30-Day Anime Challenge Summary

Rather than edit the first post with links, I’ve decided to make a new one that should be the first one seen by anyone who decides to check this out after I’m done.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 30: Never Ending

“An anime you wish never ended and continued on”

Not too long ago, it was announced that Naruto is ending soon; that’s not my answer, it’s just a good reminder that even the longest series eventually end. Of course, some series are better suited to have indefinite lengths than others.

So I’m going to split my answer here.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 29: Wish Was Real

“An anime you wished was real”

For the most part, whether it’s because of cities being destroyed in the series, post-apocalyptic settings, or the idea of just anybody having access to tremendous destructive power, I wouldn’t want most anime to be real.

The first good “safe” answer I thought of was My Neighbor Totoro. That way a lot of cool magic stuff gets to be real without Tokyo being underwater or tennis games being able to cause mass extinctions.

Pokemon being real would be even better; it’s just as safe (in actual practice, anyway; events that could have been disastrous have happened) and just about about everyone has Pokemon.

But there’s one other that, while not quite as free of potentially deadly conflict, might be just about as good: Astro Boy. Sure there’s enough anti-robot sentiment to get conflict out of it, but overall it’s one of the most optimistic views of the future around, anime or otherwise.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 28: Favorite Quote

“Favorite quote from any anime character”

The things I’m most likely to intentionally quote would be things that are like catchphrases or taglines, but that doesn’t mean those are actually my favorite lines.

And I already named the scene with Simon’s “My Bro is dead” speech as my favorite scene.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 27: Badass Scene

“Most badass scene from any anime character”

It’s hard to decide. In G Gundam, Master Asia fights mecha with a piece of cloth; in Gurren Lagann, Lordgenome not only fought Lagann with his bare hands but was also able to give a dying speech with a giant hole where his heart and lungs should be (and in the same fight, Simon puts that hole there with what is essentially his keys); in Bleach, Kenpachi Zaraki exists.

This is manga-only, but not much else can top it; in Shin Mazinger Zero, Kouji Kabuto’s reaction to his arm being severed (and what happens to Sayaka in that timeline) is to throw it as an improvised human-scale Rocket Punch!

But I think I’ve got to give it to Dragon Ball Z’s Vegito; silly badassery is still badassery, and well:

Through sheer determination and/or power, he kept fighting (and winning!) after being turned into a piece of candy. After that he went on to let himself be absorbed on purpose so he could (and did) free Buu’s victims from the inside, a case of supreme confidence actually being justified.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 26: Best Fight

“Best anime fight”

There are so many that I liked a lot, but I’m not sure if one stands out as a favorite.

Kazuma vs. Ryuhou in the last episode of s-CRY-ed. (This one gets pretty brutal.)

The final battle from Shaman King.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 25: Saddest Death

“Saddest anime death”

I’m not sure why, but I find that the deaths of characters who die shockingly early are often sadder than the death of a character you’ve had a long time to know.

This is about character deaths, so spoiler alert.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 24: Shocking Moment

“Moment that shocked you the most in any anime”

Spoilers, obviously.

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 23.5: Mecha Attack

I was just going to edit my previous post to add this, but since I’m having trouble with embedding video there, I’ll just make it a separate post.

I’m not entirely sure I was right there, because there’s a simpler, classic attack that I have a real liking for too. It’s used by a few human-sized robots but most associated with mecha; the good old Rocket Punch.

Because sometimes you just really have to punch someone who’s more than an arm’s length away.

A lot of super robots have their own version of this, and even if they don’t, they might have had a toy that did. (Even the Jumbo Godzilla had it for some reason.)

30 Day Anime Challenge Day 23: Favorite Attack

“Favorite attack someone used in an anime”

Maybe this is redundant with what I said yesterday, but I think it’s Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, Byakuya Kuchiki’s Bankai. (That’s too many words the spell-checker doesn’t recognize in a row.) One of the most versatile attacks in Bleach; the way it works is really kind of crazy.

To summarize, he drops his sword into the ground, which it falls through like it was water. Then a bunch of giant blades come up out of the ground. And then those break apart into fragments that all float around looking like cherry blossoms on the wind…really sharp cherry blossoms. So basically he’s got like a million tiny flying blades, which is probably enough incentive to prevent anyone from underestimating it because it’s named after a flower.

(Okay, this is the second time this has happened, and I’ve tried more than one different video for this one. Does anyone know why I just occasionally get posts that videos won’t embed in?)