So, another year has come to a close, and since I’ve written so very, very little about anime in the last six months, I figured that I should follow up last years end of year posting.

The pre-amble to this years End of Year Post is a bit of a sticky wicket. It’s been a pretty good year in general, at least as far as TV anime goes. Theatrical anime, or at least those I’ve gotten to see this year, has been a little disappointing in comparison to last years smattering of high-budget spectaculars, but even then it’s hardly been bad.

I think the real problem is that, well, anime news and discussion has kind of been dominated by Madoka Magica this year. It’s pretty unusual that a show that aired in the earliest part of the year is still being brought up at the very end of it, but even as I write this, the top stories on some of the news sites I check are about the show. With the movies in production, I guess that’s probably going to end up being the case for 2012 as well.

Oh, and I’ve also yet to get around to watching those Gundam Unicorn OAVs I’d said I’d not got around to watching last year, despite the fact that the forth instalment turned up a week or so ago. Given I’m spending £30+ a disk on that thing, I should really keep on top of that. I also regret to say that, alas, despite my best efforts, I managed to get spoilt for the ending of Katanagatari about two episodes prior to it’s conclusion. That was frustrating, to say the least.

Ok, without further ado, let’s talk about the specifics with the Beta-Waffle Entirely-Pointless Awards for 2011 Anime Existence.
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Geez, could they have chosen a worse place to put a three-month break in Fate/ZEROs broadcast schedule? Probably, but maaaaaan, it’s going to be a long three months. Well, actually, I suppose it’s technically a short three months, given that, even in a leap-year, February isn’t the longest of period denominations, but let’s not argue semantics.

Anyway, I’d like to wish all of you reading a pleasant Holiday season from all of us here at Beta-Waffle – and since it’s just me here, that’s not a difficult operation to complete, being free of any grumpy or tsundere staff members to extract pleasantries from. Personally, I’ll probably celebrate by watching the Haruhi movie or something, since that’s nice and seasonal and all. Or maybe Tokyo Godfathers. Or maybe neither.

I’m about three weeks too late to jump on the Product Placement Is Bad, Mmkay talk that was on the Twitters a short while back, no doubt fuelled by the fact that Bunny recently found a new sponsor for his right arm (or was it his left?). Anyway, I’d like to present a brief thought exercise for you to ponder upon.

For context, examine the screen cap above, taken from the fourteenth episode of Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, in which Bougainvillea there is enjoying her first ever slice of pizza so much that she’s been brought to tears. Touching, eh?
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That’s how many copies Redline sold in it’s first week on sale in Japan – blu-ray and DVD combined, indications are that it sold a mere 3134 copies. That must be a bit of a downer for the staff who’ve spent the last seven years crafting possibly the most visually resplendent animated movie Japan has ever committed to film. I really don’t get Japan sometimes.
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“Supplementary” because it’s not from an anime or manga (or game), rather it’s from the dreaded Real Life. Not that this particular Cat-based money box is much of a rarity – they were a moderately common sight on UK high-streets over the Christmas period, and they’ve been the Crunchyroll daily deal on more than one occasion. What is perhaps more shocking than seeing them is the fact that I don’t actually own one.

This particular example was spotted at the May London MCM Expo, the a-few-times-annually-in-various-places UK comic convention, which for the most part is just an excuse to buy ludicrous amounts of stuff, cosplay, or both. Actually, as a first-time attendee, the cosplay was initially a little overwhelming – it’s not like I’ve never seen people cosplaying IRL before, but being an early-attender, I was getting to the ExCeL at the point where a good 60-70% of the attendees where dressed up, and that was kind of boggling to me (even when being “dressed up” amounts to simply throwing on one of those Naruto Akatsuki capes). Not that I have a problem with cosplay, mind you – although I may not be inclined to say any differently if I did. At these con situations, they not only outnumber you, they have weapons. Not a good mix, really.
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