As a wonderful year of tsunderes and traps passes us by, I thought I’d mention some notable series that aired at some point in 2006. I’m pretty lax with my time-restriction and the list isn’t ranked. Still, I had some really fond memories while writing this post.
- Magikano: Super-stupid harem comedy done right.
- Fate/Stay Night: Why didn’t they just have a whole bunch of different versions/endings the way Neon Genesis Evangelion keeps getting new endings? This series was so damn boring and clunky that they had to have a whole episode devoted to explaining the rules of the War. The Archer speech to Berserker was the best part of the show.
- Shakugan no Shana: While the show itself was mostly disappointing, it set the base for a large amount of great material, such as the wildly amusing Shana-tan bits and the strange familiarity of Zero no Tsukaima. I can definitely see the sequel surpassing the original.
- Mai Otome: Nina and Arika suck. This series had none of the elements that made Mai Hime awesome, even though everyone had a cameo.
- Ergo Proxy: Although it ended up becoming a confusing and jumbled mess towards the end, the mystery of the first half was excellent. The whole experience reminded me of a less annoying version of Serial Experiments Lain.
- The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi: It’s hard not to get caught up in the hype and then backlash of Haruhi, but I think the series had its good and bad points. On the one hand, I was not that enamoured with Kyon, Itsuki, or Mikuru and I really disliked the disjointed Catch-22 episode structure. However, on the other hand, the concert scene was just absolutely mind-blowingly amazing, Yuki was hilarious when pwning n00bs, and the production values and art style were fantastic. I also liked when Kyon’s sister was smuggled aboard the ship, just because it was so strange.
- Ouran High School Host Club: Forever that other Haruhi series, Ouran Host Club was entertaining in its own right. The “Homosexual side characters” remark was golden.
- Kashimashi: It’s like one of those 0% APR for 6 months credit card deals, except instead of having a high interest rate after 6 months, you end up with a girly dude. No matter what, it’s still a trap. Nevertheless, Retsgrip points to the touching nature of the story as a reason to watch.
- Utawarerumono: It started out being a well-executed cliche series, before heading towards a more acceptable version of the Scrapped Princess ending. Wonderful characters and plenty of masked mojo made this series memorable. Now, were the twins traps or not?
- Simoun: This series was totally underrated, and no one was intrigued by the possibility of loli pilots turning into traps? Why such hypocrisy?!
- Chevalier: Mentioned for having a possessed French trap.
- Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru: The trap that took over the school.
- Honey & Clover II: Too much Hagu. The sequel was good, but not nearly as good as the original.
- xxxHOLiC: Mentioned for the horrible lanky character designs.
- Black Lagoon: Probably the most go-go-go!!! series of the year.
- Sumomo Mo Momomo: Kinda insulting and definitely stupid, but extremely entertaining. Any series that involves the zodiac is a plus, and I am waiting for some onigiri speeches.
- CODE Geass: Reminds me of the good times of Gundam Seed Destiny combined with a lot of Pizza Hut.
- Soul Link: Possibly the worst series of the year?
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9 Comments
I dunno Yoake Mae was pretty bad…it should be up there with Soul Stink
Air Gear is the worst series of the year. Sumomo Momomo is horrid, as it was Underwater Ray Romano.
I hope you took my best of the best with a grain of salt hehe. Although what I wrote about Kashimashi wasn’t too exaggerated like the others.
I don’t know any shows well enough to confidently label it as ‘bad/suck/worst/horrible/’… I usually just drop them =P So I can proudly say this has been a GREAT year for me =P
Magikano was pretty good until the last episode, where the show jumped the shark so hard I decided to delete the whole.
“The Archer speech to Berserker was the best part of the show.” I agree with you totally.
How about the relaunch of Kanon?
You know, after so many months of following this blog, I still have no idea on what you guys like to watch. Whenever I ask myself, “Would Sea Slugs! like this anime?” my mind draws a blank, so it is always a treat whenever you guys happen to blog a show that I like, but nobody else seems to want to blog about it( like Futakoi Alternative or R.O.D.(TV)).
Cheers.
I didn’t even watch the first episode of simoun when I saw the premise, and I never even looked at it until a few days ago when I saw a positive review on it. I was shocked honestly, the premise seemed hilariously bad even for an anime, but this character was literally comparing it to shakesphere… and doing it without resorting to fanboyish squees.
I admit, I was morbidly curious. I checked it out, and I gotta tell you, if you can suspend disbelief whatsoever you’re going to be in for a real treat of an anime. I marathoned all 19 that I could get my hands on and was very impressed. It’s actually quite a kickass story, and with the exception of the nonsensical kissing before going in to battle, and a few notable exceptions, the yuri is actually quite tame and dare I say…. believable!
One of the best things this series has going for it is the music. An insane mixture of classical cello’s and strings one minute, french accordion the next, and here and there a smattering of almost electronic beats to heighten some action scenes.
I am now wholeheartedly a fanboy and avid recruiter for this series that, based on the premise, I shouldn’t even be watching at all.