best of 2006: day 3, best shoujo series of 2006
Categories: anime, best of 2006
23 Comments »
Today we cover AoMM’s Best Shoujo Series of 2006. Seeing how I don’t exactly watch a plethora of shoujo, this should be interesting. Spike TV Video Game Awards interesting. But first, some appetizer.
Best Homo Side Character of 2006
Winner: Itsuki, Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I think anytime a new harem category is created by, inspired by, and named by a character, that character should at least win his own reward. Your face is too close.
(Remember how Kyon was worried that Ituski might get to kiss Mikuru during the filming of Mikuru-run? Um, worries were misplaced to say the least.)
Runner Ups: Suzaku, Code Geass; Oboro, Utawarerumono; L, Death Note; Entire Cast, Perfect Girl Evolution
At any time, I think we’re all aware that some random OH GEASS NO yaoi scene could break out between Suzaku/Lulu, Oboro/Hakuoro, and/or L/Light-o. I’m just glad that we made it through 2006 without one.
Best Twincest of 2006
Winner: Sonozakis, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Damn close race. A quickie Hansel and Gretel vs. Sonozakis, Dr. Jack-style:
Hawtness: Sonozakis ooze hawtness. Shion and Mion fanservice kept me watching this series even after it jumped the shark. Hansel and Gretel, though, have their own allure… troubling allure, but allure nonetheless. Edge: Sonozaki Life-Like Texture.
Craziness: Hansel and Gretel are very mentally disturbed. The Sonozakis are very mentally disturbed. “I liked riding ‘Ivan.'” vs. “USO DA!” Edge: Even.
Cooperation: Very important for any twincest pairing. They must like to play together. Hansel and Gretel are basically interchangable to the point that they’re the same while Shion locked up Mion. “It’s your turn to play sister…” vs Satoshi-emo. Edge: Hansel and Gretel’s, uh, Lego™ parts.
Longevity: Hansel and Gretel were gunned down by Lolilaika’s goons whereas Sonozakis don’t die, they just reboot. In fact, I predict many more symmetrical docking Angel Mort spreads for them in Megami in the year ahead. Final edge: Sonozakis.
Runner Ups: Archers, Utawarerumono; Kaoru and Hikaru, Ouran; Hansel and Gretel, Black Lagoon
Is “Dori and Gura male or female?” the biggest anime controversy of 2006? On one side, they are male in the game. On the other side, Kyoto pulled off a gender switch back with TSR to much acclaim and fanfare. Then there’s the issue that they did bed Oboro with what seemed to be ample melonpan and thigh meat. I don’t think that we’ll ever figure this one out, much like “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll lolipop?”
Best Shoujo Series of 2006
Winner: Ouran Host Club
I gave a thorough praising of this series already, so I’m not going to do it again. Instead, I’ll just re-iterate that sometimes taking a simple, cliched genre (like harem anime) and spinning it for the other gendered audience is genius. Pure genius. We see it here with Ouran. And we saw it earlier with Strawberry Panic. Grats to the Host Club residing in the third (not second!) music room for Best Shoujo Series of 2006… andohbytheway, Orenge-sama 4tw.
(I vote for Orenge-sama to cosplay Rena one of these days.)
Runner Ups: Planet of the Beast King; Hataraki Man; La Corda; Strawberry Panic
Technically, Strawberry Panic beat Ouran by 1 day in terms of airdate, but while SP has cleavage and hawt yuri action, it was a lot slower and significantly less comedic than Ouran. Don’t let the sci-fi fool you: Planet of the Beast King is shoujo. Anytime you have major plot points revolving around jealous females wanting to have kids with bishounen with long wavy hair, we’re in shoujo country. Still, it’s a gripping story and some damn good sci-fi. As for Hataraki Man, anytime I can give an award to an anime based off of a manga based off of Hideaki Anno’s wife, I must do it. Nonetheless, it takes the Super Gals! formula of mixing in ample humor with the shoujo proceedings– plus Matsukata’s angst over her lack of sex and her addiction to natto maki rolls are good throw ins. (Hataraki Man also has the most nakkid female fanservice of any shoujo series that I’ve seen.) La Corda isn’t anything special except it’s better executed than most of its shounen harem slice-of-life series this year. Plus, those delicious yuri moments helped.
23 Responses to “best of 2006: day 3, best shoujo series of 2006”
Leave a Reply
Sample extracts from the SHnY novel volumes that have not been animated yet. ;)
I looked at Haruhi’s mischievous looking face, and the wide-eyed face of Asahina-san, who was being wrapped tightly by Haruhi’s iron grip. I began to think of an appropriate answer, as I was becoming preoccupied with endless thoughts, my lifeline arrived from behind,
“If you guys don’t mind, why don’t we hug each other?”
Perhaps wanting to join in our discussion, Koizumi carried a vulgar looking smile and gave his gross suggestion.
“Though running in a marathon is fine, I really don’t mind having two guys hugging each other just to stay warm, you know,”
But I do. I’ve said it many times already, I’m not interested in “the other side”. Koizumi, all you needed to do is just quietly play your part as the commentator for the game. This is just between me, Nagato and Nakagawa, your presence here is more or less irrelevant. I might as well say this, but Haruhi and Asahina-san’s presence too was irrelevant.
~~~~ ~~~~
Surprisingly, Haruhi actually lowers her head, bites on her lower lip and only opens up after some time.
“I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that you sneaked into my room and didn’t talk like you would have… urr, and did things that you wouldn’t do. I find it odd… in the end, I punched you hard and ran off! Odd, that’s a dream! Right? But it didn’t feel quite like a dream.”
If that was a dream, then this would be a continuation of the dream. As I look at the vexed Haruhi with locked eyebrows, Koizumi heads to my direction.
“I, as well.”
He stares right at my face.
“You appeared in my room as well. The appearance might have been you, but the behaviour was just terrifying… anyways, you did things that you wouldn’t do.”
I start to get frightened out of the blue. My sight moves away from that smiling face of Koizumi, seemingly up to something, and turns instead towards Asahina-san.
~~~~ ~~~~
Read Vol.04-05 to get the full context. ;)
Cheers.
In any case, let me just say that I now know why there is a running joke about Yuki liking Yuuichi&Itsuki slash fiction.
Cheers. ;)
Wait… make that Kyon&Itsuki slash fiction, I’m getting my KyoAni characters mixed up. @_@;
I just want to say that Strawberry Panic is NOOOOOT by any stretch of the imagination a Shoujo series. It is so blatantly aimed at boys its not funny.
@Skane
Ah… So somebody finally slips and mixed up the two of them… KyoAni and Sugita have done well…
Wow, and I was so damn sure that if you did the twincest category, the romanian twins in black lagoon would take the cake. Oh well, I must have underestimated the power of sonozaki fanservice, or their emo facial distortions, either one.
No special mention to those gross twins from Shana? *shudder*
And I agree with #4 about Strawberry Panic. It was a Marimite knockoff aimed at boys.
wait… Shana was last year… >
On a side note… I wonder who the next green-haired character will be… the forgotten character in Crescent Love?
You know… the one that only appeared in the first episode and then mysteriously disappeared for the rest of the season.
Alice from ARIA? Youko from Inukami?
Hmm…
Ouran FTW!
I wasn’t waiting too much from that series, but ended being one of my favorites. Too bad with an open final, but I was for the better.
Shoujo series FTW!!
While we’re at it, I might as well post some out of context script from volume 9(!) of the novels.
…I looked into Itsuki’s deep blue eyes, those eyes of a thousand seas that I have neglected for all this time.
“Umm… Kyon? Are you feeling all right? Your face is all red.” Asahina-san squeaked in her rather annoying high pitched voice.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” I said rather curtly. She seemed a little taken aback by this comment; but frankly I could have cared less at that moment. I turned my attention back to Itsuki.
“Hey Itsuki, we’ve played a lot of board games already, but we’ve never played one called ‘Doctor’ have we?”
“Hmm… you’re right, I do not think I’ve ever heard of it. Would you mind giving me a little background?” Itsuki’s smile right then was like sunshine of a midsummer day. I couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Yeah, could you come with me for a little bit? It’s about… ‘that’.”
“Well, sure…” he said.
Mmmm… yummy yummy.
@Beowulf “USO DA!”
Please for the love of all that’s holy, tell me you are yanking my leg here. Wait a minute. Volume 9? *Goes and checks* That’s not published yet, is it dude? Either you have super magical connections to japanese publishing houses, or you just pulled a good one.
Bravo either way.
Lmao@Beowulf. That made me laugh, thanks.
>>I just want to say that Strawberry Panic is NOOOOOT by any stretch of the imagination a Shoujo series. It is so blatantly aimed at boys its not funny.
Well, it was aimed at boys, but the way they executed it caused it to be just as popular with girls, if not moreso. It definately exuded more ‘Shoujo vibes’ then most shounen anime I’ve watched.
Well, it was aimed at boys, but the way they executed it caused it to be just as popular with girls, if not moreso. It definately exuded more ‘Shoujo vibes’ then most shounen anime I’ve watched.
Do you have some source for that statement?
And the reason it has “shoujo vibes” is that it ripped most of its plotline off of older, superior, shoujo series.
Like Onii-sama E.
Ouran had one of the better open ended conclusions in recent memory and along with SHnY made the spring of 2006 one of the better season of this year, better than theis farce of a fall season.
Still how come there is no Yuri side character category? Orenge-san would have qualified, she was after all infatuated with Fujioka and the relationship was King approved.
I don’t think that Strawberry Panic can be considered shoujo, though as Mr. Miao had pointed out he is no expert on this.
Yay, Itsuki!!!
Speaking of Haruhi Suzumiya, and it coming to America, I have a new “vote for cast member” audition thingy. They had one for Mikuru, now here’s Yuki’s.
http://asosbrigade.com/auditions/arandomfile.php
I was thinking of going with number 2…
I don’t think any of them have got it. Every one of them inflected some or all of the lines. That comes off as so wrong. The defining characteristic of Yuki’s speech is that it is totally emotionless, like a machine, yet the words are obviously all part of the same sentence (they flow together), unlike pre-recorded words assembled by a machine.
You win because Ouran wins.
Hah, vol 9. I’m still reading vol 8, and I’ll be damned if there’s a crystal ball capable of reading vol 9. Good laugh though, well played because I can imagine that happening.
>>I was thinking of going with number 2…
Go 1 or 3. They are monotone and good. 2 and 4 are too lively. I heard that 3 is for the same voice actor as Rukia from Bleach – good impressions since she was quite boring from the first episode back in September, though now I’m getting used to her voice for Rukia.
Ouran wins!
@Blade-mun
There were girls who liked Strawberry Panic? Other than for the trainwreck value?
0.o;;
Not shoujo. Even if there were girls who liked it, that wouldn’t change the fact that it’s not shoujo. For example, bunch of girls like The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi and Kanon, but there’s no way in hell that either of those shows are shoujo.
Strawberry Panic is based on a manga published in a titillating mens’ magazine, and the anime itself was NEVER marketed in any girls magazines. Hence, it’s bishoujo, not shoujo.
o_O I have a hard time believing Strawberry Panic is shojo. Maybe it’s got some subtle shojo elements in it, but it certaintly not aimed for girls. (Just look at the character designs)
>> Entire Cast, Perfect Girl Evolution
What? At least Takyonaga is anything but gay. He’s the only one with a steady girlfriend.
>> Is “Dori and Gura male or female?†the biggest anime controversy of 2006?
Male unless proven otherwise. You learn that in Traps 101.