Chinami has always been a personal favorite of mine from the Code-E series, practically from the get-go, and one can definitely see why.

The saying always goes that opposites attract, but maybe that is in real life (although my experience begs to differ) or something, because I rather like looking into the mirror of anime and seeing myself. And while I lack a second X chromosome, the clumsy, glasses-sporting, shy yet happy-go-lucky (depending on which season you look at) attitude of Chinami is one that takes very much after my own heart.

Or perhaps, Chinami earns bonus points for me for lying on that border of moe – she is strong and self-servient (running her own show, so to speak) enough to toss all charges of moeblobbery to the side, yet has a distinct charm to her that one doesn’t see in many characters. If I can throw in that term of ‘hyperrealism’ again, that I’ve grown attached to, I think that would fit.

Kind of like, if you saw a girl like her in the real world, she might be really cute or she might not, but here, it works so well.

Despite having no link between the three except for the same animation team, Kaiji and Akagi in the end almost amount to just prototypes for this man, Toua Tokuchi, perhaps the ultimate (so far) in the line of badass GARmblers.

Well, in terms of balance, anyway. Both Akagi and Kaiji are, in a sense, specialists; Akagi is the unparalleled intellectual king with a cold heart, and Kaiji the humble hero with far more root in emotion.

However, due to the situation Toua is in, he ends up riding a line between the two; while far closer to Akagi in terms of outward emotion, his two expressions being a smirk and a blank face, Toua almost does have some humanity, some passion to him, in the way he inspires his team to victory through emotional bait and logical reasoning.

In a sense, he’s not just fighting for himself, or to destroy his opponents, in the way Akagi would, but he is also fighting for his teammates, and for the good of the sport as a whole. And for that, I bow to Toua.

Minori! Energy! Minori! Energy! Genki awesomeness, hyper awesomeness, crazy awesomeness, more awesome than your anime has room for~

Minori’ll be so entertaining Ami Kawashima will be like “slowwwwwwwwww dowwwwwwwwn” and Minori’ll be like “HIGH CALORIES!” and tickle her in the stomach with her energy fingers.

(Original: http://www.videosundry.com/funny-spoof-videos/power-thirst-energy-drink/)

Minori. The best genki girl this side of … no, just the best genki girl. These types can be really hit or miss, so I’m glad she turned out well; I was not a fan of Tomo (Azumanga) nor Miharu (Da Capo), for example. But Toradora is five flavors of excellence and it makes everything it touches turn to gold, even silly little mean princesses like Ami.

And behind Minori’s SUPER HYPERNESS is a good story, as well, as evidenced around Toradora 9-10, where she has a nice heartfelt chat with Ryuuji about the metaphor of ghosts and love. So it’s no question that even I’m a Minoriist at times. Although, she earns a spot on this list, because I still worry that Taiga has this race fairly wrapped up…

This one is straight-up moeblob, pretty much. Nagisa’s probably a better rounded character – Tomoyo as well – but Kotomi strikes some moe nerve somewhere that makes her click. Probably ye old “somewhat shy, really smart, quite spacey” demeanor. Can’t go wrong with that.

And saying that, it makes me wonder if Kotomi is just Chinami with a brain transfusion from Osaka. Mmm. Linear combinations of anime characters. I’ve created a monster.

I rather like her looks too. Does it go without saying? For some reason, a lot of characters who I find attractive have dark blue or purple-ish hair. I’m not sure why; I wonder if it’s a coincidence. Who knows. At least I’m not a crazy glasses fetishist still (although it’s always a plus).

Too much ranting to fill space in this one; it’s probably mildly awkward, but at least it’s over a two-dimensional character and not a fellow aniblogger (hi lelangir, you’re becoming a meme now, kthx). Suppose I could say “I also like Kotomi because no one really likes Kotomi.” Damn, I’m a rebel.

Genki girl number two, I suppose. Otoha is fairly upbeat, has a killer final episode (that’s episode 8, episode 12 doesn’t count), and enjoys the fact that the cast around her is frustratingly weak, so she stands out even more.

Such is the power of the halo character, who always makes me smile when they’re onscreen. They make an anime much better, although one can become in despair very easily if their halo character doesn’t show up for a long time, or leaves the show early. ‘Tis the perils of rabid fandom.

In any case, Otoha is a fairly cool character, especially if you consider the circumstances she’s in. It’d be hard for me to be so happy in such a situation, but, I guess she would rather want everyone else to be happy, so such a demeanor fits. Fight on.

Quiet, I know I was going off the hook for Yuumi Hoshino pretty much this entire year, but Eriko Futami is subjectively the more intriguing character in KimiKiss … just the less shippable one. I feel I could devote a rant or two to Eriko if I tried though, so a place in the end-year list she gets.

Mixing the cold, intelligent genius demeanor with a objective, self-distancing view on the world, Eriko Futami seems like the kind of person you would almost meet as an aniblogger somewhere. One of those people who almost seem disillusioned with the world, and toy with it uninterestedly. She experiments in a search for reason, just as people like us rant and rave in search of something similar.

I guess the difference between the two is that Eriko, does not in the same sense, escape to any fantasy. Maybe Kazuki becomes her fantasy.

Anyway, the point is, Eriko’s mature demeanor, and her chocolate-candy like personality (hard on the outside, soft on the inside) makes her quite a treat for refined palates. Someone worth viewing, almost as an equal, on less of a moe and more of a personal basis.

I have a feeling Miyuki was probably left here from last year’s list, being my personal (and probably only my) champion of Lucky Star. There was an OVA released in 2008, so I can cheat like this.

Well, I like to be cool and rebellious like so; Konata’s overly otaku attitude never really clicked with me, being a bit hard on the pandering side. Kagami and her tsundereocity wasn’t much to revel in – maybe I lack a training in yuri-spotting (or yuri-worshipping). Tsukasa was cute, ridiculously so, although she could overload a moeblob scanner with even the slightest mention of a cell phone.

Miyuki seemed a tasteful middle ground, Tsukasa Lite with a shot of Kotomi. After all, it’s not like I just like smart clumsy meganekko or anything.

My rationale for Miyuki, at least, is that she’s kind of Aria-esque in nature. Such a thing will get me burned for blasphemy by at least two anibloggers for putting Aria and L*S in the same context; but the laid-back, relaxed attitude of Miyuki seems to fit such a theme. The moe on top is just a plus.

NOT DESPERATE TO RECAPTURE THE MAGIC OF TRUE TEARS AT ALL, NO.

To be honest, I forget a lot about true tears, which hurts me, as it’s probably the best series I can’t remember this year. I remember rooting for Noe, a lot, while watching true tears; she was always my preferred pick over Hiromi, despite the latter’s meganekko picking-clothes-off-clotheshanger-with-foot skills.

It’s probably an inverse relationship with sanity. I always liked me a bit of the crazy. Maybe because it is just a work of fiction, I want to see someone new and exciting, more than someone realistic. Or maybe, as I keep saying, I want something different from the norm, rah rah fight the power?

Well, Noe brought some great chicken metaphors, at least.

As Fuuko would say, “BEST CHOICE~”

Maybe “X is a trap” is not the best story out there, but it’s fairly new ground for the mahou shoujo, and episode 25 won me over. Nagehiko’s cool and collected demeanor (again, Aria-esque), the contrast of her dark side, and the gender-balancing issues, with the changes in character dynamics as a result, it all works for me.

And that’s why I can put her over the pompous, Standard Bishie Boy prince; the fairly intriguing, fairly flirty, but just not appealing in a shippable way Cool Angsty Teenager cat guy, nyan~; and even the sharp-as-nails, Eriko-esque, double agent Samurai Man.

Have at me, fangirls.

It’s just too bad I know which port the Nagehiko Shipping Boat travels to.

(Oh and I didn’t mention Kukai, because while he is an equally enjoyable character for his great upbeat, chill attitude, the same thing makes him shipping-prone. He is -too cool- for women.)

Moeblob, otaku side~ I’ll admit that more than a fair bit of my list are moeblobs to some degree; perhaps this is a reflection of my taste. But I just hope that this is because the characters that I enjoy for their deep stories and complex personalities, do not rise easily to such an adjective as ‘favorite’ character – they cannot be reduced to such a thing.

So pretend this list is just really biased, and that I did not just add another clumsy, cute moeblob to my list. Haruka is a bit different since she has a bit of an anime-fan side to her, that may resonate a little bit – but ironically, she is probably one of two otaku-types I admire, and in both cases it’s more of a side-bonus than the main reason.

Haruka’s just too adorable in general, anime fandom aside. I think she makes this list especially so if I add “and Yuuto” to this entry, since the two of them together form a sort of romantic fantasy in my mind. The image of two people perfect together.