Check-in Station Year in Review: 2013 (Summer)

There are some anime seasons that are just good.  There are seasons that are memorable.  And then there are seasons that are legendary.  The Spring 2006 season saw the debut of the most influential anime since Evangelion, Haruhi.  On top of that, it had Higurashi, Ouran High School Host Club, Gintama and Aria!  The Fall 2006 season aired the beginnings of Death Note and Code Geass, two juggernaut series at the same time!  Fall 1995 saw the debut Neon Genesis Evangelion and the first Ghost in the Shell movie.  And yet, I look at this Summer 2013 season and wonder – does this rank as one of the best seasons of anime ever?!  It’s insane to think about how low the expectations were going into this season.  My own expectations were near rock bottom.  When it came to what hype I had, it was all regarding the two returning series and nothing else.  Even then, Bakemonogatari‘s second sequel was getting a lot of hype from the anime community because of the mixed reactions Nisemonogatari received (I loved it).  And there was no telling if Symphogear G was going to be able to live up to the hype,pacing and expectations set by the first season.  But what we got this season was an ever rolling, ever growing ball of quality, memorable anime.

Summer 2013 was the little engine that could.  It was the nerdy kid turned super star.  Summer 2013 was the best of 2013!  And I’m proving it here!

Check-in Station Year in Review: Spring 2013 (Where the Biggest and Best Come to Play)

Welcome to the wonderful Spring season!  The season of juggernauts –  literally!  The more I heard about this season in previews, the more excited I got.  The Spring season was the reason I still looked forward to watching modern, new anime.  So without further hype and hyperbole, I’m gonna tell you the story of the Check-in Station’s journey through anime’s Spring of 2013.

Check-in Station Year in Review: Winter 2013 (the Warmth of Companionship – and Subpar Anime)

With my Christmas post, I’ve already started my recap series for the year that I’ve dubbed End of Year Faffery.  My love of  British culture, and love the phrase “faffing about” is the inspiration behind this.  But don’t get the wrong idea.  Though I’m playing with concepts, presentation and ideas all the time on this blog; I’m seriously going through this blogs journey in anime throughout the entire year of 2013.  And I’m of course starting with the first season of the year, the Winter season.  After all, this blog is named the Check-in Station. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to not not check-in at the end of the year with everything I’ve discovered, and experienced in world of anime.  Please enjoy, as I take on my journey through the year of anime, 2013.

DKJ’s 2014 Resolutions

It’s rare that I do posts that are personal. Generally, I feel that my “writer’s voice” should give you enough of an insight into what I feel and how I am as a person. But I also can’t deny that getting a little personal can add to the intimacy and entertainment. So here I am, committing to something before all of you now. I’m giving you my New Year’s Resolutions for 2014. Now what I’m writing isn’t just a bunch of the generic “must lose weight/stop smoking/stop telling others to f*ck off” garbage. And some of this will be properly filled with anime related material. I really do jump into the new year with high hopes for myself and those around me.

Now I did consider adding some incentive to these tasks by making a pact with Satan to give me the proper discipline and motivation to complete all these tasks, or I’d have to give up my first born, or promising baby Jesus that I’d give up the hot black lesbian pr0n to guarantee my success. But in the end I said f*ck it. I’m a man! And a man has to gather his own faculties and guts to complete his own tasks and handle his problems. Besides, this works better for my sex life and the health and safety of my daughter’s soul as well. And also I figured that all of this would be well worth it if in a year I came back and said I f*cked up, just to give you guys a chance to laugh at me.

Anyway, without further faffing about – here are my resolutions!

DKJ’s Favorite Christmas Animations

Well, I’m finally feeling in the Christmas spirit, and I’m taking time to go through and watch some of my favorite Christmas cartoons.  Plenty of people watch their favorite Christmas movies and television specials, whether it be “It’s a Wonderful Life”, or a Die Hard murder-fest.  But for me I enjoy watching animation.  Why?  It’s because Christmas for me has always been something full of great childhood memories, and a special time of year for children.  You could say that while most children enjoy the holiday the most, they don’t all fully immerse themselves in the truest part of the Christmas spirit (don’t worry, I’m not going all holy on you guys).  They get the gifts and look forward to receiving them far more than shopping for and giving to other people.  And therefore they have the most excitement in anticipating the holiday, and in those lovely opening moments of ripping open the presents.  They have the richest memories of those times as a child.  And that too is the case for me.

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.