Best Anime Openings for Christmas Insanity (Part one)

For a Christmas season, anime publishers are sure waging an all-out war for sales. No joke.

Every company, from Funimation to RightStuf, is decking out their line-ups with loads of licensed shows, re-releases and special value deals.

With all that said, which ones are the best? I've decided to cover all the bases in a simpler, more creative way: through anime opening videos.

Why videos? Well, these particular openings easily sum up what the series is. It doesn't force people to go through the stress of watching the entire series just so they know every pro and con of the series. The openings just show the best that the series has to offer. Nothing more.

So here are links to my top 26 anime openings. I'll start with the first six:

26. Rurouni Kenshin

I had to choose 26 openings instead of 25, because I couldn't forget Rurouni Kenshin. My brother and I had a blast watching almost every episode of this show. It was probably the best anime for people who really needed something to feel good about.

And Kenshin was the type of person to make you feel good. He's funny. He's an unstoppable samurai. He's a family man too. He's always there for his girlfriend. Isn't that cute? That's why I had to include Kenshin. There's always a good Kenshin DVD in the bargain bins.

25. Welcome to the NHK
The complete series is available for only $20 now. It's a crazy satire about a social recluse who drops out of college. He hallucinates about talking kitchen appliances. It's really funny.

Now you really have no excuse to miss out on buying this series. Besides, who could ever forget the uber cute "Purupuru-pururin" song?

24. Trigun
Although I still have a grudge against the overly fantastic gun battles near the end of the series, "Trigun" is an incredibly well-animated show. The characters are spunky. The story is intensely dramatic. And it's now available in a $30+ box set.

Believe me, you can never go wrong with a tall guy toting huge semi-automatics on his red trenchcoat.

(Note: It's not available on amazon.com, because of packaging issues. Sorry! Look on other websites, such as rightstuf.com)

23. Soul Eater Opening #2
This is easily the most eclectic show from anime studio Bones. Soul Eater combines Tim Burton visuals with Rurouni Kenshin-style battles for an epic coming-of-age story. Maka is also one of the smartest and toughest female leads to ever grace an anime series.

It's a pricy series of box sets, but it will satisfy anyone who loves long shonen shows. The battles are some of the best you'll ever see in an anime series.

22. Code Geass, Second opening for R2
Sure, the story is a completely profound tale of a teenage boy who is held bent on world domination. That's why you have to get the series. Code Geass is the funniest, and the most exciting, giant robot show ever made.

The entire series still isn't cheap, but it definitely will impress anyone who watches it in its entirety.

21. Lucky Star
There really isn't any slice-of-life anime as cute and realistic as Lucky Star. For a show, it makes for a remarkable snapshot of high school life. This one also isn't cheap, but moe fans will always want to pick this series up. It has the most adorable characters imaginable.

Stay tuned for part two, coming next week.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Anime Expo - My version of heaven

The Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center is the place for anime lovers to find every anime-related item they'll ever need.

If anyone has at least enjoyed Pokemon or any anime show at all, then they are bound to love the Anime Expo. The show has all the Japanese animation-related gear that anyone will ever want. If you always wanted a hat, a messenger bag or an import anime soundtrack CD, Anime Expo has it. I bought plenty of hot anime-related gear, such as a "Soul Eater" wallet and T-shirt.

The $35 entrance fee this year was a tad pricey, but it was well worth it. I found great deals on manga and anime DVDs. The best values involved grab bags, where collectors grab manga to throw into a small paper bag for a low price.

Some exhibit hall vendors also sell the rare anime-related products. People will find yaoi (male gay) and yuri (female gay) anime and manga. Cosplayers will find everything from swords to wigs.

Even dating game fans will find booths that sell the infamous dating simulation games in Japan. Although I've usually steered away from these games because of some of their naughty, titillating content, it is a fascinating genre. There's no other game that lets you engage in a deep romantic conversation with an anime character.

If anime fanatics run out of money, then they can spend their time watching the educational panels, or watching anime in the six or seven screening rooms around the convention center. The center even premieres popular anime shows and series. My favorite this year was the screening of the first episodes of Black Lagoon, season three. The show had all the action I ever wanted, with snappy dialogue, gun-toting maids and lots of explosions.

The Anime Expo is also one of the best places for anime geeks to catch up with all the shows they missed in the last five or six years. I caught the first few episodes of "Murder Princess" and "Fate/Stay Night." My favorite new series is "Rental Magica," a fast-paced action series involving teenagers who are saving other people from spiritual evil.

I still haven't seen everything that I could possibly see at this anime convention. I wasn't able to catch workshops or the anime studio panels this year. However, next year I will definitely try to catch more of the events at the Anime Expo.

Eating Crunchyrolls - Winter 2010

I've been working on a slew of news stories and whatnot, but I should have free time this weekend to write some reviews of anime series on crunchyroll.com, the hottest anime streaming Web site.

Believe it or not, you can watch anime for free on this site, as long as you can stand all the ads which pop up from time to time.

It's a legit streaming site as well. If you want, you can pay a small monthly fee to watch anime at the same time as it is broadcast in Japan. This money will pay the bills of anime companies we know and love.

Right now I'm watching a variety of series. Look forward to seeing some fun reviews of:

"Soranowoto" - People have compared this to "K-On!", because it features teenage girl characters who act really cute. Actually, this is a war story about a girl who is inspired to join the military to play a trumpet. It starts off innocent, but eventually the series includes some frightening moments of post-traumatic stress.

"Hanamaru Kindergarten" - A show about an Dragon Quest 9 addict named Tsuchida, who supervises children at a Kindergarten school. The main story is focused mostly on a girl named Anzu, who tries to get Tsuchida to fall in love with her.

"Durarara!!" - A series set in modern day Ikebukuro, where color gangs are duking it out against each other and yakuza are kidnapping innocent people. An incoming high school student named Ryuugane Mikado is looking for fun and excitement in the city, but he ends up finding plenty of shady, dangerous characters as well.

"Gintama" - In the near future, aliens have taken over the world and samurai warriors are now out of work. However, three samurai are making ends meet, taking whatever odd jobs are available.

So look forward to whatever I think about reviewing next.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com