Category: Anime

New Year’s Resolution Match Game

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A. B. C.

D. E.  F.

G. H. I.

J.  K. L.

1) “I won’t tell you what my resolution is! I know you are all plotting against me!”
2) “My doujinshi will sell 3,000 copies at Comiket then get picked up by Weekly Shonen Sunday!”
3) “I will stop consuming people’s souls to fill the ever growing hollow feeling that I am not worthy of life. Also learn to cook western food better for sempai!”
4) “I could be nicer to those bandits.”
5) “This year I will try to let the love of my life get almost-raped less.”
6) “I will befriend everyone in the class and we will live together in harmony by taking out any punk that gets in my way using my newly improved supernatural abilities.”
7) None. He has no regrets that need resolutions to fix.
8) “I will set aside time from Mahjong each day to pursue my true passion: Needlework.”
9) “I’m going to win a fight all on my own this year. Seriously. For real this time.”
10) “I won’t buy the Fate/Extra Saber figure. I won’t, I won’t!”
11) “There will be more mecha anime this year even if I have to make it myself!”
12) “I will raise an ancient city with the power of my rock n’ roll this year. Oh, wait…”

Narutaki & Hisui VS. 2009

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Narutaki & Hisui VS. 2009 is in part an award show, in part an exercise in humor and snark, in part a challenge, and in part a love letter to everything great this year. We picked several categories and each of us picked titles, characters, and people who we felt best summed up our feelings on the year. Take a peek into what we thought on the anime and manga of 2009 and the people who bring it to us. Feel free to suggest new categories and challenge our picks.

Would also love to hear other people’s picks for some of these categories as well! By the way, some of this stuff happens to have come out in years gone by but we first watched/read/whatnot this year so that’s why they’re here, I’ll hear no guff about it! I really enjoy this part of the year, all the posts seem to be more fun and this one is no exception.

Best Anime of 2009 or Show that Infuriates You to No End When Someone on MAL says “If you like this show you will love Dance in the Vampire Bund.”

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
The noitaminA is your go to animation slot when you are looking for something that is simultaneously different, mature, well produced, and smart. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is no exception to this rule. An exceptional look at ordinary people involved in an extraordinary but still extremely feasible situation. It is a superb mixture of intense character study and survival drama. I know some people feel the end is weak but I thought it did well in capping off this  powerful and thought provoking show.

Eden of the East
It is a little bit mystery, a little bit drama, and a little bit suspense wrapped around an intriguing concept. It’s a wonderful series to watch unfold and since Takizawa doesn’t remember what has happened there is a wonderful element of discovery that comes. Takizawa himself is a refreshing and mysterious guy but you always get the feeling, or I did, that he was a good guy even when things looked dubious. Also he loved dogs, can’t be bad. The game was able to engross and impress me from episode one and continued to do so throughout its broadcast.

Anime Man of the Year or You Must be Swift
as a Coursing River

Battler Ushiromiya
Have you ever wished Phoenix Wright could be the star of his own supernatural murder mystery anime? Well if so then someone heard your prayers. In Umineko no Naku Koro ni we have Battler Ushiromiya who is a clear homage to Phoenix Wright with dramatic finger pointing, manly crying, and split between having to do detective work and acting like a lawyer. He may have his flaws but no matter what he keeps marching forward despite numerous set backs and tragedies. Plus he is just plain cool whenever he is on the counterattack. His casual charm and iron clad will set the tone for the anime as much as they do the games it was based on.

Guin
After thinking this over way too much, I finally decided on Guin for a few reasons. First being that after more than 100 books about his quest on the bestseller list, Guin finally got an anime. Adding to that is that Guin may arguably be the most manly character animated in 2009. If you watch just the first episode, this will become obvious. I also read about Guin in novel formthe first time this year myself. And finally, and sadly, Guin’s creator Kaoru Kurimoto passed away in 2009, a woman who was still writing about her most popular creation.

Anime Woman of the Year or I am Woman Hear Me Roar

Canaan
Canaan is a competent kick arse girl with a gun. That is usually all that you need to sell me on a character. The fact that Canaan has her rather slick synesthesia ability which I thought was a very original superpower. She has a stoic and cool feel to her but it she still cares for the people she wishes to protect and gives her all to do so. I also think that her competence on the battlefield but her awkwardness in personal relationships gives her a good mixture of strength and weakness that make her a serious version of Sousuke Sagara. I also think makes her an interesting character to me.

Sawako
Picking a woman of the year became a lot easier the more I watched Kimi ni Todoke. Sawako has a special strength of character that uplifts you, just as she does to the many characters around her. She is humorous and endearing and you never doubt that she will succeed and grow in each new scenario she encounters. Sawako’s positive attitude, even after endearing so much isolation is a true testament to the human spirit and the ability to change.

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Secret Santa Project Reveal

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Let us all gather around the tree and see what gifts Santa has left us. For all those who do not know we sent out the word last month that we were doing a fun little cross blog collaboration called the Secret Santa Project. Everyone in the project would secretly pick three titles for someone else in the project that they hoped the other person would enjoy. Everyone would pick from the three shows they received and review one of them during the week of Christmas. On Christmas Eve we posted all the reviews so now everyone can see who their Secret Santa was. Hopefully everyone picked shows they liked and maybe a few people discovered a show they would have normally overlooked. You may notice that a few people got recommendations from us. Life hit some of the participants hard as it is want to do so they did not get their picks in on time. We gave them picks so everyone had enough time to get up their reviews. Just click the name of the show to see what each of our fine bloggers thought of the show they got. We will continue to update this list if people finish their reviews a little late so check back often.

hisuiconI’m really surprised by the turn out and overall positive reception for the Secret Santa Project. Most everyone picked innovative shows for the people they got. I was impressed by the shows most people selected for the project. They were almost all shows I enjoyed. I hope that people enjoyed the shows they watched and maybe will try something new again after their eyes have been opened by this project. I was only expecting to see half the reviews to be completed by the 25th but I have received all but 5 by the time this was initially posted. That fills my heart with goodness and hope. Also I’d love for someone to figure out a way to do this type of project with manga. I think it would go over well.  If they do you know you can count Narutaki and I in as participants. And finally, if nothing else the project got me interested in Vertical’s release of Twin Spica and made we want to go back and finish Bartender.

narutakiI was more than happy by the response we had for this fun little project. We could also do this project evil style in which everyone tries to pick a show the other person would completely hate just to fulfill any latent (or active) sadistic desires of people. But that is for another time. As for this project, I had a good time with it, even if we were less than thrilled with our show. It really seemed to get people chatting and I even had a few people lamenting that they didn’t find out about it in time. Don’t worry folks, this will certainly be brought back for 2010! Good thinkin’ Hisui!