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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 4: Adam by Eve: A Live in Animation

When I think of Halloween, I don’t always immediately think of music. While Christmas has its share of iconic carols, Halloween’s contributions to the musical canon are somewhat fewer and farther between. Once you get past “Monster Mash” or the soundtrack of A Nightmare Before Christmas, it gets much more difficult to name specifically Halloween-appropriate tunes. If you’re in the mood for a few of my own suggestions, might I recommend “Ghosts n Stuff” by deadmau5, the soundtrack to Over the Garden Wall, and today’s spooky selection, Adam by Eve: A Live in Animation

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 3: Spriggan Episode 3 “The Forest of No Return”

So apparently there was a new “Indiana Jones” film released this Summer. My life’s been a bit hectic the last couple of months, so though I had some mild awareness of it, I didn’t get a chance to go see it. Earlier in the year, however, I did watch an anime series that reminded me a bit of Indy and his archaeological adventures, and I suspect that my time may have been better spent doing so (did anyone see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny? Was it good? Let me know if I should try to check it out).

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 2 – Wasurenagumo (Li’l Spider Girl)

A few days ago I was doing some chores, and as I was unloading some laundry from the dryer I happened to notice a bit of movement out of the corner of my eye. I was startled to see one of the largest spiders I’ve seen in quite a while making its way slowly up our cinder block basement wall. As an adult I logically know that most spiders (especially in my area of the country) are helpers; they prey upon pest insects and generally just want to be left to their own devices to do so. But it’s difficult to fully ignore that visceral jump-scare feeling that just seems to be part of human nature when we encounter creepy-crawlies in unexpected circumstances. I’m sure it speaks to something ancient in our DNA, some deep fear that our ancient ancestors dealt with.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 1: Healer Girl Episode 10

While it may be the case that, for some of us, our anticipation of Halloween never really wanes, once the calendar flips to the month of October it finally feels reasonable to get hyped up over pumpkins and skeletons. And though Halloween isn’t a holiday native to Japan, judging by its presence as a background motif in media ranging from Cowboy Bebop: The Movie to Odd Taxi, it’s certainly cemented its unique place in the country’s culture. There are several anime that deal directly with the holiday, and many more that make for good watching for those of us who enjoy getting into the mood while indulging in our favorite hobby.

I’ll be spending the month (or at least as many days as I can manage) giving out some of my personal recommendations for spooky anime (and perhaps some manga if I happen to be so motivated). Most of these are just fun and mildly seasonally-appropriate, but there are some genuine spooks sprinkled throughout. While there might be some familiar entries in the list, I’m trying my best to dig a little bit for some surprises, so hopefully folks will find a few new things they weren’t aware of previously. Note: most of these should be fairly easy to find on streaming or disc, and I’ll make note of where to watch them if that’s the case. If they’re not legally available in the US, however, I’ll leave it to you to find them on your own.

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Favorites Special Features

Five Anime to Watch if You’re Short on Time – Round 1

I used to think that I was too busy, and then I went and had a kid. Now I truly know the meaning of not having the time I want to indulge in my various extracurriculars (right now my spouse is out with the baby so I can have some time to myself, and I still spent the first hour of this precious time taking care of house chores instead of settling down to write – I have problems). Along those same lines, the thought of trying to keep up with several seasonal anime series like I’ve done in the past is truly laughable, and I haven’t been current with very many anime series over the last several seasons at least. I’m sure some of you out there reading can share in my frustration.

Luckily, there’s good anime out there for people in our situation. While I definitely won’t be digging into anything of the magnitude of One Piece any time soon (or ever), I know of plenty of bite-sized anime treats to enjoy while carving out some precious free time in between other obligations. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites over several upcoming posts, to hopefully provide something of a lifeline for others just looking for a quick fix rather than something that would take half a lifetime to watch.

Please note: while I encourage folks to seek out official sources for these titles (I’ll be listing availability as appropriate) not everything may have an official US release. Unfortunately, this is simply the nature of being a long-time anime fan who’s watched various series become more and less available over time.

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Personal

There and Back Again – A Harrowing Year and a Break From Anime

Content Warning: Discussion of pregnancy complications and other medical situations.

Well, it’s sure been a year, hasn’t it? Calling it a full year isn’t entirely accurate in that I think my last actual post here aside from some convention information was back in October 2022, but it’s close enough I suppose. Like most of the “breaks” I end up taking from this blog, this one was as unintentional as any other, but as I mentioned back then a large part of my inability to focus this time around was due to undergoing fertility treatment – the medication regimen itself and the fact that caffeine (my way of self-medicating my ADHD) became a big no-no put a real damper on things.

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Personal

Social Media Updates (AKA “Where to Find Me”)

Hi all, once again it’s been a long while. I briefly mentioned this in my previous update (following Anime Detour), but I kind of fell off the face of the Earth due to being pregnant and dealing with some medical issues related to that. I’ll probably write more about that harrowing experience in a separate post but I’m at least happy to say that at this point all is well and our baby is here. Of course, over the past several months the social media landscape has gotten kind of interesting following the degradation of Twitter/X and the creation or proliferation of several social media services hoping to fill that void. I must say, for all its issues I’ve always enjoyed Twitter and I’m sad to see it fall apart due to the incompetence of its ownership, but as someone who grew up with the rise of the Internet, this isn’t the first implosion I’ve watched happen in real time and it definitely won’t be the last.

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Conventions Special Features

Anime Detour 2023 – Convention Reactions and Personal Updates

*Tries to pretend that she wasn’t absent for months*

Hi all, how has everything been? It’s been a little while. Long time readers will probably be familiar with these periods where I just drop off the face of the Earth for long periods of time. It’s not you, it’s me. Specifically, I’ve realized it’s an ADHD/hyperfocus thing. For quite a while last year, my particular hyperfocus was fiber arts (knitting, crochet, etc.) and so having thrown my whole self into that, it left me with not as much time to document my anime-viewing adventures. I’m choosing to try to make peace with that aspect of myself rather than worry too much about it – since I don’t make my living off of my writing, taking long breaks doesn’t necessarily cause many negative effects, aside from the fact that I lose touch with the many online-only WordPress blogging friends I’ve been fortunate to make (though I do still pop in and read your writing when I can, I promise).

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News Personal Site News

Empathy with Zombies

*Brushes off dirt and picks off cobwebs*

This season at the anime club I attend we’re watching both Zombie Land Saga and Shiki, two series in which (and sorry for for this very basic spoiler of both shows) the existence of the undead is integral to the plot of the story. I can’t help but feel a little bit of empathy for these reanimated characters, because for the past couple of months I’ve also kind of felt like I’ve been shuffling around with creaking bones and and a jumbled-up mind.

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News Site News

August 7th-13th Week-in-Review

This weekend would have been the weekend that I attended CONvergence 2022, a local media convention that takes place in my area every Summer and which I really look forward to every year, but unfortunately my spouse tested positive for COVID a couple of days beforehand so we both ended up spending the weekend at home. While we assumed we’d end up getting hit with it at some point – because we’re under 50 we didn’t qualify for this most recent round of boosters and my previous booster was back in October 2021 – it kind of sucks that it picked this weekend to make its appearance. Luckily we’re both basically fine; I actually haven’t tested positive at all this entire time, and hubby seems a lot better today as I’m writing this, but we’ve isolated from one-another in the house just to be safe. Not being able to hang out together as normal has probably been the most frustrating aspect of the entire situation, honestly.

The unexpected free time did give me a chance to catch up on some anime writing, though admittedly I probably could have done a bit more if I hadn’t also been trying to make progress on a couple of knitting and crochet projects as well. Having multiple plates spinning at once is just how I operate the best, though. I’m essentially done with seasonal first impressions – late as usual, but at least they’re done now. I’m still trying to decide whether or not to touch on some of the short form series from this season, especially since one of them runs a quarter hour per episode which is a length I’ve usually reviewed in the past. I suppose I’ll see what I have the time and motivation to deal with.

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