2010 wrap-up, 2011 plans and some updates.
Late New Years entry but w/e. First and foremost I have to say I'm rather surprised (with myself) that this blog actually survived and prospered this far. Sure, It's only been a little over 4 months that I established this site but I'm not quite someone who can keep a diary, let alone a blog up for long before it gets abandoned and forgotten. It's also nice knowing that my translations can benefit fellow fans who seek them, just like how I was before I could understand a smidgen of Japanese. I still won't claim that my lingual skills are advanced enough to do great translations but I'll try my best to keep improving! Having said all that, I'd like to do a brief rundown of the series that I immensely enjoyed last year as well as my plans for the blog this year.
My definition of 'best' tends to be rather broad, since to me an anime series is good as long as I'm entertained. Anything more than that is a bonus and these are the shows I felt gave me just that. Bear in mind the rankings are not set in stone and are rather interchangeable. Your mileage may vary but of course, these are just my humble opinions. There's still plenty that I have interest in but have yet to watch (Tatami Galaxy, for instance) so these are based on what I did watch.
Best Anime (TV Series) 2010
1. Katanagatari
Novels written by Nisioisin, beautifully illustrated by take and a gorgeous adaptation by White Fox with an excellent top-tier soundtrack by Taku Iwasaki. Honestly, this was a magnificent 1 year journey together with Togame and Shichika. I've always been a fan of Nisio's so I had high expectations for this and was met with utter satisfaction in the end. The epilogue narration really hit it home with me and provided a nice closure to this tale. Oh, have I also mentioned how goddamn amazing the soundtrack is? Definitely one of the best I've heard from Taku.
2. Durarara!!
The amount of DRRR!! mania I've displayed on this blog should speak volumes about how much I enjoyed this. Stylish, crazy, high tension and loads of fun as one would expect from Narita Ryohgo's stories and his boatloads of insane characters. Brains Base's Baccano! team did an ace job at this anime and Yasuda Suzuhito's style was captured very well.
3. Ookiku Furikabutte ~Natsu no Taikai-hen~
Ah, Oofuri. I never in my life expected something like it to capture my interest this much. Initially watching the first season on a whim to try different genres, I found it to be a good series and slowly but surely found myself drawn into it as time went by. By the time the second season was announced it went from 'a surprisingly really good show' to 'damn, I bloody love this show' by the last episode. The characters are charming and well characterized. The main battery of Abe & Mihashi was well developed over both seasons and finally coming full circle by the 13th episode of the sequel. The rest of the cast have their unique personalities/traits and contribute towards the overall performance of the team. They have such wonderful/amusing interactions that I can't help but root for them.
Oh and Yanaken, Oofuri may have enough BL undertones to make fangirls wet, but it's most definitely not a straight-up (har har) BL series.
4. Shiki
Shiki has been all kinds of fantastic, but certainly not without it's share of flaws. Overall though, I do not regret watching this well crafted tragedy and it's depiction of human nature and morality. Great music and a unique art style and funky hairdos everywhere.
5. The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Without a doubt one of the best fantasy series I've encountered. Good star-studded cast and production by ZECXS, this high fantasy story hit all the right buttons with me most of the time. There may have been some problems that came from adapting 11 novels into 24 episodes, but it still turned out to be a damn good show. The incredibly open ending couldn't be helped considering Denyuden is meant to be a prequel to The Legend of the Great Legendary Heroes, which I would love to see animated once it concludes (but alas, the sales speak otherwise ;_;)
6. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Extended my list to include this because it certainly deserves mention. Everyone's talking about this and it's no wonder. While it stumbled a little at the beginning as it tried to get most of the already familiar material out of the way, once that was done it accelerated into one hell of an epic roller coaster ride with some of the best fight choreography and animation that not many TV series can dream of rivaling. The soundtrack by Akira Senju is just as grand and certainly memorable. Honestly imo, the previous adaptation just does not hold a candle to this. At all. It doesn't help that the first series had that crappy movie known as Shamballa as it's conclusion.
Once again I'd like to stress that I love those 6 so much that I they're all 2010's No.1 to me. Of course, those were only tv series which i covered and there are still many noteworthy titles which i am not willing to mention since it would require even more time. I will however, recommend three anime movies I've watched this year. No need for introductions or long winded paragraphs, cause they're just simply awesome and must be watched (imho).
Now onwards to the blog's future this year. You may have noticed that I've implemented a rotating banner. Bet you may not have realised that there are nearly 20 different banners eh? orz. What do you think about them? Anyway I'll be replacing some of them gradually whenever I feel like it. Also now that Nurarihyon no Mago season 1 had ended, the series that will be getting my main attention on this blog will be:
GOSICKYes, BONES adaptation of the award winning novel series written by Kazuki Sakuraba and illustrated by Hinata Takeda, GOSICK will be the focus of this blog for this Winter season. Having read and enjoyed the first two novels available in English, I'm naturally excited about the anime. I intend to cover GOSICK the way I've been doing Nuramago (as in, stalk sites for news and merch). I plan to translate the drama cd after I finish the Pandora Hearts drama cds, which means that GOSICK's drama cd will become top priority. Of course, everything else such as short translations like the DRRR!! special voices and info/merch updates for other series will still carry on as usual.
I think I've written more than I planned to so here's to a progressive 2011!!