aloe, dream

Although 2008 may not have been as great as 2007, it did have some great characters, in that respect, I’m already missing them ;_;

Best Parents

Sanae and Akio Furukawa, Clannad

Could anyone ask for a more awesome family (ヶロ)? The Furukawa’s were quite the delight, and just as Akiko was involved in Kanon, both Sanae and Akio are involved throughout Clannad. Nagisa’s on-stage breakdown in episode 21 and her parents’ uplifting support was a touching moment. Simply fabulous parents, and they have a lovable chemistry as well.

Best Onee-sama

Haruka Minami, Minami-ke Seconds

Haruka is still amazing!

Notables: Kyou Fubayashi, Clannad and Yomi Isayama, Ga-Rei -Zero-

The big sister role wasn’t played that much, but she sparkled anyway as an older sister.

Yomi, as a big sister to Kagura was a sweet ordeal with the loving chemistry they had. Ultimately it created a more dramatic affect in the end. Lovely sisters.

Best Onii-san

Ozma Lee, Macross Frontier

Being the one who raised Ranka, then seeing her off on a journey and in life brought a great brotherly perspective. Even without the brother badge he was awesome, but because he stood tall, truly cared about Ranka, and protected her as best he could, he was a good model for all brothers out there. Badass dependability!

Notable: Brera Sterne, Macross Frontier. What remains of Ranka’s true brother. His development was enjoyable, and seeing him fully back Ranka was comforting.

…but maybe Ranka is just the ultimate いもうと?

And now for some ridiculous and unnecessary highlight characters.

Comedians

Awesome ロリ

Awesome 萌

Awesome s-Appeal

Let’s not forget The Geass Girls [not featured, likely NSFW]

I am a guy

Chemistries of 2008

Beautiful stuff, perhaps I should have included more, but these ones really stick in my mind… and some straight to the heart.

So the final 4, the ones I consider the best male and female primary and secondary characters. Among the males it was slim pickings, but there was an abundance of priceless female leads, ones that left something after I turned the monitor off. They are all notable:

Male Secondary

Female Secondary

Male Primary

Female Primary

Ryan’s Selection

Best Male Secondary: Hikaru Tezuka

Oh he did surprise me with his confession early into Library Wars, but his development afterwards was quite thorough for a secondary character. First it was his confession, then his brotherly connection to an opposing group, then the test prep with Shibasaki, and then Shibasaki *fingers crossed*. I love the way he downplayed Shibasaki’s ultra-woman appeal and made her seem a bit of a nuisance, it’s the way to go with those types.

Best Female Secondary: Kyou Fubayashi

Her heartbreak in episode 18 was full-force crush. She offers much diversity as a character throughout Clannad, comedy, appeal, tears, feealings, and more. I liked this character before episode 18, after which, I adored.

Best Male: Lelouch Lamperouge

Beside the fact that R2 was meh imo, Lelouch was a great and fucked up character. He set out to do something and somehow managed to drive the world crazy. Throughout the series, he exhibits many feelings and struggles, most of which I could not distinguish as real. Was he an actor of actors? Yes. Was his end justified? I took it rather well, it was one slight redeem in the end of R2.

Bad taste in digital mouth… moving on

Best Female: Sheryl Nome

For those who experienced Frontier, my reasoning is probably apparent. For those who did not, Sheryl makes the experience worth it.

Glamorous, headstrong, dazzling, yet still fragile, delicate, and emotional, a fine young woman. Situationally, this character experiences extreme ups and downs throughout the series, but she manages to shine on. The Fairy of the Galaxy, she enters the series with musical prowess and closes the series the same, but she develops throughout.

Her stimulus ( Alto, Ranka, the triangle, Grace) tug and sway her in many directions, and through this, comes moments of loss, questioning, and slight hopelessness. She does what she wants to do, but the world manages to take the ground from beneath her anyway.

Sheryl is at a constant battle between who she is and unfavorable, threatening changes in her surroundings. From my view, she is the character nobody expects to be lonely, when in fact she is terrible at being alone and especially terrible at being unneeded or unwanted.

Sheryl’s development is a beautiful struggle through her saddest times. She is the sad girl in the space snow, yet, she still manages her assertion. Headstrong, darling.

Farewell 2008, Cheers to the memories

Note: Jeeze this post took forever to get the right snapshots and everything ordered. I didn’t get to include everything I wanted, but it’s okay… always next year.