Ninth week of 2019 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 blogosphere. I hope this article helps you find some of them!
100 Word Anime
Top 5 Magical Girl Anime
There have been a lot of Magical Girl series lately, and some of them have been somewhat less than cheerful. In an of itself, that’s not a problem. For example, I’m enjoying Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, and it’s decidedly dark. But there’s more to the Magical Girl genre than darkness. Want proof? Look no father than Karandi’s post on 100 Word Anime. This post lists the top 5 Magical Girl anime series, dark or otherwise. I’m willing to bet you might be able to guess #3, and if you’re read a lot of Karandi’s work (and you should!), you can probably guess the #1 spot. Number 5 was the one that surprised me — in a good way! Talk about mixing genres!
The Afictionado
The Promised Neverland and the (Horrifying!) Ideal of Pure Childhood
You’re watching The Promised Neverland every week, right? And of course you’re keeping up with my and Irina’s (from I Drink and Watch Anime) collab reviews, right? You can catch our review of episode 7 here. I’ve been so busy watching and enjoying (and worrying my brains out from those poor kids!) that I didn’t stop to analyze just how the show was so effectively evoking these feelings. Alex from The Afictionado, however, has clearly been thinking about it! Turns out (no surprise!) the writers are experts at tapping into literary traditions that have shaped how modern Western (and Eastern, in this case) civilization views… Well, I don’t want to give anything away. You’ll need to read the post to find out — but it’s great! Even though I mentioned “literary,” don’t let that fool you: it references literature in the best way, which is through example! If you thought you liked the show before, just wait until you read this article. You’ll like it even more!
All Hail Haruhi
ANIME HAS A CURATION PROBLEM
Have you ever heard the Blue Oyster Cult song Veteran of the Psychic Wars? Though I first heard the song in the early 1980s, it really, really resonated me during the time I battled it out in various USENET groups in the 1900s (I wrote a little about those times here — and about how those times helped shape this site). The lyrics perfectly capture how I feel after too many fights and too many fruitless confrontations and too little understanding. I’m still a little twitchy from those times. It’s to the point where I first see a post title like this one from Elizabeth Allen from All Hail Haruhi — a title that claims to have a position on a topic that’s been argued to death — I brace myself for disappointment. That’s one of three reasons I was delighted with this post. First, it isn’t a rehash of old arguments. Second, and even better, it wasn’t insulting. At all! In fact, it presented the perfect lens through which to view the problem, and it makes complete sense! The third reason I was delighted? It’s a great read! Now, if some of us could just figure out a way to act on this new insight…
Atelier Emily (for me, in full bloom)
WHO IS PHIL? HOW THE PROMISED NEVERLAND PLAYS WITH EXPECTATIONS
We just got done talking about how the idea of Pure Childhood permeates The Promised Neverland. You might think it’d be enough for me to highlight just a single post about that show. Ah, but this isn’t just any show! I’ve realized that one way to measure the quality of a show is to see how many wildly different articles it inspires in a given week. The Promised Neverland is on track to become a juggernaut. In this case, Emily Rand’s post on Atelier Emily (for me, in full bloom) asks a question that Irina and I have been wondering about: Just who the heck is Phil? Why is he getting so much attention? Is it normal that he’s smiling all the freakin’ time? I like how this post gathers and presents its evidence! I wonder if you’ll agree with the article’s conclusions?
Confessions of an Overage Otaku
THE POWER OF TWO PLUS ONE: SAMURAI CHAMPLOO
I really haven’t talked about Samurai Champloo much, and that’s too bad. There was a lot I liked about this series. The animation was amazing. The fights were dynamic and powerful. Best of all, the show had some great characters! Not only were they interesting individually, but their relationships elevated the series. What do I mean? davedalessiowrites explains it very well in his post on Confessions of an Overage Otaku. I’ll give you a hint: This series writer loves to subvert tropes and typical patterns, and he did a particularly good job in this article. You know what to do if you want to read more!
DaLadybugProductions
Bugshrugs: Why The Promised Neverland’s Mom is the Best Villain Ever
I swear I did not start this post with the idea that I’d feature so many posts about The Promised Neverland. Generally speaking, I like to highlight a broad variety of topics! But every once and a while, a show like this one comes along and supports all kinds of interest analysis. Case in point? This post from DaLadybugMan on DaLadybugProductions explores the question, “Just how good a villain is Isabella?” You can probably get the gist from the title, but the really interesting stuff is in the details. And the details are very interesting!
No problem man, glad to know you enjoyed my post (put it next week 😛 ))
I’m going to get on here mark my fucking words.
You ever look back on your old decisions and wonder why you decided this or that? Looking at Shallow Dives in Anime, I have no idea why I didn’t one or both of your Re:Zero posts. They were both great (not saying that to the exclusion of your other posts!).
I almost always start checking in alphabetical order. Currently, Shallow Dive in anime is site #273 out of 330. I think I’ll try to alternate A-Z and Z-A to make sure everyone gets a fair chance.
I’m glad you said something!