After a huge year of anime last year, I think my interest petered out again. I'm not sure why that is -- I'm just not that interested in a lot of series, and it doesn't help that anime companies in Japan tend to focus on shounen more than shoujo. I also tend to be uninterested in anime adaptations of manga I've read; more often than not, the pacing is worse and the art is less detailed.

No spoilers below for any of the series.

Series that I am not really fond of but don't actually dislike

( Romeo x Juliet )

Series I am fond of

( Gundam Wing )

( Mushishi )

( Nana )

Favorite series of the year

( Haibane Renmei )

( Honey and Clover )

I didn't think anything could really be more beautiful, eerier, or flat out stranger than the manga, and yet...

So far, this is a series with really high production values. The backgrounds and the music (as far as I can tell) are gorgeous, as is the animation and the voicework. And they really add to the experience of the story, so much so that I wasn't at all bored, even though the first three episodes are completely straight and very faithful retellings of stories from vol. 1 of the manga.

I love all the little details: how Ginko wears slightly Western clothes while everyone else is clad in traditional Japanese clothing, the emerald green of Ginko's one eye contrasted with the muted browns and greens of the background, actually being able to hear the silence or the noise described in the story about the silence-eating mushi.

rachelmanija has a better write-up of the basic premise of the series.

And even though seeing something animated should have completely horrified me or squicked me out (mushi in ears), there's something so matter-of-fact about Ginko's attitude and the animation. I just watched, eyes wide and mouth open in wonder, as Ginko smears the sticky remains of a mushi off his hands and a little boy gets grossed out.

I think this is going to be one of the rare shows in which I want to both read the manga and watch the anime, even if it is repeating storylines.

Really, really recommended, maybe even for people who don't normally like anime.

I watched A LOT of anime this year. I largely blame credit rilina and umadoshi for this, although octopedingenue and rachelmanija also deserve incriminating glares praise for their enthusiasm.

It seems a little lopsided to have 5 out of the 10 series I watched in the "favorite series" section, but I watched a lot of good anime this year. Also, it helped that I was getting the cream of the crop; rilina was doing a lot of the screening for me by watching a whole lot of series and then pimping her favorites to me. I also finally watched some oft-praised series which I've had on the to-watch list for a few years (namely, Princess Tutu and FMA).

This was actually a great way to watch anime, since I got the fun experience of the FMA and Princess Tutu pile up, and I got to squee to other people most of the time.

Unsurprisingly, I watched a whole lot of shoujo. Again, unsurprisingly, most of my favorite series were shoujo.

No spoilers below for any of the series. I'm also including pimping information for my favorite series, since I naturally want people to watch them. If you want more information on the other series, I'd suggest checking out rilina's giant 2006: the Year in Anime post, since she includes helpful links and info for all the series she watched, which overlap all of my series, with the exception of Gunslinger Girl. Or you can check out the series-specific tags below, or my Memories in the sidebar.

Series that I am not really fond of but don't actually dislike

( Bleach )

( Last Exile )

( Yami no Matsuei )

Series I am fond of

( Gunslinger Girl )

( Saiunkoku Monogatari )

Favorite series of the year

( Honey and Clover )

( Ouran High School Host Club )

( Princess Tutu )

( Samurai Champloo )

And my very favorite series of the year was easy to pick this time:

( Fullmetal Alchemist )

I am now officially in love with this series. I still can't keep some of the characters straight in my head, but there's something about the quietness of this show that really moves me.

It reminds me most, strangely enough, of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Not the giant robots, obviously, but the moments in which characters sit on a train, reduced to silhouettes because of the brilliant sunset, and watch the telephone poles whiz by. All you hear is the sound of cicadas humming and the clanging of the train.

Honey and Clover doesn't have the train scenes, but there are so many tiny moments that I love, that are done so carefully, that it would have been hard not to fall in love with it.

A small girl sits by herself on the floor, feeling alone and lonely. After a few moments pass, she slowly reaches out to her sketchbook, and we know she'll be all right. The pavement is speckled by a few drops of rain, then suddenly, the entire area darkens as you hear the downpour. A man stands on the balcony smoking, the light coming through the curtain illuminating him.

I feel these episode write-ups are going to be particularly vague, just because it's really a series driven by moments and not by general plot. The six people live and go to school and fall in love and have their heart broken and worry about money and create art, and it sounds so boring, but because the writers and animators have such a delicate, sure touch, it's fascinating to watch. The series knows about the peace found in small moments.

I will say that I am gritting my teeth at the romantic triangle, even though it's handled fairly well and not sporkily. But I wish the two women on the show had more moments than they currently do -- I wish there would be more on Yamada aside from her brashness and her crush on Mayama, and while I very much adore Hagu and her eccentricities, I want more of her as a subject, not as an object of affection.

I now want to show this to everyone because it is so lovely and so quiet and sad and still and happy.

(I need to make myself a Princess Tutu icon, but for now, I feel the Utena one is quite on-topic)

I write this up for octopedingenue, who I think has been attempting to get the entire world to watch Princess Tutu (and quite rightly so, by the way).

I have been meaning to watch this for at least a year now, and possibly for two. It's gotten many comparisons to Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of my favorite brain-breaking anime series (the other being Neon Genesis Evangelion), along with the fact that it's about a duck who becomes a girl who becomes a magical ballerina and saves the world through ballet!

I mean, I knew this!

And yet, when I watched, and saw the duck become a girl become a magical ballerina, I laughed and laughed and laughed in delight because it was SO AWESOME. I do not mock. It is honestly that awesome!

The story begins with sepia-toned illustrations and an old woman's voice intoning, "Mukashi mukashi..." (the Japanese version of "Once upon a time..."). It goes on to talk about a prince who was fighting an evil raven and ended up shattering his heart to imprison the raven. But! The author of the book (Herr Drosselmeyer -- yes! Can you start to see why this is SO AWESOME?!) died before the book was finished, and the characters managed to escape. The old woman's voice says, "The most tragic thing is a story that never ends," or something to that effect.

So already, in the first two minutes, there are layers of narrative. Then we're introduced to Ahiru (literally "duck" in Japanese, and I love that the subtitles just call her Duck), who is sitting in a pond, watching a prince dance on the lake (yes, on the lake). She wants to dance with the prince, and the very creepy figure of Drosselmeyer steps in, essentially pauses the show, and gives her a mysterious red amulet.

Next thing you know, a slightly goofy-looking pink-haired girl wakes up, wondering if she was dreaming about being a duck (or was she a duck dreaming about being a girl?).

Ahiru's been entranced with Mytho, an unemotional ballet dancer somehow held in check by his best friend/keeper Fakir and pursued by the prima ballerina Rue. Of course, Mytho is the prince from the story, and Ahiru begins turning into Princess Tutu to collect shards of his heart.

I love this so much! First of all, there's the whole fairy tale thing. Ahiru's the ugly duckling who turns into a swan/ballerina, as referenced in the opening titles, and it's no surprise that Princess Tutu is dressed like Odette from Swan Lake. Then there's a strange green-haired lady who wanders around giving Ahiru advice like the old women/fairies/etc. in the stories. Like Cinderella and the little mermaid, there are conditions to Ahiru's human condition -- once she behaves like a duck, she turns back into one. Only in her case, jumping back in water will turn her back into a girl again (like Ranma 1/2!). She actually uses her duck form to do things, btw, which is just more kinds of wonderful. And, of course, there is the prince without a heart. The best part is, in every episode, the opening sepia-toned illustrations and narration change to give the viewer more and more of the fairy tale.

Then there's the fact that it's a story within a story, as referenced by Drosselmeyer, who every so often pops in to comment on the plot. He's almost always shown in a blank space surrounded by gears, referencing both the Drosselmeyer character from The Nutcracker, who is an inventor and toy-maker, and the fact that he's essentially turning the gears of the story. So far, there's been a crisis point three-quarters of the way through each episode, in which we'll see Ahiru framed in a clock gear with Drosselmeyer standing over her, asking, "What will Princess Tutu do now?" And she'll transform.

Also, Ahiru's world so incredibly surreal! I love that her being a duck isn't just one of those hand-wavy anime things; when she shows up to class, she comments, "The teacher is a cat?" And then she stops and says, "Well, I guess I'm a duck." And then! The best part is, everyone else is confused by the teacher being a cat, but then they think, "Wait, I think the teacher was always a cat!" because Ahiru has changed the story just by becoming a girl, and you can see the entire narrative changing around her! The cat also acts just like a cat and cleans himself when he gets flustered. Also, a dancing anteater shows up, and there is the same confusion for a second, until everyone thinks that the anteater was somehow always there. I love that Ahiru's existence totally breaks down the wall between human and animal. Also... dancing anteater!

And then! As if that weren't enough, there is the fact that it's such a great take on the magical girl thing. Everytime Ahiru undergoes the transformation, there's the henshin sequence with floating feathers and an egg and the red pendant turning into the Sooper Speshul Princess Tutu Power Pendant, ala Sailor Moon. Except, she conquers the world through the power of ballet! So far, there hasn't been quite as much done with the Magical Girl thing, but I expect there to be, given that it's already taking on fairy tales and ballet. Oh, extra special bonus points for referencing Utena with the pink hair and Ribon no Kishi with the fifties-style animation. I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by the style at first, because the characters all have giant heads and willowy bodies, huge sparkly eyes framed with thick lashes, and perfect crescent curls of hair. But it totally works because it is referencing the very old-school shoujo style, and I only wish I'd seen/read more of fifties shoujo to know what it's taking off of.

And! There's the whole ballet thing! I love that Princess Tutu moves in ballet steps and seems to always be posed as a ballerina, though I can't say for sure because I don't know that much about ballet. But the music constantly references ballet or directly comes from ballet (usually Nutcracker and Swan Lake), and I'm sure there are a lot more that I can't reference because I'm not familiar with them. But I love hearing those familiar strains of music. And, of course, there's an episode that's basically Giselle, but slightly different.

I cannot wait to watch the rest. I'm halfway through disc 2 already, and it's going even better places, but I will write it up when I am done.