My Winter 2011 Top 10

I decided that after being out of the loop for so long in terms of watching stuff as it comes out that I decided to start things out and now, I am doing a top 10 list. Everything I watched from Winter 2011 is in this post. The anime titles for which these top 10 mentions come from are only from the completed and ongoing list, which means no rewatches or anime that has been put on hold. That means these titles are eligible, with the three-letter codes that I will be using throughout this blog:

Canaan (CNA)
Xam'd (XMD)
The Third (3RD)
Ninja Nonsense (2X2)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Season 2 (TRC-2)
Sacred Blacksmith (SBS)
Detective Opera Milky Holmes (MHO)
Rental Magica (RMG)
Taisho Baseball Girls (TYM)
Oreimo (OIO)
Ah My Goddess Season 2 (AMG-2)
Kiba (KBA)
MM! (2MM)
11eyes (11E)
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (FMA-B)
Kekkaishi (KEK)
Bleach (BLE)
Fractale (FRT)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (PMM)

And now, onto my Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Female Characters
10. Charlotte E. Firobisher, SBS
9. Arashiko Yumo, 2MM
8. Honoka, 3RD
7. Kuroneko, OIO
6. Olivier Mira Armstrong, FMA-B
5. Hercule Barton, MHO
4. Phryne, FRT
3. Madoka Kaname, PMM
2. Sakura, TRC
1. Homura Akemi, PMM

The top girl was not even close. It was Homura by far and away. The fact that she has such an awesome power, and not to mention her dual personality and the fact that she wears one of the best magical girl outfits in all of anime made her my top gal.

Top 10 Male Characters
10. Ren Nekoyoshi, RMG
9. Luke Ainsworth, SBS
8. Jouganki, 3RD
7. Fai D. Flourite, TRC
6. Roy Mustang, FMA
5. Ichigo Kurosaki, BLE
4. Akiyuki Takehara, XMD
3. Syaoran, TRC
2. Edward Elric, FMA-B
1. Kyosuke Kosaka, OIO

As for the top male, it is between Kyosuke and Ed and it was neck-and-neck. As for the rest, it is a pretty small sampling to choose from, so I filled it up with guys I can connect with the best.

Top 10 Theme Songs
10. Mind as Judgement by Faylan, OP to CNA
9. Golden Time Lover by Sukima Switch, OP3 to FMA-B
8. Tsunai da te, ED3 to FMA-B
7. Arrival of Tears by Ayase, OP to 11E
6. Magia by Kalafina, ED to PMM
5. Irony by ClariS, OP to OIO
4. Faith by Lisa Konamine, OP to RMG
3. Shut Up and Explode by Boom Boom Satelites, OP to XMD
2. More-more Lovers by Natsuko Aso, ED to 2MM
1. Down by the Salley Gardens by Hitomi Azuma, ED to FRT

Note that for ongoing series, I am talking about only the episodes covered by my viewing window. The best FMA song is the next opening, which will be part of the spring 2011 top 10 list. It was a relatively weak quarter for music, but I opted to go with the Celtic tune as my favorite since it fits very nicely with the anime. The song and dancing in the ending to MM! also made it a top contender. Pretty much, the music to 11eyes and Rental Magica were the only good things about those anime series.

Top 10 English VA Performances (each VA appears only once)
10. Chris Sabat, Kurogane, TRC
9. Shelley Calene-Black, Canaan, CNA
8. Sean Schemmel, Onsakumaru, 2X2
7. Eileen Stevens, Belldandy, AMG-2
6. Jessica Boone, Liang Chi, CNA
5. Maxey Whitehead, Alphonse Elric, FMA-B
4. Laura Bailey, Tokine Sukimura, KEK
3. Johnny Yong Bosch, Ichigo Kurosaki, BLE
2. Troy Baker, Greed, FMA-B
1. Vic Mignogna, Edward Elric, FMA-B

To spread things around, I opted to list each VA only once. Vic continues to put a lot of heart into his Ed, and Troy Baker did an excellent job of being Greedy here with the role. I watched fewer dubbed anime this quarter than usual as I have recently been watching more stuff that has no dub.

Top 10 Seiyuu Performances
10. Yuu Kobayashi, Clain, FRT
9. Ayana Taketatsu, Mio Isurugi, 2MM
8. Mai Nakahara, Akiko Osagawara, TYM
7. Kana Hanazawa, Nessa, FRT
6. Aoi Yuki, Madoka Kaname, PMM
5. Jun Fukuyama, Itsuki Iba, RMG
4. Suzuko Mimori, Sherlock Shellingford, MHO
3. Hitomi Nabatame, Saori Bajeena, OIO
2. Yuichi Nakamura, Kyosuke Kosaka, OIO
1. Chiwa Saito, Homura Akemi, PMM

As awesome as the character was, Chiwa Saito's performance as Homura did great justice to the character. And then there was Kyosuke and the performance was also great.

Top 10 Anime of Winter 2011
10. Ah My Goddess TV
9. Taisho Baseball Girls
8. Xam'd
7. The Third
6. Canaan
5. Kekkaishi
4. Oreimo
3. Fractale
2. Puella Magi Madoka Magica
1. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

No question that FMA-B is the talk of the anime world and my viewing pleasures. FMA was great, but Brotherhood is even greater, putting it easily as the head of the season. PMM is also awesome in its own right and would be tops in most other seasons.