End of Year Special: The Best pt3 (Anime Series of the Year)

It’s getting well into January and I realized that I couldn’t drag things out bit by bit until February roared around and decided to streamline my end of year awards.  Let me just say that if your show didn’t make it more than likely I just didn’t get around to seeing it… or I hated it.  And that being said, this can’t be called definitive in any way.  Like all my blog entries I’m really just archiving my thoughts and experiences to look back on at a later time.  Regardless, here’s what I most enjoyed about 2010 in delicious All-American list form.

End of Year Special: Favorite Characters of 2010

I thought about making this a “best of” post on characters of 2010, but then I thought it wouldn’t have the personal touch that I desired.  This is just a list of the characters I enjoyed the most from anime series in 2010.  If you feel I missed someone or you want to put in your own two cents, then feel free to leave something in the comments.

Favorite Characters of the Year are…

Anime Episodes of the Year: Fairy Tail ep58 (that’s right, FAIRY TAIL!)

Nice and tight.  That’s what this episode is.  Most of the time, even the best shounen episodes can seem watered down and slow.  Scenes stretched out for long periods, silly filler thrown in that can often feel tedious and out of place; so this episode felt like a welcome reminder that things can be done without cutting corners or screwing around.  The fifty eighth episode of Fairy Tail was a fine example of the show being itself at its best.

Anime Episodes of the Year: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ep54 (Jealousy isn’t pretty)

I think it’s appropriate that the opening scene for this episode of Brotherhood is what it is.  It’s rare that I come into an episode or series with as much history on my back as I did with this episode.  Even for a shounen series with a relatively finite lifespan, Fullmetal Alchemist is an epic endeavor.  Having gotten to know the characters through the first series and then through the manga, I was as familiar with these characters as I thought anyone could be.  But here we are, slinking through this “dungeon”, suffering through an identity crisis.  Having a ruthless shapeshifter like Envy as your prey can lead to some awkward situations.  I remember very well how Envy won his last encounter by playing a nasty trick on Edward Elric.  And here I couldn’t help but wonder if a furious and vengeance starved Roy Mustang would fall for a similar trick.

Anime Episodes of the Year: Highschool of the Dead ep8 (Super Sonic Boobs)

Well this episode started out epically enough.  Air Force One being zombified and all.  How the f*ck did that happen?  The preemptive nuclear strike?  How is that in anyone’s best interest.  I guess that should’ve been a hint at how explosive this episode would be.  Other than that it starts out normally enough.

Anime Episodes of the Year: K-ON!! ep20 (Sweaty Eyes)

Ever heard of The phrase, “like a storm in the night…”?  That was K-ON!! Episode 20 for me.  Just as I was about to shut down Twitter for the night it started coming in; tweets with everyone’s gushing reactions to the episode.  Usually I would ignore it until my preferred sub group had encoded it, but I’m glad I didn’t do it that night.