This is a Crow’s eye view of the posts that caught my attention this week. I 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 can tell you that the ani-blogging community’s quality and quantity of posts is amazing. I hope I can help you find some of them!
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).
Anicourses
THE WORLD GOD ONLY KNOWS – A TRAGIC “HAREM”
I remember when I first watched The World God Only Knows. I think I’d chosen it randomly based on the title, and I was surprised in a good way by what it was really about: Keima Katsuragi, a socially reserved gamer (he especially loved dating simulators), had to make a compact with the adorable demon Elucia de Lute Ima. His job? Recapture demons who had escaped from hell and had taken up residence in young girls’ hearts. Now, there’s a particular sequence in the third season, The World God Only Knows: Goddesses, that I found profoundly tragic and beautiful and heart-breaking and wonderful, all at the same time. I’ve rarely seen bloggers talk about it, and though I’ve wanted to, it’s one of those things that requires emotional intelligence. And I ain’t got none. So you can imagine my delight when I found this post by Le Fenette from Anicourses. Not only does the post recognize the scenes I found so powerful. It expounded on them and made me appreciate them even more! I love it when that happens.
Anime Feminist
The Gloriously Goofy, Geeky Girls of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
When I became a dad, I realized (with my wife’s help) that my job was to raise my son and daughter in such a way that whoever it was in them to become, I would support that whoever. No matter what. In spite of any social pressures. So when my daughter put down her Barbie video games (I swear to you she asked for them — I did not suggest them!) and asked what I was playing, I introduced her to Unreal Tournament. Seeing how much she enjoyed it, I setup a UT server in our house, setup a Capture the Flag game against bots, and played on my daughter’s team. I’d like to think the idea of her dad’s sniper rifle and destroying her pursuers from on high as she raced back to our base with the enemy flag is something that she enjoyed. But others in my family practically said I’d likely end up in hell or at least shunned if I let my daughter play those devil games. The same games they said were fine for my son. Say what you will about the culture wars we’re enduring, but it’s wrong to condemn me and my daughter for loving the same video games me and my son can play. So when I come across posts like this one by Alex Henderson from Anime Feminist, I see that the topic is based on facts, because I’ve lived them. A series like Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! is unique because of how it treats its lead characters. To those of us who want to raise our children to be free to express themselves, and see other children (and heck, while we’re wishing, all of society!) likewise be able to develop and grow, the show’s important, and this post captures exactly why.
SAE with a K
My Top 10 Anime Couples
The calendar informs me that it’s Valentine’s Day. Or was (by the time you read this). Yes, I remembered to buy my wife flowers and a card, and thanks for asking. I haven’t forgotten yet. My survival instinct is pretty strong, after all! But I digress. It’s the time of the year that makes lots of folks think about relationships (or celebrate not being in a relationship), so I was on the lookout for interesting romantic lists. I found several, and if I didn’t celebrate your list this week, it’s only because I didn’t want to turn this week’s Other Posts to Crow About into a Valentine’s Day special! One of the lists that stood out to me was this one by saké Dez from SAE with a K. There’s a lot to like about the list, and I could just about list all 10 here with an enthusiastic thumbs up! I’ll just say that 9, 7, 3, and 1 were particularly inspired choices. See what you think!
Shallow Dives in Anime
Fate/Stay Night’s Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka: Friendship Made, Love Forged
There’s an unwritten rule about Other Posts to Crow About. And I know because I actually wrote the rules down! That unwritten rule is that I try not to celebrate posts from the same site two weeks in a row. The idea is that I want to spread recognition as widely as possible. There are times, though, when the same writer so firmly captures my attention in back to back weeks that I think it would be a disservice not to highlight the posts. So, here we are, mentioning the same writer and blog that we did in Other Posts to Crow About Week 6 Edition. This week, Dewbond from Shallow Dives in Anime again caught my attention with a post about the relationship between Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya from Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works. Having watched an enjoyed the series, I can attest that this post captures the wonder that is their relationship. See if you agree!
T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews
Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
You know, there are challenges to liking harem anime series. For every Monster Musume that features enjoyable characters and a decent male lead, there are multiple [ insert your least favorite harem series here; it’s more effective than if I do it! ]. That means when I find a series where the main character is a decent and interesting human being, I feel lucky! Such was the case with Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs. I was impressed by how the male lead, Kogarashi Fuyuzora, treated the women around him with as much respect as he could. I also quite fond of most of the harem, with Nonko Arahabaki (the writer) being the stand out. Those weren’t the only things to like about the series, though, and this post by Stig Høgset from T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews does a great job of laying them out. The things that were great about the series, that is. I’ve got to be more careful with my wording given the genre…
My noble phantasm is Rule Breaker, confirmed.
Thanks for the love yet again!
“My noble phantasm is Rule Breaker, confirmed.”
That’s even more useful than Balance Breaker!
No, I take that back. It’s on par.
You’re welcome — as always, I really enjoyed your insights about the characters!