Spring 2016 was ridiculous. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched 10+ shows in a season, but this season made me do it. In addition, the top level of shows this season were ridiculous. We had basically two competing AOTS shows (fortunately, only one actually ended this season). In short, I had a whole bunch of fun—my weekly schedule this season felt like coming home each time I started in on it.
2016: Spring Season
A Comparison of Translations for Concrete Revolutio
It’s not often we get two different official sets of subtitles for a simulcasting anime, but that’s what happened with Concrete Revolutio (which was streamed by both Funimation and Daisuki here in the US). After seeing some screenshots from Funimation’s version of Conrevo‘s finale, which differed a bit from the Daisuki subs, I got it into my head to compare the two translations—what follows are the results, along with my commentary.
Aniwords – The Lost Village and the Death of the Genre
The Lost Village wasn’t the best anime that aired this season, nor was it anywhere close to being my favorite, but darn it, it was sure a heckuva a lot of fun to write about. I’ve long since passed by my formalist fan days (I remember telling one of my college professors that I was a formalist LOL), but talking about The Lost Village‘s formal qualities is very nearly the only way I can think to approach the show—as should be clear since this is the third post I’ve written on its formal elements. In any case, I hope you guys enjoy this wild post!
Aniwords – Concrete Hero Luluco: From Heroes to Justice to Love
I’ve been away on a business trip, which is why I’m late getting this one posted over here. I apologize for the blog’s relative deadness as of late – I promise I haven’t forgotten about it; just in a weird sort of funk with writing lately since work’s been crazy. Things should settle down by mid-July.
Anyways, this belated post is a (perhaps overly so) ambitious attempt by me to bring together some thoughts I’ve been having on My Hero Academia, Concrete Revolutio, and Space Patrol Luluco. Hope you guys enjoy it – if not, let me know if it was impregnable after all in the comments.
Aniwords – Dealing with Bakugo
Another week, another Aniwords! On the docket this week is My Hero Academia, which I confess I feel rather lax for having left untouched for this long. While I think the show’s pretty good, and even improves on the manga in places, ultimately I’ve been disappointed by how safe the adaptation’s been played. That being said, there’s still a ton of cool stuff going on My Hero Academia, and so I hit on some of those things this week. Hope you guys enjoy it!
Aniwords – Kiznavier & How to Say Things without Words
I don’t know how many of you guys are watching Kiznaiver (mostly because I’ve been very poor at writing up those weekly posts this season due to the volume of stuff I’m watching), but episode 7 was really, really good. Good enough to motivate me to devote an entire post to detail how it, and the rest of the show, uses visuals to communicate beyond what the writing says.
Premise as Plot in Re:ZERO
Aniwords – The Lost Village is the Best Comedy of the Season
I didn’t write that title just for the clickbait; I wrote it because I actually believe it’s true.
It takes a lot for a show like The Lost Village (Mayoiga) to succeed as well as it does, and analysis of things that are well-crafted in non-traditional ways is nearly always rewarding. Having a chance to spill out everything I’ve been thinking about why The Lost Village is as consistently funny as it is was almost as fun as watching the show itself, and I’m rather pleased with how my arguments for and analysis of it turned out. It’s not often I try to analyze things purely on a craft level, but Mizushima and Okada made it easy for me. Hope you guys enjoy (and maybe decide to check out the show if you haven’t)!
Aniwords – We Ain’t Swallowing No Buckets of Barium Here! Kiznaiver and the Sign of a Scar
You guys wouldn’t know this since I haven’t done a weekly round-up post in a while, but Kizaniver‘s probably my third or fourth favorite show this season—besides being the first Studio Trigger show I’ve actively liked. As such, I took my chance with this week’s Aniwords to explore one of the things that’s most fascinated me about the series so far: the use of scar imagery as a symbol for human connection.
Aniwords – Sleepy Spotlight: On Tanaka-kun and Flying Witch
I’ve been waiting since Non Non Biyori for a show to inherit its specific kind of slice-of-life bent, but I didn’t expect we’d get two of them in the same season (on the same day, no less!). As you already know, they are Tanaka-kun is Always Listless and Flying Witch, and I took some time on this week’s Aniwords to chat about how Tanaka-kun and Flying Witch are inheritors of the Non Non Biyori spirit and why the three of them work so well.
Mage in a Barrel 