2008 is over and we feel we need to do some justice on the animes we love for the year. Hence, we come up with a top10 list for our favorite animes. What was your favorite top 10 animes for 2008 ? Do share with us!

10) Vampire Knight An anime of “gentle” vampires and cruel twist of fate between humans and vampires. The sensual blend between Kaname and Zero brings this anime to my favorite top10.

9) Hidamari Sketch x365 Slice of life and a slight sprinkle of comedy, SHAFT really did a good job there in portraying the story using symbolic art, Yuno-chan ftw. :)

8) Allison and Lilia An anime by Madhouse, some say the story bores while some even disagree that this anime deserves any recognition but I think otherwise, adapted from light novels, The two halves of the anime will covers different light novels by Keiichi Sigsawa (if you like Kino no Tabi, you will prolly like this one). With a light hearted music, the title brings a slight edge over my 9th favorite anime.

7.) ToraDora As humorous it can get, Taiga’s tsun tsundereness simply caught my attention in the anime, i was looking forward every episode of the anime to see how far they can get. With a catchy opening music, this anime secured a position in my top 10 list.

6.) ef ~a tale of melodies~ ef was one of my favorite visual novels and I was pretty skeptic when SHAFT announced they will be doing the anime for ef but indeed as what SHAFT was great at, the animation was impressive. Using various abstract arts from different angles and a combination of good music, it is like the anime is like a piece of art.

5.) Kannagi I dont know about this anime except when I heard the news that is about some crazy shrine maiden. It is only after I gave it a try and found out the gems of this series. So many funny references which caught my attention.

4.) Minami Ke Okawri Yet another slice of life comedy ? Minami ke brings the story about 3 “normal” school girls and their everyday antics. A caring elder sister, a “crazy” second sister and a “highly intelligent” youngest sister who seems to ignore idiocacy – bakayaro! :P A 3rd season coming soon and OVA in the making, you can expect that this anime is not your everyday slice of life anime. Beware – bakayaro !

3.) True Tears 3 things about this anime that brings it to my top3 positions – Music, Artwork and Moe. I am very picky on anime soundtracks and True tears’s musics was something that I enjoy and with a melodramtic opening music and some nice fluid animations. the story brings our all-knowing-moe-full-of-goodnesss Noe-san to life. Ahh…I guess you know the reason for it being top3.

2.) CLANNAD A KyoAni production that isnt in my top1 list ? Yup, unlike other stories by Key (AIR and KANON), CLANNAD was impressive but there is this feeling in me that it does not get the first. It might change given the fact that “After Story” is showing now but I am not gonna include it in the list. Story-wise, I would give a thumbs up to KyoAni for following pretty closely to the original story and also animating my favorite characters. After Story is turning the tide of the show, it might be a top in my Best of 2009 list but I aint sure about it as yet. :)

1.) Macross Frontier Macross came a long way since its first series and every series brings a level in its pure epic-ness. Frontier is not an exception either. Fluid battle animations, a dramatic story and also a epic scale of musics and soundtracks that heightens the entire show’s experience episode by episode. Along with a debut voice actor (Nakajima Megumi) for Ranka Lee who did a great job and an experienced Endo Aya who voices Sheryl Nome, its epicness is undeniable. Another factor that brings this to my top anime list – songs. Plenty of them, with Sheryl Nome’s songs performed by May’N and Ranka Lee’s by Nakajima Megumi not forgetting dramatic musics by Kanno Yoko, this powerful mix of voices and musics kills other animes in my fave top10 list.

10) Nodame Cantabile – Paris Chapter The continuation of the first season, I’d say it doesn’t disappoint. I have watched the live action drama and so was rather pleased to find out that they were doing a season 2 based on the Paris arc (which in the live action were two 1 hr episode specials). Nodame’s antics just crack me up and watching Chiaki feel his way through his emotions and battle his obstacles was enjoyable. The classical music was a good plus too.

9) Bamboo Blade A show that ran late 2007 and into early 2008. I felt it was a great show that didn’t get as much attention as it deserves. Kendo + 5 Girls + Main character is a sentai fan + said main charcter is uber cute? So win. It has Action, Comedy, abit of Romance while centered around the theme of friendship and teamwork. The only downside would be that the character design (most notably the eyes) seem to turn people off at first. But beyond that, one of my fav shows this year.

8) Minami-ke Okawari IT’S A TRAP!!! I noticed alot of negative comments regarding character design and what not but I found this installment of the series very much enjoyable indeed. Especially the part where Haruka went banchou on the girls. Yandere anyone? XD Mako-chan was a laugh everytime along with Touma and Hosaka makes me GAR for him. I’m certainly looking forward to Minami-ke Okaeri (not saying season 3 since some people seem to think Minami-ke only has one season thus far)

7) ef – A Tale of Melodies SHAFT does it again, using abstract art styles and symbolism to weave a beautiful drama. ef – A Tale of Memories was awesome especially that famous budget scene with Miyako breaking down on the phone. The same technique was used in this installemnt but with Kuze this time. While the abstract art style would turn some people off, the drama was excellent and definitely one of my more memorable shows this year.

6) Itazura na KISS This romcom will be the benchmark for all future romcom shows I’ll watch in the future. Heck, it was good enough to make me write a full post about it (and I dislike writing long posts like this one which oOgA is making me do). I’m lazy to rewrite my thought here so just check out my post on it here.

5) Hidamari Sketch x365 Slice of Life and Comedy has always been more of my thing though not many people seem to agree. Loved Season 1. Loved Season2. SHAFT enjoys using symbolism and I love how they do it so subtly in Hidamari Sketch. Not to mention the expanded cast in season2 made for more enjoyable watching. Yuno still remains my favourite character with Miyako a close second. I would love to stay over at the Hidamari Apartments lol.

4) Toradora! FAKE BREASTS SPECIAL FORCE!!! Minorin is AWESOME and you know it. Her antics simply crack me up though we cannot forget the two main characters Taiga and Ryuuji and their chemistry together. I’m really looking forward to season 2, seeing as how Ryuuji is starting to become the center of attention for all 3 girls. Not to mention the OP is really catchy. GUUUAAAAAHHHH!!!

3) Kannagi LOL LUCKY STAR CAMEO!!! I don’t know if anyone noticed but most of the middle episodes of the season had almost ZERO plot development. But the show is so AWESOME apparently NOBODY cares. Yaoi, yuri, parodies and references, Kannagi has it all. Every episode had me falling off my chair laughing except for the last 2 where the character development finally kicked in. I’m definitely looking forward to a season2. And don’t forget, it’s a SONY!

2) CLANNAD This blog is full of Kyoani fanboys so yeah this shouldn’t be surprising. CLANNAD still holds the title of the first anime to make me cry twice, once in Fuuko’s arc and once in Kotomi’s arc. The only other anime to make me cry was Kanon 2006 at the end of Makoto’s arc. It was a great season with the exception of a certain starfish wielder who simply refused to stay dead (or comatose as the case may be). The current season of Afterstory is great as well and I’m following it closely. It has yet to make me cry though that remains to be seen… I’m sure Setsukyie has alot more to say about this anime XD

1) Code Geass R2 Definitely the best anime of the year in my books. I’ve never seen so much ranting and trolling associated to one anime in my (short) blogging history.Who cares if it doesn’t make sense or has too many overpowered mecha? Being able to generate this much attention, positive or otherwise, means Sunrise has already achieved its objective. That said, I was glued to the screen for 2 whole seasons. Mecha usually isn’t my thing (notice Gundam 00 and Macross Frontier on this list?) but Code Geass takes the cake. It is so overblown and ridiculous at times that it is AWESOME. In some ways similiar to TTGL perhaps? If there is going to be a GAR awards for 2008 I’m voting for Orange-kun no questions asked. You can check out an older post we did on the show here.

10) Itazura na Kiss RomCom (Romantic & Comedy) shoujo anime of the year. ItaKiss is great mix of the two, PLUS great drama. And rarely we see an anime where the story continue after the couple gets married, even more if the marriage occurred only halfway into the series. Even though the anime is kind of ‘cheesy’ to certain people (like me), seeing Kotoko trying her best for Irie makes me say ‘aww..’ all the time..

9) Kannagi The first thing that comes in mind when hearing the name ‘Kannagi’ is the phrase ‘It’s a Sony!’ (lol). Comedy + Nonsense at it’s best, and Kannagi’s nonsense is always good. Even though the story is not so interesting, the comedy aspect of the show makes up for it, as I was laughing the beginning till the end of the episodes of the anime.

8) Macross Frontier Love triangle? Intense action? Mecha? Amazing soundtrack? Macross Frontier has it all. The story maybe a little weak for my taste, but every other aspects are great. The soundtrack, with the voices of May’n and Nakajima Megumi is the main reason why I like the anime, their songs are just amazing, Kanno Yoko is a genius! But not to forget the character development in the anime, especially for Sheryl, one of the best girls in anime of 2008.

7) True Tears I don’t know which anime I should watch back then, so I chose True Tears, and glad that I did so. And I don’t quite know why I like the anime, but I just love it. I was a Noe supporter (and always will be), seeing the animeblogosphere with their fanbases on which girl will end up with Shinichiro made the anime more fun to watch. The anime has great soundtrack and some amazing background images, close to KyoAni level. P.A. Works must make another anime soon ^_^

6) ToraDora! At first, I wasn’t interested in the anime much after watching the first few episodes, due to Taiga being ‘too tsundere’ for me. But ToraDora! became really good as of late, after they introduced the main casts of the anime, everything became great, and funny. But romance is also an important part in the anime, especially in the recent episodes, when the love triangle started to get serious. Loving the anime so far ^_^

5) Spice & Wolf Started watching the anime this month.. Was quite late at watching this, but glad that I did. Saw the OP in HD, and I quite liked it, but not enough to make me watch the anime, due to the medieval setting. Then I heard the song in some anime radio site, I fell in love with the song instantly. All these events must be saying to me that I should watch the anime, so I did.. Even though I don’t understand what they’re saying with their merchant talk most of the time, but I still watched the anime, mostly thanks to Horo. Horo, the anime girl of the year to me, I just love her personality and her looks as well, Horo is the main reason why I watched the anime in the first place. Can’t wait for the 2nd season. Horo is love! xD

4) Detroit Metal City Damn hilarious anime, nothing more than that. If you can stand the violence, the frequent sexual behavior (not that extreme), and the word ‘rape’, then this anime is for you. The anime is damn funny, made me laughed like crazy at everything in the anime. There’s always something funny in every minute of an episode.. But sadly, with 10 minutes per episode and only 12 episodes, the anime is way too short. Krauser’s legacy must go on! So I demand a 2nd season xD

3) Hayate no Gotoku! Watched Hayate no Gotoku! in my first few months of watching anime, in March last year. Watched from the beginning till the end, all 52 episodes in one year, so I grew to love the anime. The great humor, including the frequent references to popular media, the randomness, the awesome censorship that is funny for some reason, and the whole ‘breaking the 4th wall’ thing made the anime what it is, and unique (in a good way) from other anime. There’s also some romance going on in HnG, which is always a good thing. I was so sad when the anime ended, but was really happy when they announced the 2nd season. This kind of anime can go on forever, and I’ll never get bored of it ^_^

2) CLANNAD Including the After Story. If you’ve been sticking around the blog for awhile, and is a reader of Anime Banzai!, you know how much I love CLANNAD, or any KyoAni works (just like everyone on the blog). Key + KyoAni = pure epicness. CLANNAD makes other harem anime look like a child’s game, since CLANNAD is at a level of it’s own. The CLANNAD girls are also different from the ones found in your average harem anime, as their stories are not weak, and some of them actually made me shed some tears (rare). And never I have seen a harem lead like Tomoya, with a great personality and a story of his own, which most harem leads seem to lack nowadays. The anime also shows the side-arcs as well (Sunohara, etc.), and some of them are surprisingly better than the main ones. But what really differentiate CLANNAD from other harem anime is the ‘After Story’. From that point onwards, the anime is no longer a ‘harem’, since Nagisa is the only choice for Tomoya now. TomoyaxNagisa is a wonderful couple indeed, with their own strength and weaknesses, but they’re complete when they have each other.. Looking forward to how everything’s going to turn out..

1) Code Geass R2 Woot, a non-KyoAni show dominates the list?? I must really like this one then, and I really REALLY do. Finished the 1st season in only a week or so (was an awesome experience) and then proceeded to the next season. The anime is just so intense, as I can hardly wait for next week to see what will happen. The script is amazing, even though there are few flaws here and there, but I don’t really care much about them, because the result is pure genius. The character development is also something that Code Geass has to be praised for, with twisted characters and some of them even changing sides, who knows what will they do next, and that makes the story even more intense. Lelouch is the main source of the show’s awesomeness, he really is.. With his good looks, brains, and the power of geass, he has everything, but according to him, he doesn’t..and that’s why all of this started. Even though the show made most people say ‘wut?’ halfway into the 2nd season, Code Geass redeemed itself with the last episode.. One more amazing fact about the series is that Code Geass made me cried almost cried THREE times! Even though the show is not supposed to be a ‘sad’ one.. With this, no doubt that I will crown Code Geass R2 as the anime of the year..

uguu~