5 Favorite Anime Blog Posts from 2021 Week 22
Welcome to my 5 favorite anime blog posts from 2021 week 22!
Every week I look for posts that celebrate amazing moments in anime or otherwise blow me away with their wit and charm. I check hundreds of sites, and I can tell you that the ani-blogging community constantly produces a ton of amazing posts. I hope this list helps you find some of them!
Here’s the list of the sites I check!
Beneath the Tangles
Yuki is Not Your Enemy
As someone who aspires to write novels, Fruits Basket – The Final impresses me to no end. Over the course of three seasons, this series has brought its characters to life in a way I thought had been relegated to characters in works recognized as literature. Let me put this into perspective: I didn’t care about Phoebe Pyncheon from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book House of Seven Gables even a third as much as care about Kyou or Tohru from Fruits Basket. And Hawthorne is recognized as a literary giant. No, you know what? I care about Phoebe more like 10% of how much I care about Kyou and Tohru. At most. That’s how effective Fruits Basket has been at making me care about these characters.
Speaking of characters, we’ll leave Saki Hanajima, because let’s face it: I’m not certain I can prove she’s fictional! I’m half afraid she’d come after me if I did…
That’s what made the recent episode 8 so compelling. Kyou and Tohru feel so real that I’m long past responding to them as if they’re real characters. Their authenticity has implications that reach beyond fiction and encroach on the realms of philosophy and theology — just like real literature should do. And if the character has theological implications, you can be sure that Beneath the Tangles will pick up on it. That’s exactly what TWWK’s did this week when he examined Kyou’s revelations about how he thought and felt about Yuki. Kyou’s honesty… Well, I don’t want to spoil the post, so I’ll just encourage you to read the article for yourself.
In Search of Number Nine
WHY I APPRECIATE ERGO PROXY MORE AT 44 (A COLLABORATION WITH THE REVIEW HEAP)
Have you ever seen Ergo Proxy? I have. Watched every episode. But I’m not sure I saw it. It’s one of those series that is so deep that I think I probably missed 2/3 of its meaning when I watched it for the first time. I’ve tried to make time to rewatch it. Maybe I’ll choose it for one of my throw-back reviews. But I’ll be honest with you: Knowing that its studio Manglobe is no more fills me with sadness. That feeling permeates my interactions with the series. That might be one of the reasons that I find Ergo Proxy’s OP so powerful. Maybe the combination of powerful imagery, haunting music, and real-life loss (of the studio) combine to take my imagination to new places.
I’m always on the lookout for good Ergo Proxy reviews. Wondering what I’ve missed haunts me (yeah, I’m weird like that), and I hope that I’ll find clues — or even complete answers! — if I read someone else’s perspective. That’s the reason that this post by Iniksbane from In Search of Number Nine – An Anime Blog caught my attention. But the reason I decided I wanted to share it with you is because of what the article said about this series. Without giving any of the post away, I’ll just say that I now have an almost overwhelming desire to rewatch the series. And after reading this post, I think I have a better chance of understanding what the series was trying to accomplish.
The Otaku Exhibition
Shadows House: I Never Knew I Wanted This
I’ve been reading a lot of bloggers praise Shadows House. It’s one of those series that I had considered watching this season but just didn’t have the time. The more I read about it, the more I wish I would have made the time. The concept seems innovative, and for fantasy, that “Element X“, as N.K. Jemisin calls it, makes or breaks a series. We viewers can forgive weak characters or an occasional plot gaffe if that Element X is interesting or fresh enough. But without it? Enjoyment sags, and it would take fantastic characters and plot to rescue it.
This week, I found this post by perseus54321 on The Otaku Exhibition that talks Shadows House. The post takes the perspective that perseus54321 didn’t set out to like the series. In fact, the series had several characteristic that should have made it unenjoyable. But the series won perseus54321 over, and I found the description why captivating. I absolutely have to make time to watch this series. I’ll be you have the same reaction after reading this post!
Shallow Dives in Anime
Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions’ Toka Takanashi: Too Old for this Shit.
Did you enjoy watching Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!? I did. There’s a lot to like. The show treats Chūnibyō with a gentle respect instead of an excuse for derision. That alone got my attention. But when you add in characters like Rikka Takanashi, Shinka Nibutani, and Sanae Dekomori, it would have been kind of difficult for me not to enjoy it. Even now, around nine years after the first season ended, it’s still not uncommon to see GIFs of Rikka on my Twitter timeline.
If there’s one thing that bothered me about the series, it’s that my favorite character got very little coverage. You might expect that Rikka would be my favorite character, and you’re close. It’s actually her sister, Toka. I’m bummed I don’t see more about her! So I got cautiously optimistic when I saw the title of Dewbond’s post on Shallow Dives in Anime. Would this post actually do the character justice? Dewbond has a great character study track record, and guess what? This post continued that streak! Finally, I found a post that gets Toka! If you liked that character at all, then you’ll really enjoy this article.
SpaceWhales Anime Blog
Now and Then, Here and There Review
It’s rare that I drop a series. The show has to deliver some serious pain to eject me. For example, I got 10 seconds into Hand Shakers before I had to bail. There was something about the animation and music that made me feel physically ill. No lie! But that’s not the only reason I’ll drop a show. Take Now and Then, Here and There, for example. I had to drop that, and if you’ve read my post about Pink Floyd’s music from Listeners episode 6, you’ll have a hint why. If you listen to Under Pressure and honestly know the “terror of knowing what this world is about,” then you’ll know why I had to drop this series.
See, decades ago, I fought a war against despair. Despair won, and I never recovered. You’ve hard the Sound of Silence (the version by Disturbed)? Well, for me, it’s kind of like “hello darkness, my old friend.” I have to be very careful with my attitude. Else, I might not just talk to darkness as an old friend. I might take her to dinner and go on a drunken rampage across the city. It’s still amazing just how close to the surface all of that is. So close, in fact that I have to be very careful what I watch.
That’s what’s so astonishing, at least to me, about what I’m about to say. I dropped Now and Then, Here and There because it was too close to what I live. I had to stay away from it. But then I came across this post by SpaceWhales on SpaceWhales Anime Blog. It painted such an eloquent portrait of the series and its existential implications that I have to ask myself: Is avoiding fact really the best idea? And for the rest of you, the post gives you such insight into the series that if you haven’t watched it yet, you might want to. If you’re the sort who likes the whole “unflinching truth” thing!
Want to Read More of My Favorite Anime Post Lists?
Want to explore more amazing anime blog posts? Check out the previous editions of My Favorite Anime Community Posts!
Wow, thank you for the shout-out. I didn’t realise you struggled to much with NATHAT. I’m lead to believe that’s not a rare outcome, though. The series is hard to watch no matter what. I’m really glad you appreciated my review despite the tough memories for you – that must have been a difficult review to read in lots of ways, but I’m really impressed you got through a review very opposite to your own opinion of the show!
You’re welcome! Your post gave me a different perspective on the show, and I appreciated that!