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

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).

Production I.G.’s latest project is this season’s Eden of the East. The story revolves around Akira Takizawa as he plays a dangerous game where only the winner gets to live. At the beginning, he has no recollection of the game due to a memory wipe, but he later learns of the details of this “game”. Twelve chosen individuals were given titles of Selecao One through Selecao Twelve, and were given cellphones with $10 billion yen each on it. One of them is secretly designated the Supporter whose job it is to eliminate any Selecao that runs out of funds or tries to escape the game. The game is won when one of the Selecao successfully “saves” Japan.

I always have had high expectations for anime worked on by Production I.G. since they seem to lean towards doing interesting sci-fi anime. One of my favorite anime of all times, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, was also done by them (very highly recommended). Eden of the East does not let down that expectation as the series thus far has a compelling plot, unique characters, an amazing soundtrack, and high quality animation. What more is there to say? This is certainly one of the best, if not the best, anime there is this spring. Noblesse oblige.

Eden of the East OP:

Think about the level of epicness in Gurren Lagann, then apply it to basketball – that’s Basquash! The show consists of many unique characters that compete against and with one another in basketball played by giant human-controlled mechs. The main character is Dan JD aka Dunkmask who constantly strives to conquer new challenges and rushes headfirst into various situations.

I was skeptical at first after reading the premise, but found it to be quite good after I started watching it. For those of you out there that don’t really prefer watching sports anime, fear not. I found it to focus more on the characters than on the sports. Furthermore, the actual matches aren’t stoic, rule-based basketball matches; they seem more like no boundaries, action-packed, trying to clutch the win for the team type of basketball. The OP song is also catchy and sung by Eclipse, a group of three idols in the series. They are Rouge (Haruka Tomatsu), Citron (Megumi Nakajima), and Violette (Saori Hayami). You might recall these voice actors as Nagi in Kannagi, Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier, and Saki in Eden of the East respectively.

Here’s a video of the first OP:

Today’s choice of Spring season’s anime is Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, based on a visual novel game called Phantom of Inferno released a while ago. First of all, I must say that the title does not sound all that good due to the repeated usage of Phantom. It would have been better to use the title of the visual novel that it was based on, but oh well. The anime is about a young japanese male (anime stereotype) that gets his memory erased and is forced to become an assassin for a secret organization simply due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is trained by the organization’s top assassin, code named Phantom and who is called Ein (means “one” in german). Furthermore, he is given the name Zwei (means “two in german) and is ordered to partner up with Ein.

The story is interesting enough thus far with its fair share of plot twists. Some people may be put off by the emotionless voices of the leading characters due to their lost memories or the sometimes melodramatic scenes, but I think this series merits watching. There are numerous action scenes throughout the series for the viewers out there that like violence . It may not be on the top of your anime to watch list, but it should certainly be on there.