Month: May 2021

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Anime Reviews Reviews Short Takes

Spring 2021 – A Couple of Sequels

Though I’ve attempted to branch out over the years in terms of what I write about here, I think I’m still somewhat known for my first episode/premiere reviews of anime. In the past I’ve struggled with this, and tended to go back into hibernation after finishing those first impressions because I just had no idea what to do with myself after my quest was complete. Now I’m making more of an effort to put into words the anime-related thoughts that come to my mind on a regular basis.

That said, this isn’t a post with any sort of deep reflection on what I’ve been watching. But I did want to make some space to talk about a couple of the sequels I’ve been looking forward to this season, and some of the aspects of those episodes that I look for when coming back to a series after a long hiatus.

Note: I’m also planning to watch the second part of Moriarty the Patriot, but since that was more of a split-cour situation, I felt it didn’t really warrant any additional attention at the moment.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 5 – Never Enough Money

Originally my goal with these posts was to catch up to the broadcast of this series, but I’m under the impression that I might not be capable of doing so before it finishes up. Timeliness has never really been my strong suit, so c’est la vie, I suppose. Despite my deep urge to watch ahead of my reviews and catch up with all the episodes of what’s turning out to be an extremely compelling series, I think the task of sitting down with each episode and examining it has been helpful for me to really take in all the details of what’s happening. There have been so many call-backs to previous episodes so far and so many seemingly random events that end up being connected to one-another that typing them out (in a form that I hope is slightly better than glorified notes) has helped me in my quest to keep track of everything.

I hope folks have been having a good time reading my episode analyses; no one’s really said anything, so I’m going to continue to forge ahead and assume the best. If you’re interested in catching-up with what I’ve had to say so far, be sure to check out my previous entries linked below:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4

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Categories
Anime Reviews Personal Reviews

To Love and Be Loved – Ash’s Legacy in “Banana Fish”

Note: This post contains spoilers through the very end of Banana Fish.

I suspect it’s common to go through periods of questioning one’s value to the world. At least, it’s common for me, because I have a terrible history of low self-esteem and imposter syndrome. If there are folks out there reading this who’ve always been perfectly confident about themselves or discovered the secret to mental well-being, well, please teach me your secrets. I spend possibly too much time worrying about what I have to offer to the world and whether I’m worthy of love, and I suspect that’s likely why I grew so attached to the narrative in 2018’s Banana Fish adaptation.

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Fashion Personal Special Features

A Fashion By Any Other Name

Content Warning: Discussion of various beauty standards.

When I meet people for the first time and they ask me about my hobbies, I’m pretty free with information related to my anime fannishness. It’s never been something that I’ve actively hid away from anyone, but there were definitely moments in the past where I thought twice about being open about it. At the rate I watch anime (and manage to hold down a full-time job), I probably shouldn’t have a lot of time or money left-over to pursue anything else. But I do happen to have other interests (surprising, I know), and one of them I tend to hold above the others even if it’s a little difficult to talk about.

Since my early college days I’ve been a fan of lolita fashion, and for the last several years I’ve been a collector and wearer of it. Anime Feminist, a site I hold in fairly high regard, recently had a feature on lolita fashion that did a good job of clearing up some of the misconceptions people tend to have about it. It got me thinking about the reasons why it initially appealed to me, and why I still enjoy it even as I creep onward toward middle age.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 4 – Emptiness

Now that I’m pretty much done with the rush of reviews, my husband and I have been watching some of the shows he was interested in. I usually give him a run down of everything I’ve enjoyed from a season and show him some premiere episodes, then let him decide what we watch together. I re-watched episodes 2 and 3 with him the other day, and we were both sad that we had to stop there (if I’m writing about a show I prefer my first viewing to be when I’m actually trying to do a write-up, otherwise I feel like it taints the experience for me). Even though I’ve been taking a little bit of a break this past week, I made getting back to Odd Taxi my first priority.

I’ve got a couple of spoilery things to mention about the previous couple of episodes, so I’ll put that stuff below the cut. Before that, though, here are links to the previous entries on this series, in case you’d like to catch up prior to this one:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3

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Categories
News Site News

Taking a Break

Hi everyone! I know the title of this post might seem a little bit ominous, but please don’t take it that way. If you’ve been a frequent reader of the site, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been on a one-post-per-day streak for a little bit over a month, which I’m really proud of. That said, without a constant barrage of new episodes to take in and comment on, it’s difficult to keep up that pace and remain the thoughtful writer I strive to be. So even though this is typically the pattern for the blog, this time I’m stating formally that I’m going to be dialing things back for a while to probably a couple of posts per week. This ought to give my brain a break and give me a little bit of time to gather my thoughts and notes on some longer pieces I’ve been thinking of writing, but haven’t had the time or energy to do so.

This is by no means me stepping away from the blog like I’ve had a tendency to do on occasion and by surprise – I’m feeling good about my writing and don’t feel like taking an extended break. But I’ve also got other things to do in “real life” and a big work deadline coming up fairly soon, so I wanted to be realistic and avoid burnout.

My priorities in the near future are to catch up with my Odd Taxi episode reviews (there should be another up in the next day or so) and to finish a couple of full-series reviews/essays that are sitting partly completed in my drafts at the moment. I’m also planning for some future entries in the “Anime Club no Densetsu” series, because those are a lot of fun to write and have been a great way to revisit some fond (and maybe no-so-fond) memories from my many years attending anime club.

I hope everyone is enjoying this season’s new anime – there are so many great series, I’m not quite sure if I’ll be able to drop any of the ones I was initially interested in! So I’ll be using some of my extra time keeping up with those and catching up on some unfinished business from prior seasons, too.

Thanks, as always, for reading and making anime fandom a great place to be.

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

The Way of the Househusband – What Makes an Anime?

I tend to have issues remembering when Netflix releases their anime. I’m so used to the quarterly seasonal framework and the week-by-week single episode release schedule that most seasonal anime follows that when Netflix drops an entire cour’s worth of anime it’s almost always a surprise to me (even when I know it’s coming and have my Netflix notifications set up to remind me. Yeah, I know). I always think “oh, I’ll get around to it” and then in many cases I never do. I’ve been trying to remedy that lately by watching a little bit of (mostly) Netflix anime on my phone before I go to bed a few times a week. It’s been a fairly successful endeavor, even though I’ve realized I can get through maybe an episode-and-a-half of material before starting to feel sleepy. This shouldn’t be seen as a criticism of anything I’m watching – I fell asleep through the second half of Vivi -Fluorite Eye’s Song recently despite feeling very invested in it. My body just doesn’t seem to obey any “clean sleep” rules and gets settled into bedtime mode by watching videos or listening to the TV. Weird physical adaptation or ADHD side-effect? You decide.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 3 – Bubbling Below the Surface

Hello, friends. It’s time once again to check in with our animal(?) friends (more on that beneath the cut) with episode 3 of Odd Taxi. This episode seems to continue along with its blend of interesting, snappy dialog and slow-burn narrative movement, giving us some more insight into a few of the characters and adding a bit more intrigue along the way. If you haven’t been watching the series, I still highly recommend it. As you may expect, this post will contain spoilers for the series up to this point.

You can check out my previous blog entries about the series via the links below:
Episode 1
Episode 2

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Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Horimiya – Snapshots of a Relationship

What’s important in a relationship? I think most people would answer something like “communication” or “shared interests,” and I think we can all agree that those are at least some of the basic things that make for a successful partnership. I might be tempted to ask a different question, however – what moments are important to a relationship? That’s a much more difficult question to answer, because as a rule our brains don’t always keep track of memories that, at the time, might seem insignificant.

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Anime Reviews Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 2 – Musings on Luck in Its Various forms

So, I typically don’t write episode reviews of series as they’re airing. I’ve tried to do it a few times over the years and always encountered issues (such as not having enough free time) or lost interest part way through. But lately I’ve been trying to broaden my reach and my writing skill set a little bit, and I thought this might be one way to do that.

There are a ton of great series airing right now, but the one I just can’t seem to get off my mind is Odd Taxi. Compared to most other contemporary anime, its tone and subject matter feel very, well, odd; it has the feel of a live-action drama in every way aside from its animal characters. It looks very cute but feels unsettling, and I enjoy stories that play off of that kind of ambivalence. So I’m going to try to catch up with the show and post on it as episodes come out. I hope you’ll join me!

Note: This post contains spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 of Odd Taxi.

You can check out my previous reviews of the series below:
Episode 1

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