Forum - View topicAnime in America: The Best (and Worst) of 2013
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Spleen
Posts: 56 |
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I'm not standing for the only mention of Coppelion being an award for Worst Fall Of Grace. So I'm giving it my award for Best Conceptual Dissonance. When a show can't decide whether it wants to be funny or dramatic, it's usually just annoying. But somehow, Coppelion would bring you to the edge of the seat, and then hit you with some Eddie Murphy slapstick that would make you shriek with laughter.
The dreamy Instagram visuals and the post-apocalyptic setting (which first made me thought we were in for another Sunday With Kicking Eight-Year-Old Girls In The Face) combined with the pop-eyed, flappy-arms comedy falling around should not have worked. But somehow it did. And then there was the sidekick (the noisy one). I honestly still can't decide whether she was supposed to be a humorous scaredy-cat, or a genuine portrayal of someone suffering from panic attacks. I'm giving her my award for Most Sympathetic Portrayal of a Hikikomori, for being the first character in an anime who shuts themselves away from the world to be sympathetic, and not just annoying and up their own arse. |
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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My sentiments exactly. |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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I still maintain that Coppelion had very intelligent and even handed moral dilemmas (the best episode was by far the one where they have to look for the kid), and interesting world building in that it challenged both your and the characters' preconceptions of what such a disaster area would be like. It also had some very nice science fiction concepts, like the Aether being made from the coppelia's cells. I also thought Ibara's character was very interesting, especially her whole "science is my mother" speech, since it took the path opposite the most common (and most stupid one) about artificial life's self image. The artistry and atmosphere were really cool, too. In the final third, most of the interesting stuff gave way to action and too many things happening, but I think it really deserves praise for the first 2/3. Last edited by Galap on Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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...I don't know if I have a response to that other than "hahahahahahaha"
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18206 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I completely agree with Fencedude on this. I don't know about the last third of Coppelion, but its first half was a mess beyond the first episode.
And if I had given an award for Most Annoying Character, that whiny, useless crybaby amongst the Coppelions would have probably been my pick. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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I would say that when looked at in terms of "did this deliver a coherent storyline with characters who acted like reasonable facsimiles of human beings?", Sekatsuyo was a much, MUCH better show than Coppelion.
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Starchs
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Best Opening and ending: No love for Psycho-Pass
Op 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlneNU4GHCU Op 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj6d6-4z5gQ ending 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg0ftVeXGkg ending 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLz8EnrU2ak I like Cuticle Detective Inaba - its ridiculous funny |
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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Just when I think that the overly snarky, "ironic/self-aware" tone of the ANN articles is getting too monotonous (I still stand by my theory that ANN's executive editor has spread his "snarkiness virus" to the whole of ANN's staff lol) y'all go to new highs (or is it lows?) and post something like that quote which causes me to crack a smile despite myself. Bravo 
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18206 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The first OP and ED for Psycho-Pass are ineligible because they streamed entirely in 2012.
The second opener, while good, wouldn't even crack my top three for the year had I been aware of it. Its song isn't better than this one and as an overall production isn't better than this one. The second opener was also good, but can you honestly say it had a better song than this? |
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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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I assume you meant ending theme, but I think both Psycho Pass's second themes were better than that song. I'd forgotten what Kotoura's ED theme sounded like, and apart from "piano-y and spirited" I've more or less forgotten again. Also, although it's not a big deal as it didn't win anything, but Kibou ni Tsuite was also from 2012, unless it replaced one of next stage's themes at some point. |
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Generic #757858
 Posts: 1354 |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18206 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Yes, but that series didn't stream or get released on DVD/BR until 2013, so it is technically a 2013 series for purposes of this exercise. That wasn't the case with Psycho-Pass, which streamed as it aired. Concerning the Jojo ED: Wow, they got permission to use a song like that? No way it'd get used if the series ever gets released on hard copy in the States. |
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jymmy
Posts: 1244 |
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Ah, right. It's a bit hard to keep track of sometimes. Actually, if we're using that criteria, I'm surprised Rose of Versailles wasn't mentioned. The difference between a series from six years ago (Lovely Complex, mentioned in Series of the Year runners-up) and thirty-six is definitely only one of degree rather than classification. I think it could have swept the awards almost as much as Flowers of Evil did for Carl. Speaking of which, Jojo's ED clearly has the superior song, but I do think ～花～ A Last Flower goes better with its show. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18206 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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You are correct that Rose of Versailles was eligible, but neither of us have seen it beyond a stray episode or two. Given that Rebecca (who reviewed its first half) and I usually don't differ too much in our evaluations of non-fan-service titles, I probably would have thought highly of it had I seen it. But would it have cracked my Top 5, when there were so many other titles vying for entry? We'll never know, I guess. (And as an interesting aside, Princess Knight - which also came out in 2013 and which I did mention - is RoV's spiritual predecessor and almost assuredly had an influence on it.)
And that's a consideration I do factor in. Neither of my top two OP picks would have been there if I was basing the award purely on song quality. |
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Generic #757858
Posts: 1354 |
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The series was commissioned by WB Japan (on a minimal budget apparently), which also holds the rights to Yes' songs, so that propably helped. |
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