Katt: I just woke up and clearly remembered the dream that I had. It’s a rarity for me, since I’m the type of person you’ll hear whining about how “I never remember my dreams!!” And when I do remember them, I tend to forget them within five minutes unless I repeat the events of the dream in my head until I can write them down. So today, I got on my computer right away and wrote it all down. I’ll spare you all the details as they aren’t that exciting (well, they were for me, because I remembered them!); the gist of it was…aliens. Aliens living amongst us, causing commotions on Earth all of a sudden. Incidents involving deaths, UFO crashlandings, secret police investigations into the problem–the works. I’ve…never been into the whole alien plotline. I’ve never even seen Men in Black in its entirety. But you know what I’ve been watching this season that might explain this alien dream? Level E.

(more…)

Miken: My anime watching schedule — if you can even call it that — has been thrown off this week. Though it’s mostly because I’ve been having a ton of fun playing the newest Ace Attorney game. Though the “attorney” part of the title kinda throws me for a loop since I link the word so much with “defense attorney”. Though Merriam Webster and his dictionary gives a definition that still makes the title apply. Non sequitur  aside, this game follows Miles Edgeworth around as he gets stuck with dealing with his bunch of crazies and recurring side characters while trying to figure out the culprit of each crime as well as the overarching plot of all the cases. I will try my best not to spoil the game~ And here to help me is…~~~

Ric: …Ready and willing  to shout “OBJECTION!” at any moment!

Gameplay – 7/10
Miken: Almost exactly the same as all the others. I do, however, miss the ability to personally spray luminol and dust for fingerprints from Apollo Justice and the additional case in the first game. Even though the title does say “Investigations”, I do suppose that it wouldn’t make sense for a prosecutor to do the forensics himself, but seeing as how Apollo and Phoenix both did so at one point… Anyways, I would’ve liked to try it at least once instead of someone going off to have it checked up on by the science team. Additionally, you get to walk Edgeworth through scenes, but that barely does anything, as it just allows the player to move him to the evidence he wants to see rather than relying fully on the point and click method. The new Logic system (which is sort of like Psyche Lock and Perceive) allows Edgeworth to piece together the clues he finds. It really isn’t amazing at all. As for a certain device introduced in the third case and reused again in the fifth, it was pretty nice seeing the hypothetical situations and deducing from there. Leaves much less room for me to misinterpret the mental image that the characters are trying to explain.

Gameplay – 8/10
Ric: Well, as usual for this series, we get a delightfully large job description tacked onto the title of “Prosecutor”, with Miles serving the purpose of both Detective, C.S.I (To a degree) and well, the usual task of a Prosecutor, only without the courtroom. Unsurprisingly, this works fantastically, even without all the forensics of Apollo Justice to fall back on.

In terms of new game mechanics, we have the Logic system, which is really just Edgeworth’s answer to Psyche-Locks. In theory, it’s very interesting, but to be honest in practice, it’s just not as well done as it could have been.

The only “real” problem I did have with the game though, was that it felt a little bit too easy compared to the earlier games. Although, in fairness, that may just be me getting too familiar with the series’ little tricks.

Visuals – 7/10
Miken: Same images and expressions plus a few characters and new walking-around sprites/animation. While it’s nice to get more of a handle on the layout of the area of the crime by walking around like that, the visuals are little out of the way of what we’ve seen for ages. They don’t look bad at all, but they are what they are. The full-screen images, however, do tend to be pretty damn nice, as usual. The series itself has pretty much solidified the fact that while it does try to make visuals quite pleasing to the eye, they don’t rely on technical stuff like fancy animation. Rather, they make the scenery and most characters look pleasing to the eye (Oldbag doesn’t count, she’s just a creeper).

Visuals – 7/10
Ric: Nothing much really new here, visuals are pretty much the same as in the other games as far as character portraits go. Only thing particularly new are the overworld sprites, which I must say are rather nice to look at. Come to think of it, they kinda remind me of the sprites from Megaman Battle Network. (Which I enjoyed, so that’s quite a plus.)

Story – 8/10
Miken: As usual, there are the weaker cases and the stronger cases. Overall, they remain interesting enough, but the stronger cases really don’t stand out as much as they should and the weaker cases are just what they are. Even though I did love Turnabout Reminisces for 13-year old Franziska, Edgeworth with more Manfred von Karma-like expressions and how it set up for the final case of the game, the cases before it, while interesting at the time, just don’t feel as if they tie in as well as they should even though the general idea was to get all of them to link together. Thus, the twists aren’t as good as you expect them to be. Some of the logic used in investigating is facepalm worthy as well, moreso than expected from a series that prides itself in making law over-the-top. The writers also tried to link all five cases together, which was commendable, but since I didn’t really get around caring much about the people involved in three of the five cases, it just didn’t feel like quite as much to me. Some lines are amusing, though without Phoenix around, humor just doesn’t feel the same.

Story – 9/10
Ric: Unlike the other games in the series, every case adds something important here, rather than having the first and third cases being inconsequential (Although we have no singing clowns. :’[) which of course, is  nice change of pace. That's not to say that every case is equal, of course, but they all had that signature "Ace Attorney" style we've all grown to love.

I must admit, I do miss Phoenix's antics though, even if Kay and Lil' Franny were absolutely awesome.

So badass that he deserves a bigger image

Characters - 8/10
Miken: Old characters are nice, and Kay and Lang quickly became very very enjoyable. Even though Lang did come off as an asshole at first, he soon became my favorite character in the game despite only having a passing note explaining his reason for being an Interpol agent and being so strict and widespread in charging people. As for the supporting cast beyond them, Detective Badd and Shih-na, who were interesting in their own rights, most of it is comprised by the witnesses we're used to seeing and a handful of new characters. Of course, with all of Edgey's character development done in the original trilogy and Franziska pretty well explained herself, that leaves character development for the new major side characters, with Kay getting most of it. Additional development for characters like Detective Badd was very welcome too~ By the time I was done by the last case, I did enjoy Kay very much. Kay, Franziska and Gumshoe made a nice team around Edgeworth and I liked the dynamic a bit more than what Phoenix had with Maya and Pearl. Of course, you can't say no to a girl running around that she's a wonderful thief right next to two prosecutors and a detective and Franziska whipping the heck outta Edgeworth and Gumshoe.

Characters - 8/10
Ric: If there's one thing the Ace Attorney series is great at, it's giving us fun and entertaining characters, each one more delightfully quirky than the last, and this game is no exception, to say the very least. Returning from previous games, we have the ever-awesome Franziska (Miken with a whip.), Detective Gumshoe, and...Wendy Oldbag. The latter scares me, so that's enough for those.

Although, even with how much I adored the older characters; the breakout characters for this game are easily Detective Badd and Lang who are just well, magnificent to say the very least. It was fun to see Kay being adorable too.

Music - 8/10
Miken: Mostly the same music so I can't really give it another point because there's the problem of less room for originality, though I do like the introduction of some new songs, especially Kay's theme and Lang's awesome theme~. The new remix of Edgeworth's theme was nice too. Mmm -- I can't wait till a few of these tracks make it into the next Gyakuten Saiban Meets Orchestra. I do miss some of the songs from the original trilogy though, since a number of them really don't apply anymore [especially the Turnabout Sisters theme].

Music – 10/10
Ric: Loved the soundtrack to this one, absolutely adored it. This is one of the few games where I can listen to the soundtrack and honestly say there isn’t a single track that I dislike (Lang’s theme has been stuck in my head for days now) and very few that aren’t delightfully catchy.

So of course, go out and download/buy the soundtrack CD. I COMMAND YOU TO DO SO!

Overall

Miken: I like the game for its entertainment value in the few days that it took me to finish it. Though it probably is down near the bottom on my rankings for the series, it does not mean I didn’t like it a lot. It was nice to follow Edgeworth around [and see him talk to the clouds], but it just didin’t feel as fulfilling as the other installments. Sure, I might have like the major side characters more, but the overall feel felt somewhere in the middle. The main plot was definitely nice enough, but it just doesn’t hold together from case to case compared to a good few of its predecessors. I’d sort of liken it to Justice for All — awesome rival, nice music, nice ending, meh-ish beginning and middle.

Miken’s Final Score:7.8/10

Ric: In summary, I found this game to be very, very fun, and a brilliant addition to the Ace Attorney series. It’s nice to see that Capcom are still able to keep the series at this level after so long, giving us a delightful change of pace with a well written plot (Especially by Capcom standards.), plenty of humour and sickeningly addictive gameplay, while still making it accessible for those who may not have played the previous titles in the series.

While not without flaws, to me, the Ace Attorney series is something that everyone should try at least once, so whether you’ve played before, or you’re just jumping on now, you can’t go wrong with Ace Attorney Investigations.

Ric’s Final Score: 9/10

PS – A Gift for All of You

Katt: I’m giving a throwback to high school today. I’ve got on a Hot Topic hoody, band tee, fingerless gloves and pyramid-studded belt; heck, maybe I’ll part my hair to cover one eye before I leave the house. This is totally the sort of thing I’d wear in high school (er, when permitted—a mandatory uniform kinda limited individual style), back when my wardrobe was almost exclusively red and black, back when ‘emo’ was just budding into something big. So what has been acting like an old lady reminiscing on the “good ol’ days”? Well, it’s this manhwa that started late last year, Teen Spirit.

The first thing that got my attention was the title (as in…Smells Like Teen Spirit?), the next was the genre—comedy/drama/romance/shoujo? Yes please!—and then finally the picture. The image of that guy up there completely caters to my past 16 year-old self: the fedora with the ragged black hair (and I entirely blame Synyster Gates and Adam Gontier for that—oh wait, I still love those guys), the clothes, the piercings… yeah, I had to read it.

And as I did read it, these memories of the days when I listened mostly to bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy came back. Was it the general style of the characters? The fact that they labelled themselves an ‘emocore’ band?  The way that Hwee Kang totally botched covering a 30 Second to Mars song in the second chapter? I’m pretty sure it was everything, all of this combined that made me remember my teenage years (wow I sound ancient…I still had ‘teen’ in my age up until last year!).

But oh. Hey. That completely makes sense since this manhwa is called Teen Spirit; it embodies the spirit of just one of many labels that people might have identified with back in high school years. It just so happened to be the one that I identified with. Other manga out there have their own teen spirit in them too, all of those high school slice-of-life series out there: the shoujos that bring people back to high school romance, or comedies that remind people of stupid times they had with friends…

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like complaining about how so many anime/manga protagonists seem to be of high school age sometimes, but Teen Spirit has shown me there’s a good side to it. It’s that, if you find the right one for you, these high school series can bring out the…well…teen spirit in us. For the people in high school right now, it goes without saying that they associate with such series; however, for the old fogies like me, it is all about finding the teen series for you that invokes that “remember the good ol’ days?” feeling. Have you found the right one for you yet?

Welcome to the 1000th post. For the sake of your sanity, please refrain from common sense.

Yes, you read right: this is officially Hey, Say, Anime!’s ONE-THOUSANDTH POST. That is quite a big number to have accomplished in just a year and a bit (because yes, three months is ‘a bit’). As our group has grown from the duo of Minnie and Garrick to the present team of twelve–and all of those other bloggers in between–we’ve…well, we’ve had a fair collection of interesting moments. Some of them have been open to the public in our comment sections, but mostly, they were behind-the-scenes. Here’s everyone’s chance to see into the idiotic intricate workings of HSA! (and a chance for us bloggers to be amused by ourselves)~

“Minnie’s Magic”
(as Katt and Ric attempt to find a Durarara! pic for this post)
Ric: I’m still looking for a good picture.
Katt: Bahaha. XD It is challenging.
Ric: Yeah. No idea how Minmin does it..
Katt: She has magic, I swear.
Ric: Must do. Perhaps she uses tsundere beams on the internet until it gives her what she wants.

—–

“Invisibility Fail”
Minnie: Hiya. Why am I still on? o_O
Ric: ‘Cause you’re Minmin. Sleep does not exist for you.
Minnie: Lmao XD Yeah But I was sure I was invisible.
Ric: Ye weren’t.
Minnie: I’m extremely tired, so I was supposed to be invisible. >:C

—–

“Yamapredictable”
Minnie: Anyways, I have a notebook, I mean binder. Guess what color it is?
Garrick: Pink!
Minnie: Correct! Yay! It’s coral pink, I think.
Garrick: Coral Pink. Nice.
Minnie: Haha. And there’s a spot in front of the binder. Guess who I’m going to print out and put there?
TAAN: Yamapi?
Minnie: Correct! You guys are good.
TAAN: Nah, you’re just predictable.
Garrick: Indeed.

—–

“Our Favourite Tsundere”
Miken: Papa. read/watch Letter Bee. before I beat you up. >:C

—–

“Catchphrases”
Ric: I have me a catchphrase. “Mad Hatter says: I’m sensing a kidnapping coming on here.”
Katt: Excellent. It should go along with my catchphrase of ‘Inappropriate’.
Ric: Yep~
Katt: We should all have catchphrases.
Ric: YES
Katt: Miken’s is >:C And Koala’s is …
Ric:  Would that be a catchface?
Katt:…I don’t know whether or not to laugh at that horrible pun.

—–

“Denial”
Steve: Even though yes is going to win, I am going to execute my rights as a member of this blog to vote no. I am not trying to be different. I just don’t want an account with Marissa…

—–

“Raccoon the Robot”
TAAN:  I can stay awake forever as long as I’m not working, but one I fall asleep, I usually go for half a day.
Ric: … That’s because you’re not-so secretly a robot.
Katt: I KNEW IT
Ric: And you don’t sleep, you recharge!
TAAN: Actually, sleeping makes me tired, so I hate it. I only do it for the dreams. That and my body will kill me if I don’t.
Ric: Well, yeah. If robots don’t recharge, they’ll die.
Minnie: … I always go back to convos at weird moments. o.o
TAAN: WHY CAN YOU USE LOGIC AT THIS HOUR

—–

“Why Minnie and Katt Ship Riccoon”
TAAN: I even turned on my lights.
Ric: I KNEW IT!
TAAN: …?
Ric: Only robots would have lights attached to them!
TAAN: I never said… DAMN YOU

—–

“Which is Why it’s Awesome”
Katt: Can I put Morita/Takemoto/twister board as a pairing?
Ric: That would sound so kinky if it didn’t sound so painful… Which makes it sound even more kinky, really.

—–

“HSA!’s Most Accurate Theme Yet”
Ric: I vote Minmin for Beato.
Minnie: Yay <3
Ric: Because I’m sure that one day, she’ll kill us all.

—–

“Context?”
Angel:  hump hump hump hump it with me

—–

“In or Out of Context? You Decide.”
Octavia: PENIS
Minnie: what is that?!

—–

“Watch it Happen”
TAAN: a mysterious swordsman in a super cliche plot.
Ric: The day that “powered by boobs” becomes a cliche, I shall eat my own skull.

—–

“And We Love Laughing at Minnie’s Expense”
Minnie: there is something wrong with my thingy
Ric: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Minnie: My filezilla thingy >:C
Ric: No, leave it at just “thingy”. It’s funnier that way.

—–

“HSA! Members Join Youtube”
Minnie: wow i don’t need to pester ppl on msn for what they think – they can just comment
Ric: Not that that will stop you. At all.
Minnie: oh shush you.
(almost immediately after)
Katt: Needs more singing Snake
Ric: Quiet, you.
(soon after)
Katt: Ric just popped my comment virginity. D=

—–

“Alcoholic Father”
Ric: I shouldn’t have drunk as much as I have. I can’t keep track of what I’m typing.. It’s only e matter of time befora I mess up. … Thaw as ast
Miken: Papa  you’re drunk aren’t you?
Ric: N No
Miken: -_- That helps your case none.
Ric: Bah I’ve not hasd that musch … Crawp How the helsl am I makinga these typibs?!

—–

“We Wonder Sometimes”
Minnie: Koala is still mad at me that he doesn’t get to sing the girls’ song. XD

—–

“All Hail the Great Dictator, Minnie”
Katt: …not that I’ve agreed to this in any way!!
Draringi: @katt, it’s called a dictatorship, one has no say in it, one does what the glorious leaders one to do…

—–

“Both are Funny”
Minnie: Evil Koala. >:C
Ric: That’s the most hilarious mental image ever.
Minnie: Is it cause It’s coming from me? T_T
Ric: No… I just imagined a furry mad scientist.

—–

“Ty6oin g Ne3itthert”
Angel: how co0m,e laptopm motiojn sensor d does nnot work whemn i habe a sock on ,y my hand

—–
“Anti-Competition?”
Minnie: Since you’re usually on the girls’ side how about joining our side? We have few in numbers.
Garrick: I say screw you all. I have more than 9 episodes I can review right now to take over the first TWO pages.
Minnie: LMAO. Are you making a third party?
Garrick: Am I? Whatever you think… I’m doing… But… the main point is…
Minnie: ?
Garrick: I’M HOME AND I WANT TO WATCH ANIME!!!!!!!

—–

“The ‘We’re Old’ Series”
Ric: Most recent series on my list is a reboot of a 70s series. I feel so very old now. ;_;
Miken: You ARE old.

Minnie: Oh and just so you guys know, Katt is no longer the oldest in the group. Octavia is. *gasp*

Katt: Crazy kids these days…
Ric: Always messing up my lawn…
Katt: And listening to their rap music…
Ric: …Where am I again?
Katt: Huh, what? Who are you? Dad, is that you??
Ric: Hugh? No, I’m Richard
Katt: I don’t know any Richard. Stranger, get out of my house!!
Ric: Hose? What? I watered the plants yesterday
Katt: No you didn’t, they’re dead! Dead like the rest of us will be soon.
Ric: I’m not goin’ anywhere until they pick up my trash.
Katt: I keep telling you that that isn’t trash; it’s a cat.
Ric: Trash cat? Ooooh, I don’t know ’bout no trash cats.
Katt: Trash cats–y’know, like that green thing that lived in a garbage can.
Ric: Oh, y’mean George?

—–

“FINALLY – Part 2”
(on Ric’s Aoi Bungaku 01 post)
Miken: *clears throat* …FINALLY!!
Minnie: Will everyone say FINALLY again? XD Anyways, good job Tangerine. Now for me and my four posts…
Ric: Don’t start that again! >:C
Katt: Sorry, KT, but… FINALLY~~
Steve: Finally, my friend, finally.

—–

And in closing, while this entry ultimately became a celebration of our ridiculous times together in this geeky blogging business, its initial purpose was very different. In truth, this entry was made solely to steal the 1000th post from Minnie. But we are so nice that we will give our beloved leader the closing quote taken out of context:

Minnie: you were purposely abusing me?!!!!!!!!

Much <3 for the team and our lovely commenters. Let’s keep this anime blogging going for another thousand posts so that we can have an excuse to share all of our ridiculousness in one entry once again!

A Tangerine is fine too?

Ric: Well, seing as everyone else seems to be making one o’ these, methinks I’ll throw my hat in the ring too! Here’s my top ten most defining anime moments!

Keep in mind though, unlike everyone else’s list, aside from the top three, these are in no particular order. I’ve watched and enjoyed far too many shows for that to be in the least bit possible.

So yeah, on with the post.

SPOILER WARNING GOGOGO

#10- Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 19

“It’s finally happened…It’s aware.” – Ritsuko

Scene

This scene, for those who don’t recognise it, is the infamous “Unit 01 eats the Angel” scene, which honest to God, creeped the hell out of me when I first saw it. Basically, the Angel was beating the crap out of Unit 01, after having made quick work of Units 00 and 02, so as Unit 01 is about to be destroyed by said Angel, Berserk mode activates, only this time, it’s much, much more powerful than it has been before.

Apparently Shinji managed to divide by zero and get a synch rate of 400% with it, ‘causing the bio-mech to become self-aware and revert to a crazed, primal (And downright terrifying) state which quickly disables and starts devouring the Angel.

Even before this, we could tell that things definately weren’t right with NERV, and Ritsuko’s “It’s self-aware” only settled that, setting up for the downright incredible climax to the series (Even if it did make the fact it was Ideon inspired VERY obvious.), as well as making several of us absolutely terrified of anything purple giving an amazing feeling of dread and excitement for what will happen next.

#9  Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam episode 50

“You won’t understand. You think that war is fun, Scirocco! You won’t understand what kind of power is filling my body!” – Kamille

Scene

Throughout Zeta, we watched Kamille, our protagonist grow from an irritating little brat, into a soldier (Thanks to the very poorly disguised Char Aznable), having been through so much for his age, losing his parents, his friends, his girlfriend and lord only knows how many allies who got the Tomino treatment.

In the scene above, we see the final battle between Kamille and Scirocco, the final culmination of all the sorrow and pain caused throughout the series, the deaths of Emma, Four, Sarah and so many others having lead up to this moment.

During the fight, the spirits of all those involved with either Kamille or Scirocco appear through the Newtype abilities of the two pilots, immobilizing Scirocco’s The-O and giving Zeta Gundam a massive power boost…which Kamille uses to ram The-O into the side of a spaceship, impaling Scirocco on the tip of Zeta’s Wave-Rider form.

Ever an asshole, when Scirocco dies, he uses the last of his Newtype powers to “Mind-Crush” Kamille, turning our poor protagonist into a babbling mess who has no idea where he is (Of course, in ZZ he’s in a coma, but that comes afterwards.), only for him to be discovered by Fa, who is understandably absolutely horrified to see poor Kamille like this.

This of course all fades out to a rather sad instrumental, leaving us with an incredibly bitter-sweet ending to dwell on, but having us feel satisfied in how everything wrapped up and also giving us some very odd “Char isn’t really dead” message at the end with the floating Hyaku Shiki which of course, leads into the ever fantastic Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.

All in all, Zeta Gundam was…a journey, it had some bumps in the road, but was satisfying, yet heartbreaking to see it end the way that it did.

#8 Aim For The Top! Gunbuster episode 5

“SUPER INAZUMA KIIIIICK” – Noriko/Kazumi

Scene

FemGAR, a term I’ve been using for a while. Never before had it been so epically represented (Yes, Emeraldas, I know.) as it was in Gunbuster, one of the most amazing mecha anime of the 80s, and one of my personal favourite series of all time.

In the above scene, we have what may be the most incredible display of raw femGAR that I have ever seen, and a real contender for “Most Epic 2-minute fight scene ever in anime“, following on from a rather touching scene with Noriko pulling Kazumi out of her depressed state (It would be hard to explain why, but it’s perfectly justified at least.) and into “fight-mode”, and ending with another slightly heartwarming scene at the end of the episode that I’m not telling you about.

Seriously, go watch Gunbuster. You’ll feel better for having done so.

#7  Chrno Crusade episode 24

“I wanted to tell you so much when we were finally alone, but I can’t think of the words…“  - Rosette

Scene

That’s right, we’re back to depressing moments again.

This scene, this scene I have seen maybe three, four times and it has made me cry every single time. This, readers was probably the first anime to bring me to that, as back when I watched it (Early ’05, I think.), I hadn’t watched anywhere near as much as I have now, and none of the ones I had watched were even on this sort of level. (Aside from CCS, but I wouldn’t know how good that really was until later that year.)

While the series as a whole wasn’t great (Still good though.), this ending, and the episodes leading up to this were fantastic and had a massive impact on me as a viewer, probably being one of the larger reasons I really got into anime to begin with.

I won’t go into any major detail with this one either, as I feel it would spoil it far too much, and the ending doesn’t really make much sense without the backstory. All I can say is, go watch it.

As bad as Gonzo is now, they were good back then, and Chrno Crusade is worth at least a try.

#6 Mobile Fighter – G Gundam episode [Has Domon in it]

“HELL YEAH” – Me

Scene

Ric: This hand of mine is burning red!
Miken: It’s loud roar tells me to grasp victory!
Ric  & Miken: ERUPTING BURNING FINGER!!!!!

And this is all the reasoning you should need.

#5 Casshern SINS episode 23

“I won…I defeated Casshern” – Dio

Scene

As anyone who read the reviews that were given of this series should know, I absolutely adored this series and think that everyone should watch it.

In the above scene, we finally see the end of antagonists Dio and Leda, who had been with us since episode five, who had in their own way endeared themselves to us with their struggle through the ruin of the world; Dio, through his undying determination to finally beat Casshern, and Leda in her desperate attempts to get her immortality back (Which didn’t end well…) no matter the costs.

Their deaths, were an very shocking blow when watching the series, as it was honestly not what I was expecting to happen, which in a way, was a strength of the series’ climax; reversing the usual roles of the heroes and villains of the franchise, such as Braiking Boss not being such a bad guy after all, and Luna being pretty much a cold-hearted bitch, ruining Leda, letting Dune die alone and generally giving a false hope to those who remained alive through her endless lies.

Anyway, back to the scene. The image above contains the final moments of the two characters, Dio having finally been satisfied with his final battle with Casshern (Being the only person in the series to deal any lasting damage to him), and Leda, tired and alone, having given up on her quest for immortality, falling quietly into ruin together, illustrated beautifully with the sketch-like style used in the series.

Again, you’ll know exactly what I mean if you watched this.

As Oni would’ve put it, show was sexy. C:

#4 Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X – Trust and Betrayal

“I killed many to safeguard the well-being of the common man. But my idealism cost you to lose your love.
I stole an important life from you, I did not know I had done it, I fell in love with you.” – Kenshin

Scene

Yeah, the “theme” continues.

Taking a massive departure from the usually lighthearted tones that Rurouni Kenshin usually carried, Trust and Betrayal told the tragic tale of Kenshin’s past, starting with him being trained by Seijuro, and ending with beginning the final days of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the first of what would be several fights with Saito.

Although, this isn’t where the bulk of the story resides, no. The story’s main focus is on the relationship between Kenshin, and Tomoe, who by the end of the OVA had become his first wife, and also gave him his trademarked cross-shaped scar.

The OVA managed to develop the relationship between the characters spectacularly well, given the short amount of time they had (4 episodes.), allowing the viewer to connect to the characters of Kenshin and Tomoe, which meant of course that the tragic ending was that much more powerful.

#3 Cowboy Bebop episode 26

“…Bang.” – Spike

Scene

Damn, this ending was awesome. Scratch that, this entire series was awesome. Dub, sub, it’s all good. Go watch it if you haven’t already.

Basically, this scene brings an end to the lasting confrontations of Spike and Vicious, in what may be the most awesome show of  pure level “Screw you all, I’m the main character and you’re just henchmen” badassery I’ve ever seen.

Spike goes through an entire building, crawling with henchmen, being shot at from all sides (Eventually taking a hit to the arm.), before finally appearing before Vicious in what is a very short, but incredibly satisfying fight scene.

Unfortunately, like many other characters with this kind of badassery, Spike doesn’t survive, taking Vicious with him and delivering the ever iconic “…Bang” line before he finally dies.

#2 Metropolis

Sorry for the bad quality on this one, screenshots for Tezuka works are hard to find for some reason

“Did you hear that, Duke Red? The superhuman you created is saying it doesn’t need us anymore.” – Ban

Osamu Tezuka’s take on Fritz Lang’s classic movie, Metropolis (Okay, that wasn’t his intention, but the movie turned out that way regardless.) is one of the most visually stunning works of animation that I have ever seen.

In particular, the opening to this movie is magnificent, the choice of jazz music fitting the setting of a futuristic “utopia” fantastically, and the visuals are just superb.

While I know I probably look a bit of a fool putting this scene so high on the list just because of the visual merits, but it simply took my breath away, sticking with me from the moment I watched it, and shaping the way I looked at animation itself for years to come. It was just that good.

But what’s most important, is that underneath the stunning visuals and amazingly well-thought out soundtrack lies an absolutely fantastic movie with amazing characters, a great story, and that traditional Tezuka style that noone should ever miss out on.

#1  Phoenix – Space OVA

Yeah. Turns out it's near impossible to find images from Phoenix. Fantastic.

-Quote impossible to find-

(I haven’t watched this in a while, so please bare with me if I’m incorrect at any point, sorry.)

I’ll admit, this OVA is possibly one of the most obscenely difficult to track down anime out there (Hell, I can’t even find it on torrent sites, which alone should already say enough.), but it’s also one of the best, as you would expect from the masterpiece that is Phoenix.

The story starts out in something of a sci-fi “whodunnit” fashion, with several crewmembers on a spaceship supposedly on a cargo mission that would supposedly span the crew’s entire lifetime. One time, when the crew wake up from cryogenic stasis, they find the corpse of one of their own huddled over a control panel, setting off the seeds of distrust between the remaining members of the crew. (Which is where our backstory comes into play~)

They don’t get much time to discuss this of course, as they quickly find out that the ship is damaged, and are forced to eject in seperate escape pods.

Eventually, they land on a nearby planet, of course losing two of their members along the way (One drifting off course into the vastness of space, one burning up in the atmosphere) leaving just two members of the crew to traverse this…rather bizarre, but empty planet.

That isn’t the strange part though, no  no no. What comes after is one of the most strange, yet fantastic twists that I’ve ever watched, explaining the true past of the man originally “killed” on the spaceship to be one much different than the one we were given in previous “flashbacks”.

I won’t go into too much detail, as that would spoil it for anyone wishing to watch this fantastic OVA, or merely wanting to read the manga, but trust me, you will NEVER see it comin’.  ^_~

Of course, keeping with Phoenix traditions, it’s a rather tragic ending as well, so prepare yourselves. (As much as it mindfucks, it can be quite sad, too.)

Anyway, there’s mah top ten, sorry if it seemed like I teased you all a little bit with some of them but, meh. Go watch ‘em, I’m sure you’ll love ‘em.

Keep an eye out for everyone else’s top tens, they should be on the way in the near future.

Goodnight, and may your God go with you.

-The Lean Green Tangerine.

BONUS ADD GET

Okay, thanks to popular demand (Well, Katt asked, but I wanted to put it back in anyway.), you can all get to share in the rant that I originally wrote out of this post. Enjoy.

Bonus – Digimon Adventure 02 – [End]

“I-I think my childhood is crying…” – Me

FFFFFFFFFGRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!

THIS ENDING. THIS ENDING. THIS ENDING. THIS ENDING. THIS ENDING!

NEVER BEFORE and never since have I seen an ending for anything which had such stupid, moronic, shameless, irritating, stupid, random and downright stupid disregard for its own continuity!

Throughout series one and two of Digimon Adventure, the show sets down a status quo of sorts, that Digidestined are meant to be some sort of “Chosen ones” which is fine, and the show works like this all the way through its run.

But of course, whoever wrote this ending decided that they had a BETTER idea, making the entire world’s population into Digidestined for no reason whatsoever, completely disregarding absolutely everything that the series has shown us so far.

This alone would be bad enough of an epilogue, crippling all established facts and rendering much of the show entirely pointless, but no, no they decided to one-up themselves and disregard all of the relationships between the characters as well!

For example, the relationships between Tai and Sora, as well as T.K and Kari, that the show again spent most of its run establishing (Using an entire bloody movie subplot for the former!) only to have all of them randomly paired off, either with characters we never see, or in Sora’s case, Matt, who had, throughout the entire series never shown the slightest bit of interest!

Basically, as I could go on all day about this, the ending sucked, it disregarded established continuity, ignored character development, and was all around idiotic and unnecessary in every single way. Hell, there was more point to the blasted Harry Potter epilogue than there was to this pile of tripe, which alone should say a lot.

Katt: I’ve been permitted to toss in a bit of my own rant for this one, although I’d like to think that my place could be taken by anybody because no one likes this ending. In fact, it really, truly, utterly destroys childhoods. Single-handedly. I mean, what is with the ending where everyone gets their own Digimon? Is it supposed to tell kids that they can all have the chance to be ~digi-destined~ themselves? Because that is not what it says to me. No no no, it says: you’re not special. Nobody’s special. See that dying ugly psycho guy over there? Even he gets a Digimon. That’s right. Your specialness is on par with that freak. Enjoy your fruitless lives, kids.

And then the epilogue with everyone’s “happy endings”. …Yeah, all of the pairings that were built up go to nothing and it seems that, save Matt/Sora and Yolei/Ken, everyone has reproduced asexually because 1) no spouses to be seen, and 2) all of their children look like clones of their childhood selves. Creators, if you think that you can get away with nonsense like this just because your audience is primarily children, you are sorely mistaken–and our childhoods have paid the price.

-The Lean Green Tangerine.

Hey hey, it's HSA!'s Lucy here to share her top defining anime moments!

Katt: Minnie is a terrible influence. Thanks to her, you’re all doomed to be bombarded by these ‘defining anime moments’ posts; hopefully they don’t get too redundant. With the diverse tastes of everyone here in the blog, though, I should think that they won’t. A few of mine are from recently aired episode, so I have my fingers crossed that I won’t look back on this in a few weeks and be like, “What the hell was I thinking? I barely remember that scene.” That’d be awkward. But I think that I’ll remember and love these scenes for a while yet, whether they make me cringe, cry, or laugh until I cry.

Oh, um…spoiler alert? You’ve been warned! (#10 and #1 are the only ones I’d call major spoilers, though.)

#10. X Episode 23 - The woman he’d give his life for

Scene

After I started watching anime as anime (as opposed to just another Saturday morning cartoon), this was probably the first scene that really made me cry. It’s Sorata’s sacrifice to save Arashi from being killed by Fuma. Now, anyone who has watched X can tell you that deaths aren’t exactly a rarity in this series–in fact, a lot of people die. More people die than live, to put it into perspective. By the second-to-last episode, one would expect to be immune to it, but instead we are hit with the death that has been building up and building up since the very beginning when Sorata tells Arashi that she was “the woman [he] will give his life for”.

When I watch this scene now, it admittedly seems kind of bland, but it nonetheless had a great effect on me years ago so it deserves to be on this list. It isn’t so much Sorata getting stabbed that gets the waterworks going; it starts with Sorata’s drawn out ‘farewell’ and then Arashi’s devastation when he actually dies. A few different romances are introduced in this series, but this is the only one that manages to progress somewhere and it all ends up for nothing in this scene. And even without that romance, Sorata is built up as one of those genuine ‘nice guy’ characters, so of course this death is tragic. My point in this rambling is basically this: all of the development leading to this moment throughout the series–the foreshadowing of his sacrifice, the budding romance–comes to its peak in this scene and just slaps the viewer in the face. Hard. I could never forget a moment like this one.

#9. Umineko no Naku Koro Ni Episode 21 – Rosa freaks out…more than usual

Scene

This probably seems silly of me. With all of Umineko’s gratuitous violence and frequent instances of Rosa abusing Maria, why would I pluck this scene out of the bunch? Put simply, it made me care. I did not give a crap about Maria before this most recent arc, and this scene really made me feel awful for her and actually fear for her. So what is it about this scene that made it so effective…?

Sound, here, is a huge factor: both seiyuu do an amazing job at either being terrified or terrifying. Rosa’s shrieking made me cringe and kind of made me feel helpless, as though I was the one on the receiving end of her freak-out. And as opposed to just slapping Maria around as she usually does (wow, did I write ‘just’? I sound like a horrible person), Rosa takes it to a more psychological level with her destruction of two of Maria’s toys, one of which is technically her best friend. This kind of torture just has such a greater impact than a literal slap and made me really say, for the first time, “Rosa is a major bitch.” More than that– more like, “Oh my God, what the hell?! Why is Rosa such a huge bitch/horrible mother?!?!” Sorry for hating you for all of your ‘uuu’ing, Maria. This scene made me take it back.

#7. Yu Yu Hakusho Episode 56 - Blood-covered bishie, oh my!

Scene

If I harbour any sadistic fondness for bishies covered in blood, it is entiiiirely the fault of my #7 defining anime moment. And the fact that I have seen this episode far more times than is healthy, thanks to it being on the first Yu Yu Hakusho DVD that I bought. When Kurama loses the ability to stay in his Yoko Kurama body, he returns, exhausted, to his ‘human’ form. In a state of helplessness he is left to the mercy of his opponent, Karasu, who also has a fetish for bishies…and for hurting bishies. So what does he do? He creates a lot of bombs and sets them all off right next to Kurama.

While I of course feel bad for Kurama in this scene, it isn’t what you’d call emotional. It’s just excessive and was pretty overwhelming since this was one of the first ‘violent’ series that I watched. And this is one of my favourite characters getting hurt, here, so there’s no surprise that it’s left a lasting impression on me! It just makes a fangirl want to rush in and rescue him, but instead we’re forced to watch as this physical and psychological (why does Kurama always face the crazy ones?) torment is dragged on…until Kurama sics a bloodthirsty plant on Karasu and wins–but it’s the ruthless bombardment on Kurama that I remember most of all.

#6. Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 21 – Human-beast communication

Scene

“Lilan tried to communicate something to me, but I didn’t know how to answer!” Naturally this line is strongest in context, but even on its own it makes my heart wrench. This series really makes a grand effort in some scenes, and you know that you’ll remember those scenes for a long time (take #8 on Minnie’s list, for instance), but somehow this brief moment in episode 21 left just as strong an impact on me than the major scenes in other episodes. In it, Erin makes an attempt to get Lilan, the injured baby beastlord that’s arrived at Kazalm, to start eating and taking care of itself. She manages to awake some sort of interest in Lilan by casting light beneath her, but when she starts talking to Erin, Erin doesn’t know how to respond and instead starts crying and says the line I quoted earlier.

The reason that this scene has become a defining moment to me is mostly thanks to my personal love for animals and thus ability to associate so strongly with Erin in this scene. Since I blog this series, I’ve already reflected on this scene, and will quote myself to explain: I know that I have caught myself asking an animal or two to speak in English, but unfortunately life doesn’t work that way. They speak their language and we have to rely on things other than speech to help them, particularly when they are suffering and we have to decide whether they want to be helped or not. “Please tell me how to help you. Do you want me to help you, or…?” It is so hard to deal with, having their fate in your hands. This hurts Erin so badly because she just wants to understand what it is that the beast-lord wants when she finally finds her voice.

Following that glimmer of hope when Lilan finds her voice, and then the fact that Erin actually starts crying while there are other people around too… ah, this scene is so perfect!

#6. Hanasakeru Seishounen Episode 11 – Machaty’s proposal

Scene

Machaty, you are so epic! I’d say yes. Would you say yes? I’m pretty sure you would because this proposal is too epic to say no to. The scene– Machaty’s one-time lover Kathleen has slipped into the crowd waiting to watch the world leaders leave their meeting, with hopes to sneak a peek at the man she has had to part ways with. Machaty spots her and she tries to flee when he starts calling to her, but he catches up and dramatically removes his headdress, which, according to his religion, is only to be removed when admitting defeat or proposing to the woman he loves. And let me tell you, Machaty is not the type to admit defeat.

It’s kind of ironic that the most memorable scene to come out of this series (so far!) is from the prologue–or, as inserted into the anime, a flashback. I was tempted to cheat like Minnie did and include this scene in conjunction with the later moment of Rumaty performing a similar proposal, but really, it’s Machaty’s proposal that leaves the impact that makes this a defining moment in my anime-viewing experience. He did it first and he did it best!

#5. Eden of the East Episode 1 – Um, naked man?!

Scene

I tried to use this scene as a selling point for this series, but unfortunately telling guys that there’s a naked man in the first episode doesn’t really make the series appealing. I guess you just have to see it to appreciate it, eh? In all seriousness, Eden of the East’s opener has to be the most hooking first episode of an anime that I have ever seen, greatly due to Akira’s amazing entrance. Saki is in trouble, getting scolded by the English-speaking police of Washington D.C., when Akira comes to her rescue– waving a gun around, completely naked, concerned for her well-being when he doesn’t even remember who the hell he is or why he’s in Washinton. (Oh, and the phallic Washington Monument is in the background at one moment…it just makes the scene all the more memorable.)

Do I really need to elaborate on why this is a defining moment? It raises the bar for the image of a ‘knight in shining armour’–now, the perfect hero is a total stranger in his birthday suit! Ideally with no memory and nothing more than a fancy cell phone and a hand gun in his possession, but I won’t be picky.

#4. BECK Mongolian Chop Squad Episode 5 - Skinny dipping duet

Scene

Most BECK fans would say that “Moon on the Water” is their favourite song from the series (mine’s “Slip Out”–but shh!), and there’s no doubt that that is because of this unforgettable scene. A little bet leads to Koyuki and Maho sneaking into the school pool, where Maho strips down and jumps in. She starts singing “Moon on the Water”, a song by their favourite band Dying Breed, and Koyuki is moved to join in the skinny dipping. Maho continues singing the song, and when the chorus comes around, Koyuki joins in and they sing together in a moment that is just…pure <3, for lack of coherency.

It’s honestly such a simple scene. There are more shots seen of the moon, its reflection on the water, and the swaying grass than on Maho and Koyuki themselves; and when they are shown, they’re just neck-deep in the water, singing. Yet somehow, it doesn’t feel stretched out, it’s doesn’t get boring–in fact, you kind of hate Saito for showing up and distrupting the moment. It could go on forever, and this is coming from someone who gets bored of slice-of-life series if they don’t go anywhere. This serenade…nothing happens, but so much happens. That is why it’s my #4 defining moment and, no question, the most defining moment of BECK.

#3. Vampire Knight Episode 6 - This? This is why vampires are sexy.

Scene

When I was coming up with this list, I was running through the series I’ve watched and thinking of their most memorable moments. I thought of Vampire Knight and went, “Nah, there’s nothing really notable in it…” And then I remembered this scene and backtracked. When Octavia and I went to see New Moon last week, we spent the time before the movie talking about different depictions of vampires and ended up gushing over how hot this Vampire Knight scene is for, like, ten minutes. I think that that makes it the defining moment of oh-my-god-sexy in anime for me.

The vampire bite in itself is pretty damn appealing, but there are plenty of those in this series–and other vampire series for that matter–so what makes this specific one stand out? Prior to this moment, Zero biting Yuuki has been done out of uncontrollable bloodlust; here, Yuuki is offering herself to Zero. Sound inappropriate yet? Let’s get a bit more specific… Yuuki leads Zero into his shower and tells him to freely drink her blood. To make her point clear, she strips (and yes, it looks as suggestive as I’m making it sound) her blazer off, exposes her neck to him, and presses him against the shower wall and urges him to bite her. He gives into the temptation and it is the best thing everrr.

The forbidden nature of this scene, the fact that it comes off as Yuuki holding power over Zero even though he’s the ‘predator’, the way he apologizes and the way that she holds him as he gives in… it all cumulates into one hot and memorable scene. Sorry that I ever doubted your ability to produce defining moments, Vampire Knight.

#2. Pokémon Episode 39 – Pikachu’s Goodbye

Scene

Don’t you dare laugh at me!! Yes, I cried watching this episode as a kid, and that is because I have a soul! I remember I was at a friend’s house one time and this episode was on, and I thought, “Oh no! I can’t let myself cry!” I felt so accomplished when I didn’t.

For anyone who didn’t have a childhood, in this episode Ash and friends come across a group of wild Pikachus. Ash’s Pikachu gets along with them so well that Ash very reluctantly decides that it would be best if he left Pikachu there to live with his wild bretheren. This scene that I’ve chosen as my #2 defining moment is when, after flashbacking to all of the good times, Ash halts and turns around to see Pikachu appear majestically over the top of a hill. He runs down and jumps into Ash’s arms, making it clear that he’d rather stay with his trainer than live in the wilderness with others of his kind.

Definitely a far less realistic take on the human-beast bond than the Kemono no Souja Erin scene that I looked at earlier, but still amazing to have stuck out in my memory for so many years. I know that this is the case for a lot of other people who watched Pokémon in their youth, too, which certainly makes a big statement about this scene. It’s melodramatic, cheesy, cliché, but come on–all moments reinforcing Ash and Pikachu’s bond are, and that doesn’t make them any less moving! And it doesn’t prevent this scene from being a defining anime moment for me and many many others out there.

#1. Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 43 - Erin uses the mute whistle

Scene

While my #2 was an optimistic scene, my #1 is more of the devastating nature. At my first Kemono no Souja Erin scene, I mentioned that this series puts a grand effort into some scenes–this is one of those moments in which they go all-out to leave a huge impact on the viewer. Lilan is about to be taken by messengers sent from the queen, and she becomes enraged and aggressive towards them. Erin pleads that they don’t use the mute whistle, certain that she can soothe Lilan as she always does, but Lilan attacks the messengers and leaves them bloodied and half-dead. In a moment of panic, Erin reaches for the mute whistle. Instead of actually showing Erin blowing it, we see flashbacks to happy memories of Erin and Lilan together, and then there is a shot of Erin bewildered, with the mute whistle loose in her mouth, and then Lilan knocked out with blood stains around her mouth.

This scene, for so many reasons, deserves to be my #1 defining anime moment. While it was only aired a couple of weeks ago, no anime scene has ever hit me as hard as this one did. It’s executed in the fragmented style that Kemono no Souja Erin’s violent scenes tend to be shown in, but it doesn’t hide the violence behind the regular stylized illustrations. We see the men being held between Lilan’s teeth, we see the injuries they’ve sustained; the thing that gets hidden is Erin’s action, the blowing of the mute whistle. The images of Erin raising Lilan are there to remind us that this is the one thing that Erin never wanted to do, and yet she’s had to resort to it. The scene flawlessly conveys everything that it wanted to.

It’s a little funny, thinking of my number one moment next to Minnie’s. Her last paragraph about the Bokura Ga Ita scene could very well be my ending paragraph for this Kemono no Souja Erin scene, with a few changed names and put into my words: I have never sympathized with a character as much as I do Erin. When she has to break her vow to herself and to Lilan in this scene, I ache for her and for Lilan. No other scene has made me cry so much and yet I can’t help but want to watch it over and over because of how strong the emotions it evokes are. So perfect. …Minnie, are we masochists to love these depressing scenes, or what?

Haha. Minnie in an outfit like this is a defining moment- not because I'll look good in it, but because I'll punch your eyes out~

Minnie: ExectutiveOtaku wrote a brilliant entry called Editorial: Defining Moments in Being a Fan on his top ten anime defining moments at THAT. The reason I love this idea is that everyone has their own top ten moments. No one can really argue this moment is the best moment or whatever because different scenes touch us differently. I’ve also written a post on this back at my own blog Hohiho, for any of those who are interested in reading the same thing twice. Joking~ Hopefully, the other members of my blog will follow suit and write more non-episodic entries as well. Hurray~

Steve: Minnie, your caption is too tsundere.

Minnie: Shut up and don’t invade my posts >__<

(more…)

My innuendo-ball is tingling...

Ric: For those of you that know me (Even those that don’t!), I say this; SCHEDULES ARE FOR THE WEAK!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has followed these posts, regardless of my downright awful timekeeping, hopefully after this post, I’ll be able to start posting as often as I did way back when the blog started (Or else Minmin may kill me…), I would especially like to thank everyone who gave me quotes for this series of posts, as well as everyone who gave me their votes for the next adaptation post set. (It’ll be on time though, I promise! D:)

Also, having not been given enough votes yet to have another top ten of any sort, I must ask one last time for any votes that you may want to cast, I hope you all understand. =[

With that said, it’s time to get on with the show!

#1: Persona 4!

Developer: Atlus
Platform: Playstation 2

Imagine this; You’ve just moved to a small town in the country with your Uncle and his adorable little loli, you don’t know anyone and you’ve just had a…very strange talk with some random at a petrol station. But, before you can say “Poppycock”, you’re inside a television talking to a little blue bear with the king of all bromance, Yosuke Hanamura (HSA’s favourite character, no less.) and summoning badass Samurai-things to fight giant floating balls with tongues (Yes, you have to picture this too).

Now, you may be wondering why I’m asking you to imagine this (Or maybe thinking “This man is insane”.), and if you are…well…

…BUY THIS GAME. JUST DO IT!

In all seriousness though, the placing of this game at number one was…a difficult choice to make, what with so many games out there being deserving of an adaptation, but I do personally feel that I made the right choice. With the sheer style that this game (Or the series in general, really) exudes, it’s hard not to like it; From the likable characters to the exciting, yet fun storyline that you’ll never get tired of, mixing several genres together seamlessly into a delicious package you won’t want to put back it in the box. (Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never go back to your regular brand~)

I thought it would be hard to do justice to the game itself without giving out any sort of spoilers, so if you want a second opinion, I’ve collected up a few quotes from my professional panel o’ judges (Illustrated with characters from the game, no less.) so, enjoy~

(Sorry about the layout issues, WordPress seems to be being silly.)

Garrick/Seta Souji:
“With the scenes that they show in the game that are already in an anime-style, (which, by the way,      are awesome) I can only wonder how great an entire anime would be. Besides, I would love to see the animation of the individual Persona, and their summoning… especially considering how many there are.”

Miken/Rise Kujikawa:
The Persona series really is unique in and of itself — with the player switching between saving the world and also making sure they pass their exams and raise their S. Links with various characters. P4 does not disappoint its lineage and delivers both a compelling story and wonderfully deep characters. From the side characters that don’t really influence the story (Ai Ebihara) to characters that you’ll come to love more than anything (Brosuke *cough* errr…I mean Nanako). The player finds him/herself genuinely attached to at least one character. This mix of story and character makes for a great basis for anime material. Sure, I’m confused on how S.links and switching between Inaba <-> TV world will be executed, but the base material already there is pretty much failproof.

Addendum: In lieu of Minnie probably doing schoolwork. I would like to remind Papa to get off his lazy ass and do more regular posts.

Minnie/Chie Satonaka:
There have been many anime adaptions on eroge and dating games before, therefore why not the biggest one of them all? I’m somewhat joking. Persona 4 combines school life comedy, suspenseful thriller, mystery, action and adventure, and dating into one of the most exciting games on the outdated Playstation 2. Sounds familiar? That’s right. There are countless anime that feature one or more of these genres. Persona 4 just happens to have all of them, which in theory makes it an excellent anime to watch. Not only that, the Persona 4 characters are some of the most interesting, laugh out loud hilarious characters out there. I have no doubt that as anime characters, a handful of them have a chance of topping character polls everywhere (cough Naoto anyone?).
In conclusion, not only does Persona 4′s genres scream out a shounen anime, its characters, plot, graphics, music, and everything else will make it one of the most fascinating anime out there, for both fans of the game and newcomers.

Ric: Well, that’s it for this list, folks. Thanks to all of you for reading this, as well as putting up with how long it took me to get things done (Which was long, even for me) I promise that the next list will be done much quicker. (Seeing as I’ll have my free time back soon!)

On a (debatably)happier note though, I am quite pleased with how this series of posts went and will be doing more like this in the near future, so keep an eye out for them, there may just be something you like~

As always, this has been a Citrus Presentation, good night, and may your God go with you. (Also, I really hope that someone will point out this reference.)

-The Lean, Green Tangerine

"And this was Fuura with the weather, over to you, Ric."

Ric: Good-Whatever, everyone, and welcome to episode two of the grand magnificence that is the mighty, lovely, BEAAAUTIFUL; TOP TEN VIDEO GAMES IN NEED OF AN ANIME ADAPTATION! Today, for your viewing pleasure, we have numbers seven through to five! (I’m assuming that most people reading this will have read the rules I laid down for myself in the first post, so I won’t repost them again.)

#7:

Metroid
Developer: Nintendo
Personal Reason For Nomination: Metroid. A game that most of us have probably heard of, and played at length at some point (And if you haven’t, you should.) The reason this game is on the list is not entirely due to the characters, like Disgaea, or to fix the plot-holes, like Megaman X, no. The true reason that this game reaches this list is due to the atmosphere within the series itself, this dark, almost claustraphobic feeling that the game gives you as you explore planets such as Zebes is almost legendary in its depth and if properly captured into an animated format, could provide for the kind of dark,  gritty atmosphere that makes the worlds within the series such a joy to explore. Of course, that’s not to say that the plot throughout the games is any less interesting, Samus, as well as other characters such as Ridley and Mother Brain would be a real treat to watch, were the characters themselves elaborated on and fleshed out in more depth. In conclusion, a Metroid anime done correctly could prove to be an instant classic, just as the games it would be based upon.
Guest Reasoning (Magni-Thanks to Gary for the quote~) : It would be a good series, due to the obvious increase in character development that would have to come with it, as well as the overall atmosphere of the series that, if captured well could allow for a lot of depth.

#6

Riviera: The Promised Land
Developer: Atlus
Personal Reason For Adaptation: Well, what do you get if you take a Visual-Novel, add an rpg engine and give the writing to Atlus? If you said multicoloured hair and lots of fanservice, you were correct. Have a cookie. Okay, okay, maybe that was a little harsh, but really, that’s what you see on the surface of Riviera. That is, until you play it and see just how cleverly done the whole thing is, from start to finish, Riviera pulls you in with interesting characters, a cleverly handled pairing system (I’m trying my hardest not to make a Transformers joke here…) and a well thought out (If a little odd.) battle system. Besides, I want to know who Atlus pick as the end-pairing. >:
Guest Reasoning (Super-Thanks from the sky, Minmin!): Gosh, it’s been soo long since I play Riviera so hopefully, my reasoning is good enough for this post. One of the most unique things about Riviera in my opinion is the four girls you can pick from. Each of them have outstanding personalities and they are hilarious to play and watch. I can so see Riviera becoming almost like a harem anime except done well like Clannad or Kanon instead of the sorry ones we’ve been seeing recently. I guess my huge reasoning behind an anime adaption is to see these lovely ladies on screen, kicking ass and fighting for the main character. That’s fun right?

#5

Chrono Trigger
Developer: Square – Enix
Personal Reason For Adaptation: A game that is often hailed as being the best rpg ever made is something that is, unsurprisingly, a game worth taking a look at from other angles, which with a properly done adaptation would allow for much more depth to be pulled out of the game’s already deep and, well, epic plot.
Guest Reasoning (Iiit’s raining thanks, thank you Tony~) : Because of its story and overall appeal CHRONO TRIGGER would be a great choice for an anime.

Thanks for reading part two, tune in next time when I’ll have more adaptilicious videogames for all of you to read. Also, thank you to everyone who voted on the previous post, and I would like to remind you all that I’m accepting posts until the last game is posted, so if you haven’t voted yet, there’s still plenty of time.

Till next time, this was a Citrus Presentation. Good night, and may your God go with you.

-The Lean, Green Tangerine.

*Insert inappropriate joke about crystal balls here*

The rules of this Top Ten list were as follows:

1. No videogame can be entered in this list if it has recieved an adaptation that was handled well or at least stuck very close to the source material. (Which means no Tales of the Abyss, for example.)

2. Each franchise can only have one entry, excluding spin offs that are dramatically different from the other games within the franchise.

For example, the list could include one of the main Final Fantasy games, such as VI but couldn’t include another numbered game like IV or IX. While the almost unrelated spin-off; Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles could still be added to the list.

3. Franchises that have had OVAs that adapted portions of the series’ canon that were NOT shown in-game (This does not include special unlockables as you didn’t watch them during gameplay, such as the Megaman X OVA, Day of Sigma) can still be included within this list, as it was not the games themselves that were adapted.

Anyway, enough with the formalities, ON WITH THE LIST!

#10:

Disgaea 2
Developer: Nippon – Ichi
Personal Reason for Nomination: Well, with the success (Although I really don’t see HOW) of the first Disgaea anime adaptation, what else could be next for Nippon – Ichi adaptations other than Disgaea 2? With the recognisable quirkiness and oodles of charm, coupled with the well written and entertaining plot, Disgaea 2 cannot do anything but brilliantly…

…As long as they don’t blow the entire animation budget on the promo like the other one did.
Guest Reasoning (A HUGE thanks to Garrick/Koala for this one) : Well, for one, I want to see how they would animate Giga Star into an anime, or was it Tera? Either one. Same with Rozalin’s attacks. Those were sweet. And having a Prinny in an anime is always ALWAYS good, dood!

#9:

Megaman X
Developer: Capcom
Personal Reason for Nomination: You read that right; Megaman X. Honestly, with all the confusion caused by the X series having a plot (Just how many lives does Zero actually HAVE?) it could do with something like an anime adaptation just to tie things together a little more closely (X4 is STILL confusing even now.) as well as to fix up the plot holes inbetween X5 and…everything else. Although to be honest, I would personally just be glad to see Zero’s side of X4 in heavier detail.

Guest Reasoning (Uber thankitude, Oni!): It would work because well, the story was excellent for an action game back then, instead of being simply the typical Stop Wily, it had a much more emotive plot. The setting was apocaliptic and actually it was a nice change from the good robots from the original series. The characters were actually pretty good, especially Zero (at that time atleast) who showed a true sense of friendship when he sacrificed himself to help X defeat Vile. Too bad there were no chicks, though. : [

#8

Zone of the Enders
Developer: Konami
Personal Reason for Nomination: Now, this is one that just squeezed itself in on a technicality, having two (Non-Game adaptation!) OVAs under its belt already in ZoE: Idolo and ZoE: Dolores, but even so, I really believe that this series could do with an adaptation. It takes all the conventions of most mecha anime, but injects storytelling quality on par with other Kojima works, such as the Metal Gear series. But unfortunately, the storytelling is in limited bursts due to the shortness of the games themselves (Unless you’re badass and play Extreme difficulty) and having been broken up by the gameplay. Of course, the games themselves play fantastically, but if you’re like me, you’ll be left wishing to see just a little bit more of the characters and events, to see them as an outsider rather than as a player; And what, you ask, would be the best way to do this? An anime adaptation of course!
Guest Reasoning (Giant bombs of gratitude to Kanada for this): Well, it draws you in to the story and has an in depth plot which would be why anime adaptaion would be a good path for it to take, so that it can expand on both the universe and the story of the games themselves.

Anyway, that’s all for this entry, don’t worry if a game you may have wanted to see here didn’t appear, I may just have not played it.

Finishing up, I would like to tell you all that the next videogame listing shall be a collective listing, so anyone wanting to leave a vote for the next list, please leave the name of the games (Only two per poster, please) and your personal reasoning either in a comment, or on the HSA forums.

Till next time, this was a Citrus Presentation. Good night, and may your God go with you.

-The Lean, Green Tangerine