Greetings to you, fair readers of this blog. This week I am happy to greet you along with my new friends who now inhabit the top shelf of my anime bookcase. The genki power in my apartment is strong…
Oh, right! Anime! Let’s get to it!
Aniwords – One Punch Man & the Nature of Heroism
I’ve kind of been waiting for One Punch Man to put some thematic muscle behind its animation chops, and this episode did it (albeit via the graceless inclusion of the random whiny dude). So, of course, I gave the show its due and spent a little bit of time breaking down how One Punch Man‘s commentary works at illuminating the nature of heroism. I suppose I should point out—and I didn’t really touch on this in the original article—that the Hero Associations brand of heroism isn’t wrong per se. It’s functional and practical. It emphasizes results, and directs heroes for the benefit of society the best it can (the point raised this episode that the Association is funded by donations from the public is extremely interesting). But this post is about heroes! Enjoy!
My Hero Academia Volume 2 – Manga Review
So, I’m pretty happy to announce that I’m now the official My Hero Academia reviewer for The Fandom Post, picking up from where I started with Otaku Review. I’m pretty happy about this, because MHA is a delightful little series filled with cute characters and a ton of energy. Are cute characters and energy all that’s required to get me to like things? Maybe, but MHA has a bit more going on. It’s also a series that very nearly crosses gender lines in its appeal—aside from a few throwaway moments (which is sad on its own) MHA generally does a really good job of balancing letting its guys and girls be awesome and cool. I’m starting to feel this manga might be, excepting those few moments, a great starter manga for kids of either gender—which is cool and neat all on its own.
Check out the full review here!
Anime Weekly: Fall 2015, Week 8
Thanksgiving’s tomorrow, so here’s an early Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Mage in a Barrel (that is, just me and my Nyarko nendroid)! For those of you in the states, I hope you have a nice holiday! For those of you not celebrating Thanksgiving, it never hurts to be thankful—at the least, take some time to remember that we can be grateful for the chance to watch good anime. That being said, let’s talk about them!
Aniwords – I’m Driving a Giant Robot, & I Can’t Make it Stop
As you are all aware, I’ve been in the middle of a big mecha anime kick for a while. After Gundam Build Fighters paved the way and I cruised through Knights of Sidonia like a madman, I’ve been spending most of my free anime watching time burning through what is probably anime’s most hallowed genre—that of the giant robot. So, in this week’s Aniwords, I spend a bit of time retracing my steps to this point (“someone tell me how I got here // from the city to this frontier”) and musing a bit on the overall experience of expanding the boxes of interest in which we dwell. Hope you guys enjoy it!
Hyouka, Episode 13
Another lighthearted week with our characters all spread out across the campus of the school, which means another week lacking an overarching cinematographic code. Of course, when I say “overarching,” I do mean in terms of the entire episode. On a case-by-case (that is, character-by-character) basis, there are definite visual trends that accompany each member of the Classics Club on their trek through the Kanya Festival. It’s… not as easy for everyone else as it is for Oreki.
Anime Weekly: Fall 2015, Week 7
I’m just now realizing that—once again—I’ve found my way underneath 10 airing shows that I’m keeping up with (the count, as you’ll see, is 9). As I’m still only keeping up with the things I really want to keep up with, I’m feeling pretty good. I also think about these reduced schedules (as opposed to earlier in the season when I was up around 13 shows) in terms of “having more time to do more writing,” but maybe it’s better simply to think of them as reducing some of the pressure. As always, thanks for reading and commenting—I’d probably have given up somewhere along the way if not for you guys!
Aniwords – How Anime Avatars Explain Life
A little less than two weeks ago, a guy writing for New York Magazine threw out an article that ostensibly linked Twitter users who have anime avatars with a certain internet group, and there was a bit of a fuss about it. I kind of joked about it when the article came out, but I also spent some time musing about it—and so, as I do with most things I spend time thinking about, I wrote a column for Crunchyroll about it!
Hyouka, Episode 12
Oreki’s personal crisis is over and the culture festival is finally here, bringing with it a batch of new drama pins and one big problem for the Classics Club. After the weight of the last few episodes, it’s quite pleasant to have an episode that leans more into Hyouka‘s lighthearted strengths. How this peace will last, however, remains to be seen…
I Could Never Stop Time, nor Could I Hold to Its Passing: Reflections on Glasslip
It’s never explicitly stated, but at the end of Glasslip, at the conclusion to a brief and fitful summer, Kakeru Okikua leaves town to continue accompanying his famous piano mother as she tours the world… just as he has always done. Behind him, things have changed forever in the group of friends. It’s a momentary glimmer, but the effects will live on long after the sparkle has faded.
Glasslip is a reflection on the nature of time. It is about the impermanence of life, about the transience of our temporal existences, about the significance of these fleeting events of the past we call memory.
Mage in a Barrel 