Category Archives: Essay

Why It Works: Todoroki’s Personal Mountain

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Today on Crunchyroll, I combined my appreciation for the subtle uniqueness of Todoroki’s most recent conflicts with My Hero Academia’s current reflections on how heroism demands more than just strength, and came up with an article that I’m pretty sure all fits together! My Hero Academia’s focus on heroes as sources of inspiration and hope has always been sorta assumed in the background, but with All Might retiring, the story’s adults are actually having to straight-up articulate their need for a societal symbol of peace. Todoroki could very well become that symbol, but you can’t inspire others when the only thing fueling you is your own anger. Todoroki failed at the license exams, but I’m pretty sure he still picked up that lesson, and is stronger for it. This kid is gonna be okay!

The Ideal Hero: Todoroki’s Personal Mountain

Why It Works: This Season’s Greatest Hero is a Space Princess

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It is absolutely time for more gushing about Planet With. After last week’s more serious and theme-focused article, I figured it was probably appropriate to also write an article about Planet With’s sillier side. Of course, Ginko isn’t a comic relief character at all – she’s just naturally funny, like most of this show’s cast. And beyond adding a bunch of charm to the production, her story echoes Planet With’s generally fatigued-but-humanist outlook, representing a hard-fought belief in the validity of all life. Ginko is great, and I’m happy to make a small tribute to her.

This Season’s Greatest Hero is a Space Princess

Why It Works: Planet With’s Villains Are Right

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Today on Crunchyroll, I finally took my first stab at a Planet With article, which will hopefully be the first of many. There are a million possible angles to tackle this show from, but I went with a pretty central one to start: the moral ambiguity of the various shifting factions in this very unique show. There are no clear villains in this one – even the friggin’ dragon has his own ethos, as horribly violent as it is. I’m excited to see how alliances shift in the second half!

Planet With’s Villains Are Right

Why It Works: My Hero Academia’s Clever Approach to Anime-Original Content

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Today on Crunchyroll, I expanded my vague thoughts on the recent Yaoyorozu episode into a general commentary on how the adaptation is approaching anime-original material. My Hero Academia has been very smart about choosing when and how to embellish on the source material, capitalizing on the fact that the original manga was already full of moments that wouldn’t really mind some elaboration. Adaptation is a complex and fascinating thing, and I’m happy to celebrate shows that handle it well!

My Hero Academia’s Clever Approach to Anime-Original Content

Why It Works: Nichijou is Back on Crunchyroll!

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I sure hope the universe never runs out of good reasons for me to ramble about Nichijou. Today I’ve got another solid one, as Nichijou has returned to Crunchyroll, giving me one more excuse to gush about this wonderful show. I genuinely love being an evangelist for my favorites, and Nichijou specifically is a show that I feel could actually have very broad appeal, if only people gave it a chance. The show’s scattershot and often highly experimental approach to comedy means it’s not necessarily always going to work for any given audience member, but it’s so diverse in its comedy styles and so good at all of them that most people who enjoy the concept of laughter should find something to love. Anyway, I’m gushing again already, so let’s just get to the piece!

Breaking News: Nichijou is Back on Crunchyroll!

Why It Works: Level Up: The Thrilling Possibilities of 1-A’s Ultimate Moves

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My Hero Academia’s leads all got up a power up these last few weeks, which meant it was high time for one of my favorite traditions: enthusiastic tactical analysis of all their latest abilities. I friggin’ love tactics-based action shows, where battles generally adhere to some sort of internal logic, and My Hero Academia is a wonderful example of the form. Let’s get right to it!

Level Up: The Thrilling Possibilities of 1-A’s Ultimate Moves

Hunter x Hunter – Volume 36

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I wonder how Togashi himself feels, moving around his hundreds of chess pieces on his massive, three-dimensional chessboard. Surely he himself has a clear ending in mind, right? How could anyone possibly have the confidence to throw this many balls into the air and start juggling, with no idea how the performance will end? Any other author would leave me certain that the Dark Continent, or at least the Succession Arc in particular, will end in unfocused, shambling tears – but this is Togashi, and he pulled off Chimera Ant, so I’ll give him as much rope as he needs. As for this volume in particular, Togashi works very hard to simplify the sprawling madness of the boat setup into three core, parallel conflicts, each of them intersecting, each of them containing within them a variety of sub-conflicts. Let’s start where the volume itself starts, and dig right in!

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Why It Works: Nick’s Picks for Summer 2018

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Alright, back from vacation and catching up on work as fast as I can. First up: damnit I totally forgot to link this week’s Crunchyroll article. As usual, I followed up the wave of premieres with a recommendation post highlighting my own favorites of the Crunchy catalog, which in this season’s case turned out to still be a pretty overwhelming number of shows. Here’s the piece!

Nick’s Picks for Summer 2018

Why It Works: The Thrilling Tales of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part Two

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Today I conclude my journey through the first four arcs of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and presumably get everyone prepped for the coming fifth season. I know I’m very lucky to be living in the era of an actual, committed JoJo adaptation, and at this point, it almost doesn’t feel like a proper anime season if I don’t have a JoJo to rely on. It’s been a long wait for arc five, and I’m beyond thrilled to get to it. I hope you enjoy the piece!

The Thrilling Tales of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part Two

Why It Works: All Might Versus All For One

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For this week’s Crunchyroll article, I took a brief stab at articulating a few of the philosophies represented through the various factions and figures of My Hero Academia, with All Might’s spirit of supporting the public good contrasted against Stain’s fanaticism and All For One’s hedonistic self-interest. It’d frankly be nicer if My Hero Academia’s reductive positions were a little less true to life, but hey, this is the world we’ve got. Either way, there’s certainly more to dive into in the contrast between the various League of Villains members and whatnot, but this seemed like a reasonable starting point. Hope you enjoy the piece!

Why It Works: All Might Versus All For One