An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Anime Expo 2024 Day 1 — Selected Previews

Sometimes an anime reviewer goes to an anime con.  At those times, it seems prudent to report on some of what was seen.  Today, I have impressions of Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers, Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary, Witch Hat Atelier, and The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to be Archenemies, based on their panels.

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2nd Anniversary Special: Top 10 Anime Openings (Action and Non-Action lists)

Well, it’s that time of year again – time for a Top 10 list! This is one that’s probably going to be deeply contentious: there are so many anime openings, and so many of them are really good that I think every anime fan has their own personal top list, with very little overlap between them. So if you disagree, go ahead and share your favorites in the comments, I’d love to hear them.

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1 Year Anniversary Special: Top 10 “Sad” Anime Moments

So, for the one-year mark of the blog, I’ve decided to do a top ten list! This time, it’s the top ten moments from anime that I’ve found darkly emotional. I titled the list as Sad, but Sad doesn’t quite cover it as when preparing the list I wanted to include some things that weren’t traditionally sad, but had more complex emotional profiles, hence the air quotes in the title. The scenes will include sorrow or crying on the part of the audience, but can also be ones that touched on fear or had you crying for reasons other than straight-up tragedy and loss. I did, however, have a couple rules. First, I had to be able to determine a fairly contained scene, rather than a longer sequence. At the very least, it needed to be contained to one episode in the end. Second, it did have to have some element of pathos, it couldn’t be a purely fear-inducing horror moment. Something in the scene had to be something that would make you cry. Third and finally, I both restricted myself to multi-episode shows rather than movies or one-off OVAs and also would not give more than a single mention to a particular property, even if it had many strong moments.

Now, I am not a review-bot who has watched every Anime in existence (shocking, I know!) and scenes that threaten to start the waterworks can be intensely personal. So if you think there’s something else that should be mentioned, either because I didn’t consider it or because it’s in something I haven’t spoken about… leave a comment! Let me know! Tell me about the scenes and shows that moved you. And, if you can, leave a comment as well telling me what you think about the “Top 10 List” format, and if this is something that should be an occasional feature.

All that said, while this list is intended to cover something of a spectrum, it does hit on a LOT of turning points and especially character deaths, so from this point forward, there will be spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

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Echoing Through the Haze: KagePro Songs Analysis (Part 2)

Here we are again! Last time we covered Kagerou Days, Yuukei Yesterday, Headphone Actor, Ayano’s Theory of Happiness, and Toumei Answer, roughly getting through the arcs of Takane/Ene and Shintaro and Ayano’s past. This time we’ll be following through with the Mekakushi-dan, Momo Kisaragi, and some big-time story in Lost Time Memory, Additional Memory, and Outer Science.

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Echoing Through the Haze: KagePro Songs Analysis (Part 1)

This is where it all started: The songs that make up the core of the Kagerou Project. Therefore, this is where I’m going to start with more detailed analysis of KagePro’s elements.

Now, I’m not a music person. I appreciate a carefully-arranged series of select air pressure waves as much as the next guy, but I’m going to admit I don’t have the background and vocabulary to talk about these songs in more advanced musical terms. I’m more of a story person, including visual storytelling, and that’s the direction I’m going to approach KagePro from, viewing these entries less as “songs with PVs” and more as 3-5 minute short films. Some elements might be shared with the music, like pacing, and I can talk about how the sound design fits together, but I am going to be mostly going through the story the songs tell.

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Overture – Kagerou Project Review and Analysis Introduction

With a new year, the time has come to talk about what’s probably become my favorite overall media franchise: The Kagerou Project, or KagePro for short. It’s a story that begins – or seems to begin – on a hot summer day, concerning a group of youngsters, tied together on multiple levels and embroiled in strange and supernatural events.

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How Much Lore Does It Take to Justify Cute Ship Girls? A Prelude to Azur Lane

The upcoming Azur Lane anime is… something that is weirdly in my interest. I was never really a gacha game or phone game sort of person, but I’ve been playing around on Azur Lane for most of a year now; it has some decent character writing and is overall very friendly to casual players. When I heard they were going to make an anime based on the game, though, I was… less than thrilled. It would be cool to see some of my favorite characters moving around and doing things in a more fully realized world, but adapting video games, at least ones that aren’t visual novels, into other media has historically been very thorny. True, anime does this a little better than Western media; Granblue Fantasy the Animation was… not exactly what I’d call good, but it does look a little like Citizen Kane when you put it next to the filmography of Uwe Boll (probably the West’s most famous or perhaps infamous adapter of video games). But in any case there would have to be care taken and effort output in order to make an Azur Lane anime good.

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