Awesome EDs, ~2011 Edition

A couple of years ago I posted my “top 10 unskippable EDs”—titled that way because I used to skip EDs a lot of the time. Now I don’t do that unless it’s really bad. Anyway, all the embedded videos are broken in the old post and I watched a *lot* of anime in the past two years, so here’s a new list of memorable EDs.

TO BE ON THIS LIST I had to like the ED as a whole, meaning song and video both. There are some ED songs that I liked where the video is unmemorable (think Mawaru Penguindrum’s “Dear Future”—amazing song, boring vid). Some also might be awesomely bad.

These videos are alphabetized by the shows they came from. And no, I have absolutely nothing better to do, and yes, I’m very tired right now.

Ai-pon and Spectrums of Cute.

Today I’m gonna talk about this little lady and her characters:

I just want to squeeze her cheeks if that's all right.

Mouth of God: Mangaka Avatars In Anime Adaptions

Bad things happen when a manga author doesn’t like the adaption of their work. Kare Kano, GAINAX’s promising shoujo romcom adaption, was hamstrung when Tsuda Masami complained that it focused too much on comedy instead of romance and refused to allow another season, which lead to Anno Hideaki‘s departure from the studio. The project was left in shambles, culminating in one of anime’s most disappointing endings. Toriyama Akira said of Dragonball Evolution that he wasn’t sure what it had to do with his original manga at all. These disapprovals by original authors can range from hazardous to depressing, which is why it’s refreshing to see a manga author give their thumbs up to an anime adaption.

Rikudo Koushi, mangaka of Excel Saga

Holy Shit, I Knew Bakemonogatari Sold Really Well But…

These SHAFT show DVD/BD rankings are ridiculous! You always hear about how well Bakemonogatari sold, but it’s hard to get a real perspective on it until you see something like this. Another source provides the following data.
(2004年) *2,015 月詠 -MOON PHASE-  (Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-)
(2005年) *7,980 ぱにぽにだっしゅ!(※BOX合算 10,219) (Pani Poni Dash!)
(2006年) **,*** REC
(2006年) *8,516 ネギま!?  (Negima!?)
(2007年) *5,885 ひだまりスケッチ (Hidamari Sketch)
(2007年) *4,165 ef – a tale of memories.(BDBOX含まず)
(2007年) *7,077 さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
(2008年) *1,405 ef – a tale of melodies.(同発BD含まず)
(2008年) *5,451 俗・さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S2)
(2008年) *8,120 ひだまりスケッチ×365 (Hidamari Sketch x365)
(2009年) *3,389 まりあ†ほりっく (Maria Holic)
(2009年) **,246 夏のあらし! (Natsu no Arashi)
(2009年) *4,221 懺・さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S3)
(2009年) 75,416 化物語(〜5巻) (Bakemonogatari (just the first 5))
(2009年) **,*** 夏のあらし! 春夏冬中 (Natsu no Arashi S2)
(2010年) **,*** ひだまりスケッチ×☆☆☆ (Hidamari Sketch Hoshimitsu)
(2010年) **,*** ダンズインザヴァンパイアバンド (Dance in the Vampire Bund)
(2010年) **,*** 荒川アンダーザブリッジ (Arakawa Under the Bridge)

Staggering! I think it’s interesting how the second and third seasons of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei didn’t sell as well as the first, though the above chart leads me to believe that the OVA sales are what prompted further seasons to be made. I wonder why it is that the Natsu no Arashi sales seem to have been incorrectly marked, since there is no way it only sold 247 copies, especially with them making a second season and all, haha. I also think it’s interesting that ef melodies and Maria Holic sold poorly because I thought those shows sucked, so it looks like the consensus was pretty widely reached, hehe. Will be interested to see if Hidamari Sketch s3 continues what appears to be an incline in DVD sales over each season~

Top 10 Nut-Clenchingly Awesome First Scenes of Anime

As many have pointed out in the past, anime has a bad habit when it comes to starting shows off. An opening episode of anime tends to start off almost grindingly slow, reserving the hook until after the commercial break. Why this has become such common practice is beyond me – when I went to go look for anime with good opening scenes, I was surprised to find a nice little handful, but infinitely more surprised at just what a small percentage that handful was.

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LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC HEROES FANS: I GIVE YOU THE REINHARD COOKIE (+ Anime Cakes)

Today is Funeral’s 22nd birthday, and for the past 5 days or so, he’s been cramming down Legend of the Galactic Heroes. 25 episodes in, he’s saying that he’s ‘more into it than he can remember being for anything’ and is already considering it among his top favorite anime of all time. When it came time for my mom, who designs cakes and cookies for all of our birthdays, to make him a birthday cookie, he didn’t even suggest any of his other obsessions throughout the year, such as Inglourious Basterds or Green Lantern, but went straight for Reinhard von Lohengramm. The rest, my friends, is legend.

200 (+) Anime Worth Taking With Us Into the Next Decade

Zen of the Zetsubou Girls 3: Chiri Kitsu

A post in the “Zen of the Zetsubou Girls” series.

Whoever drew this really gets me ~Shinbo. Art by Saitou Rin http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=saitou_rin

Zen of the Zetsubou Girls 2: Abiru Kobushi

A post in the “Zen of the Zetsubou Girls” series.

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

Digiboy and Akiyuki Shinbo here, once again, to bring you our thoughts on the Zetsubou girls and what makes them so damn hot! Today we have Abiru Kobushi who, in stark contrast to the last girl, is very easy to find pornographic images of. Abiru appeals to quite a few fetishes, so I look forward to diving into her!

Zen of the Zetsubou Girls 1: Ai Kaga – Don't F This Up (5)

A post in the “Don’t Fuck This Up” series. In reply to comment number 24, by Owen S.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a show that stars a fairly large cast of voluptuous young ladies. When I was put to the task of delving into what exactly makes each of these girls so attractive – getting into ‘the bones of my boner’ so to speak – I knew I was facing quite a challenge. First, I knew it would have to be done in a series of posts. And second, I knew it couldn’t be done alone. The reason you see this Itoshiki avatar next to my text is that I’ve enlisted a fellow author to help me in the task of boning the Zetsubou girls! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce the man himself, the director of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Akiyuki Shinbo!