Yes, I’m still here

This time instead of a top 10, there will actually be 12!

The reason is because I had such a hard time trying to decide which are the best in my opinion and I ended up with 12 great shows that I don’t have the heart to just kick any of them off the list anymore.

Only series that started this year (sequels included), or series that started late last year, with at least half the episodes aired in 2009 is considered. Of course, only series that I’ve watched are also considered. I can’t judge something I’ve not watched, after all.

Also, this list is based on my own preference. Everyone have their own tastes, you might not like the same shows as I do, but chances are there will be a few that you will agree with me.

#12

Cross Game

Never thought I would be watching a baseball anime. I’ve had absolutely no interest at all in the sport, and I still don’t. But the story itself is very well written and the animation top notch. The first episode left a pretty deep impression on me, which is what hooked me into continuously watching and enjoying Cross Game.

#11

Eden of the East

Yet another well written story, Eden of the East is destined for greatness. Why the low rank, though? Because the ending was hanging and it would be another year (estimated) before any of us outside Japan can get to see the first movie. And then there’s the 2nd movie…

Having to wait so long for the finale just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

#10

Kobato

CLAMP did it again with Kobato! And thankfully, this time it seems like they’ve gone back to a more straight-forward and less confusing story compared to Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic. I didn’t want to read the manga yet since I’m still reading the former 2, but after watching this I probably will start reading the manga too.

And Ioryogi kinda reminds me of Meido Guy. He’s awesome XD

#9

Hetalia – Axis Powers

History has never been so fun. I wished they used this to teach World History back in school, I would have learned a lot more (and actually remember it, too!). The jokes can be really hit or miss, and sometimes it just doesn’t make sense at all, which is why Hetalia doesn’t rank any higher. But I always find myself looking forward to more Hetalia every week.

#8

Seitokai no Ichizon

The student council may not do anything at all with most of the show taking place in that same room, but in this case it’s not the settings but the characters that keeps the series floating. I only wish it was KyoAni who were doing this, they’re probably the most suited to do a show like this.

#7

Pandora Hearts

Possibly the best adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in an anime. Like Alice in Wonderland, Pandora Hearts features a cast of interesting and whacky characters such as Break with his Mad Hatter chain.

#6

Minami-ke Okaeri

While it may not be the same standard as the original Minami-ke (my top anime of 2007), Minami-ke Okaeri is leaps better than the previous season of Okawari. The OP and ED may be placed at annoyingly odd timing, but at the very least Minami-ke became watchable again, and more importantly – funny and interesting.

#5

Nyan-Koi

A romantic comedy with a cat curse, what more can I ask for!?

And you just gotta love Nyamsus <3

#4

Hayate no Gotoku Season 2

Hayate’s season 2 starts off a lot stronger than season 1, but ends rather abruptly. Season 2 puts a lot more focus on side characters, especially Hinagiku. More Hinagiku is never a bad thing – her dazzling performance of Cruel Angel Thesis was nothing short of remarkable.

#3

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I’ve never been a fan of Full Metal Alchemist. But Brotherhood surprised me. After the first 10 or so episodes, it took a different turn than the original anime series, this time following the original manga storyline. I can finally see why FMA is so popular thanks to Brotherhood. All I can say is I’m glad I decided to stick with Brotherhood to see how the story would be different since it follows the manga. Olivier Mira Armstrong quickly overtook Mustang and Major Armstrong as my favourite character.

#2

Saki

Mahjong is a fun game. It takes both luck and skill to play and it feels like a strategic battle between 4 people. Throw in plenty of ridiculous moves and finishing hands, and you get Saki. The chances of performing any of the hands that so frequently appear in Saki is extremely low in a real life game. But even though you know they are coming, it still feels extremely intense to watch Saki do her thing. While the fanservice can be over the top sometimes, it’s only natural since it’s by Gonzo.

#1

*drumrolls…*

Presenting the 4 members…

On the drums…

On the guitar…

On the keyboard…

And finally the bass…

Oops.. sorry… wrong image.

Let’s try that again.. on the bass…

Yup, the winner this year is none other than the light music club, the K-ON club!

K-ON!

Animation quality may be lacking, even more so since this is coming out of KyoAni’s studio, but K-ON quickly grew into a huge sensation. Mio became the newest darling of anime fans worldwide overnight. It won’t be exactly wrong to say that Mio was what helped pushed K-ON to the top of the list and she is the main reason the majority continues to enjoy and loves the show.

The music and songs are also excellent to say the least. Don’t Say Lazy, Fuwa Fuwa Time, these are just 2 of the songs from K-ON that will live on for many, many years to come. A true masterpiece, if only KyoAni had done a better job at the animation quality, but I guess you can’t always have it all.

Happy 2010!!!

Following through my post on the most promising spring series this year, it’s time to re-evaluate that list. It’s already about a month into the season so I’ve managed to catch all the series I wanted to.

Some were not as good as I originally thought, while some proved to get better as the episodes roll out.

Here are the best 8 this season in no particular order…

Hayate no Gotoku (Season 2)

Season 2 is beginning to look a lot better than the first and that’s really saying something since the first season is regarded as one of the best anime in the past couple of years. And the OAV suddenly made more sense after watching the first few episodes of the second season.

The debt-ridden butler continues to attract more new suitors while getting into even more trouble. Even Maria was tempted to give him some Valentines chocolate, which ended in some unexpected and really brutal chocolate destruction from the usually kind and gentle Maria.

And Hayate in female a girl’s seifuku and miko costume = priceless and always more than welcomed! (crap, did I say that out loud?)

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Eden of the East

Excellent in almost every angle – story telling, character design, animation, pacing, you name it, although I don’t really find the soundtrack to be that good. And for once they actually had proper seiyuus who could speak English to actually speak it! *gasp*

The first episode took off interestingly with Morita Akira running around naked and flashing his “Johnny” everywhere. He is certainly the most enigmatic character to show up in an anime for quite some time. The more we find out about Akira, the more mysterious he becomes.

Why did he chose to wipe out his own memory?

Why was he standing naked with a gun in front of the White House?

What are the Selecao and who is the Supporter?

The more answers Akira finds, the more questions he starts to have. So many questions and the episodes aren’t coming out fast enough. Eden of the East will easily be one of the best shows this year if it keeps up the momentum.

 

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Cross Game

Besides Eden of the East, Cross Game is one of the most well crafted show this season. The first episode captivating to say the least, at the same time it was quite cruel. I say cruel, because I really thought the story was cruel. Not cruel in an evil, bloodstained kind of way but on an emotional level.

 

A nice build up between the relation of the main character and his love interest that was suddenly and unexpectedly pulled to a halt.

You seldom feel sad when a character dies off in the first episode. There’s just too little time to build up a strong enough emotion to actually do that. Cross Game did more than that with actually leaving a hole in your heart and the feeling that something really important has suddenly gone missing.

I call that top-notched story telling.

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Valkyria Chronicles

I really was planning to buy the game only after I’ve finished playing a few other games, but after watching the anime, I decided to buy it now rather than later.The animation style still takes a bit to get used to, but there’s a certain elegance in it. From screenshots of the game, it looks like the style is actually taken from the game itself.

Welkin is still very much a mystery and no one can really tell what he’s really thinking. He looks naive at first glance and while he does act weird, he’s always able to think about things calmly and logically when it counts – even though some of his thoughts and actions are based on whims. But that’s what makes him such an interesting character.

There are few game-based anime that are good or memorable, and even though it might be too early to say this,Valkyria Chronicles looks set to be one of the best adaptations in recent years.

“I am Kana. Fear me!”

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 07-Ghost

The first thing that caught my eye in 07-Ghost is how well the character designs were.

It’s really interesting how the story started off with Teito being in a military academy where students are able to use some sort of ability that manifests some sort of runic words and use it as a weapon against enemies.

But the setting quickly changed and Teito found himself in the care of a church said to be protected by the 7 ghosts. What exactly are the 7 ghosts are still kept hidden but I can only guess that the 3 bishops are very closely related to them. They might even be the ghosts themselves in human form.

07-Ghost keeps coming up with new questions as well but it seems that everyone involved in it knows whats going on except Teito.

The only thing I really hate about 07-Ghost is Ayanami. He’s most likely to be the final villain, so I’m just counting the episodes until Teito totally tears him apart for all that he’s done.

What a scary place, it even managed to turn the no-nonsense Teito into comic relief…

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Saki

Non-mahjong fan who skipped this should give this a try. It’s a fun series thats really entertaining even if you don’t really understand everything that’s happening on the mahjong table.Trust me on this, I play mahjong a little myself and I can barely understand the wa they play. My only conclusion is that Japanese mahjong uses a very different scoring system compared to the rest of the world. Even so, it’s still fun to watch.

The anime is beginning to take a slightly different path than the first volume of the manga I’ve read, but that might not be a bad thing. That’s not really a bad thing, considering the anime appears to be trying to get the series to move forward faster to the good part – the mahjong tournament.

Give this a try, and you might just be tempted to start playing mahjong yourself. Or you might just want to watch it for this:

 Yummy…

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K-ON

One word: Mio.She has swept the guys off their feet and instantly became the new darling of otaku-dom. She is Tsukasa with a brain and will be one of the toughest competitor in the upcoming Saimoe.

K-ON has a cast of likable characters, there’s the rich and well mannered Mugi (who apparently has a thing for yuri), the energetic little devil Ritsu, the complete airhead Yui and the moe moe kyun~ Mio.

K-ON is without a doubt a great show, but I have a feeling that its popularity shot up mostly thanks to Mio. That’s not a bad thing really, since it just gives more exposure to the series.

I really was expecting a lot more from K-ON in terms of the animation quality especially since KyoAni is behind it. It’s still good, but nowhere near the level of Lucky Star or Clannad.

If anyone dies of moe overload this season, the culprit will be Mio.

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Scythes must be the “in” thing this season.

Pandora Hearts

First episode was so-so, but had that certain attraction to it. True enough, each episode just gets better and better.I was afraid that the whole series might take place in the crappy abyss, simply because it would get boring real fast. But Oz managed to escape to the real world with the help of Alice.

From Gil’s actions, I can guess that one of the Death Gods could be Oz’s father. I might pick up the manga once the anime is over if I can find it. Right now, I’m happy enough to watch the anime.

It’s just sad that the quality for Pandora Hearts is so poor…

I think I’m in love with Alice…

A new season has arrived. As usual there are a lot of shows and even more bad ones. There are still a few shows I’m trying to catch like Hatsukoi Limited, 07 Ghost and Eden of the East. But the season is starting out better than I thought, and here are 8 shows that are standing out so far.

Kugimiya Rie is busy again as usual this season with 3 very different roles:  the rich loli Nagi, the living armor Al and the mahjong player equipped with a fang, Yuuki.

Hayate the Combat Butler (2nd season)

Still as brilliant as ever, although I do wonder about some of the color changes. But it doesn’t really bother me that much since the main cast were not touched. Gotta love the summary of the first season at the start – short and sweet. Was disappointed that the OP wasn’t done by Kotoko

Unless I’ve been dreaming during season 1 (or I just totally forgot about it), there appeared to be a short skip in the story involving Nagi and Ayumu’s younger brother. Guess that means I’ll have to read the manga to find out what really happene.

And Maid Max Hearts FTW!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Unlike most who thinks FMA is one of the best anime/manga around, I didn’t think it was that good. Don’t get me wrong, FMA is good, but to me it wasn’t up to the level many others hailed it as.

One of the things I liked about FMA was the great supporter of mini skirts for uniform Roy Mustang. Having the surprisingly perverted colonel come out as if he could shout “nerai wa utsu!” at anytime dampens that. It will take some time to adjust to the new Lockon Colonel Mustang.

But as long as it’s not going down the exact same route the original series did, FMA Brotherhood will be an interesting watch. I don’t really like waiting week after week to watch a “rerun” when we can just rewatch the original series from start to finish in a couple of days.

Salutes to Kenji Utsumi for still being able to pull off an awesome Major Armstrong at nearly the age of 72, one of the oldest seiyuus around today.

Apparently, FMA Brotherhood will be showing on Animax Asia very soon as well.

Saki

It’s like a dream come true. I had really enjoyed xxxHolic’s mahjong episode and it was then I found out about Saki. However, the manga was difficult to find and I only managed to get a few chapters of it, which discouraged me from reading. So when Saki was announced to make its debut as an anime this season, it easily became one of the series I looked forward to most.

And I love it! I play mahjong for fun every now and then with a few friends, and it’s always a barrel of laughter. The kind of things you do just to screw up a single opponent even if it meant losing the round, it’s all good fun – if you consider this twisted kind of fun as good like me.

Unless Gonzo somehow screws this up really bad, I will enjoy this very much.

K-ON

The first 10 minutes or so was kinda boring – my first impressions of Konata’s chocolate cornet was loads more entertaining. The real fun only began after Yui stepped into the club room.

Maybe my expectations were too high after reading and hearing good things about K-ON, but I was slightly disappointed after watching it. Animation is pretty fluid as expected from KyoAni, but I’m sure they could have done a lot better especially the colours.

Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-

I like spirit Roxy. She’s just so cute and adorable, a lot different compared to when she was a demon knight. It looks interesting enough, but at the same time it feels like a ticking timebomb waiting to blow up and go very wrong.

Pandora Hearts

I’m curious about this series. Like how Pandora was curious enough to ignore Zeus’s warning and opened the jar to unleash evil and misery to the world, I find myself attracted to what evil and misery Pandora Hearts will unleash.

Asura Cryin’

If the first episode is anything to go by, the original summary that this series is about a boy and a ghost girl doesn’t do any justice to it. Secret societies, religious wars, scientific experiments, a mecha hidden in wormhole stuffed inside a small metal casing -Asura Cryin’ might actually end up as one of the best this season.

Valkyria Chronicles

I haven’t played the game (yet) but something tells me I’ll be playing it sooner than I thought. The animation style kinda resembles a painting, especially the shading. You can easily tell it looks different from other shows but personally I think it looks pretty good. One of the most impressive looking series that came this season with a cast of likable characters. I think I have the hots for Alicia already <3

Maybe it’s because I didn’t watch as many anime as I did last year due to work, but it seems like the overall quality of anime released this year wasn’t as high as last year. That doesn’t mean that the series that came out this year are bad. It’s just I find that there were a lot more choices I had to really evaluate to stick into the top 10 last year than this year.

But all in all it’s still a good year, especially for sequels and most importantly, the starting point where studios and anime companies finally begins to see the bigger picture and began to stream anime online for free or a small fee.

As usual, this list is based on what I’ve watched this year (that was released this year) and since I did not get pass episode 4 of Macross Frontier, it will not be on the list no matter how good you say it is. Shana Second would have made the list too if it didn’t suck so bad for the first 3 quarters of the season.

Side note: Kugimiya Rie the tsundere queen has been hard at work this year…

#10 Slayers Revolution

Megumi Hayashibara returns along with the others to voice Lina Inverse and gang in Slayers Revolution. They managed to keep true to the series, although they could have really done more to keep the plot interesting. But since this is basically just the first half, there’s still a chance for Slayers to bounce back in Evolution-R.

Overall the series was just as I remembered, although a bit disappointing at the same time due to the lack of interesting developments.

#9 Shugo Chara / Shugo Chara Doki

Admittedly there are a lot of boring parts, especially at the beginning of Doki, but it’s been going uphill ever since Nadeshiko Nagihiko returned. Come to think of it, the series began to feel boring ever since Nadeshiko left. It was probably “her” presence that gave life to Shugo Chara in the first place since Tadase and Yaya is pretty much hopeless.

Nadeshiko was the one initially pushing the plot forward and is now pretty much doing the same thing again. Just gotta love the rivalry between him and Rima-tan. And Kairi suks.

#8 To Aru Majutsu no Index

This would be so much better if it was moving at a faster pace. The alternating episodes of action and story development leading towards the next action episode feels so painfully slow. But otherwise it’s a pretty good series, although Touma really needs to do learn some new tricks other than rushing into things and depending on his Imagine Breaker which seems to be getting more and more useless with the newer enemies.

To Aru Majutsu no Index does show a lot of promise to be great despite its terrible pacing. It feels like a darker version of Law of Ueki, but at the same time it’s also something that has never been done before from what I know. Magic and science put together has always been an interesting formula especially if done right, and this show is heading down the right way.

#7 Hayate no Gotoku

I still don’t know why Hayate is the combat butler, especially since he rarely do any actual combat. It’s more like a all-in-one butler who does anything and everything (wait… that’s what a butler does, isn’t it?). It’s more appropriate to call Hayate the poor and bad luck butler.

Hayate makes use of plenty of cliches, puns and parodies but at the same time maintain a fine balance of original story and insanity that doesn’t make the series feel like its pushing it too much.

#6 Lucky Star OAV

You wa Shock!

We need more Lucky Star! We need more Lucky Channel Live! More More More!!!

It’s Lucky Star, ‘nuf said.

#5 Tower of Druaga – the Aegis of URUK

The first episode wasn’t really the first episode, but more of a chaotic piece of randomness put together to attract the attention of the anime community. There was an alternate, real, first episode that appeared on NicoNico for a short while before being removed for some reason. But trust me, the one everyone is familiar with is much better.

The plot is as thick as a slice of cheese, there are no character development, and everything looks as if the director simply dreamed up of a story the night before the episode script was due. Only the last few episode had any real and actual meaning to the plot.

But the journey was a really good one. The seemingly bizarre randomness of plot and twist made the Tower of Druaga what it is that we came to love. I mean, who can forget the Roper dance!? And I can’t wait for the Sword of URUK to start showing in about a week’s time.

Initially I was skeptical of what Gonzo would release to the world as one of two of the first ever anime being streamed online for free right after the episode is released in Japan. Thankfully, the Tower of Druaga proved to be a good show, although I can’t say the same for the rest of Gonzo’s releases since then.

#4 Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo

I missed Zero no Tsukaima last year and did a marathon of the first 2 season before starting to watch Princesses no Rondo. The relationship between Saito and Louise reminds me so much of Yuji and Shana but maybe that’s because they are voiced by the same pair of seiyuus. But unlike Yuji x Shana, Saito and Louis is less annoying but more entertaining.

Zero no Tsukaima never fails to crack a laughter whenever some scared super weapon turns out to be something from “our” world such as a bazooka or an antique fighter jet.

One thing that had struck me as odd since the start is how Saito so easily adapted to his life with Louise and never really misses home as much as he would like to make others believe.

ZnT is also one of the rare few series that continues to be good season after season.

#3 Clannad & Clannad ~ After Story ~

Clannad is without a doubt one of the top series last year and it is still tops this year. The last few episodes was very well done and it just loves to twist your emotions at will. It was unfortunate that Kyou didn’t get her own arc since Tomoyo even had her own special alternate ending.

While After Story was not as good as the first season, After Story acts more like an epilogue than an actual sequel season. The focus of the story for the most parts shifts away from the main girls in Clannad. Artwork and animation is still tops, as expected of anything KyoAni.

However, this is probably something only fans of the original season would enjoy. Like me

#2 Gundam 00

I was very skeptical of Gundam 00 when it first aired. It was like an updated version of Gundam Wing and for most of the first season, g00 was just bad. But the 2nd season really picked up and it turned out to be one of the best this year – once you’re used to how Sunrise does things, of course.

Look pass how Gundam 00 is all about the mobile suits power rather than pilot skills most of the time, how a more powerful MS or upgrade appears every few episode and how new technology just appear out of thin air, and you’ve got one of the most impressive mecha anime of the year.

There are more character development so far in the second season than the entire first season combined, something I ranted about before. 00 Gundam is now the most haxed MS ever with its quantum dissolving ability, although I still think it will lose against Strike Freedom and especially Infinite Justice.

Maybe it’s just me, but g00 s2 is beginning to feel a bit like Code Geass in how the writers are trying to screw the cast one way or another.

#1 Code Geass R2

There are no good guys or bad guys, just people with big egos and personal agendas. Trust no one and be prepared to back stab anyone. Those were what made Code Geass the best of 2008.

Suzaku, an ally who turned into your worse enemy ended up being the only person you can rely on in the end. The infamous “Orange-kun” who became one of Lelouch’s greatest ally and carried on to become arguably the coolest character in entire of Code Geass.

The Order of the Black Knights, one of the most powerful and influential organization built from scratch by Zero, turned against him without batting an eyelid. Kallen, the person who no one believed would have turned against Lelouch, did just that without first seeking the proper truth.

And the ressurection of cast members who long thought dead, but as the saying goes, if there is no dead body being buried, no one really died. It’s just sad that Lelouch decided that he needed to die instead of abusing Jeremiah’s Geass-Canceller ability to re-geass the entire world to either do as he wished, or to forget the whole incident.

The final twist of Zero Requiem was totally unexpected, having Zero to finish off Lelouch himself. What surprises me is that no one wondered why unathletic Zero was suddenly able to get pass all those guards and single handedly take out Emperor Lelouch. But the biggest question still remains, is Lelouch still alive somehow in the World of C, just as his mother, Marianne, was?

Happy 2009!

It’s the end of 2007 and it’s time to reflect back on this year’s anime. There are definitely a lot of great new anime that came out this year, and the slice-of-life comedy took many by surprise, making the top 5 or even top 3 of many fan’s list.

Here, in my final post this year, I will go through my top 10 anime of the year, the best of 2007. Everyone’s list is undoubtedly different since no one watches all the same anime and have the same tastes. There are many series which I haven’t watched yet, most notably Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which I will definitely pick up as soon as possible. So yeah, don’t expect to see them drills here.

#10 – Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

This is probably one of the most overlooked anime this year and the reason is probably due to the terrible, horrible more unique character design. The storyline is quite random at times and the plot loves to exaggerate on the series theme which focuses on self-acceptance and beauty.

Truly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and YNSH is a lot better than anyone would think just by looking at the character design and plot summary. Although, it would take a couple of episodes to get used to the girly looking bunch of fugly guys who are supposedly the most gorgeous bunch of guys you’ll ever see. Forgive me while I puke.

#9 – Pokemon Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai

Hah! Bet you didn’t see this one coming

I would have actually went with Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, but thought this would be more appropriate since it’s released this year. While Pokemon is rather repetitive with a very predicted plot, it does still have its charm.

There hasn’t been any decent Pokemon since the 2nd movie, but Lucario and the Mystery of Mew really impressed me a lot. And now I’m even more delighted that the latest movie was not disappointing as well.

While the movie focused on the 2 legendaries from the Diamond and Pearl games, the most intriguing Pokemon is neither the God of Time nor the God of Space, but the infamous Darkrai.

And the Batman-like ending has got to be the best ending for a Pokemon movie ever.

#8 – Clannad

Clannad started out inferior to Da Capo II for me, but it quickly overtook D.C.II which I dropped soon after. CCYoshi might really do something bad to me this time, but Fuko’s arc was really what changed everything for me and with the end of Kotomi’s arc around the corner, I finally understood what the fuss was about when every other anime fan was chanting for its arrival.

Even though I started off liking Tomoyo the best, that is quickly changing as I’m beginning to find Kyou much more attractive. Hopefully Kyou would have an arc of her own, preferably after Tomoyo’s arc. I’ll just have to wait and see.

#7 – Nana

It took me a while to get warmed up to the anime since I had watched the movie first. The starting was just too slow but the flashbacks had ended for both Nana, it really became interesting.

Good character design, great soundtrack and a very solid plot thats hard to predict, it’s no wonder that Nana became a phenomenon in Japan and many other countries. I only wish that there would be a continuation, perhaps in the form of an OAV, to complete the story and bring Nana back to everyone.

Oh, the seiyuus were great as well and this is where I first heard (and saw) Hirano Aya in action XD

#6 – Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations

Even with just a single episode so far, Production I.G. had really, really impressed me with their adaptation for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle’s OAV. They stuck with the manga very consistently and it already started to hit it off with me the moment the conversation revealed that they had just arrived from Rekord country.

Bee Train almost never follows the manga’s plot properly, often adding plenty of fillers or even changing entire scenes altogether which was why Tsubasa Chronicle was quite disappointing on most parts. But I really do love how they brought the first episode to life, if only they had been more consistent.

A request for CLAMP: Could we have Production I.G. do the 3rd season of the anime instead of Bee Train, pretty please? Other than the slightly off colour of Sakura’s hair, it was perfect.

#5 – Shugo Chara

Now I’m the one surprised to see this here. When the series just started off I had brushed it off as something that will not hold my interest for long, and even called it a crossover between Sailormoon and Care Bears. But Shugo Chara quickly did a chara-nari and stole my heart as well.

It’s too bad that Miki had only transformed once with Amu to become Amulet Spade so far. The chara-nari sequence was really odd with Miki’s blue theme, but thank goodness Amulet Spade isn’t as silly looking as Amulet Clover. I can’t believe that Amu had no comments about her dress either.

I’m pretty sure I read in a few places that Shugo Chara would be 52 episodes long, so despite my initial thoughts that it would be too long, now I only can hope that it will reach that length. We’re only barely at the surface of the seemingly deep and twisted plot.

#4 – History’s Strongest Disciple, Kenichi

Apapapapapa!

From school bullies to thugs to an entire underground organisation and it’s still far from over, the basic plot reminds me of Kotaro Makaritoru. But the similarities ends there and I have found that Kenichi’s plot is ways ahead and much more enjoyable.

There’s almost never a dull moment as the series if full of funny moments and awesome fighting scenes. Starting off by stamina training and learning the basic stances for Jujutsu, Chinese kenpo, Karate, Muay-Thai kickboxing and throw in some weapons training along the way and you can really follow along Kenichi’s growth up to the point where he finally learned the Seikuuken from the Elder.

Kenichi is one of the few series this year that had grabbed me from the very beginning and had me wanting for more even after it had ended. I know that the manga is already pretty far ahead with better story arcs, so there might be a good chance of a sequel.

#3 – Lucky Star

Admittedly, the above screenshot was what got me into watching Lucky Star and I absolutely did not regret it. This is one show that most anime fans would enjoy and all the “food talk” has already been discussed to death many times over so I will not go anywhere near that chocolate cornet.

It’s really surprising how you think you caught all the jokes in any episodes of Lucky Star only to find out later that half the gags had walked pass without you realizing anything had happened at all. Even then, you probably hadn’t grasped 100% of what had been referenced.

The opening theme is the closest rival to Hare Hare Yukai to date and it’s also sang by (almost) the same group of people. Makes you wonder what’s going to come up next from them

One of Lucky Star’s biggest draw is the fact that its the closest slice-of-life series that really depicts our daily life and conversation almost to the dot and puts a smile on your face the next time you find yourself in the same situation again, which really happens a lot in my case. Especially the food part. Okay, okay, no more food talk.

#2 – Code Geass

Up until a couple of months ago, I was certain that Code Geass would become my favourite anime of the year. I consider myself somewhat fortunate for only picking up the series after the last 2 episode for the season had been aired. Otherwise, I might have gone insane waiting for it.

It started off innocently enough but would have had you hooked by the end of the first episode, all thanks to that sudden change of facial expression by Lelouch Lamperouge, or more precisely, Lelouch Vi Britannia was revealed to be his true name.

As 0rion pointed out, Code Geass is the most spectacular trainwreck you’ve ever seen. It’s one that is so well pulled off, you end up really hating what happened, but loving every moment of it. Contradicting, but very true.

With Lelouch and Suzaku finally facing off with each other, and the trigger finally pulled, it makes one wonder how the heck can Code Geass continue for another full season through that mess. Or in my case, if my heart and will is strong enough to pull me through another season without killing myself.

#1 – Chiaki-sama Minami-ke

Chiaki-sama Minami-ke is without a doubt, to me, the best anime of 2007. It’s much more hilarious than Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh put together and had me rolling all over the floor every week without fail. I have the bruise marks from hitting my bed and wall to prove it.

The gags are almost never reused, unless you count Mako-chan but even then there are always something new. Even the “Sensei! Ninomiya-kun” segments were a barrel of laughters, especially the game parodies. The runaway vehicle gag that keeps aiming for either sensei or Ninomiya-kun is probably the most repeated joke in the series but it was also pulled off beautifully and was not overused.

And all those sexually suggestive scenes. That’s fanservice at its best. Not too much, but it’s always there, trying to lure you in… Which reminds me, I’m gonna have to do a post highlighting all those scenes.

Minami-ke overtook Code Geass as my favourite anime of the year simply because I enjoyed it much more than any other anime this year. Even for my 2006 favourites I had chose to put a series which I enjoyed more, Ouran Host Club, at the top instead of the great Suzumiya Haruhi. I just hope Minami-ke Okawari doesn’t kill it when it starts showing.

With that, 2007 comes to a close, and 2008 promises even more great anime such as the long awaited continuation for both Code Geass and Suzumiya Haruhi. I just hope none of them turns out like Shana II.

Happy 2008 everyone!