The award ceremony marches onward, now with more silly categories and some slice-of-life awards!

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Sometimes you just need a good pick me up. Of course, personally I usually turn to caffeine, tobacco, or alcohol.

When it comes to anime, however, there are time when you really just need something relaxing, simple, and entertaining. That’s where slice-of-life goodness comes in. This year, we had quite a bonanza of shows to choose from. Composing this list of awards was very nostalgic, bringing back many fond memories of the year gone by. Hopefully this post will do the same for you.

Best 6 Minute Food Discussion

Winner: Lucky Star

The first episode of Lucky Star is oft-maligned due to the lengthy food-based discussion that it started off with. While I can understand that not everyone would enjoy that, it immediately attracted me to the show. Admittedly, I may be a bit biased; I enjoy slow-paced shows that feature ordinary, day to day activities in part because it’s good conversational Japanese practice.

Nevertheless, this scene was a lot of fun, and really set the tone for the series. Certainly few other shows this year started off on such a controversial note, with fans quickly polarizing into opposing camps.

Whether you adored it or loathed it, the first episode of Lucky Star and its quandary of choco cornet consumption definitely made quite the impression. Honestly, I was immediately hooked after watching this segment. Being a tremendous fan of tangential conversational humor (i.e. - The Big Lebowski, Seinfeld, etc.), it was fantastic to see Lucky Star accomplish this with such panache.

Eating choco cornets can actually be quite challenging endeavor, it appears. Thankfully, we are not alone in this conundrum.

Best Clouds

Winner: ef - a tale of memories

If the narrative wasn’t your cup of tea, or you felt the characters weren’t particularly compelling, fear not! You can always ignore the dialogue and just look at those clouds. They’re gorgeous…wow, hey that one looks like a piece of barbecued meat! Oops, wrong show…

Wait, where was I? Oh yes, ef was definitively the series of choice when it came to animated cloud viewing this year, without question.

And to be fair, the clouds actually have a fair amount of significance in the overall storyline, as others have pointed out.

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Best Densuke

Winner: Densuke, Dennou Coil

Well, this was a truly difficult choice, what with the many fierce competitors in the race. However, after much deliberation, we unanimously decided on Densuke as the Best Densuke this year. While other Densuke’s made a strong showing, Dennou Coil’s Densuke really sealed the deal with his amazing full back-handspring maneuver, and he stuck the landing to boot! Congratulations Densuke, you’ve earned it!

You couldn’t ask for a more loyal and trustworthy sidekick than Densuke. From patiently enduring Kyoko’s incessant abuse on the one hand, to fiercely fending off illegals and bravely rescuing her when she needed it on the other, Densuke was always loyal and selfless. Plus his face is all squidgy and elastic.

Pinkest Supervisor

Winner: Itoshiki Nozomu, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

At first Kafuka’s choice of “Pink Supervisor” as Itoshiki-sensei’s title seemed a bit random, but as his dysfunctional harem grew in size it became steadily more apparent that it reflected his true talent - as a playa of the highest caliber. After all, surely there could be no more fitting title than Pink Supervisor for a man who collects an endless stream of haremettes one after another, all without even trying.

Momoiri Kakaricho! Kafuka’s hilarious misnomer for the perpetually melancholy Itoshiki-sensei was one of the more endearing monikers from this past year. Honestly, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei would’ve been great with just the hilarious juxtaposition of Itoshiki and Kafuka, although the rest of the cast was certainly amusing as well.

Hikikomori, shippo festishists, perfectionists, and token foreign exchange students - it’s a regular moe-stereotype cornucopia! Unfortunately, I must wait for the new season to get my fill of the downtrodden Itoshiki-sensei and Co.

*sigh* Zetsubou shita!

Best Long Jump While Holding A Microscope

Winner: Itsuki Keizou, Moyashimon

In a year with many examples of grandiose leaping and flamboyant acrobatics, few were quite as impressive as Itsuki-sensei’s long jump. This clearly dispels the stereotype that elderly Japanese gentlemen specializing in fermented delicacies and microbial studies can’t jump.

No no, you’re thinking of white men.

Anyone who’s seen a Hong Kong kung fu film knows that Asians have hops. As do giant robots, clearly. I mean, that’s just common knowledge, that mecha the size of aircraft carriers can just leap through the air.

The “Now You’re Thinking With Portals” Award for Awesomeness in Technology

Winner: Dennou Coil

Runner-up: Gurren Lagann

If I had a metabug for every time I’ve wished I could launch missiles through the internet at some asshat, well…I’d have a lot of metabugs, I guess. Forget all the trippy “crossing over to the other side” stuff from the later episodes, this was the most inspiring moment of Dennou Coil. When the day finally comes that I can hack into somebody’s computer and launch tiny rockets at them through an open port, I’ll be a very happy man, indeed.

Really, life would be so much more fun if the internets operated in such a fashion. In fact, life would be much better if you could launch explosive projectiles at your foes whenever you saw fit. It would certainly deter random acts of jackassery.

While we’re at it, an honorable mention also goes out to Gurren Lagann for piercing space-time in order to kick off with momentum and surpass the impossible.

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Best Genki Girl

Winner: Kirino Chiba, Bamboo Blade

Runners-up: Yoshinoya-sensei (Hidamari Sketch), Kafuka (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei), Yui-neesan (Lucky Star)

The Tsuruya-chan and Asa-sempai Memorial “Genki Girl” Award is given each year to the character who best exemplifies a lifestyle and attitude that’s characterized by pure, unmitigated, over-the-top genkiness. Green hair is preferable, but not required.

If you had asked me early in the year whether anyone would be able to top Yoshinoya-sensei, I would’ve said no, but all that changed with Bamboo Blade. Kirino’s incredibly happy and hyperactive personality, coupled with her near religious devotion to kendo, was undoubtedly a recipe for success when it comes to genkiness. Her nekoguchi and hilarious facial expressions only serve to seal the deal.

She’s also wonderfully gif-able, as you’ve no doubt noticed if you’re a regular reader. And having said that I just realized that it sounds kind of wrong, somehow. >_>

As for the runners-up…

With her furious “Initial D” style driving in sharp contrast to her capricious, fun-loving attitude (despite her career in law enforcement!), Yui-neesan was yet another character in Lucky Star that received far too little screen time. And for a police officer, she certainly can drink! Honestly, what’s not to love?

On the other hand, the unswerving optimism of Kafuka was surely one of the most entertaining aspects of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. You’ve got to love her blissfully inaccurate appraisals of any given situation, which always end up resulting in some kind of happy resolution anyway.

If you’re ever feeling a tad suicidal someday, I’m certain a healthy dose of Kafuka will show you how impossible such a thing could be. After all, Pink Gabriel would never forgive you.

Most Educational

Winner: Moyashimon

Runners-up: Ghost Hound, Lucky Star

Who says you can’t learn anything useful from anime? This year certainly proved that not only is it possible, it can also be terribly entertaining. And while there were many shows that imparted useful information here and there, one really stood out from the rest of the pack. Moyashimon is not only uproariously funny, it’s also genuinely educational.

One might ordinarily assume that learning about something like the scientific process by which sake is made would be terribly boring, but when the lesson is taught by Itsuki-sensei and an army of Oryzae-tans, it becomes a hilarious tale that entertains, but also makes the underlying lesson stick in your memory amazingly well. After all, three months ago how many of us would have even known what Aspergillus Oryzae even was?

We’ve stated this multiple times, but imagine how much more enjoyable classes in biochemistry would be if teachers used episodes of Moyashimon in conjunction with the textbook? Actually…screw the textbook, leave the explanations to the Oryzae-tans!

As for Ghost Hound, despite the bizarre, psychologically chilling plot and the trippy scene transitions, the narrative certainly did not shirk on its psychiatric homework. From citing actual psychological conditions for the characters’ back stories to using legitimate means of therapy and psychoanalysis, Ghost Hound delivers the goods in spades.

And then of course there’s Lucky Star. Sick of the appalling ambiguity of Wikipedia? Just consult the handy Encyclopedia Miyuki! From proper hair care techniques to tips on minesweeper mastery, Miyuki will not disappoint. Unless you’re not a fan of meganekko characters, I suppose.

Best Slice-of-Life

Winner: Lucky Star

Runners up: Hidamari Sketch, Moyashimon, Minami-ke, Sketchbook

2007 was a great year all around for slice-of-life lovers, with a number of wonderfully laidback series to choose from. Honestly, it was a tough call, since all of these shows have their merits, and to a certain degree they all appeal to different kinds of people.

While everyone will have their own personal favorite, Lucky Star wins my vote with its charming blend of the wacky and the mundane, the serious and humorous. Minami-ke has its silly and non sequitur humor, Sketchbook has its peaceful and relaxing iyashikei vibes, Hidamari Sketch was just plain fun, and Moyashimon is, well… Moyashimon. All of them were outstanding in what they did, but none of them did everything and did it as well as Lucky Star managed to.

This has been said hundreds of times already, but it bears mentioning again - one of the show’s greatest strengths is in the way it takes situations and events that are perfectly ordinary and turns them back at the viewer, helping us to see the humor in the simple everyday occurrences of life.

If you’ve read our blog for a while then you’re probably familiar with our fondness for Lucky Star. Truly though, Lucky Star was a gem in the slice-of-life genre. In all honesty, it’s just a phenomenally entertaining show. If you haven’t seen it, you should. If you have, go watch it again.

It certainly can’t hurt anything… other than your sides from hysterical laughter, that is.