Mahou Shoujotai – (TV) – 97/100 Noein – (TV) – 96/100 Birdy the Mighty Decode 2 – (TV) – 95/100 Bokura no – (TV) – 95/100 Gankutsuou – (TV) – 95/100 Kaiba – (TV) – 95/100 Monster – (TV) – 95/100 Revolutionary Girl Utena – (TV) – 95/100 Simoun – (TV) – 95/100 Strange Dawn – (TV) – 95/100 The Third – (TV) – 95/100 Figure 17 – Tsubasa and Hikaru – (TV) – 94/100 Haibane Renmei – (TV) – 94/100 Kaze no Shoujo Emily – (TV) – 94/100 Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – (TV) – 94/100 Mushishi – (TV) – 94/100 Shion no Ou – (TV) – 94/100 Toward the Terra – (TV) – 94/100 Asatte no Houkou – (TV) – 93/100 Baccano! – (TV) – 93/100 Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – (TV) – 93/100 Hi no Tori – (TV) – 93/100 The Dog of Flanders – (Movie) – 93/100 Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai. – (TV) – 92,5/100 Aoi Bungaku – (TV) – 92,5/100 Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra – (TV) – 92,5/100 Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – (TV) – 92,5/100 Himitsu ~The Revelation~ – (TV) – 92,5/100 Infinite Ryvius – (TV) – 92,5/100 Legend of the Galactic Heroes – (OVA) – 92,5/100 Maison Ikkoku – (TV) – 92,5/100 Mawaru Penguin Drum – (TV) – 92,5/100 Michiko e Hatchin – (TV) – 92,5/100 Mouryou no Hako – (TV) – 92,5/100 Mysterious Cities of Gold – (TV) – 92,5/100 Nana – (TV) – 92,5/100 Phantom – (TV) – 92,5/100 Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – (TV) – 92,5/100 Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei – (TV) – 92,5/100 Ghost Hound – (TV) – 92/100 Jigoku Shoujo – (TV) – 92/100 Mermaid’s Forest – (TV) – 92/100 Otogi Juushi Akazukin – (TV) – 92/100 Tokyo Godfathers – (Movie) – 92/100 Eternal Family – (Movie) – 91/100 Eureka 7 – (TV) – 91/100 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – (TV) – 91/100 Le Chevalier d’Eon – (TV) – 91/100 Millennium Actress – (Movie) – 91/100 Natsuyuki Rendezvous – (TV) – 91/100 Now and Then, Here and There – (TV) – 91/100 Seirei no Moribito – (TV) – 91/100 Air – (TV) – 90/100 Amatsuki – (TV) – 90/100 Anne no Nikki – The Diary of Anne Frank – (Movie) – 90/100 Ashita no Nadja – (TV) – 90/100 Black Jack OVA – (TV) – 90/100 Casshern Sins – (TV) – 90/100 Clannad After Story – 90/100 Cowboy Bebop – (TV) – 90/100 Flag – (TV) – 90/100 From the New World – (TV) – 90/100 Giant Killing – (TV) – 90/100 Gintama Episodes 1-100 – (TV) – 90/100 Glass Mask (2005) – (TV) – 90/100 Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino – (TV) – 90/100 Hi no Tori Houou-Hen – (Movie) – 90/100 Hi no Tori Uchuu-Hen – (OVA) – 90/100 Honey and Clover – (TV) – 90/100 Hunter X Hunter OVA – (OVA) – 90/100 Kaleido Star – (TV) – 90/100 Kodomo no Omocha – (TV) – 90/100 Kurau Phantom Memory – (TV) – 90/100 Kyousogiga – (TV) – 90/100 Level E – (TV) – 90/100 Metropolis – (Movie) – 90/100 Mobile Police Patlabor OVA 2 – (OVA) – 90/100 Nodame Cantabile – (TV) – 90/100 Perrine Monogatari – (TV) – 90/100 Porfy no Nagai Tabi – (TV) – 90/100 Rose of Versailles – (TV) – 90/100 Rurouni Kenshin – Tsuiokuhen – (OVA) – 90/100 Saiunkoku Monogatari – (TV) – 90/100 Sarai-ya Goyou – (TV) – 90/100 Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – (TV) – 90/100 Seikai no Senki II – (TV) – 90/100 Shiki – (TV) – 90/100 Spirited Away – (Movie) – 90/100 Tales of Phantasia – (OVA) – 90/100 The Law of Ueki – (TV) – 90/100 Twelve Kingdoms – (TV) – 90/100 xxxHolic: Kei – (TV) – 90/100 xxxHolic – (TV) – 90/100 A quick indication on what all the ratings mean: 100/100: The perfect anime. I’ve yet to encounter one, though. 97,5/100: The best of the best of the best, my all-time favourite(s). 95/100: Truly amazing and outstanding series, the best of their genres. These series made a huge impact on me. 92,5/100: Simply fantastic anime. These series have many areas in which they stand out like no other. 90/100: Anime that achieved exactly what they set out to do. Incredibly solid productions with so many things to like about them.]]>
Author: psgels
2006 Summary
Okay, it’s time to list my favourites of 2006. My 2006 Summary is going to be a bit different from my usual montly summaries, seeing as it just consists out of a bunch of awards and one top-10. Still, seeing as it’s been a very good year this time, I’ve got lots of awards, and I had a really tough time deciding for some. Here’s hoping that 2007 will be even better. To those who already are in 2007: Happy New Year! For those (like me) who still need a few hours to go: Happy New Year In Advance!
Funniest Anime: The Law of Ueki
The series, entirely devoted to comedy like Muteki Kanbanmusume and Magikano may have been hilarious, none cracked me up like Ueki did. It’s hilarious cast of characters combined with their special powers just cracked me up majorly during some of the better fights in the series. Special credit goes to the guy with the sewing-talent and the badass punk guy who could change his sacred treasures into cute and fluffy animals. ^_^
Most Pleasant Surprise: Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror
After the first episode, I expected NOTHING of this show. Just another dull anime about medieval Japan in which some bloody things happened. Then the second episode came. Boy, did it blow me away with all its brutal killings, murders and people going crazy. And if I even knew at that time how amazing the third arc ended up to be.
Best Music: .Hack//Roots
I actually had a tough time choosing between .Hack//Roots, Noein and Night Head Genesis. Night Head Genesis has some brilliant atmospheric music, while Noein just blasts out of the speakers at times, while at other times it produced some extremely sad tunes. Still, in the end, I dediced to go with .Hack//Roots, seeing as the ALU Project really knew what they were doing. The music also was one of the reasons the final few episodes turned good again.
Best Not Really a 2006-Anime: Popolocrois 1998 and 2003
Yeah, even though these anime never really appeared in 2006, only now they started to get subbed. Still, that doesn’t means that I don’t love both series. The 1998 series had some incredibly funny moments and action scenes, while 2003 especially turned awesome with its second half. Both series have some great characters and character developments. At this point, I can’t choose which one of these is the better. I’ll do that as soon as the entire series have been subbed. I hope that happens fast, as there haven’t been any subs appearing at all lately.
Best Old Anime I Happened To See This Year: Revolutionary Girl Utena
I blogged this series, even though it aired eight years ago, for a reason. It’s got some of the best character development and studies ever, and especially the latest episodes were insanely good. Honorable Mention: Hi no Tori.
Best Thought-Provoking Anime: Ergo Proxy
There’s some heavy contending with Mushishi here. While Mushishi asks questions about life itself, and how to spend it, Ergo Proxy keeps toying with the minds of its viewers over and over again with some very interesting cases. While the later part of the anime may have become a bit stale, the first two thirds were excellent in this.
Best-Looking Graphics: Noein
There’ve been some anime with interesting graphical approaches in the past year. Kenomonozume, with its messy art, for example, or Good Witch of the West with its beautiful approach to both character designs and backgrounds, or xxxHolic, with its rather simple character designs, which in the end did turn out great. Still, none of them managed to beat Noein. Its great blend of CG and messy character designs immediately had me captured from its first episode.
Best Drama: Mushishi
This was a very tough choice between Simoun, Mushishi and Asatte no Houkou. Still, in the end, I went with Mushishi, seeing as most of its stories truly are unrivalled. The extremely serious approach to the stories, some of which are hopeless cases, while others can be cured, though each of them affect the lives of the people involved tremendously.
Cutest Anime: Otogi Juushi Akazukin
Seriously, the characters turned out so incredibly CUTE. This goes for both the male and the female ones. Akazukin, Shirayuki, Ibara, and the others just have the greatest character designs, while the males, like Souta, Hansel and especially Baru are extremely cute in their behaviours. Especially Baru has to have it hard, being surrounded by people such as Shirayuki and Ringo. ^_^
Best RPG-adaptation: Tales of Phantasia
I have no idea what people have against RPG-based anime. Okay, Final Fantasy Unlimited may have been garbage, and Star Ocean EX’s final episodes may have been the king and queen of Deus ex Machina, but when it’s done right, it really works. Just look at Popolocrois, Ragnarok the Animation and Makai Senki Disgaea. In any case, the best one in this year definitely came from Tales of Phantasia. It’s a great four-episode OVA adaptation of the game, Especially Arche, Klarth and Suzu were awesome. 🙂
The this-anime-seems-to-have-gone-up-in-smoke-award: Hime-Sama Goyoujin
Remember this one? It only got one episode subbed, and that’s all. After that, nobody talked about it, or said anything about it. It’s a shame, seeing as the first episode was rather funny. It actually was a tough choice, along with Shoujo Chang Geum no Yume, though the latter managed to save itself from this award when its second episode got subbed. Still, I liked both series, and hope to see more of them.
Biggest Disappointment: Ouran High School Host Club
It’s a shame. It started out so good and funny, though because it kept milking the same jokes over and over, it sort of ruined itself. It’s a pity, as it really had a great concept. I almost wanted to put Haruhi Suzumiya here, seeing as it went from an excellent first episode to just a mediocre show, till I dropped it at episode 4, though I feel that because I only beared the first few episodes, I had no way of knowing whether the later episodes would turn out good or not. Not that I expect them to, or something.
Top 10 Anime 2006
Okay, these are my favourite series of 2006. This definitely has been a great year for anime. 🙂
#10: xxxHolic
When it comes to Watanuki’s antics, no one can beat him. He’s been a great character through the course of the show. The situations he was thrown at, the decisions he made, his annoyances at both Yuuko, Domeki and Mokona turned this into a great series. The cases of each week also were extremely interesting to see. From a woman who lost herself over her internet-obsession to a pipe fox who eats evil spirits.
#9: Saiunkoku Monogatari
When it comes to strong female characters, Shuurei definitely has to be mentioned. I love how much thought has been put into this series to provide a nice political drama about a woman, rising into a male-dominated society. The antics of the different side-characters also helped this series a lot. I really hope to see more of this in 2007.
#8: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Okay, it may have had it’s bad moments. The animation when characters went berserk did look fake, and the fifth arc was a hell to get through. But when this series turned good, it really turned GOOD. It successfully managed to combine horror, touching characters and a plot full of mysteries, mysteries and even more mysteries. I’m a fan of all three of these parts, so that means that I really enjoyed this anime.
#7: Eureka 7
A surprise hit for me, seeing as it only started getting good after ten episodes. Still, after that point, this series turned out extremely touching, and even more disturbing. The final episodes also turned this show also into one of the few anime that made me cry about its characters.
#6: Otogi Juushi Akazukin
I’m surprised to see such lack of interest about this show, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love this one. I really love well-executed fantasy-stories, cute character and a good dose of mystery, and that’s exactly what this show has to offer. Each of the characters are a joy to see, and I really look forward to each week’s instalment.
#5: Mushishi
We now turn to the anime that made a huge impression on me this year. The first one being Mushishi. Nothing much happened during the episodes, there wasn’t any action of some sort. But the stories, holy god, the stories. Whether sad or happy, they blew me away, especially the better ones.
#4: Simoun
Simoun created a large cast of amazing characters for its setting. Through the course of the anime, we got to know them, love them, hate them and feel along with them. That resulted in some truly magnificent scenes. The ending, although unorthodox, was a great way to end this series.
#3: The Third
Ah, Honoka. What an amazing character you’ve been. You definitely were the best female character of 2006. When you combine that with some other absolutely great characters, great action scenes and a great story, the result becomes amazing. When it still aired, I really loved this series.
#2: Noein
The only negative thing I can say about Noein was that the subs were coming out rather slow. Apart from that, it really has been one amazing ride, from start to finish. It’s huge number of plot twist, incredibly touching characters and amazing story turned this anime into one of the definite highlights of the past year.
#1: Mahou Shoujotai
Yes, I know that this technically isn’t a 2006-series, but seeing as its final two episodes got subbed January 1st, I do consider this as a part of 2006. Besides, this anime is too awesome to leave out of this list, seeing as it’s one of my favourite shows of all time. Too little people really know about this hidden gem, and it definitely needs more love than it’s getting right now.
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 13
Boy, that was AWESOME! I didn’t understand 25% of the episode, but who cares! The things that I did understand turned this episode into a great one. This definitely was the best episode of Bakumatsu so far!
So many things happened during this episode, I don’t know where to start. Let’s begin with Kanna, as we finally see some of his history as well. He indeed grew up in England, along with some woman (his mother, nanny?). Then, at one point this woman was taken away from him against her will by some selfish guy. If I understood things correctly, he sees this woman’s reflection in Kakunojou. Parkes also introduces four new characters this episode. Code-named Knight, Queen, Luke and Bishop. If I understood things correctly, they’re some kind of elite of the English forces.
Then the play. If I got things right, then the troupe always uses its last performance of a certain play to add something extra. With the previous one, it was the image of Nakaiya Juubei. This time, it’s a bit more extravagant: a plan to catch Nakaiya Juubei. Of course, all is a clever plan of Soutetsu. This is what I understood. He hid the lord’s head at a place near the newly set-up theatre of the troupe. Under some docks, to be exact. He then lures Juubei to that place, right at the same time of the troupe’s performance, and in the middle of the play, Akizuki suddenly comes, destroys the curtain and reveals the threesome of Kanna, Juubei and Soutetsu, who are talking at that time. That’s where the awesomeness started. I have to say that I was as surprised as the crowd when Akizuki suddenly did his thing.
What I didn’t understand was why Soutetsu just let Juubei escape with the Lord’s Head. It may be because he counted on Akizuki and the others to stop him, of was it because of something he said or thought? Another thing I didn’t understand was Parkes’s role in all this. For some reasons, he ordered his minions to fire a cannon at the docs. Where did he hear that things like these were going to happen? Kanna?
Still, it doesn’t matter if I didn’t understand these things, as the things that followed were brilliant. Nakaiya tries to escape, though the cannons are rather bothersome to him. Akizuki and Kakunojou end up in a boat chasing after him, though they’re almost hit by a cannon, and they fall down. Kanna, who happens to be near and sees this suddenly has a flashback from his past, in which he sees Akizuki as the guy who took away the woman he looked up to. This episode didn’t do anything regarding this, though I suspect that the future episodes will. ^_^
Meanwhile, everyone’s chasing after Juubei and fighting each other. Then, Ebisu actually manages to capture him, and god damn it, the English actually manage to hit both of them, killing both Nakaiya and Ebisu off at the same time! I love it when a character is killed off unexpectedly with an impact, and Ebisu’s death truly was memorable.
Akizuki, meanwhile, attempts to slay the Lord’s Head and fails. This causes the lord’s head to escape and take over Emimoto, the one introduced during the previous episode. And with this, I really mean take over, as in it goes inside of Emimoto’s head. He orders the retreat of the English forces, and Soutetsu smiles very suspiciously. I’m not sure what’s behind that, but we’ll probably find out soon.
Overall, if you were wondering whether Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto would turn out to be worthwile, well, so far it has! With the second half of this anime about to begin, I’m expecting some great things from this one. 🙂
Black Lagoon Review – 78/100
Black Lagoon is a perfect example of a series which starts out magnificent, but gets rather ruined later on by such small elements. It’s a real shame. It’s an action series, featuring a salaryman who ends up delivering a package for his company, somewhere in the Asian side of the Pacific Ocean, gets attacked by modern-day pirates, abandoned by the company he works for and in the end, joining the same pirates that attacked and kidnapped him.
The pirates appear to have a sortof delivering company. The first thirteen episodes showcase some random jobs who have to be accomplished, with some of these jobs attracting quite some dangerous people. I really have to say that these episodes were amazing to see. I loved how they sketched a realistic picture of the hell Rock (the new name of our main character) ended up in. This first season also managed to create some of the scariest antagonists ever. Especially keep an eye out for the maid with glasses. I also really liked the cast of main characters. Rock, Revy, Dutch and Benny formed an excellent combination when they were with the four of them, with each one of them having their own unique personality.
Then the second season came. It started out quite nicely, with a great tragedy about two siblings who give the term “killer loli” a whole new meaning. But that’s also where this series starts getting off-track. While the first season featured random jobs, the second season places our main characters into situations, just because Revy is looking for a fight. What the second season also does is place Dutch and Benny into the role of mere “side-characters”, even though they were a large reason why the first season turned out so good.
To make matters even worse, the second arc of the second season also contained way too much useless action and way too little substance. Sure, the fights were nice, the aftermaths for the side-characters were interesting, but during the fights, I kept wondering what their meaning was. The third and final arc could have saved this, and indeed, it had an interesting story, but I was too much bothered by the horrible use of Engrish in the beginning. The creators tried to find a way to show a good conversation between characters who only speak English and the characters who only speak Japanese, but that didn’t work at all, seeing that we’ve seen the English characters speak Japanese for ages.
It’s such a pity. This could have become one of the major series of 2006, but because of these small elements, it just didn’t make it. Still, I definitely recommend Black Lagoon, if it only was because of its first season.
Some quick first impressions: Baldr Force EXE, Winter Garden and Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime
Yeah, I know Futago Hime isn’t exactly a 2006 anime, but I wanted to wrap up the quick first impressions before the end of the year and the start of the winter-season, and I needed one more show. Besides, I just had to say something about it. ^^;
Baldr Force Exe
Watching the OP didn’t really make me enthusiastic about this show. It looked like this anime was going to stand in the footsteps of Ar Tonelico and Demon Bane, with a cute girl who somehow keeps clinging to some loser-like guy. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Okay, it does feature a bunch of harem-stereotypes, who are all probably going to surround our main character, but the main character actually has an interesting personality. His best friend has just been killed, so he joins the organization responsible for this, hoping to find the killer. When he sees one of his former friends who did the same, though just seems to think that all of this is a game, we see some interesting scenes. Still, the concept is a bit vague. People get plugged into some kind of virtual world, and when you die in this world, you’ll die for real as well. But wouldn’t the designers of this would try to find some security-system in order to solve this problem? Like, block the amount of brainwaves when it becomes too high? Also, I’m not too happy with the cliff-hanger of this episode, seeing as the main characters suddenly runs into a sleeping beautiful girl, who wakes up and calls him onii-chan. That is not a good sign.
Winter Garden
Ow… I’ve been fearing this for a bit. Winter Garden indeed turned out into a slice-of-life romance. Not exactly my preferred genre. Of course, when certain elements are added, even slice of life shows can become interesting, though this show doesn’t even bother. It’s relying way too much on random collisions between our main character and her love interest. Pachiko (that was her name, right?) didn’t help much either. Even though she has a quirky personality, this show was just way too boring for me. Still, if you’re fan of Digi-Charat and like slice-of-life series, you might want to check this one out.
Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime
It’s strange how tastes change. I remember that I watched the first episode of this, back in the mid-2005, and it was really boring to me. However, after watching it right now, 1,5 years later, I totally loved it. This is another proof of how great Mahou Shoujo can be, and at the same time, how unloved. I actually had to use Youtube in order to track down the first episode, seeing as most of the torrents have stopped working. In any case, I really liked the quirky character and the seemingly inexhaustible amounts of energy of the two main characters, and not to mention that the characters were extremely CUTE! That only leaves the problem that this anime consists out of two series, with both 52 episodes. God knows how long it’ll take to catch up with that. there may be a chance I’ll blog every 13 episodes, if the remaining episodes turn out to be really good. Still, from the sample that Moetron posted on his site and which got me interested in this show again, things indeed look like they’ll be of the same quality for the rest of the episodes.
Catblue Dynamite Review – 70/100
And here we have the other of the two anime, being produced in fully cell-shaded CG. While FREEDOM consists out of a few episodes, Catblue Dynamyte is a standalone movie of about 40 episodes. Another interesting thing to note is that this one is entirely in English, with Japanese subtitles. It reminded me again of one of the reasons why I hate dubs: the American accent just doesn’t work. Still, when compared to other English dubs, this wasn’t really bad to listen to. The only annoying part was that Blue’s voice actress didn’t match her character too well.
When I first found out about this anime, I suspected that this anime would be all eye-candy with zero substance. And indeed, we have lots of eye-candy. When compared to FREEDOM, the characters move a lot smoother, especially during the fight scenes. Blue’s character indeed is very cute, seeing as she once was a cat. Everything looked quite well. The only thing is that the costumes of the goons looked rather hilarious when I first saw them.
About the substance… well, let’s say that it turned out better than I expected. The concept of a cat, turning into a person by drinking its master’s blood and being able to see and talk to ghosts is interesting, Bill was interesting with his doubts of Blue and her “talking to ghosts”, this was resolved quite nicely and Robbert and his idea to take care of things were nice to see. He also was good for a narrator, with a serious tone with your occasional sarcastic remark. I also liked the way that this anime omits some things that are taken to be obvious.
Still, the fact does remain that this anime follows the Hollywood action-movie format, which means that it goes from one action scene to another with your occasional focus on characters. While the action scenes are nice to see, they don’t really add much other value to the whole picture. While this OVA was interesting to watch, it’s definitely nothing amazing. It’s got an interesting art style, if you like experimental art styles in anime, it might be worth checking this one out, though if you’re more into your casual art style, stay far awaaay from this.
Night Head Genesis – 22
Okay, so what if Naoto awakened again without a good reason? This episode was damn awesome! This is one of the reasons I love shows with lots of mystery. There are just so many things you don’t know, and if they’re revealed in a good way, the results can become awesome. When a show combines good mystery with good character development like Night Head Genesis does, the results become even more awesome!
One of the reasons this episode was so good was because it deeply delved into the minds of its characters. Both Naoto, Naoya, Mikumo and Sakie. Naoto truly had become pitiful in the past few episodes. His power just was one source of destruction, and he was more and more running after Naoya than the opposite. This continued, until Mikumo made him crazy and he died. Then, for a while it seemed that Naoya would indeed take care of Mikumo, and we indeed see him actually go crazy when Naoya doesn’t do what he thinks he’ll do, and he goes berserk. But even then, he executes his plan and takes Sakie away, who just saw her sister with a knife through her stomach, causing the entire neighbourhood in a radius of 25km to delve into chaos.
But then, Naoto actually wakes up and takes care of the guy like it’s nothing. It may have been a one-sided battle, though these kinds of battles can also be great if they’re timed well, just like this one. Okuhara played a role in this as well, when she suddenly realized that Naoto indeed has become a wild element and goes crazy.
Also, the driver with an actual personality was greatly appreciated. You hardly see any goons who don’t look like each other. Most just are bunch of clones with different haircuts, while all they do is follow orders. They’re perfect employees, though not really interesting and realistic. Though making this guy actually comment on the things that have happened, the creators put him aside from all of these other goons.
So, in the end, Mikumo is killed. And before he dies, he has his moment of weakness where he tells about his past. A bit directed, but greatly appreciated. I love it when we see the histories of the different good and bad guys. It gives them so much more perspective.
Then, the final part of the episode features Okuhara, contacting Naoto and Naoya, who are about to wake Sakie. She finally reveals why she did the things she did, and if I had to say so myself, it’s a better reason than you usually see. At least she wants to improve the world, instead of your usual power-hungry guy on crack. Then we se the scene in which a person raises his/her finger into the air again, and some rather unexplained events begin. Okuhara mentions a Great Consciousness, and Naoto and Naoya also have stopped being wild elements in her prophecies. We then switch back to reality, and see a scene which does suggest that Okuhara has died. If I had to guess what happened, then she finally saw a true prophecy about the two brothers, which possibly has to do something with the sparkling ball up in the air. This prophecy had made such an impact to her, that she didn’t mind taking it to the grave. So what exactly did she see?
Also, there’s one more thing I’ve been wondering.
What the heck happened to Shoko?!
Death Note – 12
When I first saw Misa, I doubted whether she could be a large challenge to Light, though after watching this episode, I have to say that it’ll definitely be interesting to see how Light will deal with such a huge idiot. She actually mentioned the existence of the eyes and shinigami on a tape which got sent to the police. L also reacted quite strangely when he heard about the shinigami, this does suggest that there’s some kind of connection between him and the death gods, which suggests that there will be a point in which his childhood will be shown. 🙂
I also keep wondering the meanings of Ryuk’s maniacal laughter. Like shown before, he laughed when Naomi gave a false name. Was there also a reason why he laughed when L asked Kira to play Kira, or did he just laugh because of the irony? He’s smarter than he looks, after all, he did trick the king of the shinigami-world to give him a second Death Note. In any case, it’s good for light that he was at the scene when L watched the tape, otherwise, L would have pulled his own conclusions. This episode showed that L does listen to Light’s words.
Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club – 24
Ah, so they went back to episode thirteen, where the five girls had to conjure up a flower, though this time, it’s a bit more extreme, when it’s Kanbu who has to be calmed. Unfortunately, my lack of japanese didn’t manage to pick up what role Kanbu actually plays, unfortunately, and why he’s so imprtant to the story. Still, the things I did understand were a nice watch as usual.
The major episode basically focuses on giving some life back to Kanbu. Sasami, Misao and the others hold hands like before, which causes them to be able to communicate with each other through thoughts. Like before, they ahve to make their minds one in order to properly functionate, though this time Misao disrupts things a bit, or rather Anri, Tsukasa and Makoto’s annoyance with her. It’s a nice discussion. Especially Tsukasa surprised me, seeing as she showed a more serious side than she ever has.
At the end of the episode, we also learn who’s going to be the final enemy in this anime. The head priestess seems to have unsealed the other Aamitabu. I’m still not sure why she did that *kicks lack of Japanese*. In any case, Amitabu’s look, at the end of the episode when Sasami brings him some food was priceless. ^_^
Still, I’m afraid to say it, though this anime seems to have lost its spark a bit. The height definitely was from eps 5 till 17. At those episodes, the characters were the most touching and funny. Though now, it’s trying to make a good finish.
Welcome to 9Rules and Yay, 700 posts!
Whoa, I just got some stable internet again, and the first thing I see is my shoutbox, in which Impz congratulated me for being accepted in the 9Rules-community. It’s something I didn’t really expect, seeing as when the first rounds of submissions featured such high-quality sites, I rather gave up hope of ever being accepted. Guess I was wrong. ^_^
And on top of that, this also seems to be my 700th post. Great, only 300 more till I hit the milestone of 1k posts.This also seems a good moment for a few statistics, seeing as I hit a rather large amount of other milestone in the past few weeks.
Total amount of comments: 1012 (Yay, more than 1k ^^;)
The top three commenters are the same as the previous time when I made this list (back when I made my 300th post), just a different order. Anga has made the most comments (54), then comes Cos (52) and Hopeless is still third (28, does anyone know what happened to him?).
Total amount of visitors: 104039 as I write this. Finally I managed to hit the 100k milestone, though I’m getting a bit worried seeing it took me 13 months, while others got their first 100k visitors in only three months ^^;
The largest amount pageviews in one day: 1554, back in April 30th, just before Blogsuki kicked me out.
Amount of series finished blogging: 16
Series with most posts: Jigoku Shoujo (30)
The largest amount of posts made on one day: still 12, during both my christmas updates 2005 and 2006
The longest episode-post I made was that for Higurashi 19, a massive 3973 words. I don’t think I’ll be topping that one soon. ^^;