Full Disclosure: My SPJA Ballot

So, voting is now open for the aforementioned SPJA awards. I'm going to disclose to you my voting process. It's very technical, so I hope you're able to keep up.

Well, I don't know who Lelouch LampeROUSE is (ahem), so that leaves L and Kamina. Now, I love both characters to a pretty distressing degree, but I think that the voice played more of a role in Kamina's success-- L was an amazing character even when he was an audio-less manga character. So, Katsuyuki Konishi it is.

Best Voice Actor (EN):

I'm pretty sure that if I don't vote for Samuel L. Jackson I'll get my ass kicked. Besides, how many times will I have the opportunity to do that anyway? Also, who is KYLA Hebert? (Ahem part II.) (Yes, I know it's supposed to be Kyle Hebert.)

Best Voice Actress (JP):

I love Maaya Sakamoto, but I haven't seen Kara no Kyoukai/Garden of Sinners. That said, how many dozens more times will we see Naruto get nominated for things over the next few years? My vote's for Riisa Naku in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Best Voice Actress (EN):

Sorry, Michelle-- I love Yoko to death, and I'm rather fond of Rukia as well. But Laura Bailey takes the cake as Shin Chan.

Best Casting Director:

Even if it's something he wants to do, landing Sammy can't be an easy task. So Jaime Simone gets my vote for Afro Samurai Resurrection.

I'm giving this one to Yuji Iwahara for Darker than Black. I don't know Tweeny Witches all that well, but the credit for Death Note's designs should really go to Takeshi Obata, who drew the manga in the first place--- not that Masaru Kitao didn't do a good job, just that he already had a lot of good stuff to work with. Iwahara would have been working from scratch, and I love the character designs in DtB: they're distinct, but they generally make functional sense, too.

Best Mechanical Design:

Sorry, but this one's kind of a lock, I expect. Gurren Lagann.

Best Male Character:

As I mentioned before, I have no clue why Tamaki is in this category-- he's a fun character, but he's incredibly simple. And I love Hei, but he's also kind of an archetype. So this time, I vote L.

Best Female Character:

Revy. Revyrevyrevyrevyrevy. REVY!

Best Mascot Character:
We'll probably have more Mokona and Kon to come, and Boota is too adorable with his little sunglasses and mysteriously re-growing butt.

Background Design:

Bleach is good, but Hell Girl had some really beautiful visuals. That said, it's almost unfair to compare to TV series-- with budgets stretched over many episodes –to a movie like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which might have had a bigger budget to begin with and only a couple of hours to fill. Still, I have to be honest and vote for the best-- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Lucky Star...but I haven't seen Kite or Baldr Force EXE. Sorry!

Best Feature Film:
Vexille was good, but it's all about The Girl Who Leapt Through Time for me.

Best TV Series:

Now, this is a tougher choice. I'm not much of a Naruto fan, and again, it'll continue to appear on these nomination lists for a few more years. Likewise for Shin Chan. So my vote goes to Gurren Lagann.

Best Original Score:

I'm still bitter that neither Gurren Lagann nor Ghost Hunt were on this list, but I'm going to give my vote to Emma. Death Note had great music, but I prized Emma's light touch a bit higher.

Best Original Song:
Again...no Libera Me? I'm voting for the RZA's “Combat.”

Best Director (JP):

Now, this is a really tough choice. All three are amazing. (Psssst-- it's MamorU Hosoda, not Mamory, SPJA. Ahem III!) That said, I think I have to hand it to Mamoru Hosoda for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Gurren Lagann would be a very very very close second.

Best Director (EN):

Now, again, I'm not really the best person to judge these things since I don't follow a lot of dubs, but I've seen some of what Mike McFarland is doing with One Piece and am happy to give him the win on this one.

Best Manga (Action):

I haven't read the Tsubasa manga, only seen the anime, but I think it might fare better as a drama-- it's got action, but it's not ABOUT action. That said, my vote goes to Hellsing: its final volume is out, whereas Black Lagoon just got started, so it'll probably come around again.

Best Manga (Comedy):

I'm sure you're shocked to hear I haven' read Kitsune no Yomeiri. I like Fairy Tail a lot but I can't help but want to vote for something off the beaten path: Tokyo Zombie it is.

Best Manga (Drama):

I voted Monster before I could even help myself, and now I feel bad for not giving Ghost Talker's Daydream a more thorough thought. That said, Monster just finished, so I probably wouldn't have the opportunity to vote for its manga again.

Best Publication:

WHY NO YEN?! That said, I vote Style School-- I like both of VIZ's magazines, but it's nice to see something new.

Best Full Motion Video in Video Game:

I voted for Final Fantasy IV before I remembered that I could abstain from voting in any category or categories I don't want to vote in. I probably shouldn't have voted for this, being not a gamer nor having spent more than five minutes playing Afro Samurai and never having played Left 4 Dead (though I did watch friends play it and yes, it was pretty spiffy).

Okay, give us the run-down of YOUR votes!