I suppose I'll stop being completely lazy subbing Shugo Chara and comparing fansubs for a bit and take some time to post initial thoughts about the actual shows. They're listed in rough order of preference, which is subject to frequent change throughout most of the season.
Spice and Wolf II
I didn't realize how much I had missed this series until I watched ep1. Even though I rewatched the first season in Anime Club not too long ago. Holo (yes, I've started using the official translation for her name) is such an awesome character and I really cannot say that enough times. The relationship between her and Lawrence is so fun to watch and it's becoming even more interesting now that the subject of the end of their journey to Holo's homeland is coming up. From watching the OAV I got the feeling that this would be a big theme in the second season here and I'm dying to see where it goes.
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
The first episode was absolutely hilarious and the second was pretty good too. The whole fight scene with the girls kicking the crap out of the prison guards made me laugh so hard. It's definitely living up to the previous seasons.
Kanamemo
This one's by no means a masterpiece but it's very much my kind of show. I've seen pretty much every element in it so far previously used in other slice of life/comedies, but even so it's still entertaining to watch it simply do what such shows do best: Be cute and funny and maybe a little heartwarming. Ep1 was used almost entirely for introduction to the characters and setting so it wasn't especially interesting but ep2 made me burst out laughing multiple times.
Plus, it includes a deadpan loli which is, like, awesome +50.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
I really enjoyed Higurashi so I've been looking forward to Umineko. When I first started watching Higurashi, though, I had no clue how the series was structured, in terms of the different chapters. But with Umineko I'm now already familiar with that, and I'm guessing it'll follow a similar structure, given the I-I and I-II labels for the first two episodes. So I find myself looking at events in Umineko differently than I did at the beginning of Higurashi. Hopefully it will be just as interesting despite that.
Bakemonogatari
Zomg prettiness. Some of the CG doesn't blend in especially well but this show is still beautiful and reminds me of the style that SHAFT used for ef. What I've seen of the characters in ep1 and the premise of the story don't especially interest me, but it's SHAFT and Shinbo so I'm willing to give it a shot. Also, Saito Chiwa voices the female lead and I've been interested in hearing her in another significant role (that isn't Kemeko, who was just freaking annoying) ever since hearing her as Becky in Pani Poni Dash and Aika in Aria.
Edit: Yeah, so after watching ep2 and 3 this series jumped way up my list. Ep3 was mostly just Koyomi and Hitagi sitting on a bench in the park, talking... and I freaking loved it. Listening to Hitagi's endless taunting and verbal abuse (Saito Chiwa mmmm~) of Koyomi, along with little visual cues like the chibi style scenes, was hilarious. Though it also helped that I was pausing every thirty seconds to go, "Oh my God, Hitagi is beautiful," and take a screen shot.
The whole bit with Mayoi had me cracking up as well. I'm really looking forward to ep4 and seeing more of her.
Aoi Hana
I'm enjoying the slow, relaxing pace of this anime, similar to that of Marimite. And hopefully it lives up to Marimite in other ways, too. Fumi and Akira are likable enough so far but I really haven't seen enough of the series to tell if it'll be good or fall flat.
I'm a bit concerned about it apparently only being 11 episodes. That doesn't give it very long to build the relationship between Fumi and Akira, let alone the other characters.
GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class
There are a lot of obvious similarities between this and Hidamari Sketch, a series which I enjoyed immensely. Hopefully GA will be able to stand on its own and not just end up as, "like Hidamari Sketch but not as good." Either way, it looks like it'll be a fun little series.
Princess Lover!
Ah, harem anime, the closest thing I have to a guilty anime pleasure. It follows the usual formula but so far the fan service has been surprisingly sparse. (Not a single panty shot yet!) I hear the DVD releases will be uncensored or something, though I haven't noticed any obvious censoring. Whatever.
The first episode made me laugh quite a bit at the sheer absurdity of the initial guy meets girl scene. It's a chase scene... down a steep, cliff side road... with a convertible, a motorcycle, and... a horse-drawn carriage. Oh yeah, and the girl's butler driving the carriage is totally badass. But guy and girl go flying off the cliff after an accident and we get this nice, slow-motion pan around them as they gaze into each other's eyes before falling to what really should've been their deaths or at least terrible injury. The whole thing was actually animated pretty nicely and I couldn't stop laughing at it.
Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto~
I wasn't sure what to expect from this series – I kind of had an impression of a fantasy/slice of life mix – but it being a magical girl anime still threw me. Or at least ep2 sure made it seem like a magical girl anime. It looks like it could be good and it's got a cute loli of the critical-yet-shy variety voiced by Horie Yui. We'll see.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
I'm more interested after watching ep2, now that the earthquake has actually happened. I'm still not too thrilled with the characters, though, so we'll see. I like the premise of the show, but if the characters only range from boring to annoying, it probably won't be able to hold my interest.
CANAAN
Haven't watched yet, will edit later.
As usual, I've picked up far too many shows this season.
