The 18th (and Final) Day of Christmas - Resolutions for 2008

I'd like to hear a song put to the Eighteen Days of Christmas, especially with a random smorgasboard of themes like this.

Unfortunately, like all features, this one has to eventually come to an end, especially with a growing list of harem (among other) shows begging to be put to the microscope.

Oddly enough, blogging an average of 1,300 words a day for eighteen straight days has not been as incredibly exhausting as I imagined, partly because of the raw fanboy adrenaline that drives these posts. It's certainly been a fun experience to go over all the shows and moments of my first year of serious anime fandom, especially since I uncovered a few shows again that were beginning to fade into the mists of time. Hopefully it's been the same enjoyable, sentimental experience for the readers as well.

And now it's time to point the fancannon towards the future, as we take a look at what next year has in store - at least from the perspective of a relatively new romance/harem fan. There are promising shows from the fall season, the winter season, and even beyond, with intriguing releases on both sides of the Pacific.

No doubt, though, that some of the most interesting things to happen haven't been revealed yet - perhaps another random show will blindside its way to a top spot on the list, or maybe some exciting news involving an old favorite. You never know.

And so, here are some of my resolutions for the year 2008 in anime...

I resolve to figure out what the hell Byousoku 5cm, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Honey & Clover are, and why they are so awesome.
I'm pretty sure this one is self-explanatory. These three shows are romance-types that have been praised to heaven and back a few times, that I've just missed the boat on thanks to licensing. Indeed, I downloaded the first episode of H&C, and didn't even get to watch it before the license was announced. Such is the way of fansub fandom.

In any case, I don't plan on complaining about shelling out an extra hundred dollars or so blind for these shows combined if they turn out to be half as good as the hype. There's only one way to find out~

I resolve to fall into a seven-year coma over the sheer beauty that only sad girls on DVD can impart. (Kanon R1)
Kanon has, and will always be, my personal fanboy weak spot. I watched Kanon once streaming, watched it again on fansubs burned to DVD again, and now it looks like it's going to be the third time, except this time in real DVD quality on the big screen.

Rewatching a show has never been my thing, with so much new content still available, but given that Kanon just looks better every time I watch it (if you follow the progression above), and that it will appease my guilt about cheaping out on anime, I don't think I'll mind that much. After all, I did say on a forum that I would buy "any box with a picture of Shiori" on it...

(But they gave a cover to Kaori? Pfft.)

I resolve to believe in the fanbase that believes in the Gurren Lagann.
Similar to the triple threat above in the first resolution, Gurren Lagann has pierced the heavens with the praise heaped upon it by fans large and wide, and I figure with ADV going beyond the impossible and offering free streaming of the first few episodes, I should kick my reasoning to the curb and see what the hell Gurren Lagann thinks it is.

I'm not a mecha person personally, but I have been pleasantly surprised before (look down one resolution), and, well, if it has this many quotable phrases, I'm sold on it.

I resolve to figure out how to pronounce 'zawa zawa'. (Kaiji continues)
Seriously...it's not computing, no matter how many times they say it in the show - which, considering the situation Kaiji is getting to, is quite a lot. Kaiji has been probably the one shock show of the year for me; something with one token-appearance girl over thirteen episodes, with really ugly art, and a mere 50-second opening song wasn't going to end up on my watch list by any means of my own resolve, but I'll have to thank the Kaiji fans out there (Orion, among others) for tuning me on to this show.

It's mindgame central, with an anti-protagonist who alternates between incredibly stupid and ingenious fighting with a bunch of morally-ambigious characters in a yakuza-sanctioned last-chance 'gamble' for debtors. And from there, it only gets better, with an emotionally-intense rooftop tightwalking challenge that leaves everybody questioning themselves, and leaves the audience wondering and wanting more. It's a show with a real sense of danger and tension, and it's pretty intriguing to follow analytically as well too, at times. If you have even a hint of hair on your chest, or want some, drop whatever you're doing and watch Kaiji. Now. You won't regret it.

I resolve to fanboy 200% more over any humanoid interface with purple hair, yellow eyes, and glasses. (Haruhi II)
And now for the other end of the spectrum...the fourth book in the popular Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series, titled "The Dissaperance of Haruhi Suzumiya", is getting animated sometime in 2008 by Kyoto Animation. This book focuses on and develops the character of Yuki Nagato, a humanoid interface who shows little emotion on the inside but may harbor internal desires. Additionally, a mysteriously related girl, thought to be removed from the story, named Ryoko Asakura, returns, in a time-bending plot that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

Is that enough sanity for you? I really want to go to town with the potential of this anime. (Can you take me to...mo~e town?! Can you take me to...) Nagato's my favorite character in Haruhi by leaps and bounds, and the fourth book was intriguing in its plot and head-hurty time travel aspects...not to mention, talking, blushing Nagato! (plus cold, rational Nagato for maximum fanboyism) Plus, the many potential side-stories KyoAni could throw in leaves the imagination wondering of the possibilities. It's easily one of my most anticipated anime of 2008, and I don't care if that makes me a slavering fanboy.

The only thing that worries me about this show is the stratospheric hype that people like me will pile on top of it. We'll see if KyoAni can clear the bar that has been set even higher than before.

I resolve to actually pick one consistent Shuffle! girl to fanboy this time around.
Well...first it was Nerine for a brief stint, then Mayumi, and now Sia resides in the spot of 'most adorably awesome Shuffle! character', but one thing's for sure...I'm looking forward to the R1 release of Shuffle.

It was probably one of the ecchi-er shows I watched this year but it more than redeemed itself with a gripping second half, with Sia's, Asa's, and Kaede's stories all resonating on different levels and making for great dramatic stuff. It's been a while since I've seen it in full (considering I couldn't even make it through Shuffle! Memories), and so I'll see if it stands up to the test of time. I certainly hope so - Shuffle! has both a stunning cast and storyline, definitely a good mixture.

I resolve to make the producers of Code-E's second season resolve to actually resolve the story this time.
Easy enough to understand. I think I may be one of a dozen or so English fans actually anticipating the remainder of this show, considering even the first season went over lukewarm, but apparently someone in Japan likes this show...or is threatening the studio.

It's kind of understandable why the first season of Code-E was so understated in terms of popularity - it was a very slow-paced, relaxed show, and didn't really offer a lot to grab viewers (not to mention the infamous lack of noses). But it was a slice-of-life with a fair amount of romance, and even a little bit of action and intrigue, and was a good show for kicking back - the pace was in-between Aria and KimiKiss, being relatively laid-back most of the time, but occasionally sitting up and doing something.

In any case, I look forward to the second season, as with the recent revelation of NanaDrops and sola as some of Japan's top 10 anime of 2007, Code-E might be left as my only show I've liked that I can trumpet as 'something not a lot of people have seen, but probably should.'

I resolve to figure out what the hell is with this whole 'dango' thing. (Clannad continues)
It's Clannad! What am I going to do, drop it? Unsuprisingly, dango fever has overtaken a lot of English blogs, with some affected more than others, and it seems overall that the third Key anime to be produced is being recieved a lot more warmly than Kanon or AIR. Perhaps this is due to the larger emphasis on comedy, and the surprisingly strong female lead that Nagisa is turning out to be. She's a character who's weak in emotion but strong in resolve, and has the feeling of being mostly believable with just a dash of escapism attached. The way I like it.

Kotomi's still a wildcard at this point as to how she's going to turn out, Tomoyo looks to be a lot of fun when her arc comes around, and Ryou and Kyou are comedic, awesome, and adorable all at once, and nearly threaten the Hisui and Kohaku deadlock on 'best twins in anime'. We'll see if Clannad can keep up this strong pace as it looks to head into some more of the supernatural, visual-novel-type stuff in its second half.

I resolve to be in despair again. (Zetsubou II)
Even though it lost a little steam (and a few fansubbers) near the end of its first season, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was still a hilariously fresh comedy that was an entertaining blend of Monty Python, the anime reference database, and a couple thousand monkeys on typewriters.

That is, black humor, random parodies, and random...random, put in a blender, and set to awesome. Oh yeah, and add a dash of Shaft for maximum head-churning - certainly, with all the blackboard scribblings and references, I could see why it takes so long to translate - after all, it usually takes 30 to 35 minutes for me just to get through a 25-minute episode!

Although SZS did take a turn for the repetitive and fanservicey toward the final episodes of its first run, the characters are great twists on the norm, and I look forward to seeing Itoshiki and his anti-harem pull off some amusing antics again in winter 2007/8.

I resolve to learn how to manipulate people to cross-dress. (Minami-ke II)
Minami-ke is the second comedy sequel in the winter 2007/8 season, and it's also got my attention, with an equally vast and hilarious cast of characters, from the romantic stalkers, to the countless traps, to the scheming sisters behind the whole slice-of-life show. Certainly I was counting on only Chiaki being the manipulative one, but with the advent of Banchou Haruka and the revealing of Kana to be much brighter than she looks (when she chooses, anyway), it seems all the characters have a lot of potential for having 'fun' with the others, intentionally or not.

The nature of this Minami-ke confuses me however, as I'm not sure whether it's a second season, a remake, an alternate retelling, or all of the above, but if it stays close to the adapted formula used in the anime, it should be plenty good.

I resolve to get back in touch with my Dark (and Krad) side. (DNAngel manga continues)
Some interesting news that nearly slipped by the radar near the end of this year was the quiet announcement that the DNAngel manga was to continue serialization soon. Having stalled out for few years, the hype for a popular fantasy-romance manga like this has probably subsided a bit, but it's enough for me to still raise at least one eyebrow.

I enjoyed the DNAngel anime and what existed of the manga in my early years of anime watching, and although I've moved on to much bigger and better romances and adaptations, I still look forward to seeing this - hopefully - finish, or at least progress. An unfinished story is one of the things I detest the most, even more than a sloppily finished one.

Which, incidentally, probably means I should finish watching To Heart 2 (nine months in the watchlist, and six episodes still to go) ... but it's not interesting enough at this point to deserve a resolution in itself.

I resolve to continue watching shows targeted at an audience younger than the anime itself...and female. (Marmalade Boy)
Marmalade Boy was another blast-from-the-past manga I re-encountered this year, in the form of a 4-DVD boxset in the public library. It's vintage 1994, and it shows in every form, from the different character design, to the purely animated (no CG) graphics, to the old-school music, to the lack of...well...moe.

It's really a pure shoujo romance, right down to the sparkly pan shots of the blond-hair bishonen, and yet it's still not too bad. I can't determine whether it's the sentimental factor of the manga, of old anime in general, or just my tastes in romance overall, but it's still a fun watch, and one I'm hoping I'll get to stumble across more of in the next year. And hopefully soon - with roughly 50 episodes to go, there's a lot left...

I resolve to say something interesting about KimiKiss, and why I'm going to keep watching it. KimiKiss is a tough show to crack funny about, if only because it is rather, almost plain at times - but you know what else is plain? Vanilla ice cream. You know what vanilla ice cream is? Awesome.

KimiKiss is refreshing in its take on visual novel romance in many ways - the first, hinted at above, is that it's very down-to-earth, simple in a way compared to the other starfish-carving, memory-erasing, house-burning dramatic visual-novel anime featured recently. And secondly, there are three, maybe four threads going at the same time - it's not just everyone loves one guy, but rather, Kouichi and Kazuki, the main guys, have two potential characters each, Mao has Kai and maybe Kouichi, and even the third guy, the film club president, and High-Class Girl Voiced By Mamiko Noto (considering Kotomi and Konoe, that narrows it down, doesn't it?) might factor in. The ways in which the many independant threads of KimiKiss could intertwine, are certainly intriguing.

I resolve to double my yandere view-count. (Higurashi R1)
Higurashi is another anime that's somehow passed me by, and with Geneon in trouble, the window for me to watch this show without shelling out hundreds may be shrinking into the distance.

Still, I hope someone manages to pick up this show, if only because I've heard many interesting things about this show; it's a visual novel adaptation and it's got cute girls that are apparently ALL yanderes, and that sounds like a good enough reason to keep me on the edge of my seat. Also, I've got the first ten seconds of the "Auau~" song stuck in my head.

I resolve to say "Magical Beretta" with a straight face. (School Days OVA)
Seriously, what the hell? That's all I can say about this.

Apparently School Days is cashing in on its popularity just like Makoto seemed to have done within the show, with not one but two OVAs being produced in the near future for it, and with 0verflow's reaction to the end of the anime (here's a hint: they're selling "Nice Items" at Comiket) there's no bounds as to where these OVAs could end up going. Especially since this one's adapted from an essential April Fool's Joke. It's going to be - what's the word - interesting...

I resolve to say something eye-catching about Shira Oka, a true English-produced school-life visual novel.
I believe this is what they in the business call "name-dropping".

This is something I've got an eye on with that enthusiasm that only an anime fan could have: I'm not sure if this visual novel will sell, or even avoid becoming vaporware, but with the powers of hope I look forward to this product, just to see what could become of the possibilities.

Additionally, I have a vested interest in this company, Okashi Studios, because they're California-based, so there you go. Apaprently this game has been going around a while, making shows at some anime conventions, so we'll see what comes of it.

I resolve to actually watch through Shugo Chara's transformation scenes, at least once.
Shugo Chara was the show that made me wonder where I'd been without my magical girl fix. The answer was probably Nanatsuiro Drops, but these two shows really piqued my interest in the 'pure magical girl' genre again. They offer an interesting blend of slice-of-life and romance, and don't always devolve into the cutesy pink-fests that many believe this kind of shows to be.

Rather, Shugo Chara has a large amount of intriguing characters for both genders; Amu herself is a character with realistic fears, hopes, and struggles, and Ikuto is an interesting flirt with that slight touch of rebellious character. The plot has promise of becoming something in-depth, instead of monster-of-the-week as well.

One thing I have to say from the spoilers, though, is: Nadeshiko, say it's not so. I don't care what you take from me. My dignity, my pride, my sense of sanity, anything, just tell me this isn't true. It can't be, it won't be, it'll never be. I'll never accept it, never, ever! Never I tell you!

I resolve to power through ef in a 15-hour span, lest I forget about it.
I think that was how the plot went, in any case. Although I usually watch shows one-episode-per-night, I might have to step up the pace, since between all the other shows, the disjointed Shaft style of ef, combined with the dual plots, makes it very hard to watch.

Which really bugs me, since everyone is heralding it as a true work of genius, and so far I can see why. I really like a lot of it, from the touching story of the main heroines, to the motto of the male leads wanting to be the 'knight in shining armor for someone', and I can't wait to see how it all ties together. I just hope I can make sense of it.

I resolve to fall in love with Sakura and Syaoran falling in love all over again.
This is something that's a long time coming. A Cardcaptor Sakura rewatch is something I've been meaning to do one of these days as a blog mini-special, with a little episode recap blurb, maybe a half, quarter size of a normal post, on each episode of Cardcaptor Sakura. Just because I want to see if my fanboyism for this show knows any bounds - and to see if it's still as gold as it first was.

It may not happen the beginning of the year, it may not finish before 2009 - but I just have to find the drive, and the time. Rest assured, it WILL happen. Long live hanyaa~n.

-CCY

Sacchin waves bye-bye to 2007.

(Wow, I sound like an old crochety anime fan with all my ridiculous passion for old shows like Marmalade Boy, Cardcaptor Sakura, and DNAngel. Even my harping for Code-E, who knows.)

(Oh my God, nearly 3300 words. This pips at the post by a dozen words or so the fall 2007 mid-season review post as the longest post ever on Eternity - yes, without this addendum. Hope you haven't fallen asleep during reading this. Happy New Year, and here's to another great year of anime~)

The 17th Day of Christmas - Ten Neglected Hero(in)es

'Rooting for the underdog' is something that a lot of people can sympathize with. There's something enchanting about watching a scrappy little fighter defy all the odds to come out on top - no one likes a winner, winning.

This is highly applicable to anime as well - take a look at the premise to nearly any shonen action anime out there. One boy sets out to be the Master of X. But he's just a kid, how possibly could he defeat the established professionals at whatever creature phenonema / children's card game / etc. has enraptured the world? The answer, of course, is through many, many episodes.

Or in harem anime, the same concept pops up. Quite often the fans will rally behind the girls who seem to be 'losing' - the girl who gathers the largest fanbase is often the one who doesn't get the guy at the end.

If you've been here a while, it should be no surprise that I subscribe to this theory as well. I enjoy fighting for the shows I think are underrated, for the characters I think are underloved. Are they? Maybe not. When great amounts of like-minded people like me come together you end up with something resembling Sacchin's (Tsukihime) fanbase. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if her arc ever actually gets released.

Still, there are quite a few characters out there who truly have gotten the shaft in their anime, and today I hope to bring to light some of the characters with a lot of potential and not half as much screentime, or development, as they deserved.

(Spoilers: Myself;Yourself, sola, Da Capo, Code-E, Tokimeki Memorial...kind of)

Kiri Komori (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
Kicking off with a character I ranted about well enough yesterday in the Facepalm List. Kiri the hikikomori appeals to me for the same reason that Konata of Lucky Star hit it big - no, not because she's a loli - because of that fleeting, ever-so-pathetically-adorable "hey look, it's something like me, except cute" sensation of seeing a fellow geek-type in anime.

Kiri had a strong start in SZS episode 2, with an entertaining segment, a quick obsession developed with Itoshiki-sensei, and lots of random pop-up "Sen-sei~" cameos. Unfortunately, SZS populated its main cast with other crazy characters, such as the OCD perfectionist Chiri or the flamer Meru. And so Kiri got left mostly to the shadows from which she arose from, popping up only to cue a random fanservice transition - a demeaning job for any character.

Itsuki / Mayumi - Shuffle!
This comic duo wasn't incredibly neglected, making many side-character appearances over the span of Shuffle!, but this is one of those instances where one could almost imagine them deserving a spin-off show of their own. Simply put, their manic personalities solo combine to form a side-splitting pair with a relationship that's almost Calvin-and-Susie in nature.

What really inspired this pair's nomination is the unearthing of a few insights into Mayumi's path from Shuffle! On The Stage (the PS2 port), which hinted that the two of them go way back; certainly the energetic manner in which they tease each other could hint at more than a hint of affection, although neither of them will live up to it. This element just enhances their already comedic, exaggerated antics together, and it's something that I'd want to see more of.

Aoi - Myself;Yourself
This one, I'm tentative about. From the raw data readout, Aoi is one of the most appealing characters to ever be penned, at least from my perspective. I just don't think it's possible to go wrong with a glasses girl who likes to read and is very clumsy; perhaps because I'm more than a bit of that myself.

Still, when such a character remains static and two-dimensional while the rest of her friends get gripping, epically dramatic stories, it's kind of dissapointing that Aoi never really played much of a role in anything.

I really wish she had seen a more central role to the plot, but there's a little voice in the back of my head saying otherwise; given all the uberdrama that characters like Asami and the Wakatsukis had, maybe it's a good thing that Aoi wasn't expounded on.Still, I'd rather take the chance.

Moe - Da Capo
Actually, whenever a character gets relegated to Random Fanservice Girl, it's kind of dissapointing for me. Both the Mizukoshis get the short end of the stick in Da Capo - Mako's affections go more unsaid than that of any other character - but Moe set the bar the lowest in terms of plot, since she didn't really have any to speak of.

A quick Wikipedia perusual does confirm that Moe does have a story behind her and she does have a reason she's so sleepy-sounding all the time, but if you were just a viewer of the anime, you'd never know, since all she really does is jiggle around a lot.

Mikuru - Haruhi
Forgive me if I'm behind on the novels a bit, as I haven't read them in a while, but it certainly feels like Mikuru's getting a bit left out in the rain, especially compared to the other Haruhi characters.

Haruhi speaks for herself, we know her, her fears, and her uber-hax powers far too well. Nagato, although she doesn't express herself that much, has had a book and probably more devoted to her. Even the inner workings of Kyon have been pretty exposed. Most of the characters in Haruhi have very developed personalities and inner conflicts, but the SOS Brigade's mascot doesn't have much other than a lot of costumes.

Maybe it's the fault of her being a time-traveler (Kyon figuring out anything about her might paradox us into the ground), but certainly it's a shame that the series's most developed character is also one of the least developed.

There's Itsuki as well, but who really likes him? ...Even when he's not getting into pseudoyaoi relationships with Kyon?

Hanepin - Tsukihime
Y'know, I look at the last four characters and I think I'm onto something here. There is something about characters with a large rack not having much character development. Is this the power of mascot fanservice characters at work?

To be fair the lack of Hanepin is mainly because she's a side character in a side story in Kagetsu Tohya, though. Side characters are often a lost cause, but fools like me rally behind them; perhaps it's easier to proclaim a victory for the cause of one of these characters, where even a small appearance or bit of fanart means something. It's similar to why Nagato is so widely adorable (and awesome).

That said, Hanepin's an adorable and underutilized character not because of Tsukihime Fun Fact #49: she beats Arcueid in chest size but because she's kind of an Osaka beta-version, being a very kind and spacey person.

Miyuki / Minami - Lucky Star
Two different characters here, but I'll lump them together since they're part of the same series.

Miyuki pretty much echoes everything I said about Aoi above; glasses, brains, classy, and a bit clumsy, I don't really see where she could go wrong. Unfortunately, she got excluded from the main group pretty quick, with the show preferring to focus on either Konata and the Hiiragis or some of the many other numerous side characters. The show could almost make a spin-off out of the second group - it's probably the only way that all the characters, even the ones not mentioned, could get justice.

Minami was cool because she was the stereotypical 'quiet cool girl', but she got shoved down the DFC track pretty quick. There's probably something hypocritical about being mad that a character is one cliche instead of another, but I enjoy the strong and silent characters, so there you have it. I thought Konata had a much better 'flat chest is a status symbol!' act anyway.

The Spies - Code-E
I've lost track of how many times I've said it by now (and how many times I've opened a segment like that), but - Code-E needs more everything. The twin German spies took on a variety of roles, some comical, and some serious, and it was never really revealed who they were or what their purpose was.

Additionally, the female one was randomly crushed under a collapsing building at the end of the season, a strange shift from their mostly lighthearted antics, and something that the show never got back to. Here's to hoping that we can find out more about them (among other people) in the second season.

Mo-chan - TokiMemo
Rooting for Mina to win over Riku was a heartwarming if not mostly futile fight; but luckily, with the depth of TokiMemo's side cast, there were plenty of alternative relationships to look out for as well. That between Mina's friend, Mo-chan (whose full name, if it exists, I can't recall) and the class delinquent Inukai was another battle, that, ironically, was almost as difficult as Mina's.

Mo-chan got shot down time and time again by the far-too-cool-for-love Inukai, and got up every single time, always ready to offer a helping hand to Mina in her fight as well. I certainly hoped that he was just being stubborn, the typical cold-exterior soft-interior character, but right down to the very end he didn't change, leaving Mo-chan out in the cold with her friend Mina. I think, more than any other character in TokiMemo, she was the one that deserved to get her guy. And she didn't~

Mana - sola
It would be hard to say that Mana didn't get a lot of attention over the span of sola, since she even gets the last scene and line of the show (pre-credits, anyway), but somehow it still feels like she didn't get as much storyline love as she deserved.

Maybe it makes sense from a story perspective to have Mana be the character out of the loop, but she's up there with Mo-chan in the 'it makes sense how it is but I still want more!' department. I think I have a weakness for characters who don't even make it to something resembling the confession stage.

After all, her tearful forgetting of Yorito circa episode ten or so seemed like something that the show would come back to before the end, but instead she ended up moving on, remembering Yorito more in his beliefs than in his person itself. It's something that, like the ending of AIR, probably is the 'better' ending in the long run, but still is kind of sad to a simple mind like mine.

-CCY

The 16th Day of Christmas - Ten Facepalm Moments

"I have no idea if Hisui is saying anything relevant, but she looks angry...and hey, it's Hisui."

Now that the last fifteen days have convinced you that that the last year in anime has been nothing but pure awesome, let me bring some concepts slightly closer to Earth.

On the whole I'm still pretty optomistic about anime as a whole, for sure, but there never fail to be moments where I just wonder...what were they thinking?

And so, I've picked out a few of the moments over the course of the last year that deserved a nice hearty facepalm. Thankfully, it was a bit harder than coming up with enough moments to fill the twelve-best list.

Let me note that these moments of annoyance don't often reflect on an anime as a whole; as always, the greatest dissapointments come from the things you expect the most from, and as such many of these moments come from shows that are otherwise fantastic...except for one little pet peeve that gets to me every time.

(Spoilers: Tsukihime, School Days, Code-E, Tokimeki - oh, who I am I kidding - Memorial)

Lunar Legend Tsukihime
Nrvnsqrnasndflkahgodmykeyboard Fight (Or lack thereof)
Bad spelling aside, Nero's 'fight scene' in Tsukihime, the anime, was probably one of the first major signs that something was funny with the adaptation. There were other minor aspects that the anime got wrong, naturally, but the fact that they took a dramatic, drawn-out fight and condensed it into three minutes really got me.

I kept looking at the clock as the Nero fight started at the end of episode three (four?). Thinking, "OK, they'll cliffhang it here. No...here. Here. They can't possibly fit it all into the ending of one episode!?"

Well, they did, and all without animated a single attack by Shiki. I can almost understand WHY they did this, to show the raw power of Nanaya Shiki in belittleing a seemingly major villain, but, come on. We had plenty of proof with him going to town on Arcueid anyway. Nero deserves a bigger send-off.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Random Kiri x Chii yuri
Kiri Komori was looking to be a pretty promising character. Maybe it's the geek's natural disposition towards others of their kind, but Kiri the beautiful hikikomori (shut-in), when introduced in episode two, looked to be an entertaining and interesting character.

But gradually, through the course of the show, her role faded out, to random cameo appearances, popping up in random places with that delightful "Sen-sei~". Eventually, she didn't even get that.

Along with Chii, the vaguely sane counselor, Kiri got demoted to 'random fanservice girl', breaking up other, apparently more important, scenes with spontaneous yuri action. It's demeaning to see such a good character go to waste.

Shugo Chara
"DO YOU HAAAAAAEEET ENGLIIIIISSHHHH?"
Yes, random X Egg character, yes I do. When you use it and draw it out like that, especially.

Engrish is probably one of the things that grates upon any English-speaking anime viewer (like how I imagine a Japanese speaker would react if they saw some of our fanbase talking), and Shugo Chara's monster-of-the-week fight with an X Egg centered around a personified fear of English takes the cake for most egregious abuse of English in recent memory.

Actually, the English isn't incredibly bad, but the squeaky, high-pitched voice that draws out each syllable to incredible length gets really grating, really fast. Luckily, it's a one-time deal.

School Days
Makoto knocks another one up
Somehow I have a feeling this one was done on purpose to make us gag, or at the least, roll our eyes...with contempt!

As I've probably said too many times, those of us who came into School Days with even the slightest hope that something would go right, were proven horribly, even hilariously, wrong again and again.

Perhaps most of us saw the progression from a pure romance to a complicated love-triangle; perhaps Setsuna joining the fight was acceptable. But near the end of the show, the writers just began to throw girls at Makoto left and right. There was Otome, the random childhood friend. Hikari, the one who seemed all for Taisuke at the beginning. Otome's wicked followers, all three of them at once!

It all seems rather tailored to put a final condeming note on Makoto, to make the audience go "gee, anyone who has sex this much MUST be a bad character" (if not out of pure disgust, maybe a little of jealousy as well), and for once, I'm happy to agree with the path the writers have put us down. School Days was ridiculous down to the last drop of black oil wrung from the characters, and I don't think it would work any other way.

Da Capo Second Season
Aisia will fix it with MAGIC!
Sure, Aisia, you tell yourself that. Da Capo seems to be a formula that has been fixed far too many times over the years - and it was never really broken in the first place.

The first season was outstanding - maybe not the best visual novel adaptation out there, but very solid in character development, conflict, and drama, enough to put it on par, or close to. with second-tier shows like Shuffle! and Myself;Yourself.

The second season featured more of the same, except with a bunch of new characters added in a futile attempt to mix up the show (imagine any recent corporation that tried to look 'kool' or 'x-treme' to capture the youth crowd). And the sequel, Da Capo II takes the whole thing and chucks it out the window.

But the fact is, the central conflict between Nemu, Kotori, and Sakura, three strong, well-rounded characters, has always been what has made Da Capo good, and Aisia, on the other hand, is one of the things that really threw the second season for a loop in the wrong direction.

A character doesn't have to be intensely dislikable at first to develop into an appealing character at the end; while it's true that Aisia got more palatable as the show went on, that's no excuse for her annoyingly dense mindset at the beginning of the show.

(Suddenly, I had a flash that I could change a few names and make this a rant about the Sonic games, and no one could tell the difference. But that's another story.)

Code-E
What, that's it?
Code-E really did nothing wrong. It was just the equivalent of a student's poorly-planned essay on a timed test. The intro was intriguing, the first body paragraph were well-developed, and right halfway through the second when things start getting explain, time runs out. So they rush to write a half-baked conclusion, and we're left with a piece of work that has incredible promise, but never gets around to acting on it.

Likewise, the ending to Code-E leaves more questions than it answers. Pretty much everything except the main relationship between Chinami and Kotaro is left unresolved, from the origin/purpose of the German spies, to the intentions behind Evil Pocketwatch Man, who I'm pretty sure never got a name, to even a fulfilling conclusion to the third side of the love triangle with Sonomi.

The saving grace of this is that there is a second season of the anime planned for Code-E - a drastic change from the original announcement of 'we're all done here, go read the manga', and thankfully so.

Shakugan no Shana II
It's always the green haired lolis that mess things up
The character that singlehandly killed thousand of viewers.

If I had one romance trope to get rid of, it would be the one that results in all the proclamations of "Oh look, some possessive girl has come onto my object of undying affection, time to call it quits". Because, honestly, it's really frustrating, when Shana and Kazumi had been fighting over Yuuji for a whole season, and one random girl who is not a plot object At All comes in and pretty much knocks them both for a loop? The least they could do it tag-team Konoe into the ground.

Konoe's character as a whole, actually, is kind of annoying, if only because really dense characters tend to grate on my nerves (except in comedy situations, usually).

To be fair, I never saw the first season of Shana outside of summary, and the second season is steadily improving, but the faulty start that Shana II had seems to have done quite a number on its fanbase.

Tokimeki Memorial ~only love~
Y'know I really have no idea that Sayuri has the hots for me, no, none at all
Did I say if I had one romance trope to get rid of? Scratch that, make that two.

An equally frustrating cliche used to drag out shows is "I'm entirely blind to the fact that the girl of my dreams is all over me". Riku actually manages to wield both this one and the above cliche from Shana II (oh no, some other guy is TALKING to Sayuri! I'm a loser tee-underscore-tee) to attempt to inject some drama into his relationship with the school idol, Sayuri.

This does have the positive benefit of giving Tsukasa and Mina an almost infintesimal chance of winning (which, as fans know, is more than enough chance to give an excuse to root for them), but...seriously, Riku, get a clue. As many shy, uncertain teenagers as you may attract to your side by being wishy-washy and unsure of yourself, it's just not very interesting to watch the same train of thought over and over, especially when love doesn't get more drop-dead connect-the-dots obvious than this.

KimiKiss
The frogs
Oh God, the frogs. You'd think the personification of some psuedo yuri relationship between two loli-looking (or at the least, imouto-style) girls would have people jumping all over them, but Romeo and Juliet aren't doing much better than their Shakespearean counterparts in earning lots of disdain (from the characters in the story of R&J, anyway).

It probably falls under the same category as the Shugo Chara! complaint in that the girls and their frogs are very loud and very squeaky, not to mention shoved in our faces all the time. KimiKiss likes to draw the viewer's focus in a blunt manner, as it does with the girl's lips all the time, something that's also kind of awkward, but given that two stuffed amphibians don't have a fraction of the appeal of Eriko Futami, it's obvious who the award has to go to here.

Also, the way in which 'oh my God the frogs are kissing and/or acting otherwise in a romantic manner' never fails to unsettle Kazuki and Kouichi is equally frustrating, in that 'oh so romantically tense' cliche manner.

Shuffle! Memories
Upon realizing it's all recap
I think this one speaks far, far too much for itself.

-CCY
(Episode 12 was totally worth it for Yandere II: Boxcutter Boogaloo and Mayumi's Haruhi parody, though.)

The 15th Day of Christmas - 10 Anisongs

"Yes, I was really frustrated they took Nagato's SG out of Guitar Hero III. And Eddie Knox."

I like to rant a lot about music in anime, first because I've been a Dance Dance Revolution addict since the original PSX port, and second because I can't play it with any resemblance of much more than a cacophony that could have come from Kotomi Ichinose's violin itself.

And while I've said a few times in the 12 (and running) Days countdown that insert songs, or background music can really make a moment in an anime, equally important to a show is the opening and ending themes.

It may not be as important as the in-show music, but the fact is you're going to hear these themes at least twelve times over the course of a show's run, and so they better be good. Sometimes it's all right to get away with skipping a show's ending theme, but to jump over the opening seems almost heretical.

This is because the the OP / ED animations, and the songs themselves, do a lot for setting the mood of a show. A contemplative, deep-thinking show might have a slow, mood-filled theme, while a action-packed comedy might have a more hyperactive, high-energy song.

Thusly I've picked out ten of my favorite songs for bookending anime I've seen this year. They range from the fast-paced to the melancholy, from the lyrical to the instrumental, but they're all songs that I wouldn't sniff twice at putting on my MP3 player.

Y'know, because anime fans like me were born with no shame.

Most Inexplicably Catchy Song
Zetsubou ED - Zessei Bijin
Normally I go for either the slow-paced piano/violin songs with drawn-out vocals or the high-energy, typically rock songs, but the jazzy ending theme to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is surprising finger-snapping fun. It has lyrics and an overall feel that captures perfectly the almost humorously sadistic feel of the show, and the rhythm of the vocals is enjoyable as well.

In the full version, the multiple singers are used to maximum effect, with each line of 'I got to hear their screaming voices again' (the penultimate line in each chorus) sung by a different singer. Incidentally, the way they sing that line every time is simply stunning. The instrumental solo in the full version is pleasant as well, and really captures that pseudo-horror feel of the song and the lyrics.

Best Song Pair
SHUFFLE! OP - YOU and SHUFFLE! ED - Innocence
Shuffle!, like most visual novel shows of the harem type, is a show that blends both light-hearted comedy and serious drama, and this is reflected great in the two contrasting themes in its opening and ending. Typically, most anime have a 'fast' and a 'slow' song split among the OP and ED, but Shuffle!'s are top-notch in both regards.

YOU is an example of the strong singing and guitar-work typical of the Shuffle! series; Mirage Lullaby and Remember Memories are equally rocking yet still emotional songs sung by YURIA for the Shuffle! eroges. The guitar work is catchy, and the vocals are sung with power.

Innocence is the flip side of the coin, an almost melancholy song with a lighter guitar note to it and some sweet-sounding vocals. It's good both as a song on its own and as a contrast to the upbeat YOU, and these two songs go together well to form the dual face of Shuffle!, a surprisingly serious (and seriously enjoyable) eroge conversion.

Most Incomprehensibly Meme-Worthy Song
Lucky Star OP - Motteke! Seerafuku!
It was a coin flip between this and Hare Hare Yukai, but I felt determined to acknowledge at least one song that has been mimicked (if not beaten into the ground) by the fan community innumerable times by either parodies or dance-offs. Motteke! Seerafuku! is kind of like Hare Hare Yukai on crack, in that it features more dancing, the lyrics make even less sense, and it's even faster-paced.

Actually, the lyrics make no sense at all, but there's a certain enjoyability to random English nonsense like "Let's get cherry pie!". As well, the incredibly quick speed of the lyrics makes me wonder why they don't have more rapping Japanese schoolgirls. The first lyric part (from the end of the instrumental intro to the saxophone segment) is far too catchy for something I can't comprehend at all, even with subtitles.

It's a pretty fitting random song for a pretty random anime; sometimes I don't get either of them, sometimes they both seem kind of overhyped, but they're both a lot of fun.

Most Rocking Song
Myself;Yourself OP - Tears Infection
I like songs with guitar. A lot of guitar. In that sense, I should probably be picking Shana II's JOINT for this then, but Tears Infection is an equally enjoyable song that really wants you to break out the air guitar.

Which is a bit of a lie, as Tears Infection actually doesn't have too many guitar pieces, much less complicated ones - there's the 8-note riff repeated throughout the intro and any instrumental space, and the slow notes played during the vocal parts. But what's fun about this song is that there's a lot of energetic fast parts (any time you can see the band playing in the OP) and a few moments that focus on intense vocals instead (the part with Sana / Nanaka visible). And, of course, there's the choruses, with a little bit of both. It's a pretty good mix overall that's great for four-minutes of head-bobbing.

Most Able to Be Actually Performed by a White Guy (but not really)
Kanon OP - Last Regrets
Last Regrets is a perfect example of the 'slow, moody songs' that I was mentioning earlier, featuring mostly piano backing, and deep, slow lyrics. So slow, actually, that I was able to memorize them. Not to mention the first thirty seconds of the piano piece as well.

In conclusion, fandom is scary and you should never ask me to sing Last Regrets, because I will. The song itself, male voices aside, is quite great, starting slowly and building to a sort of powerful crescendo. The Key songs have always been kind of like this, with songs clocking on the slower side, although Tori no Uta and Megumeru were both a bit faster-paced, they definitely enjoyed their slow instrumental and powerful lyric parts. Sad songs in slow like this are perfect for these largely own-pace, character-driven shows of discovery.

And one more bonus point: the Kanon OP on DVD on a high-definition TV is simply jaw-dropping.

Most Amusing Use of Side Vocals
Minami-ke OP - Keikenchi Joshouchuu
First off, I hate this song for being the only one on the list which wasn't easily transcribed Japanese or Engrish. But otherwise, this song is just brimming with the sort of energetic, peppy, carefree attitude that a slice-of-life show like Minami-ke has. It's fun, right down to the last touches.

These last touches, as the title may hint, are the heavy use of side vocals, or whatever I should be calling them; the little voices, personified by chibi characters in the OP, shouting 'Whoo!' and 'Hai hai hai hai!'. It's cute, and it really captures that kind of playful feel of the song. 'Kuru kuru!' is one of the catchiest for me. I suppose this sort of thing goes to show why Japan can spin an entire culture (or, at least, a few brands) based on random cute chibi things.

The rest of the song, for no other way to put it, is 'fun' as well, and really feels like the kind of song you'd bounce around, or at the least, clap energetically too. Amusing to me though, is the fact that even a song like this has a wicked guitar solo. They're everywhere in anisongs.

Most Mellow Melody
sola ED - mellow melody
Actually, there were other songs in contention for the second slow song slot (say that ten times fast, and whatnot), but having settled with sola's ending song, I had to name it this.

It's a great relaxing, yet emotional song (which I've said ten times, but it's still true) that works well to soothe after another dramatic, cliffhanging episode of sola. I can't count the amount of times that something exciting would happen, then it would cut to black and this song would start playing. The vocals are nicely done in this song, and the visuals in the animation are an alluring mix of real-life sky shots, in theme with the show, and conceptual art of the characters. It's worth watching for the stills alone, probably, and the song is pretty sweet too.

Most Ironic Song
School Days OP - Innocent Blue
I'd easily take many of School Days's various ending themes over the opening theme, but given that this song gets twelve times as much exposure, it deserves a bit of recgonition for being what it is - completely unrelated to the anime.

One has to imagine the composers had their tongues firmly in cheek when creating a peppy song like this, that wouldn't be out of place in any normal harem or romance show. It's a catchy song made all the more amusing by the knowledge that School Days isn't normal in the slightest, and the thematic and lyrical use of 'angels', not to mention all the happy, innocent characters in the opening, are a great joke played on non-suspecting viewers. Those of us who have endured this show can smirk at this song as others try to piece the upbeat music with the downbeat story.

Most Embarassingly Awesome Song
Shugo Chara! OP - Kokoro no Tamago
Magical girl songs - I don't know what it is about them. Cardcaptor Sakura had three great openings. Nanatsuiro Drops came along with Shining Stars Bless. And now Shugo Chara! pulls one of its own out of the hat.

It's exactly as you'd expect a song from a show like this, and somehow I don't find that to be a problem. It's smile-inducing to a fault, from the cheery lyrics to the sugary animation. It oozes pink and J-pop and just plain happiness from every pore, and for some reason the slightly techno-sounding voice is incredibly catchy. I don't even find a fault with the Englishy 'hop step jump' or 'drew draw drawn' (?), although my favorite part of this song would have to be the last few lines building up to the chorus, ending in 'my own heart, unlock!'. It's a strangely addictive song that I've rewatched probably more than the show itself so far.

Most Touching Song From a Show I've Never Watched
Bokurano OP - Uninstall
I have no idea what Bokurano is, but I have a strong desire to find out now. Uninstall very well might be the king of slow-paced, emotional songs. The lyrics are sung in a very melodic fashion, with a great range of pitch that produces a great sense of feeling in the song. It just flows good.

What I really like about this song are the lyrics. They support the song in terms of power and depth, and are very touching in their somewhat existential tone. I think I can really claim a song is good, like this one, when I can really enjoy it without having any sentimental memories of a show to back it up.

-CCY

sola heads Japan's list of favorite 2007 anime?!

Matsuri, YOU'RE WINNER!

Yeah, it's so shocking it's worth stealing and reposting from Danny Choo's barely five-minute-old post. I happen to get on the internet at just the right time, I suppose.

Anyways, according to Danny Choo the results from about 2 million Japanese ballots are in, and everyone's favorite tomato-juice-drinking, sky-photographing show apparently grabbed the top spot by an overwhelming margin, with over 340,000 votes to runner-up Lucky Star's 140,000. The full standings are as follows:

1) sola
2) Lucky Star
3) Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn
4) Ookiku Furi Kabutte
5) Higurashi
6) Gintama
7) Nanoha StrikerS
8) Nanatsuiro Drops
9) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
10) Hidamari Sketch

Really curious, if you ask me. It makes me wonder (as I commented on over there) what the criteria were to be eligible, as many big-name shows that ended this year, like Kanon and Gurren Lagann among other things, are nowhere to be seen.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see sola up there at the top - it was one of the shows I enjoyed greatly this season, despite it having a few glaring flaws. Still, to have it top all with nary a moe show (or even very many manly shows) in sight is quite perplexing. Makes you curious what the polling audience was in Japan - random people off the street? 2ch visitors? Any certain demographic?

It makes me wonder again of the divides present in anime fandom; it's apparent to many that anime that casual or inexperienced U.S. fans watch (typically shonen), and anime that hardcore English bloggers watch (all over the board, but a lot more moe, mecha, and dramatic) are worlds apart, but is there a second difference in taste between the anime fanatics on both sides of the Pacific? And is there a similar, 'casual' anime division in Japan that is looked down upon?

And which one was the most vocal in this vote? All food for thought, speaking as a relatively new member to the anime community.

Regarding that and the rest of the list, I guess this means I can't tout sola and NanaDrops as 'underrated anime that no one's heard of', as I've been out to do of recently. I do enjoy playing a show's (advertising) knight in shining armor too much.

Lucky Star was popular, as expected from a slice-of-life on moe crack (lemme tell you, them's good crack too), and I'm happy to see SZS up there on the list as well. This list also reinforces my idiocy as the only person left on Earth who hasn't waxed poetic about Hidamari Sketch as well...time to put that back on the list.

Would like to see the rest of the list, but that's probably not possible.

-CCY
(Obvious thanks to Danny Choo for the news.)

The 14th Day of Christmas - The Runners-Up

"I have to wait how long before getting to rant about Myself;Yourself!?"
"And now, a sad violin song for those who didn't make it..."

The "12 Days of Christmas" series is was a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we've enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. As you may guess, I'm going to be dragging this feature out a while with a bunch of random lists. Hope you're still enjoying it.

Who left this thing running? Oh well, I'll just let it finish.

...if you are reading this post, then something terrible has befallen - oh, wait, that's next week's script. Here we go.

Thought it was over that time? Not quite. I've got a couple more series that didn't quite make the list; I'm too much of an Annoyingly Stereotypical Nice Guy to pick just twelve moments.

So why not have a few more, to top off this year (and then some) of anime?

(Spoilers: Tsukihime, Shuffle, Kaiji, Kanon.)

Clannad 03: Sunohara, you're in the future.
Clannad is really a promising show, not just because it's Key and I'm a 'sad girls in x' sucker but because it looks to blend the usual mix of drama with some ace humor this time as well. AIR had some funny moments, Kanon had the brilliant sarcastic Kyon'ichi and now in Clannad a lot of characters are firing on all funny cylinders.

The gullibility of Sunohara as Tomoya stretches a simple joke far beyond belief is really amusing - not only does Sunohara belive he's time-warped into the future, but he also believed that the world had ended, that Tomoya was a hologram - wait, make that a cyborg. There is a nice animation touch with a green, semi-futuristic overlay is on the screen for the time being while Sunohara is believing the illusion. Amusing stuff.

Clannad 04: Ryou is bi?
That can't be, the anime is prodding her as 'girl with mad crush on Tomoya', yet still she accepted Nagisa's 'feelings' so easily.

Maybe the reason Clannad is so funny is because it's full of gullible people and amusing masterminds willing to manipulate them. Tomoya's scheme to get people to sign up for Nagisa's theater club got out of hand, and the resulting 'confession' by Nagisa asking Ryou out to join the club was hilarious, from Sunohara's over-enthusiastic reaction, to Ryou's nervous, confused looks, to the not-quite-subtle spying on them by Kyou.

And of course, y'know, Ryou's "Yes...wait, what?". Ryou takes on all challengers!

Shana II 07: Just as (not) planned!
That's right, Shana II was cool this year! Sometimes it sounds like people have never seen filler episodes at the start of an anime before (although, it did get mildly out of hand).

Actually, the seventh episode of Shana was pretty filler as well, being an early visit to the amusement park trope, but it was a pretty amusing episode. Maybe because of the purposely over-dramatic aspect of it, or the two, three eyecatches, or maybe because Ike, as the resident over-planning glasses guy, doesn't get enough attention normally.

Ah, it's a simple love story episode with Ike being affected by Kazumi so easily, and it's amusing and relatable at the same time.

Kagetsu Tohya VN: Ganbatte, Ciel-Senpai!
The ultimate lampshade hanging for Tsukihime fans is this fourth-wall smashing, gut-busting side story in Kagetsu Tohya, complete with not-so-subtle pokes at pretty much every character in the story. It's a great bookend after such a serious, touching visual novel.

Shuffle! Memories 12: Kaede II: Boxcutter Boogaloo
A similarly funny parody of Kaede's yandere times, in the final episode of Shuffle! memories...which was, admittedly, the only new episode of the series.

Still, it was a relatively redeeming watch. Kaede's overly paranoid side, contrasting with increasingly-sane-looking Asa, was amusing, as the search Rin and his dissapearing harem took a turn for the hilariously serious. Kaede's slow, ominous knocking on the door, while holding a butcher knife in the other hand, was straight out of a horror movie...until she realizes the door opens side-to-side, instead of out, reverting her to Housewife Kaede. As such, a tip to remember next time you're running from a psycho killer: hide in a closet door. They'll be perplexed, if Kaede is a benchmark.

Kanon 2002 13: Nayuki wins, if only for a second
Do I need to say it again. I need to say it again. Nayuki ending!

In all honesty I'd rather root for someone like Shiori or Mai, but as those two are side characters to the two main childhood friend contenders, Ayu and Nayu, I'm forced (and I use force in the loosest sense) to root for the blue-haired sleepy sensation.

And, having seen the 2006 version first, the closing moments of Kanon 2002 were certainly a shock. Nayuki got a lot 'farther' in this version, with both a confession and a kiss; certainly it's more apparent here that she's really being selfless and giving up her feelings. It's really touching, although I must admit that it was more of a 'VICTOLY!' moment than a 'aww' one for me.

Minami-ke 04: Ninomiya-kun!!
Easily the best 'show inside a show' this year, aside from maybe Lucky Channel. The soap-tastic adventures of Sensei and Ninomiya-kun are amusing in their own way - that 'how are they going to get hit by a car this time?' joke - and when they get turned into a video game, it's even better.

Kana and Chiaki play as Sensei and Ninomiya-kun as they travel through a bunch of different game parodies, including platformer, RPG, fighting, and horror games. The monotonic sounds of "SENSEI!" and "NINOMIYA-KUN!" are hilarious, not to mention the fact that, every time, the game somehow ends in a Bad End.

It's like a twisted, strung-out WarioWare. I'd buy it.

Doujin Work 03: Najimi made a what?
Misunderstandings are the birth of comedy, or something.

And birth is what was...not going on here. Apparently it's some Japanese word gag, in that Najimi talks a lot about making her first doujin comic, but enough words are left out for Tsuyuri to twist it to sounding like Najimi gave birth to a child.

For the extremely protective Justice, them's fighting words, and the gag grows greater in strength as Najimi refers to her 'customer'. Connect the dots. It's a funny joke on it's own, and it's only made better by Tsuyuri's full knowledge of the truth beforehand. Mmm, humorously manipulative characters are awesome.

Wangan Midnight 04: So a Ferrari, a GT-R, and a 240Z walk onto a highway...
If there's one thing that I don't think I ever saw in Initial D (speaking off manga experience), it was a three-way battle. One of Wangan Midnight's first was rather intense, and highlighted a lot of the things that I like about a show like this.

First off, the music was solid, and worked with the scene well, something that I've found to be the case in the WM games and anime. And secondly, there was a real sense of danger in this anime, as opposed to Initial D, where very few cars actually crashed.

I don't understand why a random Red Shirt Car could just step on the accelerator and waltz past the Testa and Devil Z, but like many cars before it in this series, it ended up sliding into a wall in spectacular fashion just the same. Nobody is safe in this intense, high-energy world of street racing.

Lucky Star 08: Track & Field
The sports festival was drop-dead funny start to finish, with nearly every character pulling off a different kind of funny, in a great show of Lucky Star's diversity.

There was Konata's demonstration of 'picturing' an event, as a 8-bit, NES-styled 100m sprint like that of Konami's old Track & Field game. It turns out she knows all the tricks, including rubbing a coin back and forth and using a ruler. Actually, I've never tried that last one. See, anime is educational!

Then there was Tsukasa, and her hilariously clumsy stumbling through the 110m hurdles. It's similar to Osaka's 'keep it together' in Azumanga, in that she focuses so hard on Miyuki's advice that she's never prepared for a hurdle when it comes up. Much hurdle smashing and cute panicking ensues. Tsukasa, you never fail us.

Miyuki's segment was great as well - it was a rare moment where we got to see the dramatically competitive side of her, complete with pumping Eurobeat music (from the Initial D parody scene 2 episodes ago), and it was a nice topper to a great scene.

Kaiji 11: I MUST PUSH!
Kaiji has always struck me as an anime that has a lot of raw emotion in it, especially compared to a lot of the romance / ren'ai stuff I usually watch. When I mentioned this to a fellow anime viewer, he replied "Isn't Kaiji just all despair though?"

Which was true, but in that case, Kaiji does a good job at conveying a lot that raw despair. The narrator's constant explanations of Kaiji's thought processes, combined with Kaiji's own intense monologues, really do a lot for making him a sympathetic character, and as such it's really powerful, in a dramatic way. Kaiji's battle between conscience and greed in the Brave Men Road segment, as such, was really something to watch. It really is turning out to be the stunning surprise show of the season.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 4: Meru Meru
Maybe it's a fault of the slow release schedule of the show, but SZS, despite being a scathingly funny show at times, with all the British, off-color, and referential humor, hasn't really had a lot of memorable moments to it. The show as a whole is very enjoyable...there's just no parts that stick out incredibly. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know.

Still, the character introduction segment for Meru, the quiet text-messaging troll, was one of the better parts of the show that I could think of. Maybe it's because I could totally see myself underestimating a seemingly cute, shy girl like Nozomu did, or maybe it was because of all the amusing flames Meru tossed out (not to mention the Rambo-style cell-phone reload, followed by "You saw them. Pay up."), or maybe the clincher with Kafuka beating the living crap out of Meru with a oversized cross. But either way, it was a great example of SZS's unique brand of humor.

Tsukihime 12: Roa vs. Shiki
It exists. Believe it.

Music is one of the strong points of Lunar Legend Tsukihime, with a fully instrumental soundtrack with a lot of great uses of slow, moody music. One exception is the 'Justice' theme, an energetic violin slash some-other-stuff (that's where the music knowledge ends, kids) song which is great battle music.

It's synced quite well with the climatic fight of the anime, of Shiki facing off versus the real Shiki Tohno (slash Roa), which was actually one of the series' better battles, although still a bit confusing in places (i.e. why didn't Roa/Shiki finish off Shiki? Evil villain complex?).

Although most of the Tsukihime anime was substandard, at least when compared to the visual novel, there were some good points to the show, and I'm sure that if I didn't know of the original, it would hold up quite well on its own.

-CCY

Hmmm...Melty Blood anime...

The 13th Day of Christmas - The Alternates

"More moments? Nandeyanen!?"

The "12 Days of Christmas" series is was a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we've enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. Yeah, I know it's over, but I'm still going because I'm crazy I love you all that much. Stay in school, random lists are cool!

Hey wait, who put this on the script?

Picking twelve moments from all the shows I watched this year was quite the difficult task. Many of the high-quality shows didn't just have one awe-inspiring moment but many.

As such, I devised a set of rules for my 12 Days countdown, the first of which being which that each series could only have one moment but many.

These are some of those scenes left on the cutting room floor as a result, some of the secondary moments that are excellent in their own right, but were just topped some moments even greater.

(Spoilers: Myself;Yourself, School Days, Shuffle!, AIR, Kanon, sola, Haruhi, Tsukihime)

Myself;Yourself 08: The mailbox
The mailbox with all the bloody (or messy, at least) letters in it was probably one of the first signs that Myself;Yourself was heading towards a dramatic path. As Sana opens the mailbox and all the letters with "HELP ME!" written out on it, there was nary a viewer that didn't utter a 'oh s***' or at least felt a few chills going down their spine.

Myself;Yourself 10: The love letter
The ninth episode of Myself;Yourself was a bit of a lull, focusing mainly on Hinako, the enjoyable character that unfortunately was fairly irrelevant to the plot. There was some hints at drama inside the Wakatsuki family, though, and it all hit the fan in episode 10, first and foremost being the love letter rumoring of an extremely incestous relationship between the Wakatsuki twins.

It was where the drama level of M;Y really shot through the roof, making it probably second only to School Days as the most ridiculous - if not entertaining - soap-slash-harem of the year. It remains to be seen just how exactly it will end.

AIR 6: Michiru on the roof
Michiru's goodbye to Minagi at the end of the sixth episode is probably the first truly emotional moment of AIR, and likewise, a sentimental moment in my anime viewership. If it wasn't for Misuzu, this moment would probably be right up there near the top.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a complete sucker for tearful goodbye scenes, and Michiru's was done very well with the back-to-back against-the-fence framing of the Tohno sisters. That one emotion, that 'smile-so-you-won't-cry' feeling, gets me every time.

School Days 10: Setsuna proves it to Kotonoha
School Days is unpredictable. Isn't that a shocker by now?

It continued to prove that motto over and over throughout the series, and one of the more memorable instances of this was during Kotonoha's confronting of Setsuna. She was suspicious that Setsuna had something for Makoto as well, and was manipulating Sekai in line with her feelings.

At this point in every other romantic story ever done, it would probably be Setsuna's cue to deny these allegations, especially with the subtitles showing Kotonoha's speech cutting off midway.

I assumed that it was because of Setsuna shouting "You're wrong!" or "It's not true," but in actuality it was because of Setsuna grabbing Makoto by the shoulders and laying a kiss on him. Another spine-tingling moment that I didn't see coming, that continues to show how School Days dares to be different.

School Days Not-12: Nice meme
School Days is unpredictable. Isn't that a shocker by now?

With the fury against Makoto at its highest following episode 11 and the seeming happy reconcilation between him and Kotonoha, hype for the final, twelfth episode was phenomeonal.

And for the episode to be replaced with a completely non-related scenery show depicting nature and other not-stabby images, that was the biggest shock of all. It may not be a moment many like to remember, but this moment was an important one. If not for giving birth to a meme, but for showing the worst side of many anime fans, and adding yet another piece to the legacy that is School Days.

School Days 12: To my bloody children conclusion?
School Days is unpredictable. Isn't that a shocker by now?

The fans wanted blood. The fans got blood. In fact, two of the bad ends were combined into one, with both Sekai stabbing Makoto and Kotonoha slitting Sekai's throat. It almost pulled off a three-peat, but Kotonoha instead stuck with going insane, on a boat that almost seemed like a homage to the above moment, over jumping off the roof.

It's a moment that I still question the sanity of, with that sense of guilt of the "oh God, what have I done?" variety. But for a show like School Days, it wouldn't work any other way.

Kanon 2006 18: Shiori's arc
Mai may have my favorite storyline in Kanon, but Shiori is easily my favorite character by far.

Although being a stereotype sick girl with magical AIDS, Shiori's personality shone like no others in Kanon. That optomism of hers was almost heartwrenching, as she smiled until the end, hiding all her fears and worries in favor of living like a normal girl. And she seemed the most poetic of the lot, too. Fear the cute and smart ones.

Her arc, cliche as it was, was executed quite well too. The final fountain scene was quite emotional - the tearful goodbye rule wins again? It never fails. All hail vanilla ice cream.

Kanon 2006 23: Nayuki ending! ...almost
Yeah, I was one of THEM. One of the people who stuck with Nayuki until the end over Ms. Uguu, one that held out for the underdog victory.

Naturally, it never came, but we got a bit of consolation as Nayuki got her moment right at the climax of the 'final' episode of Kanon. Where emotions were the highest from Ayu's goodbye, we transitioned into a scene with Nayuki consoling a dejected Yuuichi, urging the both of them to fight together.

She may never get the victory, but Nayuki's fight will always bright a smile to my face.

sola 7: Wait, Matsuri got stabbed
sola was pretty good with the drama and the surprise twists, the first major one being Matsuri's dissapearance in the previous episode. And when Yorito finally reunited with her at the end of this episode, one would expect a more romantic or surprised reaction. Instead, the audience was the one that was stunned.

It's a bit fuzzy, and a bit physically absurd, but Aono's mind-control powers appear to have overtaken Yorito and embodied Aono's hate into his stabbing of Matsuri. It's a key setup for the main conflict of the story, not Matsuri vs. Takeshi, but between Yorito, Matsuri, and Aono, with three characters that weren't exactly villains nor heroes. It's the entertaining blurring of black and white that allows for all characters to have a realistic side to them.

sola 13: Yorito gone, just like that
sola's ending probably only comes to second to AIR's in terms of bittersweetness. When all is said and done, only one of the main three characters makes it out alive, although the ambiguous ending allows for other interpretations.

Yorito had a surprisingly quick death for who appeared to be the main character for 12 episodes, being stabbed by Aono by accident and dissapearing into a flurry of paper within seconds, Aono clawing at the remains.

It's one of sola's final surprises, proving that it too is a show that can be different, that shies away from lengthy dying monologues, that isn't afraid to be disturbingly real with its characters and its deaths sometimes.

In the end, it's kind of a superseding of normal human bounds again, as the ending shows, for while Yorito was gone in a flash, he won't be forgotten for a long time, if not forever.

Haruhi Suzumiya 6: The build-up
"Ponytails turn me on."

What can I say? It's the best line ever. This moment is one of the ones more commonly cited by Haruhiists as one of the great moments of the show, and I can see why.

It's epic in so many way, from the choral Latin music, to the camera shots of thousands of thousands of Haruhis, to that one moment where one realizes how to put Sleeping Beauty and Snow White together. A great 'conclusion' to a great show.

Shuffle! 19: Give Rin back to me!
This is where character vs. character conflict was truly born. Kaede Fuyou, first of the yanderes, made her legacy here in one of the unforgettable harem fights of last.

That one haunting moment, where you suddenly realize Kaede is stirring an empty pot, is chill-inducing. The following two episodes that follow this saga are very powerful, and almost mirror Sia's conflict in Kaede wondering when she's overstepping her bounds in fighting for Rin.

These are the moments when harem shows truly work, in providing moments that very few simple romances can match.

Tsukihime VN: Satsuki's 'arc'
Would Satsuki be as popular as she is now if she had a storyline of her own? We may never know, but as it is she remains one of the communities' and one of my favorite characters in Tsukihime.

It's almost impossible not to be touched by her sad story, her fruitless struggle, the moral dilemma that Shiki has to face in 'saving' Satsuki. It goes to show that not every harem character has a happy ending in the heart-rending stories of Tsukihime, where there are very few black and white characters.

Azumanga 24: The end
Azumanga, a school-life show, is unlike a lot of slice-of-life comedies in that it has quite a sense of progression. You first see the characters in their first year, and you watch them grow together throughout their high school life.
Still, somehow it's impossible to picture a show like this 'ending'. The characters are separated as they head off to university, yet they still say that 'they'll be together forever'. Maybe they will be; it's a question that, as a high-school student, is one that's quite relevant. That's probably why this is such a touching moment, in that it strikes home, and is quite 'deep' for a comedy.

-CCY

Twelve Moments in Anime 2007 - #1: AIR 12

The "12 Days of Christmas" series is a joint feature by some members of the Anime Blogging Collective recognizing twelve moments, twelve series, or just twelve things about anime that we've enjoyed over the past year, that really make us enjoy loving what we do, and that is being an anime fan. Feel free to join in the list-making fun too if you wish. We hope you enjoy this feature.

It's been one heck of a year of anime watching; especially for my first real year of true fandom.

There were the funny moments, the head-chopping ad infinitum, the gung-ho bread ladies.

There were the dramatic moments, the silence against a sky background, the stunning developments at the school festival, the climatic battle in school at night.

There were the sweet moments, the happy ending for a magical girl and her lover.

There were the touching moments, the feelings of a cat-eared maid, the romantic epiphanies of a god princess.

There were the stunning moments, the battle between two data entities, the revelations of a spurned lover on her hospital bed, the story of the girl in the cage.

But there were two emotions I can say that I never really felt this year in regards to anime.

The first would be a sense of wasted time. Yes, it would be too optomistic, even for me, to say that all the anime this year were equally great. Clearly there were some that stood above the others, and for those shows to do that, they had to be standing on the shoulders of the lesser.

But the worst it ever got in a show was not anger, but merely dissapointment. Dissapointment that a show didn't live up to its full potential. Every show had a moment, had a scene, had a fleeting period where it, too, was a great. Where it was at its finest. It was longer for some shows than others, yes, but when picking out one moment for each show, I had no trouble at least picking one spot where I can genuinely say I smiled or laughed.

The other emotion would be true sadness, and that's something, in my near-masochistic manner, that distresses me a bit more. I've watched many a sad show, seen many a tearful moment, in this year.

Yet most of the time, it only warranted a deep sigh. Perhaps a melancholy introspective, an uncomfortable glance away from the screen, maybe watery eyes like I had just yawned.

In thirty-plus anime this year, I cried once.

AIR 12.


12 Moments of Anime 2007
#1 AIR - 12
"Goal~"

By whether I cried Manly Tears or not for a show seems a strange measure of its worth.

Certainly there are better things to judge an anime by; an anime that can get me enraptured or enraged can be every bit as good, since either way it's just toying with one emotion or another.

And AIR has a bit of an unfair advantage, in that being the first truly serious anime I watched, it caught me off-guard in comparison. Like what was said yesterday by Mike at Anime Diet, the first time is always the strongest.

Not to mention, AIR wasn't exactly the strongest of the 'sad girls in X' genre. Crammed into just 12 episodes, the storyline was cut pretty hard, with girls getting fed through the revolving door at mach speed, and the summer arc condensed to just two episodes (not counting the OVAs).

The final arc, Misuzu's, wasn't one to catch people off guard either. It was choreographed pretty well in advance. And it was pretty dramatized too - the rivers that Haruko unleashed post-moment were almost of hilarious proportion.

So, why AIR? Why AIR 12?

Simply because, it was the first, the beginning of everything in so many ways, and the power of sentimental memories still trumps all.

As mentioned, it was the first anime with true, emotional plot that I saw, prior viewing being TokiMemo, DNAngel, and Cardcaptor Sakura.

There had been plenty for the show to build off of itself; Kano's arc may have been a sort of soft intro, but Minagi and Michiru's story hammered home hard. I have no real reason to relate to it, but the goodbye season was a powerful moment just the same. Having an important character dissapear like this, For Good, was something surprising, and the storyline played it perfectly to hit every sad cue in the book.

The summer arc was much the same - a mix of both humor and emotion. The happy times that Ryuuya, Uraha, and Kanna shared weren't meant to last for long, as we experienced the loss of Kanna's mother, and the eventual separation of Kanna from everyone she loved. The futile, repetitive struggle of her story, as we returned to the present, was one that touched the heartstrings, for the only thing worse than a sad story is one with (seemingly) no way out.

And then came Misuzu.

Anyone with a bit of common sense would figure that her number was up. That she was destined to be sacrificed, in a sense, for the greater good. But, as a greenhorn to anime, it seemed impossible to 'kill off' the two main characters of a show at the end, no matter what the outcome.

And so I held on to that faint thought, that slight chance that Misuzu might pull a deux ex - any deux ex - and pull through, even as the writing on the wall became more and more apparent.

Then came that final walk.

It's probably my fault that I ended up in Haruko's shoes at the end. That I believed, up until the end, that she would be able to spend the rest of her days with Misuzu. That I got stuck in that state between belief and disbelief, between dreams and reality.

And there was Aozora. Oh my God, Aozora.

Like yesterday, it's proof that music transcends all. Aozora is a powerful song like no other. Maybe that's the fault of it being linked with this scene. Maybe it's the song; the trance-inducingly slow, slightly mournful, yet still hopeful lyrics, the piano backing.

But it's a spellbinding song. It will wreck thought trains. If you stop thinking, it will enrapture you. I listened to the song to research again while writing this post.

I got 40 seconds before nearly getting overcome.

Above all, the one thing that really gets to me about this moment is that, like all 'sad' moments, it's not a truly depressing one. It's meant to be one that's bittersweet, one that mixes elatement and sorrow.

It's not just that Misuzu dies, it's that she's freed from her worldly bonds, it's that Kanna's curse is broken. It's that despite her illness, her death, she was truly happy.

It's tear-inducing simply because it's something that's incomprehensible by narrow-minded humans like me. It's something that I can't understand, how Misuzu in the end, enjoyed her life and passed on smiling. I can't understand how Haruko can accept it, how Yukito sacrificed himself to further his search for the girl in the sky.

It's something beyond the span of a single human life, a single mind. I know it's not sad, but that's why it's sad. I cried the tears not just for the sad ending but for the happy ending, that feeling that, despite it all, it's all right.

Maybe this moment blew by those who can watch their anime a little more detached. If you look at it objectively, it's overblown, overdramatic, and unrealistic.

But as one who lives with the show, who connects with characters, who wants to feel the joy, the tension, the emotion, AIR 12 will always stand above all other.

Maybe there have been equally emotional moments since then - Kanon and Clannad are what they are, Da Capo's Yoriko came close, even Shuffle! and sola might be considered - but my first encounter with truly powerful emotion induced from anime came here, and it's been something that still hasn't been matched.

It's been a ride through these twelve days and this year, but these emotions, with the sadness, the anger, and the happiness combined, are something that I don't regret a minute of feeling. I can only hope that my passion for anime is not a fleeting one, and that I get to experience this sort of connection again for many years to come.

-CCY
(It still doesn't explain why I am a bit of a cynic; Makoto and Fuuko's arcs make me feel like a heartless bastard in comparison to Misuzu.)

~Merry Christmas, everyone, it continues tommorow~