2008 is fast on the way out, and there was a lot of anime to watch, old and new, subbed and dubbed. Let's review:

Best and worst of 2008?

What anime did you watch this year?

What series did you love or hate?

Which ones did you miss but plan on seeing as soon as possible?

Are you a n00b who just started watching anime? What series/movie did you start with?


Let's wrap up this year's experience with anime in this post.

Some are repeats, others are oldies that I finally watched all the way through.

-Naruto Shippuuden, of course (and eff them for killing off You-Know-Who in the manga)
-Death Note
-Gun x Sword
-Berserk
-Serial Experiments Lain
-Gunslinger Girl
-Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino
-Gantz (the only one I give a thumbs down. wtf.)
-Devil May Cry
-Witch Hunter Robin
-Yu Yu Hakusho
-Wolf's Rain
-Jigoku Shoujo seasons 1-3
-X (tv)
-Shigurui
-Ghost Hound
-The Twelve Kingdoms
-Blade of the Immortal
-Tokyo Tribe 2 (but only a few episodes so far)

have had the whole series on DVD for some time now, but never got around to watching it.

_________________________________________
"Too weird to live.... too rare to die..."

IG: KnowOne215 | PS+ ID: KnowOne215

It was really weird, but in a good way.

It's the kind of show you'll watch multiple times, looking for the symbolism and answers to questions you'll
undoubtedly have for weeks, maybe months after watching.

I'll probably run through it this weekend.

_________________________________________
"Too weird to live.... too rare to die..."

IG: KnowOne215 | PS+ ID: KnowOne215

subbed:
Michiko to Hatchin
Paprika


dubbed:
Azumanga Daioh
Beck
Hell Girl seasons 1 & 2
Genshiken 1-15
Gun x Sword (again)
Gurren Lagaan
Gantz
Black Lagoon: 2nd Barrage
Hellsing Ultimate 04
Tenjou Tenge (SUCKED)

lol. Seriously though, did you have a favorite out of this list? Or a hated?

I see you watched Gantz. Man I hated that show .

Gun x Sword was surprisingly good.
I wanted to quit after the first couple episodes, but I have a "no unfinished series" rule. Show surprised me.

even though it was pure giant robot otaku stuff, the way it was presented was stupid awesome. i really gotta get it on DVD. it was the best i've seen this year.

Hell Girl was great. really creepy stuff that kept getting interesting every episode.

Michiko and Hatchin is turning out good too. it's the first anime since Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales that i actually scramble for the subs as they come out. It's very refreshing to see a live action director take on this kind of project.

>lol. Seriously though, did you have a favorite out of this
>list? Or a hated?
never watch Tenjo Tenge. ever

>I see you watched Gantz. Man I hated that show .
>
Gantz was wierd as fuck. it was alright, just really really graphic. not at all what i thought it was.

>Gun x Sword was surprisingly good.
>I wanted to quit after the first couple episodes, but I have a
>"no unfinished series" rule. Show surprised me.

yeah, i saw Gun x Sword last year subbed but i wanted to watch the dubs to refresh. it was really deep for what it was and was actually 100% the kind of anime i like. not the createst, but it met all my requirements about taking conventional anime archetypes and adding some threatening ideals and serious character drama rather than just fighting to be fighting.

>never watch Tenjo Tenge. ever

lol. Oh no! Someone suggested this one. I'll have to read up on it, cause I don't want to start a wack show.


>Gantz was wierd as fuck. it was alright, just really really
>graphic. not at all what i thought it was.

Show pissed me off. Greatly.

it was like the first eps were building up to some awesome fights and then it hits the second half witch is basically a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG ass flashback in the middle of the series which completely confuses (what i saw as) the main plot so by the time they go back to the present in the last 2 eps, you don't even care anymore.

Macross Frontier
Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
Soul Eater
Golgo 13 (shakes fist at fansubbers)
kure-nai
Birdy the Mighty Decode (not "bad" but actually lost interest in this)
Ryoko's Case File
Blade of the Immortal (FAIL)
Bounen no Xam'd
Casshern SINS (lost interest in this too. too much aimless emo)
Gundam 00 2nd Season
KUROZUKA (lost my interest in this for the same reason as Casshern)
Nodame Cantabile Paris-hen (actually need to catch up on this)
Michiko to Hachin
Tokyo Tribe 2 (a tad bit better than expected)
MINDGAME

I looked at that title a few times but never watched.

What kind of anime is it?

But unlike Naruto or One Piece, it's animated and plotted a lot better.

There are times when it does get bogged down in convention but overall, the design, character dynamics, and creepiness of it's overreaching subplot make it a different enough to keep my attention where Naruto and Bleach have lost me on their endless fillers and poorly executed stretching of the storyline.

emo, yes, but it's only 12 episodes.

i gave up on casshern. 24 episodes is too long for a show like that.

xam'd is the best of '08.

Ain't nothin' touching Xam'd! Nothin'!

...but Xam'd is the reason I dropped it.

hahaha

< favorite record of 2009

PSN ID - themoodz
Steam ID - samuraisideburns
XBL Gamertag - samurisideburns
http://www.myspace.com/m00dz
http://twitter.com/Juhru
http://facebook.com/juhru

because on the internet, being a whiny bitch is much more important than getting a show first.

It the only thing I watch all the way through in 08. And it made me fall back in love with anime again.

_________________________________________
"Too weird to live.... too rare to die..."

IG: KnowOne215 | PS+ ID: KnowOne215

i loved death note. i still will watch it in re-runs.

>It the only thing I watch all the way through in 08.

It was fantastic though. I really enjoyed it.
I remember starting my downloads in the morning so I could get as many possible by that night, lol.
It was like watching a really good detective show. With shinigami!

i was on AdultSwim.com every Friday. lol

but Death Note is the only thing I saw from start to finish this year.

_________________________________________
"Too weird to live.... too rare to die..."

IG: KnowOne215 | PS+ ID: KnowOne215

when the white haired kid came in
they started to loose me
=(
is it worth trying to go back?

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~

I never recovered from Near being a lame substitute, but I still enjoyed the remaining episodes.

It's worth it to see what happens to every one though. And more people going crazy.

to see how it all comes together in the end. The last ep was pretty impressive.

_________________________________________
"Too weird to live.... too rare to die..."

IG: KnowOne215 | PS+ ID: KnowOne215

welp it's stopped airing i think
i'll have to hunt it down online

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~

it's one of the more acurate depictions of the book despite it being set on the moon.

and Kino's Journey. i've probably said that 100 times on here, but nobody seems to be lisening

GO WATCH KINO'S JOURNEY RIGHT FUCKIN NOW!!
GO WATCH KINO'S JOURNEY RIGHT FUCKIN NOW!!
GO WATCH KINO'S JOURNEY RIGHT FUCKIN NOW!!
GO WATCH KINO'S JOURNEY RIGHT FUCKIN NOW!!

And I'll add Kino's to the list too, lol. Promise!

in the end. I was very grateful of that. I hold it in high regard also.

< favorite record of 2009

PSN ID - themoodz
Steam ID - samuraisideburns
XBL Gamertag - samurisideburns
http://www.myspace.com/m00dz
http://twitter.com/Juhru
http://facebook.com/juhru

damn.

they really did an awesome job

it was plotted exceptionally well

i was holding back tears on the last few eps

One of my faves. When i first started traveling outside the US 4 years ago i began watching it.....it hit all the right buttons.


"Basically, I’m going to take what you did, the bare-bones structure of what you were trying to do, how you were attacking the song, and attack it in pretty much the same way, just with more intensity to show you that you could’ve come harder" - Bun B

Re

damn. that's a clssic. how'd you like it?

the manga was different but equally as good.

Like Big O, which I left off the list. I'd never seen all the episodes, or in order, so I figured I'd do it right.

And I thought it was hilarious. Sometimes I wondered if it was really as funny as I was making it, but the way he
acted and said things sometimes would have me rolling.

There are some other oldies that I need to watch again, like Ruroni Kenshin and Escaflowne.

while American animation finally starts stepping it's game up and begins to slowly restore my faith in it.

however, I did catch a few series and movies this year that caught my eye. I stopped caring about the whole subs or dubs thing as both languages have their fair share of good and bad voice acting. The few shows that I did catch had stellar voice acting from the english cast. Those are listed here.

Paprika (holy shit this was an amazing movie, even better that I saw it on Blu-Ray)

Welcome To The NHK (kind of watered and toned down from the book, but it was still really good and kind of hit home with me)

Desert Punk (great dialogue, decent action, fucking hilariously crude humour)

I went out and got the FLCL ultimate boxset which has loads of awesome commentary from the english voice cast and the original director of the show)

Steamboy (awesome cast, and every bit of what I would expect from Katsuhiro Otomo)

Cromartie High (fucking. funny. as. hell)

Perfect Blue (finally caught this one, I love Satoshi Kon and everything that he's done)

Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (loved the series, loved the movie. Also a big fan of the comics and the original movies)

Pani Poni Dash! (don't know what possessed me to queue this up in netflix, as it's not something I would normally watch. However, I gave it a shot since I heard a lot of comparisons to Azumanga Daioh (on lots of LSD) so I watched of over that on xbox live. It was pretty funny and fucking surreal. Shit tons of anime, movie, comic book and video game references throughout the show)


I might also add that there are shows that I'll never watch in english (not because it may be bad or anything, just that it's more appropriate). However, there was only one show I really watched this year that I held in that regard and that was the original Fist Of The North Star.

I was on a huge Hokuto No Ken kick this year as I still believe that Kenshiro is the baddest motherfucker on the planet.

I also saw a few episodes of Xam'd : Lost Memories on the Playstation Network and it's a very good looking show. I want to watch more, but I barely have any space left on my PS3's HDD. I really need to upgrade and soon.

< favorite record of 2009

PSN ID - themoodz
Steam ID - samuraisideburns
XBL Gamertag - samurisideburns
http://www.myspace.com/m00dz
http://twitter.com/Juhru
http://facebook.com/juhru

And interesting list of shows. Some of them I hadn't even considered but now I will.

I love a really good dub (Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing). But the bad ones make my eye twitch.

it's not really doing it for me. It just seems like there hasn't been a lot of good shows lately. Anime is really popular right now in both overseas and as a result it's starting to feel like the late 90s when No Limit started putting out all those damn records like every day it seems. More quantity, less quality. haha

but you know, with anything, you have to sift through all the crap in order to find what's good.

I agree with you on some shows in english being bad enough to make you twitch, when it's bad, it's BAD. haha

I also watched Last Exile again a few weeks ago. It's definitely one of my favorites. The ending is pretty much lost to me, but I guess if I watch it again, I'll probably see just what the hell was going on haha. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you check it out.

< favorite record of 2009

PSN ID - themoodz
Steam ID - samuraisideburns
XBL Gamertag - samurisideburns
http://www.myspace.com/m00dz
http://twitter.com/Juhru
http://facebook.com/juhru

>while American animation finally starts stepping it's game up
>and begins to slowly restore my faith in it.

must not be on CN or Nick cause most of them suck.

<--- Big Baller World Order

It's supposed to be a Deathnote spinoff, focusing on L.....i presume before the events of the Deathnote series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTFwSba6RY

"Basically, I’m going to take what you did, the bare-bones structure of what you were trying to do, how you were attacking the song, and attack it in pretty much the same way, just with more intensity to show you that you could’ve come harder" - Bun B

Re

I wasn't aware it was done already. Let the search begin, lol.

....when i was in Tokyo this past June. I think it was being released at the end of that month there....???


"Basically, I’m going to take what you did, the bare-bones structure of what you were trying to do, how you were attacking the song, and attack it in pretty much the same way, just with more intensity to show you that you could’ve come harder" - Bun B

Re

a whole show about L? Could get kind of annoying after a while.

Fuck your sig.

I think it would be just like Deathnote, just using different criminals and crimes. Deathnote's writing and pacing was excellent. If they keep him in the same vibe, it'd be dope.

"Basically, I’m going to take what you did, the bare-bones structure of what you were trying to do, how you were attacking the song, and attack it in pretty much the same way, just with more intensity to show you that you could’ve come harder" - Bun B

Re

not what i expected

dope as hell. i'm kinda glad i hadn't started it sooner since now i have somn to watch over the holidays

and Xam'd is another one i thought was somn else that i liked

i guess i can trust ya'll

>dope as hell.

I'll keep that in mind.

Geass is literally Death Note/Gundam in a setting similar to all those private boarding school harem shows. Not entirely serious at all times, it often quickly approaches parody and I don't think that was unintentional. At the same time the plotting and cliffhanger endings to every episode made it hard to quit.

It was a fun campy show and one of the best guilty pleasures of the last couple of years.

cept the lead character is a lot more likable in Lelouche/Zero then Light/Kira who while both being brilliant, LeLouche/Zero came off as having more backbone and a more admirable character since his ambitions wasn't as self gratifying as Light who felt himself to the extent of being omnipotent yet getting pa\/\/ned in the end lol. Both met their end but at least LeLouche didn't go out like a whimpy crying bitch.

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My president is black, my Linksys router's blue!!!

The shit sucked. I thought it would be a good since it had the mech designs of ZOE.

No empathy for white misery (c) BDot

"root for everybody black haters say that's crazy, wow..."

I started watching some of these before but never had a chance to finish them, but here goes...

Gunslinger Girl - Is really good. It's not too dark, or too serious even though there's little to no humor in it, there are occasions, where it can seem a little less like cyborg killing machines shped like little girls, overall a B.

Samurai Marionette J - This show alwas makes me laugh. Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry make for a really good dynamic with each other. This one is probably a B+

Samurai Gun - If you like Trigun, Bebop, or Kenshin, you should check his out, it's got it's flaws, but it's really good. I absolutely think this is one of the best Anime I've seen in years. An A definitely

Sakura Wars TV - If you like Shoujo stuff, this is a good show. If you like Steam-Punk stuff this is an even better show. Crazy Steam Powered Mechas running around the "capitol" destroying Wakiji, which look like mecha, but are really the physical incarnation of spiritual energy being used for evil...I mean it's just so straightforward and kinda cliched that it really is a good show. An A-

Gilgamesh - This show was weird, I don't think anysynopsis I could give would be fitting. I enjoyed it, but at the end I was a little less than satisfied. It's got NGE sorts of intrigue, but again it's really hard to follow in the later episodes. Overall a C, if you get a chance to see it you should, but don't go looking for it.

Desert Punk - Last but certainly not least. Desert Punk is just straight up lecherous humor. I mean the Punk has Style and skill, but this show is all about the stupid jokes, and the skirt-chasing.
It's awesomely hilarious. An A+.
_______________________________________
<--- Everett Thomas A.K.A. Synch

Now That's What's Up

What am I, if I can't be yours...

S.Y.L.S.B.

Lelouche = DAT MASTERMIND!!!

Easily one of my favorite characters in all of anime

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My president is black, my Linksys router's blue!!!

except more delusional and less cowardly

He had alot more poise & backbone then Light. Light pretty much was cornered and acted like a straight up bitch when exposed & having his comrades try to take him in whereas LeLouche was cornered by his own & ready to take his L & in the end choose to be a hero.

And the people he owned like his old man & the other dude who also had a Geass to read folks minds also made for great epics.

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My president is black, my Linksys router's blue!!!

me and KAK were like the only people watching it back then the post was going. it might still be on the board somewhere.

<--- Big Baller World Order