Anime 2008 year in review

Ahhh yes, winter. It is the christmas season that greets the upcoming new year.  It’s a time to look forward and a time to look back.  I have  already done my looking forward, now it’s time to start looking back.

I would like to look back at some of the wonderful anime that I was fortunate enough to watch this year.  It might be a bit to early for this report though, as I have yet to actually finish some of these series and some are not yet finished either, but a so far so good review is good enough for me, and I hope for you as well.  Commence the time warp !

January, often refered to as the start of the Winter quarter for the year. This is the month that of course, kicks off the new year. January brought to us somewhere in the vicinity of a dozen new shows.  I didn’t get around to watching all of them, and I didn’t exactly finish to many of them either, only the ones that count ;D.      There were some decent stand outs with  Minami-ke 2, Major 4, they are my noble masters and even Rosario+Vampire (if you like crappy plots and lots of ecchi).  Also I should mention some shows I didn’t actually get around to watching, but they seem to be well reviewed on anidb.  Shigofumi, True tears, and the second Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

But there were 2 really stand out animes in this season for me, and for many others. Aria The Origination and Spice and Wolf.

Aria

Aria The Origination is the series finale to the Aria Series.  This is a slice of life show that has been praised with excellent story telling and being able to invoke “happy tears”  The show follows our heroine, the ever cheerful and “mysterious” Akari as she lives out her daily life of training to become one of Aquas beloved gondoliers with her friends, the ever bossy Aika, and the very moe Alice.

Spice and Wolf features the traveling merchant  Lawerence who becomes companions with the Wolf Deity, Horo  “The Wise”.   Together they set out from travelling from city to city, trying to make a profit in the trade business.  However like all stories, trouble is always a step behind them.  Usually it’s in the form of the christian church, as they aren’t to fond of “pagan” deities.

April , the “Spring Season”. This is the month where we just get slammed by an onslaught of new series. This is considered to be the biggest month of the year for anime as an incredible amount of new shows are introduced, and a majority of these being 24+ episodes series (where as the other seasons seem to be mostly dominated by the 12-13 ep shows).

This year a lot of the new shows didn’t seem to score to well on the “trusty” anidb user ratings however they really aren’t as bad as the scores would leave you to believe.  Like  To Love Ru, which actually is a mildly entertaining show with some very moe girls ( Golden Darkness Yami, anybody?).      However even though amidst these “average” shows, there was some really big standouts, such as the beautifully animated Kurenai,  the long awaited Code Gaess 2, Macross Frontier, xxx HOLiC:Kei (omg 2 clamp animes this month ! yay)  Soul Eater and Real Drive

Even some of those  average shows such as Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Nijuu-Mensou no Musume (daughter of twenty faces), Nabiri no Ou were pretty damn good.    However among these “average” shows, there were 2 that actually locked in my spot as season favorite. Wagaya no Oiniri-sama and Allison to lillia.

Wagaya no Oiniri-sama is a very average anime, however it was able to develop with a somewhat serious plot but also tastefully  maintained a very fun and humorous atmosphere.

Allison to Lillia.  This was a series that just hit me out of no where.  One of the things I think really scored points with me, was the beautiful opening(s). Other than that, I just don’t know why I i dug into this series so much. I think it’s probably just the way the story was brought about.  It was pretty unique in the fact that 1st half of the series followed 1 set of main characters, and the next moved onto the new of kin.  Kind of like what Shura no Toki did, except our original characters were still involved.  Also it was interesting to see the switched voice work as in The fist half Allison was voiced by Nana Mizuki, who’s voice work I consider to be as distinguishable as Horie Yui, Mamiko Noto, Aya Hirano and Kugimiya Rie, who I consider to be the best in the business currently.  Then in the second half of the show she moves on to voice the daughter of Allison, Lillia,  as a new voice actress (Houko Kuwashima) takes over the role of the older Allison.  I highly recomend giving this show a spin.

Enter the summer season. June kicked things off with Ikkitousen Great Guardians. Deinfed as a “medicore” series  by many however it somehow manages to havea  realitively decent sized fanbase (like me for example)

But, anyways, July is the month where all the new summer shows really come into play.  This was a very good month  this year.   We were blessed with a 3rd Zero No Tsukaima season, the popular Strike Witches, Hidimari Sketch X and Natsume Yuujinchou (which I have yet to watch as well, eeck im so behind).   We were also granted some series of classics with the addition  Tetsuwan Birdy Decode, and the return of the ever infamous Slayers.

But my favorite in this season was  non other than Nogizaka Haruka no Himitisu.   The boy meets girl series of the year.  However the girl, though the school idol, is secretly a closet otaku. Boy learns secret, and helps to keep it a secret.  Very fun anime.

Now we are brought into the fall 08 season with the October addition to anime.   This was probably one of the most excellent months for anime this year.     I also would like to call this the head fuck month thanks to the likes of Gai Rei Zero and Chaos; Head which make you spin your head excorcist style proclaiming “WTF?!?”.  But aside from that,  there were some Titan titles that people had been waiting for in anticipation, such as Toradora and the continuation of Nodame Cantibille.  There was even a title or 2 to completely catch you by surprise, such as Skip Beat!, which I originally intended to Skip beat. (ha, i made a funny).   I actually got hooked on Skip Beat and consider it to be one of the better titles of the season.   However the competition this season is just far too great, thanks to titles such To Aru Majutsu no Index, Gundam OO s2, Clannand After Story,  One Outs (remember, im a baseball fan =D ), Tytania and Kannagi (Seriously this month, it’s ALL good if you ask me)4

However my top rating as to go to those last 2 I just mentioned, Tytania and Kannagi.

Kannagi is just, awesome.  Ok.  I don’t even know what else to say.

Tytania however is another one of those series that caught me off guard.  I wasn’t so sure I was going to like this one, but dear god, after I sat down and decided to watch a couple eps, It hooked me in.  It is incredibly good so far.  For some reason, it reminds me of outlaw star, although the only similarity they share, is that its a space sci fi.   It is nothing like outlaw star aside from that 1 regard.

Anyways Tytania is for the most part about the supreme ruling iron fisted empire, Tytania.  Many people are discontent with the rule of tytania, but no other country dares to defy them, in fear of being completely crushed.  However after an unknown space fleet admiral delivers a defeat to a overwhelming Tytania fleet…..   (watch to get the rest =D )

Whoo. Look at all that text. Anyways I didn’t realize just how good this year was for anime. There was also a quite a few good opening and ending themes which I have embeded into this page

For now just a little taste of a special 1 time only opening for Macross Frontier. This is probably one of thee most popular openings around, not just because it stuck out by only being in for 1 episode, but because it’s the infamous Ranka Lee attack theme, Seikan Hikou. Watch out for “Kira” poses.

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