This year hasn’t been easy for me on a number of
levels. In fact, id dare to say this has
been one of the worst years of my life.
That’s not to say 2015 has been all bad.
Katsucon and Otakon delivered much needed relief and Star Wars returned
triumphantly. Through the good times and
bad, I’ve still made it my mission to update this blog every Monday and
Wednesday with new reviews and favorite lists.
I’m not sure how many are actually reading. But for those who have stopped by and taken a
minute to read a bit, I would like to express my thanks. It’s small but this blog is still growing and
no matter what will continue to do so.
With all that said, to close out 2015, I thought I’d take
a look back at the library of titles I’ve covered this year and rank up what
were my favorite series or movies to cover this year.
#5-Live Action Movie Month (Death Note 1&2, Space
Battleship Yamato and Shinobi)
Seeing Anime done right, or at all really, in live action
is a treat. Going against the norm of my
usual reviews, I decided that I would branch out and tackle the few that I had/really
enjoyed. Look forward to more of these
kind of reviews in the future, maybe even a comparison or two if I ever get
around to it). If I ever get some more
live action titles ive been dying to see (Rurouni Kenshin-which I have seen and
may post a review I wrote a while back, Attack on Titan, Gatchaman, Lupin III)
look forward to another couple of visits to the realm of Live Action Anime.
#4-Escaflowne
Reviewing this series put some things in perspective for
me. Even if I loved a series a lot back
in the day, time can change your perception.
Case in point, Escaflowne. I
never had a problem with this series when I first watched it (finally) several
years ago. I think watching it this time
through was my first since Otakon 2010 when I bought it. Seeing how really, REALLY rough the series
gets in it’s second half made me wonder…why did I like Escaflowne to begin
with? Was it the nostalgia for watching
it on Fox Kids? Was it the Aurthurian
Mecha involved? I cant pinpoint anything
exact. Still I do hold this show in good
regard, flaws and all. It was just good
to take a fresh look at it and point out some of the elements that are not so
great…and still find a way to ignore them and enjoy the fun.
#3-Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie
It’s rare I get to review something more current than old
school. Seeing GITS in the movies again,
a new iteration, was one of the best movie nights ive had all year. Those of you who read here know that Ghost in
the Shell has a healthy representation on this blog (I’ve covered all of Stand
Alone Complex and am working on Arise slowly but surely). To review brand spanking new GITS right after
seeing it was a no brainer. If I do end
up seeing more Anime in theaters at special screenings, I’ll be sure to do more
reviews on them as well.
#2-Mobile Suit Gundam 00
This was just plain fun.
When I was mapping out my review for this series, I knew there was no
way I could go my normal pace of one volume a week and make it to Otakon. There was also the risk of going several
months with just this series and I didn’t want this blog to be soley Gundam
focused (even though it’s in the blogs title).
The strategy was made and the execution, was a whole lot of fun. Getting to relive this tradition again was
great and so was finally voicing my thoughts on elements I found annoying or
just dumb, Graham Acker jump off a building.
I loved reviewing a series this long at a more consistent pace and
writing shorter reviews to cover the long time span. Gundam 00 was an experiment that succeeded. So much in fact, I’ll just announce here I’ll
be repeating the same review process with Code Geass and Code Geass R2 around
the same time next summer. I cant wait.
#1-Gundam Build Fighters
Easy top choice.
Well not so easy really, I was seriously giving this spot to Gundam
00. Build Fighters topped the list
because of a couple of reasons. First,
this was one of the few times I did a full series review in one sitting rather than
split it up. To be honest, I never
expected to do that. I was just going to
shout strong praises but ended up being so detailed it had to be counted as a
review. (I might even go back and mark my Rants on Madoka Magica 3 and Gundam
Build Fighters Try as full fledged reviews too). The second has to deal with those strong praises. I loved this show and it made me smile and
laugh and go WHOA and WHAT on several occasions. Granted that made the heart break of Build
Fighters Try all the more worse BUT I still hold Gundam Build Fighters as one
of my all time favorite Gundam entries.
Not bad for a show about Gunpla and not two armies trying to kill each
other.
I wonder what series I have yet to review will be the big
winner of next year. If you are reading
this and have been following, any favorites of your own? Shout out in the comments below and see you
all in 2016.
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