Naughty and Nice ’13: The year in anime

1. Madoka Magica Rebellion
After having watched the film, it took a while to disentangle my emotions and reaction. Looking at the analysis and Wikipedia gave me a fuller understanding of the film, but made the emotional entanglement worse over how to feel. I felt torn, like my investment with the characters in the prior series begin to disintegrate and devalue, and I began to question whether I should have gone in to watch the movie. Even the producer said that the movie will divide fans, and that there will be a faction who will hate the ending. You ask, “Couldn’t you have just left it alone?” Only time will tell the final legacy of this movie, but it is a bitter pill to swallow.

2. Sword Art Online’s overpriced Limited Edition box sets
We’re talking about $90 a box set, with 4 box sets for the entire 25-episode series. Yes, you do get a lot of extras such as a soundtrack, bonus DVDs, illustration booklets and collectible cards. The problem is that the extras are hitched to an anime which underwhelmed, and frilly extras can’t make up for a lack of substance and numerous flaws to justify the extra expense. While cheaper than the limited-edition Madoka box sets on a per-episode basis, might I suggest an NIS box set instead?

3. Valvrave the Liberator
Flawed from the get go with weak characters, a too-fast plot and awful dialogue, it takes the bad parts of more established mech anime and tries to make up for it with good battle scenes and multiple flashy mechs. Finishing the first season means that one was pretty much committed to the second due to its ungraceful ending. The second season has more substance and balance with a more stable foundation but the series still lacks originality and contains many of the flaws of the first. The series is currently airing in Japan, halfway through its story, and is being streamed on Crunchyroll.

4. Blazblue Alter Memory
Perhaps this anime will be more enjoyable to those who have played the games. First impressions are of a completely disjointed series which has multiple storylines all occurring at the same time but little cohesiveness. The series jumps around every few minutes and tries to advance each storyline a bit in each episode, resulting in poor usage of time. Trying to piece things together, therefore, is both difficult and doesn’t pay off in dividends as nothing really jumps out and grabs the viewer. Also, Ragna’s voice actor, Tomokazu Sugita, seems to be a poor fit for this character — he can’t pull Ragna off as well as he performed in the role of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Kyon, and Sugita’s voice makes him sound about 10 years too old for Ragna’s character.

1. Madoka Magica Rebellion
From a technical aspect, this movie is a masterpiece, easily meeting the standards of the series themselves to proudly wear its nameplate. The music, animation, and battle scenes are fantastic, easily matching the series on which it is based, and of course the little details added to the story and animation show the amount of care this movie was given. The complexity of the story facilitates intense discussion and analysis, even with a large amount of attention paid to the movie, and as a result the events of the story can be interpreted multiple ways. A second viewing is recommended, along with an intense amount of time spent on discussion boards or the Wiki.

2. Free!
I was ambivalent to the series when it first began, considering I had expected this to appeal to a different sort of viewer than myself. Instead, I turned out liking the story and characters much more than expected, and despite its on-the-face simplicity, the series manages to have plenty of substance and heart, where one can just feel the passion and struggle emanate from every single character. Those who dismiss the series as merely a showcase of fanservice or having it be single-handedly “ruining anime” are judging a book by its cover or invoking a knee-jerk response. Beware of the ending theme, it’s an intense earworm.

3. Kill la Kill
“What is this series going to be about?” “WHO CARES?” — this was the conversation I had with my friend upon the series’ announcement. Indeed, even only a few episodes in, one can feel distinct animation, storytelling, and drawing parallels with unique and enjoyable series such as “Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt” and “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.” It should be no surprise that “Kill la Kill” is done by the same director, Hiroyuki Imaishi. Intense action, insane animation, and a unique and compelling story with just-right pacing make this series not one to be missed. Want to get started? The series is currently airing in Japan, halfway through its story, and streaming on Crunchyroll.

4. Wolf Children
This movie combines an extremely heartfelt story with brilliant character development and some breathtaking scenes (the snow romp scene is an expertly mixed cocktail of intense emotions). The storytelling is brilliant and intensifies the emotions, along with the compare-and-contrast nature of the two young children/pups Ame and Yuki. Again, discussion abounds about the characters’ actions after the movie is over, but it’s undeniable that this series will touch anyone’s soul. Released last month in the United States, this half coming-of-age tale and half parenting-done-properly story is one not to be passed over.

1. Vampires in 2013
There is a benefit to following a number of shows each season in anime. One begins to notice patterns. This year I noticed there are a good number of vampire shows being aired. The concepts behind them vary immensely but the lack of traditional “cool” vampires will make old school supernatural fans cry. For example, if you enjoy shows like Hellsing or Vampire Hunter D, the 2013 vampire anime trends are not for you. We have the body swapping/snatching, memory sucking, mecha piloting vampire brood in Valvrave: the Liberator. The vampires in Daibolik Lovers are a bunch of sadistic pretty boys who take joy in abusing their female captive plaything. In Blood Lad we have an Otaku vampire who’s kind of a badass but the show is just too boring to bother with.

2. Anime is creative/unique (not always good)
I’ll admit it, this year was a great year for series creativity. Many of the series airing departed from the same old genres and plots fans have begrudgingly gotten used to. At the same time, a creative show doesn’t always translate into a good show. Hell, it might end up as a confusing, train wreck of a mess that just angers or disappoints you at the end. We had Cuticle Detective Inaba about a dog boy detective who gained special powers from eating hair follicles, it’s just as bad as it sounds. Sunday Without God could’ve been a cool zombie anime because death no longer existed in its world but the anime made no sense in the end. Maoyu was a cool medieval series about a demon queen who wanted to better the world via economic stability (a la Spice and Wolf) but the series ended without doing anything. Vividred Operation could’ve been a cool magical girl series relying on science instead of magic but the blatant fan service was a turn off. The less said about Dog & Scissors the better.

3. Conservative episode counts
Ten to fifteen years ago it wasn’t uncommon for an anime series to go on for dozens of episodes. Episode counts ranged from 26, 52 all the way up into the hundreds (and in some cases thousands). In the best of scenarios a show wrapped up neatly without feeling too rushed. In the worst of cases shows dragged on until they were eventually cancelled. This still happens today from time to time. That said, more often than not shows are allocated way too few episodes and never have the chance they need to finish. 12 episode or one cour series are all the rage among conservative anime production committees and as a result a large number of shows end up going nowhere. This year was particularly bad as at least half the shows I watched this year ended on unsatisfying note because it was impossible to tell a long story in 12 episodes. Arata: The Legend, I’m looking at you.

1. Anime is cool again
For a number of years, longtime anime fans have lamented about the medium lacking a major “hit.” You know, those shows that appeal to a large number of anime fans and fans of animation in general. Like a bolt of lightning crashing down from the sky, the anime adaption of Attack on Titan hit the scene. The dark medieval anime was a breath of fresh air from the usual offerings each season and became a major hit. Both anime and non-anime fans gravitated toward the series, making it something of an interesting phenomenon for 2013. To a lesser degree, many anime fans are buzzing about Studio Trigger’s Kill la Kill. It’s not as captivating as AoT but it reminds us of why anime can be so unique and cool. Then again, I wouldn’t expect any less from the same former Gainax staff that brought us FLCL and Gurren Lagann.

2. FUNimation owns all
If there’s one anime company that survived the industry crash of a few years ago it’s FUNimation. The large anime publisher has always had the muscle to acquire major licenses but this year FUNi has been on a roll. The company not only landed the rights to Attack on Titan but they’ve acquired a number of Bandai licenses as well. Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass and Scryed all under the same roof as Dragon Ball? Yes! And speaking of insanely popular shows, FUNimation’s returned to restoring Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray. Do these guys and gals down in Texas ever sleep? (By the way, where’s my release date announcement for Psycho-Pass? Just asking.)

3. Crunchyroll manga
Online digital distribution of manga has been a mixed bag at best. Last year, we had the implosion of JManga and Square Enix’s cancellation of their services. On the success side, we had Viz Media’s Shonen Jump, with release getting ever close to day and day with Japan. Crunchyroll entered the scene recently, promising it would do the same thing to manga it did to streaming anime. The prices are reasonable at $4.99 per month, with the premium service and free for regular users — ad-supported of course. Unlike J-Manga, Crunchyroll actually has some interesting titles to draw fans in, including Attack on Titan. Hopefully, Crunchyroll’s endeavor proves to be successful.

4. More streaming sites (Anime Sols, Daisuki
Cruchyroll, Netflix and Hulu may be the darlings of the anime world but those streaming sites got some interesting competition earlier this year. In March, Anime Sols rolled out and, in May, Daisuki hit the scene. Anime Sols is an interesting mix between legally free streaming anime via a partnership with Japanese studios and a Kickstarter type websites. Fans are free to register and watch whatever they want for free and they can also kick in money for a box set of the show. If a funding goal isn’t met the anime series won’t continue. Each box set is done in seasons with roughly 13 episodes each. The site mostly focuses on older anime classics such as Creamy Mami and Black Jack. Anime Sols may not be the place to be if you’re looking for the newest anime but it’s perfect for old school fans and those interested in older titles. Meanwhile, Daisuki is a collaboration between several Japanese studios and is based in Japan. The site features older and newer anime as well as a store front. As a bonus Daisuki also has a variety of exclusive series that have never been streamed before such as Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ and and Mobile Suit Z Gundam. Fans have never had this much variety for legal streaming.