The point upon which all of this hinges is: humans are not built to be idols.
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.
My Hero Academia Volume 3 – Manga Review
I’m continuing my coverage of the My Hero Academia manga over at The Fandom Post, which means I’m not officially Relevant thanks to the anime airing this season. The anime’s reportedly only scheduled for 13 episodes, which is a bit weird for me as a manga reviewer—the manga, despite being fun, still doesn’t feel like it’s totally hit its stride yet in this third volume. Anyways, the manga is still good and I’m having a ball watch it get adapted into an anime.
Check out the full review here!
First Impressions: Spring 2016 Anime (Part 2)
In a real season of anime that isn’t as stupidly stacked as this one this, a lot more the premieres I check out that usually flop so I can leave them behind without feeling bad. This season, some of the cuts I’m making to my schedule feel like chopping down a sapling before seeing what kind of tree it will become.
First Impressions: Spring 2016 Anime (Part 1)
I knew it was coming, but I still feel like this spring season took me by surprise. Maybe it’s because this is the first season that I can remember since I started watching seasonal anime where I didn’t have some kind of major life transition or important obligation concurrent with the start of the season. Maybe it’s because I was so focused in on Macross Delta‘s premiere that I forgot to emotionally prepare for everything else. Whatever the case, it’s here now and it’s time to take a look at what we’ve got!
Aniwords – Uncharacterization in The Lost Village
The Lost Village wasn’t my favorite premiere so far, but it was probably the most interesting first episode to anything that’s aired from the Spring 2016 season so far. My love affair (not literal) with Mari Okada is well-known, and while my feelings on Tsutomu Mizushima (Shirobako) are more ambivalent than you might expect, putting them together on a show was something I was looking forward to. Apparently, rightly. And so, this post on writing and horror and using characters for a very specific purpose was born.
Top Winter 2016 Anime: Final Ratings
The Winter 2016 season of anime was a weird one for me—one where the unexpected winners of the season were shows I had fully intended to ignore from the start and one where old standbys didn’t manage to impress me the way they had in the past. That all being said, I’m pleased with this season, even as I look forward to the bounties of spring.
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju and the Humanity of the Stage
Anime Weekly: Winter 2016, Week 11
The end times approach.
Aniwords – Why You Keep Watching the Same Show Over and Over
I’m always sort of amazed how just watching one show can trigger a series of thoughts that tie a bunch of disjointed ideas together in my head. Thus it was with Hanayamata, and now here we are with a new Aniwords column on slotting in character archetypes into genre shows and why it all actually works.
Mage in a Barrel 