So since it's been a while since I've posted an anime-theme blog, I felt "what the hell might as well post one." So I'm been contemplating (mostly off the top of my head since I really didn't feel like doing much research) about the anime that I've watched this past year, specifically my favorites so far. I know we still have a coulple of months to go, but enough of the year has past that we can still get a pretty good idea of what the year 2010 was like for anime. Anyway, here are some of my favorites of the past year (keep in mind, I'm limiting my titles mainly to the ones that I have finished watching as there are a bunch of episodes that I have in the backburner that I will need to go back to in the near future). Let's go in alphabetical order (I'll also try to be brief).
That's gotta hurt... Ah, what can I say about this series. I loved it and I also hated it. I loved it for it's great animation, and intriguing premise, but hated it for it's lack of T.K. and lack of depth for many of the characters (and the fact that Jun basically copied Haruhi's character design for Yurippe). Still, Angel Beats! is a pretty good effort from P.A. Works, especially after their previous disappointing showing. And as much as I have hated on this series throughout it's thirteen episode run, I did find many parts of it quite enjoyable, so I can't quite find it in me to completely disregard it. Though I'm definitely not super excited for any future collaborations between P.A. Works and Mr. Maeda (especially not on one of his so called "original stories").
Clearly, Kou didn't know what he was getting himself into...Arakawa Under the Bridge is almost the anti-Angel Beats in the sense that while the previous worked too hard to make us sad, Arakawa didn't need to do much to make us chuckle. It helped that SHAFT stayed more-or-less true to the manga, despite a few original touches here and there, which while I haven't read, has a fairly good word of mouth. At it's heart, Arakawa has a pretty nonsensical premise, some pretty over the top moments, and a lot of silliness in between. But fortunately, the results were pretty damn hilarious more often than not. It's the kind of show that you can just sit down and watch now and then without really having to worry about over-saturated backstories or overarching storylines. It's a slice of life show for post-modernists, whatever the hell that means.
Yes, Kyouka has some, strange fantasies... This was a big surprise for me (in case you didn't know, the titles means Type: B, Style: H; refer to eroge if you still don't get it). I initially had thought this would be a pretty throwaway series. Sure the entire premise of the show is pretty juvenile and most of the jokes pretty raunchy (yet also filled with naivete), but the show has some surprisingly heartwarming moments among it's sea of echi humor. The "will they make it or not?" dynamic between Yamada (incidentally we never get her first name) and Takashi is always awkward and always hilarious and Kyouka's unhealthy love for her oni-sama and her "dark side" never ceases to amuse. I kept wanting to write off this series but ending up looking forward to it week after week.
Yes, Ed Brotherhood is a good series... Technically, this is a 2009 series, but I'm making the exception for it since it's during the second half when Brotherhood really starts to shine (and most of that second half is during 2010). To be honest, my watching of Brotherhood wasn't consistent. I more or less kept up with it on a weekly basis until the fortieth episode or so and then I kind of started archiving (mostly because there was too much stuff to watch and because I already knew what was going to happen). But when I went back to it, I basically watched the remaining 24 episodes in one sitting. Brotherhood is pretty damn good. It may be more of as straight up shounen series than it predecessor, but the story is so good and the characters so well fleshed out that it's really hard to care. And the fact that they were able to properly end the series this time only a short time after the conclusion of the manga is also pretty damned satisfying. The end of FMA truly was the end of an era for both anime and manga.
No, it's not what you think it is... People are probably going to hate me for this but yes I really enjoyed Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou. Forget about the obviously trope ecchi harem setting or the sometimes questionable animation quality. Forget about the fact that they tried to cover way too much material then they should have in only 12 episodes. The fact is, Artland managed to tie things up quite nicely, despite a somewhat rushed ending. And to be honest, this show did make a lot of missteps but it still made me laugh on a consistent basis. And in the end, that's what matters the most to me. Also Akuto's GARness and Junko's tsundereness (?) cannot be discounted.
Super-deformation for the win! On the surface, the premise of the show seems to be rather random. A high school student council president being a maid at a maid cafe? And indeed anyone looking for any serious romantic drama should definitely go elsewhere. But as far a shoujo romantic comedies go, Maid-sama fairs better than most, and that's thanks not only to the large cast of silly but endearing side characters, but also to the strength of the main characters themselves. I compared this to Special A in my preview of the series due to some of the premises of the show and of course the whole Takumi/Misaki dynamic, and while the two shows don't really thematically resonate (Special A is actually somewhat more of a romantic series than Maid-sama), the comparison does hold up in terms of the dynamic between the rich, all-capable Takumi and the poor but almost as capable Misaki. I was somewhat disappointed with the series during the second half as they episodes weren't as funny or as endearing as they were in the first half of the series, but the show ended well nevertheless, despite some odd departures from the manga (more in terms of the chronology than anything else).
R.I.P. After School Tea Time... The one thing I need to say before anything else is that K-ON!! is not as good as K-ON!. The original series was better in almost every way. However, despite the slower pace, and the often lack of HTT performances, K-ON!! is still enjoyable because of KyoAni's attention to detail and because, well I knew what I was getting myself into. Slow moving slice of life comedies usually don't work because well, the audience generally gets bored. And unfortunately, I did find myself getting bored more than once watching K-ON!!. However, unlike some other series, I also couldn't stop watching the show despite it's sometimes drudgingly slow pacing. Sure you could say I'm biased toward KyoAni produced shows (and you would be correct) or that I'm partial toward moe (you would also be correct), but the greatness of HTT's final performance or the light-heartedness of high school life that the show portrays can't be denied (and neither can be the phenomenal production values). In the end, K-ON!! ended up being more of the first series, for better and for worse. And honestly, who would have expected anything else really?
Things finally come full circle... A fitting conclusion to one my favorite shoujo series of all time. I've talked in the past about Nodame Cantabile being the epitome of shoujo storytelling, and nothing has changed since then. Few other shows combine serious real-life issues and lighthearted slice of life comedy as well as Nodame Cantabile and the fact that it's set in the world of classical music just makes it even better. Admittedly J.C. Staff's handling of the animation is less than superb and the ending of the series is less than satisfying (mostly due to the fact that Ninomiya-san had to end the manga prematurely due to her pregnancy) but thematically, the series has never been better. It's always a treat to see characters develop and mature throughout a series and Nodame Cantabile is one of the finest examples of character development in any anime. This is a series that I wish would have gone on longer but also one that I'm glad came to a less-than-satisfying but also fitting resolution.
Now that's what you can call an OMG face! Admittedly, I'm not really a big fan of anime no chikara. However, Occult Academy is beginning to change my opinions. One of the big selling points of anime no chikara is original storytelling, rather than adaptive storytelling (which nowadays is the most common form of story telling in anime) and with Occult Academy, the results were finally what I had wanted out of previous projects like So Ra No Wo To and Senkou no Night Raid. Occult Academy has not only an intriguing premise but also a great overarching storyline and a satisfying conclusion which ties together everything in a very neat way. It's not necessarily a series I looked forward to every week but a series that I, nevertheless, could never let go of. This is no doubt the best series yet in the anime no chikara project and it goes show that original storytelling can definitely go a long way as long as you have the plot, characters, and premise to back it up (which was what I felt the previous two series lacked).
Takatoshi = deadpan Another series that has had a somewhat mixed reactions amongst the various sectors of anime fandom is Seitokai Yakuindomo. In that sense I suppose, it's in the same category as B Gata H Kei, as both of them are based on 4-koma mangas that liked to make use of raunchy humor. Of course, the difference is that B Gata H Kei is more slapstick and Seitokai Yakuindomo is almost all puns and oral gags. Not all of it is funny, but almost all of it is awkward in a broken way. The words that come of the mouths of Shino and Aria are jarring (but also hilarious since it's clear that they aren't saying those things in jest), and Takatoshi's deadpanned reactions are amusing (but also makes us feel sorry for him). There are also some elements of romance here and there, but a lot of the characters are really too broken for this series to have any semblance of actual romance or drama. Then again, that's why I loved the show.
Well, that's one way of dealing with Inami Last, but certainly not least, we have Working!!, yet another slice of life comedy based on a 4-koma manga. Unlike some of the other similar titles already discussed however, Working!! is absolutely hilarious and incredibly entertaining. Each of the characters in the series are broken in one way or another, and how their combined quirkiness doesn't result in the restaurant imploding is beyond my comprehension. Things like Teneshima's unending sensitivity about her height, Yamada's unhealthy love for Kyouko, or Inami's illogical fear of the opposite sex never gets old. The only thing bad I have to say about the series is that I wish the animation was better, and that I wish it would have been 24 episodes instead of 13.
And that just about does it for the shows that have finished airing/I have finished. There are plenty of shows that I really enjoy that are still airing or haven't finished watching, but like I said, it's only fair for me to talk about shows that I have finished or have finished airing. However, here are the other shows that I have enjoyed this year which don't fall into the previous two categories I mentioned (this includes shows that have just started airing this fall):
Well that just about does it for this edition of I was bored so I felt like writing a blog about anime. Now back to studying I suppose.
Edit: updated with pics as original post was sorely lacking them. Edit 2: sigh, I really hate how the images are handled in the editor. <_<
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