Fandom Awards 2011
Jan. 3rd, 2012 05:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_sun_is_upThis is the time of year when I usually hand out my Fandom Awards. Unfortunately, this year I was absolutely terrible about keeping up with current media. At present, I genuinely have no clue what's currently going on in most of the manga I follow; meanwhile, this past year I sampled nearly every Magical Girl series in creation, many of which are 20 or 30 years old, and I fell in love with one of the longest-running manga series in history, specifically the arc that ran during the late 90s.
Therefore, this year's Fandom Awards is going to be a shorter and humbler affair than usual, due to my smaller pool of reference. Also, I've expanded the awards to include internet video series, because this year I spent a lot of time watching stuff like Zero Punctuation and That Guy With The Glasses.
End-of-Year Fandom Awards of 2011!
This contains SPOILERS for all of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, including the SERIES FINALE.
Best Transformation Sequence: Mawaru Penguindrum
I don't really know what to say except that every single pixel of this thing is gorgeous. The use of sound effects, the timing and quality of the music, the choreography of not!Himari's stripping, and of course the whole intro sequence which reads like an incredibly well-designed acid trip. I tend to prefer simplicity and brevity in transformation sequences, but this one proves that it's possible to make a busy, lengthy, over-the-top, 10-different-things-going-on-in-the-frame-at-any-given-moment henshin and have it actually work.
Which stands it in contrast to our next award-winner...
Worst Transformation Sequence: Suite Precure
I think I might be warming up a little to Suite Precure, but there's one aspect of the show that sucks just as hard now as when I first saw it — the henshin. I mean just look at this shit:
Precure's henshins have been growing progressively more cluttered, overdone, and self-indulgent with every new iteration, but at least Heartcatch's had cohesive color design. By contrast, the Suite henshin has some of the worst use of color I have seen in anything ever. Add to that a horrendously busy and confetti-ridden background, some torso ribbons that practically trumpet their out-of-place CGI-ness right in your face, and about five hours of posing at the end, which is made more excruciating by a series of six more different backgrounds, each one as intensely hideous as the last.
Speaking as someone who has seen literally almost every single Magical Girl henshin in existence, I can confirm that Suite Precure's is in the top 5 worst.
Best Day-In-The-Limelight Episode: Call of the Cutie - MLP FIM
A well-written allegory for puberty, late blooming, and being a social outcast in teenage society, starring an adorable little Southern-accented pony. This remains one of the strongest episodes of this show that I've thus far seen.
Cutest Mascot: The President - Houkago No Pleiades
Hummy from Suite Precure and Kyubey from PMMM were both strong contenders for this award, but if I'm going to be completely honest, I have to give this one to the unintelligible morphing blob-alien from Gainax's brief web anime. I think the Prez's strength is that he's not trying to be cute — during most of his screentime, he's very seriously burbling important info at the protagonist — but somehow this seriousness just makes him even more adorable.
Best Memetic Facial Expression:
Yes, Kyubey's face is so memetic, it has even appeared on marshmallows.
KYUBEY IS ALWAYS WATCHING.
ALWAYS.
Most Surprising Hottification: Rarity’s glasses - MLP FIM
Seriously Rarity, YOU ARE A PONY. YOU ARE NOT EVEN HUMAN. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE THIS HOT.
Best Excuse to make Crossovers: PMMM
(art by 332416)
Madoka is just one of those shows that constantly invites humorous comparisons to other shows. Mami's beheading led to her being drawn with Celty from Durarara, Homura's time-related powers and groundhog-day backstory got her crossovered with Dio Brando and Rika Furude, people speculated that Kyubey was being employed by Bernkastel, and Mami somehow became inextricably associated with Leonardo DiCaprio. But the biggest boost to the crossover parade came with the series finale, in which Madoka visits all the Magical Girls across time and space to save them from witchification, inspiring a deluge of fanart that crossed over Madoka with tons of other classic Magical Girl shows. In light of my current project, I was very happy to see all this renewed interest in the history of the genre.
Gayest Scene Involving Characters Who Are Allegedly Straight:
In previous years, this award was dominated (heh) by Naruto and Sasuke, and sadly nothing I saw this year could even come within spitting distance of that continually baffling tidal wave of gayness. However, I feel inclined to give an honorable mention to a show I didn't watch but heard a lot about: Tiger & Bunny.
Props to Kotetsu and Barnaby for injecting a bit of mature beardy bara flavor into the willowy weepy world of yaoi shipping. It was such a nice change of pace to see slash art of these two all over Pixiv.
Most Surprising Occurrence of Homoeroticism: Soul Eater Not!
Tiger & Bunny may have had the biggest volume of in-denial HoYay, but this was to be expected. They're a freaking superhero duo — they're contractually obligated to be as ambiguously gay as possible. However when I started reading Atsushi Ohkubo's new spin-off of his fighting shonen manga, I was very surprised to see mountains of HoYay... between the female characters. Those first three chapters read like the opening to a yuri manga.
Most Surprising Display of Emotion: NChick reviews X-Men the Animated Series while hopped up on truth serum
As much as I enjoy the Chick's deadpan snarking, it was really fun to see her unleash her inner squeeing fangirl.
Best Song: Jaden's End Credits Rap on BBT Abridged - ShadyVox
I... am honestly a little embarrassed to admit how much I unironically love this song. Like, I wish I could say it's a "so bad it's good" thing, but it's not. dfshhgjfdfh
Best Video-Review Story-Arc: The Chick Flicks Arc - NChick
The Dark Nella Saga was ambitious and interesting, but personally I have to go with the hilarious and insightful Chick Flick arc, in which the Chick returns to her roots of picking apart female-aimed media and does an excellent analysis of that troublesome term "chick flick" — what it really means, why so many people dislike it, and what makes entries into the genre good or bad. Plus it had funny cameos from Todd and Nella.
Most Impressive Display of Effort: The Moulin Rouge review - NCritic, NChick, Brental Floss, and friends
This is just a fantastic video all around, but what really impressed me was the sheer amount of work that must have gone into this thing: the costumes, the green screens, the cameos, writing filks for all those songs, shaping the plot of the review to mirror the plot of the movie, not to mention the core content of intelligent criticism and analysis of the film. I am just blown away by how much energy and dedication went into this. Major props to everyone involved.
Therefore, this year's Fandom Awards is going to be a shorter and humbler affair than usual, due to my smaller pool of reference. Also, I've expanded the awards to include internet video series, because this year I spent a lot of time watching stuff like Zero Punctuation and That Guy With The Glasses.
End-of-Year Fandom Awards of 2011!
This contains SPOILERS for all of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, including the SERIES FINALE.
Best Transformation Sequence: Mawaru Penguindrum
I don't really know what to say except that every single pixel of this thing is gorgeous. The use of sound effects, the timing and quality of the music, the choreography of not!Himari's stripping, and of course the whole intro sequence which reads like an incredibly well-designed acid trip. I tend to prefer simplicity and brevity in transformation sequences, but this one proves that it's possible to make a busy, lengthy, over-the-top, 10-different-things-going-on-in-the-frame-at-any-given-moment henshin and have it actually work.
Which stands it in contrast to our next award-winner...
Worst Transformation Sequence: Suite Precure
I think I might be warming up a little to Suite Precure, but there's one aspect of the show that sucks just as hard now as when I first saw it — the henshin. I mean just look at this shit:
Precure's henshins have been growing progressively more cluttered, overdone, and self-indulgent with every new iteration, but at least Heartcatch's had cohesive color design. By contrast, the Suite henshin has some of the worst use of color I have seen in anything ever. Add to that a horrendously busy and confetti-ridden background, some torso ribbons that practically trumpet their out-of-place CGI-ness right in your face, and about five hours of posing at the end, which is made more excruciating by a series of six more different backgrounds, each one as intensely hideous as the last.
Speaking as someone who has seen literally almost every single Magical Girl henshin in existence, I can confirm that Suite Precure's is in the top 5 worst.
Best Day-In-The-Limelight Episode: Call of the Cutie - MLP FIM
A well-written allegory for puberty, late blooming, and being a social outcast in teenage society, starring an adorable little Southern-accented pony. This remains one of the strongest episodes of this show that I've thus far seen.
Cutest Mascot: The President - Houkago No Pleiades
Hummy from Suite Precure and Kyubey from PMMM were both strong contenders for this award, but if I'm going to be completely honest, I have to give this one to the unintelligible morphing blob-alien from Gainax's brief web anime. I think the Prez's strength is that he's not trying to be cute — during most of his screentime, he's very seriously burbling important info at the protagonist — but somehow this seriousness just makes him even more adorable.
Best Memetic Facial Expression:
Yes, Kyubey's face is so memetic, it has even appeared on marshmallows.
KYUBEY IS ALWAYS WATCHING.
ALWAYS.
Most Surprising Hottification: Rarity’s glasses - MLP FIM
Seriously Rarity, YOU ARE A PONY. YOU ARE NOT EVEN HUMAN. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE THIS HOT.
Best Excuse to make Crossovers: PMMM
(art by 332416)
Madoka is just one of those shows that constantly invites humorous comparisons to other shows. Mami's beheading led to her being drawn with Celty from Durarara, Homura's time-related powers and groundhog-day backstory got her crossovered with Dio Brando and Rika Furude, people speculated that Kyubey was being employed by Bernkastel, and Mami somehow became inextricably associated with Leonardo DiCaprio. But the biggest boost to the crossover parade came with the series finale, in which Madoka visits all the Magical Girls across time and space to save them from witchification, inspiring a deluge of fanart that crossed over Madoka with tons of other classic Magical Girl shows. In light of my current project, I was very happy to see all this renewed interest in the history of the genre.
Gayest Scene Involving Characters Who Are Allegedly Straight:
In previous years, this award was dominated (heh) by Naruto and Sasuke, and sadly nothing I saw this year could even come within spitting distance of that continually baffling tidal wave of gayness. However, I feel inclined to give an honorable mention to a show I didn't watch but heard a lot about: Tiger & Bunny.
Props to Kotetsu and Barnaby for injecting a bit of mature beardy bara flavor into the willowy weepy world of yaoi shipping. It was such a nice change of pace to see slash art of these two all over Pixiv.
Most Surprising Occurrence of Homoeroticism: Soul Eater Not!
Tiger & Bunny may have had the biggest volume of in-denial HoYay, but this was to be expected. They're a freaking superhero duo — they're contractually obligated to be as ambiguously gay as possible. However when I started reading Atsushi Ohkubo's new spin-off of his fighting shonen manga, I was very surprised to see mountains of HoYay... between the female characters. Those first three chapters read like the opening to a yuri manga.
Most Surprising Display of Emotion: NChick reviews X-Men the Animated Series while hopped up on truth serum
As much as I enjoy the Chick's deadpan snarking, it was really fun to see her unleash her inner squeeing fangirl.
Best Song: Jaden's End Credits Rap on BBT Abridged - ShadyVox
I... am honestly a little embarrassed to admit how much I unironically love this song. Like, I wish I could say it's a "so bad it's good" thing, but it's not. dfshhgjfdfh
Best Video-Review Story-Arc: The Chick Flicks Arc - NChick
The Dark Nella Saga was ambitious and interesting, but personally I have to go with the hilarious and insightful Chick Flick arc, in which the Chick returns to her roots of picking apart female-aimed media and does an excellent analysis of that troublesome term "chick flick" — what it really means, why so many people dislike it, and what makes entries into the genre good or bad. Plus it had funny cameos from Todd and Nella.
Most Impressive Display of Effort: The Moulin Rouge review - NCritic, NChick, Brental Floss, and friends
This is just a fantastic video all around, but what really impressed me was the sheer amount of work that must have gone into this thing: the costumes, the green screens, the cameos, writing filks for all those songs, shaping the plot of the review to mirror the plot of the movie, not to mention the core content of intelligent criticism and analysis of the film. I am just blown away by how much energy and dedication went into this. Major props to everyone involved.
