Best Box Set Award
WINNER: Air Gear
STUDIO: Funimation
RELEASE DATE: 12/2/08.
RATING: Unrated
This box set will be a great gift for almost every lover of anime. It has everything, from cute girls, to romantic overtones, cocky underdog main characters to potentially deadly illegal sporting tournaments, and the music and art style are excellent. A complete box set of this fantastic story about the rise of a boy whose destiny could be ‘king’ will please even the most cynical anime appetites, and if not, take it home and enjoy it yourself! (Hey, you tried to get them a gift.)
RUNNERS-UP: Pumpkin Scissors, Ghost Hunt, One Piece
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Weirdest Holiday-Themed Episode(s) Award
WINNER: Itsudatte My Santa
STUDIO: Funimation
RELEASE DATE: 11/18/08
RATING: Unrated
Wacky Santas-in-training, weird transformation sequences to increase bust size, magical reindeer named Pedro, and a kid named Santa who could rival any Care Bear episode for depressed children, this anime even finds time to discuss the birth of Jesus! Watching this DVD is like being physically assaulted by the Christmas spirit, and is sure to cause even the most dysfunctional family gathering to stop arguing and stare, transfixed, at the tv. Never fear that your lack of holiday decoration or the absence of pre-recorded carols could prevent others from knowing the depth of your holiday cheer. Just pop this DVD and crank the volume to display your Christmas spirit to every soul who enters your home!
RUNNERS-UP: Ghost Hunt (the case titled “Silent Christmas”)
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Best New Shoujo Series to Make You Squeal Award
WINNER: Ouran High School Host Club
STUDIO: Funimation
RELEASE DATE: 10/28/08
RATING: Unrated
This rollicking comedy of errors will cheer up even the most dour scrooge this Christmas, and you can be more environmentally friendly with Funimation’s new green packaging. A great gift for any fan of stories involving mistaken identities, pretty boys, the difficulties of fitting-in at a new school, or laughing at the differences between social status, this box set will keep everyone entertained for hours as the flickering scene lends a nostalgic light to the mess of unwrapped presents. Fans of romantic comedies will truly enjoy this gift.
RUNNERS-UP: Paradise Kiss (box set), Kyo Kara Maoh!
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Easiest Initiation Award
WINNER: xXxHolic
STUDIO: Funimation
RELEASE DATE: 03/25/08(ongoing)
RATING: TV PG
Cantankerous rain sprites, udon-peddling foxes, and a whole host of other spirit oddities plague Kimihiro Watanuki’s daily life ever since he came under the employ of the dimensional witch, Yuko. This series is perfect for the CLAMP addict out there, but it’s also great for lovers of slightly twisted morality tales. It’s really difficult to find an anime as easy to jump right into as xXxHolic is—once you know who the key players are, you can easily figure out what’s going on and what’s happened up till the point you entered upon. It’s this reason that we decided upon xXxHolic as the ultimate winner, though there were some good challengers out there. With each DVD you get beautiful animation and masterful (as well as amusing) story telling at their finest combination.
RUNNERS-UP: Bleach
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Most Faithful Adaptation Award
WINNER: Peach Girl (box set)
STUDIO: Funimation
RELEASE DATE: 03/08/08
RATING: Unrated
Admittedly, this category was a little tricky for us. There are a lot of great manga titles that adapt well to animation, and a good many series stay true to the original manga with minor filler episodes or plot changes. Like everything, most animes start off on paper, and due to either the anime being produced faster than a popular manga or time/budget constraints, a good many series get sort of paraphrased or compressed from what their original manga story was. But not Peach Girl. Peach girl stayed true to the dramatic high school story of Momo Adachi and how two boys vie for her life while her conniving classmate Sae is constantly trying to tear her down. It’s the perfect gift for fans of shojo anime and fun to watch with large groups of girls to hear all the jeers and hissing as each of Sae’s attempts to hurt Momo unfolds. Buyer beware, however, as you may also have to provide stockings stuffed with tissues to the person lucky enough to receive Peach Girl for the holidays.
RUNNERS-UP: Air Gear, Bleach, One Piece
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Largest Amount of T&A Fanservice Award
WINNER: Negima!? Spring and Summer Specials
STUDIO: Funimation
RELEASE DATE: 10/18/08
RATING: Unrated
Nothing says fun like cheap titillation! The Negima?! Spring and Summer Specials OVA makes up for the original TV series’ near lack of schoolgirl jailbait shots. It’s our suspicion that the creator, Ken Akamatsu, was being conservative with the tv series just so he could get the green light to make this OVA. Like the series, the OVA follows the wacky antics of Negi Springfield’s students of class 2-A as they attempt to both cheer up and feel up the poor (un)fortunate lad in his times of need. Some even go so far as to attempt casting spells of their own just to see who truly is fated to be with their prodigious teacher. And, as the name suggests, both episodes take place at the beach and a bathhouse respectively—lots of opportunities to squeeze on partial nudity of junior high girls, money shots, and even a few things that would probably make Brittany Spears blush. This OVA is a shining example of inappropriate fanservice and it does us proud to bestow this prestigious award. It’s an amusing enough offshoot from the main series, and fun for any anime lover (of the appropriate viewing age) to turn their brain off to and enjoy.
RUNNERS-UP: There were runners up for this title, but unfortunately they all had to bow out to Ken Akamatsu’s shameless and rampant use of young teen female anatomy. We’re still cleaning up the mess from all the nosebleeds.