:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: rain town

Creator: Hiroyasu Ishida (aka "Tete")
Artist Sites: Main Site, pixiv Profile, YouTube Channel
Additional Links: "rain town" PV, Main Site post (**spoilers**), "rain town" Gallery (**spoilers**)
Video [Free]: YouTube

 "In this town, since who knows when, rain has never stopped. Residents moved out to suburbs and higher ground around "rain town". Peoples memories are now deeply submerged. But into this forgotten rainy town sometimes, someone wanders."

Last January, I recommended two independent shorts singularly animated (for the most part) by two individuals. One of them was Hiroyasu Ishida (also known as "Tete"), a student at Kyoto Seika Universitiy's Faculty of Manga (which also teaches animation), and besides highlighting his award-winning "Fumiko's Confession", I also made mention of his one-minute "rain town" PV, which left a big impression on me, despite its brevity and relative simplicity.

:anime: HardDoor's Seasonal Anime Preview 2011 Special:: noitaminA (Spring, Summer)

Fuji TV's noitaminA block has produced a fine number of great titles over the years. Their slate for the spring and summer cours, however, looks particularly strong, enough so to warrant this special installment of HD's seasonal anime preview. While full-fledged ones of old are currently on hiatus due to time constraints, I thought it would still be worthwhile to churn out an edition for something like noitaminA. I have had my eye on these series since they have been announced, and hope they turn out as good as they appear to be. And knowing noitaminA's track record, their chances seem high…