2009 in Review: Anime
I consider 2009 a pretty fruitful year as far as actually watching anime goes – the summer season for example, was the best I remember from this decade. I watched a lot more shows to completion though on the whole, I retained my tendency to drop things like a hot potato as soon as I spot something I don’t like. Oh well, any year I finish watching more than 10 anime series is a good year in my book!
Usual arbitrary awards follows.
Cross Game
Because baseball is the new slice-of-life.
Because good slice-of-life is still good slice-of-life.
I was thinking of holding back on watching Rakkyo until all 7 movies were out but I caved in around March..and burned through the first 5 within 2-3 days. My life will never be the same, damn you Haagen Dazs.
Taisho Yakyu Musume
Because baseball is the new slice-of-life.
Astronomy clubs are fine slice-of-life too.
Lost its way in the middle but still smart and funny.
So much fun, yet so weird ending.
CANAAN
Pointless fun, but still fun nonetheless.
Fun for one run, not to be repeat-watched.
Good old-fashioned shoujo, a bit draggy sometimes.
Bastardised mahjong, lots of lovely girls, tons of yuri fun.
Not groundbreaking, still entertaining.
Cute girls, ugly guys. I want to be one of those ugly guys!
Johnny needs to be put back where he belongs.
Shock becomes schlock when dragged on for longer than necessary.
Filler can be entertaining, but it is starting to get a little tiresome folks. This isn’t ToAru Fumoffu no Railgun.
Unfulfilled potential, doesn’t quite live up to the ‘masterpiece’ title.
RIDEBACK
Excellent first episode followed by eleven rubbish ones. Only plus point – Ogata Rin > Ogata Rina.
Please Sir, No More!
Really should’ve stopped making more episodes after Season 1.
Saving for later – Hetalia, Aoi Hana, Nyankoi!. They all seem like shows I should watch, anyhow.
Shows that failed the 5-episode litmus test
Maria Holic – Hirano Aya was in it.
Akikan! – Juice cans not erotic enough.
Miracle Train – Train men not erotic enough.
Basquash – Iceman Hotty not hot enough.
Regios – Not even a million Fellis can save the day.
WHITE ALBUM – Toya is a tuckfard.
Valkyria – Like watching milkmaids go to war.
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou – Yoku wakaranai yo.
Polyphonica Crimson S – At least better than Season 1.
FMA Brotherhood – No Toyoguchi Megumi as Winry makes me qq.
Asu no Yoichi! – Waste of seiyuu talent.
Asura Cryin’ – Shameful waste of seiyuu talent.
Umineko – Supreme waste of seiyuu talent.
Kampfer – Ultimate waste of seiyuu talent.
Pandora Hearts – Like bad early 00s shonen anime.
NEEDLESS – See Pandora Hearts.
Natsu no Arashi! – I can’t appreciate SHAFT, apparently.
Umi Monogatari – Not ARIA.
Endless Recursion of Time – Denwa asides, unwatchable.
Isekai – Where are my Tenchi DVDs?
Shangri-la – When the okama becomes the highlight of the anime, it’s time to bail out.
Ristorante Paradiso – I like young girls not old men.
Higepiyo – Jokes are only funny once.
Hayate no Gotoku!! – Too much Hinagiku (sorry, Maria fan).
GA Geijutsuka – My nutbladder still feels fine.
Tegami Bachi – Not Kino.
SeiZon – I have no sense of humour, apparently.
SoraOto – When flying pants become the highlight of the anime, it’s time to bail out.
Kobato. – Clamp’s dry run continues.
Sasameki Koto – Too slow.
Kuchuu Buranko – I can’t appreciate creativity, apparently.
Favourite episodes
Cross Game 1 (+30) – If I watch this ten times, I’ll cry ten times.
Aoi Bungaku 9-10 – Adaptation of Dazai Osamu’s Hashire Melos! is stunning.
Kanamemo 4 – Song and dance!
Eve no Jikan 6 – Androids need love too.
Rakkyo: Mujun Rasen – This counts, right?
Other nice moments
Hosaka curry song.
Flying pants was pretty lol.
Oppai missiles in Queen’s Blade.
Oshino Meme (Bakemonogatari)
Most people like stapler girl, I prefer the Medicine Seller. Errr I mean, Oshino.
The guy with 20,000 faces.
Isn’t this what a real-life tsundere is supposed to be like?
You don’t want to bang that? Liar.
It’s the eyes, they’re mesmerising.
Awsm Nakata Jouji character is awsm Nakata Jouji character.
One-eyed moe.
Seiyuu Performances I’ll Remember
I wasn’t really paying much attention this year, or maybe there weren’t really any standouts.
Saito Chiwa as Senjogahara Hitagi (Bakemonogatari) – ‘Because her voice-actress is excellent’.
Tanaka Rie as Liang Qi (CANAAN) – This is fairly standard unhinged RieRie if we remember Tomoe Marguerite and Suigintou. But nobody does it better.
Horie Yui as Nishida Haruka (Kanamemo) – Peron~
Fukuyama Jun as Leopard (SoraKake) – Some feat to outdo Lelouch in the bombastic stakes. Nonaka Ai’s Imo-chan also made me laugh.
Ito Kanae was good in everything – Shugo Chara, Manimani, Taiyaki, Railgun. My favourite seiyuu in 2009.
Soft spot for whatever Nakamura Yuuichi did as well.
The Seiyuu Performance I’ll Remember For All The Wrong Reasons
Sakai Masato (Aoi Bungaku)
Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita was the worst offender but generally Sakai was terrible, failing to connect with any of the characters – Noto Mamiko probably would’ve done a better job. Even his creepy face that greeted the start of every episode was completely off-putting.
Favourite Character Name
Senjogahara Hitagi, aka S.Hitagi. Aoi Sora from Aki Sora also wins points for ’sharing’ a name with a pr0n star.
Fave Yuri Pairing
This is going to be weird. Probably Hazuki x Youko in DtB, even though one of them ended up toast. I wish it was Hazuki x Misaki, but meh. Also, Kuroko x Mikoto from Railgun is kinda fun, as is Tomoe x Anybody from Taiyaki.
Worst Yuri Pairing
Saki x Nodoka was nauseating. Same goes for Canaan x Maria.
After considering the merits of the ahoge of Araragi-kun, Ryuumonbuchi Touka and Minami Chiaki, I conclude that Touka’s electric hair wins ‘best ahoge’.
And that’s all for 2009. May we be bestowed with fewer moeblobs in 2010…
Quick Links:
2009 in Review: Top 12 Anime Theme Songs
Whoa, excellent post ms jimone. And as you probably can tell by the gravatar, im also a big fan of cross game, absolutely love it.
I very much agree with your placing of anime in ther respective lists, I think the only exceptions are that i’d move saki, valkyria chronicles, hayate and hatsukoi limited to the second-tier and fma brotherhood to the bestest and move kara no kyoukai to average.
Oh, and for best moments, you should check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wou9puvBPzU
And yes, Itou Kanae best seiyuu of the year, tomatsu haruka second for Aoba
best end of 2009 recap post ever. i like how you remind me all these things i left out on my own post. Like imo-chan and leopardo.
Taxi driver is awesome but the same Jouji chara in Shangri-la is also awesome, except he/she gets more air time. In some ways Shangri-la is the awesome Jouji Nakata show.
>>Shangri-la – When the okama becomes the highlight of the anime, it’s time to bail out.<<
But when that okama is Nakata, you can’t help but want to drool…….
I wouldn’t waste my time on Yawn Koi. Watch Bantorra instead, but don’t get thrown off by the first few episodes.
Baseball shows? Really?
I also wonder how Kyoukai made it above Bungaku? To each their own, but I found Kyoukai sometimes approaching Bakemonogatari levels of pretentiousness (which saved itself with semi-interesting conflict resolutions and by not playing the will-they-won’t-they game.. but it’s not that good).
I do agree whole-heartedly about Yuujinchou and SeiZon (our litmus tests ended up about the same, it seems). Ryu is the only reason left for me to watch Todoke, it’s gotten stale fast.
I’ll also remember Jikan ep4 for making me feel ashamed. And Ami K’s Horo really hit some high notes (and Lawrence successfully deconstructing Horo was pretty epic). Like a lot of people I also found ep19 of FMA quite memorable, as well as the rest of ToraDora.
The year’s pickings were really slim somehow, but you’ve pretty much nailed the good shows with Aoi Hana the only one that you’d need to see. Also, like temperus, Ryu is the only reason to watch Kimi ni Todoke. And Yano too, because both of those actually seem to have a clue as to what’s going on.
>> Umineko – Supreme waste of seiyuu talent.
And then S2 will get even worse, yayayay.
>> Cross Game 1 (+30) – If I watch this ten times, I’ll cry ten times.
I hate you for making me remember. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.
>> The guy with 20,000 faces.
lmao, I read these ones wrong. Saw 20k faces and then Aoba and yeah… Still true!
>> You don’t want to bang that? Liar.
ffffffff
isshestillsavinghervirginityforbk201ffff my nose started to bleed again.>> I wasn’t really paying much attention this year, or maybe there weren’t really any standouts.
B-B-But Minorin’s Touka was so awesome. AND PINEAPPLE BAKUDANNNNNNNN. ;A;
>> Soft spot for whatever Nakamura Yuuichi did as well.
Remember we’re sharing him.
>> May we be bestowed with fewer moeblobs in 2010…
dood, we’re getting more. \o/
>>After considering the merits of the ahoge of Araragi-kun, Ryuumonbuchi Touka and Minami Chiaki, I conclude that Touka’s electric hair wins ‘best ahoge’.
YES PLEASE.
@r3: Pineapple Bakudan is awesome as a ringtone.
and freaking yeah Natsume is awsm. Will need Cross game after a batch is out.
>> May we be bestowed with fewer moeblobs in 2010…
unless we get a sudden backwards rush and go back to 80s anime styles… *sigh*
WHY IS MINORIN IN QWASER AND CHUUBRA orzorz
Haha, love the character picks. One-eyed moe! XD (I called it non-patch moe) Also, Misaki’s new look is smoking hot.
HELL YEAH TAXI DRIVER.
HELLZ YEAH CROSS GAME! FUCK YEAR! >:]
Saito Chiwa as Senjogahara Hitagi (Bakemonogatari) – ‘Because her voice-actress is excellent’.
Loved that moment
Yay Itou Kanae! My fav seiyuu of 2009 too (cool and spicy XDDDD)
I found KnK absolutely awesome when I was watching it, but afterwards, when I actually used my brain to process what happened, it didn’t seem so epic after all. The action and blood is great, but the talking….all that philosophical stuff just doesn’t quite work.
Awesome! I agree with almost everything on the list and found myself nodding in agreement and lol’ed at the descriptions.
Hashire, Melos!’s arc in Aoi Bungaku was my favorite as well. Kiuchi Hidenobu and Seki Tomokazu (God, I missed hearing him!) delivered one of the best emotionally driven voice acting. I especially love Kiuchi’s narration.
I liked Basquash ;_;. For Nakamura Yuichi and Shizuka Ito that’s it.
i c wut u did thar
Whatever happened to Ararararagi’s with a life of its own!?
Well I-
@selo
Lol Valkyria anime, I detest it with a passion. And I’m almost afraid to check out that tingling nipple thing xD
@omo
Yeah Imo-chan seems to be forgotten all too easily
@Viro
Not sure I wanna drool over a Jouji okama haha. Probably not my type.
@temperus
For me, parts of Aoi Bungaku didn’t do the source material justice. That’s the danger of adapting such classics I guess.
@zzeroparticle
Agree with Ryu + Yano, they’re the ones who keep the engine running.
@r3
Lol Touka was awsm, but MInorin’s delivery was somewhat inconsistent.
@basaka
Qwaser & Chuubra hahahahaha. Top-line entertainment, that.
@waiglo, re: philosophy & Rakkyo in general. Nasuisms, nobody understands them but pretend they do anyway. I just tend not to think about it too deeply…
@riri_mamo
Yes the Melos arc was good because of Kiuchi & Seki’s characters, if we just had the Melos story itself maybe it wouldn’t work so well.
@uraH
Haha Basquash was funny for 2-3 episodes. Then I got bored of the sexual innuendo. Endo Aya’s Spanky was my fave chara.
@Panther
Oh I’m sure we all feel the same way about Misaki. As for Arararararararagi, I wish he was as lively as his ahoge. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching a younger Itoshiki Nozomu.
LoL…. In all blogs, I love your Tsukomi in every of your post!!!
They are such a fun to read!!
The best blog *cough* tsukomu master* I ever known!
Yup! I totally agree that, this year’s anime is a total gold.
Though I was hoping more from Hayate S2 too… (Maria Fan too)
Oh BtW, I’m with U, Marimite… S1 is enough!!!
Nice post! ^^ I just love everything about Cross Game. Natsume, DtB, Sora no Manimani, and Hosaka’s curry song FTW!
Sanada is a favorite character of mine in KnT too (Nakamura Yuuichi voicing him is a bonus too <3)
if you liked Leopard – you should watch Nyankoi! :3 his cat role there is awesome
I breezed through the first 6 Rakkyo movies in about a week, and wow, was it a rush. The seventh movie was just the icing on the cake, with a satisfying amount of romance and drama amongst the main baddie’s disturbing antics. It’s one of my favorite series of the year. And, yes, you should watch Hetalia. The eps are only 5 minutes long, but they pack in more humor than most half-hour comedy anime episodes I’ve seen.
Also, I’m curious to know what you thought about Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou’s 10th episode. I personally thought that it was the best episode of both seasons, and it’s probably my favorite anime episode of the year.
Valkyria – Like watching milkmaids go to war.
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou – Yoku wakaranai yo.
I LOL at the above! Well-spoken indeed!
Thanks for the cool post again!
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“Maria Holic – Hirano Aya was in it.”
LOL.
Awesome post.
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