More Info On the Acadime Awards (And the Preliminary Award for Best Magnificent Douchebag)

The response to my Acadime Awards announcement has been overwhelmingly positive, and a number of volunteers have already come forth. I’m excited to see how this’ll turn out, however, I think there’s been some confusion as to how this all works and what part you can do to help, so I decided to present a preliminary award to show what it’ll be like.

Art by 0123456789 http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=0123456789

Here’s what you’ll be seeing: First, I introduce the award. (In the actual posts, this will be done with a video of me in a snazzy suit.) Next, I introduce the nominees and do a short write-up about why I selected each of them. Finally, I introduce the presenter who will announce the winner, and then that person announces the winner and does their own write-up about it.

It’s important to note that I am the one who chooses the winner. The person presenting is someone who agrees with me that the winner is deserving. I should’ve made this more clear before letting people choose whatever categories they wanted, because I didn’t really take into account that they might not like my winning pick. I’d already planned from the start to give a lot of the categories to people whom I knew liked the winner, but I should’ve probably done that for more.

In cases where the presenter isn’t picky and likes all of the nominees, this isn’t really a problem (2D-Teleidoscope, for instance, was an unplanned presenter, but he’s so damn easy to work with <3). However, I realized that problems would arise when the person I’d given the OP and ED categories to didn’t actually like the OP and ED I was most likely to choose as the winner. Hopefully, all confusion about that is now cleared up, and anything still unclear will be made apparent in the following preliminary award.

Best Magnificent Douchebag

(Note: This intro was written by the presenter thanks to another misunderstanding, but I liked it anyway. If you want, you can write the intro too, since I’m not great at it.)

The field of anime is full of tradition. You’ve got angsty teenagers, hotblooded manly men, and titty-bouncing eyecandy. However, none of these compare to the magnificent douchebag. These souls are few in number, but run circles around everyone else while laughing at the pitiful struggling of those around them. Generally geniuses or at least smarter than the average bear, magnificent douchebags have a certain flair about them that other characters do not. Many characters in anime are douchebags, but few are magnificent douchebags.

The nominees for Best Magnificent Douchebag are:

Shidou Koichi (Highschool of the Dead)

Formerly a teacher at the titular high school, he quickly took advantage of the situation when it became “of the dead.” Shidou-sensei got a schoolbus full of kids to follow him like a religious cult and abide by his every whim. He made the girls act out his perverse fantasies, which in turn got the boys even more on his side, and he used the situation to justify unnecessarily excessive cruelty. Shidou’s douchebag credit came from feeding students to the zombies when they might’ve gotten in his way or didn’t obey his commands, and for having a God complex in spite of being a total pussy. His magnificence comes from his grandiose presence.

Orihara Izaya (Durarara!!)

Izaya is the kind of asshole who uses everyone for his own entertainment and generally doesn’t give a fuck about how they feel. He enjoys people about as far as he can use them, and if he can’t use them, then he just fucks around with them. The magnificent part is that Izaya always manages to come out on top and always seems to be in control. The pinnacle of his douchebaggery comes in the form of a chess board in his office where he plots out his schemes using shogi, go, and chess pieces as the most pretentious imaginable representations of people.

Envy (FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood)

On the inside, he has a burning hatred and jealousy towards mankind, but being the horribly weak-minded individual that he is, he would never admit this, and acts as though he murders people out of enjoyment and just because he can. In spite of the weakness in his personality, Envy is unmistakably strong and the personal cause of many of the world’s greatest catastophes, from the Ishbalan genocide to the murders of many important characters. He wants to be seen as the man who turns the wheels, an unstoppable force against the human race, and no matter how weak-minded he is, he manages to accomplish that to some extent.

And now, to present the award for Best Magnificent Douchebag, Mr. Robert Weizer!

It is with great honor that I announce 2010’s Best Magnificent Douchebag…. Orihara Izaya From Durarara!!

Art by RAHWIA http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=196277

In my mind, Baron Ashura was 2009’s Best Magnificent Douchebag, however Izaya is much more down to Earth and has a certain flair that many in the field do not. He has no special powers besides the amazing ability to instantly piss off Heiwajima Shizuo. He makes everything in the series happen for the hell of it and he masterminds most of everything that happens simply by manipulating information. He’s a badass that never really needs to get directly involved, and he knows it. It’s a treat when he does get directly involved, though!

***

In the actual Acadime Awards posts, there will likely be more flair, and I will also ask for longer write-ups from the presenters than the one Weizer gave (ghostlightning’s are the lengths of full posts, but you don’t have to go that far lol.) But now I’m sure you understand how this will all work out. Here’s a list of participants and a list of the positions again, and this time, I’ll clarify which ones just anyone can go for, and which ones I’ll be looking for a specific person to fill. Also, so far I’ve been allowing people to take on two categories if they want, to make sure everything gets filled.

Current Participants: 2D Teleidoscope, ghostlightning, lolikitsune, zzeroparticle

Categories: (presenter confirmed)

• Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role
• Best Actress in a Leading Role
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Best Animation (Movie/OVA)
• Best Animation (TV)
• Best Animation Direction (looking for someone with knowledge of animation direction)
• Best Art Direction (looking for someone with knowledge of art direction)
• Best Breakthrough Performance
• Best Character Designs
• Best Director (looking for someone with knowledge of directing)
• Best ED
• Best Female Character
• Best Fight Scene (Human) (will chose based on winner)
• Best Fight Scene (Robot)
• Best Male Character (will chose based on winner)
• Best Mecha Design
• Best Movie
• Best On-Screen Couple
• Best On-Screen Team (will chose based on winner)
• Best OP (will chose based on winner)
• Best Original Soundtrack
• Best Original OVA
• Best OVA For An Existing Franchise
• Best Scene
• Best Series
• Best Villain
• Best Writing

Once again, thanks to everyone who decides to participate, and I look forward to how this all turns out!