blog好き

Jun 16 2012

Categories: best of 2011

7 Comments »

A bro. A ghost. And a princess.

#5: Fate/Zero

Also wins for 2011:

• Most Sabers
• Best Bros
• Most Wine Swirled
• Most Homoerotic Scenes
• Best Beer Bash
• blog好き fate/zero Posts

If you go into Game of Thrones thinking it is about guys swinging swords at one another, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you go into it thinking of all the smirking the Lannisters do, you’ll love it. By the same token, if you go into Fate/Zero think it is an action anime, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you go into it thinking about all the political intrigue, posturing, and cat-and-mouse of a Broodwar TvT siege tank on siege tank matchup, you’ll love it. Of course, I’m rooting for Irisviel’s bosom and Kiritsugu’s Win at All Costs™. Fate/Zero is also a great sounding and great looking series. Gosh, I wish they made more…

(I was tempted to knock Fate/Zero down a few pegs because of Aniplex, or as I like to call them, the EA of Anime. They should have left Fate/Zero as a single 26 episode season, and they should not ridiculously overprice the R1 media. Just be glad Iskandar isn’t day one DLC… let’s hope I didn’t give them any ideas…)

#4: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Also wins for 2011:

• Most Super Peace Busters
• Best Portmanteau
• Longest Name
• Best Hideout
• blog好き Friendship Anime Posts

For the third cast of Skins, Gracie is the heart and soul of the group. She is the glue that held everyone together a la a Brandon Walsh-type rock. Then to start off the sixth season, she died. Tragically. It tore everyone up and apart. And then it took a lot of unpaid overtime from Gracie’s ghost to put all the pieces back together again. All I could think of was how similar that is to Friendship Anime (AnoHana). How Menma’s death changed and broke Jintan (withdrawing), Anaru (sluttiness), Yukiatsu (Manma), Poppo (left), and Tsuruko (bitch)… and then how it took Menma’s ghost to reunite everyone. So she could finally go in peace. A-1 nailed this series. The storytelling was top notch. The animation was above average. The pacing was great. The emotions were thoughtfully conveyed. The ending wasn’t happy nor sad but the right amount of bittersweet. I get sick fanboy chills everytime Secret Base (10 years after version) started playing at the end of an episode.

#3: Mawaru Penguindrum

Also wins for 2011:

• Most Rocks Over Japan
• Best Penguins
• Most Electrifying
• Best Use of Public Transit
• Best Character Catchphrases
• Best Non-Contributing Shaft Being Shaft Moments
• blog好き Penguindrum Posts

Welcome to the rock and roll night. Welcome to the rock and roll fight. Listen you lowlives who will never amount to anything: I don’t remember an anime with as many catchphrases as Penguindrum. It was Simpsonsesque. Isn’t it electrifying? Yada, I must crush her soon. FABULOUS MAX! I mean… wow. It deserves a top ten ranking for how it juggled so many catchphrases alone. Then there’s this whole conflict between free will and destiny. And the character stories of some very screwed up people. And tons of awesome penguin moments. And raping… Yuri raping Ringo raping Tabuki, who just happens to be Yuri’s husband.

So in summary, things I liked… Sanetoshi (who would be Best Villain in any other year), Ringo (character who probably grew the most during the show), Rock Over Japan (greatest magical girl summoning music ever, eat that other magical girl shows from 2011), Mamiko Noto and Ryohei Kimura turning in excellent jobs in their vocal work, the Child Broiler, the subway infographics, Curry Night™, the OMFGWTFBBQ past of all the characters, fabulous max throwbacks to Utena, the penguins trying to knit a sweater, make takoyaki, cook curry, kill cockroaches, and avoid getting penguin-reverse-raped by Esmeralda, and, of course, Tri– err– Double H train promos.

(Ikuhara is probably the only director other than Shinbo with such a distinctive visual style. I guess the best way to think of them is that Ikuhara is Metro. Very simple. Very clean. Uses silhouettes and informational type well in Penguindrum. Shinbo is more like Android Design pre-Honeycomb: More colors! More contrast! More everything! More clusterfuck! More HTC Sense! More MotoBlur!)