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Anime Reviews Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 7 – Masks

I took a couple of days off this past week in an attempt to regain some sanity after a particularly stressful month or so at work. I can usually tell when I’m due for a vacation, because I’ll start to get really short with people and have a difficult time dealing with unexpected situations. I’m lucky that my job provides me with quite a bit of flexibility and is generous with PTO. I’ve used the time to catch up on a little bit of anime as well. My Anilist is a wasteland of half-finished anime series at the moment, and any little bit of time I can get to chip away at that is welcome, in my book. Of course, Odd Taxi has turned into an extremely high priority series for me in spite of whatever leftovers I have in the fridge from past seasons, so this time away from work has been a good opportunity to work on catching up with that, too.

As usual, below are the previous entries in this series of posts. Be sure to check them out, too!

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Retro Review – Birdy the Mighty: Decode

I may have mentioned this here in the past, but I’ll say it again for the benefit of people who haven’t had a chance to read my FAQ page – I’ve been writing first episode reviews since around Spring of 2007, but aside from some early stuff on LiveJournal, which I believe exists to this day (though LiveJournal, ugh) I ended up losing a lot of that early writing due to various factors somewhat beyond my control. But actually that isn’t the truth anymore, because I’ve been able to recover access to them recently.

One thing I’ve heard wise people say is that if you look back on who you once were and it causes you to cringe a little, that means you’ve improved as a person. That’s a nice thought, and having skimmed through some of my old writing I’d like to think that holds true for myself. I wasn’t a good writer or critic back in those old days, and I definitely expressed my share of terrible takes about anime. That said, I thought it might be fun to revisit some of those old reviews by dusting a few of them off and updating them with some of my more current opinions about the series in question, if I’ve since had the opportunity to watch them.

Disclaimer: The retro review may be edited slightly for things like spelling errors and such, as well as for language if necessary. I used to use language and/or terminology back then that I would never use now, and don’t want anyone to think that I would currently condone saying anything that is directly hurtful toward others. Anime fandom is a place for everyone. Any of my current commentary embedded in the retro review will be indicated by brackets [ ]

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 6 – Deterioration

This weekend was the first time in quite a while that I spent any amount of time out in public simply for the purposes of having fun. I’m not normally someone who longs to be outside, but after spending such a large fraction of time stuck inside over the past year, I was hungry (literally, as it turned out) for some big, dumb event. My state’s state fair organization held a series of mini-events over the past week for folks to spend time on the fairgrounds eating fair food and doing activities, and while it definitely wasn’t the same as actually being at the event (I’m still a little wary of that – our state fair is considered one of the best in the country and attendance numbers will attest to that fact) it scratched an itch that I wasn’t aware needed addressing.

Now that I’m sufficiently sunburnt from that and then spending another couple of hours outside that day caddying for my husband (disc golf, not actual golf), I feel like I’m sufficiently back in the mood for some anime. To any other bloggers reading out there (I feel like that’s most of my audience at this point, lol) make sure you take some time out for yourself to have some fun if you can. It really helps to refresh your brain a little bit after sitting in front of your computer for hours at a time; without nurturing your mental health (in whatever way that means to you) it becomes easy for it to crumble and deteriorate.

As always, this post will contain spoilers up to and including this point in Odd Taxi. Be sure to check out my previous entries for this series, linked below for your convenience:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5

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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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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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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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