Top 5 anime of 2010

Honestly, there were several excellent anime this year, which makes it kinda hard to pick just 5. But somehow, I was able to. On that note, here are my top 5 anime series of 2010:



5. Strike Witches 2.
I rather enjoyed the first season of Strike Witches. It was for that reason that I watched the second season, which, naturally, wasn't as good as the first one. But, on its own, it was very good, provided you've seen the first season. Otherwise, you'll be left wondering what the hell the characters are talking about.




4. K-ON!!
Like Strike Witches, I got a kick out of K-ON!. And like Strike Witches 2, K-ON!! was not quite as good as its predecessor. A decent show on its own, but hurt by dragging on too long. Despite not finishing it, I still enjoyed the first 14 episodes or so of K-ON!!, earning it the #4 spot on my countdown.






3. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

Yeah, yeah. Technically, it's from 2009. But I'm sure most of us haven't seen it till recently, so I'm putting it in with 2010 anime. This movie really showed what Kyoto Animation is capable of when they put in the effort. The soundtrack is beautiful, as is the animation. However, I'm going to put my fanboyism aside for the time being, and give Disappearance the #3 spot on the countdown.





2. Invasion! Squid Girl

Remember when slice-of-life anime wasn't all cake and tea? Yeah, it's been a while since that kind of show came around, and frankly, I had missed it. Then a girl with blue tentacles for hair came ashore. In hindsight, I'd never become so attached to a show, to the point where playing the OP on my iPod depressed me. This show and the #1 show of 2010 are probably interchangeable, though.






1. Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Easily the biggest surprise of fall 2010 season alone, never mind the whole year. An over-the-top parody of Western cartoons, drawn by the nutcases over at Studio GAINAX. Mind you, these are the same people that made Evangelion and Gurren Lagann. Every aspect of Western cartoons was parodied to seemingly no end. A lot of the humor was relatively character-driven, yet still fresh after the first 4 or 5 episodes. Orgasm of a soundtrack, too.



That's my top 5 of 2010. What's yours? Leave a comment to tell me!

Happy New Year!

2010 has come and passed. Another either wasted or well-spent, depending on how you look at it. We got K-ON!!, Disappearance, Squid Girl, and Panty & Stocking. What will 2011 bring us? I dunno, but I can't wait to find out! Can January 4th come any sooner?

Being the year of the rabbit, I think one of my favorite Touhou characters should get some love. As such, here's a few images of everyone's favorite rabbit.

Podcast Appearance

I am appearing on the 12/30 episode of Bakacast, courtesy of Project Haruhi, which I also write for. I will be discussing MM! and the rest of the fall 2010 season with the rest of the PH guys. There's a link to the site on the front page, and the podcast will be embedded into the blog.

Project Haruhi

Fall 2010 Season Review

I won't lie. I had really low expectations for this season after the crapfest known as Summer 2010. As such, I wasn't expecting much from the fall shows. Man, oh man. I would be proven wrong in a heartbeat. I ended up finishing 4 series this fall, out of 7 that I started. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

It was certainly progressive, but I initially picked up a single show: Shinryaku! Ika Musume. I think I can safely say it was the best show of the season. The mix of gag comedy and heartwarming moments created a unique show, without creating extreme mood whiplash.



The other 2 shows I picked up shortly after starting Ika Musume were MM! and The World God Only Knows. I would be sorely disappointed by MM! in the end, but TWGOK was a unique show with a character-heavy plot. That is, it was divided into "character arcs" of 2 to 3 episodes each.

The last show I picked up, about halfway through the season, and finished was Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. This show was... unique, to say the least. The characters were bizarre, as was the premise: a sex-craving slut and a sugar-addicted goth loli come to the surface world to fight Ghosts. Did I mention that these two are angels?

As great as this season was, there were a few disappointments. One was My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute, or OreImo for short. A mid-season pick up, I enjoyed the show at first, before one of the characters started to get on my nerves. I ended up not finishing OreImo, dropping it after 10 episodes.

Another disappointment was the aforementioned MM!. A show about sadomasochism? Well, I like twisted humor, so sign me up! This was another show I enjoyed at first. Unfortunately, the show started to derail into a cliched romantic comedy, even putting in the Pocky kissing game.



There were 2 other show I started, but did not finish: Star Driver, and Princess Jellyfish. I didn't watch enough to really get interested, so I can't give an honest opinion here.

All in all, a great season. Winter looks to be pretty good. Expect reviews of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica throughout winter season, as well as a review of Dirty Pair Flash, when ever the last tape decides to come.

Review: Shinryaku! Ika Musume 12 + overall thoughts

To be honest, when I started watching Ika Musume, I heard a catchy OP. But I looked at the premise of the show, and immediately thought "Crap, this is gonna be another bland moe show." Boy, was I ever wrong. This show exceeded my expectations by several miles.

The final episode sees Ika doing 3 things, the first of which is entering a beach volleyball tournament. She wanted the shrimp to pop out of the screen, to be fair. Naturally, Ika's squid nature makes things anything but fair. The second part involved Ika not being able to move her tentacles. Shock therapy is needed. Who you gonna call? No, not the Ghostbusters. Sanae, of course! Buut it doesn't work. Ika's solution? Retreat to the sea for the time being. The third part is really just a continuation of the second part. Ika has not returned from the sea, and everyone is starting to worry. Suddenly... we find ourselves back at the opening scene of episode 1, except for a small difference... But in the end, everything went back to normal, as Ika got her squid abilities back.

As always, the comedy felt fresh, and the entire supporting cast was involved, which I greatly appreciated. And when I say "entire", I mean it. Literally all the characters were involved in the entire episode, included the creepy MIT grads. And, of course, the over-the-top finale to the final match was awesome. I felt my heartstrings being tugged at towards the end of the episode, but it was still pretty funny.

Being a gag show, I honestly felt that Ika Musume's comedy would run dry within 5 episodes. It had its issues at first, but it quickly addressed them. The comedy constantly changed, and, as a result, was incredibly fresh. After the first four episodes, the supporting cast was integrated a lot more. All in all, this was an excellent show.


Episode 12:

Plot Advancement/Ending: 4/5
Comedy: 3/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Episode Plot: 5/5

Episode 12 Overall: 4/5


Series Overall:

Plot: 3.5/5
Comedy: 4.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Pacing: 4/5

Series Overall: 4/5

Review: Shinryaku! Ika Musume 5-8

An excellent source of entertainment this fall season has been Shinryaku! Ika Musume (Invasion! Squid Girl). A show with a lot of potential, Ika Musume is finally starting to address its weaknesses, namely making use of the supporting cast. This, among other things, are a few of the things I pointed out in my last review.

As always, this show has no real plot outside of Ika's backstory, so I'm not taking that into consideration. This is, after all, a gag series, so plot isn't exactly a priority. This set of episodes certainly emphasized character development, as we see Ika learning a bit more about the human world, with less emphasis being placed on her "invasion". As mentioned earlier, the supporting cast was integrated into the comedy a bit more than early on. My hopes are that they'll become closer to being main characters while staying supporting.

Despite the use of the supporting cast, the show is still pretty Ika-centric. I'd like for the show to move away from that, but with 4 episodes left, I'm not counting on it. The characters still feel kinda stereotypical, and the episode plots are easily deducted. However, it's getting better. Just a little bit more!



Overall, the show is improving, especially in the character development department, which isn't usually present in a gag anime. Character dev aside, the jokes feel fresh, which is a bit of a surprise, since this is a half-season show. I'm not counting on a second season, but I am finishing this one, no question.

Plot: N/A
Characters: 4/5
Episode story: 3/5
Comedy: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Shinryaku! Ika Musume 1-4 Review

All right, time to take a leap and review Ika Musume. This was the initial fall show that drew me (and many, many others) in. I think 4 episodes is enough to justify a review.



From our perspective, the sea is a huge watery trash can. To the one who calls herself the messenger of the sea, we're polluting her home. Alas, we've pissed off a girl with squid tentacles for hair, Ika Musume, which literally means Squid Girl.


From the minute that I heard the first few "Shinryaku!"s, I thought, "This is gonna be a good show." Thankfully, it's held up for 4 episodes. Shinryaku! Ika Musume! gives off an Azumanga Daioh feel, from the character gags to the splitting the episode up into sections. Each episode is split up into 3 sections, each with a squid pun. While clever, eventually, they'll run out of "janai ka" puns. Though, I may be a bit biased against animal puns.


There were several things I liked. Ika's attempts to conquer even a beach house fall flat, and in some humorous way. Actually, before I get to that, I should explain the backstory. Ika is pissed off at humanity for polluting the sea. Who could blame her? After all, we trashed her home. Anyway, Ika promptly comes ashore, barges into a beach house, and proclaims that it is her base. No one takes her seriously, and the owner of the house, Eiko, pulls Ika out back.

Ika Musume! gives a feel of a classic gag anime: Azumanga Daioh. I really liked Azumanga, so seeing a show that brought me that feel is a welcome relief from a lot of the recent stuff, such as the monotony of K-ON! and similar shows. Ika's inability to adjust to the human world constantly hinders her plans to conquer the beach house.

For everything that was good about this show, there were bad things. A good amount of the humor and comedy in the show revolves around Ika, perhaps a bit too much. Too much emphasis is placed on Ika, effectively leaving the supporting cast as removable parts. Every episode is "Ika has a new plot, Ika tries to execute, Ika fails." The supporting cast has little interaction with Ika, aside for the boke-tsukkomi duo of Ika and Eiko.

There were a few surprises, like seeing that Chizuru, the cute, sweet, peaceful older sister, can knock Ika down to size. Other than that, Ika Musume! needs to develop the supporting cast a bit more, or the gags will wear thin quickly. I like this show, and I want to keep it that way.



Overall, the first 4 episodes impressed me quite a bit. The backstory sets up a cliche plot, but a twist is thrown in. With all the problems the show has ,though, it'll be hard to finish it without fleshing out the cast more. As of episode four, I rate this a 3.75 out of 5. The show is already almost halfway finished, and we have seen little to no development of the supporting cast, instead continuing to focus on Ika.