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 quantity 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 reverse alphabetical order (Z to A).
Shallow Dives in Anime
Re-Dive: Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls: Ecchi Entertainment
Do you know what series I liked so much that I chose it for my first editorial (i.e, non review) post? It’s Monster Musume, and the post (only my third!) was called In Defense of Monster Musume. Yeah, the post was rough. I was still finding my anime voice! But I stand by the sentiment, and of all the harem comedies I’ve ever seen, it’s still my favorite. Well, it turns out I’m not alone. Dewbond from Shallow Dives in Anime is also a man of culture. This post wonderfully captures what’s delightful about the series. To this day, I still feel bad for Centorea…
Reasons to Anime
10 villains you just got to feel sorry for
A good villain is worth their weight in gold. Well, maybe I shouldn’t equate their worth to their weight. I’ll need to think about that… In any event, the idea is a solid villain is critical to a memorable story. Without conflict, what do we have (meaning no disrespect to slice of life as a genre… I’m seriously getting off track here…). What makes a good villain? Well, tragic elements certainly help! That’s what attracted my attention to this post Reasons to Anime. It has a great list of villains who don’t just get in the protagonists’ ways. They also have endearing or tragic flaws of their own. I would like to officially endorse the first, fifth, and seventh entries. Especially the seventh. What a character!
Lumi Reviews Things
How SAO Shakes Up The Christmas Episode
There are a lot of lens through which to view Sword Art Online. As someone who runs a anime site that celebrates anime, I’ve found a lot to like about all of the various SAO incarnations — especially the ones that include Sinon. But do you mind if I pull the curtain aside for a moment? As much as I like SAO, it did something I still have trouble forgiving. It gave us Episode 3, The Red-Nosed Reindeer. And then it never gave us anything else like it. Not even the Mother’s Rosario arc comes close. The episode was achingly beautiful. It was everything a tragedy should be. It was moment of fictitious greatness. And it was the last of its kind. What was it that made the episode so powerful? Lumi Stares into the Void from Lumi Reviews Things lays it out with clarity and purpose. I got emotional just reading the article! If you enjoy SAO, then you will enjoy a trip down memory lane. But even if you hate SAO, you really should read this article.
I Drink and Watch Anime
Connection and Blogging
Do you know what I think sets a great writer apart from a “merely” good writer? The ability to make a connection with the reader. The ability to invite the reader into their world. To make the reader feel like in the entirety of creation, they alone are the one the writer is talking to. From our perspective as readers, the skill can almost seem like magic. Yet, it’s not magic at all. It takes skill and perseverance to achieve. Have you ever wondered about what’s on the writer’s side of the equation? Have you ever wondered how a writer can develop such a connection? If you have, then you’re in luck. Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime has written an article that shares her perspective. No, it’s not magic. But the reality is a ton more interesting!
Animated Observations
FINAL THOUGHTS: A SILENT VOICE
There are two things that most folks know about A Silent Voice. It’s about bullying and Shouko Nishimiya, the young woman who’s the lead character, is deaf. I’ve mentioned before how my son is deaf. That means I’m particularly interested in (sensitive to — pick your phrase!) to depictions of deafness in particular and handicaps in general. So I read Jack Scheibelein’s post on Animated Observations with great interest. Paradoxically, it was the relative lack of fixation on deafness that I really liked about this post. Too often, the writer will use the handicap as a gimmick to generate sympathy — or otherwise support some agenda. Not in this post! But that wasn’t the only think I liked about this review. The review overall gave me a deeper appreciation of the movie. Details like feedback on the Dub just made it even more interesting.
As always thank you so much for the shout out and that write up!!! I think it may be a bot better than the post
You’re welcome! I thought your post was a great treatment of the subject. I’m still trying to figure out how you take such a complex topic with all of its subtleties and make it not only understandable, but fun.
I’m hope my team of experts will have a report for me soon.
Okay, I’m taking notes and hope they make sense.
Happy to be back on these posts! Thanks Crow!
You’re welcome!
I really enjoyed reading what you had to say about Monster Musume!
Thank yee, It was good to re-dive into the series, and the others I am planning to do. Lost Butterfly is up this week!