Forty-ninth week of 2019 edition!
This is a Crow’s eye view of the posts that caught my attention this week. I especially look for posts that celebrate amazing moments in anime or otherwise blow me away with their wit and charm. I check hundreds of sites, and I’m humbled by the quality and volume of posts that the ani-blogging community creates. I hope this article helps you find some of those posts.
What sites do I check every week? You can see the list of the sites here!.
Review Order
This week, I reviewed the sites in alphabetical order (A to Z).
IN SEARCH OF NUMBER NINE — AN ANIME BLOG
REI AYANAMI’S JOURNEY TO BEING A REAL GIRL — A TALE OF GLASSES AND HOSPITAL ROOMS
There are a lot of ways to measure the quality of an anime. One of them is the sheer volume of posts a given series generates. Neon Genesis Evangelion is probably the poster child for that. It’s deep. It’s characters are nuanced and multi-layered. And its themes are so complex that a single series can’t contain them! No stranger to Other Posts to Crow About, iniksbane from IN SERACH OF NUMBER NINE – AN ANINE BLOG is back, this time with a re-analysis of who’s probably my favorite character in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Rei Ayanami. As much as I liked her character, there were nuances this post points out that I completely missed — and even if I caught one or two of them, I missed the full import. I know this: I’ll look at glasses differently from now on! If you have any interest in Neon Genesis Evangelion at all, you owe it to yourself to read this article.
Jonah’s Daily Rants
Rayla: The Bloodless Assassin (The Mind of a Character)
Do you think The Dragon Prince is an anime? I suppose by the most strict definition (animation of a certain style produced within Japan), then it’s probably not. But I consider it close enough, just I consider RWBY or Avatar: The Last Airbender to be anime-like, or kin of anime, so I’m comfortable talking about it here. That aside, Netflix’s The Dragon Prince has a lot going for it. For example, one of the characters, Amaya, is not only an accomplished, powerful military leader. She’s also deaf and communicates using sign language. Any series that puts the handicapped in a positive light is okay in my book! So I was delighted to find this post by jernahblunt from Jonah’s Daily Rants that extolled the great characterization that went into Rayla. What’s so great about her? I have the perfect way to find out — read the article!
Rai’s Anime Blog
8 ANIME QUOTES THAT SPEAK TO ME (VIA QUOTETHEANIME)
Fiction can be inspirational. I can’t tell you how many times, while reading The Lord of the Rings, I had to pause and just let a quote sink in. One in particular comes to mind as I write this. It’s from the battle on the Pelennor Fields. The Witch-king of Angmar was about to slay the wounded Théoden, but a single knight, Dernhelm, remained by his side. The Witch-king cursed him, saying no living man could hinder him. And Dernhelm answered, “But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him” (Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings (p. 53). HMH Books. Kindle Edition). Think about that! Éowyn stood before a Ring Wraith, one of the most dread and powerful evils of that world, a creature who had laid waste to entire realms, and she would not yield. That’s inspirational courage, that is! And that example is hardly singular. Rai from Rai’s Anime Blog has found eight very inspirational quotes from the worlds of anime. I’m particularly fond of numbers 1, 3, and 6. See what your favorites are!
SpaceWhales Anime Blog
Comedy – as a genre – is undervalued
We’ve talked before about how I think comedy is difficult to write. Much, much harder than drama! I mean, to draw out viewer emotions in drama, start with a puppy or a little girl, put them in danger, have something terrible happen to them, and almost automatically get tears. Easy! I’m exaggerating for effect, of course. Writing good drama isn’t really easy! But I maintain that comedy is harder. Lots harder. Well, I just found proof! Using Shirobako as a model, this post by SpaceWhales from SpaceWhales Anime Blog lays out, very clearly, just how comedy is harder. I agreed with the premise to start with, and I came away and even more ardent believer! See what you think.
Watashi Wa Bucho!!
So I’ve Changed My Mind About Dr. Stone’s Senku
A good character can make me as a viewer reevaluate my initial impression. Akame ga Kill!’s Esdeath did that to me. When I first met her, she seemed like a typical muscle-brained villain. But the more we got to know her through Tatsumi’s eyes, the more interesting and subtle she became. Well, Ty-chama from Watashi Wa Bucho!! found the same thing to be true for Senkuu from Dr. Stone. At first, he had came across as kind of sinister or “velociraptor-y” character, as the article puts it. Heck, Kohaku, one of the characters, called him shady on more than one occasion! But later episodes left a very different opinion! Now, me highlighting this post might come across as self-serving, but I swear I had already decided to include it in this edition of Other Posts to Crow About before the post’s last two paragraphs. What am I talking about? There’s one way to find out!
I am so sorry for the late reply. I somehow missed the notification!
Thank you so much for the mention 🙂 I am also a huge fan of Tolkien’s writing! It’s so beautiful. There are times I paused and had to let his writing sink in too.
You’re welcome!
Tolkien’s really something. I haven’t found another writer who can approach that level of graceful language and depth and breadth of world.
I enjoyed the quotes from your post. Quotes like that can help me maintain perspective.
Another other posts to crow about, another evangelion post. But surely there is a good reason for it.
A post about shirobako? You can automatically count me as interested!
“Another other posts to crow about, another evangelion post. But surely there is a good reason for it.”
There really aren’t too many other shows that I can watch as often as I’ve watched it — and still come away with something new and deeper each time.
“A post about shirobako? You can automatically count me as interested!”
That was such a great show. Solid characters, genuinely funny humor, and a sympathetic outlook on the industry. I really enjoyed watching it.