As sometimes happens on Discord, instead of Twitter, these days, I was talking with some friends about Makoto Shinkai, director of smash-hit Your Name., regular-hit Tenki no Ko, and not-really-a-hit Suzume. It reminded me that I’ve never really set down my thoughts on the three films, nor on Shinkai’s evolution since he made a it big.
And, hey! Suzume released this year (2023) in the states so this is still timely! Right?
Something I’ve been considering almost since the start of Bocchi the Rock! is the central source of the show’s comedy and how that intersects with a compassionate understanding of mental health. Whenever you have a story that wants to mine a character’s struggles (in whatever form) for laughs, inevitably it raises the question of whether the humor is coming from a place of understanding or cruelty.
And thus, the question: Is Bocchi the Rock! mean to Bocchi?
Putting words to that vague idea and (likely) wild claim that Hyouka might the best-directed TV anime of all time.
Something I think is very important to get right has been got rather wrong, in my estimation.
The only righteousness which we can truly claim is to understand the fallibility of our own humanity.
Knight’s & Magic wants you to want to pilot a giant robot more than you want to pilot a giant robot.
A threshold has been crossed in Re:Creators.
In which the practice of taking copious numbers of screenshots justifies itself.
Mage in a Barrel 