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.

Another year passes. Man, it’s hard to believe I’m already in to my 9th year of being an otaku as well as my 4th year of blogging. Time sure flies. I’m now well over 1500 posts with nearly 16k comments, and it’s thanks to everyone’s support that I’ve gotten so far.

This year was marked by an increased number of good shows, but surprisingly, it wasn’t as “happening” as last year. To put it in another way, while the average increased, the top end of the bell curve wasn’t as high as last year. Nevertheless, this year still had its moments.

My choices here aren’t particularly graded using a strict measure, it’s more of an overall rating of shows of this year that I greatly enjoyed in one way or another, so please view it as that rather than a solid indicator of quality.

Of course, being a mere mortal with a real life outside of the Internet, I will inevitably miss a few gems here and there, so feel free to voice up any other shows that you, my dear reader, believe I should have watched and not missed for this year.

With that said, here’s the list.

14. Spice and Wolf

Mmm… economics animu. Well, actually calling “fox god animu” would suit it better because, seriously, everyone only watched it for the bundle of furriness that is Horo.

13. Lucky Star OVA

Kagamiku! Tsunderella! Cherry-dog! Christmas-cake Nanako! Kagamiku! Oh wait, already said that.

Anyways, the Lucky Star OVA was awesome because we all missed the cast of Lucky Star so badly, especially in this KeyAni-dominated year. Not to say that’s a bad thing but we all missed the light-heartedness. Here’s to hoping for another extension or a spiritual successor of the awesomeness that was Lucky Star.

12. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

Honestly, Noto-sama as a closet otaku ojou-sama? I’m sold.

While NHnH seemed like it’ll be a one-trick pony, it had a surprisingly coherent plot and good character development, characterized by a few choice episodes. That, and Mika is fucking jailbait.

11. Itazura na Kiss

The Nana Mizuki show of the year. Honestly after last year’s Tokyo Marble Chocolate, I realize Nana’s niche is the slightly naive yet earnest young adult women where she really can be her character. (I suspect it’s because she seems to draw it from her own experiences)

Itazura na Kiss was mainly enjoyable because of that and we even got a full season of Nana Mizuki from it. I realize a lot of people didn’t like the show’s pacing, but it was quite fine to me considering how they were putting in nearly 10 years of story in to 25 episodes.

10. Natsume Yuujinchou

Natsume Yuujinchou wasn’t really in my fielding range until someone IRL recommended it enthusiastically and I tried it out. Oh boy I sure got hooked on it. With tinges of Mushishi and a very likable cast (moe moe fox shouta!) I just couldn’t stop watching it. So glad to hear there’s a second season to it too, premiering next month.

9. Detroit Metal City

GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC! GO TO DMC!

8. Kurenai

kurenai, characterized by the moe-moe bundle that is Murasaki and the tight writing and direction by Kou Matsuo, really deserves mention for this year. The ending was kinda unexpected, but it only served to enhance the “deep”-ness of the story.

7. Strike Witches

One of the surprises this year, I initially balked at the premise of SW’s no-pantsu flying mecha musume. I mean, for god’s sake, the fanservice is just so fucking blatant. Despite that, and to my own pride, I finally watched it in a batch once it was finished and I was so hooked I finished it in two sittings.

SW’s appeal, once you get over the lack of proper lower body wear, lies in the light-heartedness and optimism of the characters. Gonzo also managed to give equal exposure to every one in the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, and the pacing meant that the show wasn’t too “draggy” unlike the other mecha musume anime Sky Girls (still struggling to finish it). The infamous pantsu-stealing episode also nearly killed me from all the laughing I did.

So, despite my initial hatred of the series, it’s really surprising how things can change, and now SW’s in my Pick of 2008 list. Well, if you can’t win ‘em, join ‘em. :P

6. CLANNAD

Gym-shorts Kyou! Killer violin Kotomi! Tomoyo Raptor Kick! “Why can’t I call you onii-san, onii-san?” Mei! Sanae Rainbow Bread! Dictionary attack! Starfish girl! Nagisa x Ryou!

Yeah, I could probably go on and on, but suffice to say, CLANNAD was pretty damn enjoyable despite being the third KeyAni outing in the past 4 years.

5. Code Geass R2

Despite the illogical plot, despite all the mindfucking, despite all the copying from Evangelion, it’s undeniable that Code Geass R2 was the most entertaining show this year, singlehandedly. Being surprised after every mind-fucking episode and subsequently reading the reactions from other fans really drew out the worst from me. Never had I had so much fun with post titles, ha ha.

Despite all that, the ending was surprisingly epic and half redeemed the series for me. Lelouch BAWWWWWWW!!!! Still, I don’t think I can rewatch the series again if for the lack of Geass Sundays. That was practically 75% of the reason I persevered on till the end.

4. Ga Rei Zero

Can’t mention this year w/o talking about the yuri croquette that is Ga-Rei Zero. First, it rickrolled us all by presenting a totally unrelated cast for the promos and the first episode, only to kill ‘em all by the end of it. Only then it went for the real deal, the untold past story of Kagura and Yomi from the original manga, justifying the “Zero” part of its name. It also gave me another reason to like Pocky, XD.

Ga-Rei Zero is also notable for the crazy inventory of weapons, ranging from the gun-katanas, an iron, a boiler and the bloody weaponized wheelchair. Oh and not to forget the bike-fu from Natsuki in episode 1 too. That was awesome.

3. Kannagi

Kannagi oh Kannagi. This quirky comedy show about a bunch of crazy shrine maidens by the much-talked about Yamamoto Yutaka sure delivered the laughs. The karaoke episode also made its mark on me. Oh god Takako made me shat bricks.

While the show was generally light-hearted, Kannagi veered in to serious “self-existential” drama for its final arc, proving Yamakan’s directing chops isn’t limited just making people laugh. This is one show I wouldn’t mind seeing more of in the future.

2. Macross Frontier

Ah, Macross Frontier, my first foray in to the world of Intergalactic Song Wars and Variable Fighters. The show started off a strong note, but really tapered down towards the end, ending with an non-ending kind of ending.

Despite that, the love triangle was still pretty epic towards the end, and the songs of the show are inevitably the best I’ve heard this year. The songs were the biggest redeeming factor for the show as things went rather downhill. God bless Yoko Kanno \o/. I still wish there was a solid ending though…

1. true tears

The only show this year that was so good that I made a rare and passionate opinion post about it. P.A. Works first independent work, it was initially expected to be another eroge adaptation, but quickly turned out to be something much more different.

true tears took everyone by surprise by the clean, crisp visuals, leading P.A. Works to be given the moniker of the second KyoAni. Director Junji Nishimura also kept the story and character development really engaging, coupled with how he kept everyone guessing about the final resolution until the very end, provided weeks of debates amongst fans as to who would end up with whom.

Movie of the year: Evangelion 1.01 You are (not) alone

It was technically released last year, but Evangelion 1.01 is more of a 2008 show for me since the DVD (which I proudly bought) came out this year and even made it in to local shores, which was a real surprise for me.

While many critized it for being another attempt by Gainax to cash in on the franchise, it’s undeniable the show has gotten a much needed facelift from it’s original 1995 incarnation. The action cinematography culminating in the sniping of Angel Ramiel was simply awesome.

Sure it might be another milking of the fans, but Anno Hideaki is delivering the goods here too. Looking forward to 2.0 in 2009. Asuka \o/!

And that wraps up my first 2008 in Review post. There’s another one coming up after this, where I’ll be talking about the other noteworthy things that happened this year.

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

Finally! The Lucky Star OVA! Man, it was well worth the wait. God, I so miss the antics of Kagamin, Konata and Tsukasa.

The OVA is divided in to roughly seven portions, keeping in with the feel of the original TV series. I’ll be going through it one by one.

The first portion is about Cherry, Minami’s dog. The cast decide to meet together at Minami’s place, and we get to see it from Cherry’s point of view. Funny moments include Cherry “attacking” Miyuki when she arrives, Patty calling the dog “stupid” and it responds to it, Yutaka playing around with dog, even breaking in to song, and Hiyori’s failed attempts to play with Cherry.

The next portion, is the online game part, where Nanako(warrior), Konata(theif), Kagami(healer) and Tsukasa(mage) is playing. Tsukasa’s brand of clumsiness really shines out here where she actually starts eating when the rest are fighting a blob, and taking a while to realise that she needs to press “Enter” after typing to chat. No wonder Konata made her mage instead of healer. Then Nanako-sensei “Golden Week” was surely well-spent, at the aghast of the other three girls.

After that, the “Kagamirella” portion starts, with Kagami staying alone at home while her sisters and mother go to a “ball”. Konata appears in front of her as the fairy godmother, getting her in a shrine-mobile and putting in her various getups (meido, miko, Tohsaka Rin) finally stopping at Kagamiku. The ball turns out to be a battle tournament, with Misao as the “Prince”. Kagamirella takes her leave before the standard midnight-magic-stops happens but it’s too late to restore the house. Konata teaches Kagami the magic reset word and she says it only to wake up in front of a shocked Tsukasa. XD.

The fourth portion is epic volleyball fight as Tsukasa’s team is being trounced by Kagami. Misao encourages her to keep fighting and they put up a spirited resistance until finally, they’re one down and Tsukasa takes the point. She almost gets the ball but misses it and falls directly into the net instead. Despite that, she’s still satisfied. Hillarious point? Konata getting Misao and Tsukasa to do a JET STREAM ATTACK!

Fifth sees the quartet going on a school camp trip and they get lost in the mountains, thanks to Konata. Fortunately, Miwiki…ah the name is now official… is there for them. Finally, they’re saved when Konata’s handphone finally gets some reception, and they get a good scolding from a worried Nanako.

The final portion is… bloody strange so see it for yourself. I just don’t know what to say about it.

Of course, no Lucky Star episode is complete without a Lucky Channel and this time, the twist is that it’s done in LIVE ACTION, so we get to see Konno and Shiraishi act out their roles. Shiraishi gets dressed in a get up that I will politely describe as “eclectic” and gets hosed in the face when he requests for water, so that’s the highlight of this show. As for Konno’s live rendition of Akira… hmm, it just doesn’t compare up to the 2D counterpart. Ah! Nearly forgot, the episode’s ED theme (of sorts) was Shiraishi and Konno doing a duet of Ai wo Torimodose! ROFL.

Two additional extras also came with the OVA. The first one is a Lucky Channel event held somewhere, so we get another dose of live action Lucky Channel, with special guest star Mizuhara Kaoru (Kusakabe Misao’s seiyuu). Nothing much really, just the usual Lucky Channel antics so it depends mostly on your sense of humor. Personally, I think Konno Hiromi was pretty bland, but Mizuhara Kaoru sure did spice things up. Shiraishi should just get a job as a emcee/comedian already, though I must say the “Wa~ wa~ wa~” song is a bit old already. He really needs to move on to something new.

The other one covers the ceremony where Kagami and Tsukasa were ingrained as official residents of Washimiya. It was quite fun to see Emiri Katou and Kaori Fukuhara live, especially when Kaori did a Tsukasa when she was asked to give a speech by acting all dojikko like, hehe. Also both of them actually looked a bit like sisters, by having the same hairstyle and dye color. The event also followed up with them both donning miko-fuku as well.

Overall, quite an awesome addition to the series, and man, this sure makes me want another season of Lucky Star, even at the cost of the collective wrath from both the Haruhi and FMP! camps combined. No series has really managed to sneak in to my heart so nicely as Lucky Star has, and this OVA just makes me realise I love it so much. It’s really been a while since I truly enjoyed watching an episode of anime, without worrying about trainwrecks or whatsoever.

Finally, the screencaps. 75 of them this… uguu….

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

Yup! It’s Ai wo Torimodose from Hokuto no Ken, also popularly known as the “YOU WA SHOCK!” song. Good to see KyoAni hasn’t lost their edge yet. I can’t wait for the OVA!

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

Hell yeah, I love KyoAni and Lucky Star. Konata Nome 4TW!

Would Kagamin be a nice Klan, though? I guess Tsukasa could do Ranka and Miyuki as Nanase, LOL.

EDIT: Well, even the innards are practically the same!

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

Without further delay, please enjoy ^^.

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

As for Haruhi S2, June’s Newtype has a teaser for it, with further information forthcoming in the July issue next month. Gotta hate it when they do that.

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

Mmm~~ more Kagamin~~~~ *drool*.

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

Holy shit. JAM Project singing Motteke! Sailor-fuku.

Yes, that JAM Project.
Yes, I’m not joking.
Yes, it’s true.
Yes, I know it’s so wrong, but it’s so right as well.

Anyways, listen to it yourself. It’s actually pretty good, IMHO. Apart from that track and the CD’s cover, the whole album sucks as usual. I take that back, Track 6 is actually pretty awesome.

[audio:http://starspire.net/kurogane/JAM_Project_-_JAM_does_Motteke!_Sailor-fuku.mp3]

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

Easily the best character song album for Lucky Star. This was truly a definition of a “character song single”.

The first song, “Shiawase Negau Kanata kara” (lit. “Wishing Happiness from afar”) is Kanata’s solo song, done to the tune of the BGM that accompanied her appearance in episode 22. It’s a nice, slow touching song, that sings on Kanata’s hopes and wishes for her family.

Next song, “Onna ha Yume to Musume dake” is Soujirou’s character song, and in spirit with his character, it truly sounds… how should I put it? Gaudy? As a friend of mine puts it, it sounds like a Cantopop song from the 80’s. Not too bad, once you get used to it.

And the last song, “Sekai ga Kiete mo Aishiteru” is a Soujirou x Kanata duet song, and it’s another awesome song, with both of them singing in their character voices, about the journey of their love. Best part of the song has to be when Kanata asks “What’s otaku?” in the middle of the song.

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