Hoshiko’s Best Anime 2011

Alrighty. It’s the end of 2011. Do you know what this means? It’s time for my personal list of best anime in 2011. This list contains anime that has completed its run within Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Summer 2011 and Fall 2011. Of course, it has to be an anime that I’ve seen. And that also means any other anime that I saw this year but did not debut and complete or complete (debuted in Fall 2010) within those periods are not taken into consideration. As always, I’ll list out only five on my very short list. The reasons for the very short list are 1) I don’t have a long list of anime to pick from and 2) I only make sure the ones I really, really like make the list.

*Drum Rolls* Hoshiko’s best anime of 2011 is….

Christmas with Rin and Daikichi

What’s more appropriate than sharing this short but sweet episode of Usagi Drop with you guys on a Christmas Day! Despite not having much, Daikichi and Rin spent a happy, serene and wonderful Christmas together.

Usagi Drop: Final Round of Thoughts

Whether or not the series will continue adapting what the manga has no longer feels important to me. The anime started with Daikichi as a carefree salary man with nothing much to worry about and slowly he turned into someone who was constantly feeling inadequate and unconfident about his parenting skills and worrying about the welfare of a total stranger, Rin, to someone who knows he had made the right choice. As we all know, he turned out great. Likewise, Rin has morphed into a cheerful, beautiful butterfly from her shelled cocoon at the start of the series. Two complete strangers at the start of the episode had become family by the end of the series.

Usagi Drop Episode 11: The First Step

What a way to end this beautiful series – a quick capture on how Daikichi met Rin and the things that had happened during that one year. The start at grandpa’s funeral and the end at a gathering for grandpa’s one year death anniversary.

Usagi Drop Episode 10: Stomach Flu

The title said it all. This episode shall focus on one of the characters getting ill, which in this case is Rin. That didn’t come as surprise though. I think everyone expected that. How else could the episode be made if she wasn’t the one fallen ill. Thank goodness it wasn’t with the feared influenza.

Usagi Drop Episode 9: A Typhoon Came

Kōki has got to be the naughtiest kid I ever saw. Can you imagine a kid telling you to fetch a ruler just so he can measure the length of his poo? LOL! I find it amusing that he misunderstood the “pooping” and “operating” thing. “Unkou” and “Unko” hmm….interesting.

Usagi Drop Episode 8: Grandpa’s Precious Thing

First of all, Happy Birthday Rin!. I think that makes her seven years old now? Our favourite anime kid is growing up, y’all. And she’s growing up to be a fine lady.

If last week’s focus was on Haruko’s struggles as a wife and a daughter-in-law, this week’s focus was on Masako’s personal struggle – to be the best mangaka or possibly giving up her career for Rin. That’s how I see it. I know I was a bit harsh on her the first time I saw her but after taking a deeper look into her character this week, I must say I feel for her.

Usagi Drop Episode 7: Secretly Leaving Home

Wow, this week’s episode was really great. It touches on little family problems such as cohabitation with in-laws, workaholic husbands and so on. These are issues I’m rather familiar with since I witnessed some of those in real life but it’s amazing how Usagi Drop managed to look into them in a lighthearted manner.

Usagi Drop Episode 6: My Tree

Hmm..Usagi Drop is already on its sixth episode. We’re halfway there, my friends. So far, everything’s going very well. Nicely executed, leaving me eagerly waiting for the next episode.

Usagi Drop Episode 5: Daikichi Should Stay Daikichi

Another lovely episode this week. With each passing week, Daikichi and Rin’s bond becomes stronger and stronger. The interaction between Rin and Daikcihi’s family has also improved greatly. Rin no longer shuts herself from them and knows how to express her needs, wants and feelings better. She’s so cute when she’s embarrassed >.<