Welcome to a Crow’s eye view of the posts that caught my attention this week. How does a post catch my eye? They have to celebrate amazing moments in anime or otherwise blow me away with their wit and charm. I check hundreds of sites, and I can tell you that the ani-blogging community’s quality and quantity of posts is amazing. I hope this helps you find some of them!
You can see the list of the sites I check here!
Review Order
This week, I reviewed the sites in alphabetical order (A to Z).
Anime Evo
Boku no Hero Academia S4 – 23
My Hero Academia Season 4 is is about to come to an end, and the story of the anime community’s reaction to it has as many twists and turns as the series itself! I won’t say I’ve struggled to enjoy this season. I’ve actually enjoyed it quite a bit, and I saw that it was trying to go in a slightly different direction. It began challenging some of its own concepts. I respect the writer, Kōhei Horikoshi, for taking narrative steps to keep the series from stagnating. Of course, any significant change draws the ire of critics, and some good work gets lost in laments. That’s why this post from FlareKnight on Anime Evo caught my attention. FlareKnight captured the spirit of Let it Flow! School Festival! in a way that I thought was beautiful and insightful. In fact, I think he was able to articulate why I liked the article better than I did! Guess that means I need to work on my skills…. See if you agree!
Floating into Bliss
Imperialism in Code Geass
Do you want to know something about me that few people know? Sad to say, it’s pretty boring, but her it is: Dune ruined me. In this polarized political environment, Frank Herbert’s masterpiece (okay, one of them…) showed me the power of dramatically portraying a wildly complex and realistic political environment. After reading his works, if an anime series — or any dramatic series — failed to realistically portray the diplomatic realities of a given world, I would feel disappointed. That’s why series like Concrete Revolutio inflamed my imagination. And it’s not the only series that deals with these concepts. Some go even farther — some anime series challenge the most powerful minds of history. Take, for example, this post from Zeria on the site Floating into Bliss. I don’t agree with the conclusions from some thinkers like Karl Marx. But here’s the thing. If we ignore the insights from major historical figures, even if we don’t agree with them, we’re pretty much screwed. Want to learn from history? Then watch anime series like Code Geass. Read this post. See what Lelouch Lamperouge can teach us about the failures of imperialism. And while you’re there, feel free to admire the wonder that is C.C. Seriously, it’s important to understand history — so we can make a better future. Surely, the current world situation has taught us that facts matter, hasn’t it?
I Drink and Watch Anime
The Art of the Helpless Antagonist
What makes an antagonist interesting? If it overwhelming strength, like Sauron from The Lord of the Rings? Is it aloof arrogant like Charles zi Britannia (to keep the Code Geass theme going)? Some of the more interesting and memorable antagonists took a different route — showing traits and approaches that set them apart from other characters. For example, what if an antagonist appeared helpless? Even adorable or cute? How might that affect a story or the viewers’ interpretation of those characters? Unsurprisingly, based on countless deliveries of interesting and exceptional insights into characters, Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime has come up with a new lens through which we can view antagonists for several series — including one that might well be the most significant anime series in years. If it seems I’ve started babbling, there’s only one thing to do: read the original post. Believe me, it’s well worth the time!
OGIUE MANIAX
Great Minds Think Differently: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Did you see the final episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!? It was a powerful experience for me. I can’t remember any series I’ve watched so perfectly capture the experience of creating art from multiple specialties. Every episode brought back memories of my high school and college days, and to be honest, I had forgotten how much I missed those experiences. This series left such a strong impression on me that I was excited to begin my ani-blogging search this week. I hoped I’d find an article that celebrated this episode. And I found one! This post by sdshamshel from OGIUE MANIAX not only captured the experience, it also provided a great analysis of several aspects of the series — including its great OP.
The Otaku Author
BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense (Episode 12) – Defense and Bonds
There are two dangers that I try to avoid every anime season. The first is picking a series that I end up not liking at all. I’ve been lucky in this regard, because there’s only been Taboo Tattoo. I’m still bummed about it. I really wanted to like it! The second danger is a little less obvious, but in many ways, its impact is harder to bear. That danger is in not picking a series that I would have loved to review. This season, that series was BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. The show was an absolute delight to watch. It seemed custom made for my review style of naming a favorite moment or moments from an episode. Just what made the series so enjoyable? Lynn Sheridan from The Otaku Author not only knows, he tells us in this post. If you saw the final episode, I think you’ll get a kick out of this article. If you haven’t seen it, reading the article might make you want to. See what you think!
Random Curiosity
Spring 2020 Preview
I’m watching the last episodes of the Winter 2020 season. I don’t know how other ani-bloggers manage the transition, but for me, it’s a bit hard to juggle wrapping up the season-ending reviews, coming up with posts to fill in gaps (Darwin’s Game, for example, wrapped up last week, so I have a hole in my schedule), and deciding what shows to review for the upcoming Spring 2020 season. I’ve tried a lot of sources of that information, from the big sites like My Anime List to “What I’m Watching” posts from my fellow ani-bloggers. They’re all solid sources, but one preview stands out, and has for the last several seasons. That’s the preview posts from Random Curiosity. In terms of completeness, in terms of telling me what I need to know about a show, and in terms of giving me insights into whether the show’s worth watching, I haven’t found a better preview. I’m can’t even think of ways to improve it…
As always – thank you so much Crow, I had a lot of fun with that post and I’m glad you enjoyed it as well.
You’re welcome!
I love how you took a concept as common as “antagonist” and came up with another way to think of it.