we're finally notdotq anymore

What better way to finish off a series of posts like this than to reminisce on my most awing anime experience of the year? On May 7th I woke up to see that Aria the Origination episodes 12 and 13 had been delivered to mplayer. I was nervous about my AP Calculus exam, so I figured I would watch some calming Aria and let it soothe me.

I always liked Aria, from the day I watched the first episode of the Animation more than a year earlier. I’d never for one moment, though, considered that it would break into my Top 10 list. My Top 10 list being riddled with such hits as… Interlude, Kannazuki no Miko, AIR, Loveless, and Saishuuheiki Kanojo.

I cried once during episode 12 of the Origination and I cried four times during episode 13. I cried when Akari cried, I cried when Akari cried again, I cried when Akari woke up the next morning, and I cried when she uttered the last line of the whole show:

“Chotto ureshii dake da yo.”

The moment I heard those words, I understood that Aria was my favorite show of all time. My Top 10 list crumbled like Teppelin, replaced with a single show upon a single pedestal. I cried like a mother at her daughter’s wedding when I heard those words, and then I went to school and kicked the shit out of that Calculus exam’s ass.

P.S. “Only two posts about Aria, lolikit?” Yeah, I could have made every one of these twelve posts be about this show. I tried hard not to. It was a grueling task, but I won in the end. V!

“But never mind any of that,” says Sekai earnestly, “let’s practice!”

Watching School Days was possibly the most pleasing anime experience of my life. It was a Saturday night, Memorial Day weekend; I was with a friend in a dark viewing room at Fanime. I, being a proficient aniblogger, knew the spoilers. He didn’t. The rest of the room didn’t.

I’d been prepping my friend all day, throwing “Nice [Noun]” references all over the place. Quoting the final scenes of School Days such that he wouldn’t be able to guess what I was hinting at, all the while piquing his curiosity.

I was sleep-deprived, I was cold, I was hungry.

And I marathoned that mother-fucker with my friend and the rest of the viewing room. It was one hell of a painful show, but every additional moment of Makoto dipfaggery brought me one step closer to hilaritygasm. I knew what was in store for him. No one else in the room did. People were getting up and leaving in disgust. By the time shit really started hitting the fan, the room was half-empty.

My friend was on the edge of his seat.

I had figuratively creamed myself at least ten times.

“This isn’t practice anymore.” – Sekai

“I feel like if I stay with you, the same thing will happen to me as happened to Sekai.” – Hikari

“I was reckless and impatient back then! I’m different now.” – Makoto

What’s not to love about a show in which your typical weak male lead actually makes decisions, and those decisions involve bedding every single girl in his school? Oh, and let’s not forget to mention impregnating them. Heh, the Bible Belt would love Makoto, and so did I! The answer to my question is “not a whole lot, if you’re sleep-deprived and meme-prone.”

Makoto’s head got its ride on a pleasant ship, and those remaining in the viewing room stood up and gave that mofo a standing ovation.

School Days got a 10/10 from me, just for that one night stand.

Thanks to two extremely grim opening episodes both set chronologically after the bulk of the show, Episode 3 of Ga-rei Zero was the most painful episode of the year for me. Watching Yomi and Kagura grow close while knowing that Kagura’s demise at Yomi’s rage-filled hands is the only ending in store is nothing short of rattling.

Classy stuff.

I wrote a long-ass post on Dreams of the Quill about Episode 4 of Aria the Origination, and, in keeping with the spirit of these posts, I will not link to it now. But. This is definitely one of my favorite episodes of anime, period. Remember the one? Akari wants to help Alicia because Alicia’s so busy, so Alicia tells her to go work a traghetto?

Akari meets three other singles, including two dispirited prima-wannabes, and, with her suteki power, inspires them all to try harder at life.

“Masshiro na START desu”—Akari introduces the idea of a tabula rasa to her peers, teaching them that every time they try something their records are wiped. No matter how many times they’ve failed, they just need to start over and try harder. The pure, unbridled hope in Akari’s cheerful lecture is something I’ve held inside me the last two years as I tried to get over the shortcomings of my past and become a better human being: no matter how shitty I am, I can wipe that clean and start over.

Akari didn’t teach me this lesson, but it was still refreshing to hear it from her lips. Combine that with top-notch execution, and you have one damn good episode of anime.

The Shigofumi OVA was easily one of the best OVAs I’ve ever seen, in stark contrast to the last OVA I mentioned in this series. It did so much in terms of expanding the story of its show without, you know, reincarnating its characters or changing their personalities. Anyway.

Fumika rocks.

I can tolerate her brand of tsundere—not too pronounced, neither end of its spectrum dazzlingly extreme. It’s the brand of tsundere that’s kind of realistic and believable, stemming from conflicted feelings (as opposed to, say, the tsundere of Louise of Zero no Tsukaima, which is just there as a contrived moe device). It’s reasonable, and, as we all know, lolikitean means reasonable.

The Darker than BLACK OVA was one of the largest let-downs of the year. It tried to be funny but was just way too creepy-Japanese. Oh, and *facepalms* @ the phlag. The epic fail of this episode of anime was so great that when I brought it up a couple weeks later, my brother, who had the misfortune of experiencing it with me, cringed.

“You weren’t supposed to remind me!” he protested.

I felt so bad, I apologized. And I meant it.

ef ~a tale of melodies~ Episode 6 was hands-down the best episode of anime in the fourth quarter of 2008. But that’s not what made it catch an invitation to this dinner. The day I wasted at work making the below, on the other hand, is.