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Apr 15 2014

Categories: best of 2013

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A trap. A ghost. And a bird.

#6: Genshiken Nidaime

Also wins for 2013:

• Best Trap
• Best Comiket Booth
• Most Madarame
• Best Sequel

This scene is one of the reasons that I love Genshiken. The series has aged nicely, with Genshiken Nidaime bringing in a new, different cast while tying up the loose ends of the original cast much, much better than Saved by the Bell New Class. It felt like stories were ending and beginning in a natural way, and it still felt like classic Genshiken. While the anime has a different focus than the manga, the outcome is the same: a great show about a group of friends stepping into adulthood and what that means.

Some things that I enjoyed: the clockwork-like trip to Comiket… trap Hato… Madarame being Madarame… the slow churn of Genshiken from a bastion of Gundam and eroge into a bastion of Three Kingdom yaoi… Ohno cosplay… trap Kousaka… the moments when the gang would rib on each other for their tastes in otaku culture… Madarame rejecting the advances of a slutty drunk American (wait, this goes under Madarame being Madarame)… couples advancing in their relationships (*gasp*)… random cameos and parodies of anime franchises. What I didn’t enjoy: Kuchiki. Burn him with fire, please.

#5: WataMote

Also wins for 2013:

• Saddest Heroine
• Worst Timing
• Worst Imouto
• Bounciest Friend

WataMote is the last show in Best of 2013 from the excellent summer 2013 crop. Over 40% of the shows from this year’s list comes from that season. As for WataMote, Tomoko makes this show. Literally. She’s the only major character of the show. At first, I was a bit skeptical about a show featuring a girl who talks 95% to herself, but it grew on me. Just her terrible personality mixed with her terrible luck mixed with her terrible circumstances make for a delightfully dark comedy. And that’s something anime doesn’t have a lot of.

#4: Suisei no Gargantia

Also wins for 2013:

• Best Mecha
• Best Ship
• Best Delivery Service
• Best ED

On one hand, Gargantia had probably the worst first episode of all the shows. I hated everything about space humans fighting against the Hideauze. The super predictable plot where Hideauze originated on Earth wasn’t great either. On the other hand, I loved every moment where Chambers and Ledo were working and living on Gargantia. It’s a passable mecha action show, but it’s one of the greatest sci-fi slice-of-life shows. I like the worldbuilding of this Waterworld Earth and how society has adapted to live in these giant fleets. Everything is just so well done and detailed, from how the ships organized themselves, to how they drift, to how people salvage (Pinion and Bellows have some resemblance to Kamina and Yoko), to the gliders the deliver girls use, to how they eat, to how they live and learn, and to how they enjoy life. And the visuals. They are spectacular. Vibrant. Free. Alive. Production IG outdid themselves.

While Chambers does steal the show, Amy and Ledo are no slouches either. I like how the show slowly integrates Ledo into Gargantia’s society, but only with a lot of help from Chambers (Finally, translation! Not all aliens speak Japanese.) and Amy (who really pushes him to accept the crew and vice-versa). If you take the show as Ledo trying to unprogram his previous life and fit in with Gargantia, it’s one of the best shows of the season.