The final part of my look at the spectacular summer season is the countdown of the best titles of the season. This is always a difficult process since I enjoy so many different types of shows and there’s no clear-cut way of comparing a slice-of-life show to a shounen action show to a thought provoking SF drama set in the near future but at the same time, it’s fun because it helps me focus on exactly why I like certain shows.

The first step in the process is to figure out how many places will this season’s top list include. The number changes from season-to-season based on the number of quality shows that I feel deserve to be mentioned. This time I realized that if I included all the titles I thought were “very good”, the list would be much too long so I restricted the list to those shows that I consider “great” shows.

This narrowed the field down to seven shows and now the task turned to ranking these seven shows that I considered great shows. Picking the number one spot was fairly easily but the rest of the list felt like pulling teeth so; whereas, I’ll argue that all seven of these shows belong on the list, I won’t argue to hard over the exact order.

And with that, let’s head to the countdown.

Honorable Mention – Sora no Manimani

Of the shows that almost made it onto the list, Sora no Manimani was the closest and because it was such an enjoyable series, I figured it deserved to at least get an honorable mention.

I’m convinced if this had either had one of the big name studios attached to it or had eye catching animation like a Bakemonogatari then it would have been a popular series. Instead it was done by Studio Comet and outside of the nicely done night sky scenes, the animation was very average. Which makes it sounds like I’m calling anime fans shallow but I understand that with the sheer number of titles (and so many being good) that some way to filter down the number of shows that a person watches needs to be employed.

So, in case you’ve missed this show, Sora no Manimani is a slice-of-school-life show featuring the school’s astronomy club and focuses more on the unique challenges facing a club of this type with a lesser focus on the problems of it’s members. Almost every episode also mixes in a few interesting tidbits of astronomy. I plan on trying the easy method they showed for taking pictures of the night sky with just a normal camera. It’s strength resided in how it stayed entertaining and enjoyable without resorting heavily clichéd characters and became an even stronger series when they introduced some of the neighboring school’s astronomy clubs and their own quirky characters – gotta love the constellation fangirls.

And if the animators get a chance to do a second season (the ending gives that type of feeling), I’d definitely be excited for more Sora no Manimani.

7 – Aoi Hana

The term yuri is such a loaded term for the anime fan because 9.9 times out of 10 a show with yuri is using it for comedic purposes and fan service (think Maria+holic or Kampfer) or the story is so grounded in fantasy that it can’t be taken seriously. Using this term is helpful the vast majority of the time but in that 0.1 times are shows like Aoi Hana that are completely different then the normal yuri show. There’s very little, if any fan service, and the show is a more serious one and yet the story is told in such a way with the right characters that it feels very plausible.

A better way to describe this show is that Aoi Hana is yet another quality slice-of-school-life show from J.C. Staff that will remind the viewer of other J.C. Staff shows like Honey & Clover and Toradora. This show also features the best example of the sheer beauty that J.C. Staff’s watercolor look can lend a show. And speaking of animation, remember how people would talk about the attention to detail the KyoAni would show in their works – I got that same feeling of almost obsessive attention from watching how well Fumi’s hair was animated and how the snow was animated in the last episode. This is another show that if the animators wanted to do a second season, they’re more then welcome since I’d be really happy to see more from these characters.

6 - Kemono no Souja Erin

Earlier in the season, I talked about finally catching myself on this series and how I felt bad about missing out on such a great show for so long. Since than I’ve patiently and not so patiently waited for the next installment because after every episode I find myself liking the show even more.

The show continues to focus on developing Erin’s character and unfolds in ways that keep the viewer guessing even after 30+ episodes. For example, in the last episode I watched, Erin has become a teacher at the Beastlord school that she schooled in and graduated from. In hindsight, it’s clear that she’s perfect for the job but I wasn’t expecting something like that to happen which just reinforces how all these developments keep the show fresh and exciting to watch. Now we’re moving to the final set of episodes and I can’t wait to see what happens; there’s a very good chance that this’ll be near the top next time.

5 – Cross Game

One of the shows that will get in Kemono no Souja Erin’s way next season will be this show – I just know it. The drop in ranking (from being #1 in the Spring season to #5) might imply some drop off in quality but that’s not the case here. This show is as impressive this season as last.

The original manga author has a real knack at creating good, believable characters and then finding ways to tie these characters together and the animators have done a great job carrying this through into the anime. And if new opening/closing animation is to be believed, we’re in store for another big shack-up among the characters. Another strong point of the show is how the show can be riveting and full of tension without having to resort to cheap tricks and creating bad guys that need defeated. Occasionally, there are people who show up and feel like they should be considered bad guys but so far almost every character like that has been given the chance to redeem themselves. (Azuma is a good example and the spoiled, rich baseball manager is an example in progress.) The only two that haven’t still have time and I won’t be surprised if they see the error of their ways.

And you don’t need to like baseball to enjoy this anime, my younger sister only has a rough understanding of the game and zero interest in it but this is one of her favorite currently airing anime.

4 - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Season 3

Conventional wisdom states that Goodbye, Mr. Despair is either – not funny, too cultural for English speakers to find funny, or that the only decent season was the first season and from there it went down hill rapidly. I disagree with all three; I think that the majority of the comedy is gettable by even a newbie anime fan (if you like the type of comedy present in the show – which is a different matter all-together) and that the second season was the best season so far.

The difference between the second and third season almost wholly stems from Shaft being overtaxed doing this series and Bakemonogatari. The result was while the material of the show held up well to the second season, the animation looked very poor compared to the second season. I normally hate to dock a show for items not related to the actual content of the show but SZS is different, in that, the presentation of the show became a very important part of the show. I still haven’t seen the final two episodes of the series but I’m pretty sure Shaft has left the door open to make more and I think they should because when the world runs out of things to despair over, it’ll be the day the world ends.

3 - Taishou Yakyuu Musume

On one hand, I’m surprised that Taishou Yakyuu Musume ended up this high but on the other hand, I wish I could have ranked it higher. This type of show normally doesn’t garner much praise – that goes to shows like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 or East of Eden or Bakemonogatari so I might have chickened out and put it lower. What stopped me is that of all the summer series I finished this is the only one I’m already re-watching and loving every second of. If anything, I’m enjoying this show more the second time.

The show featured a theme I love to see – the underdog vs. the world. I loved it in Rocky, Karate Kid, Major League (am I showing my age yet??) and I loved it here. I deeply wanted to see the boys put in their place and have to acknowledge the girls as equals which ensured that I’d tune in every week to see what happens next. Taishou Yakyuu Musume also showed how the girls had to work hard to get to level of being able to challenge the boys which is another thing I like to see – hard work paying off. (Not saying they beat the boys because I’m not going to spoil the ending here.) At the same time though, the show was never boring or overly sports anime-esque; it was perpetually entertaining and light-hearted and slice-of-lifeish that I wished it had run 26 episodes. I don’t expect this show to be totally historically accurate but I also liked how the show was set in 1925 and they spent a little time showcasing how in this era the people where really caught between the old customs and the western influences that where invading all aspects of the country and culture; for example, some of the girls wore kimonos to school and others where wearing the new thing – sailor uniforms. So for all that, Taishou Yakyuu Musume earns it’s number 3 spot in the top anime of the season.

2 - Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

With the overlap of the original series finished by the start of this season’s episodes, Full Metal Alchemist had no reason not to shine and has easily proved that remaking the series was the right decision. That part of me that has never stopped believing that shounen shows are the most awesome thing in the world is a very happy camper right now and even the slice-of-life part of me has to grudgingly agree that this show deserves it’s high position.

Watching the show and seeing it’s fights, revelations, twists, and reveals leave me on the edge of my seat and forgetting to breathe until the credits start to roll.

1 - Bakemonogatari

Like I said earlier, picking Bakemonogatari was a fairly easy choice for me. It had the characters, the witty dialogue, the story, the animation, the OP/ED, and it had the single best episode of the season (episode 12). Thankfully, this gem was picked up by much of the anime fan community so I don’t need to go into a long rant as to why this deserves the spot. So, I’ll end it here saying that Shaft better put together a second season quickly – I’m not going to patiently wait 3 years.

–

Well, it’s finally done. Now I can fully get to the fall season which I’ve sampled a few shows so far but will get to a full recon now. A couple of the shows, Kampfer and Nyon Koi, have left me really torn about how I should feel about them so they’ll need a couple more episodes before I can write their impression posts. Then there’s Natsu no Arashi season 2, it seems that Shaft has kicked the show up a notch over the first two episodes and that will make it one of the stronger shows this season – I’m sure.

Posted in anime, awards

The final set of awards before going to my top shows of the season cover the music, vocal actors, and animation aspects of this season’s anime. Or the three parts to anime that are heavily dependent on the preferences of the individual viewer.

Best Male Seiyuu

Winner: Hiroshi Kamiya as Araragi from Bakemonogatari and Mr. Despair from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S. 3

I realize that Hiroshi Kamiya getting both roles is more of a result of Shaft doing both shows and having a bias when casting for Araragi’s vocal actor but I think he did an excellent job with both roles. And to take it further, I think using the same voice actor for both helped highlight the similarities in character between the two.

Best Female Seiyuu

Winner: Chiwa Saito as Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari

Yeah for easy award picks. Chiwa Saito had this award locked in by the third week of the season and never looked back.

Best OP

Winner: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S. 3

Runner-up: Kemono no Souja Erin

Yeah for difficult award picks because that means there was lots of good opening songs to choose from. In the case of Kemono no Souja Erin, the one I’m picking is the newer one where it sounds like the same song is used but the singer has been changed and the animators have updated the imagery to reflect the second time skip used in the series. For SZS, I think this is my favorite OP of the series and while the series itself might have not wowed with it’s animation, they went all out for the OP and ED.

Best ED

Winner: Bakemonogatari

Runner-up: Umi Monogatari

The ending of Bakemonogatari was awesome before it was tied so nicely to the show in episode 12 so no other show really had a shot which makes me a little sad because there were some great endings this season.

Best Background Music

Winner: Umi Monogatari

If I’ve learned anything from doing these awards is that invariably, I’ll have several people point out that my pick for best background music should have gone to another show. And more-often-then-not I find that they’re probably right so this time I wonder which shows will be mentioned as being better picks than Umi Monogatari. I don’t mind the comments and will probably agree with them but for right now, I can say that I liked several pieces from Umi Monogatari and remember thinking that the music complements the show nicely.

Best Dressed Characters

Winner: Bakemonogatari

Runner-up: Aoi Hana

The traditional KyoAni award goes to a non-KyoAni show this time for the superb effort shown by Shaft for Bakemonogatari.

Best Animation Style

Winner: Bakemonogatari

Runner-up: Aoi Hana

Remember, animation style is not the same thing as overall best quality. That’s not to say that either show lacked in animation because both shows provided many moments that impressed me but in both cases the most memorable feature was the style itself. Aoi Hana showcased J.C. Staff’s watercolor look and is, I feel, the best example of just how beautiful this style is. Bakemonogatari is a great example of Shaft being Shaft but at the same time the exact style of the show is different from their other work and does a terrific job establishing the mood of the series.

Best Animation

Winner: CANAAN

Canaan is the second series by P.A. Works and once again the animation is just gorgeous. I think they still have much room to grow, in the storytelling and character development departments, but they do know how to animate.

Top Animation Studio

Winner: tie – Shaft / J.C. Staff

I probably would have outright given this to Shaft if they could have pulled off doing both of their shows without any problems but that wasn’t the case and J.C. Staff had a trio of very enjoyable shows. So, in the end, I gave it to both.

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That’s it for part 3 of my summer 2009 anime awards. Stay tuned for my top overall picks of the season.

Posted in anime, awards

I’ve never seriously thought of making The Null Set a team blog mainly because doing so, I think, would lessen the personal drive towards becoming a better writer. However, I do wonder sometimes how it would look but until now, there’s been no real why to see. What’s changed is that Janette over at Borderline Hikkomori decided to do a summer seasonal review using the same format as I have here. Which is really cool by itself, but by using the same structure, one could mentally splice the two features together and imagine what a combined piece would look like. The result is very interesting so maybe there’s something to the idea of a team blog.

Enough rambling, let’s head to the next batch of awards.

Best Action

Winner: Phantom ~ Requiem of Phantom ~

Runner-up: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

My dislike of the ending of Phantom won’t get in way of praising it for what it did right which includes it’s action scenes. The show wasn’t overloaded with action scenes; instead, it balanced the quality action scenes with building the plot and characters – never allowing one to overrun the show.

Best Fight

Winner: Mustang vs. Lust from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Easiest. Decision. This. Season. This fight alone made redoing the series worth it.

Best Comedy

Winner: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S. 3

Runner-up: Taishou Yakyuu Musume

I initially feared that the drop in animation quality (thanks to Shaft doing Bakemonogatari as well) would translate to a weak season of Despair but I wrong. There’s still plenty of laughs to be had as the world continues to serve up things to despair over. And it’s the perfect vehicle to allow Shaft to be Shaft.

Most Entertaining

Winner: Taishou Yakyuu Musume

Another easy pick. If I had to pick one word to describe Taishou Yakyuu Musume it would be “entertaining” because no matter what was going on, the show always left a smile on my face and a feeling of warmth in my heart.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

A world where alchemy actually works opens up so many possibilities – both good and bad – and Full Metal Alchemist has done a very good job is showing both. This is further augmented by the addition of different lands (that I don’t remember the first iteration talking about) and different alchemy traditions.

Best Plot

Winner: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Runner-up: Phantom ~ Requiem of Phantom ~

During the spring season, watching Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood felt weird and largely boring because I was familiar with the original series and the compressed storytelling glossed over many of the parts I liked. I knew we’d get to new material but it was still surprising how quickly the show went from ho-hum to awesome. It seems like every episode this season has been chalk full of shocking revelations and unexpected twists which leaves me on the edge-of-my-seat and wanting more.

Best Story

Winner: Aoi Hana

Runner-up: Taishou Yakyuu Musume

I read the review that ANN posted for Aoi Hana and I was liking it until the reviewer started talking about the character’s selfhoods and their sexuality because, while I’m sure the reviewer meant well, I think when the reviewer focuses on issues like that – people will not give the show it’s full due. Chances are the readers will come away with the idea that Aoi Hana is a good show within the yuri genre, much like someone might say that Cross Game’s Aoba is a good baseball player, for a girl. So I wanted to say that Aoi Hana has a great story (period) featuring great characters that feel like real people with real problems (period) and is another example of how few studios can match J.C. Staff when it’s working to it’s full potential (period).

Best Villain

Winner: Sedna from Umi Monogatari

Going into Umi Monogatari, I had no reason to expect anything from the title, it was based on a line of pachinko machines afterall. And it was this lack of preconceived notions that allowed me to enjoy the show for what it did have to offer. So now that I’m mentioning it in places like this, I worry that I’ve poisoned the well for potential viewers because now these viewers will be watching the show and expect it to perform like a Bakemonogatari or Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.

It’s not that type of show, so even though I love Sedna as a villain – if one goes looking for the next Demon King (from last season’s winner, Sengoku Basara), they will be disappointed.

Most in Need of a Sequel

Winner: Bakemonogatari

Runner-up: Spice and Wolf

Both shows need a sequel as quickly as possible. The only thing that comforts me about Bakemonogatari is that Shaft seems to know that striking while the iron’s hot is a good idea. In the case of Spice and Wolf, the company that did this season of it, Brain’s Base, doesn’t do many series and they’re also doing Natsume Yuujinchou and I’m worried one will interfere with the other which would be horrible since both are fabulous shows.

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

Posted in anime, awards

            I tried to write a part 3 of the awards, but it sounded either bullshity, or like I had no idea what I was talking about. Between voice acting, music, and art, I kinda have an appreciation of music, and a large appreciation of art, but those two just wasn’t enough to make a post. So I’ve skipped ahead to the top seven of the season.

 Without further to do…

 

7. Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni got off to a slow start, working to flesh out and introduce us to the characters. However, at the end of episode II things truly started to pick up and episode III opened with a bang. We’re only two episodes into episode III, but I’m very excited. While Umineko has a tad too many characters, they’ve introduced a few I’ve become huge fans of, including Beatrice, Battler, and Shannon, who all have won their own awards this season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this show improve vastly over this season.

 

6. Baseball Playing Girls

“There’s no crying in baseball!” One of J.C. Staff’s three shows this season, this was probably their weakest show, although my no means a bad show. Baseball Playing Girls is the light hearted story about girl power, baseball, and 1920’s, and provides many entertaining moments. However, it also provides some wtf? moments and a few episodes that probably could have left out, or better yet, used to flesh out more of the supporting cast. While Akiko and Koume get plenty of screentime, the series fails to expand on the supporting characters. I would have liked to see every character get their own episode. Also, the show simply doesn’t have much depth. Although the show makes it obvious that it knows and accepts this, it doesn’t prevent it from being a weak point.

5. Cross Game

Cross Game is an excellent show with a well-paced story and well developed character. Over the course of the summer season, we did have some very excellent moments, especially with the addition of Azuma as an ally to the team. However, what knocked it down to number five on the list are a couple things. First off, it’s still an ongoing series halfway through its show. Cross Game continues on at a slow and steady pace, and is still in the stage of what would be rising action while other series have a completed story. Second of all, I have a few personal grippes with the series. Basically, the cousin creeps the hell out of me, and my enjoyment drops when he appears on the screen. Secondly, the creators have started indicating romantic interests between Kou and Aoba, but I don’t feel like there’s actual chemistry between the two yet. Hopefully, they’ll fix this as the series continues. Who knows? Maybe I just want Aoba for myself.

4. Pandora Hearts

Pandora Hearts is a kind of sore point for me, because I know people would have been all over this series if the animation had been better. But with the animation as bad as it is, you have to appreciate other parts of Pandora Hearts…and I don’t mean the convoluted story with its loose ends left unsolved. What Pandora Hearts does have going for it are for the most part well done and interesting characters, which it’s been proven many times over that if you can like the characters, it’s makes us for many lacking aspects. What else this series has going for it a better then average soundtrack. The second half of Pandora Hearts brought us the best the show had to offer. The was the development of the characters the show already introduced, especially Break who went from a character I didn’t like in the first half to a character I loved in the second half. We also met other characters, who while they didn’t get the screentime the deserved, still made the most of what they had, such as Elliot and Oliver.

3. Haruhi

I think this says something about the team behind Haruhi. I knocked it down to 3 because of The Endless Eight, but without it, who knows where Haruhi would have been? Haruhi makes it to #3 because of Signs. I loved Signs to death, and found it well done. With Mikuru beams, pigeons changing color, a talking cat, and an episode that brought on the fanwank Haruhi proves to use that it still have the potential to be epically awesome. Unfortunately, the high quality of Sighs only increases the wtf? factor of Endless Eight.

2. Sora no Manimani

Sora no Manimani is one of those show that gives me exactly what I want. Well-done interesting characters and a show that actually made me laugh out loud. The background music is surprisingly really well-done. Sora no Manimani was well executed, and for a show no one really knew what to expect, really outdid itself. However, the animation isn’t top notch, and Sora no Manimani doesn’t have such a strong storyline as our first place winner

1.Aoi Hana

Probably the only flaw I found with this show was the disappointing ending. Great characters, great animation, great plot, and one of my favorite things in the world, yuri. There’s so much I could say I love about this show, I could fangirl on for quite awhile. I think it’s safe to leave it at this show really showcases what makes an excellent anime, and deserves it’s number one spot.

The awesomeness of the final televised episode of Bakemonogatari has been well documented already but there was one angle that I don’t think I’ve seen anyone pick up on. Namely, the night sky seemed to be on the minds of animators this season because it was featured in at least 3 different anime. There was maybe more but these are the three that I remembered.

Another thing that might be surprising to some is how these scenes were similar. One way was the idea that the night time sky in a rural area is an awe-inspiring sight. Second, upon seeing the night sky for the first time, the viewer is left speechless. And third, it’s possible to look at the night sky for a long period of time without getting bored. I say that it might be surprising because up until summer of last year, I was in the group of people who had never seen the night sky from a rural area and I didn’t believe that it looked as nice as it did in shows like Air. Therefore, I wouldn’t think that all three of these shows would follow so closely the same viewpoint since it really couldn’t be that amazing. Now, I know better, and seeing these scenes makes me want to go somewhere that I could see the true night sky.

I wonder why the awesomeness of a true night sky is suddenly showing up so frequently in anime? I don’t mind but I wonder if there’s some underlying reason. Maybe it’s a subtle environmental idea about getting rid of light pollution or just to appreciate nature. Or a desire to get back to simpler times when it was possible for everyone to see this sky. Or maybe it’s a desire to get people to appreciate the simple joys in life. Or something totally different, I don’t know. All I do know is that I have a bunch of screenshots (and one wallpaper) from these anime that I’m going to post now.

Aoi Hana

Sora no Manimani

Bakemonogatari

1280×1024 wallpaper and my current desktop below – stitched together from this episode of Bakemonogatari. When the bluray edition comes out in a few months, I’ll try to create a large one for other screen sizes.

Posted in anime, anime rants/views, anime wallpaper, general anime interst

Once again, you should check out the The Null Set if you haven’t. But as this is great advertising space, I’d like to add on that you should check out www.rabbitpoets.com for another great blog.

Now for the winners…

Best Action

Winner: CANNAN

Runner-up: Pandora Hearts

I was stuck between these two series as the both had some pretty awesome fights. While I felt Pandora Hearts action was just a tad better, we’d have it broken up by a few quieter episodes, while the action happened more often in CANNAN.  

Best Fight

Winner: Pandora Hearts with Xerxes Break and Chestire Cat

The best fight of the season was actually a fight that happened at the beginning of the season. An intense brutal fight with great dialogue, it lasted over a few episodes, and definitely pleased.

 Most Entertaining

Winner: Sora no Manimani

Sora no Manimani never failed to be entertaining with high energy and amusing situations. I always come out of it each episode feeling rejuvenated and with a smile on my face.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Baseball Playing Girls

Baseball Playing Girls is set in 1920 Japan. While 1920 in America brings up images of flappers, jazz, probation, and The Great Gatsby, Japan was a different place with a lot of social expectations. As I’m not overly informed about the Japan in this time setting, I find this extremely interesting.

Best Plot

Winner: Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana was an example of drama done right. With surprisingly revelations, and constants plot twist, this show did not fail to please.

 Best Villian

Winner: Beatrice from Umineko

Runner-up: Alphard from CANAAN

This season presented us with two fabulous villains, the unconventional Alpahrd of CANNAN with her obvious disrespect for anyone else yet refusing to kill both Maria and Cannan when she had the chance, she was also effective as she nearly killed off world leaders and defined the word ‘terror’ in terrorist. However, Beatrice proved even more fearsome then Alphard. Heck, she is forcing Battler to rewatch him family and friends die over and over. Her rap list doesn’t stop there, with the gruesome matter she kills his family, the humiliation of Battler whenever she admits defeat, and the feast she serves Maria’s mother. Her villainy only seems more fearsome when contrasted with her soft side she demonstrates on a few occasions, usually toward Maria.    

 Most in Need of a Sequel

Winner: Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana ended with Fumi realizing she loved Akira. I don’t know about anyone else, but I definitely want to see what happens next!

[Please warn before posting spoilers of any sort.]

Again, credit goes to The Null Set for the idea and the catagories. Check the blog out!

And without futher to do, the winners.

Best Female Main Character

Winner: Alice from Pandora Hearts

 

Alice, who has been my fandom obsession for the past two seasons, takes the award for best female main character. The monstrous chain proved to a surprisingly complex character. Alice may have a tough exterior, but inside she was a rather lonely insecure person. She was also rather childish and playful. Still, unlike Oz who tended to be emo about his insecurities, she fought to overcome them, being blunt and straightforward with what she wanted. Not to mention her quite strong obsession with food. 

Best Male Main Character

Winner: Battler from Umineko

 

Any guy who has the line of ‘Slice up those cowtits and make me a sandwich,” is a pretty awesome guy. I rather like Battler have a character, he’s clever and tough, but he’s not perfect, as shown by his shameful loss in episode II of Umineko. Battler also shows himself as probably the only character in Umineko who can keep his head screwed on straight when everyone else is losing it.

Best Supporting Character

Winner: Shannon from Umineko

Runner-up: Itsuki from Haruhi and Break from Pandora Hearts

 

I place her as a supporting character because I view all the characters not in the metaworld as supporting character. I personally really like Shannon, her fighting spirit impresses me, as does her willingness to change her own destiny rather then accept it. Shannon also refuses to let Beatrice break her, choosing to treasure what she has at the end, rather then grieve over what she lost. Not to mention a yummy tattoo on her upper thigh.

 

It was hard to choose her over Itsuki from Haruhi and Break from Pandora Hearts. Itsuki is just an entertaining character who never fails to get an interesting response from Kyon. His manner of approaching problems is also unique, it’s not often in anime we get a good example of passive-aggressive character. Break is also a unique character, often hiding a very intelligent self under the mask of a complete clown. One of the interesting parts of Pandora Hearts was watching Oz manage to unravel who this man was.

Best Couple

Winner: Fumi and Akira from Aoi Hana

 

I know Fumi and Akira are not a canon couple, but the canon couples this season really didn’t appeal to me. There was the necrophilia couple in CANAAN, Akiko and her fiancée, Sugimoto and Fumi, as well as the Umineko couples.

Fumi and Akira are horribly cute, with the many activities they do together that feels very couple like, such as going to the movies, and their sleepovers together. The two also contrast each other very well, the quiet Fumi contrasted with the energetic Akira. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a couple that invoked so many ‘D’awww’ moments.

 Best Character Ability/Power

Winner: Mikuru Beam!

 

While it may not be the most practical power, and while people could argue that there were cooler powers this season, I’ve always wanted to shoot laser beams out of my eyes. Have a character with no idea how to control said power randomly shooting laser beams is a recipe for win in my book.

Best Cast of Characters

Winner: Sora no Manimani

 

Sa no Manimani gives a cast of lovable and thoroughly enjoyable characters. We’re given not only the members of the clubs, which includes an anemic President, but the two-sided head of the student council, the astronomy network, the museum staff, and so many more. All of these characters never fail to entertain, and receive a decent amount of screentime for a large cast in a 12 episode anime.

 

Best Character Development

Winner: Pandora Hearts

 

While there were a fair amount of characters that didn’t get much screentime, most of the ones that did grew and changed as characters. Although near the end of the series that tried to hit you over the head with how much the characters developed, it was indeed interesting to see how much the characters changed from point a to point b. The characters and the character development was the main draw to Pandora Hearts, and was done pretty well. It was enough to make up for lacking art and at times confusing storyline.

Best Character Development of a Single Character

Winner: Saku from Sora no Manimani

 

Watching Saku change as a character is a very interesting experience. He goes from a person closed off from the world and solely involved in books to a person openly interacting with the world around him, and noticing what’s happening. The metamorphous is startling, and beautiful to watch, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

Alright, I wanted to do an awards for the summer season, based on the awards that The Null Set always does. But I’m one of those people who wants to give everyone an award, and I thought this be a good way to introduce all the canidates for the catogories. So without further to do, let’s give out the awards.

Aoi Hana: The ‘most sudden growth of a backbone’ award
One of the best moments in Aoi Hana is when Fumi stands up for herself and turns on Sugimoto. Well done Fumi!

Baseball Playing Girls-The ‘awkward’ award 

Koume and Akiko were told they had to become like man and wife. Nuff said.

CANAAN-The ‘got me the most interestings comments and pingbacks’ award
CANAAN was apparently serious business this season! From angry fanbrats to rather serious comments, CANNAN blog posts never made my day boring.

Cross Game-The ‘cutest minor character’ award

Haruhi-The ‘most epic fanwank award’

 NEEDLESS- The ‘anime that pratically makes motivational posters itself’ award
Usually, one has to wrack their brain for a clever comment to put with a motivational poster. Not with this shows odd sense of humor.

Pandora Hearts- The ‘most ridiculous number of outfits’ award
The 27 dresses episode showed Alice in a ridiculous number of outfits, but we got to see Alice in more outfits then that. From a schoolgirl to a opera outfit to a lovely nightgown, Alice sported more outfits then the typical anime character.

Sora no Manimani-The ‘best references to other anime’ award
Sora no Manimani wasn’t afraid to reference other anime, from the older and kinda obscure Galaxy Express 999 and Rose of Versalies to DBZ, their wasn’t plently to fangirl over.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.o-The ‘best ending’ award
Not only was this season fairly lacking in the good ending catogory(although to be fair, I haven’t seen the end to Sora no Manimani or Baseball Playing Girls yet), Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 did a really good job wrapping up the show, ending on a strong note.

Umineko-The ‘creepiest loli’ award

On top of that, she wants to be eaten by her mother…

            While there are many series I love, there aren’t many I’m willing to call a masterpiece. However, I do feel Aoi Hana deserves this title.

 

 

What sets Aoi Hana apart is the animation. It truly goes over and beyond the typical water color look that I’m use to from J.C. Staff. Really boring subject matter was made interesting but the animation. In every episode, I’d pause it at least one scene I pressed pause to examine the art even further.

Aoi Hana was strong in other aspects too. The characters were fleshed out and interesting, and the storyline was very addictive and engaging. The climax of the story was beautifully executed, and left quite an impact.

I also really enjoyed the opening song, I thought it was absolutely gorgeous. The opening animation suited it very well.

The good in Aoi Hana weighs over the bad, but I still have my gripes. The ending was not satisfying, and left so open ends. I found Akira’s treatment over her brother really annoying, he was being her chauffeur, and all she did was heap abuse on him. Even worse, he let her. A small part of me wishes the story focused a little less on Fumi and more on some of the other characters, but for the most part, I felt it being Fumi centric worked.

Interestingly, even though the first episode didn’t air until right when my summer ended, and I have been in a school for a few weeks now, watching this really made me feel that summer was over.

Would I rewatch this show? Yes, I think it would be worth rewatching at some point. I’d like to show it to my sister at least.

J.C. Staff? Why must you be a tease?

I was really hoping for an AkiraxFumi ending, with a kiss or something. Instead, we got Fumi realizing that Akira was her first love, and leaving it at that.

Really, the actual story ended in episode 10, this episode was all about tying up loose ends. It wasn’t that entertaining, but it nice to know how things come together.

Still, I honestly feel like J.C. Staff left this show open for a second season, and because of that, left some things open. Or maybe I’m just being overly optimistic because I was bummed by the ending not being what I wanted.

Final impression post will follow when I’m done moping.

            Episode 10 proved to be subtlety dramariffic. 

 

Things didn’t really get interesting until Sugimoto decided to accompany Akira to hang out with Fumi. I don’t know what exactly she hoped to accomplish with this, seriously. It seemed to me like a really bitchy move. Then comes the point where Fumi proved something shocking about herself.

 

Of course, this is only a sign of what’s to come.

 

We get Sugiomoto’s sob story, which really isn’t that sad, or makes me feel a bit of pity for her. She didn’t get the guy she wanted. Cry moar. But through this scene, Sugimoto revealed two things about herself that showed she wasn’t a total bitch. One, she had enough of a conscious to realize what she did to Fumi was wrong. Second of all, through her flashback, she realized the follies of her past.

I still don’t like her.

Still, I had to feel sorry for her in the final scene. Fumi told Sugimoto off in her own quiet way, and said some of the most painful words to hear from another person.

 

So, all that’s left is one more episode. Here’s to hoping that Akira and Fumi hook up

What a difference a year makes; last summer I was watching only a handful of shows and thought only a couple were truly great shows – this year there’s so many watchable shows that I’m considering dropping at least a couple B-level titles to free up needed time. I don’t think it’s too early to proclaim this as the best summer season of anime in recent years and there’s a good chance that when it’s over and we look back at it – this could be a golden season like Spring 2006 was.

Below, I collected links to my earlier written impression posts that cover each of the new summer shows that I watched. These were written over the span of many weeks since some shows were easier then others when determining quality and how likely a show could maintain a certain level of quality. I’ve taken this opportunity to rank them by the average score that they earned at the time of the impression post because it provides a quick-n-dirty way to rank the many new shows.

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Tokyo Magnitude 8.0	5 episode average – 10.7/12	2.5/5 anticipation
Bakemonogatari	3 episode average – 10.7/12	4.5/5 anticipation
Spice and Wolf 2	4 episode average – 10.6/12	4.5/5 anticipation
Taishou Yakyuu Musume	3 episode average – 10.3/12	3.5/5 anticipation
Aoi Hana	5 episode average – 10/12	3/5 anticipation
Sora no Manimani	3 episode average – 9.8/12	3.5/5 anticipation
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S. 3	2 episode average – 9/12	3/5 anticipation
CANAAN	4 episode average – 8.75/12	2/5 anticipation
Umineko no Naku Koro ni	2 episode average – 8.5/12	3/5 anticipation
Umi Monogatari	2 episode average – 8/12	3/5 anticipation
Kanamemo	5 episode average – 6.2/12	2/5 anticipation
Needless	5 episode average – 5.6/12	2/5 anticipation
Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!	3 episode average – 2/12	0/5 anticipation

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As you can see, a pretty strong season of new shows and I’d be happy if it was just these shows but there’s also several shows continuing from previous seasons as well that are great as well. So, to get the full picture of how good this season, I want to talk about them before further covering the new shows.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood: The first dozen or so episodes of this redo of the Full Metal series condensed 30+ episodes of the first incarnation and as a result it lacked the narrative punch of the first series. Once over that hurdle, the show shifted to new material and I was quickly reminded how good this show can be. The world was expanded – hinting at very interesting future plot points, new characters where introduced, and existing characters where given an awesomeness injection. The results have been spectacular; Episode 19 contains a fight that easily makes my top 5 anime fights of all time and was so good that I seriously had to remember to take a breathe when it was over because I hadn’t in awhile. Then I was worried that I’d be let down but episode 20 came right back with it’s own shocking revelations showing that this series has plenty of curve balls left to throw it’s viewers.

Kemono no Souja Erin: I’ve recently posted how I’ve finally caught up with this series and the few episodes I’ve watched since then just continue to prove to me that this is a great show. Recently the show has been very character driven with the plot fading into the background which has been okay since this show has good characters. I do think the show is getting ready to swing back towards advancing the plot because in the latest subbed episode, episode 30, another time skip occurred and now Erin is 18. Definitely old enough and with enough experience to the save the kingdom like I think she’ll have too (I like that they’ve worked at making Erin a believable hero).

Cross Game: Cross Game continues to chug along, offering it’s viewers the same level of goodness that we’ve grown to love. This season has seen some characters leave unexpectantly, new characters get introduced, and existing characters develop in surprising ways. Something that I’ve really grown to like about this series is how most of the characters that seem to be the “evil” characters of the series are given a chance to rehabilitate their image (at least the non-adults are).

Hayate the Combat Butler, Season 2: This summer J.C. Staff has really hit it’s stride with Hayate. They’re still focusing on advancing the story of the series but the humor level has increased steadily and I’m finding it as funny as the first season. I wish this was going to run ~52 episodes like the first season and not end at 26 episodes, especially since J.C. Staff is proving that they can do 3 shows at once. I’ll guess I’ll have to console myself with saying that J.C. Staff likes to do sequels so maybe a third season will be coming around soon.

Haruhi, Season 1.5: My thoughts about Haruhi would run a full post so I’ll just include a couple. The first is that from the beginning, I’ve refused to call this season 2 and now that we see how the extended episode count was used – it really does feel like a fleshed out first season. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a true season 2 announcement within a month or two. Also, I do think that the fans put Kodakawa and KyoAni in a bind because whatever they did, the fan’s expectations about Haruhi would not be met and much wailing and grinding of teeth would happen.

Phantom ~Requiem of Phantom~: One last huge plot twist means, even after amazing me for 18 episodes with great plot and character development, the show still hasn’t peaked and that the ending promises to be amazing. There has been one immediate side-effect of watching this show; namely, for being so accomplished at creating a realistic feeling plot even with fantastical elements (super-powered assassins) it makes CANAAN’s storyline and it’s attempt at being serious seem laughably fake.

Tears to Tiara: Yes I ended up continuing to watch this show. While I wouldn’t call this a top-tier show, it’s a solid second-tier show. It’s well animated with pretty decent fight scenes and has a touch of humor to itself. I haven’t really gotten wrapped up into the show’s story so how the good guys will prevail isn’t a big concern to me but there’s still plenty to like about Tears to Tiara to keep watching.

Hetalia – Axis Powers: The second season picked right up where the first season stopped. I really wish it was more consistently funny but there’s enough to love about this show to keep watching.

Further Thoughts on the New Shows

It used to be, I’d be happy if J.C. Staff could turn out something decent since they were so hit-n-miss with their shows – even within a show (I still can’t reconcile how bad the first half of Shana 2 was with how awesome the second half of Shana 2 was). Recently they’ve done superb work with Toradora and Hatsukoi Limited and promising work with Hayate, so when summer season rolled around – I was cautiously optimistic about their two new shows Aoi Hana and Taishou Yakyuu Musume and sitting at the halfway point I’m really glad that both turned out to be hits. Aoi Hana is a love story done right; it doesn’t take the easy way out by throwing in a bunch fan service or by making things absurdly dramatic – instead, there’s a realism about the characters and how they drive the story forward that is refreshing and enjoyable. Of course the gorgeous animation, great music and voice work along with all the attention to detail only enhances the experience. Taishou Yakyuu Musume has done a very good job of separating itself from the other currently running and recent slice-of-school-life shows. The setting, 1920’s Japan, is helpful in this regard and does make for an interesting twist on things. Also, the focus on the characters having a goal and having to actually work towards it provides all the structure and drive to continue watching. I still don’t see how they can beat that boy’s baseball team but hopefully by the end, they’ll be able to do it.

Another huge question mark about this season was how Shaft would be able to do Bakemonogatari and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S. 3 at same time. I’d like to say that Shaft was able to flawlessly execute both shows but that would be stretching the truth. I’m currently re-rewatching season 1 of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and being able to compare the two seasons crystallize my observations on the new third season. Namely, the humor and comedic situations have held up well but the art work has definitely suffered this season. It still does it’s job but it feels like what you’d get when an a third party was asked to ape a particular style. Which is probably the case since Bakemonogatari definitely displays the artistic creativity that you’d expect from the Shaft/Shinbo team. Bakemonogatari also is chalk full of witty dialogue and unexpected plot developments – it really is a good match for Shaft/Shinbo’s talents.It always seems to be able to keep the viewers hungry for more, like the recent week where there was no episode, it was a killer wait to get to see the next episode.

A couple of shows (Sora no Manimani and Umi Monogatari) are performing better then I thought they would. I know I gave both relatively high marks initially but I also thought my liking of these series would wane as I watched more episodes. That’s not the case, however. Sora no Manimani has been able to use the astronomy angle to fullest effect, overcoming it’s very poor animation (though it has very good night sky animation) and somewhat clichéd characters/school situations to be an enjoyable series to watch. The informational tidbits about astronomy have also been interesting. In the one example, they explain how to take pictures of stars with just a normal camera and it’s so easy I want to try. For Umi Monogatari; a combination of animation style, some very nice background music tracks, and characters ranging from watchable to scene-stealing has gotten me to like it. That’s not to say it’s a smashing success, the plot feels very generic, even for someone who is not a fan of the magic girl genre and thusly doesn’t which shows have used this type of plot before. There are little touches to the plot that I do like. In a recent episode, the one human character needed to find a family heirloom that has magical powers because it would allow her to breathe underwater. She eventually finds it – the mom had been using it to make their pickles taste better.

I find it funny that as soon as I started to like the characters in Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, the story would start to threaten my enjoyment of the series. In episode 5, the brother and sister main characters finally stopped being annoying and I was set to like the rest of the series when the next two episodes pushed the story’s shortcomings forward. The one focused on the woman that’s been helping the young brother and sister since the earthquake. She’s been very admirable so far but she turns down the opportunity to quickly check to see if her own child is okay to stay with the brother and sister. (Heck, she could have driven to where the brother and sister live and see if their parents are okay.) I would call her a very bad parent in real life but since this is an anime, this really felt like a not-so-subtle way to extend the episode count of the series. The other episode was a fairly cute episode featuring robots that were helping in finding survivors trapped in the rubble but again, it felt like the series is trying to extend it’s episode count by using another careless parent. In this case the robot nerd’s parents didn’t see the danger of their child running around a bunch of building that are tittering on the verge of collapse. (This episode also kinda felt like a 25 minute commercial created for a company that makes robots.)

And I can’t forget about Spice and Wolf 2, which proves that anything can be made interesting if done the right way. I’m not much of an economist or merchant; the closest I got was after a college economics class that I aced even with a super hard professor – I received a hand signed letter from the dean of the economics program saying that I should consider changing my major to economics. In the end I didn’t because I thought it would be too dull but maybe I was wrong, though there’d be very little chance of a pagan wolf goddess accompanying me while I worked. I can now concur with the general consensus that this season has improved over the first season since I’m now almost done watching the first season but I still don’t understand how so many said the first season was boring.

Dropped Shows

This time there’s not a huge list of dropped shows. The only for sure one at this point is Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!! (of which I won’t speak of any more). Needless and Kanamemo are on the borderline right now. I have no real desire to watch any more episodes of either (I’ve seen 7 and 6 episodes, respectively) which is normally the point at which I drop a show but it’s not official yet. The only other show that has the chance of being dropped is CANAAN, though that’s very unlikely. There are some very genuine reasons to continue watching this series which will probably get me to continue watching to the end. At the same time, CANAAN’s attempt at being a serious show has so laughably failed that I wish I hadn’t started watching it in the first place.

Conclusion

Looking over this 2300+ word post I realized there’s a facet to being an anime fan that reminds me of being a science fiction fan. Namely, there’s serious grumblings within the last couple of years about the long-term health of the anime industry, with more then a few voices talking about the death of anime. This type of talk has surrounding print SF for the last couple of decades. People would try to get you to believe that soon, maybe only a few years from now, there’ll be no more science fiction. In both circumstances if one just looks at what’s being done – it certainly doesn’t feel like they’re about to die. There’s still too much vibrancy in both to feel like they’re dieing anytime soon.

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For reference, this was my preview for this season – it’s interesting to compare the two.

Posted in anime, first impressions

Woah…drama filled episode.

I actually felt sorry for Sugimoto. It’s pretty obvious that the guy she’s in love with is pretty cruel. I mean, dating the sister of a girl who loves you? Wow. But my pity disappeared when Sugimoto started acting like a selfish brat again, and it turns out she fell in love with him after her sister started dating him.

 

I was pretty impressed with Akira’s confrontation of Sugimoto. While it’s usually not nice to meddle in friends problems, the fact she did that on Fumi’s behalf just demonstrates a real love and commitment to her friend.

 

The end of the episode really tugged at my heartstrings. Sugimoto is such a heartbreaker. It’s as Akira said, she’s cruel, and selfish. She’s not afraid to use and hurt people for her own means.

Oh, and I really loved this particular scene, it touched me on a personal level.

Continuing the string of shows that have taken a while before I felt that I could write about them is the J.C. Staff show – Aoi Hana. This time I feel bad that it’s taken so long because right from the start, the show seemed like a slam dunk in the quality department. And maybe that was one of the problems, it’s easier to know when to dismiss a flawed show then when to support a near flawless show because you know it’ll stay flawless.

Rating: episode 1 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 2 – 10/12 A
Rating: episode 3 – 10.5/12 Strong A
Rating: episode 4 – 10/12 A
Rating: episode 5 – 10.5/12 Strong A
Anticipation Level: 3/5 – Average to Medium

To the potential viewers of this series it should be noted up front that this is a serious yuri school anime. Just saying that will probably turn off a sizable percentage of people and interest another sizable percentage of people. As far as I’m concerned, either response is fine – a person is allowed to think what they want – but know that assumptions can often lead to incorrect conclusions. In the case of Aoi Hana, I’ve read several people that dropped this show when they realized the show was not going to be a fan-service romp. When I watch a new show I try to leave myself in a neutral state to better allow the show to win me over or convince me to drop it. Therefore, I wasn’t expecting anything specific outside of hoping for a cast of likable characters and it’s safe to say I got that.

The story follows two high school girls that were close friends when they were very young until the one moved away and what happens when she returns to town to attend high school after many years away. As you can probably guess, in the first episode they meet by chance, reconnect and renew their close friendship. This is a good thing since starting high school is full of perils and problems and having a good friend is very helpful.

As I’ve mentioned already, there was plenty readily apparent quality features to this show. Frequent readers will probably have read about how nice I think J.C. Staff’s watercolor animation style is. Just last season I was praising J.C. Staff for it’s best and most beautiful iteration of this style so far with Hatsukoi Limited and now they’ve come right back and jacked the quality up even more with Aoi Hana. It’s truly something to see and I really think it is good enough that this show is worth the time just for being able to watch the animation. But that’s not all, even early on I liked the two main characters. They both feel like real characters and display a likable warmth about themselves that draws the viewer in and causes these viewers to start caring about what happens to them. Another feature I liked, and some will dispute, was how unfanservicy the show is. I don’t like how, oftentimes, fan service will be given precedence over the show’s story, to the detriment of the series. So I welcome a show that doesn’t feel like it needs to show off a character’s pantsu to keep viewers interested. And I could hardily forget about the very good voice work being done.

The one area that worried me and what held this post up was the question of how good the story would be and would it feel believable. In comedies it’s not as important for a show’s story to make sense because that’s not the point of the series but for a more serious show, it needs a more believable series. So, I needed to see if they could convince me and after 5 episodes I can say that, yes, they’ve convinced me – the story feels natural and not contrived.

I realize this title isn’t for everyone but as someone that most likely falls outside of target audience, I have found plenty to like about this show and suggest to others to give this show a shot.

Posted in anime, first impressions