[Haak]

In an epic display of douchebaggery, I will now rip off felix's idea and provide a commentary on my own choices. No one asked for my opinion but I'm going to give it anyway.

{A} Action
Katanagatari

First choice (Darker than Black: Gaiden) didn’t go though. Haven’t seen Brotherhood. The action in Railgun is too standard and the choreography and direction of UBW is poor. That leaves only Katanagatari, which has some very well choreographed and highly emotional action anyway.

{B} Adventure/Fantasy
Katanagatari

Haven’t seen Brotherhood. I honestly don’t consider Angel Beats to be that much of a fantasy and I just didn’t like LOL Heroes. So it’s either Katanagatari or Letter Bee. Both give a great magical/adventurous feel but I’d have to go with Katanagatari simply because I prefer demon swords to letters. The idea of letters having hearts never really got through to me.

{C} Science Fiction
Time of Eve

Haven’t seen Occult Academy. Whilst Summer Wars is by far my favourite anime in this category it doesn’t really explore its Sci-fi elements in the way Time of Eve does. Same for Railgun and Haruhi.

{D} Mystery/Horror
Durarara!!

Haven’t seen Occult Academy. Highschool of the Dead has far too much soft-core porn for me to seriously consider it a horror and it has nothing in the mystery department (except why all the women in that show have such incredible boob physics). Shiki isn’t really that scary but does have a good mystery. However, I’d have to go with Durarara because it has by far the most engaging and complex mystery.

{E} Comedy
Working!

First choice (Angel Beats!) didn’t go through. Haven’t seen Ika Musume nor Gintama nor Baka to Test. That leaves only Arakawa and Working, which is a tough choice. Whilst they both provide such different styles of comedy, they were both great. I guess I’ll have to go with Working since it develops its characters a bit more than Arakawa does.

{F} Romance
Cross Game

Haven’t seen Nodame Cantibile. I dropped Kimi ni Todoke after around 7 episodes and Amagami SS after 4. I didn’t really hate Kimi ni Todoke. It’s just that it was far too girly and flowery for my tastes. Amagami SS, however, was utterly retarded thanks to having such a pathetic male lead that made me appreciate School Days all the more. That leaves only Cross Game (which was my first choice anyway).

{G} Drama
Angel Beats!

Bizarrely my first choice (House of Five Leaves) DID go through. Didn’t expect that. This is a tough category since I’ve seen all the shows and they all have some really good drama. In the end I’m going to go for Angel Beats. Yeah, that’s right Angel Beats. It’s not subtle and it’s incredibly rushed but I loved it anyway. It’s an anime that honestly tells a story about a bunch of nice teenagers that had a crappy unfair life and have to come to terms with it. And I found that touching. It may be the simple fact that I’ve been listening to Iwasawa’s song for the millionth time now. Regardless, my vote goes to Angel Beats and I don’t care what anyone else says.

{H} Slice of Life
Cross Game

Haven’t seen Soredemo nor K-On!! And to be honest I consider Working and Kuragehime to be more comedy than slice of life. That leaves only Cross Game (It was my first choice anyway, but it’s a shame Tamayura didn’t go through). I’m also wondering if we should combine the Slice of Life and Drama categories for next year.

{I} Fanservice
-

I’m the one that had to count the nominations for this pathetic excuse of a category and do you want to know what the most depressing thing was? The fact that this was one of the categories that had the most anime nominated. I hate you all. And I can’t believe some people nominated Railgun. What did Railgun do to deserve that?

{J} Sports/Game
Cross Game

The only other anime I’ve seen in this category is TWOGK, which simply doesn’t compare to the quality of Cross Game. Whilst I do think that show counts and can be in this category, there has clearly been some confusion of what counts and what doesn’t. I’m going to offer the suggestion that this category be renamed to “Sports/Games/Hobbies”. This means shows like Bungaku Shoujo, Tamayura and K-On (don’t give me that look) could count in the future. It would also give this category a lot more competition, since there was only something like 8 different anime nominated.

{K} Storyline
Tatami Galaxy

First choice (Katanagatari) didn’t go through. Haven’t seen Brotherhood. This is a bit of tough one aswell. All three have very strong storylines but I’d say Tatami Galaxy tops them all. I’d actually consider Tatami Galaxy to be a slightly better version of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

{L} Visual/Animation
Katanagatari

Haven’t seen Brotherhood. I’m not good enough to be able to tell what’s got good animation and I only have a general idea of what’s bad animation but that’s not good enough for this. Therefore, I can only base this decision on which anime has the best art in my opinion and I’d have to say Katanagatari by a wide mile.

{M} Soundtrack
Yosuga no Sora

Haven’t seen Garterbelt nor K-On. I’m still obsessed with Iwasawa’s ballad from Angel Beats but that’s the only song that got my attention out of that anime. Shiki had a decent soundtrack but I didn’t think it was truly exceptional. Yosuga no Sora, I think has a much better soundtrack.

{N} Overall Television Series
Katanagatari

Haven’t seen Brotherhood. Shiki was good but I didn’t think it was brilliant. I didn’t think it had a good start, taking so long to actually get somewhere, and I didn’t like the finale all that much either. So it’s either Cross Game or Katanagatari - two terrific anime. In the end, I’m going to have to give my vote to Katanagatari.

{O} Movie
Summer Wars

Haven’t seen Nanoha. I’ve read the visual novel and I know that UBW is a piss poor adaptation that cuts out 90% of the depth it had so fuck you, Studio Deen. It’s either Haruhi or Summer Wars. I admit, although I definitely love Summer Wars more, I’m not sure whether I should vote for Summer Wars considering it had a chance last year thanks to the loophole. Then again looking at the last year’s results, it only managed to get nominated for one category (this very same one incidentally) and only came second place, losing out to Kara no Kyoukai by a wide margin. Unfortunately it looks like this year it will be overshadowed by Haruhi.

{P} OVA
Darker than Black: Gaiden

Haven’t seen Shana S. God damn it, I wanted Kurenai to be on here. I thought Tamayura and Black Rock Shooter were nice and sweet but it’s clear to me that Darker than Black is in a completely different league. No contest really.

{Q} Male Character
Yasuri Shichika

Heh, this was the category that had a three way tie for fourth place. Very difficult choice here. Except for Keima, they’re all great characters (Not that Keima isn't good) but I’d say the absolute best are Shichika and Kuranosuke. I think Shichika is just slightly better.

{R} Female Character
Celty Sturluson

Haven’t seen Ika Musume. My first choice (Saten Ruiko) didn’t get through but annoyingly, Misaka did. I still don’t see what’s so great about her. It’s Aoba, Celty or Nagato, but I’d have to give my vote to Celty. It’s not every day you can vote for a headless Irish Grim Reaper that’s afraid of aliens and traffic police.

{S} Villain
Orihara Izaya

Lol, the Bugged Game. I have to admit, it’s a tempting offer but I want to be serious. Haven’t seen Brotherhood. I have no idea why Tatsumi would be nominated rather than Sunako but there you go. The scene where Ryouko stabs Kyon? Some people found it scary. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop laughing. It was just so perfect. It could only happen to you, Kyon. But lets face it, Ryouko doesn’t compare to the King of Trolls – Orihara Izaya. First character I’ve seen that performs his villainy by pretending to be a girl on the internet.

{T} Worst Character
-

There’s a lot of debate about this category, and I’ve noticed quite a lot of members here not voting anyone so I’m wondering if it should be scrapped altogether, next year. There still seems to be some ambiguity of what qualifies as ‘worst character’. Is it a character that you hate that’s supposed to be hated and despised? I’d say that’s one of the criteria for judging Best Villain. So I can’t help but interpret it as a category where you vote for characters you think are poorly portrayed. I guess that’s why so many people don’t want to vote for it. They might believe these Choice Awards should be an opportunity to hail shows they like rather than hate on shows they don’t. My first choice (Tachibana from Amagami SS) didn’t go through. In fact, none of my nominations went through. Haven’t seen Iron Man but wow there sure are a lot of Kirino haters. Can’t say I hate her really and I don’t think she’s all that poorly portrayed. Well I think she is somewhat poorly portrayed thanks to the shows lack of direction but I don’t think it’s enough for me to vote for her. The others, I think ought to be in the Villain category, unless I’m wrong about why they were nominated.