MyReviewer Best of 2012 - Anime Part 1
So Rob says to me, “Why don’t you do the best of anime feature for the site, seeing as you are the anime-meister?” My words, not his. “It’s just a simple matter of picking out the 10 out of 10s and the 9 out of 10s.”
It turns out that it’s not that simple, as over the last year, I have submitted exactly 100 anime reviews to the site. Also, for the past year, I’ve had the vague suspicion that I’ve been outgrowing anime, that it isn’t quite as much fun as it once was. Once I tallied up my review scores, the lie to that thought became apparent. Over half of the titles that I reviewed got marks greater than 8 out of 10, surely a sign that I like this stuff more than ever. The trouble is that if I write an article simply counting the 9 out of 10 scored titles and above, we’ll be here till 2014. So I’m going to do something a little different. I’ve stripped out the imports, the re-releases, and all the back catalogue titles I reviewed, and I’m going to run down my top 10 anime released in the UK for the first time last year (although Blu-ray debuts of older titles also count). Just to spice things up, I’m throwing in a few categories of my own that will highlight some titles that a mere numerical analysis may have missed out on, and where I can tell you about those back catalogue and import titles that I stripped from the top ten.
It’s been a volatile year in anime (do we ever have any other kind?) beginning with the departure from the scene of Bandai and Beez, leaving just 2 distributors in the UK, Manga and MVM. However, Manga Entertainment do distribute for Kazé, the European arm of Viz, and Kazé took on the UK market with a serious intensity this year, after dipping their toes into the market in 2011. They appear to be picking up the slack left by the departure of Beez, and come to the UK with the best of intentions (and Blu-ray releases). Alas, their disc authoring leaves something to be desired, not something that you usually mention in a best of retrospective, but something I feel compelled to mention to justify leaving Princess Jellyfish out of the top 10. Besides, no one is immune from the odd authoring flub. One MVM title had its subtitles drift uncomfortably northward this year, while Manga Entertainment forgot to put the end of one show on a disc, prompting a rare product recall in the UK anime business. And Kazé still get a couple of titles on the best of list.
Online streaming also goes from strength to strength, at least for Crunchyroll, who this year picked up more titles than ever before, and established themselves on more devices than ever before. Got a Samsung TV? The opposite was true for the UK’s home-grown streaming service, Anime on Demand, which had more than its fair share of teething issues. As a gift to fans, the autumn season was made available to all for free, and as a further gift to fans, the forthcoming winter season will be free as well.
And with 2012’s last gasp, we got the most welcome of good news for the UK market, the advent of a new, as yet unnamed distributor. Under the auspices of Anime Unlimited, the brainchild of former Beez man, and current anime jack of all trades, Andrew Partridge, the new company made an instant big splash by announcing that their first license would be Cowboy Bebop, making its UK Blu-ray debut.
Anyway, on with the awards, and the countdown, beginning with the first award...
The Weirdest Anime of 2012
It could have been Squid Girl, about a teen-aged Squid Girl who comes from the ocean to take over the world and defeat humanity, or it could have been Midori Days, where a protagonist gets a little girl where his right hand used to be (now that’s a hand transplant!). But none of these approached the sheer insanity of Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack, another invasion from the seas, but one that played out like the proper b-movie premise that you’d expect.
A devastating, disgusting "Death Stench" is spreading across Japan, creating deadly mutant fish as it covers the land! The country is being invaded by ferocious fish with sharp metal legs, hell-bent on death and destruction! Amidst the carnage, Kaori embarks on a desperate quest to find her missing boyfriend before he is lost to the mayhem that is sweeping the land.
I thought, Gyo is just fantastic, it’s a relentless ride of sex, violence, and walking fish, it’s a b-movie horror writ large, with great action set pieces, an unlikely menace, and just as many laughs as it has thrills. It’s got the mankind paying for its own pollution eco-message, it’s got imperfect yet likeable characters, it’s got a mad scientist, and it’s got sharks on legs that jump through windows. And its story just gets wilder and more bizarre as the film goes on. It just goes to prove that even the most absurd of premises will work in anime if the budget is high enough, and the animation is of sufficient quality.
It now turns out that Gyo will have a Blu-ray release in Australia, if you feel like importing.
My number 10 pick of the year is actually an example of my favourite anime genre, the genre that got me into anime in the first place, cyberpunk. It’s been a relatively poorly subscribed genre since the heady days of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but Mardock Scramble: The First Compression is an entry to the canon that would do William Gibson proud.
To stop the unstoppable you need the irresistible. To kill the unkillable, you need someone for whom death no longer has a meaning. And to catch the perfect serial killer, you need the one person who knows his methods the best... his last victim! Murdered and reborn, no longer human, the female cyborg Balot exists for only one reason: to track down the man who killed her and bring him to justice.
My thoughts, It takes a while to get going, but Mardock Scramble: The First Compression soon develops into the sort of cyberpunk thriller that I can really get my teeth into. In terms of production values, it's impeccable. In terms of story, characters and action, it quickly grabs the attention and holds onto it until the final frame. The First Compression builds and builds its story and its characters, it raises the tension, intensifies the pace, the action sequences get more and more exciting, and then BAM! Cliff-hanger!
The Best Import Series of 2012
Let’s face it, we’re never going to get all the anime adapted for English markets in just our small nation, and even when we do, other countries occasionally get better releases. Sometimes just getting the show earlier is reason enough. So there’s always going to be a greater degree of importation in anime than for other entertainment media. My also rans for this award were Durarara!! which Australia has had in dub and sub form for some time now, and Ai Yori Aoshi, which was finally resurrected in the US this year after several years out of print. But the eventual winner was one of the sweetest shows to come out of anime in several years now, the utterly sweet and charming Usagi Drop.
At his grandfather's funeral, 30-year-old bachelor businessman Kawachi Daikichi encounters 6 year old Rin, who is shunned by his immediate family. As he presses his relatives for information, he discovers Rin is the child of his grandfather's mistress, a secret which brought shame on their conservative family. Daikichi doesn't like children, but the cold attitude of his relatives towards her causes Daikichi to reconsider his stance and adopt Rin and raise her as if she were his own daughter. After all, she is blood...and endearingly cute!
My thoughts, Usagi Drop is as heart-warming and uplifting a series as you can possibly imagine. Its charm and attraction comes from its innocence and honesty. You really do empathise with Daikichi and Rin and this could easily have been a live action drama (indeed there is a live action Bunny Drop movie out there), but where it excels is in the way it presents its story, a gentle rollercoaster of small triumphs and little heartbreaks. You can’t help but feel for the lost and grieving Rin at the start of the show, and you can’t help but smile as Daikichi helps her come to terms with her loss and reengage with the world. I’m always looking for anime that will challenge preconceptions, will make naysayers think twice before pronouncing the medium as beneath their notice. I would have thought that Usagi Drop would be the perfect weapon in that arsenal, except that there is nothing else out there like Usagi Drop. But as television in general, Usagi Drop really needs to be seen. Just don’t be surprised if you start feeling broody after watching it though.
One of the first anime I bought on videotape way back when was the craziest movie you could ever imagine, Ninja Scroll. It had relentless action, with freakish characters, and an attitude to sex and violence that initially put the censors’ collective knickers in a twist. They eased up for the DVD special edition, but neither the original DVD, nor the re-release had the sort of transfer that the film deserved. Then, this year it got re-mastered for Blu-ray, and the result was a revelation, a transfer so good that it made watching the film a wholly new experience.
My thoughts, I fell out of love with Ninja Scroll a few years ago, but this Blu-ray release not only reminded me of what I fell in love with in the first place, but it also revealed aspects of the film that I never appreciated before. It’s a smart and entertaining action thriller that has surprising dimension. If there is one charge to be laid against Ninja Scroll, it’s that it’s probably to blame for all the super-powered ninja that we’ve had to put up with ever since. Before Ninja Scroll, ninja were just sneaky assassins clad in black that tried to drip poison into James Bond’s mouth. After Ninja Scroll we got shows like Naruto, where they’re no longer sneaky, and instead are capable of feats that make Gemma’s immortality seem like old hat. That aside, I have to reiterate, if you’ve only seen Ninja Scroll on DVD up till now, then you’ve never really seen Ninja Scroll!
The Best Import Film of 2012
So what do I choose here? Is it Trigun: Badlands Rumble, for which the Funimation Blu-ray was better than the UK release? Is it my favourite anime of all, The Wings of Honneamise, which I belatedly got on Blu-ray? Or is it the US Blu-ray of Full Metal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, which was supposed to be out in the UK in 2012, but has been constantly and indefinitely delayed? There was only ever going to be one possible winner. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, another Blu-ray that ought to have been released in the UK, but wound up cancelled at the last minute. I wound up importing it from Australia, and boy was it worth the increase in the greenhouse effect of flying it here!
My thoughts, I simply love every frame of this movie, and I love that it's such a love letter to the fans, especially after the troll-age that was Endless Eight. I love that it is so long. I love that it focuses on the minutiae, because all that trivial minutiae informs the characters that are so important to the Haruhi Suzumiya story. I even love the denouement, as it is so in character with the story that no other conclusion would be as acceptable. I even love that without the PAL speed-up this Blu-ray is 4% longer, as I get to spend more time with the characters. The decision is obvious. If you are a fan of Haruhi Suzumiya, and you have a Blu-ray player, you just have to import this disc. Manga Entertainment's DVD release is fine; technically it's one of their strongest releases. But in comparison to that DVD though, this Blu-ray is in a completely different dimension.
We’d never had a Key Visual/KyoAni title in the UK before, which has long been a regrettable oversight, but Manga Entertainment addressed this in the best way possible by releasing the Clannad saga last year, both halves of the Clannad series, followed by both halves of Clannad After Story. That’s a whole lot of supernatural mystery romance to take in, but Clannad is well worth it.
Tomoya Okazaki is depressed at the prospect of school. His days are spent considering the path which lies ahead of him, the shadow of his vacant alcoholic father constantly looming over his daily void. He meets a group of strange girls at his school, each with unique social problems, and begins to gain perspective on the deep loneliness he feels. When the drama club is established, paranormal turmoil unfolds and hearts are broken...
My thoughts, Clannad is a thoroughly engaging blend of tragedy and comedy. The comedy flows naturally from the light-hearted, slice of life side to the show. But as the various mysteries about the characters start to unfold, the tragic nature of their pasts is revealed and that humour turns to heartbreak. I've already shed manly tears once during this collection of episodes, and I'm sure that it will happen again and again as the series progresses. The characters are fascinating, the mysteries in their stories engrossing (there's also an occasional vignette of the last girl in the world and her robot that has yet to be explained), and the tragic elements tug at the heartstrings without mercy. Key/Visual Arts are masters at making this formula work, and Clannad works on every level. It's true that you have to work with it, but that is far from a chore. This type of anime is new to the UK scene, and it fills a gap on your anime shelf that you may not even know you have.
The Best Back Catalogue Title of 2012
I still don’t own every anime ever released, and believe it or not, I actually have no intention of doing so. Yet there are shows that slip through the cracks, titles that I miss out on the first time around, hidden gems that have yet to reveal their lustre. Movies and shows that I’ve only just caught up on in last year include the Blu-ray releases of Eden of the East, Paprika, and Appleseed Ex Machina, but the one discovery that had me grinning like an idiot, squealing with delight when the postman arrived, the one purchase that finally let me fill a long vacant gap in my collection, was when I finally sourced a copy of the long deleted Bubblegum Crisis: Volume 2.
Megatokyo 2033 A.D. Like a Phoenix, the city of MegaTokyo is rising from the ashes of a devastating earthquake. In the twisted canyons of the mega-lopolis, the Knight Sabers, a small band of high-tech mercenaries, fight a lonely battle against the evil GENOM Corporation and its sinister android "Boomers".
My thoughts, Now I understand why volume 2 was so hard to get a hold of. It's the best Bubblegum Crisis of the lot. It's the two-episode story here in volume 2 comprising Moonlight Rambler and Red Eyes that brings forth the best of what Bubblegum Crisis has to offer, in effect presenting a feature length movie. It also doesn't hurt that the runtimes to these episodes are also of significant length, allowing for the more rounded writing and character development that the Bubblegum Crisis universe deserves. There are some classics of anime which should never be allowed to vanish from shop shelves, and Bubblegum Crisis is one of them. I think it's high time that someone thought to release this show again. In Japan, it's so well thought of that it has a Blu-ray release now, something that is perfect for the traditional cel animation, and something that will make that eighties pop soundtrack just zing in lossless form. If it could ever see an English language release with dub and subtitles, I could see myself reaching deeply into my wallet for it.
There were five Ghibli titles that got the Blu-ray treatment last year, and any one of them could have been on this list... Well, maybe not Tales of Earthsea. But the quality of Ghibli always shines through, as does the quality of the Blu-ray upgrades they receive. First among equals, and earning a well-deserved place in my top ten, is the perennial classic that inspired the Ghibli logo, My Neighbour Totoro.
While their mother recovers from an illness, Satsuki and her little sister Mei (voiced in English by Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning) get away from it all in an idyllic rural retreat. Far from the bustle of the city, they discover a mysterious place of spirits and magic, and the friendship of the Totoro woodland creatures.
My thoughts, My Neighbour Totoro is a great film, one of Ghibli’s finest, and one which effortlessly succeeds as family entertainment in a way that many other films have to strain at the seams to achieve. It’s not my favourite Ghibli film, as I find that it’s less that it tells a story than it captures a moment in time, presents a warmth and nostalgia that is more evocative than informative. For the latter there are other Ghibli films out there with much stronger stories. But if ever I want 90 minutes of pure happiness in celluloid form, My Neighbour Totoro will be the first film that I choose to watch.
The Best Period Show of 2012
You know that I’m totally contriving this award. I mean, period shows are hard to define when there is so much fantasy and alternate reality involved in anime. I can easily put House of the Five Leaves into this category, but does Sengoku Basara truly reflect the warring states period? Is Black Butler a genuine reflection of Victorian England? The fact of the matter is that I couldn’t choose between Usagi Drop and this title for best import. So consider this the equivalent of the lifetime Bafta, by golly we’re going to give you an award even if we have to make one up. So Best Period Show, a.k.a. the other best import series is Gosick, which I greedily imported from Australia. The Americans don’t even have this show yet!
The students at St. Marguerite's Academy in the tiny European nation of Sauville love scary stories and urban legends. So much so that it's a little unhealthy. Kazuya Kujo learns this the hard way when the entire student body takes to calling him the "Dark Reaper" and enthusiastically spreading rumours about his evil supernatural influence because of his black hair and eyes. In an attempt to understand their horror-mania, he visits the library to read up on local legends. Weirdly there is a greenhouse at the very top of the library, itself fashioned from a medieval tower. In the greenhouse is a golden-haired girl named Victorique. Victorique takes an interest in the good-natured Japanese exchange student, and before too long they're using her uncanny deductive prowess to crack all manner of heinous crimes.
My thoughts, Gosick is a great period drama, a quality detective story, with equal moments of lightness and dark. It’s written brilliantly, and you’ll be glued to every frame, but above all it’s a love story. It’s about how Kujo’s fascination for Victorique gradually turns to affection, and how Victorique’s reliance on her erstwhile servant grows deeper. Gosick excels in subtlety here, the animation is good enough to convey a wealth of emotion through a softening of expression, or a quick glance, while the two form a relationship of capricious whims on Victorique’s part, and teasing subservience on Kujo’s. For an anime to develop an emotional relationship practically all in the subtext is rare to the point of unique.
Tune in again for some more awards, and the rest of the countdown listing the best of UK anime in 2012.
It turns out that it’s not that simple, as over the last year, I have submitted exactly 100 anime reviews to the site. Also, for the past year, I’ve had the vague suspicion that I’ve been outgrowing anime, that it isn’t quite as much fun as it once was. Once I tallied up my review scores, the lie to that thought became apparent. Over half of the titles that I reviewed got marks greater than 8 out of 10, surely a sign that I like this stuff more than ever. The trouble is that if I write an article simply counting the 9 out of 10 scored titles and above, we’ll be here till 2014. So I’m going to do something a little different. I’ve stripped out the imports, the re-releases, and all the back catalogue titles I reviewed, and I’m going to run down my top 10 anime released in the UK for the first time last year (although Blu-ray debuts of older titles also count). Just to spice things up, I’m throwing in a few categories of my own that will highlight some titles that a mere numerical analysis may have missed out on, and where I can tell you about those back catalogue and import titles that I stripped from the top ten.
It’s been a volatile year in anime (do we ever have any other kind?) beginning with the departure from the scene of Bandai and Beez, leaving just 2 distributors in the UK, Manga and MVM. However, Manga Entertainment do distribute for Kazé, the European arm of Viz, and Kazé took on the UK market with a serious intensity this year, after dipping their toes into the market in 2011. They appear to be picking up the slack left by the departure of Beez, and come to the UK with the best of intentions (and Blu-ray releases). Alas, their disc authoring leaves something to be desired, not something that you usually mention in a best of retrospective, but something I feel compelled to mention to justify leaving Princess Jellyfish out of the top 10. Besides, no one is immune from the odd authoring flub. One MVM title had its subtitles drift uncomfortably northward this year, while Manga Entertainment forgot to put the end of one show on a disc, prompting a rare product recall in the UK anime business. And Kazé still get a couple of titles on the best of list.
Online streaming also goes from strength to strength, at least for Crunchyroll, who this year picked up more titles than ever before, and established themselves on more devices than ever before. Got a Samsung TV? The opposite was true for the UK’s home-grown streaming service, Anime on Demand, which had more than its fair share of teething issues. As a gift to fans, the autumn season was made available to all for free, and as a further gift to fans, the forthcoming winter season will be free as well.
And with 2012’s last gasp, we got the most welcome of good news for the UK market, the advent of a new, as yet unnamed distributor. Under the auspices of Anime Unlimited, the brainchild of former Beez man, and current anime jack of all trades, Andrew Partridge, the new company made an instant big splash by announcing that their first license would be Cowboy Bebop, making its UK Blu-ray debut.
Anyway, on with the awards, and the countdown, beginning with the first award...
The Weirdest Anime of 2012
A devastating, disgusting "Death Stench" is spreading across Japan, creating deadly mutant fish as it covers the land! The country is being invaded by ferocious fish with sharp metal legs, hell-bent on death and destruction! Amidst the carnage, Kaori embarks on a desperate quest to find her missing boyfriend before he is lost to the mayhem that is sweeping the land.
I thought, Gyo is just fantastic, it’s a relentless ride of sex, violence, and walking fish, it’s a b-movie horror writ large, with great action set pieces, an unlikely menace, and just as many laughs as it has thrills. It’s got the mankind paying for its own pollution eco-message, it’s got imperfect yet likeable characters, it’s got a mad scientist, and it’s got sharks on legs that jump through windows. And its story just gets wilder and more bizarre as the film goes on. It just goes to prove that even the most absurd of premises will work in anime if the budget is high enough, and the animation is of sufficient quality.
It now turns out that Gyo will have a Blu-ray release in Australia, if you feel like importing.
UK Anime Release of the Year #10
To stop the unstoppable you need the irresistible. To kill the unkillable, you need someone for whom death no longer has a meaning. And to catch the perfect serial killer, you need the one person who knows his methods the best... his last victim! Murdered and reborn, no longer human, the female cyborg Balot exists for only one reason: to track down the man who killed her and bring him to justice.
My thoughts, It takes a while to get going, but Mardock Scramble: The First Compression soon develops into the sort of cyberpunk thriller that I can really get my teeth into. In terms of production values, it's impeccable. In terms of story, characters and action, it quickly grabs the attention and holds onto it until the final frame. The First Compression builds and builds its story and its characters, it raises the tension, intensifies the pace, the action sequences get more and more exciting, and then BAM! Cliff-hanger!
The Best Import Series of 2012
At his grandfather's funeral, 30-year-old bachelor businessman Kawachi Daikichi encounters 6 year old Rin, who is shunned by his immediate family. As he presses his relatives for information, he discovers Rin is the child of his grandfather's mistress, a secret which brought shame on their conservative family. Daikichi doesn't like children, but the cold attitude of his relatives towards her causes Daikichi to reconsider his stance and adopt Rin and raise her as if she were his own daughter. After all, she is blood...and endearingly cute!
My thoughts, Usagi Drop is as heart-warming and uplifting a series as you can possibly imagine. Its charm and attraction comes from its innocence and honesty. You really do empathise with Daikichi and Rin and this could easily have been a live action drama (indeed there is a live action Bunny Drop movie out there), but where it excels is in the way it presents its story, a gentle rollercoaster of small triumphs and little heartbreaks. You can’t help but feel for the lost and grieving Rin at the start of the show, and you can’t help but smile as Daikichi helps her come to terms with her loss and reengage with the world. I’m always looking for anime that will challenge preconceptions, will make naysayers think twice before pronouncing the medium as beneath their notice. I would have thought that Usagi Drop would be the perfect weapon in that arsenal, except that there is nothing else out there like Usagi Drop. But as television in general, Usagi Drop really needs to be seen. Just don’t be surprised if you start feeling broody after watching it though.
UK Anime Release of the Year #9
My thoughts, I fell out of love with Ninja Scroll a few years ago, but this Blu-ray release not only reminded me of what I fell in love with in the first place, but it also revealed aspects of the film that I never appreciated before. It’s a smart and entertaining action thriller that has surprising dimension. If there is one charge to be laid against Ninja Scroll, it’s that it’s probably to blame for all the super-powered ninja that we’ve had to put up with ever since. Before Ninja Scroll, ninja were just sneaky assassins clad in black that tried to drip poison into James Bond’s mouth. After Ninja Scroll we got shows like Naruto, where they’re no longer sneaky, and instead are capable of feats that make Gemma’s immortality seem like old hat. That aside, I have to reiterate, if you’ve only seen Ninja Scroll on DVD up till now, then you’ve never really seen Ninja Scroll!
The Best Import Film of 2012
My thoughts, I simply love every frame of this movie, and I love that it's such a love letter to the fans, especially after the troll-age that was Endless Eight. I love that it is so long. I love that it focuses on the minutiae, because all that trivial minutiae informs the characters that are so important to the Haruhi Suzumiya story. I even love the denouement, as it is so in character with the story that no other conclusion would be as acceptable. I even love that without the PAL speed-up this Blu-ray is 4% longer, as I get to spend more time with the characters. The decision is obvious. If you are a fan of Haruhi Suzumiya, and you have a Blu-ray player, you just have to import this disc. Manga Entertainment's DVD release is fine; technically it's one of their strongest releases. But in comparison to that DVD though, this Blu-ray is in a completely different dimension.
UK Anime Release of the Year #8
Tomoya Okazaki is depressed at the prospect of school. His days are spent considering the path which lies ahead of him, the shadow of his vacant alcoholic father constantly looming over his daily void. He meets a group of strange girls at his school, each with unique social problems, and begins to gain perspective on the deep loneliness he feels. When the drama club is established, paranormal turmoil unfolds and hearts are broken...
My thoughts, Clannad is a thoroughly engaging blend of tragedy and comedy. The comedy flows naturally from the light-hearted, slice of life side to the show. But as the various mysteries about the characters start to unfold, the tragic nature of their pasts is revealed and that humour turns to heartbreak. I've already shed manly tears once during this collection of episodes, and I'm sure that it will happen again and again as the series progresses. The characters are fascinating, the mysteries in their stories engrossing (there's also an occasional vignette of the last girl in the world and her robot that has yet to be explained), and the tragic elements tug at the heartstrings without mercy. Key/Visual Arts are masters at making this formula work, and Clannad works on every level. It's true that you have to work with it, but that is far from a chore. This type of anime is new to the UK scene, and it fills a gap on your anime shelf that you may not even know you have.
The Best Back Catalogue Title of 2012
Megatokyo 2033 A.D. Like a Phoenix, the city of MegaTokyo is rising from the ashes of a devastating earthquake. In the twisted canyons of the mega-lopolis, the Knight Sabers, a small band of high-tech mercenaries, fight a lonely battle against the evil GENOM Corporation and its sinister android "Boomers".
My thoughts, Now I understand why volume 2 was so hard to get a hold of. It's the best Bubblegum Crisis of the lot. It's the two-episode story here in volume 2 comprising Moonlight Rambler and Red Eyes that brings forth the best of what Bubblegum Crisis has to offer, in effect presenting a feature length movie. It also doesn't hurt that the runtimes to these episodes are also of significant length, allowing for the more rounded writing and character development that the Bubblegum Crisis universe deserves. There are some classics of anime which should never be allowed to vanish from shop shelves, and Bubblegum Crisis is one of them. I think it's high time that someone thought to release this show again. In Japan, it's so well thought of that it has a Blu-ray release now, something that is perfect for the traditional cel animation, and something that will make that eighties pop soundtrack just zing in lossless form. If it could ever see an English language release with dub and subtitles, I could see myself reaching deeply into my wallet for it.
UK Anime Release of the Year #7
While their mother recovers from an illness, Satsuki and her little sister Mei (voiced in English by Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning) get away from it all in an idyllic rural retreat. Far from the bustle of the city, they discover a mysterious place of spirits and magic, and the friendship of the Totoro woodland creatures.
My thoughts, My Neighbour Totoro is a great film, one of Ghibli’s finest, and one which effortlessly succeeds as family entertainment in a way that many other films have to strain at the seams to achieve. It’s not my favourite Ghibli film, as I find that it’s less that it tells a story than it captures a moment in time, presents a warmth and nostalgia that is more evocative than informative. For the latter there are other Ghibli films out there with much stronger stories. But if ever I want 90 minutes of pure happiness in celluloid form, My Neighbour Totoro will be the first film that I choose to watch.
The Best Period Show of 2012
The students at St. Marguerite's Academy in the tiny European nation of Sauville love scary stories and urban legends. So much so that it's a little unhealthy. Kazuya Kujo learns this the hard way when the entire student body takes to calling him the "Dark Reaper" and enthusiastically spreading rumours about his evil supernatural influence because of his black hair and eyes. In an attempt to understand their horror-mania, he visits the library to read up on local legends. Weirdly there is a greenhouse at the very top of the library, itself fashioned from a medieval tower. In the greenhouse is a golden-haired girl named Victorique. Victorique takes an interest in the good-natured Japanese exchange student, and before too long they're using her uncanny deductive prowess to crack all manner of heinous crimes.
My thoughts, Gosick is a great period drama, a quality detective story, with equal moments of lightness and dark. It’s written brilliantly, and you’ll be glued to every frame, but above all it’s a love story. It’s about how Kujo’s fascination for Victorique gradually turns to affection, and how Victorique’s reliance on her erstwhile servant grows deeper. Gosick excels in subtlety here, the animation is good enough to convey a wealth of emotion through a softening of expression, or a quick glance, while the two form a relationship of capricious whims on Victorique’s part, and teasing subservience on Kujo’s. For an anime to develop an emotional relationship practically all in the subtext is rare to the point of unique.
Tune in again for some more awards, and the rest of the countdown listing the best of UK anime in 2012.
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