Welcome to my favorite anime community posts, Other Posts to Crow About, for 2020 Week 35!
I look for posts that celebrate amazing moments in anime or otherwise blow me away with their wit and charm. By checking hundreds of sites every week, I can tell you that the ani-blogging community writes a ton of amazing posts. I hope this list helps you find some of them!
Here’s the list of the sites I check!
Review Order
This week, I reviewed the sites in alphabetical order (A to Z).
My Favorite Anime Posts from 2020 Week 35
Anime Feminist
Tower of God’s Rachel Problem: Fandom, female antagonists, and the risks of overly vague writing
Did you see last week’s edition of My Favorite Anime Posts/Other Posts to Crow About? It contained a post about Tower of God’s Rachel, and it was a collaboration between Scott from Mechanical Anime Reviews and and Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime. The post was an outstanding analysis of Rachel’s character. In that post, Irina made some spot-on observations about how some fans reacted to Rachel in a way that wasn’t justified by the narrative. We even had a spirited conversation about it in the post’s comments! The question of why fans treated Rachel with such venom was one that interested me, but it’s also one that my experience and vocabulary don’t prepare me to investigate. At least not fully. Fortunately, I came across this post by Olive St. Sauver on Anime Feminist. This author is ready, willing, and obviously able to tackle the subject. The article gave me a lot to think about, and I have to say, I enjoy comparing its points to what I’ve experienced in the past. Helping me re-examine my view of the world, or at least a part of it, in the context of anime — I’m not sure I can ask any more than that!
Jon Spencer Reviews
Gosick’s Most Interesting Story & Why it’s NOT Victorique and Kujos’
There are several series that I just adored, but I can’t think of how to write about them. xxxHOLiC is one of those titles. It’s almost become its own mythos in my subconscious. Another series of similar stature is Gosick. Regardless of my inability to write about Gosick, I’m really sad that I don’t see more written about it. The main character Victorique de Blois is an intriguing mixture of genius and tragedy, whereas Kazuya Kujou is as straight-forward as Victorique is subtle and mysterious. So it was with delight that I found this post by Jon Spencer on the site Jon Spencer Reviews. At first, based on the title, I was worried that the post might not quite grasp just how wonderful those characters were. But I worried for nothing. The point wasn’t about the character, it was about something else in the story that is even more interesting. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms, but now that I’ve read this article, I see the point! And, of course, I want to watch Gosick again.
RAISTLIN0903
Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Season 1, Anime tv series (2015)
You ever have a series whose title almost convinced you not to watch it? That was the case with Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, at least for me. I mean, the idea of watching an anime where guys try to hit on girls inside a dungeon? Not very appealing! Though if his pickup line was really annoying, it might be funny to see her smack him with her war hammer. But not enough for an entire series! Thankfully, I tried it anyway, and I’m glad I did. There are a lot of things I like about the series, and that’s why I was happy to find this post by raistlin0903 on the site RAISTLIN0903. While he touched on a lot of what I thought made the series special, I particularly liked how he talked about Hestia. I just wish there was not discussion of Eina Tulle! See if he captured what you liked about the series!
Umai Yomu Anime Blog
Anime Studio Challenge: 8bit’s Rewrite (Review)
Have you ever watched a series that you really enjoyed, but later couldn’t enjoy anymore because of something traumatic that happened to the characters? That was Rewrite for me. The characters felt so real to me that I became heavily invested in them. Then — and this is likely a spoiler, so beware! — the show explored multiple timelines where many of the girls were killed. That meant I got to watch these characters I really liked die over and over again. To be honest, that spoiled the show for me. It left me with a negative psychological association. However, this week I came across Yomu’s post on Umai Yomu Anime Blog. The post makes a strong case for the quality of the show. After reading this article, I think I need to give the series another chance. I just need to be less of an emotional wimp. Also, the post gets bonus posts for taste in Best Girl.
We be bloggin’
The Importance of the Unsaid — SAO War of Underworld ep 18
I imagine that the experience of someone watching Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld is vastly different depending on which of two camps you belong to. If you’ve never seen the previous seasons and movie, or if you only watched it here and there, recent episodes like episode 18, “Memories“, might be interesting, but lack oomph. Whereas, if you’ve watched the back catalogue and could catch the references to previous work, it might be very oomphful, if I may coin a word. This series, more than any other I can think of, rewards its loyal viewers. That’s undeniably a good thing, but it leaves a question hanging: Is there a point at which a viewer might have too much information? Luna from We be bloggin’ asked that question and came up with an answer surprising in two different ways. First, it suggests certain scenes in episode 18, as powerful as they were, could have been even better, within the context of canon. Second, it reinforces just how good the scene actually was! I thought was an amazing accomplishment. See what you think!
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!
You’re welcome!
It was another good haul this week, wasn’t it? I saw it all the time, but the quantity and quality that this community produces is fantastic.
Glad you’re writing again!
Aww man, if yesterday on twitter was not enough, now you feature my post on your own site too?😊😊 And I find myself amongst such wonderful company as all these other posts. Thank you so much for featuring it, I really enjoyed writing it, and to see you liked the post so much is just more icing on the cake!😃😊