Get to Know Your Guyver: My Top 25 Favorite Anime (#20-16: Devils, Princesses. and Mahou) · 2:27am Jun 3rd, 2014
Time for another round of my favorite anime titles! Once again, these are simply my personal favorites, and not series that I think to be the best ever made, the highest quality, the most technically proficient, or anything like that. With that said, let's get started! 
#20: Devilman Lady
"If you're God, then I'm the Devil, and I’ll rise again and again to challenge you!"
Nagai Go is a strange, strange man. On one hand, he's the creator of some of the most perverted, violent, mind-trippy mainstreamed anime and manga series out there. He never fails to take a dark view at human nature or subvert the general sense of what constitutes good and evil, but then winks at the audience and shoves in as much T&A as the medium will let him get away with. And yet, while running loop-de-loops around the censor bar he does provoke thought about the human condition and subjectivity of our own morality, and generally seems to put a lot of thought and care into his creations, even the more perverted ones. As such, his works are both frightening and fascinating to behold.
Enter Devilman Lady (or simply The Devil Lady), an anime loosely based off of a manga which applied Rule 63 to Nagai Go's seminal creation, Devilman. It tells the story of Fudo Jun, a fashion model with serious self-confidence issues and fears of her inner, baser nature. Through a series of events, she discovers that she’s one of many humans who carry a special gene allowing them to transform into bestial forms; however, Jun is different in that her pure heart allows her to retain her human rationality, turning her into a female Devilman (a Devilman Lady, if you will). Recruited by a mysterious agency, Jun is then tasked with hunting down and exterminating rogue mutations that threaten the populace. Of course, not all is as it seems . . .
The strength and heart of Devilman Lady rests solely with the characterization of its main protagonist, Jun. Unlike other Nagai creations, Jun (in the anime, at least) is very much a reluctant heroine. Her low confidence and poor self- esteem causes her to initially be repulsed by her Devilman transformation, leading her to almost commit suicide in the second episode. While she eventually warms to the power and freedom brought on by her other half, you never get the sense that she’s giving in to it or ever reveling in the blood, gore, and violence. Jun’s growth throughout the series from a meek, weak-willed wallflower to a strong, self-assured defender of the innocent is a delight to behold. Add in some excellent animation and character designs, and a hauntingly gothic soundtrack, and you get an anime you will likely not forget anytime soon.
#19: Princess Nine
"She's just a child. Do you think she can handle the weight you're about to put on her shoulders?"
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: A ragtag groups of misfits is brought together in order to form a new sports team to take on the more established, more talented, and more respected teams in the league. Along the way, drama ensues as the teammates at first struggle against one another, but eventually they find a way to bond, come together, and take on their chief rival for the all-important Championship Game. Along the way, characters learn valuable life lessons, past secrets long kept hidden are revealed, and friendships are forged, broken by misunderstandings, and then rekindled with even more strength than before.
Yeah, Princess Nine may not have the most original of premises, it does add its own unique spin to the well-worn genre: Hayakawa Ryo is the daughter of a formally famous high school baseball player, and one hell of a pitcher in her own right. She eventually catches the eye of the dean of a prestigious all-girl’s school, who in the past knew Ryo’s father and now wants to start an all-girl’s baseball team, hoping to pit them against male teams and send them all the way to the national championship game in Koshien Stadium. The drunkard coach with a heart of gold eventually manages to recruit Ryo and eight other “special” girls (including the dean’s spoiled rich girl daughter, Izumi, who also happens to be Ryo’s main rival for the affections of a star male baseball player who just so happens to play for the baseball team who is the main rival to the girls’.)
It is true that this anime crosses off just about every sports movie/TV show cliche you can think of during the course of its run, and since we’re dealing with teenage girls here, there is the occasional delve into melodrama, love triangles, and frustratingly obvious misunderstandings that are carried through to the eleventh hour. However, the truth is, while watching it . . . you simply don’t care. While these may be tropes we’ve seen dozen times before, they’re executed with such passion and obvious reverence that you can’t help but get sucked in. Nothing is overplayed, and all of the characters are given moments to grow and shine without coming across as perfunctory. The fact that the anime has a musical score from the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra (that’s right, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra) that wouldn’t sound out of place in such cherished sports films as The Natural, Hoosiers, Rudy, and Field of Dreams just adds icing to the cake. I mean, just listen to the Main Theme! And the ending . . . I won’t give anything away, but let’s just say comparisons to Rocky would not be unjust.
"In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"
Here's yet another title just about everyone with even an inkling of what anime is knows about. Sailor Moon, like Gundam Wing and a few other titles, was one of the early series that helped to kindle my interest in anime in the first place. It was also my first experience with the "Magical Girl" subgenre, and since first experiencing it with Sailor Moon it has become one of my favorite realms within the greater anime community. I imagine it was because I already had a great love for superheroes, and Sailor Moon and her other magical girl ilk naturally seemed to fit the same mold as far as the kind of stories they starred in (I didn't know about the earlier class of Magical Girl until much later); plus, I liked Power Rangers at the time, and these five (later eight, then ten, then . . . Legion) girls had a similar transforming superhero team dynamic going for them.
Another part of the attraction of Sailor Moon to my younger self was the fact that it seemed so similar, yet so different from other Western cartoons specifically designed to cater to little boys. While the show was and is marketed to girls, it held a sort of mystique and forbidden allure to me. I knew I wasn't supposed to like it or watch it, and yet the more I watched, the greater my appreciation grew. If not for Sailor Moon, I might never have learned that it is okay to like shows that aren't necessarily package-made for my particular demographic--as long as you find it entertaining, just about anything can work (yes, even shows about pretty pastel ponies learning the magic of friendship). And if we're being perfectly honest, those naked transformation sequences did do interesting things to my early-adolescent brain.
That being said, these characters and their adventures hold a special place to my heart. They introduced me to a whole new range of experiences, not just in anime, but also in fanfiction, as Sailor Moon fanfics were some of the earliest ones I read on the internet. Without these girls, their unfathomably short skirts, their atrocious dub, and the wealth of story potential they offered, I may never have ventured into the realm of fanfiction, for my own writing or otherwise, and I might never have felt comfortable with giving a show about a little lavender pony and her friends a try.
#17: Slayers
"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess! GIGA SLAVE!!
Slayers is nothing if not Fun! Among a mass of overly serious sci-fi, adventure, and fantasy anime, it's just refreshing to have a series that never takes itself seriously, frequently engages in fourth-wall busting humor, and generally is just content being an escape and wild ride along with its endearing cast of characters.
There's Lina Inverse, the brash, over-confident, flat-chested, hotheaded sorceress who nevertheless will fight for what's right with every fiber of her being, even as she's suckering people out a free meal or five; Gourry Gabriev, Lina's companion and idiotic knight errant who actually is a more than halfway decent swordsman; Zelgadis Greywords, a sorcerer turned chimera who's constantly brooding about his "totally-not-at-all-awesome" curse; Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, the pintsized princess powerhouse "hero of justice!" (who still manages to have a bigger bust than Lina); and Xellos, the mysterious priest who always has secret knowledge about the goings-on of the plot. And that's just the core of a massive cast of secondary, side, and incidental characters that make up the Slayers world and universe.
And what a world and universe that our main characters have to explore! I doubt you could find another pseudo-fantasy setting as richly developed and open to constant expansion and exploration. From the varied combinations of mysticism, magic, and technology that people can utilize, to the fantastical (and occasionally hilarious) creatures that are encountered, to the richly developed history and theology that governs how the world works, nothing is really left out. And while the work that went into creating Slayers is impressive, at the end of the day it's more one of those series you put on to enjoy a romp with a familiar gang of friends.
"Call me a devil . . . it just means I'll have to use my hellish powers to make you listen!"
Hard to believe this series was originally just a traditional magical girl series-offshoot of a hentai game. Instead of a Cardcaptor Sakura clone though, what we got was an interesting blend of traditional Magical Girl, Shounen, Sci-Fi, and Mecha series tropes that only seemed to become even more an anthropomorphism of Gundam as it went along. And while I may not be a fan of the inordinate amount of detail and attention given to naked pre-adolescent girls (most notably in the transformation sequences), I can look past that and simply take enjoyment from the odd cocktail of story elements and exploits of the most badass loli in all of anime: the heir to the title of White Devil, Takamachi Nanoha.
This is the tale of Takamichi Nanoha's rise, from a world-weary nine-year old desperate for a purpose to give her life meaning, to a budding magical girl using her powers to fire magical beams of friendship and destruction. to a world savior and budding messiah, to a legendary Ace of Aces for an extradimensional peacekeeping force . . . all before she's 20. Along her journey, Nanoha makes several friends and allies after brutally beating and blasting them into submission. There's her constantly ship-teased, best-friend/lover/wife, Dark Magical Girl paragon Fate Testarossa, who's affinity for lightning automatically makes her three times faster. There's also Yagami Hayate, Woobie Destroyer of Worlds who is still able to bitch-slap a rampaging body snatcher from within her own soul and domesticate a group of eternally young warriors, all while wheelchair-bound and in elementary school. Some might also remember Yuno, mascot partner to Nanoha and later librarian; and Chrono, the stoic and serious child officer from the Time-Space Administration Bureau. But they're boys, and thus unimportant, because this is a loli-series!!
All kidding aside, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise. When you have little girls acting wiser than their respective ages, fighting aerial battles that would put most giant robot series to shame, and keeping faith in the virtues of optimism, friendship, and the power of Love, you can understand the appeal it holds. The characters themselves are also very well-developed and realized, and as schmaltzy as the feels they evoke can be sometimes, a smile somehow always manages to make it's way through the tears. The phrase, "say my name," will never hold the same meaning again after viewing this series.
Honorable Mention: Princess Tutu
"Please, won't you dance with me?"
I know what you’re thinking. A magical girl anime about a duck who becomes a human girl (coincidentally also named, “Duck”) out of love for a handsome prince, attends a school for dance taught by a talking cat who tries to marry all eligible girls as a punishment, fights evil through the power of classical ballet, and looks like a cross between Magical Do-Re-Mi and Wedding Peach. This can only be a sugary-sweet series designed to induce diabetes and bring on the d’awwws, right?
You would be wrong. You would be dead wrong.
Princess Tutu is definitely a case of “not judging a book by its cover. While the anime certainly has its cute, humorous, and silly moments (particularly in the beginning), buried underneath is a dark core rooted in traditional, grim Fairy Tales like "Pinocchio" and "Hansel and Gretel," and serious ballet like "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake" (the latter of which, you might recall, was also the base for the extremely dark Black Swan). These elements come more and more to light as the story progresses, as the plot quite literally tries to drive its characters to the brink of tragedy and despair. And even though love and hope may have the power to push back the darkness, is it enough to break the bonds of Fate itself?
A ballet is not complete without a competent troupe of dancers, and this cast of this anime is more than equal to the task. There's the aforementioned Duck/Ahiru, a slightly naive but heartfelt girl who just wants to make her Prince (and later others) smile, and who as the swan-like Princess Tutu dances her way into beleaguered townspeople's hearts; Prince Mytho, a mysterious and slightly spacey bishounen who has no memory about his dark past. the school "queen bee" Rue, who's aloofness, jealousy, and tragic backstory as the daughter of the story's villain automatically marks her as the Dark Magical Girl Princess Kraehe and Duck's chief rival; Fakir, Mytho angsty minder who nevertheless possesses a true and noble heart beneath all that snarks; and Drosselmeyer, a seemingly innocent observer of the series' events who secretly is pulling both the literal and figurative strings behind the entire narrative.
Beyond the characters, this anime is suffused with visual wonders that look perfectly at place within the context of a world rooted in fairy tales. The narrative is satisfying complex but never overly convoluted, and at times will go in unexpected directions that makes you root for the main characters all the more. Of course, an anime based on classical ballet would not be complete without an appropriate score, and this series does not disappoint in that department, with a soundtrack replete with various classical pieces and compositions. All and all, Princess Tutu is an extremely satisfying experience for anyone looking for a good story that is willing to explore dark places without drowning in them for the shock value, tells a unique and yet familiar tale of good versus evil, and asks serious questions about fate, sacrifice, and the meaning of love.
As one character put it, "May those who accept their fate be granted happiness. May those who defy it be granted glory."
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Mares Guyver, signing off.
