Did you feel your ears pop just now? I know I did. We’ve finally here – the rarefied air were this year’s best anime titles inhabit.

Before getting to the final countdown here’s some stats that the numerical-minded might find interesting. Using just the top 6 anime series:

• This year has three anime original series, 2010 saw 2, 2009 had none, 2008 included 2, and 2007 also had 2.
• This year marks the fourth year that a Shaft series appeared and the third year that KyoAni has appear as well.
• This year Brain’s Base joins Shaft from 2010, AIC from 2008 and KyoAni from 2007 by placing two anime in the top 6 in one year.

6  -  Natsume Yuujin-chou San

That part of human nature that seeks out the new works against a show like Natsume Yuujin-chou. We get more excited over a new anime series that’s merely good then over an exceptional series like Natsume Yuujin-chou just because it’s in it’s third season and it’s “old”. I’m no different and it took a concerted effort to keep Natsume at the level it deserves. And it definitely belongs this high because, even though it felt like the same old Natsume, the show had a new script writer and that helped explain why the episodes felt sharper and more accomplished this time. This season also started to really display the slowly deepening character development of Natsume and those around him. One of the things I remember thinking about the first season was how sparse the cast was and now in the third season there’s this large cast of youkai and humans that has slowly congealed around Natsume.

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5  -  Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Better known under the much-needed shorter name of AnoHana, this anime original found on the noitaminA programming block picked up the anime original banner from Madoka’s hand and continued to proudly show why they are needed for displaying anime at the top of it’s craft. The most interesting point related to AnoHana I can add at this point is the observation I noticed about how this title is handled by anime fandom during it’s run and after it’s run. While airing, I saw a near universal positive consensus towards AnoHana but after it’s conclusion I started seeing more and more of a negative consensus forming. I don’t know if it’s because the people who didn’t like it kept quiet during it’s broadcast or if it was a belated desire by some to look like a critic (and not just a “fanboy” or “fangirl”) or maybe it comes from trying to cover-up how on several occasions AnoHana, a mere anime, brought these people to tears. Who knows?

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4  -  Nichijou

The newest comedy series by KyoAni, Nichijou, was definitely a polarizing force amongst anime fans this year; then again, KyoAni has been polarizing since it rocketed to prominence with Haruhi over 5 years ago. Comedies are always difficult to get everyone on board because people’s sense of humor are so unique. Which is why I don’t begrudge the people who didn’t find Nichijou funny. The people who gleefully crowed about it’s apparent failure rubbed me the wrong way, however. There were the people who always complain that KyoAni only makes one type of anime but when KyoAni does something different they complain that it’s different. Then there was that animator from Gainax that was gloating over the low sales numbers for Nichijou and I love Gainax but I wanted to ask him how long before Gainax produces another hit anime – the guy that directed their last hit left Gainax with several other veterans to create a new studio. I think I even remember Mr. Fractale, Yamakan, crowing about Nichijou’s low sales numbers. Sorry, seems I’ve fallen into brooding rant mode; I just wanted to fill a paragraph and I was stuck when I started with ‘Nichijou is a funny anime, you should try it.’

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3  -  Mawaru Penguin Drum

Moving on, early during Penguins’ run I realized that the ending was needed to explain this anime and by extension allow the viewers to figure out how good Penguins truly was. It was like a mantra I chanted after every episode, “This will make sense eventually,” and I’m pleased that my faith was rewarded with an ending that made sense and cast the whole series in the best possible light. I’m looking forward to rewatching Penguins now that it basically all makes sense. One of the interesting aspects related to watching Penguins was reading what the blogosphere wrote about it. The examination of how this anime and Shaft/Shinbou were connected was a highlight so to was reading the episode posts written by the one fan translators. This anime was the type of anime that needs careful attention to it’s translation even down to picking the best word among synonyms and reading why things got translated the way they did was enlightening and fun. I hope the director of Penguins and Utena, Kunihiko Ikuhara, won’t wait another decade+ to create another anime.

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2  -  Steins;Gate

At this point what is left to say about Steins;Gate that hasn’t already been said? Not much but I’ll try anyways. There’s the remark that it’s quite possibly the best visual novel adaptation anime has ever had or that I’ve decided that I might just try the Steins;Gate visual novel to see all the stuff that didn’t make it into the anime. (A dangerous and slippery slope I know but that’s how much I liked Steins;Gate.) Or there’s the observation that Steins;Gate would have been number 1 in 2010, 2009, or 2008.

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1  -  Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Because I like to repeat myself, at this point what is left to say about Puella Magi Madoka Magica that hasn’t already been said? Instead of trying let me share my favorite scene of Madoka. It’s the scene between Madoka and her Mom, in episode 11, on the stairs of the shelter. Throughout the series we’ve had the chance to see the beautiful relationship the two of them share, something so rare in anime, and that makes Madoka’s decision all the more painful. It’s an adult decision – Madoka’s first and last – and when Madoka’s Mom realizes Madoka has made an adult decision she makes the equally hard decision to let Madoka go with her blessing even when every fiber of her being is screaming to keep Madoka safe in the shelter. It’s a powerful scene. The type of scene that pushed Madoka into the top spot as my favorite all-time anime past Gurren Lagann which has been my favorite anime for the past 4 years. I was starting to think that I’d never see an anime series surpass Gurren Lagann and now I’m wondering how long it’s going to be before something surpasses Madoka.

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I’d like to thank all the people who read my 10000+ word review of the 2011 year in anime; I hope you enjoyed it and maybe discovered an anime or two that you want to watch now.

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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
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1 <- you are here

Filed under: anime, awards

The end is fast approaching for The Null Set’s examination of the 2011 year in anime so let’s switch gears, drop the categories, and let the various anime series go head-to-head.

I’ll readily admit that the anime series occupying the top spots on this list probably won’t be a surprise based on a simple tally of which anime won the most categories but using just that method doesn’t give a wholly accurate picture of the relative strength of the top anime series. Sure it’s causes one to compare apples to oranges, as the saying goes, or maybe more aptly, forces one to mix oil and water together but humans seem hardwired to try to do just that.

On that note, let’s head to the countdown and discover which series juuusst squeaked onto the list.

13  -  Rio – Rainbow Gate

At number 13 and better than over 46 other series that aired in 2011 is the much derided Rio- Rainbow Gate. It’s an easy show to denigrate and a cursory watch would seem to confirm the need to criticize it. However, as I found myself watching more of the series and wondering why I kept watching, I realized that if the show was merely generic then I would have tired of it very quickly and dropped it like I did four other anime series that season. Generic is bland and predictable. Rio – Rainbow Gate was never predictable; every episode surprised and delighted with some silly, absurd story. It takes genuine knowledge and skill to make a show entertaining for 14 episodes. How many anime series have come out even just recently that showed promise in the first or two episodes but quickly fell apart after those couple of episodes?

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12  -  Ben-to

Ben-to is the story of a Japan that hosts impromptu daily gladiatorial competitions in it’s supermarkets where the prize is a half-priced box lunch. Ridiculous? Absolutely, but sometimes it takes the ridiculous to break the mold and create something great. What made this anime so appealing was it’s frequent well-constructed and thrilling fight scenes but that wasn’t the only reason why Ben-to succeeded. There was also a killer soundtrack that matched the over-the-top perfection of the action. Then there was the delight Ben-to showed while fleshing out the world that it inhabited. Wolves were supposed to have respect and pride; dogs and boars should be looked at with disdain; food only tasted good when one fought for it; one has to give thanks before eating to everyone from the farmer that grew the food all the way to the people who were beaten to get the half-priced box lunch. It helped make the world seem more authentic and helped make the fights more meaningful.

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11  –   Ao no Exorcist

Ao no Exorcist is one of the reasons that doing this countdown is warranted in my eyes. It didn’t win a single category and was nominated in only two categories; yet, it earns the number eleven spot for being one of the better shounen series of recent memory. It had a very tough slate of rivals during the two seasons it ran and found itself constantly playing second fiddle to them. Initially, I wasn’t that impressed with Ao no Exorcist because the first couple of episodes seemed to suggest that the show wanted to be “dark” but it came off as wannabe dark like Deadman Wonderland. However, once those episodes established the “tragic nature” of our hero main character and we moved into the story proper the show started to get better and better. The main character was a nice guy; the type of person that one can’t help but root for and the supporting cast is a diverse, interesting bunch that interact well with each other. The plot was more interesting than I thought it would be and I liked how the animators didn’t try to just continue once they burned through most of the source material.

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10  -  Hyouge Mono

Having only seen 11 episodes of this 39 episode anime, it was difficult to give this show it’s proper due in the category section; yet, this anime about a man living in the Sengoku period who seeks security and comfort for his wife and child through success on the battlefield even when he does not have a warrior’s heart convincingly earns this spot of top anime for 2011. The thing that surprised me about this anime is that it takes the political intrigue of the era seriously while still allowing the eccentric characters to be larger-than-life and interesting. For example, I was prepared for disappointment over Hyouge Mono’s version of Oda Nobunaga aka the Demon King after his portrayal in Sengoku Basara but he’s as interesting here as he was in Sengoku Basara.

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9  -  Tiger and Bunny

I think Tiger and Bunny is the result of someone at Sunrise looking at all the super-powered movies coming out from America and deciding that it’d be cool to try making one as well. The result was loads of fun with the occasional flash of brilliance. What prevented it from going higher on the list was the infrequent lapses in the plot that would deflate the momentum that it had built up for itself. These lapses bothered me when I first watched this series but later in the year I decided to rewatch it with my one sister and the second time through it was easier to just focus on the strengths of Tiger and Bunny – it’s characters, production values, and entertaining nature. The end hinted at a possible sequel and I’m hoping it comes to pass.

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8  -  Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

This, the story of a young Japanese girl transplanted to Paris in the late 19th century was full of all the fish-out-of-water experiences one would expect (and enjoy) and had the interesting and well done backdrop that an anime with high production values set when it was would have but, ultimately, the part I most liked about Ikoku Meiro no Croisee was the characters and their relationships with each other. Which made the decision to have  what was named episode 4.5 be a DVD extra so baffling. It was an early episode that focused on character development and would have shown people that Ikoku Meiro no Croisee had a subtle bite to it (and wasn’t just an anime about cute girls doing cute things). I’ll hold out hope that, even with the low sales numbers it had, a sequel will eventually be made.

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7  -  Hanasaku Iroha

During it’s run, Hanasaku Iroha’s popularity suffered from people’s assumptions about the story turning out to be wrong. At the beginning it was assumed by many that P.A. Works was attempting to make an anime version of a Japanese dorama series but as the story unfolded it started acting more like a slice-of-life series that really wasn’t concerned with including some sort of overarching plot structure. I felt it was wasting it’s potential but continued watching because it was better than several other series I followed. It was only during the last episode that I realized how much I’d come to like Hanasaku Iroha. (Much like how it wasn’t until episode 20 of the second season of K-On! that I realized how much I’d come to like that franchise.) I needed to rewatch Hanasaku Iroha to see how well it held up on a second viewing. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect and not expect or it was the new light I saw the characters in after finishing it the first time that did it but it was a much improved series the second time through. As for a sequel, I could see the merit of one if it was set a few years in the future when the inn was being re-opened and focused on making it profitable.

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Whew, only one more section – the top 6 anime of 2011 – to go. Then maybe it’ll be time to start covering this excellent winter 2012 anime season.

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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
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7 <- you are here
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

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

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

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

The first step to making extraordinary anime (at least to me) is to populate the anime with a stellar cast of memorable characters and 2011 was full of anime that took this idea to heart.

One general trend that seems to be really gathering steam of late is creating male main characters who have an actual backbone. There are still shows that cling to the tired character type of the lame/weak male main character but, on balance, they are mainly the cheaper, lower-tier anime series. For this I think we have to thank Tomokazu Sugita and his performance as Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi. He might not have been first one to staunch the tide of wet noodle “guys” but with every snarky remark (and DVD sale) he created a counter-image of what a male main character could be.

Another trend, albeit a bit on the meta side, among characters I noticed this year was during the Saimoe competition. I didn’t cover this annual net competition of Japanese (and whoever else could sneak in) anime fans for the most popular female “moe” character but I lurked on an almost daily basis at the places that covered Saimoe. What I was surprised by was the near-total failure of the incumbent franchises to win against the new anime series. I don’t know if this anti-establishment fervor was merely a display of fatigue towards the older anime franchises or was this a signal of a shift in anime fandom. Maybe it’s a sign that 2012 will be the end of the world .

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.

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Best Female Main Character

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Nano and The Professor from Nichijou

Summer – Christina from Steins;Gate

Autumn – Chihaya from Chihayafuru

Wildcard –  Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha, Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Overall Winner: Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

I confess that I have weakness for characters that are heroes and those that are willing to sacrifice for someone else or for some “greater” good. Madoka is both all while being a normal kid so it was a forgone conclusion that she was winning this award the moment PM3 finished airing last spring. The race for second, meanwhile, would not have been clear cut if I had to pick.

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Best Male Main Character

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Prince Baka  from Level E

Spring – Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Summer -Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Autumn – You Satou from Ben-to

Wildcard –  Tiger from Tiger & Bunny, Furuta Sasuke from Hyouge Mono

Overall Winner: Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

This was another easy pick to make. From episode 1 I could tell Okabe – the Mad Scientist of Tokyo – was special; he is the type of character that seems almost supernatural in comparison to even the best male characters from the other anime series. The only problem was that after Chaos;Head I feared the story for Steins;Gate would ruin any chance for Okabe to shine (or maybe even sparkle). Thankfully, that fear proved unfounded and Okabe takes his place among the great anime characters of all-time.

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Best Supporting Character(s)

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Mami from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Grandma Sui from Hanasaku Iroha

Summer – Nyanko-sensei from Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Autumn – Rider aka Iskander from Fate/Zero

Wildcard – Oda Nobunaga from Hyouge Mono, Dio from Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam

Overall Winner: Grandma Sui from Hanasaku Iroha

A couple years ago I lamented the lack of old people in anime. I pointed out that when an anime does include an old person, he or she is often the most awesome character in the entire cast. Hanasaku Iroha is but the latest example of why there needs to be more old people in anime. Grandma Sui beat a roster of very tough opponents, most particularly Rider from Fate/Zero. He is literally 75% of the reason to keep watching Fate/Zero and makes a strong argument for cutting everyone else out of the show and just focus on Rider and his master Weaver.

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Best Screen-grabber

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Madoka’s Mom from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Meme from Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Summer – The Penguins from Mawaru Penguin Drum

Autumn – Matsukaze from Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!

Wildcard –  Momoka from Mawaru Penguin Drum

Overall Winner: The Penguins from Mawaru Penguin Drum

This award is for the character(s) that best maximizes the small amount of screen time given them to leave an indelible mark on the show and on the viewers. Mom’s are a rare commodity in anime due, in part, to their ability to stop wacky hi-jinks and shenanigans. Madoka’s Mom and how she interacted with the plot was one of the reasons PM3 reached such a height of greatness as it did. It was difficult to pick someone else but the Penguins just deserved this award too much. Without them I don’t think Mawaru Penguin Drum would have been nearly as good or as entertaining or as comprehensible.

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Best Couple

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Takuto and Wako from Star Driver

Spring – Prince Enma and Princess Yukiko from Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Summer – Christina and Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Autumn – Shouma and Ringo from Mawaru Penguin Drum

Wildcard –  Aunt Touko and Uncle Shigeru from Natsume Yuujinchou 3, Madoka’s Mom and Dad from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Overall Winner: Christina and Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate

With everything else that happens in Steins;Gate it’s kinda surprising that the animators where able to fit the development of Chistina’s and Okabe’s relationship into the show as well, even finding the space to make it feel so natural and heartwarming to see. This component also played an important role in making the viewers care about what happened with the plot of the show.

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Best Character Ability/Power

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – The ability to beat entropy from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Rintarou Okabe’s ability to remember past world lines from Steins;Gate

Summer – The scarf that can make animals talk from Nichijou

Autumn – The ability to make a person answer one question truthfully and completely from Un-Go

Wildcard –  Seeing ghosts and spirits from Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Overall Winner: The ability to beat entropy from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

I think I was first introduced to entropy and how the universe will eventually wind-down many years ago with a story by Isaac Asimov called “The Last Question”. Personally, I don’t often think about the need to reverse entropy because I probably won’t be around to care but it is a problem that will eventually need addressing by someone. Beating entropy as Kyubey’s motivation made sense for an emotionless alien species and was another facet that showed the quality of thought put into PM3.

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Best Cast of Characters

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – AnoHana

Summer – Natsume Yuujinchou 3

Autumn – Mawaru Penguin Drum

Wildcard –  Hanasaku Iroha, Tiger and Bunny

Overall Winner: Mawaru Penguin Drum

This was the toughest category to pick in this section of awards because each of these series had such great casts of characters. Even when I decided that Penguins was a hair above the other choices due to the high quality of even it’s very minor characters in a cast as large as Penguins had – I still feels like I’m slighting the other choices.

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Best Character Development for Cast

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Star Driver

Spring – AnoHana

Summer – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Autumn – Mawaru Penguin Drum

Wildcard –  Hanasaku Iroha

Overall Winner: AnoHana

AnoHana was built to win this award and it’s not really a shocker that it did so. The most surprising nominee was Ikoku Meiro no Croisee because on the surface it looked like a mere “cute girls doing cute things” anime but a great deal of character development was tucked into the show. A sequel that further explores the cast would be something I’d love to see.

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Best Character Development of a Single Character

Seasonal Winners:

Winter – Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Spring – Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Summer – Rintarou Okabe  from Steins;Gate

Autumn – Maon Sakurada from Tamayura – Hitotose

Wildcard –  Ringo from Mawaru Penguin Drum

Overall Winner: Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate

After going through the level of tragedy and pain that forced him to change from the wannabe mad scientist punk with delusions of grandeur to an emotionally scarred adult that’s been forced to make tough decisions and then had to watch those decisions hurt his family and friends over’n’over – I do not begrudge Okabe the happy ending he got at the end of Steins;Gate. This helped push Steins;Gate from being just a generic SF series about time travel into something exceptional.

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That’s the end of part 1; I hope to have the second part up within a day. Comments and feedback are always appreciated – I’d love to see what others would pick.

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Top anime 2011 Awards Part 0: Introduction and Anti-Awards
Top anime 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards <- you are here
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
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

Another year finished and another year the wannabe buzzards prognosticate the demise of anime even when the empirical data continues to defy their constructed narratives. I’d compare these people to climate scientists who close their eyes to the last decade plus of weather but I don’t want to get political here .

Instead I’ll point out that this year saw two young studios P.A. Works and Silver Fox create series which signaled their emergence as top quality anime studios. Also, this year saw two studios – Shaft and Brains Base –  take the plunge with original works and the resulting masterpieces pushed these already well-respected studios into the stratosphere.  Nor could it be forgotten how Kyoto Animation and Satelight, two veteran studios, stretched their creative legs and produce great series in genres that their not known for. Or how a quirky little studio, david production, that spun off from Gonzo a few years ago produced not one but two quirky quality series this year and finally attracted the attention of a large number of anime fans.

So, for those reasons and others, it’s easy to see that this was a banner year for anime –  one that I want to reminisce about and remember. There’s various formats that can be used to do so but the one I like involves ranking the anime in various categories because it just seems more orderly this way.

Before starting into the “nice” awards I first wanted to list the anime series that I watched from 2011 that are eligible for the various awards and to hand-out a few “not-so-nice” awards.

Winter Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (2): Star Driver, To Aru Majutsu no Index II

New shows watched this season (10): Fractale, Gosick, IS: Infinite Stratos, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, Level E, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu!, Moshidora, Rio – Rainbow Gate, Wolverine

Shows that got dropped (4): Dragon Crisis, Freezing, Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!, Yumekui Merry

Spring Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (1): Gosick

New shows watched this season (20): X-Men, Dog Days, Tiger and Bunny, Nichijou, Yondemasu yo Azazel-san, Hanasaku Iroha, Fireball Charming, Steins;Gate, Hyouge Mono, Hidan no Aria, A Channel, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera, Maria+Holic Alive, Ao no Exorcist, The World God Only Knows II, Seikon no Qwaser II, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, Deadman Wonderland

Shows that got dropped (8): Hen Zemi, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi, Sengoku Otome – Momoiro Paradox, 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku, Sket Dance, Sofuteni, Astarotte no Omocha!

Summer Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (6): Ao no Exorcist, Hyouge Mono, Steins;Gate, Hanasaku Iroha, Tiger and Bunny, Nichijou

New shows watched this season (13): Mawaru Penguin Drum, Kamisama no Memo-chou, Dantalian no Shoka, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, R-15, Sacred Seven, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, Natsume Yuujinchou 3, Yuruyuri, Kamisama Dolls, Blood-C, Mayo Chiki, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

Shows that got dropped (3): Usagi Drop, No. 6, The Idolm@ster

Fall Season

Carry-over shows watched this season (2): Hyouge Mono, Mawaru Penguin Drum

New shows watched this season (15): C3 – Cube×Cursed×Curious, Fate/Zero, Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!, Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, Hunter × Hunter, Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle, Tamayura – Hitotose, Chihayafuru, Persona 4, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Shakugan no Shana III (Final), Last Exile — Ginyoku no Fam, Ben-to, Un-Go, Guilty Crown

Shows that got dropped (3): Shinryaku!? Ika Musume, Working’!!, Mirai Nikki

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Total New Series Watched 2011:       78

Total New Series Completed:              53

Total New Series Dropped:                  18

Total New Continuing Series:             07

Now it’s time for the Anti-Awards. These are awards that the winners probably wouldn’t like winning and instead of spreading them out in the various parts, I’m going to put them here. Also, the awards will have a higher level of spoilers then  I normally use but I will still try to keep them to minimum.

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Best Half and Half

Winner:  Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Runner-up: Blood-C

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko was improved by having Shaft/Shinbou adapt it but it was also hindered by being attached to Shaft/Shinbou. Hindered because so much of what Shaft/Shinbou does occurs admidst finding the fantastic in the common everyday hustle-n-bustle of life to the point of this being the expectation. There was Natsu no Arashi:  about a boy whose first crush is a girl he meets working in a café who just so happens to be a ghost of a girl who died in WWII. Sore de mo Machi wa Mawatteiru features a normal high school girl that encounters time travelers, aliens, and visits the afterlife. Bakemonogatari has a typical high school boy getting turned into a vampire (then mostly back to human) meeting gods, spirits, and curses. Arakawa Under the Bridge has a typical salary-man fall for a woman that lives under a bridge and declares that she is from Venus (and might actually be an alien). So, when Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko started with the main female character saying that she was an alien, this primed the viewers a certain way but then to throw this out for most of the series made it difficult to not compare it to other Shaft/Shinbou series and find it feeling a bit shallow.

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Worst Half and Half

Winner:  Fractale

Saying half of Fractale was okay is probably stretching it a bit but among all the problems that it had there were several good ideas and positive aspects floating about. It’s just that these ideas and aspects were very poorly put together and then buried under a mountain of incompetence. I’m still wondering how the creators were able to take one of my favorite voice actresses – the very talented Kana Hanazawa – and made her voice about as appealing as screeching fingernails on a blackboard.

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Most Disappointing Ending

Winner:  IS: Infinite Stratos

Why, oh, why did the creators of Infinite Stratos chicken out and try to tack on a boring “serious” ending to this show? Here’s how the show should have went – the climax should have been the reveal of Charlotte’s true gender and the build-up should have involved the generic male main character having to go to greater-and-greater lengths to hide the truth. It would have complimented the nature of the show much better and not have been such a letdown.

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Most Disappointing

Winner:  Guilty Crown

Any questions? Okay, moving on…

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Most in Need of Being Longer

Winner:  C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
Runner-up: Un-Go

One can’t look over the year in anime without complaining about the episode counts that noitaminA series get. Un-Go actually accomplished a fair amount over it’s 11 episode run which allowed C to slip past to win this dubious award. C had some very interesting things to say but the silly CG battles and the compression artifacts from trying to squeeze C into 11 episodes just overwhelmed those interesting ideas.

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The You’re-Doing-It-Wrong Award

Winner:  R-15
Runner-up: Nekogami Yaoyorozu

Both of these shows should have been fun, light entertainment – perfect for the hot summer season – but both failed on a fundamental level and left the viewers saying, “you’re doing it wrong.” The bigger failure was on the part of R-15; the set-up was that this anime took place in a school of geniuses but somehow these “geniuses” were just a pack of boring, cliché characters. (And the one that plays the clarinet, if she’s such a genius then why does she spend the entire series practicing the same simple piece of music?)

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The Best Almost Good Series

Winner:  Dantalian no Shoka
Runner-up: C3 – Cube×Cursed×Curious

In different hands I think both of these series could have been fabulous. C3 probably needed more work to get there since the source material needed a touch of help and the style was trying too hard to look Shaftian without adding anything unique to the animation style. Dantalian no Shoka was so very close. More episodes would have helped but if that was unobtainable then trimming down the number of cases covered and focusing on fleshing these cases out and developing the characters probably would have been all it needed. Even so, Dantalian no Shoka was an interesting experiment in visual style that will probably help Gainax in the future be a better studio.

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The Series That Most Left Me Wondering “Why Did I Waste My Time Finishing This?”

Winner:  Deadman Wonderland
Runner-up: Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi had the characters and story of a really generic fan-service series and the low level of fan-service that’s typically found in a “serious” anime. Watching it every week left me confused and wondering when it would decide to fully commit to being one type of series or the other. This series was topped by Deadman Wonderland, however. I should have seen the signs early that the creators wanted to make a “dark” anime – like what all the cool kids are doing now – but lacked the ability and talent to do so. I even remember getting a chuckle over how the creators wanted to vilify private prisons but thought nothing of the implications to how the story would unfold. I did learn, though, when Mirai Nikki started resorting to implausible, silly turns-of-events to advance the story and I quickly dropped it.

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Best Series I Dropped

Winner:  Usagi Drop

Usagi Drop was, is, and will be on many lists as a top 10 anime for 2011. Not mines and that’s because I broke a personal rule I have about not checking out the source material before the end of an anime series. Objections to how it ends was just part of the reason for dropping it. The other part was watching a few more episodes after spoiling myself and seeing how the author clearly had the ending in mind when laying out the story and how she forced the characters into that path instead of allowing the characters to develop naturally and organically. Which is a shame, there was much to like about Usagi Drop.

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And on that note, let’s end part 0 and tomorrow I’ll put up part 1, the character awards.

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Top anime 2011 Awards Part 0: Introduction and Anti-Awards <- you are here
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
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #13 – #7
Top anime 2011 Awards: Top 13 Anime – #6 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

A part of me didn’t want to finish this post because then I’d be quasi-officially done with the spring season and I’ll miss it; it was a great season. I really shouldn’t be sad, though, the few new summer anime that I already checked out make the summer look like another promising season and there’s a number of great series continuing as well.

4 – Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Filled with tenacity and manliness, Brains Base’s adaptation of Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera does things it’s own way and demands it’s viewers to accept it for what it is and not what the viewers want. In this way it’s strongly reminiscent of Gainax’s Panty and Stocking. Also like P&S, Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera frequently uses fan service not to stimulate the senses but as a means to further push the show over-the-top and in completely random directions. This helped make Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera a unique experience and set it apart from most other anime of recent memory as did the age of the original source material. The age meant everything felt a bit rougher around the edges then what is generally expected of today’s stuff. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; for instance, the characters weren’t a group of random character traits thrown together to appease as many groups of fans as possible, like so much recent anime seems to be.

The age of the source material also injected a nostalgic undertone to the show that further made the show interesting. My innards were tickled when the main character’s fire staff stopped working at one point because the AA batteries that powered it died and he couldn’t find replacements. It reminded me when I was little and how all the cool toys seemed to run on batteries and it was a constant battle to convince my parents that I needed another set of batteries.

Brains Base also earns top marks for the care and attention they gave to Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera’s production quality. The vocal work, in particular, was particularly memorable. (For fans of Norio Wakamoto (and really, who isn’t a fan (I bet communists and people who don’t rewind their movies aren’t)), he’s in a few episodes as the King of Hell – as if to be the exclamation point on the quality of vocal work.)

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3 – Nichijou

A long time ago, when Yamakan was actually a rising star, Kyoto Animation had a comedy series called Lucky Star and many people, including myself, didn’t think it was all that funny at the beginning. Eventually it hit it’s stride, 8-9 episodes in, and became a pretty funny anime. Fast forward several years and KyoAni is getting around to doing another comedy series, this time called Nichijou – Everyday Life. The first episode aired and it was light years better than Lucky Star’s first episode. From there, each episode has built upon the success of the last one and by mid-season it was regularily leaving me in stitches – gasping for breath – a pile of giggling goo. Which is the long way of saying I’m thoroughly enjoying Nichijou and I expect the second half of the series to push this series into becoming my favorite comedy from KyoAni. It probably won’t even be a real contest since, with Nano now being allowed to go to school, Nano is going to get loads more screen time and I shouldn’t need to remind people that Nano=Win.

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2 – Steins;Gate

Normally I wish the Japanese would stop using English punctuation marks in weird ways; but, I like the semicolon and personally use it more than I probably should so I’ll give Steins;Gate a pass on this one. Besides, Steinsgate sounds like a political scandal and that’s one area that this anime hasn’t touched upon, at least not yet. It has so far included conspiracies, mad scientists, computer hacking, murder threats, comedy, time travel, improbable science wrapped within cool sounding technobabble, shadow organizations, budding relationships, parallel world lines and one man’s quest to put right what once went wrong. In short, Steins;Gate has been an awesome ride so far; it’s even been able to use time travel without stepping on the toes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and vice versa.

The ending could still be a big disappointment and drag down my opinion of the entire show but, for right now, it’s making a fast beeline towards becoming a classic anime. The first couple of episodes of the summer season really cement this as the show to beat this summer.

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1 – Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

The anime that needs no introductions this season. I’m not going to act cool by being a contrarian for the sake of being contrary; AnoHana is a masterpiece and deserves all the accolades it has received and will receive. It showcases the power of anime series as a storytelling format, especially when freed from trying to fit a story told in another medium into the confines of an anime series.

With AnoHana’s win, the last three anime seasons have all had an original anime as it’s top anime. The first was Panty and Stocking for the Fall 2010 season, Puella Magi Madoka Magica for the Winter 2011 season and now AnoHana for the Spring 2011 season. Will summer see this trend continue? Only time will tell.

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I’d like to thank all the people who read my 5500+ word review of the Spring 2011 season; I hope you enjoyed it and maybe discovered an anime or two that you want to watch now.

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Spring 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #8 – #5

Filed under: anime, awards

The end is fast approaching for The Null Set’s examination of the spring season; all that’s left is the countdown of the top shows of the season. I’ll readily admit that creating such a listing causes one to compare apples to oranges, as the saying goes, or maybe oil and water is a better description. The result probably speaks more about the preparer of the list then it does the actual merits of the shows involved but it seems hardwired into humans to continuously make these types of lists and give importance to the results.

So on that note, let’s head to the countdown and discover which series juuusst squeaked onto the list.

8 – Tiger and Bunny

My opinion of Tiger and Bunny has swung the widest of all the spring anime series; sometimes very high and other times it’s rather low. At various points it seems that Sunrise wants viewers to take Tiger and Bunny seriously and at other points it clearly wants Tiger and Bunny to be considered a silly, over-the-top series.  Done right, it’s possible to swing between both but Sunrise hasn’t done the best job getting the tonal shifts right which leaves Tiger and Bunny somewhat frustrating to watch. For example, am I supposed to see the completely ineffectual mayor of Sternbild City (the NYC-like setting of the anime) who looks good on camera but is completely overwhelmed by the demands of the jobs as thinly-veiled political commentary about the current President of the US when Sunrise resolves the Ouroboros storyline, rather absurdly, with the big bad villain having a helicopter fall on him and killing him?

So I’ve needed to do a bit of leveling the mountains and filling in the valleys to get a better read on where Tiger and Bunny actually stands independently and in comparison with the other anime of the season. The result was I realized Tiger and Bunny deserved to make the top anime list for this season because it does lots of things right (sometimes really right) but that it still hasn’t come close to it’s full potential yet and that it has a few elements holding it back.

I’m optimistic about the second half of Tiger and Bunny that airs this summer season. Now that the introductions, character development, and the true forming of the superhero duo of Tiger and Bunny are accomplished, Sunrise can really kick the story in gear. (More Lunatic, please. )

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7 – Hyouge Mono

One of the disappointments of this season is how Hyouge Mono has fallen through the cracks and ignored by most of the anime fans out there. I’m grateful that there is at least one group willing to sub this show, though it would be wonderful if they had more help, and for the 5 episodes I’ve seen so far. I know for certain that if I’d’ve seen 9 or 10 episodes at this point, I’d be ranking Hyouge Mono much higher.

The animation and vocal work are both above average but the real draw to this show is it’s characters. They are toned down from Sengoku Basara levels enough so that it’s possible to show the political side of the Sengoku time period while still keeping enough eccentricities that the characters are fun to watch. I particularly like the main character because of how conflicted he is and how he tries to balance everything. He prides himself as an aesthetic, particularly about all things related to tea, and he loves his wife and son but the only way to provide the lifestyle they deserve is to fight in the army and try to advance up the ranks to win prestige, power, and money while being totally not cutout for military service. He also realizes that it’s impossible to become a respected aesthetic until he has a collection of treasures showcasing his appreciation of art so he’s very bribable at this point but he seeks to be totally loyal to his lord, Oda Nobunaga aka the Demon King.

And the kicker about Hyouge Mono is how true to history it actually is.

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6 – Hanasaku Iroha

Hanasaku Iroha is the latest anime from PA Works who has shown in the past great animation quality but a consistent flatness to it’s characters that impedes the quality of their shows. (I’m still marveling at how I didn’t shed a single tear during Angel Beats but filled buckets over KyoAni’s AIR, Kanon, and Clannad.)  As a firm believer in the adage ‘Practice makes perfect,’ I figured at some point that PA Works would get it right and Hanasaku Iroha shows that they’re starting to get it right. It’s still not perfect but there’s tantalizing flashes of brilliance, for instance, pretty much all of episode 13 was perfectly awesome. If it could stay at that level then picking the top show of the season would have been a much tougher task.

One of the smart things they did was to have the main character, Ohana, quickly mature past the whinny, brat stage she was in at the beginning of the series. For one, I don’t think many could have tolerated watching her pout over the unfairness of life as the main character for too long before dropping it. For two, having a cool main character, as Ohana is at this point, increases the show’s overall coolness (always a good thing).

I’m not sure how Hanasaku Iroha will fill another season’s worth episodes, though a couple things have been hinted at, but I definitely will keep watching the daily adventures of the people that run what must be the best little hot springs inn in Japan.

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5 – Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

In hindsight, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko suffered from certain high expectations that have slowly formed about Shaft/Shinbou series. The largest expectation stemmed from the many past series from Shaft/Shinbou that have had a surprising amount of depth to them. When Erio exclaimed that she was an alien, it primed us to expect something like Arakawa Under the Bridge and when it didn’t deliver a show of that depth, it felt like a disappointment. ‘What is the point to this anime,’ was a comment I saw over and over. I thought the same thing but I kept watching and finally I realized the real purpose was just to have a fairly generic male lead spend his time with a variety of different girls/women doing fun things. It’s light entertainment; that’s it.

Once I straightened my expectations out it was a very fun series to follow and after Madoka, I’m okay with something a bit lighter from Shaft/Shinbou. I definitely wouldn’t mind a sequel but there are a few series from Shaft that I rather see a sequel done first.

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The top four come next and then it’ll be time to start examining the new summer season .

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Spring 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #4 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

After looking at the characters in part 1 and then the show built around those characters in part 2, the third group of awards will focus on the extras in an anime; namely, the vocal work, music, and animation quality. These components aren’t among the core reasons why an anime is successful or not but they can exert a surprising amount of influence for either outcome.

Not that I’m implying correlation equals causation; maybe that’s something Okabe from Steins;Gate could study after he was done changing the world’s ruling power structure and defeating the secret organizations – he could study how integral are the vocal work, music, and animation quality towards an anime’s success or failure.

Best Male Seiyuu

Winner: Mamoru Miyano as Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate and Shinku Izumi from Dog Days

The best part of the rather uneven Star Driver was Mamoru Miyano’s vocal work for the main character, Takuto Tsunashi. As a result of that role, I decided this season that it was worth checking out both anime that he was voicing the main character, Dog Days and Steins;Gate. He was merely good as the Hero in Dog Days but that had more to do with limited nature of the role and the animators behind the show. The role as mad scientist in Steins;Gate gave him much more room to perform and he took advantage of that.

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Best Female Seiyuu

Winner: Aoi Yuuki  as Victorique from Gosick and Tooru from A Channel

Runner-up: Yuu Kobayashi as Mariya from Maria+Holic Alive and Undine from Yondemasu yo Azazel-san and Ruka Urushibara from Steins;Gate, Aya Hirano as Katja from Seikon no Qwaser II and Shizu Shidou from Maria+Holic Alive

The meteoric rise of Aya Hirano’s career opened many doors for her but it also attracted a lot of noise from detractors that sometimes makes it difficult to remember underneath everything Aya Hirano is a very good voice actress. Both of her roles this season were smaller then I’d like but combined they showed that she has it. As for Yuu Kobayashi, I’ve been a fan of her unique talent for awhile now. I like the wide assortment of voices that she can bring to a role and this season saw her utilizing many of those voices in her various roles. My favorite was the cross-dressing Mariya. However, the winner just had to go to Aoi Yuuki for carrying, not one, but two anime series she starred in with just her vocal work. If it wasn’t for her, I’d’ve dropped both Gosick and A Channel for being complete wastes of time. Instead, in the end, I found both decent enough shows.

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Best OP

Winner: Maria+Holic Alive

Runner-up: Nichijou, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera, AnoHana

If this award was based solely on the song itself AnoHana would have won; I’ve had Aoi Shiori by Galileo Galilei on heavy repeat for weeks now. However, I also have to factor in the animation and how well the two work together to create the right mood for watching the episode. Using the full criteria, Maria+Holic Alive edges out the competition for the win.

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Best ED

Winner: AnoHana

Runner-up: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Nichijou, Gosick

This time AnoHana does win, in part, because they did that thing where the ending song starts playing as the last climatic scene plays out before going to credits in just about every episode. So now I associate the song with all the best moments of the show and the song’s soothing, cathartic nature was perfect for the show’s ending.

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Best Background Music

Winner: Nichijou

Nichijou is just the latest in a long string of anime series by Kyoto Animation that feature stellar background music. I’m sure there were other series that had good background music but I can’t remember any other leaving much of an impression on me.

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Best Dressed Characters

Winner: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Runner-up: Hyouge Mono

I’m slightly disappointed that Nichijou didn’t win this award; it might even be the first KyoAni series that didn’t place since I started giving this award out. There chances dimmed primarily because we don’t see many characters ever wearing non-school clothes. On the other hand, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, had a plethora of different outfits that the characters wore (having one of your main characters never attend school helps this); so, it was the obvious pick. Hyouge Mono earned the runner-up spot for it’s characters sporting a nice amount of wardrobe changes including the Demon King’s eclectic fashion sense.

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Best Animation Style

Winner:  Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Runner-up: Hanasaku Iroha

These last few years has seen the Shaft/Shinbou style of anime mature and hit that sweet spot of being just right for the series being animated. For Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko another layer was added – extremely attractive character designs. In most of Shaft/Shinbou series the characters will, at best, look decent but many series have down right fugly looking characters. (Natsu no Arashi is one example.) I actually like this since it will help make the characters seem more realistic but it’s a nice to see something new coming from them. Also working in Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko’s favor is Shaft/Shinbou creates the absolutely nicest night sky shots – no other animation company can match them.

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Best Animation

Winner: Nichijou

Runner-up: AnoHana, Hanasaku Iroha

As for the highest animation quality, Kyoto Animation is still incredibly hard to beat when they go all-out and this season no one could make this category a competitive one.

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Top Animation Studio

Winner: A-1 Pictures

Though with the frequency of financial home runs that A-1 Pictures has so quickly racked up along with consistently nice animation, Kyoto Animation may have a serious contender in the near future. (And yes, for the record, I loved the animation style to Birdy Season 2 and I continue to rank it as probably having the best done fights of any tv series that I’ve watched.)

The one weakness they’ve shown so far is not having a core group of directors that can ensure a consistent level of quality from their anime series. This season they had two series; the first, AnoHana, was directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai. Normally he directs for J.C. Staff and for them he’s directed Honey and Clover 2, Toradora, and Railgun. Their other series is Ao no Exorcist, directed by Tensai Okamura who’s done Wolf’s Rain and Darker Than Black (two series I haven’t seen yet but hear much praise for). By this point it should be obvious how much I liked AnoHana but Ao no Exorcist has been a small surprise itself; as a shounen-series-set-in-a-school-with-kids-who-have-special-powers, I wasn’t expected to particularly like it but I’ve come to enjoy my weekly doses of Ao no Exorcist.

So for fielding two hits for the spring season, A-1 Pictures gets the Top Animation Studio award.

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That’s it for part 3 of my spring 2011 anime awards. Stay tuned for my top overall picks of the season.

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Spring 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #8 – #5
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #4 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

After focusing on the characters that populate the various anime in part one, this – the second part – focuses on the parts of the show that are built around the characters (for the most part). This division is one that I’ve come to value when assessing a series. For example, series like Maria+Holic Alive have a strong core of characters stuck in mediocre constructed show and series like Deadman Wonderland have the tools for a well-constructed series but lack the characters to make it work.

Like I said last time, there was a pretty broad slate of shows this season but there always seems like a few genres are missing each season. Which genres that are missing change with the seasons; this time there was a surprising lack of quality fan-service series (the absence of series from AIC this season probably has something to do with this). And other genres never seem to have enough qualifying series to warrant the inclusion of a category. This time that meant no awards for best slice-of-life and SF series.

Okay, that’s enough rambling; let’s get to this group of awards and don’t worry I will explain the above screenshot.

Best Action

Winner: Nichijou

Runner-up: Tiger and Bunny, X-Men

Action equals money spent on extra frames of animation and this season there was no action series that was given a large enough budget to do more than show flashes of action. That wasn’t to say that the season was without a consistly action-packed anime series; we had Nichijou – a comedy series. German suplexes, epic chase scenes, explosions, festival shooting galleries, sisterly kendo matches over sweets, mosquito swatting and human missiles were just some of the action packed scenes from Nichijou this season.

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Best Fight

Winner: Ep.12 of Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

The best fight was, without a doubt, episode 12 of Enma-kun. Brains Base took an already crazy show, jacked it up a couple orders of magnitude and removed all the restraints. The result was truly epic.

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Best Comedy

Winner: Nichijou

Runner-up: gg’s fansub of Hidan no Aria

The top image of this post is related to the runner-up for best comedy – the fansub group gg’s sub of Hidan no Aria. J.C. Staff has always been weak at improving a show when the source material is bad but this time it felt like they weren’t even trying to make Aria a better show. The result was a show that’s painful to watch and it’s here gg stepped in. The result provided almost as much laughs as Nichijou this season and Nichijou was positively bursting with laughs.

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Most Entertaining

Winner:  Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Runner-up: Tiger and Bunny, Hyouge Mono, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Comedy is definitely a subset of Entertaining but often the most entertaining shows are ones that only provide sparse comedy. Enma-kun was consistently entertaining by always coming up with some off-the-wall idea and keeping the viewers guessing. It was also entertaining because it’s retro feel made it a unique experience. I’m not complaining about the overabundance of anime that follow modern anime stereotypes and tropes but a little variety is nice.

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Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Hyouge Mono

Runner-up: Steins;Gate, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

I fell in love with the Sengoku era of Japanese history after the completely over-the-top series Sengoku Basara turned out to be a pretty historical show so when the chance to watch another show set in the same time period came up I jumped on it. So far they’ve introduced an even wider cast of characters that couldn’t possibly exist but actually do and there’s been political intrigue, posturing and double-crosses all by the end of episode 5. Also in the mix is seeing how western influence is just starting to affect Japanese society which includes the viewers being introduced to a Christian warlord who’s destined to flee to the Philippines after Tokugawa clamps down on Christianity.

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Best Plot

Winner: Steins;Gate

Runner-up: Hyouge Mono

So far Steins;Gate has felt like X-Files when it was in it’s prime and that’s a great thing to be like. Hopefully, as more of the plot gets revealed it doesn’t follow X-Files into the boring mediocrity that was the ending of X-Files.

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Best Story

Winner: AnoHana

Runner-up: Tiger and Bunny

After creating a group of flawed, compelling characters the creators needed a good story to fully realize the potential of the characters and trying to fulfill the final wish of a young girl was just that sort of story. It’s not that complex or unique of a story but in the right hands it didn’t need to be. AnoHana had those hands in the name of Tatsuyuki Nagai and everything just came together.

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Best Villain

Winner: Heaven from Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Runner-up: CERN from Steins;Gate

Heaven was featured in another anime, Yondemasu yo Azazel-san, this season and there it was merely presented in a very unflattering light but Enma-kun takes it a step further and turns them into the villain that our rag-tag group of heroes (4 demons and 1 human) must  stop before a global apocalypse occurs. It reminded me of the Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman classic Good Omens, a book I highly recommend. Having heaven show up as the villain provided a nice twist like how the demons in Panty and Stocking were the law-abiding rule following citizens.

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Best Final Episode

Winner:  Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Runner-up: AnoHana, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

I didn’t think it possible that an anime could squeeze through with a better final episode then AnoHana but Enma-kun did it. I already mentioned a few reasons why this episode was so awesome earlier when it won best fight but there were so many other reasons. For instance, this episode actually tied-up many of the story threads that got introduced earlier in the series, giving this series a real sense of closure. There were several elements to C that prevented it from reaching it’s full potential but it was still able to cobble together a very interesting final episode and ending. It didn’t make total sense but it was at least interesting.

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Best Ending

Winner:  AnoHana

Runner-up: Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Overall, though, AnoHana had the best ending and it goes back to how well the show was executed. The biggest thing that helped the show was that AnoHana didn’t attempt an overly complex story that couldn’t be finished satisfactorily in 11 episodes like several recent Noitamina series. *cough*Fractale*cough*C*cough

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Most in Need of a Sequel

Winner:  Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Runner-up: Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

I’d definitely watch a sequel to either of these anime but in both of these cases there are other series I’d rather see first animated by their respective animation studios. Enma-kun comes from Brains Base and I’d really like to see a third season of Spice and Wolf first (now that Natsume’s Book of Friends is getting a sequel). Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko comes from Shaft and I’d like to see a third season of Arakawa Under the Bridge or a fourth season of Hidamari Sketch and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei first.

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

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Spring 2011 Awards Part 1: Cast and Character Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #8 – #5
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #4 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

The near-totality of Puella Magi Madoka Magica’s dominance in the various categories made writing up a winter seasonal awards post pretty pointless. This season, however, saw a more diverse and larger group of noteworthy anime to choose from.  There was shows about ghostly girls, alien girls, superheroes both in America and Japan, demons of Hell with undemon-like behavior (4 different ways), conspiracies,  cautionary tales about monetary policies and privately owned prisons, the everyday life of various people from metaphorical trolls to lesbian stalkers to high school girls, historical tales set in the Sengoku period (both genderbent and tea-centric) and an alternative 1920’s where Victorian fashions were still worn along with the standard handful of decent to poor shounen series and low-budget/low-quality fan service shows that every anime season seems to have. So let’s take a look back the spring anime season.

Before starting, below is a listing of the shows that I watched this season and are the pool from which the picks for all the awards are coming from.

Also, 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 season is under consideration for this season’s awards.

Carry-over shows watched this season (1): Gosick

New shows watched this season (20): X-Men, Dog Days, Tiger and Bunny, Nichijou, Yondemasu yo Azazel-san, Hanasaku Iroha, Fireball Charming, Steins;Gate, Hyouge Mono, Hidan no Aria, A Channel, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera, Maria+Holic Alive, Ao no Exorcist, The World God Only Knows II, Seikon no Qwaser II, C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (AnoHana), Deadman Wonderland

Shows that got dropped (8): Hen Zemi, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi, Sengoku Otome – Momoiro Paradox, 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku, Sket Dance, Sofuteni, Astarotte no Omocha!

Best Female Main Character(s)

Winner: Nano from Nichijou, The Professor from Nichijou

Runner-up: Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha

Nano’s eternal quest to slow how quickly The Professor gets into trouble, pass as a human and go to school makes her an obvious pick for this award but leaving out the other half of this comedic duo dynamo – The Professor – with her precocious intelligence bent on world snack domination just felt wrong. They beat out Ohana; she was a character that I was sure at the beginning that I would detest but she turned out to be the exact opposite.

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Best Male Main Character

Winner: Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate

Runner-up: Tiger from Tiger and Bunny, Furuta Sasuke from Hyouge Mono

Early on, when I was still unsure how the plot to Steins;Gate would play out, the reason I kept watching was mad scientist Rintarou Okabe was an absolute treat to watch. I was worried, however, that he’d become boring after a while if the “mad scientist” shtick got old but, with every episode, we learn more about him and what makes him tick and he’s pure distilled awesomeness.

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Best Supporting Character

Winner: Grandma from Hanasaku Iroha

Runner-up: Matsurika from Maria+Holic Alive

A couple of years back I wrote a short post about how anime needs more old characters. One of the reasons is their age instantly gives them the a body of experience that quickly and easily gives them a depth to their character that younger characters have to struggle to obtain. The grandma, Sui Shijima, from Hanasaku Iroha is another great example of this and is easily the best part of the show.

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Best Screen-grabber

Winner:  Meme from Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Loud, brash, and egocentric Meme becomes a screen-grabber whenever she’s onscreen, even if the other characters would rather her not be. I still don’t particularly like Meme because of her complete lack of decent parenting shown at the beginning of the series but throughout the series she’s shown that there is a decent human being inside.

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Best Couple

Winner: Prince Enma and Princess Yukiko from Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

I keep this award just to actual couples in the anime so that sadly left AnoHana out of the running, even with it’s tantalizing hints at how the characters would couple-up after finally moving on from the memory of Menma. Instead, I choose the oddball couple of Prince Enma of Hell and Princess Yukiko, the ice demon. I’m not sure how it’ll work out but this relationship was on the smaller reasons for how good Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera ended up being.

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Best Character Ability/Power

Winner: Rintarou Okabe’s ability to remember past world lines from Steins;Gate

Runner-up: The ability to control an element from Seikon no Qwaser II

By rights, being able to control an element should win this category but, much like the alchemy in Full Metal Alchemist, it’s never exploited to it’s full potential. (For example, who cares if one can make cool iron scythes; let me see that person fight if his lungs are full of helium or that person has all the calcium drawn out of his bones, breaking them, and then having a heart attack from having way too much calcium in the blood or that person’s sodium levels are changed causing diarrhea, disorientation, lethargy, seizures and a coma or one of my sister’s favorite, the nursing student one, have his potassium levels changed causing paralysis, a heart attack and an inability to breathe among other fun things.) Rintarou Okabe’s ability to remember past world lines in a normal person wouldn’t be that noteworthy except he happens to be studying time travel and one of the side-effects of the type of time travel he’s perfected causes him to jump to alternative world lines.

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Best Cast of Characters

Winner: AnoHana

Runner-up: Hyouge Mono, Tiger and Bunny

This was almost as easy to pick the winner as the next award but Hyouge Mono and Tiger and Bunny put up a spirited charge. I could even see Hyouge Mono edging AnoHana but there’s only been 5 episodes subbed so far and the characters are just now getting a chance to shine.

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Best Character Development for Cast

Winner:  AnoHana

This is the easiest award to pick for this season and should be self-evident.

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Best Character Development of a Single Character

Winner:  Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate

I love how Steins;Gate started out with a great character, Rintarou Okabe, and has slowly built him up even more. Episode 13 gave us some tantalizing hints at how much room there still in for Rintarou Okabe to grow. I could very well be back next season calling him one of the greatest characters of the year (if the ending doesn’t stink and he gets the chance to continue improving).

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That’s the end of part 1; I hope to have the second part up within a day. Comments and feedback are always appreciated – I’d love to see what others would pick.

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Spring 2011 Awards Part 2: Genre and Misfit Awards
Spring 2011 Awards Part 3: VMA Awards
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #8 – #5
Spring 2011 Awards: Top 8 Anime – #4 – #1

Filed under: anime, awards

Looking at both halves of this countdown/first impressions list I noticed two interesting features that I hope become trends. The first is that there’s only a very small handful of sequels this season. Which is a good thing since a high level of sequels can signal timidness (and an aversion to risk) by those that pay to create anime and the truly great anime are the first victim of overly timid producers. Having a low amount of sequels also allows viewers to watch a greater number of series and it also quiets – a bit – those that whine about “the end of anime”. (Sorry zzeroparticle, Kaiji happens to be one series that I missed the first time around and didn’t watch this season.)

The second feature is the high number of oddball series this season. Oddball probably isn’t the best term because they aren’t actually strange but seem to signal either the further diversification of what anime “is” or the decision to attract non-traditional viewers of anime to anime. If this continues, this is bad news for those people (including R1 anime executives) that like to watch and license the same shows year-in and year-out; but, for everyone else, it’s great news. I’m ready to welcome the oddness be it tea-sipping feudal lords, pizza-eating aliens, management book-reading baseball managers or pantsu-less ice princesses.

(15) – X-Men

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 6/12  B-

The adaptation of X-Men by Madhouse marks the third time in three seasons that they’re working on an anime version of an American comic franchise. I didn’t watch the first one because the reviews of Iron Man were just too brutal but I decided to give the second series, Wolverine, a shot. I reasoned that it’s exceedingly difficult to muddle a show built around someone uncomplicated like Wolverine and it turned out that I was basically right. The animation quality was on the very low-end for what Madhouse can do but it was a decent anime overall. So, for X-Men, I hoped Madhouse could, at a minimum, repeat. Four episodes in and I’m glad to see a much better effort with the animation but I’m not quite won over with the story (and plotting) yet. On the plus side the Japanese mutant that is introduced in this series appears to already be a character in the “X-Men universe” so there’s a better chance she won’t get killed off in the end like what happened in Wolverine but, on the negative side, the show’s been a little too talky and not enough actiony. There’s still plenty of time for this anime to get even better and I’m definitely going to keep watching.

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(14) – Fireball Charming

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 6/12  B-

A micro-series from Disney (!!, seriously it’s from Disney) about a robotic princess and her adventures as a princess; Fireball Charming is a fun little series that I wish would run longer than it’s 2 minutes episodes. In fact, really the only reason it’s ranked so low is because it’s format makes it problematic to accurately rank and grade it.

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(13) – A Channel

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 6/12  B-

A Channel is like the made-for-TV version of a blockbuster movie that gets made after the fact with about a tenth of the budget, a tenth of the acting, a tenth of the writing, and a tenth of the quality. On paper the two might be very similar but no one will actually remember the made-for-TV version a couple of years later and the blockbuster movie becomes everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure for years-and-years to come. The only thing that saves A Channel from falling any further into complete mediocrity is Aoi Yuuki’s excellent vocal work (much like how she makes watching Gosick worth it).

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(12) – Tiger and Bunny

Rating for episodes 1 to 5 – 7/12  B

Initially, I was very impressed with Tiger and Bunny. I like how the main character, Tiger, is an over-the-hill superhero that still actually believes in what he does even though it’s so cynically commercialized. I like the idea about how superheroes are being manipulated for commercial reasons. I like how the show seems to take place in an alternative Manhattan. I initially liked what Sunrise was doing with the story but with a few more episodes watched I’m no longer that keen on what they’re doing. It’s pretty much a given that a show like Tiger and Bunny will see Tiger and Bunny overcome their differences, become an awesome hero duo and both of them will get what they most need or want: Tiger gets the admiration of his daughter/the respect of the public and Bunny finds a family to belong to/learns the meaning of friendship. This type of story has been done to death so the execution needs to be stellar to make the show great and it hasn’t. Which is what separates it from That Really Long-titled Flower Anime. Everyone knows how that’s going to end but everyone is still enchanted by it.

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(11) – Maria+Holic Alive

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 7/12  B

Maria+Holic is one of the weaker Shaft/Shinbou anime offerings and one of most disappointing series that they’ve done. (The set-up was perfect for Shaft/Shinbou; it should have been a home run but it was a big miss.) So, while, I’d prefer one of their better series like Arakawa Under the Bridge or Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, that are in more of a need of a sequel, to be getting a sequel now; I am willing to try any anime from the joyfully demented minds at Shaft. So far, I am pleasantly surprised with Maria+Holic Alive. In the two years since the first season of Maria+Holic, it’s apparent that Shaft/Shinbou has become better at making anime. The show’s biggest liability – Kanako, the main character – has significantly less screen time in the sequel and the two best characters – Maria, the abrasive cross-dressing boy who attends an all-girl school, and Maria’s maid get a corresponding boost in screen time. It’s still far from perfect but it’s now a pretty decent anime.

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(10) – Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 7/12  B

Brains Base takes the animation quality and polish of a modern anime and applies it to a 40 year-old manga in Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera. The result was about what I expected; it looked good but the content felt completely different then everything else that I’ve watched in recent memory. I imagine what I felt was akin to an anime fan that’s only watched Naruto or Bleach before, watching Bakemonogatari for the first time. I wasn’t scared off, partially because I like and respect Brains Base; but, before the fourth episode I wasn’t sure what to really think about this anime. Then episode 4 arrived and suddenly something clicked in my brain and Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera became a fun series to watch. It’s got this energetic vibe to it that leaves little time for character development so far but that’s okay. Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera  has been too busy with demon attacks, absurd situations, fan service and making the viewers laugh to explain the sad back-story (because it always has to be sad) of the kappa that helps capture demons or fleshed out the talking, flying hat beyond him/it being a bit lecherous. I see this anime getting stronger as time passes and getting included among the top series of the season. Next I demand a modern reboot of the Lupin the Third franchise.

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(9) – Moshidora

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 8/12  B+

I realize at this point that most of Moshidora has aired due to it’s unique release schedule but I wanted to include it here so I stopped watching it after the fourth episode until I finish writing this post. The rest of the long-winded title of Moshidora encapsulates the premise of the show; namely, what would happen if a baseball manager read one of the classic books about business management theory and applied it to baseball. I’m not much of a fan for sports anime when the focus is on the sport itself but when anime, like Bamboo Blade and Cross Game, make the sport secondary – I’m willing to give the show a chance. Moshidora turns out to be, much like Bamboo Blade and Cross Game, not really about the sport. Now, it’s not quite as good as either Bamboo Blade or Cross Game (both anime I highly recommend) but it’s still pretty good and better than a good portion of the anime this season. Definitely worth a look for people looking for something slightly different.

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(8) – The World God Only Knows II

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 8/12  B+

I have to credit Manglobe for doing their absolute best with TWGOK2. The result has been better than the first season and an all-around pretty entertaining show. I still don’t think it’s ever going to compete for a spot among the best anime of the season; though, the introduction of a second spirit-catching demon seems to signal that the show will begin moving away from merely focusing on the main characters capturing spirits and developing a deeper story. So, maybe it’s still possible.

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(7) – Steins;Gate

Rating for episodes 1 to 5 – 8/12  B+

After the ending to Chaos;Head burned me a couple of years ago, I approached Steins;Gate (from the same people) with a fair amount of trepidation. I didn’t want to get burned again. The first episode was really cool; cool enough that I started thinking maybe this time will be different. Then episodes 2-4 aired, and it started feeling like the show was going to just wander around and not make good on it’s promises. I gave Steins;Gate one more episode to re-interest me and, wouldn’t you know-it, episode 5 got me hooked again. So, that’s where it stands; I love conspiracies, time-travel, people with secrets and shadow organizations and when this anime delivers that, it’s wonderful. Depending on how the ending, this could still make it’s way further up the list or it could crash-and-burn. Time will tell.

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(6) – Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 9/12  A-

I’m not a fan of 15 minute shows when it crimps the overall quality of the show and that’s the case with Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san. From Production I.G., the story revolves around a young woman who has become the assistant to a private detective that makes pacts with devils to accomplish tasks that clients need done like stopping a cheating husband from cheating or stopping a stalker of an idol. The third and fourth episodes really showcase how well-done and funny Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san is. It got bonus points for casting Yuu Kobayashi as a mermaid demon that personifies jealousy and uses this jealousy to drive her magic. She’s fabulously perfect for the role and it’s nice to see someone other than Shinbou/Shaft understanding how to use her (her special talents were completely wasted playing Clain in Fractale).

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(5) – Hyouge Mono

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 9/12  A-

The lack of buzz around this anime is truly criminal. Set in Japan’s Warring States era (think Sengoku Basara), the main character is a feudal lord under Oda Nobunaga (yeah, that guy though not quite as cool here) and lives his life pursuing the beautiful things of the world which includes tea and tea ceremonies. It’s not a comedy, per say, but more like a historical drama with a healthy dose of comedy, mainly centered around the main character’s lack of restraint around all things tea. Perspective viewers should note that Hyouge Mono is set to run 39 episodes so the pacing is a bit slower than a typical one season series. This is definitely one of this season’s gems and I hope more people will give Hyouge Mono a chance.

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(4) – Hanasaku Iroha

Rating for episodes 1 to 5 – 9/12  A-

I’ve already wrote a first impressions post for this and I don’t really have that much to add now.

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(3) – Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 10.5/12  Strong A

The second Shinbou/Shaft series of the season and the best way to sum Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko up is by saying it’s a typical Shinbou/Shaft anime. There’s the head tilts, the strange girl claiming something fanciful which might be true but probably is just covering over a tragic past, the clueless guy that falls for the strange girl, the awesome backgrounds and the best done night sky scenes, the dialoguing that fills so much of the episode up yet still is so insanely interesting and the little things that tell the viewer that once again Shinbou/Shaft is trying to do too much with too little time. In short, another winner for Shaft/Shinbou. The most notable thing about this anime, in comparison to past Shaft works, is the character designs are probably the most visually appealing of any Shaft series that I can remember. After last season, I’m glad I can get my Shinbou/Shaft fix and not have to worry about the heat death of the universe.

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(2) – Nichijou

Rating for episodes 1 to 5 – 11/12  A+

Between it’s placement and it’s rating, I, obviously, happen to really like Kyoto Animation’s latest series – Nichijou. Truthfully, I’m scratching my head after reading the vast majority of other posts about this show. I think it’s great that people are forming their own opinions about this anime but I’ve started wondering if I’m watching the same show as everyone else. Episode 5 made me laugh so hard that I was like an asthmatic fish flopping around at the bottom of a fishing boat trying to breathe after watching it. Nichijou is just so effortlessly funny and well put together all-the-while having this season’s best animation quality. Luckily for my sanity, I’m watching this with my younger sister and she’s loving Nichijou as much as I am so my chance of just being insane falls significantly.

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(1) – Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 11.5/12  Near Perfect

Whereas, I’m almost assured not to catch any flak over picking this as the early top anime of the season. Nor, are there many people who have not heard of this anime at this point. After making Railgun vastly superior to Index, I’ve been wondering and impatiently waiting for when Tatsuyuki Nagai would show up again. I’m glad the wait is over but I’m surprised it’s not with another J.C. Staff series. Having him helm this anime and the resulting awesomeness goes a long way to proving, in my mind, the idea that A-1 Pictures is really only as good as the director is. (Which is why their last great work was the second season of Birdy the Mighty Encode.)

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Wow, that was way more writing then what I was planning to do. I hope you enjoyed this double post.

Filed under: anime, first impressions

The sheer number of shows I’ve decided to try this season – 29 – has had the unintended side effect of making it quite difficult to find the time to then blog about the anime I’m watching. A horrible problem, I know . To help rectify this problem, I’m going to temporarily stop watching new episodes and finish this two-part post which will function as my first impressions posts for all 29 shows and a means to call attention to good shows that might be falling through the cracks within such a huge field of anime to watch.

Before we get to those good shows, we first have to start at the very bottom with …

(29) – 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 2/12  F

This anime from the animation company Gathering was, on paper, a potentially interesting anime about helping romantically challenged men in finding their groove and scoring with the lady-folks but it turned out to be a complete failure by every measure. It even failed at trying to be such a train wreck that it was fun to watch. Stay away.

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(28) – Sket Dance

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 2/12  F

At one point in the opening song the animators make a very understandable, yet unfortunate, simple English spelling mistake; when, instead of using “Sket”, use the word “Skat” in very big letters. If they were native English speakers, I’d imagine this slip was a Freudian slip because that  pretty much describes the quality of this show. It finishes only second to last because it did actually briefly amuse me once during the three episodes I watched.

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(27) – Hen Zemi

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 3/12  D

The first of two bottom-dwelling series from Xebec this season follows the story of a shy, straight-laced college girl that somehow ends up in Abnormal Physiology Seminar where she’s exposed to a class full of students with very odd fetishes and kinks. Hilarity should ensue but it doesn’t. The presence of the voice actress Kana Hanazawa pushes this slightly above the other really bad anime of this season.

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(26) – Sengoku Otome – Momoiro Paradox

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 3/12  D

By my count this is the third recent anime to be adapted from a line of pachinko games. The first, Umi Monogatari, and the second, Rio ~Rainbow Gate~, were pretty decent anime in their own ways so I wasn’t going to discount Sengoku Otome until I caught a few episodes. Now that I’ve seen a few episodes I can conclude this show is a complete waste of time. It’s primary problem is that it’s too timid. If your anime is supposed to be an ecchi comedy then throw everything out that’s not needed like “a story” and “character development” and focus on creating characters that are appealing to the eye and putting these characters into constantly new absurd situations. It worked for Rio ~Rainbow Gate~ and it could have worked here.

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(25) – Hidan no Aria

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

Remember when J.C. Staff could be counted on to make at least decent anime? Quickly has that time started to fade into distant memory and Hidan no Aria does nothing to slow the decent of J.C. Staff into obscurity. Everything here is a poor facsimile of their past series like Shana with only about a quarter of the animation quality of those old shows.

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(24) – Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

The complete lack of anime from AIC this season (probably because they’re working on the Sora no Otoshimono movie coming out this summer) has left a huge hole that no other animation house can seem to adequately plug. Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi takes a swing at being this season’s high production values/ecchi comedy that’s funny, entertaining and completely underestimated by the snooty anime fans but it strikes out. Don’t waste your time with this; I recommend sampling (or rewatching) recent AIC shows like Amagami SS, Asobi ni Iku yo!, Sora no Otoshimono, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai instead.

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(23) – Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

Rating for episodes 1 to 4 – 4/12  C

The ADHD television channel changing motif worked for AMV Hell 3 but not Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai. One problem is the character designs are so generically similar that it’s easier to figure which lump of metal is which Transformer during a fight in the live action movies then it is to figure out who is who for this anime. Another problem is how generically similar each story line is to each other. I’ll repeat the same advice I gave for Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi and suggest checking out AIC’s vastly superior recent work like Amagami SS, Asobi ni Iku yo!, Sora no Otoshimono, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai instead.

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(22) – Sofuteni

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

The second new anime from Xebec for this season and it manages to marginally do better then Hen Zemi but it still has a ways to go before it can aspire to be “watchable” anime. I won’t repeat for a third time my advice given above but it still stands for Sofuteni.

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(21) – Astarotte no Omocha!

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 4/12  C

Ranking this high is actually a small victory for Astarotte no Omocha! because I was all set to give this my lowest rating based on the premise of the show – a young succubus living in a fantasy world turns 10 and is required to start her male harem but she happens to hate men. I wanted to be fair so I watched a few episodes and it appears that this anime will skew more towards heart-warming but it doesn’t skew enough to keep me watching.  There’s still the problem of fan-service I don’t want to see and cringe worthy aspects like the human male she ends up picking turning out to be 23 years old, who happens to have a 10-year-old daughter that he brings along when he agrees to live in the fantasy world with the succubus.

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(20) – Dog Days

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 5/12  C+

Dog Days does just enough right to become the first title on this list that I’ve not dropped and plan on continuing to watch. Just barely though, it helps that Norio Wakimoto voices one of the side characters. I have to admit that the unique system used in the fantasy world of Dog Days that replaces traditional war actually is a really good idea – I wish a similar system could be implemented in real life.

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(19) – Deadman Wonderland

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 5/12  C+

After a genuinely dark and well-thought-out anime like Puella Magi Madoka Magica the wannabes like Deadman Wonderland just seem so lacking. It’s case is not helped when I can’t take this show seriously but it wants me too. For example, I’m supposed to believe that in the future Japan decides that basic CSI and forensics work is not needed and no one notices that the explosion that killed those kids occurred outside of the school building. I’m willing to give it some slack with it’s story but if it doesn’t improve quickly (which includes reducing the number of glaringly large plot holes I have to accept) then I’ll be dropping this.

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(18) – Ao no Exorcist

Rating for episodes 1 to 2 – 5/12  C+

The first of two anime series coming from A-1 Pictures, Ao no Exorcist also suffers a bit from coming right after Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Feeling despair after learning that you’re the son of Satan? Just imagine what it would feel like to be the son of Kyubey. It’s not all bad news, though, I actually think A-1 has done a better job then Manglobe has done with Deadman Wonderland so far and there is potential for this anime to become a pretty decent anime.

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(17) – Seikon no Qwaser II

Rating for episodes 1 to 2 – 5/12  C+

I actually finished about half of the first season of Seikon no Qwaser before becoming bored with it. The highlight for me was Aya Hirano doing her best vocal work since she voiced Haruhi. Since the plot isn’t that important for this show, I figured that I could start watching the second season without finishing the first and by-n-large I was able to drop right back into the show. I missed the explanation why our male main character has to cross-dress as a busty girl to attend an all-girls school when there’s several female characters that could go undercover but, like I said, the plot isn’t important and I can just roll with this plot development. This turn of events has created a situation where the guy is on the receiving end of some of the same discomforts that he’s perpetrated on the female characters up to this point and it’s actually pretty interesting.

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(16) – C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

Rating for episodes 1 to 3 – 5/12  C+

This is another anime that feels like there’s a potential for it to become a pretty decent anime; but, so far, I’ve only been mildly impressed by it. I’d have even more faith that it’ll end up being a good anime since it’s running in the noitaminA block but Fractale’s extremely poor performance last season is still a little too fresh in my mind.

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That’s it for part 1 of the spring 2011 anime season impression countdown. Based on which shows I’ve already covered I wonder if anyone can guess my top 5 shows . Part 2 should be up in a day or so, that is, if this incessant rain doesn’t wash me away first.

Filed under: anime, first impressions

Hanasaku Iroha is an original production that serves as the tenth anniversary project of P.A. Works. It’s also one of new spring animes that I had the most interest in watching; in both a positive and negative sense. To this point P.A. Works has put out several visually outstanding anime – true tears, Canaan, Angel Beats – but I’ve yet to be impressed by the writing, storytelling, and characters from these works. I think it’s just a matter of time before they do get it right and when that happens, it’s going to be scary what P.A. Works can do (in a good way). Has it happened with Hanasaku Iroha or did they miss again?

Rating for episode 1 – 9/12 A-

Anticipation Level: 3.5/5 – Medium

The Story

Sixteen year old Ohana Matsumae lives a fairly comfortable life with her flighty, immature mother until one day when the mother decides to skip town with her boyfriend after he runs up a serious debt. Ohana is surprised when her mom doesn’t want to take her along and even more surprised to learn that she will be shipped to a grandma that she’s never seen because grandma and mom are on bad terms. Ohana is excited to go after learning grandma runs a hot springs inn but quickly sours on the idea after she makes a poor first impression through a combination of naivety and a desire to stick her nose into things before thinking.

The Fine Print

The problem that P.A. Works has had to this point was most apparent when I realized that I got through Angel Beats without shedding a single tear. This should have been an impossibility when the story came from the pen of the guy that wrote Air, Kanon, and Clannad. So, I wasn’t excited to see that the director and writer had worked on the previous efforts by P.A. Works doing this; but, having watched the first episode,  I’m cautiously optimistic at this point that Hanasaku Iroha might finally be the series that P.A. Works gets right.

I’m not sure how they plan to fill the 26 episode run Hanasaku Iroha is getting but the characters, at least, are already the most interesting and best cast of a P.A. Works anime. Of the introduced characters, the grandma is already my favorite for being just completely awesome as a tough-as-nails authority figure and for being exactly what Ohana needs. That’s not to say that I think Ohana is particularly bad; she has a good heart but her lethargic, aimless outlook on life needs to be fixed and there’s nothing like hard work to accomplish that. As Calvin’s father would say, “It’s character building.” The other characters appear to signal that P.A. Works plans to develop them into well-rounded characters. (Which I’m guessing will take up the lion share of the show since Hanasaku Iroha doesn’t seem to involve fighting terrorists or god.)

There’s no surprises with the technical aspects of Hanasaku Iroha – it has the high quality animation that one has come to expect from P.A. Works. The animation style fits the story and is pretty to look at. The vocal work is great. Kanae Itou as Ohana was a perfect pick since Ohana shares several similarities to another Itou role – Saten from Railgun. Chiaki Omigawa was decidedly un-Chiaki Omigawa-like with the character she voices (I’m a fan of Omigawa but it’s great to see her trying something new). The head-waitress is daftly voiced by Mamiko Noto who will always be Ana Coppola to me. There’s also Aki Toyosaki aka Yui from K-On! and the grandma’s voice is so crisply and precisely perfect. The background music didn’t really leave an impression on me but I’m actually pretty bad at listening for the music when it’s not completely horrible or completely amazing.

All-in-all, I’m very pleased how the first episode turned out; there was actually a lot of ground covered and introductionary points that needed covered and P.A. Works was able to keep it interesting. (As opposed to the first X-Men episode.) I hope they can keep the quality story-telling up and if they can, Hanasaku Iroha might just become one of the top shows of the season.

 

Filed under: anime, first impressions