via ANN:

Five new anime series or sequels to existing series were announced today. The new series is Akane-Iro no Somaru Saka, which is based on an eroge. Rie Kugamiya and Aya Hirano have been confirmed as major seiyuu for the series, which is set to begin airing in October.

ef – a tales of memories is getting a TV sequel titled ef – a tale of melodies, which will also air this fall. It already has a website and promo posted, both of which are linked to in the ANN article. ToHeart2ad and Ichigo Marshmallow are both getting OVAs, with the former tenatively titled ToHeart2ad plus. It will be released in 2009, but no date has been set for Ichigo Marshmellow’s sequel. Finally, Major is getting a fifth season, which will start airing on TV in January 2009.

The reason for all these announcements? Rondo Robe 2008, which is some kind of anime industry event in Japan. The ef and Ichigo Marshmallow series were both announced there, and I’m wondering if some of the other announcements were timed to coincide with it. Interesting, especially since I’ve never heard of this Rondo Robe.

At any rate, I’m excited about all these announcements. The ef sequel in particular intigues me, mainly because of the awesomeness of the promo video. ToHeart and Ichigo Marshmallow are big franchises, so it’s good to see that anime companies are sticking with those instead of random fanservice crap shows. Akane-Iro no Somaru Saka only intrigues me because of the seiyuu in it.

We’ll see how all this works out. Can’t wait for fall~!

~CJ