:anime: HardDoor's Seasonal Anime Preview 2014 Special:: noitaminA (Spring, Summer)

Nine years and three days ago, on April 14, 2005, Fuji TV launched their "noitaminA" anime block with the series, Honey & Clover. With the aim of breaking the trend of and expanding the demographic of anime programing beyond young and teen boys, noitaminA would become the birthplace of antithetical works of the likes of Paradise Kiss, Hataraki Man, and Ayakashi/Mononoke.

The great success of the Nodame Cantabile franchise (still its biggest to date), Moyashimon, Library War, and Eden of the East, as well as the notoriety of the block's quality and content helped fuel noitaminA's expansion to a one-hour format for its fifth anniversary. Since then, it has experienced its share of sleepers (Shiki, Black Rock Shooter (TV)), diamonds-in-the-rough (read: critically-praised, but poor-selling) (Hourou Musoko/Wandering Son, Princess Jellyfish/Kuragehime), high-profile flops (Fractale, GUILTY CROWN (sold decently, but not up the lofty expectations of its hype or as well-received), Samurai Flamenco), big hits (AnoHana, Bunny/Usagi Drop, PSYCHO-PASS), and even a live-action series (an second adaptation of the Moyashimon manga).

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Mystery Meat AniMe

*Hey, look! It's a Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick not at the end of a month!*

I have highlighted many anime for each month since Oct. 2009 and normally, I would list the anime's name in the title. But for craps-and-giggles' sake, I want to change the pace a little, so let's play that little game where you reach your hand in the bag and guess what the object is!!

The rules are simple: I'll give you a very vague description of the anime and the website(s) where it is listed at. The URL is simple enough that all you need to do is enter the anime's title (if you can guess it correctly…) at the end of the site's address (if you can guess that, too) to get to it (i.e. "www.crunchyroll.com/kill-la-kill", and make sure to use hyphens where/if there are spaces). And to be an extra pain-in-the-butt and even more in spirit of the game, everything is in "invisible text", so you'll have to highlight the text in order to see it. :D So, without further ado, click below and have some fun!