An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

(Inter)Planetary Romance – Waiting in the Summer Spoiler Review

Sometimes creators come back to an idea after some time has passed. Whether the world has seen the “old version” or not and however the two stack up to each other in terms of quality, it’s pretty inevitable. After all, most creators tend to create things they would like, and if what you like doesn’t change a whole lot, it’s inevitable that you’d return to certain concepts.

I mention this because Waiting in the Summer is the spiritual successor with a very similar pitch and from the same creator to a property called Onegai☆Teacher. If that sounds somewhat familiar to long-time readers it’s probably because I reviewed the semi-sequel to it, Onegai☆Twins some time ago. While Twins had its own independent story, it did of course have some inheritance from Teacher, so while I haven’t to date taken the time to view Onegai☆Teacher, I am at least somewhat aware of its facts: Alien comes to earth, bumps into boy, and through some more-or-less contrived coincidences ends up both his teacher and his fiancee.

Twins largely dropped the space alien angle, other than with its mascot critter’s presence, while keeping the same setting. Waiting in the Summer, meanwhile, is a new property with a new setting and no in-lore connection to the Onegai series. However, it features a very similar pitch: Alien comes to earth, bumps into boy, is a cute girl who’s really bad at disguising the fact she’s a space alien, romantic comedy ensues.

Viewing this, as is necessary for me, as its own thing and not in light of Onegai☆Teacher, how does Waiting in the Summer do?

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They Identify as Bugs – Blue Gender Spoiler Review

Putting humanity on the brink is nothing new in anime. Threatening our species with extinction at the ends of the various appendages of some menace, alien or otherwise, goes back a lot farther than some people seem to think. As evidence, I recommend breaking out the bug spray, turning on your CRT TV, and preparing to watch anime like it’s 1999 with Blue Gender.

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The Clothes Make the Waifu – Tsugumomo Spoiler Review

So, I think Tsukumogami are a sort of interesting subject. Surprising probably no one, in addition to anime itself I kind of have an interest in the culture and folklore of various regions, including Japan. For those who might not be aware, a Tsukumogami is a sort of supernatural being (usually a sort termed a Yokai, but not always) that is, in essence, the spirit of an artificial item.

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“Twenty-four! Ah-ah-ah! Twenty-four Episodes of this!” – Plunderer Spoiler Review

Anime has a lot of premises that are pretty odd, doesn’t it? Concepts you just sort of have to roll with in order to even start the show, no matter how insane or weird they may appear. The pantheon of weird core ideas includes both epic shows and epic misfires so this is no particular indicator of quality, but Plunderer has got to have one of the strangest setups I’ve seen in quite some time.

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