Some individuals have already decided on the best show of fall* 2008. Now, unlike some people I usually don’t express opinions about shows that I haven’t watched. I’m not making any accusations. It’s just that, contrary to popular belief, 38% of people are actually not entitle to their opinion.

I’m calling it here and now: Toradora! is the best show of 2008, and postemptively of all time.  Come on, you absolutely cannot disagree with me on this one. I mean, the name rhymes and, as if that wasn’t enough to tell you this show is new and original, it has a freak’n exclamation point tacked on. Yeah, you read that right, a freak-in-ex-clam-a-tion-point!

! - there, ’cause I like ya’.

Besides, Taiga is probably the cutest character since Zero Louise.

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* It was noted that the author of the link attributing a certain show to being “the best of 2008″ was actually declaring it as “the best show of fall 2008.” far away no where offers apologies for any inconvenience or violent beatings on the way home from school this may have caused. This statement does not represent an admission of liability or acknowledgment of good taste in anime.

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Rie Kugimiya’s wiki entry notes that she has been “typecasted to tsundere roles.” I thought I was the only one that had noticed…

Hikari quickly became one of my favorite characters simply because of her amazing ability to not get what was going on, despite her apparent academic aptitude. Specifically, she seemed to be totally ignorant of Kei’s feelings, even when it was readily apparent that Kei was infatuated with her.

I kept on telling myself that this story was going to be one of those standard plots where the girl is just being aloof or “playing hard to get.” We learn, near the end of the series, that is not the case. For the majority of the show she is not cognizant of any romantic feelings she harbors for Kei. When she finally becomes aware of those feelings, she associates them with losing to Kei.

The “rival” mantra Hikari repeats in every single episode played through to the very end.  She was only able to express her love for Kei in terms of that rivalry. It was supposed to show that she greatly respected and admired him, as well as loved him.  I felt it went a little too far, but I also realize that it fits in with the plot.

As much as I wanted these two to get together, I was a bit disappointed in the ending. I expected more from the final disclosure of their affection for one another. The show ends as expected, we receive a bit of closure with a short embrace. Then as quickly as that happens, it’s over, and we are back at the greenhouse. Everything has returned to normal, nothing has changed, and everybody is happy again.

…if only life were so easy.

I seem to be watching a lot of these shows. By “these shows,” I’m referring to those that hold little value except for excessive amounts of fanservice.  Well, to be fair, they’re also funny.

But…I’m just going to be honest. This whole thing is just a lame excuse to post this Golden Darkness image I extracted from the last episode I watched.

It started off relatively slow but has always had potential to end really well. It took a while, and I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. Now I can say that Nabari no Ou is a good show…thus far. I’ve only watched the first nineteen episodes, assuming twenty-six in all. Most of that has been development of characters. The main plot is a little light. Basically, there is still time for this show to suck.

Okay, first lets start with the OP, it is my favorite amongst the shows I’m currently following. Yeah, it’s the “sha la la.”

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I’m not really all that hard to please. I’ve stated before, I only ask for a good story and interesting characters. That’s about it. Admittedly, these aspects of a show are very subjective. To that end, it is my opinion that Nabari no Ou has both. Of interest is the show’s male lead. It’s hard not to like Miharu simply because he doesn’t fall into the standard male lead molds.  We don’t often get a main male character that is defined mostly as feminine and apathetic towards the world.

The key element being that “apathy.” Usually, to explain this type of character’s distance from the world, shyness is used. Miharu, at first, simply doesn’t care too much about anything. Of course, we see a refreshing devilish side to his character surface every now and again. Oddly, that devilish aspect of his character tells us much about him. It shows that while he distances himself from the world he doesn’t necessarily have a lack of understanding of that world. In fact, he does understand; yet, he chooses to be seperate from it. Why exactly he has made this choice is exactly what the story seems to be examining.

The outsider, the loner, the outcast. These are all standard fair in the world of anime. In particular, among lead characters, they are used to reinforce the role of that character in the eyes of the viewer. That status plays no small role in the place that the plot has for them.

It also plays no small part in the effectiveness of relating to the viewer. No one really feels “common.” We know too much about the intricacies of ourselves to feel “common.” The problem is that others don’t see us the same way we see ourselves. Taken from the vantage of the outside world, we are remarkably similar. We have two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears, and one nose. We speak and hear. We see and feel. The world has a place for those that are remarkable and those that are not so much remarkable. But, if you asked anyone they would say most people are “normal” or “common.”

While we don’t really feel normal or common, we learn to accept what the world is telling us. That we are normal and common. At the very least, most do not fight the assumption much. We still don’t feel common or normal.

Then we find something that we relate to. We are drawn to it because it seems familiar. There is a substance or spark of recognition. In this story, Miharu finds Yoite. He doesn’t simply empathizes with him. That wouldn’t fit into his character. Miharu is drawn to Yoite.

That which seems familiar in Yoite, he finds confusing. Is it that he is confused by his own intentions, his own self? Miharu stated goal in the first episode is to lead a “carefree life.” Until he developed a connection with Yoite that could be taken literally, as in not caring (apathy). After his interaction with Yoite that goal is pretty much gone.

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Maybe it’s just me, but I think it would be so totally awesome to have bat-wings and a tail =)

After three seasons of Zero no Tsukaima, one would think that the show’s main gag would have gotten old by now.  Well, after much thought and deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that it will absolutely never get old…never!

When taken to its most basic storyline, ZnT is about the dysfunctional relationship between Louise and her boyfriend/familiar Saito. When we take that, put in some domestic abuse, breast sizes that span the entire spectrum of breast sizes, not-abnormally horny Saito, then what have we got? Gold Jerry, gold!

It’s a classic formula Boobs + Beatings = WIN. This is not to be confused with the Rosario + Vampire Lemma, which basically shows that female anime Vampires are a mixture of panties and boobs.