[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

I tend to agree with this. With very few exceptions, I thought Kajiura was replaying her own clichés in this one. While the Fate/Zero soundtrack was more stable in quality, I preferred the work she did for Sword Art Online. The scene where Sugu/Leafa duelled Kirito is a perfect example, where it starts all drums and then segues effortlessly into a piano piece; not a mean feat that. (Of course, the soundtrack was rather sparse near the beginning, and it, too, has a lot of vanilla tracks. But it does have scene-enhancing creativity, which I didn't feel from Fate/Zero, which came across more as rule-book polish.)

I have yet to to listen to the Sword Art Online score separately, but I would tend to agree that it did sound better than F/Z. I will say that the reason why the music didn't impress at the beginning of the show had more to do with sound design in the show started off bad and managed to get better as the show went on, and by the end they had managed to get a good grip on it. Of course, there were tracks there that had a lot of power in there (as the scene you mentioned) so once they figure out how they could use them effectively, they manged to really shine.

I would agree that the Fate/Zero score was pretty by-the-rules, and as such it got around to being more boring than anything for me, even if it wasn't bad in anyone area, but it only shone in a few tracks and overall was merely there to add to the scenes in the show, rather than be a genuinely powerful instrumental score that I tend to expect from Kajiura. I hate to say it, but it really did seem like she was just taking a break with this one.

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

My personal favourite soundtrack of the year was Hasegawa Tomoki's Nazo no Kanojo X. That soundtrack set the mood for the show and flowed very well with the dreamy images. It was a vital part of the show.

That's actually a really nice score as well, even if it isn't my most favorite, but it certainly managed to fit the mood of the show very well. That and I honestly loved the sounds that anime had in general.

... I might need to change my vote for romance ...

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Chihayafuru seems to have a lot of supporters here as well. I'm also surprised by how many people have voted for Tsuritama in either, or both, of the storyline and best TV anime categories.

I would imagine that there is quite a large overlap between the two shows fanbases, at least here (I certainly notice a lot of the same people who loved them while they were airing mention to others to check the other out).

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

My comments had more to do with the fanbase than with the quality of the show. I do think it could have contended in the visuals category, but a lot of people disliked Satelight's use of 3D, which I'll agree with quite variable in quality. The backgrounds by their group of French illustrators are brilliant, though. Those guys have a real eye for architectural design. I also thought AKB might have drawn a nomination for best ED.

I suppose then that it was the lack of organization? I remember how Cross Game managed to sweep the awards a few years back due to how much members made sure to participate and vote for it as much as they can, which managed to make it carry over and win in a lot of areas. Had the AKB fanbase done the same here, they might have gotten it at least a few nominations. Maybe next year we can get a few people to actually come here and represent it alongside Space Brothers :P

I agree with the visuals, especially the part about the backgrounds (I thought that was Satelight's and their French staff best effort in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée back when it was airing, and what made me fall in love with the show. They really have very strong signature for rich backdrops and backgrounds).

That said, I'm not sure it could've competed on quality, not when there where more visually innovative and/or aesthetically pleasing shows (I would personally place Lupin and Black Rock Shooter before I would with AKB) and it isn't exactly the most impressive looking anime around. It can be very clever with it's visuals and character designs, but even then it didn't exactly catch my eye due to these elements. Granted, none of those shows managed to even come close to being nominated so I guess there goes my argument ...