12 Moments of Anime #12: Vocaloid Concert (and Merry Christmas!)

If you think about it, Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid actually has nothing to do with anime at all. But you just can't deny the huge impact it has in the otaku fandom and it's influence. It can already be said that Hatsune Miku is a prominent figure in the anime industry, despite never having a single anime produced for her. This is why the Mikupa Concert in AFA11 this year is the most memorable, and most important memory of 2011.

I don't wanna get pulled out of the concert, which is why I didn't take any pictures of the concert itself. But now that I think about it, the possibility of that happen is near impossible, right? Must be the heat of the moment. Anyway, check out this and this for more coverage and pics.

I regret not knowing the newer songs before I went to the concert, because it was so awesome, it made me a Vocaloid fanboy all over again. I used to only bother with Supercell; now my playlist expanded to 74 songs from different composers, like kz, Deco*27, samfree, wowaka, and more.

...I'm so obsessed, I could go on rambling forever, really. I'm sorry this isn't a very interesting post, but I really just wanna save the best for the last, and maybe other Vocaloid fans would feel the same way. But I'll end this here, because today is a important day for friends, family and lovers, right?

Merry Christmas!

12 Moments of Anime #11: Dicing people in slow motion (Kamisama Dolls Flashback)

I digress. Watching Kamisama Dolls again reminds me of how much the animation sucked. At least, it's glaringly obvious in this particular episode. So anyway, this is about episode 7; the flashback episode which shows Kyouhei and Aki's childhood, and what made them who they are now. In essence, this is much like the flashback of Akemi Homura. Both flashbacks that was done extremely well, to a very powerful effect, but left quite a different aftertaste. Homura's episode left me reeling with awe but I was going "crap, this is tragic". This episode left me terribly depressed, but I went "man, I can't wait to see what happens next".

12 Moments of Anime #10: Seiyuu Controversy

Aoki Ume's version of Toyosaki Aki

I'm late, and well, something cocked up, and I think I crashed Anime Nano for a while a few days ago. Something I scheduled for the 30th of this month got published immediately, somehow. And it was dated 30th on Nano as well.

Anyway, I wasn't too keen on writing this because this is about the uglier side of the anime industry, and I don't really want to be part of seiyuu-bashing in any form, but, well... decided to anyway, since this is one of those things that quickly got right on top of my head when I thought of 2011.

12 Moments of Anime #9: Anohana ED

I need a pic, so here's some moé

Here's a short one. I ought to make a top OP/ED of 2011 post to put this into, but Anohana's ED "Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ (10 Years After)" is special enough to call it a "moment of 2011". There's just something about ED that ties up the atmosphere of the show really nicely. EDs has always been more important than OPs to me; in fact, most of the anime songs in my Ipod are EDs. This particular song is a good example of why.

The drop at 0:42 still gives me the chills.

Runner up: Wired Life (Ao no Exorcist), Shiny Shiny (Deadman Wonderland)

12 Moments of Anime #8: Yuru Yuri Murder Scene (+comic)

Yuru Yuri is a surprisingly funny series in the summer season, and I even ranked it amongst my top shows of the year. (Review) I know, I've said this so many times that I feel I'm losing credibility as a writer.

12 Moments of Anime #7: Ohana's first tears

Remember that when the first episode of HanaIro aired, everyone was talking about how awesome it was? The series might not have pleased everyone in the end, but I think most would agree that the first episode did made quite an impression. Also known as "Ohana's worst days ever".

12 Moments of Anime #6: Kano Yasuhiro's New Manga

I'm talking about Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa, which is serialized in Jump. Kano Yasuhiro is known for Pretty Face and Mx0, both serialized in Jump in the past.

12 Moments of Anime #5: Series of Disappointment

One of the disappointments (apparently) that I didn't watch myself.

Every now and then we get a highly-anticipated series that turns out to be a flop. It could be due to its studio, original work (for adaptations) and/or crew that we gave it so much attention, but when we finally got to the show itself, it's terrible. Shit happens, I know, but it seems like it happens way too often with 2011 titles. Titles like:

12 Moments of Anime #4: Charlotte!

Sometimes explaining why you love a character is just silly, but what the heck.

Not to be confused with Charlotte from Puella Magi Madoka Magica who is apparently way more famous.

Infinite Stratos might not be a very good anime, but it certainly knows how to treat the ladies right. In the character designs, at least. That's the reason the series scored 7/10 from despite having a shitty storyline, direction and animation quality. That might sound unreasonable high, but midway through the series I shifted my expectations to their primary selling point. After all, when you watch an anime, you're trying to enjoy it, not to simply scrutinize it.

Charlotte is a cheap blend of common moé archetypes, but it's also a perfect blend of moé archetypes. Her individual traits does not stand out, but combined with the unusually close relationship with the protagonist, it makes her something special. A character is shaped not by her given traits but by her scripted events, and I think that has a lot to do with why Charlotte become the most popular character in IS (according to MAL, anyway).

Charlotte is my anime bishoujo of the year. I don't usually claim characters as "waifus", but I might just make an exception for her =D

12 Moments of Anime #3: Gathering of the 5 Kages

If you're a reader of Naruto, then you will know what a game changing moment this is.

The history of Naruto is plagued by war. Practically all of the tragedies and losses are a resulting consequence between the war fought by the five main ninja villages, who represent the five biggest countries in the world of Naruto. Even during peace, the relationship between the villages remains volatile and hostile, with all the espionage and greed pertaining to their village's interests.

Not in this very moment. The leaders of the five biggest ninja villages stood side-by-side to face a common enemy, and like Oonoki said, is really incredible for a team where the members would normally try their best to erase each other. And don't forget that these Kages also represents the most powerful ninja of their village. One can only guess what this team can achieve, be it in politics or in combat.

It's like a team of Obama, Putin, Premier Wen Jiabao, Niclolas Sarkozy and David Cameron.

12 Moments of Anime #2: The Past of Akemi Homura

You know which episode I'm talking about.

I've blogged this episode before, so I won't really go into it. But here's some of the reasons why this episode stood out.

1. It was climax after climax. We already have an idea on how it would turn out, but each of the climax ended differently, developed the next, and made sense chronologically. Basically, it's like multiple org-

2. The shocking personality change of Homura. From a weak, timid and humble girl, the episode perfectly portrayed how the events shaped her into a cold, ruthless and intimidating person.

3. Mystery unveiled. Specifically, Homura's raison d'être. I'm a pretty impatient guy, and normally I'll be pretty annoyed if they left an important story element untouched for like 3/4 of the series. But in this case, we see that the longer the suspense, the bigger the shock value.

4. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, how the world should have been if Kyuubei wasn't such a troll.
Not really his fault, but fcuk Kyuubei

I'm still sore about Homura not even attempting to explain the truth of the world to Madoka.

12 Moments of Anime #1: Japan Trip

I'm a day late, I know, but RL caught up and I've got stuff to do. Plus, I wanna finish up the ACAA post first so I can concentrate on this, so yeah... I'm late. Sorry.

Anyway, one of the defining anime-related moments is definitely the Japan trip, as you'll probably realized from my pilgrimage posts. Unfortunately, I didn't go all the way there just to see the anime stuff; in fact, only Akiba and the pilgrimage has anything to do with it. I've already shared my photos of the K-ON and Lucky Star pilgrimage, so here's the final part.