It seems like a shame that my shortest list of 2008 was anime, even with events such as Anime Night and Moe Monday, though both of them fell by the wayside. The burn rate for busting through Last Exile and the single stop re-watching of Elfen Lied would suggest a little more enthusiasm. Alas, that wouldn't really be the case. As I out collect my watching schedule, at least I got to share some of these with my friends.
_______________________________________________________________________
Appleseed 2 - 6/10 - Still a technically impressive undertaking, and a much better animated one this time around, the new versions of Appleseed almost seem like they're such a huge investment to create physically, that they're forced to stick to an incredibly cookie cutter style plot line. The detail is still incredible, but with the type of lighting and shading they use it really doesn't feel as worthwhile on a blu-ray disc as the other CG films I've tended to collect.
Fruits Basket - 8/10 - Simple, a tad stereotypical, and absolutely adorable. I'm glad I nabbed it a few years back, though it was a shame to let it sit for so long even though I was completely enamored with the first DVD. It plays out almost like a more cuddly version of Ranma, but the relationships seem to be spread out a little more smoothly. It's always a shame when a series doesn't really 'end' but I also know how long this comic series has been going on for, so I'm glad they didn't hack in a resolution anyway. Someday I may look into reading it. When I have a LOT of time...
Genshiken 2 - 10/10 - It's hard for this series not to remain fantastic to us. I'm glad we got our hands on the fansubs since there has been no sign of official release since Kujibiki came out. The story and the particular instances are still carried over from the comic and the translation to 'life' is as amusingly iconicity fitting as ever. Truly a show for us dorks.
Girl Who Leapt Through Time - 8/10 - As bizarre as the concept is and as equally strange in how they address it, this turned out to be a fantastic drama. We caught it in Seattle during PAX and my companions may have been a little unusual for me to enjoy this type of film (Mike titled it "The Girl Who's Hormones Flung Her Through Time"), but it still made enough of an impression that it was worth adding to the collection when it came to DVD.
Last Exile - 8/10 - This series was excellent, it really was! The trouble I have is getting to be more and more common as I recognize so many familiar characters or plot pieces. There are recognizable chapters from Escaflowne and a touch of Captain Harlock to build character, but overall, this was a fantastic world with an incredible epic odyssey.
Macross Frontier - 9/10 - I have always loved Macross, so I may be a bit biased, but Frontier did a fantastic job of carrying on that universe and paying homage to so many of its predecessors (they spent an episode shooting the 'movie' version of the events from Macross Zero). Featuring not one but two J-Pop idols was a scary concept but actually worked remarkably well, and the range of music they slipped in kept it from getting repetitive or grating. After a certain point Chris and I started referring to it as Moe-cross, which, if you know what that means, is definitely accurate, but even with that acknowledgment Chris, the least moe-tolerant of anyone we know, continued to enjoy the show all the way through.
Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruha - 10/10 - All we knew going in was that this show was produced by a company we kind of liked and that it seemed to be a bit of a fad (we'd seen the dance on the internet for a while). What we got was a remarkably clever and well written bit of (science) fiction with such an incredibly diverse cast of 'normal' characters. I think the entire group was hooked when we were settled in to watch one type of show as it began, but were completely caught off guard by the time the class rep did her thing. I'm now intent on seeing the manga through, at least.
Speed Grapher - 7/10 - The concept of a super powered photo journalist and an escapee from effectively an S&M club was a pretty fantastic setup, and much of the payoff with the crazy villains and clever one-ups-manship that followed was well worth the price of admission. It was just unfortunate that the quality of animation took a dive at certain points (maybe that's just something artists/animators take personally?) and it was a shame that a number of really nice plot hooks were left to die by the wayside because otherwise Speed Grapher was a really awesome little action series with an absolutely awesome opening theme song.
They Are My Noble Masters - 8/10 - A fantastic example of one of those random titles I dig up without actually digging too deep into it, I caught the first 30 seconds while I was testing to see if the file quality was solid and was immediately impressed/amused. I soon found out that this was actually based on an adult video game of the same name, but was a 'clean' version fit for TV, but that wasn't enough to dissuade the rest of the group. Many of the clichés are obvious and the resolution is deliberately ambiguous, but this was probably the most successful show we ever had for Anime Night. Great laughs abound!
Tsukiyome Moon Phase - 7/10 - Whenever I hear the title "Chibi Vampire" this is the show that comes to mind, but that's just because I haven't read the other one yet. "Neko Mimi Mode" is the thematically appropriate title for Tsukiyome and it's Goth/Loli vampire protagonist. Much of the plot and the lore were actually really strong, but the connecting bridges and the lead in to the 'final showdown' were kind of disjointed, suggesting it may have been animated ahead of the original plot or manga. It's definitely a cute show, though, and very fitting for both goth/loli and vampire fans.
Wolf & Spice - 9/10 - The theme song for this one was what caught me. Just listening to it (as well as paying attention to the lyrics) gives the sense of an incredible and melancholy journey, which is thematically appropriate. When a wandering merchant strikes a deal with a god to end up as his traveling companion and their adventures tend to be in the realm of finance and business you know you've found something unique. I would love to support this show if it ever comes out in the states, but I'm not sure how likely that is. What I'd like more is to get my hands on the short novels it was based on. Those sound awesome!