Epi on January 15, 2011 · in Random Stuff

For the first time ever, we present to you the 2010 Sea Slugs! Awards!

(Please note, this post was contributed to by the whole team as no single person saw everything)

First we took all the shows which either started or ended with a significant portion airing  in 2010.  Then we created some categories. Then Kabi-tan flew us all into his hometown first class (although I hear Halfa had to drive his mini-van…) and rented a suite at the Four Seasons. Over a night of all-night room service, “special” Pay Per View usage and enough mini-bar drinking to make Nama-ko blush we were sequestered until we came up with our best of 2010.

Well sorta…  Either way, each writer was given the opportunity to vote for their top 3 in each category, with a first place ranking worth 3 points, a second place ranking worth 2 points and third place ranking worth 1 point. The totals were tallied up, and thus we come to our decision. Although some categories resulted in everyone voting for wildly different things, we more or less converged for the most important three categories of the year: Best show of 2010 and… well you’ll see. They’re at the end.

So without further adieu, our best of 2010!

Character Awards:

Best Female Supporting Character:

Winner: Kuroneko (OreImo / My Little Sister Can’t be this Cute)

While at first we thought the creators were just lazy in making her wear the same clothes every episode, we soon learned that there was more than meets the eye to this kitty-eared otaku. From her witty retorts, to her funny emo blog, to her pretentious anime, to her being the best older sister ever, Kuroneko stole the show from OreImo for most people. We’ll never forget her saying ‘nii-san’ nor will we forget her posing in front of the mirror in various cute cat poses. For all that and more, she’s our choice for best Female Supporting Character of 2010.

Runner Up: Miya Tachibana (Amagami SS)

Best Male Supporting Character:

Winner: Ozu (Yojo-Han Shinwa Taikei / The Tatami Galaxy)

Our pick for best male supporting character in 2010 is the lovable prankster Ozu! He’s a mischeivious character with a knack for deceit and trickery. But for all his naughtiness, as the series continues we come to realize that Ozu is the one thing which many of the other characters are not; he is the constant which holds Watashi’s world together, his one friend no matter which path he chooses. Even when Watashi manipulates events to make Ozu seem terrible, he can’t erase the fact that Ozu is always there for him.

Runner Up: Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Best Female Lead:

Winner: Mikoto Misaka (Toaru Kagaku no Railgun & Toaru Majutsu no Index II)

It was actually a pretty close vote with no one character running away with the votes, but still there was a winner. Being the lead character in a show is never easy. It’s even harder when you’re a major character in another show as well, but our pick managed to show us how it’s done. From her awesome fighting powers, to her perfectly portrayed tsundere-ness, to her super cute hidden side. From Onee-sama to BiriBiri, to the object of all of Kuroko’s affections, Mikoto Misaka was our pick for best female lead in 2010.

Runners Up (tied): Celty Sturluson (Durarara!!) & Togame (Katanagatari)

Best Male Lead:

The only category with a tie. While half of us loved Ed, the other half loved Watashi.

Winner (tied): Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

The main character of the truly epic Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Ed was a pretty awesome character. Always continuously knowing his own limits, and always reminded of his small stature, Ed used his intelligence and wit to win battles rather than pure power. Of course it never hurt that he also had plenty of FIGHTING SPIRIT. Grew tremendously over the course of the series, and was always one to look out for friends and family. Ed was no cardboard cutout hero, but was a very unique protagonist and one of our choices for best male lead of 2010.

Winner (tied): Watashi (Yojo-Han Shinwa Taikei / The Tatami Galaxy)

While Aliens, Time-Travelers, and Espers are the norm in a Japanese Animated World, a small section of fans would prefer a more relatable protagonist. One such is Watashi. Overflowing with burning passion and rapid-fire thoughts, Watashi represents a generation filled with uncertainty. A generation whose goal is to mesh with one’s peers, accepting any gimmick while ignoring potential consequences. Once their path is set, a sense of regret spurs the mind, wishing it never happened, wanting to rewind time, and hoping for a new destiny. Watashi clearly shows the opportunity that dangles in front of us, and an opportunity that simply needs a tug in order to grasp.

Show Awards:

Best Romance:

Winner: Kimi ni Todoke (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

It had us at the first episode. From the very first time we see her, it really wasn’t hard to fall in love with Sawako and all her quirks. While those girls in her class looked mean, eventually Chizu and Ayane became some of the best supporting characters of the season. From ‘Everyone’s Kazehaya’, to Kurumi’s love schemes and Ryo’s baseball thickheadedness, this show was full of touching moments and great romantic scenes. We shed tears, bought out the grocery store’s supply of tissues, and in the end we loved it. Although the story moved slow at times, it was still more than enough to capture our hearts for 2010 as our best romance of the year.

Runner Up: Amagami SS (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Best Comedy:

Winner: Working!! (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Working was one of those shows that crept up on us. With the exception of Zyl who loved it from the start, many of us were slow converts to its awesomeness. But by the end of the season, we all loved it. From it’s perfect set of mismatched characters, to the cute girls who all had a scary side, to the powers of the MAGIC HAND, this simple story about a group of people working at a family restaurant surpassed all expectations, providing endless hours of laugh out loud comedy. This is why it is our choice for best comedy of 2010.

Runner Up: B Gata H Kei (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Best Action/Adventure:

Winner: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Well there weren’t that many good action shows this year so this was kind of an easy win for FMA. That’s all I have to say about it.

Runner Up: Highschool of the Dead (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Best Drama:

Winner: Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Yojo-han was a unique series in so many aspects – the unusual and variable drawing, the palette of colors, Watashi’s manic narration, the university setting (instead of the ever popular high school), the resets where repeated motifs and subtle changes contributed to a multi-faceted understanding of the characters – all contributed to a very special telling, through the numerous misadventures of Watashi and friends, of the drama of human life. Full of nervous energy and boiling bottled up discontent, things always seem to threaten to spin out of control but the life-affirming final epiphany and, more importantly, how the series built up to it made the ride a very pleasing one indeed.

Runner Up: So Ra No Wo To (ANN)

Show of the year:

Winner: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Here at Sea Slugs we were torn between two very good shows, but ultimately the power of Fullmetal Alchemist won the day. With it’s well fleshed out characters, unique and incredibly detailed fantasy world, amazingly animated battles and ultimately epic storyline was there ever a doubt that FMA would not prevail? When a ‘remake’ was originally promised for the popular manga, most people were skeptical. Why a remake so soon, and would it ruin the first anime? Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood soon showed us non manga-readers though just how inadequate the original series was as this time the manga was followed closely. Meanwhile for long-time followers of the manga, it was a great way to get reacquainted with chapters long forgotten, and was just perfect how the ending of the manga coincided with the ending of the anime for it all to finish at the same time.  In the end, it was the one show that almost everyone followed for over a year and was surely SSAB!s most followed show of 2009-2010. It will surely be remembered as one of the best of the past decade. For that reason, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is our best show of 2010.

Runner Up: Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei (SeaSlugs Link) (ANN)

Other:

Most memorable scene of the year:

Winner: Amagami SS

There are certain scenes every year that we remember for a very long time. Whether it’s some major character’s death, or something with nice boats, certain things stay forever. We had a hard time agreeing on what would be the most memorable, but one scene stole most of our top votes. Okay fine the picture spoiled it… but still. Anime is full of weird fetishes so we might have thought we’d seen it all, but when episode 3 of Amagami SS aired, we were in for a huge surprise. Junichi shows us how it’s all done by licking behind the knees of the hottest girl at school for our most memorable scene of 2010.

Runners Up (tied): Shiki

& Durarara!!

Other Memorable Scenes:

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Highschool of the Dead

Working!!

Katanagatari

K-ON!!

Yojo-han Shinwa Taika

Yosuga no Sora

So Ra No Wo To

Panty and Stocking

Amagami SS [Spoiler]Drunk Takahashi Maya-sensei shows up at the oden stall[/Spoiler]

Some songs we liked:

i Love – Amagami SS (OP)

fuss fuzz – Highschool of the Dead (ED)

Happy Sunshine – Asobi ni Ikuyo (ED)

No, Thank You!! – K-ON!! (ED)

Kami-sama no lu toori – Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei (ED)

DOWN TOWN – Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (OP)

Arakawa Under The Bridge x Bridge –Arakawa Under The Bridge x Bridge (OP)

House of Five Leaves – House of Five Leaves (OP)

Koko Dake no Hanashi – Kuragehime (OP)

Kimi ni Kirei no Kizuite Okure – Kuragehime (ED)

Fallen Angel – Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (ED)

SOMEONE ELSE – Working!! (OP)

Brave Song – Angel Beats! (ED)

Alternative – Asura Cryin’ 2 (OP)

Ray of Light – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (ED 5)

LEVEL5-judgelight- – A Certain Scientific Railgun (ED 2)

Some fun things:

Best Inanimate Object:

Winner (with 5/7 #1 votes): The Magic Hand (Working!!)

Every so often, there’s an object in anime which we all love. In 2010, there was one such object that stole all of our hearts, it was so good that even Kirino had to have it. Let’s not spoil why it’s #1, but for those who’ve seen Working!! you will instantly know why The Magic Hand wins hands down as the best inanimate object of the year.

Stalker of the Year:

Winner (with 4/7 #1 votes): Mika Harima (Durarara!!)

They say that you can’t hurry love, but sometimes you have to drag it bound and sedated back to your secure hideout for a little persuasion. Rather than sitting at home mooning over their obsessive crushes, the candidates in this category did their utmost to win over their respective loves no matter what the cost… because true love doesn’t take “no” for an answer. Mika wins the Stalker of the Year award because she didn’t let anything, be it a locked door, a complete inability to read social cues, or the fact that her crush was in love with a pickled severed head, stand in the way of her love. Her inspiring story teaches us that with a little persistence, and some plastic surgery, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

Epi’s Special Achievement Award 2010:

Sora No Otoshimono Forte

Why am I putting it here? Am I sad it didn’t in any awards? Perhaps. But what I really wanted to talk about was Sora no Otoshimono’s awesome job at switching things up. While OreImo also had a different ED every episode, Sora no Otoshimono took it to the next level, and unlike OreImo our main characters frequently wore different clothes too in this anime. Considering there was no reason this needed to be done in this kind of show it was pretty amazing and stands out as something special. Okay fine the first season did the same too, but hey we didn’t have awards last year.

As part of it’s special achievement, I would like to point it the best trap of 2010…

Finally after years of enduring unwilling traps (Yukimura), traps of circumstance (Maria), and traps who didn’t go far enough (Mako-chan), Tomoki (aka Tomoko) goes ALL THE WAY in what a guy in a trap situation should really do. Bravo. Bravo.