New animations... for me at least.

[Sebastian]

Some series I just checked... and remember.

Some hints untill A7 make the serious rewiews.

1) Stellvia. Right now Im hearing the opening song... wich I LOVE! The animation is pretty decent and the story is Ok.. nothing new. Nice mix between comedy and space action. I had only checked the first DVD. It is definetelly worth to see.

2) Last Excile. GET THIS ANIME !!!!! IS AMAZING!!! GET IT, GET IT NOW! A real beauty, the story ROCKS, characters and animation are really a great piece of work.

3) Wonderfull Days. Has anyone see this movie??? It is a KOREAN animation (errrr... right?). Guys, this thing is GOOD. Really. A bit disney in some moments but still a great animation. The story is really interesting and will hook you up, but is not anything really new, in fact the plot remind me a dozen of diferent animes mixed alltogether. Lots of CG... It is like an Xbox game... hehehe

4) Stand alone complex. It SUCKS so far, To see my beautifull captain so SOFT and KIND and TENDER, in other words, human, was a big Let down. The first episodes was like looking Detective Konan. They are SO COOL! SO SMART! and NICE... Come on! I hate that old guy character. I know some may flame me, but I really dont care. It was a BIG let down for me. The deepness of Gost in the Shell went right out of the window with this Stand Alone Complex TV series. They lost the sense of the orinal animation.

5) D N Angel. For Kids. Tries to be funny but it doesnt. The action is not really good and the plot is just like a Sailor Moon episode... or season at the most. AVOID!

Still must finish this animation. Maybe I am wrong.

6) Gunparade March. It remind me Gasaraki, nice animation, it have everything; drama, comedy, cool mechas, under aged pilots with hormonal disorders... nice. Only the first DVD is out so far so... I can tell about the first episodes only.

7) Get Backers. AVOID

Overman. Heeeee... nice animation terrible plot, decent caracters and the mecha sucks BIG time. I did not like the show. No intensity, no power, no drama, no nothing. Like watching Snoopy in Latin.

Well maybe I am a bit too harsh. I just did not like it, but it still a decent show.

9) Ninja Scroll new series. So far... a lot of monsters and a Supa Duppa Cool Ninja who will kick their arses really bad. Lots of blood and chocolate everywhere, head blows, arms, organs (you name it)... kinda gore and stooooopid, but still funny with a couple of long drinks.

10) X Hunters. AVOID!! RUN AWAY FROM THIS ANIME!!

11) Black Heaven. Heavy Metal Save the Universe. This is a FREACKY animation. But good. If you can check it, do it. Funny really funny.

[Knight26]

On the ones I have seen in your list:

Last Exile: I agree, normally I am not into steam punk but is really good, highly recommended.

Ninja Scroll (series): Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, shows some promise.

Stand Alone Complex: Only seen the first few but I like it, cvould do with less fan service though. I think it is much truer to the Manga then the movie was.

[Effect]

I've heard good things about Last Exile. I"m trying to get it now. B)

[Radd]

Been following all of those for quite some time now.

Stellvia of the Universe I've only seen one episode for. I wanted to get more, but was distracted by a ton of other shows that I wanted to get all at once. Seemed interesting. I've heard it described as "Harry Potter in Space". I plan to see more soon.

Last Exile is a definite must-see. Pioneer will be releasing the show domestically, so you can bet the DVDs will be worth picking up. The story is decent, but nothing special up to where I've seen (around episode 12 or so), but it's not bad. The characters are interesting, though one just screams "Captain Herlock"! The animation is some of the best out there, though the quality does start to dip later on. It recovers slightly, but the first several episodes are still far and away better than the rest of the series.

The world, on the other hand, is just plain incredible. Very steam-fantasy-ish ('m hesitant to call it steampunk, as it's only as steampunkish as Star Wars could be considered cyberpunk). The airships are beautiful, the character designs are gorgeous, the world design just wreaks of depth and style. Even if the story doesn't pick up (though some of my friends who've seen further than I assure me that it picks up in a big way not far from where I am now in the series), I'd want to watch the rest of the series just to see how the world developes.

Wonderful Days seems interesting. Lots of people compare it to the Final Fantasy movie as far as the feel and mood of the story. I hope to see it soon.

Stand Alone Complex is definitely what Ghost in the Shell fans derserve after the atrocity that was the movie. Perhaps I'm a bit harsh on the film, but I was a huge fan of the manga, and the film just...well, not only did Oshii not do Shirow's work any justice, he completely stripped the characters of any personality or depth, and replaced all of the techno-philisophical ideas and thoughts with horribly shallow pseudo-philisophical tripe. Then people DARED to compare the animation to that of Akira. You don't compare yourself to the best unless you can back it up. The animation in GitS wasn't bad at all, but Akira simply cannot be beaten, or even rivaled, for quality animation. Even if you hate the movie's story and characters, you cannot deny that no animated film has come close to achieving what Akira did as far as the animation itself.

Anways, enough of my GitS rant. The show, Stand Alone Complex, starts of modestly enough with a series of self contained stories. Nothing too deep, but the characters act how they should. Sure, there's lots of fan service, but check out your copy of the manga again. Shirow did not shy away from the fan service. Anyways, my favourite part of the show, up until the Laughing Man story arch began, was the Tachikomas. One thing I always despised about the movie was the lack of the Fujikomas, SAC addresses that concern in spades. I love those guys, and of course how Batou interacts with them. I look forward to see where the Laughing Man story goes. It'll probably be a rehash of the original manga story to an extent, but told different enough to make it interesting.

D.N. Angel I think I saw one episode of but wasn't driven to see any more. No real opinion on it, just wasn't interested.

Gun Parade March reminded me a lot of Eva. I've had enough of Eva. I therefore only saw the first episode. I might see more in the future, just haven't gotten around to seeing if a second impression might change my mind. I did like the character designs a lot, though.

Get Backers didn't draw me in, either. A friend of mine loves it, I'm not big on it at all. Again, only seen one episode, but it didn't grab me enough to make me want to see more.

Ninja Scroll I haven't looked into. Not been interested. The movie didn't do much for me, the second movie was a horribly edited, chopped up mess, and I've just not had any desire to seek out any more. I'll certainly watch it eventually, if any of my friends pick it up.

Legend of Black Heaven is old news. Saw it on DVD years ago. Horrible, awful animation. Wretched, cheesy, undeveloped sci-fi war story. EXCELLENT show. How does this work? The show is entirely character oriented. It's all about the lead character's relationship with his wife. If you seriously do appreciate character driven stories, I expect you'll love this show. Also, the side story about the drummer is classic.

Have not seen ths Overman show, nor X-Hunters.

What else is hot?

Wolf's Rain should be a household name for anime fans by now. I've only seen like the first two or three episodes, but I liked what I saw. Yoko Kano fans will want to check it out for the soundtrack. The characters seem interesting, as does the world. The show become immensly popular in fansub circles and should be hitting american shelves soon.

Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu is quite simply one of the best shows to come out of Japan recently. If you liked the humour in Excel Saga, but felt the jokes wearing at you towards the end, then this show is just the thing. I just finished watching the tv series, and not once did I feel any of the jokes had gotten stale or been done to death. Not only that, but Guu has a solid cast of interesting, well developed characters and a very coherent story that's actually quite touching at times.

Captain Herlock: Outside Legend, Endless Odyssey is a must see for Matsumoto fans. This is the most impressive Herlock I've seen since the classic Arcadia of My Youth (which, itself, should be out on DVD next month).

Tetsuwan Atom is back, and better than ever. The classic 'Astro Boy' has been redone, with a huge animation budget backed up by Sony. Despite the Rin Taro-esque visuals and impressive backing, the show remains true to the original stories, keeping the themes and style of the original show intact.

Not quite new shows, but recently available fansubs include:

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a classic anime. Giant Robo fans might take an extra-special interest in this show.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes deserves a mention because it's still the best serious space opera war epic ever to come out of Japan. Possibly the best anywhere. The show is simply goodness presented in animated form. If you like character driven stories, intruige heavy political plots, and epic storylines, this is a must.

Gao Gai Gar still reigns as King of the Brave robot genre. If you liked Transformers, you might want to check this gem out. Another series in the Brave genre, Brave Express Might Gaine has just started showing up in fansub circles recently.