Matt's Top 20 Anime Crushes

Yes, it's that day once again. For the lucky ones, it's a time to spend with the person you love, to indulge in their company and to show them how much they mean to you. Then there are the lonely bums who sit back and watch. Still, I'm hardly one to sulk on Valentine's Day, so instead I think I'll try to turn it into something constructive and pay tribute to some of the lovely ladies of anime. In some ways, I suppose you could call it "wish fulfillment", but I don't think that's entirely a bad thing. Rather, to me this is an opportunity to reflect on the traits I love and admire both in anime and in real life. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Matt's Top 20 Anime Crushes.

The usual disclaimers: no more than one girl per series to keep the list from becoming too samey. My experience with manga is a bit too limited to justify including them just to add one or two ladies to the list, so I'm keeping it just to anime for now. Obviously I haven't seen everything, and even if I had my preference probably won't overlap with yours as much as you might like, so if there are any other dames you feel deserve their due, feel free to make your own list rather than complaining about mine.

But enough rambling, on to the ladies!

#20 - Urumi Kanzaki (Great Teacher Onizuka)

Urumi, along with a couple of other entries, is a bit younger than my usual preference, explaining her low placement. Still, there was no way I could overlook this brainy beauty; she's funny, witty and passionate but knows how to have a good time, and she grows into someone truly admirable over the course of the series. What more could I ask for? You know, aside from the next 19 entries.

#19 - Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran Highschool Host Club)

Haruhi is what every rom-com protagonist should be. She's sharp and witty, but adaptable and open-minded enough to take the craziness life throws at her in stride. She values hard work and fortitude, always good traits to have, and she manages to be attractive as both genders... the fact that I find that pretty neat leaves me rather inwardly confused, now that I think about it. Moving on.

#18 - Integra Hellsing (Hellsing)

Alucard may be the centerpiece of Hellsing, but Integra is where most of the show's depth comes from. She's hardened but still young and hasn't yet completely given herself to war and strife, which makes her an effective leader with room still for growth. This is true in both the original and especially in Ultimate. She's a badass, but also a thoughtful and charismatic woman with an iron will that puts the world's strongest vampire to shame.

#17 - Nico Robin (One Piece)

One Piece isn't particularly well-known for depth or subtlety, but it does try its hand at something different every now and again, and Robin is arguably the most interesting and complex of the Straw Hat Pirates. It's really endearing seeing her warm up to the rest of the crew, but she can still hold her own among the best of them and is definitely not one to be trifled with. She makes this list quite handily. Did I really just write that?

#16 - Maetel (Galaxy Express 999)

This is another borderline inclusion, because I actually haven't finished Galaxy Express. I'm only just getting into it and have no idea what Maetel might be hiding or what ulterior motives she might have. A part of her placement comes from that air of mystery, but at the same time I'm somehow very confident that once I know what's really driving her I'll like her character even more. She's clearly not all that she seems, but I do believe she's a good person at heart, whatever dark history she may carry.

#15 - Hitomi Kashiwa (Welcome to the NHK)

The first of a few inclusions that'll call my mental well-being into question, when we first meet Hitomi she's arguably the furthest gone out of any of the main characters. However, she's also the first one to take steps toward rediscovering her self-worth and putting her life back together. And then there's that awkward part of me that would've treasured those slow lunch hours of just quietly playing cards and talking about conspiracies together. I'm just weird like that.

#14 - Gina (Porco Rosso)

I had to have at least one of the Ghibli gals on this list, and Gina tends to be forgotten amidst the studio's more well-known works and characters. That's a shame, because Gina is a truly special kind of woman. It's clear that she loves Porco, but at the same time she's built a fulfilling life of her own. She always has a place waiting for him, but she lets him live his own life while she lives out hers, and they're both fine. That's a rare, wonderful strength that puts her in a league of her own.

#13 - Reki (Haibane Renmei)

While Rakka may have been the viewpoint protagonist of Haibane Renmei, Reki is the one whose journey we're truly meant to follow, and it's hard not to feel for her as she seeks to break her curse and find salvation. To me, there's something deeply moving about finding selflessness in selfish actions, in learning to live for others through pure, honest perseverance. That's something I admire, and kind of identify with. She's the heart of one of my very favorite anime, that's more than reason enough for her place on this list.

#12 - Nice Holystone (Baccano!)

This gal is an absolute blast, pun intended. She compliments Jacuzzi nicely, encouraging him at all the right moments, but even without him she'd be a formidable presence. She knows how to have a good time, she's faithful to the people who are important to her, and she's always smokin'. A bit crazy, I'll admit, which keeps her from placing higher, but she's still a helluva fun woman to be around.

#11 - Junko Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

For a show as talked-about as Madoka, people don't talk about Junko all that much, which is a shame because she's far more important than she's often given credit for. She's too flawed to be a boring "strong independent woman" archetype, and yet she's also a driven and confident woman despite and because of her flaws, and she knows how to bring out the best in the people around her. I'd be her house husband any day.

#10 - Juri Arisugawa (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Tough but not cold or unkind, refined but not stuck-up or snobbish, she's easily my favorite character from one of my favorite anime of all time. Getting back to the "strong female characters" trend, she can hold her own against the best duelists, and while she does have her own motives she still tries to do the right thing through it all. Okay, she's also a lesbian, so for my purposes I can't place her as high as I'd like, but still a worthy entry.

#9 - Fujiko Mine (Lupin III)

After going on about complex, subtly written, layered female characters we come to Fujiko, who pretty much is what she is. She just happens to be incredibly awesome. She's sexy but not easy and uses her womanly charms to great effect. It's no wonder she's become almost as iconic as Lupin himself. Hell, she even got her own show recently, and it was a damn good show. She's one of the classic anime hotties and it's easy to see why.

#8 - Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

I think I must be twisted. Ah well. Out of all the characters in Evangelion, I found Misato to be by far the most likable. Despite not being an Eva pilot, she goes above and beyond the call of duty to help out when it's needed, which I find admirable. She has some problems to deal with, but she truly does her best to take control of her fate in spite of all that, and to inspire others to do the same. Definitely a great lady to have on any list.

#7 - Shiki Ryougi (Garden of Sinners)

I really am twisted, aren't I? Honestly I'm okay with that. Shiki is a strong lady through and through, but with just enough of a sweet human side to make her endearing beneath it all. She has the resolve to constantly suppress her dark side. Kara No Kyoukai's strongest point, aside from its animation, is its subtle character writing, and Shiki is a great example of a character who's more than meets the eye.

#6 - Holo (Spice & Wolf)

We're hitting the home stretch, so at this point, the entries start to speak for themselves. Spice & Wolf is a show carried entirely by the strength of its leads, so it's no wonder Holo stands out. Witty, perceptive, and knows how to get what she wants, she's definitely a force to be reckoned with. Her chemistry with Lawrence is always fun to watch, and I look forward to seeing more of their journey together. To top all that off, she's just good company, plain and simple. That, more than anything, is what this list is all about.

#5 - Celty Sturluson (Durarara!!)

My feelings toward Durarara!! may be mixed, but I still remember many of the characters fondly, most especially Celty. She has an unmatched power and centuries behind her, but she may oddly be the most human of the cast, wanting nothing more than to regain the identity that she's lost and to find acceptance among friends and loved ones. I have a real soft spot for that kind of sincerity, so she definitely comes out ahead.

#4 - Julia (Cowboy Bebop)

Did I just forgo Faye Valentine, the absolute postergirl for fanservice done right? Call me an otaku heretic if you must, but to me Spike's old flame Julia has more of the mature appeal I love while still speaking to my romantic side. She sticks with Spike in the end not out of dependence, but on her own initiative to see an end to the conflict that in many ways she herself started. From the very little we see of her, it's immediately clear why Spike thought she was worth running away with.

#3 - Cher Degré (Wolf's Rain)

Sexy scientist headed for Paradise? Yes, please. Let's face it, anyone who'd travel to the end of a dying world when everyone else is just waiting to die easily deserves a spot on this list. Her role in Wolf's Rain is a minor one, but still definitely a necessary one. She's not without a caring side, though, and if ever any humans deserved to make it to Paradise in that story, she and Hubb certainly did. Now excuse me while I go shed a few manly tears.

#2 - Casca (Berserk)

A fantastic lady of war. Strong female characters are difficult to get just right but Casca hits all the marks perfectly. She lives in a man's world and is constantly made aware of that fact, but she doesn't let it weigh her down and proves she can hold her own among the best of them time and time again. With her fierce spirit and unyielding determination, she commands nothing but the utmost respect from her subordinates and leaves one of the strongest impressions of any anime character I've ever seen, without exaggeration.

#1 - Haruka Shitow (RahXephon)

My top anime crush, bar none. She starts off as a friendly but mysterious figure, and as we unravel her layers it's clear that there is something driving her forward, something she values above all else. What made RahXephon great, for me at least, was the wonderful humanity of its cast and how genuine and honest their interactions were throughout. At its very core, RahXephon is a love story, and what ultimately sets Haruka apart from the competition is her unwavering capacity to love through all the trials and tragedies she's endured. She's charming, genuine, admirable, and well-deserving of the top spot on this list.

NEWS EDITION #14 - GAGE TAKES ON X-MEN LEGACY, SHONEN JUMP GOES WEEKLY AND DIGITAL & THE RETURN OF A COMICS LEGEND

News Edition is here again for another week of comic book news for all you Clashers out there. Here are these weeks Headliners.


GAGE TAKES ON X-MEN LEGACY

by Frankie Rodriguez

    As most of you know, the X-Men franchise has been given a pretty big overhaul; spending the last several months breaking down the current status quo; Not only in Schism but in Uncanny X-Men and other books. Each X-Men book were dealing with the ingredients that lead to the monumental split between Cyclops's group of X-Men and Wolverine's group of X-Men. X-Men Legacy is no different.
   For the past six years, writer Mike Carey has given readers a great journey through the X-Men's existence through the eyes of several characters; most prominently Rogue. And as the recent end of Schism, Carey's last story will be the dividing of the makeshift team he has created over the last year; thus providing an ending to his run and a new jump-on point with the new X-Men Legacy scribe, Christos Gage.
   As Gage jumps on the book as of #260.1, merely 2 weeks after the end of Carey's six year run. And the writer stated that his run will pick up certain things from Carey's run while giving a fresh start. Gage confirmed that Rogue, who has become synonymous with the title over the last six years, will still be front and center when he takes over. Quote from CBR:

The great thing about Rogue, and I think Mike handled this brilliantly, is that by the very nature of her powers -- borrowing abilities and memories from others -- she is a window into other characters, so while she is very much the headlining character, this can't help but be an ensemble book. I think Rogue is one of the most fully developed characters in comics, having gone from a villain who can't control her powers to a strong leader who can show others how to be their best. I want to explore what it's like for her as she strives to figure out who she wants to be and what she wants to do with her life at a time of great transition -- from Utopia to the Grey School, in terms of what is best for both her and mutantkind, and, of course, that juicy love triangle between her, Gambit and Magneto! So yes, the emphasis on Rogue will certainly continue.

And she won't be alone as Gambit, Frenzy and recently returned Rachel Grey (Summers) will be carried over from Carey's run. Plus, Gage adds in additions Cannonball, Husk and original X-Man Iceman into the mix; providing the cast of what will be a "teacher book" in comparison to his other well known ongoing, Avengers Academy which is a "student book." Gage made it no secret that this cast gives him the most story potential and  talked a bit about what their roles in the books as teachers and overall role in the new Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.

Much in the way that Mike did, we'll be using characters from all over the Grey School, but you're right, those characters are the core of "Legacy." I thought they provided the most potential for cool stories -- it's as simple as that. They represent the history of the X-Men from the very beginning to the recent past. And while they have all chosen the same path, they will not necessarily agree on how to walk it.

The X-Men in "Legacy" are all involved in Wolverine's school in some way, and we'll see them in that role, but we'll also see them in their lives outside the school. And the question of what their mandate is looms large. Big picture, their job is to educate, protect and support the students so that they are able to make it to adulthood safely and decide what they want to do with their lives. But since they're carrying on Professor X's dream of human/mutant coexistence, they will also, from time to time, tackle threats to the public in general, just as a team of heroes like the FF or Avengers might.

Gage seems to have great plans for the cast as he hinted that him and new artist, David Baldeon will have these X-Men deal with being teachers while facing all sorts of threats. And their first threat is the extra dimensional demons, the N'Garai. And following that particular threat is dealt with, they face one of the most powerful mutants and old adversaries in Exodus. And as Gage pointed out, last time we saw Exodus, he was convinced that mutantkind can't survive without uniting by Professor Xavier.

When we last saw him, Professor Xavier had convinced him that mutantkind could not survive unless it was united, and he went on a pilgrimage to ponder his role in this new world. Now he's back -- only to find that mutantkind is far from united, and he's not happy about that. Exodus is really going to make our characters examine and defend the choices they've made.

Along with David Baldeon, Gage is prepared to be here for the long haul with Legacy and its characters. And considering the previous history of the team: (for example, Gambit and Rogue's on and off relationship; Iceman's close friendships with Rogue, Gambit & Cannonball) seem to be ripe for the scribe to create all kinds of stories full of character driven plots and great action.

X-Men Legacy #260.1 written by Christos Gage & art by David Baldeon will hit stores in January 2012. 


SHONEN JUMP ENDS PRINT & GOES DIGITAL WITH ALPHA!

by Frankie Rodriguez

  Yes. Viz Media announced during NYCC that they will be ending their popular Shonen Jump Monthly magazine . . . in print form. What Viz decided to do instead is to making the entire book go digital come 2012. Alvin Liu, Senior Vice President & General Manager over at Viz Media, described the reason behind the change is that it posed an idea of a weekly publication that was more fresh and current. And that while Japan does not see a need for them to go digital, Liu points out that while Japan has book stores and convenient stores all over the country, they don't have them in the States.
  Liu hopes that with them going digital and selling Shonen Jump Weekly Alpha for only 99 cents online will drum up more readers, lower piracy and also keep the publication more current with its parent counterpart in Japan. And while Shonen Jump here in the US sold about 125,000 copies monthly, making it one of the highest selling comics in America, Liu states that they should get more with the digital option; as well as open doors to their graphic novels which will still be available in print and digital. Alvin Liu comments:

Once we had the possibility of doing a weekly publication digitally, it made the print magazine, not obsolete, but the content is not as fresh.   We feel that manga in its native form is a periodical, a sort of live performance, as it were.  We went with the print magazine in the first place because it was the closest we could get to that given the limitations that we faced at the time.  Once the possibilities of digital came into play, doing something much more live and fresh came into play, having a print magazine lagging behind that became less essential.

And to have an idea of how much more current the new content will be when Shonen Jump Alpha starts in January 2012, Viz stated in a press release that they will end up being only 2 weeks behind their parent anthology in Japan. Only 2 weeks. And Shonen Jump Weekly Alpha will be available through Viz Apps in all iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch and through even some Android apps.
   Shonen Jump Weekly Alpha will be available through year long subscriptions . .. 52 issues (one every week) for $25.99 or rent single issues for a month at 99 cents. To even catch up to the new jump on points in Shonen Jump Weekly Alpha, Viz unleashes it's Shonen Jump Digital Warp; which will collect graphic novelization that will summarize and catch up to their starting point in Alpha without taking much away from their previous stories. They recently started with releasing 7 graphic novels of Naruto online in 7 days and added other popular Shonen Jump properties such as One Piece and Bleach.
   Shonen Jump Weekly Alpha will debut with Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Toriko and Bakuman and is slated to start January 31st, 2012 while the Final Print issue of Shonen Jump Monthly will be on sale in April 2012.



ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (OR ARROW)

by Special Correspondent, Derrick Jones


It is the comeback of the season and it has everyone abuzz. Ann Nocenti returns to the world of comics
after a fifteen year “break”. The project that brought her out of hiatus is one of DC’s new 52 titles Green
Arrow. Announced recently at the 2011 New York Comic Con, Ann will be taking over writing chores for
the recently relaunched book from J.T. Krul with her first issue hitting stands March of 2012.

Ann was very busy in the 80’s and 90’s in the comic world wearing writing and editor hats, her most
notable and well-remembered work being her Daredevil and New Mutants runs. She is also co-creator
of some popular characters including one of my personal favorites Longshot. Ann got her start at Marvel
comics as an assistant editor, a position she got after bluffing her way into an interview after reading
about the position in the “Village Voice”. While most of her work was at Marvel she did a fair share
at DC but as time went on found other projects outside the comic realm that seemed to speak to her
more. In an interview on Manwithoutfear.com she answered a question thus

“I edit and write for a film magazine now, called Scenario, and I'm in the middle of a mystery novel, so I'm pretty busy with that. Next on my plate as a writer is maybe some TV work, maybe another X-Men prose novel. I had a lot of fun writing the Prisoner X novel. I'd love to write comics again, if the right project crossed my path, with a company and/or editor I trusted. The business has been kind of ugly and traumatic for the past handful of years. Projects I loved stories that are probably my best work, were dumped and never saw print when the industry sales collapsed, companies went bankrupt, and scores of comics
were cancelled. A few years ago I was hired to write a treatment and first issue for a comic called "The Darkness" for the cats at Top Cow. They used my work, but never paid me, never credited me. That experience turned me off to comics quite a bit, and I'm afraid stories like that are typical of the business these days. But hopefully comics are on the rise again, and I'll be able to be part of that.”

When coming back into writing Green Arrow, she commented during NYCC on her approach:

I have a particular way of writing a comic. Comics are short. Yhey are only twenty pages, so you can take a year of comics and that can be your opera, and the opera can have a lot of different passages in it. I kind of believe every issue should be a single story, just a complete story. But there is a momentum that forms like triptychs over it, and then it forms your big overtures, and then the whole thing ends up kind of operatic. I also want a beginning, middle and end, a classic short story approach to every single comic. What I do is I try to figure out, what is the kick in this comic, what is the main feeling I want to get, and everything in the comic has to serve that. I mean, this is real technical writer talk and probably boring for most! [Laughs] I think where comics get in trouble is when they try and plot too much in a single issue. It's only twenty pages and you should leave with a feeling that you get from reading a short story or watching a short film. But most of all I want to have fun, because if I have fun, the book will be fun!

Well Ann, I hope that, for you, comics are indeed on the rise again also and that you will stick around for a
long time.


VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

Was going to put this up last week but . ..















Looking forward to this when it premieres next year.

That's it for this week. More news next week