12 Moments of Anime #1: Mt. Fuji Gets Sliced

I might be cheating a little bit by presenting two moments from Shin Mazinger, but hell, these ones deserve their spot as much as any. But be warned, the following post will utterly spoil you of the show’s ending.

12 Moments of Anime #2: R2? What R2?

I’ll have to admit that while the second season of Gundam 00 had better mecha action, the writing dropped into terrible levels, which prevented me from enjoying it as much as I did the first one. However, the massive slugfest at the end righted things, and salvaged the show as a whole for me.

That said, I suspected something like this to happen, but didn’t think that Sunrise would actually pull it off:

12 Moments of Anime #3: The Name of That Gigantic Shadow

Shin Mazinger is only one of the few mecha shows of 2009, but it’s managed to be a spectacular weekly watch thanks to well-done cliffhangers and a moving, non-episodic plot. I can almost forgive the lack of mecha this year just for it alone! The infamous episode 1 separated the /m/en from the boys with its undecipherable structure that only came clear far into the show–the perfect Imagawa gambit.

But I won’t talk about episode 1. Here is a scene that uses the narrator to great effect:

12 Moments of Anime #4: A Gun That Didn’t Fire

The Sky Crawlers is a rather amnesia-inducing movie. There are long stretches of silence and idleness, and you may need to watch the film twice to understand things. I still have to do that.

That said, this was the most memorable moment for me:

12 Moments of Anime #5: Koi Koi For the World

What TTGL does with galaxies, Summer Wars does with a card game.

12 Moments of Anime #6: Lu Bu’s Last Stand

Souten Kouro is the hidden gem of this year. It’s a 2-cour show that started in Spring and still isn’t subbed completely to this day. Why? It’s because Lunar is subbing it. Lunar, the group that which I waited a year to complete Bartender (excellent show), and a year and a half for Gigantic Formula (pretty good show which pressed the right buttons for me). That Lunar. Actually, another group (Okashi) picked it up from episode 9 and did 3 more eps, but even they are having huge delays. We’ll get ‘em when they get out, that’s for sure.

…And to the actual content of the show. Basically, Souten Kouro is a retelling of the timeless Three Kingdoms story that adheres a little more to actual historical records, instead of the novel by Luo Guanzhong. Instead of Liu Bei, Cao Cao takes center stage, and he’s less of the devil we know and more of a bishie proper, sympathetic hero as one could in such a highly-chaotic era. He’s still a master manipulator though! And it’s pretty epic in a LoGH vein: on-screen name introductions, a narrator voiced by Ryusei “Freeza” Nakao no less, and large-scale battles.

But enough of that, and on to the moment:

12 Moments of Anime #7: This Hand of Mine…

Technically, the 6th Kara no Kyoukai movie had had its theatrical run last year, but we gaijin got the DVD release this year. It probably shows what kind of a fan I am if I consider this as the moment worth writing–there’s plenty of them for 5-6-7 alone, and the 6th is pretty much a dark horse.

I recycled this from an old post, but it doesn’t make it any less awesome.

But hell, Azaka is moe(ru).

12 Moments of Anime #8: A Taishou Romance

Taishou Yakyuu Musume didn’t have a large audience, but it certainly had some die-hard fans. The Taishou setting is not just for show–it provides an environment where Akiko and her friends are compelled to prove themselves to everyone.

But aside from the baseball, there is a cute little romance subplot that involves Koume and her fiancee, Saburo. I say cute, because they progress at baby steps, and the affection they show for each other is nothing short of charming. I’m not familiar with how the Japanese behaved in the Taishou era, but the anime does a good effort by actually showing things–the anarchic pronouns, the emphasis on protocol, and the overall shyness of youngsters toward the opposite sex (the lack of co-ed schools certainly helps at this front). I got the idea.

12 Moments of Anime #9: Taki’s Real Secret

I was able to enjoy the 2 seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou almost as one continuous endeavor–when I finished the first one, the second season started airing immediately afterward. It’s a well-made show with a laid-back, wistful mood and colorful youkai.

The second season is a curious thing. Its OP featured a new character who was only introduced by episode 6, and I was uncannily hyped by her. Her clothes were unusual; either she was a delinquent (I wrongly thought the stick that she carried was a bokken of sorts), someone who wanted to look incognito, or a trap (which a friend disproved to me).

Imagine my surprise when she was properly introduced. Taki turned out to be a very shy girl who ran away from the slightest hint of conversation. Why is she drawing those circles on the ground with a stick? Looking for aliens, time-travelers and espers? Say it ain’t so!

And then…

12 Moments of Anime #10: The Girl Who Ran

Toradora is a series I hold close to my heart; it’s a show about teens acting like teens, in a manner alternating between crazy and somber. My favorite character is Minorin, for obvious reasons (passionate, throws flaming baseballs, ohahahahaha). But somewhere along the line, Minorin turned into Emorin. I still loved her, but man were those episodes heart-wrenching. Even then, things went bad to worse, until they tried patching things up.

And it still falls short. Taiga runs away!