Forum - View topicAnime in America: Theron and Rebecca's Best, Worst, and Most Notable of 2014
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2633 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Frankie was intended as the entry point character when the franchise started - we initially followed her as she started at Monster High on her fifteenth day of life, and I feel like she just morphed in the heroine from there. Since I like her and think that it's a good idea to have a main character with visible scars, it doesn't bother me that she stuck around.  Draculaura's style was intended to be Goth Loli and reference Japanese pop culture, and in fact a doll of her in a Wa Loli outfit was just released, along with a specifically Japanese ghost doll, Kiyomi. The pink idea makes a lot of sense, now that you mention it!
The American webisodes are pretty fun, although very different in style and tone from the anime - Lagoona has an Australian accent and is much more down-to-earth, Clawdeen doesn't care about boys, and some of the guy characters are a lot of fun. There are also several movies on DVD and two series of novels, one YA and one middle grade. Also, thank you, willag. I really enjoy writing reviews.  I was thrilled when Theron asked me to fill in for Carl, and I had a lot of fun thinking about which shows to give awards to. Plus it helped shake off latke fatigue. Now if only I could get the smell out of the kitchen...
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yuna49
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At least Bamboo mentioned Kill la Kill in her year-end summary. Bahamut was a fun show, but it never reached the heights of KIll la KIll. The disconnect between the calendar year and what we might call the "television year" always poses problems for projects like these. Fall is often one of the strongest seasons, but any two-cour show that starts then will often fall through the cracks when it comes to awards in the subsequent year. From experience it's not easy to resolve this problem, but perhaps focusing on shows that ended in the current year rather than starting would help. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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"Focusing on shows that ended in the current year" and excluding things that hadn't yet finished would've eliminated the top 2 most popular series (tens of thousands of votes each) in our big user poll. So if we'd done that, the shows that the largest majority of people voted for wouldn't have been there, and we'd have people complaining that we aren't letting them vote on their favorite new shows of 2014. We didn't do these polls last year - or the top 5s - so there's nothing to compare it to, but if we had, I don't doubt Kill la Kill would've been #1 or #2 (likely #2 behind Attack on Titan). It would have had its due then and there would be no complaining that it isn't getting credit this year. It's not like the show only became mega-popular in 2014. It was a smash hit right out of the gate last fall. In 2015 I'm just going to run a poll for a separate category - 2015's Best Show From 2014 or something like that - that allows people to vote on their favorite series that concluded in 2015 but began the previous year. The thing is, unless both of those series totally crap the bed, I can guarantee you Parasyte and Fate/stay night will be #1 and #2 on that list as well. So now that we're doing these yearly, do I even need to run that second poll? Those series already got their due. So at the very least I need to run it as its own category. |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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You're welcome, Rebecca. I'm glad you enjoy writing them, because I really enjoy reading them.
As for the Monster High anime (which I was completely unaware of until this article), does Ghoulia talk outside of just grunts? While I never really became a MH fan myself (I was made aware of it 2 years ago when my Salvation Army Angel Tree child requested some MH dolls, so I researched on the characters and watched several of the mini online episodes), there were several things I appreciated about the francise, such as how the supernatural aspect affected the visual appearance of the characters (like you, I also like how Frankie has visible scars all over). But I also loved different decisions they made for the characters themselves. Such as the fact that Ghoulia only communicates through moans and groans since she's a zombie, especially since it doesn't sound all that attractive. I imagine the anime would make her voice sound cuter, but I hope they stayed true to form and didn't give her the ability to communicate beyond moans and groans. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2633 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Ghoulia in the anime can't talk at all, and is often seen dragging herself around, which I didn't like as much as the hunched-over shuffle the original gives her. The anime has Sir Hoots-a-Lot (her pet owl) do the talking. I'm not sure how I feel about that, really...
I actually started paying attention to the franchise because I thought it had a more positive message than a lot of fashion dolls, and then I started to notice its crossover appeal - its unusual for a toy line to get both YA and middle grade novelizations, and lately it's been branching out into monsters from other cultures. I love Marisol Coxi, a Peruvian bigfoot, whose design includes very hairy ankles. There's also a sister series/toy line, Ever After High, which is pretty interesting too - though much prettier, which feels like a step backwards. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18363 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I understand what you're saying - this was long acknowledged to be a problem with the Academy Awards, after all - but in 2014 the Winter season was, I think by a fair margin, the weakest of the four seasons for quality shows, while the Fall season was by far the strongest. (In fact, I specifically remember thinking when the end of March rolled around, "man, that was a pretty weak season.") As for series carrying over from previous seasons, if it's something that we're watching then it will get considered; last year From The New World was on my list and it was a 2012-2013 carry-over, for instance. None of the ones you named were ones I was following this year, and multi-year shows like HxH are always at a disadvantage. But that's part of what this response thread is for: to bring up worthy stuff that we might have missed. Frankly, though, even if I had seen those series, I seriously doubt that I would have changed any of my individual awards. The three I had were very strong choices. My Death Scene picks were also inviolable (even though one technically shouldn't have been considered for 2014, I guess) since both of those are incredibly strong, too.
Where was this used? I never came across it. Someone also asked about whether or not I'd seen Steins;Gate yet. Still haven't, but 2014 in general was a bad year for me to try to watch anything that wasn't a simulcast or for review purposes. |
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Barbobot
 Posts: 460 |
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It was the ED for Stardust Crusaders. |
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YotaruVegeta
 Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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Are you serious? What's "ugly" about Bahamut, and what's unlikeable about Favaro? He's a classic rogue, and later on you get why he's that way. This is one of the most gorgeous shows of 2014, if not the #1. I don't see anything in the art style that would turn off anime fans. It's not unorthodox or unusual. |
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leatherhead333
 Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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Understandable list but a few of Rebecca's picks seem to be contradictory.
There is a category "Biggest Bastard" but Rebecca seems to pick a character fitting of that award in "Best Death". Picking someone for the biggest bastard would be someone you want to see dead because of their horrible and unforgivable deeds right? While her pick for the "Big Death" didn't match up overall to the "Biggest Bastard" as far as evilness if she was willing to pick it over ALL the deaths that have happened this year obviously there had to be something even more despicable about said pick. Not sure I can agree on it either. I mean Makina's mom was pretty much every throwaway villain I saw in Akame ga Kill. I suppose it's rare for a villain to be killed off in such a way but that didn't exactly make it memorable or satisfying in my opinion. Of course I had a beef with how the main character even got to such a position through his "James Bond" antics that I sort of blotted it out 
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RANGIT
Posts: 80 |
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That was me and I totally understand. With so many shows coming out each year, it's amazing how you guys manage to keep up. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts about Steins;Gate sometime. The series wrapped up nicely in my opinion. While I haven't seen the movie myself, I think it's going to be a nice watch if you do end up liking the series. So yeah, probably better to wait for that or whenever.
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18363 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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[goes and watches closer] Okay, this would have gotten at least a mention had I been aware of it, but I've never been a fan of JoJo so I didn't see past the first episode. (It starts in the third.) Still think I would have gone with "aLIEz" for the winner, though. |
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Shaterri
Posts: 173 |
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Different strokes for different folks - I found that Log Horizon monologue unfocused and downright nonsensical in spots, and I'm a huge fan of the show and its characters in general. The group of folks I usually watch anime with was laughing outright at the absurdity of it. I thought Hatoko's rant, by contrast, was amazing and I agree that it was one of the great scenes of the year. (And as an aside - am I the only one who's almost surprised Hatoko isn't voiced by Kana Hanazawa? She seems like exactly her kind of character to me.) |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Key I agree that Winter 2014 was pretty weak, but I was still surprised not to see those shows mentioned at all. (Didn't get past ep 1 of Wizard Barristers myself, but the premise seemed so cool!) Glad to know that the stuff that started this fall like my favorite Parasyte and the sadly overlooked Garo weren't disregarded, they were just ineligible until after they conclude in 2015. I'm hoping both shows gain steam as they go on, they really deserve it. (I've heard Garo has *2* seasons and a movie in the works, plus it has a long history of its live action franchise behind it and likely an upcoming Funimation dub release to build its fanbase in the English speaking world).
If we focus on 2014 specifically, it was a very notable year for comedies in particular. Strong comedies like Hozuki no Retetsu and My Neighbor Seki/Tonari no Seki-kun were overshadowed by even stronger comedies like Barakamon and Monthly Girls" Nozaki-kun. We should've gone the Golden Globe/Emmy's route and separated the comedies into their own category. Curious what the critics and other posters thought of all the great comedies this year. 2014 was such a strong year there would have been no way to cover everything, or to watch everything. Hopefully 2015 will follow suit so we can argue some more about good vs. better vs. best next year! |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11538 |
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@ Shaterri: I did go watch her rant, and I agree it was amazing. I think part of why I like William's monologue was for the sheer audacity of doing it. I had a couple of moments where I was mentally complaining that he was repeating himself (I also felt that way during The Major's final pontificating in Hellsing X) but overall it left quite an impact, and I'm not even a gamer.
Another personal award for Best Antagonist goes to Toshinari Seki (Tonari no Seki-kun). Never has anyone been so creative at getting under someone else's skin, intentionally or not. |
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pandoraking
 Posts: 213 |
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damn, i can't agree with anything xDD i think u have to watch more anime cz it seems u only watched like 5. this year was a great year for anime but not for any of the reasons u posted xD
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