Moment #1: Aria

To be specific, the ending of Aria the Animation. Okay, sure, it wasn’t exactly a Christmas setting, but the feelings, the mood it invoked, were the same.
Truth be told, I watched the full series earlier this year, and then the thirteenth episode another time just a few minutes ago, just to keep the feelings a little fresh. It really delivered a simple message to me: No matter what you occasion you’re celebrating, what makes it all worthwhile is being with the people you hold dear. For Akari, it was being with her friends and seniors, Aika, Alice, Alicia, et. al. For me, well, it’s my family and my friends are (though obviously they’re with their own families).
It really hit me hard this year because, if you remember a previous post, my grandmother passed away. She was always there during our family’s Christmas parties, so her absence really drove home that little insight I had.
I just love Aria for things like these. Despite being set so distantly, it still feels so close. The wonderful things I pick up from this show only add to my appreciation of the series, and adding to that, the wonderful, relaxed feeling I always get when watching the show, it makes for a perfect way to celebrate Christmas and the rest of the year.

Buon Natale.

Moment #2 – 5cm per Second

Byousoku was, and still is, my favorite animated film.
I’ve re watched it twice last year and another time this year, with each rewatch adding more and more to my appreciation of it. The visuals were excellent, the sound was great, but there was something more to it. A lot of people mentioned how they were able to empathize with Takaki – how his experiences in the film were able to remind those people of their own. Now to be honest, I’ve never had a romantic relationship before (go figure) so I never could empathize, but despite that, it was able to bring out a sense of sympathy for Takaki.
In my first viewing, I was never really able to take in the deeper aspects of the film. Rather than concentrating on the movie’s other portions, like themes, moods, emotions, I was more concentrated on the technical aspects of 5cm. The graphics were downright stunning, and the voice acting wasn’t half-bad either. In the end, I didn’t really feel much about the movie. It was an incredible display of well, scenery porn. And that’s all I thought in my first watch.
My second was a little more satisfactory. The last part of the movie was able to get me awfully depressed because of the ending – its ability to bring out raw emotion in me is perhaps only matched by a small number of things – ARIA and planetarian to name a few. I was also able to relate it to another of Shinkai’s movies – Voices of a Distant Star – and I noticed a couple of parallels in the themes present: love, distance, separation, they were there. After that, school took over and I wasn’t able to think about it much after.

This year, I was able to view it with a little more time to spare. A lot of parts of the movie stay in my memory, but there is a certain part: the last moment at the crossing where I found something more to the movie. It’s where a train cuts off a possible reunion with Akari and after which, Takaki moves on. Everything comes back back full circle, except this time, Akari isn’t on the other side of the tracks. To be honest, it really made me depressed and angry because they could have seen each other again, yet they were not; the distance of a single train crossing becomes comparable to that of one light years away as in Voices of a Distant Star.
I thought it was just unfair – the entire thing. And then Takaki just moves onward with a little smile on his face. Evidently, it’s not exactly a happy ending, and I guess that’s life. It’s never going to be a happy ending, but even then, you have to move on. You have to accept what life throws at you and press forward.
I guess what makes 5cm so great is its encapsulation of so many little things that you get to realize and appreciate the more you watch it.

Moments Left: 1

Moment #3 – “It’s a Sony!”

I was pretty damn surprised when they pulled this off. This practically made Kannagi for me; the blatant brand advertisement had me stifling my laughter for some time, and it will probably not only live on as a Kannagi-related meme, but even as a Sony-related one. I lol’d at how no one even knew what the hell Blu-Ray and Betamax were.
And as for the series itself, it really shows how you could be totally off the actual manga (not that I’ve read it, but I doubt there’s a karaoke chapter in there) and still make one hell of an entertaining show.

Moment #4 – That Kyou-Storeroom Scene

I’m cheating here, but I’m going to put another moment from the same show. Funny how I liked this over something like ef or kurenai, because honestly, there are so many better moments that I could have picked (which I did) but this created all sorts of awesomeness waves throughout the internet. Everyone watching it went crazy, MADs and other weird fan-related stuff started popping up; it was practically a sensation, albeit a rather short-lived one.
I guess even stuff that panders to the male’s fantasies are just as memorable.

Moment #5 – Miyako’s Unlimited Voice Mail Works

This was one of the few moments in the show where I was pretty much left speechless. You know. Those times when something huge happens (ie: what happened with Sayuri in Kanon ‘06), and then you just sit there, dumbfounded, or at a loss as to just what happened. Even as the ending credits roll by, and then you get to that point where they thank the sponsors of the show, you just sit there staring off into space. Maybe you’re still taking it all in, analyzing just what the hell happened, or maybe it’s just pretty damn tough to accept altogether.
Yeah, that feeling. The scene was perfect, really. The tone of voice – from that of joking joviality, to concern, then to fear and desperation. It shows just how much she needs to be with someone – anyone – who won’t abandon her. The text appearing all over the screen also shows the state of her mind, too. Initially, it’s a clean slate, but as time passes, her thoughts get more and more frantic; the originally immaculate, white screen gets covered with a collage of text, and she starts panicking, all ending in deletion of the entire jumble of text.
As I watched it, the whole scene basically just shut me up. It affected me – not to the point of planetarian, of course – but, well, you know that feeling.
Right?

Moments left: 4

Moment #6 – Code Geass and Lelouch’s Death

It had to be said. Really, him dying was the last thing that I’d expected. We’d known Lelouch as that crazy bastard who did stuff and ended up being king (emperor) of the world, and now he does this? Because all the anime had given us were hints, passing mentions of Zero Re;quiem, I had no clue as to what it all pointed to, or even how the series would end. Who knew that the curtain would fall with his self-sacrifice?
As multitudes of other bloggers have already pointed out, Geass was a trainwreck. I won’t deny that it was – who could? But the series, with all its illogical plot twists, unexplained terminology and jargon, inconsistent characterization, and a complete mess of a story, will be remembered for quite some time. For all the wrong reasons.

Moment #7 – CLANNAD 18

The whole scene didn’t actually make me sad or anything – I’m an emotionless bastard. What I felt was a sense of… astoundedness* and a bit of surprise, both for the same reasons.
I was surprised because I did not expect this at all. It was… well, a bit of a shock when they started bawling like that when Tomoya helped Nagisa get up and to the infirmary. Astoundedness because of the sense of closure it gave, in respect to the feelings that Kyou, Ryou, and Tomoyo had for him. I’m probably committing a fallacy here, but I’m guessing that if KyoAni didn’t put that scene there, people would start wondering as to why Kyou isn’t having Tomoya eating lunch with them anymore, and so on.
Basically, I liked how it had that sense of realism and concern to detail breathed into it; CLANNAD wouldn’t be the same without it.

Moments left: 6

* – yes, I like to make words up.

Moment #8 – the Lucky Star Dance

lolikit will kill me for this, but I have to admit it – Lucky Star’s dance routine is probably one of the most memorable things that’s ever hit 2007. It combined some crazy high-energy singing mixed with a catchy dance done by the Lucky Star crew. Not to mention the uncountable misinterpretations of the lyrics. If memory serves me right, it got mixed reactions from lots of people, ranging from “omg this is awsum,” to “wtf is this retarded bullshit.” No matter how it was perceived though, the fact of the matter is, people still remember it, and probably will for quite some time.

Moment #9 – kurenai

Initially, I was totally turned off by the character design and such – I’m sure many others were – but I got back and marathoned the series. Needless to say, I was awed. It hits me in just the right places. Compelling story, slice-of-life-y with a hint of action, great production values, good voice acting… and the list goes on. However, something about the series always bugged me – the ending. Now, a lot of people say that the ending was good. Indeed it was. But it wasn’t gratifying for me. I’d expected to have Murasaki just get the hell out of the household and live with Shinkurou. But instead, she resolves to fight against the Kuhouin traditions. A losing fight, perhaps, and perhaps not, but it just didn’t jive with me too much. It felt as if my expectations were betrayed (and in fact, they were). Shinkurou, Benika, and the gang, all went through hell and back to rescue Murasaki; she says that she’ll stay there in order to reform their ways, and everyone just accepts, no questions asked. Perhaps it’s just my tendency to go for those endings that appeal to your emotions. You know, the happy endings. I guess that in the end though, this was really one of the better ways to end it – a bittersweet, “true end”-like conclusion. But if I ever end up rewatching this gem of a show, I’ll always have the lingering feeling in me wishing for that “good end”.

Moment #10 – true tears Episode 13

I kind of like this whole scene where Noe walks – rather, limps – back to the hospital alone. It’s pretty indicative of how Noe has grown as a person throughout the series. Before, she was awfully dependent and immature, getting riled up over small things. Throughout the series, she’s been running away from her problems and difficulties but now, even as her love interest flat out says, “I’m in love with someone else”, she calmly accepts it and moves on.
It all made me feel a little more sympathetic towards her (but still, Hiromi ftw), which makes that moment number 10 of the year.

Moments left: 9