Anime Girl Rankings

Motherless Day

Today's update falls on Mother's Day, which is interesting given there's almost no motherly presence in any of the series we've added.

First we have the lovely Watashi no Ashinaga Ojisan, an older anime about an orphan gaining the ability to attend high school in New York thanks to an anonymous benefactor. Based on a book and part of the World Masterpiece Theater franchise, it was impossible to not fall in love with the main protagonist Judy.

Next is Tamako Market, the recent Kyoto Animation series about a family of mochi makers in a shopping center. I love KyoAni and I love their moe shows, but this one fell a little short for me. The characters lacked that spark that makes the casts of K-ON! and Lucky Star so engaging, and by the time the chemistry started working really well, the show ended. It was still a good show but a disappointment by KyoAni standards.

Third is Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, a Shaft show that by my account wasn't received too well, but it has its good points. All of the standard Shaft and Akiyuki Shinbo tricks are present but in a more subdued way, and I really liked the alternative ways they structured some episodes. I want to see more of the world they presented, but I somehow doubt there'll be more animated.

Lastly, we have Little Busters!, the latest offering from Key, about a group of childhood friends. I came into it with zero expectations and I have no experience with the source material. I had completely forgotten about Key's patent for 'Sad Girls in Snow', so when the drama started, the gut-punch was hard. Now I'm waiting for the second season to hopefully resolve things because I liked the cast.

The end result is twenty six new characters, so hug your mothers and then get to voting!