Anime Of The Future

The arrival of a new season filled with anime is nice. Reading about awesome series coming out in the near future is also nice. But here in Anime Reviews we think even further and we’ve come up with a list of five titles that we believe will be released in the far future. The challenge here was to find five series which haven’t even been announced, yet have a very big chance of coming our way in a year, or two, or three. We present you with the anime of the future.

Basquash! (The Reboot)

In 2009 a severely underrated series called Basquash! aired in Japan. It was a showcase anime with art and animation that put all other anime series that year to shame. Basquash! had some big names behind it, including Nike, but it turned out to be a commercial failure. It had a very vogue sense of direction and thus didn’t quite find an appropriate audience to cater too. Sadly it was never released in the U.S. as well. Soon after the original series aired Satelight – the animation studio behind Basquash! announced that they will reboot the title. This time they intended on creating a more child oriented and sporty anime. And since Basquash! centered around huge Mecha playing basketball rebooting the series as a sport anime seemed like the right choice. More than a year has passed and little is known about the aforementioned reboot. Is it coming along? Will it air in the upcoming year? Only time will tell.

Despera

Despera was announced in 2009 and was supposed to be a collaboration between three very prominent figures in the anime industry: director Ryutaro Nakamura, script writer Chiaki J. Konaka and character designer Yoshitoshi ABe. The Despera anime was supposed to take place in 1922 and center around a 14 year old girl name Ai who often builds devices despite the lack of scientific background for them. The project started as a novel in Animage magazine and was greenlit for anime production in 2010. It was even slated to air in 2011 and had a solidified airing date. Unfortunately, soon after Ryutaro Nakamura fell ill and production came to a halt. The Despera novel was wrapped up and released in book form, but the fate of the anime itself is still unknown. However Despera is almost destined to be produced as an anime series eventually, and expectations for it are sky high. After all, this is the labor of love from the people who brought us Armitage III, Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei.

Read or Die Rehabilitation

Two months ago it was revealed that a new Read or Die manga – Read or Die Rehabilitation – is in the works. This manga is supposed to be a darker and more modern tale then the original Read or Die. It will feature a new main character, which will be name Yomiko but is in fact a different Yomiko than the one in previous Read or Die iterations. This opens up the door to wonderful new possibilities: a Read or Die series with a modern set might touch on things like the change in consumption of books and invention of Tablets, and as a darker tale it could feature more hard core imagery that its predecessors. Judging by the popularity Read or Die enjoyed both in Japan and in the West during the beginning of the millennium the chances of an anime adaptation coming along in two or three years is strong.

Nanoha Force (aka Lyrical Nanoha 4rd Season)

It’s no secret that the Nanoha franchise is super popular in Japan. Originally developed as a gag spinoff to the OVA Triangle Heart, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha proved to be popular in its own right. Subsequent seasons of the series shed the cliché aspects and strived for a richer and interesting plot and a believable magical world. The third season ended with a bang – spawning two manga series, two video games and two movies (Lyrical Nanoha – The Movie 1st and this year’s Lyrical Nanoha – The Movie 2nd A’s). But while Nanoha’s popularity doesn’t show any signs of waning the franchise didn’t have an entry on the small screen for more than 5 years. The immediate successor to the 3rd season of the anime (Nanoha Strikers) is a manga called Nanoha force. Taking place ten years after the events of Nanoha Strikers, Nanoha is now 26 years. She is no longer a magical girl and more of a magical woman. The manga retains most of the characters from the anime, adds some new ones and ventures off on a brand new plot. Translating Nanoha Force into a 4th season of the anime seems to be the natural way of progression for the Nanoha franchise. But really, when we make note of a new season for Nanoha we are not really talking about an “if” but more like a “when” and a “how”. Will Nanoha Force debut after the second movie? Or maybe a few years after the (almost certain) third movie?

Strike Witches Season 3

Similar to the Nanoha franchise the Strike Witches franchise shows no signs of stopping in Japan and is also surprisingly popular in the U.S. (why else would FUNimation reissue the first season of the series again and again three years in a row?). The series had two seasons, a game and a movie in Japan. The 2nd season ended with a “to be continued” message, and the announcement of the movie was quick to follow. And then it was reported that the movie too had a “to be continued” message in its end. With the movie’s Blu-ray set to be released sometime next year can it be that a 3rd season in the Strike Witches franchise is in the works? It might be a direct continuation of the movie. Conversely it maybe even turn out to be an animated version of one of the many official Strike Witches doujinshi out there (which consist of Witches of Africa, Tigers of the Desert and Witches of the Sphinx).

That’s our five bets on anime series of the future. Have your own suspects you’d like to add to the list? Be sure to tell us in the comments.