The Long Wait:

It's an excruciating time to be an anime fan. Not only are we waiting for the spring season to begin, we're waiting for so many good series to either be translated, or to come out in blu-ray and be translated in high definition, it could drive one mad.

Here's what Japan has, but we don't, but desperately need:

Baka to Test Season 2 blu-ray.
Rurouni Kenshin Shin Kyoto-hen oav.
Saki blu-ray.
Steins;Gate blu-ray.
Hayate no Gotoku movie blu-ray.
Major World Series oavs.
Suite Precure movie blu-ray.
Yes Precure 5.
Yes Precure 5 Go Go!
Fresh Precure.
Precure New Stage: Mirai no Tomodachi movie.
Berserk movie.
Strike Witches movie.
K-on movie.

And in a few days: Kobato blu-ray.

Perhaps these episodes will come out tomorrow, or perhaps in five years, or perhaps not at all. Fansubbers aren't beholden to anyone and don't have any deadlines, so these projects just pile up in the 'to do' pile and maybe they get done, and maybe they don't. The uncertainty is the worst part. If only we knew how long we had to wait, the waiting wouldn't be so bad. But like this, it's like climbing a mountain without knowing how far it is to the top. Maybe we're halfway there, or maybe we've only just started. Who knows?

It's going to get worse before it gets better. Japanese anime fans will get to watch a new Nanoha movie, a new Bakemonogatari movie, a new Berserk movie, a new Kenshin oav, a new Evangelion movie, a new Fairy Tail movie, etc, etc, none of which will be available abroad. We can know of them, but we can't see them, which makes it all the more painful than if they hadn't existed at all. Perhaps in 2013 we'll be blessed with all these ghostly apparitions. Perhaps not!

As if this weren't bad enough, we've been ambushed with a leaked announcement of the most important anime green-lighting ever: Little Busters.

Little Busters, perhaps the only possible franchise that can contend with Clannad for the crown of the greatest, for the throne of the highest, for the scepter of the best, is going to get an anime adaptation. When will it come out? Who knows! Who will animate it? Who knows! Little Busters used to be the tragedy of the anime industry, but now it is the torture chamber of the anime industry instead. Now we must sit and wait, wait, wait, for when it comes out, when at least before we could clutch the comforting blanket of despair around us and try to shove the topic from our minds.

If only there were some sort of cryogenic chamber we could crawl into, and be done with all the waiting! Surely, five years from now or so, all the good anime that will ever be made, will be released, subtitled, and ready for viewing -- right?

Alas, alack, and woe. The era of the long wait has begun, but it will not end for a long, long time. At the very least, I can fiddle with my anime rankings until then:

1. Clannad (2007-2009)
2. Pretty Cure (2004-2012+)
3. One Piece (1999-2012+)
4. Code Geass (2006-2009+)
5. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (2004-2010+)
6. Seikai no Monshou/Senki/Danshou (1999-2005)
7. Fairy Tail (2009-2012+)
8. Naruto (2002-2012+)
9. Dragonball (1986-2011)
10. K-On! (2009-2011)
11. Kanon (2002-2007)
12. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (2006-2012)
13. Haruhi Suzumiya (2006-2010)
14. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007-2009)
15. To Aru Majutsu no Index/Kagaku no Railgun (2008-2011+)
16. Angel Beats (2010)
17. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011+)
18. Da Capo (2003-2011)
19. Katanagatari (2010)
20. The Idolm@ster (2011)
21. Full Metal Panic! (2002-2006)
22. Bakuman (2010-2012+)
23. Kobato (2009-2012)
24. Working! (2010-2012+)
25. Record of Lodoss War (1990-1998)
26. The World God Only Knows (2010-2011)
27. Hayate no Gotoku (2007-2012+)
28. Vandread (2000-2001)
29. Sora no Woto (2010)
30. Toradora! (2008-2011)
31. Evangelion (1995-2009+)
32. Basilisk (2005)
33. Galaxy Angel (2001-2006)
34. Saki (2009-2012+)
35. Major (2004-2012)
36. Prince of Tennis (2001-2012)
37. Inuyasha (2000-2010)
38. Ranma 1/2 (1989-1996)
39. Sailor Moon (1992-1997)
40. Air (2005)
41. Hanasaku Iroha (2011+)
42. Usagi Drop (2011-2012)
43. Angelic Layer (2001)
44. Rurouni Kenshin (1996-2011+)
45. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
46. Ef (2007-2008)
47. Ore no Immouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (2010-2011)
48. Uuchuu no Stellvia (2003)
49. Utawarerumono (2006-2010)
50. Summer Wars (2009)
51. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (2010-2011)
52. Cowboy Bebop (1998-2001)
53. Samurai Champloo (2004-2005)
54. Battle Athletes (1997-1998)
55. Bleach (2004-2012)
56. Bake-(etc)-monogatari (2009-2012+)
57. Amagami SS (2010-2012)
58. Macross (1982-2011)
59. 12 Kingdoms (2002-2003)
60. Mononoke Hime (1997)
61. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (2011)
62. Berserk (1997-2012+)
63. Claymore (2007)
64. Valkyria Chronicles (2009-2011)
65. Negima! Magister Magi Negi (2004-2012)
66. Sora no Otoshimono (2009-2012+)
67. Strike Witches (2007-2012)
68. Nichijou (2011-2012+)
69. Hunter x Hunter (1999-2012+)
70. Fate/Stay/Etc (2006-2012+)
71. Card Captor Sakura (1998-2000)
72. Gundam (1979-2012+)
73. Shakugan no Shana (2005-2012)
74. Martian Successor Nadesico (1996-1998)
75. Read or Die (2001-2004)
76. Break Blade (2010-2011)
77. Kimi ni Todoke (2009-2011)
78. Spice and Wolf (2008-2009)
79. To Heart (1999-2012+)
80. Bastard! (1992)
81. Mahoromatic (2001-2009)
82. Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka (2008-2009)
83. Fatal Fury (1992-1994)
84. Lucky Star (2007-2008)
85. Azumanga Daioh (2002)
86. Alien Nine (2001-2002)
87. Iria: Zeiram the Animation (1994)
88. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
89. Guyver (1986-2006)
90. Spirited Away (2001)
91. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
92. Scrapped Princess (2003)
93. Steins;Gate (2011-2012+)
94. Gunbuster (1988-2012)
95. Shamanic Princess (1996-1998)
96. Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai (2011)
97. Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai (2012)
98. Akira (1988)
99. Moshidora (2011)
100. High School of the Dead (2010-2011)
101. Flame of Recca (1997-1998)
102. Hikaru no Go (2001-2004)
103. Shinryaku! Ika Musume (2010-2011+)
104. Ghost in the Shell (1995-2011)
105. Tamayura (2010-2011+)
106. Zero no Tsukaima (2006-2012)
107. Soul Eater (2008-2009)
108. Sora no Manimani (2009)
109. Kanokon (2008-2009)
110. Gosick (2011)

Congratulations to Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai for making the rankings, and to the shonen action series Fairy Tail, Naruto, and Dragonball hogging the spotlight of the top 10 via the fact that they're five times as long as any of their competitors. Quantity has a quality all its own.

Bakuman has a whole new season starting this fall of 2012. At #22 already, how far will it get in the end? That's an exciting prospect. Hayate no Gotoku is in the same position. Already at #27, with a third season promised, only time will tell where Hayate will eventually land. Best of luck to both of them.

P.S. I can't say I'm very happy about having to wait another year just to see the second half of The Hobbit, a children's tale for God's sake, because a single movie can't 'cover it all.'

P.P.S. Memory of Light should have come out in 2010. Now we have to wait until 2013? Blessed child of Mary, give me patience. The wait has been so very, very long.