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Dec 29 2005

Categories: best of 2005

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Today, we’re going to talk about plot points. Remember the ending to Sister Princess? Where Wataru gets lured off Promise Island by Akio? He had to choose between his 13 cute sisters or his yaoi friend, and he picks his yaoi friend. So in honor of the two of them…

The Wataru and Akio Memorial Most Startling Sexually Confused Moment of 2005, Male

Winner: Sakura willing to go hard gay, Dokuro-chan

Wait, going hard gay would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?

Honorable Mention: Every scene, Cluster Edge; Suginami and Junichi sharing a bed, Da Capo SS; Episode 6, Girls Bravo 2

Cluster Edge is just creepy. It’s too shounen to be shoujo, but it’s too yaoi to be traditional shounen. On the bright side, it led to one of my favorite comments of the year. As for Junichi… if you had to share a bed between Kotori, Nemu, Mako, Aisha, Misaki, or your bestest male friend, who would you pick? And even once Yukina-chan entered that contest in GB2 6, it was a foregone conclusion how the episode was going to end, but it didn’t make it any less startling.

Most Botched Runaway Attempt of 2005

Winner: Aoba and Iriya, Iriya no Sora

Iriya almost gets raped because Aoba’s too busy flipping through Maxim, and then she flips out and starts repressing memories. They eventually become so desperate, they travel to Aoba’s grandparents, which is so predictable even the Japanese government predicted it thus ending their runway. Yes, that’ll do. That’ll do.

Honorable Mention: Athrun and Meyrin, Destiny; Yuu and Haruka, Noein

Both Athrun and Yuu put up fights, though Athrun put up the best fight. He manages to at least fend off two Gundams for a little while with a standard issue suit while Yuu was pretty useless. Plus, anytime Meyrin strips for you to help you escape, you know you’ve made it as a big daddy pimp character.

Best Cheer for the Good Guys Moment of 2005

Winner: Sagara laying the smackdown, TSR

There are times when it’s really fun to cheer on the heroes, like watching Gandalf crash down that hill in Two Towers at the end of the Helm’s Deep siege. For this year’s worth of anime, there’s nothing quite to that effect, but I always found it enjoyable to see Sagara kick ass and tag those five Venom suits. Both the tunnel incident and the finale were great examples of rooting for the good guys.

Honorable Mention: Fate’s enterance, Nanoha A’s; Mwu’s Sky Grasper attack on Minerva, Destiny

Fate saving Nanoha in the first ep gave me the goosebumps, but it was kinda fortold back in the ending for the original series. Then there’s Mr. Impossible… it’s one thing to fight in an ultrapowerful Gundam, it’s another to fight in a Sky Grasper and invite Murrue to take a bath with him two episodes later. I’ll overlook the fact that he’s supposed to be dead.

Best Fight Scene of 2005

Winner: Hachi-Roku vs. Cappuccino, Initial D 4th Stage

Most of the fights this year was too one-sided. I just can’t bring myself to give this award to anything from Destiny, Yakitate, Koi Koi 7, or Bleach… but Initial D is a different story. The quality of the manga adaptation has been at a high level for so long, it’s kinda easy to forget about it. This battle had great tension and suspense and definitely kept this viewer’s attention. I enjoyed how the race unfolded (since it wasn’t as one-sided as Strike Freedom vs. everyone else) and how it eneded. It’s also the closest race that Takumi’s involved in for 4th Stage thus far.

Honorable Mention: Urzu 1 vs. Urzu 7, TSR; Fate and Nanoha vs. Book of Death, Nanoha A’s; Nina vs. Arika, Otome; Nirvash vs. TheenD, Eureka seveN; Shana vs. Melon Bread, Shakugan no Shana; Mesousa vs. Courage, Pani Poni Dash

Not exactly a banner year when an Otome battle is up here. I should really have done a “Best Ongoing Struggle of 2005” or “Most Lopsided Victory” category instead and then Mesousa would win something.

Most Totally Awesome Parody of 2005

Winner (tie): Destiny for its parody of a real Gundam series; Keroro for its parody of Midori no Hibi

Desperately needs a better script writer.

Desperately needs choco-banana.

Honorable Mentions: Pani Poni Dash for its parody of Planet of the Apes; Pani Poni Dash for its nekomimi mode; Ichigo Mashimaro for its parody of Planetes

It took exactly 30 seconds for PPD to hook me. Once I saw that statue of Becky, I knew I was going to enjoy the show.

Cutest Moment Involving a Cat which Isn’t Hideously Overweight of 2005

Winner: Natsume doing magic tricks, Mahoraba

… wins the internet.

The Inu Yasha Memorial Series That Ran Too Long

Winner: Bleach

They should have just make it 26 episodes and spent more money on animation. Now it’s just DBZ with swords. I’m waiting for the next story arc where Ichigo must go collect the seven soul shards so he will be granted a wish… ah, nevermind.

Honorable Mention: Gundam Seed Destiny; Eureka seveN; Yakitate Japan

Only Meyrin’s breakout episode (where she helps Athrun escape) and Meer save the latter half of GSD. Eureka seveN would have made a great 13 episode series. Tighten up the plot, get rid of the Tony Hawk overtones, give Eureka a better hairstyle, and kill off Renton, and it may have been a winner. Now it’s just 40+ episodes of… what exactly? Yakitate just sat in the oven too long. The manga started going downhill when they ran out of fun bread recipes and started resorting to using ingredients no one hears about (Chinese silk thread? WTF?)… and anime is following the same slippery slope, and the anime doesn’t have the nakkid Brad Kidd, the Tsukino top flash, or as much Monika nakkidness to bail it out. It would have made a great 39 episode series.