My Season Winners, before yours
Premature Speculation, if you will (ew…)
Ha you assholes I beat you to it. I’m old, see, and that allows me to be judgmental. Actually, I’m not that old, but I’m prejudging anyway.
Best OP: The Tower of Druaga.
This was a hard one. Lots of great tunes and animation this time around. Kaiba’s ethereal opener with English lyrics shows you exactly what kind of beautiful and haunting 25 minutes are about to happen. To Love-Ru’s tantalizing but stylish OP turned out to be the best thing about the show every fucking week. Even the gay-ninja saga Nabari No Ou, which I don’t really care for, has a great song by a previously awful band (VELTPUNCH). But Druaga gives us clever credit placements, a jaunty ska-rock tune that turns dramatic toward the end, and most importantly, a question that we have to ask weekly: are we being faced with a an alternate reality situation in this series?
Best Music in general: Macross Frontier.
There is a two-part quiz to establish best anime music in a season.
- Is there a Macross series?
- Did Yoko Kanno do the music for any series?
If you can answer “yes” to either, you’re set (some of Macross 7’s butt-rock aside). We can answer “yes” to BOTH this season. Aren’t we fortunate bastards? Ranka’s “Aimo” is Yoko Kanno’s best tune since my favorite one, “Myung’s Theme (Voices)” from Macross Plus. But here’s the close runner-up, “Ninjin Loves You Yeah!”
Train Wreck of the Year: Geass R2.
I stopped blogging it, mostly because everyone else already was. But I still watch, usually open-mouthed. Time after time it leaves me in slack-jawed disbelief as the camera pans out to millions of Zeroes! Orange-kun comes back from the dead! LeDouche quotes Light Yagami! Tits flow from Sunrise’s pencils like a mighty Mississippi of mammaries! Underage heads of state with no tits at all convene, possibly panty-free, in a soundproof room in Zero’s giant truck with a fucking panda on the side being driven by CC and covered in fucking Cheese-kun window stickers! FUCK! Where does it end?? This quote from Derailed By Darry sums it up pretty well:
Code Geass R2 is genius on so many levels, just not on the classical “well-written” level.
Fantastic observation. I realized this week that there is nothing out there like it, and yes thank you jebus I’m grateful for that, but there is a bizarre brilliance in the over-the-top-ness.
By the way, mai waifu on Geass: “Oh, is it time for your stories?”
Biggest surprise: Tie! Daughter of 20 Faces and Kamen No Maid Guy.
20 Faces had potential from the get-go, being from Bones, but it was clear that early on their attention was focused mostly on Soul Eater. However, the series consistently played out so solidly that I find myself waiting for it more all week than any other. To top it off, the last episode was jam-packed with the kind of ballsy direction and stylish animation that are Bones hallmarks.
Maid Guy was a surprise simply because it turned out to not be shitty. Yes, the animation budget was probably fished out from between Madhouse’s couch cushions, but at least they don’t save money by having all the characters drink tea for 10 minutes per episode like some other Madhouse shows. Kogarashi is a previously-unseen mix of hilarious and frightening, and I will gladly watch every week to find out what crazy Maid Guy Power will be unveiled next.
Best First-Episode Experience: Soul Eater
Yes, it’s a shounen/action/talking-during-battles kind of show, but Bones aimed to prove early on that they could execute with style. I immediately re-watched the first episode because my head spun too fast to figure out what was going on the first time.
Voice actor of the season: Megumi Nakajima as Ranka Lee
Open auditions are apparently a very good idea. She out-acts most of the rest of the cast, and her tongue doesn’t sound nearly as thick as Sheryl’s on those Engrish song lyrics. Shin sums it up much more clever-style.
Best Shoujo: Toshokan Sensou
Dear Itazura Na Kiss, I still love you, and I think you embody your genre like nothing else. Unfortunately, a new character who is vulnerable and real but not quite so pathetic as the usual shoujo heroine has risen up, and she’s really tall! Plus, as a boy, I find all the guns to be exciting.
Dear Special A, Toshokan Sensou’s ensemble cast is far better than yours. Also, I never liked you.
The wiener
Drum roll…. OH SHIT Copping out. But unlike most people who don’t believe in superlatives (like me) I will pick the “best” show of the season. Just not until the end.
I’ll say this, though — it’ll probably start with a K, whatever it ends up being.
Oddly, I’m with you on the first episode one, despite dropping Soul Eater later. ‘Twas a great introduction.
I’ll say this, though — it’ll probably start with a K, whatever it ends up being.
So…Kanokon it is?
With you on Toshokan Sensou … I think. It’s been a while, since the site I usually go to for downloads only has the 300 MB sub releases, and my hard drive needs to go on a diet. ItaKiss is definitely a strong second and … uh …. Special A is … special. It has potential, I swear, officer, but then again, maybe it just chose to do something different with its life.
Didn’t watch Druaga but that is a nice OP. TLR’s still takes it for me because I like simple rock. ItaKiss’s is oddly catchy too, although I feel old (-school, I suppose) watching it.
Well, the premise alone made Maid Guy awesome, regardless of the outcome. What I’m disappointed is over the appaling lack of doujins ｡･ﾟ･(ﾉД`)･ﾟ･｡
Fully agree with Megumi-chan being the best seiyuu; it’s been a while since I was so madly in love with a human.
Of course Toshokan Sensou is better than Special A, and SOUL EATER definitely had the best first episode
best OP: allison & lilia’s OP is a billion times better than any other crappy pop OP this season. Does it beat Kaiba’s OP?. Yes, in terms of actual music content. In terms of metaphorical references? No, simply because Kaiba shits every other season out of the water in its own connotations, so any attempt to be allusive in the OP fail in comparison.
best music in general: kurenai
@IKnight I can understand why someone would drop it, after all like I said it is that kind of show. I’m still enjoying it though.
@CCY Damn, you called it!
Yes, I think it chose to suck
@Shin I think those would be disturbing doujins.
@blissmo I can’t say that Special A was really in the running.
@lelangir Many’s the time I’ve been accused of being a music snob (which secretly both angers and pleases music snobs), but the next time that happens I’ll gladly point someone your way. At any rate, I consider an OP to be the full product, and though A&L’s song is fantastic, the full context is just not as entertaining, with Druaga’s clever use of credits and the other things I mentioned.
Kurenai, I have to agree that music is very good, and I certainly can’t shake the feeling that comes from that tiny shamisen tune in the next episode previews.
You don’t necessarily need to allude too much to a show’s content to be successful in the opening — it’s far more important to set a mood. I think Kaiba’s quite solid there.
I really appreciate the hardcore analysis you do, I’m guessing you’ve done serious music study. Unfortunately, I’m just a hobby musician and a writer of various forms of music, yes including “crappy pop.” I’ve been playing whatever for about 20 years: guitar, drums, ukulele, marimba, piano, banjo, accordion, shamisen, and electronics. Not trying to be that guy who says “street smarts” or practical experience is all that matters — I’ve had classical training, I read music, all that jazz (so to speak).
But there is an academic level of appreciation, and then there’s the enjoyment level. And if I like it, I like it. My Motorhead records sit next to my John Cage records on the shelf, and they don’t fight (maybe I should alphabetize, though…).
otou-san: Ungh, John Cage…I got like, his 2nd and 3rd symphonies for like 2$ at a random FYE several years ago and well, I guess while I can label Kaiba as “minimalist” John Cage certainly embodies that and well, it isn’t really my cup of tea. “Crappy pop” was probably too harsh. Oh yeah, I love catchy stuff. But even the Tower[...] song you posted I wasn’t too fond off, probably because I have a slight disorientation towards ska. Nevertheless even the Macross F song was kind of bland considering it was a Kanno piece. I’m not saying that anime is an arena where composers can push the medium (as it’s been fully extinguished a century and some ago), since anime is video + music + seiyuu + whatever else I thought of. Anyway, thanks for that, as it gives me a good idea for a new post…
[...] using Otou-san’s comment as a springboard for this post.[1] I seem to be at difference with the rest of the aniblogsphere [...]
I just mentioned John Cage because when I think of “stuff I appreciate on a purely academic level,” people like him and LaMonte Young obviously come to mind, because let’s face it you don’t sit around jamming to even his most musical works.
Strangely, I’m with you on the ska thing, excepting some 1960s/early 70s Jamaican stuff, aka the real thing. But something about that opening just charmed me.
I’m not sure whether I think anime composers can push the medium, I certainly don’t think they do most of the time, but we can hope.
[...] such, it’s unsurprising that when the time comes for comparing and criticizing, we hand out our imaginary awards to the best of these sequences. Which at least leads us to think about what we like in OP/EDs – and [...]
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Kamen no Maid Guy is the sleeper hit of the season.
I haven’t seen 20 faces, but if it tied Maid Guy, it must be worth a look.
But. But. Geass has filler. That’s like the mark of a truly good series.
@Baka-Raptor it is indeed a dark horse. A dark horse wearing a bonnet.
@Os I have never seen a Geass episode where I thought “wow that’s really filler,” even the ones that people accuse of it. Even if an episode of Geass doesn’t really move the plot along, they almost always manage to be entertaing. When I think of filler, I think of Shakugan No Shana and the 3 to 4-week slogs you sometimes have to trod through to get to the fun.
I liked the Druaga OP, the first time I saw it, but I’ve yet to seriously watch the show beyond an episode or two. Same goes for Frontier and its music, though I might pick it up again in a while.
Daughter of 20 Faces is something I’m going to start rather soon, but Kamen No Maid Guy…is something I’ve entirely avoided, for good or bad.
And since I’m feeling a bit masochistic…this may be taken as a (very mild) flame, but sometimes I think Derailed by Darry is more of a “trainwreck” than Code Geass…the ironies of life, I guess. Don’t intend to actually rant, so I’ll leave it there.
Other than that…the only thing in the Geass list that affected my suspension of disbelief was the million Zeroes, but even that I can handle by assuming hyperbole. The others were either no surprise at all (there isn’t a single scene in the series that suggests Orange would have died, not even way back in the early first season) or were just there from the beginning, effectively being the same thing.
That said, I’d wait until the show actually ends before jumping on the “oh god this is a trainwreck” bandwagon.
But enough talk…have at me (if you so choose)!
XXX: Maid Guy is something I almost avoided, but it sounded too crazy to pass up, and as I said… surprising. I think it’s surprised a lot of people that thought it was going to be another mindless fanservice series. It’s mindless, sure, but it’s genuinely funny sometimes.
On Geass… Flame other people all you want (in this case it’s someone not here to defend himself but I’d wager is popular enough to not have to worry about it…), I just thought the quote was apropos. I suppose I deserve the pain a bunch of people have been giving me, since I guess I used kinda negative language, but let’s get something straight: I love Geass. That’s why it’s in this post. On the other hand, just because I love it doesn’t mean I’ll defend its plausibility. My spellcheck wouldn’t even let me put it in the same sentence as the word plausible. Back on the first hand, I don’t need plausibility to enjoy an anime, at least not one like Geass.
I’m fine with any given crazy plot twist, Gundam upgrade, uncalled-for fanservice shot, or Pizza Hut product placement, but add it all up and you get something far beyond anything else out there. OGT’s been on me about this too, but he was right to invoke Spinal Tap — “this one goes up to 11.” They’re catering to fans in a way that’s gone beyond pandering and become an art, they’re making it up as they go, and that’s the fun. If Taniguchi and co. paint themselves into a corner, it’s as fun to see what they’ll do to get out as it is to see how Lulu escapes his fate this week.
As for the accusation of bandwagoning… I’ll shrug that off. I enjoy reading blogs and hearing people’s opinions, but I have too few spare half-hours to spend them watching anime I don’t like (especially when there are so many right now that I do). Besides, there are enough people running to the defense of Geass that I wouldn’t worry about the size of the supposed badwagon.
Guess I could end up checking Maid Guy out at some point…but for now it’s somewhere in the backlog and I don’t think it’ll crawl out too soon.
I wouldn’t flame as such, but sometimes I do feel that the main reason I read that blog quite curiously matches some of the included descriptions of how a “trainwreck” is supposed to attract and keep viewers. I’m not so much opposed to your particular use of the quote -this is your blog isn’t it?- but to what that site evokes per se.
I’m not really intending to paint Code Geass as a relatively “plausible” show overall, like I would, say, defend Planetes or even Infinite Ryvius if pressured, to reference other works by the same director…but I do think it’s not an utter and complete mess with no non-ironic or “WEE” enjoyment, where nothing makes sense at all.
Yes, it’s a messy show if compared to something that’s as well structured as Baccano! is, to name something entirely different, but not all of its elements, or plot twists even, are equally so.
Some of them truly are laughable, like the whole million Zeroes thing if taken at face value or what have you, but others, like Jeremiah’s return, aren’t really on the same scale, and can be more or less explained just by looking at the show itself.
I might change my mind if the show eventually goes nowhere or just comes up with a finale that can’t possibly make a lick of sense, but so far I think it has a least some coherence amid all the seeming mindlessness…admittedly, less so in R2 than during the first season, at least right now, but I think it does have more coherence than other stuff out there.
I’ll admit that the show has tons of pandering, a double-edged sword to be sure, and that its fundamental attraction is being fun, period. I’d be a hypocrite if I pretended it didn’t, because sometimes that happens to overlap with my interests too.
While I do come off as rather touchy, I’m not exactly clamoring for something like “everyone should watch Code Geass (uncritically) and say it’s the greatest show ever”, no. I also perceive that kind of thing as a bandwagon and I’m not exactly pleased with it. But at the same time, I wanted to present a dissenting opinion.
I’m gonna have to do one of these…for the fall.
The fall looks exciting! But I’m probably getting ahead of myself.
Are you getting ahead of yourself, or is it just that summer doesn’t look very exciting?