MINORU'S BLOG

Art by ガガ

Now that 2011 is finally reaching its end I can finally say it:

At least when it comes to anime and video games. In this year we encountered handful numbers of great anime. This is definitely the best year I've had since I joined the community. Also, I met a lot of new people and blogging buddies.

Well, since I've never been good with an opening paragraph, let's cut it short. I watched lots of anime during these past twelve months. In this post I will write about those anime. Let's just say I'm doing this for some sort of reminder for future read and also a reminder for how great this year was. Here we go.

(Beware long post ahead!)

Winter 2011 (January - March)
Looking far back to the starting point of 2011, it didn't sound too promising. And in fact, it really didn't. Except there is this one pretty cool anime called Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Thus my life will never be the same again. What can I say about Madoka that hasn't already been said? You too probably have already watched it and loved it.

I'm not sure how much of you that actually watch Level E but I'm sure I do. To tell you the truth, it was one of those surprising hits-type of anime. I wonder if I will still remember that show in 3 or 4 years later but the point is, I was entertained by it. The alien prince and his trolls, the alien mating season, the baseball episode... I'm still smiling as I'm typing this.

Another brilliant anime of this season is Hourou Musuko. I love its coming-of-age story and characters. And how they struggled with this so called 'puberty' thingy. It is a rather light anime yet it deals with the problem in a mature way.

Aaaand, there are always empty slots for shitty anime. In this season those slots are occupied by Infinite Stratos, Fractale and Korean Zombie Desk Car. IS and Korean Zombie are pretty much fanservice anime no matter how you look at them. Fractale is, well, used to be a savior of anime. And then Yamakan took an arrow in the knee.

Watched: 6 / Liked: 3

art by 35

Spring 2011 (April - June)
Spring season of this year is probably the most exhaustive season in my life. I watched a grand total 13 anime not included some anime from previous years that I watched. One of the sole reason I could watch that much anime was my brand new laptop I got for new semester. Because of that now I can watch anime at night. Sleep? Who needs it?

Let's start with Steins;Gate. That's with a semicolon ';' always remember that. I dare to say that Steins;Gate is one of the best visual novel to anime adaptation. A perfect mix of comedy, SCIENCE, moe, slice of life, drama and romance. Don't forget to add the most charming male character ever, Okarin and his trusty assistant/sidekick/lover Kurisu(tina) to those combinations and you got one of the best anime in recent years. The fact that Daru has wife and children also shed some light of hope to those ronery otaku out there.

As a fan of comedy and nonsense jokes, I found Nichijou amusing. Not only it is one of the funniest anime this year but it also proves it can be quite popular with mainstream people. I once recommended it to several of my friends in campus and they liked it. But when I recommended Berserk for them nobody likes it :(

Next in line is Tiger & Bunny. At first I don't even know what to expect but slowly it grows on me. Who knows that an anime about superhero can be this interesting?

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko has this strange charm that keeps me glued to the screen as I watch Erio wrapped herself in futon and ate pizza. Oh, and what's the news about the last episode? Is it out yet? Also, DAT OP.

Ano Hana is an anime that many folks considered it as the most tearjerking anime ever. I called it bullshit because not even a single tear was shed when I watched this anime. One of the most annoying thing in Ano Hana is that everyone was so obsessed over a single little girl. A goddamn dead little girl. Dead, as in drowned to death. And it also has an annoying character who like to dress as said dead little girl.

For a slice of life series, Hanasaku Iroha ain't so bad. We got the usual drama, comedy, romance and Ohana being Ohana moments. And this show teaches us to bonboru over something.

I'm running out of words so here are the rest of Spring anime: C, Ao no Exorcist, Deadman Wonderland, TWGOK II. There are also some short anime, like Fireball Charming, 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku, and Yondemasu yo Azazel-san which all were entertaining enough to keep me, uhh, entertained.

Watched: 13 / Liked: Everything except Deadman friggin' Wonderland

art by ハ ル＠ついった

Summer 2011 (July - September)
Actually Summer 2011 [opinion]wasn't too great[/opinion]. But at least it's better than 2010's Summer season. The fact that there were still some ongoing anime from Spring such as Steins;Gate, Nichijou, Tiger & Bunny, Hanasaku Iroha and Ao no Exorcist definitely helped.

Usagi Drop is one rare anime that focused on parenting and such. It was lucky of me that I discovered its manga before the anime aired. In instant I fall in love with the characters, like Rin, Daikichi or Kouki. No one can resist Rin's cuteness after all.

One problem with Dantalian no Shoka is that the anime wasn't long enough. I felt it was such a waste of potential that the anime could be much better. Regardless of that, I still pretty much like it. It somehow reminded me of Kino's Journey, my favorite anime of all time. Dear Gainax, please make season 2 of Dantalian no Shoka and while you're at it, Panty & Stocking too.

I was about to argue that Mawaru Penguindrum is the best anime of Summer 2011. And how! It is filled with penguins! Everyone knows penguins are awesome. And that's not all. It also has some FABULOUS MAX moments in later episodes. The comeback of this Ikuhara guy is just as expected.

Last anime from Summer 2011 that I watched is Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni. Too bad it's not as wacky as the first season instead it was more focused on character progression. Oh at least I can get my Hideyoshi fix.

Watched: 4 / Liked: 4

art by Kantoku

Fall 2011 (October - December)
Here we go with the current season. So far Fall 2011 is as good as it looks. We have Persona 4 The Animation which is adapted from the so popular JRPG of the same name. And yeah, it's pretty damn entertaining I tell you. Then we have our favorite guilty pleasure, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. Nothing could go wrong with Fall 2011.

That was before we introduced to a monstrosity called Guilty Crown. Everything is so wrong with this anime. I still can't say much because it, God forbid, may get better later but we can't count on it.

Fortunately there are some anime such as the fantastic Fate/Zero which is currently my favorite contender for anime of the year and Ben-To which has incredibly satisfying fight scenes. Don't forget Mirai Nikki, even though the recent episodes were pretty bad.

For the calm atmospheres, I watched Chihayafuru and Tamayura ~Hitotose~. Hell, those two are pretty decent despite nothing much happen on them.

Watched: 8 / Liked: 7.5 (the line between like and hate in Guilty Crown is quite thin)

Other (+Movies)
Blessed my life, for the long holiday I had from June to August (yep, three months!) so I could finish some of my backlog during those times.
Here is the list of anime I completed during those time:

Claymore
Cowboy Bebop
Kaiba
Kuchuu Buranko
The Tatami Galaxy
Serial Experiments Lain (rewatch)
Kino's Journey (rewatch)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (rewatch)
Minami-ke
Strike Witches
Break Blade
Dead Leaves
Kakurenbo
Millenium Actress

That was so much that I almost thought I should get a life. There were movies too, but only two stood out: a over-the-top racing anime Redline and Makoto Shinkai's cloud pr0n anime Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo. Redline is so awshum it blows my mind and Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo looks pretty too. There are other movies such as 2nd Macross movie, Colorful, or Towa no Quon but I admit I haven't watch those. Some day, maybe.


I guess that's all for this post. tl;dr: 2011 is a great year for anime. I don't know when I will post the next part of this post but be sure to look forward to it!