I should make a "Cutest Character of 2008" category so I could give him an award.

Part 2 is somewhat of a mishmash of awards. I started out just having multi-character awards but while figuring out where everything went I realized I needed a spot to place various awards that didn’t fit anywhere else.

Best Couple

Winner: Tomoya and Nagisa from Clannad

Runner-up: Iku Kasahara and Atsushi Dojo from Library War

Even though I think Taiga and Ryuuji of Toradora make the perfect couple, the show really hasn’t shown them together as a couple so they weren’t as strong of contenders they could have been. On the other hand Tomoya and Nagisa seem to be perfect for each other and from the start the show reinforced this to the viewers. And the second season has really shown how good of a couple they are together and has gotten to the point of them getting married.

Best Cast of Characters

Winner: Toradora

Runner-up: Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

The cast of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is full of really great characters but they fall short of Toradora mainly because they never evolve as the characters of Toradora do. I like how every character of Toradora is different and not different like each character falls into preset character types; instead, they feel like they could be real people and their problems feel realistic for who they are and not just to fit convenient plot progressions.

Best Dressed Characters

Winner: Clannad

An easy award to give because KyoAni seems obsessed with having their characters dress in as many different outfits as possible. It is realistic though, how many people do you know that wear the same couple of outfits day after day. And each time something new is worn, it’s genuinely new and tasteful. This might sound shallow but it does add a degree of realism to the show and keeps an element of surprise to itself.

Best Character Development for Cast

Winner: Toradora

Runner-up: Bamboo Blade

Many shows have good character development for the main character and sometimes even a few of the side characters but it’s rare for a show to have good character development for all of the main characters and principal side characters like Toradora has. It’s really amazing that they’ve been able to fit such a high level of character development of the entire principal cast in only 13 episodes and judging from the first few episodes of the second half, it’s not slowing down in the least.

Best Character Development of a Single Character

Winner: Yomi from Ga-Rei: Zero

Runner-up: Natsume from Natsume Yuujinchou

Almost the entire show of Ga-Rei: Zero is focused on the character of Yomi and how she is corrupted to become an evil killing machine. Even when I knew what happens in the future, I couldn’t help but like her before she turns evil and I can even understand why she did what she did. That moment of despair that she has while in the hospital was masterfully done and felt very real.

Best Character Ability/Power

Winner: Kogarashi from Maid Guy

I already mentioned some of powers Kogarashi has earlier but there’s others including Maid Guy Voice that can stun people, Maid Guy Hair Sensor where he uses his hair as mobile sensors, and Maid Guy Levitation. It’s hard to pick a single favorite but the ability to link a printer to your brain using a USB cable and being able to print things by just thinking about them is a very awesome power.

Best Anime Movie Seen in 2008

Winner: Evangelion 1.01 You Are (Not) Alone

I’ve mentioned before that even though Evangelion is an important anime work in the historical sense, it stinks as a show due in part to the very poor ending. After Gurren Lagann and it’s superbly crafted ending, though, I have some confidence that this time Gainax will get it right and the first of four movies seems to be a very good first step. My sister, who’s never seen the original series but seen clips of it in AMVs and such, was thoroughly impressed with the movie. I hold little hope of actually seeing this in theaters but would dearly love the chance to do so.

Best Anime OVA Seen in 2008

Winner: Clannad Episode 24 OVA

This was a separate story from the series though officially it’s episode 24 of the first season. It still features Tomoya and he’s still best friends with Sunohara but his girlfriend is Tomoyo and we meet no other characters from the main series. I know KyoAni was aided from the fact that we know the characters from the series but they manage to tell a full story in only 21 minutes that was interesting, moving, authentic and in many ways, superior to the first season of Clannad. It showed the full potential that Clannad had and made me excited about the forthcoming second season.

Best Anime Extra

Winner: Gurren Lagann Parallel Works

These where a series of short pieces done by Gainax employees using music from Gurren Lagann. All but one of them where meant to be separate from the show – hence the name Parallel Works. They featured the characters of Gurren Lagann in alternate settings, like a medieval world, or with alternate circumstances, like having the good guys be bad and Viral be the hero of the resistance. One though acted like a prequel in that it showed how Lord Genome became the ruler of earth and why he imprisoned humanity underground. Each was done by somebody different and thus had wildly different visual style though it was always fun to see some visual element that was done in one of these and remember something similar in the show. They where posted for free viewing on their website on a weekly basis over the summer and early autumn. I thought these showed that more can be done with the characters of Gurren Lagann and the world, in general, and hopefully Gainax will agree and revisit this world at some point in the future.

Most in Need of a Sequel

Winner: Ryoko’s Case Files

The way the first season ended greatly increased my desire for a second season. How often do you get the chance to see a love triangle form that includes a clone, the original, and the guy they both like? Between that and the chance to see Ryoko and Izumida solve more mysterious cases should make a sequeal a no-brainer. Hopefully, this will be case and more Ryoko’s Case Files will be seen in 2009.

I’ve been seeing various other bloggers doing this lately and I was bored so I thought I’d see what type of list I would create. I knew a few of these titles belonged on this list before I started but I went over every series I have and asked myself if this title influenced me or not. One of the things I discovered was that nothing from the last 2 years influenced me enough to warrant being on this list. The other thing was that a couple of the shows that made it on the list aren’t shows that I expected to be on.

Before I begin, remember as you’re reading this, the list isn’t my top anime list but a list of those anime titles that have influenced me as an anime watcher. Also, you won’t see several titles that you might expect on a list like this, no Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, or even Cardcaptors Sakura because I’ve never watched any of these. And finally, this list is roughly in chronological order.

1. Rurouni Kenshin

The first anime, Rurouni Kenshin, is the very first anime that I watched, knowing it was an anime and it was quite by accident that I did. Living in a big family, by today’s standards, means I was always more aware of what my younger siblings where doing, especially what was on the television, because there wasn’t enough room to be separate. My one younger sister started watching Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin when it was on daily on Toonami and I would be in the room doing homework. Slowly, I realized these shows where different from most cartoons I’ve seen and slowly I started watching these two shows. I favored Kenshin and my sister favored Yu Yu Hakusho.

Several aspects of Kenshin entranced me. The first was the idea of a story arc that lasted dozens of episodes. This allowed a show to tell stories that were too complex to fit into a single episode. I’d given up on network television, watching only channels like the History or Discovery Channels, but this was just what I was looking for in a television show. The next aspect was the depth to the characters. Even though they where 2-D animated people, they felt like real people; they had a past and they had hopes and dreams for the future. It was easy to care what happened to them and wish for their happiness.

Another aspect was “good” and “evil” still existed and those that were good needed to battle evil. I know not everyone that’s called evil is truly evil but there is true evil out there and it seems to me that in America we like to pretend there’s no one truly evil. So when Kenshin is asked to kill Shishio to save Japan, that part of me that wants to see good triumph over evil became excited over the chance to see that happen. And lastly, because we had real characters and a complex story, there was opportunities for real moral dilemmas that the characters where faced with. These dilemmas wheren’t silly ones like – I found a wallet, should I keep the money or should I return it. In Kenshin’s case, he had taken a solemn vow not to kill anymore, so how was he going to be able to kill Shishio and not break his vow?

So for introducing me to anime, showing that animated shows could have complex stories and characters, reminding me of the fight between good and evil and how moral dilemmas develop even when making seemingly easy moral choices – Rurouni Kenshin easily earns a spot among the most influential animes for me.

2. Witch Hunter Robin

The next show, Witch Hunter Robin, won’t make it on my favorites list but I can’t deny it’s influence on me.

After Kenshin and Yu Yu Hakusho, I was wanting to see what else anime had to offer so when I happened to see IGN positively review Witch Hunter Robin, I figured I trust their word and purchased the first volume. The first thing that I noticed was the huge bump in animation quality over Kenshin. This show looked good and I liked the Gothic styling but that’s not the reason for it’s inclusion here. The show established itself as the good witch-hunters protecting society from witches that wished to do evil. And for the first dozen or so episodes, it stuck to this formula but then something very unexpected happened. Suddenly, the organization that ran the anti-witch effort and was supposedly good went after one of it’s own and the show went into a totally different direction then I expected, it even included a surprise twist or three.

This showed me that an anime had the ability to be more then what it initially appears to be as well as allowing characters to drastically change throughout the course of the show.

3. Evangelion

The next show, Neon Genesis Evangelion, is a show that can be expected to be on a list like this but for me it’s on for a reason that’s probably different from most others.

Around the time of watching Witch Hunter Robin, I was looking for more shows that I, as an new anime fan, should watch. I saw this series get mentioned by many people as one of the greatest series ever and one that all anime fan needs to watch. So, I decided to give it a go and see what the fuss was about.

I found Shinji to be really annoying but the odd, interesting story and great action scenes were more then enough to make me enjoy the show. Therefore, I was caught off-guard when Gainax bungled the ending. This was incomprensible to me, didn’t they iron out the story before they started the series? I look at my DVDs of the series, unwatched since that first time, and can’t help but feeling duped.

So, for teaching me that it’s important to make my own decisions about a show – regardless of what fandom might say – and learning that how an anime ends is vital in determining the show’s worth, Neon Gensis Evangelion earns a spot on this list.

4. Kino’s Journey

The fourth anime, Kino’s Journey, marked the first time I really strayed from shounen/action titles and I was a bit apprehensive.

It was very different from what I had come to expect, there was no overarching story arc or even much linkage between episodes; however, I quickly realized I liked this show a great deal. Each episode presented at least one question, mainly ethical or moral, to ponder and it was presented in such a way that often it was difficult to come up with a quick or easy answer. For example, in one episode two city-states had been locked in constant war for almost 200 years until a mother on each side decided something needed to be done to end the bloodshed. Their solution was once a year each side would compete in a contest to determine that year’s winner. Sounds good but the competition involved a third city-state that was very technologically inferior – the two sides would attack the third one and the side that tallied the most kills was the winner for the year. Peace between the two nations was achieved and has held for 15 years and the overall body count has greatly diminished because neither side wants to eradicate the third.

The show also didn’t have a real ending to it (not that it really could) which fit the show and later I learned was a characteristic of slice-of-life shows. Therefore, for making me a fan of the slice-of-life genre as well as showing that it was possible to make me think and be entertaining at the same time, Kino’s Journey takes it’s place on this list.

5. Spirited Away

Fifth on the list, Spirited Away, happens to be the sole movie to make the list. I wanted to put Millennium Actress on the list but was unable to point to how it significantly influenced me as an anime fan.

I still remember surfing on Aintitcoolnews.com and seeing a headline that pointed to the trailer for an animated film called Spirited Away. The writer seemed excited so I watched the trailer and was likewise blown away. I wanted to see it so badly but realized the chances of it playing anywhere near my house was very remote. However, a couple of months later, a local theater did advertise they were going show it and after convincing one of my sisters to go with me, I got my chance to watch Spirited Away on the big screen.

And let me tell you, it was a real treat to have the chance. There are many reasons to like this movie but the reason why it has influenced me was that it showed that anime was capable of producing a reaction called ‘sense of wonder’ in the viewer. This can be thought as when your jaw drops because you’ve encountered something new and so amazing that it makes you think of the world differently. This reaction is discussed pretty frequently in print SF circles because this was something that many feel that written SF of the last couple of decades lacks when compared to earlier SF. One moment that particularly sticks out in my mind was when Chihiro was running on a very narrow pathway trying to fit in-between bushes that were covered in a profuse amount of flowers. My jaw dropped at the beauty of the scene and how Miyazaki was able to turn flower bushes into something amazing - it really changed how I looked at the world around me.

I’m going to cut this into two parts so you won’t have to scroll through a behemoth of a post. Part 2 should be up within a day.