It’s a harmless contest to just pimp out shows you love but is not credible award/contest/etc in any way.

While that may be true, to me it’s a symptom of the larger problem the fanbase has. If we’re not even capable of recognizing that which needs to be recognized, then anime fandom is circling the drain right along with network TV fags who enjoy American Idol.

I was actually extremely disappointed when Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood ended up looking only half as good as Soul Eater considering that the show was newer and higher profile.

I agree with SM that SoulEater should at least be recognised as nominee, and yes Toradora should def win Romance not Bakemonogatari (as much as I love episode12).

@Flash Sword Irene
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve quickly scanned over the voting thread and it does look like a two horse race between Eve no Jikan and Higurashi Rei in the OVA category, with Eve no Jikan slightly ahead. But I think you’re hoping against hope if you want Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou to outpoll K-On!.

@Shadowmage
Phantom wasn’t a pure “action” series, but did Soul Eater really have better action sequences than DtB2 and Canaan? I could only go by what I know of DtB’s first season, but KnK and Canaan were incredible, visually, especially during the set pieces.

@Shinmaru
You should see the Kampfer thread on the ASuki forums, particularly the last fifteen or so pages. People actually cared so much, it was pathetic. They raged and got trolled so hard, it was simultaneously glorious and depressing. gg’s Koda was about the only voice of reason in the whole thread.

I voted Kemono no Souja Erin for adventure/fantasy, too, but I think Spice and Wolf II is better than the first season, if only because the second arc is better than either of the arcs from the first season. That storyline had me sucked in from the start.

The shitstorm about Kampfer ep11 had me laughing so much. Were people actually invested enough in the storyline to be angry at the creators for deciding, “Eh, fuck this, let’s do something crazy for the finale!!” I thought it was by far the most entertaining episode in the entire run.

For Mecha/Sci-Fi, Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 2 is easily the weakest of the group and does not deserve the award whatsoever. Personally, I am torn between SINS and Eve for the best in category. SINS seems like the total underdog, so I am rooting for that show to win it all even if Eve no Jikan is more deserving in actuality.

I don’t give a rat’s ass about the next few categories until slice of life. Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou easily wins this hands down. And, it is the only anime I was willing to watch out of that category. =X

I won’t bother with the next few categories. Movie-wise, I want the underdog in Cencoroll to win even though logic favors Kara no Kyoukai hands down. (Sorry Sorrow-Kun, I am the only one to defy you on this one. =P) OVA-wise, Eve no Jikan winning would make me happy without qualms. Regarding favorite character type, there is no one I would even vote for whatsoever.

Overall, I am not stoked over things such as Aoi Bungaku not making it at all. I suppose there is next year for one of the best animes of last year. (Or not). Still, this is a reminder alongside the Year in Review that last year was not that great. (Btw, you guys got it right for the most part on the Year in Review).

F) Romance: I just cannot fathom how Bakemonogatari is giving CLANNAD ~AS~ a fight in this category. Sure, the relationship between Arararagi (oops, I stuttered) and Senjougahara is pretty unique, but really, the Tomoya-Nagisa coupling is on a whole new level altogether when it comes to romance. I think Bakemongatari is still riding the wave of a recency effect in this and other categories.

O) Male Character: Well, if this Awards ever had a “Group of Death”, this year’s “Battle of the Princes” would be it. Araragi Koyomi is the latest in an ongoing trend of great tsukkomi male leads which started with SHnY’s Kyon, and he also enjoys the recency effect. Takizawa Akira has charm, charisma and memorability within his arsenal, and he too comes from an acclaimed series. Hei is banking on pure sex appeal, as the emergence of the “Heisexual” term might attest (although it’s probably nowhere near enough to win this). But if there’s one nominee I feels deserve to win this, I’m with you Sorrow; Okazaki Tomoya simply has some of the best character development I’ve seen to date, and would probably have been a shoo-in for this category in most other years.

P) Female Character: On the other hand, Senjougahara probably rightly deserves the impending win she’ll get in this category.

@Scamp
RideBack was too obscure and easily forgotten. It airing at the beginning of the year didn’t help its cause. As for Hetelia, controversy and obscurity (let’s face it, it has a pretty small target audience) pretty much killed its chances. Three of the nominees for Comedy have their own sub-forum, while Seitokai no Ichizon’s discussion thread has over a thousand replies. Hetelia’s just not big enough.

@zzeroparticle
Yeah, Needless was a surprise, not that I know anything about it’s music other than this (safe for work, but you’d probably have a lot of explaining if you were caught watching it).

@Akira
I haven’t listened to the full OST, but Bakemonogatari has some good music. There are tunes that stand out, and there are some that have a real sophisticated feeling (particularly some of the ones that play when Senjougahara is on screen.) As for Senjougahara herself, I’d be surprised if it was even close.

@TIF
That’s some rant. The romance choices make sense to me, while slice-of-life is usually regarded as anything that doesn’t have a story, or is episodic (so I have no idea what Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is doing there, except that I guess it was relatively “realistic” at first… though certainly not later on). As for sports, ongoing anime aren’t eligible. If Cross Game was nominated, I’d expect it to win comfortably. I can see your point about Storyline, but you just have to accept that popular series are always going to get first crack at the major categories (I was more perturbed by Code Geass R2 first being nominated and then winning that category last year). And, yeah, Worst Character is a terrible category and they need to get rid of it.

So, yeah, I agree with most of your complaints except Romance. Both Clannad and Bakemonogatari have their place there. Clannad for the same reason Spice and Wolf is in the Fantasy category… people generally try to only nominate most series for the category that best fits, except for the big and obvious cases. Try not to think of these awards as “Best”. Try to think of them as “Best of the Mainstream”.