The sequel to Someday's Dreamers, which I haven't seen.  Sora's a magic user, which doesn't seem unusual in this world: she's just been accepted to the Magic Academy in Tokyo. The whole first episode goes by before she even leaves for the Big City, so who knows how this one is going to turn out?  Could be good, could be bad.  I fear, however, that I'll never get that far, for one huge reason: the art.  As you can see from the above screenshot, in many ways Natsu na Sora is a beautiful anime.  The quality of the backgrounds is superb, and the night sky in one scene is the best I've ever seen.  The problem is, they blew the budget on the backgrounds, and refuse to make the character art detailed, or even consistent from shot to shot.  It's maddening how they can go from gorgeous to gah! in the same frame.

HIDAMARI x365

Not so much "slice of life" as it is the whole freakin' pie, Hidamari Sketch was possibly my favorite anime of 2007.  Hidamari x365 is the se/prequel to that show (sequel in that it comes after the first show, prequel in that the first episode tells the story of how Yuno came to the art school... and who knows what'll be in episode two, anyway?), and it's more of the same.  Same characters, same art style, same surreal touches, same love of rubber duckies, the works.  If you liked Hidamari Sketch, you'll like this.  If you didn't... *shakes head, walks away mumbling*

STRIKE WITCHES

Way back when, I said that the Strike Witches eight-minute, 54-second long promo was the greatest piece of anime ever.  Anticipation has been running high for the series ever since.  Now that it's here, all anybody is talking about is that none of the girls wear pants.  I'm now going to tell you the reason for that:

Pants would make it difficult to get into the Striker Unit, and perhaps the Striker Unit needs direct contact with the witch to work.

See?  Simple!  No pants for everybody!  After episode one, the anticipation seems to have been justified.  If they can keep the quality of the series at the same level (a questionable point, to be sure), this is gonna be a 5-star winner.  The premise?  Just before WWII begins, an alien race called the Neuroi invades Earth.  All the countries of the world set aside their differences to defend against the aliens... and get their butts kicked.  It appears that Europe has fallen, leaving Britain the remaining bastion of Humankind on that side of the pond (as opposed to The Pond).  Inventors created the Striker Units to amplify magical ability, the only thing that seems to work against the Neuroi.  Of course, teenage girls are the ones who can best use the Striker Units.  Tah-dahhhhhh!  The greatest concept ever.

Then name most of the characters after WWII fighter pilots (Erika Hartmann, Sanya Litvak {who is NOT a trap, darnit!}, Charlotte Yeager, etc etc etc), and it just gets better and better.

So that's what I'm watching to begin with... there's still a bunch of series on the horizon, of course!