Author Archives: pantsukudasai56

Best anime of 2011

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With the year rapidly coming to a close, and the apocalypse soon to be upon us, I thought it would be a good time to make my pick for the one anime of the year that if you watch no other, you should at least watch this.

There were many worthy candidates this year.  From top notch dramas like Ano Hi Mita no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (or AnoHana for short) to very solid slice of life shows like Hanasaku Iroha and Usagi Drop, comedies like the second season of Ika Musume, and Working!!, to more thoughtful fare like Fate/Zero, all these and more could and deserve to be delved into more in depth.  Perhaps I’ll manage to do that at some point.  But as good as these and other shows this year were, there is one title that stands out from the crowd.  I speak of a little show called Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

This is a difficult show to talk about without spoiling things, so I’ll try and be careful to avoid dropping any huge bombs about the show, but a few things do need to be brought up.  First off, don’t let the images fool you.  This show takes the cutsey magical girl genre, and drags it through the darkness, permanently staining it.  It starts off very standard, where you have our titular heroine, Madoka, saving the traditional mascot character Kyubey from harm.  From there, she’s and her friend Sayaka are introduced to another Magi, Mami, and then another character, Homura, shows up and plays the role of chief rival/antagonist.  All sounds like every other magical girl show you’ve seen, or heard about, yes?  Well, you get a feel for what this show is really like with the events in episode 3.  It’s something that should definitely be experienced firsthand to get the best impact out of it.  I had it spoiled for me prior, because people are jerks like that, but even knowing what was going to happen didn’t make it any less shocking, so I can only imagine how people who saw it for the first time without any inkling of what was going to happen felt.

After that episode, things continue to follow along a very tragic storyline, and you can pretty much feel the sorrow that everyone experiences.  In a lot of cases, when anime has these tragic storylines, the emotions can feel cheap and manipulative.  But with this, even though they of course WANT you to feel that way, you end up feeling that way without it seeming like you were forced into it.  When each of the girls find out the truth behind what they’re doing, you get a range of believable emotions, from sadness, to anger, to despair.  This isn’t the typical reaction where a plucky young girl tries her best with a never say die attitude and prevails against all odds.  Things don’t go as the heroine wishes, and in fact the show seems destined to end with the complete opposite of a happy ending.  Even the ending itself is debatable as to how happy of an ending it really was.  And I think that’s a refreshing change of pace.  Madoka ends in a way where you could take it as being a happy type ending, or you could view it from another person’s perspective as having lost something important.  There does remain a tiny glimmer of hope, but it’s one that could easily be extinguished.

While the story written by Gen Urobuchi is the real meat and potatoes, the art and animation is certainly worthy of calling this the best anime of 2011.  The character designs were done by Ume Aoki, who has a very distinctive style as seen in her previous works such as Hidamari Sketch.  They’re typically characterized by wide faces and large eyes, even by the standards of anime, which lends a nice contrast to the seriousness of the show.  People in the know also were a bit more prepared for the direction the show took, since it was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, who has some amount of note for taking shows in different directions and using a lot of surreal imagery.  And that is very evident in scenes where the girls are fighting against the witches.  The backgrounds look as though they’re walking through a Dali painting.  It’s a very effective blending of animation and CGI.  Plus the fluidity of the animation in the battle scenes shows that no corners were cut in any aspect of production.  The musical score is also done by well known composer Yuki Kajiura, whose tracks set the perfect mood for each scene.

While there is no one universal title that everyone everywhere will point to and say “This is a masterpiece!” Puella Magi Madoka Magica is definitely a title that people shouldn’t just write off as yet another tired old magical girl show and should give it a fair chance.  Tastes are always subjective, but this is one that you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you missed seeing it.

Anime You Should Be Watching: Ika Musume

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Today is a rarity for two reasons. First off, I went and watched a highly anticipated movie, Captain America, BEFORE Arleigh went and saw it. Since live action stuff isn’t the sort of thing I care to review, I have no intentions of doing so here (probably obvious by the title) but it is a very good movie and people should go watch. Secondly, I’m actually making a post! Yes, I am still a contributor to this site, I’m just not a very dedicated one. But today, I submit before you all that if you have not yet seen the awesomeness that is Ika Musume, then you have just been missing out on one of the best anime of 2010.

The basic premise goes as such. Ika Musume, or Squid Girl (the name given to her in English adaptations, which is what her name translates to, but I just prefer Ika Musume) comes to land to punish humans for their constant polluting of the oceans. Now, people that know me know how much of an anti-environmentalist I am, so even though this sounds like enviro-hippie bullcrap, needless to say things do not go exactly as planned. First off, she’s far too adorable to be taken seriously as a conqueror. You tell me, would you at all fear this?

Of course you can’t, and of all the people she meets, only one person actually takes her threat seriously.  Because no one other than that one girl seems to be at all bothered that there is an anthropomorphic squid in their midst.  In fact, Ika Musume surfaces and subsequently tries to invade a beach house run by three siblings, Eiko, her older sister Chizuru, and their younger brother Takeru who instead of being fearful of her immediately put her to work to repair damage that she did to their restaurant.  And Ika Musume doesn’t seem capable of staying on track for very long, because she almost immediately agrees and gets to work!  Her talents are immediately apparent, as she is able to carry 8 dishes or drinks at a time with her tentacles, and she also can produce plenty of squid ink, which is used to season spaghetti noodles.  I don’t know if that’s a Japanese specialty, or if that’s eaten in other cultures, but it’s apparently a hot seller there.

But eventually, Ika Musume does remember that her goal is to subjugate all of humanity.  So, what keeps her in check?  Ika Musume makes the mistake of threatening Eiko and Takeru, taking them hostage with her tentacles, and the normally mild mannered Chizuru shows a side you rarely see, where she becomes a combat specialist that would be the envy of any Navy SEAL.  Needless to say, after being shown that her life could be snuffed out in an instant, whenever Chizuru detects any rebellion out of Ika Musume, a simple glare is enough to set her back on track.

One thing that Ika Musume is very well known for is her distinctive speech pattern.  Long time anime veterans are likely familiar with characters having character specific traits.  In Kanon it was Ayu and her “uguu”.  In Rozen Maiden it was Suiseiseki and her “desu”.  Ika Musume brings the very appropriate “de geso” as the ending to almost all her sentences.  Geso literally translates to “arms of squid as food”, so you can see how it appropriate it is for her.  But me telling you about it just isn’t the same as experiencing it yourself, so without further ado, here is Ika Musume in all her de geso goodness.

I don’t know about all of you, but this is one invader that I’d welcome with open arms.  Thankfully, she’ll be back again when the second season begins airing this fall.  It can’t come a moment too soon for me de geso.

AMV of the Day: Something Fishy (Bumblebee Tuna AMV)

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I’ll readily admit, I’m not a huge fan of AMVs.  Don’t get me wrong, when they’re good, they’re really fun and entertaining to watch.  The thing is, 99% of AMVs suck.  Seriously, most of them are just a mashup of some fan’s favorite scenes from an anime put to a song they like that really don’t fit together.  But, the ones that are good, tend to be really good.  You can tell when someone takes the time and the effort to put together something that they can be proud of.

This AMV is one of those good ones.  There hasn’t been anyone yet that I’ve shown this to that hasn’t gotten hopelessly hooked on it.  It’s the perfect blend of a high energy song, clips that make sense with the words of the song, and really good editing.  It was made by JaddziaDax, but I’m not certain where it premiered at.  All I do know is that it is impossible to watch this and not wind up singing along on the subsequent playthroughs.  And there will be subsequent playthroughs.  The first time I watched it, I immediately had to play it again, and again, and before I knew it I was on my fifth consecutive viewing.  Now that’s a sign of a good AMV!  So, feel free to watch this, but just be forewarned, you might not be able to look at a can of Bumblebee Tuna without thinking of this AMV again.

Anime You Should Be Watching: Aria

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I realize that entertainment is very subjective.  One person’s masterpiece is another person’s trash.  Still, there are some anime that are just so good that no matter who you are, no matter what your interests, as long as you’re a fan of anime, you should be watching it.  The first example that comes to mind for me is a well received, yet fairly unknown title called Aria.

Now, I know what some people are thinking.  “Is there a lot of action?  Explosions?  Naked girls?  Blood and guts?  It’s at least fast paced, right?”  There is none of those, but you know what?  You’re still going to enjoy it anyways.  Thus is the power of slice-of-life shows.  There is no action at all, yet you’re left with a big smile on your face after each episode.

The story of Aria revolves around a young girl named Akari who leaves Manhome (Earth) and comes to the Martian city of Neo Venetia to become an Undine, or gondola pilot.  This is obviously modeled after the Italian city Venice, and in fact it is stated that in the realm of this anime, Venice has already sunk, which was the main motivation for the Martian terraformers in creating the town of Neo Venetia.  Much like the real life city of Venice, Neo Venetia’s streets are all waterways.  Of course they have normal walkways, but if you don’t feel like walking, or if you need to move goods around the town, traveling by gondola is the way to go.  When the anime starts, it begins with Akari already being a Single, but they later on show flashbacks to when she first arrived and started out as a Pair.

The terms Pair and Single refer to the gloves they wear.  The gloves are both practical and aesthetic.  When an Undine is wearing two gloves, it both signifies that she is an apprentice, and it’s also because when they’re just starting out, their hands require more protection from constantly rowing.  As a Pair, they are not allowed to carry passengers at all.  As they gain more experience, and as their hands get more used to the abuse that the oar gives, they can go down to one glove, hence the term Single.  Also, as a Single, they are allowed to carry passengers as long as a fully licensed Undine, or Prima, is in the gondola with them.  And obviously, once they reach the rank of Prima, they are fully qualified Undines and can carry passengers on their own.

Life on Mars is a little bit different than life on Earth.  The main difference is that cats are sentient beings on Mars.  They can’t speak English, but they appear to understand it.  Plus, all gondola companies on Mars must be owned by a blue eyed cat.  Akari’s company is owned by one President Aria, who fits in perfectly with Aria Company’s easy going attitude.

And that is a typical scene from the anime.  I know that shouldn’t be entertaining, but it just plain is.  Episodes revolve around such action packed events like delivering the mail, or going to a festival.  In other words, there’s no action at all.  It’s an incredibly serene show and is the perfect complement to watching other anime that ARE action packed.  It’s like a palate cleanser.  As such, I also don’t recommend marathoning the show, or else some of the luster and wonderment of it is lost.

The strong points of the anime are the high production values, which can be seen when viewing some of the lush backgrounds of the places that Akari visits.  It’s obvious that the show was given the proper budget, and that’s probably in no small part to the fact that it was helmed by director Junichi Sato who directed such popular and respected anime as Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star, and Sgt. Frog, among others.  Plus, unlike with a lot of anime these days, the decision to animate it didn’t come until after the manga had been running for awhile and thus had already gotten a good following.  Another factor in its high budget could possible come from just good timing.  The first Aria season came out when companies were still willing to take a chance on a show that’s a little different from the usual otaku bait.  Luckily it proved to be successful and it was allowed to tell its full story.

And that’s another strength, is the finely told story that Kozue Amano came up with.  When you don’t have flashy explosions and super powers and naked breasts bouncing around to keep people interested, you had better be able to tell a good story, and Kozue Amano did not disappoint.  When watching the anime or reading the manga, you get the feeling that you’re right there with Akari, and that you’re both exploring and experiencing things together.  It’s that kind of emotional attachment that’s crafted that makes for a good story.

Ultimately, I can’t promise that you’re going to be blown away by this.  Slice-of-life isn’t for everyone, but you certainly would be making a mistake if you didn’t at least give Aria a chance to wow you.  And who knows?  If you go into this with an open mind, you might just find, that for some inexplicable reason, that you have a huge smile on your face at the end and can’t wait for your next adventure in Neo Venetia.

Junichi Sato

Anime of the Decade

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Epic.  Has there ever been a word that has been run into the ground so much that it’s practically lost all meaning?  Pounding a bunch of noobs at Halo isn’t epic.  The meal you just had isn’t epic.  Anything that spawned from 4chan isn’t epic.  Do you know what does deserve the title of epic?  One Piece.  Make no mistake, I’m not saying One Piece is the greatest anime of all time.  However, the sheer scale of the story, and the high level of consistency maintained for 13 years and counting qualify One Piece to confidently call itself epic.

The story revolves around a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who’s goal is to become the King of the Pirates.  But Luffy is no ordinary boy.  He ate a Devil’s Fruit, which grant their users strange powers in exchange for losing the ability to swim or float.  Quite the handicap for someone who wishes to live their lives on the high seas to be sure.  Luffy’s particular fruit was the Gum-Gum fruit, which turns him into a rubberman, allowing his body to stretch to great lengths, and also making him immune to most projectile attacks.  The exception being anything with an edge to it.  So, while he can repel bullets and cannonballs, arrows would prove to be deadly to him.  But, Luffy is the sort who will just charge straight ahead, without fear for his own safety, and unleash all manner of attacks using his unique makeup.

But before you get to thinking that Luffy always kicks ass and takes names, make no mistake, he gets his ass handed to him.  A lot.  But a big part of Luffy’s strength is the fact that he doesn’t let adversity get him down.  He’s very much of the motto “If at first you don’t succeed, punch them even harder the next time!”  Unlike with some shows where the hero has to gain a new superpower to defeat a foe that just beat them, ala Dragon Ball Z, Luffy is often able to just come back and win without needing to rely on such things.  Granted, there are a few times where he has to come out with a whole new move, but it just feels so much more believable and causes you to roll your eyes less than with some other shonen fare like the aforementioned DBZ and Bleach.

Now, becoming the Pirate King is no easy task, and one couldn’t possibly do it all alone.  A lot of the charm of One Piece lies in the cast of characters that Luffy has for a crew.  To avoid any spoilers for anyone who is either just starting or plans to start, I won’t list the entire crew.  Heck, at the point where I’m at in the series, I think there have even been one or two more crew members added in the recent episodes that I don’t know about yet.  So, I’ll limit the crew to his pre-Grand Line bunch.

The first person to join Luffy on his adventures is Roronoa Zoro (some translations call him Zolo since L’s and R’s are interchangeable in Japanese, but Zoro just looks better to me) who is a swordsman that uses three katana when he fights, one in each hand and one in his mouth.

As I said, they don’t always win, and often get their ass handed to them pretty bad.  And this is a kid’s show!  Zoro usually is a fairly cool and collected type who doesn’t let Luffy’s idiotic nature get the best of him, and isn’t phased by many things they encounter no matter how bizarre, although no one is completely immune to Luffy’s nonsense.

The next member to join up with Luffy was Nami.  She was a thief who stole from pirates, although it was for a good reason and was one of my favorite arcs in the series.  She’s also an expert navigator who is capable of reading weather patterns and plotting the safest course through practically anywhere.

Nami has a love for treasure and money in general, and she’ll do most anything to get her hands on it.  However, she’s not much on fighting and will avoid it if it all possible.  After all, hard to spend money when you’re dead!  An interesting bit would be that Nami definitely, ummm, grows throughout the course of the show.  This is a picture of her in an early appearance:

Now compare that to one from later on in the series:

I guess Nami is just a growing girl, and I thank Oda for being the pervert that I assume him to be!

The next one to join the crew is probably my least favorite of them all, Usopp.  Maybe it’s his voice, or perhaps it’s his character design, or maybe I just don’t like his attitude.  Whatever the case, I don’t really care much for him.  Two things to know about Usopp, 1) He’s a liar and 2) he’s a coward.  He makes Nami look downright heroic with the extents he goes to stay out of any danger.  That’s not to say he won’t fight when the chips are down.  Luffy would never allow anyone who actually ran away from their duty on their crew.  Just that whenever he fights, he works best when he can use his lies and his considerable sniping skills.

The last of the crew I’ll mention here is their cook, Sanji.  Sanji can basically be summed up as a guy who just plain tries way too hard to get women.

Unfortunately for him, Nami can smell a chump like that a mile away, so she takes full advantage of it whenever she can.  Despite his obvious weakness for women, Sanji is a very good fighter, using kicks as his weapon as he believes a chef must not harm his hands.  However, he is very chivalrous, in that he refuses to ever kick a lady.  Obviously this is a bit of a handicap at times, as not every opponent they run into are men.  But, barring that, he doesn’t back down from a fight if one is picked with him.

These are the crew members that Luffy takes with him to the Grand Line.  Having only gotten up to episode 356 myself (the anime is at over 450 eps right now) I only know of 4 other crew members that join them after they reach the Grand Line, and that may have increased.  So, for the sake of giving people something to look forward to on their own, I won’t be introducing them.

As one can see, One Piece has a fairly unique character design.  This does take a little getting used to.  I held off on watching One Piece for years because of it, but they do grow on you after awhile.  Sure, the women have impossibly thin waists, and most of them have ridiculously large busts (thank you Oda!), but after awhile it stops bothering you and you are able to enjoy the story being told.  And what a story it is!  I can’t think of another series, anime, manga, or novel, that can run for so long and still be entertaining.  We’re talking 60 volumes, which is well over 400 chapters of material written over a 13 year time span.  For the anime, it’s currently on episode 480 and has been running for 11 years while maintaining consistently high ratings.  If I had to hazard a guess as to it’s lasting popularity, I’d say it’s Luffy’s enthusiasm and simplistic way of living.  He’s not some moody, woe-is-me type, nor is he fighting the forces of evil to save the world.  In fact, if you want to get downright technical, he is one of the forces of evil that is working to destroy the world.  At the core, this is about a pirate going up against the world government.  He may not pillage and kill townsfolk, but evil really is how you view it.  From the standpoint of the Marines, he is a criminal.  But for the countless people who he has helped in his quest to become the Pirate King, he’s a sort of folk hero.

I feel that this is the anime of the decade largely because of its enduring popularity.  It’s by far the highest selling manga of all time in Japan, having sold over 200 million copies.  Additionally, it holds the record for the most copies of a single book sold when volume 60 sold 3.4 million copies in it’s first print run alone, shattering the previous record set by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  In 2010, while an exact figure has not been made public, based on volumes sold and standard royalty agreements, it’s estimated that Eiichiro Oda made over $24 million.  That’s in one year, not over his lifetime.  That is an insane amount of money for a manga author.  And the thing is, success hasn’t made him lazy.  In the 13 years he’s been writing it the longest break he took was a 3 week break once, this year, and that was in part to set up the time skip he had planned.  And when you realize that he’s serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, which as the name implies is a weekly publication, the fact that he’s written chapters nearly every week for 13 years without jumping the shark is quite amazing.  Further, according to Eiichiro Oda, while he does have an ending planned, the manga is only halfway done.  60 compiled volumes, well over 500 chapters, spawning 480 anime episodes, 10 movies, plus various tv specials and it’s only halfway done?

The only word that can properly describe that is epic.

Anime of the Day: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

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Believe it or not, originally I was brought on to be the anime guy. Granted, I haven’t always been the most active of people, but that’s my natural laziness taking over. But with the season being what it is, and me having drank enough, allow me to enlighten everyone about one of the finer horror anime out there, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

Previously Arleigh had posted up another yandere classic, School Days. The Higurashi visual novel predates said visual novel by three years. The big difference is that while School Days was a fairly well funded project (with many, many bugs in it!) and Higurashi was basically a doujinshi project.

Let me explain doujinshi for a very little bit. A lot of people make the mistake that doujinshi instantly equals porn comics. Now, if you attend Comiket, which is the single largest doujinshi convention in Japan, you could be excused for thinking that it’s all about comics, and more importantly, comics that solely deal in erotic content. However, doujinshi basically just means “self published”. Again, not a literal translation. You want literal? Fine. The literal translation is “same person periodical publication”. Basically this can be taken to mean a project taken on by someone without the financial backing of the mainstream media. This could mean either comics, games, or even anime. Yes, the more common genre are the comics, but there is a fairly decent market for self published games. Higurashi falls under the blanket of the self published games. From a visual standpoint, they were very raw. In fact, there’s a very good reason why it gets criticized for having bun hands.

Compare that to the anime character art, and the difference is quite obvious.

But if you can get past the rough character designs,  (keep in mind that the true meat of the game comes from the story, not the graphics) then you’re in for a very good story with many a twist and turn along the way.

One thing I must say, based on the experiences I’ve had with people is that you should probably watch the anime first. Perhaps I’ve just been subjected to extremely rabid fans, but too many of them have an irrational hatred of the anime. I’ll accept that there is a chance the complaints are valid, because I have not personally played the visual novel (you play them, not read them. Trust me on this) but having seen all of the anime, even if the transition is not perfect, it’s still a fun watch that will keep you guessing right up until the answer arcs are shown.

Each arc starts out in a very light hearted manner, but make no mistake, this is a horror series at its core.  The fact that such cute girls are at the center of it all makes it seem all the more horrific, especially with the actions that are taken throughout the various arcs.  While it’s very difficult for anime to effectively show gore without getting to the ridiculous buckets of blood level, Higurashi manages to be very effective in its depictions of it, and some scenes are actually a bit shocking to see.

The thing is, you have to watch both seasons of the show, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, to get the true ending and find out the reason for all the happenings in the town of Hinamizawa during June of 1983, but it is well worth the time spent, and shows that anime can successfully pull off the horror genre.

Satoshi Kon R.I.P (October 12, 1963 – August 23, 2010)

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any updates, and while I’ve always meant to get something written up, I always found excuses not to. But with the recent passing of Satoshi Kon, it would be remiss of me not to post up my thoughts of the career of one of the truly great anime directors. First I’ll give a brief rundown on his works as director, along with my thoughts of each and then I’ll end with some closing thoughts on his career in general.

Perfect Blue (1998)

This was my first experience with the directing talents of Mr. Kon, as well as his directorial debut.  Back in 2001 when I was just starting to get into actually buying DVDs of anime, I asked around which titles I should own.  Among the responses, Perfect Blue kept coming up, so I decided to give it a shot.  Back then I didn’t really follow anime websites or magazines, nor was torrenting really a driving force, so this was a complete blind buy for me.  What I got really opened my eyes to what anime could be like.  Before this, anime to me largely was giant robots blowing things up, or martial arts masters powering up for 20 episodes and blowing things up.  Never did I think that anime would be an effective means for bringing me a psychological thriller that so blurred the lines between reality and fiction.  Plus, it tells a tale of obsession for idols in Japan that rings just as true today as it did back in 1998, as one can see happening between Aya Hirano and the degenerates of 2ch.

Millennium Actress (2001)

Next up for Mr. Kon was Millennium Actress.  A popular, recurring theme in most of his works is the blurring of the lines between reality and fiction and this movie brought it to an even higher level than Perfect Blue.  The biggest difference between the two is Millennium Actress is a lot more light hearted in tone than the fairly dark Perfect Blue was, even if the argument can be made that it doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending.  Throughout the film, we are brought through the life of an actress as she recounts her career and her search for the love of her life.  However, it’s shown by placing the people telling the tale into the movies of her career and then popping back into reality, sometimes leaving one to wonder what was real and what was scripted.  Such a directing technique does come with the risk of turning viewers off if it gets too convoluted, but Satoshi Kon knew just the right amount of tweaking to do to keep one thinking, but turn into outright confusion for the sake of confusion.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

For his third film, Satoshi Kon put the blurring of reality and fiction on the back burner and instead focused more on the human relations.  Tokyo Godfathers looks at the lives of three homeless people and a baby they find on Christmas Eve.  While the story told here is a bit more straightforward than his other offerings, it has a lot more emotional impact as you find out what led each of these three to where they are, and also what led the baby to being abandoned.  Rest assured, the story doesn’t get to its conclusion without a couple twists and turns along the way, but this one has the closest to a happy ending as any of his movies.  The fact that it manages to tell a compelling tale without having to use his psychological tool shows why Satoshi Kon was such a respected director.

Paranoia Agent (2004)

This marks Satoshi Kon’s first and only foray into directing a television series, and if Tokyo Godfathers was him taking a break from the psychological aspect of his stories, Paranoia Agent more than makes up for the lost time.  The show centers upon a police investigation into a series of attacks on people by a boy with a golden bat.  But, as I said, this is a return to form for Mr. Kon, and so there’s much more to this than merely some attacks.  Plus, add in the fact that in each case after the attacks, the people feel almost grateful for it as it seemed to help them fix their various stresses in life and you have a story that will keep you wondering right up until the end.  Admittedly, there are times when it seems like the story is going to get out of control, and it’s easy to see that Mr. Kon is much more comfortable creating feature length films rather than regular television series, but the fact that it still manages to work shows the true talents of the man.  I feel confident that had he lived longer, we would have seen another series from him, and since he already had the experience under his belt, he could have done an even better job than the already fine showing he did here.

Paprika (2006)

His most recent completed work was 2006′s Paprika.  A big theme in this movie is dreams, so as you can imagine the lines between reality and fiction get blurred once again.  In fact, they’re so blurred, that they often wind up breaking the fourth wall within the context of the movie to the point where dreams and reality become one and the same.  While personally not my favorite movie of his, it shows that even though he uses the same theme throughout most of his works, he still is able to tell a compelling story each time without it feeling predictable and tired.

Satoshi Kon was working on a new film set to release in 2011 called Yume Miru Kikai, or The Dream Machine.  Sadly, due to his untimely death, the status of the film is now unknown.  One would imagine that production will continue, and hopefully Mr. Kon shared his vision of the film with others so that it may be completed as he would have wanted it to be.  The head of Madhouse Studios, for which Mr. Kon was working, stated it was a sudden death from cancer, although Japanese entertainment firms are notorious for their privacy and the privacy of their talent so just how long Mr. Kon had been afflicted with the disease is hard to say.  Whether or not this film sees the light of day, one of the shining lights of the anime industry has sadly been extinguished far too early.  With the dearth of talented young anime directors, this loss will be felt all the more acutely.  Rest in peace, Mr. Kon, you will be sorely missed.

Top Anime of 2001

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So, by now you’ve no doubt figured out that I’m pretty lazy.  Then again, I never made any promises that I’d get these lists up very quickly.  Anyways, without further ado, here are my picks for the top anime of 2001.

1. Angelic Layer


Don’t let this title fool you.  When you first start watching it and see that it features a young girl playing with dolls, you could be forgiven if your immediate thought was it was a girly shoujo anime.  However, you would be mistaken.  At its heart, it’s definitely a series aimed at boys, with plenty of combat action, and a good mix of comedy.  There is a small amount of romance, but it’s such a minor area and isn’t given a whole lot of screen time.  The real meat of the show is in Misaki’s growth, both as an Angelic Layer duelist and as a person, coming to terms with her abandonment as a young child.  By and large the anime follows along with the manga, although there are a few minor difference and one larger difference in that the ending takes the opposite way to get to the same conclusion.  The style of this show is a bit different from most CLAMP titles.  They had not yet adopted the long limbed look like in their current series’, but it’s also not quite the same as their Card Captor Sakura series.  While this isn’t their best series, it’s a very solid offering, but it really comes down to personal taste.  CLAMP isn’t for everyone.  You’re either a fan, in which case you won’t be disappointed with this, or your not, in that case you probably won’t get much enjoyment from this.

2. Bible Black

If you remember back with my first post, I mentioned that I would include titles that are excellent representations of their genres.  That includes hentai.  Bible Black is quite possibly the most famous hentai of all time.  The animation quality is far and away better than the majority of other hentai out there.  Actually, the animation quality is far better than a lot of non-hentai anime.  But there’s more to Bible Black than just flashy pictures.  There is actually a rather compelling story to it.  However, fear not, this isn’t like those cheesy pornos that try too hard to have a story.  This knows what it is and it doesn’t disappoint.  There’s plenty of extreme action with a lot of fetish material mixed in.  Easily the most obvious one is their use of the D-girl, or chick with dick if you will.  For me, the most memorable scene is the scene with the sex demon.  I don’t wish to go into too much detail, but it all comes down to DP plus oral.  It’s something you have to see to properly appreciate.  Some things go a bit far, but if you’re looking for something to watch on a lonely night, look no further than this title.

3. Cowboy Bebop The Movie

Cowboy Bebop is one of those series that if you’re starting out and ask people what you should watch, they’ll inevitably suggest it.  As long as you don’t have to hear about it every day, then it certainly can live up to expectations.  Imagine a mix of westerns, film noir, and jazz and you’ve got Cowboy Bebop.  With the movie, you just have to imagine the tv series, but with a much bigger budget.  I would certainly recommend having watched some of the tv series first before tackling the movie.  It’s not because the movie is a continuation of the series end, for that would be impossible.  But it would definitely be to your advantage to have some familiarity with the characters, since the movie makes the assumption that you do.  Of course, another big plus for the movie is the soundtrack.  Each piece perfectly complements the mood of the moment.  It is largely because of this that Yoko Kanno had risen to such promience.  While she had several hit soundtracks from shows like Macross Plus and Visions of Escaflowne, most Americans are more familiar for her work on Cowboy Bebop.  This movie is a great addition to the series, and helps people who cannot accept the ending to the series find a bit of closure to things.

4. Fruits Basket

While I’m sure the above image has tipped people off, this is definitely a shoujo, or girl’s anime.  But, just because that’s the target audience does not mean that guys should steer clear.  To do so would be to deprive yourself of one of the better anime out there.  Each of the characters in this have some sort of tragic past.  Normally this could come across as way too heavy handed, but they manage to keep it from getting that way.  In fact, it’s awfully tough not to feel something for them, especially the ever optimistic Tohru.  Here’s a girl who would have every right to snap at people from time to time, yet she’s always ready with a smile, even if it’s a bit of a sad smile from time to time.  My main complaint with this is that they ended the series at the midway point.  At the time the anime finished, the manga was only halfway done, so instead of just inventing an ending for the anime that felt forced, they wrapped it up there.  It was an alright ending point, but it left so much undone that it prevents this title from reaching true greatness.  Especially considering what happened in the manga after the anime ended.  It’s a real shame that they haven’t ever made a second season to properly wrap up the series.  The drama gets ramped up but it comes to such a wonderfully satisfying conclusion that it just seems unfair that is hasn’t gotten the animated treatment.  But the likelihood of a property getting a second season 9 years after it last aired is virtually none.  Still, while it’s not fillet mignon, it’s definitely a Porterhouse, and that ain’t bad.

5. Hellsing

There’s no gay, sparkling vampires here.  This is vampires as vampires should be.  Arucard would rip Edward’s head off and jam it down Belle’s throat just for kicks.  And Seras can drink my blood any day.  Right from the get go, you get violent vampire action, and it rarely lets up.  The ending was poorly handled, and the animation quality starts to suffer, but the new version of this seems to be fixing the shortcomings of this version.  Still, even though it has its flaws, they’re mostly only noticeable if you’ve read the manga.  If you’re just an anime watcher, then you’ll probably be able to enjoy this just fine as it is.

6. Hikaru no Go

An anime about Go, which is this fairly complex board game possibly requiring more thought than chess, is supposed to be good?  I know it sounds like it would be as dull as watching paint dry, but you’d be very wrong.  Hikaru does indeed start off as a bit of a whiny little brat, but as the anime progresses and as his skills and love for Go increase, Hikaru no Go just draws you in.  It’s almost as if you too are in Sai’s shoes as he watches over Hikaru.  The main thing is, that other than the presence of a ghost of the greatest Go player in history, the show comes across as believable.  For a shounen title, this is no small feat.  Usually shounen is all about having super powers, and inventing new attacks to save the day.  Here, there are no magic powers helping Hikaru improve, other than the aforementioned ghost.  But even after awhile, Sai is pushed more and more into the background as Hikaru comes into his own.  Hikaru wins (and loses!) with his own abilities.  There’s no super special unknown Go move that saves the day for him.  This is an anime where your patience through the early episodes will definitely be rewarded.

7. Mahoromatic

This is a title that for me marked Gainax’s return to their roots.  After the over-hyped stinkfest that is Evangelion, and the horribly handled His and Her Circumstances anime, Gainax went back to a title that has good fanservice to complement a surprisingly good story.  Honestly, Suguru is one lucky little SOB.  Oh sure, his parents are dead, but he has three cute female friends fawning over him, an oversexed teacher with a penchant for young boys, and add in the mix a cute maid willing to dedicate her life to him.  But this is no ordinary maid, oh no.  It’s a butt-kicking android maid to boot!  The only downside to her is her distaste for anything perverted, hence Suguru’s porn stash is constantly in danger, but with all these girls around, I’m not sure why he’d need it.  But even though this is a harem title, you can tell that not everything is going to have a happy ending.  Mahoro, you see, only has just over a year left to live, and at the end of each episode we’re reminded of this fact by it counting down the days until she expires.  Plus, it isn’t a simple fact of just having X amount of days left.  If Mahoro has to use up her energy faster by engaging in combat, her lifespan decreases more rapidly.  And of course, with an invading alien race to fight off, her days are far from relaxing.  This first season though is much more lighthearted than the second one, so most episodes maintain an upbeat feel to them.  The ending foreshadows the mood that’s to be set in the second season, but it still ends on a positive note.

8. Millennium Actress

Every now and again, you come across a director that just plain makes good films.  Hayao Miyazaki is of course the first name that comes to mind for most anime fans, but another big name in the anime film industry is Satoshi Kon.  His movies just have a way of drawing you in with engaging characters and interesting story.  This movie chronicles the life of a prolific actress throughout her career, not only showing her roles, but how many events in her personal life helped her to draw inspiration for the characters she played.  This is told from the point of view of a journalist who is interviewing her, but he finds as he is conducting the interview, he is practically being drug into the worlds in which she helped create.  Much like in Miyazaki films, Kon’s films don’t use the cutsey, moe style that pervades most anime today.  I wouldn’t call the character style to be real, but it’s a more natural look.  Certainly a refreshing change from the modern day look.  Here, there’s no enemies to defeat, no mysterious powers to be had, just good storytelling.  And really, what more can one ask for from their anime?

9. Read or Die

Read or Die gets points for using a very unique power.  The power to control paper.  Yup, with just a few sheets of paper, Yomiko can make an arrow, a blade, even a hang glider, all while working for the British library.  Of course, just like with the real Britain, you can’t trust these guys fully.  There’s a good story behind it all, and even though some aspects come across as a bit predictable, it can be forgiven since it executes it very well.  One could be forgiven for getting very annoyed with Yomiko, since she’s the oblivious bookworm type that just needs a good smack to get her to wake up.  But, her innocence is a good contrast to the backstabbing colleagues of hers.  Also, it’s a short OAV, only comprising 3 episodes, but the story doesn’t feel too rushed, so it’s well paced.  It’s the perfect anime for when you just want some quick, good entertainment.

10. Spirited Away

The inclusion of this should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.  Spirited Away is arguably the most famous anime among non-anime fans due to it having won an Oscar, the first anime to ever do such.  One can argue that this isn’t the best film Miyazaki has ever made, but it’s hard to argue that it isn’t worthy of its recognition.  From a technical standpoint, this is a fantastic example of the genre.  It does rely on some of the usual Miyazaki plot elements, but the man knows his movies well so even though it’s familiar, it’s an enjoyable familiar.  I don’t feel that there’s a lot that really needs to be said about this, due to its fame it has gotten enough exposure to where most who are interested have seen it, and those that aren’t probably wouldn’t read this anyways.

So, that wraps up the top 10 for 2001.  I make no promises as to when 2002 will come out, whenever I get bored enough to do so would be my bet.  So hold your breath waiting, I could use a good laugh as you pass out.

Top Anime of 2000

Posted on by pantsukudasai56

I was invited on to this blog pretty much to write up my thoughts on anime, so I figured the best way to kick things off would be to make up a list of my favorite anime for each year of the decade from 2000-2009.  I originally thought of just doing a top 20 list for the decade, but soon came to realize that I would be forced to leave off a lot of worthy titles.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that every title listed is of masterpiece quality, but rather they are titles that were very good for what they were trying to accomplish.  For example, I don’t think anyone would compare any hentai to the quality of a Miyazaki title, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t hentai that came out that were not excellent examples of their sub-genre.  I will be limiting these lists to 10 anime for each year, however if I feel that there were not 10 quality releases for any given year, then I won’t go up that far.

The criteria for what is to be selected is simply anime that was originally released in the given year set, so if it started on one year and continued in to another, I could include it in the first year’s list, but not the next year’s list.  This is based upon the release date in Japan as well, so while it may have first come out on DVD or TV in the US in one year, it almost certainly had been released several years prior in Japan.  Finally, while I have watch an awful lot of anime in my time, it’s impossible to have seen everything, so this list is not the definitive end-all be-all of anime lists.  That said you are more than welcome to disagree with me on any inclusion or exclusion, however, you will still be wrong.

So, without further ado, and in alphabetical order, rather than perceived ranking order, I give you the top anime of 2000.

1. Ah! My Goddess: The Movie

At the time, the AMG franchise was just getting established, having just released the OAV series, and with the reception it had, this movie was made.  What I think makes this such a fan favorite is the fact that while Keiichi isn’t the most manly of men, nor the most proactive, he’s not a completely spineless whimp like a lot of male leads in romantic comedies or harem shows.  He just takes things very slowly, but still continues to make progress.  I mean, he is dealing with a goddess after all, so perhaps the slow and steady approach is the way to go.  At it’s core, it follows the usual conventions of the romance genre, with slowly blossoming love and trials for the couple.  But, the production values of this are very good even to this day, incorporating both CGI and traditional cel animation to make an excellent addition to the franchise.

2. Blood: The Last Vampire

This was a fairly short film, coming in at just under an hour, but what it brought was some of the best animation of the year.  While it wasn’t the first to do so, it still wasn’t very common at the time to see anime done entirely digital, and the way it presented itself no doubt helped usher in the digital age.  The basic synopsis of this is that Saya is a vampire, tasked with killing other vampires during the time of the Vietnam War.  This takes place on Okinawa, near the US military base.  There is plenty of bloodshed here, but not quite to the ridiculous levels that some anime take.  It presents itself a little more realistically, and is a great way to sample the series before getting involved in the Blood+ tv series which came out several years later.

3. Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card

Cardcaptor Sakura is generally the title that everyone can agree upon as being one of well known group CLAMP’s finest works.  It mixes good action with touching drama, and sprinkles some budding romance in there as well.  This movie actually gives full closure to the TV series, which ended with things being just a bit up in the air.  Sakura has captured all the Clow Cards and converted them to Sakura Cards, but it turns out there was one more left.  This card is causing all her other cards to disappear, so not only does she have to seal this away, but she also has to come to terms with her feelings for Syaoran.  The ending to this gives perfect closure to a great series, and definitely should not be missed.

4. FLCL

This is Gainax doing a series right.  Forget the overrated steaming turd that is Evangelion, if you’re looking for a good anime from them that requires a bit of thought, then FLCL is what you should pick up.  It’s easy enough to get through, only having 6 episodes in the series, but they manage to get everything they need to in those 6 episodes without making it feel rushed or cluttered.  Plus the kid has robots coming out of his head.  That’s rather cool in my book.  Plus it doesn’t all end with everything being resolved happily.  Not every immature brat grows up and gets what he wants after all.

5. Love Hina

From a story standpoint and technical merit, Love Hina is pretty average, however what it is is one of the best known harem shows out there.  It may not have started the whole harem genre, but if you ask most anyone what harem show they remember the most, odds are that they’ll respond with Love Hina.  In fact, this pretty much made the career of Ken Akamatsu.  While I believe that Negima will overshadow Love Hina (at least between the manga, the anime was a pile a shit) he still has good name recognition despite only having done 3 series.  The voice acting was quite good though, and Megumi Hayashibara can really do no wrong, so it’s certainly worth watching, if for nothing more than to see what all the fuss is about.  It seems there’s little middle ground, either one likes it, or hates it.

So that pretty much wraps up what I consider notable and worthy in 2000.  This was early on in my viewing career, so there may have been some treasures from the year that I just haven’t seen, but by and large these are the ones you’re likely to hear about.  Next year will be better, I promise!