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.

Otherwise… I think this season was even more messed up than the second one was. While the initial half was pretty enjoyable, no thanks to Tiffania(Noto-sama BANZAI!) and the over-the-top ecchi fanservice antics, the latter half’s attempts to insert the plot about rescuing Tabitha just fell flat on it’s finicky premise. Add to the fact that the bad guys never made clear their real intentions and Ceiffied was pretty damn lame as a villain, it was just painful watching it.

Even more painful as got to be Loiuse and Saito’s off-on relationship. The writers are just trying to damn hard at the tsun-tsun part of Louise without any real showing of her dere-dere side. Plus the fact that Louise’s approach to jealousy is to “shoot first, ask questions never” gets really, REALLY irritating makes me wonder how the hell Saito can cope with her. Guy must be hardcore M-man inside I guess.

Anyways, another lackluster addition to this well-milked magic+tsundere franchise. Seriously, if they make another season, I’m gonna… oh I better stop here. Most probably gonna have to eat my words later anyways.

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

Yeah, very late post, but better than never!

Gist of the episode: Sleipnir party coming up, Siesta challenges Louise to see if Saito can find her during the party. Turns out the point of the party is to disguise magically as the person you adore the most, so everyone gets really weird kind of dressups. Louise turns in to her sister, fat boy turns in to a female version of himself, Osman turns in to one of the hottest girls in ZnT so far and Tiffania becomes Saito with boobs (lol). Henrietta also joins, and she turns in to Louise, causing much heartbreak when Saito mistakes her as the real one and proceeds to almost kiss her before the real Louise interrupts them.

Ouch… the nutcracker.

This is very, very wrong, you know?

Seriously.

Did I mention this is very, very wrong?

Of course, pissed off Louise runs out and Saito goes after her, but gets blocked by Tabitha who attacks him, while Sheffield hypnotizes Louise to follow her. Of course, like any third-rate enemy, instead of heading off with her, she brings her along to gloat in front of Saito, who has just successfully disarmed Tabitha. Saito calls out her name and wakes her up, then she falls off the flying manta ray she’s on when she throws a tantrum. Saito manages to catch her right on time.

Sheffield proceeds to summon more of her familiars, but they’re all destroyed in explosions. Surprisingly, it’s Colbert who saves their asses, reviving from the dead and even bringing along a present in the form of a huge-ass airplane (a B-52? :P)

What the heck?!

Colbert’s back?! щ(ﾟДﾟщ)

Looks like the show is trying to inject their some -plot- in, but maa~ we all can see how it’s gonna end out again. The party was the high point of the episode, and I lol’ed at Saito with boobs. I wonder who’s the woman that Osman took the form of… she’s pretty hawt.

Colbert’s revival was pretty expected, since I got spoiled, but oh dear he sure brought along a nice present. I wonder where he finds all those.

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

(￣▽￣)ノ Yuri yuri fiesta episode! Funny actually, Siesta herself didn’t participate in it.

Gotta love the eyecatch this week. Finally we get to see the full thing after being teased by it for the past 5 episodes. It’s funny how they lumped together the extreme ends of the spectrum.

Too bad the enjoyment of naked apron Siesta was ruined by the BLINDING LIGHT OF DECENCY.

Also, the producers are finally trying to start some semblance of “plot” to the show. Will this be the end of another enjoyable fanservice series? I just hope another atrocity doesn’t happen.

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

Saito losing in pimp powers?!! no waii!!!

Louise gets angry at Saito, which causes Saito to leave for a while. Seeing him depressed, his other comrades decide to give him a surprise treat in the form of a peephole in to the girl’s bathroom, but Saito gets jealous at them getting an eyeful of Louise’s underdeveloped body, causing them to get caught red-handed by the girls.

Louise’s inferiority complex kicks in.

Inb4 Louise x Tiffania yuri smut doujins.

Oh god…

… this rocks.

Saito manages to escape thanks to Tabitha, in return for feeding her Slypheed earlier, but er, she faints when she thinks she hears some ghosts in the chamber they were hiding it. The ghosts turn out to be dancing dolls, and while watching them, Louise appears and confronts Saito about his peeping.

Score another one for Saito’s pimp powers!

A Tabitha is fine too.

Saito honestly tells her what happened, not expecting her to believe it but surprisingly she does. Saito promises her that he likes small ones like hers, and they almost share a tender kiss… which gets interrupted when Tabitha wakes up naked. Yay for more cockblock, lol.

“Louise, I love you.”

*cue romantic music*

“Uh, hi. Was I interrupting something? I’ll just go back to fainting now.”

“Wait, Louise! I can explain….”

Well, long story short, he gets punished again… as usual. Ahhh~~ this cock-tease and cockblock thing is really starting to get pretty painful to watch.

Next week; more love potion hijinks (again?!!) and potentially another yuri pairing for C74 doujin fapterial. ZnT III sure knows how to cock tease us.

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

ELVEN BUST IS AWESOME!!! TIFFANIA BANZAI!! BUST REVOLUTION BANZAI!!! NOTO-SAMA BANZAI!!!!

Ahh~~ another boobfest episode of ZnT III, this time mainly about Tiffania finally going to school but getting bullied. Of course, the question of the legitimacy of her awesome rack comes in to question by the majority of the student body, so she asks Saito to tell her why everyone’s so curious about it… damn that lucky sod. Too bad he gets cockblocked yet again… but not after copping quite a feel of Tiffania’s revolutionary bust.

I really don’t know either to hate him or pity him, really.

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

“This is… definitely a REVOLUTION!”

Bust Revolution Tiffania finally appears officially in the series. If you need a reason to watch ZnT III, Tiffania’s boobs should prove to be a mesmerizing one. Trust me. See now where her nickname comes from? Even Saito, who has had his bloody fair share of boobs (and non-boobs), agrees that Tiffania’s melonpan are exceptional.

Hell, so exceptional that even Louise turned lesbo for it!

Kugimin molesting Noto-sama… Kugimin molesting Noto-sama…

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

“It’s been a while since we had some “skinship”, Master”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle…”

*rustle rustle*

“Ahh~~ let’s not do this first thing in the morning…”

“Eh… but, my “little brother” needs his “breakfast”.”

“W-w-w-well… if it’s like that… I guess we’ve got no choice.”

“OHAYO GOZAIMASU!!!!”

“Tsk! God damn it, Siesta you cockblocker! “

*….. later that night.*

“Louise?! What are you doing up here?”

“… I want to continue from earlier.”

“I can’t sleep without you… stupid dog.”

*glomp* “Aww… Louise, you’re so cute at times like this…”

“Come, let’s go back and continue our work :)”.

… I’ll leave the rest to your imaginations, my dear readers.

Special Bonus Service Omake Shot:

Bust Revolution Tiffania!!!

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

A crying Louise… fine.

Saito and Louise getting married before Louise is proceeds with a suicide job… fine.

Saito, having drugged Louise to take her place so she can live on, saying manly lines… “Aw man, he’s damn f*cking GAR!!”

Saito alone, versus an army 70,000-strong (yes, all those lights are the enemy)…. “OMG I’M SHEDDING MANLY TEARS!!! T_T”

Saito, on the brink of getting immolated by enemy fire after a desperately fighting the enemy… “SAITO, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE FANS.”

Saito and Louise, reunited suddenly after all that, done deus-ex-machina style… “WHAT THE…. ” /facepalm OTL.

No J.C STAFF. Just. NO. For god’s sake, you totally ruined one of the best parts of this series. The PART which will permanently etch the hero in the hearts and minds of the fans who follow the series. Yes I know this anime is supposed to be a “happy” one, but for god’s sake, you guys totally spoiled it. I’ve tried not to even comment on the god damn lame ED song, which got reeeeealy aggravating after the initial episodes, but totally ruining this part of the story is unforgivable. TOTALLY.

Hell, you could’ve just ended in a cliffhanger, with Saito getting pwned by the anime as the last scene, then do a third season for his return, but no. You decided to cram it all in one BLOODY episode, done haphazardly, just to finish off the series. Even two episodes would’ve been better off… /facepalm. This shall not be forgotten. This shall not be forgiven.

To make it worse, you had to leave out a whole arc with “Boob boob Revolution” Tiffania, only making her a small cameo role to try to justify your deus ex machina. AND, to rub salt on the wound… you had to make Noto Mamiko, with me being her fanboy and all, voice her. OTL

I want to cry. I really want to cry, then beat the hell out of the production team.

Yours truly,

A fan.

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

Even unconscious, Saito’s pimp aura still works admirably. God damn him.

On a side note, the ED theme is so in contrast with the series’ tone now, it’s actually getting quite tasteless and annoying. They should’ve planned for a better song, sigh.

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