Favorite Anime of 2009
Year 2009 has come to an end and it’s time to look back at what we had been through with this year’s anime. Well then, let’s check it out?
This year, there are many great animes and but I felt like it wasn’t the best year I had been through like last year. This year had many sequel and new animes which wasn’t much appealing at all. Hence I won’t say there were many bad sequels that had endless circles or the old gag of being despair all over again. Just, it wasn’t the highlight sequel to me. Other than that, there were many series that contain extreme “ecchiness” like Queen’s Blade.. etc. Which makes me wonder what had the world become?
Okay, to the list. I choice I choose might not be the best choice since there were many animes I didn’t had time to watch or even finish them. I’m trying my hardest to catch up, but due to many technical failures. It’s slowed me down. To warn off first, you wonder where shows like Kimi ni Todoke, Bakemonogatari, To Aru Kagaku no Rail, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and etc.. (Series that has not ended yet) is not listed doesn’t mean I doesn’t like it, but I can’t list series that isn’t finish to just judged very good. I might make a different post of to list my favorites ongoing of 2009 that haven’t end yet. As for OVA’s and movies like Tsubasa Shunraiki, Cencoroll and Summer Wars, these are also another story. I can’t just judged one single episode or two into a whole TV series of the year. It’s just unfair in my point. Also if you wonder where Toradora, CLANNAD -After Story- are, I haven’t watch it finish yet *runs away from the fans* (but I would definitely have listed HIGH if you wonder ^^’)
Now I hope you liked the list I have put up =D
Top 15 favorite animes of the year 2009
15. Munto (Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai)
Story: Akuto, the main source of energy is running low and the Heavens, a world of islands, hidden beyond time, floating above ours, has united against the Magical Kingdom whom uses the most energy. To save both the Magical Kingdom and the Heavens and restore the flow of akuto, the Magical King Munto must follow a vision and find the girl Yumemi in the lower world. Yumemi herself is just a normal girl except that she is the only one who can see the islands of the Heavens floating above. When Munto appears before her she starts thinking about hers and others responsibility to the world.
Even though it has only 9 episodes, it still was a very well done anime from Kyoto Animation. There was nothing to worry about animation when it comes to KyoAni and we will surely get a lovely storyline. Thus the ending was a little disappointing but the overall story was great and enjoyable to keep watching. I recommend to watch!!
14. Hatsukoi Limited
Story: http://kittymimiko.multiply.com/reviews/item/35
I had never thought to put Hatuskoi Limited into my TOP series of the year, but when I think about it. The series itself had a charm with good storyline on each of the characters that were present. If there are a character I hate and really doing the story downhill, I would never have considered putting Hatuskoi Limited up. So is one of the reason I could put this put. The story itself is also great. First love from Hatsukoi Limited version shows us with both bad and good, and that is where the charm is. I’m sucker for bad ending love story like 5 centimeters per second, yet I also enjoy the happy ending. But realities are what I really enjoy to watch and Hatsukoi Limited was very enjoyable.
13. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Story: The story centers on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo’s artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yuuki at the start of summer vacation. A powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench, the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge crumble and fall, and the landscape of Tokyo changes in an instant. With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yuuki strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.
I know some people might just hate me for putting this series so low. But I honestly must say I was very disappointed of the series as I had high hopes for it since it was BONES. There wasn’t much “action” as I hope it would’ve been, that might be the reason I didn’t it much. But what could make me put this up? The overall story and the ending. I was very touched of the ending I literally cried too much. It was sad… very sad and I could see myself in it. I would recommend this series for everyone but this is not an action packed series to watch for those who look for that kind.
12.Hetalia Axis Powers
Story: Based on a popular web-released manga series by Hidekazu Himaruya, this has been described as a "cynical gag" story set in Europe in the years between WW1 and WW2 (1915-1939), using exaggerated caricatures of the different nationalities as portrayed by a gaggle of bishōnen. For example, the Italia Veneziano character is into pasta and women. The Deutsche (German) bishi loves potatoes and sausages, and Nippon is an otaku boy. Installments of the manga have jumped back and forth in setting from the ancient times to modern-day geopolitics.
Another series I didn’t consider to put up as TOP, yet this series attract me with it cutness and characters. I’m sure every girl felt for it but many easily got tired of it as it goes on (like me). The story was random yet, it close to history to make everyone who’s a history geek (like me) knows what’s going on and makes us laugh over it. And even if you didn’t understand much from the gag, you can always open put Wikipedia and look at the histories behind it. That makes you learn a lot and even might get good grades for knowing something like this XD! So Hetalia was a very good and fun anime that just got to be on TOP 15 fav.
11. 11eyes
Story: After losing his sister five years ago, Satsuki Kakeru led a vacant life, only able to return to his normal days with help from his childhood friend Minase Yuka and other friends at school.
Suddenly one day, the sky turns red and the moon turns black. Everyone besides Kakeru and Yuka disappears and monsters start roaming the streets. All that they were able to do was just to run away and hide. After a while, the world returns to normal. But just when they thought everything was a dream, the Red Night occurs again. Kakeru and Yuka manage to find four more humans who are involved in this mysterious phenomenon: Kusakabe Misuzu, a red-haired onmyouji swordswoman, Tachibana Kukuri, a strange mute girl who looks like Kakeru's deceased sister, Hirohara Yukiko, a lively young girl who reverts to the personality of a cold killer when her glasses are removed, and Tajima Takahisa, a young pyrokineticist.
They get together and try to survive, but six shadows suddenly appear in front of them...
11 for 11eyes! This series is a mess.. nothing much to say but a mess of entertainment. I have nothing much to say about this series since it was good with animation and the story even though it a mess without much understanding XD! But as mention, it’s very entertaining!
10. 07-Ghost
Story: http://kittymimiko.multiply.com/reviews/item/14
Now did I surprise you with giving a low rang for this series after all the fangirling comments about it? To tell you, I still have my sanity even this is the series that I kept talking so often about to no end yet there are many great series out there better than 07-Ghost. 07-Ghost almost one of most disappointing series yet I still watch the crap until the end. The story wasn’t very strong but it could have been better if the studio did tell us the right way. Either way, I love the animation and characters in the series which makes my day and each week I look forward to the series to be release. So 07-Ghost deserves to be in a special spot on my TOP fav of this year.
9. Seitokai no Ichizon
Story: The members of the student council of Hekiyou Gakuen are chosen by a popularity vote. As a result, all the members are cute girls except for Sugizaki Ken, who studied hard to enter the council. The story features the endless chattering of the members with full of parodies of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Dragon Ball" etc.
I had much fun watching this series with all the reference that are very obvious to see compare to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei which is often hard to spot if you’re not a real guru of anime world. There are also a little plot between the characters with all the reference in between but overall the series is funny enough to even overpower my 07-Ghost XD (here I go again... I’ll just end this before I start to compare them due to same studio maker)
8. Valkyria Chronicles
Story: http://kittymimiko.multiply.com/reviews/item/17
This series was a very enjoyable one with a lot of war-action and a romance in-between. Even though many said war shouldn’t look so happy and fluffy like this series, I still found the happy-go-lucky battle enjoyable until the end. (Though I still ship AliciaxFaldio..) Anyway, forget about my ramble. Valkyria Chronicles deserves to be in 8th due to my many enjoyable scene, the battle are good, the character are great (expect for one but that is okay) and the music makes it even better. Overall to put it simple, enjoyable series… :D
7. Pandora Hearts
Story: http://kittymimiko.multiply.com/reviews/item/12
Another series with fangirls ramble all over places with hot characters and etc.. But aside from that, it has a likely great storyline and plot that’s quiet memorial. The characters are very likeable on both boys and girls, and even the villains are hard hate at times. Hence the animation is very weird at first glance, but once you kept watching the whole series, you’ll grow to like it later. Pandora Hearts was my favorite manga but the anime didn’t live up to it as much as the manga did to me, still PH was very enjoyable to me.
6. Umineko no Naku koro Ni
Story: Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place on the island of Rokkenjima (六軒島), owned by the immensely wealthy Ushiromiya family. As customary per year, the entire family is gathering on the island for a conference that discusses the current financial situations of each respective person. Because of the family head's poor health, this year involves the topic of the head of the family’s inheritance and how it will be distributed. But on their meeting, a string of mysterious murders commence, forcing the eighteen people on the island to fight for their lives in a deadly struggle between fantasy and reality.
To simply list of what I like from Umineko is:
1. Beatrice’s trollkast is awesome
2. Beatrice’s moe moment was too priceless not to love
3. Battler’s turn the chess board is taking into my head
4. Witches are badass
5. The creep faces and the locked room games, enough said.
Umineko definitely was one of the series I enjoyed a lot and that doesn’t need to be said much <3
5. Kuroshitsuji
Story: In Victorian-era Europe, a young boy loses everything he once held near and dear to a vicious plot. In his moment of death, he strikes a deal with a demon: his soul, in exchange for revenge. Ciel Phantomhive is now the head of the Phantomhive corporation, handling all business affairs as well as the underground work for the Queen of England. His new partner is a demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis, whose powers as a butler is only surpassed by his strength as a demon.
As many are probably surprise why I put Kuroshitsuji on the list of 2009 since the anime was aired in 2008, but it actually ended in 2009. So I would like to count this as this year’s anime to fully judge the whole series rather judged it half way. Kuroshitsuji was very entertaining series which had me laughed quiet a lot with a dark humor jokes, but the seriousness are there too which I liked. The storyline, animation and characters were great I just got to love this series ^^ (Sebby-chan)
4. Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom -
Story: A spate of mafia assassinations occurs in America, the work of the mysterious organization named Inferno. "Phantom" is their strongest and capable assassin, however a lone tourist witnesses Phantom's latest act of murder. He unwittingly exposes the top assassin's true identity, a young girl named Ein. Witnesses are usually killed, but the man is captured and taken to be brainwashed into "Zwei", Inferno's newest assassin, with no memory of who he is. From this point on, Zwei is drawn into a world of conspiracy, deceit and violence.
Okay, I have nothing much to say why I love this series so much. I am very surprised of BEETRAIN to manage to pull a very good series off after what they did to Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. The soundtrack, the character, the plot and the ending was very satisfy that I can hardly get it out of me. It’s kind of reminds me of the “Nice boat” syndrome that I couldn’t get it off my head (but there is nothing that could replace School Days for that awesome ending). Anyway, Phantom deserves to be in my top list at least of this year ^^
3. Saki
Story: Miyanaga Saki is a high school freshman who doesn’t like mahjong. Ever since she was a child, she would lose her New Year’s gift money during her family mahjong game. If she won, her parents would be upset, and if she lost, well, she lost. As a result, she’s learned to play in such a way that her score always remains plus/minus zero: not good enough to win, but not bad enough to lose. When we meet her, she’s being dragged to her school’s mahjong club by an old friend. How will a girl who hates mahjong, yet has become adept at the game as a result of her upbringing, survive in this environment?
Now you probably think I’m lesbian for putting a yuri series so high ups but I’m not. I really didn’t enjoy much of the yuri things that happens but it doesn’t make much impact on me to just simply hate it. Putting aside the yuriness, the whole things was very enjoyable with mahjong action and everything made me excited. The music and cutness was definitely an eye candy for me, so I pretty much enjoy everything about it.
2. CANAAN
Story: The modern-day story centers on a group of people, from all walks of life, who are brought together in Shanghai by bizarre events with worldwide implications.
What can I say to this series? Sugoi sugoi sugoi *get shot*
Okay I know you probably hate this word and don’t really want to hear it ever again from experience with this series. I guess I was the only one that liked Maria’s personality and her upper brightness cheerful mood she kept created in the series. But putting Maria aside, everything in CANAANs was well done since it has spent lot of budget which totally deserves to be at top. Even though there are many disturbed scene and many crazy character that could compete with Beatrice (eks. Liang vs Beatrice). This series are very recommended to watch for those who like action and political plot involve.
1. Eden of the East/Higashi no eden
Story: On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be known as "Careless Monday," does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later... Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory. and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he's holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash.
Without a much word to say, this series is my most favorite of all. I enjoyed every episode and every plot that were thrown. The location of the place, the soundtrack, the animation (MORITA!), the awesome phone and I could go on… But seriously, check out the whole series and you will understand why I like it.
I also wanted to add on Honorable mention that I was thinking to put as nr. 1 is Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou. Even it’s a slice of life series, it was definitely very calm and enjoyable for me to totally love it for many reason.
Well, here are all the listed ^^! Happy New Year every and hope for more great animes that are coming this year (if I get the time to watch them <.<)