Comments on: 2008 Summary - Part I

by: F0r7y_2

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:59:02 +0000

X’amd: Lost Memories is easily my favorites for best of ‘08. I also really liked Soul Eater and Toradora but neither of those really stand out as anything particularly special outside of this year the way that X’amd does.

by: mulligan

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:19:38 +0000

Must have been quite an effort to put together such an extensive and thorough review for the year’s worth of anime output. Well done! always looking forward to your reviews :)

by: Cody

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:47:03 +0000

Amatsuki needs a sequel so bad it’s scary.

The final episode sucks/is completely awesome at the same time.

I would have ranked RD higher as well but that’s me. I NEVER have trouble with pacing issues as long as the stories are interesting, and to me RD gave a very interesting story. Seriously, all the characters were awesome and I loved the idea of the series combined with slice of life.

by: BlueYoshi

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:24:45 +0000

Also agreeing with Madhouse being the best studio, and that’s probably just because of Kaiba, and the small amount of Kurozuka and Himitsu I have watched. I still need to start Casshern too. Kinda wished I didn’t download Chaos Head, hearing that it’s quite disappointing.

While I never really got the time to finish Hakaba Kitarou, I loved it’s OP, and it’s good to see it as your fav of the year.

by: Machi

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:39:33 +0000

Surprised you added unfinished series. But I wholeheartedly agree on madhouse being the best studio this year, they created Kaiba and thats more than enough reason just for the risk they took on that series.

by: Mu

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:59:28 +0000

My personal top 10 would be:

1. Xam’d Lost Memories;
2. Mouryo no Hako;
3. Shion no Ou (yeah, I know it started in 2007 but ended this March so I would place it in this list);
4. Real Drive;
5. Mokke;
6. XXX Holic: Kei;
7. Ghost Hound;
8. Natsume Yuujin-chou;
9. Mugen no Juunin;
10. Amatsuki;

by: midenz

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:16:50 +0000

great list ^_^! enjoyed reading it ^.^ This year was pretty rockin good !

by: Windspirit

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:07:34 +0000

@Denizen : This is how it’s done on AnimeReactor and it makes a lot of sense, yes.

by: PhuzyBuny

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:51:17 +0000

I’d actually thought RD would be in the top ten but that’s just my opinion.

by: Denizen

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:16:51 +0000

My Top Ten would be:

1. Xam’d: Lost Memories
2. Casshern Sins
3. Kurenai
4. Ghost Hound
5. Shikabane Hime
6. Michiko to Hatchin
7. Birdy the Mighty: Decode
8. Macross Frontier
9. Kaiba
10. Soul Eater

I swear Ghost Hound is a 2007 anime but everyone seems to include it, so why not? Fall/Winter shows tend to drop off the scale due to confusion of what year they are from. I guess it would make more sense to judge an anime on what year it ended.

by: Archer

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:53:08 +0000

i most definitely agree with Madhouse - studio of the year and next year seems to be another good year for them,while Production IG disappointed me quite a bit this year especially with RD,to have such a good premise and such superb,high quality animation but ruin it with some stupid plot ideas afterwards,such a waste of budget
also i agree with Ghost Hound,it was a very good horror and probably one of my favorite anime of the year,Gintama also as funny as ever,Kurozuka and Gundam had the best action imo and now i look forward to part2

by: Katapan

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:33:30 +0000

I have to strongly back up Vangui’s comment - actually, I was really surprised to find out people were expecting Bihada Ichizoku to be a series that took itself seriously. I thought the very first promo picture showed it would be a parody, and the first episode only confirmed this… then the series just kept on seriously delivering in that department.

I know I had never laughed that hard in front of anime. You just never could tell where this was going, and the completely weird characters didn’t help (SMK and his cat? Kamatama-san?). The voice acting was also definitely praiseworthy (Kitamura Eri’s 80’s shoujo laugh is nothing short of awesome). Of course, I guess you’d have to have a very odd sense of humor to enjoy this as much as I did, in a “so bad it’s great” way.

I’d really love to get a sequel for Amatsuki, but I just don’t think the DVD sales were good enough to drive the producers into allocating the right budget for a second series (apart from the first two episodes on volume 1, none of the DVDs ever made it to the Oricon charts on their first week… meaning the sales were most likely under 1k copies sold, quite far from a commercial success). A real shame, since I thought it was definitely one of the most interesting series of the year.

by: Marmoset

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:32:17 +0000

An unusual and interesting list as always though I’m not sure about the inclusion of unfinished series in the list. Nijuu Mensou no Musume was alright for a time before completely falling apart and I don’t think you should assume second halves will live up to firsts.

by: senerikfred

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:40:47 +0000

Yes, Gintama has great EDs, but. . .Candy Line. . .? That was one of the lesser ones, IMO, even if the pictures in the background were cool. The current one is better, but that wouldn’t qualify as ‘ED of the year’ for me either.
I’d watch Amatsuki if it got a sequel, and more of Saiunkoku would be great, so let’s keep hoping.

by: Kim

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:32:55 +0000

I would have put Natsume Yuujinchou and Casshern Sins higher but I am glad they made your list.

by: Vangui

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:45:31 +0000

Bihada Ichizoku actually improves later. I mean, it becomes more hilarious.
That was the problem with this series. A lot of people were expecting an anime about girls participating in beautiful contest using cosmetics and a lot of other things that really aren’t appealing.
But this is actually a parody of old shoujo animes. It is supposed to be a comedy, with over exaggerated dramatic moments.
If you think doing acrobatics to put sliced cucumbers in your face to make you beautiful or using a pink bazooka to kill your sister aren’t stupid and ridiculous, then people are taking anime really seriously…

by: Windspirit

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:34:42 +0000

No Code Geass ?
I thought it was the most entertaining series of 2008. Not exactly for the same reasons as everyone finds this entertaining, actually…

by: Westlo

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:31:01 +0000

I have to agree that Madhouse was the studio of the year and I think they will be the studio of Winter 2009 for sure. Rideback looks to be the Casshern of that season (best title noone is watching!) and Hajime no Ippo will continue to be awesome.

Also you need to mention the fluidness of Casshern, they really went all out there Madhouse.

by: Kairu Ishimaru

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:19:37 +0000

I agree with the worst first episode. It was worst in some way because of the weird fanservice and with those wtf scenes.

The worst series was yes, really bad. But I watched that anime for the lulz. XD A place where chocolate is banned? Oh shhhss that will never happen.