The Hanners' Anime 'Blog Air Pie With No Pastry Awards 2011

So, it's that time again, that most people call New Year but I prefer to think of as a series of unrepeatable expletives that I mutter while rocking back and forth in a corner until it's all over.  But hey, this article isn't about that, this is all about the good (not so good) stuff the world of anime brought us over the course of 2011, with those magic moments awarded by a much sought-after Hanners' Anime 'Blog Air Pie With No Pastry Award.  Enough of me blathering then - onwards!

Best opening titles - It arguably hasn't been an amazing year for opening credit sequences, with plenty of material that was "quite good" but nothing that had me frothing at the mouth and insisting that I watch it every week for the most part.

In terms of originality, Fractale's opening sequence was not only by far the best part of the series but also downright cool (with only Kamisama Dolls opening running it close in those terms), while Mawaru Penguindrum's mixture of music and imagery was slick and sexy beyond compare.  Of course, as is so often the case SHAFT have plenty to answer for in the gorgeous opening credit department, with Hidamari Sketch xSP delighting me and making me feel hungry in equal measure, while Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko was as weird as its theme tune.

It's Fractale that takes the award overall for me however, for being both sexy and threatening to slow my computer to a crawl with your crazy mass of fractal-based colour, all while delivering arguably the best opening theme of the year in the process.

Best closing titles - Given that some shows love use different ending themes and/or credit animation every week these days, trying to pick a best set of closing titles is like trying to hit a moving target.  Not that there have been many targets worth hitting particularly, with Puella Magi Madoka Magica's Kalafina-inspired ending fitting the series like a glove, but losing out in my mind to the ending of Un-Go - easily the best ending theme of the year, and it was quite pretty to look at for all its simplicity too.

Best soundtrack - Although there's no single overall soundtrack that jumps out at me for 2011, there are a fair number of contenders here - Steins;Gate had some superb stand-out tracks within it, while series such as Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Kami-sama no Memo-chou and Sacred Seven delivered fitting background music throughout and Un-Go's soundtrack matched the quality of its opening and ending.

You might wish to call this cheating, but it's to a couple of currently airing shows that I turn to and allow to battle out for this award, with Mirai Nikki closely losing out to Persona 4: The Animation - a double-dose of cheating given that the series lifts much of its soundtrack wholesale from the game it adapts but screw you, these are my awards so I can do what I like!

Worst soundtrack - While I could pick out plenty of forgettable soundtracks from the past year (actually, I probably can't because I've forgotten them all), I can't think of any that struck me as outright terrible - thus, for the second year in a row I'm not going to name or shame any particular series on this front.

Best character - With anime arguably becoming ever-more character driven, there was certainly something for everyone this year, from the psychopathic Gasai Yuno in Mirai Nikki (and eventually psychopathic Miki Sayaka in Madoka Magica) to the adorable Yune in Ikoku Meiro no Croisee.  Add in tsundere aplenty, scientific geniuses like Steins;Gate's Makise Kurisu, Working's androphobic Mahiru Inami... so the list goes on.

There is, however, only one character (well two actually) who can claim to have added words to the anime fan's vernacular during the course of 2011, those being Ohana Matsumae and Minko Tsurugi of Hanasaku Iroha.  While the former's determination to "fest it up" gave us perhaps my favourite phrase of the year, you can't really deny the insulting power of the word "Hobiron" or "Balut", particularly when directed via a character that... well, just ticked a lot of boxes for me basically.  Minchi might not be the most important character of 2011, she hasn't saved the world or anything, but she's my personal favourite and it isn't every day you get a new insult to add to your arsenal.

Worst character - If I was feeling mean, I could probably just write "every character in Mawaru Penguindrum" here, but there's a difference between a bad character and bad characterisation so I won't.  How about Fractale's Nessa though, as perhaps the most irritating character ever to grace the face of anime?  No matter how much you love Hana Kanazawa's work, it was grating at best.

However, even Nessa has met her match in my eventual winner here - Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai's Yozora Mikazuki.  Okay, so she isn't all bad, but her incessant and downright rotten bullying throughout much of the series makes her a nasty, spiteful girl in my eyes, and her softer moments don't do enough for me to forgive that.  There's a point when amusing teasing turns into something darker, and Yozora's crossing of that line on occasion was one of the biggest pitfalls of the series for me.

Best filler episode - Given how many of the shows I watched this year were either free of filler or arguably nothing but disparate, filler-esque material, there isn't a massive amount to choose from in this category - Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing disappointed with its recap episode, while Mawaru Penguindrum made it almost impossible to tell the filler from actual material.

Once again then, it's The World God Only Knows which leads the way again, actually offering up its best material in its filler segments at times in comparison to the rest of the series.  Ergo, episode eight of The World God Only Knows Season 2 gets the nod here, thanks largely to its hilarious treatment of the history of the dating sim that had me in stitches.

Best individual episode - This is an easy one, to the point where there's simply no competition at all - episode ten of Puella Magi Madoka Magica revealed elements of its plot that had been building up from the very start, and more importantly it did so in fantastic fashion, compressing so much concentrated awesome into one instalment that it's amazing that there wasn't some kind of explosion as a result of its release.  While this episode would be nothing without the framework carefully and slowly built around it, even as a standalone it works on so many levels that it can only be worth of the highest praise.

Best series ending - Truly good endings are surprisingly rare in anime, and as Steins;Gate moved inexorably onwards you couldn't help but wonder if it would be able to tie up all of its loose ends in a suitably impressive manner.  Well it did, and it did so almost perfectly with drama, pathos and a feeling of satisfaction that seemed so far from reach given the complexities of its plot and concept.  A job very well done indeed; let's just hope the forthcoming movie doesn't undo it all.

Worst series ending - Ahh, Fractale, you held so much promise at the start, only to drop the ball half-way through and then drop your guts right at the very end.  It's almost as if the production staff watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory the week before work on the finale started and said "hey, you know what, we could work with this..." - surely a thought which lead the show to its final disappointing denouement.

Best series I haven't actually watched - Although series like Ben-To and iDOLM@STER have been amongst the much-recommended shows that I haven't really touched this year, it can surely only the third season of Natsume Yuujinchou that wins this particular award.  Maybe 2012 will grant me the time to catch up on this great little series, of which I've only watched the first season thus far...

Worst anime series - Perhaps thankfully for my sanity I only dropped three series over the course of 2011, leaving me to trudge through the likes of the largely awful (on account of its predictability) Star Driver, the aforementioned disaster that ultimately befell Fractale and shows that had so much potential but didn't quite use it right such as C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control.

While I'm tempted to give Kyoto Animation's laborious and often unfunny treatment of Nichijou this award simply because of the expectation foist upon it, it's to Star Driver that I ultimately return as my bête noire of 2011 - okay, it ended well enough, but that doesn't forgive the twenty-four episodes preceding it which made Endless Eight look like the most varied anime story arc, you've ever watched.  High school drama/comedy, followed by a mecha battle that had zero meaning or tension over and over again - it's nightmare fuel, pure and simple, a Groundhog Day of mediocrity which stretched out seemingly endlessly at times.

Best anime series - In any other year we'd be singing the praises of Steins;Gate as the best of the best, or perhaps lauding the comedy and dramatic sensibilities of Wandering Son. Then what about Tiger & Bunny's sharp take on the superhero story, or the slice of life wonders of Usagi Drop?

But, this is no normal year, and it goes to show what a revelation my winner of the biggest category of the bunch is that it stands head and shoulders above of such stiff competition.  It probably goes without saying that Puella Magi Madoka Magica is that series, and what is there left to say about it that hasn't been said already?  A smart take on the magical girl genre that takes its usual tropes to their logical conclusion and adds a twist of sci-fi sensibility, the series doesn't do much wrong once it catches your attention with the climax to its third episode.  Could its ending have been better?  Maybe, but it's arguable that they could have improved upon it much, and it still doesn't detract from the fact that watching this series has been the most incredible ride of the year, bar none.

So there you have it - slightly later than I hoped for, and perhaps not quite as striking and energetic as I might have liked (did I ever mention how New Year sucks?), but an awards ceremony of sorts nonetheless.  Of course, this is the part where you get to argue over my choices, and heaven knows I argued over them enough myself so it shouldn't be difficult for the rest of you.  Allow me to take a deep breath then, as you fire away and berate me for my lack of poor taste.  Oh, and Happy New Year, whatever the Hell that means...

The Hanners' Anime 'Blog Air Pie With No Pastry Awards 2010

So here we are, with 2010 about to bow out already, marking the end of another year and the terrifying realisation that twelve more months of me 'blogging the Hell out of virtually everything anime-related that passed in front of my retina has occurred.  I guess the fact that I've been doing this for almost three years now means that I'm here to stay, and although 2010 hasn't been my most prolific year of writing here ("only" writing about 570 posts a year counts as slacking in my world evidently) it has been the most rewarding.  This is largely thanks to the fact that I finally feel at least slightly more like part of the wider anime 'blogging "family" courtesy of a combination of Twitter, other "events" like the Aniblog Tourney and getting to meet a few you at real life venues in the UK such as London Expo and Scotland Loves Anime.

Naturally, the end of the year means that it's time for that traditional, wistful look back on the past year, dishing out the non-existent (or absolutely frighteningly real, depending on how you look at it) Air Pie With No Pastry Awards that I like to throw about on New Year's Eve like so much slightly musty confetti.  So, what have I loved and loathed during my 'blogging experiences over the course of 2010, the year which made me wish I could roll my "R"'s?  Allow me to share them with you, dear reader....

Best opening titles - Perhaps it's just a sign of my worsening descent into anime otaku-dom this year, but I seem to have found myself paying more attention to (and shock, horror actually enjoying) various anime opening credits this year.  I tend to just watch most of them once and never think of them again, but 2010 has seen me happily sitting through a number of opening animation's week in, week out, and not just because I can't be bothered to skip forward on the stream or hit the "next chapter" key.

In absolute terms, it's hard to beat Durarara's first set of opening credits for their slick and eye-catching character introduction montage backed by an awesome piece of music that fits said montage perfectly, and it would probably have been the run-away winner if it weren't for the fact that... well, it's basically a copy and paste of the admittedly equally gorgeous opening to Baccano.  So, points deducted for lack of ingenuity there.

That leaves the field clear to be dominated by one production company alone - SHAFT, who seem to have developed quite the knack for eye-catching openings over the years.  Runner-up for this category goes to Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, which succeeded in being the only opening to make me laugh every week (when Hotori gets buried under an avalanche of teacups, incidentally) while also being a beautifully choreographed piece of work set against a song that wasn't one of my favourites for the year but one that was as warming and soothing as a brandy on a cold day.

The winner then can only be the "proper" opening to Arakawa Under The Bridge x2, a title sequence that is such a riot of colour, movement and all-round beauty that it wins hands down even before Yakushimaru Etsuko's delicious voice sits perfectly atop it all.  Even when the show itself is misfiring, Cosmos versus Alien never puts a foot wrong.

Best closing titles - While I had a bevy of opening credits to choose from this year, any of which could have won, choosing my favourite closing titles was far easier.  This isn't to say that there weren't some notable entries in terms of either music and/or animation - Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt's wonderful closing song ticks all the boxes for the former while Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru again gets a notable mention for the latter.

There was only one end credit section that I watched over and over this year however, even when I wasn't watching the series, and that was K-ON!!'s second ending.  To be honest, it could have won this category on the basis of its music alone - No Thank You is the only track from the franchise to not only step out of Don't Say Lazy's shadow but arguably surpass it, while the grittier, more broody visuals are a refreshing step away from the norm for this series that is simple yet breath-taking all at once.  In fact, I think I'll go and watch it again right now...

Best soundtrack - Alongside all those awesome credit sequences, it's also been a pretty good year for anime soundtracks in general, with a few outstanding and noteworthy efforts that are well deserving of a mention.

For all of its on-screen mediocrity at times, HEROMAN's OST was top class almost from beginning to end, with lots of superb electronic background music which fitted the show perfectly as well as a sterling set of opening and ending themes.

Then there's Hanamaru Kindergarten, a show which I didn't actually 'blog about here but watched for UK Anime - while the series itself didn't do much for me, I loved its eclectic selection of ending themes, and thus I was suitably impressed when they were all bundled together onto a single disc; lots of great listening to be found here for sure.

Again though, there can only be one winner and this time around our champion is a rare case of a soundtrack which lived entirely up to its hype - people have been looking forward to Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt's soundtrack since the show's very first episode, and when it sneaked into our hands just after Christmas it didn't disappoint.  Almost every track is a winner, and it's such a refreshing departure from your average anime soundtrack fare that it deserves to be held high and worshipped - what better way to do that then with a pointless anime 'blog award?

Worst soundtrack - To be honest, I can't actually think of any anime soundtrack that was so bad that it detracted from the series I was watching this year, so let us just express relief that this is the case and say no more about it.  Let me know if there were any terrible soundtracks that I somehow missed though!

Best character - This category was so easy last year courtesy of Bakemonogatari's Hitagi Senjougahara - in fact technically I could cheat and just give her the award this year too, but that's not how I roll.  Besides, she barely even appears in the episodes which aired in 2010.

Thus, we must find a new recipient for the 2010 prize.  Ignoring more ensemble-led works that had great characters by the boatload, there a few noteworthy characters who made 2010 fun - Occult Academy's Maya made being tsundere cool again (wait, did it ever stop being cool?), and Nanami Shichika of Katanagatri's twist from doting little sister into demonic genocidal maniac was easily one of the most eye-catching character-centric moments of the year.

My personal pick for the year however is Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru's Hotori Arashiyama.  The reasoning behind this is simple - for me is the anime equivalent of Homer Simpson; dumb, outgoing, opinionated and with a skewed outlook on life which makes pretty much everything that comes out of her mouth hilarious for one reason or another.  This makes her a hefty dose of pure, comedy gold - and that can't ever be a bad thing, right?

Worst character - 2010 thankfully isn't a year that's left me wanting to punch the screen any point from irritation throughout any of the shows that I've watched, but of course no year would be complete without an dislikeable male lead character for a series.  Enter The World God Only Knows' Keima Katsuragi.

Let's be frank about this - Keima is an asshole.  He cares only for himself and his misguided and embittered disgust with the real world and those within it - not exactly the kind of thing that makes you want to cheer him on throughout his various conquests.  Keima doesn't even treat these girls he needs to "free" any better, manipulating and manoeuvring them like so many pieces of meat at a butchers, something he does with such arrogance that the final pay-off where he wins the day feels both unbelievable and rather disappointing, thus imploding the whole premise of the show.  Yes, Katsuragi makes a change from the tame, "lapdog" male leads of other harem anime series, but it's hardly a change for the better.

Best filler episode - For all of his frustrating character traits, there is one area where Keima Katsuragi fits naturally into his environment, and that's when he's playing the visual novels and dating sims of which he is so obsessed.  It's this single-minded dedication to completing every game that comes his way that grants us my favourite "filler" episode of the year.  The World God Only Knows' fourth episode takes a break from hunting down Loose Souls to follow Keima as he tries to complete perhaps the world's buggiest visual novel, a game so bad that nobody else has managed to finish the game.  This allows the series to spend a lot of time poking fun at the ridiculously buggy game in question, which proves to be a whole lot of fun, as does Keima's dedication to persevering in the face of such problems.  Soppy ending aside it's a hilarious take on the visual novel for anyone who has played them before and well worth the price of entry as a stand-alone episode - if only all of The World God Only Knows has been this good.

Best individual episode - One of the reasons most of us watch anime obsessively is to capture those fantastic, memorable moments where a series does everything right, if only for one fleeting episode, and creates something which you'll be hard pressed to forget for a long time whether it takes your breath away or reduces you to tears.

On the former side of that spectrum, episode four of Katanagatari (what is it with fourth episodes this year?) surprised and enthralled courtesy of the aforementioned Nanami Shichika as her murderous rampage began in one of the most eye-popping turn-arounds of the year, finally putting the show on the right track and making it something both worth talking about and watching again.  A handful of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt's episodes could also easily be placed into this category - if only you hadn't been so inconsistent, GAINAX.

On a more emotionally powerful scale, Sora no Woto's seventh episode is well worthy of a mention, but even such wonders pale in to comparison to our winner however, and the moment that proved what a number of us already knew - that the slice of life genre, constructed properly, can offer far, far more than just "cute girls doing nothing".  This is an accusation that has been levelled at K-ON!! more times than I can remember, but the show's twentieth episode (and its thirty-fourth across the anime franchise as a whole) was the moment where all those weeks of following its group of girls larking around and having fun suddenly reached a natural, and brilliantly realised, crescendo.

This was provided via the light music club's final high school performance together, and while previous gigs have been given fleeting coverage within an episode this time around the focus was entirely on the event itself - its build-up, the performance, and most importantly the emotional rollercoaster following the gig.  It's hard to describe in simple words how well this was accomplished, with the concert itself teetering on a precipice between emotional breakdown and exhilaration, taking the viewer along for the ride every step of the way before the inevitable realisation that this is it - the fun is over, and it can never be recreated again.  It's hard to appreciate this episode without looking at it within the context of everything that has gone before, but for those who followed K-ON doggedly throughout it was an unforgettable inflection point for the series and everything that it stands for.

Worst individual episode - Let me get my snarkiness out of the way early on this one, as I nominate every episode of Star Driver for this category.  After all, every episode is basically the same, right?

However, even Star Driver hasn't yet plumbed the depths exhibited by episode four of Senkou no Night Raid, a series which spent three episodes building up to a tense crescendo as its major story developed... then binned the lot for a while so that two of its major characters could chase after a cat.  A cat that might have stolen something admittedly, but not some top secret blueprints - oh no, the cat had stolen some holiday photos.  If you're wondering why anyone watching this show would give a shit about such a trivial thing, the answer was that they didn't; this wasn't just filler, this was incredibly pointless, tedious and nonsensical filler, from a series that I never managed to get around to completing in the end anyhow.

Best series ending - It's been a year of solid endings to anime series relatively speaking - at least, there haven't been too many horribly duff finales that have made us feel like we've just wasted hours of our lives building up to it.

2010 has seen finales that ranged from the arguably brave (with Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru killing off its main character, albeit temporarily) to the sweetly romantic (Arakawa Under the Bridge's first season) and from the predictably excellent (yes, I'm looking at you Bakemonogatari) to the smart and self-confident with The Tatami Galaxy and Shiki.

The series which most impressed me for keeping its head until the very last however is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - after over sixty episodes of gut-wrenching action, emotion and conspiracy it seemed as though the series couldn't put a foot wrong, and yet despite its near-perfection throughout (if we ignore the first handful of episodes), yet it still managed to up its game as it rolled along to a vast and gripping finale filled with sufficiently huge set pieces to give its major storyline the send-off it deserved, before still making time to tie up some loose ends in a satisfying yet not overblown way.

Worst series ending - It's perhaps harsh to pick on a series that made no sense in the first place for having an ending that made no sense, but somehow I can't at least mention Angel Beats in this section for making me shout "What?  WHAT?!" at the TV.  After all of those twists and turns, this show left us with a final revelation that made my head hurt - not only because it didn't add up in my head, but also because the ending was given away both in the name of the show and its opening title song.  You bastard Jun Maeda, you sly, smug bastard... don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun with Angel Beats and I don't really begrudge anything it attempted but still, that ending...

My real ire however is reserved for a show which I otherwise loved almost unconditionally - Durarara!!  Seriously, what was with that half-baked ending?  As angling for a second season goes its open-ended finish is understandable, but as a resolution to the show and its major plot points it was hugely unsatisfying, asking even more questions than it answered - not in a way that left you begging for more, but rather in a fashion that left you feeling a bit disgruntled and fed up, thanks to the knowledge that it simply could have done things so much better.

Best series I haven't actually watched - At the risk of sounding big-headed, I'm not sure that I missed any of the big hitters of 2010; at least, none that I can think of.  Sure, there were shows I didn't cover here but watched for UK Anime (Squid Girl being one of the most recent), but there's certainly nothing unwatched from 2010 on my current "must watch" list.

Worst anime series - Well, this was an easy one - Take a popular MARVEL character with plenty of personality, a successful movie franchise and all the trimmings and place him into a Madhouse-produced anime and you have a sure-fire, cast-iron great series, right?

Wrong.  Iron Man was terrible.  Everything about it was terrible, from its animation through to its characters, its setting, its plot, and worst of all its protagonist - how can anyone get Tony Stark's character so wrong?  It wasn't even the kind of show you could watch simply to laugh and poke fun at; yes, it was that bad, and I won't be touching Wolverine with a sixty foot pole next year unless I hear of a good reason to.

Best anime series - I could probably name check countless shows for this final, cream of the crop "best anime" category, but to do so would only devalue my opinions (which, let's be honest, are hardly packed with value in the first place).  So, instead I shall move straight on to the winner, and a show which closed in 2010 far more impressively than it arguably opened in 2009 - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Without waxing lyrical too much, episode for episode this is one of the greatest anime series I've ever seen period, never mind in 2010 - in short, it has everything, from action to drama, emotion to elation, and character development aplenty from a cast already packed with compelling, interesting and believable characters.  Filling sixty-four episodes is a big ask for any series, yet this series managed to do so almost faultlessly, and occasionally in a breath-taking fashion.  Let's just hope that its forthcoming movie doesn't ruin that legacy, but for now Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is going to take some shifting from a place in my all-time top five anime.


So, there you have it, my thoughts and opinions as we close out 2010. I hope you all have a great New Year, and I'll see you all again in 2011. But until then, this is the point where you get to flame away in the comments section. Go on, you know you want to...

The Hanners' Anime 'Blog Air Pie With No Pastry Awards 2009

Woah, have I really been doing this for two years? The calendar never lies so yes, this is virtually the second anniversary of this 'blog (give or take a month, this site's actual "birthday" is towards the end of January), marking the end of a year in which I've 'blogged close to forty different anime shows (including a few movies and OVAs) - Some good, some bad, and not too many that were absolutely dire thankfully.

Of course, this makes the end of the year a time of reflection for all and sundry, and thus I feel almost duty-bound to sit down and collect my own thoughts by way of my second annual "Air Pie With No Pastry Awards" - A celebration of the best (and finger-wagging dismissal of the worst) anime of the past twelve months.

Just to make the rules clear (in the hope that it prevents me from breaking them myself in two seconds flat), only shows that have finished airing in 2009 are eligible to pick up an award here - Anything still airing into 2010 will have to wait until next year to try its hand at catching my eye.

So, with that in mind, let's get cracking!

Best opening titles - To be honest, I'm not the kind of guy to take much interest in opening or closing titles; I'll watch them once for any given show, and that's it unless they really catch my eye and do something special. For example, pick any series of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and you'll find me watching the opening credits with rapt attention every single time.

Indeed, while Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei's opening is right up there with my favourites for the year, it's Eden of the East that sticks in my mind as the best example of a title sequence done right. Even ignoring the oddly fitting use of Oasis' Falling Down to run alongside it, the title animation itself is a near-perfect amalgam of everything that such a sequence should be - It fits with the aesthetic of the series, it educates about the series without giving anything away, and indeed it serves to amplify any sense of mystery surrounding what you're about to view. It's a good job everything else about Eden of the East was as polished as its opening, otherwise it would have been quite a let-down.


Best closing titles - While opening titles should serve as a mechanism to draw you into a series, so the closing credits should arguably act as a come-down - Something pleasant to send you on your way for another week until you and said series reconvene next time around. By these measurements, Spice and Wolf II's end credits fit the bill near-perfectly - Cute illustrations, and a fabulous yet upbeat song that fits the story of the series uncannily.

However, there was one series which transcended even this to create not so much a set of end credits as an institution in its own right, and that series was K-ON!. While Don't Say Lazy was a fantastic effort within a series full of great music which was almost criminally overused within the episodes themselves, the pop/rock attitude and fashion of the title sequence simply added to the effect to create something that you'd happily watch on its own even when it was no longer bolted on to an episode of anime.

Best soundtrack - While K-ON!'s actual soundtrack itself wasn't much to write home about, it goes without saying that the various character CDs, singles and "proper" music which accompanied the series was largely excellent and well worthy of attention even outside the confines of that series. However, for my best soundtrack award this year I'm actually going to cheat somewhat and pick a soundtrack from something I haven't even watched yet, that being Macross Frontier ~Itsuwari No Utahime~. I'm sure people don't need to be told how wonderful all things Macross Frontier tend to be musically, but ever since its release the Sheryl Nome insert album Universal Bunny has been stuck on almost constant repeat play no matter what I've been doing. With so many fantastic songs which only make me yearn to see this movie all the more, it's a clear winner for the year in my book.


Worst soundtrack - You know, much as I'd love to rip into some release or other here, I can't actually think of an anime soundtrack that I've heard which has genuinely made me roll my eyes or otherwise giggle at its poor quality - Sure, there have been plenty of forgettable OSTs floating around I'm sure, but nothing so terrible as to cause me to consider going down the Van Gogh route. I'm going to have to sit this one out this year, and hope that something truly atrocious comes my way in 2010.

Best character - 2009 has been a good year for larger than life characters in anime - We've seen the return of Haruhi Suzumiya (love her or hate her), the rebirth of the good old-fashioned hero in Eden of the East's Akira Takizawa, and proof that the male lead in a romantic comedy doesn't have to be a complete moron thanks to Toradora!'s Ryuuji Takasu.

However, this year there has only been one character capable of making me laugh, making me cover my mouth and exclaim "did she really just say that?" and making me think "Awww, how sweet", often within mere moments of one another, and that characters was Bakemonogatari's Hitagi Senjougahara. For anyone who rolls their eyes at the age-old "tsundere" stereotype, Senjougahara is a perfect example of this kind of basic character built out, given depth and slotted perfectly into a series. For a show that was all about the dialogue above all else, Senjougahara got nearly all the best lines, delivered perfectly to make for a truly odd yet fascinating combination of scary yet lovable.

Worst character - If you've been following this 'blog on a regular basis, you probably don't even need to read this section to figure out who my least favourite character of 2009 is, but if you're only an occasional reader then let me fill you in on the apathetic, lazy, careless, stupid, cheating asshole that is White Album's Touya Fuji. Oh wait, I think I just did.

To be fair to be poor Touya, he is the male protagonist in a series based on an adult game, which never really gave him much chance of a normal life, but even so his complete inability to keep his pants present and correct while in the vicinity of basically any of the show's females was the final straw for a guy who was hardly likely to be "man of the year" even if you did manage to equip him with some kind of chastity belt.

Best filler episode - K-ON! isn't particularly the kind of series where you can pick out "filler" that easily (it is basically a slice of life show, after all), but the show's closing episode was clearly an addition to polish things off at the end of the series proper, and it certainly didn't appear in the manga, so to my mind it counts as filler. A good job it is too, as it's by far the best filler episode I can think of that I've seen in 2009 - Indeed, it held more emotion than all of the series proper, enabling it to act as a gauge for just how much you'd fallen in love with the series characters over its previous twelve weeks. Quite a lot as it turned out when the going gets tough in this ultimately heart-warming instalment.


Best individual episode - There have been a few individual episodes of anime that left me a quivering wreck of emotion in some shape or form this year, from the handling and fallout from Isara's death in Valkyria Chronicles through to Nagisa's death scene in Clannad: After Story... in fact, thinking about it I guess there's just been a lot of high profile deaths in anime this year.

However, there's no death involved in my favourite single episode for 2009, which comes courtesy of Toradora!, and more specifically the sixteenth instalment of the series. I know a lot of people have their own special moments from this show (so packed full of them it happens to be), but this particular episode ends with such a storm of emotion that I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like it before - It's violent, it's sad, and it's intense in so many ways that it almost defies description. Put simply, you have to watch it for yourself to really appreciate, and that probably goes for Toradora! as a whole to be quite honest.

Worst individual episode - The obvious choice would be to throw in an episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's Endless Eight arc here (but which one? There are so many to choose from), but on an individual basis they aren't bad, it's simply watching eight of the damn things consecutively that is possibly the worst concept of the decade. Instead, I'm going to strike out of left field here, and name the final episode of Viper's Creed as the worst single episode of the year - A finale that managed to bring the word "abomination" from my keyboard as it set about creating enough massive plot holes to drive a heavily armoured motorcycle through yet still crashing it into the nearest large object anyhow. It even made me swear repeatedly during my 'blog entry about the episode; a rarity in itself. Yes, it was that bad.

Best series ending - The risk with any romance-based series is that either a. the show will end without any firm decisions made on who ends up dating/falling in love with who, usually in the hope of a second season, or b. you'll find yourself yearning for a particular pairing to get together, only to be disappointed when that doesn't happen. Somehow Toradora! managed to avoid both of these pitfalls by providing both a "proper" ending, and by creating so many wonderful characters that you were left genuinely not minding who ended up with who come the end of the series. Thus, any ending to this series is a good ending in a sense, but even then the nature of Toradora!'s big finish was perfection in so many ways that it left you with a big smile on your face even though the pain of such a great series finally coming to an end was still lodged deep in your heart.

Away from my slushy, lovey-dovey side, Eden of the East's fabulous ending is of course worthy of mention, while Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 built up to an incredibly emotional climax for what was a brave series from the outside.


Worst series ending - I've already mentioned the abomination that is Viper's Creed's final episode, and now I've gone and made myself remember it again. To quote my own thoughts at the time: "this has to be right up there as one of the worst anime endings I've ever seen - It's the kind of thing that should be studied by future generations to prevent such atrocities from ever occuring in the name of Japanese animation ever again". I think that says it all really, tempted though I am to give Shangri-la this award for its equally pathetic ending.

Best series I haven't actually watched - This is a tricky one, as I think I've covered all of the big-name and genuinely popular shows for 2009 in some shape or form (in other words yes, I've watched far too much anime this year), so what's missing from my anime viewing experience for the year? The only series I can think of personally is Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, the second season of a series I really must sit down and catch at some point in time. If there's anything else you think I've missed, then of course feel free to let me know, I'm all ears. Well, not literally, that would be a bit strange if I only comprised of ears. How would I type?

Worst anime series - While Viper's Creed has already managed two mentions in the various "worst of" categories I've employed here, there is one series that has managed to trump even this in terms of proving to be consistently terrible, almost to the point of being impressive. That series is Shangri-la, a show which managed to take a genuinely interesting concept, Range Murata character designs and an awesome opening theme tune, and somehow turn it all into 2009's most frustratingly terrible series. From irritating characters down to nonsensical plot developments, Shangri-la had it all, and unfortunately it was all rubbish. Thank goodness that at least Gonzo also had Saki to fall back on this year, otherwise 2009 would have been a complete write-off for the beleaguered company.


Best anime series - So, we finally reach the big prize, the pie in the sky award if you like, for the best anime series of 2009. For all the naysayers pessimistically predicting the end of the days of high quality anime, the year has actually provided some decidedly tough competition for this most prestigious of choices.

Toradora! is certainly an early contender for such an award - An absolutely top-notch show which rewrote the rules for the genre it represents, and had it broadcast in its entirety over 2009 rather than splitting across two years it might have had an even stronger argument for winning outright. Then there's Eden of the East, which brought us an original idea that was fantastically executed with great characters, plots and a perfectly woven narrative - In any other year this would probably have walked away with the best anime series award, quite frankly.

However, there was one show which managed to surpass even Production I.G.'s best efforts for 2009, and it came via SHAFT's adaptation of a series of light novels in the form of Bakemonogatari. Despite the obvious production time issues suffered by the animation team throughout, this series still managed to be one of the year's most visually arresting, but more importantly it was an absolute triumph of good dialogue over all, with great lines and exchanges peppering almost every minute of every episode. From our introduction to Hitagi Senjougahara and her penchant for dangerous stationary through to her opening up to Arararagi (sorry, I stuttered) in the final broadcast episode, everyone who watched the series seems to have their own favourite Bakemonogatari moment, and the fact that there are so many to choose from is proof in itself of the outright quality of the series as a whole. Yes, strictly speaking the series hasn't finished in 2009 thanks to those additional streaming episodes to finish things off, but that's not reason enough for me to strip this fantastic series of the right to call itself my favourite series of 2009. It's rewritten the tsundere rulebook, it's poked fun at otaku without them even noticing, it's made me laugh and smile more times than I care to remember - Thank you Bakemonogatari for your part in making 2009 a year to remember.


So, there you have it, my thoughts and opinions as we close out 2009. I hope you all have a great New Year, and I'll see you all again in 2010. But until then, this is the point where you get to flame away in the comments section. Go on, you know you want to...

The Hanners' Anime 'Blog Air Pie With No Pastry Awards 2008

I've donned my tuxedo, rolled out the red carpet, and just written two blatant lies in a desperate attempt to make this 'Blog entry sound more important than it is. Yes, this can only mean one thing - The first, some say inaugural, some say premier, Hanners' Anime 'Blog Air Pie With No Pastry Awards, an annual opportunity for me to throw all pretences of non-bias out the window, rave like a blatant fanboy, and probably offend most of you with a variety of acerbic comments. Well, it is New Year's Eve after all, that's what its for. As per most laborious and drawn-out awards ceremonies, I'll be working through various categories to reward the best and lambast the worst that 2008 has had to bring us, building up to the big finale of announcing my best anime series for 2008. So, without further ado, let's get this waste of Google's storage space on the road.

Best opening titles - Every anime series needs to start with a... err... start. As does every awards ceremony for that matter. So, first up, what was my favourite opening credits for a 2008 series, considering both music and visuals? I was sorely tempted to grant this first award to Toradora!, a series with an opening theme so enjoyable that someone has even made a version you can watch in Microsoft Excel. No, really. The visuals are pretty darn cool, and the music... well, let's just say the opening theme has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it, whether I like it or not.

However, this effort is pipped to the post by the wonderful pairing of Zoku and Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and it's frankly insane viciously bizarre visuals. Mix it with some awesome music, and you have yourself a winner.

Best closing titles - If I'm totally honest, I don't pay much heed to title sequences in anime at all these days, and this is especially true of closing credits, particularly as I'm normally raring to start writing about what I've just watched these days. Thus, my winner here does so more on music than visuals, and that winner is Ga-Rei Zero, which triumphs on account of Mizuhara Kaoru's Yume no Ashioto ga Kikoeru. Similarly, an honourable mention goes to True Tears ending, ignoring its rather rubbish closing animation thanks to a truly catchy tune that, rather oddly, I ene up learning the lyrics to from listening to it too much.

Best soundtrack - I can't help but think that 2008 hasn't been a great year for anime OSTs, as I can't think of any memorable ones (from series that I've watched and later grabbed the soundtrack to anyway). Given that limited scope, one series OST does stick out in my mind, and that OST belonged to Shigofumi. It's doubtless a very acquired taste, but hey these are my awards and not yours, and oddly listening to this particular CD was a more emotional experience overall than watching the anime itself. An honourable mention in this category goes to Real Drive, for providing a double CD OST with an entire disc of electronica. Me likey.


Worst soundtrack - Himitsu - The Revelation. I really don't want to talk about it any more, lest its horrible MIDI beats get stuck in my brain again. Oh, too late. Argh!

Best character - Most years will introduce each and every one of us to at least one anime character that we want to make real, love and have children with... what, it's just me? While a good series will frequently have many good characters, this category is more of a celebration of a series that is made by a single individual, and with that in mind there can only be one winner - Spice and Wolf's Horo. From the inevitable aesthetic angle she's sexy, she's sassy and she gets naked more often than is strictly necessary, but she also wins out in terms of personality, displaying a beautiful range of emotions struck against a great line in come-backs. Horo was everything to Spice and Wolf, and for that she should be saluted as we await her return in season two for 2009.


Worst character - There can only be one for this award, and that one is Itazura na Kiss' Irie Naoki. If ever I were to meet such a nasty, pretentious, unlikeable asshole in real life, I would most likely punch him in the face. As he's just an anime character, I had to remind myself that laptops are expensive to prevent simply punching the screen instead. A dishonourable mention goes to every other character in this particular series that wasn't Kotoko, for their part in this horrible show.

Best filler episode - Yes, I know this is largely a contradiction in terms, but that's kind of the point here - Just occasionally, a filler episode appears that manages to defy tradition and offer up something fresh, different and funny. All of these check boxes were ticked by our winner for 2008, courtesy of Kure-nai's sixth episode, "Light Shines Over Your Head, Doesn't it?". Making an anime episode into a musical has absolutely no right at all to work, but somehow Kure-nai pulls it off, remaining as delightfully funny as it proved to be throughout the series while somehow adding to that hilarity courtesy of this aforementioned musical interlude. It's just a shame that the animation was so terrible for this instalment really.

Best individual episode - This award celebrates the single episode of any given series that managed to drop my jaw, ignoring the quality of everything around it be it good or bad. I'm going to cheat a little bit here, and grant this award to a story arc rather than a single episode, simply because I can. Therefore, this award goes to the first two episodes of Shigofumi - Dark, emotional, powerful, and generally fantastic in the way its story was told and portrayed. It's somehow even more impressive when put into relief against the shambles which much of the rest of this series proved to be...

Worst individual episode - I'm sure most of you will probably be shouting out various episodes of Code Geass R2 at this point, but tough - I didn't think any of it was that bad. This is especially true when you bring my old favourite Allison to Lillia into the equation, and it's from this show that I pick my worst episode of 2008. Episode eight, titled "The Princess and the Hero", showcased everything that was wrong with this series, from more continuity errors than you could shake an idiotic script writer at through to its big climax, where (and I'm going to quote Wikipedia here) "Allison and Wil fly their plane close to the tower which creates a strong wind that blows Nihito off the balcony which kills him". What? What?! The only thing that blew me away was the stupidity of this aspect of the episode.

Best series ending - Even the best of series can screw things up with a rubbish ending, and there's nothing worse than watching a dozen, or even two dozen, episodes of pure genius only to be left with an end that is either a massive cop-out or simply defies belief. This is actually a tough category to pick a winner in (which makes me wish I hadn't thought of the damned thing in the first place), but my final choice is going to be a recent one - Kannagi. Sure, it was barely in keeping with all of the humour of earlier episodes, but in a way that made the emotional scenes in this final instalment all the more beautiful - It was just a sweet and lovely way to end the series, complete with some humour thrown in at the end to remind the viewer that yes, Kannagi was still funny.


Worst series ending - Again, I fancy some of you are shouting Code Geass R2 again here, and there may be a few calls for Kure-nai too, but my vote is going to Real Drive here. Not the best of series in the first place admittedly, but what the Hell was that ending all about? The Metal is the sea? Someone's soul and memories being stored in the sea, like some big liquid USB flash drive? 80-something Haru getting fifty years younger so he can have sex with an underage girl whose somewhat loosely related to him? Make it stop, make it stop... Oh, it's the final episode, it's all done now. Thank God for that.

Best series I haven't actually watched - Otherwise known as the "word of mouth I've chosen to ignore" award. This is an easy one, for I've barely been able to cross the street of late without someone asking me whether I've watched Macross Frontier yet. I've heard an incredibly amount about how it's an amazing fusion of J-Pop and.... well, nobody seems to be able to remember much apart from the music. I will watch it, I have it sat here waiting to go, all that I need is time, but for now I shall honour it for the fact that so many people have told me I should see it. They can't all be wrong... Can they?

Worst series - Finally, on to the big boys, the best and worst anime series of 2008. To be honest, there was only ever going to be one contender for the worst series award and that is... you guessed it, Allison to Lillia. Indeed, I went so far as to posit whether it's the worst anime series I've ever seen at the time of watching it, which may be a tiny bit harsh. Anyhow, quite simply Allison to Lillia got everything wrong - It's main characters were all dimwits (yes, even the supposedly bright one), a war that had raged for centuries was cleared up in four episodes thanks to a cave painting, a bad guy got blew off a roof by a gust of wind from a plane, terrorists kidnapped a plane full of orphans to crash into the sea because... well, it seemed like a good idea to them, Wil got Allison pregnant before he told her loved her, and... I could go on all day, but my fingers are beginning to ache. So's my head, now I come to think about it. The scripting and plots for this series were simply terrible, made worse by those dreaded continuity errors and the frequent breaking of the laws of physics (which would have had Scotty spinning in his grave, I imagine), an I'm frankly astonished that such a shoddy piece of work ever made it to air. I'm glad it did though in my own peculiar way, as I've gleaned so much fun-poking and so many in-jokes from this series that I almost feel I owe it something. So, here is that something, a kick in the teeth courtesy of my "worst series" award.


Now, a drum roll if you please, as we move on to....

Best anime series - I've actually thought long and hard about this, as there are a few potential contenders here, but my verdict is final, and I'm pretty pleased with my choice. The winner for best anime series 2008 is... True Tears.

I don't like soap operas. Never had, probably never will. The arguments and drama surrounding relationships and all that jazz simply holds little interest for me. Yet, for thirteen weeks early in 2008, True Tears managed to hold me captivated by just such a story. I found myself having deep, considered thoughts about the contents of each episode, arguing over my choice of girl for Shinichirou week after week, and even when the "wrong" girl came up trumps at the end of its all I still didn't mind, because I'd been there to see it all and I loved every last second of it.

Fantastic, deep and well-rounded characters, a well paced and well written story, and 2008's most beautifully animated series meant that there wasn't much not to like about True Tears, and if you haven't watched it yet yourselves, do yourself a favour and give it a try. Yes, even if you don't like soap opera and drama.


So, there you have it, my thoughts and opinions as we close out 2008. I hope you all have a great New Year, and I'll see you all again in 2009. But until then, this is the point where you get to flame away in the comments section. Go on, you know you're just dying to...