Well, one year of anime fandom and insanity all, subjectively, comes down to this.

With the gravity I’ve created for a situation like this, somewhat on purpose, somewhat or not, I suppose I should look back a bit on how this little ‘project’ (as I speak with my evil-genius mentality) has gone.

There’s definitely been a lot more participation – or honest attempts at – in the 12 Days countdown than last year, one that has probably seen the cynics in the crowd groan at how cluttered the otakusphere has suddenly become.

But luckily, the utter lack of controversial statements generated by this event seems to have kept them quiet. The most I’ve gotten is a few stray lines from lolikitsune chiding me for liking gleefully stupid shows, and that’s an honest opinion.

Because even if we disagree a bit on what was INCREDIBLY PANTSWETTING STOMACH-CHURNING (etc) AWESOME, the overall positive, warm mood is the same, which is rather fitting for the holiday season (and for keeping us sane in times like these).

And I think it’s accomplished something good; aside from jogging our memories about all the anime nearly set aside during the year – I know of more than a few that I grabbed from the cracks of my mind – I find that it’s a good form of viral advertising.

After all, I’m glad to see a few people have taken my typically overdramatic, hyperbolic rantings to be a strong reccomendation for a show; and I’ve had my interest peaked myself by more than a few (the multiple Genshiken citations, or even just a little thing like the Baccano! OP).

So I hope you all have enjoyed not just the twelve days most recent, but also this year (or section thereof) as an anime fan, or pretentious blogger, or search robot that surfs my site.

That said, let’s move to the final moment in the countdown…

12 Moments of Anime 2008
#01: KimiKiss Pure Rouge – 24

Hahaha. Did you expect that? I wonder if I did.

After all, it’s a moment from a show that I can’t even bear to rewatch anymore.

KimiKiss is funny like that, probably similar to School Days, in the questionability of its ‘9′ rating (essentially top tier) on my far-too-detailed rankings on MyAnimeList. Such of course is the problem of reducing a show to a number.

Objectively, KimiKiss was an exceptionally plain show, in that it was exceptional in both how plain it was and that the quality was exceptional as a result.

Subjectively, I went into what probably passes into my raving lunatic mode for KimiKiss, shipping couples harder than a Shugo Chara fangirl on crack (about now I should link back to my post praising Kairi).

Together, the two combined to make, when I look back at KimiKiss, an incredible emotion, that I doubt I can duplicate. KimiKiss sure doesn’t bring back instant pangs of feeling, the way that listening to Aozora or ebullient future does.

The ending theme, Wasurenaide, worked immensely well in the anime, but as a standalone, is just sort of a slow, touchy-feely song that might click, but only rarely. And the opening theme – aozora loop – is fairly forgettable altogether. A strike against it.

And really, would I say that Yuumi Hoshino is my favorite anime girl of 2008 – or of ever? Hah. ‘Favorite’ is a tough word to use, just like MAL’s ranking system, but Yuumi is probably fairly out-moe’d, out-story’d, out-emotion’d, out-god-damn-it-why-is-this-girl-so-likable’d by many from this year.

On the moeblob end, Kotomi Ichinose, Chinami Ebihara, or Haruka Nogizaka. On the serious (although still moeblob) side, Chihiro Shindou, or some of the old favorites from VNs of past. I’d probably even give Eriko Futami the nod.

But I guess the difference is, Yuumi fought from the losing side, and I know I’ll always stand up for a loser. (Which is why I have so much self-confidence, rimshot.)

Still I doubt that I will be able to, for a long time, again crank out 2000-word episodic posts to the extent that IKnight makes amusing literary reference to my shipping habits.

And that’s what really impresses me about KimiKiss. It really is, from the meta right down to the content, one giant, ridiculous crush. Maybe that’s why I got behind Yuumi in the first place, maybe I saw something from my past…

And, out of either awe or nostalgia, I treasure such insanities of the mind. It’s really a passion I don’t feel often enough as an anime fan, to the point where it almost seems like I’m searching for an anime to drive me mad.

Since I want an anime that can make me FEEL. I want an anime to consume me. Wny, I cannot tell for myself, and is probably the subject of discourse for some high-level philosophy class. All I can do is return to a quote I cited once before, by Michael of Like Water, an anime blog of times past:

“In the end, anime is a hugely personal entertainment medium. It caters to individual fantasies, and makes you believe that you are the center of the fantasy (exemplified by harem anime).

This makes it very difficult to “dialogue” on anime the way you might a good fiction novel, or the way you would a great movie. You wrap so much of yourself into the story and the characters that you feel like you have your own private world with these people, and it’s something that others can’t take from you.

This is why anime is so addicting, and why people who enjoy it tend to watch so much of it. Who doesn’t want their own special world that others can’t even comprehend or touch? We can share it to the extent that we say what characters we like, or what particular moments touch us, but we can’t really share the depth of feeling that draws us to anime because it’s something that lies deep in us, something that we let few people touch.”

So, perhaps KimiKiss struck a nerve, maybe the same one ef rattled, and the most I can do to explain it is to bring a line straight from a bad porno: I don’t know what this feeling is, but it feels so right.

My pursuit of that feeling is what makes me give KimiKiss the top slot in this list.

If I wanted to really romanticize it I would say that one can’t really tell when it comes – only when it is. I mean, I have certain triggers, but it’s not always as easy a job as pushing some buttons. I like to think that way, anyway.

So I treasure these moments, or at least look upon them very fondly in retrospect, even if I can’t always understand them.

After all, KimiKiss is something from yesterday’s me, and even if today’s me cannot feel the same, the two of us are still linked together. (We are after all, the same person, how pretentious do you think I am…)

And after all it’s quite possible that magic might return again, just like how again I fell for the shonen romances like Midori Days, so I hold these moments dear, as a symbol of what I was and what I may be again.

In the end, the amount of actual content in this post devoted to KimiKiss is surprisingly slim. Such a happening is probably a result of just how The Yuumi Fighto Phase has transcended any rational logic, and how long ago it was.

I mean, shipping is fun.
Romance stories with two balanced heroines are great.
Shy girls are adorable and awesome.
And as always, I like me a good, touching story.

So perhaps KimiKiss was just the culmination of a bunch of coincidental circumstances. Maybe it had some extra touch that really clicked with the me from early 2008.

Whatever it is, it set off a spark that, although now dulled for KimiKiss, undoubtedly burns in the form of a passion for some other anime.

In that case, Yuumi’s metaphor of the ‘baton pass’ is quite relevant in a meta sense, with KimiKiss passing the baton of intense fanboy passion to another anime, perhaps ef.

And while it’s not in the spotlight anymore, just like with old crushes, I can look back on KimiKiss with that special mixture of nostalgia, warmth, and confusion – although I think overall the blend is more positive in a situation like this.

KimiKiss – or maybe Yuumi – came, it saw, it conquered. And then like most dominant empires, it slowly faded away, picked apart by time and by ambitious successors. But its mark still remains.

Maybe not as personal as that of Five Centimeters Per Second.
Not as warm as that of Midori Days.
Not as mindblowing as that of Higurashi.

But, I never really lost myself in 5cm, or Midori, or Higurashi. At least not verbally. I was rocked by them, and I still am when I look back, but I never really got a chance to express that. Not in 80 (now 90) kilobytes of text (protip: three-fourths the length of narcissu) like I did for KimiKiss.

I think that’s worth something.

-CCY

(And I hope everyone enjoys Christmas, however they plan to, and I’ll see you back here tommorow for more fun…)