Fall 2011 Anime Review - Part II

Now it’s time for Part 2 of the Fall 2011 Anime Review. And it’s the last column before the new year? What’s in stock for next year? Hell if I know. I don’t really plan these things more than one week in advance. Nonetheless! Here is Part 2.

Again, all plot summaries are taken from Anime News Network.

Chiyahafuru

Plot Summary: Chihaya Ayase is a frank and ebullient girl who becomes fascinated by the obscure world of competitive karuta, a card game based on Japanese poetry. Introduced to the aggressive style of the game by a quiet and thoughtful elementary school classmate named Arata Wataya, the two quickly become close friends. They start playing as a group with Taichi Mashima, Chihaya’s smart and athletic childhood friend, until they have to part ways during their middle school years due to several circumstances. As their high school life begins, they meet once again.

Chihayafuru is most certainly my favorite anime in this anime season. There are a lot of good ones. Like Future Dairy and Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter (that’s the same guy who did YuYu Hakusho). But Chihayafuru trumps them.

The basic plot is it’s a show about karuta. But only people like me who love Japanese culture would keep watching it just for the karuta. It’s about Chihaya, Taichi, Kanada, Nikuman-kun, and Desktomaru-kun going through a growth.

Chihaya clearly still loves her childhood friend and karuta inspiration, Arata. And Taichi clearly loves Chihaya, who is oblivious. And it’s adorable. Not since Usagi Drop have I loved an anime this much. I watch the 24 minutes and it feels like 5 or 10 minutes have gone by. It’s one of those kinds of shows. [To put that in perspective for you, I’m painfully aware that Boardwalk Empire is 55 minutes, but I also acknowledge that I love the show. Comparatively, Dexter and Fringe speed by in what feels like 20 minutes or so to me.]

What does it for me is that it’s a combined huge Japanese culture information dump with great characters that you want to love. Even the antagonists have their redeeming qualities in the end. I mean, [SPOILERS] they just beat Hokou Academy and the two characters I really didn’t like (the white haired guy and Retro-kun), I liked by the end of the next episodes. Or at least didn’t hate as much. Because it turns out that the white haired guy is a 3rd year this year, so it’s his last chance at winning the nationals, and Retro-kun holds an emotional attachment to the trophy that’s been in their clubroom since he was in middle school. [END SPOILERS]

Basically, if you like cool characters and don’t mind learning a bit about Japanese culture (or sub-culture) on the way, check out Chihayafuru. Because it has blown my mind in how good it is.

Guilty Crown

Plot Summary: After the outbreak of the unidentified virus “Lost Christmas” in 2029, Japan has been under the control of a multi-nation organization called GHQ. Ohma Shu is a 17 year old boy who has a psychic power in his right hand. He can use the power “Ability of King” to extract tools or weapons from his friends. He has been avoiding making trouble for others but his life changes when he meets a girl Yuzuriha Inori, a member of a resistance guerrilla group called “Funeral Parlor,” whose members pilot mecha weapons to fight against the government.

For starters, when a show is being directed by the same guy who did the Death Note anime and written by the same guy who did Code Geass, it’s hard to pass up.

But Guilty Crown is the gateway anime of this season, I think. It’s only going to be two, 13 episode seasons (I think, give or take a few episodes). And it’s got pretty much everything you want out of an anime to start someone off with. Of course shows like Trigun, Bebop, and Evangelion are still going to be mainstays. But this has made its mark.

Through 11 episodes, one of the most stunning things about this is its music. The music in the series is pretty, if you’ll excuse the language, bitchin’. Again, not up to the level of Bebop, but it’s still good.

But the story itself interests me as well. Of course, Japan is in a state of unrest. And, of course, they’re the underdogs. So we have Funeral Parlor, who are a group of revolutionaries looking to change Japan for the better. And the main character, of course, joins them in their quest for righteousness.

What’s good is that it’s not just a rip off of Code Geass or Death Note. It certainly feels like it in the first few episodes that it’s copying Code Geass a little. But it gets over that and makes its own thing happen.

I feel like Shu’s ability is kind of a copout to give characterization to minor characters, or people who I feel are minor characters. But putting that aside, Shu’s conflict with doing the “right” thing is done in an entertaining enough way, and in a very cool setting, to make me want to keep watching. It’s certainly not the best show this season, but it has its moments where I was like, “Wow.”

Hunter x Hunter

Plot Summary: Gon Freecs’ father abandoned him as a baby in order to become a Hunter, an elite class with a license to go anywhere or do almost anything. Now 12 years old, Gon wishes to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a great Hunter. While Gon faces the unexpected challenges the Hunter Examination throws at him, he makes friends with three other candidates Kurapika, Leorio, and Killua.

Another show from Yoshihiro Togashi. He previously had YuYu Hakusho and Level E put into anime and, in fact, Hunter x Hunter had a previous anime incarnation. But this one starts at the very beginning and reworks everything (unlike Dragonball Kai which was just the Z footage remastered and with filler cut out significantly, I think). Being a huge YuYu Hakusho fan, I had to check this show out.

While you clearly have Yusuke as Gon, Kurapika as Kurama, Leorio as Kuwabara, and Killua as Hiei, it still entertains me greatly (Togashi has typecasted these four in The Five-Man Band the same way he did YuYu Hakusho, so it’s to be expected that they’re similar).

Despite this obvious similarity, I love Hunter x Hunter. I was looking for a shonen action series to take up the spot of Naruto and BLEACH because I dropped both of those. Fairy Tail is a mainstay, I picked up One Piece post time skip, and now I have Hunter x Hunter, which is sure to last a while.

Having only gotten 13 episodes into the series, I haven’t had much to look at in terms of characters beyond their general archtypes (I mean, come on, this is a shonen action series. We aren’t looking for character stuff until at least episode 15). But the action itself has excited me greatly. And if anyone can do that, it’s Yoshihiro Togashi, the man who did it second (Akira Toriyama FTW?).

Check it out if you’re looking for another shonen action series. It won’t disappoint, I’m sure. But if you want more, look to Chihayafuru or something.

You and Me (Kimi to Boku.)

Plot Summary: 4 friends, twins Yuta and Yuki Asaba, the cute and girly Shun Matsuoka, and the class representative Kaname Tsukahara, have known each other since kindergarten. When a half-Japanese transfer student named Chizuru Tachibana joins their group, he brings a new dynamic to their friendship.

You and Me is a pleasant little story about four boys who have been friends since kindergarten and a fifth who made friends when they were around that age, but never went to school with them. It’s basically K-ON! with boys and without music.

So if you don’t really like the slice of life genre, then don’t bother with the show. But for those of you who enjoy a good slice of life, this show’s worth a look.

I do like slice of life and I thought this show was one of the best this season. Certainly not the best, but it entertained me from week to week.

Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing

Plot Summary: Fam is part of the Sky Pirates, a group that assaults ships following the code of the First harpoon – the first to hit the target with a harpoon has the right to decide how to proceed on the assault. They target minor vessels and prosper on an isolated location, until one day they take off for a mission that will change their lives and for all Turan Kingdom citizens by rescuing their two princesses from Ades Federation betrayal.

This new Last Exile is just as visually stunning as the last. If you’re even remotely a fan of cyberpunk, or appreciate amazing designs, check out both Last Exile shows.

But this is really a show that I would prefer to watch big blocks of episodes at a time. It doesn’t take me much to get into the world of Last Exile, but the story itself is complex enough that it serves itself to a marathon rather than a week by week viewing. This is definitely a show that I’ll check out when it comes out on BD.

What draws me into this show more than the previous one is, true to Japan style, the cute characters. Fam and Gisey and Milia are all so cute. Of course, they all have their own great characters. And it’s great to see Tatiana, Alister, and Dio again.

The way the show is set up, it’s fine to just pick up this show. You’ll understand everything about it without having had seen the previous one. Having said that, I highly suggest watching the first Last Exile just because of the quality of both of these shows.

Majikoi – Oh! Samurai Girls!

Plot Summary: Kawakami City is famous for its strong dedication to its samurai ancestors. A healthy fighting spirit is always valued and it's even an important factor for success at school. Yamato, a second year student from Kawakami High school, is always with his close friends (4 boys and 3 girls). They have all known each other since they were young and have done many things together. While they have many other friends, this group of seven is a close-knit, inseparable group. They even have a secret base where they meet. With the new semester, they welcome two girls into their group and shortly after things begin to change…

If you thought to yourself, “Hey, I liked Baka and Test, but would like it even more in a feudal Japan-type setting.” then the first episode will not disappoint. But the next 11 episodes basically have nothing to do with that. In fact, I have no idea why “Class A” and “Class F” were fighting or what the differences between the classes are.

What Majikoi-Oh! did was give me 11 episodes of fanservice-y entertainment. In shonen fighting fashion. I could go on and on about the imperfections of this show and how it isn’t good. It would honestly take too long. And with a show like this, I don’t think it matters.

So all I’ll say is this: If you want to watch some cool fights while not at all being able to follow the plot (or at the very least, the reasons behind the plot), then check it out.

Mashiro-Iro Symphony – The color of lovers

Plot Summary: The traditional girls-only Yuihime Private Academy is considering the possibility of starting to accept both genders and has thus made an agreement with a neighboring school to receive some of its students as an experiment to see the reaction to this adaptation. Shingo Uryu is one of the many students transferred for a ten month experimental phase at Yuihime Academy. He, his sister, and his fellow relocated colleagues are impressed by the sophisticated campus, but even more by the resistance of many students who don’t want the boys over there.

This started out being my least favorite show of the season. As it went on, though, it sort of redeemed itself. It took a really long time to set up everything and nothing seemed to move until episode three or four, maybe.

Then it went into a typical love story, like that in a visual novel. Because, guess what, it was originally a visual novel. This one doesn’t really set itself apart from the other adaptations I’ve seen (Shuffle, Kanon, etc.) but it has its own charms to it. If you’ve seen one, you’ve really seen them all.

The characters themselves didn’t stand out to me much either. Shingo, the main boy who of course has the love of all the ladies, was just your ordinary, average guy. He didn’t really have that “change the world” quality that a lot of the other protagonists in this type of show has. He also has a little sister. And I commend Japan on not exploiting a love affair between the two in this show.

[For those of you who don’t know, it’s a common-ish thing in the eroge to have a brother-sister sexual relationship. Of course, it’s frowned upon in most situations in real life, but the allure of forbidden love is enticing enough for the pervy teenagers of Akihabara. And by in most situations, I mean if they aren’t blood related. As in the son’s biological mother and the daughter’s biological father got married after their respective biological father and mother died or something. You get the point?]

What was creative-ish was the Nuko Club. A club that’s made to help injured animals and return them to the wild. But that’s about the shows only redeeming quality. So if you like a sappy love story, go ahead and watch it. If that’s not your thing, skip it and move on to the next show.

The Future Dairy (Mirai Nikki)

Plot Summary: Yukiteru Amano (Yuki) is a loner who never really interacts with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is not a figment of his imagination but real when Deus makes him a participant in a battle royale with eleven others. Within this “Diary Game,” the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages.

What’s so great about Future Dairy is its amazing concept and execution of said concept. Horizon did the first one, Future Dairy did the second one.

The one thing that bugs me is that it’s really unrealistic, even within the scope of itself. But it has an answer to that! A character, who is the God of Time and Space, literally named Deus Ex Machina, is making it happen.

What really bugs me are the characters. None of them seem to have any redeeming qualities besides, “I don’t want to die.” As of the latest episode, I’m starting to like Uryu Minene (or Ninth) the best just because she’s at least stayed consistent. Well, I guess Yukiteru and Yuno have as well, but I kind of hate them.

But I keep watching because this is literally a fight for your life against twelve other people with “future dairies.” As you might imagine, they tell you the future. Yukiteru has the Discriminate Diary, which tells him the future x days (I don’t remember how many) in advance of everything but his future. Because it’s other name is the Observation Diary. Because it’s everything he could be perceiving.

Then Yuno has the Love Diary, which conveniently tells her in a VERY stalker sort of way, everything that Yukiteru will be doing in x days.

Other diaries include the Breeder’s Diary, the Escape Diary, the Case Diary, the Hyper Vision Diary, the Murder Diary, the Clairvoyance Diary, and the Justice Diary.

It’s one of the best thriller anime I’ve ever seen. Twists and turns around every corner and definitely something to show the family. [Don’t actually show this to your family.]

Squid Girl!?

Plot Summary: The nefarious Squid Girl is back to continue her self-appointed mission to invade the surface world. Or that’s what she would do, if she could just stop getting distracted by squidding movies, reading squidly manga, and making friends as only a squid could make them. Squid Girl must overcome not only danger found at every turn, but her own squidly good nature as well.

Squid Girl continues to be a hilarious and pleasant show week by week. It’s the kind of show that I would actually prefer to watch week by week. While Squid Girl’s antics are cute and funny, it’s a little too much to take in more than one episode at a time.

As it is a comedy show at its core, you have to be interested in a certain level of Japanese-style comedy. Most people who watch anime are, so that should be no problem. But if you get into it, it’s going to be good.

What’s really good about this show is the shorts that it has sometimes with a little, itty bitty Squid Girl going on some random adventure for about 6 minutes. The one in the first season was most definitely the highlight of that season. Absolutely no dialogue and I loved every minute of it. In fact, that short is the reason I picked up the rest of the show.

While there are some parts of the show that I just didn’t find funny, it’s worth picking up either season for a few laughs. I mean, you watch the first episode of the first season and you can pick pretty much everything else from there.

Wagnaria’!!

Plot Summary: Set in a family restaurant in Hokkaido, the northern prefecture of Japan, 16-year-old high school student Takanashi Souta works part-time along with his strange co-workers: Taneshima Popura, a high school girl who's a year older than Souta who's easily mistaken for a elementary/middle schooler, and Shirafuji Kyoko, the 28-year-old store manager who doesn't bother to do any work at all.
Life goes on at the Wagnaria family restaurant as its peculiar employees try to provide a good service despite their individual eccentricities.

Wagnaria’!!, for those of you who don’t know, is a continuation of, you guessed it, Wagnaria!! Neither season really has an overarching plot, but that’s ok. It’s not really a show for an overarching plot. What it does is entertain the hell out of me with its amazing characters from week to week.

First you have our protagonist, Takanashi. He loves everything that’s tiny, like his sempai, Taneshima, who inspired him to get the job in the first episode of the first season, and water fleas. Yes, this boy loves the tiny little water fleas. But Takanashi and Taneshima didn’t know each other at the time. He just thought he would help out who he thought was an elementary school student. Turns out that she’s at least a full head shorter than Takanashi, and one year older.
Takanashi also has four sisters, one younger and three older. The eldest is a lawyer and divorced at an indeterminate amount of time before the beginning. The second is a novelist who finds it difficult to do anything but crawl and write. Otherwise she loses too much energy. The third is a aikido instructor who loves to drink and is frequently dumped, which leads to more drinking. And the youngest is a 6th grader who has a lot on her plate. She has to take care of basically her entire family alongside our protagonist.

Our next character would be Taneshima, who has a complex about being so short and has trouble saying Takanashi. Instead she calls him Katanashi, comically. Then there’s Sato-san who is the chain smoking cook of Wagnaria. He picks on Taneshima endlessly.

And the list keeps going on from an androphobic to a girl who wants so much to be normal, that it’s abnormal, a girl who carries a katana around everywhere, a man who blackmails you and smiles while doing it, and a girl who is called Yamada and no one really knows who she is.

This smorgasbord of characters keeps me wanting to watch every week just to see what kind of hilarious shenanigans they get into. Having never worked at a family restaurant, I can’t say whether the accounts of what go on is accurate. But I can say that I love watching it happen. It’s like a working version of Azumanga Daioh. Maybe that’s why it’s called Working!! in Japan.

Fall 2011 Anime Review - Part I

Now that I’ve washed the Blood-C out of my mouth and finals are over, I have time for what I really love: Skyrim. Well, before Skyrim I suppose I can give my review so far of the Fall 2011 anime season. In two parts! Because I’m lazy and haven’t finished yet because of work and life and stuff.

I have to say, this season has some shockingly good shows. This is the first time that I’ve gone out of my way to punish myself into watching all the shows that I can, but even when I was watching four or five last season and the one before that, it didn’t have as many stand out shows as this season does. But maybe that’s just because I wasn’t watching them all.

Regardless, I’ve listed them all out alphabetically (by their Japanese names) and put a plot summary courtesy of Anime News Network as with my previous reviews of shows. Except Horizon’s summary was from Wikipedia. But that’s moot. I’ve also assigned them a letter grade, because screw number grades. Here it is, the Fall 2011 anime review.

Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere

Plot Summary: In the far future, humans abandon a devastated Earth and traveled to outer space. However, due to unknown phenomenon that prevents them from traveling into space, humanity returns to Earth only to find it inhospitable except for Japan. To accommodate the entire human population, pocket dimensions are created around Japan to house in the populace. In order to find a way to return to outer space, the humans began reenacting human history according to the Holy book Testament. But in the year 1413 of the Testament Era, the nations of the pocket dimensions invade and conquer Japan, dividing the territory into feudal fiefdoms and forcing the original inhabitants of Japan to leave. It is now the year 1648 of the Testament Era, the refugees of Japan now live in the city ship Musashi, where it constantly travels around Japan while being watched by the Testament Union, the authority that runs the re-enactment of history. However, rumors of an apocalypse and war begins to spread when the Testament stops revealing what happens next after 1648. Taking advantage of this situation, Tori Aoi, head of Musashi Ariadust Academy's Supreme Federation and President of the student council, leads his fellow classmates to use this opportunity to regain their homeland.

I have to say that, out of all the shows this anime season, this probably has one of the most creative plots and worlds. I mean, they’re living through history again to figure out where they went wrong saving the earth? I don’t actually know what’s going on there because it’s addressed once in the first episode at the beginning.

The point of the show is really the conflict between Tori (and his friends) and Testament Union. And if it weren’t for the shows insistence on a fanservice show every other frame, it might actually be interesting. Because instead of figuring out how to display these females, they’d be writing plots and characters and stuff.

Really, there’s a laundry list of characters and I only know Tori. None of the others are given enough time to really show who they are. And unlike every other anime, their names are rarely addressed (it’s a thing in Japan to use the third person a lot apparently).

The good in this show does not outweigh the bad though. I keep watching every week because I’m wondering if I’ll understand more of what’s going on. Turns out, I don’t. But there are some pretty entertaining and exciting fight scenes. So watch it for that excitement if it pleases the crowd. Otherwise, it’s another one to throw out.

Maken-ki!

Plot Summary: Takeru Ohyama, a young normal yet perverted minded guy, got accepted and now goes to a school that, unknown to him, was where combat and magic is used. On the first day, he meets Haruko Amaya, his childhood friend, Inaho Kushiya, a girl who says she’s his fiance, and Kodama Himegami, a blonde who wants to kill him. Finding out that there are many girls there that just don’t like him, he is told that everyone there uses a special magic ability while using an item or weapon called a Maken. Later, he finds that no Maken is acceptable for him and doesn’t know what to do, since in this school the students get into duels that showcase their magic and combat power, of which he seemingly has none.

Ugh. Eleven episodes of this was eleven too long. But I watched them all anyway.

My big problem with this isn’t that nothing really changed by the end. My big problem was that you learned basically everything about the main character in the last episode. Since no one is going to watch this and spoilers don’t really matter (plus it’s good to know this when you start off watching), the main character, Takeru, watched his mother be defeated/killed (it’s never really clear in the anime) and now he wants to fight everyone to protect everyone and stop fighting.

Again, ugh.

If you want eleven episodes of relatively entertaining fanservice-y stuff, go ahead and watch it. If you want to use your time to do something productive, watch anything but this.

Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle

Plot Summary: Kaito Daimon is a brilliant 16-year-old teenager who loves to solve puzzles. He acquires an enigmatic item called the Armband of Orpheus that allows him to fully utilize his brain, but that consequentially drains him completely. Currently attending Root Academy as an honor student, he is invited by the school principal to confront a secret organization named POG. They create deadly Sage Puzzles to protect invaluable treasures and challenge the select few individuals capable of facing them. Given the title of Einstein, Kaito battles against the mysterious group in order to keep a promise he made as a kid while at the same time he heads towards the ultimate test: the Divine Puzzle.

Phi Brain is most definitely the funnest show in this anime season. I mean, it’s about solving puzzles. And if you love puzzles, you’ll likely find yourself liking this show.

It does have some downfalls. Like the fact that everything has to be shrouded in mystery until later episodes. But I’ve gotten over that in order to enjoy more puzzle solving.

Oh, and it does have some really dumb lines. Like Kaito’s catch phrase seems to be “Puzzle time, start” (puzzle time hajimaruyo or however that’s actually spelled in phonetics).

But despite this, it’s really, really fun. It’s not exciting murder-y goodness like in Future Dairy. It’s not amazing character-y stuff like in Chihayafuru. It’s just fun. If you’re looking for something that’ll make you think a little, but not too much, check out Phi Brain.

Un-Go

Plot Summary: With the help of his strange assistant Inga, “defeated detective” Shinjūrō Yūki solves crimes in a near future Japan still suffering from the ravages of war. Problem is, the credit always ends up going to super detective Rinroku Kaishō.

Un-Go is another detective/mystery type show. And, as such, I’ll be inclined to like it because I’m a sucker for mysteries. But the first few episodes, while exciting and enticing mysteries, kind of have a cop out of Inga, the detective’s assistant, being all fantasy monster-y and asking her one question which the victim must always answer.

Despite that, I did enjoy the first group of episodes quite a bit. And in the final four or five episodes, it stopped doing that and really got into mysteries.

What really bugged me about this show was Kaishō Rinroku, the main character’s basically antagonist. But of course he doesn’t serve as a traditional antagonist. He just solves all the mysteries and then doesn’t receive the credit due because Rinroku takes all the credit.

Grr I say, grr.

But the first couple episodes are skippable if you don’t want to sit through some detective-y stuff that really just sets up who all the characters are. Despite those first couple episodes, it’s worth the watch, I think.

Its big shortcoming is that it’s only eleven episodes. Maken-ki doesn’t deserve its eleven episodes. Maybe one OVA. So give ten of those episodes to Un-Go and let me watch more. The show would have served well from two big, overarching plots.

Fairy Tail

Plot Summary: Lucy is a 17-year-old girl, who wants to be a full-fledged mage. One day when visiting Harujion Town, she meets Natsu, a young man who gets sick easily by any type of transportation. But Natsu isn’t just any ordinary kid, he’s a member of one of the world’s most infamous mage guilds: Fairy Tail.

This is actually from the Fall 2009 anime season, but it’s kept me entertained through 109 episodes and it’s going strong, so let’s review it anyway.

People talk about the Big 3 in shonen manga/anime. One Piece, Naruto, and BLEACH. I think we should be adding one more to that list: Fairy Tail. I picked up Fairy Tail on a whim when it first came out and was unimpressed with everything before Galuna Island. But then Reitei Lyon shows up and I’m like, “Oh this is good.” Then Phantom Lord attacks and I’m like, “Oh this is really good.”

It does have some of the stupid (super ugh) anime-y things that are typical in the shonen shows. But with a shonen, that’s what you’re going to get. You either get over it or you don’t.

But Fairy Tail is a show that keeps on escalating, and keeps my interest. One Piece is the only other of the Big 3 that’s done that for me. When it comes to “generic” shonen, go One Piece and Fairy Tail.

Star Driver

Plot Summary: On the remote Southern Cross island, a secret organization named Kiraboshi plans to reactivate giant mobile suits that have been sealed for ages. Known as cybodies, they can only be controlled by pilots identified as star drivers. To unleash their full power, the mysterious group must break the seals of the four shrine maidens that reside in the isle. Recently arrived outsider, Takuto Tsunashi, vows to stop Kiraboshi in order to protect Wako Agemaki, girl who saved his life and one of the four maidens. Wako is a lively young lady who has already been betrothed to Sugata Shindou, a rich and talented childhood friend. Despite being very close to Agemaki, Sugata quietly disapproves this engagement since it was forced on to them due to a family tradition. The melancholic couple becomes a radiant trio as Takuto becomes not only their friend, but protector of the seals since he is none other than the Ginga Bishonen, gifted star driver of Tauburn, the 22nd cybody.

This is actually from the Fall 2010 anime season, but I’m watching it week to week now, so let’s review it anyway.

Star Driver’s big weakness is that it’s a pretty episodic show that, as of episode 21, still hasn’t answered a lot of the questions I have. It feels like the writers came up with one big reveal and they’re saving it for the second to last episode. Of course, the last episode will be a big fight scene with lots of dialogue between the characters while fighting.

Despite this, Star Driver is a pretty good mecha show that keeps me wanting to watch to see the cool fights in zero time and to hear Wako or Marino sing. That is one thing it does really well. Its soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard in anime. It’s catchy, it’s pretty, and it’s pleasing to the ears.

Its 25 episodes long, so a little long for my tastes. But if you want 25 episodes of fun, check it out. Because despite its clear weaknesses, it keeps me entertained from week to week.

Finals Week Edition!

Before I start, I’m not going to be doing much research for these questions (if any at all) given I have finals, anime, and Skyrim. Nevertheless, I’ll do my best to answer the questions to the best of my ability.

1. What is the historical context for blue hair? Why does no one notice the brightly colored hair that everyone in anime seems to have? How do they get their hair to be all pointy?

There’s a cultural purpose for people with strangely colored and strangely shaped hair. And there’s also a lazy artistic reason.

First, the lazy artistic reason. It’s easier to distinguish characters with different hair colors and styles. I mean, who can’t recognize Goku with his hair going all woo and wee in all sorts of different directions? And who doesn’t remember that Botan from YuYu Hakusho has blue hair?

The cultural reason: People in Japan generally only have black hair, unless they’re part Japanese, part something else. As such, it’s extremely rare to find someone in Japan that doesn’t have black or brown hair. In fact, in some of the more strict schools in Japan, you can’t have your hair colored anything but black (it may have changed since I got that information though).

So the people of Japan want to stick out. On the weekends, they’ll dye their hair some different color and then change it for school on Monday. To stick out. The Japanese, I think, inherently want to be different, to look different, amongst themselves. So they give their characters these strange colored hair colors to compensate for their own inability to do so.

At least that’s my theory.

2. What is the most common theme in anime?

This will vary greatly depending on who you ask. There are three very well-known genres within anime: 1. Shonen (though it’s not known as that), 2. Magical girl, and 3. Hentai. Of course the only theme you’re going to find in hentai is trying to get pervy Japanese kids off. The shonen and magical girl genres have a little more.

I’d say that the most common theme in anime would just be shonen in general. I mean, that’s what was always on TV when us 20-somethings were kids. Dragonball Z, Pokémon, Digimon, YuYu Hakusho, all those I would consider shonen.

Then the most common thing in shonen is overcoming some “unbeatable” enemy. Piccolo, Raditz, Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, Buu, Gary, Rando, The Four Saint Beasts, Toguro, Sensui, Yomi, and more recently, Sasuke, Aizen, Aokiji, Akainu, Kizaru, Zeref, the Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart, and every other antagonist ever (it’s gone past the point where I’m just trying to show off my memory of names).

So the answer really is that there is no answer. It’s like asking what’s the most common theme in movies or what’s the most common theme in TV shows. There’s such a variety of movies, TV shows, and anime that it’s nigh on impossible to define one theme.

3. Why do the stores that sell anime decide to jack up the price?

This is an easy question. Right Stuf and Amazon, they don’t have to pay for a brick and mortars store. Borders, Barns and Noble, Best Buy, and everyone else, they have to pay for the store and the employees to interact with you and upkeep on anything inside it. For Right Stuf, they have to pay for a warehouse, some tech support, and the PR people since they also license things and go to conventions.

So because of that, Right Stuf and Amazon can afford to sell for much less than the MSRP compared to Best Buy and Barns and Noble. I mean, even when Borders was liquidating and had everything on sale, I could STILL find better deals on Right Stuf and Amazon for most of their stuff. I just bought a few things at Borders because I wouldn’t have to wait.

The way that a store that sells anime, or any store that doesn’t sell food or isn’t a franchise, has to do is they have to know their customers and they have to focus on selling things other than DVDs, blu-rays, and manga. I know if there was an anime shop near me, like really near me, I’d be a regular there. I probably still wouldn’t buy DVDs, blu-rays, and manga there, but I’d go there regularly because I like anime and I like talking about anime. I’d also pick up some general anime merchandise here and there. A figure or a plushie or basically anything that has the name K-ON! on it…

4. What happened to the series I like and why do they keep getting discontinued?

It’s a sad story with these. The reason is because they don’t sell. As much as you, or I, like them, not enough people do. It’s especially bad if they were licensed by a certain company named Tokyopop. Series like Fruits Basket are going to be picked up by someone else. I mean, ADV manga had Gunslinger Girl and Yotsuba& and both of those got picked up because they’re popular. But for the less popular things, the luck is running thin.

It’s a notorious thing to happen with DVD prints, back when they released a 26 episode series in a 6 DVD set. They’d print say 100,000 copies of the first volume. But it only sold 75,000. So the second volume will print 75,000. But that only sold 60,000. So the third volume will print 60,000. And so on until you get to the sixth volume, which only printed 25,000 compared to the original 100,000 copies of the first volume. I have this problem with Darker Than Black. I have volumes 1-3 and 5. I need 4 and 6 and I can’t find 4 for less than $25 and I can’t even find 6.

So the answer is that it isn’t popular enough, so it’s not going to keep getting printed. Do you want Viz or Seven Seas to continue printing your favorite series? Them buy more! Tell your friends to buy three copies (one for yourself, one to loan, and one for the vault). It’s sadly the only way we get the word to the publishers that we like it. They look at sales, not visits on scanlation sites.

5. How many anime have video games? And how many video games were inspired by anime? (reverse?)

This is a tough question. There aren’t many video games that get turned into anime (like, say, Resident Evil and some other mediocre to bad video game movies here in the States). The exception is visual novels.

There are tons and tons of visual novels that get anime adaptations (and they don’t really deserve it unless they were made by Key). And even if they were made by Key, it’s still not a great reason to make it. Clannad is the exception to the rule, really. But all the anime that I’ve watched that are based off of visual novels aren’t that great. [I take that back, Amagami SS is great. Another exception.]

But there are lots of anime that get turned into video games. Or at least all the popular shonen anime get a fighting video game adaptation. Dragonball Z, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and I’m pretty sure Fairy Tail have all gotten a video game adaptation. This excludes PSP and Japan exclusive games, though. Because there are tons of those that I don’t even know about.

6. Why do I always feel that an anime scene I'm watching is weirdly sexual?

Why do American’s have sex scenes in their movies? Why are people having sex on Game of Thrones? Why is that really awkward scene in Watchman? BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH IT! I have no idea why (probably because they’re horny, prepubescent teenagers), but they want to watch it in the middle of something good, or at least mediocre.

Despite yours or anyone’s hatred toward the style of doing things, it sells. People watch it, they eat it up, and they love it. Hell, the only extras on any Spice and Wolf DVD was the “Stretching with Holo” and “Learning from Holo” on Spice and Wolf II release. Why? PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH HOLO BE CUTE. As much as you find it weird or sexual, other people love it and other people find it cute.

Take K-ON! as an example. It’s a very cute show with a lot of “sexual” things going on. They aren’t actually sexual, but it’s just a fun story about four girls who want to make a band, be successful, and most importantly…have FUN. The author wanted to make something cute that boys could enjoy as much as girls. It worked, I think. If you don’t like how they do it, then stop watching it. Behind Spice and Wolf’s sexy parts, there’s a good story. Behind the Major’s sexual getup, there’s an amazing story.

Moving on to Hellsing. The easy answer is that Kouta Hirano is a perv (which he really, really is). I mean, a lot (a lot) of the characters in Hellsing were based off of former characters Hirano had created. In hentai manga. If that’s not enough for you, then because guess what? IT STILL SELLS. People still want to watch Seras be “boobylicious.” Or is it boobielicious? In any case, they still want to see that.

Besides, if you want to see freakishly huge boobs, watch One Piece. Because dear god, some of those characters. So Seras is normal when I think about it like that. Then I move on to ignoring it. Because there’s something else going on. He’s called Alucard and he’s amazing.

In the end, it’s all to sell more. And it’s working. K-ON! and Oreimo sells more than Wandering Son because it has cute things to sell, even though Wandering Son is one of the greatest shows out there.

Is the Quality of Anime Declining?

I was asked recently whether the quality of anime is going down, or whether he was just imagining it. He was referring to the animation itself, but I have been asked by others whether the plots are getting worse. We saw shows in the 90’s like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, but it seems like not a lot of shows are as good now.

Well I disagree wholeheartedly.

This season’s Future Diary is one of the best shows I’ve seen in this past year, and it’s almost certainly the best show this season. Also from this season, Chiyahafuru and Guilty Crown are also really good.

But then we have shows like Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janai Dakara ne, Kissxsis, and Maken-ki. And I’ve watched all of them. And trust me when I say they’re not that good.

But let’s turn back the pendulum (to take a page from Kubo). Let’s look at the Spring 1998 anime list and compare it to the Fall 2011 list. A short list of the shows that came out in Spring 1998: Ah! My Goddess: Chichaitte Koto wa Benri da ne, Alice SOS, Android Ana Maico 2010, Beast Wars Second Chou Seimeitai Transformers, Brain Powerd, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Cowboy Bebop, Cyberteam in Akihabara, DT Eightron, Eat-Man ’98, Fancy Lala, Futari Gurashi, Gandalla: The King of Burning Desert, Gasaraki, Generator Gawl, Ginga Hyouryu Vifam 13, Grander Musashi RV, Hatsumei Boy Kanipan, Himiko-Den, Initial D First Stage, Jikuu Tenshou Nazca, and Legend of Basara. Trust me, there’s more. But what do most of these shows probably have in common? They’re mediocre. Hell, even I haven’t heard of a lot of these. And Bebop and Gawl are the only ones I own. So I’ve only seen two out of these 20+ shows.

Compare this to this anime season (Fall 2011), where simulcasts have allowed me to watch as many new shows as I want. I’m currently watching: Chihayafuru, Fairy Tail, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Hunter x Hunter, Majikoi Oh! Samurai Girls, Mashiroiro Symphony, Squid Girl, Un-Go, Wagnaria’!!, You and Me, Guilty Crown, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing, Maken-ki, and The Future Dairy. Out of those, only Fairy Tail is a continuation from a previous season. And in my opinion, 7 have the potential to be good (Chiyahafuru, Un-Go, Guilty Crown, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing, and The Future Dairy. Fairy Tail and Hunter x Hunter to a lesser degree). That’s 50%.

Of course that’s all subjective and I have no basis for saying those 1998 shows are going to be mediocre. But I will give critics this: there are a lot more fanservice shows. Maken-ki, thanks for being there when I need an unnecessary panty shot. Why do I continue watching shows like this? Because I’m a completionist. Why did I start a show like this? I have no clue.

What are the two big differences between the two seasons? 1. Fanservice, 2. Episode count. Most of those 1998 shows have 24+ episodes, most of these 2011 shows have 13 max. And why all the fanservice? Well, there is a legitimate response to that. One that critics will hate. The birth rate in Japan is falling. That’s right, that’s the reason for the fanservice shows being so prevalent.

See, without kids to watch the kids shows, the studios see no need in making shows that target kids. While there are tons of pervy teenagers in Japan that frequent Akihabara’s maid cafes and want some panty action in their anime. Because there are actually few casual anime viewers in Japan. Most of them either think that any anime fan is an otaku (which has very negative connotations in Japan compared to here) or that anime is a bad influence in general and will make you kill people, or something horrible.

We Americans know that’s not true. It’s also true that we Americans are what are keeping a lot of these anime in production (at least that was the case just two or three years ago). The Japanese studios didn’t have the funding to keep making the show, so they licensed the show to an American licensor and then, voila, funding for the rest of the show. But I digress.

My point here is that the quality of anime isn’t going down. It’s stayed about the same. There are always one or two really, really good shows per season. They might not all be of the quality of Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell or Samurai Champloo, but they’re damn near. Hell, Baccano!, Time of Eve, and Durarara!! came out in 2007, 2008, and 2010 respectively. And those are the really great shows of the past few years, at least the ones that I’ve seen. I guess your point is that the lower shows are worse or less worthy. But that’s ok, just don’t watch those. I’ll do it for you and tell you how bad they are.

The Segregation of Anime

“Hero, second class. That is the designation given the artists of animated films. Their work receives the highest praise, yet at awards time they are deemed creatures of some cuter, smaller species.” That quote is from Time Magazine and I find it truer and truer every day.

Every time my friends and I go to watch a movie, I suggest something like Howl’s Moving Castle, Paprika, or Summer Wars. I think, hey, they like fantastical stories like Lord of the Rings, why not do something like this? But no. We end up watching some smut like Transporter or Contact. It should be noted that I like both of those movies for very different reasons, but the three aforementioned anime movies are better. Much, much better.

The reasoning I get for not wanting to watch anime movies is they would prefer to watch them by themselves with their headphones on, isolated from the world. That is ridiculous. These are movies, just like anything else. I’ll understand something like Tokyo Godfathers or Millennium Actress since those are subtitled, but to pass up Princess Mononoke or Ghost in the Shell is criminal. These are great movies in their own right, animated or not. I hear that you would rather watch these by yourself on a screen that’s not likely to be bigger than 25’ instead of enjoying the movie experience with friends on a screen that’s somewhere around 40-odd inches.

Don’t give me that bull. Tokyo Godfathers is quite likely the best movie I saw in 2011. And yet my friends seem to have an innate and unchangeable prejudice against anime (and prejudice is the right word here). I love watching anime. I love it more when I’m watching it with friends, especially if it’s new to all of us. But I’ll never truly get that experience because I’m either showing an anime to someone or watching it new by myself because no one else wants to.

I suppose what I’m asking is why do people have this innate prejudice against anime? And with my friends, it is just anime. Because we’ve seen movies like Wall-E and How to Train Your Dragon without hesitation. But not anime. Well, guess what people: Spirited Away won Best Animated Feature at the 75^th Academy Awards and the growing trend is leaning toward anime. So get over yourselves and watch a little sometime.

Subtitled Releases

In my previous columns, it’s been largely helping newcomers get into anime. Even the lists of my Top 15 Anime and my Top 5 Anime Movies are for newcomers. But now, I want to do something a little different. I’m going to talk about Subtitled Releases today.

It really saddens me that at least part of the anime industry is headed toward subtitled only releases. I’ve seen this on a lot of recent titles, mostly from the same companies. Katanagatari and Ore no Imōto Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai are the ones that I actually own. But Wagnaria!!, Toradora!, Amagami SS, and even Clannad (and many more) are released subtitled only. Granted Clannad eventually got an English dub, but the other three so far haven’t, and probably won’t.

This is not just a growing trend in DVD releases, but also in streaming releases. Of course, simulcasts are more often than not (the only two examples I can think of are Kurokami and Gundam Unicorn) subtitled because the dedication required to make a simultaneous Japanese and English release is a lot. So of course simulcasts and the like are going to be subtitled only. But even Viz, a company that does use the resources they have to get a dub for shows, are putting their shows up on Netflix subtitled. I love Mamoru Miyano as much as the next guy, but I want to hear me some Brad Swaile when I’m watching Death Note.

I can understand the reasoning behind releasing sub only. It’s going to be a lot cheaper. You do the exact same thing that FUNimation, ADV, Geneon and them do with the majority of their releases, only you’re not paying an English voice cast, which includes the actors, directors, producers, engineers, and so on. So you get more money back on the sales from the release because you’re not paying the English crew.

The problem is that they’re not putting anything else on the disc. What extras are on the Katanagatari set? A beautiful artbook with each set and textless openings and endings. I’m sure the artbook used a lot of resources to produce, money included, but this is kind of pathetic. FUNimation regularly has an English cast commentary on at least one episode per 13 episodes. When they released the Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, they even went out of their way to bring back Laura Bailey, Jerry Jewell, Eric Vale, and John Burgmeier for a commentary. That’s dedication that I appreciate out of any company. What has NIS America done? Artbooks. These artbooks certainly are beautiful and appreciated (I’d love for FUNimation to follow suit), but no extras on the DVD is disappointing. I love behind the scenes things.

I can understand the economy and licensing issues that are around that. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to just license the show and release it (which, extremely simply put, they’re doing). I’m sure it costs a lot to get those extras. But if you aren’t putting a dub onto the series, why not go that extra mile? Hike up the prices for the “limited editions” with the artbooks and put DVD extras on all the releases. I know that when I go to buy an anime, whether it has DVD extras is a big decider on whether I want to get it or not.

My point being is that I feel like NIS America and Sentai and the companies that are releasing subtitled only releases are skimping on the product. NIS gives us an artbook, which is great. But it has to be a really great show for me to want to shell out $55 for 13 episodes with no English dub and no DVD extras. I made exceptions for Katanagatari and Oreimo. And Katanagatari was even in two sets with 6 hour long episodes in each set. That was a burn in my wallet. But the shows that I’ll dish out that much for are few and far between. Baccano! isn’t good enough for me to want to buy the blu-ray release because it doesn’t have any extras and I already own the DVD. But blu-rays are another story for another time.

Top 5 Anime Movies

Ah anime movies. The greatest thing about anime movies (in my mind) is that they’re great to start newcomers to anime off with. I’ve seen a lot of anime movies, but there are so many more that I still want to see. But I’ll try my best here to narrow down my favorite anime movies here. Again, plot summaries start off each review and again, they’re courtesy of ANN. [Author’s note: I most certainly need to watch Akira again. But as I haven’t seen it since high school and I don’t remember much of what happened in it, I will leave it off the list for now.]

Before I start off, I’m going to talk a little bit about directors. I’m going to be the first to admit that I know near to nothing about what makes good directing. But there are a few names that constantly pop up when it comes to directing anime. Hayao Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, Mamoru Hosoda, and Makoto Shinkai. These five directors dominate my complete list of anime movies. 100% of the list is directed by one of these five. So, if you want to start watching anime movies, check out these guys. They’re good, they’re really good.

1. Tokyo Godfathers

Plot Summary: On a Christmas Eve, three Tokyo homeless – mid-aged alcoholic man Gin, high school runaway girl Miyuki, and former drag queen Hana – were searching dumpsters and trash bags for possible Christmas gifts for themselves, when cries from a baby drew their attention. Believing this was a gift from God, Hana, who couldn’t have a baby of “her” own, vowed to take care of the abandoned baby girl and together they began searching for baby’s mother.

Tokyo Godfathers has a very simple plot. It’s almost overly simple. Three bums find a kid and they want to find the kid’s parents. That’s it. But what drives this movie is the characters. Gin, Miyuki, and Hana are some of the richest characters I’ve ever seen in any anime. And I’m inclined to believe that, if I had included movies in my Top 15 Anime list, Tokyo Godfathers, not Baccano!, would be at the top. That’s how good this is.

But there are so many hardships, trials, tribulations, and reconciliations that these characters go through. I’m going to spoil things for you guys here, so if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want the (sort of) blatant ending spoiled, look away to the next paragraph. What’s great is that these three bums are being recognized for what they did by the parents. The doctors say the people who returned their kid are bums, they’re smelly, and they have nothing on God’s green Earth to offer to them. But the parents don’t care. They just want to thank the people who saved their precious daughter.

Phew. Spoilers over and tear-jerking moments aside, this is an amazing movie. Have I said that enough? Because it’s simply amazing. If you want to check out a movie that is solely about the characters, check this out. Because each of them go through so much by the end of the movie. In just 90 minutes, these characters grow so much.

2. Ghost in the Shell

Plot Summary: In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as “The Puppetmaster” begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster. The pursuit will call into question what makes a human and what is the Puppetmaster in a world where the distinction between human and machine is increasingly blurry.

Remember the scene in The Matrix when Neo is getting the plug in the back of his head removed? He’s still in the machine’s breeding pod at that point, if that helps. Well, anyway, that scene is straight out of Ghost in the Shell. It’s the Wachowski’s homage to one of their favorite anime.

When the author of a book says that he’s skeptical whether the book he wrote can be made into a movie, only to allow it to be made into a movie because of the director attached, you know the director has to be good. Well, both Sky Crawlers and Ghost in the Shell were directed by the brilliant Mamoru Oshii. But we’re here to talk about Ghost in the Shell and I’ve already had two digressions before even starting to review the movie.

Getting right into it, I love this movie for the philosophical discussions in it. It blurs the difference between humans and machines. If a machine can know that it has consciousness, is it sentient? And before that, what is sentience? These are the types of questions that Ghost in the Shell always brings up and these are the types of questions I love thinking about. I even wrote a term paper about machine sentience in Philosophy 343. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, what makes Ghost in the Shell great is that it makes me think. As I’ve said already, the philosophical discussion in this is just so great. We aren’t questioning machine sentience, we’re questioning human sentience. Isn’t that brilliant?

But it’s not just the philosophy that brings me in to Ghost in the Shell. It’s the complex story. The Laughing Man and Individual Eleven arcs were amazing and the Puppetmaster story in this is no exception to both complexity and quality. Again, I’m not going to spoil anything about the story, but know that it is great. If you’ve seen the series, and like it, the movie is for you. If you haven’t seen the series, but liked The Matrix, you’ll like this. If you haven’t seen the series or The Matrix, get out.

3. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Plot Summary: In the post-apocalyptic future, large parts of the world have been swallowed up by forests of poisonous fungi. The remaining humans live near the fungus and its monstrous insectoid inhabitants, trying to prevent its spread. One of the human kingdoms, the peaceful Valley of Wind, loves its gentle Princess Nausicaä and her father, the king. But their peace is about to be broken, as they are swallowed up in the machinations of their larger, warmongering neighbors. However, Nausicaä has hidden potential, and may yet change the fate of the world.

Really, this is director Hayao Miyazaki’s spot. Actually, it’s Studio Ghibli’s spot. But given I’m dedicated to giving five specific movies, here’s Nausicaä. Just don’t discount movies like Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and Grave of the Fireflies just because they don’t make an appearance.

The appeal, to me, of Nausicaä is the world Hayao Miyazaki creates. There is the poison forest, the ohm, and so many other fantastical creatures. I daresay what Tolkien did for fantasy, Miyazaki has done for anime (ok, that’s completely untrue because we all know Osamu Tezuka did for anime what Tolkien did for fantasy, but Miyazaki certainly did a lot for Studio Ghibli). But really, Miyazaki’s trademark thing is a fantastical setting (Princess Mononoke, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, every one of his other movies…). That’s what pulls you in, that’s what keeps you watching. Then you get into the story of Nausicaä and her village and the conflict between them, the Pejite’s, and the Tolmekian’s.

But it’s not even about that. I’m going to quote Thane’s sarcasm™ and say something along the lines of it’s all about preachy tree hugging (he didn’t say exactly that, but exact words escape me). But it is about that. It’s about respecting nature and not taking it for granted like so many of us do. A lot of Miyazaki’s films send out this message, but none stronger than Nausicaä and none better than Nausicaä.

4. 5 Centimeters Per Second

Plot Summary: A tale of two people, Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who were close friends but gradually grow farther and farther apart as time moves on. They become separated because of their families yet continue to exchange contact in the form of letters. Yet as time continues to trudge on, their contact with one another begins to cease. Years pass and the rift between them grows ever larger. However, Takaki remembers the times they have shared together, but as life continues to unfold for him, he wonders if he would be given the chance to meet Akari again as the tale embarks on Takaki’s realization of the world and people around him.

Five spots and five directors. But I am not putting this movie on here because I want Makoto Shinkai on the list (ok, it’s a little because of that…). Despite that, Shinkai is a legitimately brilliant director and often said to be the next Miyazaki. Shinkai’s biggest downfall is that he used the same story for two of his works (Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters Per Second), except the latter is better because he has a bit more experience and the characters are richer.

The great thing about Shinkai’s works is the landscapes. Great cityscapes that awe the artistic mind are the mainstay of every Shinkai film. That and a story that’s sure to be a tear-jerker. But aside from the grand cityscapes in 5 Centimeters Per Second, there is a great relationship between three characters. First, there’s Takaki Tōno, the male protagonist that longs for the relationship that was never to be. Then there’s Akari Shinohara, the female protagonist and Takaki’s love interest. Lastly, there’s Kanae Sumida, the other female protagonist, that just can’t seem to catch a break.

Shinkai brilliantly builds up the Takaki and Akari’s relationship in the first part of the movie, then breaks all that down in the second part. We’re left feeling dejected and saddened, which is only escalated by the relationship between Takaki and Kanae. This is a great movie for a deep look at these three characters, Takaki in particular. If you like character things, check it out. If you like amazing landscapes, check it out.

5. Summer Wars

Plot Summary: When timid eleventh-grader and math genius Kenji Koiso is asked by older student and secret crush Natsuki to come with her to her family’s Nagano home for a summer job, he agrees without hesitation. Natsuki’s family, the Jinnouchi clan, dates back to the Muromachi era, and they’ve all come together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the spunky matriarch of the family, Sakae. That’s when Kenji discovers his “summer job” is to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiancé and dance with her at the birthday celebration. As Kenji attempts to keep up with Natsuki’s act around her family, he receives a strange math problem on his cell phone which, being a math genius, he can’t resist solving. As it turns out, the solution to the mysterious equation causes a hijacking of the social networking site through which most of the world's social and business traffic flows.

Not to take anything away from Summer Wars, but my original intention was to review The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Mamoru Hosoda’s other big movie) with this slot. Actually, I wanted The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to be in the number 4 slot. However, it is my regretful decision to give Summer Wars this spot in its stead because the last time I watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was about two years ago. As you can imagine, my memory on it is fuzzy.

Now, into the review. I’ll first say that Summer Wars big downfall is that it relies heavily on some Japanese cultural things that people outside Japan are unlikely to know. When I say it relies heavily, I mean it has a lot of Japanese cultural things that people that don’t watch anime religiously (like me) or people who live in Japan would know. I picked up on a lot of the things, but things like Koi Koi still went over my head. Relying on Japanese cultural stuff is something I don’t recall The Girl Who Leapt Through Time doing.

What I’m thinking of when I say it relied on Japanese culture is the game of Koi Koi, which it is apparently called. I have no idea what the rules are, and I have no idea how to play it. The movie didn’t give me that information because it assumes that you’ve lived in Japan and know the game.

But that isn’t to say that this isn’t a good movie. I wouldn’t have bothered putting it on the list if I did think it was good despite that dependence on Japanese culture. What it does well overcomes that cultural boundary that turns off so many new viewers. It gives you characters (Natsuki and Kenji) that you can relate to. Kenji is the nerd that has a crush on the girl and Natsuki is…well, she’s kind of just Natsuki. She’s the girl next door-type. But while Kenji is pretending to be Natsuki’s boyfriend, he gets caught up in a huge internet…thing. See, they have this thing called Oz, which is basically Facebook, Amazon, and your bank combined. But they’re not evil (no, really, they’re not). What’s evil is some guy that puts one of the most complex math problems to the smartest math nerds (Kenji included of course) to solve. Once they solve it, this dude breaks into Oz.

All hell breaks loose because EVERYTHING is based on this system. When I say it’s Facebook, Amazon, and your bank combined, I’m not joking. But it also controls traffic lights, water, electricity...you know, anything important. So the characters have to overcome this in an amazingly animated sequence. It’s great, it’s dramatic, and the characters you used to sort of hate or at dislike or actually like, you grow to like them or like them more. I highly suggest it for anyone looking for a neat sort of fantasy, sort of cyberpunk world.

Mamoru Hosoda also directed the Digimon: The Movie, but that’s a separate thing.

Top 15 Anime - The Rejects

I call these the rejects but there are good reasons why these didn’t make it into my Top 15 list. I’ll try my best to give proper reasoning as to why they didn’t make it as well as praise them for what they do well.

Studio Ghibli

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Laputa: Castle in the Sky

Grave of the Fireflies

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Porco Rosso

Whisper of the Heart

Princess Mononoke

Spirited Away

The Cat Returns

Howl’s Moving Castle

Tales from Earthsea

Ponyo

Makoto Shinkai

Voices of a Distant Star

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

5 Centimeters Per Second

Satoshi Kon

Tokyo Godfathers

Paprika

The Mamoru movies

Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii)

The Sky Crawlers (Mamoru Oshii)

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Mamoru Hosoda)

Summer Wars (Mamoru Hosoda)

The movies. Oh the movies. If I had included movies, it just wouldn’t be the same list. These movies, all of them, deserve a note of their own. And I’ll get on that eventually. Stay tuned for a Top 5 anime movies list. These movies, in most cases, are the perfect gateway anime for new viewers. Even casual viewers or non-viewers will like most of these movies.

Clannad

Plot Summary: Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student resentful of his life. His mother passed away from a car accident when he was younger, causing his father to resort to alcohol and gambling. This results in fights between the two until Tomoya’s shoulder is injured in a fight. Since then, Tomoya has had distant relationships with his father, causing him to become a delinquent over time. While on a walk to school, he meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating due to illness. Due to this, she is often alone as most of her friends have moved on. The two begin hanging out and slowly, as time goes by, Tomoya finds his life shifting in a new direction.

Key did something with visual novels that, as an American, I hadn’t previously seen. With Air, Kanon, and Clannad, they made a good anime out of a visual novel. For those of you who don’t know, a visual novel can range from a dating simulation to an eroge. A dating sim is just that, you play as a main character and date the pretty girls in the game. And eroge is that with sex. Like literal sex. And they’re usually bad. At least, all the anime adaptations I had seen before had not wowed me like Key’s shows did.

The reason why it’s not on the list is because all the other shows are better than Clannad. Now, After Story is, well, a different story. But that’s the second anime. I’m not going to suggest you start with After Story and I’m not going to put it on the list because, without its predecessor, it isn’t as good. You need to get to know the characters and the brevity that the other shows provide is just better. I have only good things to say about Clannad and After Story, but it just doesn’t make the cut.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Plot Summary: On the first day of high school a beautiful girl named Haruhi Suzumiya introduces herself as having “no interest in ordinary humans.” She asks for any aliens, time travelers, sliders or espers to join her. Watching her weird behaviour is Kyon who sits in front of Haruhi and is the only person who talks to her. When Kyon comments about Haruhi’s joining every club in school and then quitting he unwittingly gives Haruhi an idea to start her own after school club. Thereafter Kyon and several others find themselves dragged, literally, into the Save our world by Overloading it with fun Haruhi Suzumiya’s Brigade (the S.O.S. Brigade for short).

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is one of the greatest anime movies I have ever watched. And the series ranks up there with the rest of them. But it’s niched toward an anime audience. A casual anime viewer won’t want to pick this up, but would probably love Disappearance. But there are so many subtle nuances and references to the two series’ that I can’t suggest watching the movie without watching the series.

What the series is lacking is appeal to a bigger audience, as I said. Their main selling point is that you want to see an over-the-top science fiction/fantasy story with pretty girls (aka Haruhi, Mikuru Asahina, and Yuki Nagato). Which is great, if you’re into that (I am and I just ignore the obvious fanservice shots). What’s really great about the series is that Haruhi Suzumiya is a God, but she doesn’t know it. She basically controls the world, according to the three different factions in their own way, and the only thing keeping her in check is Kyon. That’s the appeal, to me.

But the downfalls of the series include a very strange episode zero, a little slow pacing, and the niche content. It’s good, it’s really good. Trust me when I say that. But it’s just not great.

Ouran High School Host Club

Plot Summary: Haruhi is a poor tomboyish student at a school for the ultra-wealthy, able to attend because of a scholarship, and unable to even afford a uniform. One day, she stumbles across the decidedly peculiar but very popular Ouran Host Club. She tries to leave, but accidentally breaks a vase, and unable to pay for it, she’s told that she'll have to stay and do odd jobs. That is, until they decide she would be more valuable as a club member. Not realizing she’s female due to her appearance, they fix her up and give her a male uniform. She’s an instant hit, so they decide to have her keep up the charade even after they find out the truth. Haruhi, being average almost to a fault, doesn’t know what to make of the unconventional activities of the Host Club (or of the even more unconventional members), but having little choice, she plays along. Before long, real bonds are formed, friends made, and Haruhi finds herself accepted in a way she could never have been otherwise in this affluent school.

Oh Ouran. What can I say about you? If you really want over the top, go for Ouran. Because it is so over the top (Tamaki Suou, enough said). And each and every one of the main characters are unique in their own way.

So why didn’t it make it? The ending. The anime ending just…it ends things, but it doesn’t finish them like the manga did. It left a lot of things to be desired. That’s really the downfall of anime adapted from manga (of which over 70% of anime are). They stop at 13 episodes or 26 episodes and make their own anime endings. Which, in almost every case, is worse than the manga ending (I can’t think of a case where the anime ending was better than the manga ending, but I’m sure there is one out there).

Code Geass

Plot Summary: The Empire of Britannia has invaded Japan using giant robot weapons called Knightmare Frames. Japan is now referred to as Area 11, and its people the 11’s. A Britannian who was living in Japan at the time, Lelouch, vowed to his Japanese friend Suzaku that he’d destroy Britannia. Years later, Lelouch is in high school, but regularly skips out of school to go play chess and gamble on himself. One day, he stumbles on terrorists 11’s who’ve stolen a military secret and is caught by a member of the Britannian task force sent after them, who is Suzaku. As the rest of the squad arrives, Suzaku is shot for disobeying orders, while the military secret, a young girl, gives Lelouch the power of Geass, which makes anyone obey any order. While Suzaku is secretly made the pilot of Britannia’s brand new prototype Knightmare, Lancelot, Lelouch becomes the masked Zero to lead the rebellion to destroy Britannia once and for all.

Code Geass is really good. I haven’t watched it in quite some time, but from what I remember of it, it was awesome. Especially Johnny Yong Bosch’s performance and Lelouche Lamperouge. It just doesn’t have that final piece of the puzzle. It’s great, but it’s just not great. It gets itself really caught up in its own narratives. A lot of episodes are Lelouch exposition. As a big anime fan, I’m fine with that. But it’ll turn off newcoming viewers because they’re not used to people talking so much. Death Note has this flaw as well, but the rest of the story is done just so well.

Code Geass was done well, and I loved how it wrapped up everything, but there was a pretty sketchy transition between seasons and a lot of unnecessary filler/fanservice episodes. I think it would have been a lot better had they took out some of the content and made it a 40 episode series or a 30 episode series. It just isn’t tightened to the amount the first 26 episodes of Death Note were. It felt like there was no filler in those episodes, as I recall. But I can recall specific instances in Code Geass where there was definitely filler. With a series not based off a manga, they shouldn’t have to put those kinds of episodes in.

Darker Than Black

Plot Summary: In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as “Hell’s Gate” appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged. Hei is one of the most powerful of these psychic agents, and along with his associate, Yin, works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell’s Gate.

Darker Than Black’s biggest downfall is that it’s episodic. The thing I liked about the second season is that it had an overarching story. Darker Than Black is really 13 episodes. One one episode arc (the OVA), one three episode arc, and 11 two episode arcs. So by the end I was left wondering why they couldn’t have just a few more overarching story arcs throughout the series.

But despite that downfall, I still think Darker Than Black is an exceptional series. It presents tons of new and interesting things (aka the contractors and their payment) and it does it in a very interesting way. Just, for it to be really good, it needs to tell me something more than a really awesome science fiction story.

Fruits Basket

Plot Summary: Tohru Honda is 16 year old orphaned girl who gets invited to live in the house of her classmate, Yuki Sohma, and his cousins, Kyo and Shigure. However, these young men and parts of the rest of their family (both close and distant) hold a curse; if they are hugged by the opposite gender, they transform into animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Every day is an adventure for sweet Tohru, as she gets to know everyone in the large family better (especially Yuki and Kyo), in both common and bizarre situations. But, the Sohma Family curse is certainly no laughing matter. It also holds horrible cruelty and heartbreak.

The big reason why this didn’t make the list is because it’s just so niche. I mean, I’d love to show There Are No Memories It’s OK to Forget and It’s Because I’ve Been Loved That I’ve Become Stronger to people because those were amazing episodes. But someone jumping straight into the series won’t like those episodes because they require an amount of backstory that they might not be able to get through in the first part of the series.

Another reason is because it’s weird. It’s extremely shojo-y. I mean, these people are cursed by the zodiac to change into their respective animal when they’re hugged by the opposite sex. How much more shojo-y can you get?

But beneath all that shojo, and beneath all that niche content, is a very good story about the relationship between Tohru and Kyo and Yuki and Akito and every other character. If you like the over-stylized animation that anime is known for, than go for it. If not, then stay away.

Bunny Drop (Usagi Drop)

Plot Summary: Going home from his grandfather’s funeral, thirty-year-old Daikichi is floored to discover that the old man had an illegitimate child with a younger lover. The rest of his family is equally shocked and embarrassed by this surprise development and not one of them wants anything to do with the silent little girl, Rin Kaga. In a fit of anger, Daikichi decides to take her in himself. As Daikichi nurtures Rin, he started to understand the struggle while at the same time the joy of parenting.

What Usagi Drop doesn’t do is give me more. I ended this little series wanting to see more of Rin and Daikichi’s lives. This is a particular case where there are cute things and it is in no way sexualized. It’s just there to be cute. And it has such a sad, telling little story in just the first episode. I mean, who would imagine what it would be like as a five-year-old to hear all these strange adults arguing over who has, not wants to, take care of you? Do you know how disheartening that would be? I certainly don’t and I never want to.

What bugs me about this series is that, while it is a really good show displaying the relationship between Daikichi and Rin and their troubles, it doesn’t really resolve anything. I’m left wanting to know more about the characters and how they’ll end up. This is a big downfall of anime that are based off of manga. They go to a certain point and then stop.

Katanagatari

Plot Summary: This story takes place in the Edo era where Yasuri Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotou school of Japanese sword martial arts living in Fushou Island with his sister Nanami. With the order from a female samurai general Togame, he sets out for a trip to collect the twelve treasured swords created by a legendary sword smith, Shikizaki Kiki.

I’m going to be very honest with you people. Katanagatari is great. It’s sort of formulaic, as each episode is the tale of Shichika and Togame getting one more katana, but each fight is very unique and usually unlike most others I’ve seen. That’s what lets me down, though. I wanted to see a bit more out of this show than just the formulaic and episodic format.

What really let me down was the ending. I’m not going to say anything about it in particular, since I don’t want to spoil the goddamn ending for you people, but I’ll say that I was disappointed. That doesn’t mean that you will be disappointed and that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t watch this show. Because this show is great and I do love period pieces.

Top 15 Anime

Keep in mind that these are only the ones I've watched and remember. Now, moving on. I think I'll just do a Top 15 list, since I did that way back, but didn't really go into detail about WHY I liked them. I’m also including a brief plot summary (courtesy of Anime News Network) at the beginning of each section for the newcomers. I’ll also try to keep too many spoilers out of the reviews.

1.      Baccano!

Plot Summary: Each of the stories in the series involves several unrelated plots intersecting and crossing each other as events spiral farther and farther out of control. Immortal alchemists, mafia operated speakeasies, and many other elements of pulp fiction mashed together for a world straight out of the movies.

Baccano! is great for a lot of reasons. The main reason for me is because it presents a story in a very interesting way. It’s in a linear fashion, but there are also five stories in three separate years (that’s 15 total stories for those of you who are confused by my wording). I actually have no idea if it’s 15 stories, but there’s a lot going on in each episode and none of it really becomes clear until the mid-point in the series.

What I really like about the series, though, is the characters. The entire first episode is deciding which of these characters is the main character (it was eventually decided that Firo is main character-ish). There is an upward of 22 central characters, and that’s not including some of those who were aboard the Advenna Avis. And each and every one is very unique. I have a hard time juggling four characters and making each of them sound unique, but Ryohgo Narita does it with more than 20 and he does it well.

The series itself is hard to describe without giving away spoilers, but it’s a great watch if you want something high action and with a psychopathic killer. Side note, it’s not for the faint at heart.

If you want to check it out, and you have Netflix, here you go: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Baccano/70115224?trkid=2361637

And for if you don’t have Netflix: http://www.funimation.com/baccano/episodes

2.      Spice and Wolf

Plot Summary: Kraft Lawrence, a 25 year old peddler travelling from town to town selling and buying various things to make a living during a period much like Europe in the Middle Ages. One night when stopped at the town of Pasloe, he finds in his wagon a 250 year old pagan wolf deity girl named Holo. She appears to be that of a 15 year old girl, except for a wolf tail and ears. She introduces herself as the town’s goddess of harvest who has kept it blessed with good harvests of wheat for many years. Despite having the responsibility to watch over the town, she wants to go back to her homeland in the north called Yoitsu, she believes the people have already forsaken her anyway and that she has kept her promise to maintain the good harvests. She manages to bargain her way out of the village by making a deal with Lawrence to take her with him. As they travel, her wisdom helps increase his profits, but at the same time, her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church.

Spice and Wolf does some of the same things Baccano! does. Of course, the only thing I’m talking about here is that they both have really good characters. The two central characters are Kraft Lawrence, a traveling merchant, and Holo, the wolf harvest diety. Just from that, I’m a little sketchy as to whether to watch the series or not. But, hell, if J. Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia head the cast, then why the hell not.

What is really great about this show is the economics. Yes, the economics. It’s a show centered on Lawrence and his trials and tribulations as a traveling merchant. And, with mercantile, there is economics, money, and tons more interesting things. Lawrence is constantly giving Holo lessons on trenni silver coins and lumione gold coins and a myriad of other different kinds of coins (of course, trenni silver are the most reliable, one can live off of one trenni silver for a week after all). I can’t recall an action scene that had me on the edge of my seat by simply waiting to sell pyrite, but Spice and Wolf II fits that bill.

Sure, naked Holo is on the cover (thanks Japan for discrediting my recommendations), but I still highly suggest it: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Spice_and_Wolf_Season_1/70125476?trkid=2361637

And for those without Netflix: http://www.funimation.com/spice-and-wolf

3.      Ghost in the Shell

Plot Summary: In the future, life between the digital and physical world has been blurred. The boundary of technology and humanity has been stretched beyond imagination with lives being led in both the electronic and physical worlds. With the melding of man and machine, a new cybernetic level of existence is being created —an existence that continues to redefine mankind.

What Ghost in the Shell is missing in character development (at least compared to Spice and Wolf), it makes up for in concept. As you can tell, Ghost in the Shell is the best cyberpunk show I have ever seen. And for good reason. It has an amazingly complex story with The Laughing Man and The Individual Eleven that made me want to keep watching episode after episode.

Now, when I say that GitS is missing character development, I mean there isn’t nearly as much focus on characters as there is in Spice and Wolf. Spice and Wolf is all about the relationship between Lawrence and Holo while GitS focuses on the story aspect, with amazing Stand Alone and Dividual episodes to the side. Who can’t love Saito and Togusa after their respective episodes (Beware the Left Eye and One Angry Man)? But the focus is obviously on The Laughing Man and The Individual Eleven rather than Section 9. And it’s great.

The biggest downfall to this series I see is that, as a first time viewer, I was turned off by the pacing in the first few episodes of both the first and second anime series. It was frankly slow and kind of boring, but the world itself (and personal testimonies) interested me enough to keep watching. And, as the position on this list suggests, it’s well worth it.

You can get started on Ghost in the Shell  here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Ghost_in_the_Shell_Stand_Alone_Complex/70001950?trkid=2361637

4.      Time of Eve (Eve no Jikan)

Plot Summary: In the not too distant future androids have come into common usage. Taking the androids for granted, humans treat them as if they were common everyday tools, while on the other hand, some people empathize with androids due to their human-like appearance (save for a digital ring floating above their heads). This has become a social problem and these people are frowned upon as a result. Rikuo, one who has taken androids for granted for his entire life, one day discovers that Sammy, his home android, has been acting strangely and finds a strange phrase recorded in her activity log. He, along with his friend Masaki, traces Sammy’s footsteps and come upon an unusual café. This café’s main rule is to not discriminate between humans and androids.

What I love so much about Time of Eve is that it represents the traditional Asimov rules of robotics in a very different way, I think. Admittedly, I haven’t watched many Asimov-related things (I, Robot being the big one). But unlike I, Robot, rules are not meant to be broken. These robots follow the rules steadfast.

The interesting part is the character relationship between the humans and the androids. As the plot summary stated, there is no discrimination between human and android. So when a human-acting human/android walks up to you, you have no idea whether it is a human or an android. And that’s ok, because they’re still a living being. The café, and thus relationships, are made even more interesting by the fact that it’s frowned upon in society to treat androids like humans. These people are called “android-holics” (dori-kei ドリ系).

If you love science fiction stories like I do, then this is a show for you. It’s only a six episode series and each of the episodes varies from 15-30 minutes. It’s worth checking out.

You can watch this, for free, right here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/time-of-eve

You don't even need a Netflix subscription.

5.      Hellsing

Plot Summary: Vampires exist. It is the duty of Hellsing, a secret organization sponsored by the British government, to hide that frightening fact and protect the blissfully unaware populace. Along with its own personal army, Hellsing has secret weapons. Alucard, an incredibly powerful vampire, has been controlled by Hellsing for years. It is unclear how he feels about being a servant to the Hellsing family, but he certainly enjoys his job as a vampire exterminator. Seras is a fledgling vampire and former police woman. Although reluctant to embrace her new self, she is a valued member of the organization. Integra Hellsing, the current leader, is usually fully capable of fulfilling her duty, but lately, vampire activity has been on the rise. Unfortunately, the cause is more alarming than anything she could have imagined. A group long thought dead has been plotting in secret since their apparent destruction over 50 years ago. Plotting to plunge England, and perhaps the entire world, into war.

Oh Hellsing. I want to just say, “Alucard. ‘Nuff said.” But I won’t.

While Thane will complain about the Major’s drawn out speeches (which they are drawn out), that’s an aspect of every anime. Especially a show like this. But trust me when I say it’s worse in shows like Bleach and Naruto. They have long, drawn out speeches. Which is why I don’t see a need to complain about that aspect.

The point of the series is Integra Faribrook Wingates Hellsing, Alucard, Walter C. Dornez, and Seras Victoria exterminating vampires (and these vampires don’t sparkle, unless they’re sparking with their own cum mixed in with the blood of their victims. Yeah, Kouta Hirano is a little sick). But don’t let that graphic-ness turn you off from the series because it is awesome.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Alucard and company aren’t just fighting against vampires, they’re fighting against Iscariot Section XIII and the Third Reich. Both organizations seek to destroy the Hellsing Organization from Alucard and then on to the rest.

Now, it feels like I haven’t really reviewed anything, but the show is a lot of Alucard masturbating to his own voice in the most awesome, vampiric way. The thing that separates this from other shows that do the exact same thing is the story. The Hellsing v. Iscariot v. Third Reich really brings it together into something that’s above and beyond the other vampire masturbation stories.

One last piece of advice: If you check out this series, do yourself and favor and skip the TV series and go straight to the OVA. Then, if you don’t like Hellsing I, then try Hellsing II, then drop it if you still don’t like it.

Unfortunately, both the Hellsing TV show (which I suggest against) and the Hellsing OVA aren't on Netflix, Crunchyroll, or any of those other legal outlets. Your best bet is not to buy them, though. Each Hellsing OVA can go for upwards of $70 at the high. So good luck finding where to watch it legally.

6.      Neon Genesis Evangelion

Plot Summary: At the age of 14 Shinji Ikari is summoned by his father to the city of Neo Tokyo-3 after several years of separation. There he unwillingly accepts the task of becoming the pilot of a giant robot by the name EVA01 and protect the world from the enigmatic invaders known as “angels.” Even though he repeatedly questions why he has accepted this mission from his estranged and cold father, his doing so helps him to gradually accept himself. However, why exactly the angels attacking and what his father’s true intentions are have yet to be unraveled.

I mustn’t run away. I mustn’t run away. I mustn’t run away. AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Shinji Ikari’s words are forever echoed in my mind through the voice of Spike Spencer. And now I know that he mustn’t run away. But in all seriousness, Evangelion is a great show which goes into very deep issues. Some that you don’t think most 14 year old boys and girls have. Now, I can’t go into those issues without spoiling anything about Shinji and Asuka Langley Soryu’s backstories, but know that they’re very well written.

And that is really why I love this series so much. It’s because we get such deep character analysis of Shinji, Asuka, Misato Katsuragi, Rei Ayanami, and even the less major characters like Ritsuko Akagi, Ryogi Kaji, Makoto Hyuga, and Maya Ibuki get some of their own character development later in the series. Sure, the first part of the series is very “What’s the angel of the day going to be like today?” But it picks up (or maybe slows down?) in the latter half. Who can forget the hedgehog’s dilemma after watching Evangelion after all? And who doesn’t love a story about growing up?

What draws me into this series, outside the characters, is the mythology. And I love mythology. Every time they destroy an angel, a cross appears in a giant explosion. I mean the angel’s names (Adam, Lilith, Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matriel, Sahaquiel, Iruel, Leliel, Bardiel, Zeruel, Arael, Armisael, Tabris, and Lilim) I’m sure have major mythological roots. I don’t know them, but ask an Evangelion scholar and they can talk your ear off for hours on just the mythology of Evangelion. The point being that there is a huge mythology within Evangelion and it is aweomse.

If you’re a newcomer to anime, there are a few things I would show you. Evangelion is one of them. Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are a few others.

Evangelion isn’t on Netflix (no surprise there, Gainax can’t profit from it as much if it is). From my research, you can’t find Evangelion anywhere for free. But Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-Platinum-Collection/dp/B000767QTA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1319254883&sr=8-3) and Right Stuf (http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/EFEh=ty12M73FnlsSy/browse/item/81583/4/0/0) have it.

7.      Durarara!!

Plot Summary: Mikado Ryūgamine is a boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city. At the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi, he transfers to a school in Ikebukuro. Masaomi has warned him about people he doesn’t want to cross in the city: a champion fighter, an informant, and a mysterious gang called “Dollars.” Nervous from Masaomi’s stories, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first day in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Scarves will rise to the surface, and Ikebukuro will be pushed to the breaking point.

Here’s the main reason I love Durarara!!: It’s written by Ryohgo Narita. And, as you can tell from Baccano!’s position on the list, I love Ryohgo Narita.

Now on to the better reasons. Again, like Baccano!, Durarara!! has an ensemble cast. This time headed by Darrel Guilbeau and Bryce Papenbrook (the son of Bob Papenbrook, voice of Rito Revolto in Power Rangers). Now, these two are relative unknowns, at least to me, but the rest of the cast is headed by the likes of Kari Wahlgren (Rip Van Winkle in Hellsing), Crispin Freeman (Alucard in Hellsing, Togusa in GitS), Johnny Yong Bosch (Rossiu in Gurren Lagann), Steve Blum (Spike in Cowboy Bebop, Mugen in Samurai Champloo), and Yuri Lowenthal (Simon in Gurren Lagann), among others. Quite the prolific cast and with a prolific cast, I’m likely to pick it up.

But the show also came with heavy recommendation. Not only was there a relatively big ad campaign from Aniplex of America (big for an anime anyway), but friends also said it was good. Like Baccano!, it keeps the characters separate and individual very well. I had very few times where I wondered who was who because each and every character is distinct. It’s a bit harder to tell from the beginning, but once we get into the Dollars v. the Yellow Scarves, it becomes much more evident. Again, it’s hard to describe exactly why I like it without spoiling the series. So, like my friends before me, I’m going to recommend this to anyone willing to watch (basically, if you liked Baccano!, you’re going to like Durarara!!)

You can’t find Durarara!! anywhere to stream dubbed. But it is airing on Adult Swim (though I don’t know if it still is). And you can stream the sub here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/durarara

8.      Wandering Son (Hōrō Musuko)

Plot Summary: Shuicihi Nitori appears to be a shy and quiet preteen boy, when he transfers to a new school he quickly makes friends with the tomboyish Yoshino Takatsuki who sits next to him. It soon becomes apparent that both Shucihi and Yoshino are more than simply a sensitive boy and masculine girl, they both are transgendered. Together they decide to take the first steps toward becoming the people they want to be.

Wandering Son is one of my favorite shows. Hands down. I picked it up on a recommendation from some girl I was sitting next to at AnimeIowa during a panel, and was sketchy at first, but ended up loving it. I’ll admit that the audience may be very niche for this show and it’s a shame that it probably won’t see a state side release past the Crunchyroll run it had, but damn is it good (fortunately, Fantagraphics has the manga licensed and I’m going to buy that up once I get the funds).

The show is about a boy who wants to be a girl and a girl who wants to be a guy. And you’d think, “Hey, this is Japan where tentacle rape was a mainstay in art in the 1500’s, so it’s probably going to be all hentai-y.” Well, sir (or madam), you are dead wrong. There is nothing but innocence in terms of sex in this series.

That’s exactly what makes it good. It’s a subtle little show (12 episodes total) about these characters and their lives. This is especially difficult for Nitori and Takatsuki, who not only want to be the opposite gender, but are also going through puberty. Talk about hard! This show is all about characters and it does it so well and in such an interesting light. I have high praise for this show and it’s for good reason.

You can check out Wandering Son on Crunchyroll (and nowhere else legally): http://www.crunchyroll.com/hourou-musuko-wandering-son

9.      Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Plot Summary: In their closed-off underground village, Kamina and Simon chafe at the limits imposed by the village elder. Yet all this will change, when Simon stumbles across a fantastic device – just as the village’s peace is broken by a violent intrusion.

JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!

That just about sums up the series, for those of you who have seen it. For those of you who haven’t, it isn’t for those who don’t like the over-stylized art and animation that anime sometimes does. However, having said that, I highly suggest this to anyone willing to give it a try. It knows that it’s being over-stylized and, while knowing that, it goes even more over the top. It’s great because it knows it’s being ridiculous, and it wants to be more ridiculous.

But the underlying theme of the story is what really gets me. It’s all about climbing from the bottom up, believing in yourself when no one else will and overcoming the most impossible odds. It’s a very heartwarming story with lots of unexpected twists and turns.

Now, it is a mecha anime, so if you have an irrational hatred for mecha anime (which you shouldn’t, by the way), then stray away from this. But if you want to be lifted up in your darkest hour, you’ve found the perfect anime. What Evangelion does to make you hate people, Gurren Lagann will do the opposite.

Gurren Lagann is streaming on Netflix! http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Gurren_Lagann_Vol._1/70087199?trkid=2361637

And YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/show?p=1GGORwgVQSw&tracker=show_av

10.  Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Plot Summary: Two brothers lose their mother to an incurable disease. With the power of “alchemy,” they use taboo knowledge to resurrect her. The process fails, and as a toll for using this type of alchemy, the older brother, Edward Elric loses his left leg while the younger brother, Alphonse Elric loses his entire body. To save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm and is able to affix his brother’s soul to a suit of armor. With the help of a family friend, Edward receives metal limbs – “automail” – to replace his lost ones. With that, Edward vows to search for the Philosopher's Stone to return the brothers to their original bodies, even if it means becoming a “State Alchemist,” one who uses his/her alchemy for the military.

Now, I hold Fullmetal Alchemist in very high regard, in my mind. There are three shows here that are targeted at the 13-17 demographic, and it’s for good reason. They’re usually a bit simpler, thus not quite as good as a show like GitS or Hellsing because of the age restrictions. However, FMA keeps a relatively simple plot and brings in very complex issue. In the first couple episodes, it’s established that Ed and Al’s father is a deadbeat who has left them and their mother alone. And then their mother dies of a terminal disease soon after. Jesus, what these two kids have gone through. Then, if that’s not enough, when they try to resurrect their mother (both of them being child prodigies), it turns into a horrible, gruesome thing. And why is that? Because it doesn’t have a soul. As Ed says, “It's like there's some missing ingredient...Humans are pretty cheaply made.” The chemical make-up of a human can be bought on a child’s allowance, and Ed so cruelly points this out to a damsel in distress, but they can’t simply be made.

That’s what sets FMA above the other shonen series is that. It goes into a deep issue of, rather simply, what is a soul? But it also has the political subplot of Roy Mustang trying to climb to the top of the military and restore power to a non-existent parliament. And it has very rich characters in just Edward and Alphonse Elric. Ed and Al are just in their teenage years, but have suffered so much more tragedy than I will. Even Winry, whose parents were killed in the Ishval conflict, has suffered through a lot. And when she finally gets the chance to kill the man who killed her parents, she decides not to! Her parents strove to save lives, not take them. That is amazing. Seven saw Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) become Wrath incarnate. Winry took the high road.

This isn’t Brotherhood, but it is the first series: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fullmetal_Alchemist/70018983?trkid=4792878 The first 39 episodes of Brotherhood are also streaming on Netflix starting here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fullmetal_Alchemist_Brotherhood_Part_1/70135442?trkid=2361638

Brotherhood is also available on FUNimation’s video player: http://www.funimation.com/fullmetal-alchemist-brotherhood/episodes

11.  Death Note

Plot Summary: Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects, who’s bored out of his mind. One day he finds the Death Note: a notebook from the realm of the Death Gods, with the power to kill people in any way he desires. With the Death Note in hand, Light decides to create his perfect world, without crime or criminals. However, when criminals start dropping dead one by one, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer, and a battle of wits, deception, and logic ensues.

Death Note is good. It’s very good. But it’s drug down by the last 11 episodes, which are the most horrific adaptation I have ever had the displeasure of watching. On a scale of 1 to 10, the first twenty-six episodes are a 9.5. The last eleven are more around a 6. Now, the first six volumes of the manga are around a 9.5. The last six volumes? Around an 8. That is how bad the anime adapted it. And despite that, it’s in the Top 10. What’s that tell you about the first twenty-six episodes?

But the best part about Death Note is the ridiculous back and forth between Light and L. They have a tennis match in one episode that’s less about tennis and more about the two reading each other’s movements. It’s more of a chess match than a tennis match. And it’s the most brilliant tennis/chess match I have ever seen. Better than Isner-Mahut.

The appeal of the series, though, is the ridiculous logic battles between Light and L. If you love giant strategies that are plotted then executed, you’ll love Death Note.

Death Note is streaming on Netflix, but only subbed: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Death_Note/70081003?trkid=2361637 So you’ll miss out on Brad Swaile’s amazing performance. Unless you watch it on Hulu (I think, I didn’t actually check to see if it’s dubbed)! http://www.hulu.com/death-note

12.  Mushishi

Plot Summary: They are neither plants nor animals. They differ from other forms of life such as the micro-organisms and the fungi. Instead they resemble the primeval body of life and are generally known as “mushi.” Their existence and appearance are unknown to many and only a limited number of humans are aware of them. Ginko is a mushi master who travels around to investigate and find out more about the mushi. In the process, he also lends a helping hand to people who face problems with supernatural occurrences which may be related to the mushi.

Mushishi is so great because it’s about so many different things. In one episode, it’s about losing your sight and the consequences of that, in another it’s about losing your voice, in another, your memories. But it’s not just about losing things. One episode is the desperate search of a rainbow, another is a search for a long-lost lover. But whatever the story, there is always a unique mushi that must be dealt with.

Ginko, however, is one of the few mushi masters that try to deal with mushi in a non-violent manner. Most mushi masters will just exorcise the mushi like you would an evil spirit. But Ginko will see them as living, breathing beings.

In Mushishi, the world makes the show. And the world is so vast and amazing with its giant fantasy-like, old-style setting and the myriad of mushi that inhabit it, that I just wanted to keep watching. Don’t get turned off by the pacing (Travis Willingham, voice of Ginko, joked that the director was falling asleep because the lines were so quiet and subtle). Mushishi is one of the great anime out there.

You can check out Mushishi on Netflix (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Mushi-Shi/70072935?trkid=2361637) and FUNimation’s video player (http://www.funimation.com/mushi-shi/episodes).

13.  Eden of the East

Plot Summary: On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later, Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory. And he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash.

Careless Monday might not hold its own against Second Impact, but Eden of the East surely holds its own against Evangelion. Eden of the East was one of those shows that came out of the Noitamina block, so just that A. Makes it worth watching and B. almost (almost) makes it good by itself.

What’s great about Eden of the East is the concept. Twelve seemingly random people are given an (awesome) phone and 10 billion yen (that’s over $131 million) to create an Eden in the east. Yeah, that’s right, the funder for this crazy game wants one of these twelve people to save Japan. And in the middle of IX and his antics is Saki Morimi, a recent college graduate. Shenanigans ensue. As we move on, we learn more about Saki and Takizawa and we learn to love them (and Panties. Not the clothing, the person. Yes, his nickname is Panties).

I think what kept me watching Eden of the East was the fact that Takizawa could call Juiz on his Seleção phone and get nearly any request granted. I wanted to see what Takizawa would request next.

But what’s makes it good, like really good, is not just the concept, but the Eden of the East program. It’s a giant piece of software developed by Japanese NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). It can recognize and provide details on nigh any object. And since Japanese phones can actually take a decent picture, it can actually recognize near any object. Trust me, folks, Eden comes into play in a huge way. And in an extremely interesting way.

Eden of the East is on Netflix (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Eden_of_the_East_The_Complete_Series/70143786?trkid=2361637) and FUNimation’s website (http://www.funimation.com/eden-of-the-east/episodes). Netflix also have the first movie (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Eden_of_the_East_the_Movie_I_The_King_of_Eden/70173622?trkid=2361637)

Noblesse oblige, we pray for your continuing service as a savior.

14.  Cowboy Bebop

Plot Summary: Spike Spiegel, a bounty Hunter with a dark past, lives on bounty to bounty, barely making it each time, or not making it at all. His partners Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed and Ein the dog all help him in his adventures from planet to planet.

The two Shinichirō Watanabe shows take up the tail part of the list, and for good reason. The man is a genius AND he has Yoko Kanno writing the soundtracks for him. So why is it so far down? Well, there’s two good reasons. A. The other thirteen shows I liked more and B. I’m not a huge fan of space westerns. This makes it that much more impressive that it’s this high on a list written by me (I could not get through Outlaw Star, no matter how good it is. I might try it later again, though).

But what’s really great about Bebop is the characters. In an episodic show like this, the characters have to be great. Spike is the stoic lead character with a mysterious past, Jet is the straight man who is always trying to get their shit together, Faye is the girl who’s always fucking up their shit, and Ed is…well, she’s Ed. An androgynous, genius computer hacker with a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Ein (personally, I’d like to see some sort of crazy hacking competition between Ed and The Laughing Man).

Then what sets it above and beyond is the (usually) self-contained stories within each and every episode. Now, my memory is fuzzy on a lot of the episodes (the last time I watched it all the way through was two years ago and I never watched an episode before 2 a.m. or after 4 a.m.), but I recall all of them being amazing. That might be a reason why it’s so low, my memories of it. But I still highly suggest checking out the show, if you haven’t for some reason. In terms of popularity, Watanabe is the Tarantino of anime.

No legal outlets to watch Bebop, but it (probably) still airs on Adult Swim and it’s pretty episodic, so it’s easy to pick up from the middle for the five of you in the world that haven’t seen the show.

15.  Samurai Champloo

Plot Summary: Mugen is a fierce animal-like warrior with a unique break-dance inspired fighting style (Champloo Kendo). Jin has a more traditional style but don’t think of this as a weakness because his skills are amazing. The two contrasting samurai warriors are far from friends, yet their separate paths seem to cross anyways. Mugen is wandering aimlessly through the city when he stumbles upon a teahouse where he meets Jin and Fuu (A ditzy waitress, but don’t think she doesn’t have anything hidden up her sleeves). Fuu convinces them both to come with her in search of a mysterious samurai that smells of sunflowers and their journey begins. This modernized hip-hop tale breaks the barriers of the common historical samurai anime.

Shinichirō Watanabe show number two. As many of you may know, I watch a lot of anime, and since I also watched this a long time ago, my memory is again fuzzy. Except with Kari Wahlgren asking for a samurai that smells of sunflowers. And, like with Cowboy Bebop, Steve Blum takes over as the stoic lead character (that bastard is lucky to have played both Spike AND Mugen). But the other main male and female leads are taken over by, as stated, Kari Wahlgren playing Fuu and Kirk Thornton playing Jin.

What sets this apart from Bebop is that, while episodic, it has more of an overarching story. As in, “Let’s find the samurai who smells of sunflowers” rather than, “Spike, how are we going to pay for the repairs when you keep breaking everything?” The characters are unique (I suppose with the very slight exception of Mugen, who is just as stoic as Spike). But the story makes the show in Champloo’s case. They travel around Edo-era Japan and the characters are made to be loveable. You just have to watch it.

Oh, and another Yoko Kanno soundtrack. That’s enough reason.

Unlike Watanabe’s other big show, Samurai Champloo is on Netflix (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Samurai_Champloo/70020122?trkid=2361637), FUNimation’s video player (http://www.funimation.com/samurai-champloo/episodes), and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/show?p=X6qZJiN-eOM&tracker=show_av). Thanks, FUNimation, for stepping up to the plate of legal streaming.

Well, that’s it for this list. Trust me, I have seen lots of anime (235 individual series, OVAs, and movies to be exact) and a lot of them are good. I’m leaving out 220 series, OVAs, and/or movies in this list. Some of them deserve to be addressed. My next installment will be the series that just didn’t quite make it.