Couldn’t keep myself away from Flip Flappers, as it turns out. The Why It Works articles are actually very well-suited for exploring the show, since its ideas are all relevant across episodes, and so it’s handy to analyze single threads that have carried between them. This time I talk about the show’s use of visual symmetry, which essentially expands on my earlier writing about the show’s generally stellar visual storytelling. Take a look!
Why It Works: Flip Flappers’ Fearful Symmetry
Hello again! For this week’s Why It Works, I focused on a roughly three minute scene from the latest March, and basically unpacked it into an investigation of Rei’s personality and the nature of teaching and media salesmanship. It’s always nice when some offhand element of a show gestures towards a larger topic like this, and I had a bunch of fun writing this one. I hope you enjoy the piece!
Why It Works: March comes in like a lion Explains Shogi
On this week’s Why It Works, I finally found an angle for digging in to Girlish Number, one that basically highlights the show’s favorite things – insults and character writing. Girlish Number isn’t a fantastic show, but it certainly has strengths worth talking about! Hopefully next season offers some reasonable critical fodder – I’m already wondering exactly how I’m gonna fill my column without JoJo to always lean back on. Oh wait, Rakugo is coming back, nevermind. There’s always something to cover!
ANYWAY. This article’s about Girlish Number. I hope you enjoy it. Here’s the piece!
Why It Works: Girlish Number’s Insult Crossfire
I was back to Flip Flappers again this week, discussing how so much of Flip Flappers’ larger storytelling beats are mostly relegated to imagery and background noise. While I enjoyed Flip Flappers from the start, I’ve only been feeling more impressed by its storytelling as the episodes pile up. If its second half is as strong as its first, it could easily stand as one of this year’s lasting anime highlights.
Why It Works: Flip Flappers’ Unspoken Stories
Today I’ve got a new ANN editorial for all you lovely folks! This time I’m diving deep into questions of tone and authorial voice, discussing the difference between cynical characters and cynical productions, and offering my own very predictable take on this whole mess of concepts. I had a lot of fun with this one – authorial voice is an inherently thorny and fascinating concept, and character writing is something I’ll never get tired of talking about. I hope you enjoy the piece!
Don’t Get Jaded: Cynicism in Anime
So yes, I technically may have used SHELTER as an excuse to ramble about Idolm@ster again. Those may ultimately be the facts as they are presented – but is that a crime you could convict me for? Could ANYONE fault me for using this clearly valid opportunity to talk about why Megumi Kouno is extremely good? I present myself to the people: let he among you who is without moe cast the first stone.
Why It Works: SHELTER’s Animation Genius
I took a few weeks away for the start of the fall season, but I couldn’t stay away from JoJo for long. This week I go into another of JoJo’s general-purpose strengths – the way it’s so genuinely invested in not-so-thrilling adventures that it drags the audience along as well. It’s pretty much a constant for JoJo, but I figured a week where Kira faced down a cat-plant was as good a time as any to discuss it!
Why It Works: JoJo’s Equal-Opportunity Drama
The nice thing about working for ANN and Crunchyroll is that I get to be as greedy as I want when it comes to writing about shows. Sure, I’ve already got three great anime over at ANN, but why should Flip Flappers have to be left out? So this week I return to Flip Flappers, and talk about some of the neat details used to construct Cocona’s internal world. I hope you enjoy it!
Why It Works: FLIP FLAPPERS’ Lonely World of Windows and Doors
This week on Crunchyroll I gave a wave to a few of the less renowned premieres of the season, before we get into the period where I can only really discuss the shows I’m actually following. There’s just too many dang shows out there for me to watch everything, but I’m sure somebody could use the direction of these recommendations. It can become easy to forget that to most people, there’s really no way of knowing what new shows might actually appeal to you!
Why It Works: Rough Gems of the Fall Season
The new season has begun, meaning Why It Works has a whole new crop of shows to talk about! Today I started with Izetta, breaking down a bunch of the details that come together to make that opening train scene work so well. It’s nice to have such a broad selection of new things to discuss!
Why It Works: Izetta’s Great Train Escape
