Top Picks of the Spring Season, Part 1

I’m far enough into the spring season that clear winners are starting to show themselves so I figured – let’s pick some winners.

Best Female

Tie: Chizuko from Daughter of 20 Faces / Muraski from Kurenai

I couldn’t decide between Chizuko or Muraski, so I picked both. When I watch Chizuko, I feel that I’m watching the birth of a really great character. I want to compare her to the Major from Ghost in the Shell – intelligent, able to do much butt-kicking, charismatic, and driven (and I really don’t need to mention that the Major is one of the best female characters ever since it’s pretty self-evident).

Muraski was raised in an adult world – not allowed to be a child – so when she was taken away from that world and dropped into normal everyday life, it’s bound to cause trouble. Fish-outta-water characters are always fun to watch as they reacclimatize to their new surroundings. Muraski displays intelligence far beyond her years but that doesn’t help her that much when such mundane things like not tapping too hard on a Nintendo DS screen become important. This mixing of her intelligent, more adult mind, with the fact that she’s still a child (so for example she still hasn’t learned things like social tact yet) makes her one of the most complying characters of the season.

Best Male

Kogarashi from Maid Guy

I couldn’t even picture giving this to anyone else. From his 37 senses to his ability of hooking his mind to a printer using a USB port to print images from his brain to the fact that he taught at MIT to his ability to call a flock of crows to do his bidding – Kogarashi just rocks.

Best Couple

Iku Kasahara and Atsushi Dojo from Library War

The pair reminds me of Tanabe and Hachimaki from Planetes so to say they’re perfect for each other is an understatement.

Best Fox Spirit

Kuugen from Wagaya no Oinari-Sama

Kuugen aka Kuu-chan > Chizuru. Not really a contest since Chizuru can only do one thing well.

Best Cast of Characters

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

I just love how these characters interact with one another – each one is broken somehow and is in desperate need of the family that they given. This show does a much better job conveying the healing nature of the family then Clannad did.

Best Ability/Power

Kogarashi from Maid Guy

It’s too hard to pick just one but his ability to summon and control a flock of crows stands out in my mind.

Best Action

Soul Eater

Soul Eater is a fantastic series, probably ranked as my 6^th or 7^th favorite show of the season. Sure it’s a shounen title but with it only being a total of 51 episodes we probably won’t have to suffer through 30+ episodes of filler that can sap the enjoyment of any shounen title (see Bleach).