On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

12 contractors fighting

11 Knightmares skating

10 microbes brewing

9 Lucky ladies

8 Misa-Misa’s

7 bure bures

6 zawa zawas

5 GI-GA DRIIIILLS!

4 metatags

3 rain charms

2 Guchuko’s

And a cruise on a nice boat for free!!

Well, finally we’ve arrived at the end of the song, and an end to this list of epic anime moments from the past year. This series of posts has been a ton of fun to write, and has helped remind me of some of the many entertaining anime this year had to offer. I hope you all enjoyed it as well.

Honestly, I wish could keep on going, because there are plenty of other great shows and great moments I’d love to reminisce about.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not give credit where credit is due – thanks very much to CCYoshi for inspiring this idea, and to the ABC for helping to foster the community discussions that brought about this kind of idea sharing.

So what did you all think of this little experiment? Were there other shows you would have preferred to see on the list?

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On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

11 Knightmares skating

10 microbes brewing
9 Lucky ladies
8 Misa-Misa’s
7 bure bures
6 zawa zawas
5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

Code Geass makes me giddy.

Not Gurren Lagann “pierce the heavens with your drill!” giddy… more like, “Oh no that mecha so did not just figure skate over the hill and then do a triple salchow to dodge incoming fire!” giddy.

Even in the earlier more serious episodes I had to suppress the urge to start giving Dick Button style commentary during the fight scenes:

“Oh, now that was an absolutely lovely dodge. Beauuuutiful form, very graceful – there, do you see how he pushes off the back heel to gain extra leverage for his Maser Vibration Sword attack? Simply remarkable!”

Of course, by the later episodes the WTF factor had increased to point of being ridiculous (giant yo-yo mecha attaaaaaack!), but as long as you didn’t take it too seriously it was a hilariously entertaining ride.

I still wouldn’t mind having a Knightmare or two (or eleven), of course. If I had to pick I think I’d go for the Guren Nishiki (Kallen’s red one with the giant claw arm). Perhaps not as offensively powerful as Gawain, or even Lancelot, but damn it sure looks cool.

Even if it does ride on rollerblades.

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On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

10 microbes brewing

9 Lucky ladies
8 Misa-Misa’s
7 bure bures
6 zawa zawas
5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

I wish the upcoming Oryzae-tan plushies would be released in time to make stocking stuffers out of them. Then I could cosplay as Sawaki by bleaching my hair and duct taping them to be hanging all over me.

I mean, how can you not love ‘em? They’re adorably cute and friendly, they have awesome dreads, and they make delicious alcoholic beverages for you! What’s not to like?

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On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

9 Lucky ☆ ladies

8 Misa-Misa’s
7 bure bures
6 zawa zawas
5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

Because I can’t make up my mind which Raki ☆ Suta girl is my favorite. So I’ll just take them all! Omochikaeri!

To borrow a line from Jason Miao, “…seven …eight …nine! Nine honeys! Ah-ah-ah!”

…for it to be funny you have to say it with a fake Transylvanian accent, a la The Count.

In our last poll (man, I really need to make a new one ), Kagami and Konata were the clear favorites, but each of the other girls have their unique charms. Misao has FANG POWER. Tamura has fangirlish enthusiasm. Patty-chan has her awesome voice and super otaku powers. And of course, Minami and Yutaka have each other. And Tsukasa is, well…Tsukasa.

Yeah, I give up…I can’t pick just one. OTL

Better just take ‘em all.

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On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

8 Misa-Misas

7 bure bures
6 zawa zawas
5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

Without a doubt, Light-o’s greatest failing was not his megalomania, nor his arrogance, nor his hasty early mistakes, nor the way he callously used his own father’s life, nor even his pitiful end.

No, his failing was being so caught up in his “NO I AM JUSTICE” killing crusade that he passed up a free Misa-Misa buffet. And just look where that kind of attitude landed him.

Don’t worry, I won’t make the same mistake. Misa-Misa is definitely on my Christmas wish list.

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On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

7 bure bures

6 zawa zawas
5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

Come on, let’s twist again!

Because whatever the guys who make Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei are high on, I want some of that for Christmas. Also I want season 2 of the twisted tales of Pink Supervisor and his motley harem of crazy broken girls.

Unfortunately, for that we’ll have to wait until April. Until then we’ll just be left twisting in the wind.

The lack of subs has left me in despair!

And of course, for the many folks who are dependent on subtitles, I think no other show has been so under-appreciated this year in terms of subbing, with the possible exception of Hidamari Sketch. Fortunately it seems that’s mostly been rectified. If only somebody would just sub that last episode, then it would be a merry Christmas all around.

Bure bure bure bure~

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On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

6 zawa zawas

5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

If only I could invent my own sound effects as easily as Fukumoto, the author of the enigmatic Kaiji and Akagi manga. The Japanese really love their onomatopoeia, but as I explained in our initial review of Kaiji, Fukumoto goes the extra mile beyond even that to create his own unique style, both in art and storytelling.

Perhaps that’s why I enjoy Kaiji and Akagi so much – they’re refreshingly different from everything else out there right now, especially with the recent flood of moe pandering shows and sappy harem comedies. I mean, Fukumoto hardly ever even has female characters in his stories, let alone fanservice. Although given his art style, I don’t know that I’d necessarily want to see that anyway! O_O

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On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

5 GIIIIGAAA DRIIIIILLS!!

4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

The fifth day is always the part of the song filled with the most gusto and over-the-top theatrics; people who up until that point had been otherwise minding their own business will come over just to sing that one line.

So of course there’s only one show that can appropriately fill such a role…

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Piercing the heavens with its drill since ever.

The Giga Drill Breaker is itself an attack that epitomizes the entire theme of the show. Impossibly, comically huge, it just brooks no arguments, spares no time for pointless scientific analysis, and pierces everything that stands in its way.

The whole series is just one big frenetic rock out. As Hige so aptly put it, it’s like air drumming so enthusiastically that you end up smacking yourself in the chops. It’s eating the entire tub of ice cream in one sitting and feeling no guilt afterwards.

Awesomeness for the sheer sake of awesomeness, with no greater purpose needed beyond that.

What more could you ask for?

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On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

4 metatags

3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

Talk about a great Christmas present!

Tired of waiting for the stupid red light to change? Just h4xx0r it with a handy metatag!

Getting pwned at that gaming LAN party? Give your opponents a megane beamu laser blast and rack up the frags while they’re all stunned!

I’m seriously fascinated by the concept of augmented reality, and Dennou Coil portrays it in a way that is simultaneously fascinating and horrifying.

The use of grade schoolers as the main characters of the show gives it a touch of childish whimsy, an adventurous streak that makes exploring the many facets of the cyber world exciting and fresh. It recreates that feeling of being a kid again, discovering some unknown backcountry with your friends, building treehouses and crafting fantasy worlds in a place where no adults will come.

Yet at the same time it still manages to tell a serious story without coming off as overly trite. It’s a rare show that can walk that tightrope effectively, which makes it all the more impressive.

Or maybe I’m just a sucker for cool technology and glowing glyphs, FMA, Nanoha, et al.

Still, if they ever actually make glasses that give me vision capable of seeing and interacting with the virtual world, you can bet I’ll be first in line to buy some.

P.S. – I would’ve liked to make Densuke one of the gifts in the song, but his name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue very well. Oh well. Here’s a picture of of him doing a back handspring to make up for it.

P.P.S. – I’m doing Science and I’m still alive.

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On the 3rd Day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

3 rain charms

2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

If I were list out the Top Ten Things I Want For Christmas, a Chiaki teru teru bouzu figure would definitely rank right up near the top.

Really, Minami-ke as a whole has been one of the few bright rays of comedy sunshine in an otherwise relatively drab season. With the end of both Lucky Star and Potemayo, I was desperately in need of a worthy replacement, and so far it rather nicely fills the hole left by both series.

It has a bit of Lucky Star’s “I totally know the feeling” slice-of-life humor, a bit of Potemayo’s over-the-top physical comedy, and a healthy portion of wackiness all it’s own. And also Mako-cakes, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

So if you could get your own custom made figure, any character, any pose – what would you go for?

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