Sadly the final Potemayo special has come. It features everything that makes Potemayo great:
moeblobs,
fighting moeblobs,
crossdressing,
Nene,
sexual innuendo,
Mikan’s reactions,
and Kyo’s breasts.
Reminds me why this is one of the best comedies to come out in years. Desperately needs a second season. If J.C. Staff can do three seasons of Zero no Tsukaima, then I don’t think more Potemayo is that much to ask for. Just got to believe in Honi Honi~.
Best ” OVA ” - ARIA the Arietta
Ok, actually ARIA the Arietta was probably the only OVA from this year I saw, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Like everything about ARIA, it was great; calming, funny, whimsical, and slightly melancholic. Fortunately the OVA did not signal the end of the great ARIA franchise, but as a detour on towards better things. I’m sure almost everyone will be checking out ORIGINATION in the coming weeks.
Best ” OVA that didn’t come out this year but I finally saw ” - Giant Robo
Now tell me that’s not awesome?
Best ” Artsy Show ” - Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei
It was a toss up between Sayonara Zetsubuo-sensei and ef ~ a tale of memories ~ for this category, but ultimately I enjoyed SZS’s stylistic flair more. From the orgasmically surreal OP (BURE BURE BURE BURE) to the several design quirks that characterize Akiyuki Shinbo’s work, it is impossible to say SZS didn’t have style. The style could either enhance a joke to something truly hilarious, make an incromphrensible joke even more cryptic, or stand alone in silent beauty. I’m looking forward to see what the second season will showcase in its artistic melting pot, but as in SZS tradition I have to ask: SUBS?!
Best ” I couldn’t believe it could turn out this bad show ” - Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
It’s amazing to see how StrikerS went from the darling anime of the year to being derided by almost everyone, even hardcore fans. I tried to put up with it, but there were just too many flaws and I dropped it shortly after Vivio was introduced. The endless training, introduction of too many characters, poor villians, shoddy animation, bad pacing, Vivio, disappearance of old characters we loved; all a perfect mixture of fail. The only good things to come out of StrikerS were Subaru and Teana; Subaru’s a great character all around who deserves a better show, and Teana just because I think her design is sexy. They do make one hell of a lesbian couple, another thing that couldn’t save StrikerS.
Best ” Show that’s halfway finished ” - Code Geass
Great plot, great action, great characters, great pizza, great ass. I look forward to more in the spring.
Best ” Honi Honi ” - Potemayo
I had to give Potemayo something. There is not a more sugary sweet, diabetes inducing moeblob in all of anime. The show never took itself seriously and had fun with its characters, creating a great comedy show all around. Also desperately in need of a second season.
Best ” Romance Show ” - Genshiken 2
I’m not much of a romance guy. Too much romance in anime seems forced and unnatural to me, and often times it is, but Genshiken 2 got romance right. Genshiken had the benefit of being a slice-of-life/romance show, so it never had to rely on romantic intrigues to carry the story but could also insert gundam references. The natural love between Ohno and Tanaka and Sasahara and Ogiue grew throughout the series, and in the case of the later couple hasn’t even come to fruition yet. Hopefully we’ll get some OVA’s to finish up that story.
Best ” Other show made by SHAFT this year ” - Hidamari Sketch
For that other awesome show made this year by SHAFT. Also can’t wait for the second season airing soon.
Best ” Show of the Year ” - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Could there be anything else but Gurren-Lagann for best show of the year? Everything about it is perfect. Stellar animation, manly GAR characters, and an epic plot that encompasses the entire universe. It had a couple problems in pacing halfway through, but nothing could stop this juggernaut from reaching the top. The spirit of this show - its characters, its emotions, and its many great monologues - will definitely stay with me in the coming year.
On a personal note, it’s been a pretty good year overall. The blog reached one year old. Readership increased dramatically, declined dramatically, and finally leveled of. My fanboyism of Type-moon reached new heights with the Fate/stay Night patch, but due to the lack of any new games has settled down to a kind of pessimistic cynicism. My fanboyism in touhou was similar, with much reading of doujinshi and playing of games at the beginning of the year leading to me not even thinking about touhou now. Too much too fast I guess. I discovered a love for mecha and tokusatsu which does continue now and have been watching as much as I can in those areas, which has definitely been reflected in the blog. And I got a cute girlfriend who I love, which was the best part of the year. And she has seen the blog and agrees: otaku make great boyfriends.
Finally, in mimicry of what one of my favorite bloggers does, let’s look at which post each month you readers most commented on and, I assume, liked.
January - Series Review: Black Lagoon Second Barrage - several people seemed to agree with me on how great this anime was. A third season is still sorely missed.
February - Saigar Update: Quarterfinals Match 3 aka. Good Night Sweet Prince - Archer’s lost in Saigar prompts a discussion on what the hell GAR is.
March - Greatest Haruhi Pic Evar - still rings true.
April - I have found it! - video of the first live action attempt at Lucky Star dance. Not to be viewed by the faint of heart.
May - Claymore Manga: Awesome, Claymore Anime: Meh - everyone agrees the girls of Claymore are moe.
June - Game Review: Fate/stay Night - FATE Route - still waiting for UBW patch.
July - Impressions: Sayonara Zetsubuo Sensei - the beginning of the madness.
August - One Year Anniversary Extravaganza - looking back, it wasn’t that big of an extravaganza.
September - Final Thoughts on Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann - the end of a legend.
October - Tomoya’s Dating a Retarded Person - more people really need to watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
November - Prelude to the Ultimate Battle of Manliness V.2 - it’s on in a couple of days.
December - I Hate Keyches - I love inventing new words.
Well, that’s it for 2007. Happy new year everyone and I’ll see you in 2008!
You never know when you might ingest a microscopic space pirate queen bent on galactic conquest. This omake was just so out there, even for Potemayo, but still hilarious. DELICIOUS KINGDOM!
Week ago I’m talking about how awesome more Potemayo would be and here comes along the first Potemayo DVD special. Still cute, still funny. Only real thing to say is that naked Potemayo makes me feel dirty in ways I can’t accurately describe.
It’s so sad to finally see Potemayo go. The final episode was nothing spectacular, but a fitting conclusion to the series. Sunao and Mikan make up, Potemayo and Guchuko give birth, and we get to see the new babies. I’ll admit I teared up when everyone thought Potemayo and Guchuko were dead. I knew they weren’t, but it was still a powerful moment. Especially Guchuko’s with Kyo’s poignant elegy. Thank god they’re not actually dead and I can watch Potemayo dance to the pudding song to my heart’s content. As for the new babies, what little we saw of them, Potemayo’s was kind of ugly with the big, sketchy eyes. Guchuko’s was OHMYGOD CUTEGASMING OVER 9000. Yeah.
Potemayo really was the sleeper hit of the summer. All it had going for it was a couple of moeblobs and a wacky sense of humor. I found its humor much more enjoyable and accessible than Lucky Star’s, the other comedy show of the season. Reminds me I really need to watch the last episode of that soon. Potemayo definately was the best show of summer for me. Each new episode was an exciting breath of pure fun. All the characters were wonderfully developed and evolved beyond one joke limits. Who didn’t love Nene’s high-pitched sarcasm by the end? J.C. Staff handled everything wonderfully; exactly the qualities I’ve come to expect from them. The only thing Potemayo lacks is a second season. I need more honi honi~ and SHAAAAAAAA dammit!
I love Potemayo. It was the best show to come out of the summer season. It flawlessly mixes cute moeblobs, really weird characters, and slapstick comedy. Every minute fills me with such ecstatic giddiness and indescribable happiness; I’m cutegasming every second. But, that’s the problem.
I have no idea what to write about Potemayo, at all.
In retrospect, this is a plight of most comedy anime I’ve watched. Muteki Kanban Musume, Negima!?, ARIA, Manabi, Hayate, Ouran, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei (SUBS?!), etc. When it comes to anime heavily focused on humor I’m just at a loss of what to say. Obviously I enjoy them very much, but it’s tedious just to rewrite all the jokes and I don’t want to do many “OH GOD THIS SHOW IS AWESOME” posts.
A lot of this goes back to the nature of comedy; something is always funny when you see it but can be very different when you’re told the joke later. The only problem with my current way of blogging is that I feel it limits getting the word out about how great these shows are. I mean, does anyone talk about Muteki Kanban Musume, even though it was the best physical comedy in many years? Not really, and that’s kind of the problem. Any other bloggers encountered this same problem and found ways to counter it?
Example of Potemayo’s genius.
Yeah…
Anyway, another great episode. Potemayo was even more irresistibly cute, especially the yo-yo part. That was the best. The bird eating the worm was also a great laugh, especially with the dad’s reaction at the end. Let’s just forget about Mudo and whatever fantasy world he lives in.
