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.

One thing that keeps me coming back to anime is the chibis. I love chibis. They’re just so damn cute. The type of thing that you could pet for days on end and not get bored of. Any comedy show taht relies heavily on chibification always gets a laugh out of me. Sure, shows can work without it (though most shows use this technique anyway) but I think chibification does a lot of things at once that makes the joke more accessible, and funnier, to the viewer.

The simplicity of the characters and character designs during the scene shows that it’s meant to be seen as simple, childish fun. You’re not meant to be looking at character/plot development or dialogue or subtlety – it’s meant to be enjoyed for the lack of complexity. There’s a contrast between the normal style of most anime (or the show in question) and the chibified style also makes the viewer look at the scene from a different, more light-hearted perspective.

Similarly, the simplicity of the scene means the viewer isn’t meant to take it seriously. If this happens, then the viewer’s more relaxed and open to whatever jokes are coming. In fact, they’re expecting comedy so they’ll probably find it even funnier, and when something fulfills your expectations, you’re much more satisfied.

It’s also a great technique economically. Thought the art and animation aren’t as good, there’s nothing sacrificed when it comes to the main purpose of the technique: the comedy.

Then there’s the fact that it’s so damn cute. That helps too.

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.

Hola perdón por la tardanza(de nuevo), pero tengo muchas cosas que hacer, pero aun así logro dedicar algo de tiempo al blog, me disculpo por lo que lo siguen, tratare de ser mas activo, bueno comienzo con este nuevo anime, que me llamo mucho la atención.

Wagaya No Oinari-sama:

Un día, el hijo menor de la familia Takagami, Takagami Tooru, tiene un sueño, en donde una mujer vestida de forma tradicional le pregunta su nombre, y al Tooru contestar le dice que un día vendrá por el, luego de eso Tooru y su hermano mayor, Takagami Noboru, van a la casa de su abuela, la que es una sacerdotisa, y al hablarle del sueño de Tooru, la abuela decide que deben de liberar al espíritu zorro sellado por los Mizuchi por generaciones, el gran espiritu zorro Tenko Kuugen.

Luego, Una sacerdotisa, a la que denominan “Sentinela” de nombre Kou, acompaña a la abuela, y a los hermanos al lugar del sello del zorro, en ese lugar, los hermanos se enteran de que por no haber alguien mas para heredar el lugar de la “Cabeza de la familia Mizuchi”, Noburo por ser el hermano mayor, se convierte en la cabeza de la familia a la sorpresa de su hermano menor.

La abuela le entrega a Noboru una especie de conjuro, que solo puede ser recitado por la cabeza de la familia, y que con ello el podrá abrir el lugar del sello del zorro, al entrar al lugar ven a un zorro dorado dormido, y cuando comienza a hablar, los hermanos lo ven con mucha sorpresa, la abuela le pide de que ayude a su nieto que esta siendo objetivo de un espíritu maligno. pero ella se niega, ya que ellos la sellaron en esa roca por generaciones y ahora quieren un favor, y la sellaron porque el zorro, iso muchas bromas tales como mandar un calamar gigante a atacar un barco, y cosas asi.

Pero cuando la abuela le contó de que eran hijos de Miyako Takagami, la anterior cabeza de los Mizuchi, ella decide ayudarlos, y tooru, le da el sobrenombre de Kuu-Chan, al cual ella le agrada, luego de unas cuantas ecenas, Kuu, aparece ante ellos en una forma femenina, y tiene el aspecto de una chica rubia, joven y despampanante, y les comenta que si no les gusta también puede optar una apariencia masculina, vemos como kuu pelea con la mujer, después de una feroz batalla vemos que la mujer no era nada mas que una culebra, que quería ser poderosa al beber la sangre de tooru.

Cuando todo termino, a Noboru le dan la elección de sellar de nuevo a Kuu o dejarla libre, pero a kuu se el ocurre la idea de ser la guardiana a tiempo completo de los hermanos, y también les dice que les agarro cariño, cosa a que ellos responden de la misma forma y termina viviendo con ellos, al igual que la sentinela Kou, que también fue enviada para protegerlos, ahi es donde comienza la historia, llena de las locuras de Kuu, peleas, un monton de cosas muy interesantes.

La serie cuenta con 24 episodios de 24 minutos cada uno.

Review de Cloud

Bueno, este anime cuenta con una historia muy divertida, tiene bastante echii, las locuras de kuu te divierten bastante, las peleas son bastante entretenidas, los personajes tienen mucho carisma, en especial kuu, y la inadaptada de kou, a la que veremos hacer cosas, que solo demuestran que carece de sentido común pero son divertidas.

Veremos a mas dioses, y un montón de enemigos tratando de destruir a los hermanos takagami, en especial a tooru, y también veremos a kuu y sus diferentes personalidades con sus 3 formas, ademas de que en su forma de hombre o mujer atrae las miradas de muchos, cosa que solo problema les trae a los hermanos, en este caso mas que todo al pobre de Noboru, que tiene que pagar por todo, en fin es una serie muy interesante que merece la pena verla no se van a arrepentir.

Puntuación de cloud: a este anime le otorgo una puntuación de 8/10

Nota:Este anime NO cuenta con sus 24 episodios traducidos por un fansub en español, si la desean ver completa tal como lo hice yo, recurran a verla en ingles pero como les comente no se van a arrepentir.

I start with the character awards partly because I feel once a show establishes a great cast of characters then it’s 70% of the way to ensuring that I’ll like it. And it doesn’t matter what type of show, any show can be improved with good character development.

Best Female Main Character

Winner: Ryoko from Ryoko’s Case Files

Runner-up: Iku Kasahara from Library War

An accurate description of Ryoko would be a cross between an adult Haruhi Suzumiya and the police skill of the Major from GiTS:SAC. A very potent combination and it helped make the show a must watch. My favorite Ryoko-ism was towards the end of the series when she took refuge in an empty underground mall, trying to hide from numerous soldiers trying to kill her. She realizes that her clothes are torn and dirty so she picks a killer outfit out, leaves her charge card, then calmly showers and dresses as if she’s going to a party and not to a firefight. We really need to see more shows like Ryoko’s Case Files that focus on characters that are adults because it’s so refreshing for the change of pace.

Best Male Main Character

Winner: Ryuuji from Toradora

Runner-up: Kogarashi from Maid Guy

Everyone has their little problems that they have to live with. For Ryuuji, it’s the fact that he looks like his Yakuza father – mean and dangerous. This is a problem because Ryuuji is a nice guy and just wishes for people to treat him normally. He happens to be a bit odd though because a sale at the grocery store or having the chance to clean away mold makes his day. What makes him the best male main character is that he’s truly a really nice guy. He’s also fiercely loyal to his friends, willing to go to whatever means necessary to help them with whatever their problems are and he’s also insightful and thoughtful.

Best Female Supporting Character

Winner: Minorin from Toradora

Runner-up: Ami from Toradora

I didn’t think Ami would become a character I like when she was introduced but she’s been slowly rising in the ranks. She’s a completely different person then either Taiga or Minorin but she’s shown her own positive qualities. It wasn’t enough to dislodge Minorin from the top spot because Minorin has been awesome since the beginning. Her energetic outbursts and attitude always steel the show when she’s onscreen. However, this spastic personality hides a more serious personality that she doesn’t allow people to see though she seems to be lowering her guard to Ryuuji. So for her screen-stealing personality, sunny disposition, and being a good friend to Taiga, Minorin gets my nod for best female supporting character.

Best Male Supporting Character

Winner: Dan-kun from Bamboo Blade

Runner-up: Sunohara from Clannad

One of the surprising things about Bamboo Blade was Dan-kun, Miya Miya’s boyfriend and friend to Yuuji. He was short, looked very egg shaped, and seemed to be there for comedic purposes. Over the course of the series though, we see him mature as he works hard at learning Kendo. He also is a good boyfriend by providing support to Miya Miya so she can face her inner demons and her external tormentors. He earned a lot of respect from the characters and by the final episode, he is elected the head of the kendo club which was something that would have been unfathomable at the start.

Best Non-human Character

Winner: Nyanko-sensei from Natsume Yuujinchou

Runner-up: Kuu from Wagaya no Oinari-sama

Nyanko-sensei is a spirit that had been sealed into a Luck Cat statue until Natsume accidentally lets him loose. He makes an agreement with Natsume to be his body guard under the condition that when Natsume dies, Nyanko-sensei takes ownership of the Book of Friends. At the time I thought that Nyanko-sensei would just kill Natsume at the first opportunity but Nyanko-sensei never seemed to even think of doing so. As the show unfolded, I realized that Nyanko-sensei actually likes Natsume as a friend. His gruff, catlike personality with his liking of alcohol is a great counterpoint to the often sad events of the show. And because he’s strong in his original form and also because he’s well-known amoung the spirits – oftentimes he is the one that saves Natsume from being killed.

Strongest Female Character

Winner: Sora from Someday’s Dreamers Season 2

Runner-up: Nagisa from Clannad

I’m defining strong in a more general sense then just being physically strong and both Sora and Nagisa strike me as being strong women. Neither are particularly physically strong but they both have problems that would make most normal people despair, yet they can smile and live as if nothing is wrong. Sora edged Nagisa out because we still have half a season of Clannad left and much of her story still left to see.

Strongest Male Character

Winner: Kogarashi from Maid Guy

Runner-up: Natsume from Natsume Yuujinchou

I had to give this award to Kogarashi. I can’t say he’s emotionally strong like Natsume because I’m not sure that Kogarashi has emotions. He’s more like a force of nature that’s not totally explainable to us mere humans. He can control crows, has x-ray vision, can plug a USB printer cord into his ear and print images from his mind, he’s taught at M.I.T., can wrestle with a panda bear, and the list goes on. In the show he works as a maid and strives for perfect service, even if his master disagrees.

Best Female Screen-grabber

Winner: Sakura from Wagaya no Oinari-sama

Sakura wasn’t in the show much, maybe once every couple episodes, but when she was, she made her persence known. With an imagination almost as outlandish as Hosaka’s, the ability to come to absurd conclusions, and a talent for over-analyzing a situation – she always made the viewer laugh and at the same time hope she would successful in getting Takagami’s attention.

Best Male Screen-grabber

Winner: Hosaka from Minami-ke: Okawari

Hosaka is another person that isn’t in the show too often but his mere presence is enough to get a laugh. The over dramatic posturing and habit of unbuttoning his shirt helps though. He is consumed with getting Haruka Minami’s attention but a combination of personal shortcomings and bad luck have so far stymied him. His overactive imagination is always a source of laughter – just look at my the recently posted clip from episode 2 of the third season. And the sad thing is that he’s genuinely sincere, has his good points, and would probably make a good boyfriend for Haruka.

Best Villian

Winner: Kazuhiro Mitogawa from Ga-Rei: Zero

I love a villian that’s intelligent and evil and he’s both. As we get through Ga-Rei: Zero, we see that he has this complex plan to eliminate the good guys largely through their own failing and he’s been very sucessful. He’s gotten rid of one of the most powerfullfamilies, reduced another to a single member, and killed or injured to the point of retireing several other very high level people.

Read Part 0 – Introduction and Anti-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.

Wagaya no Oinari-sama
Kicsit jobbra számította történetileg… kis hősködés, kis szerelem miegymás számomra ezek hiányznak belőle
8/10 az értékelésem, mert az eleje nagyon jó volt, de úgy a 19.résztől túl egysíkú lett, s … :S

Történet: Egy nagyanyó (Mizuchi klán öreg őrszeme) éppen a szellemtevékenységeket vizsgálja egy vizes edényben. Hirtelen feleszmél, hogy szeretett unokái veszélyben vannak így magához hivatja őket (Tatsushiko Noboru és Tooru). Elmeséli Tooru, hogy álmában járt egy különös karakter és megkérdezte a nevét. Mivel megmondta, így nagy veszélybe vannak, s ennek érdekébe felébresztik Tenko-sama-t. Kisebb vita után beleegyezik, hogy megvédi őket (annyuk emlékére…). Este eljön a kígyó szellem és legyőzi Tenko-sama, majd el kell dönteniük, hogy visszazárják-e vagy szabadon engedik Őt. A védelmezés mellett dönt a két gyermek, s innen jön minden városi kaland…(hazamentek közben.)

Több helyszín is van, de mindig egy szellem vagy isten vagy Oni van a háttérben…
Mint ahogy említettem jónak indul, de a 19.résztől ellaposodik az egész és így kicsit unalmas… NEM fejezik be a szerelmi szálakat (csak úgy haggyák, hogy Noboru semmit nem vesz észre, s ezzel el van intézve…)

Szereplők:

• Tatsushiko Noboru -Mizuchi klán feje
• Tatsushiko Tooru -Mizuchi klán kivételes képességekkel áldott gyermeke (látja a halottakat, meg miegymás…)
• Tenko-sama -Mizuchi klán Őt zárta el, nagyon imád nassolni…
• Kou-chan -őrszem eleinte ügyetlen, tör mindent, de a végére teljesen megváltozik…
• Ebisu-shin – helyi isten
• Mubyou-sama -iskola és a templom az Ő fennségterülete
• Sakura -Noboru volt osztálytársa, s Noboru rajongó^^
• és még van egyéb szereplők is, de ők csak 2-3 részben láthatőak…

A specialok csak poénos pár perces kiegészítések, de nem láttam értelmét a történethez…
Lehetne még ebből egy folytatást csinálni, hisz van elvarratlan szál és nincs a végére kiirva hogy: VÉGE… ^^
,ha hasonlítanom kéne valamelyik animére, akkor van egy nagy Kannagi beütése van… :S (A Kannagit se fejezeték még be…lírásom megleled <<itt>>)

Wagaya no Oinari-sama

• 20.rész tartalma: újabb kisértet fogadó ,de most Kuu felügyelő oldotta meg…
• 21.rész tartalma: vérfarkasok a képben ^^ (juhúú kedvenc fajom ) Sakura hipnózis alatt megvégi Noboru-t
• 22.rész rartalma: arany vérfarkas kisasszony^^ megtalálása és az érzései megfejtése…
• 23.rész rartalma: a nassolás hátránya!!! cccccc –> indul a fogyókúra program ccccc
• 24.rész tartalma: Gyokuyou félti testvérét és megfenyegeti Noboru és Tooru, hogy ne találkozzanak egymással ,de a végére újra együtt a család, skibővült 1új taggal…

a végén nincs kiírv, hogy VÉGE szal lehet még lesz valami  így a vége nem izgalmas és Noboru egy lánnyal se jött össze :’(

Wagaya no Oinari-sama

• 12.rész tartalma: Elmennek egy üdülésre és a nagyi is ott lesz :S ,majd Tooru-ből kiszívja a Chi-t a ház szelleme, majd Kuu kérésére(finoman kérte) vissza adja neki, s rendbe jön…
• 13.rész tartalma: Iskolai fesztivál van Kuu körül forog minden (Tama-sama is feltünik), majd Noboru kerül szemkontaktusba egyik osztálytársával, mikozben neki ének a lány ^^
• 14.rész tartalma: Noboru-t elrabolják a papok… S Tenko-tól kérik hogy vigye oda nekik az elopott holmilyát(Byakki)
• 15.rész tartalma: Az Oni-k története…. és Shiont elviszik.
• 16.rész tartalma: Shion-chan visszrepült, mint egy pillangó Tooru-hoz.
• 17.rész tratalma: Kuu elfelejtett emléke és a Byakki lényege
• 18.rész tratalma: Shino-chan üldözésének a vége és az elzárása történik(Shino-chan halála közelében megszólal…) ,majd Gyokuyou (Tama-sama^^) aggódva érdeklődik Kuu -től hogy van…
• 19.rész tratalma: Halloween önnepség van a városban és a Nyomorúság istenét kutatjuk

Wagaya no Oinari-sama

• 9.részben: Feltűnik egy bagoly isten és a Sakasaen-t keresi…
• 10.részben: Mubyou és Mubyou-sama története… Sakasaen-t Noboru megkapja… jah és Kou részeg^^
• 11.részben: Kou és Kuu munkát keres, de minden kajáldában kibuknak^^

Wagaya no Oinari-sama -nem lehet rossz végiglesem^^

• 1.részben: Noboru és Tooru megérkezik egy szép tájra, s a halálán lenő nagynéni híre rángatott oda őket, s kiderül csak trükk volt, hogy megvédhessék őket. ,de egy vas szellemre(róka) is szükségük lesz így felébresztik a hegyen lévő Tenko-sama-t, és nő alakjában segít rajtuk, majd melléjuk szegődik mint védő szellem…
• 2.részben: mazamentek a rókával (Kuu) és az őrszemmel (Kou) és a helyi földistennel csatáztak egy jót, s megtudtuk, hogy Miyako lelke még a földön van
• 3.részben: suli kezdődött. Noboru-nak a fejében csak az otthoni bajkeverők járnak még gyermekkori barátja (Sakura-chan) beszélgetése közben is ,majd Sakura kezd el képzelegni, hogy miért van 2 lány Noboru körül, majd vakondikrek ellen csatázik Kuu..
• 4.részben: Kou keresi a helyét, míg Noboru spórol a hibái madt, s végül Tooru-t megvédi Kou^^
• 5.részben: Kuu lélek felemelő tánca. Tooru látta annyát, s a tánc miadt Kuu haját rövidere vágták…
• 6.részben: Sakura főzte és az ingyen süti^^ (nyami:P)
• 7.részben: egy páncélos támad Tooru-ra, s 2 róka is hozzájuk szegődik egy napra…
• 8.részben: a cinkos mosómedve és Mubyou kincse..

Spent most of today playing Dissidia. Fate/Unlimited Codes are still on its way here so… when it’s here and I actually feel like saying something about it, I will edit it into yesterday’s entry.

As for the rest of today… nothing else happened.

Massive amounts of anime was watched this week by me and I still feel like I’ve not watched enough of the series because I’m skipping sequels to shows that I haven’t seen the previous season of. As a side effect of rating so much anime at this concentrated rate, I’m finding it easier to see the gradations of quality that separates a perfect episode and one that’s an A+ or A. Therefore, it’s now harder for an episode to get a perfect score and the ones that do, deserve it.

The scores:

Soul Eater, episode 28 – 12+/12
Soul Eater, episode 29 – 12/12

Ga-Rei Zero, episode 2 – 12/12

Skip Beat, episode 2 – 11/12 A+
Skip Beat, episode 3 – 12/12

To Aru Majutsu no Index, episode 3 – 12/12

Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 24 – 10/12 A (end)

Kannagi, episode 3 – 11/12 A+

Kemeko DX, episode 3 – 10/12 A

Earl and Fairy, episode 2 – 11/12 +

Chaos;Head, episode 2 – 12/12
Chaos;Head, episode 3 – 12/12

Kurozuka, episode 2 – 12/12

Mouryou no Hako, episode 2 – 12+/12

Yozakura Quartet, episode 2 – 10/12 A
Yozakura Quartet, episode 3 – 9/12 A-
Yozakura Quartet, episode 4 – 10/12 A

Hyakko, episode 3 – 9/12 A-

Toradora!, episode 4 – 12+/12

Daughter of 20 Faces, episode 20 – 10/12 A

(previously reviewed)

Michiko to Hatchin, episode 1 – 6/12 B-

Earl and Fairy, episode 1 – 9/12 A-

Thoughts and Highlights

Alas, this amount of shows this week make it impossible to mention them all. Writing in any form has always been difficult and time-consuming for me. If I write an email that’s a paragraph long, you can bet that I spent over an hour composing it. Someday I hope to get better at writing and that desire is one of the personal reasons for doing this blog. With that said, onto my thoughts and highlights.

The best episode this week was from Mouryou no Hako. I was wondering what they where going to do after the first episode and while I still don’t know for sure, it appears that something strange is going on. For instance, they keep talking about how boxes can hold people’s souls. It was done with the girl in episode 1 that was just a living head in a box and the doll-maker and the characters have mentioned it as well. As this makes me wonder about the building-size box that is shown at the end of episode 2. What is it and what is it meant to do? Also, there appears to be reason to suspect that the girl that fell in front of the train at the end of episode 1 was pushed for a reason. Both of the mysteries make me real anxious to watch the future episodes and the stunning animation doesn’t hurt.

Soul Eater continues to impress me on the shounen front. I thought the show was a touch slow in the beginning, even if I liked each individual episode as it aired, but since about episode 18 the show has kicked itself into high gear and the pace hasn’t slacked yet. If this isn’t the top shounen series right now, it’s very close.

Use of eye-catches is always a plus for an anime

I’m finding that I’m warming to both Kannagi and Yozakura Quartet this week but Hyakko is still not winning me over and it was the robot girl that secured the A- for the episode, if she wasn’t there then it would have been scored lower. In Kannagi’s case, it’s probably the combination of successfully forgetting the manga and giving the characters time to be more developed and thus likeable. Yozakura Quartet is still not matching J.C. Staff’s Index but episodes 2-4 where good enough that I want to continue to watching.

And finally, the two shoujo shows that I’m watching, Skip Beat and Earl and Fairy, both where very fun shows to watch this week. The first continues to excel at making us care about the main character, Kyoko, and root that she gets her revenge. The second has a talking cat, always a big plus, and is doing a good job at developing the three main characters.

I forgot to post this pic with the series review. This was a good way to end the series..

]]> http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/wagaya-no-oinari-sama-series-review/ Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:15:47 +0000 steelbound http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/wagaya-no-oinari-sama-series-review/

This was a title that I decided to watch on a whim, with the thought that I’d probably drop it in a few episodes because it was probably harem-esque, boring, and generic. Give the show all the rope it needs to hang itself, as the saying goes. Since, I’m writing the series review, though, you can probably guess that I got through the whole show.

Final Series Score: 11/12 A+
Rewatchablity: med-high
Pros: solid, well-developed characters that where very likable; every part of the show worked harmoniously to create an atmosphere for the characters to shine; it’s mix of light comedy, light drama, and small character-driven story arcs made the show feel original and pleasantly unpredictable
Cons: animation will not win any awards, people looking for an easily compartmentalized show will be frustrated

Awards given to this show by this blog

• Best Fox Spirit of Spring 2008
• #2 Top Continuing Anime of Summer 2008

Story

A pair of brothers belong to a family that have been caretakers of a shrine for hundreds of years. When the younger brother gets into trouble of the supernatural kind, they visit the family shrine to see if there’s something they can do. Luckily for them, the shrine has a trapped fox spirit and a shrine maiden that has power over water to combat this trouble. The grandma decides that both the fox spirit and the miko would be useful in protecting the brothers and sends them to live with the two brothers. This starts our show, and we get to follow the shrine maiden as she becomes acquainted with living in a city, the fox spirit as she/he/it sees how society has changed in the years since being trapped at the shrine, and the pitfalls that the brothers will fall into as they meet the area’s gods and spirits.

Thoughts and impressions

When I first starting watching this show, I was puzzled by how much I was enjoying it, nothing stuck out that I could point to as being the reason. I don’t think I was alone, judging by the lack of people that blogged about this show. I stuck with it and it slowly became apparent that the reason I liked this show so much was that the animators used every part of the show to develop and showcase the characters of this show.

For example, there’s a bit of action in the show, but not because fight scenes are a good way to pad the series; instead, we have a chance to see how willing the fox spirit, Kuu, is in protecting the two brothers. Also, there’s a bit of comedy in the show and the majority of it involves Kou, the shrine maiden, or Sakura. In Kou’s case, she’s lived in the country and has lived her entire life to fill the role of “Sentinel” at the shrine and thus doesn’t know about modern conveniences or how to act like a normal person. And in Sakura’s case, she has a way with over-analyzing what’s going on to absurd conclusions. In both cases, the comedy is used to reinforce traits of the characters. If your wondering, Kou does slowly learn throughout the show as would be realistic.

The story for the series is split into small arcs that run roughly one to four episodes and each one runs directly into the next. Characters introduced in one arc will almost always appear at some later point so the show does slowly build upon itself. This setup allows each arc to unfold differently and this keeps the show feeling fresh and interesting.

Sakura is one of the great reasons to watch this show

I mentioned in a comment on another blog that this show ascribes to the rule that I first learned in shop class in middle school: KISS – Keep it simple stupid. The show is not pretentious about itself, you won’t see any fancy narrative tricks that some shows use. Instead, it’ll find a simple solution to convey what it wants to. This is something I wish, frankly, other anime producers would take to heart sometimes.

Another thing that I really liked about this show was that it was consistent. So many two season animes have a period in the middle that the animators seem to lose focus and the quality of the show drops a great deal but this wasn’t one of them. This is probably helped by the slice-of-life feel of the show. I’ve noticed that shows that strive for a slice-of-life feel run on a more even keel as opposed to the more classic plot progression of raising tension, climax, and then resolution. But whatever the case, as I watched this show, I could always count on the next episode to be a good one.

There’s one last thing I wanted to comment on before concluding. I have a strong feeling that this show wasn’t given the largest budget to work with and the biggest proof I think is that for the last 5 episodes (of 24 total) was run with a new ending. This ending was done in a much nicer style then the show so I can’t help but think that it was only near the end when they realized that they’d have a bit of cash left that they did a second ending to the show. I have to hope that if a (well-deserved) second season is done then a little more money is spent on it.

So in conclusion, this show was a pleasant surprise and one that I’m sure just about anyone would enjoy watching. Don’t let the lackluster animation quality fool you, the characters and story are top quality and well worth the time.

Essential Information

• 24 episodes
• genre: Supernatural, Slice-of-Life
• animation studio: Zexcs
• director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
• OP: “KI-ZU-NA ~Haruka Naru Mono e” by Hitomi Sora
• ED:“Kaze ga Nanika wo Iou to Shiteiru” by Saori Hayami and “Shiawase no Kotodama” by Yukana, Hayami Saori, Takahashi Mikako
• Seiyuus of note: Yukana, Yuichi Nakamura, Takahiro Mizushima, Yui Kano

Természetfeletti lények a világunkban?

A középiskolás Takagami Noboru és öccse, Tooru hármasban éldegélnek apjukkal Suzunose városában, mígnem egy szép napon meglátogatják vidéki nagyanyjukat, aki felfedi előttük régi gyökerekkel rendelkező családjuk titkát.

A fiúk korábban meghalt édesanyja, a családi vérvonal továbbvivője vízpapnő volt. A ‘család feje’ cím életkoránál fogva mostantól elsőszülött fiát, Noboru-t illeti.

Ezzel egyidőben a fiúk előtt egy új világ is megnyílik, mégpedig a köztünk rejtve élő istenek, szellemek és egyéb természetfeletti lények izgalmas és olykor veszélyes világa.

A nagymama ezért igyekszik bebiztosítani unokáit a rájuk leselkedő esetleges veszélyek ellen, így melléjük rendeli a kiváló harci képességekkel rendelkező, ám a mindennapi élet dolgaiban meglehetősen gyakorlatlan védelmező papnőt, Kou-t, és felébresztik a mintegy öt évszázados álmát alvó rókaszellemet, Tenkou Kuugen-t.

Őt egykor a család zárta el egy barlangba renitens viselkedése miatt, ám Kuu a fiúk édesanyja iránt érzett szimpátiából felülkerekedik az emberek iránt érzett haragján és vállalja a fivérek védelmét.

A Takagami család így mindjárt két fővel bővül, amitől mindennapi életük igencsak mozgalmassá válik.

Ahogy az várható volt, az idők során számtalan természetfeletti lény tűnik fel körülöttük, egyesek jó, mások rossz szándékkal vagy egyszerűen csak semlegesen a háttérből figyelve. Kou és Kuu legjobb tudásuk szerint “viselik gondjukat” kinek-kinek érdeme szerint.

Az az igazság, hogy ebből a szempontból nem sok meglepetést okoz a sorozat, ugyanis a férfi és női alakot is felölteni képes rókaszellem lényegében a legerősebb lény a környéken és a többieknek esélyük sincs ellene. Kou-nak azért egy kicsit több gondja akad, de ő is bátran helytáll a kritikus pillanatokban.

Azért persze akadnak izgalmas harcjelenetek sőt némi misztikum is, de a sorozat gerincét a fantasy mellett az iskolai élet/vígjáték/romantika hármas adja. Érdekesség, hogy a cselekmény a szereplők közül többekre is fókuszál, úgyhogy a karakterek ezáltal részletesebben lettek ábrázolva.

A megvalósítás egész jól sikerült, mind a hátterek, mind a karakterdizájn szempontjából. Részletes kidolgozás, élénk színek jellemzik mindkettőt. A szinkron és a zenék is tetszettek, bár az OP/ED szerintem nem lett annyira kiemelkedő. Nekem kicsit furcsa volt, hogy az ending és a következő rész ajánlója között még volt néhány másodperc az adott rész történetéből is, amikor néha elég fontos információk hangzottak el. Aki ezeket kihagyta, annak utólag pár dolog kevésbé lehetett világos.

A történet egyébként nem egy konkrét összefüggő eseménysort mutat be, hanem több különálló sztorit dolgoz fel. Ebből adódóan helyenként számomra állatira unalmas részek is voltak, de ezeken átlépve többségében szórakoztató tudott lenni. Kicsit sűrűn voltak benne ismétlődő jelenetek, a szereplők legalább háromszor voltak melegforrásnál a 24 rész alatt…

Összegzés: Egyszer megnézhető sorozat, de én DVD-t nem áldozok rá. Értékelés: 3/4.

An exciting week in anime – the summer season is finishing up and the fall season is starting. The last couple of weeks I haven’t really had a lot to write but now I’ve got multiple series reviews to write and first impression posts to write. I’m not complaining, the more I have to write about the better – it means I’m watching shows that I want to talk about. Let’s get to the weekly scores now.

The scores:

Ryoko’s Case Files, episode 12 – 12+/12

Birdy the Mighty Decode, episode 13 – 12+/12 (end)

Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 12 – 12/12

Soul Eater, episode 25 – 11/12 A+

Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, episode 6 – 12++/12

Natsume Yuujinchou, episode 12 – 12+/12

Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 19 – 12+/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 20 – 12+/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 21 – 12+/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 22 – 12/12
Wagaya no Oinari-sama, episode 23 – 12+/12

Clannad S.2, episode 1 – 12/12

Toradora!, episode 1 – 10/12 A

Akane-iro no Somaru Saka, episode 1 – 5/12 C+

Hyakko, episode 1 – 8/12 B+

I'm going to miss Wagaya no Oinari-sama when it's done

Thoughts and Highlights

First off, for the in-depth reasons why I scored the new shows how I did, you can refer to the previously posted impression posts.

The biggest surprise, and one that was quite pleasant, was the number of Wagaya no Oinari-sama episodes I was able to watch this week. This show has been one of the most consistently fun shows to watch this year and this group of episodes continue this trend. It’s mix of light comedy, dorama, and loveable characters is a perfect balance – just look at some of these episodes: one episode dealt was a Halloween episode that included the god of poverty showing up, another involved a mystery at an onsen, and yet another involved Sakura trying to stick to a diet. I don’t know how much source material is left but I’d definitely watch a second season of this show.

The best episode of the week comes from Somedays Dreamer’s season 2 but since it’s slice-of-life, it’s difficult to describe why. I’m happy that someone is working on subbing this show – beyond the whole question of if you like the animation style or not, it’s a very solid show.

Everything else pretty much stayed awesome. I did want to mention that this week’s Soul Eater was a transitional episode to gear us up for the second half of the show. The students of Shibusen played basketball and Shinigami-sama called a conference to map out what they should do now that the Demon God is escaped. Anyone else think it’s time to for a new opening? I like it but it’s been the same for the first half of the show and I’d like to see something new, maybe with some hints as to what to expect for the second half of the show.

Be very afaid, Ryoko's smiling.

]]> http://53rg10.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/wagaya-no-oinari-sama-oh-snap-sakura-ftw/ Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:44:30 +0000 53RG10 http://53rg10.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/wagaya-no-oinari-sama-oh-snap-sakura-ftw/ http://0snow.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/oinari-sama-23/ Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:42:17 +0000 0snow http://0snow.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/oinari-sama-23/

1 more episode to go, kudos to Static-subs for finishing this anime quickly so as to accomodate fall 08. Namely SS will be picking up Hyakko as a solo project and Clannad ~After Story~ as a joint with Eclipse.

I <3 Kuugen!