Don’t tell me you think I’m always behind on anime like this.
(Because I know I am)

Miken: I needed a reason to get off my rear and watch all the series that piled up during the tail end of school. My problem is that I pick up way too many series and my sense of “I NEED TO FINISH THIS” kicks in after 3-4 episodes and I become almost completely unable to drop it. It takes something especially horrible (like Winter Sonata) to get me to drop a series well into it. However, this season has been marked with a bunch of series I just didn’t feel like continuing. I suppose I’m finally learning my lesson and not watching series that I don’t outright enjoy to at least some degree. Also — thankfully, not all of these episodes were watched at once. It’s more like catching up bit by bit on each series over a rather long stretch of time [I don't do marathons much anymore].

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Miken: Seeing as I’m watching more and more old shows on top of my 10+ new shows per season, I suppose I should at least leave some comments on the older series that I’ve watched/caught up on. The first and hopefully not the last post will be of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I had seen an episode or two many years ago, but I never really got the chance to sit down and properly watch it. However, my boyfriend annoyed asked me into watching it in its whole glory.

The first half of the series is tame enough. You can see that each character has his/her own problems, but it isn’t really overt. For the most part, the episodes also follow a standard “destroy the Angel of the week” plotline. It was while watching these episodes that I finally decided on my preference in Eva pilots going: (1) Asuka, (2) Shinji, (3) Rei.

Amazingly, Shinji didn’t annoy the crap outta me as much I feared. Of course, after having to sit through Ambassador Asshat Luke fon Fabre in Tales of the Abyss, the Shinji of the first half was bound to be pretty likable by comparison. As for the second half, he did seem to hit a wall about 20 times, but I empathized with him more then, since NERV is nowhere to be for any kid his age. Problems that ‘normal’ kids would encounter, like parent/acceptance issues are put under a magnifying glass due to the stressful and dangerous nature of their jobs.

Rather than being angry at Shinji, I was more frustrated with Gendo Ikari. Seriously, his fathering skills are only marginally better than Rosa Ushiromiya’s in that he actually sorta-almost-not-really means some good and has a slightly better Freudian Excuse. It seems like nearly all the time, he’s really manipulating Shinji — using his kid’s inadequacies against him in order to guilt him into staying on the team, also taking advantage of Shinji’s very obvious need for his father’s approval. Of course, it could be him taking Shinji and almost caring for him through forcing him to grow a backbone, but his methods really aren’t doing his son any good. In fact, they’re pretty much ruining what’s left of his fragile mentality.

Speaking of fragile mentalities: the pilots…Oh goodness I felt so bad for these children. It really hit me when Gendo nearly had Eva Unit 01 kill Toji in the failed Unit 03. I mean, it’s bound to send someone into a near-catatonic state when his control over his giant robot is removed and he’s forced to see his friend nearly die like that, especially when the guy who removed control from you was your own father, who knew full well who was in that other Eva. Doesn’t help at all that the Evas seem to bleed when they’re injured. Afterwards, I really didn’t blame Shinji from wanting to run away from NERV and the Evas. Of course, he got guilt tripped/lectured into going back. Then there’s Shinji having to kill Kaoru. Sure, Kaoru really creeped me out and it was obvious that something was wrong with him from the start, but Shinji was starting to really develop a friendship [albiet a very strange and probably unhealthy one] with the guy.

At the very least, I like the current Rei better than this one

Surprisingly, I didn’t really connect to Rei despite knowing how huuuuge she is in terms of popularity. I call a difference in culture here. I suppose that the Japanese are more likely to like a character of Rei’s nature, while westerners like someone more active/riled up like Asuka or maybe Misato. Rei was never an eyesore, but she was just kinda there for me. I did, however, like the backstory leading up to the creation of the first Rei, since it was nice to see just how Gendo changed [and somehow didn't change] while he still had Yui. For one, he definitely seemed kind of nicer, but at the same time, very cunning and not unlikely to pull some underhanded tricks.

We’re very sorry, but we ran out of money

As for Asuka and Shinji…I could connect to them to a certain degree in terms of their acceptance issues, which is why I liked them a bit more. The mindscrew of the final two episodes brought all of Shinji inner turmoil to a head in which he finally got to realizing that he had to start liking himself. The whole imagery of the way each character is and how other characters perceive him/her was definitely nice. It really shed a different light on the characters as well: Rei didn’t seem quite as empty as before as she discussed her own concerns about her existence; Asuka lost her strong-girl edge and revealed her many faults and revealed why she put up so many walls and sought the attention of everyone; Misato lost the mask of the caring and composed mother figure and her problems with her father and the roots of her relationship with Kaji were explored; and Shinji battled with his father issues as well as his own lack of personal esteem, eventually realizing that he had to perceive himself as better for others to perceive him well even when he is not piloting the Eva. While not really very visually amazing due to lack of budget, it did a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters.

All in all, the last 2 episodes…I had heard much about them before, but I didn’t expect them to be that confusing. Okay, so it does present itself fairly straightforward, but it leaves so much to be inferred. It doesn’t help when Hideaki Anno himself is the master of the Shrug of God. I’ll head off to the movies later, but as for now, I’m still scratching my head a bit.

Congratulations, Shinji~ Now how’re you going to get off that big blue ball and back to saving the world?

Series Overall Score: 8/10
It was nice and I can definitely see why it’s lasted so many years and is still very strong in terms of popularity. However, having seen this after seeing so many series and without the influence of nostalgia, I don’t think that it really ranks atop my favorites. Sure, I’ll probably remember this series years down the line when I’ve forgotten the names of “amazing for a little while” series like Darker than Black, and maybe then I’ll look on this more fondly. However, it’s just sitting at above-par at the moment.

What’s up next? Well, it might either be something more recent like Seto no Hanayome or something older than I am, like the first Gundam series or SDF Macross. Or maybe finally get to watching Cowboy Bebop in order. I really haven’t decided. After all, this post was made on a whim and my choice of watching older shows depends on my whims too…

Note: Any of you who lost 5+ hours of your life to any of the TV tropes links up there, I’m sorry. Here’s a gift.

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

 

 

“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

-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.

Hsa: Hello everyone! My name is HSA or the personification of Hey, Say, Anime! Even though Hey, Say, Anime has only existed for over three months, we have been very active. Moreover, the blog has been growing rapidly, both with post counts and members. Many of you have been with us since the beginning. However, the rest have only discovered us recently. Therefore, it is my job to introduce you to the members of this ever growing blog! Round robin time?!

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Has anyone started the countdown for New Years yet? We haven’t but we have for the best OPs and EDs of all time ready for you all! New Years is a great day. The countdown. The celebration. The New Years resolution. There is something special about being here with your family and friends for the New Year. We hope your viewers enjoy our latest Number Three! Curious? Click now!

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