Twenty-eighth week of 2019 edition!
This is a Crow’s eye view of the posts that caught my attention this week. That usually means they were posts that celebrate some aspect of anime, like strong characters, moments of beauty, or amazing worlds.
If you’re a reader, I hope that this helps you find interesting posts that you might otherwise have missed!
If you’re a blogger, 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!
- 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!
Review Order
This week, I reviewed the sites in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A).
Shallow Dives in Anime
The Summer of Love: High School DxD’s Rias Gremory: The Effort of Doing Something, instead of Nothing
Why do you think harem anime has such a negative reputation (in some circles — I quite like them, if they meet certain conditions!)? One reason might be that the female characters too often fall for an idiot — for all the wrong reasons. Or even worse, for no reasons at all! Honestly, if a harem series does that, I’m likely to drop it. The show has to cover the basics, at least, and that includes good characterization. This post by Dewbond from Shallow Dives in Anime offers an insightful take on how High School DxD does more than just cover the basics. The main female lead, Rias Gremory, is like a talisman against bad harems — and you should really read this article to see why!
Season 1 Episode 1
Summer 2019 First Impressions – O Maidens in Your Savage Season
Keeping in the theme of realistic and interesting characters, did you see the first episode of O Maidens in Your Savage Season? It’s been a long time I was in high school (and no, there were no dinosaurs around, contrary to popular belief — but I do remember a comet…), but the characters struck me as almost uncomfortably realistic! At least, among the young women I was friends with. I can’t be sure, though, because, well, I’m a guy, and my perspective was decidedly different. This post by Jessi Silver from Season 1 Episode 1 confirms that a) I wasn’t insane thinking the characters were authentic and b) that I didn’t catch half of what made this episode so interesting! I mean, with observations like the “episode is cringe-worthy in the way that only complete familiarity can be,” you know you’re in for an insightful read!
Never Argue with a Fish
Anime Corner: Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Review
Yet another post about great characters! And I couldn’t be happier. You ever decide to skip a show, and then a month or so in, read so many glowing reviews that you wonder if you made a mistake? That happened with me and Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. It was short-sighted of me, but I just couldn’t figure out how to take a show seriously when it had a beautiful young woman walking around a library in a bunny suit! Well, that was a failure of my imagination, and I honestly felt a little less disappointed in myself. Then I read this post by neverarguewithafish from the site Never Argue with a Fish. Turns out I wasn’t the only one misjudged the bunny outfit! This post goes on to talk about why the series was so darned interesting. Well worth the read if you’ve seen the series or not!
Jonah’s Daily Rants
Shinji Ikari: Don’t Leave Me Alone (The Mind of a Character)
Okay, just for the sake of clarity, I’m choosing these posts because I like them and think my readers will, too — and not because they fit a theme. I say this because this is now the fourth post to celebrate an anime character! This time, jernahblunt is the blogger. Jonah’s Daily Rants is the blog. The series is Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Shinji Ikari is the character. What makes Shinji so relatable? So compelling? So… human? I enjoyed reading what this post had to say on the topic, and I think you will, too!
100 Word Anime
Midnight Occult Civil Servants Anime Review
There was a lot of good anime in the Spring 2019 season, but the title that most surprised me was Midnight occult civil servants (it was part of my Best in Show reviews). There were a number of reasons it surprised me, not the least of which was that I hadn’t heard anything about it before the season started, and it delivered some compelling characters and stories. You could easily say I was a fan! But you don’t have to be completely positive to be a fan, as Karandi from 100 Word Anime proves in this article. Want to know the show’s strengths? Weaknesses? Then this article’s for you.
Thanks for sharing my post.
You’re welcome! I always looked forward to your weekly reviews of the series, so I was glad to see your series-end review!
Thanks for the mention!
You’re welcome! I enjoyed reading your take on the show!
Much love as always.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I like the work you’re doing to bring quality attention to High School DxD!