An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 2

“The one where we actually integrate the main character into the setting” is an important plot beat for a lot of shows, particularly ones in the Urban Fantasy spectrum where there’s a whole world that the character needs to get used to. It’s not restricted to that genre – any scenario where you have a relative unknowing newbie as your lead could involve the plot beat – but it is fairly ubiquitous here since the element that requires the beat is close to universal.

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Wherever You May Roam – Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Spoiler Review

So, this is a show that seemed to be custom tailored just for me. On one side, I love anime witches. Call it a personal appeal but making the robe-and-pointy-hat combo look goodis a plus, along with the usual combo of impressive magic and decent cunning. On the other side, I typically enjoy travelogues, stories that focus on a person’s journey through a number of other engaging scenarios. So, a show about an anime witch going on a journey through a fantasy world encountering a variety of wonders and threats? This should be really good, or at least really appealing.

Of course, looking at things with a critical eye, I can’t just let a show get away on a couple of themes alone; this has to be fairly considered for what it achieves, not just want the pitch is.

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Seasonal Selection – Shikizakura Episode 1

Well, a new season is here and despite the fact that some previous Selections are continuing (namely Scarlet Nexus and 86), it’s time to pick one of them up. This time it’s Shikizakura, an anime-original (or mostly so) power suit action show. How’d the first episode go?

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 13 (S2E2)

This week, we get an episode entirely devoted to Shin’s side of the world; Lena doesn’t appear at all. And, quite honestly, that was needed in order to go through the emotions of their experience with good pacing; the show would not have benefited from either doing it in half the time (losing emotional weight) or from doing it over two episodes (bloating the pace of the plot points).

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How To Not Write Mysteries, Twists, or Characters – Occult Academy Spoiler Review

“Picture of a man, a weary dreamer in a mundane world, and thus like many steeped in occult matters and fantasy diversions. One harmless enough after all, indulging in the fictions of alien visitors or out-of-place artifacts, the coy suggestions of might-have-been believed fervently by others and made believable by careful atmosphere and storytelling. But in the search for horror fiction and urban fantasies, such a man is likely to encounter horror of a very different kind, in the form of a show that purports to trade in such favored topics but instead trades in other things, a profusion of cheap twists supported by obnoxious characters and forced scenes. Because, at this Occult Academy, the subject we’ll be teaching is not about monsters or spirits but about writing, and the worst is about to be on display.”

So, Rod Serling style narration aside, let’s talk once again about constructive issues in shows, because there are going to be a ton of them to explore in Occult Academy. Many we’ll have to get to as we get to them in the summary of the plot, but let’s lay out the basics here at the start. For one, we’re going to have to talk about tone and atmosphere. We’re also going to need to talk about character growth, twists, and when a writer should let something go.

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Seasonal Selection – 86 Episode 12 (S2E1)

If you haven’t watched 86 yet, do yourself a favor and give it a look. The first cour of the show was a well-paced, emotional, dramatic dive into the seemingly no-win scenario of a group of undesirables intended to die in battle against an army of rogue AIs and their commander, a principled young woman battling to hold on to her own humanity and help them against the wishes of the system she’s a part of. It was A+ work that balanced human kindness and cruelty, as well as light and darkness in general, to form an effective experience.

The one odd bit is that, despite the fact that we knew another cour was coming, it seemed to end on a definite final note. So, how does the show continue?

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