What I Watched in May

Figured I'd get up to the beginning of summer (June) before summer ends (September).

b Casshern: So, that stayed darkly atmospheric and strange all the way to the bitter end.  And it was super bitter.  I still liked the music all the way to the end.  Can I buy the CD?

b Clannad After Story: So this one reeeeeally gets a bit silly, and it uses this deus ex machina crap (in its defense, it really did keep including hints along the way) in the end, but up until then, it was pretty good. Keep your tissues handy, my friends.  I do also have to give it respect for actually tackling what happens after the couple gets together and gets married.

b D.Gray-Man: The pacing seems a bit off, and the transitions from super-serious to wacky really don't work sometimes in anime form.  I'm also not super-fond of the English dub.  Maybe it'll be different in Japanese.  Yay, Timcanpy! 

b Darker than Black: Chinese Electric Batman forever.  That was a surprising, twisty, good ending to a dark and twisty show.  I think I'll understand it better the second time.

b Eden of the East: The best comment anyone made during a showing: "This show has an awful lot of naked."  And some gleeful mosaics, as well.  The TV series ends pretty well itself.  There's tons of stuff left open (much of it gets revealed in the movies), but I thought it ended on just the right sad, triumphant note.

o Gao-Gai-Gar: Why did I keep watching this all the way to the end?  Why did the end take so long?  It was actually pretty entertaining as long as I had the English dub to listen to while accomplishing other things (it was often gleefully over the top), but when I had to actually sit through a whole disc and read and watch, it was such a chore.  I'm not sure why I tortured myself like that, but now I can claim I saw it all.  In case anybody cares.  Also, the opening and ending songs are cheesy goodness.

b Heat Guy J: I still love the dub and the show.  For some reason, I thought this one character died, so I was getting all ready to deal with his death, but I was totally wrong.  Oops.  Well, I'm glad he made it to the end.

o Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: The awful pacing is still evident, but there are many episodes that actually end on tense cliffhangers or make me want to watch the next episode NOW, so I'm still kind of enjoying it.  I can't really just listen to the English dub, though, because it's one of those Funimation Reversions where they don't just change phrasing; they change meaning and take out important plot points and stuff.  On an intricate show like this, it drives me crazy.

b Xam'd: Holy cow.  I need to watch these again on a real screen, so I can see all the magnificent desolation and figure out what exactly happened (I'll be crying a good deal more than I did when I couldn't see anything, I imagine).  It was epic; I know that much.  Part of me wishes this had been a two season, 51 episode extravaganza like Eureka because there is so much more I want to know about this world.  I'm glad we got what we did.

Selections from What I Read in October: Digest Version, Part 3 of 3

Hooray!  I'm caught up right now.  I will bask in the moment!

• b King of RPGS 1: This was awesomely silly.  I do not play RPGs and have never played collectible card games or anything, and I still got a kick out of this one.  It's one of the better east meets west attempts.  The over-the-top shonen bits made me look forward to a second volume that will probably never come.  Sadness.
• b Kingyo Used Books 2: Still best served one chapter at a time.  Reminds me of the power of books, even if it gets a bit clumsy about it sometimes.  I'll be writing more about that soon . . .
• b Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 11: Oh, dear.  Light refraction suits and the nature of good and evil.  Also lots of corpses and a really creepy long story that is just really horrific.  Also those amazing notes.
• o Mail 1-3: Meh. There were times when this was genuinely creepy and disturbing, but I'm not a big fan of just creepy and disturbing.  I wonder what the authors could do with this if they gave it another run in 5 years.  I'll admit that the Pinoko-like assistant twist toward the end was weird and creepy.
• b Prince of Tennis 18-19: Ah, light, breezy, intense shonen action.  No romance, no corpses.  Stupid kids injuring themselves to (fail to) prove a point.  Then again, they are only 14 or 15, so it's not out of character for them to be a bit too narrowly focused.  (Like I should talk after all the injuries and illnesses I played through.)  And I know coaches in Japan are different and that their junior high and high school sports are way different from ours, but I can't believe the coach let that happen.  Seriously.  Coaches get fired for that here.  Fun times.  :)
• b Venus Capriccio 1-4: Gentle.  Nice.  Unfinished.  Drat.  Oh, CMX . . .  I like the ones that involve music, no matter how melodramatic they get.  VS is another one I'm trying to track down a few last volumes of, so I can finish that one.  Ah, Nodame, when are you coming out next?

While the last few months have been a bit lean, November, due to a couple of book binges, was pretty great.  Look forward to it.  :)

My comments on a top 10 best of the decade list

In honor of Anime Nation's Ask John's picks for best TV anime of the decade, here are some of my thoughts on his picks.

• 2001's Chikyu Shoujo Arjuna (Earth Girl Arjuna): Yeah, I really liked this one.  John didn't mention its absolutely stunning music or the excellent English dub, but those are really the things he's most looking for.  ST got a bit hung up by the ecological  bludgeoning here, but she did like the music and the VA work, too.
• 2001′s Noir: I got a big kick out of this one too.  I didn't mind the slow burn plotting, and I enjoyed all the things he mentioned.  ST liked this one a lot, too.
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: while it sometimes skirted the edge of what I could tolerate in terms of violence, this show was really excellent.  And ST agrees!
• 2004′s Mousou Dairinin (Paranoia Agent):  was it the ending theme song of this one that was just utterly ridiculous, or was it the opening theme song? I think this may be the only CD soundtrack I ever bought just to get a hold of a single song. I found the show creepy as all get out, and it was confusing and messed with my head and made watching and appreciating Millennium Actress and Paprika possible.
• 2005′s Mushishi: Just gorgeous.  I remember being hesitant when I heard it was an anime because the manga was just so stunning, but the anime was equally incredible.
• 2005′s Honey & Clover: Oh, so this is a romantic comedy. I was having the hardest time trying to figure out what genre it was.  If you ever wanted a good sampler of melodic, wistful, not annoying Japanese pop, the soundtrack would fit the bill perfectly.
• 2007′s Denno Coil: Not available in our region.  This means I should not have seen it, but my anime club watched it, and I totally adored it. I would buy it in a heartbeat if someone would license it, but somehow I don't think the combination of Miyazaki meets Ghost in the Shell is ever really going to fly in the US.  That's a huge pity because, oh my goodness, this show was awesome.
• 2007′s Seirei no Moribito: I am planning to watch this at some point over the next week while my students are experiencing fall break. However, realistically, I think I'm going to be grading most of the time. Now I'll have to decide if I want to do a Moribito marathon or a huge book binge.  I'm in agony here, folks. 
• 2007′s Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: I am getting a huge kick out of this show.  (I'm actually watching it now at a rate of one episode a week via Netflix.) It is so fun, just as fun as Melody of Oblivion without the added, repugnant perversity.  (I still can't believe John said that was one of his favorite underloved series in an earlier post.  It had its moments of brilliance, in my opinion, but then it would go and do something pointlessly fanboy, and the girls being milked like cows almost made me stop watching a couple episodes from the end. Yuck.)  Anyway, Gurren Lagann: way too fun.
• 2008′s Kaiba: Not available in our region.  Also, our anime club isn't that experimental, so even though people have suggested it, no one has taken them up on it and voted the show in.  Yet.

 I have to say that I am very impressed by how many of these have actually been released in the United States.I would've expected fewer of them to actually be legally available.Way to go, anime licensing companies!  (Whoever picks up the license for Denno Coil, I'll be your best friend forever!)

Lots of good manga on the YALSA list this year

Hooray!  Another year, another Great Graphic Novels for Teens list from YALSA.  Take a look to see what you've liked along with the fine YALSA folks and get some ideas of good titles you may have missed.


Are there any manga titles on here you disagree with?  Any you really agree with?  Any you think are missing?

Having fun with best of 2009 lists

I love best of/top X lists.  I cannot make them very well because I am not a critic, and I am terrible at ranking things.  I enjoy the end of the year because of all the great lists that people make up and the debates they provoke. 

When else do people come up with recommendation categories like "Best Use of Wagner in a Manga"?

What weird category of best/top manga would you like to see more people address?  What weird category would you like to nominate something for (and what would you nominate)?