Ask John: What Were John’s Favorite Anime of 2004?

Question:
Every year since 2001 someone always asked you what your favorite titles of the year were. So my question to you, what are your favorite titles of 2004? What impressed you this year?

Answer:
My list of picks for the best quality anime debuts of 2004 can be found here.

My list of nominees for highest quality new anime titles of 2004 already includes several of the series that I personally enjoyed most among this past year’s debuts: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Paranoia Agent, Jubei-chan 2, Initial D Fourth Stage, and Kurau: Phantom Memory. But there are several 2004 premiers that I’ve enjoyed immensely that weren’t among my picks for best anime titles of the year. Once again, I’ll present them roughly in chronological order.

The GTO anime seemed decent enough to me, but Gokusen managed to appeal to me even more because it starred a young woman instead of a young man. Kumiko Yamaguchi’s masculine personality that conflicted with the Japanese cultural norms that tried to conform her into a typical contemporary Japanese woman resulted in an enjoyable, humorous drama that was distinctly Japanese enough to seem foreign and unusual to me, but not foreign enough to be alienating. Throughout the short series I found it engagingly fun to watch Kumiko’s irrepressible aggressive yakuza nature burst out from underneath her exterior appearance. The subtle elements of yakuza movie lore peppered through the series, including especially the wonderful enka ending animation, added an additional level of charm to the show.

I’m not a fan of most magical girl anime series, but Futari wa Precure has been an exception, possibly because of its influence from Dragonball and Air Master director Daisuke Nishio. Pretty Cure is a magical girl show in which the girls literally kick ass. They employ physical martial arts more than magical charms or spells, and on occasion they actually kill their opponents (or at least erase them from existence). But beside the fact that Pretty Cure frequently features exciting and occasionally even bone crushingly brutal fights, Nagisa and Honoka are very likable characters, as is the show’s supporting cast. Pretty Cure has turned into a smash hit in Japan because its such a fun, robust, and enjoyable adventure series. I’m just disappointed that the show doesn’t seem to have the recognition among American fans that I think it deserves.

The relatively unknown Studio A.P.P.P. produced OAV series Kage -Shadow- is unquestionably the best ninja anime since the 1993 Jubei Ninpucho movie. Good animation, attractive character design, a dark and threatening atmosphere, fast paced action, and plenty of graphic violence, bloodshed, nudity, and sex make Shadow an adult action spectacle in every sense. The series contains extensive adult content yet has enough tact to avoid being gratuitously pornographic. The dialogue, story and characterizations are likewise, suitably intelligent. Shadow is certainly not for children, and it’s presented accordingly; neither condescending nor offensively exploitive. When it’s finally released in America, I can easily foresee Shadow forming a trilogy with Jubei Ninpucho and Kite as the favorite adult action anime of American fans.

Pugyuru was a charming little oddity because it seemed to be appealing despite having no outstanding characteristics. This strange series of mini episodes were animated with the competence of bad internet Flash animation (which is not a compliment), and the show reveled in the sort of weirdness that has to be seen to be appreciated. I couldn’t help but love a show about a miniature boneless maid that cooked rice inside her skull, a dimwitted and mightily endowed snow princess from Japanese folklore, and a talking female squid with a detachable face. (Yes. It is as weird as it sounds.)

I don’t normally expect to like anime television series starring characters specifically created as marketing mascots but Di-Gi-Charat was the first exception, and the NHK satellite TV network 15th anniversary character anime series Nanami-chan was the second. The short Nanami-chan anime television series was a pleasure to watch because it displayed such creativity and vibrancy. The tree house community was interesting. Nanami-chan itself was unique. And the whole show radiated a gentle, kind-hearted, sometimes melancholy feeling that’s quite different from most other anime series. And unlike similar mascot character shows like Jagainu-kun and Ocha-ken, which also attempted to create a soothing atmosphere, Nanami-chan never felt contrived or patronizing, and never felt like it was moralizing. Easy to overlook is the fact that the show also had very attractive visual design, and very good animation quality. Nanami-chan was just a nice, calming respite from real life, and the strong reactions aroused by other anime.

Setting aside the debate over exactly how “otaku” the cast of Genshiken is, the Genshiken anime touched me because I relate to it so personally. I see a lot of my own personality in especially Madarame. In fact, I’ve even been to the exact same store in Akihabara that the Genshiken characters visit. The production quality of the Genshiken anime varies a little, and its earliest episodes seem to be the most energetic and playfully fun. As a result, because the Genshiken anime isn’t really ground breaking or stunning, I can’t call it one of the best shows of the year, but it’s direct appeal to me makes it one of my favorite shows of the year.

I hadn’t expected to really like Grenadier either, because I expected it to be just a clone of Trigun. And I seem to be one of the few American anime fans that wasn’t thoroughly enamored with Trigun. (Decent show, just not particularly spectacular.) So far I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Grenadier’s exuberant willingness to exploit the possibilities of anime by frequently illustrating utterly ridiculous, impossible, unbelievable action in a very enjoyable, believable way. The show isn’t serious, but it does take itself seriously without going overboard into the realm of hyperbolic melodrama. (Ring ni Kakero 1 comes to mind as an example of action anime that pushes its “serious” action into the realm of absurdity.) Grenadier makes full use of anime’s freedom to be creative beyond the boundaries of reality without seeming completely unrealistic or unbelievable. It’s basically the sort of character driven, fun and deliciously crazy action anime that I thought Japan had stopped making in the early 1990s.

Finally, despite some personal reservations, I feel obligated to mention Elfen Lied. I remain disappointed that the show didn’t delve as deeply into its characters’ psychology or mature its character development and growth as much as I’d like it to have done. As a result, I think the show feels a little bit hollow at its core, which is why I didn’t select it as one of my top picks of 2004. But the show’s atmosphere, lushly beautiful art design, haunting musical score, and ruthlessly uncompromising respect for its mature audience deserve some respect and recognition.