Anime Awards 2009 (nominee search)

Hello! I know I started out doing 2010 anime nominees, but I realized that the year is nowhere near over. I've decided to go back a bit and do 2009 awards. I'll do 2010 in November or December when more series have come out. Anyway, let's try to do this nominee thing again, shall we? And this time, I've filled in some of the slots with my decisions. The ones with stars may be changed later.

Rules
-Series must have been released in 2009
- No sequels or OVAs
- Please do not nominate the same anime for more than two categories
- Please nominate multiple animes for each category

Best Female Protagonist
- Kajika Burnsworth (Hanasakeru Seishonen)
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Best Male Protagonist
- Junpei Kousaka (Nyan Koi!)
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Best Supporting Character
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Best Couple
- Touya Fuji and Yuki Morikawa (White Album) *
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Best Opening
- Aoi Hana (Aoi Hana) *
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Best Ending
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Best Art
- Kuchu Buranko (or Trapeze)
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Best Manga One-shot
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Worst Series
- Miracle Train
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Best Series
(Just throw out some ideas)

Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl (episode 8)

Hazumu and her friends participate in a test of courage at their school at night despite Hazumu's intense protests. During this event, the students split up in groups and head through the school where scary events await them. At the end of the event, the friendship of the three female main characters strengthens.

A very touching episode. I loved how this one took a step into the mind of Mayuki. Mayuki has always been a very interesting character, and it was nice to finally hear her thoughts. The only problem I have with this episode is that they suddenly decided to make Mayuki like Hazumu. Unlike the other characters, there was no foreshadowing for this. It was completely out of the blue, and it didn't make sense. This love triangle has become a love pentagon.

This episode was so-so. Not good, not bad. Basicly the same as all of the other episodes.

Announcement

I am very sorry for this, but for various reasons, I have decided not to review Welcome to the NHK. I am just starting out reviewing, and I beleive this series is to advanced for me to review at the moment. Again, I apologize.

OPENING OF THE WEEK: Strawberry Panic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMWIKpLbieM&feature=PlayList&p=B6079AF52B0079AE&index=10&shuffle=169&playnext=1

Nagisa Aoi is a first year high school student who has been sent to the Astraea Dormitory after her parents are transferred abroad. The dormitory houses girls from three different girls' schools: St. Spica's Academy, St. Le Rim Girls School and St. Miatre Girls Academy. There she meets the representative of the three girls' schools, Shizuma Hanazano, also know as the Etoile, who is beloved by all students at all schools. The two of them have an interesting first encounter and Hanazano seems to take an instant liking for Aoi.

I absolutely love this song. I have yet to see the series, but I have seen many AMVs with scenes from it, and I look forward to watching this series in the future. *mild yuri warning*

Anime Awards 2010! (Seeking Nominees)

Hello! I'm going to be doing a 2010 anime awards show here on my blog! Right now, I'm hunting for nominees and I need some help. I have ten categories, including a best series category, the nominees of which I will pick later. But for now, please do your best to help me find four nominees to fill each of the categories. Thank you! Here are the categories:

Best Male Protagonist

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Best Female Protagonist

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Best Supporting Character

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Best Antagonist

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Best Couple

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Best Opening

- Venus to Jesus (Arakawa Under the Bridge)

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Best Ending

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Best Art

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Best Manga One-Shot

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Worst Series

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Remember, in order to be nominated, the series MUST have been released in 2010. Thanks for your help! ^_^

B Gata H Kei (episode 7)

By now Yamada is battling a desperate "war" against the seemingly invincible Kyouka Kanejō. Meanwhile, summer break is coming, and Kosuda asks Yamada out to go somewhere for the summer break. Both see this as an opportunity...but there are hurdles, including a non-matching schedule between Yamada and Kosuda, resulting in the both of them not able to find a day reserved for themselves. And, this summer, Yamada got dumbstruck when she finds out Kosuda is out on a family trip...with Mayu Miyano's family! Imagining that Kosuda is getting all lovey-dovey with Miyano, Yamada goes after him.

This episode was...plain. It seemed like they were just taking old jokes that they'd used in past episodes and applying them to different situations. There were a few giggles here and there, but with a series like this, you have to remember that the audience is expecting it to get better with every episode. This episode was uninteresting and resembled all the others. I am very dissapointed...

Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl (episode 8)

It's summertime, and Hazumu invites everyone to the beach to celebrate. However, while all the girls are having a blast, Asuta has a real dillema on his hands. Ever since Hazumu became a girl, he has been slowly but surely falling in love with her against his will, and he has reached a point where he can no longer deny it. But why is he falling in love with his best friend, especially considering she used to be a boy?

This episode is a lot of fun, blending the drama in Asuta's head with piss yourself hillarious comedy. This has been the funniest episode so far. It is also rather unexpected to have an episode centered around Asuta, since you normally think of him as more of a side character. I applaud this series for bringing us into the minds and hearts of the whole gang, rather than just the three mains. Overall, this is a fantastic break from all the love-triangle drama that has been going on since episode one.

What I'm Watching

Hello! So unfortunately, right now as I'm starting this blog, I'm already halfway through two of the animes I'm watching and a quarter through the third. But I want to review them on this blog anyway, so I'm gonna have to start at episode seven with the reviews. So, to avoid confusion, here's a synopsis (pulled from myanimelist) of the three animes I'm watching at the moment and my thoughts on them so far. Enjoy!

B Gata H Kei

Yamada, first name withheld, is a 15 year old girl who has just entered Takizawa High School. Easily considered exceptionally beautiful, she has only one problem with her own body, she thinks her vagina looks weird and is very self-conscious about it. Upon entering high school, her dream was to have casual sex with 100 men but therein lies the problem, she believes an experienced partner will tease her about the way her vagina looks or simply the fact that she's a virgin. She stumbles upon the solution in the form of Kosuda Takashi, a fellow virgin, whom she believes will help ease the transition to more experienced partners.There's only one small problem, Yamada doesn't know anything about sex or the ancient art of seduction, meaning her quest to conquer Kosuda will be a difficult one.

I stumbled apon this synopsis on myanimelist, and I thought there was no way in hell I was watching it. One day, when I was really bored, I decided t0 watch a few minutes of it just to see how horrible it was. Was I expecting it to make me laugh? No. But I am so glad I came across this series. The hillariously wacky and perverted nature of this series will leave almost any viewer on the floor laughing.

This series had a very strong beginning, but the humor has begun to get a little dull since episode one. There are still moments that make you laugh of course, but not to the point of tears anymore. This anime is getting a little bit old. But will it pull through?

Welcome to the NHK!

Satou Tatsuhiro, 22 years old, thinks that everything that happens around him is a conspiracy. He even figured out who is behind it all: The NHK, an evil secret company. "When you think anime, you think otaku. When you think otaku, you think people that dislike other people. Those people become hikikomori (people who shut themselves in)". So Satou manages to uncover the plot of The NHK (stands for Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai), after three years of shutting himself in (and rapidly approaching the fourth). In reality, he is nothing more than a NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training), desperately in need of a cure from that "disease". He wants to break out from the curse, but going out and getting a job is frightening enough for him. That is until he gets selected for a "project"; it is a plan to help hikikomori like him in facing the reality of this world.

This series didn't pull me in at first. It was unique from episode one, but not in your face fantastic. But by episode seven, I realized that little by little, this series has been subtly catching my interest. The characters in this series are very distant at this point and it seems you know almost nothing about them. But that mystery is probably the main thing that makes NHK the way it is.

Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl

Hazumu confessed his love to Yasuna, but she turned him down. To ease his heartbreak, he went to Mt. Kashimayama where he had met her first. However, he lost his way in the mountain because it was night time. He saw a big shooting star, and when he made a wish, he found out that something was wrong. It turned out that it wasn't a shooting star, but a falling space ship. He was involved in the crash, but managed to survive by the help of an alien. However, he became a girl by accident during the reconstruction of his body.

Again, I almost knocked this one after the synopsis. What made me watch it anyway? I have no clue, but I'm glad I gave this series a second chance. This series is heartwarming, hillarious, and beautiful. Very different from the manga, which has a more comedic tone, but in a good way. This series is absolutely worth checking out. (unless you're not a shojo ai person that is...)