Haruhi is doing a rerun of Season 1 with new episodes mixed into the batch. For those who are as confused as I am as to when the new episodes are airing, here is a list that I found in a Sankaku Complex article:

Air Date / Episode # / Name

04/02 第01話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱１ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1

04/09 第02話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱２ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2

04/16 第03話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱３ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 3

04/23 第04話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱４ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 4

04/30 第05話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱５ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 5

05/07 第06話 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱６ / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 6

05/14 第07話 涼宮ハルヒの退屈  / The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya

05/21 第08話 笹の葉ラプソディ　 新作 / Bamboo Rhapsody (NEW)

05/28 第09話 ミステリックサイン / Mystérique Sign

06/04 第10話 孤島症候群（前編）/　 Remote Island Syndrome (Part 1)

06/11 第11話 孤島症候群（後編） / Remote Island Syndrome (Part 2)

06/18 第12話 エンドレスエイト　新作  ←ここまで来た / Endless Eight (NEW)

06/25 第13話 涼宮ハルヒの溜息１　新作 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 (NEW)

07/02 第14話 涼宮ハルヒの溜息２　新作 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 2 (NEW)

07/09 第15話 涼宮ハルヒの溜息３　新作 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya 3 (NEW)

07/16 第16話 朝比奈ミクルの冒険 Episode00 / The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00

07/23 第17話 ライブアライブ  / Live Alive

07/30 第18話 射手座の日 / The Day of Sagittarius

08/07 第19話 サムデイ イン ザ レイン / Someday in the Rain

08/14 第20話 涼宮ハルヒの消失１　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1 (NEW)

08/21 第21話 涼宮ハルヒの消失２　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 2 (NEW)

08/28 第22話 涼宮ハルヒの消失３　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 3 (NEW)

09/03 第23話 涼宮ハルヒの消失４　新作 / The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 4 (NEW)

09/10 第24話 ヒトメボレLOVERS　新作 / Charmed at First Sight Lover (NEW)

09/17 第25話 雪山症候群(前編)　新作 / Snowy Mountain Syndrome Part 1 (NEW)

09/24 第26話 雪山症候群(後編)　新作 / Snowy Mountain Syndrome Part 1 (NEW)

10/01 第27話 猫はどこにいった?　新作 / Where did the Cat Go? (NEW)

10/08 第28話 消失の後日　新作 / Another Day of the Disappearance (NEW)

Hopefully this list is accurate, as it seems to be so far.

For those who haven’t already seen this on Sankaku Complex: Azusa cosplaying as Alicia. Pretty good photoshop work?

Anyways, episode 12 of K-ON! is pretty much the ending to this season plotwise, but there is a preview showing an extra episode which I am assuming is one of those filler-for-fun episodes. Hopefully we’ll get a few laughs from it since the past couple of K-ON! episodes have been somewhat drama heavy.

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Aww, over so soon? The next episode is the final one and I haven’t watched it yet, but I have high hopes for it due to the plot progression in the previous episode. Eden was rather short; I was hoping they would make it a 26 episode series. The good news is there are the 2 movies that will probably wrap up the story. The bad news is that they are opening in Japan this November and in January 2010, so it’s a bit of a wait. Cheers to what I thought was the best anime series this season, Noblesse Oblige.

Source: ANN

Here is a chronological picture summary of the most epic episode thus far in this season’s Ippo:

The power of Takamura's counter when he is unconscious

World Champion = orz

So I’ve decided to attend AX this year and compiled a list of the GoHs attending along with some of the projects they’ve worked on. The info was found on the Anime Expo website along with some help from the Anime News Network.

Hiroyuki Imaishi – Animator for Evangelion, His and Her Circumstances, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Daisuke Ishiwatari – Guilty Gear
Yun Kouga – Character designer for Gundam 00
Yosuke Kuroda – Involved in Hayate the Combat Butler!, Honey and Clover, Gundam 00
Seiji Mizushima – Director for Gundam 00 Movie, FMA, Gundam 00, Evangelion
Toshimichi Mori – Game Dev for BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Toshiyuki Morikawa – Voice Actor for Allison & Lillia (Travas), FFVII (Sephiroth)
Morning Musume – Japan’s top female band
Yasuhiro Nightow – Mangaka of Trigun
Atsushi Nishigori – Character designer for This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, Character Animation Director for Gurren Lagann
Satoshi Nishimura – Director of 2009 Trigun Movie, Key Animation for Gundam Seed, Kenshin
Takashi Okazaki - Mangaka of Afro Samurai
Kari Wahlgren – English VA for FF12 (Ashe), FFT: Lion’s War (Ovelia), Xenosaga I, II, III (Febronia, Pellegri)
Noriyuki Jinguji – Main Designer for Trigun
Shigeru Kitayama – Worked on Trigun, Noir, Madlax
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For those still unaware, there is an Anime Expo 2009 being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 2-5. Late registration for a 4-day adult pass is $65.00, with registration at the door being only $5 dollars more. This is way cheaper than Blizzcon’s two day pass priced at $125.00, which I will be looking forward to attending this August. The real cost is in the transportation, hotel fees, food, and merchandise (^_^).

I haven’t been to an anime convention yet which makes this tempting to go to along with the fact that special guests will be there. There’s Hiroyuki Imaishi (Evangelion, Gurren Lagann), Yun Kouga (Character Designer for Gundam 00), Toshiyuki Morikawa (VA for Sephiroth and more), and many more Guests of Honor along with Industry Guests. It would be awesome to meet them and get their autographs.

Of course, there are always the main and interactive events which should be fun as well. For those interested in getting more info, visit their site at http://www.anime-expo.org.

A bit late, but here’s my top 5 shows this season in no particular order:

Highly Recommended

1. Eden of the East

2. Valkyria Chronicles

3. K-ON!

4. Saki

5. Chrome Shelled Regios

It was difficult choosing just 5, but for those still interested in watching more:

Recommended

6. Basquash!

7. Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger

8. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

9. Guin Saga

10. Cross Game

I posted quick overviews on many of these series in the past if you’re in need of my opinions.

An anime adaptation of the PS3 exclusive with the same name, Valkyria Chronicles does a superb job of bringing the characters and story to life. For those new to this series, Valkyria Chronicles tells the story of one of the two superpowers (the Empire) on the continent invading the neighboring neutral country of Gallia. The series follows the exploits of the Gallian Militia Squad 7 led by Welkin Gunther and his subordinate Alicia Melchiott (voiced by Marina Inoue, VA for Kyoko in Skip Beat! ^^) as they fight the Imperials.

The background and world setting shares many similarities with Europe during World War II which I find mildly amusing. There are also some inconsistencies with regard to the game’s plot, but nothing really major. The anime adaptation certainly expanded many of the characters and lets the viewer get to know them more as opposed to the game’s more rapid plot progression with emphasis on battles (utilizes an innovative battle system, which I’ll talk about later).

Great animation, interesting plot, and unique characters, what isn’t there to like?

Guin Saga is another one of the series I am currently watching this season. The story begins with a peaceful kingdom being invaded by their neighboring kingdom. During the attack, the surviving heirs of the devastated kingdom escape and encounter Guin, a man who is cursed with a leopard’s head and has lost his memory. This series contains your standard heroic journey plot brought to epic proportions.

At first, I was put off by a story about a man who has a leopard head because it seemed weird, but after watching a couple of episodes I realized that the series was quite good with an intriguing storyline. The anime is based on the best-selling novel series by Kaoru Kurimoto with a total of 126 volumes as of May 2009 when the author died (Source: Wikipedia).

I recently saw some gameplay footage of Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced and became interested in it. The enhanced version is simply a PS2 port of the game with some added content. Looking at the OP video, the characters along with their weaponry reminds me of the anime Sky Girls.

Gameplay footage using the character Faintear:

Judging from the gameplay, it’s similar to other “bullet hell” shooters like Touhou Project except that you are able to grab flying enemies and throw them. Unfortunately, the PS2 version has not been brought stateside, but it seems to be available on Xbox Live (and the Xbox is the only console I don’t have, go figure). Definitely looks like fun and I plan on trying it out sometime soon.