a couple of anime-related lists

Because I haven't done a list post in a while. More relevant if you watch anime or are open to it.

Favorite Anime Openings:
I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes a good opening is enough to make me want to watch a series- especially the less conventional ones. The main criteria for this list is that I have to like the song at least, and then the visuals, but in this case I tried to prioritize visuals that didn't look too overused or familiar and so wound up with a bit more variety than usual. This could probably be taken as a recommendation list if you're looking for something to watch, although I actually haven't gotten around to watching a few entries yet. :P

Anime sometimes gets a bad rep for being immature and catering to unrealistic fantasies or stereotypes and the subculture that it represents, and I'll admit that there is a lot of shit out there... but just as with any other medium, there are worthwhile series to watch if you look around enough. I think anime in particular has strength in its ability to convey creative settings and scenarios that often can't really be captured anywhere else. Of course, some of the titles on here will still come across as weird to people, but what can I say, I have a higher tolerance threshold for these things now.

Also, the order in this list doesn't really matter, but I'm counting down just for the heck of it.

13. Psycho Pass, 2nd OP

The colors, and the song that keeps getting stuck in my head.

12: Baccano!

The anime take on a pulp fiction atmosphere? See also Durarara!! 1st OP

11. Bokurano

Feels a bit more old-school in the sense that the video doesn't exactly cater to the music, but does a good job of setting the tone for the series.

10. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, 4th OP

*warning, video has spoilers* - Probably my favorite action in a shounen series opening.

9. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig

Because we need more openings with Russian lyrics.

8. Ano Hana

Cute and nostalgic of days past.

7. Paranoia Agent

The laughing bobble-heads are bizarre and creepy, but it perfectly captures how unsettling this series is.

6. Samurai Champloo

Hip Hop + Samurais. The combo works surprisingly well.

5. Kaiba

Like a dream. Everything is transient except for the sentiment behind it all.

4. Honey and Clover

It's so creative! and the shrimp at the end always gets me.

3. Angel Beats

Angel Beats feels like the darker reverse cousin of Clannad After Story and is even sung by the same person, Lia. I like how it mimics the style of a visual novel opening without fully going there.

2. Welcome to the N.H.K.

Love the color palette, motifs, and strange imagery in this one.

1. Kids on the Slope

Smooth and upbeat. Yuki's voice took some getting used to for me back in Honey and Clover, but I love her here.

Runners-Up:
- Monster
- Phantom ~Requiem For the Phantom~
- Cowboy Bebop
- Digimon Adventure
- Clannad After Story
- Nichijou
- Last Exile
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, 2nd OP
- Hyouka
- Beck
- Attack on Titan, 1st OP
- Card Captor Sakura, 1st OP
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes, 3rd OP
- Planetes
- Steins; Gate
- Gosick
- Ping Pong the Animation
- The Twelve Kingdoms

Disappointing Anime Experiences:
I usually try to avoid watching series that probably would end up in this category if possible, but sometimes it just happens.

5. Sword-Art Online
Premise had potential (it's like dot hack, people trapped in a MMORPG, but less emo), but wound up being way too cliche'd and tropey for me. This isn't always a problem if the series is fine with acknowledging it, but in SAO's case, it felt like it was trying to pass off as something more substantial when it wasn't. They just had to make every girl fall in love with the main character, who isn't really that interesting to begin with, and the villain in the second half was laughably pathetic compared to previous one.

4. Eureka 7
So to be honest, it wasn't really that bad, but I think I watched this a decade too late. The themes are more high-school age oriented and aren't really interesting to me anymore, and the only arc that really drew me in was the one in the middle with Charles/Ray, which by online consensus happens to be the main high point of the series anyway, as it dealt with issues such as foster parenthood and loyalty to a cause in the midst of war. Most of the rest of the cast came across to me as either annoying or forgettable, and I couldn't really stand Renton's whininess... nor Eureka's even once she started developing a personality for once.

3. Code Geass R2
I enjoyed the experience of the series overall... but the second half felt a lot weaker compared to the first. The show took itself seriously as if every character's story mattered, but the stories themselves towards the end relied largely on arbitrary mistakes and unfortunate coincidences (essentially Murphy's Law) to create suspense and tension to the point where it felt like half of the plot didn't need to happen at all, and only did so because everyone (including the most innocent character, Nunnally... wtf) happened to be hot-headed and stubborn and failed at communicating with each other.

It was one thing to create a huge plot changing twist out of an innocent mistake in the first season; it was another thing altogether to continue in the same vein of creating scenarios out of unfortunately timed coincidences up to the point where the rest of the series started becoming laughably predictable. Not to mention, the animation style overall tended towards the bombastic and exaggerated in order to come across as epic. Well technically, the series has always been over the top like that, but I was really growing tired of it this time.

2. Umineko: When They Cry
I love the Umineko sound novels (although they do have their own problems), but I don't think this series really adapts well to the animated medium to begin with. A story meant to be a metafictional narrative about detective novels doesn't really make sense as much in an animated medium- particularly the red text battle sequences, which fundamentally would cause a lot of confusion to an anime-only viewer. The lack/butchering of music from the sound novel also really killed the mood, in addition to the unnecessary fan-service and excessive amounts of creepy Maria moments even by Umineko standards.

To be honest, though, I think the only adaptation that Studio DEEN has ever really done decently well was the second season of Higurashi, and that was after listening to the fans when they fumbled up season 1. But at least the overall creepy atmosphere of Higurashi was able to carry first season along well enough; strip Umineko of its epic atmosphere and you don't really have much else left.

1. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA 3
The Tenchi Muyo series probably isn't actually that great relative to other anime today, but the first two OVAs at least somehow managed to pull off an impressive genre bending combination of sci-fi and traditional Japanese slice-of-life... while at the same time serving as a quintessential example of the comedic harem genre. And it's one of the few such examples from that genre that I'm not turned off by (as opposed to say, Love Hina), just because it did the sci-fi and everything else well enough- I mean, how many other series can you think of that uses giant trees and cat-rabbit hybrids for spaceships? It had a surprisingly decent amount of character development for everyone in the cast as well (aside from maybe Mihoshi, who's such a ditz that she doesn't really need it anyway).

All of that is just to say that OVA 3 totally butchered that formula. It pushed in too many new characters all of a sudden and meandered about aimlessly while focusing on them over the main cast... until the last episode, where it suddenly pulled off a massive plot dump (without any exposition to explain what was happening) that attempted to resolve all of the questions left over from the previous two series. In other words, it turned into a rushed, almost incomprehensible mess, which was disappointing considering how much potential the three goddesses storyline had. I guess for now there's still a possible future for a Kagato story as hinted at by the last episode and the Shin Tenchi Muyo novels, but considering how the author's handled all of the newer Tenchi OVA universe series... oh well.

Apparently there's a new Tenchi series coming out this fall, but with the five minute shorts style, it sounds more like something in the style of Teen Titans Go! without much substance. I don't really expect much anymore anyway.