Welcome to My 5 Favorite Anime Blog Posts from 2023 Week 13!
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. 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!
All About Anime and Manga
Franken Stein, an Insane Scientist
Soul Eater has a special place in my heart, and it has nothing to do with the show itself. Rather, it’s the first, and still among the few, anime series that I could convince my wife to watch. What’s more, she liked it! So every time I see a review that touches on Soul Eater, it attracts my attention.
I think the reason my wife liked it does have to do with the show itself. It has great OPs like Resonance and Papermoon (which is my favorite). It has great characters, like the villain Medusa Gorgon or the criminally underrated Eruka Frog. Not only that, but it also has great protagonists, and some of them are such interesting characters that they defy easy categorization. Tessa’s post on the site All about Anime and Manga tackles one of my those characters, Franken Stein, and it contains some keen insights and delightful observations. Stein is not an easy character to write about, but Tessa nailed it. See if you agree!
Anime B&B
[Review] S4 is the Danmachi I Always Wanted
I hope you don’t get tired of me talking about just how enjoyable Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV Part 2 was. Because guess what? I found another intelligent and authentic review that talks about what made it so much fun to watch! Marina, on the site Anime B&B, explained why this season resonated so strongly with me. Actually, more than one why! Who doesn’t love that “ah-ha!” moment when a review explains something that was just on the edge of our consciousness, but remained out of reach! I experienced that in this review — twice! See if you have a similar experience!
Anteiku Anime Reviews
Kyousou Giga
I’m on record saying that Kyousou Giga is impossible for me to review. I first confessed this embarrassing truth back in February 2020, and until an hour ago, it was still a bedrock fact. But in the last hour, I read this post by Anteiku Anime Reviews on the site Anteiku Anime Reviews. I had racked my brains trying to come up with an angle, or a vocabulary — anything — that would let me review it. But in the space of a single post, Anteiku Anime Reviews dropped the truth bomb like it was nothing. Seriously, its simplicity and clarify blew my mind. And no, I’m not being hyperbolic at all! If you liked this series at all, I think you’ll enjoy this post!
Mechanical Anime Reviews
(#MECHAMARCH2023) MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE WITCH FROM MERCURY PART 1
I’m not an expert on mech anime. I know what I like, but I can’t talk intelligently about how any given show compares to the others or how one season fits into the mythos of a franchise. But do you know who does? Scott at Mechanical Anime Reviews! As long as I’ve been reading his site (actually, from the beginning, I think!), he’s showed a wide knowledge of the genre and a keen eye for what makes a show enjoyable. His post about Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is a perfect example. I came away from the post with an even deeper appreciation of the show, and that’s saying something — I rated it an 8 on MAL. See if Scott’s posts talks about the parts of the series you liked!
The Otaku Author
Chainsaw Man (Season One)
I like to read reviews that convey how the writer really thinks. I don’t want to read what someone thinks I want to read. Not only that, but I don’t want to read what someone thinks is popular. In other words, I want honest perspectives. And it’s all the better if that perspective comes from a place of expertise. Yeah, I like opinions. But I like informed conclusions and convictions better. They’re in precious short supply! I guess scarcity drives the value up.
Every time I read one of Lynn’s posts on The Otaku Author, I get a sense of authenticity and expertise. That was on full display in this review of Chainsaw Man. I really enjoyed this review, and it’s not only because he picked, as a favorite moment, one of the moments I would have considered. It’s the reason he picked it — and how he described that reason. What favorite character did he pick? Least favorite character? There’s one way to find out!
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, 22-28 March 2023: Age of Consent Raised, Josei Recommendations, and Japanese Novel Translations
- Lesley’s Anime and Manga Corner: Anime and Manga Blog Posts That Caught My Eye This Week (March 31, 2023)
TCrow, I’m still wondering when Subaru’s brother will join the story in Re:zero. Subaru’s father, Kenichi, said in the construct of Subaru’s past during the first trial that Subaru is his eldest son, which suggested that his mother, Naoko, was pregnant when Subaru was summoned to Re:zero’s fantasy world. I believe that this plot point will almost certainly come back given Re:zero’s heavy emphasis on foreshadowing. I wonder if Subaru’s brother will be a new character or if he’s someone the story has already introduced.
Your knowledge of Re:zero’s details is really impressive! I watch for this stuff, but the sheer volume of it puts me at a disadvantage for this series.
I agree that the show doesn’t foreshadow without a reason. I wonder how time works in this world — would Subaru’s younger brother necessarily be younger in the new world? Might he have been inserted at a previous point in time? Or would their relative ages remain intact?
It’s be funny if Otto was his brother!
I think Subaru’s brother need not be younger than Subaru when he is finally introduced in the story as he could as you said have been inserted at a previous point of time before Subaru arrived in Re:zero’s fantasy world.
I believe it’s pretty much guaranteed that there are others who have been summoned to that world given that Priscilla’s carriage stopped for Subaru when Subaru attempted to hitchhike when hitchhiking should not exist in a medieval society and that Al knew exactly what Subaru was talking about when he said that Anastasia spoke in the Kansai dialect and told him everyone in Kararagi speaks that way, which shows that Al is either a former Japanese citizen, an immigrant that had not yet become a Japanese citizen, or a fan of Japanese culture.
Given that Al seemed much more well-adjusted to life in this world and was even helping Subaru out in giving him advice and through his actions, so he has likely lived here longer than Subaru has. How much longer is hard to say without Al sharing that detail personally. Could he be Subaru’s brother? That’d be neat, but it could still be an unrevealed character who is Subaru’s brother.
Thanks for reading and sharing. Honestly, it feels like the more I find shows to watch, the less that I know about mecha in general. It’s kind of a horrifying pit to fall in in some ways.
That’s usually a sign that you’re advancing. I’ve talked to PhD graduates who said that the more they learned, the more they understood just how much there was to learn. Then they compared their decades of study to that total theoretical amount of knowledge that existed.
In other words, that’s just a sign you’re becoming even more of an expert!
Thanks for sharing and the kind words.
You’re welcome! I wouldn’t call them kind words — you earned them!