Your Top Ten Anime Series (with words!)

[roujin]

School Rumble
Pigs Go Oink! Cats Go Meow! Frogs and Water Imp Goes Ribbit!
Ep 4

The class goes on some random school trip and Harima and Tenma try and sit next to the one they love with hilarious results. I've always wanted to know how to play Old Maid. Wait, what the CINECAST! is Old Maid? I love this show so much mainly because it does hilarious things like that and then it gives me these jawdroppingly sublime sketch about Tenma's sister, Yakumo, and about how she can read people's minds. It sounds silly but it's so damn poignant and beautiful. It blew me away. Such a quiet tenderness and still funny as hell in a totally cute and odd way. Gotta love this shit. Also, follow that shit up with some Kappa action. Amazing.


School Rumble
Burning Hot First Love! Burning Hot Tea Party! Burning Hot Softball!
Ep 5

Harima shares the story of how he came to fall in love with Tenma (and how he came to have his awesome goatee). It's glorious. Simultaneously hilarious and touching (like the exact moment when he realizes he's in love). Then, Hanai pursues Yakumo, people play softball and Harima says "it's so slow, it makes me yawn" and I'm sent to the hospital cuz things just don't get funnier than that.

[roujin]

School Rumble
Survival after School! Arrival when Confessing! Hospital for Two!
Ep 6

Tenma gets stuck in the gym storage room and strange hijinks appen. Whose snack is this? Who's going flaccid? Jump high! Harima finds out that Tenma likes someone and goes crazy trying to figure out who it is. He starts imagining these scenarios where he's superior to Karasuma, beating him at basketball, cleaning the classroom. It's hilarious. But true love cannot be fulfilled, not when there are trucks out on the highway. Poor Harima! I hope you get better!


School Rumble
Cleaning the Pool! Running Around the Pool! Pool Wars!
Ep 7

It's time for the class to clean to pool but somehow things get twisted around, games start being played, and passions blow. I love how the game turns into a weird battleground of love where everyone is trying to impress someone. And, quietly in the background, you get one of the first appearances of Ichijou! Plus Harima's Phantom Striker is born on this day. How much will pictures of Yakumo go for? Who is this Asou dude? How does he know these things?


School Rumble
The First Shopping Trip! The First Packed Lunch! The First Heartbreak! Huh?!
Ep 8

Eri goes on a shopping trip to buy ingredients to make meat and potatoes. But who is she making it for? Another beautiful sketch of an inner life that we never knew anything about. Then Tenma finds out the way to a man's heart is food. She gets Yakumo to make food for her and Karasuma. But will it be curry or rice balls? All the great men love curry. It's true. But great men can fall down and, well, Harima Kenji, are your tomorrows all gone? Is this the end of your love?

[roujin]

School Rumble
Comic Book Blues! Older Woman Blues! Super Bad Water Blues!
Ep 9

Harima learns that the best way to endure heartbreak is to turn toward art. He begins to exorcise his demons in elaborate apings of Fist of the North Star but... even those comic book blues can't help ya much. Where is your enemy, Harima? Is he in front of you? Is he your inspiration? Maybe grief has changed him. School Rumble teaches us that we must all turn inward and live a fantasy to escape reality. Well, what else is there? Harima! What a bum! But what strangers do you run into in the rain? What are these older woman blues? Just a fantasy? Elaborate manga plans. Other lonely souls, looking for something out there in the rain. But for your true love, you will do anything. Anything.


School Rumble
Please, God! Please, Genuine Animal Fortune-Telling! Please, Tenma!
Ep 10

Harima has found something more real than pain and grief. He has found enlightenment. Performing miracles, talking with the animals (a connection to Yakumo!), and, in general, being delightful. Suou comes to the temple with her hopes and dreams and wishes. But Harima keeps running into his past and they ask questions about curry or meat and potatoes or whatever. Weird stuff. But the animals will protect, Jhon, if you don't kill them first. School seems so long ago, Harima, but still, you can't abandon your dreams. Take off those rags! Be somebody! What do you prefer Karasuma? Is curry the thing you love?! Defend your honor, lovers! Also, Harima, you need to really look at the people you confess to. Seriously. To you... riding the wind. This show is amazing.

[roujin]

School Rumble
Nara! Karasuma! Harima!
Ep 11

Things happen at the pool! Who can swim? Why doesn't Tenma get hit on? She wants to get hit on! Nara? Who's Nara? A blossoming romance? Why do you get stuck out in the rain, Tenma? Where's the Kappa to save ya? These questions are annoying. Harima wants to go to beach with his beloved, but will he? Damn it. Again. CINECAST! this shit. Ain't nothing but pain out here. The heart is a mysterious thing.


School Rumble
Save Me at the Beach! Save Me, I'm Naked! Just Save Me! For Real!
Ep 12

The group go to the beach but not before the boys try to sneak a peek at the girls and Harima's nakedness causes trouble for all, most of all himself, as a perfectly innocent situation turns into something much more twisted-looking. It's CINECAST!ing hilarious. None of the girls know how to swim so ya gotta teach them. And Harima's plans to partner off go completely crazy and then Imadori tries to engineer kissing situations. None of this will happen. Know why? Because you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Let me see your boobs now!


School Rumble
Mission 1: Confession of Love! Mission 2: Night Offense and Defense! Mission 3: "Tweet!"
Ep 13

Suou and Imadori come back somehow only to be harassed by a bunch of weird questions. Things happen and then in one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen, Tenma dons Harima's glasses and goatee and shows him how to confess his love (thinking he's in love with someone else). These are the beauties of my life. The night is a battle as the boys try to get close to the girls while they're sleeping. Lots of misunderstandings occur. That's all life is, School Rumble argues. Then, flashback to Hanai and Suou's friendship in the past and how it's grown. Some things mean much more to you than someone else. That's just how it is. So great. Just finish it off with a beautiful look at the way that Yakumo loves and takes care of her older sister. Yakumo is the greatest. Just like this show.

[FLYmeatwad]

This has quickly become my favourite thread.

[roujin]

heh, cool. Just caught up with what I've seen so far.

[roujin]

School Rumble
Have You Ever Seen One? Isn't She Cute? I Look Forward to Getting to Know You!
Ep 14

It's summer and it's really hot. Harima gets a part-time job but things spin out of control when suddenly he likes people, people like him, what's going on? And, Harima's uh... won't leave Eri's mind and she starts talking about it to Tenma and it's like the most hilarious thing ever. Tenma's friend get into a feud revolving around Harima and some other things. Plus Ichijou shows her monstrous power to Imadori who can't help himself. The world is disgusting, but School Rumble is perfection.


School Rumble
Summer, Friendship, and Fireworks!
Ep 15

Harima has found a new style for his manga. One more mature and awesome. But he can't let anyone read it! So you got some foot chases among unexpected people and what not. Then you got Suou's love story and Eri's loneliness and their friendship and the awesomeness continues. The people from your past come back to you but you can't really do anything about it. All those promises you made yourself are worthless in the face of the truth. What can you do but turn to your friends?

[roujin]

School Rumble
But It's the Tea Club... It's the Tea Club, But... It's the Tea Club, So...
Ep 16

The tea club goes on a camping trip that gets crashed by Harima, Hanai and Imadori. Yakumo gets to see Harima again and wants to ask him about animals but Tenma decides Yakumo has to stay away from Harima since he's a player. Then there's some kind of scavenger hunt and people have to get naked or they'll get cold and things happen that shouldn't happen and there's some eavesdropping and maybe you're a 12-year-old or something. What the hell is a tea club doing taking camping trips? Anyway, just strip, and leave these things to me.


School Rumble
Mid-Summer Giraffe's Night Out! End of Summer Panic Party! Summer's Over-Back to School!
Ep 17

Harima's animal friends will no longer have a place to stay. What to do? Yakumo sees the animal bond now. Harima has a little brother? SHUUJI!!! We are dead as soon as we speak our feelings. Right, Pyotr? The sight of Akira dressed as a giraffe will linger on forever. But, if summer is over, what's next? The changes. Why did you get a haircut? Is she really going out with him? Wait, an assassin? What? I am talking to you but we keep getting interrupted. Will I never say how I feel?!?!?


School Rumble
Karen's Love, Not Yet! Karen's Love, Little by Little! Karen's Love, and Then...
Ep 18

Imadori finally has to man up and take Ichijou on a date like he said he would all while Harima is determined to grow a fine beard (like he thinks Tenma wants). The date part is the primary focus of the episode as Ichijou freaks out because she doesn't know what to do and relies on Tenma's advice (even though she's never been on a date). Those little bags that she gives her hold the greatest surprises. Here is where the stupid Power Rangers thing starts happening. It's pretty grating for me and it gets worse in Season 2 if I remember correctly. But, in here, it's used just right without it running the joke into the ground. Good job, School Rumble!

[roujin]

School Rumble
Dreams for Art! Fantasy Wedding! Wish on a Star!
Ep 19

Meet Buddha Nishimoto, Class 2-C's expert on the matters of eroticism. Apparently the art teacher is having some kind of exhibition and theme is nudes. The model? The hottest teacher in school! (and Harima's cousin). But when Harima and Hanai hear that Yakumo and Tenma will help the teacher out, everything goes into overdrive. So CINECAST!ing hilarious. That meeting between the five leaders of the ero club or whatever is amazing. Just the descriptions. . . Then you get this hilarious thing with Yakumo being used to promote a wedding thing so she has to have a fake wedding, but not before Hanai signs up to be the groom and Harima, thinking that Tenma is the one who's gonna be the bride, crashes the party and confuses everyone and everything. Who do you love, Harima? Make up your mind! Oh, and why not end it with a jaw-droppingly sublime bit about a meteor shower and the wishes of all the main characters and the love that Yakumo and Tenma have for each other. I want to take care of my little sister!


School Rumble
That's Gone! This is Gone! Options Gone!
Ep 20

Harima's incredible beard (inspired by Tenma's love) is gone! How? Well, mistakes. But, how to hide it? See above. Harima keeps working on his manga and he's found the one person he can show it to, Yakumo!!! But these things can get serious really quick. Hanai? What's going on!? Uh, who is this? Oh, shit, Lala. I was hoping I wouldn't see you

[roujin]

School Rumble
Hanai fights Back! Karen Sparkles! Reunion with Big Sister!
Ep 21

After coming back from ardous training, Hanai comes back to win Yakumo's heart. It is then that he meets Harry McKenzie (try saying it out loud and think of the hilarity), a student from class 2-D. Of course, Harima somehow shows up and it's one of the most hilarious and awesome things ever. Also, Harima is a samurai. I've come to like Lala a lot more this time around. Just the way she shouts "Ichi-JOU" is hilarious. The way she reacts to Imadori is amazing. Imadori's incredible eye power is godly. I love the rivalry between class 2-C and 2-D and that hilarious flashback to the teacher's teenage days. Glorious.


School Rumble
Time to Start the War! Now the Cavalry Battle! And the Great Uprising!
Ep 22

The rivalry between 2-C and 2-D takes center stage in this ep as the school has its grand athletic meet. So, expect lots of awesome competition between randomly matched groups. Harima ends up grouped with Eri which leads to hilarity and a moment of surprising sweetness. Then there's the rivalry between Ichijou and Lala, Hanai with Harry McKenzie and others. School Rumble says that love is a battlefield. Where are you going, Harima? This is not over!!!


School Rumble
Women's Battle! Men's Battle! After the Battle!
Ep 23

A woman of Harima's past causes strange feelings in Eri. But I want to kiss you. Will you win?!!! Harima names his pig Napoleon. The relay race is starting, Harima. Where are you? The sacrifices we make in moments of uncertainty come back to bite is in the ass and come to reveal themselves as moments of affection. Sure, you're bald, but that can't stop us from dancing? By the firelight, everyone is equal. All together, School Rumble

[roujin]

School Rumble
Irritation. Indecision. Wandering.
Ep 24

After their weird encounter at the athletic meet, everyone thinks Eri and Harima are dating. Eri refuses to go to school because she's so ashamed and Harima is sullen because now even Tenma thinks that he's with Eri. The pains of being School Rumble at heart. But, of course, there's more weird hilarious confusions at the heart of it and Eri thinks Harima is with someone else at this point. Could it be his bestest manga buddy, Yakumo? If the world knows nothing of his pain, what choice does he have but stake everything he has on manga? Well, let's go out to sea and fight for your dreams, Harima!


School Rumble
[Boat] [train] [Guitar]
Ep 25

Harima has many adventures on his great boating voyage, but the most important thing is that he's found a reason to live. Live by manga, die by manga. What has your captain taught you, Harima?! CARTOONS ARE NOT AN ESCAPE! Face the things inside you. And then meet Tenma... and help her buy things for Karasuma? WHAT?! Well, as long as things lead to a beautiful homage to Galaxy Express 999 (well, at least I think it's a homage to that). Wait, is  Tenma running out of time? What are the things inside of us that make us hesitate? Wait, where did you come from, Karasuma? Why are you here?! All in the next. . .


School Rumble
School Rumble Forever
Ep 26

How did it ever get to be this good? It could never finish in any satisfying way. It could only finish the School Rumble way. Harima may have found his calling in art but will anything happen with him and Tenma? It maybe Karasuma's birthday, but will Tenma finally confess to him? Then again, it's all the same. Today will be like yesterday. And the last episode of School Rumble will be just like the first and the next. Except there isn't a next. Well, it doesn't matter. Everything will keep going in circles and spin and spin forever. Because that's what love is. Or, you could just watch Season 2 and find out what happens.

[roujin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roN2n1O5hOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb16akTMqHU

It was a good ride. I'll see ya when I see ya.

[roujin]

Feels like high school again!


Beck
The View at 14
Ep 1

Meet Koyuki. He's 14, kind of listless, has a best friend who's like 4ft, but whose face is that of a perverted 40-year-old's. He's just kind of living his life, listening to this one idol, and daydreaming. Then he runs into this one girl he used to be friends with back in the day, and he sees some kind of weird hybrid dog and then he meets the owner, 16-year-old Ryusuke, who just happens to be biggest badass of all time. Of course, Koyuki gets to know Ryusuke more. What I've begun to see about Beck this time around is just how weird it is. Well, it has a lot of things that in lesser shows would make me run for cover. The way that body movement is animated sometimes is really weird and not very fluid. Seems even jerky. The storytelling consists of cutting to random shots of skylines or empty frames or whatever. It's weird, but once you start getting into it, it becomes its own kind of nowhere universe with the same repeating angle of the school, the weird little details found in all the settings (and the hilarious faux-music references). And then there's the Engrish. Ryusuke is supposed to have lived in New York for like a million years and is supposed to be more comfortable with English than Japanese, but the English line readings (and the writing) is so hilarious terrible that any sense of that being true is completely gone. The "threatening gaijin" sequence in the first episode is so bizarre. Some random drunken Americans show up and start going like "what are you a rapper or a singer? we are the world?" to scared japanese schoolchildren. It's hilarious. And, yeah, this show is hilarious, too. So many little weird touches that draw you along into Koyuki's life or whatever. Anyway, now that this cool Ryusuke guy (who played with Dying Breed??!!) is in Koyuki's life, what will happen? More importantly, what the CINECAST! is Dying Breed?


Beck
Live House
Ep 2

Koyuki is kind of a painfully uncool dude. I mean, all he listens to is some terrible idol singer (whose music actually turns out to be cool). When he sees Ryusuke and Izumi-chan (his childhood friend) talking about all these cool rock bands, he totally feels left out. One of the things I like best about the show is the feeling that Ryusuke is just this older guy that Koyuki is really drawn to, like an older brother sort and he's kind of showing this whole new world to Koyuki, a world of lives (shows) and rock gods and whatever. What I also love is that the music that these dudes play is actually kind of terrible hard rock stuff, but familiarity with the show will make you love the tunes. Anyway, troubles in Ryusuke's band, troubles with the sound system, troubles with everything, and Koyuki meets Maho, Ryusuke's sister. Well, you know how that goes.


Beck
Moon on the Water
Ep 3

Ryusuke and Koyuki have a nice bonding moment when they both go to a live show to see a bassist he's looking at for HIS ULTIMATE BAND. Then there's some uncomfortable magic with Koyuki having to sit thru a conversation with Maho's friends where they all speak English. Then you have your moments of connections, and your moments of pool madness where you meet the ultimate pervert badass, Saitou. Great man. I love that little conversation they have about English Rock bands where they talk about Led Zeppelin. It's kind of retarded, but I love it. And, maybe, Koyuki's own musical journey begins. Well, not before playing a little baseball with Chiba, the most dangerous singer ever.

[roujin]

Beck
Strum The Guitar
Ep 4

Koyuki starts his epic self-actualization process by trying to learn guitar. It's kind of hard, btw. And, well, he kind of CINECAST!s it up. There's this really great part where he just sits alone by himself in the dark listening to his favorite idol musician because he feels awful. It's probably the same thing I did when I was 14. I'm sure of it! Guitars are precious objects, you know? You can't just destroy them and walk away. There are emotions within them. Well, Koyuki, you and Ryusuke are kind of screwed right now, don't ya think? Well, what can you do but swim the time away? And, then, there's Chiba and Ryusuke scoping shit out, trying to get the mad bassist. I kind of wish the scheming, rival guitar player from Serial Mama wouldn't really be a presence, but I know he is, and that kills me. Okay, not really. Keep on playing, Koyuki! Be Somebody!


Beck
Beck
Ep 5

Koyuki keeps strumming the guitar with the help of Saitou, that crazy fan of early 60s British rock. He rehearses with some old men for some random contest type thingie. The reasoning being that if Koyuki has a concrete goal, he'll get better. Chiba and Ryusuke try out names for bands (all of them playing off other band name initials and including Ryusuke's name) but end up picking Beck (for apparently big music fans, they sure are oblivious to the Grand White Boy of Weirdo Pop). Things happen, rain happens, Maho happens. To me, one of the funniest things about the show is that Koyuki is supposed to have this totally amazing voice but when you hear him sing, it's so terrible (and there's all these reaction shots as people are all like "WTF HE'S SO AMAZING"). It's great. This show is a total wish-fulfillment fantasy sometimes. I mean, okay, he gets to play guitar and follow his dreams, but could it get any more ridiculous than Maho "randomly" jumping into a pool naked at night in front of him and then him following her (naked as well). I know she's supposed to be all "American" and shit, but, come on!

I WAS FOOL
COULDN'T LET MYSELF TO GO
EVEN THOUGH I FEEL
THE END

lyrical brilliance, I must say

[Thor]

Is Beck the kid's idol, or does the name mean something else?

Damn it, now he knows I read these