Number 7: Kare Kano

Looking at the picture above, you'll probably assume that Kare Kano is nothing but a simple, high school romance. I can tell you honestly that...you're not entirely wrong. However, never before have I seen a high school rom-com with as much passion and originality as Kare Kano.

On the outside, Yukino Miyazawa appears to be a perfect girl. She was the top student at her middle school, is an amazing athlete, and is kind, modest, and elegant. Or so she's lead everyone to beleive. In reality, Yukino is a nerdy and strange girl who has been putting on a show in order to gain the praise she cannot live without. Then, he showed up. Souichiro Arima. A gorgeous, popular, intellegent boy who ruined Yukino's "high school debut" by beating her on the entrance exam. Throughout the school year, Yukino finds that the mask she has been wearing may need to come off.

Although the story does have one or two slow episodes, it is usually moving straight forward, and almost always keeping you entertained. The comedy hits, the dialogue is wonderful, and many people are able to relate to some of the situations the characters get into.

The characters are probably more well developed than any show I've ever seen. Yukino and Arima have such a beautiful chemistry, despite their very different personalities. Even the supporting cast is well developed. In fact, there is one episode which tells the story of how Yukino's parents met, which I don't beleive I've ever seen in a high school comedy before. There are pretty much no background characters in Kare Kano.

The problem I do have with Kare Kano is that, as I stated earlier, the series has some very slow episodes. In fact, there were two episodes in which all they did was repeat scenes from previous episodes. I completely skipped over these, as they had absolutely no significance. There were many points in the series where I was not the least bit entertained.

Overall, Kare Kano is a well delivered, well developed, and basicly just a well done series. It is an original, fun, compelling high school love story if I have ever seen one.

Number 8: B Gata H Kei

If you watched the latest episode of MaguroCast, note that I have changed the list to make room for series I have gotten further into.

If you look at the synopsis for B Gata H Kei, you'll probably wonder what the hell I was thinking when I started watching the series. Thinking about it now, I'm actually wondering the exact same thing. Whatever the reason, I am so glad I watched B Gata H Kei, as it was surprisingly one of the best comedy anime series I saw in 2010.

Brace yourself for the synopsis, because, as I mentioned before, it's pretty crazy. The story centers around Yamada, (first name withheld for whatever reason) a high school girl with the face and body of a model. Apon entering high school, Yamada decides on a crazy goal: to have casual sex with 100 boys. However, being self concious of the fact that she is a virgin, she decides she needs to start by targeting a boy who is a virgin as well. She soon crosses paths with Kosuda, the most generic, uninteresting boy she has ever met, who, unfortunately for him, meets Yamada's criteria perfectly.

When watching the first episode of B Gata H Kei, I had incredibly low expectations just from reading the synopsis. Needless to say, I was dead wrong to assume that this series wouldn't be any good. I found myself cracking up several times, sometimes to the point of tears. What makes this series so hillarious is that, as determined as she is, Yamada has no freaking clue what she's doing. She chickens out of her supposedly "brilliant" plans, and when she actually gets the balls to do something, she has no clue where to go next. Admit it: it is so much fun to watch people screw up.

The characters...well they're all idiots. There are several points in the series where you wonder what kind of moron actually does shit like this. Some of the better supporting characters in the series include Tachibana, Yamada's best girl friend who is often rather annoyed with her one-track mind, and Kajenou, a gorgeous American girl with a severe brother complex. But if you've seen this series, you will probably be surprised with my answer. Her name is Misato. She can't really even be considered a supporting character...more like a background character. She is flat chested, short, and generally unnatractive in the eyes of men...which isn't so good considering she likes to follow hot guys around like a lost puppy and drool all over them like a bulldog. Although she only made about one, short appearence per episode, I had to smile every time she appeared.

Flaws? Oh yeah, very many. First of all, like many animes in the comedy-ecchi genre, it fails when it tries to be dramatic. The more sentemental scenes were just boring, and when you watch them, you want them to skip to the comedy as quickly as possible. Second of all, the characters, although very entertaining, were not very well developed. There are several points in the series where the characters do things that, as far as you know, are completely unlike them.

The main problem I had with B Gata H Kei was that if you're going to do a series like this, the comedy has to get better with every episode. With this series, the laugh-chart kind of moved in a straight line, and it got a little bit old after a while.

Overall, I am very glad I gave this series a try. Although I would never say it's the best comedy series I've seen, I can say that it is most likely the best ecchi. I was very sad to see this series come to an end, and I still find myself hoping for more.

My 2011 Watch List

• 30-san no Hoken Taiiku
• A Channel
• Beelzebub
• Fractale (maybe)
• Hanasaku Iroha
• Hourou Musuko
• Kampfer Season 2 (but that means I gotta finish season one!)
• Mahou Shoujo Madoka*Magica
• Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
• Shouwa Monogatari (maybe)
• Yumeki Merry
• Ga-Rei Zero
• Antique Bakery
• FINALLY finish Hayate the Combat Butler!
• Whatever else I find interesting later

Number 9: Sasameki Koto

I think we all know how painful it can be to love someone who doesn't love you back. I certainly do, and I don't think I've ever seen an anime series that depicted the loneliness--and very rarely the joy--of one-sided love as well as the shojou ai* romcom Sasameki Koto did.

I began watching Sasameki Koto at the very beginning of the year, around the same time I started Junjou Romantica. I could not have picked a better first shojou ai series. Although it is basicly about the love between two girls, it is way lighter and more fun then some of the more dramatic shojou ai series out there, making it a perfect introduction to the genre.

Sumika Murasame is an intelegent, tough as nails highschooler with a big problem: she has fallen in love with another female, her best friend, Ushio Kazama. The problem isn't that Ushio doesn't like girls--in fact, she's absoluely crazy about them--the problem is that Ushio only likes "cute" girls. Small, weak, shy girls that one would feel compelled to protect. Sumika, being unusually tall and a martial arts expert, does not at all meet this description.

Sasameki Koto presented a very simple story, and was able to do a lot with it. Something different happened every episode, and they managed to bring in very satisfying romantic scenes and wonderful comedy without being too unrealistic. The only problem was that some episodes had no real significance, and could have been skipped over in order to make room for a decent ending. Note before you watch Sasameki Koto that the ending is very abrupt, and will probably leave you unsatisfied and thinking 'That's it?'

The characters made this series what it was. Each character was unique and quirky, and you pretty much had to love every one of them. We start out with the two mains, Sumika and Ushio, and their friend, the happy-go-lucky Kiyori. Later, we are introduced to Akemiya, a dorky boy with a huge crush on Sumika, Tomoe and Miyako, a lesbian couple who hopelessly attempt to start a school club for lesbian girls, and Aoi, a passionate fan of a series of yuri novels. The characters are all very well developed, and it's very entertaining to watch them in their everyday lives.

The main reason I love Sasameki Koto is that you can feel the characters emotions as if they are your own. There are several scenes in this series that will make one think "I've felt that way before." The series manages to perfectly execute the drama of one sided love without being melodramatic, and seeing as this is a Highschool story, this is a major accomplishment.

Number 10: Junjou Romantica

How the hell did I get wrapped up in Junjou Romantica? I will never really know. But one way or another, this series managed to gain a lot of my interest. Heck, I even got emotional at certain parts. I couldn't bring myself not to put Junjou Romantica on this list.

I started watching Junjou at the very beginning of the year. It was actually my very first (and so far only) shonene ai* series. I'll admit, however, that this was not a very good series to start with because...well...err...there was sex in nearly every episode. (not graphic, mostly implied) However, once I got used to those scenes, I was able to enjoy this series through all of its ups and downs.

There's not really a main story for Junjou. The series centers around three odd gay couples and their relationships. The main couple is Misaki and Usami. Misaki is the little brother of Takahiro, a man Usami was madly in love with. When Takahiro gets engaged, it almost seems as though Misaki has become his replacement. Despite his internal struggle, he can't seem to deny the fact that he just might be falling under the seductive Usami's spell.

Hiroki has been in love with Usami for several years. Apon discovering that Usami will never feel the same way, heartbroken Hiroki runs to the park to be alone. There, he meets Nowaki, a kind young man who has fallen for Hiroki at first sight. Hiroki tries to remain cool and nonchalant, as he usually is, but something in Nowaki brings out a side of Hiroki that he doesn't recognize, and certainly doesn't like.

35 year old Miyagi is Hiroki's coworker. He is recently divorced, and is going through a lot in his life. Things get much more complicated when his ex-wife's brother, 16 year old Shinobu, (umm big age difference much?) claims to be madly in love with him, and ends up living with him in his apartment.

So what's so special about these stories? To be honest, not very much. Every episode seemed to be basicly the same thing. There wasn't really anything original; anything we hadn't seen before. However, the way the stories are delivered somehow pulls you in. You don't really think about the lack of originality while you're watching Junjou Romantica. I give this series major props for so cleverly hiding these uninteresting storylines behind amazing delivery.

I felt like Hiroki, Nowaki, and Miyagi were the only three characters with any real depth. The rest of the cast, though entertaining, seemed rather generic and flat. Usagi was the steryotypical seme, Misaki, the classic uke*, and Shinobu...some kid trying to force himself onto a middle aged man. It's not that I really disliked any of the characters in this series--they were all very diverse and interesting--I just wish I had gotten to know them a little better. In the course of 26 episodes, (2 seasons, 13 episodes per season) I think they could have done much better.

The art was probably the weakest part of the series. I can honestly say nothing good about the art style. I constantly found myself confusing characters with other characters. There were literally only 3 hairstyles for male characters in this series, and 2 hairstyles for female characters. It felt like they picked a few hairstyles and faces, and tried some different combinations to come up with their characters. I know, it could be a lot worse, but the art was still pretty lame.

Now about the sexual content...like I said, it's mostly implied. You only see faces, hands, and sometimes upper bodies. The sex scenes in Junjou Romantica were actually very tasteful. You don't really see "sex" here. You see two men in love giving themselves to each other. The only problem I had with the sex scenes was that, although they were pretty at first, they got old very quickly. The sex was just excessive. As I said, they put one at the end of nearly every episode. Had they put only one every five or so episodes, it would have been easier to appreciate the beauty of these scenes.

So why did I like Junjou Romantica? Because, despite its many flaws, it has been the most passionate shonen ai series I have seen to date. I've realized that the reason I haven't had the desire to continue any of the other shonen ai series I have tried is because, on episode one, I always find myself thinking "Junjou Romantica was much better." So, for making me adore it for reason's I don't even understand, Junjou Romantica has stolen the number 10 spot on my list.

*Shonen Ai - centers around the love between two men

* In a Shonen Ai or Yaoi couple, the seme is the more dominant and seductive one, while the uke is the one who is seduced

Intro to My Top Ten of 2010

With the year coming to an end, I thought I'd reflect on all of the fantastic anime that I have seen in the past 365 days. Therefore, I give you my Top 10 of 2010. Here's how this is gonna work: starting with my number ten, I will post a review once a day (or rather whenever I get the chance) of an anime that I thought deserved a spot on my list.


Please note that not all of these series were released this year. 2010 is just the year I watched them. Also, some of these series are very difficult to properly review. I apologize in advance for any rambling or confusing content.

One more thing. I WANT YOU TO COMMENT! I'd really like to hear you guys' input on the subjects I write about. Do you disagree? Tell me why. Agree? Tell me what with. I really want to hear what you have to say.

Without further ado, I'm going to start working on my review for number ten. Stay tuned!

Anime Awards 2010 (For reals this time!)

Hello! So I kind of chickened out on this last time, but now that the new year is just around the corner, I'm gonna give it another shot. We are currently in the nominating stage of the 2010 anime awards. Please follow the rules below, and nominate your favorites for the ten listed categories. Thank you!

RULES:

- The anime must have been released in 2010. We will not be accepting OVAs, new seasons, or series that had been continued into 2010 from other years.

- You may nominate as much as you like for each category, but do not nominate two from the same series in the same category. For example, you could not nominate both Panty and Stocking for best leading female, as they are both from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.

- Be specific with openings and endings. When nominating one, please state the anime, the name of the song, and the author

Categories

Best Male Protagonist

Best Female Protagonist

Best Supporting Character

Best Couple

Best Comedy

Best Drama

Best Opening

Best Ending

Worst Series

Best series nominees will be determined based on the nominations from the other categories, and possibly what me and my group of critic friends decide (if they're willing to help out). Please vote now!