best of 2006, day 2: best train wreck series of 2006
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Today we cover AoMM’s Best Train Wreck Series of 2006. Train Wreck of the Year is awarded to the anime series that was so bad, it was great. But first, some appetizer.
Most Disappointing Series of 2006
Winner: Fate/Stay Night
I think that the best things out of Fate/Stay Night were the Unlimited Essay Works and Quality Saber Cabbage, otherwise, F/SN turned a serviceable story featuring pantheon class amounts of fanservice into a puddle of generic shounen action blah. Tons of hype; tons of expecation; tons of giddy fanboys awaiting hawt Rin x Saber action… and… nevermind. Let’s just move on.
Runner Ups: Negima!?; Kashimashi; Hellsing Ultimate; Zero no Tsukaima; H&C II; Sorezore no Tsubasa
Negima!? for turning into Pani Poni Dash… which would have been great if I wanted more Pani Poni Dash, except I wanted Negima. As for Hellsing, it’s a bad idea to space out OVA episodes by three or more months. Very bad. I tossed Zero no Tsukaima into this category because, even though it wasn’t hyped early on, the novels just had material that made the anime seem… what’s that word… oh, yes… disappointing.
The Kaede Fuyuu Memorial Best Bipolar Personality of 2006, Female
Winner: Rena Ryuuguu, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
I had a very, very hard time picking a winner in this category with so many great choices. Let’s just say that we’re all winners because of them. Still, Rena stands out just because she’s emo and crazy and has both “USO DA!” and “Gomen nasai!” going for her. Just a standout, breakthrough performance.
Runner Ups: Sonozakis, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni; Miki, Muteki Kanban Musume; Revy, Black Lagoon; Kirino, Gift
Normally, someone like Miki would walk away with this award. But, unfortunately, Higurashi definitely featured some of the best emo facial contortions this year… and sadly… didn’t feature much more than that, but that’s a different topic. Revy had much better emo facial distortions for Second Barrage but for some odd reason, she seems less fucked up than Kaede, the Sonozakis, and Miki. That’s saying something. A hard as rock pirate who doesn’t value life isn’t even in the top three. As for Kirino, she’s the weakest of the group. Though I do applaud her for using her brain to trick Riko out of her memories.
The Shinn Asuka Memorial Best Bipolar Personality of 2006, Male
Winner: Keiichi Maebara, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
What do you know? Clean sweep for the killer lolis. Most impressive. Can they repeat in 2007? Only time will tell.
Runner Ups: None
Couldn’t think of any. I tried, and the closest that I could think of was Thor from Jyu-Oh-Sei. This was a down year for the guys.
Best Train Wreck Series of 2006
Winner: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Epic possibilities: Fantastic source material. Multiple pantheon class characters including the completely bat-shit loco Rena and the completely cuckoo-a-zoo twincest Sonozaki twins. Twists, turns, and intrigue galore. And what happens? Epic failure. Studio Deen craps the bed as badly as a Peyton Manning playoff run. They took the best of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and distilled it into a bunch of reboots that were difficult to follow and even more difficult to tie together if you haven’t played the game, studied the clues like studying for the MCAT, and gave up any semblance of a chance of getting laid this year. To top it off, Studio Deen must have spent their animation money on hookers and alcohol because the animation went from passable to dreadful faster than the Federline-Spears marriage. Still, like the Federline-Spears marriage breakup, the series was entertaining to watch just because of the “Oh no! They didn’t just do that!” factor. Toss in ample Sonozaki and Ryuuguu melonpan, emo facial distortion, multiple memes (“Nii-pah!”, “USO DA!”, and “killer lolis”), and sprinkle in some distinction, and viola– Best Train Wreck of 2006.
Runner Ups: Code Geass; Sumomomo Momomo
Sumomomo Momomo has become secretly enjoyable. It reversed jumped the shark after “I’ll rock you senseless,” kinda like Gun x Sword after Van’s emo facial distortion. I think Code Geass is headed for a train wreck. I wouldn’t be against Lulu and Suzaku hooking up before the season’s over. Oh boy. My migraine is coming back. OH GEASS NO!
27 Responses to “best of 2006, day 2: best train wreck series of 2006”
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And to think that non emo girls in all the other series needed was a very special Christmas present: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA
“Studio Deen craps the bed as badly as a Peyton Manning playoff run.”
Speaking of crapping beds, where’s your winner for Best Train Wreck DVD Bonus of 2006?
>>Sumomomo Momomo has become secretly enjoyable. It reversed jumped the shark after “I’ll rock you senseless,†kinda like Gun x Sword after Van’s emo facial distortion.
Wasn’t the term jumped Shinn?
I would have thought that more of the gang from Muteki would have recieved an honorable mention, at least Star Ranger Ohta. Ah well, AOMM has seen more train wrecks than some of us.
I don’t know that I’d call F/SN the worst, but it definitely ranks up there in disappointment. Except for the second half of episode 14. Listening to Archer’s engrishy “I am the bone of my sword” makes me shiver with awesomeness. Archer was definitely the bone of the series for me. …And suddenly my marginally clever word choice sounds very much like man-love. Nonetheless I shall persevere. If only Archerko were canon, I’d hit that like the proverbial red headed step-child, or like Jason would Mizuho. Oh, wait, that’s Shirou, selfcest for the win. I wouldn’t let the fact that she’s a fictional female version of a fictional male character stop me.
Moving on.
You have to at least give Higurashi the best bat vs machete battle of 2006. And the best loli trapmaster, capable of figuring out the obvious. The best self stabbing in the neck, and maybe even best torture. Certainly the best emo facial distortions this side of SEED. Then again, this has been a pretty good year. I don’t think I can think of a single series that didn’t have at least SOME redeeming qualities.
Any suggestions for most unforgivable series of the year? Of any year?
I wish (or maybe I don’t) to know why this remake of negima sucks cause for me its the first time i’ve seen it, i’ve been told it was entertaining so when I heard this remake was coming out I went for it. I t does seem a little weird I dunno if its supposed to have negi kissing a new girl every episode or if thats one of the things in the remake thats making it suck but it really seems to be one of those “series actions” you spoke of about the kanon’s makoto fireworks in yuuichi’s room thing. Redundancy with about 2 mins of plot per ep, and then, well at least Nodoka is awesome.
i can think of one reason why Revy doesn’t compete with Rena. it’s all in the presentation. one look at Revy, and you know she’s death walking (hence, Revy is death). one look at Rena, and you know she’s loli walking (except for the “life-like texture” meme…)
i’m genuinely surprised the spherical cabbage from Crescent Moon didn’t make it in here. i’d also like to throw in a vote for Most Boring Series of 2006: FLAG.
FLAG tried tooo hard to be a Patlabor-like. It just could not touch the tip of the awesome that were the Patlabor movies, that could be boring at time but were rewarding as a whole.
As for Code Geass, I think a slow slide into mediocrity has been reversed by the two-part Battle of Narita. Never has any studio managed to capture the chaotic essence of battle so well. Instead of the usual Sunrise blowout, the momentum kept swinging as first one side, then another, deployed reinforcements and changed tactics. And then there were the irony involved in the discussion of Zero’s leadership, and the twist ending to the battle.
What I want to know is, where is Japan building these Guren mechs? Or are they Chinese bootlegs?
Eh, F S/N through 12 was pretty dreadful. 13+ was amazing though. Still a disappointment to anybody hoping they’d follow the UBW or HF stories, but not unexpected really. They did a damn good job once the plots split, but it just seemed like they were hedging their bets before the split and the show suffered in response.
Negima!? is one of the best shows of the year. Nothing has ever looked like that. Maybe the difference between your opinion and mine is that I really didn’t enjoy the first Negima that much. And to tell the truth, PaniPoni didn’t captivate me, either. But Negima!? is great.
And exactly what is not to like about Sumomo mo Momo mo? It started with the most extreme loli fanservice since Rizelmine and has settled into a show with a nice amount of fanservice, good animation, some fine characters, better humor than most, and terrific voice-acting.
But, hey, thanks for these fascinating features. And I agree wholeheartedly with your SOS and Kanon love. And thanks for turning me on to Gift, which was the second-best harem show of the year. That makes your joining the crowd against Yoakena almost forgiveable. Nobody seems to mention how absolutely fantastic Nabatame Hitomi is in that show.
Fully agreed with you on Higurashi being a train wreck. Higurashi had a LOT of potential, judging from the source material…only to have it being mucked up by poor direction and deteriorating animation as the series went on. This is one of the few series that I really wish would get remade by Kyo-Ani, or a better animation studio with a capable director.
I don’t think Fate/Stay Night was that bad. Just the beginning was slow and then it slowly got better. Wish there was more Archer though since I thought his character was awesome. And at least Studio Deen didn’t crap all over Fate/Stay Night (though if they did, and the Studio Type Moon fanboys went amok on them, that would be a huge plus).
Trainwrecks and no mention of Mai Otome.
Where’s the love for Mr Wong/ Nina incest?
Haven’t watched FSN yet, am I missing much? I guess Negima?! looks differently to people who didn’t watch Pani Poni Dash, it’s doing great so far, with the new material they’re using. Agreed that Higurashi lost a lot of things along the way(such as quality), but we have gained much more(memes, emo facial distortions, sadistic glee, killer lolis, etc). A true trainwreck at its finest.
Mai Otome 17-26 aired in 2006. If you can’t mention Mai Otome in a post about trainwrecks because it’s disqualified for being included in the 2005 awards, there’s something seriously wrong with your rules.
I agree with FSN as the most disappointing series of the year. There was so much material and could have easliy mix elements of Fate, UWB and HF together for a epic series. But instead they meander around during the frist half trying to figure which route they want to go. Only saving grace was the harem expect of the series.
JayF>>Where’s the love for Mr Wong/ Nina incest?
No blood relations and age difference isn’t that big.
i totally enjoyed H&C2, though it followed manga exactly, chapters and chapters of line by lin e copy paste, i guess if it’s your thing then it’s great, if not, then… it’s not
i find it’s funny alot ppl keep ask for an anime of continues brainless fan-service, and not happy at all when it’s granted (Negima?!). it’s a great anime in all aspect cept that it’s not Negima(hence Negima?! instead of Negima!! i guess)
ZnT novel is great, probably even more than SHnY, no idea wtf happened to the anime though
Higurashi’s got successful train wrecks covered, so how about the best train wreck tease of 2006? I’m talking, of course, about the epic meteorite-induced train wreckus interruptus in episode 2 of Muteki Kanban Musume.
Thanks to “Happy Days,” one can now point to the moment in a series when it all started going downhill, and say, “That’s when they jumped the shark.” Well, from now on, thanks to MKM, when you want to describe the exact opposite of that, you can say, “That’s when they punched the train.”
>>>Negima!? for turning into Pani Poni Dash… which would have been great if I wanted more Pani Poni Dash, except I wanted Negima.
Can’t. Agree. More.
I was expecting to see Mai-Otome on here after the backlash that was Omni’s pick.
And yes, Unlimited Essay Works was GREAT! They have 2 GAR gets, too.
Fails for lack of GUN-DO Musashi.
>>Negima!? for turning into Pani Poni Dash… which would have been great if I wanted more Pani Poni Dash, except I wanted Negima.
I loved Pani Poni Dash and I’m glad to have it back, this time with magic. I never did read the Negima manga’s though I’ve considered buying the set a few times. I just don’t have the $$$.
>>Fails for lack of GUN-DO Musashi.
No u. It’s so bad it’s bad.
I can’t believe I didn’t read Unlimited Essay Works until now.
Also Code Geass can’t be called a train wreck until at least Season 2 airs. Esp. if we aren’t even giving Otome a honorable mention.
I agree with Fate/Stay Night though and Higurashi is in my top 3 ‘what the hell happened to this series’.
Watching it was like watching an idiot in Oakland ghost whip straight into the side of a Safeway. I couldn’t look away, but I was afraid somebody was going to get shot if I laughed.
what
Code Geass is pure awesome.
Hashihime – “Negima!? is one of the best shows of the year. Nothing has ever looked like that.”
Good lord, have you NEVER seen ANYTHING directed by Akiyuki Shinbo? The Soultaker looked like that five years ago, not to mention Petite Cossette or Tsukuyomi. Heck, even the first series of Nanoha took to similar visual stylings in places…
>> The Shinn Asuka Memorial Best Bipolar Personality of 2006, Male
And the one who won this was none other than Jesus Yamato. Oh, the irony.
>> Best Train Wreck Series of 2006
Well, I’d say it was the “Best Train Wreck” as in “Most Enjoyable Train Wreck”. Also, it spawned a huge fanbase overseas (almost as big as the Type-Moon fanbase overseas), so overall it accomplished quite a lot.