This post is dedicated to the good, the bad and the WTF’s of this year. It’s really been an interesting year…..

Heh, I was supposed to post this yesterday, but with all the shopping, satelite tracking, celebrations and epic rickrolling, I only finished it today. I guess this will be my first real post of 2009, hehehe.

Anyways, the point of this post is to relive the more memorable moments of 2008 for me, in terms of anime and such. Another year filled with good things, bad shit and “just WTF were they thinking?!” craziness.

The Good.

Redeeming ending of the year: Code Geass R2

I have to admit, despite the general descent to craziness, R2 managed to cap it off with one of the more touching endings of this year. Rest in peace, dear prince, rest in peace.

Studio of the year: Studio Gonzo

Despite the general decline of their quality, one thing makes Studio Gonzo stand out this year, the beginning of their free online streaming of their shows, WITH SUBTITLES, on major video-sharing sites such as Youtube and Crunchyroll.

Probably the single most celebrated initiative by any Japanese production company in this decade, Gonzo braved through critisicm from their peers in the industry and semi-legalized what most fans have been doing all along anyways.

Besides, their shows this year weren’t all that crap. Strike Witches even made it in to my Top of 2008 list, not to mention the more significant milestone of topping the DVD sales chart. Let’s just hope news of their near-demise is greatly exaggerated.

Pose of the year: Ranka’s (ﾉゝ∀･)~キラ☆ pose, Macross Frontier

Seriously, is there any challenge for this award? Ranka’s (ﾉゝ∀･)~キラ☆ pose has been spotted even on politicians. There’s something to be said about that pose that’s so powerful it disarmed an entire platoon of rebelling alien giants.

GAR Male of the year: Negi Springfield, Mahou Sensei Negima.

Sure there was Ozma Lee and Orange-kun, but this year’s GAR award goes to Negi for sure. Especially after single-handedly pwning a professional bounty group with his bare fists.

Furry of the Year: Horo

Anyone disagrees?

Miko of the Year: Kou

I thank the gods for Wagaya no Oinari-sama for fulfilling my miko quota this year.

Gym Shorts of the Year: Fujibayashi Kyou, CLANNAD series

Legendary episode is legendary. CLANNAD 17 nearly pulled my trousers down me over the edge. That said, balancing two coins on top of each other is a task I still fail to achieve T_T.

Imouto of the Year: Sunohara Mei, CLANNAD series

“What are you saying? Onii-chan, you’re acting strange~”
“Why can’t I call you ‘Onii-chan’, Onii-chan?”
“Onii-chan~ what should Mei do?”

Saishuu Heiki Imouto Sunohara Mei. God damn you Sunohara for having such a cute lil’ sister!

Cosplay of the Year: Hiiragi Kagami, Lucky Star as Hatsune Miku, VOCALOID series

It just fits her so well. KyoAni really has a knack to stir up their fans and hit them right where it counts.

The Bad

Disappointment of the year: ef – a tale of melodies.

After the highly praised ef – a tale of memories, the inevitable announcement of the sequel was a happy news for me, but sadly, the show itself didn’t quite match up to the first season in terms of connecting the audience to the characters and the pacing was, quite frankly, awful. Even the ending lost some impact despite of its intended tear-jerking qualities due to how rushed the final two episodes were. SHAFT… if only… if only…

“I only watched this because of my favourite seiyuus were in it” show of the year: Kanokon.

Oh, the power of a seiyuu(s) doing crazy roles compels me to watch even the shittiest of shows.

“I can’t believe I actually finished watching this show” of the year: D.C. II. S.S & Zero no Tsukaima III.

Honestly. The fact I actually followed both those shows until the very end should win me an honorary title or something. Especially for finishing the piece of shit that was ZnT III. Even the DVD OVA.

Controversial Ending of the Year: Akane-iro Somaru Saku.

Akane-iro seemed like it went down the much more supported Yuuhi end, made more significant since it was the first time in YEARS that Rie Kugimiya voiced an ACTUAL tsundere, but betrayed all expectations of Yuuhi camps to choose a WINCEST ENDING with “Imouto of the Year” runner-up, Nagase Minato. Really reminds me of a certain 2005 show….

Most Tragic Death of the Year: Shirley Fenette, Code Geass R2

SHIRLEY!!!!!!!!!! BAWWWWWWWWWWWW. That homo shota totally misunderstood her and killed her despite that she actually kept Lelouch’s identity a secret even after she remembered it. It was made even more painful as she confessed her love for Lelouch as she lay dying in his lap. I could write volumes more about her death, but I’ll just leave it at here, it’s too painful to continue talking about it.

The WTF?!

WTF Ending of the year: H2O ~Footprints in the sand~

H2O almost ended up in the previous category, but thanks to it’s ending, it barely escapes that and instead making it over here. Sure the ending had its good bits, but dear god, it was still bloody “WTF?!”. One thing’s for sure, H2O managed to rock my soul.

WTF Father of the year: Mikawa Kirameki, Shigofumi

Norio Wakamoto nearly ended up here, but Mikawa Kirameki really is the better (or worse) choice for this award. Probably the biggest narcissist ever seen in an anime, you really have to admit his dedication for beauty was awe-inspiring and disgusting at the same time. Poor Fumika T_T.

WTF Mother of the year: Queen Marianne, Code Geass R2

After making Marianne out as some sort of heroic existence throughout most of Geass, it was surprising to discover that she was still alive all this while, hiding inside the body of a loli. Then when she finally appears before Lelouch, the first damn thing she does is to do a single can-can styled twirl to greet him. And to think she was one of the big reasons that Lelouch became a ruthless manipulator who would sacrifice even his siblings to find out the truth behind her “death”. Sigh…

Control Mechanism of the Year: Nipple controllers from Magical Heart Kokoro-chan.

Really one of the single most WTF moments in anime this year, the supposedly April Fool’s joke that was Magical Heart Kokoro-chan actually came to life as an OVA and 0verflow sure made a lot of people 0verflow with it.

Prettiest Male of the Year: Saotome Alto, Macross Frontier

Admit it. Alto is undeniably the prettiest amongst the trio, especially when he is in his Sakurahime-mode.

Trap of the Year: Hamaji Yakumo, H2O ~Footprints in the sand~

Solely in this list because not only he’s 99% a girl already, he actually manages to score with his best friend to the point of marrying and having kids AND THE WIFE DOESN’T MIND HIM STILL CROSSDRESSING! Living proof that traps can still achieve real happiness.

Wasted yuri potential: Sheryl x Alto x Ranka

Macross Frontier would’ve been 100x more awesome if Alto was really a girl. Yuri love triangle three-some…. ooohh I shiver at the thought.

“What was I thinking when I was doing this” Post of the Year: “I am now heartbroken….. T.T”

The Suki Suki Sat-chan fanclub is still accepting membership applications.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yeah, I know. It’s already nearly a month since it finished. I kinda left the last episode on the backburner, mostly due to the fact I already knew what the ending was gonna be like.

So in the end, as I am proven correct, deus ex machina occurs and thanks to everyone’s memories of Yoshiyuki, he gets revived back in a final gesture from Sakura before she and the tree disappears. Everyone lives happily ever after. The End.

In any case, the second season has been quite a leap from the dismal shit that was Da Capo II. Honestly for me, I really couldn’t emphatise with the whole shebangs, since I was expecting things to develop in a more… hm, “epic” manner, but the main drama turned out to be mostly of Otome being emo, but at least Yume made up for it quite a bit with her strength. Poor Sakura-san though ;_;. One thing I can say I honestly like about this series though, are the awesome insert songs by yozuca and CooRie.

Well, hopefully we’re finally done with this franchise, but then, there might be a Da Capo 1.5 or something, LOL. Wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.

Lastly, here’s a parting shot of Nanaka. She wears China-dress for bed! OMG!

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Much “BAWWWWWWW!!!!” in this episode. Poor Yume T.T

Bye bye, Yoshiyuki, for a week or so.

I’ll be so glad once this show is over.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

BAWWWWWWWWWWW~~~~!!!! Yoshiyuki, T.T.

Yume has suddenly became extremely awesome. She chose to confront the fact instead of running away like Otome’s doing. Makes me root even more for the Yume ending.

Also, what’s with all the random Nanaka cameos in the episode?

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

T_T Sakura-san, T_T. The beginning of the end.

Interestingly enough, D.C. II S.S might go for the Yume ending, from what I’ve read about it.

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“Let’s go, Watson!”

Otome episode this week, since it was Yume’s turn last week.

Nothing much happens really, just Yoshiyuki and Otome going around town to investigate the series of mysterious accidents that seem to have no explainable cause. Along the way they interview Junichi, who talks about the Da Capo cast a bit and talk to Anzu who tells the story of a girl that wished for better memory and had it granted, to which Yoshiyuki suspects it’s herself she’s talking about.

Poor Yume gets totally forgotten the whole episode, late lunch and late dinner for her :3.

Jiiiiiiiiiii~~~~

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In the end, Yume avoids going skiing the whole day, citing a variety of reasons to not go out, but she finally seizes the chance to enjoy some skiing herself by sneaking out when the others are holding a party over at the guys room. Coincidentally, Yoshiyuki is buying a drink for himself at the moment and spots Yume going out and decides to follow after her as well.

Lucky he did, because Yume was getting harassed by a bunch of losers and she manages to shake one off, but the other starts acting violent and Yoshiyuki arrives in time to save her. Yume is thankful, and Yoshiyuki invites her to ski together, but she remembers the dream and shoots off by herself. Yoshiyuki grows more concerned and follows after her of course, causing Yume to lose her attention of where she was going and she really does get in to an accident, spraining her ankles.

Thankfully, Yoshiyuki is right on her tail and rescues her. Yume initially tries to run away, thinking that she’ll get Onii-san in to an accident, but Yoshiyuki assures her that it’ll be alright, and they safely reach back to the ski lodge.Yoshiyuki treats her ankle and they both head for the baths afterwards, where they share another tender moment together.

Oh Yume. Seriously, WTF were you trying to do the whole episode?

If she was THAT worried about Yoshiyuki getting in to an accident, she shouldn’t have snuck out to ski at all. Sometimes that tsun-tsun attitude of hers can be really irritating, even more so since she was rather asking for it when she snuck out despite having that dream. Well, in the end, we did get a cute moment with her in the bath there.

In any case, I guess I’m starting to get used to tsun-tsun Yume, with thanks to bluemist’s nice long summary of Yume’s route in the original game, which I just read recently. Too bad all the focus on Yume now just means that Otome’s route is the real ending of this season.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Tsundere Yume is tsundere~~~

The Christmas festival finally arrives in this episode.

Yume continues on her tsundere-ness, which is pretty funny, especially when she goes all robotic when Yoshiyuki greets her at the start of the episode.

As expected, poor Koko gets KO’ed, and Otome saves the day with her very emotional rendition of Sheryl in the puppet play. The play is probably going to foretell the events happening later on in the series.

The episode ends with the Asakura sisters, Yoshiyuki and Sakura celebrating Christmas together (funnily, Jun’ichi seems forgotten most of the time), ending with Sakura’s ominous wish for this happiness to last forever.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Otome gets the spotlight for this episode. She is earnestly helping Yoshiyuki out to practice for the upcoming puppet play, and we also see a glimpse of her past. Otome used to be more withdrawn and gloomy (wow, I so hear Noe when she’s like that) due to her magical powers, and it’s thanks to Yoshiyuki that she finally lightens up to the person she is now.

Junichi also makes a much awaited appearance in the episode, and boy, he’s sure turned old. Yume is still keeping up her tsundere-ness, to which I still find it quite unnatural, some what. Maa~ I’ll agree with Yoshiyuki that she’s cuter when she was still a kid :).

Still no idea about the general direction of the story yet, but the escalating incidences of fires in Hatsunejima is a big cause of concern. I wonder if Koko’s illness is also related to it, or just a convenient plot device to get Otome to do the puppet play with Yoshiyuki later on. Overall though, I would say D.C. II S.S seems rather blander than the first series….probably the lack of Nanaka.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Yoshiyuki sure is trusted by the girls.

Taking a jaunt in to Anzu’s story line in this episode. She’s pretty cute when she lets her hair down. Mmm~ otherwise, nothing much to comment on this episode. I’m surprised she managed to live alone for three years without anyone knowing that, though.

Also, Yume’s tsundere play in this episode was pretty LOL. I guess I’m just not used to her going all tsundere so abruptly, when back in the first series, she was totally tsun-tsun most of the time. Just feels awkward, I guess. Should’ve made the transition a bit more natural.

Yume… Yume…

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.