5 Favorite Anime Blog Posts from 2021 Week 29
Welcome to my 5 favorite anime blog posts from 2021 week 29!
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!
Anime Evo
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S – 02
Kobayashi from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S is a quiet, unassuming software developer. She also gives me hope. As a race, we’re repeating a lot of mistakes that we’ve has made before. Those mistakes have some seriously unpleasant consequences. But those mistakes don’t need to control humanity’s narrative. We’ve learned some positive and helpful things along the way, too. The question really comes down to this: Will the lessons we learned before we became the apex predator prevail? Or will our newer and more civilized selves come out on top?
What the heck does that have to do with Kobayashi, you ask? Everything. She’s learned the civilized lessons, and she’s living them with Tohru and Kanna. She’s even bringing Ilulu under her influence. What Kobayashi has done is combine one of the most basic human drives with one of the most sophisticated drives. And if that still doesn’t make sense, please allow me to direct your attention to Flareknight’s post on Anime Evo. In this post, Flareknight, in his usual insightful way, describes the impact of the second episode. Towards the end, he touches on why I say Kobayashi gives me hope. See what you think!
Demon God Tadd
The 2nd User Of One For All Is Bakugo’s Ancestor- My Hero Academia THEORY DISCUSSION
Did you know I’m writing novels? If you’re interested and don’t mind a shameless act of self promotion, you can read about my progress on one of my other sites, TerranceACrow.com. Since I write science fiction, I engage in a lot of world-building. That makes me sensitive to the world-building I see in anime series. In fact, I frequently geek out over effective world-building. It’s something that’s hard to objectively measure, but I have come up with one metric, even if it’s imprecise: The more complex and internally-consistent worlds tend to generate more blog posts that explore those worlds. That makes sense. After all, who would explore a thin, uninteresting world?
I often see posts exploring this or that aspect of My Hero Academia. Take Demon God Thadeus’ post on the site Demon God Tadd, for example. This post explores a theory about Bakugou’s lineage, which is itself interesting. But it reflects two other points. First, that MHA’s world is sufficiently well-developed to support such an exploration, which is really cool. And second, that this is another example of Demon God Thadeus’ entertaining and wonderfully well-researched theory posts. Seriously, Google this: “theory site:https://fictionoverlord.wordpress.com/” to see a ton of cool theories! Take a look at this post and see what you think of Bakugou’s possible ancestry.
I Drink and Watch Anime
Top 6 Anime Mad Scientists
I mentioned above how Kobayashi gives me hope, and she does. Overall, though, I’m not a big fan of hope. I find it distracting, on one hand. On another, it’s not something I can count on. As you better and better understand the world humans have built, if you’re honest and (most importantly) stupid or brave, you’ll discover “the terror of knowing what this world is about.” And then you have a handful of choices: Live in despair (bummer, that!), live for sporadic and unpredictable moments of random hope (better!), or live and make decisions without hope. The latter’s the course I’ve chosen, and though it works for me, as a philosophy, it’s not terrible comforting. I can’t recommend it.
Hmmm. Maybe I should have put a disclaimer on that paragraph. It’s a bit of a downer.
But, I have found a potential source of hope (beyond Kobayashi!). It’s science fiction and the science it’s based on. Isaac Asimov is reported to have said, “but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.” And what better way to celebrate science than to call out the top anime scientists? That’s exactly what Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime has done. I was frankly astonished at her number 2 selection, because I wondered who the heck could have been better? Then I saw her number 1 pick and realized all was right in the world. See if you agree with her rankings!
Jonah’s Daily Rants
My Review Academia S5 E15: Looming Threat and Growing Hope
I don’t start looking for posts with any particular theme or series in mind (beyond just celebrating anime or impressing the heck out of me!). But it’s fun when I discover, after hours of picking potential posts to celebrate, that a theme emerges. This time, we’re apparently focused on My Hero Academia! I’m okay with that, because as I mentioned earlier, it has a rich and engrossing world. But it doesn’t only have a world!
That’s exactly what the point this post by jernahblunt on the site Jonah’s Daily Rants makes! Looking back at Other Posts to Crow About, I see that I’ve celebrated many of jernahblunt’s posts (16 since he debuted on these pages in 2019!), and most of them are for his thoughtful and insightful character studies. This time, it’s for one of his general episode reviews. It turns out the phrase “thoughtful and insightful” applies to them, too! This one’s about season 5, episode 15 (which Crunchyroll calls episode 103). There was a lot going on in this episode, and jernahblunt breaks it down for us. See if he mentioned your favorite points!
Mechanical Anime Reviews
I DON’T LIKE VIVY
Vivy Fluorite Eye’s Song might have ended, but the conversation continues! I’ve written early in Vivy’s season that my concerns about its direction meant I couldn’t review it. Since then, I’ve read a lot of bloggers’ perspectives and have answered a lot of comments about my position. As of last week’s 5 Favorite Anime Blog Posts, the rationale behind the volume of positive opinions about the series had me doubting myself. I’ll only know for sure once I watch the series to the end, and I still intend to do that. Still, I’d certainly read a lot of positive opinions!
Note that I didn’t say any opinions swayed me. The quality of the posts had me doubting my initial impression, which is incomplete. I’ll find out for sure once I finish watching the series.
Then this week, I came across Scott’s post on Mechanical Anime Reviews. As you can tell from the title, Scott had a less than positive reaction to the show. That’s interesting for two reasons. First, Scott has established himself as an expert in science fiction anime, particularly anime that focuses on mechs. Of course, reputation alone is only a start, but it’s a good start! The second reason is even more compelling: The reasons Scott gave for not liking the show included some pretty convincing evidence. At this point, I want more than ever to make time to finish the series, because I’m dying to know what I’ll think about it! If Scott’s right, I’ll confirm my initial bias. See if Scott’s reasoning convinces you!
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!
Just want to let you know, TCrow, that Kageki Shoujo!! had a very powerful episode last week, and it completely justified my decision in picking it up because of how well it portrayed trauma.
I’ve watched the first two episodes, and I plan to keep as current as I can with it. I’ve throughly enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. Remember towards the end of the second episode, where Sarasa Watanabe accidentally walked onto the stage? That moment was amazing — and Ai Narata’s reaction completely sold it.
And now I really want to see the third episode.
I watched the third episode this morning. Yeah, that was solid drama. The understatement made it all the more powerful.
TCrow, I have already directly addressed one of Scott’s gripes with Vivy in one of my previous posts to you when the show presented more than once that merely copying an AI’s experience data does not lead to an identical copy of that AI being formed, and in Grace’s case, who is the AI that he alluded to that could have been restored to its former self, it is especially not true given what had actually happened to Grace. I’m not going to spoil it to you, but I will find some time to post on his site directly why he misinterpreted what the show presented on that sort of matter time and time again, and I do have a rebuttal for basically any counterpoint about this.
When I read reviews, I don’t care about how much expertise the authors have on what they’re covering. I judge a show based on how I believe the creator or creators intended for the show to be consumed, not based on what the individual reviewer would have preferred the show ending up to be based on his/her personal preference. Yeah, I may have made a post about Wonder Egg Priority outlining my preferences for that show to you, TCrow, but part of the reason for that is because the creators of that show had no plan for how to end the show and just introduced twist after twist, even undermining the issues facing teenage girls brought up in the beginning with one of said twists, so I was merely expressing a better way for the show to have proceeded since the creators had no idea what they were doing.
My final score for Vivy was a 7/10. I did not expect for it to be some great show because I from the very beginning believed the show was more about Vivy’s (and Matsumoto’s as Vivy’s partner) journey and individuality than about the great execution of sci-fi concepts. I agree with Scott about Vivy not doing anything innovative, but did it really need to? It did what the author had set out to do which was make a show about an AI’s individuality while bringing up some sci-fi concepts that he wanted to see represented in this work of fiction. Not all shows were meant to be some great innovative product, and in my opinion, the instances of anime being great are few and far between. Vivy exceeded expectations for me in any case because I had pegged it to be a potential disaster of a show based on the premise, and it ended up being a lot better than I expected. There was foreshadowing from the very beginning on who the final boss was that was missed by nearly everybody who watched it.
I forgot to mention that Vivy is the only case across all anime in which I believe that singing to save the world was made to be believable.
Thanks for not spoiling the show! I hope to watch it within the next few weeks, since I’m on vacation. But we’ll see!
“When I read reviews, I don’t care about how much expertise the authors have on what they’re covering.”
I think I may have given the wrong impression, because expertise doesn’t drive whether or not I accept what someone says. I thought that the idea of argument from authority is worthless was so well know that no one would think I was silly enough to buy into it!
Whoops.
What I meant was that based on my assessment of his previous posts, Scott has demonstrated expertise on specific kinds of science fiction anime. That means I’m more likely to take the time to read his posts in depth, because even though past experience doesn’t guarantee future success, it does provide a probability indicator.
In other words, I use demonstrated expertise to help me prioritize what I read.
“I agree with Scott about Vivy not doing anything innovative, but did it really need to?”
I really need to watch the show. My specific problem was philosophical, but in this case, it sounds like you and Scott had different expectations gong in. As a science fiction reader myself, I’m not sure I’d say my expectations for science fiction anime are higher, but I tend to get my hopes up. Science fiction can be amazing, and so can anime. I hope every science fiction anime I see will blow me away. Which is one of those reasons I don’t trust hope! That’s probably on me, though.
Wow…….I’m glad you liked that post so much! Honestly; I didn’t expect many people to take to it- or at least not to this extent. I’m glad you did, though!!
I enjoy hearing about the different philosophies of others and from different anime- it helps when I try to write my own stories(though I end up scrapping a lot of those stories after a while). My philosophy for hope came from “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.” I liked what LinGreed said about it: “Hope= Greed, and there’s nothing wrong with too much hope.” It reminds me that no one is all good or all bad- their life circumstances just brings one aspect of them to the fore.
I’ve heard about Vivy, but…….meh; not all that interested in it.
“I enjoy hearing about the different philosophies of others and from different anime- it helps when I try to write my own stories(though I end up scrapping a lot of those stories after a while). ”
Cool! Do you write short stories or novels? Lynn Sheridan, The Otaku Author (https://otakuauthor.com/), is writing novels and uses anime as a way to study the elements of story. I do, too (https://www.terranceacrow.com/).
Why do you scrap your stories?
“It reminds me that no one is all good or all bad- their life circumstances just brings one aspect of them to the fore.”
Amen to that. That understanding will also help you write better characters!
I mostly try and write long running manga stories, but I have no art skills to draw with, so I guess more like long running light novels. But I never get to the “novel” part because I scrap them.
I end up coming up with a whole bunch of different ideas that completely change the flow of the stories, and then I end up changing the story completely to match that 1 change. And then I end up getting mad at myself for being so indecisive and stop writing for a while.
Do you want to develop your visual arts skills?
Do you prefer to write?
The hardest thing I had convince myself to do was to finish anything. Robert A. Heinlein is a classic science fiction writer I really respect. He had five rules for writing fiction:
https://www.writerswrite.co.za/robert-a-heinleins-5-rules-for-writers/
Number two is “You must finish what you write.”
Put your new ideas in another manuscript. At least, that’s what has helped me!
I never really thought about my art skills; I tried drawing at one point, but for whatever reason- I stopped. And now my brother needs to use my stylist, so I can’t even continue right now. Besides; I DO prefer to write.
I always have the ending scene in my head cause my end goal is always the same. But the “in-between” stuff is where I struggle.
I used to have a similar challenge. A writer named Dan Wells has a series of five relatively short YouTube videos about story structure that really helped me: https://youtu.be/KcmiqQ9NpPE
You saying you have the end goal in mind reminded me of this, because he recommends you start at the end! Might be worth watching at least the first couple of videos.
Alright. Thanks for the advice!