This is the New Year

The Holidays are upon us, and with that, I must bid adieu. I will be on vacation until after the New Year, so this will most likely be my last post until then, but with it, I wanted to reflect on some of the great things from the past year, as well as look forward to the next one:

So what did 2007 do right?

Epic Pen Battles:

I have to say, I honestly enjoyed the original concept behind Death Note. Take the essential skeleton of a shounen adventure, and adapt it to be an intellectual battle of wits, rather than a physical battle of brawn. I think a lot of other people feel the same way, which is why Death Note continues to garner praise and more and more viewers with each passing day. While its ending did sort of fall flat compared to the brilliance that the series began with, it still transformed our expectations of what a simple good vs. evil duel could become.

Epic Cliffhangers:

2007 also brought along the conclusion of Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch, and with it, one helluva cliffhanger that just leaves us waiting for Season 2 (damn you, Sunrise!) Code Geass manages to succeed marvelously at being a mecha, without trudging along the same roads that previous series (most notably the Gundam franchise) have already explored. It also executes well, and is a fun, if a tad bit shallow, watch all around.

Epic, in general:

And of course, the most epic thing of all from 2007 had to have been Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It's a bit hard to top the extremes of this show, just because it was designed to appeal to the little kid within all of us, while still managing to be a running commentary on the state of the anime industry, the state of society, and the development of human individuals. As with most Gainax anime out there, there is more than meets the eye in TTGL, and the brilliance of it is that a viewer watching it for pure enjoyment can appreciate the bright lights and simple hero's journey presented throughout the series, while someone with a Ph.D in philosophy or literature can still explore the various allusions and symbolisms, not to mention the metaelements of the anime itself and their meaning as applied to a variety of different topics. A lot of people consider this to be overrated, but honestly, I don't think I've ever had more fun from watching an anime, and still be able to discuss it endlessly afterwards.


But what did 2007 do wrong?

Nice Boat!:

Censorship, the bane of artistic creativity since the dawn of, well, artistic creativity. Censorship does have its place, but the overreaction of many Japanese networks in the wake of the murders committed by young individuals with regards to censoring anime that they air may have gone a bit too far. It's one thing to appeal to the sensibilities of those affected, but its another all together to backlash against an entire industry. Hopefully this is just some momentary overreaction without much lingering long-term effects.

Geneon goes bust:

This was really a blow to North American anime fans, when it was heard that one of the larger overseas distributors of anime has decided to close its doors and not sell anymore in the NA market. While this may not affect those of us who only watch fansubs, it does not bode well for the profitability of anime distribution in North America in the future, which could just lead to poorer and poorer quality of imports, and eventually, might lead some other distributors to abandon the market all together.

Still no Juuni Kokuki:

I am seriously going to continue bugging people until they properly conclude this series (both anime and light novels). Come on, you were on a good roll there!


As for the holidays....

I'm finally getting around to finishing off Fullmetal Alchemist, and am watching another classic, Cowboy Bebop, as well. I'll also be watching some shows I missed the first time around, such as Shakugan no Shana and Seirei no Moribito. Hopefully, these holidays will present me with some holiday cheer!


See you next year!~