David's Best & Worst of 2005By David Rasmussen
22nd Jan 06
 Once again it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. So once again we take a look at what the year gave us that was good, and bad, and ugly… definitely ugly. First let’s look at Animes of 2005. Best Animes of 2005
Azumanga Daioh (ADVFilms)
I know, I know, it ended in 2004 here in the US so how can I recommend it in 2005? Well for one thing it’s still coming out in the UK (Region 2 format), and another is that the 6 disc collection just came out in the US… so that’s why I can recommend it again. Compared to some as the Seinfeld of Anime, Azumanga Daioh is one of the best comedies I’ve seen yet and worth your time checking out. Cowboy Bebop Remix (BANDAI)
The re-release of the big sci-fi series from BANDAI brings it back into the hands of new fans and those who want to experience the series in it’s new sound format of 5.1 Dolby Digital! The extras, however… while it was great on Volume 1, the extras really dropped off in Volume 2. Still the series itself is strong and if you are a new fan, or a fan who has the ability to enjoy the series in 5.1 Dolby Digital, then this is the series for your collection. Galaxy Angel A (BANDAI)
It’s Season 3 of the series, and if you haven’t experienced the wonder that is Galaxy Angel (the joys and humor of the series that has lasted four seasons to date… hopefully five by now) then now is as good a time as any to jump in and enjoy. This, and previous seasons Galaxy Angel & Galaxy Angel Z, is recommended. Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex (BANDAI)
Shirow’s best, this series (now up to Season 2 with a Season 3 in the works) is hot stuff and now is as good a time as any to jump in on the series and become a fan! Planetes (BANDAI)
A sci-fi series with down to Earth roots and heart, this series is a solidly done piece of sci-fi worth checking out. If you haven’t gotten hooked on this series yet now is as good a time as any to check it out. Worst Animes of 2005
Big O II Episodes 25 & 26
Yeah, I know, I praised this series to high heaven and I still think it’s a great series… it’s just I don’t like how the hell it ended! I’m sure this is only coming out ending wise in 2005 in the UK, but this ending is still worth mentioning since I’m about to talk about it in an upcoming review… anyway it’s time to face the facts of the end of the series, and why I still recommend it despite the fuzzy ending. After all we’ve gone through to get to this point we’ve come to the grand finale and the finish line in grand style as we exit Episode 24 and head into 25… Dorothy has been kidnapped and her “soul” (her AI) has seemingly taken from her body and fused into Big Fau (which I thought happened). Big Duo has just left stage left with it’s would be Dominos Alan Gabriel’s corpse when it had judged him inferior to it’s original Dominos Schwarzwald, thereby judging him “ye guilty”. Angel is still on the loose and it looks like The Union (the foreigners from a devastated Europe/Middle East) are on the warpath with Pardigm City sitting on the razor‘s edge… so how could this possibly suck when it should be the coolest ending of all time?!? Oh yes, it could suck… especially when they try to pull the trick of the century by proclaiming that Paradigm City and all there is is a lie, and the entire “World” of Paradigm City was built inside a gigantic “dome” and the world was a lie! The world, the situation, everything… a lie… which would have worked mind you, it would have. After all with the world devastated by the Mega Deuses gone amok you would have thought they would have built a dome where humanity could be reborn, and thus the gigantic mega dome of Paradigm City… but then they tried to make it as if they were “actors” on a “stage” and this was all a drama “unfolding” which might have worked… if you first threw out Episode 16!!
This “logic” doesn’t work with Episode 16 since it concerned the “earthfall” of the remains of what was probably MIR back to terra firma (Paradigm City), which doesn’t synch with the “logic” that Paradigm City was a gigantic mega dome. Then, when the “logic” of that seemed to fail (the whole Paradigm City as a giant mega dome), they tried to change gears in Episode 26 and turn the entire thing into a Matrix style simulation (note how everything does the Matrix disappearing thing leaving a white void)!
Then the world ends, Angel (in the control room, probably time sharing the control room with the small dog from the alternate ending to Silent Hill 2) meets Roger Smith and R Dorothy, and the world is rebooted so that nothing from the entire series ever happened!
Roger Smith seemingly forgets R Dorothy, and she stands side by side with Angel as the series starts again from the beginning… what the hell! Did they become an item or something?!? Damn!! In short the ending blows but the series as a whole is still good (just because the last two episodes bite it doesn‘t mean the rest of the episodes aren‘t good, which they are). I still like the series as a whole, I still think it’s one of the best I’ve seen despite the fact I have this dislike of how it ended, and I still think you should make Big O part of your collection despite my misgivings. But still, you’d think that after all these episodes and all the emotional investment we put into this series, Roger, R Dorothy, Angel and so forth, you would at least expect some sort of satisfying payoff for all that investment! But instead of getting a payoff you get a ripoff, and the ending makes you feel cheated and sold short. That more than anything is such a jip, but I still love the series all the same… now if Wendee Lee would just answer my e-mail for an interview request with any answer, even to tell me off… that’d at least be something. D.I.C.E. Episode 22
Quick! Call Amnesty Galactic! Somebody has violated two micro sized animal humanoids human rights and nobody seems to care!! In what has to be the worse travesty of justice a micro chipmunk like entity and his daughter gets the bums rush through a bad legal system and get the shaft at the end when the father gets locked away and the daughter ends up in a state run home thing… what the hell! Considering D.I.C.E. nearly triggered an interstellar war to break out a woman who nearly killed a planet by using it’s government’s own doomsday weapon against it (because she was tortured) they couldn’t help these two out who were obviously wronged by an out of control police force?!? Gimme a break!! Worst episode ever! Disney Gives Miyazaki The Shaft… Again!
You’d think we’d know better by now, but somehow we never know better.
After giving Spirited Away the cold shoulder with it’s not so vibrant theatrical release schedule what would have even tickled our thoughts as to Disney doing anything different with Howl’s Moving Castle?!?
Despite the awards it won prior to it‘s Disney led release, despite the fact Spirited Away did well in awards post it‘s Disney led release, and despite the fact Miyazaki will eventually really retire from movies one of these days (ending an era of greatness in Anime Theatrical Releases) Disney still keeps up it’s (bleep)y attitude towards his movies by continuing to give it the (bleep)y limited release schedule that show how much contempt Disney has for it’s betters.
What Studio Ghibli was thinking siding with the “Devil” I have no idea. Why they continue to waste their time with them is something I also don’t grasp. They really need to get a better distributor for Miyazaki’s greatness before it’s too late. Final Fantasy the PSP Shiller
After waiting and waiting for an ideal Final Fantasy movie we finally get one, and it turns into a device to shill for overpriced not so portable PSPs! Final Fantasy VII : Advent’s Children is the Final Fantasy movie we’ve been waiting for, and yet it has only been released on the PSP! The over priced, flawed, glitchy, lord it’s not portable and you’d better own a fistful of specialized power chargers to recharge on the fly since the thing has a sucky 90 minute lifespan charge without these things, device!
Now there’s a promise that this is supposed to make the migration to DVD format, but I have yet to see any effort on SquareEnix’s part to get this onto a DVD format for those of us who are not daft enough to own a damn overpriced PSP! But then again since SquareEnix is not exactly killing themselves to get either Final Fantasy XII or Kingdom Hearts 2 into full release I guess it’s par for the course with Advent’s Children, which sucks since there’s word of more Final Fantasy VII related stuff possibly coming down the pike in the near future to look out for! Hurry up and release the DVD version already!! (The) Yukikaze Kiss Off
Do you remember when I last reviewed Yukikaze DVD V. 1? When it first came out? Do you in fact remember the series at all?!? After what seems like a mini eternity the people at BANDAI finally (finally) come about to releasing Volume 2, aka Yukikaze II, and people… well people probably couldn’t care less. Guys?!? This is at least two years too late! What gives!! This should have came out two months after the original, not two or so years!! I don’t even know if I can muster the urge to care after such a long wait! But just so you know, Yukikaze II (the continuation of the series) is finally out… if you still care. The Best of Manga 2005
Aria
Still one of my favorite sleeper hits of the year, Aria is this beautiful little series from ADVManga that brings you into the life of this young woman striving to become an Undine, a Gondolla like pilot on the waterways of this colony city set on a water filled Mars.
Beautiful, enchanting, lovely and engrossing, you’ll find yourself drawn into her world and entertained by what you find there. With an Anime series just released last Summer on Japanese TV (soon to come to English speaking audiences via DVD) this is worth checking out now, before the Anime hits. Full Metal Panic Franchise
Who would have thought that I’d become a convert to the series, but now that I’ve gotten more exposed to it last year I’m becoming more and more of a believer. If you haven’t checked out the main series yet now is the time to do it… you can also check out the spin-off, mind you, but it’s not the same as the main regular Full Metal Panic series. It’s good, but not on the same level. Galaxy Angel
If you’ve loved the Anime you should get into both manga series. If you haven’t seen either now is as good a time as any to try this Broccoli Books title out. Now onto it’s second series (Galaxy Angel Beta) and a new anthology spin off (Galaxy Angel Party), this is as good a time as any to become a new reader of the series. The main series (based on the 2 video games that have yet to make the journey from Japan to English gaming consoles, mainly the PS2) and the Party series (anthology stories based on the anime and manga) are good picks, and if you can you should try them out ASAP. Hellsing
I’m not big on horror, but I’m big on Hellsing. One of the more solid horror titles I’ve seen the action, biting dark humor, and dark visuals hit’s the spot and makes it worth recommending. Shoujo Beat’s…
It just came out this past year, and two titles sprung out at me as the newest in shoujo that you should become familiar with. One being the sports themed Crimson Hero, a female lead volleyball wonder that will score points with you with it’s solid writing and artwork. The other is Nana, the series from Ai Yazawa that is a slice of urban living done shoujo style (very nicely done).
If you have a chance to get either or both of these manga graphic novels I suggest you do so. Recommended. Since I don’t have a worst of Manga list, and I already did big lists on my best and worst picks in gaming, let’s go to the Prospects of 2006 lists… Prospects of 2006
Anime
I don’t really know what’s coming down the road in 2006, and I haven’t seen any advance looks at any upcoming BANDAI series so I’m going to stick to my favorites list as to what I am looking forward to in 2006... Aria the Animated Series (ADVFilms)
It premiered last summer on Japanese TV (thanks to that female reader who gave me that all important information several months ago), but now we’re waiting for the series to take it’s grand trip across the Pacific for it’s Region 1 premiere (then across the Atlantic for it’s Region 2 premiere).
Yes, I’ve been hyping about this for the longest time it seems, the series, and I do plan to drop reviews on the series once it comes out (I call dibs)… hopefully it’s coming soon… anyone seen any ads for it yet? Galaxy Angel Season 4 (BANDAI)
The fourth season of Galaxy Angel, and hopefully not the last… anyone know if there was a Season 5 or not for the series? GITS : SAC 3rd Season (BANDAI)
Oh-kay, this is more of a “keep an eye on it” than a release thing since I’m pretty sure it hasn’t hit on Japanese TV yet (and if it has it’ll be awhile before it gets the English treatment). Hmm… still it’s giong to be something to keep your eyes on this year, regardless of whether it’s premiere on Japanese TV or making it’s DVD release outside of Japan in 2006... Or both. Kamikaze Girls the Movie (VIZ)
VIZ’s new Shoujo Beat can’t stop talking about this series, and one of the thing they talked about was the movie… but I missed that issue of Shoujo Beat so all I know is that there’s a movie in the works. Odds are 2006 is probably not going to be the release year… but I could be wrong. Anyway I’ll see if I can get some reviews of this series for you in the near future so you know what VIZ and Shoujo Beat is so hyped about. Yotsubato! (ADVFilms)
Considering we’ve just got the manga sometime ago when will we get the anime? This new series from Azumanga Daioh creator Kiyohiko Azuma is something I am looking forward to checking out. It’s not as great as Azumanga Daioh, the manga Yotsubato, but it’s still good reading and I think the anime might also be a good series too. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long to see this.
Oh, ditto on manga by the way… in that I have no real picks for the new year. Sorry. Moving on… Console Games
Cowboy Bebop (PS2)
I’d love to say that my pick of the upcoming Cowboy Bebop game was from a great assurance that the game will rule… but somehow I have this sinking feeling it may end up on my Worst of 2006 list.
So far I have not heard anyone waxing poetic about the Cowboy Bebop video game, and considering I hear lots of praise for the series itself (of which I have quite abit of praise of my own to add to that praise) you’d think a video game version of the series would be welcome… if not for the fact that most of the time doing a video game adaptation of a series (TV or movie) usually turns into such a minefield of calamities waiting to happen! I am still going to hold out hope that my suspicions on the game is without merit but just in case… well, let’s all just hope it doesn’t fall flat on it’s face. Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
You’ve might have seen the full demo with Dragon Quest VII… in fact the fact that Dragon Quest VIII had a full demo of Final Fantasy XII might have been the deciding factor in you getting Dragon Quest VIII in the first place! But as we look ahead we know that we’re only a short distance away from it’s release, originally promised for a 2005 release but pushed back to the first quarter of 2006... Which is anytime between now and March so… well, hopefully it’s out soon. Hope all this waiting is worth it! Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
Speaking of things we’ve been made to wait for, similarly delayed KH2 also is supposed to come out the first quarter of 2006... Hope it also was worth that insufferable wait. Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess (?)
And yet ANOTHER GAME which couldn’t make the 2005 release date… gee, wonder why, other than the fact Disney was putting out their answer to The Lord of the Rings trilogy with their Chronicles of Narnia movie (still struggling to break even in box office sales nationwide) and video game and they have such good relations with both SquareEnix and Nintendo… hmm.
Anyway this game also finally gets it’s release date… only where is now a good question! After this delay you’d wonder if Nintendo lost it’s spine and decided to do the switcharoo to make Twilight Princess the opening volley of games on their much maligned and demonized “next gen” console the Revolution.
Of course it’d be such a mistake to do that but who are we to say such things! It’s not like Nintendo has a habit of listening to those around them after all… otherwise they wouldn’t have crippled the GameCube and GBA with so few good releases during the holiday season!
Let’s just hope Nintendo is going to keep to their original word and get Twilight Princess out on the Cube. Who knows? It might turn the Cube around and get it back in the game again… then again if Resident Evil 4 couldn’t do that I have a hard time believing a new Zelda game will fare any better in turning around the not so shining rep of Nintendo’s little gaming bento box. Okami (PS2)
The last time we saw this game was at last year’s Tokyo Game Show. Now it’s 2006 and we’re looking forward to the long awaited release of it onto the PS2! This game, a beautiful watercolored vision of wonder to behold, cast you in the role of a goddess who has come to a devastated Earth in the form of a white wolf. It is up to you to bring life back to the world, while doing Animal Crossing style chores for the humans you encounter to help him in their lives. The biggest draw of this game, besides the lush and stunning graphics which are just too beautiful for words, is the caligraphy system. By pressing the R1 button you can bring up the caligraphy pad onto the screen, on which you use your brush to “paint” things into exsistence (like a bridge to cross wide gorges, a line for someone to hang their laundry on, or a path to climb to new heights), cut boulders and trees, or even deliver a “fatality” blow to finish off weak enemies.
This unique and innovative game looks fine, and once we get our hands on it this Spring (tenative release date since it’s not even released in Japan yet from what I heard) we can all see how great this game is. Portable Games
While I don’t really have any idea what kind of portable games to look forward to (usually I’d wait to see what games are hot at E3 before I start talking games) I know what I’d like to see come out in the portables in the year 2006. Item - Better RPGs for the Nintendo DS
Let’s face it, so far of the two only the GBA is turning out RPGs worth talking about. So far the only RPG seen for the Nintendo DS is not something to enter the Matrix over… mainly Lunar : Dragon Song.
The game is frustrating, not so fun, you can’t pick enemies to fight during battles, you have to decide whether to fight for items or experience (can’t do both) and you can’t even run on the world area without draining your health points! Definitely not my idea of a good time.
We need some ports of some of the good RPGs from the Nintendo 64! Games like Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time or… or… you know what? I have no idea what kind of RPGs came out on the Nintendo 64 past Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask (Legend of Zelda)! Hmm… just make something better than Lunar : Dragon Song! That’s all I ask! Item - Harvest Moon DS
How about a Harvest Moon game for the DS! An improved version of Harvest Moon 64 for instance!
Harvest Moon 64 is one of the better Harvest Moon games, and having an improved and modified port of that would be a nice addition to the DS line-up! Anyway even the GBA has Harvest Moon so why not! Item - Final Fantasy III for the GBA
Uh… Final Fantasy I-II : Dawn of Souls, Final Fantasy IV Advance… uh… is it me or are we missing a Final Fantasy here?!? Where’s Final Fantasy III?!? Did I miss something here? Damn. Item - Resident Evil 2 for the DS
Since it somehow managed to get ported to the Nintendo 64 and still look fine how about a Resident Evil 2 port for the DS! I mean come on! If the 64 could handle it the DS should have a fair chance of handling it, even if it means having to put it on two carts instead of one! Anyway the DS needs a good 3rd person shooter and I can’t think of a better one best suited for the DS than Resident Evil 2! Item - Mario Party for the DS
First off let me say that I don’t want a repeat of the (bleep)tacular disaster that was Mario Party Advance! How about a REAL Mario Party that revives the fun of the first three Mario Partys in one DS cart -- or at the very least revive Mario Party 2 & 3! Something that isn’t the (bleep) that was Mario Party Advance!
Because with the wireless infrared link AND Wi-Fi Connection capability the DS is screaming for a party game that takes full advantage of the system’s potentials, and since Mario Kart DS proved a good Mario game on the DS sells why not try for a good party game! Item - Hentai Games on the DS
Yeah, yeah, the odds of Nintendo putting out some hard core gaming on the DS is about as good as Nintendo giving away free Revolutions to loyal gamers on it‘s launch date! It’s not like the market is kids only, you know, so really! Go poke some right wing extremists in the pocketbook (just don’t take it ’cause that’s stealing) and tell them to shut up, ‘cause it’s time the gaming industry stop catering to their whining and releases -- well, not EQUAL but at least a small balance of games that caters to an adult crowd. Truth of the matter is it’ll never be equal, but even a small smidgen of adult hentai sex games is better than nothing in my book. Maybe… well… OK, I am reasonable, so let’s say -- hmm -- 4 to 6 games of this type on the DS a year. One every 2 to 3 months. Absolute minimum would be 1 every four months for a trio of games a year, and that‘s being upmost understanding of people’s concerns, not to mention showing the most in terms of utter restraint towards these games release.
Also, to make the censorship happy naysayers happy, make it so the game has to be unlocked with an age verified access code, so that no underaged players can gain access to it. To do this the gamer signs a consent form upon purchase of the game and mails it in, and in return the gamer receives a verification code that their age has been determined to be over 18 and they are eligible to play. Only through use of said code (which the owner also takes responsibility for in terms of access to the game and must also take responsibility if it is used inappropriately) can the game be played. That way the age fanatical worrywarts are happy with the safety precautions that keep children (who shouldn’t be able to buy this anyway since it’s an adults only game) from playing it, while making it accessible to adults who want to play it.
There, problem solved. Now if Nintendo would only grow a spinal column or something I‘d like to see a DS version of Sexy Beach 2 sometime in my lifetime! Next Gen Games
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 3 (XBox360)
It’s coming, that is if it’s not already here. The 3rd… well, not exactly the third what with the boosters like Jungle Strike and Summit Strike and so forth but… well, it’s the latest and the first Ghost Recon for the Next Gen consoles. If you enjoyed the previous outings of Ghost Recon you should be back for this, and if you didn’t like those then… well… something else will come along soon enough. John Woo’s Shakedown (PS3)
The sequel to the groundbreaking classic Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun Fat, this game picks up where that movie left off and features both John Woo (in the “Driver’s” seat directing) and Chow Yun Fat (reprising his role as Inspector Tequilla). If the trailer for the game is any indication of the actual gameplay I think you are going to be plesantly surprised with this bad boy. Killzone 2 (PS3)
If you loved the first Killzone for the PS2 you should fall in love all over again with the hardcore sequel. Continuing where the last game left off you continue your war against the forces of Helghast, continuing to put more and more bullets through the faceplates of your enemies. Happy hunting. Prey (XBox360)
I really don’t know anything about this except I watched a confusing trailer and people at X-Play said what I saw was supposed to be cool… really… well I’ll take their word for it. Resident Evil 5 (PS3)
Based on, if you can believe this, the story of Black Hawk Down (more on the movie based on the event than the game based on the movie based on the event), you find yourself once again amongst the undead… or the living who is controlled like puppets like RE4... Or something. Anyway this should be even better than the last of the present console cycle’s RE games since it’s the first RE for the next gen, so I’m expecting great things from RE5 when it finally releases (either this year or 2007 at the latest)! And that, as they say, is that. My looks back and ahead. Take with this what you may, and may you find this to be a good year! Take care everybody and enjoy 2006!
-- David Rasmussen 22nd Jan 06
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