AnimeSuki Choice Award Winners 2011

[Dextro]

UOU I just noticed this: Working hasn't won a single award yet after both years running? Blasphemy! :O

[Reckoner]

These awards are incredibly disappointing.

I'm a type-moon fan, but carnival phantasm is better than the likes of Colorful and Redline? People must not have actually seen these films, but this just goes to show that these categories should not even be considered together since people are more more familiar with OVA's.

But yeah, this turned into far more of a popularity contest than expected. I find it ridiculous to see Madoka winning mystery/horror (Was it really that horrifying?) and fantasty (Hoshi Kodomo anyone?), and it couldn't even win the most relevant category from my perspective, drama/tragedy.

Nichijou winning comedy seems weird considering so many people railed against it earlier this year, but I guess I should never underestimate kyoani...

Oh and I love Fate/zero and all, but it's splti cour and unfinished and should never have been considered for this year. It's going to rob shows of both years.

Yeah very little to be happy about this year. Need to mash categories together really. Maybe scrap the two phase system of voting.

[hyl]

My comment:

The mystery/horror category was in my opinion an odd choice to be mashed and the results shows.
Both Steins;Gate and Madoka could have been a good choice depending if you looked at the horror(somewhat) or the mystery seperately. So either of them could have won, but in the end madoka won because of it's higher popularity.

Same goes for the Sports/Game/Hobby, but it's more understandable for this because there are usually not that many animes that fit into these categories by themseles. I do find it odd that Im@s won (odd that it even got nominated, but i didn't notice that because i was distracted by romance debate),
seeing that it doesn't have sports primarily in it, the anime itself has nothing to do with games and it's kind of debatable if it should belong to hobbies. (for the same reasons why i can't put "White Album" into this category)
I just realized that it kind of looks silly that the banner says : "best sport series 2011" : The iDOLM@STER

Also like Reckoner has posted: one category for oav and movies doesn't work if there are good movies and good oav's in the same year.

But i am glad that atleast an actual romance anime won the romance category.


edit : i didn't notice untill now, but was there some kind of draw during the nomination phase on some categories? Because some of them had 5 (comedy has 6) possible choices, while most of them had 4 choices.

[james0246]

Blah. "iDOLM@STER" winning for Sports sucks. But, I did expect it (or "Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai II") to win an award that has, over time, literally been rewritten just to shoehorn shows like "Kami" and "Idol" into the same category as shows like "Moshidora" (the only real entry in the category since "Redline" came out 2+ years ago).

For the future, can we please just separate Hobby/Etc from Sports. As long as there are at least 2 nominations per category (For those who notice this type of thing, I am taking a different stance than I did in previous nomination/award seasons.), I see no reason why Sports anime should be forced to participate/compete with Hobby anime.

I also strongly disagree with "Madoka" winning for soundtrack. "Mawaru Penguindrum" and "Ao no Exorcist" had far superior soundtracks (imo), but I guess I will have to be content that they were at least nominated. Also, "Madoka" winning for Fantasy and Horror/Mystery was ludicrous.

That being said, "Madoka" winning was expected (if unwanted on my part), so congratulations to the show and its supporters. I was very impressed with "Steins" winning the main acting categories (if only it could have taken the Best Series as well ), especially for Kurisu (who I thought for sure would lose).

All in all, nothing too surprising, but some fun wins makes for a good year.

As for the new process, thank you kindly to all who helped set-up and run the awards this year.

[Kameruka]

Glad to see Kimi ni Todoke finally beat Mashiro-iro Symphony and Steins;Gate in romance.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by james0246

"Redline" came out 2+ years ago

It was screened at a couple of festivals here and there 2 years ago,I don't count that as "coming out".

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Sides

Kind of surprised that only so few people have voted.
Other than that I found it confusing how some series were allowed to be nominated for multiple theme/specialised categories. I mean if it is already in Fantasy, then it should not be in Sci-Fi and Horror/Mystery as well. It should be just one of those. Kind of have to blame myself for not taking part during the nominations.
However congratulations to all winners.

So you would favor a strict one genre only rule? I for one didn't find Madoka's nomination for "Horror" or Steins;Gate for "Mystery" implausible at all.

Madoka was very much Dark Fantasy. Steins;Gate was all about a scientist having to track down clues and solve mysteries. In someways I think you could actually argue whether Steins;Gate was primarily Sci-Fi or a Mystery with heavy Sci-Fi elements. (I tend to come down on the Sci-Fi side, but I could see the arguments for Mystery).

If we did have a one genre only rule, how would we decide which genre a show qualified for?

Originally Posted by Classified Info

where did all the Steins;Gate pwnage go? ;_; thought it would have won 70% of categories (it actually got discarded for 2 votes in some category)

Actually Madoka had a bit of a surge towards the end. Steins;Gate led for most of the voting period in both Mystery and Best Storyline. By enough of a margin felix actually made banners for them.

Then Gosick actually took the Mystery lead for a day only for Madoka to finally lock down the win in the final two days.

Several categories were really close the whole way through.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Anyway, this huge steamroll from Madoka and SG was sort of expected, although I was kinda surprised how both were so close in many categories to the point ties could happen.

The only complain I would express here is that the banners this year are... extremely cluttered. I see a lot of efforts were done in some picture selections etc, but it is a tad overboard.
In retrospect, 2008 banners style would be the most clean and straight type of presentation, although some work can be done on text fonts, color hue etc. In essence, having bigger banner with 1 single picture (from the anime, instead of fan art) and a clean and clear label of the category and name of the series flow much better at checking the list.

For awhile there were several ties. I even thought a three way tie for Mystery/Horror was plausible toward the final days.

As for the banners, what do other people think? I think felix did an incredible job, but do others prefer a simpler banner?

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Well I would say I am disappointed that Penguindrum didnt win anything but I can't say I was surprised considering it was up against Madoka Magica in pretty much every category & I think that was one of the biggest hits in anime fandom since Haruhi.

Thinking about it I kind of wish Fate Zero wasn't eligible this time around because now it gets a chance to win twice & it pushed out other shows that only had this chance this year.

Penguindrum suffered from not having a one or two strong genre to make a play for. It was a mix of Comedy, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, Tragedy... it was really a symbolic story. And it was up against a bunch of other really good shows from last year. Plus it had the controversial ending. If it had gone with a different ending I think it could have made a real strong play for both Best Romance and Best Storyline.

Fate/Zero is an interesting question. What should we do about split cours? It was never really a big issue before, but we're considering if we need to handle them differently somehow. What would other people suggest our policy be int he future? How should we identify split cours?

Originally Posted by Reckoner

These awards are incredibly disappointing.

I'm a type-moon fan, but carnival phantasm is better than the likes of Colorful and Redline? People must not have actually seen these films, but this just goes to show that these categories should not even be considered together since people are more more familiar with OVA's.

But yeah, this turned into far more of a popularity contest than expected. I find it ridiculous to see Madoka winning mystery/horror (Was it really that horrifying?) and fantasty (Hoshi Kodomo anyone?), and it couldn't even win the most relevant category from my perspective, drama/tragedy.

Nichijou winning comedy seems weird considering so many people railed against it earlier this year, but I guess I should never underestimate kyoani...

Yeah very little to be happy about this year. Need to mash categories together really. Maybe scrap the two phase system of voting.

The OVA/Movies issue is one we've been discussing. There is a feeling that they may not be a good combination. Although I wonder about pure OVAs like Read or Die. I can see excluding OVAs that are basically just extra episodes of a franchise, but if the whole series is an OVA where should we put it? Should it compete with TV Series or Movies?

Yes, Madoka was that horrifying. At least to a large segment of the population (and it's not just this vote, it's in all the fan art too). It should be noted that Madoka got less than a third of the vote for that category.

Are you suggesting Madoka should not have qualified for Best Fantasy? Movies such as Hoshi Kodomo or Redline are always going to have a tough time in the genre categories, simply because they have much lower distribution rates. It's the nature of the beast, and I don't see anyway of preventing it if we are going to have open voting by the AnimeSuki community. Just getting nominated is evidence of how good they must be.

Comedy was really divided this year, so a dedicated minority was able to win.

Which categories do you think should be mashed together?

Originally Posted by hyl

My comment:

The mystery/horror category was in my opinion an odd choice to be mashed and the results shows.
Both Steins;Gate and Madoka could have been a good choice depending if you looked at the horror(somewhat) or the mystery seperately. So either of them could have won, but in the end madoka won because of it's higher popularity.

Same goes for the Sports/Game/Hobby, but it's more understandable for this because there are usually not that many animes that fit into these categories by themseles. I do find it odd that Im@s won (odd that it even got nominated, but i didn't notice that because i was distracted by romance debate),
seeing that it doesn't have sports primarily in it, the anime itself has nothing to do with games and it's kind of debatable if it should belong to hobbies. (for the same reasons why i can't put "White Album" into this category)
I just realized that it kind of looks silly that the banner says : "best sport series 2011" : The iDOLM@STER

But i am glad that at least an actual romance anime won the romance category.


edit : i didn't notice untill now, but was there some kind of draw during the nomination phase on some categories? Because some of them had 5 (comedy has 6) possible choices, while most of them had 4 choices.

Combining Mystery and Horror is a subject that has been brought up before. It's true that while combining it does fit for some shows (Another for an example from the season), that isn't always the case, thus pure Horror and pure Mystery can be competing. Last year I think there was enough to support splitting them into two separate genre. But will that always be the case?

And there was a pretty strong urge last year to try and keep the number of categories down. Particularly genre categories.

Sports/Hobbies/Game is indeed a mish-mash forced on us by the lack of enough Sport anime recently. Yeah... the banner should probably read "Best Hobby" or something. Maybe we should just breakdown and name it Best After-school Activity? Except that would exclude any non school related sports anime. Maybe we should just drop the genre altogether? What do other people think?

And yes there were several ties in the nominations, including a three way tie for 4th in Comedy.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

But yeah, this turned into far more of a popularity contest than expected. I find it ridiculous to see Madoka winning mystery/horror (Was it really that horrifying?) and fantasty (Hoshi Kodomo anyone?), and it couldn't even win the most relevant category from my perspective, drama/tragedy.

Without a weighing system to express how much anyone likes the anime they voted for relative to the others, these awards will just remain a popularity poll.

Nothing wrong with this award though, just drop the pretense of best. When I read the word "best" in a category, I just mentally replace it with "favorite" which makes the award much easier for me to enjoy.

[Sackett]

Well, we do identify them as the AnimeSuki Choice Awards. So it's "Best according to the posters at AnimeSuki."

[LostHanyou]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

But yeah, this turned into far more of a popularity contest than expected. I find it ridiculous to see Madoka winning mystery/horror (Was it really that horrifying?) and fantasty (Hoshi Kodomo anyone?), and it couldn't even win the most relevant category from my perspective, drama/tragedy.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Madoka classifies as, at the very least, a thriller/suspense, which is often clumped together with horror.

And perspective-wise, you can't really say that because something doesn't scare you, makes it not a horror. I have seen hundreds of horror movies and thus the thought of something like Higurashi, Elfen Lied, or the recent Another scaring me is insane; but I still recognize these titles as horror.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by Sackett

So you would favor a strict one genre only rule? I for one didn't find Madoka's nomination for "Horror" or Steins;Gate for "Mystery" implausible at all.

Madoka was very much Dark Fantasy. Steins;Gate was all about a scientist having to track down clues and solve mysteries. In someways I think you could actually argue whether Steins;Gate was primarily Sci-Fi or a Mystery with heavy Sci-Fi elements. (I tend to come down on the Sci-Fi side, but I could see the arguments for Mystery).

If we did have a one genre only rule, how would we decide which genre a show qualified for?

Couldn't that be solved during the nominations, like for instance if a series gets 51 nominations for fantasy but only 30 nominations in horror, then there is obviously a perception that it fits more in the fantasy genre, rather than a horror one.
But I see your point.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by Sackett

Penguindrum suffered from not having a one or two strong genre to make a play for. It was a mix of Comedy, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, Tragedy... it was really a symbolic story. And it was up against a bunch of other really good shows from last year. Plus it had the controversial ending. If it had gone with a different ending I think it could have made a real strong play for both Best Romance and Best Storyline.

This I disagree with. Penguindrum suffered because it happened to be a good anime in a year with other good anime. It just had a lot of competition. And well Steins Gate and especially Madoka were always more popular even before the endings (just look at their forums).

As for the ending I didn't find it all that controversial. Personal opinions aside of what we individually felt about the ending was it anymore controversial than Madoka's ending (which in some ways was similar)?

But hey even though I personally liked Penguindrum more I am not complaining, the other series won fair & square (and at least in the case of Madoka & especially Steins Gate I did enjoy those series too). My comment was just one of personal disappointment.

Fate/Zero is an interesting question. What should we do about split cours? It was never really a big issue before, but we're considering if we need to handle them differently somehow. What would other people suggest our policy be int he future? How should we identify split cours?

In my personal opinion when you know a series is going to come back next year (and definitely finish in that next year as in the case of Fate Zero) than you should wait for it to be eligible the year it finishes.

Otherwise it gets counted twice in the awards and I just don't see that fair. It is also only being judged for half its story.

I purposely tried not to vote for it this year (although I couldn't not vote for Rider since he made such an impact on me....seems I was not alone).

[Triple_R]

I'm honestly a bit amazed that anybody would find it odd (let alone "ridiculous" or "ludicrous" ) for Madoka Magica to win Fantasy. Sackett is absolutely right here: Madoka Magica is a dark fantasy.

Just because a show has a semi-modern/semi-futuristic urban setting doesn't mean it's not a Fantasy show. There's literal magic and mystery and almost indescribable visuals all over the place in it. The aesthetics, particularly character designs, are heavily tinged with pure fantasy.

If Madoka Magica doesn't count as Fantasy, then the Fantasy award itself might as well be scrapped, because modern anime produces very, very few Fantasy shows of the classic Ghibli style or of Tolkien-style sword and sorcery in a strange "not-exactly-Earth" world. This isn't the age of Escaflowne, El Hazard, Fushigi Yuugi, Magic Knight Rayearth, The Slayers, and Record of Lodoss War. That came and went with the 90s, I'm afraid to say.

Besides, Madoka Magica could even arguably count as "sword and sorcery".


Now, as for Mystery/Horror, I myself was rooting for Un-Go here, and I voted for Un-Go. But after seeing Madoka Magica win this category, I think that it might have been Mystery/Horror that had a really bad year, not Romance. I guess not many voters were that impressed with the pure mystery (Un-Go, Gosick, Dantalian no Shoka, etc..) or the pure horror (... Blood-C (?) ) shows of the year. So shows with captivating mysteries interwoven into their plot (Madoka Magica, Steins;Gate) took the lead here. It's hard to guard against that, as even my suggested "2 Genres or Less" rule may not have made a difference here.


That being said, there are some suggestions I agree with. I think splitting off OVAs from Movies might be a good idea, and have a category for each.

[Archon_Wing]

Noooo penguindrum!

Although Homura not winning was kinda sad, Kurisu truly deserved to be appreciated as well.

Kaiji not even making it to nominations was kinda sad.

Usagi Drop winning by far the SoL category was nice.

Carnival Phantasm was nice, though it makes me think OVA should be separate from the movies.

loL@ Rider's pic. Though I really didn't think split cour meant different shows (I guess technically they do, so what are you gonna do?)

All and all, at least nobody swept the awards, so it looks like all the good shows save Penguin and Tiger & Bunny got some recognition.

[Blue-kun]

Disappointed with the results overall, but to be honest, my favourite show of 2011 was one that not a lot of people could enjoy (Star Driver), and the majority's favourite show was of the year was one that I never learned how to enjoy (Madoka). So I guess that was to be expected.

Oh well, here's hoping 2012 suits my tastes better! If only we could get another Adachi show going on, that would be perfect. But I guess it's not happening unless I win Euromillions and fund a KATSU! adaptation.

[0utf0xZer0]

I think I voted Fate/Zero for fantasy but I definitely agree with Madoka being dark fantasy.

Since we're on the topic of categories, can someone please explain to me why we went from "fanservice" in 2010 to "fanservice/ecchi/moe" in 2011? It's not like stuff like Ikoku Meiro or Tamayura ever really had a chance here.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

I think I voted Fate/Zero for fantasy but I definitely agree with Madoka being dark fantasy.

Since we're on the topic of categories, can someone please explain to me why we went from "fanservice" in 2010 to "fanservice/ecchi/moe" in 2011? It's not like stuff like Ikoku Meiro or Tamayura ever really had a chance here.

Yeah, I'd also like to see fanservice/ecchi split from moe.

It's not like either category doesn't have enough shows to warrant it. At least since K-On!'s first season, ever year has had a significant number of "healing" style moe anime (and most of these have little-to-no fanservice). And every year there's plenty of fanservice/ecchi shows. I really don't see the point in these two types of shows, with very different atmospheres/tones from one another (Tamayura ~Hitotose~ is very different from Maken-Ki), continuing to be combined like this.

[Last Sinner]

There were only 4 categories I cared about.

Usagi Drop won best Slice of Life. +
Kimi ni Todoke won Best Romance. +
Haganai won Fanservice. +
Kurisu won Best Female. +

I got what I wanted.

I knew most of the rest would be a Madoka fest. So be it.

Still bitter Chihayafuru wasn't eligible. It would have won at least one award (aka Sport/Hobby). By the next vote-off, I'll be amazed if people even remember it.

And what Reckoner said - split cour makes Fate/Zero eligible for two vote-offs at this rate?

And finally, I'll be interested to see which titles people still talk about considerably in five years time or newer fans around that time will pick up on. That's a true test of a series's power. Most series make a short-term impact but not many have staying power.

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Yeah, I'd also like to see fanservice/ecchi split from moe.

It's not like either category doesn't have enough shows to warrant it. At least since K-On!'s first season, ever year has had a significant number of "healing" style moe anime (and most of these have little-to-no fanservice). And every year there's plenty of fanservice/ecchi shows. I really don't see the point in these two types of shows, with very different atmospheres/tones from one another (Tamayura ~Hitotose~ is very different from Maken-Ki), continuing to be combined like this.

What if we dropped Fanservice as a genre altogether and just had a general category for "the show that had the best fanservice" instead of the best show in the Fanservice genre.

Since really... fanservice isn't a genre. Nor is Moe for that matter. Ecchi is a genre I suppose, but do we really need to include it in the awards?

I'd really like to know the thoughts of others on this.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Unfortunately, it appears that not that many people have watched Redline. It's mostly word-of-mouth that did its work.

I don't even know what it is. Never even heard about it until I saw its name here, in the choices.