Show with favorite "next time on _____" previews?

[Herufaiya]

After watching Generator Gawl, I realized the importance and artistic qualities in anime's previews for its next episode, for example, with Gawl, a show whose first crop of episodes might lend you to believe the show was trite and cliche, the previews instill this very real sense of seriousness and a darker sense of events to come. Other previews can give you a bit humor and misdirection on the side(Jubei-chan), give character insight(Cowboy Bebop, Kino's Journey), add depth to the story(Paranoia Agent), serve an artistice purpose(Lain, Noir, Mushishi), or just be plain fun(KareKano).
Now, I realize this isn't exactly the part of a show that leaps out at people, or even holds well in their memory, but I was just curious to get some thoughts on one of the medium's many artforms.
My personal favorites are Generator Gawl and Berserk, the latter of which is not only fascinating and intriguing, but actually has some relevance to the plot near the end of the series.

[treatment]

F L C L. Both english and japanese preview-versions totally r0x with lots of weird with all the disconnected pop culture references!

Nadesico. Japanese-version of their ep-previews r0x with all those fake promises of certain animators or writers or creators from other shows doing or inspiring the next ep!

Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~. The riddles r0x!!!

I'm Gonna Be An Angel. English-version previews were the sweetest when they were still making it. What's there and not there?

Trigun. Japanese-version of the previews were surreal with the zen-like monologues.

That's all I can think of at this time. Can't remember the others right now.

[ohtori_akio]

I second your Berserk choice, those previews are always great (especially since "Forces" is the song that is used)

Now and Then, Here and There + Utena would be my other favourite ones. Although Gankutsuou has good ones too...

[Speedy Boris]

Two spring to mind:
-Excel Saga, with its 20th Century Fox parody in the background as Excel whizzes through the major plot points in the next episode.
-Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Sashi and Arumi fight over who gets to do the preview, but by the time they come to an agreement, the preview is over.

[Fencedude]

Currently I like how in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Haruhi and Kyon never agree on the number of the next episode (though both are technically right...)

[Edible]

Excel Saga's were arguably the best part of the show.

Stellvia's were always fun.

But overall, the "Favorite" title probably belongs to Maria-sama ga Miteru.

[fantasydewdrop]

I love the music in the Sailor Moon, Trigun, and the Sorcerer Hunter ones.

Other than that, I don't particuarly put much stock in them. They can be interesting when they give character insights, but otherwise they're really "attention optional". Sometimes I use them as moments to run to the other room for a second to get something, if the song either before or after is average or less.

Unless the show ends at a cliff-hanger and I'm desperate to know what's next, and it's the last episode on the disk. Then I might watch with bulging eyes.

[Edible]

Speaking of "last episode on a disc", I think the Disc 5 preview on the fourth DVD of Godannar is quite possibly the funniest extra I've ever come across on a DVD.

[Njr Scrawl]

Any where the characters actually chat or argue among themselves. But if any character says what's happening next instead of a narrator, that's cool.

Sailor Moon ones are always amusing, I liked the 30 second Eva ones which Misato always narrated (Platinum are the cut down 15 second versions).

[Lego]

Hellsing's were great heh. I mean after the serious/gritty nature of the show, it was fun to see a almost chibi Seras dance joke around with other cast members heh.

Planetes also had a really nice way of doing the next episode previews. They would show clips from the episode with the next episode them playing over them, many times leading you to believe that something would happen which didn't.

[TnAdct1]

While I can't think of ones that I like, I can say that one show whose "next episode previews" I didn't like are the ones for Bleach, in which interesting characters that don't show up until later in the show pop up during the previews. Sorry, but having these characters show up, only for them to not appear in the next episode, is one of the things that caused me to drop Bleach the first go-round (although I will give it a second chance when it comes to Adult Swim).

[Lovely]

I really enjoyed the next episode previews in Shaman King.

The previews are all narriated by a character in the show named "Manta."
In the first few episodes, Manta delievers this previews in a pretty standard manner. But as the series goes on, the previews become more random and silly with Manta just kidding around a lot and even impersonating other characters /images/graemlins/happy.gif .
Towards the last few episodes, the previews get serious again, to the point where Manta even comments about it!

[Victor Lewandowski]

[ QUOTE ]
Lovely said:
I really enjoyed the next episode previews in Shaman King.

The previews are all narriated by a character in the show named "Manta."
In the first few episodes, Manta delievers this previews in a pretty standard manner. But as the series goes on, the previews become more random and silly with Manta just kidding around a lot and even impersonating other characters /images/graemlins/happy.gif .
Towards the last few episodes, the previews get serious again, to the point where Manta even comments about it!

[/ QUOTE ]

And we were denied those next episode previews for Shaman King on the couple of "not quite" uncut discs. /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

[joelgundam01]

[ QUOTE ]
Lego said:
Hellsing's were great heh. I mean after the serious/gritty nature of the show, it was fun to see a almost chibi Seras dance joke around with other cast members heh.


[/ QUOTE ]

I loved Hellsing's as well. The show's serious and then the preview kind of lighten the mood. I really liked the last episode preview the most. The one showing the characters that are now out of the picture. They are tied and gaged to wooden stakes, and The ones that are dead have halos on there heads. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[Shale]

Bleach, especially the ones where they narrate previews for an entirely different show.

Also Disgaea. General awesomeness.

[kurage]

I really liked the R.O.D. tv ones, with the girls obviously sitting around and doing improv and having a good ol' time. I didn't like how they were all lumped together in the extras for the Geneon dvds, but the previews themselves rocked.

[Curse_7781]

I loved the Trigun and Gungrave "next episode" previews because although they don't show any images to the next episode, they gave insight to the character's thoughts or saying something the characters felt was very important.... awesome stuff. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

But the one show that I loved that did show images was Fighting Spirit...because they also gave some boxing insight (sometimes when it came to training for a fight) or something funny happening with the cast. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

Enhance the Trance,
Curse

[Herufaiya]

[ QUOTE ]
Curse said:
I loved the Trigun and Gungrave "next episode" previews because although they don't show any images to the next episode

[/ QUOTE ]

Umm...Trigun's next ep previews did use images, it was Gungrave that didn't, though both spoke in a semi-somber tone about ideas and events, and I always did enjoy those...

[Curse_7781]

[ QUOTE ]
Herufaiya said:
[ QUOTE ]
Curse said:
I loved the Trigun and Gungrave "next episode" previews because although they don't show any images to the next episode

[/ QUOTE ]

Umm...Trigun's next ep previews did use images, it was Gungrave that didn't, though both spoke in a semi-somber tone about ideas and events, and I always did enjoy those...

[/ QUOTE ]

Opps my bad, a little "brain fart". /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Thanks for the correction though /images/graemlins/happy.gif

If that's the case, then I love Gungrave's "next episode" because it glued me to hearing what Brandon Heat/Grave would say.... /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Edit: Added one comment.

Enhance the Trance,
Curse

[raistlinmajere]

Yep, Haruhi for the WIN!

[Mahlernut]

That'd be Kare Kano for me, at least in the first half of the show. Loved the use of the live-video of the seiyuu for Kano and Tsukino. They're hella cute, and the live action integration (same with the ED) really added a nice contrast. Maybe it was just a cost-cutting measure, but I appreciate the aesthetic result.

[fates]

I liked the ones in Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Sure they weren't a dazzling display of art, but some of the phrases they used during them made them priceless /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[Consignia]

[ QUOTE ]
Speedy Boris said:
Two spring to mind:
-Excel Saga, with its 20th Century Fox parody in the background as Excel whizzes through the major plot points in the next episode.
-Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Sashi and Arumi fight over who gets to do the preview, but by the time they come to an agreement, the preview is over.

[/ QUOTE ]

I loved the Abenobashi one were they parodied Evangelion, music and all. <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Hai! Circusu-Circusu.</span>

[fujishig]

[ QUOTE ]
Herufaiya said:
[ QUOTE ]
Curse said:
I loved the Trigun and Gungrave "next episode" previews because although they don't show any images to the next episode

[/ QUOTE ]

Umm...Trigun's next ep previews did use images, it was Gungrave that didn't, though both spoke in a semi-somber tone about ideas and events, and I always did enjoy those...

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't like the ones that don't show any images of the next episode at all. The worst are when they only use one or two cryptic sentences, which gives you no idea what the next episode is about. Off the top of my head, I remember Argentosoma (though I did like how they tied in each preceding episode by name) and Last Exile (which was otherwise a great show).

[Herufaiya]

[ QUOTE ]
Fujishig said:
[ QUOTE ]
Herufaiya said:
[ QUOTE ]
Curse said:
I loved the Trigun and Gungrave "next episode" previews because although they don't show any images to the next episode

[/ QUOTE ]

Umm...Trigun's next ep previews did use images, it was Gungrave that didn't, though both spoke in a semi-somber tone about ideas and events, and I always did enjoy those...

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't like the ones that don't show any images of the next episode at all. The worst are when they only use one or two cryptic sentences, which gives you no idea what the next episode is about. Off the top of my head, I remember Argentosoma (though I did like how they tied in each preceding episode by name) and Last Exile (which was otherwise a great show).

[/ QUOTE ]

There is a right way to do these, they give you a philosophical perspective that sometimes has enough threads in the episode itself to be intriguing, the wrong way to do this is Aquarian Age, the right way to do this is Gungrave.

[jecca-neko]

I like the next episode previews for Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Sasshi really wants to do the next episode preview but he never gets to do it.

[Chloe]

I liked the little "science lessons" they gave on the Gunbuster previews. Excel Saga, with that hyper-hyper-jabber was fun too. /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

It wasn't a next episode preview, but where do those little 'pre-episode' blurbs like they did with Crest/Banner with the little history lessons fit into this discussion? I really enjoyed those a lot.

[Herufaiya]

[ QUOTE ]
Kingmole said:
I liked the little "science lessons" they gave on the Gunbuster previews. Excel Saga, with that hyper-hyper-jabber was fun too. /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

It wasn't a next episode preview, but where do those little 'pre-episode' blurbs like they did with Crest/Banner with the little history lessons fit into this discussion? I really enjoyed those a lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seikai's avant-intro pieces were more about expanding the universe and philosophies of which the series is composed of. So, you could be getting an Abh legend, some United Mankind propaganda, scientific explanations, et al. There's few pure sci-fi anime out there, perhaps, perhaps because it can be a bit hard to construct the true feel of a genuine science fiction universe in 13 episodes, especially when, in those 13 episodes, there are less than a handful of actual settings, and that the series other focus was the relationship of the two leads.
Of course, if we bring up "avant" parts of a show, such as many shows like Bebop and Gungrave(rarely, here) starting before the title card. Gungrave proved to me that you can even be creative with title card placement in usage, note the connection between eps 1&amp;26, or the way in which the title cards are revealed in "DIE" and "MIKA." For Bebop it served as a subtle part of its style, not too relevant to the shows overall feel, but another fold just the same. For Evangelion and Kare Kano, the title card served as a method by which to divide up story and character elements. For Divergence Eve each title card screen contains the name for all 13 eps, so that when, in ep1, when the words "Mission 2" scroll across the screen, you can see behind it that there is clearly a "Mission 1" and "Mission 3." For the early eps of Misaki Chronicles, title cards were for dating exactly where Misaki had ended up in the timestream.

[vanfanel]

[ QUOTE ]
Fujishig said:
The worst are when they only use one or two cryptic sentences, which gives you no idea what the next episode is about.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think there's a kind that's worse than that: "Next time Character A witnesses Character B's death, and must..."

Something like that near the end of Zeta Gundam made me stop watching the previews. It's been awhile, but I think Fushigi Yugi pulled some of that too.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Cowboy Bebop as having good previews, both serious ones and funny ones depending on the episode.

[Herufaiya]

[ QUOTE ]
Fujishig said:I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Cowboy Bebop as having good previews, both serious ones and funny ones depending on the episode.

[/ QUOTE ]

Erm...
Opening post to the topic:
[ QUOTE ]
Herufaiya said:...Other previews can...give character insight(Cowboy Bebop)

[/ QUOTE ]
And the post just before your's(though not entirely related to previews):
[ QUOTE ]
Herufaiya said:Of course, if we bring up "avant" parts of a show, such as many shows like Bebop and Gungrave(rarely, here) starting before the title card. ...For Bebop it served as a subtle part of its style, not too relevant to the shows overall feel, but another fold just the same.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, Bebop did have fine previews that gave you the character's thoughts on the episode as a whole, be they silly or insightful.

[DataDogEin]

I liked Mahoraba's "next time" previews; they weren't clips of the next episode with voice over, they were additional animated bits of Tamami and Momono goofing around, commenting on the prior episode or blatanly lying about the events of the next one (mostly on Momono's part). So in a way, they were an added scene at the end of an already amusing episode. There were a few anime spoofs as well; in one, Tamami builds a working giant robot (Mazinger Z) out of cardboard boxes, and the final episode preview pays homage to the ending of Space Cruiser Yamato.

Tsukihime's previews were completely conventional (background stills and voice over) but I loved them for the music.

[Futaba-chan]

I rather liked Maria-sama ga Miteru's previews, in which the ever-so-dignified Sachiko and the ever-so-shy Yumi break out into a boke-and-tsukkomi manzai.

[GetBackersFreak]

Trigun, for sure.

[Isuzu Inugami]

Yamamoto Yohko TV ends most of the previews with the sound of a phone disconnect--kind of creepy, especially when the preview itself is chipper and upbeat.