Today on Why It Works, I’ve got another topical list for everyone, courtesy of the end-of-season drought of things to actually critique. This one’s a pretty fun list though, and runs down a pretty wide array of shows I’ve enjoyed over recent years, highlighting them for tonal strengths that are sometimes overshadowed by their overt premises. Here’s the list!
10 Anime to Inspire Your Summer Vacation!
Today on Why It Works, I offered my usual rapid-fire list of upcoming seasonal contenders, with the summer’s particularly broad slate giving me plenty of shows to talk about. I’m not sure how many of these action shows I’ll actually be keeping up with, but with JoJo ending and Demon Slayer continuing to disappoint, I’m guessing I’ll at least be picking up Dr. Stone and Fire Force. O Maidens also seems like a given, and Granbelm definitely has a lot of potential. Without clear guidelines like “Watanabe and Ikuhara are making shows,” the season’s prospects are a lot more open, and I’m excited to see where all these shows sort out. Here’s my list!
Anime to Look Out For in the Summer Season!
It’s generally a good policy to design your stories with a planned beginning, middle, and endpoint. Certainly leave yourself room for creative twists and new discoveries along the way, but beginning with a coherent, planned structure is crucial if you want your story to feel like a satisfying, cohesive saga. Of course, not all stories can afford to open with knowledge of their ending – particularly stories in mediums like weekly manga, where concerns like “what new variables can I introduce to keep readers hooked” will often trump more luxurious questions like “how do these new variables further articulate my story’s fundamental point.” Continuing weekly narratives demand novelty, and novelty often ends up evolving into baggage.
Today I returned to one of my favorite styles of Why It Works articles, as I went point-by-point through the smart storytelling choices of JoJo’s most recent major battle. There is both an art and a craft to great action storytelling, and I appreciate Araki for consistently demonstrating all the finer points of this unique storytelling form. Let’s get to it!
Bucciaratti Versus Secco: Breakdown of a Classic JoJo Battle
Today I’ve got one more grab-bag of anime recommendations, spinning off the signature strength of this season’s Demon Slayer. To be honest, even Demon Slayer itself could really use some stronger characterization for Nezuko, but she’s definitely starting to take a stronger role in the story relative to her earlier situation. And in the meantime, I’ve got a pile of shows that already demonstrate how well anime can articulate the unique joys and stresses of sibling bonds. Have at it!
Five Anime With Great Sibling Bonds!
Today I’ve got a Why It Works post I’m very happy with, as I got to write at length on a topic I’m always fascinated by – storytelling conveyed without narrative, and particularly storytelling conveyed through sound design. The entry point for this discussion was how well Carole & Tuesday’s songwriting expresses its protagonists’ growth, but many of my favorite shows use not just music, but in-show musical performance as key emotional moments and character turns. As a musician and songwriter myself, I’m naturally inclined to embrace music-focused anime, and fortunately, several of my favorite anime directors seem to love musical performances just as much as I do. Here’s the piece!
Music in Anime: The Song is the Story
For this week’s Why It Works article, I shamelessly embraced the conclusion of Game of Thrones to try and trick people into watching a bunch of really good anime. My means may have been duplicitous, but my intentions are good, which I feel is at least honoring the spirit of our fondest Westerosi friends. Any opportunity to rep Shinsekai Yori and Bokurano feels like a net positive to me!
Five Shows to Scratch that Game of Thrones Itch!
Today on Why It Works, I used the reveal of Toi’s backstory as a jumping-off point to explore the searching for a home that dominates all of Ikuhara’s anime productions. It’s nice to be able to put all those hours spent exploring and detailing Penguindrum’s themes to good use, and always a treat to revisit the art design of Ikuhara’s works in general. Here’s the piece!
Searching for Home in the Anime of Kunihiko Ikuhara
Today on Why It Works, I explored the unique ways Haruo Sotozaki and studio ufotable bring Demon Slayer’s battles to life. It’s always a little dicey to talk about “house styles” when it comes to anime studios, since the specific individuals on any given team can vary so much, but if ufotable can be known for anything, it’d be the unique way their expansive CG department informs their action cinematography. Today’s article is all about that, and I’m eager to get to it. Here’s the piece!
The Digital Arenas of Demon Slayer’s Battles
Well folks, today we’re diving into something entirely different. I normally keep things pretty anime-centric around these parts, or at least fiction-specific more generally, but today we’re branching out to something new: a video episode of the Japan Railway Journal. The Japan Railway Journal is Japan’s episodic NHK documentary on the various train lines of Japan, and today we’ll be exploring the Yamanote Line – the loop that services the Tokyo region, handling a ridiculous density of commuter traffic every single morning. And if you’d like to follow along, you can easily watch the episode yourself!