Fifty-first 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!
100 Word Anime
12 Days of Anime Characters – Shizue
For me, the Fall 2018 season has surprised me at the emotional depth of some of its comedies. One of those is That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. It’s given us some great characters and moments, and I don’t think any of the characters affected me as much as Shizue. I don’t want to say much about her, because I don’t want to steal any of the thunder from this post from 100 Word Anime, so I’ll just say this: as a writer, I took notes on how this series presented Shizue, because I want to write characters that well.
Anime Science 101
Little Witch Academia – Orbital Launch
Did you watch Little Witch Academia? Despite Netflix not releasing it episode by episode in my region (the United States), I still loved the show. It had tremendous heart, and to this day, I am unashamed to say I ship Akko and Diana. They made a perfect couple, and I think that deep down, Diana knows she needs Akko by her side. Anyway. Despite everything I liked about the show, and of despite everything I’ve read about the show, I can say I was still absolutely astonished to come across these sentences in Anime Science 101’s article: “As you can, see the girls linked their brooms together to chase after an object, and their flight path mimics the path taken by many craft launched into high orbit. This makes sense as their target is a rogue ballistic missile that was possessed by magic.” Huh? Did the show actually portray a ballistic launch in a realistic way? You’ll need to read the article to find out for sure!
Atelier Emily (for me, in full bloom)
[EIGHT] “I FORGIVE YOU” — PLANET WITH
The older I get, the more I think that the hallmark of a good series — or a good novel, movie, television show, or any kind of long-form fiction — is that the show’s easy to consume, but each time I revisit it, I find a new angle, or thought, or theme. Planet With is one of those series. No matter how many times I watch it, no matter how many articles I read about it, I’m constantly presented with new and interesting perspectives or insights. This week, I was fortunate enough to read Atelier Emily (for me, in full bloom) reflect on the motif of forgiveness in Planet With. It’s a beautifully personal article that I think you’ll really like.
LETHARGIC RAMBLINGS
THE NARRATIVE PURPOSE OF SWORD ART ONLINE: ALICIZATION – EPISODE 10
Are you watching Sword Art Online: Alicization? I am, and if you’ve read my blog for very long, this shouldn’t be a shock you you. I’ve liked most of the franchise (despite how it treated Asuna during the second cour of the first season). What I didn’t like was a certain scene in episode 10, which is the topic of this post from Lethargic Ramblings. It was a rape scene, and it triggered no small amount of controversy in the anime community. Now, if you’ve read my review of Goblin Slayer’s first episode, you might be thinking, “Wait a second, Mr. Crow (if you’re polite, that is!). You say you don’t like the scene in SAO, yet you defended it in GS?” That’s fair! And I have to admit I kinda set you up. I didn’t like the scene in SAO Alicization episode 10, but that’s because — you’re not supposed to like it! At least not in the general sense. The scene has a different purpose. And this article from Lethargic Ramblings does a great job of explaining what that “different purpose” was!
railgunfan75’s Geek blog
Top 5: Favorite Story Arcs in Anime
Dang dang dang! The point of Other Posts to Crow About is to introduce you to posts from other bloggers. I’m trying to introduce you to posts that will interest you and give you another source of anime enjoyment (or, put another way, another anime fix!). One way not to do that is to spoil the article’s surprise! So, I can’t tell you that the #1 entry on railgunfan75’s Geek blog’s top 5 story arcs list is one of my all time favorites. No, that’s not quite stating it strongly enough. I can’t tell you why season 2 episode 16 of the #1 series (starting at 5:38) might be my absolute favorite sequence of any fiction ever because it’ll ruin the surprise! Dang it! Look, please go read the article, and maybe we can talk about it later!
Random Curiosity
Zombieland Saga – 12 (END)
I hope you’ve been enjoying the Zombieland Saga collaboration reviews I’ve been doing with Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime (like this review of episode 11). The show’s delivered way more than I expected it to, even after it raised my expectations during the first several episodes! So it was with delight that I read this post from Random Curiosity about the final (as fast as we know!) episode. First, any post that correctly capitalizes THE LEGENDARY YAMADA TAE deserves attention! Second, and most importantly, the review gets the show and its characters. While you’re waiting for the final collaboration review from Irina and me, please do check out this article. And don’t forget to check out its comments!
Thanks for the shout out, and glad you liked my post. It’s not one I thought would pop up in a place like this.
I thought it was not only a lot of fun, but informative, too! I hope you get time to post more in the future!
Thanks for including my post. I also really liked Leth’s post this week.
I thought you did a great job with Shizue! She’s one of my favorite characters.
I liked the SAO post a lot, too. It reassures me that calmer heads can prevail!