Life in an Anime Fandom

This was originally a response to Scott, but I ended up weaving my own post about a topic I wanted to write about anyway, so…here we are. From having bothered with a blog centred around a specific fandom (magicalgirlsandcerulean), the average time spent in a fandom is 2 years because the first year is when...

Breaking Down the Visions in Mashiro no Oto

By “visions”, I mean two things – mental images and dreams. Mashiro no Oto does what all good series about obscure topics do – it sucks you in, begging you to google the things it’s going on about. However, that effect has to be created by a strong framework. In Piano no Mori, this is...

Who’s a Critic Now?

I didn't realise Kim Morrissy was a woman. For the longest time, I swore the person who posted about light novels and used the pseudonym "Frog-kun" was a dude... ...but enough of my misconceptions, I want to talk about a piece of hers.  These days, it feels like everyone's a critic, or at least has the...

Can “Pretty” Really Carry a Series?

This is somewhat related to the issues raised in this post. Meta context: Another posts found in the depths of my drafts folder, except this one actually had the start of something I wanted to say anyway due to it being relevant this season (you'll see why in the post itself). As per the opening...

Rating All the #AniTwitWatches Anime

An idea started by Cameron (Iniksbane). I’ve been around for every #ATW which was possible for me and which I hadn’t watched already. A lot of my memories of these anime are vague because...let's face it, I watched some of this stuff up to 6 or 7 years ago. Spoiler warning: Spoilers for Gridman are...

What To Look Out For in Fairy Ranmaru

Boueibu started as a gender-flipped Sailor Moon, the “Battle Lacklusters”. Now that it’s come and gone, what does it mean for this next magical boy anime from some of the same creators? As a magical boy show, it’s no secret I’m watching Fairy Ranmaru closely. It’s only doubly so when you realise the same studio...

What Kirill Got Wrong and What He Got Right: Words from a Genetics Major

I mentioned in this round-up I know an Honours student who's a genetics major, so I figured I'd see what she says about Kirill's information in episode 10 of Double Decker!. Meta context: I wanted to have this post checked over once more before I put it out, but...a year passed and I still haven't...

Characters On Parade

Something that can make or break an entire anime is how quickly a series introduces its characters. Even long-running anime have a problem of suddenly providing a group of characters and not elaborating until later, to the point where it can put some viewers off to suddenly get a chunk of cast they don't want...

A Guide to Nendoroids

These "guide to so-and-so" posts are pretty fun, actually. I have one on how to cheaply obtain (in some cases, access to) anime and manga, but I don't think I've done one on anything you can obtain firsthand before... Information about Nendoroids is somewhat widely available in English, but there's some things I wish I...

Why is Back Arrow So Fun?

Squeezing this in just before Mecha March. I have professed I'm not the biggest fan of mech anime. However, in the past few years, I've been paying attention to them more. Partially, that is the fault of a certain mech-loving anime club media manager, but because the seasonal circuit makes you sit up and pay...