Code Geass Gaiden, Amagami, More New Anime

Now that we're back on track on the trailers front, with today's liberating scoop of 16 videos, it's finally time to get those anime news going again. So let's see what new titles have cropped up over the past week. We have those two in the title above, a new ToHeart2 OVA, some MazinKaiser mecha bullshit, and... well, let's just take them one at a time.



The "rebirth" of the Code Geass franchise in various shapes and forms - from manga to anime and beyond - was first revealed back in December. No details about the new anime project were given at the time, but last week saw the release of a certain Code Geass event video disc, announcing a narrative backdrop and a title for it: Code Geass Gaiden: Boukoku no Akito. Still no release date or format, though.

Code Geass Gaiden will actually be a side-story set in a.t.b.2017, on the European warfront. "A Knightmare unit made of boys and girls from Zone Eleven are thrown into a military operation with a 5% chance of survival. They must rescue an allied unit left behind on the European warfront", as the story goes on ANN.

The other mecha anime announced last week is Mazinkaizer SKL. This one will be an OVA that's set to mark the return of the classic MazinKaiser super robot franchise. Or rather sub-franchise, considering that it was only a spin-off from Mazinger Z. Yeah, very fascinating stuff, isn't it? Let's just move on.

ToHeart2 - now we're talking! The funny gang from Frontier Works is planning a "Joint OVA Utawarerumono x ToHeart2 Event" this May 23 in Yokohama, where they will talk about a new ToHeart2 OVA series. And we can only hope for a new Utawarerumono anime as well, because the ongoing OVA is way too sporadic, and way too disappointing so far. But that's just wishful thinking, really.

Update: A more recent report from April 29 pinpoints the new OVA's title as ToHeart2 adnext, and its approximate release date set for the end of September 2010.

Next came the weekend, and with it a couple more anime announcements. One of them - Seitokai Yakuindomo - will be a TV anime series produced by Starchild Records, based on a slice-of-life comedy manga by Tozen Ujiie. It's about a former all-girls private high school, recently converted to accomodate both genders. Except that the student body ratio is still rather one-sided: 524 girls and only 28 boys. So expect some crazy harem fun in this one.

The other weekend revelation also happens to be a bit of a harem offering: Amagami SS, based on Enterbrain!'s PS2 dating sim game Amagami from one year ago. Studio AIC is the one working on this TV anime series for a July 2010 debut in Japan, and for now they are teasing us with a cute artwork depicting all six heroines, as well as a one-minute trailer. Cute, indeed.

And to wrap this up, yesterday brought news of a Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru TV anime series, or SoreMachi for short. It'll be based on Masakazu Ishiguro's comedy / slice-of-life manga about a tea shop with a maid twist (as opposed to a maid cafe with a tea shop twist). I'm not getting excited about this one yet, but there's plenty of time to change my mind: the release date is anyone's guess, for now.