AAA'07 Awards - Best Anime
Before we move on to the Best Anime of 2007, let's look at what others think.
Over 2 million Japanese fans have voted for their favourite anime in a survey conducted by Yahoo! Japan. Here are the top 10:
- Sola
- Lucky Star
- Katei Kyoshi Hitman Reborn
- Ookiku Furi Kabutte
- Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
- Gintama
- Nanoha StrikerS
- Nanatsuiro Drops
- Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
- Hidamari Sketch
- Best Action - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Best Comedy - Lucky Star
- Best Romance/Drama - Kanon
- Best Animation - Byosoku 5 Centimeter
- Best Soundtrack - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Best Anime of 2007 - Code Geass
- Code Geass - 986 votes
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - 768 votes
- Lucky Star - 332 votes
- Death Note - 274 votes
- Kanon - 232 votes
- Most Spectacular Trainwreck - Code Geass
- Best Slice-of-Life - Lucky Star
- Best Comedy - Potemayo
- Best Drama - Darker than Black
- Best Action - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Best Overall Soundtrack - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Best Overall Vocal Cast - Lucky Star
- Anime of the Year - Lucky Star
*drumroll* Here they are, from number 5!
Click here for Minami-ke teaser
Haruka, a motherly girl who is wrongly perceived as a head gangster.
Kana, the loud-mouth baka. (remember Tomo?)
Chiaki, indifferent most of the time and straightens Kana up.
These are the three Minami sisters. All likable and entertaining. They and their classmates conjure up situations that make you laugh so hard that Chiaki will write a 10,000-word report of how stupid you are (yup the book was really written...for Kana)
Top-notch snappy dialogue, character-centric in nature and really hilarious situations. Sakuraba Choharu the mangaka is a comedy genius. Remember Mako-chan from Best Moment #5? That will be one trap character you would watch over and over again.
The humour is between the straight-forwardness of School Rumble and the weird vibes of Azumanga Daioh. It has near-fan-service shots too. So how could you NOT love this show?!
Cut to logo. "Minami-ke!"
Click here to watch Nodame Cantabile OP
When I heard that Kasai Kenichi, the director of Honey and Clover, was going to work on an anime that focuses on music college students, I knew this was the show for me.
And yup, this was the show for me.
Dreamy watercolor-like imagery, giving the mood of calmness and serenity. It worked for art, naturally it worked for classical music too!
The two main characters add a lot of charm to the series: Chiaki, the musical genius who has no guts to further his studies abroad, and Nodame, a girl who plays music based on instinct rather than theory, and voiced by Kawasumi Ayako (really love her voice!)
Superb art, relaxed storytelling, charming characters and brilliant focus on music. The manga is great, the drama is great and the anime is great. That's more than enough to make me go "Gyabo!" many times over. ^3^
If you watched Haruhi, click here to watch Lucky Star official teaser
To those who hate Lucky Star, you have ZERO sense of humour. Go see a doctor.
Coz this is one show that has topped most of the anime charts out there. If the chart doesn't have Lucky Star in it, it's one chart not worth looking at.
Surely, at the start, some would find endless chatter about how to eat a chocolate cornet boring. Me and the guys at epicwin.org didn't think so. In fact, this was the driving force for us to continue watching.
But even some of those who didn't enjoy that bit has been rewarded from episode five onwards; the direction was changed to cater to a wider audience. And yes, I do welcome the change :)
This show is epic, in an otaku kind of way. It is truly a great insight into the otaku world, in super entertaining format. The cast of characters is fantastic (esp. Kona-chan, of coz :3) and their voice acting is superb. Just like what Jaalin in Random Curiosity said, the chemistry between the characters are so subtle, yet are amusing and (yes here I go again) a pure joy to watch.
Each situation and dialogue is so carefully crafted that it could tickle any funny bone. Or give you that "Hey it's that anime!" feeling. Or activate your moe-moe alert. It can also make you go "Yea yea that happened to me too", coz some jokes highlight small little details of life that go unnoticed.
And it's truly fun. Just plain fun. After the last episode, I had this "what do I watch now?" kind of feeling. Hate that feeling.
So who wants to watch another cheerleading dance? :3 I pray hard for Season 2!!!
Click here to watch Potemayo teaser. Warning: Cute song alert!
You know, it ain't easy for a guy like me to admit loving this show. Just look at the picture! A small little blob with pink hair jumping towards the screen. What the hell was I thinking?!
But I had no choice. Coz I enjoyed this show like nuts.
And don't you just like under-rated good shows? It makes you feel *special* :) But anime bloggers being anime bloggers, they DO take notice of this show, and some of them gave it the position it deserves: Best Comedy.
Minami-ke was in-between straight and weird, Lucky Star's joke has that "familiar" feeling, but this show goes into its own original brand of humour. It can go from sugary sweetness to downright bizarre. Best of all, a lot of the humour is unexpected, so you are guaranteed to laugh like mad throughout all 13 eps and its specials.
The art direction and soundtrack is so well-crafted and relaxing, they can make you pause the show for awhile to grab a cup of tea. Little did you know that you will be choking on your tea by the end of the show.
And while you're laughing, you can't help but be charmed by Potemayo and Guchuko's cutesy antics. The show went from "What the hell are they?!" to "Ah who cares, they're so cute!". And some of us, including me, has this inner moe button that makes us fall prey to such lovable creatures. This show had this button held on press for a loooong time.
A show that takes its time to tell its story and its top-notch humour. All this creates the perfect reason to make me push Lucky Star for more "Honi Honi" and "Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" goodness.
Now, Potemayo and Guchuko plushies, anyone?
Click here for the Gurren Lagann trailer
It's time to bring that manly feeling back!
You saw this coming, didn't you? Best Moment #1, Best characters #1 and #2. A few of my friends went "WHAT?! He chose two GUYS as his best characters? There must be something going on with that show!"
Seriously, I didn't see this one coming. It is rather unlikely that a shoujo-anime fan like me would go into something so manly and so mech-y.
But you do remember the *keyword*, don't you? Yes, it's time to bring that word into play again. This show is... repeat after me... AWESOME.
So what makes this show AWESOME? Let me tell you:
- The most important rule of AWESOMENESS: it doesn't take itself seriously.
- It is about overcoming all odds, and when it comes to that, the scenes and dialogues are truly magnificent and breathtaking.
- Simon is the very symbol of overcoming the odds, namely himself. Watching him grow is awe-inspiring (yup, another word derived from AWESOME).
- Kamina is legendary in all sense of the word, and that makes him THE man.
- During best moment #1, manly tears started swelling in my eyes! (whether it's due to happiness, sadness or being awe-struck by the moment, you decide ;))
- All action scenes defy physics and other rules of the world, in short, they're jaw-dropping.
- You know why I didn't have the best soundtrack award? Because Gurren Lagann's music would deserve all five spots!
- Youko is one sexy lady!
Am I forgiven now? :3 That is surely the best "hiding from enemy attack" pose I've ever seen!
Oh btw, be warned about episode 3 and 4's quality, as they were some issues between Arai Takami (co-founder of Gainax) and the anime fans of 2channel. He resigned effective from episode 5. Don't let those episodes discourage you from watching further.
Actually the position is a bit of a cheat (no, not Youko's position, Gurren Lagann's position). I only watched 19 episodes out of 27 (due to licensing, I'm SO gonna get the DVDs!), but I managed to cover the first arc and a bit of the second. But, seeing as how AWESOME this show is, I'm confident to say that even if episodes 20 to 27 were bad, it would still be my number one show of 2007!!!
Kudos to Gainax for a great anime!
And that wraps up ahbonk.net anime awards 2007! As you can see, my list is different from the rest. But I find my chart and Epic Win's very similar though. They too like the kind of shows I like, so it comes to no surprise ;)
But how did these animes fare in my Top 5 Anime of all time? Well, I couldn't put in Gurren Lagann, because I have to watch the remaining episodes, but it has potential to be in the all-time chart. However, the other 4 didn't make it.
So my Top 5 animes are still:
- Aishiteruze Baby
- Honey and Clover
- Azumanga Daioh
- Marmalade Boy
- Chobits
With this, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year! Hope this year will be as good as the last, if not better.
Long live anime! XD
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