the creators do not understand what made season 1 good and I’d hate to see such a good series get diluted by a bad sequel.

ALL OUT!!

Manga Adaptation by Madhouse, TMS Entertainment Air Date: 10/6/2016

Director: Kenichi Shimizu (Parasyte -the maxim-) Series Composition: Masahiro Yokotani (Free!, Re:Zero, SHIMONETA)

Same old shonen sports story, different sport. For this season, our undersized but plucky protagonist decides to take up rugby. I’m honestly not seeing anything to differentiate this from the myriads of other similar sports anime out there, and I suspect the crowd that’s in it for the cute boys will be too distracted by the return of Haikyuu to really care. At least it looks nice, and it’s possible I’m underestimating that particular fan base, so who knows? Maybe this will be another smash hit.

Drifters

Manga Adaptation by Hoods Entertainment Air Date: 10/6/2016

Director: Kenichi Suzuki (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure) Series Composition: Hideyuki Kurata (Oreimo, Maria the Virgin Witch, Kannagi)

Shimazu Toyohisa is mortally wounded at the Battle of Sekigahara, but before he dies he’s sent to a magical world to fight with other famous historical warriors like Oda Nobunaga, Hannibal, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. ANIME! I think the last historical mashup show I watched was Nobunagun which was pretty rad, but rather than a bizarre modern sci-fi story this kind of looks like if Sengoku Basara took itself too seriously. That’s not really a good thing. The trailer vaguely reminds me of the 90s to a certain degree, when so much of anime was graphic sex and violence. I might be old, but that doesn’t really appeal to me at this point and it kind of feels like a step backwards. I’m sure that will attract some people to it though, so if you’re in that camp have at it.

Girlish Number

Anime Original by Diomedea Air Date: 10/6/2016

Director: Shota Ibata (Debut) Series Composition: Wataru Watari (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU)

Get ready to get META as Girlish Number is the story of a college student pursuing a career as an idol voice actress. The pretty colors and sickeningly cute characters make me think this is not going to be the second coming of Shirobako in terms of giving us a look into the industry, but I will say having the original author of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU behind the story could make things interesting. That series had a knack for brutally attacking anime cliches so maybe we will get some more of that in this series. Consider that a small glimmer of hope for what otherwise looks like inconsequential fluff.