Otakuism

Gurren Lagann Parallel Works 4 wins just for crazy evil Kamina and his crazy evil hairdo. Heroic Viral with a horse of steel is also cool.

Ok, so many of you probably have no idea what this is. Back when Gurren-Lagann ended there were a few threads on /m/ on how awesome it would be to have Kamina and Kittan as police officers in the afterlife. It was called Garhalla Vice (cause, you know, everyone in GL goes to Garhalla). Eventually people realized it’d be better to just make it all in an alternate universe, and a true /m/an stepped forward to actually draw the thing. That /m/an is captainosaka, and true to his word Double K has become a reality. View the first four pages and other promo art here. I hope this is the awesome beginning to many epic things to come.

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!

One the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me one GIGA DRILL BREAKER!

This is the first post in a series as I look at the twelve best anime moments of the year from shows I watched. Key there being watched, as a few of these moments are going to be from some pretty old stuff, but I think they’re damn good enough to talk about at any time. This is a joint ABC blogging project with other contributions from Roxas, CCYoshi, Orion, Owen S, Xerox, Nekoron, Martin, Michael Huang, usagijen, and Moogy. Yeah, there’s a lot of us. If you haven’t watched Gurren Lagann then go watch it right now, as this post contains massive spoilers for GL.

Gurren Lagann is easily the best anime that came out this year for me. It’s an epic super robot story with great characters and a scale as large as the universe, literally. And the character that personified those traits is, of course, Kamina. Kamina has enough charisma and manliness for a million men, and there’d still be some left over. He inargueably drives the story from its beginning. This may be a tale of how Simon grows up, but we’re all really watching Kamina. Which is what makes his eventual demise so tragic.

The moment we all remember.

It was pretty easy to see Kamina’s death coming, he was the mentor character, but at the same time this guy was so larger-than-life that it seemed impossible for mere physical wounds to take him down. If Kamina were to die he would die fighting, fighting until every last atom of him was destroyed. It may not have been that severe, but he did die fighting. Kamina’s death was perfect, as weird as that is to say. Starting with the awe-inspiring speech, the fatal attack, the perfect gattai, heroic last words, and finally the ultimate attack that would come to define Gurren Lagann; everything was perfect. The incredible animation and epic music also helped make the scene into something much greater than a simple animated character dying.

This was a man we all knew and love who bit the dust, and we could all empathize with him. I still get choked up just thinking of the scene. Even with all the great moments that came after Kamina’s death - battle at Teppelin, Arc Gurren Lagann, Kittan’s death, the entire final episode - that was the moment that made me say “This is an anime that deserves to be watched and remembered. This is the anime that will be the best of the year.”

One awesome person translated the drama CD that came with DVD 5. The story is basically Gurren-Lagann translated to the crazy days of the Japanese eighties where school gangs, yakuza, and giant robots run rampant. It’s basically campus lagann and is incredibly AWESOME! Here’s the links:

Otoko Ippiki Gurren-Lagann Part 1

Otoko Ippiki Gurren-Lagann Part 2

Otoko Ippiki Gurren-Lagann Part 3

Favorite quotes:

Gimbley: Do not worry. This building belongs to the Gimbu-kai. And this is the 10th floor of the building. No matter who it is, they can’t come in here so easily.
*CRASH!*
Gimbley: …And now someone’s just come in!!

Yoko: I’ll show you the skill of the Dai-Gurren High Air Rifle Club President!
Kamina: You….how many clubs are you in charge of?

Kamina: What inhabits the chests of men is a blazing heart and unyielding will! I’ll lend fallen men a sword, but not money because I’m flat broke! This world’s number one roughneck! That’s me, Kamina-sama!

Kamina: Good! Let’s go! GATTAI!!!
*SMASH*
Simon: ……..A…Aniki? …..Ani..ki…?
Kamina: …….bwaugh! I-I’m okay! My dead old man was saying “It’s still too early” from the other side of the river!
Simon: You’re on the verge of death!
Kamina: I’m okay! The tip of the drill that came in through the ceiling just stabbed me a little!
Simon: It stabbed you?!
Kamina: The skin on my head got cut, that’s all! Thanks to that, now I’m WIDE AWAKE!!!!

Kamina: Spending all day doing nothing but fighting, what lies in the chest of this Banchou punk is hot blood and huge ambition!
Simon: Spending all day doing nothing but repairing, the oath of men repairs this world!
Kamina: The giant robot is revealed! I lay my life in this guy’s hands!
Kamina+Simon: BROTHERLY COMBINATION! GURREN-LAGANN! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!

Yoko: I can’t just let Kamina fight by himself! Please trust the skills of the Dai-Gurren High Long-Range Bombarding Club President!
Kittan: There’s a club for that?

Viral: Hahahahahaha! Do you see, Kamina?! This is my Hundred Enki Force! The one with two arms is Enkidu! Four arms is Enkidudu! Six arms is Enkidududu! Eight arms is Enkidudududu! The rooster’s cry is cock-a-doodle-do! To stop a horse you say “dou dou”…WHAT THE HELL?!

Kamina: Next time on OTOKO IPPIKI GURREN LAGANN! Conclusion Chapter! “Gurren-Lagann is in a great pinch! Rossiu’s forehead glimmers with killing intent!”

God I miss Gurren-Lagann.

Manly rap soundtrack is manly. Well worth the wait. Here’s the translated track listing from 4chan:

1.- Burning soul! Kick all your reason to the curb! This is the insane Great Gurren-Dan Theme that will blow away your ears!
2.- A Mole should stay being a Mole?
3.- Big Tits VS Big Tits (Yoko’s Theme)
4.- An Elegy for Kamina’s Father who turned to Bones
5.- The wolf has arrived!
6.- BafBau! Being fired up like this…don’t you like it?
7.- Nikopol
8.- The moon and the stars and meee~~
9.- Escaping the wasteland of hot sand the Dai-Gurren Dan goes forth
10.- Rap is the language of a man’s soul! Wait… am I right? Is my rap acceptable or what?
11.- What in the world is this ‘moe’?
12.- Get fired up, all of you!
13.- To hell with Gattai!
14.- Spin Spin Spin Spin
15.- Love Conservative
16.- Rap is a man’s spirit…was…you know…
17.- The YOSHINARI
18.- How you like my mad trumpet skills?!
19.- Libera Me From Hell
20.- With your XXX…
21.- Peirce the Heavens with your XXX!

1. the main theme with FIGHT DA POWAH, 7. Viral’s theme, 19. opera with FIGHT DA POWAH, and 21. the main theme are the best tracks. Really just get your hot blood pumping. Will be interesting to see what Gainax does with the remix soundtracks (it’s Gainax, there has to be remixes).

So it’s finally the end of Gurren-Lagann. Not the greatest ending I’ve ever seen, but a suitable one. Neither good or bad, and definately not the Gainax mindf**k. The final galaxy-spanning battle truly was awesome; a lot of the yelling helped. Lord Genome’s manly death and sacrifice was the best part, coming full circle from first half villian to second half hero. The anti-spirals got fleshed out a bit more,too. Went from being a grand dimensional government to a species with extreme self-esteem issues. The formless bodies were a nice touch, though.

I was actually surprised by Nia’s death. After all that Simon STILL can’t have her. The way it was handled made it hard for me to feel sad. If Simon’s happy then I won’t really worry about things. Finally there was the “life goes on” epilogue. One thing I learned from the ending is Gainax can’t draw older men. God is Rossiu ugly. Leeron stays fabulous of course. Yoko is old lady man and Viral is still GARMOE. And then there was Hobolock-I mean Simon. It really is fitting he chose to wonder the world, though you wonder what he did all that time, and where the drill spear came from. The only really disappointing things are no real Garlock, no grand dimensional government, no “all the stars are enemies,” and no final battle against God aka. The Will. Is there room for a sequel? Definately. Will we get one? Knowing Gainax, keep an eye out for End of Gurren Lagann for spring ‘08, hopefully where the previously mentioned things will be shown.

Gurren-Lagann has definately been one of the best mecha shows in many years, probably since Gaogaigar FINAL. It’s a culmination of the super robot revival that’s been going on for the whole decade. Was is good? Most of the time, yes. It gave us great characters, probably the most gar man ever in Kamina, great battles, and an epic plot that spanned the universe. Sadly, the plot kind of fell apart after the time-skip and never quite recovered the earlier pace till the later episodes. I don’t think we really needed all the episodes to show Simon being in prison or the Chouginga Gurren-Lagann trying to transform. The deaths in the latter half also felt a bit arbitrary, with only Kittan’s and Genome’s really getting the emotions going. So I would have to say episodes 7-15 were really the best. I definately know I’m going to miss those thousand posts stickies on /m/ now. Oh well, it was fun Gurren-Lagann. Now I just need that damn soundtrack. ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWAH!