Category Archives: Year in Review
Janai’s 2010 Year in Review: Top 5 Best and Worst Anime
In 2010 we found out what a squid invasion would be like. We learned about what’s it’s like to attend high school in the afterlife. We were treated to yet more of those famous pantsless heroines we love so much. And on top of all that, zombies and boobs. Yes, 2010 was an interesting year, and while there were a good number of shows I thoroughly enjoyed, some shows ended up quite terrible. Here are my best and worst of 2010.
Oh yeah, I wrote this post at 2:00 in the morning while on a caffeine high, so I’m sorry if I’m more vicious and sarcastic than usual. 
Best of 2010
#5: Angel Beats!
Take some of everyone’s favorite character archetypes, throw in an awesome sci-fi/mystery story with some drama and top-notch animation, and you have Angel Beats! KEY’s original production certainly turned out to be a fan favorite, and it’s easy to see why. If you dismissed this show as “hurr durr generic moe crap” or you just really hate KEY, then you should clear your head of your bias and give this show an honest chance, because it’s one of the more interesting and creative shows to come out recently.
Antz’ 2010 Year In Review: Top 5 Anime I Watched This Year
Normally when someone is doing a list of this sort it’s about anime that actually aired during the year. Unfortunately I can’t do a list like that because I generally don’t watch anime as it’s airing. I’ve just never been fond of having to wait a week between episodes. I prefer to watch at my own pace, so I tend to wait a while and watch something when the whole thing has been subbed or it’s out on DVD. While you’re all talking about your Oreimo and your K-ON!, I’m over in my little corner talking about Trigun. As such, my list won’t be top 5 anime that aired in 2010, but the top 5 anime I watched in 2010. The list is limited to shows I watched for the first time in 2010, and TV series only.
#5 – Princess Tutu
When a well-known writer died, he left behind an unfinished story about a prince and a raven. Now the story has started to spill over into the real world, causing its characters to come alive and finally bring about an end to the tale. One of the things that drew me to Princess Tutu was how silly the whole thing can be. It’s a series about a duck who changes into a girl named Duck, who then changes into Princess Tutu and solves whatever conflict has arisen through ballet. And her ballet teacher is a cat. It’s all so strange and odd, but when you take into the account that the series is supposed to be a fairy tale, it all strangely fits. The random talking animals, the duck changing into a girl; none of it is really that absurd for a fairy tale. It’s a cute, and sometimes emotional, little fairy tale and despite me being not even a little close to its intended audience I still found it entertaining.
Eric’s 2010 Year in Review: Top 5 Best and Worst Anime
2010 has been one odd year. Despite it being a year that marked the release of a few excellent gems, it has also been a year filled to the brim with an obscene amount of generic titles that should, frankly, be destroyed from existence. For these reasons, I present you with a list of what I perceive to be the best and worst anime of 2010.
Best of 2010
#5: BAKA and TEST- Summon the Beasts (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu)
Of all the shows to come out this year, Baka to Test was the one that was able to be consistently hilarious for every episode, whether it be the amusing characters, the quick pace of its humor, or the jokes that make fun of many other tropes of the genre. It also helps that the story gets pretty interesting, and even epic, in the final episodes of the series. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking when it comes to the school life genre, but it at least shows that not all shows of the genre have to be the same generic crap every time. With the help of some clever writing, well executed humor, and interesting characters, even a show that strongly resembles others of its genre can be quite amazing.
Currently available at funimation.com
2009 in Review: Top 5 Honorable Mentions
I’ve already talked about the best and worst of 2009′s anime, but what about those in between? Surely some of those shows deserve attention, too. This post is for the honorable mentions that were good, but not quite good enough to make the “Top 10 Best” list.
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5. Sora no OtoshimonoSora no Otoshimono is a hilarious ecchi comedy about a boy who runs into an “Angeloid” – a robotic angel humanoid whatever who is willing to fulfill his every command. This is obviously a cliché concept, but this show does some pretty wacky stuff that makes it worth your time. Some episodes do drag on for a while and there isn’t much plot, but the crazy moments are really, really, funny. The show also has plenty of excellent fanservice, but it doesn’t go over the top. It’s an all around decent ecchi show that’s at least worth a look. Sora no Otoshimono is currently available on Crunchyroll |
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4. Valkyria ChroniclesBased on a PlayStation 3 game with the same title, the anime adaptation of Valkyria Chronicles is a decent re-telling of the events in the game. There are issues, and it’s easy to see that much filler was added in order to meet the 26-episode quota. Overall though, the story is an amazing tale of the characters’ struggles to defend their beloved homeland Gallia from invasion by the Imperial Alliance. Having played the game prior to watching the series, I didn’t feel it really lived up to the quality of the game. However, I would still recommend you check out both. |
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3. Kuchu Buranko (Trapeze)This show is nuts. Like, really nuts. Based on a novel and a collection of short stories, Trapeze is about a psychologist who treats his patients in a very non-orthodox manner. Every episode focuses on a different patient, so the series can be considered episodic. The visuals are really impressive in this show, as it makes use of vibrant colors and detailed character & background designs that really make the show “jump out at you.” There is some very interesting humor in the show as well. If you like artistic shows with a crazy sense of humor, then Trapeze should definitely not be overlooked. |
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2. Asu no Yoichi!Asu no Yoichi! (the manga is known as Samurai Harem in the US) is one of the best harem comedy series I’ve ever seen. Sure, it’s not original, but it manages to be really funny at times. The story follows Yoichi who ends up moving into a house with four sisters. Hilarity ensues. Asu no Yoichi! is an all-around great comedy that will have you laughing every few minutes. If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to check out my review of the show. |
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1. Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo (Sora Kake Girl)Sora Kake Girl is an action sci-fi space comedy. It’s a crazy roller coaster ride of laughs, action, fanservice, and wonderful characters. Perhaps the most notable seiyuu would be Jun Fukuyama (LeLouch from Code Geass), who plays the role of Leopard. Leopard is a “Brain Colony,” and the show centers around various Brain Colonys engaging in their petty hilarious battles with each other. Sora Kake Girl is by Sunrise, the creators of Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome, and fans of those shows will certainly see the resemblance. If you want some great visually appealing deep-space action scenes and don’t mind a bit of fanservice, than be sure to watch Sora Kake Girl. If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to check out my review of the show. |
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2009 in Review: Top 5 Most Disappointing Anime
2009 may have been a great year for anime fans, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any disappointments. In this post, I’ll be discussing the 2009 anime shows that I was looking forward to seeing, but unfortunately turned out to be a major snoozefest. Again, this is only my opinion, and I just know people are going to hate me for what I picked.
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5. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: PurezzaNot being a big fan of the first season, I actually wasn’t really expecting much of the second season. Sure, Nogizaka Haruka Season 1 had its funny moments, especially with the Shakugan no Shana parodies, though overall I found the series unfunny and over-dramatic at times. So when I went to give season 2 a try, I had little expectations. As expected, the first episode wasn’t all that great. However, what really irked me was the blatant censorship. There’s one scene where the girls are in a hot spring touching each other in inappropriate places. This is a very common anime trope, but never before have I seen it censored. But in this particular scene, I kid you not, about 90% of the screen was filled with steam, meant for purposes of censoring the material. Japan must be really desperate for people to buy their insanely overpriced anime DVDs if they find it necessary to censor the TV airing of a show this much. Additionally, there were plenty of other scenes that were censored as well. It was utterly unbearable. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza is currently available on Crunchyroll |
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4. Akikan!Akikan! is a show about cans of soda that turn into girls and fight each other. No, I’m not kidding, that’s really what the show is about. Some may think that this may be a hilarious basis for a show, and well, yeah, it definitely could be. To be honest, I did actually watch all of Akikan! and enjoyed it to some extent, but there are many, many issues with its presentation. The comedy in the show is generally unfunny. The story is nothing spectacular at all, although I can’t say I expected much of a story from a show about transforming soda cans. The show tries to be ecchi, but the fanservice is lacking, to say the least. What sucked me into this show was the first episode, which actually was pretty funny. It wasn’t until later on that I came to realize the show in its entirety just isn’t worth the effort. |
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3. Shangri-LaShangri-La is a perfect example of how one should not judge an anime by its opening theme. After seeing its totally awesome OP, I was immediately sucked into the show. However, it didn’t take long for Shangri-La to turn into a show with one of the the most confusing, convoluted, and just plain awful plots I’ve seen. Taking place at some point in the future, global warming has taken its toll on the planet, and Tokyo has been transformed into a “jungle-polis” to help put more oxygen in the air. An interesting basis for a story, indeed. Unfortunately, viewers are immediately “thrown into” the show. No backstory is given at all; you simply have to figure it all out yourself. Names are thrown around that have no meaning to the viewers. The characters are pretty lame, though I must say I am partial to Kuniko Houjou (for obvious reasons). Overall, the show is a mess, and unless you can somehow manage to keep up with the plot, you’ll find yourself lost very quickly. Shangri-La is currently available on Crunchyroll |
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2. 11eyesAn anime based off of a visual novel can sometimes be awesome. However, there are also times where it just simply doesn’t work out. Pacing is always an issue when adapting a visual novel, manga, etc. into an anime series. The anime adaptation of Lass’s popular eroge visual novel is no exception to this. I was actually really looking forward to seeing this show. One reason I loved Higurashi so much was because I felt it was an excellent combination of moe and horror, an unlikely mixture. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for 11eyes. From the two episodes I saw, the vast majority of it was just “filler fluff” where nothing really happened, which overall led to a pretty lame show that I just couldn’t stay focused on, nor did I care to. 11eyes is currently available on Crunchyroll |
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1. Kimi ni TodokeI can already feel the heat rising within you. Yes, I’m dead serious. Kimi ni Todoke is the most boring anime I have ever seen. Given how everyone was raving about it, I really, really tried to enjoy this show. After the initial viewing, I dropped it after one episode. I later gave it another try and got about halfway through episode 2 before I just couldn’t take it anymore. I do not see the appeal of this show at all. It’s insanely slow-paced. The art style is generic, the plot is generic, and the characters honestly are nothing special. Sawako spends 3/4 of the first episode talking about how awesome Kazehaya is. Not only that, but in that very episode, the “Sawako = Sadako” joke is killed, beaten down with a hammer, and disintegrated within less than 10 minutes. That’s not what I call entertainment, though it’s certainly a nice alternative to NyQuil. |
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Feeling the rage? Post your thoughts below. I’d love to hear from you.
Janai
Antz
OtakuAnthony
jaysteevee
vtine
matty
machineslife
Nyanman
