The anime world had, as always, been busy with lots of releases for 2007. Some of them sold well, some of them flopped, but no one can really be the judge of that. After all, everything depends on each person’s taste, right? Here is my list of the memorable anime that debuted in 2007. These are series that I have watched and left me lingering thoughts about them. The series are arranged by show date in Japan. Click the titles to go to the each anime’s official site.

Nodame Cantabile (01-11-07)
Based on the manga of the same title, Nodame Cantabile is a rather long anime series about Chiaki and his weird, albeit inspiring experiences with Nodame (Noda Megumi), an aspiring pianist who has peculiar quirks. It must have been my love for classical music that got me hooked to this series. The different musical pieces played in each episode, the different renditions of the pieces, the relationship between fellow musicians and co-members of the orchestra — each of those were revived well in this anime. The mixture of drama and humor was also balanced and the rather unpredictable outcomes (forgive me, I haven’t read the manga) are very entertaining. All in all, I think this is a wonderful anime and I think this is a good stepping stone to those wanting to learn more about classical music.
Rating: 5/5

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (04-01-07)
This series features a subterranean civilization where the villagers have to dig deep into the earth in order to expand their underground habitat and prevent earthquakes from obliterating their homes. Simon, whose parents were killed in an earthquake, accidentally finds a drill key and finds himself recruited to a group called “Gurren brigade” led by Kamina, who dreamt of seeing the surface of the earth. This 27-episode series has a unique plot compared to all those harem anime being released all 2007. It is a bit boring and disappointing at first, but the continuous discoveries, the adventures and the eventual journey to the surface kept the anime freshly challenging until the last episode. The jump to the future in the later episodes is a little surprising, but Gurren Lagann manages to finish off what it started with a comfortable end.
Rating: 4/5

Heroic Age (04-01-07)
A mecha-based anime with a dash of mythology, Heroic Age is about Age, a young human raised by an advanced race called the Golden Tribe. When the Golden Tribe leaves the galaxy, the human race faces a threat of extinction. Their only hope is to find a man who is said in their history as the one with the ability to save them. When they meet Age in a habitable planet and Age saves them from attacks from another tribe, secrets about Age and salvation starts to unfold. This might be one of the many mecha anime released in 2007, but the intergalactic plot, the use of ‘tribes’ instead of aliens and the Greek mythology theme sets this anime in a different level. The first episodes are a bit confusing and boring, but as more is known about Age and the civilizations, this is one of those sci-fi fantasy series that is worth the watch.
Rating: 4/5

Hayate the Combat Butler (04-01-07)
While the title seems a bit weird, Hayate the Combat Butler is merely about Hayate, a rather pitiful high school student who is determined to gain success through hard work. Distraught with the loss of his parents of the amount of debt they left him, Hayate decides to kidnap a girl named Nagi. By some twists of fate, Hayate ended up being a butler to Nagi, who turns out to be quite a spoiled person who needs a lot of saving. While the start seems a little too dramatic, this series is actually as cracky as you can get. There are girls targetting Hayate, anime cameos and tons of comic reliefs packed in its episode. The lack of plot is made clear in the first episode and the rest is a surprising yet hilarious string of events as Hayate continues to do his job well. As someone who loves stupid crack that doesn’t try hard to be plotful, I totally enjoyed watching this (especially when you just watched some heavy drama beforehand).
Rating: 5/5

Sisters of Wellber (04-04-07)
A fantasy story set in a 29th century kingdom, this series is centered on two girls: Tina, a cat burglar, and Rita, the princess of Wellber who is on a journey to Greedom and hires Tina as a bodyguard. Their journey is to prevent a war between Wellber and Sangratas, another kingdom, after Princess Rita stabs her cruel fiance, Prince Gernia of Sangratas. This series has a powerful seiyuu cast, with Minagawa Junko as one of the leads and Namikawa Daisuke and Yuki Kaida among the side characters. The first episode is also promising and well-paced, but somehow in the middle of the series, the appeal of this series dropped, probably because of dragging storyline or predictable course of events. The powerhouse cast that I was so excited about is not able to redeem this series for me. It could be just me, though, since an announcement for Season 2 of this anime was announced recently. Maybe I could give it another try.
Rating: 3/5

Romeo x Juliet (04-05-07)
Loosely based on the popular novel by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet retells the classic story of star-crossed lovers caught between family feuds. As their family tries to tear them apart, their love for each other and their determination to be together grows stronger. This series is one of my favorites in 2007’s anime lineup. Even though the plot has been twisted and there are lots of additions in the course of events, RxJ has managed to maintain a high level of interest, excitement and vigor to the story. Even though I (and other people) have read this story tons of times, I don’t find the story predictable or boring at all! The romance part might seem icky to some , though — but it’s not that mushy anyway.
Rating: 5/5

sola (04-06-07)
Listed by Yahoo!Japan as the top anime of 2007 in Japan, sola tells the story of Yorito Morimiya, a sky photographer, and his story of protecting Matsuri Shiho, a supernatural being (Yoru no Wazawai) who is injured by direct sunlight. Despite its reign as the top 2007 anime in Japan, I did not enjoy this series much. It is probably too dark for me, or it probably has too many girls, I don’t know. The plot is interesting, slightly vampiric and supernatural, but it seems a little too lonely?
Rating: 3/5

Darker than Black (04-06-07)
A series with a dark fantasy approach, Darker than Black tells the story of Tokyo invaded by a territory called Hell’s Gate, which warped the sky and land. Hei, a ‘contractor’ or a being with supernatural powers who is used as a spy/assassin by organizations and is targeted by the government. His main aim in being recruited to an organization is to search for his lost sister, but the organization he works for seems to have other plans still unknown to him. This anime is really dark most of the time, I’m not kidding. The lack of emotion at some points (especially by DOLLS) is a bit unnerving. Despite these, however, the mixture of technology and fantasy as well as the main character’s emotions, albeit subdued, makes this anime worth watching. It has a lot of fight scenes that balance the dark tones of the series. It can be said similiar to Weiss Kreuz, especially the ‘looking for my sister’ thing, but nevertheless, DnB has its unique stuff that cannot be compared to other anime.
Rating: 4/5

Saiunkoku Monogatari 2 (04-07-07)
Placed in a historical Chinese-like setting, the second season of this anime tells the story of Shuurei and her trials and joys as she continued to be a governor of the Sa Province. There are political disputes, romance problems and new characters as Shuurei moves on to her career and lovelife. I personally have not watched the entirety of this series even though I loved the first season. Somehow, I think the whole thing, aside from the humor, turned a little too melodramatic and shoujo-ey for my taste. While I know that it’s primarily shoujo, I was hoping that this series will focus more on the political aspects of the province. I don’t know if it did in the latter episodes, I still have to see them. My quirks aside, I think this anime has done a good job in keeping people at the edge of their seats. It’s mysterious, with so many twists. There are tons of characters but I think they are all given the limelight with enough time for their secrets to be revealed and their characters to develop. Even though I want to choke someone when I see flaws in the plotline and the Shuurei’s decision-making (in love!) when I watch this, Saiunkoku Monogatari has definitely never let me down when it comes to keeping me curious and excited about the next episode.
Rating: 5/5

Terra E (04-07-07)
Based on the award winning manga of the same name, Terra E is about the Mu, a race of psionics which emerged as life in the far future becomes almost entirely controlled by computers. These Mu are feared by the humans and is desired to be eradicated. The Mu hid and tried to rescue as many of their offspring as possible in order to meet their goal of going back to Terra - the planet once left by humanity in favor of colonization. The Mu’s existence and their journey to Terra seems to be dependent on one being — a dormant Mu named Jomy. This series is based on a manga that is old, but I can never express enough love for this anime! The story lingers not on Jomy alone. The episodes actually travels through time to explain the origin of the Mu, their journey, the connections between the characters both young and old and even characters I thought I’d never meet again! The plot also does not die, but rather becomes more diverse after every episode that it is not boring at all. The music is wonderfully expressive and the art is, while mimicking a vintage design, very impressive. I can go on and on about how wonderful this anime is, but all I can say for now is that in my opinion, this is one of the best, if not the best, anime of 2007. Soldier Blue!
Rating: 5/5 (can I give a 6 for good luck?)

Lucky Star (04-09-07)
Based on a 4-koma series and hailed by Y!Japan as the second top anime of 2007 in Japan, Lucky Star is the ultimate otaku crack. Konata, the main character, is a die-hard otaku but seldom gets bad grades in class despite her non-study habits. The rest of the series is about Konata, her friends, and their adventures in the world of anime addicts: from karaoke to cosplay to yaoi manga to seiyuu cameos to attacking a con. This is something I can relate to, I’m sure you can do, too :P. I was a bit skeptical to watch it because I have always been afraid to watch an anime with tons of girls (it almost always ends up as an ero/harem anime or a smushy-mushy high school romance) but I’m glad I reconsidered. I don’t think I need to elaborate on the plot of this anime. Just watch it and watch yourself smile and nod in agreement to their antics.
Rating: 5/5

Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 (10-06-07)
As another promising series from Sunrise, Gundam 00 tackles the issues about energy shortage in the not-so-distant future. As the fossil fuels diminished, the planet starts to depend on solar energy controlled by three major factions. Because of this, inequality in energy distribution becomes rampant and mutinies, wars and disputes ware endless. As a violent opposition to this kind of system, an organization called Celestial Being announced itself as a harbringer of destruction to anyone who does injustice/creates war. They swore to bring forceful stops to any large disputes on earth and in space. Unknown to most, the Celestial Being currently use the powers of four Gundam Meisters to mobilize their objective towards a goal that is still unclear at the moment. This series is said to be reminiscent of Gundam W in terms of political issues and character personality, but I personally think that they are different. Gundam 00 has so far only 12 episodes, and even though the plot is fast-paced the main characters are still underdeveloped to conclude. Still, it cannot be denied that this is a promising series. There isn’t much to say aside from the fact that the effects here are awesome and the characters, if not too open, are too perplexing to understand that it makes you want to watch the next episode including the rest all over again (just to make sure you haven’t missed a little dialogue that reveals facts). I immensely enjoyed this series and appreciated the little humor and drama that came with the action.
Rating: 5/5

Rental Magica (10-07-07)
A technological and magical world, Rental Magica is centered on Itsuki Iba, a rathercowardly guy who takes over his father’s business which is a magician dispatch service. Being a coward, he has difficulty in maintaining command over the business and more than once, he wants to quit. Other than that, he has to create good working relations with his employees. While his employees are mostly willing to guide him along, there are still bumps along the way, like threats to his business and what was that thing in his past? The thing I like most in this anime is the way it is delivered. The first episode lands you smack in the middle of everything without understanding anything until the last minute. But as you continue to watch, you realize that the pace is actually a little backwards and instead of developing into the future, you are asked to delve into Itsuki’s past. The characters are all quite likeable, even the villain, and the story, while a little too dramatic, is humorous and spine-thingling at the same time.
Rating: 5/5

Moyashimon (10-12-07)
Imagine being in a world with talking, visible microbes. Even though Sawaki Tadayasu lives in the normal world, he can see microbes and actually converse with them. His bestfriend Yuuki doesn’t seem to mind it, but his grandfather’s friend who is also a professor in his university, seems to want to explore his talent a little more. The same goes for the leather-dressed assistant researcher. The other characters, well, they’re there for the love. Moyashimon is a series that I fell in love with at first sight. Being a biology major, I could not let this anime go by without even trying an episode! Seeing the microbes talk and dance around makes me happy. The crack (crossdressing, yaoi/yuri undertones FTW) is balanced with explanations about certain microbes and what they can do to people/food. Learning while laughing, it seems like a good deal to me. Not to mention that at the end of every episode, there is a special corner for the microbes to talk about themselves. All in all, this anime makes microbiology fun and that is a great thing! I hope there is a season 2, though.
Rating: 5/5

Shion no Ou - The Flowers of Hard Blood (10-13-07)
If Hikaru no Go is about Go, Shion no Ou is about shogi (Japanese chess). The story revolves around Shion, who witnessed the murder of her parents when she was still young. She was adopted by a neighbor, a shogi player, but Shion lost her voice due to trauma. All she remembers was a shogi piece that was placed on the board at the time of the murder, making her believe that the murderer is a shogi player. She did excel as a shougi player and later on, uses the sport to find clues about her parents’ murder. This seems like a really dark anime, especially after watching the first part of Shion’s flashback. However, the rest of the story lightens up as Shion proved to be a somewhat cheerful girl despite her incapability to speak. Her bouts with other shougi players, as well as the secrets behind her rivals (*coughAyumicough*) are very interesting. The games make me remember Hikaru no Go, but the mystery of Shion’s parents’ death adds to the intensity of the series.
Rating: 4/5

Runner-Ups:
- Claymore
- Zombie Loan
- Code Geass 24-25 (not counted since it’s not debuting)
- Code E
- Venus vs. Virus

My list is a little limited and it shows that I haven’t watched some of the 2007 anime debuts yet. Still, I think that even though I had watched every anime that debuted this year, my list will remain almost the same :). Let’s all wish for another wonderfully anime-filled year!

Resources:

• Yahoo!Japan’s Top 2007 Anime List