Reikichi's Anime Awards 2016

If you are familiar with Crunchyroll's anime award, you know what happened to the list. 6 out of 13 categories are robbed by Yuri on Ice! Well I've posted the review in my blog, last week to be precise (which you can check here if you are interested in my thoughts to that series). But I kinda see it coming why Yuri on Ice won a lot in this award since this is a popularity contest and this anime is really popular. And fyi, the fandom are a little bit too extra, How extra you may ask? They edited Yuruzu Hanyu (a REAL Japanese figure skating btw) into Yuri Katsuki (source). Yeah, it's that extra guys. I found it quite disgusting, frankly speaking. I must say that I enjoyed Yuri on Ice a lot, but the thing is, that show won a lot of category that they don't really deserved it. *cough* Best Animation category *cough* Most Heartwarming scene *cough*

But I'm not blaming the fandom for that awards. And they haven't announced the "Anime of the year" yet by the time this post is posted, but I'm calling it from now, it's going to be Yuri on Ice! Anyway, the nomination list that was provided by Crunchyroll themselves are a little bit weird.(if you are curious about the list, you can check it here) Most of them are popular shows. And please keep this in mind first, popular does not always equal good. For example, like why the hell Biba from Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress got nominated as the Best Villain while the show itself is a total trainwreck show after Biba showed up? I mean there are better villain that could be in the list. Although I know for sure that Kira Yoshikage should won this easily since he is the best villain, not only among the list, but literally the best villain ever! And why do they keep put Kabaneri in almost every list? It's reasonable for the best animation or the best fight scene since both of those category are Kabaneri's only quality in the show. It feels like CR didn't watch all of the anime in 2016 and only picked the popular ones (which they should have if they want to make an "award"). 

So enough with that CR's rant. I thought to myself, why don't I make my own personal awards list which I think deserves won the CR Anime Awards category list with their reason why. And since CR only stick to anime series, this list would stick to that rule as well. So without further ado, let's jam!

Hero of the Year

Josuke Higashikata - (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure : Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable)

Josuke Higashikata is the main character of this Part's JoJo. He's the most relatable JoJo among all JoJo that I've read (currently reading up to Part 7, and Johnny Joestar character is too dickish compared to this JoJo). He's smart, heroic, friendly towards his friends, funny, quirky, sometimes he's sly like a fox (or more like his father, Joseph Joestar), Even Hirohiko Araki himself (the author of JoJo) says that Josuke is his favorite JoJo among all JoJo that he's been created (by the time he's being interviewed, he's still working on Part 7, you can watch it here where he talks about Part 1-6). and here's his quote on that 

Villain of the Year

Kira Yoshikage - (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure : Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable)

Kira Yoshikage is the best villain ever created imho. And here's why he's the best. Kira Yoshikage is unorthodox villain. Usually, villain have a grandiose goal i.e rule the world or even destroy it. It's different with Kira Yoshikage. His goal is simple, Kira Yoshikage wants a quiet life. Normally speaking, who doesn't want that kind of life, am I right? But here's the catch, even though he wants a quiet life, he has unhealthy obsession of killing young women and took their hands for......unspeakable R-18 things ^___^;. 

And he sees nothing wrong with that because it's his "hobby". The thought of the serial killer is among all of us is quite frightening to be honest. Kira is just like us, he enjoys quiet life, eating his favorite lunch alone in the park, he loves his warm milk before going to bed, he loves cats and hates dogs #relatable, he loves sleeping for 8 hours straight and woke up like a baby without feeling any stress or any fatigue. And I believe there's people like that in real world, right? This makes his character really interesting as the main villain of a series. Because he feels like an actual person that we could encounter in everyday life. Without that detail of his perspective in life, we will only see him as your weekly stand user that is going to be defeated by Josuke. Indeed, he is a serial killer, but he's also a normal person who enjoys living his life the way he sees fit without any judgement or disturbance from others.  

He feels so human and relatable yet horrifying at the same time. Because deep down that human side, he is a psychopathic killer. And he walks among all of us, just like people normally do......

Best Boy

Kaizaki Arata (ReLife)

ReLife is one of the best drama anime that came out in 2016. Kaizaki Arata is a 27 year old NEET who is currently looking for a job. He tried and tried and tried but still haven't landed a single job. One day he is being offered by Ryo Yoake for a scientific project called ReLife where he must "relived" himself by attending high school again and interacting with high school students like what normally students do. So his appearance would be like a 17 years old boy, but deep down he is a 27 years old man. This guy is really relatable for adult audiences. And how he views the high school life with his "adult" perspective is really interesting. It's not an "edgy"-like perspective like Hachiman from Oregairu, but it's more a mature perspective. ReLife is a great show which can be enjoyed both by adult and teenager audiences! 

Best Girl

Akari Kawamoto (Sangatsu no Lion)

"WHAAT? REM SHOULD HAVE WON THIS TITLE! WHY DON'T YOU PUT REM IN THIS LIST! SHE DESERVES BETTER!"

okay hear me out first. Rem is a good girl, but she's not the best. And I know who deserves better than Rem. 

Akari Kawamoto is the eldest sister in the Kawamoto family, since their mother and grandmother passed away, she's in charge of the family and took the role of "mother" in the family. She have 2 little sisters, Hinata (in the anime series, she's still in middle school while the manga she's already in high school), and Momo (currently in preschool). Akari helps her grandfather to run his Japanese Confectionery store in the morning, and she works as a hostess in a store that is run by her Aunty at night. She worked hard time by time so her little family can stick together. She took care of Rei (the main character) who was forced to drink alcohol (while he is still a teenager) by his shogi opponent. She's a caring and loving person like a mother would do despite of her young age. She deserves to be happy. But she put others happiness first before hers. She's a selfless character who deserves better. And hopefully she will get what she deserves. So that's why she deserves to be the "best girl" in this list :D

Best Fight Scene

Kageyama Shigeo vs Teruki (Mob Psycho 100)

If you want to watch the fight, watch it here

I personally think that a fight must be meaningful. Why do they fight? What drives them to fight? The motivation that drives them to fight to proof something. And that something is meaningful. In this fight, Shigeo (Mob) has a super psychic power but he tries to conceal his psychic power and want to live a normal life just like normal people do. And he fell in love with a girl and that girl loves muscular man. And that's why he joined body building club. While Teruki is a punk who thinks that he's the strongest of all punks since he has psychic powers. And he abused his power to get to the top for recognition. And then they fight, it's not only psychic battle that happen in this fight. But it's also the clashing of two very different perspectives. And this fight changes the course of the show for the next episodes that come after this.

Best Animation

Hibike Euphonium season 2 (Studio : Kyoto Animation)

Need I say more? The fact that CR lacks of Kyoto Animation anime in their list is just plain weird. (But among the list, Mob Psycho 100 has the best animation though, since they have a lot of sakuga in that series). Kyoto Animation is one of the studio that usually delivers the best, detailed, and amazing looking anime when it comes to series. And Hibike Euphonium season 2 is breathtakingly gorgeous. If you are a fan of classical music anime like Nodame Cantabile for example, I recommend this series to be watched. But be aware there's a hint of Yuri in this. By Yuri, I mean actual Yuri as a genre, Not Yuri on ice! ^_^;

Most Heartwarming Scene

Kayo's first home cooked meal (Erased/Boku dake ga inai machi) 

This my pick in CR anime awards. and Yuri on Ice won this category by "TWO MEN KISSING". I mean wtf dude, THIS IS the most heartwarming scene of 2016. Dear YoI fangirls who voted that kiss, are you even HUMAN? 

*cough* sorry

okay let's be fair here. Erased anime was starting off strong but lame and cheesy in the ending (that is to be expected from A-1 Pictures anime adaptation, please read the manga instead for a better conclusion and more detailed story, but I digress). This scene alone is one of the touching scene of all anime that I've watched this year. And here's why, Kayo is an abused children, her mom hits her a lot, and her mom tries to hide the bruises every weekend because the parental association gets report on her act to her daughter and wants to make sure that there's an improvement of this parent. But apparently not. Kayo never had a proper breakfast, she is usually given a pocket money or a piece of bread or even cup ramen by her abusive mother. And one day she is saved by her friend, Satoru (the main character) so she stays on his house for a day, And Satoru's mom cooked her a meal. And.... you can how she reacts to that in the scene here. *brb I need some tissue*

Best Drama 

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (Studio : DEEN)

2016 would be remembered as the year of slice of life and drama anime. There are a lot of great shows with that genre that came out on that year. And this is the best drama that came out this year. It's a show about Rakugo, an art form of Japanese story telling show where there's 1 person who told the story impersonate every character themselves and usually it's a comedy that has a deep moral story. This anime is a historical drama that took place in Shouwa era. And we will see the struggle from zero to hero of rakugo. And the story theme is really mature. I highly recommend this anime,

Best Couple 

No Contest

Well, here's the thing, I don't really like shipping characters (be it homo/hetero) if it's not canon to the original source material. So most of the list that CR provided are non-canonical pairing. Like Satoru and Kayo (Erased). They are not couple! and *SPOILER ALERT* Kayo marries another guy in the end. 

I'd say Koichi Hirose and Yukako Yamagishi (JoJo part 4 : DiU) are qualified to be the best couple. But unfortunately, we don't see much of their relationship in the anime (and even the manga), so I can't say much about them. Probably I'm missing a "canon" couple in the list. So that's why I put "no contest" in this list. Please understand

Best Comedy

Sakamoto Desu Ga? (Studio DEEN)

I know sense of humor is subjective. What I found funny probably won't be funny for you. But I really love absurd comedy like "Sakamoto Desu Ga?". And this is the only one that CR awards that I actually happy and completely agree with. If you love absurd comedy, you'll love this anime as well! 

Best Action

Drifters (Studio : Hoods Drifters Studio)

I personally picked Mob Psycho 100 in the CR, and it won the category. But I haven't watched Drifters when I voted for that category. And that I've watched it, my god this anime DESERVES to be the best action that came out in 2016! It's made by the team who made Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate. If you are familiar with Hellsing, you know what to expect from Drifters. A gory and awesome action scenes! To put it simply, Drifters is like Mortal Kombat but with historical figure. If you are into action, I highly recommended this anime!

Best Opening

Lay your hands on me 

Performed by : Boom Boom Satellites

Anime : Kiznaiver

The best opening goes to this song, (I can only found the song, not the entire opening sequence) The opening sequence is really trippy but calming at the same time. And we are introduced with the characters in the series. The song and the opening sequence really fit in. And I dedicated this award to the late vocalist/guitarist of Boom Boom Satellites, Michiyuki Kawashima, that passed away on 9 October 2016. May his soul Rest in Peace.

Best Ending

I want you

Performed by : Savage Garden

Anime : JoJo's Bizarre Adventure : Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable

The ending song really fits in with this part of JoJo. If you are a JoJo fan, you might be also speculating like crazy what will be the ending song to Part 4 anime? Is it going to be Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd? Or is it going to be Killer Queen/Another one bites the dust by Queen? But nope, it wasn't. It's Savage Garden! I personally quite shocked when I know this. But the song really does fit in with Part 4. We are taking to the tour of duwang Morioh city in this ending. And as the episode caught on, we are shown the characters of the anime. So every time the anime introduces a new character, the ending is updated with new characters. So, not skipping the ending feels like a checkpoint or a bookmark "Yeah, I've seen that character". I must say, props to David Production who is really faithful adapting JJBA series until now, I really hope they continue adapting this awesome and bizarre series! XD

Anime of the year 2016

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (Studio : DEEN)

This anime totally nailed every aspect of the "best anime" that should have, great animation, great direction, great soundtrack, great drama, great story, and also great characters and also their development! I've already made a review of this anime in this blog. You can check it here if you are interested in my thoughts to the series.

I think CR should add one more category, which is "Best soundtrack" as in the BGM in the anime (since the BGM is quite underappreciated). And yes, I'd totally agree if Yuri on Ice qualified to be in that category and actually won it. But this year we have a lot of good anime soundtracks like for example from Boku no Hero Academia, Rakugo Shinjuu, JoJo, heck, even Kabaneri. 

Okay so those are my personal "anime awards" list that I think should have won the anime awards. You might be saying "There's too much JoJo in this list!" but I think it deserves to win a lot since this is Part 4 that we're talking about, the best part in the entire series. But again, CR anime awards is not a relevant award since it's a popularity vote. I'll wait for Tokyo Anime Awards Festival for the official (and more credible) statement. Last year, Shirobako won the anime of the year (which is I think one of the best anime that came out in this decade). And hopefully TAAF picked Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu as the anime of the year! 

Okay that's it from me guys, those are my personal list. I hope you enjoyed this "rant" of mine about the anime awards. ^__^:

And let me know if I missed some show that you think deserves to be listed on this list on the comments below! 

This is Reikichi, signing out! XD

Yuri on Ice - Anime Review

Let's look back at 2016. Besides Re: Zero, there's one more anime that people just won't stop talking about on the internet. Yes, you guessed that right! It's "Yuri!! on Ice". Its misleading title fool every anime fan out there. Everybody thought that "Oh my god, girls on girls doing it on ice??", but apparently, it was Yaoi on ice! #originaljoke 

It's a phenomenal anime of 2016! Even the real figure skating athlete watched this anime too! Personally, I'm not into sports anime, I'll watch sports anime if it's as good as Slam Dunk or Ping Pong The Animation. So I was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy this anime, since I thought it was a sports fujobait anime just like "Free!" couple years ago. But man, I was wrong. 

So today I'm going to talk about Yuri on Ice! How was the anime? Let's just jump into the review!

Story

Yuri Katsuki is a figure skating athlete from Japan, he went back to Japan after 5 years of international competition. He ranked at the last place on his previous international tournament. He feels like a failure when he got back home. And then he remembers why did he become a figure skater at the first place. He saw Viktor Nikiforov's performance back then when he was a kid. A globally well known figure skating genius. One day, he tries to copy a figure skating program by Viktor, and then someone records it and upload it into the internet. And people are amazed by Yuri's ice skating performance. Every figure skater in the world also amazed by him. And then Viktor saw Yuri's performance. 

Later on, Viktor decides to come to Japan and train Yuri Katsuki so he can win the international figure skating competition. Will Yuri be able to win that competition?

My thoughts on the series

1. I am quite skeptical about this series at first, but surprisingly, I'm enjoying the hell out of it! Story wise, there's nothing ground breaking or new. But what makes me entertained with this series is seeing how someone develop from zero to hero. It has genuinely fun and hilarious scenes! 
2. This anime is obviously a sports anime with obvious shounen ai element in it. For me (as a normal hetero man ^_^;), it's still a good show if you ignored the shounen ai elements in it. and fortunately, it's not shown often. For you fujoshi out there, you will be pleased with this anime. If you are a normal hetero man and wondering "how gay it is?" it's twice as gay as Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari on Neon Genesis Evangelion. ^__^;
3. Speaking of shounen ai, the fanservice (or manservice should I say, right, ladies? ^_^;) in this anime is not the main dish of this series. I must say the this show has like 10% of fanservice in the whole 12 episodes. So it's not distracting at all. Because mainly the anime shows about the figure skating program. 
4. And now we're talking about the main dish! The ice skating animation! My god, it's so stunningly beautiful! It's so detail and smooth, It really is describing how graceful and elegant they are when performing the figure skate program. Even though, later on the quality suffers. But that is understandable since animating figure skating is hard. And in 1 episode they almost have 5-6 figure skating program to be animated! I also noticed that there are a lot of repeated and also recycled background and key animations (that includes the figure skating program but that is to be expected since they are performing the same program over and over again). But again, that's still acceptable. Because they have to finish the series weekly. Just imagine how hard would it be for the animator to keep up with that pace. And hopefully that "quarity" would be fixed later on in BD. I must give props to Mappa studio! Great job!
5. Personally, I didn't know anything about how figure skating competition works, and this anime did a great job of explaining the rule and how scoring system works. I appreciate that. 
6. I think this series should have been at least 22/24 episodes long for a better pacing. Because the formula is almost similar to Hajime no Ippo anime, (training, build up to the competition, competition, after match, and then train again and rinse and repeat). But the main difference is Hajime no Ippo is a long running series compared to Yuri on Ice. The story feels a little bit too rushed and too condensed. And in the later episodes, somewhat it's a bit underwhelming even though the previous episodes have a great build up to it. 
7. Okay let's talk about the characters! The characters are enjoyable to watch and feels like a real human that we can totally relate to. I really like how relatable Yuri Katsuki is when he tries to get back up from his failure. He feels depressed, broken, and sad. But when he overcomes it, it's really paying off! But, I prefer Yuri Plisetsky character arc. He's an ambitious person and he thinks that he is the best of all figure skater. But later on he learns that there's someone better out there in the world and he grows even better! He is a rival character to Yuri Katsuki and they are the exact opposite. Yuri Plisetsky's character arc somehow reminds me of Bakugo's character arc from My Hero Academia, which I personally liked too
8. Another thing that I really enjoyed from this anime series is the soundtrack. I think this anime has the best soundtrack in 2016. I really love every BGM in this anime especially the figure skating program songs. "Yuri on Ice" is my favorite track of all. But all of them are really good! Even if you are not into anime, I think you should at least listen to this soundtrack. 

This anime is great but it has its issues (besides the plot that I mentioned in point 6) for example, some of the characters are underdeveloped. They suddenly appears but we don't know anything about them. So it's hard to root for them. Unlike Ping Pong The Animation that really excels on their characters development. Every character have their own clear motivation to win that ping pong match. While in Yuri on Ice, we barely see all of their motivations. But JJ have a great characterization even though he only have like 2-3 episodes of screentime But they didn't do that to Otabek who shares the same screentime as JJ. And this may sounds like a bias, but normally I'd hate character like JJ since he is a narcissistic and obnoxious bastard, but since he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano, his character just works and epic! XD

Another thing that really bothers me is, at the first episode there's Yuuko, Yuri's childhood friend, and it's heavily hinted/implied that Yuri has some romantic feelings for her. I know it's just me being nitpicky, but her character was just vanished after Yuri went back for international championship. I think that could have been explored better.

So here comes the final verdict, should you watch Yuri on Ice? If you are a sports anime fan, you should watch it! And if you are a fan of "Animation" in general, you should totally watch it, you will see a beautifully animated skating scenes. It's a great anime but it has its flaws. Despite of the obvious shounen ai theme in this anime, this anime is really entertaining to watch. If you are "I don't want to watch this anime because it's gay" kind of person, well. you are missing out one of the great anime that comes out on 2016. And personally speaking, I enjoyed watching this series more than Re: Zero. 

Okay guys, so those are my thoughts on Yuri on Ice, I hope you will find this review useful. This is Reikichi, signing out! XD