“Go, my racing, scorching heart!”
2016: Fall Season
Aniwords – Competition Motivation in Scorching Ping Pong Girls & Yuri!!! on ICE
Anytime you throw two shows together in a post, you’re limiting your potential audience, but I rather think I’ve outdone myself with this one by comparing the megahit of the season with a sadly underwatched gem that have very different audience-targeting goals.
Anyways, this is kind of a combination post on two ideas I’ve had in my head about things I wanted to say about each of these shows, and somehow it all came together. Even if you’ve only watched one (or neither!) of these anime, I think there’s still some good fun to be had here, so I hope you’ll check it out! Also, please, for the love of good anime, at least give Scorching Ping Pong Girls a shot.
Fall 2016 Midseason Check-in
I don’t think it’s burnout, per se. But at the height of my seasonal anime-watching prowess I am not. The grand total number of shows this season I’m actively keeping up with? Six.
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.
Aniwords – Girlish Number and the Indelicate Art of Owning Yourself
Happily, I’ve never experienced a professional failure on the level that Chitose has, but that doesn’t mean I’m not familiar with the feelings she experiences. After all, tripping over your own feet (literally or metaphorically) is something we’re all probably familiar with in someway—and if you’re not, don’t bother reading this article because you’re too perfect and won’t understand what I’m talking about at all.
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.
First Impressions: Fall 2016 Anime (Part 3)
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.
First Impressions: Fall 2016 Anime (Part 2)
The season of fall premieres continues to plow forward. I’ll be glad when it’s over and I can settle in to my hoped-for schedule. I’m trying to take it easy, though! I no longer have the desire I once had to kill myself over watching absolutely everything. Thankfully.
If you missed part one, you can read that here!
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 