Aniwords – Making Anime New Year’s Resolutions

iblessall 15 Comments

Well, it sure was a good run, wasn’t it?

I close out my time writing the weekly Aniwords column for Crunchyroll with one last plea for my readers to expand their anime watching habits to embrace things beyond their normal tastes. That this kind of point became a recurring theme during my run at Crunchyroll is an obvious thing in retrospect—given a large, far more mainstream-leaning audience than the circles I typically run in, what else was I to do? In the end, who knows how successful I was, but at least I had a lot of fun.

More thought to come on all of this in later days, likely, but for now…

Here’s the link~

Gurren Lagann

15 thoughts on “Aniwords – Making Anime New Year’s Resolutions”

  2. My last year resolution was anime related. It was to watch one episode of Bleach a day, because there’s 366 of them. I failed after about a week, so I can conclude that resolutions are stupid and dumb and smell.
    I watched more older anime this year anyway, as I also realised I dislike waiting for new episodes, following the discussion (not only after fresh anime but also after fresh movies), having the possibility of missing something good that didn’t have stellar beginning/opinion, and the possibility of getting into something bad… I’m an old woman, I don’t have that much time anymore, so it’s better to only follow shorts.
    Nadesico has a perfect opening song.

    Like

    Reply

    • Whew, that was certainly a task you set for yourself there with Bleach!

      And yeah, there certainly are some significant drawbacks to making airing anime your primary source. No more OP’s like “YOU GET TO BURNING” for one thing…

      Like

      Reply

  3. Heh, those aren’t really good New Year’s resolutions for me, since I do that anyway. Well, maybe not before 2000, since availability is low and I’ve seen a lot of those that are both available and of interest (I started watching anime in the seventies as a child, after all).

    This year, I remember watching Key the Metal Idol (1994?). Mermaid Forest comes close (2003?).

    And ever since finding new anime I haven’t seen has become more difficult, rewatching old favourites has become a staple. Often, I’ve seen only the German dub, so there’s additional incentive. This year’s standout would have been The Irresponsible Captain Tyler.

    It’s a rather cheap resolution, if it happens naturally. Heh.

    Also, good job with Aniwords. Congratulations on a job well done.

    Like

    Reply

    • Heh, well I guess you’ll have to find some new resolutions for yourself, then!

      And thanks, it was fun writing it. (It was even nicer knowing I could still chat with my steady commenters here on my stuff. ^_^)

      Like

      Reply

  5. Your resolutions are spot-on, and here’s to your next great writing adventure, wherever that may lead!

    The best pre-2000 anime that I watched for the first time this year was The Cockpit, a 3-episode OVA animated by Madhouse in 1993. It features three short war stories that were all adapted from a Leiji Matsumoto manga serial, and makes a pretty powerful statement about the waste and stupidity of war. Some really nice animation too. This is one I’d recommend to as many people as possible.

    For next year’s pre-2000 viewing, I want to watch the rest of the “Rumic World” OVAs – those were a series of OVAs produced in the 80s and 90s, adapting some of Rumiko Takahashi’s shorter/lesser-known manga titles. I already watched Fire Tripper, which was the first of them and pretty enjoyable (it actually felt like a proto-Inuyasha), and I found a torrent that had the rest. I just haven’t gotten around to watching them yet.

    Some notable shows on my list that got full re-watches this year:
    Kanon 2006 (shared with my Mom, who really enjoyed it, and even on my fourth watch it still spoke to my heart as much as ever – man, I wish they’d give it the Blu-Ray treatment)
    Silver Spoon (second watch – it lost nothing in the re-visit, and may even move up my list a spot or two)
    Love Live (second watch – first time around I enjoyed the comedy and the music; what I took from the re-watch is a greater appreciation for the level of craftsmanship that went into it. That and that the English dub is surprisingly good.)

    My top re-watch targets for next year are Utena, Noir, and Escaflowne. Utena and Noir I’ve owned for a few years now without re-watching either one, and it’s way past time to revisit them. Escaflowne I need to re-watch because I backed the Kickstarter, so now I have Funi’s nice brand-new Kickstarter edition on my shelf just begging me to come back to Gaea again (and in Blu-Ray this time).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I rewatched Escaflown this year. I actually liked it better than I remember, maybe also because this was the first time I watched it with the Japanese original track?

      Noir is one of my favourites. I think I last re-watched it in 2013?

      Utena is one I’d like to see some time, but it’s hard to find. I’ve never made it past the first few episodes (due to availability).

      Like

      Reply

    • Well, it’s probably just gonna lead me right back here where I started, haha! There’s an odd sense of freedom I’m feeling that invigorating me (along with the momentum I have going from 12 Days) to really stretch my writing muscles in ways I haven’t in a while.

      You certainly watched some interesting stuff this year! I might have to check out a few of those titles myself…

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.