Days of night slip through my mind In a silent motionless sky Paralyzed and motionless All things falter Somewhere back I lost myself So far deep inside of you Everything’s become too much So deep, so weak Where did I go?
Images of falling light Move across the hollow sky I see movement after all Calling, falling Remember you’re not the only one To feel this way, ’cause I’m one Who has also had enough So long, dear John I’m gonna go
Unironically one of my favourite rock songs of 2004.
I did not understand the song when I first heard it, more than 20 years ago. As part of the majority race in my country, I arguably still don’t but I can at least try to see and recognise inequality and injustice.
I’ll be posting my recommendations year by year, as I write them. These are anime that I’ve personally watched, and I’m arbitrarily starting in 1999 because, well, why not? Lots of great anime that year. I’m also not doing OVA and movies, as I’m planning to do a separate article for it.
This is really a love or hate series. The Syd Mead mechanical designs was (and probably still is) divisive. I personally like the visual design, but the main draws for me are the story, characters, and the amazing OST composed by the incomparable Kanno Yoko. Especially ED2 which I still listen to now and then, 20 years later.
I assume this series needs no introduction, but for anybody who has not heard of it, some of the finest comedy from that era. Rude, yes. Perverse, yes. Touching (not that way), sometimes.
Features a talking hamster (voiced by Mitshuishi Kotono of Tsukino Usagi and Katsuragi Misato fame) who does household chores but completely unsuitable for children. Dirty jokes galore, eroticism near zero.
Not the 2010 movie, this show is unapologetically ecchi. I don’t know how women might find this show, but most straight men will relate to the scenarios portrayed.
Art deco super robots filtered through film noir and pulp fiction. Interesting characters, good mysteries, it asks the question: what does it mean to be human.
Alien bug invasion. Not the most original premise (hello Starship Troopers!), character development is where it shines. The art can get a little rough and the pacing wasn’t the best, but not so much that it detracted from the story.
