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.

Everyone in school and his family is in shock with the meaningless suicide, and Senkawa’s father becomes desperate to know why his son died, thus he takes his son’s classmates hostage. While he questions everyone, Fumika interrupts with a shigofumi delivery, from Senkawa to Koutake.

Reading the letter aloud, Senkawa explains that he merely just wanted to test out the feeling of “jumping off”, that they discussed earlier. Immediately after the letter is read, the SWAT team swoops in and rescues the class, catching Senkawa’s father, as Koutake himself mentions that he understands now why.

Surprisingly, Kaname chases after Fumika, and reveals that he knew her back in elementary school, calling her Mikawa. The scene changes to a hospital bed of a girl in coma, with a book by Mikawa Kirameki, that Fumika was quoting earlier next to her.

This week’s death was… hmm, how to put it? Meaningless, yes, but stupid, probably not. I can’t imagine myself doing such, but I guess some people actually do so for no reason. I guess Senkawa just wanted to feel how it was to freefall. For anyone else who wants to jump like that though, I suggest trying bungee jumping instead.

More surprisingly was the revelation that Fumika is human before, and her real body may still be alive. That was an interesting development there no doubt, and one wonders what did Fumika herself might have experienced when she was alive.

Also, the supposed “censorship” of this week’s episode, turns out to be quite a lame one, merely only blackening out a few scenes. Better than having the episode not aired I guess, but really, I find no much use for their “censorship” at all, apart from being a wee bit annoying.

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

Conclusion of the first story, this episode tells the reason why Asuna turned in to a murderer.

Continuing from last week’s cliffhanger, Fumika uses her powers to avoid Asuna’s knife. While surprised, she doesn’t forget to deal with Shota body, and buries it by the riverside. After that we are shown with shots of Asuna and Miku, her sister, living happily at an institution, while the institution director reveals that their father wasn’t exactly Father of the Year.

In fact, her father was using her as a nude model, at a room inside the same building where Shota conducted his rocket experiments. Asuna snapped when her father announced that Miku would also be coerced in to doing the same thing, so to protect her, Asuna killed him.

The next day, Shota’s body is quickly discovered, and Asuna decides to run after seeing the police are looking for her. She cuts off her hair and steals a jacket, boarding an express train to Aomori, but before she can leave, Fumika pays her a visit, with a letter from Shota.

Asuna accepts the letter after some “persuasion”. After reading it, she immediately runs back to Shota’s place, with the letter’s contents being one of apology. She reaches the rooftop and prepares the rocket for launch, but she gets a visit from one of the detectives on her before the rocket is launched.

Quite suddenly, a wind blows a piece of tarpaulin on to the rocket, so Asuna rushes to cut it free, but the detective’s partner, just arriving, construes it as an act of aggression and shoots Asuna instead. The episode ends with the rocket successfully launched as Asuna lays dying. Later, Fumika pays another visit to Miku, delivering another Shigofumi, implied to be from Asuna.

Nicely done mini-arc for an introduction to Shigofumi. This short arc just shows a lot of the meaning to the work that Fumika does and the concept of the Shigofumi. Just makes us realise how ugly humans are when they’re put in the wrong circumstances. Both Asuna and Shota were just unfortunate victims.

The OP is in this time, and it doesn’t seem to mesh well with the show. I guess ALI PROJECT is losing their touch a bit, and the tune of the OP just feels out of place.

Overall, Shigofumi looks to be pretty interesting, and as long as the show doesn’t go too one-tracked minded in their stories, it should do pretty well.

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

Shigofumi doesn’t seem to have been what I was expecting from it and I’m happy with that, because it makes this show interesting.

The first episode is about Shota Machiya, a rocket enthusiast, who’s in love with Ayase Asuna, a friend of his whom he got to know while trying to launch rockets on a building rooftop. The story starts with Asuna’s father being found dead and Shota subsequently meeting with Fumika, who’s tasked to pass Asuna’s father’s shigofumi to Asuna’s lover. Shota is supposedly the recipient, but he denies going that far with her. Fumika leaves, but Shota stops her, saying he’ll confess to her after launching his rocket.

Fumika hangs around with him for a while, waiting for the rocket to be complete. The rocket is completed, but before it’s launched, Shota discovers the shigofumi and reads it, finding out that Asuna was actually the killer of her father. Shota doesn’t believe it and goes to meet Asuna, trying to confess, but he’s interrupted by Fumika. In the resulting commotion, Asuna stabs him and proceeds on to stab Fumika as well, while Fumika comments that the dead are more trustful that the living.

Well, sudden plot twist already at the first episode. I certainly didn’t expect that to happen after all the development in the episode. My interest was definitely piqued and I can’t wait for the second episode. Ending at a cliffhanger at the first episode is so :P.

Haven’t seen Kana Ueda in a lead role for a long time, and it’s refreshing to hear her in such a serious tone. Some speculate she’s been playing too much Halo recently, explaining why she hasn’t been voicing much, LOL. Yuki Matsuoka’s voicing of Kanaka is also full of vigor, no wonder I kept thinking of Tsuruya-san a bit.

Yandere time

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