Year in Review: 2005

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:10 pm

Yeah you knew this was coming.

I will round up individual series or groups of series with exactly one sentence (or fragment) per categorization. Shows that began in 2004 and ended in 2005 qualify.

Here goes, in no particular order:

Aria the Animation
Relaxing, though some might say sleep-inducing.

Loveless
Sup yaoi.

School Rumble
Take that, Azumanga.

Basilisk
Good, simple, mindless, bloody fun.

Trinity Blood
Utterly worthless, which isn't surprising since it comes from the director of PMK.

Sousei no Aquarion
Waste of Kanno.

Suzuka
Decent romance (hell knows we could use one of those once in a while), stumbles over cliches occasionally.

Angel Heart
Pretty good, though it needs to lay off the angst a little.

Cluster Edge
Would be better if it had some... females...

Buzzer Beater
Worst sports anime I've ever seen.

Mushishi
Interesting, but not nearly creepy or atmospheric enough, like a poor man's Hundred Stories.

Gankutsuou
If you've seen this and don't like it, you are seriously an asswipe in general or a very specific one (John).

Peach Girl
Approximately 4x as long as it should've been.

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
Overrated but solid and incredibly slick.

Tenjou Tenge OVA
Pointless, just like the whole show itself.

Shuffle, Amanaideyo, To Heart 2, Ichigo 100%, Da Capo Second Season, Girls Bravo Second Season
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHITTY SHIT SHIT SHITTY SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT MICA SCHIST SHITTY SHIT.

Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
Give it points for trying, though a little clunky/overextended at times.

Glass Mask 2005
Decent but caters to a small audience, of which I'm probably not a real constituent.

Shakugan no Shana
Very good premise ruined by dumbing down into routine shounen.

Eyeshield 21
Reasonably fun.

UG: Ultimate Girl
Funny, dirty, funny stuff.

Futakoi Alternative
Ugh... train wreck second half.

Tsubasa Chronicle
Insipid.

AIR TV
OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED OVERRATED but it sure has some WASTEFULLY nice animation.

Mai Hime
Warning: may contain dangerous levels of WEAK PUSSIEST SHIT ENDING EVER.

Mai Otome
...which makes it doubly difficult to appreciate this completely pointless follow-up.

Speed Grapher
Weird but not weird enough, loses steam and tries too hard sometimes but interesting watch.

Xenosaga the Animation
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
Winner of the "HOW THE FUCK DID THIS SHITTY FUCKING SHIT REPLACE FMA'S TIME SLOT" award.

Tide-Line Blue
Slick, but ultimately you come away thinking, "Who cares?"

The Law of Ueki
Occasionally good for stupid laughs, otherwise utterly preposterous even for a kids' show.

GUNxSWORD
Competently assembled morass of cliches.

Jigoku Shoujo
Starts out cool and quickly turns itself into a cliche, like Paranoia Agent but annoying.

Honey and Clover
Very good, even though it meanders at the end.

Guyver the Bioboosted Armor
Pretty mindless.

Ah! My Goddess TV
Given its pacing, I don't know if animating the manga in its entirety is the best idea...

Blood+
Has potential, nothing to turn heads about so far.

Black Cat
Well, it's better than the manga...

Major
<3

Major S2
<3!

Eureka Seven
Very good stuff, not killer yet, but it kicks the shit out of Aquarion all over the place... you can't go wrong with Bones.

Karas
Looks soooooooooooooooo good but I hope the story gets better.

Condor Hero S2
Best shit that nobody's ever watched.

Karin
Pretty entertaining and low-key.

Seikai no Senki III
Over in a flash... absolutely no reason to watch it if you haven't seen the first three series.

Rozen Maiden Träumend
Decent if you liked the original RM.

Erementar Gerad
Pretty stupid, though better Kajiura work than most.

Solty Rei
See GUNxSWORD.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Final Fantasy VII: Last Order
Well, it doesn't really matter since you've seen them anyway.

All in all, this year sucked.

More as I think of them or as people point them out, if I care enough. I think I got the major ones.

Lord Golbez · Post by **Lord Golbez** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:54 pm

Xenosaga the Animation
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT.

That's what I said when I played the game!

Jeff 2G6 · Post by **Jeff 2G6** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:01 am

Lord Golbez wrote:
Xenosaga the Animation
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT.
That's what I said when I played the game!

So true

Only show I've watched was FMP: TSR.

I tried watching Tsubasa, but it is about as boring as watching grass grow.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:11 am

Barely followed any of those this year

SEED Destiny was good for me ¬_¬! It was shiny and had pretty boys, and no I'm not horredously shallow.

Honey and Clover was great but could have carried on longer

Eyeshield 21 is the only anime I'm currently watching

Yay for random lighthearted sports fun. [New Prince of Tennis plz]

Jeff 2G6 · Post by **Jeff 2G6** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 5:26 am

I think the quality of anime has been hitting rock bottom since like 2000.

There are almost no series that even remotely interests me now. It's pretty much a thing of the past for me now. Moving on to bigger and better things!

mz · Post by mz » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:31 am

You should still watch Gankutsou, though.

Doom wrote:Eureka Seven
Very good stuff, not killer yet, but it kicks the shit out of Aquarion all over the place... you can't go wrong with Bones.

Unless you watch Mars Daybreak.

Slashley · Post by **Slashley** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:33 am

You make it sound like Naruto didn't air this year

Although, the very few comments you said and I've also said... I couldn't agree more

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:44 am

why is there a need to mention naruto
naruto is naruto
bleach is bleach
one piece is one piece
etc.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:54 am

im sure it was just as good as last year. meaning not very.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:10 am

i'm sure you don't know jack shit

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:14 am

^____________________________^

Impaler · Post by **Impaler** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:18 am

Agreed on most stuff.

So what animes do you really follow? Wanna do up that must-watch list again?

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:26 am

How do you define "follow"?
I still watch almost everything. Among the ones I watch, there are three categories:

1) Shows I devote 100% of my attention to while I'm watching.
2) Shows I watch fully, but frequently while doing something else in the background.
3) Shows I just leave on and devote the majority of my energy to something else, checking in like once every 2 minutes or so.
4) Shows where I skim entire episodes in < 5 minutes and go "whatever".

So if we're just considering worthy shows that are still airing, in the first two categories:

1) Eureka Seven, Major S2, Angel Heart, Karas, Suzuka
2) Noein (seems like I forgot this one, it's decent sci-fi), Karin, Eyeshield 21 (when I do watch it, which is rare, since I've read the manga), Glass Mask, Basilisk, Blood+, Jigoku Shoujo, Guyver, Shakugan no Shana, Aria

Aria is absolutely great to have in the background because of really bright colors and soothing music.

Impaler · Post by **Impaler** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:14 pm

Same as always Doom-chan. You're really a big help

.

The only animes from your list that I don't follow is Major, Eyeshield21, Glass Mask, Basilisk and Guyver.

I have noein ep. 01 but the subs done by Shinsen really left me feeling

, while Aria

reminds me of Autumm

.

So... when are we going to get the new "Must Watch List"

I think we're missing out on lots of new stuff like Paradise Kiss, Lamune, ichigo mashimaro, etc. Or are we just waiting for Fate/stay night?

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:31 pm

Actually no we're not, I just forgot them, just like I forgot Maria-sama ga Miteru: Spring, which I <3 btw.

Lamune you can lump with Shuffle and co. (damn harem/h-game shows) except it's not far enough to be atrocious yet.

Paradise Kiss is good, like Beck x H&C, but I don't really like the characters for some reason. Put that in category 2.
Ichigo Mashimaro I haven't seen actually.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:42 pm

Paradise Kiss was great as a manga.. but the anime is lacking

I keep watching it for some reason.. but it's trying too hard to be stylish and artsy and just ends up annoying. That and seems to forget the characters have personalities.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:37 pm

Oh okay so it's not just me... yeah I don't appreciate the style either. Also, I know George is 18 but come on... it looks pedo anyway.

Impaler:
Basilisk is done... but subs have slowed to a crawl. It started back in April.
There is no must-watch list because honestly, there are no must-watch shows... E7 has the potential but like I said, it isn't quite there yet. I would say H&C is the most recent candidate, but I would only say the first half or maybe two-thirds is a must-watch.
But there's Gankutsuou, of course......................................................

Impaler · Post by **Impaler** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:48 am

I liked Basilisk manga better. Not to mention that the anime got licensed and A-Kraze stopped subbing it.

So I take it that you didn't enjoy Takemoto's journey?

I

Gankutsuou but I didn't finish watching it. I stopped at 20 (or was it 21

) because all of my previous Gankutsuou got corrupted. Some "early ver. of SATA" problem. I kinda of lost 60 gigs of anime that time, Gankutsuou and Samurai Champloo included

.

So... are the rumours of 3rd TERRA true? There's a supposed sequel to 2nd GIG right?

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:52 am

That and everything else started getting rehashed.

Last One · Post by **Last One** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:23 am

Yeah, seems that other than Ganks and with the hope of something coming up with E7, there was no must see anime this year

Have a nice day

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:00 am

Uhhhh sup new I"s OVA is out. :O

They started over so thank goodness it has absolutely no relation to the horrendous first OVA.

Apparently the director did Elfen Lied... so quite an interesting departure for him to say the least. I did appreciate the stylistic flourishes he added in this first ep.

So, only if you've read the manga:
[spoiler]So the projected length is 6 episodes, which immediately made me think of the Video Girl Ai anime, which was also 6 episodes...

If I had to guess what they're doing, I'm thinking that they'll wrap it up either during or immediately after the Christmas incident (you know what I'm talking about) in Volume 10 or so... which is interesting, since that's a whole lot of ground to cover.

This is my guess because the very beginning of the episode takes place on that Christmas Eve, and Seto dives into a flashback that takes us all the way back to the beginning of Volume 1. The first episode has a bit of compression and takes us up to Itsuki's first appearance (which is the end of Volume 1? I don't remember).

I wonder if they'll cut out Izumi altogether, which I'm hoping they do if it's only going to be 6 episodes. I certainly wouldn't mind limiting it to a triangle instead of the five-way it ended up being.[/spoiler]

I always did prefer I"s over VGA simply because I couldn't really stand the sci-fi hogwash of VGA.

In fact, now I want to reread it, especially since I lost the damn thing. NE HALP.

Joei · Post by **Joei** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:48 am

uh wait....Guyver? What? Am i missing something?

Calbrena · Post by **Calbrena** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 1:07 pm

Doomie, can you upload I"s somewhere plz?

[spoiler]Yeah Itsuki does arrive at the end of volume 1.
And I really like Izumi but, yes, it would be too much for just 6 episodes

[/spoiler]

Not sure if I prefer VGA or I"s... I think I prefer VGA, but maybe because of nostalgia, as it's one of the first mangas I've ever read...

Both are really good anyway, Katsura is one of my favourite mangakas

Oh and I didn't like the VGA oavs at all

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:36 am

Well, if I can get it...

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:07 am

Pikohn wrote:I'm hoping 06 will be the year that we've all been waiting for...the year that will bring a series that really makes you sit back and take notice.

We have it and its name is Gankutsuou. It easily eclipses FMA and almost outdoes Stand Alone Complex.
It's just that overall the year has sucked.

Jeff 2G6 · Post by **Jeff 2G6** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:21 am

Man Yu-Gi-Oh GX DVDs need to come out soon. I don't have cable so I can't watch it when I go home.

Joei · Post by **Joei** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:24 am

Joei wrote:uh wait....Guyver? What? Am i missing something?

?

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:15 am

TV remake

Mitsurugi · Post by **Mitsurugi** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:07 pm

Jeff 2G6 wrote:I think the quality of anime has been hitting rock bottom since like 2000.

There are almost no series that even remotely interests me now. It's pretty much a thing of the past for me now. Moving on to bigger and better things!

woah, someone who agrees with me, it's not just anime jeff. It's like everthing, movies, games, and anime. I still watch the animes from the 80's and 90's. Ahhhh *sigh* cowboy bepop and trigun:D! Me thinks anime is becoming a little to commercial maybe?

Mitsurugi CP · Post by **Mitsurugi CP** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:22 pm

Or maybe because you guys are overly nostalgic or you're getting way too picky with your anime, since you're starting to figure out that plots have a tendency to repeat themselves, and use that as a way to play it off as unoriginal or uncreative?

Considering the number of good animes (not percentage-wise, but actual numbers) that have come out, I'd say that things have stayed pretty much the same, just more anime is being produced, so there's bound to be a lot more mediocre or just plain bad series, but that doesn't mean that quality of good series is declining, it just means more people are making it, and it's just like anything else in life. A few winners, a whole lot of losers.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:37 pm

You grow out of anime. It happens. Because face it, most of anime is aimed at the 13-21 crowd.

However, to say that there is absolutely nothing good nowadays is so, so, so ignorant.

WaWard · Post by **WaWard** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:26 pm

I grew out of it in about 5 minutes.