Well, I’m on break from school, but that also means I’m back to my part time job, so fitting in blogging around that is going to mean a few less timely posts than before. Ah, the irony that being on break is going to interfere more with my blogging schedule than being at school. Something about not be able to control your own schedule is so…lovely.
2014: Fall Season
Fall 2014, Week 10: Highlights of the Week
The end of the season is nigh, with Chaika being the first show to finish up this week. The crazy time of ending reviews and first impressions (and wow I need to get moving on those Toradora! posts) is almost here.
So have some Chaika while you anticipate!
Fall 2014, Week 9: Highlights of the Week
Best week of anime this season? Yup, best week of anime this season. It was the mid-tier shows (YuYuYu, Garo, Argevollen) that really stepped up this week, while Yona, Your Lie in April, and Shirobako continue to be one of the best season top tiers since I’ve started watching simulcasts. And, on top of that, Chaika dove into bombastic crazy weirdness with its second-to-last episode. What more could an anime fan want?
YuYuYu Midseason Thoughts
This piece was originally published in the tri-weekly Crunchyroll Newsletter. You can read the article, and others on the Newsletter page.
I initially picked up Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru (officially abbreviated as YuYuYu) as my requisite “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” anime of the season and, well, it has occasionally filled that spot and occasionally…not. That is, unless you consider slashing through world destroying monsters with giant swords or punching through rock hard monster souls or flying through space on gun chairs to be cute—if so, then YuYuYu’s cute all the time.
Fall 2014, Week 8: Highlights of the Week
Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving Day, but there will still be a post coming out (bless you, WordPress post scheduling). As for this week, as I look back on it now, it was a pretty darn good one. The strong shows continue to do their thing, but a few of the mid-tier shows really showed up with some quality anime entertainment.
PSA: Akatsuki no Yona might be one of the best written shows of the entire season.
Fall 2014, Week 7: Highlights of the Week
This is going to be one of the shorter highlights posts I’ve ever done because I wound up dropping one show this week, but compensated by writing episodic posts for three shows. So this is what it’s like when you get to the level of being an ANN reviewer…yikes.
Oh, and on Friday I finally discovered what WIXOSS is really all about.
Is it Okay to Like Your Lie in April?
If you’re dialed in to the anime fandom, particularly the simulcast-watching, blogging segment of the fandom that I inhabit, you’ve probably heard at least some hints of the controversy that’s been surrounding noitaminA’s new show, Your Lie in April, a 2-cour anime produced by A-1 Pictures and based on the Kodansha Manga Award winning manga by Naoshi Arakawa.
Near as I can tell as someone standing apart from those who are decrying the show, the bulk of the outcry surrounding KimiUso is derived from the show’s treatment of protagonist Kousei’s traumatic-abusive childhood at the hands of his now-deceased mother.
Now, I’ve always tried to form my own opinions of a show divorced from the complaints and praises of other, but KimiUso has been something of a special case for me. This is, partially, because I’m hearing these complaints from other bloggers whom I personally like and respect, but also because the criticism seems not to be directed towards KimiUso‘s technical aspects so much as it targets ethical concerns, excepting cases where the two merge together.
Fall 2014, Week 6: Highlights of the Week
Another long week, except somehow this week I was caught up early in the weekend and got behind again at the beginning of the week. But, overall, it was a really good week! Two shows (Shirobako and Akatsuki no Yona) impressed me enough to merit their own episodic posts, Your Lie in April pulled me back in and everything else pretty much held steady. Twintails and YuYuYu are the shows that I’m still not sure about.
Fall 2014, Week 5: Highlights of the Week
So, even though I dropped Sora no Method, I do want to plug the ED—both the song by fhána and animation (apparently the entire ED was animated by just one guy). It’s hanging out somewhere on YouTube. This felt long a long week to me, but there were a lot of show with really good episodes, which made it enjoyable. I’m now down to 11 simulcasting shows with Your Lie in April going on hold and Sora no Method out of my schedule, so I might end up picking up a few more (like Gundam Build Fighters Try) or just doing more backlog watching. Either way, it’s a good season so far!
Fall 2014, Week 4: Highlights of the Week
Honestly, I just don’t feel like writing much of an intro right now. But I’m gonna do it anyways, because if I just spend this space talking about how I don’t want to write an intro, I’ll just end up with an intro anyways of me talking about just that. So, here’s handful of random stuff—that counts, right?
- Look at my beautiful screencaps from WIXOSS this week!
- Three weeks late, I’m finally as excited about Bahamaut as everyone else is.
- I can’t stop thinking about how much better Your Lie in April would be if Kaori was a violist instead of a violinist.
- Something something Chaiiiiiikaaaaaaa
- In case you missed it, the blog hit 100k view this week!