Blue Seer

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Best of the Best 2025

My Hero Academia

What can I say about MHA? I haven’t been into an anime and one for this long for quite some time. It definitely filled some sort of anime-shaped void in my heart that could only be filled with a worthwhile, long running shonen. I’m only half joking. There had been a good long anime missing in my life for a while before it and I feel sad about it ending because now I’m going to have to find something new to fill it up again.

My Hero Academia filled the void up so well because it just had everything you’d want. It has a good protagonist that you can root for. Anyone who says anything about Deku not being a good protagonist obviously never saw anything past season 1. He is not at all a two dimensional character. He has depth and nuance, good qualities and flaws. He has growth and character development, we ultimately see him grow up throughout the series. We actually see him get a little dark. And that alone, seems pretty revolutionary to me. Deku is a good boy, we all know that he did end up going to a pretty dark place. but also even though he accepted himself and his life by the end of the series you can still feel that tingle of–what if in there. It was a bittersweet ending for him if you think about it. It makes my heart hurt for him a little but he did it. He got to do what he always wanted to do. He got to live out his dream at a ripe old age of 16 or something (IDK anime math)

All Deku ever wanted was to be a hero and we got to see it play it out. The final season was a great conclusion to his hard work and determination to do what he always knew he could. I like that we got to see this in what was ultimately one long arching story. It was just one main villain through it all so we got to know him well. In other long running series we usually have several “big bads” for one arc ends another begins, a  new villain coming with it (Not like I wouldn’t have liked it to continue, haha).

Going back to what I said early about Deku getting dark and how that was revolutionary in a way. So, I’ve talked about the evolution of shonen protagonist before and this has to be one of the biggest displays of it. Looking back at shonen protagonist they all kind of always kept their personality the same throughout. Sure they would have times when they had to get super serious e.g. the chipper ones like Goku and Luffy when they’re in a fight but they completely revert back afterwards. Even the more serious ones like Naruto or Ichigo didn’t have much of a change other than being more responsible which just comes with regular growth. It’s still happening in new stuff like Tanjiro in Demon Slayer. He lost his family and though he was sad and angry at the moment you don’t often see differences afterwards. Deku though, he never goes back to who he was, that’s okay.

You can also say that about Bakugou and his other shonen counterparts. I’m not going into as much detail since he already had his day, haha. But, take Sasuke or Vegeta and compare them to the growth and acceptance Bakugou goes through. Vegeta does eventually accept his second place status behind Goku but remains bitter about it. (If anything he’s closer to Piccolo in that aspect so that explains why I like both Piccolo and Bakugou the best, haha) But, MHA did give me Bakugou so that’s another reason why it wins, lol. I love myself a good character to obsess over. 

Okay, I’m just kind of rambling about MHA at this point but, ultimately it goes back to the series being able to fill in every other category if I wanted it to. With it only being the end of season 7 and season 8: Best Lady: Uraraka, Best Parental Figure: All Might, Best Male: Bakugou, Best Couple: Uraraka & Deku (Bakugou & Deku ((I don’t ship them, lol)), Best Existential Crisis: Shigaraki, Best Brain: Deku, and Best Worst: All for one.

So, yeah…My Hero Academia gave us what we always like about a good shonen, action and laughs while elevating it and moving forward into a more modern direction. It was never without its faults of course. (More exploration of other characters, sometimes feeling rushed) But, there’s no denying that’ll go on to be considered one of the best shonen series for many years in the future. 

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Best of 2025-Most Smart

Ekko-Arcane

My pick for best smart is Ekko from Arcane. He starts off as just a small kid with both mechanical and street smarts seeing as he lives under city. Because of this he has no former training and is completely self taught but early on you see him tinkering and helping develop and invent new equipment and weapons. His smarts don’t just stop there as he is also great with people and has an excellent emotional IQ. 

His mentor being killed as a kid as well as his way with people helped to push him to become a revolutionary leader. He creates a rebel force called the Firelights. He quickly becomes one of the under city’s most influential figures because of smarts and genuine concern for his people. He doesn’t care about the political standings of either side; he doesn’t have time for that. He developed a whole 3rd independent route from all that, one that actually puts the needs of the people first. Their base is a sanctuary and beacon of hope of what their life could be like.

When confronted by an opposing party he chooses defensive strategies over offensive because he doesn’t believe that straight violence is the answer. He makes it under the radar for quite due to his skills and because of how much they underestimated him. Myself included. For a while, he would come out completely masked and I had no idea who he was until we saw his face. Then, I was like ‘oooh, It’s that little boy!’ I hadn’t even thought about him becoming so important when we first saw him as a kid. He hadn’t crossed my mind at first and then he ended up being my favorite character from Arcane. 

Furthermore, showing his smarts he unexpectedly joins forces with Heimerdinger, a university professor and the both start working on a device that could possibly save the world. Combining the professor’s knowledge and means and Ekko’s innate genius and street smarts it opened up a new way of looking at things. This helped them create what they call a Z-Drive where Ekko could test and jump through alternate timelines to better help them find a while to save their own. 

This is where Ekko pulls a future Trunks and sacrifices his chance at living in a utopian timeline and instead decides to come back to his own, using the drive to navigate, fight, and prevent a total catastrophe. He even ends up saving Jinx at the end. With all these other in your face characters in Arcane, ultimately he ends up using all of smarts to end up being the hero.

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Best of 2025-Best Existential Crisis

Tsujinaka Yoshiki-The Summer Hikaru Died

My pick for best existential crisis is Tsujinaka Yoshiki from the Summer Hikaru Died. He was my pick because I wanted this category just so I could talk about him because boy has it rough and he’s not even the one that died. Yoshiki quiet and reserved and really isn’t the happiest kid. He has friends but can’t stand his small village. He feels disconnected, even suffocated by it and its people and can’t wait to leave. The one good thing about his life is his best friend Hikaru. That was until he died—because he got distracted by a sexy tree.

This is when the real existential crisis begins. When Hikaru died it was hard on Yoshiki. When Hikaru first disappeared Yoshiki goes up the mountain and finds his friend’s body, causing him to have nightmares afterwards.  He also couldn’t find it in himself to move on causing himself to go into a depression. This is why he continues to live with the monster in his friend’s body. When “Hikaru” comes down the mountain, the rest of village just believes that he was lost or missing and then comes back but Yoshiki knows the truth. He not only saw his friend’s body before but he can tell that it’s not the same Hikaru.

The being has his memories but not his personality. It’s only pretending to. But, someone Yoshiki is okay with it—kinda—sometimes. He doesn’t know. He’s confused.

He missed his friend so much that he’s willing to accept this monster. Yet, he’s struggling. Does it count as having is friend back? It’s his friend’s body and this monster has his memories so he’s kind of the same. Yet, it’s not. Does he shut up about it because at least he has his friend back or does he get rid of this monster because well—he’s a monster? He’s first decides to live it normally like it was Hikaru because having something was better than nothing that was until it posed a threat. Yoshiki was given a warning about the entity and later sees what it’s capable of so he starts thinking of Hikaru and Hikaru as two different people.

 However, no he’s has to deal with the guilt of being best friend’s with his new Hikaru, feeling like he’s somehow abandoning or replacing the original. He also doesn’t know what to think about his general feeling towards either of them. Does he have feelings for fake Hikaru because he already did with real Hikaru and how he’s projecting or is he betraying he friend further by liking fake Hikaru more?

He even decides he has to kill this fake Hikaru. He’s just too dangerous. But, he fails. He fails to kill him because it’s not that easy to kill some weird monster entity that’s living of your dead best friend’s body. You would think that would be the end of their relationship but no. Fake Hikaru apologizes and begs for Yoshiki to let him stay and Yoshiki is like—sure. There’s no denying at this point that Yoshiki has lost it. He’s so attached to fake Hikaru that he wants him to stay, he loses it when fake Hikaru gets attacked and when he quickly declines the idea of fake Hikaru going back to the mountain.

Yoshiki knows he’s having an existential crisis. He knows he’s losing it but he needs fake Hikaru with him. He doesn’t care that he’s different, doesn’t care that he’s a “monster”, and doesn’t care of what the villagers think.  It’s a small conservative town and Yoshiki wants to embrace his confusing feelings.

And yes, I believe that The Summer when Hikaru died is an allegory for growing up gay in a small town.

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Finally finished Stranger Things and guys it ended fine. It was in no way, the biggest queerbait of all time. Some of you didn’t grow up watching Supernatural and it shows.

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Best of 2025-Best Couple

Tina and Calvin Butler-The Neighborhood

Who I picked for my best couple was Tina and Calvin Butler from The Neighborhood. The reason they won was due to longevity. Tina and Calvin are a long time married couple.  

I like them with a couple because they don’t fall into any sitcom tropes. Calvin isn’t some bumbling husband. He is smart, witty, hardworking, and mostly importantly loves his wife. A lot of sitcoms do the thing where a long time married couples are hostile towards each other but they don’t do that at all. They are both open about how much they love each other always showing it both by being affectionate with each other as well as how they support one another.

When Tina finds a new passion she wants to roll with Calvin is always there to support her, whether she wants to take up baking a business, teaching music at a school, or even taking up Salsa. Whenever Tina was feeling bad about officially becoming an empty nester she picked up Salsa and even though Calvin wasn’t interested he lets himself get roped into joining. And, when Calvin decides he doesn’t want to retire but instead pivot from a car mechanic shop to an electric car mechanic shop, Tina is also there to support him.

So, yeah…there really isn’t much to say other then they are a perfect example of a long standing, healthy, loving, loyal relationship.

 But, honestly if you look at the history of black sitcoms they don’t really follow a lot of the tropes that white sitcoms do. The neighbor isn’t really a black or white sitcom though. It’s both. The main characters are split evenly, a black family and a white family.  So, you didn’t really know what you were going to get.

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Best of 2025-Best Male

Bakugou Katsuki-My Hero Academia

Bakugou, Bakugou, Bakugou. What can I say about the little bundle of joy? He’s been my favorite from the start. His optimistic and cheerful nature just has you gravitating towards him. I’m kidding of course, he was a jerk. But, I’m guilty and fully admit that I have a thing for characters that hid their soft gooey interior with some misplaced gruffness. 

Now, you may be wondering why I’ve never chosen Bakugou for best male before. He has been my favorite after all. The truth is, despite him being my favorite, he hadn’t earned it yet. If I would have picked him, it would just have been favoritism.  Bakugou really needed to complete his character development and growth. He wasn’t ready before that. He needed to accept his need for change and finish his journey into the hero he eventually becomes. 

There’s no denying that Bakugou had one– if not the biggest, most intense character developments in the series. Sure, the series saw Deku go from a crying no quirk weakling to a formidable hero but the show itself had always demonstrated that that was something within him from the start. The quirk simply gave him a means. However, I do commend him for accepting becoming quirkless again at the end.

Bakugou though–he had to change his entire way of thinking. I won’t go too into the details since obviously you’ve seen MHA  and because of the fact that it was only season 8 in 2025 and maybe a bit of the end of season 7 for me. But, Bakugou went from an arrogant, angry bully but eventually growing into a self-reflectant, caring (in his own way), amazing hero. His development was gradual, starting at his confession of feeling like a failure back in season 3 with his biggest turning point being when he jumped in front of Deku in season 6. He always wanted to be a hero of course, always had the desire and skills but it was his hero springing into action without thinking moment, and the fact that he didn’t for Deku made it that much more significant. 

Fast forward to season 8 and my boy is dead. Well, he was only mostly dead.

But, if there’s something about Bakugou is that he doesn’t know when to give up. Despite being basically exploded in the chest he still manages to awaken a part of quirk that he later uses to beat All for One.  Then, when homeboy didn’t even have a pulse he provided himself his own defibrillator that kept him alive with Edgeshot’s help.

He didn’t even give himself enough time to be fully conscious before he got up and saved All Might. He was finally able to go full circle from blaming himself for All Might quickened deterioration to being the one who saves his life. Once All Might gives him a part of his armor for this wrecked arm and properly refers to Bakugou by his full hero name, Bakugou couldn’t help but to smile, knowing he had finally earned his respect. And, when Bakugou refers to himself as Kacchan he finally earned respect for himself. He accepted it. Everything. His past, his present, his future and most importantly the unfound respect he has for Deku. 

When he woke up (at the hospital and not for the 100th time during the fight to push Deku during the final blow) his first thoughts were making sure Deku had made it out of there only to find out that he’s quirkless again. Then the crying! Ugh. My poor boy was mourning the life he had just learned to accept. But, like I said, he doesn’t know how to quit so of course he was the biggest supporter to Deku back out there.

So, yeah—Bakugou is my best man because went from being a jerk to the hero I always knew he was going to be. Even though he still has some attitude to work on, who doesn’t. Makes him real.

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Best of 2025-Best Parental Figure

Barbara Howard-Abbott Elementary

My pick for best parental figure goes to Barbara Howard from Abbot Elementary. Barbara is clearly the mom friend /coworker of the group. She is always there to give out advice (even if not always the most sound or asked for) and witty antidotes.

She has the most experience both with life and in the classroom. All the teachers (especially Janine) come to her when they need help. She is also a motherly figure to her students as we have seen when her old student comes back to the school this time as a teacher after being inspired by her.

What really solidified her as my pick this year was the “Birthday” episode. Janine has always seen Barbara as an inspiring figure. Hoping to be like her and wishing for Barbara to take her under her wings like an apprentice of sorts. She seeks mentorship and a stable female role model due to her rocky relationship with her own mother. Janine goes so far as almost accidentally calling Barbara mom once. Barbara on the other hand has always been a little hesitant to fully take on that role for Janine but this episode changed it all. 

When Barbara seeing that Janine’s mom at school for a visit she immediately questions why she is there, knowing that Vanetta has had a past of taking advantage of her daughter’s generosity. In that same conversation Barbara wastes no time to quickly defeat Janine and her life. She points out how great she’s doing at school and in her personal life when Janine’s mom thinks it’s sad that she’s a teacher, broke up with Tariq and “has no friends” since invited her mother for her birthday celebrations.

Barbara also stands up for Janine’s hopes and dreams after Vanetta squashed them. She even calls out that Vanetta sounds jealous of her daughter’s success, questioning if she truly wanted to see her happy. This does soften Vanetta just a bit, enough to say to Janine that she is proud of her. 

Throughout this, Barbara made sure that Janine was still doing okay. She knows anytime with her mother can be tough and she wanted to make sure she was handling it well. When Janine’s positive attitude thinks it’s going well, Barbara is just happy to see her happy. 

And to finish it off, after Vanetta goes too far or Janine just had enough of the negativity and cancels dinner, she invites Barbara to go instead, knowing that she is the closest thing to a real mother figure she has.

In conclusion, Barbara is my pick because she is ready and willing to be anyone’s mama if they need one.

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Best of 2025-Best Lady

Joyce Byers-Stranger Things

My pick for best lady goes to Joyce Byers from Stranger Things. She has actually won this category once before way back in 2017. Dang, that was a long time ago but let us not dwell on how long it took them to finish 5 seasons. I actually had many fine ladies to choose from, mostly from Stranger Things and Arcane. Both series were jam packed with lots of leading ladies. From El, Nancy, or Robin in Stanger Things to Vi, Mel, or Jinx in Arcane. But, I eventually settled on Joyce.

I’ve always liked Joyce because she is such a dedicated mother to both Will and Jonathan while also being an integral part of the fight against Vecna. This season she is right there every step of the way. She is there to help Hopper train Eleven as well as be a part of the group that helps those that go into the recon mission in the Upside Down. She might not be the one to go to the Upside Down for the missions (though she does go eventually) she is still important for making sure that they go smoothly.

She is also a big part of the plan to help the next set of children that are going to be abducted. After they save (kidnap and drug) the first boy and his family Joyce is the one to get the boy to work with them. He is a bit of a brat, being known as Derek the Dipshit and is just not compliant. However, Joyce is able to get to him using her sweet mom skills and getting to behave and getting him to call himself Derek the delightful. While they're hiding out they are soon attacked by demogorgons and that’s when Joyce, at a whole 5 '3, gets up to defend the kids. She doesn’t hesitate to grab an ax and wait to fight the demogorgons coming their way. She knows she might not be able to defeat but it would sure by the rest of them time to escape.

After this she and a few others break into a military base and sneak kids out of it until they are eventually caught and arrested. They weren’t held captive for long since quickly afterwards demogorgons are released from the Upside Down and cause chaos and destruction. Then when Venca himself makes an appearance Joyce once again stands up to the monster even if she doesn’t stand a chance.

Besides being a petite fireball she also mother of the year by always being there for Will and Jonathan. She’s not perfect as she definitely is over protective of Will but we can’t really blame her after everything that has happened to him but she is willing to learn and admit when she’s wrong. When Will confronts her about not coddling him and letting do things she listens and ultimately agrees.

This is why Joyce Byers is my pick for best female of 2025 because I haven’t even finished the series yet and still my top pick.

[marys-little-cringes]

Pt. 1, I guess.

It's also a part of my Style AU. Stan has been out of rehab for a couple of years now, and he's a brave first responder.

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Does anyone have any theories on Blue Oak’s necklace?

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You know how at the end of Disney’s Atlantis the whole crew is dressed all fancy with their new jewels and money? That’s what I wanted for The Crows.

[normanssurvivalsite]

Ok,

So I finally got to sit down and watch jjk s2 and I'm not happy.

The season was good and all I'm not talking about that I'm just pissed at jjk fans for not pointing out that these two

Are LITERALLY these two.

THE TROPE IS THE EXACT FUCKING SAME BUT WITH JUJUTSU SORCERERS INSTEAD OF MUTANTS LIKE BROTHER WHAT WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS MORE????!??????

These men are so gay.

Anyways thats all I wanted have a good rest of your day😐

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That’s what I’ve been saying!!

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Best of 2024-Best of the Best

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

My pick for best of the best is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. I really do get to live out my 2003 dreams. Speaking of 2003—I have always considered original FMA to be one of my favorite anime of all time and even though it took me a while to finally get myself to watch Brotherhood, I can confidently say it has also joined its ranks.

Honestly, FMAB just has everything you could ever really want in an anime. It has a good, smart, complex story with many interweaving parts and pieces that go together. There are things that happen at one point of the story that tie into another or a person you meet once that’s important for something else later. It has twist and turns and isn’t predictable yet still believable. They don’t do twist for the sake of twists. It asks and questions different and difficult philosophies regarding life, equality, and morality that keep you thinking.

It has protagonists that you care for, that you root for. But, oh boy, they are not perfect. No one is. And, that’s what makes them believable. The story starts with them ignoring the warnings and being arrogant but they’re young and they’re grieving. The supporting cast you also learn to love and accept.

All of the characters, protagonist, antagonists, villains, all of them are well rounded, fully flushed out characters. Even the ones that are bad have bits of gray. No one is fully black or white. Even if they’re evil or you disagree with everything they do you can somewhat understand why they do what they do. For even the homunculi have to deal with their humanity. (Except for Tucker—he can fall off a cliff) They all have character development and growth. They live and they learn. Ed and Al had to learn to deal with their consequences, have to learn to pivot when their plans don’t work out how they plan, learn to settle for what they can gain. Winry has to learn to move on from her rage. Scar does too. And, that’s only 3 some of them. There’s so many more: Roy, Ling Yao, Mei, Hughes, Izumi, Armstrong (both of them), even Greed (also both of them).

Speaking of characters it’s also super nice to have so many well written women in a shonen—of all ages. There are not just young girls but also women. Not one of them felt like the “just there token girl.” No, they were all different, all important, and all badass in one way or another. They were soldiers, mechanics, alchemists, or a simple housewife.

Fullmetal Alchemist is so good that it could have easily won every category this year. Best fight? Roy vs Lust, Roy vs Envy, Ed vs Envy. Under Appreciated? Winry, Izumi, Lan Fan. Best woman? Winry, Riza, Armstrong. Best couple? Roy & Riza, Izumi & Husband, Ed & Winry. Best redemption? Scar. Best man? Ed, Al, Roy. There are so many possibilities for every category; it just depends on your preference.

 Fullmetal Alchemist has action, storytelling, and heart. There’s many anime out here, many that are considered classic now. Yet, there are not many that are still considered one of the best anime of all time even after all these years. And, I’m sure it’ll continue to be.  

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Best of 2024-Best Man

Tanjiro Kamado-Demon Slayer

My winner for man is Tanjiro Kamado because he the ultimate good boy. (To the point that it’s kind of annoying sometimes but that’s neither here nor there) He is always there for his sister, his friends, and the innocent people that are being affected. He fights hard, never giving up until the threat is gone. When he and his buddies are helping Tengen he fought and fought, using up all his strength until he literally couldn’t move anymore. He was frozen, his legs unable to move. However, when Nezuko was down and Tengen following along soon after being poisoned, Tanjiro somehow found the strength to get back up and finish the fight. (Passing out right after of course)

Also, when he was in the swords smith village to get his sword repaired he made friends with a little boy sword apprentice. He helped stand up for him, defending him from bullies. There he made friends with two other Hashira because his sunny demeanor always manages to win people over. He also manages to get my boy Genya to open up to him at last, seeing as he previously saw him as a rival.

When the village gets attacked he of course is up and ready to defend it. This is a super long fight that goes on forever with him keep on keeping on and working with everyone until the demon down—sort of. The demon is almost defeated by them but the sun starts coming out and Nezuko is in danger is left with a decision to defeat the demon or save his sister, a decision that it’s hard for him to make. It works out in the end though. Tanjiro is my best because he just fulfills that super nice guy that’s always there to stand up for the little guys. Instead of becoming dark and brooding after his family was killed he decided to use his skills to saves others.

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Best of 2024- Best Redemption

Nine-Sonic Prime

My best redemption goes to Nine from Sonic Prime. Nine, Nine, Nine. You little sly fox you. Don’t let this cute little face fool you. Nine demonstrates just how scary Tails could be if he really wanted to be. He’s smarter than everyone else and could easily outwit and out-engineer any of them while only being like 8 and that’s actually what he does.

He basically double crosses–everyone. He plays–everyone. First most Sonic and his gang but mostly Sonic because he just can’t believe that his little buddy could ever do something wrong. (Even if it’s not Tails) Even before Nine gets all diabolical, his plan was still to destroy the world to start a new one. It was just that he was playing nice, thinking that Sonic was going to be on his side. When it turns out that Sonic doesn’t agree with just blowing everything up, Nine decides to do it on his own. He just doesn't exactly tell Sonic that. He goes on pretending to be innocent, manipulating Sonic and the gang into thinking he let the idea go. He even goes to the point of pretending that he was kidnapped by the Eggman gang. 

At this point, we don’t really know which way he’s tilting. He tells the Eggman’s that he’s on their side while telling Sonic that he’s just using them. Everyone is confused except Shadow but screw that guy, haha. But, of course, like I said he double crossed everyone and was using everyone. So, then ‘evil let’s destroy the worlds plan’ begins.

Now, for his redemption. Sonic finally accepting that Nine isn’t Tails tries to speak some reason to him. He apologies for not acknowledging that Nine was different and that he needed different things because he grew up differently. He lets him know that he understands just how lonely his whole life must have been. Nine has lived his whole life unloved in isolation. Sonic’s words finally get to him, especially after giving him what he always needed, a big brother’s hug. Finally, learning the errors of his ways, Nine immediately regrets everything. He knows he’s been wrong, knows he’s been selfish and quickly goes into attempting to reverse everything. They manage to save all the different universes and gets Sonic back to his. He righted his wrong even though he knew he would be without a Sonic again but the hope of possibly making friends for a change.

Now, did everyone, including myself forgive Nine entirely too easily? Yes, most definitely. The little bugger lied and manipulated everyone and had absolutely no problem destroying multiple worlds—but look at him!!!! He’s just misunderstood!!! (Yes, I’m being biased.0

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Best of 2024-Best Couple

Colonel Roy Mustang and Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye

My pick for favorite is Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist Brother. I couldn’t use them last year because I had already seen FMA 2003 but I can use them this time! Haha. So, you know what I like in my relationships that I don’t always see in my anime? A relationship that’s built upon mutual respect. You know what I get with Roy and Riza? A relationship that’s built upon mutual respect. It’s also nice to see adults for a change. Now are Roy and Riza an actual romantic couple? No, they’re not. Now within the part of the story that we see anyways but that don’t stop them being a couple in any other way, shape, or form.

They are loyal through and through to their cause and to each other. From the beginning Riza believed in Roy’s dreams allowing him learn the ways of flame alchemy and following his steps in joining the military. She had made the vow then to always back him up, to be his bodyguard, to make sure he can get to the top because she believes in him and what he can do for the nation. She is willing to follow Roy to hell if she had too and to shot him down if she must. When she believes that Roy is dead she loses it, shooting Lust wilding until she’s finally out of bullets. She knows him well enough to know when he’s joking or speaking in code or when it’s not him at all, such as when Envy was disguising himself as him.

As for Roy, well, Riza is his queen….in his chess metaphor. Haha, but no really—he adores her. He trusts her to always have his back and to be his eyes. He may be her superior but doesn’t see her as being any less than him. He knows he can do anything or fulfill his dreams without the help of his crew and she is at the forefront. When Bradley scatters Roy’s crew even he makes sure to keep Riza close to him, knowing just how important she is to him. When she gets hurt you best believe you better treat his subordinate right because he too lost it. But, what I love about that scene (where they’re trying to get Roy to do human transformation) is that he doesn’t do it. He respects her enough and in part himself not to, just like he respected her wishes to burn her back.

They never actually get together, probably because they can’t do to their ranks. (Roy being her superior and all) But, they don’t have to be. They know. Everyone knows what they feel and what they mean to each other. And honestly, I like the fact that they don’t. It just proves how much they do love and respect themselves and each other and how just being near each other is enough. And, I like to head canon that when Roy makes to Fuhrer that’ll finally be their time.

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Best of 2025-Best Lady

Winry Rockbell-Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

So, I’m going to date myself a little here but I saw the original 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist when it first came out and I for some reason or another never got around to watching Brotherhood until last year 2024. That being said—

My pick for best lady goes to Winry Rockbell from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Now, I watched several shows with many amazing ladies this past year. From heroes to fighters to soldiers but my reason for picking Winry is because she is none of those. She has no powers. She’s not an alchemist. She is not a soldier. She’s just an automail mechanic from the small town Resembol. She’s my pick because despite all that she is just as important as anyone else. She’s Ed’s mechanic. I don’t know what he would do if she wasn’t always there to help him get his arm and leg working again, considering how reckless he could be. 

She’s smart, loyal, and helpful, always ready and willing to join along to help with the cause even when all the Elric brothers do is try to push her away. She’s stubborn but honest, having no problem calling them (mostly Ed) out when they need to be. She’s also caring and emphatic, always there to offer a listening ear, an encouraging word, or a warm hug. She had the ability to get people to open up. She can charm her way into new friendships like Gracia and Elysia to the chimeras who vow to protect her.

She is the every woman who is stronger than she appears to be. Could she have killed Scar when she had the chance? She could have. But, instead she was better than that. She worked through her feelings of anger and hatred to get to the point where the two could work together to become teammates of the same side.

She is the beacon of hope and promise the brothers use to anchor them when they’re overwhelmed. She’s what they imagine as peace. She’s more than a childhood friend, she’s more than a sister, she’s more than a love interest. To them, she’s home.