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A pair of Ades fleets destroy a fleet from Notos, another Exile nation. We then learn that when the Turans returned 118 years ago, they took the land from a native tribe, which then fled to the Ades Federation. Meanwhile, Millia is angry at Fam for leaving her sister behind, and becomes more distressed when she sees the possessions from her ship being looted and sold off by the Sky Pirates. Fam then helps Millia a glass her sister owned that was sold off to someone, which helps repair the rift between the two.

So Teddy, the Princess’ butler comes to live with Giselle, who tells him that the Sky Pirates are a collection of people who have lost their homes due to the Ades Federation, so it appears like Ades has been going around wiping people out for quite a while.

Really, there were too many things going on in this episode to write about all of it without spending too much time on it. Overall, this was a good episode explaining a lot of the background information about the Ades Federation as well as the people who returned on Exiles. It was also a good episode in developing Fam and Millia’s relationship. We also learned about a “Grand Race” which was supposed to celebrate a world peace treaty 10 years prior, but which didn’t last. Also apparently some incident at the Grand Race took the life of the current Ades child-empress’s mother’s life.

So far I think this series is doing a decent job of capturing the feel of the original series. This one seems a bit more battle heavy, and there are still obviously some big unanswered questions like…what is Dio doing there? But so far I think it’s fulfilling my expectations.

A pair of Ades fleets destroy a fleet from Notos, another Exile nation. We then learn that when the Turans returned 118 years ago, they took the land from a native tribe, which then fled to the Ades Federation. Meanwhile, Millia is angry at Fam for leaving her sister behind, and becomes more distressed when she sees the possessions from her ship being looted and sold off by the Sky Pirates. Fam then helps Millia a glass her sister owned that was sold off to someone, which helps repair the rift between the two.

So Teddy, the Princess’ butler comes to live with Giselle, who tells him that the Sky Pirates are a collection of people who have lost their homes due to the Ades Federation, so it appears like Ades has been going around wiping people out for quite a while.

Really, there were too many things going on in this episode to write about all of it without spending too much time on it. Overall, this was a good episode explaining a lot of the background information about the Ades Federation as well as the people who returned on Exiles. It was also a good episode in developing Fam and Millia’s relationship. We also learned about a “Grand Race” which was supposed to celebrate a world peace treaty 10 years prior, but which didn’t last. Also apparently some incident at the Grand Race took the life of the current Ades child-empress’s mother’s life.

So far I think this series is doing a decent job of capturing the feel of the original series. This one seems a bit more battle heavy, and there are still obviously some big unanswered questions like…what is Dio doing there? But so far I think it’s fulfilling my expectations.

Satou calls Tanaka to warn of the incoming Denizen, but the Flame Hazes have already detected it, and felt that it’s not just a Denizen but probably a Crimson Lord. Margery heads out to scout out what they’re up against and discovers that the Denizen is actually Yuji. Learning this, Shana decides to go and meet Yuji. Yuji, meanwhile, walks around town reminiscing about all his memories with Shana. He then meets Shana on top of Misaki Bridge…

This was kind of an anti-climatic episode in a way. The Flame Hazes sensed Yuji’s arrival (though they didn’t know it was him), and Margery is the one who confirmed that Yuji was the Denizen that they sensed. Also, Tanaka decided to work for Margery again, going up to the Crystal Alter with Yoshida. Otherwise the episode was what I described above: Yuji remembering things.

This the first time we’ve ween Yuji in his body with his voice and, at least seemingly, with his thoughts. This would seem to suggest that he can allow either his or Silver’s consciousness to be in control of his body at any given time, and that he isn’t opposing Silver. Of course, again, to what end he is doing it, we can’t really say. I guess we’ll find out his real intentions of coming back to Misaki City in the next episode…

I’m sure I’m not the only person that after building something will sometimes find a small pile of odds’n’ends that one hopes does not belong in the completed product. This part of the awards is like that pile of parts; as I was arranging awards into the various groups I started accumulating awards that didn’t really fit with the others. Instead of putting these categories in a little bag and forgetting about them until something goes wrong, I decided to add this fourth part to be able to cover them as well.

Before getting to the awards, as a reminder, I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum but there’ll be some because of how they’ll relate to specific awards. As for the continuing shows, only the part of the series that ran during this year is under consideration for this year’s awards.

 

Best Villain

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Heaven from Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Summer – CERN from Steins;Gate

Autumn – Ades Federation from Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam

Wildcard –  Ouroboros from Tiger and Bunny

Overall Winner: Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Kyubey is insidious and dangerous – the truer portrait of evil in the world; without him PM3 would not have been nearly as good. I read in an interview that Shinbou had wanted Kyubey to be animated like a normal cute magic girls mascot but the animators knew too much about Kyubey and could not draw him anyway but creepy.

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Best Dressed Characters

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Star Driver

Spring – Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Summer – Nichijou

Autumn – Chihayafuru

Wildcard – Hyouge Mono

Overall Winner: Nichijou

I really should just name this the “KyoAni Production Values and Fashion Sense Award” and be done with it but I hold the hope that someday, someone will outmaneuver KyoAni. In all honesty, though, it is slowly becoming more of a competition.

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Best Fight

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Episode 7 from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Episode 12 of Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Summer – Episode 16 of Ao no Exorcist

Autumn –Episode 2 of Ben-To

Wildcard –  Episode 10 of Ben-To

Overall Winner: Episode 2 of Ben-To

Ben-to should be required watching for most animators before they try their hand at animating a fight scene. I’m looking at you J.C. Staff and Bones and AIC for starters; Shana and Star Driver and Persona could really be helped by including fights that are actually well done. I’m also going to throw Fate/Zero in as needing help; all the posing and monologuing gets old – spend a little less on the backgrounds and more on animating fights.

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Most Unexpectedly Good Show

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Level E

Spring – Hyouge Mono

Summer – Mayo Chiki

Autumn – Ben-To

Wildcard –  Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Overall Winner: Ben-To

Episode 2 of Ben-to won best fight in part because it helped sale the anime to the viewer because the premise behind Ben-To did not seem like the recipe to create a great anime and we needed the convincing. While Ben-to was the clear winner, it seems like every season of anime includes at least one anime that is shockingly good, the proverbial diamond-in-the-rough, which is why one needs to have an open mind when deciding which anime to try.

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Best Show No One Saw

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Level E

Spring – Hyouge Mono

Summer – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Autumn – Tamayura – Hitotose

Wildcard –  Rio – Rainbow Gate

Overall Winner: Hyouge Mono

Saying that no one watched these shows is stretching the truth since each title had it’s fans but in each case the anime failed to really catch fire on a large-scale (at least initially). Hyouge Mono won because it’s a great show and it’s been basically ignored by the subbing community. I’m thankful that there is at least one group subbing it but the slow speed probably implies a single person is doing everything himself/herself and that makes me worried because something might come up and it’ll never get finished.

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Most in Need of a Sequel

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Summer – Kamisama Dolls

Autumn – Un-Go

Wildcard –  Hanasaku Iroha, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Overall Winner: Kamisama Dolls

There were flaws with Kamisama Dolls but the first season (see how I’m hoping) accomplished much between the introduction of an interesting setting and the promise of more surprises just waiting to be discovered. It’s also the title that most gains from a sequel. In the case of PM3, the series was perfect by itself but, much like Toy Story, if a story can be created that can equal/surpass the original then it should get made. Un-Go might be better served by redoing it’s 11 episode run into something longer where the defects of the short episode count could be addressed.

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Best Anime Extra

Nominees:

Young Animators Training Program

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée Episode 4.5

Shiki Episodes 20.5 and 21.5

Umi Kara no Shisha

Overall Winner: Young Animators Training Program

The four shorts that comprise the Young Animators Training Program are the result of a Japanese government program to help ensure the continued health of the local animation industry. How successful such an idea will ultimately be is open to debate but judging by the end result, there’s definitely much worse ways to spend other people’s money. An even more obscure nominee is Umi Kara no Shisha (trailer seen here). I happened to come across it, decided to watch it sight unseen, and was blown away by equal measures of WTF?! and awesome. At only 8.5 minutes long it’s well worth a watch or three.

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Best Anime OVA Seen in 2011

Nominees:

Yozakura Quartet OVA

Hidamari Sketch SP

Kara no Kyoukai – Epilogue

Katte ni Kaizo

Carnival Phantasm

Toradora OVA

Overall Winner: Yozakura Quartet OVA

A dim memory of watching the Yozakura Quartet anime series – released several years ago – and finding it completely boring, generic, and forgettable stopped me from bothering with the Yozakura Quartet OVA. That is until I read a review of the third episode and it was mentioned that Ryo-timo was animating and directing this OVA series. That name had recently became meaningful when I realized some of my favorite animation scenes from Noein and Birdy: The Mighty Decode had their key animation done by Ryo-timo. I decided that I had to watch it and was pleasantly surprised to find the OVA turned the boring, generic, and forgettable anime into a pretty good anime. The animation was the big draw but the story and plot were given a boost at well.

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Best Anime Movie Seen in 2011

Nominees:

Redline

Evangelion 2.22

Summer Wars (English Dub)

Sengoku Basara: The Last Party

Lupin III: Blood Seal – Eternal Mermaid

Overall Winner: Redline

There are a few anime movies that I didn’t see this year that appear to be worth a nomination from what I’ve been reading . One such movie, The World of Arriety, I’m purposely waiting on the chance to see it in theaters. As such those movies will most likely show up on next year’s nominee list but it’s not like I’m left to pick from a list of second-tier movies. The winner, Redline, is a feast for the eyes and a feast for the little kid inside that thinks driving a fast car is the most awesome thing in the world. It’s a memorable experience; the type that comes only once in a blue moon.

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That’s part 4 of my retrospective look at the 2011 year in anime. Next will see a shift from award categories to counting down the top anime of the year.

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Top anime 2011 Awards Part 0: Introduction and Anti-Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and General Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 4: The Misfit Awards <- you are here
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

Fu and company are having a meal at the cafe when Kou shows up, causing Norie to go bonkers. Later, when Norie and Maon are shopping, they notice someone is following them, and finally discover it’s a girl named Komachi. Komachi tells them that she’s doing surveillance on Norie because of her behavior around Kou, who is also Komachi’s classmate. They then get into a baking contest at the cafe to see who can make the best sweets, with Kou being the judge. Of course, they end up in a tie with Kou loving both of their sweets.

I another good episode, I thought. This time we’re introduced to Komachi, a classmate of Kou’s who also has a crush on him.  Obviously the tension between Komachi and Norie is going to be some added comedic relief to this show, and so far it’s doing pretty good. It was kinda cute how Komachi worked to make her hotcakes for Kou, even though she didn’t really know how to do it, but it turned out OK in the end. I also had to kinda of lauch at  the fact that Norie may have finally found someone more hyper and crazier than herself.

Some shows are what I might call “hyper” slice-of-life shows: shows that fall into the slice of life category, but are really fast paced. Examples of shows like that include Azumanga Diaoh and Lucky Star. Then you have a show like this, which is also slice of life, but the pace is really slow. Probably the closest shows I can think of might be Sketchbook and Hidimari Sketch, with both happening to be artsy shows as well. If anything, I like this show better than either of those, at least so far.

Souta’s little sister Nazuna is working at the restaurant. This leads to a discussion with Izumi the next morning where Nazuna ends up falsly believing that Souta is dating Poplar (and that she’s in elementary school). Distraught, Izumi goes off on a “journey” where she runs into Mahiru. Mahiru tries to cheer her up while finding Izumi’s reliance and obsession with her brother (not knowing it’s Souta, of course) a little weird.

I’m not sure if this is a start of some new arc where Izumi tries to run interference with Souta’s alleged relationship with Poplar the not-really-in-elementary girl or if it was a one-off episode, considering it takes her days to practically craw from one room to another.

In any case, the Izumi stuff was OK. Her conversation with Mahiru was funny, but the rest was just kinda blah I thought. On the other hand, Nazuna is always entertaining and is still definitely my favorite non-regular character in the series. I would be just fine if she just showed up in every episode.

Step three for awesome anime – after creating memorable characters and giving them a worthy stage – is to use every part of the production process to bring-out/enhance the positive aspects of the anime and hide the negative aspects. Getting the right seiyuu can be the difference between a character being a success or failure. Inappropriate music can ruin the climax of a series and nothing can make a whole anime series fail as assuredly as poor animation quality. Conversely, in the right hands, a small budget can be overcome through creating the right animation style. Stellar OP/ED with it’s combination of music and animation can build excitement and anticipation for the anime and ensure viewers come back next week.

There’s other parts to an anime’s production – like script writing, cinematography, sound editing, etc. – that won’t gets awards here because I’m not knowledgeable enough in these areas to put any confidence in picking winners. Which is why I call this set of awards the Voice, Music, and Audio awards. I’m hoping next year I’ll be able to include a few more areas of the production to these awards.

Before getting to the awards, as a reminder, I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum but there’ll be some because of how they’ll relate to specific awards. As for the continuing shows, only the part of the series that ran during this year is under consideration for this year’s awards.

 

Top Seiyuu “Discovered”

Nominees:

Aoi Yuuki as Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Kanae Itou as Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha

Mamoru Miyano as Takuto from Star Driver

Overall Winner: Aoi Yuuki

Very rarely does a new voice actor/actress get the chance to start their career with voicing a main character or even a memorable supporting character; instead they work on small parts, improving their skills, and waiting for their chance. Therefore, it might take a while for these seiyuu to come to the attention of a moderately well-versed anime fan like myself but when they do, it’s always like a bolt of lightning – where has this person been hiding, I ask myself. This year saw three such seiyuu appear. All three display a wide range of ability that served them well for these break-out roles and newer roles as well but the winner just had to be Aoi Yuuki.

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Best Performance by a Seiyuu

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Chiwa Saitou as Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Kanae Itou as Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha

Summer – Mamoru Miyano as Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Autumn – Akio Ohtsuka as Rider aka Iskander from Fate/Zero

Wildcard –  Hiroaki Hirata as Tiger from Tiger and Bunny

Overall Winner: Mamoru Miyano as Rintarou Okabe

Instrumental in making Okabe the epic character he became was the talent of Mamoru Miyano. The role required being able to do positively everything and he was able to do it and make it look easy. Right behind him was Chiwa Saitou. Her performance as Homura going from doe-eyed innocent into the brittle, empty killer in the span of one episode allowed episode 10 of PM3 to be the single best episode of anime in 2011. I sometimes forget how versatile she can be.

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Best Male Seiyuu

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Mamoru Miyano as Takuto from Star Driver

Spring – Mamoru Miyano as Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Summer – Mamoru Miyano as Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Autumn - Hiro Shimono as You Satou from Ben-To

Wildcard –  Hiroshi Kamiya as Natsume from Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Overall Winner: Mamoru Miyano

There were plenty of great roles that Mamoru Miyano played in 2011; the ones listed above were just his best. He also starred in Dog Days (and was one of principal draws to that anime) as well as in Chihayafuru – to name but two more. While no danger to Mamoru Miyano here, both Hiroshi Kamiya and Hiro Shimono are no slouches themselves.  Hiroshi Kamiya was even my 2008 best male seiyuu pick after his roles in the first season of Natsume Yuujinchou and Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei and continues to be one of my favorites.

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Best Female Seiyuu

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Aoi Yuuki  as Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Victorique from Gosick

Spring – Aoi Yuuki  as Victorique from Gosick and Tooru from A Channel

Summer – Kanae Itou as Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha

Autumn – Miyuki Sawashiro as Kuripaka from Hunter × Hunter and Fujiko from Lupin III

Wildcard –  Asami Imai as Christina from Steins;Gate, Marina Inoue as Rio from Rio – Rainbow Gate and Yozora from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai and Matsurika from Maria+holic Alive

Overall Winner: Aoi Yuuki  

I fear that I’m starting to sound like a broken record with my seiyuu winning picks but putting anything else would be dishonest. On the other hand voice acting seems like a volatile profession with who gets roles and who doesn’t being arbitrary (or more likely it’s a very political process and to this outsider it appears arbitrary) so I don’t feel bad about celebrating the stellar work of Aoi Yuuki this year. This year also saw Marina Inoue getting more roles than she’d been getting  – or, at least, more roles in anime that I watch – which was another good thing that happened in 2011 because she’s very talented.

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Best Seiyuu Cast

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Tiger and Bunny

Summer – Hanasaku Iroha

Autumn – Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

Wildcard –  Mawaru Penguin Drum

Overall Winner: Hanasaku Iroha

This is another category that was tough to pick and in the end I handed the award to the anime with a larger cast – Hanasaku Iroha – on the idea that it was more difficult to cast a large number of people versus a smaller cast. Shaft/Shinbou has for a long time reused voice actors from one anime to the next (PM3 is no different) and I think this is a practice more animation studios should adopt because Shaft/Shinbou seems to get a better performance from their seiyuu.

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Best OP

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Level E

Spring – Maria+Holic Alive

Summer – Nichijou OP2

Autumn – Shakugan no Shana III

Wildcard – Kamisama Dolls, Mawaru Penguin Drum OP2

Overall Winner: Nichijou OP2

Some awards are more subjective than others and this category definitely falls hard into the subjective pile. Deciding on how to balance the mix of music and the animation sequence plus accounting for what “best OP” actually means makes it tough to be subjective. To make this even more subjective I’ll add that I think Nichijou OP2 is probably the best OP that KyoAni ever made.

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Best ED

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – AnoHana

Summer – Episode 7 of Nekogami Yaoyorozu

Autumn – Un-Go

Wildcard –  Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Hidamari Sketch SP

Overall Winner: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Ditto that idea for this award. One time I played with the idea of splitting this award and the last into two separate like this “Best ED – Music” and “Best ED – Visuals” but decided I was making too many awards as is. So, instead, I balance it all out beforehand and hope no one asks to see the rubric I used . For this award both Un-Go and Denpa Onma to Seishun Otoko had stronger visuals than the eventual winner but the song for PM3 made up more than enough to win.

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Best Background Music

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Nichijou

Summer – Nichijou

Autumn – Ben-Tou

Wildcard –  Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, Ao no Exorcist

Overall Winner: Nichijou

If those reading could see me at this moment of writing they’d see someone grimacing over the dread that a person with actual expertise in the area of anime background music won’t come along and explain why Nichijou was the wrong choice. Actually, I’ve been trying to listen to the background music more this year and I have slightly more confidence with this pick this year then I have had in the past. I thought Nichijou’s BGM perfectly complemented the show and helped heighten the enjoyment of the series as a whole.

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Best Animation Style

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Summer – Mawaru Penguin Drum

Autumn – Chihayafuru

Wildcard –  Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, Steins;Gate

Overall Winner: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Puella Magi Madoka Magica was the culmination and perfection of the Shaftian anime style. (Of course the Shaft/Shinbou style was an outgrowth of older animators but since they’ve been the ones pumping out the series of late they get credit for the Shaftian style of animation. How Penguins is connected to Shaft/Shinbou and vice versa is a fascinating topic to anyone that noticed the similarities.) Scholars and fans alike in future will probably point to this anime as influencing the growth of anime over the coming years and the proof will be seen in the adoption of elements of Shaft’s animation style, which we’re already seeing.

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Best Animation

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Star Driver

Spring – Nichijou

Summer – Nichijou

Autumn – Fate/Zero

Wildcard –  Hanasaku Iroha, Tiger and Bunny

Overall Winner: Nichijou

I remember reading an interview given by someone at KyoAni saying that Nichijou contains the most animation cuts (I think that was the technical term) of any series that KyoAni has worked on. I believe it, the proof of this appears in Nichijou winning an award like best action. The other contenders all fielded efforts that 5-6 years ago would have made an anime fan salivate but in 2011 they all came up a little short. Hanasaku Iroha comes in second and might have beaten Nichijou had it been given a slightly larger budget to work with.

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Top Animation Studio

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Shaft

Spring – A-1 Pictures

Summer – Brain’s Base

Autumn – David Production

Wildcard –  Kyoto Animation, P.A. Works

Overall Winner: Brain’s Base

This year marked a big step for Brain’s Base when it animated not one, not two, but three series at once during the Summer season and having two become top titles of the year and the third being above average. Before this point they’d only handle one series at a time and this limited the number of series that they could get too – to the mumbling of fans that want various sequels like Baccano 2 or Spice and Wolf 3. I can’t wait to see what 2012 holds for Brain’s Base.

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That’s it for part 3 of my 2011 anime awards. Stay tuned for part 4: The Misfit Awards.

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Top anime 2011 Awards Part 0: Introduction and Anti-Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and General Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards <- you are here
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 4: The Misfit Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

Princess Liliana has Fam and Giselle return her younger sister, Princess Millia, back to the Turan capital in order to give defense preparations to their ill father. However, he has Fam and Giselle take Millia to a villa in the East to keep her safe. Liliana, meanwhile, prepares a plan to attack the Ades flagship but it fails when she’s kidnapped. Dio tells Fam and Millia of this, and they go to save Liliana, but the Premier of Ades, Luscinia, recites a Mysteria, which causes Liliana to go into a trance, and activates one of the crecent moons, which happens to be an Exile. The Exile descends toward Turan’s capital, whose soldiers unwisely fire at it. The Exile then attacks the city in return, killing everyone in it, including the king.

So we get some background information in this episode. Apparently the Exile that was in the first series wasn’t the only one sent out. Apparently the Exiles were sent out as colony ships in an attempt to make sure the human race survived during a time when it was in grave danger on earth. However, humanity survived and started to thrive, when Exiles started returning. However, the indigenous inhabitants of Earth weren’t too keen on giving the people returning on the Exiles land, so apparently people like Turans look land and formed their own kingdoms. The Ades Federation was either a one world government that had existed before the Exiles returned, or is a federation of the original nations that have united against the nations formed by Exile inhabitants.

Or at least, that’s how I understand it at this point.

There were six “moons” in the sky, and presumably they’re all Exiles, though I’m not sure if they are ones that just were never sent out or if they are ones that have returned and are just parked in orbit. I’m guessing we’ll see action from the other 5 at some point in the future. In any case, it looks like Turan is in pretty bad shape, so I’m not sure where this series will go from here. Ades seems intent on wiping out a whole lot of other nations as well, so the series will probably be centered on Fam and other’s attempts to prevent that.

Sydonay destroys Shanghai’s Outlaw organization and the Flame Haze leading it, but cautions not to celebrate yet, as the other Flame Hazes will unite under the leadership of Sophie Sawallisch. Yuji then arrives to give his orders to his followers. Meanwhile, Satou heads out toward his Outlaw base, but detects a Crimson Denizen headed back toward Misaki City on his way…Yuji.

We see a couple of instances of Denizens, including Bel Peol having some slight doubts about Yuji-Silver, so to this point their worries seem to be alleviated. Exactly what the relationship between Yuji and Silver is hasn’t really been revealed. So far it seems like Silver is just using Yuji’s body, which is entirely possible, but Yuji’s behavior in the first episode suggests that it’s not as clear cut as that. In any case, there is no indication that there is any resistance from Yuji against Silver so far.

Shana gets a somewhat cryptic message back from Sophie, though she seems to revolve what it means by the end of the episode. Anyway, I’m interested to see what Yuji’s visit back to Misaki City will be like. Will he reveal that he’s Silver or pretend to be normal Yuji. In any case he’s going to have to explain what he’s been up to.

Step 2 in making extraordinary anime is to take your cast of memorable characters and give them a stage that lets them shine.

I’m not fussy about which stage is chosen nor do I think one type is inherently superior to another. A well-done comedy is as difficult to make as a well-done drama and both deserve the same level of praise for succeeding in their respective spheres of influence. With a competent execution, a shoujo anime is as good as a shounen anime and/or a slice-of-life anime and/or a sports anime and/or a science fiction anime and/or romantic comedy anime and so on and so forth.

This bit of enlightenment was something I learned after starting my anime blogging and pushing myself to watch a wider variety of anime. Which is one of the reasons I’d suggest giving anime blogging a chance to people that want to deepen their appreciation of the art form.

Before getting to the awards, as a reminder, I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum but there’ll be some because of how they’ll relate to specific awards. As for the continuing shows, only the part of the series that ran during this year is under consideration for this year’s awards.

 

Best Action

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Nichijou

Summer – Nichijou

Autumn – Ben-To

Wildcard –  Tiger and Bunny, Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam

Overall Winner: Nichijou

Yes Nichijou is a comedy but no other anime of 2011 could match KyoAni’s level of talent and commitment that made Nichijou’s numerous action segments attention-grabbing, entertaining, and pleasing to the eye. It’s closest competitor was Ben-to and with a little larger budget it might have been able to make this award competitive.

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Most Entertaining

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Rio – Rainbow Gate

Spring – Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Summer – Mayo Chiki

Autumn – Ben-To

Wildcard –  Hyouge Mono

Overall Winner: Ben-To

What Ben-to lacked in budget didn’t stop it from being supremely entertaining. It started with a quirky idea – people willing to trade blows over the chance to snag a half-priced meal – and just kept running with it. Ben-to’s toughest competitor was Rio – Rainbow Gate. This was another show that stuck (some might say courageously) to it’s silly premise and never stopped offering something new/bizarre/absurd.

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Most Interesting Setting

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Rio – Rainbow Gate

Spring – Hyouge Mono

Summer – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Autumn – Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam

Wildcard –  Ben-to

Overall Winner: Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

I love anime (and basically any type of TV/movie) set in a historical time period because I find the differences between then and now interesting to see. This probably makes me a bit bias towards picking Ikoku Meiro no Croisee but, even so, late 19th century Paris is not a common subject in anime and makes a great change of pace from the usual.

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Best Plot

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Steins;Gate

Summer – Steins;Gate

Autumn – Mawaru Penguin Drum

Wildcard –  Hyouge Mono

Overall Winner: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

This turned out to be a very close thing for PM3 in the end; back last winter I thought for sure that it had this award sewed up but then came Steins;Gate and then Penguins. Up until the beginning of PM3 I respected Shaft/Shinbou for the ability to tell a good story but being able to handle a show that was plot heavy seemed beyond their grasp. (Look at Vampire Bund, for example.) Then PM3 comes along and suddenly Shaft/Shinbou is handling the plot to perfection and not skimping on the storytelling. I know the credit largely goes to Gen Urobuchi who was behind the script but it still was a shocking thing to see.

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Best Story

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – AnoHana

Summer – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Autumn – Ben-to

Wildcard –  Hanasaku Iroha, Steins;Gate

Overall Winner: AnoHana

AnoHana’s win in this category is closely tied to their win in the Best Character Development for Cast category. I actually thought PM3 would win this award as well back last winter but AnoHana was too built from the ground up to win this award to not win this award.

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Best Final Episode

Seasonal Winners:

Winter - Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Summer – Nichijou

Autumn – Ben-to

Wildcard –  Hanasaku Iroha, Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Overall Winner: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

PM3 had the plotting and the storytelling that assured the epic awesomeness of the final episode. The most interesting nominee in this category is Natsume Yuujinchou 3. As a slice-of-life series it seems counter-intuitive to expect a good final episode from a series that doesn’t have a clearly defined structure but somehow Natsume finishes another season with an episode that manages to give a sense of accomplishment and completeness. (And conversely makes one yearn for just “one more season”.)

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Best Ending

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – AnoHana

Summer – Steins;Gate

Autumn – Mawaru Penguin Drum

Wildcard –  Tiger and Bunny

Overall Winner: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Getting the ending right is a tricky thing and is where so many anime (and other forms of media) fail. This year, with so many quality original anime series, we had many series that actually got it right. PM3 did it the best and so they win this category.

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Best Slice-of-Life

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – nothing I watched qualified

Spring – Hanasaku Iroha

Summer – Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Autumn – Tamayura – Hitotose

Wildcard –  Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Overall Winner: Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Hanasaku Iroha finally clicked with me when I realized it wasn’t a drama but a slice-of-life series about a dramatic girl with an interesting family. Even so, nothing could really compete with Natsume. I would have argued that the first two seasons was a display of probably the absolute very best of the slice-of-life genre but the third season came along and somehow found the room to improve upon the first two seasons.

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Best Science Fiction

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Steins;Gate

Summer – Steins;Gate

Autumn – Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam

Wildcard –  Tiger and Bunny

Overall Winner: Steins;Gate

This was a very tight race between PM3 and Steins;Gate which would have surprised me more then a year ago, before the start of PM3. On one side there’s a magic girl anime and on the other there’s a visual novel adaptation. However, PM3 impressed me with it’s meditation on the three laws of thermodynamics and Steins;Gate was able to feel fresh and new in the crowded sub-genres of time travel and parallel time lines. It was a tough decision but I finally chose Steins;Gate for feeling more like a SF series and because it showed that there’s still room for new ideas in time travel and parallel time lines.

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Best Comedy

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Level E

Spring – Nichijou

Summer – Nichijou

Autumn – Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

Wildcard –  Fireball Charming, gg’s fansub of Hidan no Aria

Overall Winner: Nichijou

Nothing in 2011 made me laugh louder, longer and more often then Nichijou. I’m surprised not more people found it funny but I understand that comedy is a tough business. Second was gg’s fansub of Hidan no Aria; this is how you take a very mediocre anime and make it enjoyable.

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Best Drama

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – AnoHana

Summer – Steins;Gate

Autumn – Mawaru Penguin Drum

Wildcard –  Un-Go

Overall Winner: AnoHana

Some people might say that AnoHana was the best (worse?) melodrama this year but I never felt it crossed the line into melodrama and, instead, was the best drama of the year. (Though, I also like the Key/KyoAni anime series so these same people might find my judgment impaired .) Not that it had a chance but Un-Go earned the wildcard spot for turning out to be a pretty interesting drama series which is somewhat surprising when the series was billed as a mystery/SF series and the mysteries were poorly done and the SF was shallow and generic. I’m glad that I decided not to drop Un-Go early on.

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That’s it for part 2, the next part is the VMA awards.

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Top anime 2011 Awards Part 0: Introduction and Anti-Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and General Awards <- you are here
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 4: The Misfit Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

Fu has now lived in Takehara for a month and is hanging out with her childhood friends Kaoru, Norie, and Maon. We also meet a couple other characters, including their odd teacher, a nice man in a nearby photo shop, and Fu’s grandmother, who owns a cafe in town. Kaoru then says she’s going to be alone the next night because everyone is busy, so Fu suggests a sleepover to keep her company. We finally meet Kaoru’s older sister Sayomi, who snuck out of what she was doing to spend the night with them as well.

Another good episode, I thought. Again, pretty slow paced, so if you don’t like episodes that kinda laze along, you may not like this series, but I think it’s a good pace for this show. We finally get to see what Fu’s childhood friends are like. Kaoru is kind of the leader and most mature. Norie is extremely excitable and hyper. Meanwhile Maon is silent, but will speak up when she wants to. She also often responds by whistling.

So this episode was mostly about the four friends catching up and introducing some of the other side characters in the show. We got a hint of this in the first episode, but we hear more about “tamayura,” which are flicks of light that show up on a picture, and how Fu enjoys taking pictures with them on it. Once again, I’m looking forward to seeing more from this show.

Aoi is frustrated at Souta for not telling her that she’s cute, even though she’s not much bigger than Poplar. As a result, she decides to focus her attention on Hiroomi instead, deciding to stalk him (with Poplar’s help) to find out what he’s so secretive about. Hiroomi, however, uses this as a chance to freak Aoi and Poplar out every chance he gets. Meanwhile, Poplar tries to talk up Mahiru to Souta. Jun harasses Poplar again to take out his frustrations about Yachiyo and Poplar wants to take revenge.

This was a rather disjointed episode that had a ton of stuff going on. I realize that’s not uncommon for 4-koma based series but it seemed to be that way more so than usual this time. The main threads were Poplar trying to help Souta and Mahiru together and Aoi seeking attention from various people.

I’m not sure if all the Aoi stuff is really going anywhere other than her being cute or annoying, depending on her point of view. The Mahiru/Souta thing is where it’s at, but, of course, Souta is still focused on Poplar because she’s so cute, and because Mahiru still can’t get over her punching guys.  Overall this was an OK episode I guess, but it didn’t seem to progress the plot very much.

This Last Exile sequel, or spin off, or whatever it is, is, after Shana, the 2nd series I’m most looking forward to watching. The original Last Exile was probably one of the first five anime series I ever watched, and probably one of the first five I ever bought (back in the days when anime series came on 7 discs!). Needless to say it’s one of my favorite series, so I have very high expectations for this show as well.

Fam, and her co-pilot Giselle lead an Sky Pirate attack on a ship, capturing it. Back at the base, they run into Dio (!!), who is as lazy as usual. Meanwhile, two rival nations, Turan and Ades have agreed to sign a peace treaty. However, the treaty is a ruse by Ades in order to attack the Turan fleet, which has stood down in preparation for the treaty. Fam and the pirates then decide to save the princesses of Turan…in exchange for their flagship.

I was under the impression that the amount of time that had passed between the two series was more, but I guess not with Dio not only alive (apparently surviving the events from the end of the first series) but pretty much the same age. Meanwhile, it looks like this series is taking place on earth, though with a similar feeling with the two nations going to war against each other. The Sky Pirates are essentially acting the part of the Sylvania. So far there isn’t an overwhelming controlling organization like the Guild yet, at least that’s been revealed.

I’m interested in knowing the relationship between Earth and Prester. Presumably the people who lived on Prester and Earth were separated for quite a long time, which makes it interesting that they should have similar technology, unless everyone who is on Earth now came from Prester (though it seems like these nations have existed for quite a while). I guess that was just something nagging at me.  Also, since we’ve seen Dio, does that mean we’ll see (or at least hear about) any of the other original characters at some point?

It’s finally here…the series I have been waiting four years for (yes, it’s been that long). The final season of Shakugan no Shana. The first season was one of the early anime series I watched, and of course I blogged the second season and the OVA. Now it’s time for Shakugan no Shana III (or Final). I hope this ends up being worth the four years I’ve been waiting to see it…

Shana is fighting a horde of Rinne when the Crimson Denizen appears and…is Yuji. We then flash back to the end of the 2nd season when it appeared Yuji and chosen Shana. Instead, he vanished as if he ran out of power of existence, though Yoshida still remembers him. However, Shana and the other flame hazes don’t believe he’s gone and think his disappearance is part of a major plot by the Bal Masqué. Meanwhile, Yuji, apparently trapped in the Midnight Lost Child, tells Silver that he wants to “change it” and takes his place as the leader of the Bal Masqué.

So…something happened to Yuji, probably caused by the Bal Masqué, that caused him to become somehow trapped inside the Midnight Lost Child. There he is having a conversation with Silver about the cycle of Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens, and then at the end says that he wants to “change it.” Presumably this means he wants to change the cycle of never-ending battle between the two sides, though I’m not really sure how Yuji would think this would be accomplished by becoming head of the Bal Masqué.

Otherwise, this episode was kind of a catchup. We are reminded that Satou wants to work for Outlaw now, and that Tanaka and Ogata are an item. It also appears like we’re about to be introduced to yet another Flame Haze: Sophie Sawallisch. One other item of note is that Shana is learning to use her Flame Haze powers much more effectively, which I’m sure will come in handy later.

A fairly interesting, and plot twisting, first episode of the third season here. Interested where this series will go now that it looks like Shana will have to fight Yuji instead of be his guide.