"End of 2006" Anime Discussion

[Scribble]

2006 is ending, so I thought it would be good if we had a discussion on anime fandom as a whole in 2006. Talk about your general likes and dislikes about 2006: was it a good year for anime or a bad one? What do you think about the voice actors who debut this year? Did a particular anime related event happen in 2006 that you're pleased or displeased about? Stuff like that, as long as it's related to 2006 and anime, it's fine.


Heh, 2006 was a brilliant year for me, I think. I have never followed so many series at once because there were so many quality series being aired. It's hard to pick a single favourite series, because there were so many which I liked,but those that stand out are probably NANA, Higurashi, SHnY, Red Garden, NHK, BnI, Kanon, Code Geass, Hataraki Man, Negima!?, and Kujian TV. It was interesting watching the whole Haruhi craze, and this year I've gotten into the blogging scene. A certain podcast started this year which is a great listen, and I found myself visiting this forum on a regular basis. I also visited Tokyo this year, and Akihabara was AMAZING.

2007 looks to be promising too if Moonphase and the anime announcement thread is anything to go by. I hope to blog on a regular basis, too.

So, uh, yeah. Hope you get my drift.

[C.A.]

2006 is great, I went through the greatest change in my entire life.

I went from student to a NEET, then a true otaku and hikkikomori. Because of that I became a Haruhist, my view of life changed completely, I view life much more positively than before.

I got really bored of my endlessly repeating school life and thus decided to quit school(for the time being) and serve national service first(all male Singaporeans have to serve national service after 18). While waiting for the army enlistment date, which I waited for around 7 months, I became a NEET and an otaku who stayed at home at least 90% of the time. On top of that, I wasn't a happy person because life felt really boring for me.

Because of this lifestyle and my love for anime, I chanced upon Haruhi-sama, she changed my life forever.

Explaining how she changed me would be a thousand word essay, but its true, her powers do transcend beyond the anime universe to ours. Watching her trying to create a better world(for the world and herself), created a better world for me. I am now able to look at life much more positively. If the world is boring for you, why don't you try making it fun, do it yourself.

Besides Haruhi-sama, the other person who brightened up my life would be Nono, from Top wo Nerae!2, she reminded me about hardwork and determination.

While watching NHK I laughed at the life I left behind.

There are so many anime this year which deals with or questioned life, death, the meaning of existance. Shinigami no Ballad, Jigoku Shoujo, Shana, Zegapain, Death Note etc.

Watching these anime totally changed my view of life. I questioned my own purpose of existance when I'm learning about Kyon's purpose.

Now I'm a soldier who looks forward to every weekend, to book out of camp and watch anime that I asked my brother to help me get over the weekdays.

[Cyz]

2006 released many great animes like Suzumiya Haruhi, Strawberry Panic, D. Gray-man, the remake of Kanon and such. Like you said, I followed many series too. It was definitely a good year but I'm sure next year will be a blast as well.

- Some of my anime faves I've seen this year includes: Strawberry Panic, Fate/Stay Night, Kanon (2006), Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru, D. Gray-man, Shakugan no Shana, Good Witch of The West, Zero no Tsukaima, Utawarerumono and many more

[capture]

Yup 2006 is a nice year....

Starting from the 1st hit (winter), F/SN is the one I always looking for... but when spring arrived unexpectedly SHNY dominates ....and damn I say that is a good one (but at first, I mean ep 00, I kinda bit curious on that one)......

but SHNY is not the only one blooms in spring... there was also SR 2nd term and Ouran....(they're all good on that specific genre.) and also adding Higurashi and Utawarerumono.

Zero no Tsukaima on Summer and also the Fall's Death Note rules in my list...

Hoping this coming year will be greater than 2006 (hmmm can't wait for Naruto...)

[Zu Ra]

I too am waiting for 07 Naruto and Bleach fillers are going to ned and well kamisama Kazoku second season is going to start . 06 was uber great but 07 is going to be better .

[Lambda]

2006 has been a wonderful year for anime, perhaps the best ever. (Although some of that might just be down to the sheer scale of it, with this many titles, it's not surprising that quite a few are going to hit, and it leaves mountains of chaff to dig through to find the good stuff.)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was of course the dominant title, one of very few shows which redefined what I thought television to be capable of. With such an arsenal of strengths, it's the show of the year without a doubt. But Simoun has just got better and better, up until the point where I'll happily mention the two shows in the same breath. It may be just an 'ordinary drama', but it's quite possibly the best 'ordinary drama' I've ever seen. Eagerly anticipating the subbing of the final episodes.

For a year to have two shows of this sort of quality is rare. But with both Kanon and Death Note going really well so far, we might even have four!

And we haven't been lacking quality "support shows" either. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni has been strong, interesting and memorable so far (by the subs), though I didn't like the third arc nearly so much as the first two. Welcome to the NHK, which I just finished today actually, was very good, with some standout moments. Red Garden and Asatte no Houkou I'm behind on at the moment, but both have different sorts of potential, and Ghost Hunt has been amusing so far. Keeping an eye on Soukou no Strain too.

Some good comedy around too. I've found Sumomomomomomo particularly hilarious, but good going for Magikano, Megadere and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge too.

And while it spans multiple years, Top wo Nerae! 2 has to be the best thing GAINAX have done since FLCL. After two viewings, I feel I'm just skimming the surface of what this has to offer.

Only real disappointment has been Fate/Stay Night. But even it had one awesome episode.

Fantastic year.

I'll throw in some superficially-considered awards for particular areas, just for fun:

Best direction has to be Haruhi.

Best animation, cinematography, everything in that area just goes to 'the collective works of KyoAni'.

Top wo Nerae! 2 has the best fight scenes though.

Best original script would have to be Simoun. For best adapted script I'm split between Haruhi and Death Note, the achievements are too different.

I can't usually consciously tell great acting from good acting in Japanese, but I really noticed Tomokazu Sugita in both KyoAni efforts.

For best soundtrack I'm split between Simoun and NHK. Best song was 'Koi no Mikuru Densetsu' though. Never before has a song been so funny purely because of the way it's performed.

And the best credit sequence has to be the opening to Higurashi, with the Haruhi end not far behind.

Best individual episode: Haruhi 12.

[Sorrow-K]

I want to point out that I thought there was a real dearth of good action/drama series this year, like FMP! TSR or Mai-HiME from last year. There was the odd good one like Kemenozume and Red Garden that went under everyone's radar, but a lot of the ones that received major hype, like F/SN and Utawarerumono ended up being non-events.

It's shows that have broken the conventions of their genre that have been the highlight this year. Noein for sci-fi, Akagi for shounen, Ouran for shoujo, Higurashi for horror/mystery, etc, etc, and obviously Haruhi for high school dramedy. These are the titles that really got my attention and Ouran, Higurashi and Haruhi were the ones that seemed to be talked about the most over the course of the year, which is a good thing, since they deserved the limelight.

This is why I think 2006 deserves to be called a "good" year. Not great, since I don't think the sheer depth of 2005 was repeated in 2006, but the titles at the pinnacle of this year like Mushishi, H&CII and, of course, Haruhi, won't be forgotten quickly. 2005 had more "good" titles, but didn't have as many "outstanding" titles like these ones. But, it's the evolution/revolution in anime that may or may not be sparked by titles like Haruhi that we should be looking out for in the future. I think the industry is beginning to learn that generic is no longer good enough... if you want true success you have to bring something new and different to the table. And you have to put delicate care and passion into your work. That's what separates Kyoto Animation, Bones and Madhouse Studios from the rest, at least in my opinion.

[ang89]

Hmmm, even if i juz started watching anime for a few months, I feel that this year was good at best or ok so-so at worst. This is because although this year anime was extremely enertaining, it is not really deep and thought-provoking. Trust me, enertainment does not equal to good. This is because none of the anime tt I watched so far has given me the total package. In terms of story telling, overiding theme, animation, character development and etc.

What I mean is that many anime this year leaves you wif a hollow feeling. None have impressed me so much that " Oh man...... its over......." feeling. Instead I often have the " oh, it's over, so wat else is there for me to see"

Still not convince, let me use the most popular anime to illustrate my point. I trust me I 100% enjoy watching anime....

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
Needs no further introduction, being easily the most popular anime around. However, IMO juz behind all that is nothing sad to say.

Dun get me wrong, I am a haruhi fan. Why??

It was very fun to watch ( remember haruhi flying kick). It has awesome animation ( tink space ship battle and Yuki fight). There was also the haruhi dance at the ED which captivate every1, such tt there was even a Gundam Parody to it. Not only that, it was a different kind of anime, nothing like we have evenn seen b4.However, beneath all that, sad to say is nothing much.Why???


Well, cos the story wasn't really that deep. Yes many may say that the shuffling of episode help to make the story telling incredible. But IMO, its the storyline tt counts and not the story-telling. Trust me, shuffling of episode isn't something of deep. However, the shuffling of episode is not wat bothers me.

And wat more, the character did not get much development. Yes there were only a handful of episode, still most of the character were under-developed IMO. Dun get me wrong, I love the characters ( go haruhi) and the show, but i tink there can be more to it.

Fate/stay night
I watched it because of the huge hype over it. Like Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, it had good animation and fight scences. But still, I doubt i would remember it at the end of next year.


Shakugan no Shana
Zero no Tsukaima

Hey dun get me wrong, i like these shows for their action and enertainment. I love the characters there ( Go Shana). But the story didnh't really have an impact of my life. It left me with a "huh, tts all" feeling.

and the list goes on......

However, the anime tt has impressed me so far is Code Geass and Death Note. It wasn't the animation, the story line, the characters or the fan-service ( C.C is hot!!!), rather the overiding theme caught my attention.

It had 2 themes that are applicable to our society, 1st was does the end justify the means? Where is it all right to chose the wrong methods, so long as the intentions or destination is right.

2nd was the fact that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Seeing Light turn from a symbol of light to dark, really scares me when one has power. And time would tell when Lelucoh would use desperate measures to achieve his aims.

Well, enuf said, going to sleep now, in conclusion, I feel that our anime is advancing to a new lvl, one of better animation, enertainment,storyline and more lovable characters. But the qn remains whether our anime would be deep and not hollow??

ps. feel free to shoot me, juz do it in a polite and gentleman way pls, thnks.....

[bluemist]

What was supposed to be my peak anime year quickly faded halfway through when... "ironically", I went to Japan.

'So near yet so far away' seems to be the statement. You just can't go barge in to Akihabara every time you want, nor be able to watch anime without doing your laundry and dishes. When you have a job here with overtime you have no freaking time to watch some dumb anime unless you are insomniac. And when you have a non-anime fan (the type who knows Naruto only) roommate you just can't buy nekkid Haruhi posters and figures as if you are building your otaku room. I can't even FREAKING play my Da Capo II game when he's around, and even when he's not, I'm too tired to even try so I go to sleep.

But thankfully I'm not completely devoid of anime. I currently catch Nana, Death Note and Kanon, and I'm satisfied with following just those three for the moment. I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I get back to my home country next year, where I can have a bit more time 'and' privacy.

[Deathkillz]

well id say its been on hell of a year
gave be quite a head ache chasing after all those series and writing about them

well to start off i missed quite a lot from the start of this yea being quite inexperienced before joining this forum ~

there was fate/stay night, Shakugan no Shana, school rumble ni gakki, suzumiya haruhi, and utawarerumono ~ not to mention higurashi no naku koro ni, ouran host club and welcome to NHK its been quite a hectic first half for me

its was full of different genres which was good and refreshing to watch ~ with the uprising phenomenon of haruhi (which i do feel its a bit overrated) changing a lot people's views towards anime...and even life? as ive heard

and the 2nd half is just as exciting as the first ~ well lets count...

black lagoon 2, otome wa boku koishiteru, gift eternal rainbow and asatte no houkou (<----heavily underrated) seasons have just finnished not long ago and ongoing we still have comedy such as sumomomo momomo, megadere, negima!? together with action D grey man, busou renkin, code geass and soukou no strain, death note and a big helping of love with kanon 2006 and tokimeki id say its been a pretty busy year

cant wait for the next ^_^

[NibelungTaisa]

What can I say... I've only started to watch anime this year because of the shows that were released (then, of course, I started to watch some of the older series that I missed).
As deathskillz said, there was Fate/Stay Night, Shakugan no Shana, School Rumble 2nd season, Utawarerumono, Zero No Tsukaima, and Suzumiya.
Just finished watching Yoake, and did I enjoy the ending. Can't wait for Kanon 2006, tokimeki, Otome wa Boku, Asatte no Hokou, Sumomomomomo, Death Note, Ghost Hunt, Busou Renkin, and other anime that I will be able to finish in the future.
btw, what is SHNY? And will there be a poll(s) in this forum for best overall anime, best animation, best action, best storyline, best horror, best romance, best drama, favorite male and female character, and other possible polls on animesuki?

[capture]

Originally Posted by NibelungTaisa

What can I say... I've only started to watch anime this year because of the shows that were released (then, of course, I started to watch some of the older series that I missed).
As deathskillz said, there was Fate/Stay Night, Shakugan no Shana, School Rumble 2nd season, Utawarerumono, Zero No Tsukaima, and Suzumiya.
Just finished watching Yoake, and did I enjoy the ending. Can't wait for Kanon 2006, tokimeki, Otome wa Boku, Asatte no Hokou, Sumomomomomo, Death Note, Ghost Hunt, Busou Renkin, and other anime that I will be able to finish in the future.
btw, what is SHNY? And will there be a poll(s) in this forum for best overall anime, best animation, best action, best storyline, best horror, best romance, best drama, favorite male and female character, and other possible polls on animesuki?

SHNY stands for Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu

[Cloudy]

I think this year is a great year to be an anime fan.

With anime episodes being uploaded on youtube, most of the non Japanese audience who didn't use bittorrent to download anime now knew much of the anime around.

Although the fall season had numbers of anticipated anime adaptions and original anime series,but the spring season stands out.Mainly because of anime series like suzumiya haruhi no yuttsu and higurashi that is initially under almost everyone's radar became overnight success.

[White Manju Bun]

This was the first true year that I watched anime as it came out and didnt just watch series that were complete. Fate/Stay Night was the first anime I watched start to finish as the epis were released. I fell in love with Ouran Highschool Host Club and Tamaki in particular. Im a rabid Ghost Hunt otaku and most of the series 06 put out were quite good. Suzumiya Haruhi, Zero no Tsukaimi, Utawarerumono, Black Lagoon, Welcome to the NHK, Good Witch of the West, Black Blood Brothers, xxxHolic and Higurashi

Obviously Death Note, Code Geass, D.Gray, Irohan, Ghost Hunt, Red Garden are all continuing in 07 so Im kinda keeping them off the list but still added to the success of 2006. (well minus Ghost Hunt since Im already obsessed with it)

Good anime year in my opinion.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Well serious storywise for me my favorite was Welcome To The NHK. My favorite other series currently is Code Geass. How's that for bucking the trend, I honestly can't help but think I feel the opposite of the majority on a number of subjects this year though, such as Sugita Tomakazu's voice acting specifically and Kyoto Animation's storytelling ability. I also find everyone's favourite voice actress and Japanese personality Aya Hirano to be dumb as a post, but in a charming Ronald Reaganish way as opposed to an annoying George W. Bush way. Well now everybody else can complain next year and I'll be the one prancing around with all the mecha and action series coming up. Happy New Year Folks and best wishes for the next year when you all can see how awesome Mecha shows can be, cause its the first time since a lot of people I know became fans that Mecha has had any real prominence in anime (Last time was the Mid 90's).

C.A I see you did your Thousand Points Of Haruhi Speech up there again. I love how dramatic you get when you do that one.

[Papaya]

Uh, I like Death Note.

[the.Merines]

Since this is the first year I've had access to broadband, it was also the first year that I could download whatever series I wanted at leisure.

I'm surprised that people haven't mentioned the short series REC or Shinigami no Ballad, which seemed to be so hot in the post F/SN springtime. We also saw the rise, fall, and licensing of Air Gear. I enjoyed Zegapain and The Third, which weren't as popular as they could have been. Fall brought the biggest windfall with Death Note, Black Blood Brothers, Innocent Venus, some shounen goodness in Busou Renkin and D.Gray-Man, moe Kanon and Tokimeki ~Only Love~, the categorically awesome NHK ni Youkoso and the late fav. Mamoru-kun wa. Plus I finally got my Rozen Maiden fix with Ouverture.

I'm looking foward to 2007 with wide eyes.

[JKL]

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (and to a lesser extent NHK ni Youkoso) was the stand out show for me this year.

I also rather enjoyed the Rozen Maiden Ouverture OVA.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Nothing too impressive this year for me. I found some interesting ones but nothing that to me deserves a high scaled rating. Though there were some that really caught my attention.

Higurashi No Naka Koru - the cuteness, the mystery.

Ouran High School Host Club - overall totally enjoyable.

[Nemo_N]

This is my first year watching fansubs, but has been a fun ride so far.

I was overwhelmed by the number of shows out, then I found out that 2006 was the year with most anime shows released ever.

Haruhi and Haruhi, Mizuho-oneesama, The Epitome of all Tsunderes, Drunk Miki, Uguu~...

This has been a great year, altough quality was not the norm (*coughcabbagecough*) most shows had some saving qualities (Feena!).

I just hope 2007 keeps the quantity, and improves the quality.