Bamboo Blade

One of the great resources in anime fandom of late has been this guy. His charts have become almost indispensable when trying to figure out what to watch in the upcoming anime seasons. Recently, he’s started to compile these charts for previous years and the information that can be gleaned from these charts are extremely interesting and a real eye opener.

Last year, 2008, was the first year of this blog and as a result I watched many shows I probably won’t have otherwise and tried to make sure that I discovered all the “good” anime of a season so I could help other people discover these anime shows. So one of the first things I wanted to figure out was how much of the 2008 anime did I watch in the end.

Percentage of Shows Watched

This is the chart in question that I’m using; you can find it and more here. It lists 130 total anime shows that begun airing in 2008 and looking over these shows I realize there is a handful of shows that are aimed at very young viewers and these shows are never fansubbed, talked about, or licensed so the first step I’m going to do is remove these shows from consideration. I then tabulated how many shows I’ve watched, dropped and completed and I’ll summarize them here.

• 114 total shows (19 from Winter 07/08, 34 from Spring 08, 21 from Summer 08, 37 from Fall 08, 3 from Winter 08/09)
• 50 shows watched (5, 15, 9, 18, 3)
• 19 shows dropped (0, 9, 3, 5, 2)
• 31 shows completed (5, 6, 6, 13, 1)

I should note that the Winter 07/08 season was a season that I essentially took off. I needed the break and the only new show I watched that season while it was airing was Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei s.2. Yes, It is strange that I decided to start a blog during a season I wasn’t actively watching but that just how I like to do things. Because of this, the only shows I watched from this season where ones that I really wanted to see at a later time. This skews some of the results I’ll highlight below.

• Overall watched percentage by season – 26.3% of Winter 07/08, 44.1% of Spring 08, 42.9% of Summer 08, 48.7% of Autumn 08, 100% of Winter 08/09
• Overall watched percentage of 2008 – 43.8%
• Percentage of watched shows that were dropped by season – 0.0%, 60.0%, 33.3%, 28.8%, 66.7%)
• Percentage of watched shows that were dropped in 2008 – 38.0%

While going over the list of shows, I’ve noted that there were a few shows that I still have some interest in catching and could see myself watching at some point in the future, time willing.

• Possible unwatched shows that may be watched in the future by season – 2 from Winter 07/08, 2 from Spring 08, 0 from Summer 08, 4 from Fall 08, 0 from Winter 08/09
• Total unwatched but still interested in shows for 2008 – 8
• 2008 Total of shows watched and possible shows watched in the future – 58 or 50.9% of all 2008 anime shows

This leaves 49.1% of the entire 2008 year of shows as shows that I have not watched nor am I interested in doing so. Just looking at the raw number, it seems like I’m leaving a huge percentage of shows unwatched but looking over the shows the I’ve missed – I don’t think I’m missing much. I wonder how this compares to other anime fans.

Soul Eater

Excellent Shows and Strong Seasons

Next, I compiled a list of shows that I consider being the best of 2008 – the titles that I would recommend to other people and would be worthy series to own on DVDs, if possible. I was curious to see how these shows were distributed and if the general thinking about the spring and fall seasons being the strong seasons seemed justified.

• Excellent shows from Winter 07/08 – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S.2 and Spice & Wolf – (2)
• Excellent shows from Spring 08 – Wagaya no Oinarisama, Library Wars, Kaiba, Soul Eater, Kurenai (5)
• Excellent shows from Summer 08 – Natsume Yuujin-chou, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, Ryouko’s Case Files (4)
• Excellent shows from Fall 08 – Toradora, Clannad S.2, Shikabane Hime:Aka, Ga-Rei:Zero, Mouryou Hako, Kurozuka, Michiko to Hatchin (7)
• Excellents shows from 2008 – 18

Looking at the pure number totals, it appears that the fall season was the strongest season and that’s definitely on way to look at it but I wanted to see it from another perspective.

• Percentage of overall shows that were excellent by season – 10.5% of Winter 07/08, 14.7% of Spring 08, 19.1% of Summer 08, 18.9% of Autumn 08, 0% of Winter 08/09
• Percentage of overall shows that were excellent for 2008 – 15.8%
• Percentage of watched shows that were excellent by season – 40.0%, 33.3%, 44.4%, 38.9%, 0.0%
• Percentage of watched shows that were excellent for 2008 – 36.0%

Looking at the number of excellent shows in the context of the rest of the season shows, it turns out that the Summer season squeaks in front of the fall season as having the highest percentage of excellent shows. If the saying about how only 10% of anything is worth fighting for and the rest is garbage then one can’t complain about the quality of anime from 2008 since it beat that by a bit.

Kaiba

Why It’s Hard To Be a Fan of Anime Without Resorting to Fansubs

I want to say up front that I’m not writing this to defend fansubs per se nor am I trying to pick a fight – it’s been my observation for a while that oftentimes when an anime is announced as being licensed, I’m disappointed because it’s not one that I felt deserved to get licensed and I want to see if this observation is backed up by the data.

The first thing that needed done was to compile a list of what shows where licensed from 2008. I started with the list that animesuki keeps of shows that are licensed and thus they no longer list and then I checked out the various licensing articles from anime news network and finally I checked crunchyroll. I might have missed a couple but they won’t be enough to change the conclusions that I discovered. Onto some data.

• Total number of anime shows licensed from 2008 – 32
• Total number of licensed shows that I watched from 2008 – 13
• Total number of licensed shows that I completed from 2008 – 9
• Total number of licensed shows that I consider excellent shows from 2008 – 5
• Total number of excellent licensed shows that will come out on DVD – 3
• Total number of excellent licensed shows that will be dubbed on DVD – 2

I’ll note here that of the 19 licensed shows that I have not watched, none are on my list of shows that I might be interested in watching so those figures are final. Without running the exact numbers it’s pretty apparent what can be concluded but let’s run the numbers for completeness sake.

• Percentage of total anime shows that were licensed from 2008 – 28.1%
• Percentage of total anime shows that were not licensed from 2008 – 71.9%
• Percentage of licensed shows that I watched – 40.6%
• Percentage of licensed shows that I completed – 28.1%
• Percentage of licensed shows that I consider excellent – 15.6%
• Percentage of excellent licensed shows that will be released on DVD – 9.4%
• Percentage of excellent licensed shows that will be dubbed and released on DVD – 6.25%

The one glaring conclusion that I have to conclude is that the “anime fan” that the North American companies are going after is not me. If they were, I’d expect to see almost all of my excellent shows as having been licensed. (Afterall they should be picking the best titles to maximize the number of DVDs bought.) That’s not the case, though, and looking over the shows that did get licensed I find a lot of shounen/fighting shows, fan-service shows, and shoujo shows. I can’t help but feel that one of the results of a licensing pattern like this is that once an anime fan has been sated with enough shounen, fan-service, and/or shoujo shows that these fans discover they are no longer anime fans because anime has become either too childish or repetitive.

The reason I took the category down to excellent licensed shows that will dubbed and put on DVD even when I’m not the biggest dub fan is because there’s a segment of anime fandom that are people who like anime but don’t want to read subtitles and also want to watch on a TV. My one sister is like this and in the end she buys almost exclusively manga because she can find so little anime that interests her. When I was starting up my blog she told me that she’d read my site to find shows to buy but she quickly realized that this was not possible. I don’t blame her, of all the shows that I’ve watched and blogged about in 2008 there is a total of two shows – Soul Eater and Spice & Wolf that I could possibly recommend to her to buy and I don’t think she’d like Soul Eater. That leaves Spice & Wolf as the only anime out of the 114 anime that started airing in Japan during 2008 that I could recommend her to buy.

I feel like I should repeat that; for the entire 2008 year of anime, there is only one anime that I could recommend to my sister as being good enough that it’s worth buying on DVD. And these companies complain about the fans – maybe it’s not the fan’s fault.

I realize that 2009 saw a large increase of shows getting quasi-licensed on crunchyroll so by now it’s possible that my title about having to almost having to resort to fansubs may not hold as much water but I’ll leave that to a follow-up article in the future to see how the numbers work out. I want to hold off for a while to see how many of the 2009 shows get physically licensed and which ones will get dubs. Also left for a later article is my thoughts on how exactly to get the North American anime scene going in the right direction; here’s a hint, I don’t think there will be many people who will become fans of anime from having crunchyroll stream subtitled anime.

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As an aside, if you happen to be looking to buy a good anime series on DVD (maybe for a Christmas present) and want a quality show that will get rewatched more than once, let me point out that Bamboo Blade is coming out soon. And there’s Spice & Wolf as well but it’s coming out the week of Christmas.

Part one of my endeavor is shojo manga (and some series that are more on the josei side, I believe) coming out in 2010 (next is shonen/other manga). This started out as a list of shojo manga (that have their first volumes coming out next year) I thought would be good finds, and kind of turned into a list of all the shojo manga starting next year (that I know of)…apparently I’m not very picky… It’s still not all of them, but it’s a good majority of them.

And seeing how long this is (and only being part 1) should show you how easy it was for me to basically bankrupt myself on manga. xD

English covers were used if they could be found; if not the Japanese covers were used. They are arranged by release month and then alphabetically. If the Japanese name is commonly used in fandom, I put it in parentheses next to the official English title to help. I also used official summaries if I could find them, if not I used ANN, after that I went to myanimelist.net, and in some cases I had to go to mangaupdates.com.

I will gladly update this list if I’m missing something you think is going to be a good shojo manga find in the next year! :]

Happy Cafe (Shiawase Kissa Sanchome) by: Kou Matsuzuki
Complete at 15 volumes
US publisher: Tokyopop
Volume 1 January 2010, Volume 2 April 2010
Price: US $10.99
From the publisher: Welcome to the Happy Café, where romance and happiness are the specials of the day! Meet Uru: She’s a little short, a bit disorganized, often is mistaken for an elementary school kid, and lives by herself after her mother gets remarried. When she decides to pay the bills by working part time at the Happy Café, she meets Ichirou and Shindou, two of the most unsociable guys she’s ever met! And to make matters worse, it turns out that Uru is not exactly meant for the waitress world, as she’s a HUGE klutz. But as this hilarious shojo tale unfolds, 1 happiness–and even true love–might be lurking just around the corner…
My ramblings: This series just looks adorable, and looks like one that has a whole lot of potential, though I’m a little leery about the length, since 15 volumes can be a little tedious in some series. To be honest, I don’t know a lot about the story, but from the little that I do know, it should be fairly interesting.

Natsume’s Book of Friends (Natsume Yujincho) by: Yuki Midorikawa
Ongoing with 8+ volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 January 2010, Volume 2 April 2010
Price: US $9.99
From the publisher: Takashi Natsume can see the spirits and demons that hide from the rest of humanity. He has always been set apart from other people because of his gift, drifting from relative to relative, never fitting in. Now he’s a troubled high school student who has come to live in the small town where his grandmother grew up. And there he discovers that he has inherited more than just the Sight from the mysterious Reiko.
My ramblings: I watched the anime on Crunchyroll, and it’s a fantastic series. The art in the original manga seems to be a little bit different from the art from the anime art based on the cover of the first volume, but it still looks great. I can’t wait to read the source material. And who doesn’t love Nyanko-sensei?!?

Crown of Love (Renai Crown) by: Yun Kouga
Complete at 4 volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 February 2010, Volume 2 May 2010
Price: US $9.99
From the publisher: After a chance encounter, Hisayoshi ”Kumi” Tajima falls madly in love with teen idol Rima Fujio. Bewitched by her beauty, he only wants to get closer to her. As a fan, he lives in a separate world. But if he becomes a fellow idol…
My ramblings: Crown of Love is, from what I’ve heard, a fairly early work from Yun Kouga, this time a part of the Shojo Beat line from Viz. This isn’t a title I know much about, but Yun Kouga’s work is sure to be pretty at least. Hopefully it will live up to what little of Kouga’s works I’ve read (I think only a oneshot in FAUST, but it was absolutely fantastic!).

Panic × Panic by: Mika Kawamura
Complete at 2 volumes
US publisher: Del Rey Manga
Volume 1 February 2010
Price: US $10.99
From this press release: PANIC X PANIC, a paranormal series by Mika Kawamura, combines comedy, fantastical action, and a budding childhood rivalry. Mitsuki, an only child at a Shinto shrine, grew up across the street from Kakeru, the son of a priest. They never got along growing up, and still don’t get along as teenagers. However, a strange encounter with a demon seals their fate forever: the pair discovers they are the descendants of priests who had sealed away disorderly demons. With the demons becoming a problem again, Mitsuki and Kakeru must inherit the mission of their ancestors—and somehow get over their mutual dislike for each other.
My ramblings: I’m a little leery about adding this one, since I don’t see much about it online (it took a lot of searching to find a summary), but it looks cute, and I’ll try to check it out.  I don’t think this is going to necessarily going to be a series that will be a major hit, unless it’s one of those series that’s a sleeper hit. It does sound rather cliché though, which is a little off-putting, but that could be a plus if you know you like stories like it.

Portrait of M and N by: Higuchi Tachibana
Complete at 6 volumes
US publisher: Tokyopop
Volume 1 February 2010, Volume 2 June 2010
Price: US $10.99
From the publisher: February brings us PORTRAIT OF M & N, starring two students in high school with something to hide. Created by the bestselling manga-ka of GAKUEN ALICE, Tachibana Higuchi, M and N refer to Mitsuru and Natsuhiko: she’s masochistic; he’s narcissistic. All they want is to be normal high school students!
My ramblings: I believe this is for slightly older audiences, as the M and N refer to masochist and narcissist, but it looks promising. I’ve read some good reviews of this series so far, so I think it should be fairly good, but I’m not entirely sure, since it’s not one you hear of much. The synopsis does seem rather interesting though, so I think I’ll check it out.

Cactus’s Secret (Saboten no Himitsu) by: Nana Haruta
Complete at 4 volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 March 2010
Price: US $9.99
From the publisher: Miku Yamada has a longtime crush on classmate Kyohei Fujioka. But no matter how many times she tries to show him how she feels, clueless Kyohei just doesn’t get it. Frustrated, Miku gives up on him, only to have him start calling her “Cactus” for being prickly when he’s around. Will Kyohei ever figure out Cactus’s secret?
My ramblings: This is Nana Haruta’s first manga to be published in the states, and I want everyone to get it, so that the chances of getting more of the adorable goodness that is Nana Haruta are better! I don’t really know much about this series itself, but I’m sure it’s great, from what I know of her other works. And how can you pass up that adorable cover?

Haru Hana The Complete Collection by: Yuana Kazumi
Complete at 3 volumes
US publisher: Tokyopop
March 2010
Price: US $16.99
From the publisher: HARU HANA tells the story of Hana Yamada, who has just moved to Tokyo and isn’t doing as well as she’d hoped. Her new school life starts poorly, and to compound her various problems, she breaks out in hives whenever a hot guy touches her!
My ramblings: Looks like another omnibus edition from Tokyopop, and the art looks adorable, so I think I’ll be checking out this 3-in-1. Apparently the “breaks out in hives from touching the other sex” is a much more common them than I though. I’ve seen it in Beauty Pop, Zodiac P.I., and MariaHolic and now this series. I didn’t realize it was so common. It’s kind of a strange theme to be so common. The series still looks cute, and since it’s just an omnibus, there’s not much to lose by picking it all up at one time.

Pink Innocent by: Kotori Momoyuki
Complete at 3 volumes
US publisher: Del Rey Manga
Volume 1 March 2010
Price: US $10.99
From this press release: Kotori Momoyuki’s PINK INNOCENT, a quirky teen comedy, follows the romance behind an unlikely pair. Ditzy Cocona Sakuranomiya, a wealthy 16-year-old used to getting everything that she wants, is completely clueless about how to approach the super-serious Renji, who happens to be more interested in the stock market and his laptop than any girl.
My ramblings: I looked around the internet and heard good and bad things about this series, but it looks adorable (though that hairstyle is crazy!), so I’ll try and check it out. I think the biggest problem people seemed to have with the series is that the main character is apparently a huge ditz, but I don’t think that’s always a bad thing, so hopefully it’ll turn out better than some people thing it is.

Stepping on Roses (Hadashi de Bara wo Fume) by: Rinko Ueda
Ongoing with 4+ volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 April 2010
Price: US $9.99
From the publisher: A rags-to-riches romance from the creator of Tail of the Moon! Poor Sumi Kitamura… Her irresponsible older brother Eisuke keeps bringing home orphans for her to take care of even though they can barely afford their own basic needs! Just when Sumi’s financial problems become dire, wealthy Soichiro Ashida enters her life with a bizarre proposition–he’ll provide her with the money she so desperately needs if she agrees to marry him. But can Sumi pull off fooling high society into thinking she’s a proper lady? Moreover, is it worth it to give everything up for this sham of a marriage?
My ramblings: I can’t emphasize enough just how good this series is. It definitely needs to be read by anyone who likes shojo manga! Sumi is a great heroine, and just look at Rinko Ueda’s art, it’s absolutely gorgeous! I’m so glad that Viz picked this up, and will definitely be buying it right when it comes out, job or no.

Flower in a Storm by: Shigeyoshi Takagi
Complete at 2 volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 May 2010
Price: US $9.99
From the publisher: Love is like a storm. Riko Sassoku is trying to lead a normal high school life when Ran Tachibana bursts into her classroom carrying a gun and telling her that her life is now his. Ran, the richest, most powerful 17-year-old in Japan wants her as his wife, and he’s not taking no for an answer! If Ran can’t capture her by five o’clock the next day, he’ll give up on her, but he has all that money can buy at his disposal. However, Riko has one trick up her sleeve–she has superpowers!
My ramblings: This is only a two-volume series, and it looks interesting. To be honest, I wasn’t particularly interested until I saw the cover for the first volume, and the art is just so nice, that I really hope the story is just as nice. The fact that the heroine has super powers is kind of interesting, but I’m not sure how it’s going to play out in only 2 volumes, and I have a feeling it might be kind of rushed.

Songs and Laughter (Boku ga Utau to Kimi wa Warau kara) by: Natsuki Takaya
My Song, Your Smile, Just Because is listed as the title in this Press Release and says title subject to change, and Amazon lists it as Songs and Laughter, so I’m not sure what the official title is yet. EDIT: Tokyopop said they’re still working on the title.
Complete at 1 volume
US publisher: Tokyopop
May 2010
Price: US $12.99
From the publisher: TOKYOPOP presents MY SONG, YOUR SMILE, JUST BECAUSE: STORIES FROM THE CREATOR OF FRUITS BASKET, filled with unforgettable tales from Takaya-sensei, including a side story to TSUBASA: THOSE WITH WINGS.
My ramblings: Another of Tokyopop’s Natsuki Takaya offerings trying to ride on the coat-tails of Fruits Basket, this time it’s a collection of one-shots. I know there’s a Tsubasa: Those With Wings side story, but past that I’m not sure what is included in this volume. I’m not really a huge fan of earlier Takaya art (her new/Hoshi wa Utau art is so much nicer), so I’m not sure if I’ll pick this up, though the Tsubasa: Those With Wings side story is rather tempting.

Yokai Navi Runa by: Miyoko Ikeda and Michiyo Kikuta
Ongoing with 3+ volumes
US publisher: Del Rey Manga
Volume 1 May 2010
Price: US $10.99
From myanimelist.net: Luna Rindou is a klutz who loves to daydream and relies very much on her best friend. Her greatest treasure is an amulet that once belonged to her mother. One day, she runs away only to have the amulet stolen by a boy and girl who turn into animals when they come into possession of the amulet. What is the meaning of this!?
My ramblings: I have an old issue of Nakayoshi with this in it somewhere and I have some furoku for the series as well, which makes me want to try it out (a silly reason I know), but I haven’t really heard much about the series. The summary sounds rather all over the place, but I’m hoping that it’s not as crazy as it sounds. I’d like to try it, but I’m not completely sure yet.

Library Wars: Love and War (Toshokan Sensou: Love and War) by: Hiro Arakawa and Kiiro Yumi
Ongoing with 4+ volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 June 2010
Price: TBD (presumed to be US $9.99)
From mangaupdates.com: During the 31st year of Seika, the battle between the Library Force and the Media Improvement Committee reached a new level of violence. Each group has armed itself for either the freedom of expression or the “protection” of society from the bad influences of media. Kasahara Iku joins the Library Force with the intent of finding her “Prince” who helped her during a censorship exercise by the Media Improvement Committee and with her strong will of protecting books.
My ramblings: I am a huge fan of the Library Wars series, and the fact that even just the shojo version of the manga has been licensed is a huge plus (and heck, it’s the shojo manga version!)! The only thing that would make this better is if the novels were licensed too (here’s looking at you, Viz/Haikasoru). This is a definite purchase for me, but I have an unfortunate feeling it will only do well with people who are already familiar with the series.

Here I Am! (Koko ni Iru Yo!) by: Ema Toyama
Complete at 5 volumes
US publisher: Del Rey Manga
Volume 1 Fall 2010
Price: TBD (presumed to be US $10.99)
From myanimelist.net: Hikage is a reclusive 8th grader who no one seems to notice. She finds comfort in her blog, and the people who comment on it. Everything changes one day when a cute boy tells her something Hikage’s always wanted to hear– she might not be so invisible after all.
My ramblings: From what I know of the premise of this series, it’s somewhat like Kimi ni Todoke. Hopefully it will be like Kimi ni Todoke in a good way, and be one of those series that just pulls at your heartstrings (in a good way). This is another series I haven’t heard much about, but it looks like something I’d really enjoy, and I’m hoping it’s as good as I expect it to be.

Grand Guignol Orchestra (Guignol Kyuutei Gakudan) by: Kaori Yuki
Ongoing with 2+ volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 October 2010
Price: TBD (presumed to be US $9.99)
From myanimelist.net: The beautiful singer Lucille and his orchestra invite you to the city of fear where puppets hunt down humans. The puppets are playing an oratorio of magic and illusions!
My ramblings: This is Kaori Yuki’s newest series (it’s only up to 2 volumes in Japan right now), and I think it will be a definite buy for any fans of either her or just gothic manga in general. Her art is always so gorgeous and detailed and her stories are usually fairly complex. From what I’ve seen of this particular series, it’s just as grotesquely beautiful as her previous series, and there’s actually a little bit of gender bending if I remember correctly. Again, a great asset to the Shojo Beat family.

Wild @ Heart (Wild Damon) by: Natsumi Ando
Complete at 3 volumes
US publisher: Del Rey Manga
Omnibus October 2010
Price: TBD
From myanimelist.net: A girl’s life s going to change because of her father who is an explorer. He always bring her presents and this time he brought a boy that he found living in a jungle and took him home. Now she has to take care of him and guide him as he tries to adapt to the city life.
My ramblings: I’m a little worried about this early work by Kitchen Princess and Zodiac P.I. author Natsumi Ando, since Amazon originally had it listed as just the first volume, but now lists it as Wild @ Heart 1/2/3 (though I certainly don’t mind omnibus versions, it’s a little strange) and it isn’t available for pre-order (though it is a little early). But hopefully Del Rey pulls through (I expect them too, since Kitchen Princess seems to be a big seller for them and they picked up ARISA just recently also) and we’ll get this early Ando work sometime next year.

ARISA by: Natsumi Ando
Ongoing with 2+ volumes
US publisher: Del Rey Manga
Volume 1 November 2010
Price: TBD (presumed to be US $10.99)
From myanimelist.net: Tsubasa and Arisa are twin sisters who haven’t seen each other for three years due to their parents’ divorce. They have communicated through letters, but finally decide to meet each other again. Arisa, the more gentle of the twins, suggests that Tsubasa take her place at school for a day, just for fun. However, there are things about Arisa and her school that she hasn’t mentioned to Tsubasa–dangerous things.
My ramblings: Natsumi Ando has a great record with manga, and I know this will be another big hit for her here in North America. This is certainly not a series I would give to a child, but it’s one that I don’t think shojo fans should miss. It’s one of the hot series in Nakayoshi right now, and there is certainly a reason for that (well, apart from the fact that it’s sort of riding on Kitchen Princess’s coat-tails), it’s really a great intriguing series!

Nice to Meet You, Kamisama (Kami-sama Hajimemashita) by: Julietta Suzuki
Ongoing with 4+ volumes
US publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat imprint
Volume 1 November 2010
Price: TBD (presumed to be US $9.99)
From ANN: Nanao Momozono suddenly becomes homeless after her dad disappeared and left a huge debt behind, which forced her to leave the apartment. On the street Nanao rescues a strange man from a dog. To thank her, he gives her his house, which proves to be a run-down shrine, inhabited by a hostile fox-eared young man. Confused and tired with no other place to go to, she decides to stay, but this proves to be more difficult than expected…
My ramblings: If the press surrounding Karakuri Odette is any indication, Viz’s decision to pick this title up from the same artist was a fantastic one (bet they’re kicking themselves over not getting Karakuri Odette too). The premise behind this series looks rather interesting to me, and I can’t wait to read it. If this is half as good as Karakuri Odette is (I’ve only read the preview on Tokyopop’s site, but it was really good), then this series should be another hit.

Bunny Drop (Usagi Drop) by: Yumi Unita
Ongoing with 6+ volumes
US publisher: Yen Press
Volume 1 March 2010, Volume 2 September 2010
Price: US $12.99
From the publisher: Returning to his family’s estate for his grandfather’s funeral, thirty-something bachelor Daikichi is floored to discover that the old man had an illegitimate child with a much younger lover! Needless to say, the rest of the family is shocked and embarrassed by this turn of events, and not one of them wants anything to do with the little girl, who refuses to say a word. In a fit of angry spontaneity, Daikichi decides to adopt her! But is living with an overgrown teenager who can barely take care of himself the key to making Rin come out of her shell?
My ramblings: This is definitely josei, and it looks like one of those stories that would just break your heart. Of course, it could go the other way and just be terrible, but I think this looks incredibly promising. From what I’ve read online it’s a very slow slice-of-life that is none-the-less fantastic.

Alright so here’s one post to cut down on my backlog of completed yet un-reviewed series. Though since I watched this over like 2 days in the summer, I feel like I should rewatch it before I try to make a serious critique… La~ too late.
I’ll be doing this in the usual organized way; here goes.

PRODUCTION IG

!!!!!!!!!!!! Alright, alright. I am such a Production IG fangirl. And this isn’t even a review category. But still, when it comes to reviewing a show by Production IG, the first thing you have to say is that it’s by Production IG and that they are undeniably filthy. Filthy in the good way of course.

PLOT: Summary

Back on track here. Toshokan Sensou translates to “Library War”. Sound nerdy? Oh yeah. But it’s not, really. Despite the weird name and unusual premise, I enjoyed watching this short 1 season show (12 episodes). Might bring to mind a currently airing series called “Armed Librarians”; as far as I know, they’re totally different. Toshokan Sensou is like war in as pure a form as possible. I don’t think Armed Librarians is even about war… Anyway, in Toshokan Sensou the Japanese government has pulled a Hitler and decided they want to ban and censor Japan to the moon and back. However, the Japanese libraries have enough power to oppose this new attack on their collections. So basically you end up with highly organized battles being fought over books. Quite interesting, really. Add to this our main character, holdonletmelookuphername Kasahara Iku, the first woman to join the Library Defense Force. The story centers around her and her encounters as a member of an army-like defense force. Free speech for all! Based on light novels by Arikawa Hiro.

PLOT: Execution

I think it’s a very fresh, original and interesting idea. I love near-future dystopia-esque things like this. Of course it’s not really a dystopia. But it’s close enough to satisfy me. And it’s not like dystopias are ALL I care about. The problem with the plot execution here is that Toshokan Sensou just tries to tackle too many things in too short of a timeframe. It’s like; the moral issues of censoring, the struggle of war, romance, relationships with parents, finding and doing what you want in life, growing up, gender difference issues, overcoming obstacles in the workplace… within 12 episodes? No DUH it’s rushed feeling! I guess you could say it’s the same problem as Jyu Ou Sei, although really Jyu Ou Sei had a LOT more problems… (I still love you, Jyu Ou Sei!). I think even just 4 more episodes would have left the series some room to stretch and think about which aspect of all the many possibilities it wanted to focus on. Am I talking about this show like it has a mind of it’s own? I’m sorry, I always swear I’m not going to do that… JEESH this paragraph is long already. Wrapping up… pacing isn’t the best, too many things to think about.

ART & ANIMATION

Unusual style, not unusual like Gankutsuou or anything, but there was an interesting line variation technique used for a sort of shading effect… in short, there were some really thick lines and some really thin lines. It had a unique feel, but it wasn’t screaming in your face “WE’RE COOL”. And as always, it was lovely. CONSISTENTLY lovely. Fufu, ProIG~

MUSIC

It took a few episodes, but I definitely warmed up to the OP and ED. I feel like I’m not being cynical enough. Am I being to nice because I can only remember the good parts? This is why I should have rewatched it first! Ahem. Anyways, as usual I can’t remember the BGM, but I know that it wasn’t bad because BGM actually stands out more the worse it is. Anyone else thinking of certain cheesy moments in Inuyasha? OH and the OP animation was cool.

CHARACTERS

Iku was definitely cool. I can’t remember who I was comparing her too, but in a recent post I used her as an example of someone who doesn’t start out completely competent, but who definitely isn’t annoying. Oh yeah, it was Mai in Ghost Hunt. DAMN she was incompetent. Anyway, definitely a good main girl character. I mean no one can match Balsa, but she was definitely solid. Naive and still learning, but that’s realistic; which is good. However, there wasn’t much development in the other characters. If it had been the kind of show where the character development is all about the main character, it would have been okay to leave the others alone for a bit. But I didn’t feel like Iku got a whole lot of development either. Must be cause of the goddamn 12 episode length again. Gahhhh extend it 4 episodes, will you?!

Dojo kind of reminds me of Otani from Love Com. Just a little though, in retrospect. Maybe it’s cause he’s short..? Yeah, their relationship also seemed like they WANTED to spend more time there but couldn’t because of the series length.

ZENBU

Everything. All in all; I did enjoy watching Toshokan Sensou. There’s definitely some things in there like censoring that will make you think a bit. But I think mostly I would say it’s “diverting”. It’s so short, and so fast-paced; I ended up watching it all in basically 24 hours. Maybe it’d be better to watch over time? I’m not sure. But I think it’s definitely a good single-season show to watch, if you need something to fill time with. Also, any librarians out there? You should definitely give this a watch. I don’t know how realistic it would seem to a librarian, but if they had a sense of humor I’m sure they’d enjoy looking into it.

Side note: May just be cause I watched it in summer, but very summer-y! =) Sigh… I miss summer so much.

It was by chance that I found out about Library War (Toshokan Sensou) and I’m glad that I did ‘cos I was quite bored watching the usual shoujo clichéd animes but yet, I’m a sucker to shoujo animes for all the obvious reasons – bishounens, a little romance here and there and of course, the guy gets the girl / girl gets the guy kind of thing. Toshokan Sensou has all these but add a few action and militaristic elements, you get Library War and oh, don’t forget to throw in all the books too.

***

The era was Seika 31 (fictional) and people are not allowed to read materials which have not gone through the screening process. In short, even books and various other reading materials are censored. If a shop is selling books which have fail the screening process, the books will be seized in accordance with Media Betterment Act.

In the opposing site, we have the Library Defense Force (LDF). The LDF officers are not mere librarians; they provide the military power whenever there’s a raid in libraries, bookshops that are suspected to be carrying questionable reading materials.

That aside, Kasahara Iku is a rookie LDF officer who joined LDF following the footsteps of her oujisama (literally means prince, in English), her knight in the shining armour. While still in training, she’s always at odds with her drill officer, Dojo Atsushi whom she thinks held a grudge on her. The interaction between those two never fails to amuse Komaki Mikihisa, Dojo’s colleague and fellow officer who’s also dubbed as the “smiling logician” (smiling logician?).

Other equally interesting characters include:

• Tezuka Hikaru – the mister-know-it-all who is proficient from basic librarian task to combat skills. He was skeptical at Kasahara’s ability at first but slowly warm up to her as she strives her best. He confessed to her and asked her out for a date which she rejected calmly, that is until she found the real reason behind his confession.
• Shibasaki Asako – Kasahara’s best friend and roommate. An informant in the military intelligence and naturally, she knows everything…I mean EVERYTHING.

***

My thoughts:

I like the fact that it’s not a typical shoujo. Like every bit of it. Wish that I discover it sooner

What I like best is the funny interactions between Kasahara and her direct superior Dojo…watching them argue for all the funny reasons never fail to make me smile.

***

Other Notes:

Toshokan Sensou is actually a Japanese light novel series by Hiro Arikawa. There are two manga adaptations based on the light novel:

• Toshokan Sensou Spitfire!
• Library War (Love and War)

The former is targeted to shounen audience while the later is a shoujo manga (I think the anime is based on the shoujo version).

There are all together 12 episodes + 1 DVD special. The DVD special focuses on Komaki and his love.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshokan_Sensō

I’ve already pimped this pairing pretty hard, but like with any under appreciated couple, you can never really pimp it too hard. And one needs some GARful shipping during a series in honors of the sappiest holiday in human history, anyway, just to keep y’all from getting cavities.

Toshokan Sensou (Library War) has one of the most unrealistic settings in recent anime history, but at least its characters are realistic. The main character, Iku, is a scrappy young woman who kicks reason to the curb a little too often. She does, however, dissolve into tears when faced with mean people, mean people, and… well… Doujou.

Lieutenant Doujou falls under the ‘mean people’ category for the first part of the series, and he does a darn good job at it. If I remember correctly, he makes Iku cry more than anyone else in the series combined. He’s stoic, a rule-follower, stubborn, and subtly yet frustratingly overprotective. Like any good male lead, though, he softens up over time.

And like any good male lead, he di… WAIT, WHAT?!?

Oh, le sigh, I wish I could spoil the biggest plot point: the end. But one does not even need to know the plot to understand the shipping potential in these two. Opposites attract, after all, and in a stressful military environment, sparks of some sort are bound to fly eventually. The epic plot is just the icing on the cake, really.

Despite the TV series and OVA’s crappy ending (PLOT RESOLUTION WHAR?!?!) Iku/Doujou lives on in the original novels (which are being translated here) and two manga series, both of which seem to roughly follow the plot of the anime. Enjoy it while you can – who knows what the original author’s done with Doujou by the end of the novels?

…. *knock on wood*

~CJ

Only a month later then just about everyone else .

I thought 2008 was another very solid year of anime, with good shows to be found in most, if not all, major genre types. The fact that I became an anime blogger this year pushed me to watch more shows then I would have otherwise and I was rewarded in finding several quality shows.

Before getting to the countdown I wanted to clarify the status of a few shows. Last year, I decided to consider Kanon a 2007 show and the first season of Clannad as a 2008 show in the matter of ranking the show. The same reasoning will push the second season of Clannad to 2009 so for this countdown only the first season is eligible. Also pushed back are Xam’d: Lost Memories and Michiko to Hatchin because too much of the story was unresolved by the end of 2008. Toradora is getting split, the first 13 episodes will be considered for this countdown and the rest for the 2009 list. I did this because the show seems to have been structured in such a way that it could have been aired in 2 – 13 episode seasons.

10 Soul Eater

Shounen series were what got me into anime and they still hold a special place in my heart. One of my favorites had been Bleach but it had finally struck out from the combination of poor filler, failing to excite even when they finally got back to the storyline, and the appearance of Soul Eater. Soul Eater oozed style and felt fresh when compared to the well-known shounen series so I could finally stop torturing myself with Bleach and watch a better shounen show.

It wasn’t quite smooth sailing at first though. Up until about episode 20, the show felt a little slow. The individual episodes where good but collectively they didn’t feel like they were really building towards anything. That changed at the episode 20 mark and since then the show has really been on a roll. So for 20 episodes of good anime, 16 episodes of great anime, a unique style, a likable cast, good animation, and for showing that a shounen show can still feel new, Soul Eater makes the top 10 at number 10. Now, I’m just hoping the final 15 episodes of Soul Eater won’t disappoint.

9 Someday’s Dreamers Season 2

Count me in the small camp of people that actually liked the animation style of the series. It wasn’t perfect but I thought it worked with the subtle nature of the show because it helped deemphasize the individual characters. And the show was subtle which caused me on several occasions to rewatch a scene to make sure I saw what I think I saw.

This slice-of-life show had many excellent qualities: a diverse cast of characters that were likable, good vocal performances by the seiyuu, an interesting setting, an engaging story and memorable music. The one thing that prevented it from ranking higher was the ending. The ending itself isn’t the big problem but how abrupt the show shifts it’s tone to get to that ending. It could have been handled better; maybe if the series had been longer, they could have. I’d still recommend this show to anyone looking for a great slice-of-life show, just know that the ending will probably feel different then what would normally be expected.

8 Wagaya no Oinari-sama

This was a show that I really only caught because I was blogging and thought for completeness-sake to catch an episode or two before dropping it for being generic and fan service laden. I was surprised when I found myself starting to like the characters, especially with Sakura’s appearance in episode 3, and not being subjected to mindless fan service in the place of real content. So it didn’t get dropped like I thought it would and my opinion even slowly creeped up with each passing episode.

At about episode 8, I fully realized why I liked this show. It was always entertaining, it focused on the characters and allowed the characters to drive the events of the show, the story never felt stale and it could make you laugh or suck you in with a bit of drama. The show also ascribed to the K.I.S.S. rule – Keep It Simple, Stupid. It never tried too hard or made itself overly complex; it never relied on the latest meme or character type to be funny and entertaining. I wish more shows would follow this show’s lead.

7 Library War

The show’s slightly absurd premise and short episode count only mildly marred my liking of this show because this show seems to have been created with me in mind. I loved the idea of libraries creating armies to defend themselves from the censorship proponents and their thugs.

A quick way to describe this show is to compare it to Planetes because they share a lot of similarities. The big difference is that at only 12 episodes, Library War wasn’t as able to explore the topics relevant to the setting as Planetes was so it focused more on the relationship of the two main characters. I hope we see more Library War in the future, it was too good of a show not to want more.

6 Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

If you found this show’s warped sense of humor funny and odd visual style interesting then you’ll agree that the show belongs somewhere on this list. If you didn’t then you won’t and probably wonder what’s wrong with me.

I thought the first season tailed off at the end a bit too much but this season stayed more interesting throughout it’s run. I liked the introduction of more male characters during this season, it helped set up different possibilities with the show. Assuming there’s still plenty of source material, I would like to see a full third season in a year or two.

Read Part 0 – Introduction and Anti-awards here.

Read Part 1 – Character Awards here.

Read Part 2 – Cast and Assorted Awards here.

Read Part 3 – Genre Awards here.

Read Part 4 – Music, Voice, and Animation Awards here.

Read Part 5 – Memorable Moments and Favorite Episodes here.

Read Part 7 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #5 – #1 here.

]]> http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/best-in-anime-2008-%e2%80%93-part-5-memorable-moments-and-favorite-episodes/ Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:02:47 +0000 steelbound http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/best-in-anime-2008-%e2%80%93-part-5-memorable-moments-and-favorite-episodes/

Last year I had a single award given to the most memorable moment of 2007. It went to episode 10 of Manabi Straight when it’s revealed that the school festival will be held. This year, I wanted to go a little further in depth to spotlight my favorite episodes and memorable moments. Since I don’t want to spoil a bunch of shows for those readers that haven’t seen them yet, I’m going to just list these without explaining why. First though, there’s a couple final awards that felt like they belonged in this part.

Best Final Episode

Winner: Natsume Yuujinchou

How do you end a slice-of-life show and still give the show a bit of closure that non-structured shows normally don’t have? You do what Natsume Yuujinchou did and bring back several of the characters from the series and reflect upon how Natsume has changed over the course of the series. It simply was perfect.

Best Ending

Winner: Bamboo Blade

The ending of Bamboo Blade was able to walk the fine line that shows based on source material that continues past the end of the anime series has. It was able to give an actual ending that tied up the plot threads introduced in the first season. As well as slipping in a few tantalizing hints at possible plot points if there is a second season without these new characters and stories interfering with the feeling of a satisfying ending.

Best Show No One Saw

Winner: Kaiba

Runner-up: Wagaya no Oinari-sama

If this award was based solely on the number of people that talked about the show then Wagaya no Oinari-sama would have won because I saw far fewer people mentioning this show. Wagaya was a good show and if the animation had looked a little better or if it had come from a more popular studio then it would been a huge hit. Kaiba did get talked about more often but I could tell that outside of the more adventurous viewers and the SF viewers, almost no one watched it. In the end, I gave Kaiba the award because they were both relatively unwatched but Kaiba was a better show.

Memorable Moments

• Ending of episode 1 of Ga-rei: Zero
• Tennis match from episode 18 of Clannad
• The play from episode 22 of Clannad
• Tomoya’s marriage proposal from episode 12 of Clannad season 2
• Iku Kasahara’s media interview from episode 12 of Library War
• Air reference from episode 11 of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
• The race from episode 13 of Toradora
• The Soul Ascension ceremony from episode 5 of Wagaya no Oinari-sama
• Sora’s first official job as a mage from episode 12 of Someday’s Dreamers Season 2

Favorite Episodes

• Episode 26 of Bamboo Blade
• Episode 3 of Kaiba
• Episode 7 of Kaiba
• Episode 52 of Hayate the Combat Butler
• Episode 2 of Natsume Yuujinchou
• Episode 7 of Natsume Yuujinchou
• Episode 9 of Ga-Rei: Zero
• Episode 2 of Toradora
• Episode 4 of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Next part of my 2008 anime year in review is the first half of my top 10 anime of 2008 and should be posted within the day.

Read Part 0 – Introduction and Anti-awards here.

Read Part 1 – Character Awards here.

Read Part 2 – Cast and Assorted Awards here.

Read Part 3 – Genre Awards here.

Read Part 4 – Music, Voice, and Animation Awards here.

Read Part 6 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #10 – #6 here.

Read Part 7 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #5 – #1 here.

Soldiering on, this next set of awards cover some of the many different types of anime out there. I enjoy many of these types of anime and this sometimes leads to odd pairings; for example, I remember watching Kaiba and Maid Guy back-to-back on several occasions. There are a few categories you won’t see like best shounen or best shoujo because I just don’t watch enough to feel confident in those picks. Though I can say that in matters of shounen, Soul Eater is superior to Bleach and probably Naruto but I only watched the first 25 or so episodes of Naruto before I was bored of it – maybe it got better. As for shoujo, I liked Earl and Fairy and Skip Beat so maybe I should watch more.

Best Action

Winner: Kurozuka

Runner-up: Shana 2

Kurozuka is a bit of aberration for me because it never took the time to really do much character development and the story was only the barest of skeletons for most of the series; and yet, I didn’t mind because I was too busy enjoying the polished, pure action series that Kurozuka was. The fights where excellent and I loved when Kuro slipped into vampire bullet-time because I knew he was about to cleave a path of destruction through those around him.

Best Fight

Winner: The Sabrac fight from Shana 2

The best overall fight went to the Sabrac fight towards the end of Shana 2. Anytime a fight lasts for two episodes, it’s going to either feel epic or boring and drawn out; this fight was a stellar example of the first. The first reason is that all the characters where going all out, none of this “I’ll use 43.25 % of my full power” that artificially extends a fight. Another reason is that the good guys had to out-think and plan actual strategy to beat Sabrac and when they did get him, it wasn’t because Sabrac did something stupid to allow them to win. It also helped that by this point in Shana we’ve gotten to really like the good guys so it was like we we’re personally invested in the outcome. And the final thing that really made this an awesome fight was the way Shana and friends finally beat Sabrac, it was unexpected, theatrical, and just plain cool.

Coolest Weapons

Yes, that's from Soul Eater but I love her weapon.

Winner: Ga-rei: Zero

Runner-up: Soul Eater

Ga-Rei: Zero had one of the most diverse set of weapons I’ve ever seen. We had the standard sword and guns but we also had a guy wield two suitcases that shot small missiles, a guy that used a weapon that turned his hands into drills, a woman that had a Gatling gun for an artificial leg, a motorcycle that had anti-monster incantations in the tread of the tires – just to name a few. There was several more spare weapons that are shown like an iron that used holy water steam. And even some of the more standard weapons had their own twist like a sword that would use the recoil of discharging a bullet to speed up the user’s swing and also allow the wielder to change directions mid-swing very quickly.

Best Comedy

Winner: Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Runner-up: Maid Guy

The year didn’t have many pure comedy shows that were genuinely funny but it did have many non-comedy shows like Clannad, Toradora, and Natsume Yuujinchou that used humor for great affect. Instead, many of the comedy shows like Kemeko DX and Kannagi tried too hard to either be different or be more then just a comedy show. Maid Guy was one show that did a good job remembering it was a comedy show and if the ending had been stronger, it could have won. Another show that never forgot it was a comedy and still found the time to comment on society and poke fun at people was this year’s best comedy, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I will admit that this comedy isn’t meant for everybody but it’s unique blend of comedy was something I just love.

Best Slice-of-Life

Winner: Natsume Yuujinchou

Runner-up: Someday’s Dreamers Season 2

You really can’t go wrong with either show but I gave the slight edge to Natsume Yuujinchou, aka Natsume’s Book of Friends, because it gave me a better relaxed slice-of-life feeling and I like the ending more. Natsume excelled at those areas that you’d expect a slice-of-life show to do so such as: interesting characters that develop over time and a story that can make the viewer feel a wide range of emotions. One little thing I particularly enjoyed was how everyone had a different name for Nyanko-sensei.

Best Science Fiction

Winner: Kaiba

Kaiba is a really good example of what’s possible with science fiction. It extrapolated a future to tell a story that would be impossible using our current level of technology but at the same time it was able to make the story resonant with us, the viewers. Another reason I was impressed with Kaiba was that most SF shows can’t match print SF in terms of depth, intellectual complexity, and creativity but Kaiba was able to.

Most Entertaining

Winner: Library War

Runner-up: Wagaya no Oinari-sama

For any type of show to be successful, it needs to entertain on some level so I’m going to define “Most Entertaining” as the show that the best at making me feel good after watching it. Library War wins because I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with each other. I also thoroughly enjoyed when the Library forces where able to beat the censorship thugs, if only it was so easy in real life.

Best Mind Trip

Winner: Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Watching Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a rather unique experience.

Every aspect of the show seems designed to give the viewer a very surreal feeling. There’s the animation – at times it’s very standard looking and other times it’s hyperstylized or made using various other mediums. Add to that the amount of text we see. Some of it on signs in the background, telling jokes and making references that oftentimes has nothing to do with what’s going on in the foreground. Other text is conjured by the characters to prove a point and will often fly by so quick that it’s only possible to read by pausing individual frames. And let’s not forget the use of a real picture of some guy’s hairy face. (I know he’s connected to the manga but can’t quite remember how right now.) He pops up multiple times in an episode and in various locations; though, he is frequently used when they want to censor something. The show also has a touch of ADD to itself and can feel like the show’s creators are randomly switching channels in their minds. I do mean all this, in the best possible sense because I like the uniqueness of the show – as you’ll see when I get to my actual top ten shows of the year.

Best Story

Winner: Kaiba

Runner-up: Xam’d: Lost Memories

The story of Kaiba accomplished a lot in the time it had. The first half of the show focused on the main character, Kaiba, as he tried to figure out who he was. A more complex question when a person can swap bodies and add/subtract memories from their mind. It also introduced to the viewers many of the problems that mind uploading would present to society. The second half of the show focuses on the efforts of a terrorist group to usurp the king and Kaiba’s effort to reconnect with the woman he loves after her memories have been altered to further the terrorist group’s agenda. One of the things that surprised me was that I had thought, based on the rather experimental animation, that the story would be too artsy for me but it turned out to be very accessible and down-to-earth.

Most Interesting Setting

Winner: Kurozuka

Runner-up: Kaiba

The mix of the familiar with the alien that post-apocaleptic worlds often have is something that has greatly interested me since I was very young. In this case, the world of Kurozuka helped set the proper mood and make the show feel plausible instead of pure fantasy. I’m not saying Kurozuka was plausible; but, like how the recent Batman movies feel more realistic then the previous movies and series, the setting helped give the show a more realistic feel.

Read Part 0 – Introduction and Anti-awards here.

Read Part 1 – Character Awards here.

Read Part 2 – Cast and Assorted Awards here.

Read Part 4 – Music, Voice, and Animation Awards here.

Read Part 5 – Memorable Moments and Favorite Episodes here.

Read Part 6 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #10 – #6 here.

Read Part 7 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #5 – #1 here.

It’s finally time for me to write up my favorites and top picks in anime for 2008. Between waiting for some series to finish, wanting to marathon a couple of missed series, and catching the new season of anime – I didn’t have the room in my writing time to do this until now. I also wanted to be comprehensive then my seasonal awards and my previous yearly top picks and was successful on that front.

This time before I get to my awards, I wanted to mention what shows I watched this year. It’s these series that will be up for the awards; if a series isn’t on this list, I either dropped it very early or didn’t watch it (for various reasons) and thus you won’t see it mentioned. For the shows that either started in 2007, will continue into 2009, or have a slower sub release schedule, I have marked the episodes watched in 2008.

Some shows like X’amd and Michiko to Hatchin would do poorly in my top 10 ranking because too much of the story is still unrevealed; therefore, I’m shifting their consideration in the ranking to next year.

Winter Season

Bamboo Blade eps. 13-26
Clannad
Shana 2 eps. 13-24
Minami-ke Okawari
Hayate eps. 40-52
Shigofumi
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Spring Season

Kaiba
Soul Eater eps. 1-36
Maid Guy
Library War
Wagaya no Oinari-sama
Nabari no Ou eps. 1-17 (want to finish but haven’t felt like it)
The Daughter of Twenty Faces eps. 1-20
Kure-nai
Zettai Karen Children eps. 1-14 (can’t bring myself to continue)

Summer Season

Zero’s Familiar S.3
Birdy the Mighty Decode
Ryoko’s Case Files
Natsume Yuujinchou
Someday’s Dreamers Season 2
X’amd eps. 1-20

Fall Season

Mouryou no Hako eps. 1-6
Michiko to Hatchin eps. 1-10
Skip Beat eps. 1-12
Yozakura Quartet
Earl and Fairy
Toradora eps. 1-13
Chaos Head
Kemeko DX
Ga-rei Zero
Shikabane Hime: Aka
Kurozuka
Clannad Season 2 eps. 1-12
Index eps. 1-13
Kannagi

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.

Best Half and Half

Winner: Shana 2

The first half of Shana 2 was atrocious. Sometimes I can’t believe that I got through it. If I hadn’t liked Rie Kugimiya as Shana and known how good the show could be, I probably wouldn’t have stuck around for the second half. I did though and a funny thing happened – the show got good, very good. At first my sister and I thought we were hallucinating when we starting thinking to ourselves – I can’t wait for the next episode. So for going from zero to hero, this show deserves the best half and half award.

Worst Half and Half

Winner: Daughter of 20 Faces

On the other hand, Daughter of 20 Faces started out very good. As a Lupin fan, I enjoyed the set-up of the show and eagerly awaited the next episode to see the further adventures of 20 Faces. Roughly a third of the way in, something happened that radically altered the show and it became a very different. I hoped this would pave the way for an even better show but by the halfway point, it became apparent that the creators where just coasting. The show just slowly lost more and more steam and so it earns the worst half and half award.

Most Disappointing Ending

Winner: Kure-nai

Kure-nai was an excellent show with many interesting characters and it quickly became one of my favorites from the spring season. Muraski’s freedom from her deranged family was obviously what the climax was going to center around so I won’t complain too much about how the characters suddenly had to act really dumb to allow Muraski’s family to recapture her. The problem, instead, was how it was resolved. Muraski’s family ascribed to very old traditions and they dictated that Muraski had to live in the Inner Sanctuary, away from everybody and all modern conviences, and had to marry her older brother. Our hero Shinkurou goes in and beats the family within an inch of death and should be able to get them to agree to freeing Muraski but instead Muraski convinces Shinkurou that she will work within the family to loosen the family’s restrictions and they leave her with the family. You don’t leave a kid in a pit of vipers, even if the kid is intelligent. So for totally screwing up the obvious ending and giving us a very bad ending, Kure-nai has the most disappointing ending of the year.

Most in Need of Being Longer

Winner: Library War

This isn’t a horribly bad award to get but I wanted to recognize that even though this was a very fun show, full of awesome moments, it was still hurt by being too short of a series. This could have easily been a 24 episode series. One obvious improvement this would have caused was the various side characters could have been fleshed out further. As it stands, their full depth of character is merely teased to us. Another improvement would have been additional time for a more rigorous anti-censorship message. From what I heard about the source material, much of this was stripped out of the anime due to time restraints.

The Your-Doing-It-Wrong Award

Winner: Minami-ke: Okawari

The second season of Minami-Ke earns the Your-Doing-It-Wrong Award not because the animation couldn’t match the first season but because they messed with the formula that made the first season so funny. As a person that has 5 younger siblings, I know something about how siblings interact and the first season of Minami-Ke nailed it perfectly. The second season monkeyed with this and in several episodes the three sisters where just plain mean to each other and it felt wrong and out-of-character. Then there was the decision to not show the Minami brothers for the entire second season. Another failure was the introduction of the boy that moves in next door. They spent a lot of time on this one character to the detrement of the show. He’s not funny nor does he generate laughs with his presence – bad in a comedy. He’s dweeby and nothing is done to make us like him; whenever he was on screen, I deeply wished someone would just punch him. I would even sometimes imagine a scene where Shinji from Evangelion would just show up one day and roundhouse this kid because Shinji couldn’t stand the kid either.

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

Read Part 1 – Character Awards here.

Read Part 2 – Cast and Assorted Awards here.

Read Part 3 – Genre Awards here.

Read Part 4 – Music, Voice, and Animation Awards here.

Read Part 5 – Memorable Moments and Favorite Episodes here.

Read Part 6 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #10 – #6 here.

Read Part 7 – Top 10 Anime of 2008: #5 – #1 here.

Countdown to the first day of the Heisei Era – night of 07-08 January 1989

Twenty years ago to this day, on 08 January 1989, the Showa Era passed into history and the Heisei Era began. The Showa Emperor had died the day before and his son Akihito was now reigning, and in accordance with tradition a new era name was chosen to mark the transition to a new occupant of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Announcement of the Showa Emperor’s death, followed by the unveiling of the new era name – 07 January 1989

(Note: Another version of the same video – with a running commentary/voice-over in English – is available here. I would recommend watching the original version before the English version, since the announcement of the new era name comes off a little more dramatically without the English-language script overlaid upon it.)

Now this anniversary would have passed quietly without any comment from me, were it not for an interesting piece of information that I picked up this morning on my usual visit to the Mainichi Daily News website.

Apparently, the selection of the new era name wasn’t as straightforward a decision as I had originally thought. In addition to Heisei (平成), two other names were considered: Shuubun (修文) and Seika (正化). All three names were said to represent “peace”. In the end, says the Mainichi Daily News, Heisei was chosen because it was “the easiest and most straightforward” – although I’m not sure I agree since the kanji of Seika seem easier to write and pronounce. In any case, the Heisei Era article on the Japanese-language Wikipedia clears the matter up somewhat: apparently the other names were passed over partly because their romanised equivalents start with the letter “S”, same as the outgoing era name of Showa. I don’t know whether this is true or not – and as always, readers more fluent in Japanese than I am are more than welcome to sift through all the available information (archived news reports may be a good place to start) and confirm or refute this.

Okay, so that’s all very interesting, but I still would have dismissed the anniversary as un-blog-worthy if I’d failed to make the next, vital connection. While reading the first line of the article, I remembered that in the 2008 animated series Toshokan Sensou, the fictional name for the current era (within the context of the anime’s storyline) was Seika (正化). I then learned from the Wikipedia article linked above that the fictional Seika Era started in 1989, the same year in which the Heisei Era began. I suppose this is already common knowledge among Toshokan Sensou junkies, but I’m not a die-hard fan and I never bothered to dig into the original light novel series or any other source material; hence, I was completely unaware that the author used a candidate name for the Heisei Era in her alternate timeline, instead of making something up from scratch (which actually sounds less creative).

Hats off to you, Arikawa Hiro-sensei. I managed to stave off boredom for half an hour thanks to your brilliant choice of an era name.

I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that anime is really about bears. Re-watching Library War confirmed that.

Library War: A story of love and friendship between armed librarians fighting against censorship? A story about a girl who would rather go to prison than hand over her favourite fairytale growing into a young woman who dodges bullets to protect books and artworks, chasing the shadow of the ‘prince’ who once saved her favourite book?

No. It’s all about bears: a love story between a young woman who punches a bear and a man who once punched a bear.

Extra notes: For those who can’t get enough of Kyouko-sama’s voice in this season’s Skip Beat!, by all means check out Library War. The main chara, Kasahara, is also voiced by Inoue Marina. Don’t skip the OP if you do, because it’s something special!

Keinen Weichnachtsstress gibts diese Woche bei:
Earl and Fairy – Episode 10
Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei – OAD 2
Library War – DVD-Special
Nodame Cantabile Paris-Hen – Lesson 11 [ENDE]
Rosario + Vampire Capu2 – Episode 12
Skip Beat – Episode 11
Toradora – Episode 12

Ich freu mich auf den kommenden Frühsommer (mein Geldbeutel eher weniger), dann soll nämlich laut der neuen Animania Gundam 00 bei Beez erscheinen! Beten wir dafür, dass es nicht solange wie bei Eureka 7 dauert, bis die letzte DVD erschienen ist.

Earl and Fairy
10. With What Time Remaining


Edgar hat einen Albtraum, in dem ihn Lydia für die Feenwelt verlässt. Am nächsten Morgen ist sie tatsächlich nicht mehr da. Also lauert er ihr zuhause mit einem Strauß Blumen auf und will sie wegen der vergangenen Nacht gleich mal heiraten. Sie klärt ihn aber schnell über seinen Irrtum auf und wirft ihn mit einer Nein-Antwort heraus; anschließend weint sie sich bei Nico aus. Im Club bekommt der Earl nun das gefundene Bild von Gladys Ashenbart gezeigt, auf deren Schild sich eine Nachricht an ihre Nachfolger befindet. In Edgar wachsen mal wieder Zweifel, ob es richtig war, den Titel des Blue Knight Earls anzunehmen. Doch noch während er sich Sorgen um Ldia macht, taucht Ermine vor ihm auf. Kelpie dringt dafür in Lydias Traum ein und will sie in die Feenwelt mitnehmen, wird aber zum Glück aufgehalten. Aber Kelpie teilt ihr mit, dass Edgar bald sterben wird, schließlich ist der Bernstein nicht verbrannt. Also legt sie den Verlobungsring wieder an und kehrt zurück. Edgar ist allerdings nicht anwesend, nur Paul, und dieser zeigt ihr das Gemälde von Gladys. Der Coblynau zeigt den Zwei dann gleich mal, wo der Bernstein ist, der die Erinnerungen der Banshee verschließt, nämlich als Farbe für Gladys Haare. Lydia wird klar, dass Edgar sich selbst um den Prinzen kümmern will. Also schnappt sie sich das Bild und Paul und mit Hilfe des Coblynau wird ein Tor zur Banshee geöffnet. Nico und Raven suchen derweil gemeinsam nach Edgar, ersterer findet schnell eine Öffnung in die Feenwelt. Allerdings darf er ein Tor nur für Lydia öffnen, also taucht Ermine auf und überzeugt ihn.
Oh mein Gott, Raven wird humorvoll, wenn auch erstaunlich trocken. Ist aber auch schon länger her, dass Sugita mal wieder ein paar Witze in Anime reißen durfte.

Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
02. Pleasure in the Process is the Root of All Evil|Postings from the Bureau of Prediction|Name of the Throes



Nozomu besucht Kitsu mal zu Hause und geht gleich wieder, schließlich war er ja da, irgendwie. In der Schule erklärt er dann, dass die Japaner sowieso ein merkwürdiges Völkchen sind (was wir ja bisher noch garnicht wussten), denn für sie ist der Weg das Ziel. Allem was danach kommt, wird gekonnt aus dem Weg gegangen. In Sozialkunde gehts um Hollywoodfilme: die Dinger brauchen ja nun immer Happy Endings, wobei das Japan (und dem Rest der Welt wahrscheinlich auch) egal ist, solange es gut inszeniert wird. Das vorhergehende Thema wird dann anschließend nochmal bei einer mäßigen Nudelsuppe bewiesen. Langsam wird auch klar, warum die Charaktere plötzlich einen anderen Stil haben: der Zeichner wird erwachsen!
Tut, was getan werden muss, auch wenn es keiner Logik folgt und es euch nichts bringt! Ja, SZS ist jetzt Löwenzahn, wenn auch auf seine eigene Art. Außerdem kommt Kumetas persönlicher Kreuzzug gegen Akamatsus Negima mal wieder zur Sprache (ich will auch so eine Auflage ;__; ), natürlich nur in freundschaftlicher Hinsicht. Clannad-Merchandise sei auch mal wieder unvergessen, bingt ja auch Geld in die Kassen.
Kapitel 3 hat dann so ziemlich den augenfeindlischsten Stil (also in meinen Augen) und beschäftigt sich zu Anfang mit den zurückgehenden Bibliotheksbesuchen. LAut Nozomu liegt der Hauptgrund in Büchern, deren Inhalt überhaupt nicht mit ihrem Titel übereinstimmt. Zwischen Kudo und Kino entspinnt sich schließlich ein Wettkampf um den besten alternativen Titel, bei dem allerdings beide leer ausgehen.
Das Ending wird dann nochmal im besten Mignola-Design runtergerasselt, bevor es wirklich aus ist. Irgendwie. Jedenfalls hat er sich Nozomu nicht umgebracht, also besteht noch die Möglichkeit einer Fortsetzung (Nachtrag: so wie es scheint, steht noch ein Goku aus!). Aber erstmal heißt es Tee schlürfen und Maria†holic in der kommenden Wintersaison genießen.

Library War
Situation ♥♥ Love Handicap



Iku stellt in der Bibliothek einen Perversen, der hinter Schwerhörigen her ist. Komaki geht beim Verhör mit unerwarteter Härte vor, wohl wegen seiner Nachbarin Marie, die ebenfalls schwerhörig ist. Er schenkt ihr eine Pfeife, mit der sie ihn zur Hilfe rufen kann. Ein Buch gibts gratis obendrauf. Mit 15 begannen für sie ihre Hörprobleme; auf dem rechten Ohr wurde sie komplett taub. Sie begann, alles um sich herum zu hassen, doch nicht Komaki, in den sie verliebt ist. Er half ihr wieder auf die Beine. Ein paar Tage später wird Komaki von der Polizei abgeholt, da er eine minderjährige Behinderte, Marie, ausgenutzt haben soll. Komaki geht mit, aber Iku stellt sich dazwischen und fängt sich von Dojo eine Ohrfeige ein. Er entschuldigt sich natürlich hinterher, schließlich wollte er nicht noch ein Mitglied verlieren. Die Library Force unternimmt nun jedenfalls alles mögliche, um ihn zu befreien. Shibasaki hat den Hintergrund der Festnahme in Erfahrung gebracht: Das Buch, dass Marie von Komaki bekommen hat, handelt von einer verliebten Schwerhörigen. Sie hat die Handlung ihren Mitschülerinnen erzählt, eine davon hielt es aber für diskriminierend von Seiten Komakis. Das ganze verbreitete sich recht schnell und irgendwann bekam der Media Enhancement Act davon Wind. Tezuka kommt über ein paar Ecken an Komakis Aufenthaltsort, und Iku und Shibasaki erhoffen sich derweil Hilfe von Marie. Und das macht sie auch, als sie Komaki gefunden haben. Denn nun bezichtigt sie mit lauter Stimme den Staat der Diskriminierung. Komaki sieht endlich ein, dass er sie nicht mehr beschützen kann, sondern sie ihn.
Ein wunderbarer letzter Aufenthalt in der Welt der Bücherei-Kriege, vorallem, weil es sich auf den stark unterschätzten Komaki konzentriert. Beautiful.

Nodame Cantabile Paris-Hen
Lesson 11 [ENDE]



Es ist August, und die Vorsprechen im Roux Marlet stehen an.Chiaki und der Konzertmeester verstehen sich unerwartt gut, die Kandidaten sind fantastisch (und die alten Mitglieder bangen schon um ihre Plätze). Kuroki wird ebenso angenommen wie Paul (trotz seines Bassons). Chiaki macht sich während der Proben bei den alten Mitgliedern aber mal wieder ganz schön unbeliebt, greift er nämlich wieder ordentlich durch, was die Übungsstunden angeht. Rui ist mal wieder Frankreich, Paul trifft sie. Sie muss allerdings schnell wieder weg; er soll den anderen von ihr Hallo sagen. Kuroki soll für den Oboen-Leiter die Tochter vom Kindergarten abholen, denn neben den Konzerten muss er auch noch arbeiten. Catherine (Rie Kugimiya, Shakugan no Shana) ist ziemlich aufgeweckt und sagt Chiaki direkt ins Gesicht, wie fies seine Übungsmethoden sind, denn ihr Vater ist bald am Ende, soviel übt er. Aber es lohnt sich, denn das Konzert wird ein voller Erfolg und somit gelangt das Roux Marlet wieder zum alten Ruhm.
Sicherlich nicht der beste Abgang, den man hätte wählen können, aber bei weitem auch nicht schlecht. Gesteigert hat man sich ja hier nochmal zum Ende hin, also kann man beruhigt der 3. Staffel im kommenden Herbst entgegenfiebern.

Rosario + Vampire Capu2
12. Sealing + Vampire


Die Barriere ist futsch, und somit auch der Frieden! Und das alles nur, weil das Rosenkreuz, das irgendwie damit zu tun hat, zersprungen ist. Tja, und deshalb will Moka nun ihr Rosario einsetzen, doch muss Tsukune es ihr abnehmen. Er zweifelt, also zwingt sie ihn dazu, und setzt es ein. Ein friedliche Woche zieht ins Land, wenn man mal von Akashiyas abweisender Art absieht (außer Tsukune gegenüber, versteht sich, auf eine extreme Art und Weise sogar). Schließlich fängt Tsukune an, Akashiya aus dem Weg zu gehen; Kokoa ist dafür umso zufriedener. Tsukunes Gedanken schwören immernoch bei seiner verlorenen Moka, die, so erklärt er ihr Vamp, eigentlich nur eine Illusion war; sprich, er sollte sich langsam an den Gedanken gewöhnen, sie nie wieder zusehen. Ruby erfährt schließlich vom Direktor, dass Mokas und das als Siegel verwendete Rosario vom selben Erschaffer stammen. Zur Ablenkung ruft Tsukune seine Mutter an, und lügt ihr vor, dass es Moka gut gehen würde. Ruby trifft sich mit Tsukune, und gesteht sich ein, dass sie die Barriere nicht vor dem Zusammenbruch schützen konnte. Und sie erzählt ihm von einer Möglichkeit, Moka zurück zuholen. Elterntag steht mal wieder an, also sind die 3 Terrormütter wieder zur Stelle (nagut, Yukaris Muttter macht nicht mehr als mit den Armen fuchteln, ‘ne Seiyuu hat sie ja nicht gekriegt). Mizore hat letzte Nacht dann gleich mal spontan (ja, da ist es wieder!) entschieden, Tsukune zu heiraten, dieses Elend kann ja so nicht weitergehen. Kurumu will aber auch, ergo Zickenterror. Mithilfe Yukaris Mutter einigt man sich dann aber darauf, erstmal Tsuki zu fragen. Problem: der ist irgendwie nicht da. Der will nämlich zum Hades-König, dem Hersteller von Mokas Rosario. Kurz trifft er noch Akashiya, von der er sich verabschiedet, dann gehts weiter auf seinem Bike in Richtung Norden. Trotz des netten Angebotes will er nicht beim Busfahrer (auch ein Gründer der Schule?) mit, der weist ihm dafür dann aber wenigstens den Weg. Und Kokoa verfolgt ihn natürlich wieder…

Skip Beat
11. Barefaced Storm


Und weiter gehts mit dem Angriff auf Shos Schwachstellen, diesesmal: Badminton. Er soll spielen, gegen Bou. Der stellt sich aber garnicht mehr ungeschickt an und kriegt noch mehr Punkte auf seinem Fankonto. Schließlich muss Kyoko ihre Geheimwaffe einsetzen, die früher immer funktioniert hat, jetzt allerdings aufgrund der niedrigen Decke grandios fehlschlägt. Langsam vermutet Sho, dass Kyoko unter dem Hühnerkostüm steckt. Kyoko kriegt nun Ärger von ihrem Chef, der ihr sogar mit Hausverbot droht, sollte sie nochmal so eine Nummer abziehen. Nach der Werbung versucht Sho herauszufinden, wer nun unter dem Kostüm steckt, das endet allerdings in einer Schlägerei und Kyoko in einem Käfig. Nach Ende der Show türmt Kyoko schließlich, noch immer im Kostüm steckend. Schließlich verläuft sie sich auch noch und trifft auf einen ziemlich deprimierten Ren. Der bittet sie ums Handy, das hat sie allerdings vergessen. Und warum ncith das seines Managers? Nun, der hat ein ausgesprochenes Talent bei der Zerstörung elektronischer Geräte. Schließlich stößt Kyoko auf das Problem: er versteht eine Textzeile im Drehbuch nicht. Aber natürlich reagiert er extrem wütend, bricht dann aber in Lachen aus. Er versteht die Redewendung des Kyomai-Tanzes nicht, er hält ihn für einen echten Tanz… KYoko lacht wie wild los und nun bemerkt Ren seine falsche Annahme. Schließlich kippt Kyoko in Gedanken an Sho mal wieder um und Ren will ihr den Kopf abnehmen. Sie behauptet jetzt aber einfach, dass sie sich noch eine Weile an ihren verlorenen Job klammern will, ihm ist das schließlich noch nie passiert. Oder? Eigentlich schon, er wollte schnell berühmt werden, und hat die größten Anfängerfehler begangen. Und da er damals in den USA war, weiß in Japan zum Glück niemand etwas davon. Abschließend bedankt er sich dann auch noch für Bous große Hilfe.

Toradora
12. Oubashi High School Cultural Festival Part 2


Schulfest steht an, somit auch Training (sieht aber eher nacht Tanzübungen einer Gruppe Beinloser aus)! Taiga geht nun öfters mit ihrem Vater zu Abend essen, der zieht allerdings eine ziemlich linke Nummer ab, denn er will seine Tochter ganz für sich haben. Ryuji siehts nur positiv und zerstreitet sich deswegen gleich mal mit Minorin. Taigas Vater will auch noch zur Vorführung kommen, weshalb sie sich gleich mal bei Ami mit Makronen einschleimt, um einmal als Heldin auftreten zu können. Die Wrestling-Show läuft dann auch verdammt gut, von einem kleinen Zwischenfall durch Yurichan-sensei mal abgesehen. Taigas Vater taucht allerdings nicht mehr auf…

This year, we’re going with the whole “moments” of anime theme, as proposed by CCY. And it should be pretty easy, considering how many epic anime we watched this year…

Episode 10 of Library War was full of tumultuous conflicts, all of which poor Iku managed to get involved in. Her band of Task Force members is dispatched to Ibaraki, her hometown, to protect a museum. Iku isn’t exactly greeted warmly by the female librarians there, and her life is promptly turned into hell. And then there’s the issue of her parents…

BUT! Our fearless heroine has Doujou by her side, and so what do they do? (Get your minds out of the gutter, guys.)

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW. This scene hit me especially hard for some reason; I guess it’s partly because I figured those two would NEVER get together, and then he went and huggled her~ and partly because… well, let’s just say Doujou reminded me a bit too much of someone. Even now, despite the clichedness of the whole episode, it’s one of my favorites because of the sap factor.

And, y’know, it just occurred to me that Library War needs a Christmas OVA or something. With mistletoe.

~CJ

Últim capítol de Toshokan no Sensou.

BT NyaaTorrents

Vídeo: x264
Àudio: MPEG 3 Layer
Resolució: 1280×720

Situació 12 – La Biblioteca és per tots

This is probably the first series in a loooooong time to make me rewatch episodes less than 24 hours after initially viewing them. It’s that good.

And while I could go on and on and gripe about the shoujo-tastic ending, and how the series neeeeeeeded to be longer, and how some of this series is just so unrealistic… it’s the characters and their trials and their growth that made it awesome. The politics, the action the romantic drama, the character development, and the sheer slice-of-life moments all added up to make Library War the most lovable series I’ve seen in a long time (and a darn hard series to write a spoiler-free-ish review about.)

Because freedom of expression and having the right to read what you want is SRS BSNS.

Iku is the character who I could relate to most in this series, and I ended up liking her more than I should: she’s a crybaby, a bit whiny, and doesn’t have much regard for authority or the rules.

… oh, dangit, that’s exactly why I can relate to her >_>;;; Her lack of respect for authority and her constant disagreements with people are what end up causing her to learn and mature. She can be sympathized with by anyone if you consider her youth and lack of real-world experience (possibly stemming from those protective parents we were introduced to.)

Her friendship with Doujou made me baaaaaawwww quite a bit, partly because of just how realistic it was. Their conflicting views of things aren’t just a matter of what they think, it’s about how they think about it. Emotion versus logic, for example, is one underlying conflict between the two. As they get to know each other better, they learn from each other — Iku learns logic, and Doujou learns how to care. Somewhat typical, yes, but it’s better than watching shallow doe-eyed girls getting smutted by generic hot guys.

Of course, the character dynamics can only get you so far; the characters themselves are often an entirely different ball game. Doujou is a bit dull without Iku around, unfortunately, and his tightwad attitude toward her early on is boring until we begin to learn just how he aims to help her grow. But that’s almost made up for by his loyalty to… well, everything. He’s a military man to the core and faithful to his comrades, very much like Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Tezuka and Shibasaki were both fascinating characters, with Tezuka’s half stoic, half friendly nature and Shibasaki’s lovingly gossipy tendencies being fleshed out somewhat over the course of the series. I wish their relationship could have gotten more screen time, though; that scene in the park at the end was completely ship-tastic ^_^;;

Komaki and the other military guys were a bit flat, but in a 12-episode series, you can’t expect the writers to flesh out every minor character. (At least Genda was enjoyably GAR…) They were all still nice to watch, considering none of them were horribly cliched.

The plot wasn’t the series’ strongest point, certainly, but its execution, which used the best characteristics of a variety of genres, made it more than worthwhile. There’s a few unrealistic coincidences, mild plot holes, and cliches, but I don’t think there’s a single series out there that doesn’t have at least one of those. (Except for, you know, maybe FMA. <3) Whining about minor plot flaws isn’t really valid, considering everything else the series did right to mask said minor plot flaws. The plot is full of minor events and struggles that add nicely to the slice-of-life atmosphere given off by several of the episodes.

The music, apart from the awesome opening theme, is really nothing special, but at least it didn’t murder any of the emotional scenes with a chopstick through the forehead. The animation isn’t too awesome either, but it’s up-to-par for a TV series, and the style that the art is done in brings a lot to the series in terms of atmosphere. I just wish they would’ve made Doujou hotter…

By the way… I did finish this series forever ago. It wasn’t one of those series that I watched the first 10 episode of and then almost-dropped for about 3 months like StrikerS. It was just incredibly hard to review, partly because I couldn’t decide on a rating (9 or 9.5 out of 10?) and partly because Library War is a hard series to describe. It’s slice-of-life without being wussy, it’s action without being “my Super Saiyan mode is better than yours!”, it’s funny without being crack-addicted, and it’s emotional without being emo. It has flawed characters than viewers can heap love and hope upon, and it’s a darn good series to watch while waiting for FMA season 2. ‘Nuff said.

CJ’s rating: 9 out of 10 California rolls

Possibly objectionable content: Probably a little swearing, depending on whose subs you watch. A few people die in the action scenes, and there’s one particularly scary scene near the end of the series. The romantic side of things, however, doesn’t go past hugging, a bit of flirting and maybe one or two kisses (don’t remember who, if anyone, kissed.) 13+ age rating, I suppose.

~CJ

La més excel·lent obra d’art de l’any es troba a una exposició de Mito, Ibaraki. De nom “Llibertat”, aquesta escultura suposa una afronta directa cap el Comitè d’Amillorament de Premsa. El Comitè farà tot lo possible per acabar amb eixa ofensa en forma d’obra d’art. El Grup de Tasques de la Brigada de Llibres estarà allà per a detindre-los i frenar la seua irracionalitat.

BT NyaaTorrents

Vídeo: x264
Àudio: MPEG 3 Layer
Resolució: 1280×720

Situació 11 – Lluita fins a la mort! La defensa de l’exposició d’Ibaraki

วันนี้นึกตรึ้มอยากดูการ์ตูน แต่พอหาไปหามาก็ไปเจอเรื้องนี้เค้า สงครา มห้องสมุด (Library War) พอสรุปได้ว่าเนื้อเรื่องเกิดขึ้นในปีเซย์กะที่ 31  เนื่องจากรัฐบาลต้องการกวาดล้าง เซ็นเซอร์สื่อแบบไม่เลือกหน้า ทำให้มีประชาชนบางส่วนรู้สึกอีดอัดที่ถูกแย่งชิงเสรีภาพไป ห้องสมุดจึงได้จัดตั้งกองกำลังห้องสมุด (คล้ายซุปเปอร์ฮีโร่ 5 สี) มาต่อสู้กับกองกำลังของรัฐบาล ใครมีความสามารถฟังภาษาญี่ปุ่นออกก็เชิญเลยครับ แต่ถ้าใครฟังไม่ออก (เหมือนผม) ก็ดูได้ (ถ้าอยากดู) อิอิ

แหล่งข้อมูลอื่น http://darkneon.exteen.com/20081023/entry , http://projectlib.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/library-war-toshokan-sensou/ . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshokan_Sens%C5%8D , http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-04-03/library-war-promo-movie-commercial-posted-online

It’s rant time. (And yes, there are massive spoilers ahead, mainly for Macross Frontier, Toshokan Sensou and Code Geass.)

Pretty much every spring 2008 series broke my heart in one way or another. I now have a very long list of exes.

Code Geass R2
Breakup because: That end killed Lulu/C.C.

I actually stopped watching this about halfway through because, obviously, it trainwrecked. I did, however, keep up with the plot via Kurogane and T.H.A.T. in hopes that it would magically re-rail itself.

As you probably know by now, it didn’t. I gotta say, though, the whole Geassing Jupiter (aka GOD) thing was five different kinds of epic.

I may not know every detail of every episode (like some people) but some of the characters that ended up living SHOULD HAVE DIED. Like Nina. Sorry, Table-tan, but even Rolo’s cooler than you, and he didn’t even last as long as the Emperor.

And all that crap with the Codes was really a waste of brainpower.

I could rant on this for hours, but I won’t, because my head hurts (for reasons involving fanart and Spanish class. don’t ask) and it’s rather pointless to obsess over such things as plot. Instead, I will spend my time mourning for the lost jewel OTP that is Lulu/C.C.

tl;dr: Sunrise is a crack whore. (Yes, Owen, my tl;dr summary is superior to yours.)

Macross Frontier
Breakup because: Pimp. No, seriously, SHUT UP AND PICK A GIRL ALREADY.

Protip: Girls hate pimps. (Well, there are exceptions, but any girl worth dating hates pimps.) Alto still couldn’t decide between Sheryl or Ranka at the end of the series, therefore he is either a wuss or a pimp. And since, you know, he rides out into battle and fights Vajra all the time, it’s safe to say he’s not a wuss.

Oh, and I seriously think Sheryl should’ve died. I was very happy with her character development over the course of the series (mature lady > slut), and I loved her at the end of episode 19; but she still should’ve died, partly to avoid Mary-Sue/Deux Ex Machina-dom, and partly because I ship Alto/Ranka.

OH, WAIT, I FORGOT: I don’t ship Alto/Ranka anymore, because Ranka turned into a total dweeb who’s stupider than half of my school’s Honors English students combined. (Yes, I mean that with every inch of my not-stabbed-yet,still-beating heart.)

Thanks for screwing with my head, Frontier. See you next deculture.

Actually, I take that back, I’d rather not…

Toshokan Sensou (Library War)
Breakup because: You don’t last long enough. (Please don’t take that out of context, y’all.)

How is it that crack whore Zero no Tsukaima harem series get 26+ episodes and the awesomeness that is Toshokan Sensou only has 12? There’s still more novels to be animated, and the manga just isn’t enough to do the series justice. Animated Iku chibis and action > static chibis and action.

Also, moar Iku/Doujou. At least we got that happy ending. I seriously DID think he was gonna die. ;~~~~~~;

Crystal Blaze
Breakup because: You’re just weird.

Crystal Blaze was doing just fine, albeit weird and unoriginal, until around episode 9. Then that trainwreck of a climax just killed it for me; I never finished it, partly out of sheer laziness. Evil doctor whut? Seriously.

Also, too much fanservice. I never thought I’d say that about this series, but it’s just so much more annoying when 80% of the time it’s SRS BSNSS fanservice and it acts pretentious, which instead makes it hilarious.

Junjou Romantica
(yes, I watched some)
Breakup because: Crack addicted, shallow, and not even straight.

Enough said.

Monochrome Factor
Breakup because: See above.

Neo Angelique Abyss
Breakup because: Boring.

I wasn’t even expecting this to be great or anything, but I couldn’t even make it through the first episode. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s when you know the director is either on crack or an idiot. Or perhaps both.

… Out of morbid curiousity, did ANYONE watch this series?

Bus Gamer
Breakup because: Nothing special, kinda boring… but heck, I would’ve been fine with that if there would’ve been more Kenichi Suzumura to make up for it.

Gunfights, emo guys and… only three episodes? In this genre, you can’t accomplish ANYTHING in three episodes, thus it ended with a whimper. At least the last episode was well-executed, and we got some Suzuken goodness out of it.

The saddest part is, I will probably never have the time to go back and watch all the alleged gems from that season, because Fall 2008’s packed with stuff I at least want to try/watch/blog.

Sigh.

~CJ

Well…I liked the art and the music.  And when it was an action series seriously considering freedom of expression (in a slightly less than believable manner, but still…) it was a great series.  Too bad those types of episodes made up only 1/3 of the series.  The rest was cheesy, mediocre romantic comedy including out of place and ugly SD character designs for Iku whenever she went off the deep end.  For the hundredth time.

Hooooboy was this a disappointing series for me, or what?  I eagerly plowed into given the premise and my own career path (in just a couple of months I’ll have my Master’s of Library Science).  I expected action and thought provoking concepts.  A little comedy? Sure–many of the best serious shows have at least a little.  Some romance?  Why not, it usually doesn’t detract too much.

Except for when the series turns out to be about shallow romance and slapstick-esque comedy, with the enthralling general plot playing second fiddle to shoutings of “You idiot!” and “Lt. Doujou!” by the fighting-but-clearly-soon-to-be-amorous male and female leads.

Why?  Why did the excellent episodes, such as the one where they projected a copy of Fahrenheit 451 or other library documents have to be downplayed to see yet another fluffy series about an overbearing and paternalistic senpai male becoming romantically involved with the emotionally stunted, unreliable but very strong kohai girl that he fights with constantly?  There could have been so much substance, but unfortunately they went for the cookie cutter style with a bit of cool thrown in.

Now, I will give the series credit for the art and music.  Catchy opening and closing themes are always appreciated.  The intros for most episodes could also be amusing (I particularly liked the one by Shibasaki).  I also found myself particularly enamored with the art and character designs.  I really like the thick inking that was done, and the slightly more realistic without really being realistic style used on the characters.  Given how much 90s anime I watch, it was nice to see people with normal hair colors, rather than blue or pink hair that defies gravity.

I’m not sure knowing then what I know now would really help my opinion of the series.  Actually, it might have kept me from watching it in the first place.  And at this point, I can’t see a problem with that particular destiny.  Really, it’s not that bad, it’s just so completely average that it’s almost more infuriating than a bad series.  The only thing worse than awful is mediocrity.  At least you can laugh at awful.  Mediocrity just makes you cringe and feel uncomfortable and embarrassed for whomever created it.

Seriously now, bullying?  Adults bullying in such an over-the-top manner that wouldn’t even look right in a show about teenagers?  This was Hana Yori Dango level of over-the-top, and at least in that show you could pretend there was a reason, but this?  What a lame episode.

On the other hand, the tension between Task Force and the Ibaraki Library team is very interesting.  Using brute strength to require them to take on a weaponry approach gives me a chill, and I’m very much looking forward to see how badly it’s going to hurt the Task Force when they are faced with the reality that perhaps their way isn’t always the right way…Assuming that’s what happens, of course.

But still, what was up with the lame, random bullying?  And of course Iku doesn’t say anything, blah blah blah…This episode was just a bit to formulaic for my taste, which is a shame because it had some interesting concepts (see above) and followed an enjoyable enough episode.

Sakura being Sakura

Another relatively light week of anime; however, I was able to finish one of my favorite shows from the spring season, Library War.

The scores:

Zero’s Familiar S.3, episode 8 – 10/12 A

Birdy the Mighty Decode, episode 8 – 12/12 Perfect

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 6 – 12/12 Perfect
Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 7 – 12/12 Perfect

Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 8 – 12+/12 Perfect

Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 16 – 11/12 A+
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 17 – 12/12 Perfect

Library War, Episode 7 – Rating 12/12 Perfect
Library War, Episode 8 – Rating 12+/12 Perfect
Library War, Episode 9 – Rating 12+/12 Perfect
Library War, Episode 10 – Rating 12+/12 Perfect
Library War, Episode 11 – Rating 12++/12 Perfect
Library War, Episode 12 – Rating 12++/12 Perfect

Thoughts and Highlights

I'm so going to grow chamomile next year.

Almost half of the anime I watched was from Library War; which wasn’t a bad thing. I remembered why I liked the series so much. We got nice resolution to many, if not all, story threads. I could have used a few more episodes but no one asks me when deciding show lengths.

Yeah, that was me about a month ago on vacation

Birdy continues to impress. The scene above, incidently, was another example of people reading my mind. Also, after complaining about the animation drop a couple episodes ago, I noticed the animation was much better again in this episode.

Beware the red clouds - they can't be good

Xam’d continues to be a solid anime that’s obviously building to something. It’s been flawlessly, or nearly so, and these two episodes continue the pattern.

There’s not much else to say – there were no surprises this week. Natsume continues as being the perfect slightly melancholic slice-of-life show for late summer. Wagaya keeps being an entertaining anime and Zero’s Familiar continues to be decent.

]]> http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/library-war-%e2%80%93-series-review/ Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:11:06 +0000 steelbound http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/library-war-%e2%80%93-series-review/

Sometimes I get the feeling that people can pluck thoughts out of mind. This occurs most often when reading XKCD but this time I get the distinct feeling that the people behind Library War probed my mind to see what type of series I would like to watch. It’s like they knew I read Fahrenheit 451 in school and developed a hatred of censorship and book burning. Or since elementary school, I ‘ve enjoyed going to the library and on the day of my 18th birthday, I went to the library to get an adult card so they couldn’t hassle me anymore for trying to take out SF on a juvenile card. Or that I’d inherently find the idea of a band of “Heroes of Justice” defending books and the library as one of the most awesome sounding plots possible.

Final Series Score: 11/12 11.5/12 Near Perfect
Rewatchablity: high
Pros: High production values, characters were lovable and fun to watch even if they weren’t orginial, the anti-censorship message was nicely woven into the show without the show feeling like it was preaching, chibi-characters are always comedic gold
Cons: The idea of allowing two competeing government-sanctioned forces to have battles in urban environments is absurd and might make enjoyment of the series impossible for some, 12 episodes is just too short for this series

Awards that this blog has given to the show

• #5 in Top 5 for Spring Season 2008
• Best Couple for Spring Season 2008

Brand loyalty prevented me from finishing this series earlier so don’t equate the lateness of this series review as a comment on the quality of the show.

This show takes place in an alternative Japan that had a law passed in 1989 to censor books that were potentially harmful to the people. Shortly after that, another law was passed that allowed the library to defend itself from the agents of censorship. In the following decades the conflict between the two escalated to full-on urban warfare. The armed wing of the libraries are known as the Library Force and it’s the group that our main character, Iku Kasahara, wants to join.

She isn’t a person that one would look at and think that she loved books enough to join the Library Force – she was an athlete in high school and did very poorly in her studies. Her life was forever changed, as the saying goes, when she happened to get caught in a raid by the censorship thugs while in a bookstore. She was saved from trouble and able to buy the book she wanted because a “Prince” of the Library Force had showed up and declared the books of the bookstore where now under the jurisdiction of the library (a somewhat rash and expensive course of action). From that day Kasahara wanted to do nothing else but join the Library Force. She accomplishes her goal, even becoming the first female in the elite squad of the Library Force, and starts going on missions to defend books from the censorship thugs.

The biggest obstacle in liking this series, I believe, is it’s implausible setup but since I’m very good at justifying things to myself I thought up 3 reasons why I won’t let the setup bother me and also why it’s not that implausible.

The first is that how many anime shows are plausible in the first place? Sure, I can think of shows like SF shows like Planetes that are seem plausible and shows like Bamboo Blade or Azumanga Daioh that are entirely realistic, but they are definitely in the minority. For every one plausible there’s at least two that aren’t so I shouldn’t unfairly single one series out as being implausible.

The second is that laws have a habit of expanding far past what was originally intended and without regard to actual circumstances. For instance, look at airport security since 9/11. The main problem was how to make sure terrorists don’t use airplanes as bombs again. My solution was to build cockpit doors that couldn’t be broken into and keep the door closed at all times, no matter what. Problem solved. So why is there all this invasive searching, fingerprinting of incoming foreign citizens, and treating people like sub-humans? It seems like almost everyone just accepts this now without a second thought. So is it that implausible to think two laws passed by the Japanese government would slowly mutate society into the situation of the show and no one really questions it?

The third is the fighting on the show can be seen as just poetic license by the creator to make physical the verbal and intellectual fighting that both sides of the censorship debate carry out. I’m reminded of the scene in Field of Dreams where there’s an impassioned debate at a school board meeting about removing a book from the school library. All it needed was some guns and it would have fit within this show.

Past that, it’s really hard for me to knock the show for anything substantial. However, I will mention here that I remember reading a review that mentioned that the anime stripped a bunch of stuff out from the source material. Since I’m not familiar with the source material – this did not impede my liking of the anime and only makes me want to read the light novels this was based on.

One of this show’s strongpoints is it’s characters. Not to say that they’re unique – they fit into well-known character types, but there is a warmth to them that overcomes this. So even though the main character, Kasahara, is a “hot-headed idiot” type character, you can’t help but root for her as she tries to make her way as a member of the Library Force. And her relationship with her sempai, Dojo, is nearly identical as that of Tenabe’s in Planetes but it doesn’t matter and your really happy when they finally get together.

Another strength of this show related to the characters was the people where depicted realistically. We see people protesting the libraries for trying to stop the censoring of books, as if this censoring will make society better. Also, we see the pettiness people can display when at one of the branch libraries the administrative group continually bullied the library force group. And we even watch as one of the side characters that was introduced as being a perfect recruit for the Library Force isn’t perfect after all because he has a weakness in his inability to connect with little children.

Other things to like about this show include a good performance by Kasahara’s seiyuu – Marina Inoue – who did Yoko’s voice in Gurren Lagann and Kana in Minami-ke. (Speaking of which, I’m really excited to hear that Minami-ke is getting a third season – it’s one of the best comedy shows ever.) The animation was very good and the use of chibi-characters is always a plus. Also, both the opening and closing were above average.

My favorite part of the show was in episode 9 when the new members had to take an exam that included a practical task. For this year, they had to interest a group of small kids and then read to them from a book. Kasahara, normally horrible with tests, creates this hands-on activity that uses leaves and nuts from various trees around the library to interest the kids and she ends up getting the highest score on that part of the test. What I think I loved the most about this scene was that it showed how cool the library could be. And a close second was watching someone who normally has trouble with tests excel at it.

I would have really liked to give this show a perfect score but in the end I couldn’t say it’s perfect when it’s premise was so far from being perfect. However, the show was a very fun anime that I enjoyed watching and hope it’s anti-censorship message gets people to think a bit.

]]> http://0snow.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/toshokan-sensou/ Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:39:52 +0000 0snow http://0snow.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/toshokan-sensou/

This series ended recently around end of June. It was part of the Spring anime season. Unfortunately, I found out that I have downloaded tbhe 704×400 batch for the entire series. It isn’t too bad though, the 704×400 resolution. But i’m guessing I will redownload the 1280×720 version since it’s 720p. Both of significantly large differences in memory, the 720p version has a total size of about 4.0GB while the 400p has about 2.0GB. I will archive the 720p version. However if you have slow processor power, it is recommended to download the 400p version. Menclave and Froth-Bite did extremely well in terms of the quality and translations. However, the fonts were surprisingly small.

Toshokan Sensou 720p batch 1-12

Video : Library War
Music : Last Alliance – Katahiza no yogore / RD Sennou Chousashitsu ED