A choice is made, and we follow the droplet of water until it reaches the puddle.
Recurring Features
On A Certain Scientific Railgun and Canonical Fanfiction
A Certain Scientific Railgun is basically author Kazuma Kamachi’s fanfiction in his own universe, but the show’s genre-blending tendencies, as it happens, mean that part of its core appeal is similar to that of fanfiction. It’s a fascinating thought to unpack.
Aniwords – In Defense of Liking Things
Yet another rambling-ish article from me on the nature of being a person who watches and likes things—ostensibly about anime, but theoretically applied to much more. In short, liking things is good and I like watching other people like things. So I hope I was able to encourage people to not be too afraid about sharing when they like things!
Aniwords – The Evolution of RWBY (Part 2)
We forge ahead with our series on RWBY this week, following up on last week’s piece about the show’s evolving writing by talking about how its visuals have grown up over the years. Honestly, I might have bitten off a bit more than I should have with trying to cover a topic as general as “visuals” in a single post, but I think I’ve managed to highlight the show’s evolution in this area pretty well nonetheless.
Aniwords – The Evolution of RWBY (Part 1)
As you guys well know, I’m rather fond of doting on shows that are… less than perfectly crafted. This goes doubly true for those rare cases where a show starts out a bit wobbly on its feet and then manages to carve out a distinctive path for itself. I’ve seen this happen a few times, but perhaps no show’s arc from underdog to champ has been as fun to witness as that of RWBY.
This week, the first of a two-parter on the show’s growth over the years—starting off by focusing on its storytelling!
Aniwords – Selection. System. Memory. WIXOSS.
Where the original WIXOSS series made a great deal out of obscuring the true nature of the show’s setting, Lostorage has been all about revealing that information to us and letting us stew in it as the show goes on.
In some ways, this post is just me breaking down the show’s full title—which, as you may remember, I have been a very outspoken fan of. I stand by my previous support of it.
Bungo Stray Dogs: The Tragedy of a Good Man & the Redemption of a Bad One
On the absolute treat that was the Dazai backstory arc of Bungo Stray Dogs’ second season.
The Importance of orange
It’s been quite a while since I first wrote about the orange manga about two-thirds of the way through its publication run on Crunchyroll. Now, an improbable anime adaptation has aired and I am compelled to, at last, put words to the feelings I have about the show. While I probably will continue to regard the manga as the superior version of the story, the merits of the anime adaptation are substantial—and, as you’ll read, ultimately none of that matters when it comes to orange anyways.
Aniwords – The Colorful Leaves of the Fall 2016 Anime Season
I like pretty pictures and I like season. Mostly because this season is completely packed full of pretty pictures of various kinds. That’s something that’s really exciting for me, so I spent some time this week talking briefly about the directors who are bringing these shows to us and the actual formal qualities of their work. To my great chagrin, I had originally meant to talk about Lostorage Incited WIXOSS in this article, but I forgot and wound up writing about Sangatsu no Lion instead. Oh well.
Aniwords – A Moeblob is a Blob of Moe
You blog readers won’t know this, but this post actually caused a bit of a stir on Twitter among the Touken Ranbu fandom after it was published. My first real taste of controversy; curiously over a post I wrote in response to the dumb backlash certain groups have had over an anime populated completely by cute boys. So, needless to say, I was a bit surprised—although the reaction has certainly piqued my interest in the show. That all said, I think this is a pretty far assessment of the Touken Ranbu‘s opener in comparison to other moe shows. But we’ll see where things go from here.
Mage in a Barrel 