2010 Summary Part 2: Character Edition

And here is the second out of four 2010 Summary posts I’ve planned for this year. I’ve noticed that during previous years, I paid rather little attention to the different characters that appeared in each year, so this time I decided to devote an entire post to them. This post contains a bunch of character-based awards, along with my top 6 of favourite supporting characters, male characters and female characters. These were really the characters who caught my attention the most and made the biggest impression on me, so yes: they’re quite personal lists. Feel free to share your own favourite characters of 2010 in the comment section. 😉

Most annoying character

Ookami Kakushi – Hiroshi Kuzumi

This award only goes up for the series that I finished watching. If I didn’t drop Amagami SS on its half-way point, half its cast would probably have walked away with this award. Another character who really annoyed me this year was Elcea from The World God Only Knows as an incredibly obnoxious moeblob, but Hiroshi, the lead character from Ookami Kakushi takes the cake. Throughout the entire series, he’s supposed to be the central character, and yet he does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. He just runs around randomly, says the most generic lines and never gets the story anywhere. This guy… who found it a good idea to make him the central character?

Worst Character

Iron Man – Tony Stark

Again, this only goes for the shows that I actually finished this year, but dear god. At the start of this year, I really could not have guessed that I’d pick an adult for this category. Still, there’s so much wrong with Tony Stark’s character that I hardly know where to start. It’s a complete bastardization of a Cobra-wannabe, who runs after women with cheesy one-liners at one time and keeps on sprouting ridiculously corny morals the other. As a superhero he also makes some of the dumbest decisions out there. I really hope that Wolverine will fare better. A honorable mention goes to Il Re from Togainu no Chi, just for what the heck he turned into in the final two episodes of that series.

Best Cast of Minor Characters

Giant Killing

This award goes to the series that had my favourite side and supporting characters, both major and minor. With this award, I especially want to congratulate the series that came with huge casts, and yet gave every character his own purpose, story and development. Full Metal Alchemist and the Armed Librarians were especially good at this, but also Shiki and the way that it gave a unique feel to all of its villagers stands out and Star Driver is also doing a pretty good job so far. None were as good as Giant Killing though: the entire series is about teamwork, and how everyone involved with football is important, from the players to the coaches, the management and the supporters. All of the characters in Giant Killing were great to watch and together they painted a wonderful whole.

Best Voice Acting

Sarai-ya Goyou

This year had a lot of comedies where you could really hear that the voice actors were having the time of their lives: Gag Manga Biyori and Tentai Senshi Sunred had very simple animation, but this gave their voice actors a lot of freedom that they used really well. Beyond that, Full Metal Alchemist also had a very inspired voice cast and Yojou-han’s endlessly fast monologues were also a delight to follow. Ookiku Furikabutte delivered a greatly realistic and down to earth performance, but in the end I decided to pick Sarai-ya Goyou for this category. The voice actors are both restrained and deliver with a lot of emotions, and they really seem to understand their characters.

Best Character Development on a single character

Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – Watashi

There were a few characters this year that were really well developed throughout their series. A simple form of this is Kobato, who grew up wonderfully as a character. Then there also are these long-running series like Full Metal Alchemist and Cross Game who make great use of their time to show the span of several years. Especially Kou, Aoba and Edward go through these great, subtle changes. For great changes that are anything but subtle, there was Shiki with Toshio who really hardened up as a character with all of the things that happened to him. The best though, was Watashi: the entire series is devoted to showing his antics, and in how many different ways he can change depending on the choices that he makes. Usually the series with the great character development are the long ones, but this is one series that puts more character-development in than most other.

Best Character Development on an entire Cast

Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra

Armed Librarians was just amazing: in every arc, it just took a bunch of characters and developed them in a way that just kept surprising me. Even the long series of Cross Game and Full Metal Alchemist, which both had around twice the amount of episodes to develop their cast didn’t do it as interesting as Bantorra did it. They do take up the second and third place, though: the way in which they show several years subtly change their entire cast made them into some really memorable series. I also want to give a honorable mention to Rainbow: granted there was a lot of stuff wrong with its characterization, but it really tried to give its seven main characters as much development as possible, and that’s really what saved that series from being yet another cheesy drama.

Top 6 Supporting Characters

#6: Rainbow – Ishihara

Ishihara is actually a character that I for a long while considered way too over the top to be likable, often dubbing him “Psycho Guard”. But in the end that’s what his charms turned out to be: he was such a ridiculously over the top character that he became priceless at the point where Rainbow’s plot really got interesting. He’s the ultimate of sadistic characters, but at the same time his development and conclusion had me nailed to the screen.

#5: Kuroshitsuji – Alois Trancy

I only noticed this once I had fully compiled this top list, but my favourite supporting characters of 2010 are chock full of testosterone while surprisingly this isn’t necessarily the case for my favourite main characters. The characters on this list are just so out there that they immediately caught my attention, despite not being the central characters. In the end, Ciel and Sebastian remained the central characters of Kuroshitsuji’s second season, despite all of the hints that previously pointed at this sequel. I still believe that Alois should have been good enough as a lead character himself: his flamboyance totally dominated every scene he was in and it was always great to see his rambling.

#4: Giant Killing – Kazuki Kuroda

Much less over the top than the two previous entries, Kuroda was the lovable nagger of the series: he was constantly complaining and annoying the people around him, but he did it in such a way that it just instantly became charming. Especially when he was trying to pick a fight with people much taller than him. As the series goes on, we also learned quite a bit about him and some of the soccer players around him.

#3: Shiki – Tomio Ookawa

Tomio Ookawa is hard core. He mostly stood out in the latter half of Shiki through his actions, but this guy genuinely impressed me. The exact reason why is riddled with spoilers, but as a supposedly random villager, his change and development were a part that made the final act of Shiki truly memorable.

#2: Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – King Bradley

The thing with King Bradley is that even the animators loved him as a character: every single action scene involving him portrays him as an unstoppable beast with absolutely gorgeous and imaginative drawings. This guy is ridiculously competent and at the same time his backstory gives him a surprising amount of depth.

#1: Shiki – Tatsumi

When I first saw Tatsumi, I laughed at his ridiculous haircut. Throughout the series however, he really made me take all of that back. He is an excellent villain: just when things are starting to look good, this guy shows up. His loyalty and aggression really made him stand out as one of the top characters of 2010, especially considering how he as a villain has so relatively little airtime.

Top 6 Male Characters

#6: Cross Game – Kitamura Kou

First and foremost, Kitamura Kou is a wonderful character to watch during the many slice of life moments in this series. His often-faked nonchalance is consistently witty and enjoyable to watch. He forms a good combination with just about every other character of Cross Game, but his relationship with Aoba really stands out with the way that the creators just consistently kept subtly poking it. His development is amazing, with fifty episodes dedicated to his growth from elementary schooler to a high school student.

#5: xxxHolic Rou – Watanuki

Watanuki only appeared in one single OVA this year, so he counts too as a character of 2010. I mean, before this OVA Watanuki already was a really well developed and sympathetic character, and here the Rou OVA comes and SPOILER is suddenly SPOILER and not to mention that SPOILER. It’s a very spoilerific OVA so I’m not going to detail what happened in this Summary, but he really impressed me.

#4: Sarai-ya Goyou – Yaichi

Sarai-ya Goyou had sublime characterizations, so a few characters were bound to turn up in these lists. Yaichi was an enigmatic character throughout the entire series, subtly menacing, yet he had a ton of different sides. His conclusion was especially stunning, but he was portrayed consistently excellent throughout the entire series.

#3: Shiki – Toshio Ozaki

The reason Toshio is amongst my favourite characters has a lot to do with the things he does through the series. Again due to spoiler reasons I can’t exactly explain what part of him left such a huge impression on me, but those who watched the series can probably imagine what I’m referring to. I will say that we don’t often get doctors as main characters, and this makes him a unique main character for this series to work with.

#2: Sarai-ya Goyou – Masanosuke Akitsu

Masanosuke was completely unlike your average samurai, lacking in confidence due to his timid personality. He had a subtle background, and the entire series was about him coming to terms with both himself and his new friends where he was forced to question his own morals. He was a terrific lead character with excellent development throughout the series, and the chemistry he had with the rest of the cast worked in just about every way.

#1: Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – Watashi

This top 6 is really dominated by Noitamina, but both Shiki, Sarai-Ya Goyou and Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei featured some truly terrific characters, al in their own way. My favourite was Watashi, though. It’s like I said above: every single episode was dedicated to developing Watashi in a different way, depending on the choices he made. He was generally a loser, but in some he was actually successful. In some he was an idiot, in others he turned into a prankster and in others he completely wasted his time. Everything comes together wonderfully at the end, everything about his development feels completely calculated. And that’s what made me chose him as my favourite male character of 2010.

Top 6 Female Characters

#6: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – Noloty Maruchie

Noloty could be a main character or a side one; Armed Librarians always was a bit vague on who its main characters were, but with the impact she made on the story, I’m considering her a main one. The thing is that with Noloty, she could have easily been a really annoying character: she’s the epitome of morality. But the creators played it so pure, making her naivety both a cure and a curse with long-lasting implications. Because of this she avoided the problem that most characters with strong morals have: becoming preachy.

#5: Seikimatsu Occult GakuinMaya Kumashiro

Occult Gakuin’s biggest fault was that it spent too much time on Maya’s character, and too little on the plot. This left a really unbalanced series. But granted, Maya was an awesome character in the end. She was ridiculously fun to watch as a strong character with plenty of flaws and her deadpan attitude to everything was consistently entertaining. On top of that, Occult Gakuin is one of the first shows who can actually boast some good five-minute DVD-specials that show a very cute younger version of her.

#4: Cross Game – Tsukishima Aoba

The creators really had a knack for portraying Aoba in situations that turned out completely different from what you first thought they were. Aoba is a very talented baseball player and teacher to Kou, and yet it’s tragic that due to being a girl, she can’t really participate in official matches. Her loyalty to Wakaba combined with her wonderful realistic portrayal made her a character who was consistently enjoyable throughout 50 episodes.

#3: Letter Bee – Nichi

Nichi is awesome in just about everything she does. Her innocence is both comedic gold and captivating in the serious scenes. She works well in combination with just about every other character due to her childish jealousy and loyalty.

#2: Kobato – Hanato Kobato

Clamp… you did it again. I’m not sure why, but they really have a talent to create captivating characters with really strong developments, and Kobato was 2010’s addition to this. For most of Kobato’s first half, she was this typical ditzy female character who just runs around, but as the series moved on, she more and more grew up, found her identity and her conclusion was amongst the best of the year. I usually like strong characters, but Kobato’s charms and innocence really won me over.

#1: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – Hamyuts Meseta

This number one spot was a no-brainer for me. Hamyuts Meseta is in a completely different league from all of the other characters this year. She single-handedly took the concept of a strong female character and gave a totally new meaning to it. She was just a fantastic anti-heroine throughout the entire series, and her wishes to die were only a slight hint to her eventual back-story. Hamy consistently kicked ass when she appeared on the screen and her entire appearance was like a steam train: nearly unstoppable.

46 thoughts on “2010 Summary Part 2: Character Edition

  1. I’m usually too shy to comment, but I just wanted to say that I hope you continue covering characters every season! This was a great post 🙂

  2. Well since you asked, Celty, Akashi, and Togame were more entertaining than anything in Armed Librarians. Hamyuts Meseta did actually became more interesting near the end of the show, so maybe I could see knocking out the one-dimensional Noloty and keeping her.

  3. Both Kitamura and Aoba really made Cross Game for me and both are my favorite characters.

    Cross Game is an anime that I would not think that I would be interested in at all…(a sports anime….seriously?). My tastes usually drift toward Gundam, Macross or outright silly anime like Hayate no Gotoku.

    But the characterization of the characters especially Kitamura and Aoba had me coming back for more.

  4. I was really not impressed with Armed Librarians, so some choices just look wrong to me. Maybe I should give it another try (dropped at Ep. 2 before). Other than that though I agree with your choices (especially the uselessness that was the Ookami Kakushi Lead).

  5. I LOVED Armed Librarians so I mostly agree with your choices. Hamyuts Meseta was a complete character, she had differents sides and was a total bad-ass. The cast of House of Five Leaves were also some of my favourites!

  6. Great list, I agree with almost everything… And having just watched Armed Librarians a couple days ago, I love that you picked Hamy for best character

    A big part of it goes to the voice actress as well, which fits the character PERFECTLY

    In fact, thinking back, the parts I enjoyed the most out of the whole anime were the flashbacks to Hamy’s past, particularly that episode where she meets Matt

  7. Watanuki is far and away one of my favorite manga/anime characters. Great to see him get a mention, it’s too bad Holic anime releases are so few & far between now.

    Kobato was definitely my favorite for 2010, the balance the staff and Kana Hanazawa managed to strike as not to make the character optimistic and cheerful to the point of being annoying was skillful. She was just so damn cute from the outfits to the voice to the personality. Great choice. They totally floundered on the male lead, however…

    Aoba, Kou and Five Leaves crew also fantastic choices. Will check out some of the others on your list out of curiosity.

    I personally would have given the worst character to the lead of The World God Only Knows… the most awful show and lead I’ve seen in recent memory.

  8. Tomio Ookawa should be number one. He’s just went insane and amazing at the end of Shiki! I would have to agree with Kuzumi being an annoying character. I didn’t see any characters from Ookiku though, I think both Abe and Ren were an amazing characters this year.

    Speaking of characters, you should have added characters with chemistry, koibitos, tandem characters and/or worst excuse for a loveteam. Just a thought, but I think you might have more in store for us.

  9. @Msteak, Even Kirino would be better than Hamyutsu Meseta as a bitch lead. That char was unidimensional and stereotypical for 25 episodes, and was saved at the last moment for the grand finale. At least choose Mirepoc that sucks slightly less than her boss…

  10. I’ve got to agree with(most of) your choices, specially Hamyuts Meseta! Just like you say, she was an unstoppable train that screamed her strengths and weakness and was always reacting to everything brilliantly, I would’ve added any of the fem leads of Katanagatari since I consider them great but that’s just my way.

  11. @Otaku Surf: I agree. Personally I think baseball could possibly be one of the worst sports ever. Yet Cross Game is one of my favorite animes ever. It shows how with the right talent, you could even make a show about watching paint dry be amazing.

  12. @Solaris: Can you stop insulting Hamyuts Meseta already? Everyone gets it that you don’t like her, stop forcing your opinion on other people by keep saying how bad of a character she is.

    I was surprised and glad to see Maya up there xD
    Didn’t like Kobato and Watanuki though. I think I hate most of Clamp’s characters.

  13. The only character (among the positive rankings) that I could never understand has become pleasing to any fan is Kobato, the rest I could relate and agree. =P

    I haven’t thought of my own favorites yet… and it would be quite difficult since I haven’t seen much 2010 series. What I’m certain though is that Kaitou KID from Magic Kaitou and Izaya from DRRR!! would be my number one, followed by Alois from Kuroshitsuji 2.

  14. Well.. I’m the ones who also hated Armed Librarinas with passion – -;
    ambitious show that never go anywhere…

    anyway there’s a LOT annoying characters this year.half of Amagami SS ,agreed.other than that :Kasugano siblings in Yosuga (+ Nao), Ookami-san’s narrator,Eiji Nizuma (so irritating),Saya from HOTD,Simon,Kadota,and Mikado (yes many characters from Durarara),Shouko in Baka to Test,almost everyone in Hakuouki,almost everyone in Seitokai Yakuindomo (too bad),EVERYONE in To love Ru

  15. Kobato is a bit of a surprise to me too,especialy so high,though I guess I can see where you are coming from.

    Problem for people that might have just watched a couple episodes is that they might not get that she actually evolved as a character,the turning point was episode 13 where things didn’t go as she wanted and she had to accept reality,from that point on she really started growing as a character beyond the dumb/innocent/cheerful girl she was in the first half.

    I definatly think many people underate her,so i’m glad someone gives her credit,but 2nd place is quite high

  16. Yes, Kobato did it! And surely Armed Librarians, Sarai-ya Goyou and Shiki had the best cast of characters this year… Maybe for some previous years too.

    Hamy is the best. While watching Drrr I hoped Celty will develop this good. But…

  17. Heinsia: Your kind remark just let me want to continue, just to piss you off.
    I said elsewhere everybody have their own tastes, and it’s fine. But that doesn’t mean I must applaud everyone’s other choice cause it would hurt their own susceptibility do else way.
    The example with Kirino and Mirepoc wasn’t just for show. I can show that both have much more to praise than Meseta chick.
    She, at number one ranking for the whole year, means that Psgels couldn’t find any other best char and appointed that as #1. Just notice Meseta and quite any other char from Bantorra bring a strong negative message. I said it in Bantorra’s review once. The shows redeems itself as the ultimate thesis is that life blooms from negativity and horror too. But episodes and episodes of heavy despair are there, and hinder all the chars. The one that “grows” the most isn’t Meseta, but Mirepoc.
    With this said, I am free to say you, or Psgels aren’t right, and discuss with them. This is not rudeness or forcing opinions. This is civil discussion. Unless the parts don’t come to a mutual agreement, at least it’s not war, it’s just two opposite opinions that are worth exactly the same.
    So, I’ll continue to disagree when I feel like it, and if you fell offence in that pity yourself, not I.

  18. Solaris:You are talking like you created the show or written the novel. What you say is still your point of view on the whole thing.

    I think you are looking at her from only one point. But she is the best, because she has a lot of different sides. Thats why it takes time to understand her, that’s why she is so interesting.

  19. Yeah, I agree that Hamyuts Meseta deserved that top spot : )

    @Solaris, you can disagree all day till the cows come home. Still not going to change the fact that she’s number one here. ^^

  20. It’s just two opposite opinions that are worth exactly the same.
    Blogs are made for discussion, and it’s not a crime to point out some criticism.
    It’s not like I see someone disagreeing with the bloggers once, in any blog I visited.
    It’s like you people haven’t any opinion, so you borrow that of the blogger. (Psgel’s here)
    I would never pretend any change in that rating, but I pretend less conformism in you all that are audience.
    Just start thinking with your own head you damn conformists.
    Tell me your choice and explain it to me. Don’t stick with the blogger’s one only cause he’s the king here and must be right by default.
    You aren’t making him a favor too like that.
    If your reason matches his and not mine, it’s not like I loose the war, we only grow in understanding, right because many opinion make our own view grow larger.
    So, enough with Bantorra. I’ll take you on in it’s own topic, if it’s necessary, but let’s end it here.

  21. @Solaris: Your reply to me is civil but the other ones before that aren’t. You didn’t say how or why Meseta is bad, you just insulted her for no reason.
    No one tells you to not disagree, but speaking out your opinion is different from trying to tell everyone to stop liking a character because you hate her. Which is my impression of what you were doing.
    If you tried to piss me off by your reply, than I’m sorry to say that you failed because you didn’t swear on her.

    Just like how you prefer to say how you disagree with Psgels, there are people who prefer to talk about what they agree with him and don’t mention the part they disagree. If you want to know why people like/hate a character, ask them to explain. Just because they don’t say anything doesn’t mean they don’t think anything.

  22. @Solaris

    Kirino as in My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute? You mean the type of character who functions only to pander to Otaku by projecting her as their wet dream? As one-dimensional as Hammy was, anything is better than such lazy characterization. At least the former had reason to act like a complete bitch, and was amusing throughout her antics. The latter, though? Not so much.

  23. It’s always nice to see a list that isn’t dominated by moemoe and flat characterization. Hamyuts and Bradley would make for one hell of a pairing, at least, if I was the shipping type.

    > since you asked, Celty, Akashi, and Togame were more entertaining than anything in Armed Librarians

    Lol. Celty? Cute, yeah, but not developed at all as a character beyond some token awkward romance and creepy backstory plugs.

    Togame? You mean the vengeful girl that said cheerio a lot as though it was funny? I thought she was one of the least interesting characters in that series.

    Akashi was much better, but she’s not really that memorable, and is completely overshadowed by Watashi and other characters.

    @Solaris:
    Your trolling always has me just the slightest bit worried that you might actually be taking it seriously. Kudos. You’d make Kirino proud.

  24. Well, I didn’t want to follow up the conversation any more, but I guess I have to answer this.
    Yes, that Kirino. That show started as bad as you say, but later its chars are fleshed out very well, as long as Oreimo turns into a nice comedy. There would be more to say, but all of its chars are depicted better than how it may look at start. The end is another facepalm too, so the overall impression of the show can’t be good, but not as bad as its first impression though. Kirino is depicted not so flat and her bitchy whims are cause of the feeling she can’t express for his beloved brother, who is as dense as ever.
    Hamyutsu Meseta, as I said before, is an anti-hero, but brings a negative message for most of the show. She’s haxed for most of the show, and resembles more of a villain than of an anti-hero. Her char was fleshed via deus ex machina at the end of the show, rather than being carefully fleshed out during the show.
    So between a not so good char, but that’s being developed, corrected and given quite some deepness in only 12 episode, and one that is horrible for 24 episodes and saved on the last four, what should I choose?

  25. Lol. Celty? Cute, yeah, but not developed at all as a character beyond some token awkward romance and creepy backstory plugs.

    I think you are moving the pea on me. The question wasn’t, “Which characters are well-developed?” but rather “Who else can you choose from?” I used for inclusion of (absent from psgel’s list) female characters the criterion that they were ‘more entertaining’ (it’s a technical term, naturally, see page 166 of MTW’s Gravitation for details) than the characters from Armed Librarians. Armed Librarians characters were, paired-down comic book (said with haughty scorn) characters filled with different ideologies and then acted out rigidly for most of the show, until the adaptation decay piled into that crazy, but admittedly interesting, stuff toward the end that ultimately salvaged Hamy from fitting (with a squinted, possibly infected eye) your caricature of Togame without the ‘cheerio!’

    Female characters in these shows are often not very well-developed, because they serve mostly as fan service of one type or other. Sometimes simple types without a lot of development are just easier to write for. If I were going to look for a series where I would expect some developing of the female characters it would have been Sarai-ya Goyou, but the females received short-shrift there.

    It’s not that males are necessarily given a lot of development, either. Tatsumi, for example, has no development as a character, and when Shiki ends you don’t know anything about his history. However, I would still agree with psgel’s ranking him as the best supporting male character for the 2010 season. The performance of the voice actor, in conjunction with his efficacy and level-headedness made him threatening, while not being too perfect that he thwarted Eldritch Horrors between episodes kept him from being too cheap. Sometimes, perhaps, what characters aren’t is as important to then working as a storytelling device as what they are.

    Now (pushing glasses up) I think that pretty much wraps this discussion up.

  26. @solaris

    Just to be sure I understand you,are you saying “Meseta is so bad that even Kirino is better” or is kirino in your top 6 female characters of the year?

    (not going to debate with you I just want to know if I understood you correctly

  27. @Solaris.
    If you followed along in Bantorra, you’d have noticed that Hamyuts had development in most episodes, not just in the end. She’s always there in the background, with other characters trying to find out what her larger goals are, as well as how she relates to the other antagonists of the series. She’s not just always there treating her brother like a doormat because she secretely loves him (how convenient).

    But whatever, I’m not going to argue anymore over something so trivial. If you prefer Kirino and OreImo, that’s really not an issue to me. Kirino certainly *was* memorable, just not the type of “entertaining” I like. Much like Hamyuts isn’t the type of “entertaining” that you like.

    @m: yeah, I misinterpreted you.. I see your argument now. But I have to say it still doesn’t change anything on my end. Hamyuts was still more entertaining and intriguing to me as a character, and I simply didn’t find her as cookie-cutter as it appears you did. That’s fine, and I also agree with you – there were a lot of colorful characters with little actual depth this year (including the ones you listed). And some of them, like Celty and Hamyuts, were understandably short-changed because of being in shows with huge casts.

  28. @Totoum: “Meseta is so bad that even Kirino is better” was what I meant.

    Bantorra is sure one of the best stories I saw this year, but it’s so heavy, so pretentious i barely arrived at the end. I guess it’s a matter of mood, cause it excels in storytelling and plot. I must admit it.

  29. Anyway, I already argued with someone and wrote a lot about Bantorra in its own topic. If you’re really willing to speak about Bantorra, lets move there already. I stole enough space here. Just don’t mind me anymore and continue your former discussions.

  30. How could you chose Hamyuts Meseta as the best female character? She was a one layer character, the story holds up pretty well but you get tired of that b!tch pretty soon, to me she was like a fan service char for the series.

  31. @Solaris

    Fleshed out? Really? In what way was she fleshed out than acting like a stereotypical tsundere who basically acted like a digital inflated sex doll? Her love for eroge is as wish-fulfilling as things get, and the peer pressure dipicted is just a means to make her appeal even more to Otaku. None of it was smart or very well crafted. Furthermore, the show got worse as the story progressed, turning into a let’s rally under the banner of moe instead of showing appreciation for your hobby and thus being more open to it.

    If you paid more attention to Bantorra than you should’ve known that its major theme was love, and how such a pure emotion can be turned into a cynical weapon not above rebuke. So Hammy fitted perfectly in the mold of that theme and overal story.

  32. Ignoring Bantorra for a moment (I dropped it after the first episodes – wasn’t a fan of its story or voice acting), how could anyone say Togame had a really boring and uninteresting character?!

    Her character was consistently developed in every episode, and there was a great mystery about her intentions throughout the anime.

    The last episode also had a brilliant! twist in her character that forces you to reinterpret all of her previous actions in a different light and it all still makes perfect sense. Or was there even a twist in the end? Was that the real her in the last episode or was the real her in the previous 11 episodes? This level of complex character development is quite rare.

    I won’t say Togame should have been ranked 1st – I didn’t see Bantorra so I can’t make any substantial comment about its female characters.

    Still, Togame most certainly is one of the more (or even most) developed female leads of 2010.

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