Readordie

Raine was voiced by Kari Wahlgren, who was also Haruko in FLCL, Cher in Wolf's Raine, and Robin in Witch Hunter Robin. Tara Strong also did the voice of Corrine. Sheesh, I'm surprised no one picked up on that. Now, setting that minor-rant aside... WOW. This game was like a kick in tehf ace to me because I was beginning to beleive that Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Simpson's: Hit and Run were the only good games for gamecube. Beautiful cel-shaded graphics. A musical score that, while it got a bit repetative towards the second disc, was still beautiful. Background animations that were like something out of the .hack//SIGN anime cel shaded. A battle system that simply tears any other battle system even made to shreds. Characters you can truly care about, no small thanks given to their voice actors. WOW

Oh, this is a toughie. I'll do a top five. 1) Samajima Mamimi(FLCL) has a certain infectiously sweet air about her that simply puts you into a good mood. Sure, she's a little messed up in the head and started doing...bad things to poor Ta-kun, but you've simply gotta love her! 2) Reidman Yomiko(Read or Die) is such an unsung hero that I simply have to single her out. She's not at all what you'd think of when you think of an anime hero, and she has the best super power ever. Who'da thought that paper could pack such a punch? 3) Aoyama Motoko(Love Hina) started out as a stupid man-hating-super-strong-swordswoman steryotype, but by the end of the manga or the anime she was a vibrant, but very insecure young woman. The character development involved was simply fantastic. 4) Ichihara Yuko(XXXHoLiC) is the singluar most misterious and sensual anime character I've ever seen. Sure, she's a bit of a wack job and sure, XXXHoLiC isn't an anime yet, but that doesn't even put a dent in her awesome...ness. 5) Faye Valentine(Cowboy Bebop) Three reasons: 1. Just LOOK at her. 2. She's not your average femme fatale, she falters on the job. 3. She's got a nice backstory. Yeah, no guys, I know. Hope you're not too disappointed that I'm not making you drool over countless bishounen ;)

The opening to the Read or Die OAV really blew my mind because the music and the animation melded together perfectly, and they were both nearly perfect. The opening of Cowboy Bebop is a very close second because it was almost like an abstract painting on how it was done. Finally, a close third is the .hack//sign opening for the same reasons as the first two, but the music wasn't quite as good.