Fiftieth week of 2018 edition!
This is a Crow’s eye view of the posts that caught my attention this week. Typically, they’ll be posts that celebrate some aspect of anime, like strong characters, moments of beauty, or amazing worlds.
There are only two rules:
- I have to find the site to read it. I publish a list of the sites I review every week, so please do look for your site! If you don’t see it, I’d love for you to mention your site in the comments so I can add it to the list!
- Your post had to have been published during the last seven days (or so)
Remember, you can find a list of the sites I check every week here.
There’re a lot of good posts in the anime blogsphere. I hope this article helps you find some of them!
Atelier Emily (for me, in full bloom)
[TWELVE] PERSONALITY, MEMORY, AND PHOSPHOPHYLLITE — LAND OF THE LUSTROUS
I’ve often gone on about how the beautiful animation is in Land of the Lustrous. That’s not the only thing great about it, though, as this post from Atelier Emily (for me, in full bloom) so eloquently points out. Just what is it that this article praises about the show? I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so I’ll just say this: The writer frames the article with a description of a trip home to visit their parents. The personal perspective made the article memorable!
Curiously Dead Cat
Give Me That Zombie Land Ambiguity
I’m going to let you all in on a little secret. I have no idea how humans think. I don’t mean that in condescending way. I don’t think I’m particularly intelligent. I mean that sentence literally: I just don’t get it. Case in point: Zombieland Saga. I’ve been reviewing that series from its first episode (in my first ever collaboration, which happens to be with Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime!). I’ve been thoroughly enjoying its subtly subversive humor, its comedy, and its concept. Lately, though, I’ve begun to read more negative reviews, and I’m thinking, “What’s up with that? Did I miss a memo?” Of course, I don’t need affirmation to like something; I like what I like, and other folks are welcome to like what they like. But I do enjoy coming across a blog post that celebrates some of the things that I like about a show. This post from Curiously Dead Cat saw some of the same things I did about Zombieland Saga, and more.
Floating into Bliss
Day 1 – Code Geass, The Perfect Introduction to Anime
Do you have a series that hooked you on anime? Or that drew you further into this medium that we enjoy? For Floating into Bliss, that series was Code Geass. I thought the series has some absolutely mesmerizing moments, and I adored CLAMP’s character designs. Even if you’ve never watched it, I’d be willing to bet you’ve seen tons of pictures of some of the main characters, like C.C., Kallen, or the main character, Lelouch Lamperouge. Between us fans, I think we can all admit the series had a few flaws, but this article attracted my attention because a) it acknowledged those flaws and b) it gave a wonderfully succinct description of why this series is the perfect introduction to anime. The show didn’t have to be perfect; read the article to see it did have to be!
Getting Up Early
Day 1 – Akane’s Struggle To Save Her Friend
Once in a great while, a series finds the perfect combination of plot, character, theme, and action to produce a transcendent moment. A moment that remains fixed in our memory; a moment that has a lasting emotional impact. One example for me is episode 15 of Re:ZERO, when Pack tells Subaru, “Sleep, along with my daughter.” I love those moments, and they’re all the more precious because we get so few of them! A moment like that is exactly what this article from Getting Up Early celebrates. It’s a moment from Psycho-Pass and one of its main characters, Akane. I’m not going to spoil it — the articles does such a good job building up the moment that you should experience it yourself!
I Drink and Watch Anime
Objectifying vs Sexualizing in Anime
I was at work (in my younger and more innocent days — about 2 years ago) when I casually mentioned that I was watching this or that anime series. The guy I was talking to was a huge gamer, so I figured he’d at least be conversant with anime. I was kinda right. He was somewhat familiar — with the worst stereotypes of the genre! I spent the next few minutes explaining how no, I was not a pedophile and no, I was not a “loli-con.” To be honest, anime sometimes makes these discussions harder than they need to be. What makes the situation worse is the imprecise way we talk about some of these topics. I mentioned fanservice to the gamer, and he immediately assumed I meant something quite different than I meant. That’s why I thoroughly enjoy posts like this one from I Drink and Watch Anime — the post draws a useful distinction between objectification and sexualization. Next time I talk to that gamer, I’ll have more to say! Oh, and the article gets bonus points for including a screen cap from Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere!
The Moyatorium
[Tag] 9 Underrated Female Characters – Anime Edition
I’ve always liked strong female characters. As evidence, may I present one of my earlier posts called “5 Female Anime Characters I’d Fight Beside Any Day“? Granted, it was a simplistic concept and execution, but hey, I’d only been blogging a few months! But if you want a contrast to that approach, I think you’ll be interested in this post from The Moyatorium. The post contains a list of 9 questions like “Name a heroine you like, but whom you feel is always overshadowed by the male characters in the story” and my favorite, “(Name) A character you’re stunned isn’t more famous.” I agree with the article — I just don’t get why that character’s not more widely regarded! Check out the post to see what character we’re talking about!
The Zodiac Room
Mixing Melodies: An Ode to Yoko Kanno – A True Pioneer of Music
I think all of us have one or two series that we look back on as the one that pulled us into anime (or back into anime!). It might have been the animation; it might have been a character; it might have been the music. For me, that series was Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex. It’s hard to say exactly which single element was the clincher, but I’ll tell you this: the soundtrack blew me away. The composer of much of the music, Yoko Kanno, might have the most amazing breadth of any composer I’ve ever heard. I can listen to her song Some Other Time over and over and over… In fact, my iTunes tells me I’ve listened to it 358 times since I last reset my counter! This article from The Zodiac Room is a celebration of this composer — and though I didn’t think it possible, I came away from the article with an even greater appreciation for her and her talent!
My picture choice is always a point of pride with my posts. I really spend a lot of time chosing them…
It shows! I’d love for you write a post about how you create the motion GIFs — unless that’s proprietary! I use SnagIt, and the output’s almost also much larger than I think it needs to be.