Spring 2013 Anime Awards

by **MvRaM** Mon Jul 08, 2013 6:25 pm

Every once in a while, there comes a shonen anime series a la Naruto or BLEACH that literally takes the entire world by storm. However, as of late, there hasn't been a new series to continue that tradition. Fast forward to this past Spring, as Kodansha and Production I.G. unleashed an anime adaptation of one of the most powerful shonen series in recent memory to fill that void. Hajime Isayama's Shingeki no Kyojin has captivated audiences worldwide with its action, character development, angst, cliffhangers and the dread [url=http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/moe titan](or hilarity?[/url]) that is the Tians. Already a top-selling manga in Japan, the popularity of the manga exploded even further since the anime premiere, as copies of the volumes quickly flew off bookshelves of Japanese bookstores everywhere. Let's not also forget the impact of the OP, 'Guren no Yumiya' by Linked Horizon. The song has become a meme, spawning tons of hilarious parodies by fans all over the world.

What makes Shingeki no Kyojin stand out even more is that it is a shonen series that's very dark compared to other hit shonen anime. It feels like a seinen series blessed with the right touched to make it appealing to everyone. Combine all this with merchandise, product placement and the other wacky memes it has generated, and you really have, as the Japanese newspaper, Manichi Shimbun, exclaims, a 'once-in-a-decade' hit.

Tony

The Spring season was full of shows with strong themes, musical scores, and insert tracks, but when it came to the full soundtrack package, music-themed Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 2000% stood out as a clear front runner. Not only did both its opening and closing themes reach within the Oricon Japanese pop charts' top five, but all of the subsequent insert tracks released for the series charted high as well. Anime series featuring female idols such as Love Live! and AKB0048 have done great work in exploring the idol genre, and it was exciting that Uta no Prince-sama also did its part in representing male idols and producing the kind of music that would make it big in the real world J-pop industry.

Julie

I think Hataraku Maou-sama! took the entire anime community somewhat by surprise. With a premise that sounds as bland as a trip to the average set of Naruto fan art, the series originally looked like it would come and go without much attention whatsoever. But boy oh boy did it shatter expectations. Delivering consistently excellent humour, a surprising amount of character depth and an intriguing plotline, Hataraku Maou-sama! quickly became a fan favourite and a joy to watch every episode of. It feels like somewhat of a shame that the anime ended on such a nonchalant note, but at least we can be thankful that the doors are well and truly open for a second series and a comeback to more of Maou and co's antics!

Dan

Muromi-san is extremely reminiscent of 1990s anime, right down to the incredibly opening song performance by Sumire Uesaka and the character stylisation - this might lead you to believe that it's a dated affair without much to offer in what, for all respects, was a fairly packed Spring season. However, through offering outlandish but side-splitting humour, nostalgia aplenty, and a plethora of sketches that will leave you wishing the show was a little longer into a neatly packed 10 minute episode, Muromi-san becomes a package that is really tough to pass up! I think the best thing you can do is go and watch the opening, honestly. Like what you see? Then pick up the series before you miss this surprise gem.

Dan

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge had the potential to be a good crime drama. It had the 'game of death' setup that could have kept us on the edge of our seats, but instead it decided to creep us out. Kiri is a young boy who has a serious fetish for cutting women's hair, and Iwai is a young girl who has a curse that prevents her hair from being cut. Cursed objects are fairly common place in Eastern lore, so maybe something was lost in translation, or maybe the over-sexualization of hair cutting was too much to bear.

Aaron

One of the most exciting parts about meeting new characters each season is seeing which ones will grow and become stronger with each episode. Suisei no Gargantia's Ledo began the series as a proverbial fish out water after landing on Earth from the Galactic Alliance, behaving with militaristic strictness and thinking only of carrying out his mission. It was enjoyable to watch him little by little learning to genuinely interact with the people around him while questioning the code he originally lived by. Paired with his AI body-suit Chamber, Ledo made for one of this season's strongest examples of character development, and as fans of shows such as Full Metal Panic know, nothing makes for great entertainment like an out-of-his-element military boy!

Julie

With Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai premiering this past Spring, it marked the return of everyone's least favourite tsundere, eroge-playing, otaku little sister. And yes, she is still as annoying as ever. Kirino Kousaka returned to the world of anime after a 3 year absence, and all we can say is, "that wasn't long enough." Selfish, irritable, and generally a displeasure to be with, Kirino continues to think only of herself and cause problems for her comparatively fantastic older brother. Guy you like showing signs of finding someone he likes and actually show some signs of happiness? Destroy that happiness in a fruitless endeavor to claim it as your own - that's her mentality and we see it time and time again. This incredibly show of selfishness is probably best seen when she convinces some guy to pretend to be her boyfriend this past season. Why? Well, obviously to destroy any potential refuse her only brother has managed to find in Kuroneko and Manami. Very sisterly way of going about things, don't you think? As far as characters of the last season go, we'd really struggle to find one we loathed as much as Kirino Kousaka. It's always sad to see a season end, but we can all seek a bit of solace in the fact that it should hopefully be a very long time before any of us have to see the hellspawn that is Kirino on our TV screens again.

Tony

Every so often you find a show that you know you shouldn't enjoy and yet deep down you just can't help but to love it. Zettai Bouei Leviathan is just that for me - my guilty pleasure. Strictly speaking the animation is fairly sub-par and the story is too. It progresses slowly and whilst the first episode boasts an in-depth plot, we actually end up seeing very little of it. The characters themselves fill fairly cliche roles and the humour, despite being somewhat interesting at times, is something we've seen hundreds of times already.

So why did I adore this show so much considering its faults? Surprisingly, it's actually because the show has these unimaginative cliches, is very simple in what it sets out to do and because it follows such a standard, almost cookie-cut storyline that I loved it as much as I did. In and amongst all the poorly assembled scenes remained a sense of simpleness - a lack of urgency. It was relaxing and nostalgic - simple and yet blissfully enjoyable with a similar atmosphere to a lot of older classics such as Tokyo Mew-mew and Cardcaptor Sakura. Could this show have benefitted from a larger budget and better action scenes? Of course it could of, but with that I feel it would lose its quaintness - lose that special something that makes it such a pleasure to watch.

Matt

Potatoes - they're an oddity in the vegetable world. They are ugly, bland looking things, yet they are diverse and delicious. As a main course, the potato is filling, but disappointing. However, they make the perfect side dish, complimenting any meal. Aku no Hana is like a potato: ugly and bland to look at, and if it was your main show this past season, most likely not very satisfying. However, add Aku no Potato to your rotation of shows, and it is a fantastic show to fill in the gaps while you wait for the premieres of others.

Aaron

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by **V1ncent** Mon Jul 08, 2013 6:56 pm

I gotta disagree with this a lot Neutral

SnK was not the best show, it had its flaws and I believe both Hataraku Maou sama and Gargantia were better.

As for best character; fuck ledo, needs more hachiman

Worst character Kirino? Yes she's quite annoying but I actually thought she had some nice parts this season, she's still not close to ''my lovely angel ayase-tan'' though Laughing

by **Bato** Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:09 pm

^Ledo is awesome.

I think myself that Gargantia was better but when reading why this guy put it as number one show, then i can agree. Gargantia was not this big of a hit at all like Shingeki no Kyojin is around the world. But it's more most popular show of the season than best.

I can also agree with Ledo being the best character. Maybe there were better, maybe not, but Ledo was a great character.

I also agree how he described Aku no Hana.

And lol @ Crime Edge being the worst!

by **Ovyda** Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:37 pm

Pretty much accurate list. Although I'd say it's not the best, but most popular show.

For best char I saw 3 contenders - Ledo, Hachiman and Maou. So I'm happy with either of them winning.

by **V1ncent** Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:41 pm

Bato wrote:

And lol @ Crime Edge being the worst!

I honestly thought valvrave would be up there as the worst show Razz

ohwell, both equally bad

by **MvRaM** Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:39 pm

Even thought Valvare is a bad show, its actually quite amusing to watch. Especially all of the stupidity going on. I actually liked watching it. Maybe something wrong with me, lol.

by **Ovyda** Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:20 pm

Nope. There are quite a lot of people who either praise it as a good anime or like us who think it was stupid yet amusing. Not many haters tbh (probably only vince) Very Happy

cmon raping, aliens, super mecha's, great ost, animation good, marriage proposals, deaths and etc. It has literally everything Very Happy

by **Bato** Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:43 pm

Rape, Mecha, Marriage.. I'm not looking for those.

by **Ovyda** Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:03 pm

It's a good comedy.

by **V1ncent** Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:49 am

If it was their intention to be a comedy then yes, it's just sad how they tried to make a serious show and failed so miserably that everyone ahs to treat it like a comedy (just like Guilty Crown). Yes I had my laughs and it could be amusing to watch but that does not make it a good show.

by **Bato** Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:04 am

Ovyda wrote:It's a good comedy.

Yet you don't like Gintama Neutral

by **Ovyda** Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:16 pm

Bato wrote:
Ovyda wrote:It's a good comedy.

Yet you don't like Gintama

Parody =/= comedy. Is there raping, marriage, aliens, mecha's, killing, monsters and etc in Gintama? Nope. Just silly faces.

by **Bato** Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:37 pm

Ovyda wrote:
Bato wrote:
Ovyda wrote:It's a good comedy.

Yet you don't like Gintama

Parody =/= comedy. Is there raping, marriage, aliens, mecha's, killing, monsters and etc in Gintama? Nope. Just silly faces.

Raping, no. Unless there's some crazy antagonist.
Marriage, why not? In that world people get married too.
Aliens, yes.
Mecha's, yes if they do a parody about a mecha anime.
Killing, they don't go that far, but people do get sliced with swords.
Monsters, i believe Sadaharu (dog that bites people's heads) is a monster. And there's real monsters sometimes aswell.

Count all that in with silly faces, and you have one of the best rated animes on MAL Wink

And depending on your humour, parody can be considered comedy. I enjoy when they joke about other animes.

But my point is, you like something as a comedy that wasn't meant as a comedy, while you don't like something that is meant to be a comedy scratch

Valvrave being seen as a comedy makes it terrible, yet you rated it super high, which is strange.

by **Ovyda** Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:01 pm

Gintama is shit. I'll make 10k accounts to rate it as 1. Maybe it will get it lower a bit.

by **Bato** Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:35 pm

Ovyda wrote:Gintama is shit. I'll make 10k accounts to rate it as 1. Maybe it will get it lower a bit.

Good reply Rolling Eyes

by **V1ncent** Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:42 pm

Ovyda wrote:Gintama is shit. I'll make 10k accounts to rate it as 1. Maybe it will get it lower a bit.

Just because you don't like a genre doesn't mean the show is bad, there's a difference between the two

by **Ovyda** Tue Jul 09, 2013 4:18 pm

V1ncent wrote:
Ovyda wrote:Gintama is shit. I'll make 10k accounts to rate it as 1. Maybe it will get it lower a bit.

Just because you don't like a genre doesn't mean the show is bad, there's a difference between the two

I have seen 30eps. So I guess it's enough for me to judge the anime and not the genre? Annoyed

@Bato, I just CBA to reply you 100th time why I don't like Gintama Very Happy

by **Bato** Tue Jul 09, 2013 4:42 pm

Ovyda wrote:
V1ncent wrote:
Ovyda wrote:Gintama is shit. I'll make 10k accounts to rate it as 1. Maybe it will get it lower a bit.

Just because you don't like a genre doesn't mean the show is bad, there's a difference between the two

I have seen 30eps. So I guess it's enough for me to judge the anime and not the genre?

@Bato, I just CBA to reply you 100th time why I don't like Gintama

You don't have to. You just said yourself why you're wrong. ''YOU'' don't like Gintama, doesn't mean it's shit. And you asked me if Gintama had those things, and i answered that question because it does have most things, and better than Valvrave, which was a complete fail of an anime, which Gintama isn't.

And you have seen 30 eps of it yeah, but that still doesn't make it a bad show. It simply means it's not a show for you. And that's because you don't like the genre.

by **Ovyda** Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:03 pm

Nope, I am not wrong. I dislike it because it's shit. But that's only my opinion and I am not forcing on anyone else if you haven't noticed.

And all that stuff you mentioned doesn't even sound as good as what I saw in Valvrave + the biggest failure of Gintama is no killing. Slicing? Oh wow how serious...

by **Bato** Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:25 pm

Ovyda wrote:Nope, I am not wrong. I dislike it because it's shit. But that's only my opinion and I am not forcing on anyone else if you haven't noticed.

And all that stuff you mentioned doesn't even sound as good as what I saw in Valvrave + the biggest failure of Gintama is no killing. Slicing? Oh wow how serious...

????? Gintama isn't meant to be serious.

by **Ovyda** Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:59 pm

We were talking about deaths and you said "not killing, but slicing" so I replied with sarcastic comment oh yeah... that's really serious...

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