Winter 2008

In the 24th century on the planet Aqua, three girls—Akari Mizunashi, Alice Carroll, and Aika S. Granzchesta—continue to work hard toward achieving their goal of becoming Prima Undines: professional tour guide gondoliers. Luckily, the girls have the guidance of the three best Prima Undines in Neo-Venezia—Alicia Florence, Athena Glory, and Akira E. Ferrari—who are known as the “Water Fairies” in honor of their skill. With their help, the young apprentices train hard and work to overcome any situations that they find themselves in.

Aria The Origination follows the hardships and daily lives of these three young girls, who are doing their best to improve as tour gondoliers in Neo-Venezia, a terraformed replica of Venice.

When three complete strangers, Mishiba Toki, Nakajyo Nobuto, and Saitoh Kazuo, are hired by a corporation to compete in the Bus Game, an illegal dog-fight conducted in strict secrecy, they are given the team code of “Team AAA” (Triple Anonymous). This group of three who differ entirely from their living environments to their personalities have to work together effectively, but without mutually wiping out their mistrust of each other or prying into each other’s privacy. They only have one point in common—each of them need a large amount of money for their individual circumstances. To get the money, they must play in the game despite their very own lives being at stake.

Containing shorts that couldn’t be included in the original, Genius Party Beyond weaves stories that are both deep and insightful: the idea all life is relative in size, the consequences of an oppressive government, and how to deal with your darker desires, among others.From the directors and artists of works such as Samurai Champloo, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Akira, come a multitude of thought-provoking tales, to create a collection equalling the original in storytelling genius.[Written by MAL Rewrite]

More crazy antics abound as Nozomu Itoshiki (a.k.a Zetsubou-sensei), who is the worlds most negative person, tries to teach class 2-F about how life is filled with despair and darkness. A harder task than it first may seem, with his students being far from ordinary themselves, including the likes of the most positive girl he has ever met, his very own stalker, a foreign exchange student with split personalities and a perfectionist acting class president, due to the fact the real class president can’t be seen by anyone, among others.

(Source: ANN)

Takuma Hirose is a blind young male high school student, though the cause for his blindness is undetermined. In order to heal his medical condition, he is sent to live in a village with his uncle. There, he meets several girls, three of which stand out more than any of the others. They are Hayami Kohinata, Hinata Kangura, and Otoha. Otoha temporarily heals his blindness and Hirose uses his sight to help others. He finds out that, for some reason, Hayami Kohinata is hated in the village, and he tries his best to help her out. Meanwhile, many sad secrets unfold in the village…

Having finished high school, Gorou Honda sets his sights on becoming a professional baseball player. His dreams are much more ambitious than becoming a Japanese Baseball League player, so he instead decides to move to the birthplace of his beloved sport, America, in order to play in the Major League.

However, Gorou finds that the Major League players are much faster, stronger, and more driven than he is. Nonetheless, he is eager to catch up with them. In order to do so, Gorou must first conquer the ranks of the Minor League, where numerous skilled players compete in the grueling rise to the Majors.

Gorou learns that he will have to adapt to the stark differences of American culture and push himself to new extremes as his race to join the Major League begins.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Holo is a powerful wolf deity who is celebrated and revered in the small town of Pasloe for blessing the annual harvest. Yet as years go by and the villagers become more self-sufficient, Holo, who stylizes herself as the “Wise Wolf of Yoitsu,” has been reduced to a mere folk tale. When a traveling merchant named Kraft Lawrence stops at Pasloe, Holo offers to become his business partner if he eventually takes her to her northern home of Yoitsu. The savvy trader recognizes Holo’s unusual ability to evaluate a person’s character and accepts her proposition. Now in the possession of both sharp business skills and a charismatic negotiator, Lawrence inches closer to his goal of opening his own shop. However, as Lawrence travels the countryside with Holo in search of economic opportunities, he begins to realize that his aspirations are slowly morphing into something unexpected.

Based on the popular light novel of the same name, Ookami to Koushinryou, also known as Spice and Wolf, fuses the two polar genres of economics and romance to create an enthralling story abundant with elaborate schemes, sharp humor, and witty dialogue. Ookami to Koushinryou is more than just a story of bartering; it turns into a journey of searching for a lost identity in an ever-changing world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle high school student with a love for housework; but in contrast to his kind nature, he has an intimidating face that often gets him labeled as a delinquent. On the other hand is Taiga Aisaka, a small, doll-like student, who is anything but a cute and fragile girl. Equipped with a wooden katana and feisty personality, Taiga is known throughout the school as the “Palmtop Tiger.”

One day, an embarrassing mistake causes the two students to cross paths. Ryuuji discovers that Taiga actually has a sweet side: she has a crush on the popular vice president, Yuusaku Kitamura, who happens to be his best friend. But things only get crazier when Ryuuji reveals that he has a crush on Minori Kushieda—Taiga’s best friend!

Toradora! is a romantic comedy that follows this odd duo as they embark on a quest to help each other with their respective crushes, forming an unlikely alliance in the process.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]