Welcome to My 5 Favorite Anime Blog Posts from 2023 Week 06!
Every week, I visit about 310 anime sites looking for posts that celebrate amazing moments in anime or otherwise blow me away with their wit and charm. The ani-blogging community writes a lot of those posts. I hope this list helps you find some of them!
You can see a list of the sites I check here: Massive List of Sites!
The Con Artists
Hikari no Ou – Episode 03
Near the end of January, in my review of NieR:Automata Ver1.1a Episode 3, Braverade left a comment recommending I check out a series called The Fire Hunter — a.k.a., Hikari no Ou. I didn’t remember seeing anything about it when I was trying to decide what to watch for the Winter 2023 season. But wow, am I glad that Braverade made that recommendation! The show has so much going for it! Like what, you might ask? Well, this post from CONARTISTDAN on the site The Con Artists reviewed the third episode. As it turns it, it’s so far a perfect microcosm of the series! See if you agree with CONARTISTDAN’s opinion of the series. Hint: I do!
Lita Kino Anime Corner
RAVEN CONSORT OF SORTS
Raven of the Inner Palace captured my imagination in a way few series have. It was at times enchanting, and at other times inspiring. It was also haunting in a way I still find disturbing. In other words, it captured the spirit of a time I am glad we’ve left behind us — at least, I hope we have. But there was more to the series than that. Lita Kino, on her site Lita Kino Anime Corner, has a way of succinctly capturing the heart and spirit of a series. She puts those skills on display as she takes a look at what made Raven of the Inner Palace distinctive. the review helped me remember what I liked about the series. I bet it has the same effect on you!
OTAKU SINH
Peak Eminence! The Eminence in Shadow Episode 19 [Review]
I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed an episode of anime as much as I enjoyed episode 19 from The Eminence in Shadow. If I want to explain why, I have two options. First, I could recap the entire series and point out the foreshadowing for all of the amazing moments in the episode. Or, I could spare you that boredom and instead point you to this delightful review by SINH on the site OTAKU SINH. Since I like you readers and want you to think kindly of this site, I’ll take the second option. SINH understands this series, especially its strengths, and he talks about it with humor and clarity. He also has some great image captions! See which is your favorite!
Shallow Dives in Anime
Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night: Attack on Titan
Do you enjoy the Sword Art Online franchise? I do. I even enjoyed Gun Gale Online. The shows share a common spirit that I find up-lifting. bit for some reason, I feel like I should defend myself for liking them! It’s like there’s a large faction who vocally disrespects the franchise or something…
In all seriousness, the shows aren’t perfect. I know that, but I enjoy them anyway. Now, you might think that I’m a little too easy on the series. But I know someone who’s never easy on any series. I know someone who always calls it like he sees it. And that someone is Dewbond from the site Shallow Dives in Anime. This time, Dewbond takes on Sword Art Online the Movie: Progressive – Scherzo of Deep Night. Did the move survive his scrutiny? What’s his take? There’s one way to find out!
Side of Fiction
Yes, Toradora is Still my Favorite Anime
Toradora is one of 6 series I’ve rated a perfect ten on My Anime List. It’s been years since I saw it for the first time, and yet, every time I rewatch it, I still adore it. It’s one of those series I’ll likely induct into the Caw of Fame. There are some series that affect me more deeply than Toradora; but not many.
Turns out I’m not the only one who thinks well of Toradora. Jacob – Your Friendly Overlord, on the site Side of Fiction, made a bold statement: namely, that Toradora is his favorite anime. Not favorite rom com, not favorite romance. His favorite anime. Period. And you know what? He makes a great case for it! As someone who rated Toradora a 10, I full-heartedly endorse this review! See if you agree with his reasons for naming Toradora his favorite.
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!
Want to Read Favorite Posts from Other Sites?
- Anime Feminist: Weekly Round-Up, 1-7 February 2023: Sexism Against Female Athletes, Updates to Sex Crime Laws, and AI Synthesizing Voice Actors
- Lesley’s Anime and Manga Corner: Anime and Manga Blog Posts That Caught My Eye This Week (February 10, 2023)
I believe I may have found the smoking gun. I distinctly remembered Puck remarking about the usage of Subaru’s gate in Season 1, and so I went back and checked.
In Episode 8 of Re:zero, Puck says, “For better or worse, your gate hasn’t seen much use. That’s why your mana ignored your will and burst out like that. This was when Subaru used Shamak for the first time. Puck saying that his gate ignored his will because it hasn’t seen much use could perhaps be a sign that Subaru had a gate even before he got summoned to Re:zero’s fantasy world, meaning that he was born with a gate, which would signal that one or both of his parents were isekaied to Earth.
For now I lean toward his mother, Naoko, being isekaied to Earth. I don’t think his father, Kenichi, was isekaied given there appears to be a history of seniors and parents having seen his dad grow up as a child.
I might not have commented, but I’ve been reading your work here and have been thinking a lot about it. There’s not much I can add. I loved the series, and I watched it carefully. But there’s no way I have the level of understanding that you do!
You’ve spoken of the possibility of Priscilla and Subaru’s relationship before. I have to say, the more you analyze Priscilla’s actions, the more convinced I am you’re on to something. I still like Emilia; but Priscilla is an intriguing possibility, especially if Emilia’s fate plays out like you’ve suggested it might.
Now, the idea of Subaru’s mom having been isekaied to Earth is completely new to me. It, too, is an intriguing idea! I’m very curious to see what, if anything, the writer does about those hints. Because they certainly seem interesting, don’t they?
I think it’d be very interesting if Subaru’s mom was isekaied to Earth. It could increase the complexity of the story further. It’d make it so that Subaru could actually return to his ancestral homeland, wherever that may be, rather than never have the chance to go there since he was isekaied to another world.
That would be cool! Lots of dramatic possibilities, too.
Subaru’s mom also posed a question to Subaru, which is what would he choose between mayonnaise and the world, and he said the world while Naoko chose mayonnaise. Subaru said that anyone who chooses mayonnaise hates the world. Maybe Naoko hates the world because Earth is not the world she grew up in, but she grew to love mayonnaise, which didn’t exist in medieval societies.
Oops, I didn’t mean that a Roman invented strawberry jam but jam in general. Jam was also very expensive back in the day and only something the upper classes could afford, so maybe Subaru’s mom was an upper class lady if she did originally come from Re:zero’s fantasy world.
TCrow, after all these years, I’m still gleaning more information from Re:zero’s scenes that I might have missed before. All it took was for me to open my mind to the possibilities.
I had never previously considered that someone might have been isekaied to Earth in Re:zero, but after I recently pondered whether that is possible, I rewatched Episode 29, and there might have been a scene staring right at our faces where that was hinted at. Subaru asked why his mom, Naoko, cooks up a weird mix of Japanese and western food, and maybe that’s ’cause she came from somewhere else, whether it be because she was a European immigrant or because she was a native from Re:zero’s fantasy world. Strawberry jam was believed to be invented by a Roman, and it is not unthinkable that there were jam recipes in Re:zero’s medieval society, and perhaps the reason Naoko likes making toast with strawberry jam is because it was one of her go-to breakfast foods back when she lived in Re:zero’s fantasy world. His mom avoided answering his question as to why there’s a mix of Japanese and western food, merely saying that she always puts wakame seaweed in her miso soup and that strawberry jam is her favourite thing to put on her toast. Maybe the reason she didn’t answer is because she didn’t believe anyone would believe what she had to say. If this were 99% of shows, that remark from Subaru would have been a random throwaway comment, but Re:zero is famous for having foreshadowing when you would least expect it, so I am giving the possibility of Naoko being isekaied serious consideration.
Additionally, Re:zero has gone out of its way to highlight Subaru’s apparently scary eyes multiple times, and with the reveal that his eyes resemble his mother’s, it would be interesting to see whether there is someone from Re:zero’s history who had scary eyes that one day vanished without a trace as if that had happened it would almost certainly have been Naoko.
I also have new analysis on Episode 16 with Priscilla. Previously, I had mainly focused on her reaction to Subaru’s behaviour and why she got so angry with him, but now after further examination, I am very convinced that Priscilla treated Subaru very gently by her standards in Episode 16 even before she even tested his mettle.
Priscilla is the only Royal Selection candidate in Arc 3 to notably give Subaru help in the way of pointers after his outburst at the castle without asking for anything of monetary or strategic value in return. When she said that she appreciates Subaru’s desperation but that Subaru had not thought things through with how his actions amounted to cornering his ally, benefiting his enemy, and losing all control in the process, she basically straight up told Subaru that his actions weren’t helping Emilia. She specifically said that Subaru was better off dying for using the sort of approach he was using. Contrast this with Crusch wanting Emilia to withdraw from the Royal Selection as compensation for helping out and Anastasia wanting to see what sort of information she could learn from Subaru in his vulnerable state, Priscilla was basically being selfless and acting out of the goodness of her heart, however shocking that may be.
The way I see it, Priscilla basically gave Subaru a chance to redeem himself in her eyes after his outburst at the castle in Episode 16. That is why she told him that his desperation wasn’t helping Emilia and then immediately posed a situation to him that would require for him to be disgustingly desperate with her asking for him to lick her foot. She was basically hoping for him to pass a test in which she had already given him pointers, and Subaru still failed miserably, which Priscilla most likely saw as being extremely disgraceful after all the effort she put in to make the interaction favourable for him with her hinting at what she actually wanted to see from him. Priscilla letting Subaru off the hook with one kick followed by throwing him across the room was about as favourable as it can get for him in my opinion considering she even suggested that Al can kill him if he wanted to, which backs up that she considered Subaru’s actions to be bad enough to be punishable by death. That she deferred to Al showed that she just really doesn’t want to kill Subaru for any reason because of what she felt about him prior to his outburst at the castle. Considering Priscilla was considering dealing serious harm to Felt in Episode 13, Subaru being treated with kid gloves in spite of how Priscilla was much angrier with him than she was with Felt shows that she had a soft spot for him. When you contrast the look of pure fury on her face after she threw Subaru across the room compared to her mood in Episode in 13, it’s hard to argue against that.