Anime Series
• Shoujo Kakumei Utena -- IKUHARA KUNIHIKO IS A GOD!! ...Ahem, pardon, I let my fangirl side of me out. ^^;; But anyways, this is my absolute favorite anime, as well as my favorite piece of fiction ever. I first heard of it in early '98 and since I saw it in December of '98, my love for it has been undying, as there have been so few things that have clicked so *perfectly* with me, like I knew it all of my life. *dramatic pose* Okay, enough gushing (^_^;;), now a description: This anime is about a teenage girl that accidentally gets involved
with a group of her fellow students that duel each other to reach eternity and revolutionize the world. It's also about the many types of love and hate that people have for each other -- lost love, unrequited love, ideal love, false love, incest, desire, jealousy, betrayal, manipulation... Well, it's definitely a shoujo series. ^^;; Most of the series is made up of symbolism, metaphors, surrealism, and subtlety; every scene watched over again will surely make you notice yet another little important bit of plot or characterization. I love the
character designs (although I can understand why some people might not), the music is amazing (Mitsumune Shinkichi is one of the best composers in anime), and it has some of the best seiyuu performances I've heard. ...Did I go overboard? ^^;;;; Pardon, it's just that this series means a lot to me. It's definitely not for everyone, so don't let my hype kill this series for you!
• Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon -- Yes, out of all the anime I've seen, Sailormoon is my second favorite. So the plot's predictable, the main characters are the stereotypical sentai team, and there's lots of filler.
I don't care. ;P After three years I still enjoy watching the series; it makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me feel good about everything. There may be
tons of anime series made better, but I still I love this series for what it is. And besides, it's an Ikuhara series! How can I pass up all of that lovely symbolism
• Weiß Kreuz -- I have finally seen more of this series (eps 1-13), and if I don't get
more, something will be destroyed (damn you, cliffhanger!!!). Basically, it's about a group of cute
guys that are assasins but pose as flourists. It starts off episodic until the end of the third volume
and some of the episodes aren't as good as others, but once it gets going, wow! *_* It's very interesting and
stars (and created by!) my favorite seiyuu: Koyasu Takehito (Waiii!!! Seiyuu God!). It also stars several other
great seiyuu (Miki Shin'ichirou, Seki Tomokazu, and Yuuki Hiro).
The action scenes are really cool and even emotional (which is saying a lot since action isn't
usually a big deal to me). This is just a really cool series that shouldn't be missed by anyone (Weiß propaganda! ^_~).
• Slayers -- I love funny stuff, especially parodies. Not only is this hilarious
with lots of wonderful facevault moments, it actually has an interesting plot! And it
has dragons and castles and magic and all that other good stuff! Sadly,
I've only seen the first seven episodes, but I already know it deserves a
high place in my favorites. The plot mainly centers around the adventures of Lina
Inverse, a petite sorceress that often does extreme things (like causing nuclear blasts o_O;).
I don't want to say much more, because there's some interesting plot changes during
the second tape (spoilers are evil :P). The cast is very funny, and all of them have great seiyuu. And of course, the
wonderful music. Probably the best of the bunch is the Slayers Next opening, "Give a Reason."
• Kodomo no Omocha -- I recently saw the first six episodes and loved it.
This series is very crazy but does have serious undertones. So far, it's
about the events that happen to a girl named Sana, a child actress and the daughter
of a famous author. Sana's very hyper and insane. ^_^ I love strange things and
find shows like Utena and movies like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" to be normal (yes,
I have a weird definition of normal); this series, however, I find strange. That's
why I love it so much. ^_^
• Gundam Wing -- (SM and Utena are tied, so this is really #5 ^_~) Generally, I don't
like mecha series. GW, however, is a major exception for me. It's about a
group of five bishounen teenage boys (yea!) that represent their colonies and help
fight with these mecha called Gundams against a group on Earth trying to reclaim the colonies. ...I
think I got all that right; I'm not very good at describing things, especially when the
plot is so rapidly moving. ^^;; I fell in love with this series by the third episode, and now that
I've seen up to the 13th, I feel guilty that I can't place this series any higher. ;_; All of
the characters (except Relena =P) are cool, especially Zechs, Treize, Duo, and Heero. What first
got me interested in this series is my favorite part of it: the music. All of the songs
are really good and are begging for you to download them!
Anime Characters
• Arisugawa Juri -- Goddeessss!!! It may seem egotistical that I think the greatest
anime character ever is the one that acts and looks closest to me, but it's really not. ^^;;
I find her very easy to relate to and am a bit shocked to find a character that feels the same
way I do. She's much cooler than me, though. ^^; After I first watched episode seven of
Utena, I said to myself, "Juri's kinda cool. I feel like she should be my favorite, but for
now she's not." During the third time I watched episode seven, it suddenly hit me why I
felt like she should be my favorite (my conscious mind is slower than my subconscious ^^;;).
There were a lot of key moments that made me realize, but the biggest one was during her
duel. I'm not gonna say any spoilers now though, okay? If anyone likes Juri
and doesn't know why, just rewatch episode seven again and maybe you'll pick up why; I know
I've come across a couple of people that had the same thing happen, too.
• Tenjou Utena -- Before I realized how wonderful and supreme Juri is, Utena was my all time
favorite anime character. She is very admirable and cool; the whole "I want to become a
prince and save princesses because I don't want to wait around and be saved" thing I think is
unique and a great way to think. And when you find out her real childhood motivation for
this, she becomes even more amazing. And of course, the end of the series. ;_; I
can't really see how someone could hate her; sure, everything and everyone is hated by at least
one person, but Utena is just so nice and strong and cute and funny and realistic and brave and
noble and... Uh, I think that's enough. ^^;; But yeah, Utena is terrific; terrific enough that
she recently rose to being #2.
• Nezu Chuuko -- Do I need to explain this? ^_~ Something not-so-interesting to note is
that before I started working on this shrine a year ago she was only my fourth favorite
Sailormoon character. By working so hard on this shrine, suddenly I started to like
her more and more and now she's my third favorite anime character ever!
• Kaiou Michiru and Ten'ou Haruka -- These two are a matched set, I couldn't list them
seperately. I do like Michiru a bit more than Haruka, though. When I first
got into Sailormoon, I was reading all of the summaries from Doi's site and during the
episode with Ami's pure heart, something hit me about Michiru that I really liked. From
that moment forward she's remained a high favorite. ^_^ It took a bit longer for me to
like Haruka, though. Before I saw any full Sailormoon S episodes, she had been low
on my favorites by default. Then once I got to see her in action, I realized how
stupid I was that I couldn't tell how cool she was. ^_^; What I like
about them is they brought a sort of seriousness to Sailormoon; while the characters we
already had were the more positive "let's save everyone, everything will be alright" type,
Haruka and Michiru felt that sacrifices needed to be made and that not everyone could be
saved, an interesting contrast. But more than that, they act really cute together.
^.^ I love their little exchanges during SailorStars that make you wonder why there are
still people out there that can't be convinced that they're a couple.
Individually, there's a certain air about Michiru that makes me like her. Also,
she's intelligent, artistic, elegant, and teasing. With Haruka, again there's that
certain air, literally! ^_~ I love the wind, and Haruka wanting to be like the wind is cool.
Also, she's tough, cute, funny, as teasing as Michiru, and tons of other stuff. ^_^
• Kino Makoto -- Mako-chan!!! ;_; Poor girl, she's so wonderful, I don't see how anyone
can be as mean as to hate someone who just wants to be loved. ;_; I first started to like
her when I saw the dub episode "Jupiter Comes Thundering In" (for some strange reason, none
of the info I read on her left much of an impression beforehand :/ ); there was just something
so nice and great about her. Now that I've seen lots of Mako-chan in action (hopefully
I'll even get her intro episode soon!), I love her even more. I cry every time during the
Sailormoon R movie when she remembers being alone, then during "Moon Revenge" when she remembers
first meeting Usagi (aww, Usagi's so sweet!). Hmm, I haven't really said much about why I
like her yet. Well, there's just something so lovable about her. In every episode
she's featured I always wish I could give her a big hug and tell her everything will be
alright. Also, she's the easiest to identify with: not the prettiest, not the strongest,
not the smartest, not the best of the best -- just like most of us.
Interesting... All of the characters mentioned are women and only from my
top two favorite anime. Why does that make me feel like a newbie? ^^;; Oh well, here's all
of my honorable mentions: Seiya Kou, Tsukino Usagi, Tsukino Chibi Usa, Chibi Chibi,
Fish Eye, Prince Endymion (SM), Kiryuu Touga, Kiryuu Nanami, Shinohara Wakaba, Mikage Souji
(Utena), Fujimiya Aya, Kudo Youji (Weiß), Zechs Merquise, Treize Khushrenada, Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy (GW),
Kaoru-no-Kimi, Saint-Juste-sama (Oniisama E), Kero-chan, Daidouji Tomoyo, (Card Captor Sakura),
Kurata Sana, Hayama Akito (Kodocha), Ryoko, Kiyone, Achika (Tenchi Muyo!), Zelgadis Greywords, Lina Inverse
(Slayers), Gally (Battle Angel), Shinohara Miho (Lala), Aburatsubo Ayanojou, Sawanoguchi Sae
(Mahou Tsukai Tai!), Miyazawa Yukino (KareKano).
Seiyuu
• Koyasu Takehito -- Wai, Seiyuu God!!! I am a huge huge huge fan of Koyasu-sama.
It was destiny! How else can you explain that the very first set of anime tapes I
bought were Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Fushigi Yuugi, Tenchi Muyo!, and Slayers, all of which subbed?
See, destiny! ^_~ After the second time I watched my Utena tape, I realized two things:
hey, I don't hate Touga that much anymore, and wow! Touga's voice! :)~~ And so I went merrily
to the Utena Encyclopedia and found out his seiyuu was
Koyasu Takehito. Okay, I'll keep that in mind! said I. Then I re-watched my Fushigi
Yuugi tape and realized something: Touga! Repeat scenes with my other tapes. ^_^
After doing much research on him, getting more anime mainly because he has a role in it, collecting
a bunch of images of him (don't look at me like that o_O;;) and downloading lots of his songs
just to hear his wonderful voice, I realized I was obsessed. ^_^ It's worth it, too! *plays
"Hoshi ni Negai wo Komete" again* *melts into puddle* He has tons of great roles; you've probably
heard at least one of the following: Touga, Hotohori (ick), Zechs, Aya/Ran, Rezo, Aburatsubo, Yosho...
So many (mostly) terrific characters! Oh, and besides having a wonderful voice,
his acting is great. (Couldn't leave that question hanging. :p)
• Hayashibara Megumi -- Anyone that says they never heard of her must be either joking or
watch no anime outside of TV dubs. o_O Granted, I haven't seen many of the thousand characters
she's played (so far only three ;_;), but I've heard a lot of the songs she's sang, and they're
all great. Also, she's great as Lina Inverse. ^_^
• Midorikawa Hikaru -- This is a case of gradually liking more and more. It
seems that in every single anime I've seen, he has a role in it. o_o His voice has a distinct
sound to it, and I really like his acting. He's not very good at singing, though. ^^;;
But that's all right. My favorite roles of his are Heero Yuy (he's good at death threats ^^),
Mikage Souji (he's also good at that "you know you really can't trust this guy" tone), Zelgadis
(...and also good at making cool characters be even cooler), and Fiore (...and also good
at sounding like an insane lover ^_^). I didn't like him much as Tamahome, though. :p
• Mitsuishi Kotono -- Who doesn't know her? ^^; She has a lot of range; comparing Usagi to
Juri to Misato is mind-boggling. o_O And even with her voice extremely high or deep, she acts
very well. Watching scenes like "Crisis, Make Up!" towards the end of Sailormoon S and
Juri's psycho moment during episode seven of Utena are amazing. (Actually, most of Mitsuishi's
moments are amazing. ^_^)
• Miki Shin'ichirou -- He just keeps going up and up my list! (Sorry Seki...)
I must admit the main reason is the songs he sings. Every single one of them
will infect your mind and make you listen to them repeatedly for hours and hours.
Also, in the role I know him best as (Kudo Youji), he sounds so adorable. ^.^
I'd mention specific scenes, but I doubt I could give justice to them. Sadly,
I haven't heard him in many other roles (Yuuki Keisuke and a few clips of Kojiro),
but one day I'll see more! One day I'll see Allen and Larva!!
I feel bad about leaving off the rest of my favorite seiyuu. ;_; So I must mention
the following: Seki Tomokazu, Kawakami Tomoko, Ogata Megumi, Yuuki Hiro, Tomizawa Michie, Seki Toshihiko,
Shinohara Emi, and Okiayu Ryoutarou.
Music (By Series > Specific Songs)
• Shoujo Kakumei Utena -- All of it. Really, all of it. Okay, I'll try. ;_;
Last Evolution, Rinbu - Revolution (both TV and movie ver.), Tennen Douhou Kyuuden Enkinhou no
Sho, Tenshi Souzou Sunawachi Hikari, Nova, Toki ni Ai wa, Truth, Virtual Star Hasseigaku,
Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku (all versions, 3rd most, 2nd least), all of OST 2, Tainai Tokei Toshi
Oruroi, Ambition, Rose and Release, Hana no Nai Bara, and Sekai wo Kakumei Suru Tame ni. Phew...
• Weiß Kreuz -- Saigo no Bansan, Shindemo Ii, Other Side of the Moon, Velvet Underworld,
The Minority, Epitaph, Ocean Song, Blue Mask, Beautiful Alone, No Reason, Last In My Winds, It's
Too Late, Black Angel, and Rhodesia.
• Gundam Wing -- Endless Love, Just Communication, Brightness & Darkness, Rhythm Emotion,
Asu e no DOA wo Tatake, Ai wa Ryuusei, Tooi Yoake, Snow Planet, and Cry For the Dream.
• Slayers -- Give a Reason, Get Along, Risky Gamble, Because I Won't Be Broken, I Myself,
Exit Running, Slayers 4 the Future, In This Arm, Just Be Conscious, Reflection, and We Are.
• Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon -- (I'm including both anime and musicals.) All Mars image
songs, all of disc 4 of the Song Box (minus Yaten's song), La Soldier, Kokoro Tabanete Makin'
For The Right, Sailor Star Song, Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto, LINK, Solar Miracle Make Up!, Ai no Senshi,
Sailor War Supreme, Triple Dreams, "Rashiku" Ikimashou, La Fatalite Sei Senshi, Anata no Sei
Janai, Knockin' Down Hesitation, Koisuru Otome wa Makenai, La Moon, and Yume Miru Dakeja Dame.
Anime Series I Absolutely Must See
• Serial Experiments Lain -- Wai, Lain! Lain!!! *ahem* I already know I'm going
to absolutely love this. It's starts off with a girl that has committed suicide sending
an e-mail to Lain saying that she isn't dead, she just abandoned her body and went into the
Wired. Freaky. From what I hear this series gets really, really strange, which means
it's already destined for a spot in my top favorites. [Commercial]
• Tenshi ni Narumon! -- Um, I read a description of this a long time ago, but I can't remember
it now. ^^;; I know it's good, though! I think in the first episode a strange girl appears
(an angel named Noelle that doesn't have her wings yet) and follows this guy around, and she
takes over his house and moves her monster family in. ...Really, it's supposed to be good!
Don't let my horrible description turn you off on it! It's a very new series, but the
first five episodes have already been subbed by Sachi's. [Fansubs]
• Goldfish Warning! -- Why?! Why is it so hard to find this series?! Argh!!! *smashes
various objects* As an Ikuhara fan and a comedy fan, I must see this. But, it's so hard to
find stuff on this series that I can't even give a lousy but somewhat correct summary! Argh!!!
If any fansubbers are reading this, please make this a project! I can't be the only
feeling like this! *smashes a lamp* [Fansubs (a whole two episodes -_-;;)]
• Blackjack -- The main character, Blackjack, is a rogue doctor that performs operations
and stuff for wealthy people that can actually afford his prices. I don't know about the plot of the series, but in the
movie the plot is there's these superhumans that are dying quickly from I think a desease; one of
his previous patients caught it, a teenage girl, and after she died an autopsy showed her organs were
like a, um, really old person. So Blackjack gets involved in this whole mystery. My
memory is making a lousy description yet again, so just take my word for it that it's good, no
matter how stupid I make anything sound. -_-;; *sigh* [Commercial]
• Magical Project S -- I like parodies, and I like mahou shoujo (magical girls anime).
Therefore, I would absolutely love to see this: a parody of mahou shoujo using cast members
from "Tenchi Muyo!". And from what I hear, it's great. ^_^ (I know just by mentioning Tenchi
I've drawn people away, but please don't let that effect your opinion!!) I'm not taking my chances
yet again at making a lousy description, so just buy yourself a copy and brag to me about how you
got to see this before me. --;; [Commercial]
