Welcome to the Spellbook!

It was said that one day long ago, MagicConan14 stumbled across an ancient series of spells known as "anime". Anime has captivated MagicConan14 for almost as long as they've lived, and now they are hoping to analyse what makes them work. Categories you may want to peruse: archive: for posts imported to the Spellbook from...

How to Keep the Amazing Race…Well, Amazing

The Amazing Race Australia season 7 (henceforth TAR Aus. 7) did something annoying, but they put a fresh spin on it. Watching 3 seasons of TAR (Aus. 7, a rerun of US 32 and US 35) simultaneously showcases a full spectrum of pros and cons about the series. (To be honest, you think I'd be...

Why Are Anime and Manga So Obsessed With “Blue Spring”?

It's partially a language thing, partially something else... After starting to watch Blue Thermal (Buru- Sa-maru), since I narrowly missed out on watching it with Jon Spencer and friends thanks to a work shift, that brought me back to a thought that's been nagging me for a while - why "blue spring"? I mean, there's...

Hiatus Announcement + The Future of This Blog

I feel like I owe people an explanation after shutting down my blog so quickly... Okay, I've been stuck on what to say for the better part of a month now, so I'll get that out of the way: TL;DR: I have decided to put the blog on hiatus. Sorry to make this post come...

Why, As Anime and Manga Fans, We Should Learn to Rely on Others (+ Announcement)

...yes, even if you're a Japanese translator of the highest degree. It's a bit boring to keep discussing gender and politics whenever I want to discuss something deep, so let's turn our attention to something a bit more broad - being able to rely on others. What do I mean by this? Well, we aren't...

(Irregular) Manga Reads

Where I shoot the breeze on what I've read recently, much like this post. Note I read a lot of Bookwalker digital manga from my backlog while I was sick with COVID over the 2024 new year period, so I'm definitely not covering everything I read since the last time I talked about manga on...

Positive My Life (Translation)

This is a song from Hypnosis Mic’s latest EP release, The Block Party - Hoods. I noticed I usually make a mess of longer translations, so I wanted to see if that was true for a song…I have a greater appreciation for Hifumi and his outlook on life now, so I don’t regret the time...

Don’t Hate the Localisation Process

Regarding the Ancient Magus' Bride translation. As a translator, I gotta put my 2 cents into the ring... What about politics? Much like Godwin's law for the internet, you can't have two people talk without politics creeping in, one way or another. If translation is a series of choices being made by a human, human...

How Accurate is Internet Buzz as a Overall Gauge of Interest?

Based on the talkback from this Anime News Network post. It's...an interesting question to answer, this one, simply because we don't have access to marketing data outside the occasional company flex like Netflix's. However, we can think about the factors surrounding such a question: Internet Fandom Keeps One's Own Fandom Alive When you're bonding with...

5 Anime for Those Who Don’t Want to Watch Gushing Over Magical Girls

Gushing Over Magical Girls is being controversial for...just being itself, it seems, so here's some options so that you feel less guilty about being on a government watchlist. Since Gushing Over Magical Girls is all about crossing lines in the form of BDSM, I've implemented "Furthest It Goes" ratings, which are correct to the best...

The Drinking Problem

(...no, I don't mean I have one...) Meta context: This was pulled out of my draft folder, so...I don't even remember how old it is anymore. Based on the intro, it's probably from 2018 or 2019. Grand Blue and the Rising of the Shield Hero. Aside from their male protagonists and the fact they both...