The spring season is more than halfway about 3/4 over, and we’ve seen enough of all the shows to get a good handle on them. I thought I’d take a shot at a Best of Awards post to highlight which shows are the best in each major category. Note that this list only applies to shows that started airing this season, not long running shows and holdovers from the Winter season. Also note that I’m not wearing pants, and it’s damn comfortable. Once you’ve gotten that unpleasant image out of your head, hit the jump for the awards.

Best Animation

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

It was difficult to choose a definitive winner for best animation, so this is something of a four way tie. As was to be expected, Production I.G. and BONES are here as the usual suspects with Sengoku Basara, Eden of the East, and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood leading the pack for best animation quality, though Bee Train is a surprise dark horse with Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~. Bee Train… Good animation…? lolwut indeed.

All of these shows look great, but since four-way ties are no fun there must be a definitive winner. After much careful deliberation (not involving picking a number out of a hat), FMA: Brotherhood emerges as the winner for this category. I think FMA’s animation has been the most consistent of the bunch, not to say that the other candidates’ animation haven’t been anything less than great. BONES is just so superb at making beautiful looking shows.

Best Story

Eden of the East

Compared to the Best Animation category, the Best Story was a no brainer. The mystery/drama/thriller Eden of the East wins this by a longshot. EotE explains its story with enough detail to inform the viewer of what’s going on, yet is still vague and mysterious enough to remain interesting. It also has no shortage of WTF plot twists. Anime with realistic stories usually aren’t my preferred choice, but EotE does it very well on a level that matches (and perhaps exceeds) the standards for a blockbuster movie. It’s that good.

Best Action

Sengoku Basara

Sengoku Basara is the spring’s premiere action show and packs a ton of adrenaline pumping, testosterone excreting fights into a 30 minute show. The fight scenes are well choreographed and aren’t afraid to get downright ridiculous with feats that kick physics to the curb. Physics be damned — Sengoku is GAR!

Best Music

K-ON
Sengoku Basara

As good as this season’s shows have been, this season has been fairly weak as far as background music goes with very few stand out OSTs. On that note it wasn’t too difficult to pick two clear winners. K-ON has a lot of memorable tunes that nicely set up this little slice of life. The soundtrack is mostly ambient and upbeat. Some of it even sounds like elevator music, but it’s very fun to listen to and puts me in a good mood.

Sengoku is on the opposite side of the spectrum with sweeping, epic orchestral music that perfectly sets the mood of the civil war Sengoku era Japan. As long as an orchestral soundtrack is remotely good, chances are I’ll like it.

Best OP

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

KOKIA’s “KARMA” from Phantom is the best OP of the spring lineup. There should be no debate about this. The brooding, haunting vocals and minimalist yet tasteful accompanying animation make it the best OP I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Yui’s “again” is the distant runner up with a more typical, standard fare J-Pop song. The song itself is beautiful, and the animation is crisp and vibrant, making for an OP that is well above average but not truly great. It’s still good enough to worth mentioning though.

Best ED

Eden of the East

EotE has one of the most unique EDs I’ve ever seen. “futuristic imagination” from school food punishment fits the show’s mood like a glove, but the real draw is the very innovative stop motion paper cut out animation. It’s just so quirky and blows every other ED this season out of the water.

Best Character (Male)

Date Masamune (Sengoku Basara)

PUT YA GUNS ON! I would put my guns on for Masamune, whatever that means. This guy is a badass among badasses.

How badass is he?

Masamune is so badass that he transcends time with a motorcycle horse riding biker gang. Masamune is so badass that he needs six swords to fight. Masamune is so badass that he speaks English in a time of extreme isolationism in Japan. Hell, badass is an understatement for this manliest of men. WE ARE NOT WORTHY!

Best Character (Female)

Kotobuki Tsumugi (K-ON)

Best female is tough to pick because anime are stacked with hordes of female characters to satisfy all tastes. There’s one winner here, and that is the oh-so-lovable Tsumugi from K-ON. I just love everything about her. Such a sweet and goofy personality. Worship the eyebrows and submit to Mugiism. Resistance is futile.

Best Sleeper Title

Souten Kouro

Souten what? Souten Kouro bitches! This flew under my radar until a recommendation from ilikewhiterice, and it instantly found a place in my heart. This is definitely intended for the niche Chinese history enthusiasts, but it can and should be enjoyed by other fans too. It’s not really “good” per se, but it’s a pretty damn enjoyable historical show in its own right, sort of a more violent Sengoku Basara with less action and more politics. Don’t be scared away by the politics though as it can be interesting if you give it a legitimate chance.

Best Anime with Motorcycle Horses

Sengoku Basara

This is totally not an excuse to give Sengoku another award, okay? It’s just that motorcycle horses deserve their own category and the only show that had them was Sengoku.

Best Anime Overall

Eden of the East

I’ve said it multiple times, and I’ll say it again. Eden of the East is by far and away the best show of the season. A good story always makes for a good anime, and as explained above, EotE has an excellent story with plenty of mystery and suspense revolving around the Selecao, each trying to win a twisted little game against each other. We non-Japanese probably can’t fully understand all the nuances that comprise the show’s social commentary about Japan’s current state, but we can appreciate its broad general message as much of it still applies to us as well. Somehow as great as EotE is, it’s still not my favorite show of the season. That right is reserved for the final award…

Most Enjoyable Anime Overall

K-ON

I’m a sucker for the moe 4-koma adaptations. So sue me. K-ON isn’t the greatest show of the season — It’s actually kind of average as far as 4-koma adaptations go. Regardless it’s been my consistent favorite this season because of the comedy and my x4 weakness to moe drivel.

Wild TSUMUGI appeared!

Go NOIRSWORD!

Wild TSUMUGI used Attract!

NOIRSWORD is in love!

…Yeah. Pokemon reference aside, K-ON is the most enjoyable show of the season for me. As Meu would say, “K-ON is too goshdarned cute”.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Anime.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.