2008 has been my first year of watching anime as it airs. Really, it’s just me getting to grips with whether following the currently airing seasons is actually worth it by looking back and assessing what I went through.

The rating system here is basically a ranking in order of preference - least to most favourite. A few shows share a slot because I can’t decide which was better to watch.

Birdy the Mighty: Decode + Shikabane Hime Aka: Dropped. In each case I liked the first episode but found the meat of the series unsatisfying – both times getting to episode 5 then throwing in the towel.

The Daughter of Twenty Faces: Looked mediocre, improved rapidly and massively, then collapsed utterly. Having heard several people getting excited about the show, I started watching with an enjoyable episodes 1-7 marathon. During that golden spell this seemed like a promising charismatic old school adventure. As it stands, I haven’t seen the last episodes and I don’t care.

Kurozuka: Solid. Not serious and not consistently entertaining enough to rank any higher. It’s a non-episodic action series – meaning that the spread of fun and fighting was uneven and probably would have been better enjoyed in batches. Studio Madhouse’s predictably sure touch gave us vicious combat in moody locales. As it was, the overarching narrative wasn’t strong enough to keep the pace up during the lulls. Instead I just waited through the shadows for the next boss fight.

Code Geass R2 + The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk: Both threw out bucketloads of delirious joy when at their most ridiculous. Both proved incapable of holding their best elements together. The difference was that I followed Druaga as it came out – experiencing the ups and downs, but forced down Geass R2 over a single confounding week. The frequently shitty second season of Geass would have ranked lower still without that magnificently sly, unforgettable ending. The generally pleasant Druaga could have ranked higher without its tedious sequel-minded nonconclusion.

———–Where things get good———-

Kannagi: For all the finesse  behind this production, it was not a case of perfect execution. The budget was perfect, the series was not. I didn’t care for it at all as drama, but when throwing the jokes in at maximum speed this proved itself a very fine comedy, and was thus, briefly, a weekly highlight. A genuinely good show which tried to deliver something ambitious with its story without quite pulling it off.

Mouryou no Hako + Kurenai: A pair of curate’s eggs. Mouryou for its perplexing plot and lack of subtitling. Kurenai for managing to become unsatisfying without ever really suffering a clear breakdown in quality. These adaptations share good looks and intelligent writing – although in neither case can I quite pinpoint what I’m supposed to take away from the experience. Mouryou may raise its status when it becomes properly available to Western mystery fans, Kurenai is doomed to go down as a case study in near-excellence.

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~: An utterly stunning (albeit over-sentimental) ending distinguishes this nice little show. Definitely not something that will suit everyone – with the kind of comatose pacing seemingly designed with the express purpose of punishing those uneasy with ’slice of life’. Distinctive and comforting – never a classic, but with enough charm to ensure that I wasn’t too bothered about that.

———–A class above———-

Bounen no Xam’d: Where a series like Natsu no Sora feels naturally second tier, the expensive production and evident ambition of a show like Xam’d meant that its failure to excel at every turn could feel like a let down. My expectation that those exceptional qualities could transfer into a state of perpetual satisfaction was largely satisfied during the second half.

Xam’d is a story that provides considerable food for thought – but the connections it made with me were primarily via its characters, and not the overarching themes. At the end of the day, it’s a quality product capable of extraordinary moments, even though I’m not particularly fond of it.

Soul Eater: Something I am fond of. Totally pandering to my tastes, but managing to be inventive and exciting in doing so. Soul Eater demonstrates absolute mastery of genre – able to lightheartedly toy with clichés at the same time as as delivering the best aspects of its influences in distilled form.

Not quite up there with my magic all time favourites, and frankly a show that has fallen in my opinion during a piecemeal second half, which seems destined to provide yet another example of Studio Bones’s persistent problem with endings. If I’d been doing the rankings in November, this would be top. Regardless, Soul Eater is a series that has given me masses of pure pleasure, and there’s still a chance that it can pull itself back to preeminence in my eyes before the story comes to a close.

——–Entering the (personal) canon——–

Kaiba: Unique and involving. The last 5 or 10 minutes (yeah, endings matter a lot) didn’t quite strike the perfect tone for me, but thinking through the number of episodes from its short run that were powerful and memorable in their own right provides ample testament to its class.

A show with the gift of making itself feel special. Kaiba’s visual originality and willingness to follow through with its ideas remain exceptional. But what sets it apart from most other shows with style and intelligence is the elegance of its structuring – with changes in tone and shifts from episodic to serial storytelling carried out with aplomb. Kaiba looks and, sometimes chooses to feel, loose and uncontrolled, but is really a case study in pure empathetic elegance.

Detroit Metal City: Pretty much the best pure comedy anime I know. Also functions as the ultimate denial of anime blogging.

Michiko to Hatchin: For the way the drama intersects with the delicious capering. When this show deals with interpersonal conflict it’s invariably brilliantly written and directed – subtle and sharp to an impressive degree. The only things that compare to it in these respects are Kurenai and Xam’d, maybe Mouryou no Hako. But Michiko to Hatchin is far more coherent, harder edged, and miles cooler than all of those shows put together.

In many ways it’s my perfect ‘ongoing series experience’. The episodes vary wildly in approach, but with a guaranteed level of intelligence. It weaves a journeying tale out of a series of brief encounters and aimless occurrences – collecting the clutter of real life and the absurdity of fiction into one narrative whole. And yes, it is probably for fans of cinema as much as or more than it is for fans of anime. Doesn’t stop it from being the best game in town.