Yet another Dead Beloved Blogger is flushed from hiding by the end of the year festivities. These are Jeff lawson's favourites of 2009.

Aoi Hana - Not so much a yuri show as it is a lovely story of friendship and how love exists in so many different forms, to be expressed in so many different ways. And, like everything Shichiro Kobayashi touches, it’s oh so pretty.

You know what this reminds me about? Avatar (that did not bend air). Everyone knows that it was a show for people who hate America (and themselves), yet smart and articulate people try to whitewash the fact. I am not saying Aoi Hana is in fact the same phenomena, just that Jeff's hedges are awfuly familiar. Remember, he gave top marks to Simoun, too. Consistency, and he has an eye for quality, but too funny nonetheless.

K-ON! - A much more charming slice of life series and much better organized 4-koma adaptation than the “too cool for school” crowd would have you believe.

Ouch. And welcome back, Jeff, we needed you.

Toradora - As a romantic drama, it shines, even despite its hard on for existential philosophizing (a common disease of many light novel adaptations, it seems). Still, the anime series is a well conceived and carefully constructed piece of work that leaves me even more convinced that Tatsuyuki Nagai is truly one of the industry’s brightest new stars.

Observe: no "the end was too sudden" whining. Unfortunately for me, I have extensive notes about Toradora's weak, pondering, fillerish middle episodes, but if I just look back at it, it sure had its moments. And not just the ep.16.

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