Category Archives: Essay

Monogatari is a Disaster

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New article-essay thing! This one’s less of a thematic essay and more of a breakdown of why Monogatari is basically destined to be divisive, going into the various core elements that make it so weird and both repellent and appealing at the same time. It’s one of my favorite shows, but I completely understand why other people wouldn’t like it, or why other people who like it would have entirely different feelings on it even if we both “like Monogatari.” It’s quite a strange mess of a show, and that’s actually part of why I like it so much.

Anyway, I get to all that in the article. AND HERE IT IS:

Monogatari is a Disaster

Nisemonogatari

The Dream of Redemption in Haibane Renmei

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New essay is up! This one’s all about that fractured classic Haibane Renmei, full of rich ideas and held back by unfortunate technical issues completely outside its control. I enjoyed Haibane Renmei, but didn’t love it, and I go into all of that in my piece, so let’s get right to it!

The Dream of Redemption in Haibane Renmei

Haibane Renmei’s full of more detail than just one piece can really handle, though, so you can check out all my episodic notes below.

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Growing Up is Hard to Do: Oregairu and Hachiman

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Alright, big ol’ essay time! This one’s all about Oregairu, and Hachiman more specifically. I could honestly write a piece about almost any of that show’s characters, but Hachiman sits at the center, and his issues are partially reflective of everyone’s. Where his attitude comes from, how it gets expressed, how Oregairu slowly drags him forward – we’re talking about ALL OF IT today. Let’s get right to it!

Growing Up is Hard to Do

Oregairu

“You’re Watching It Wrong”

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I made a lot of people mad a little while ago. Angry forum threads, capslock responses filling up my ask.fm inbox, the whole nine yards. I even heard people were planning on emailing my editor! It was an exciting time for everyone, but I can’t say I didn’t deserve it. I did something that, if you’re truly, deeply attached to your experience of a media object, can be absolutely unforgivable.

I watched a show wrong.

Unlimited Blade Works

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Shirobako and the Struggle

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Hey guys! I wrote another essay, and we’re doing a bit of an experiment this time – the folks at ANN asked if I could send some pieces their way, and so we’re going to see what the usual ANN readers make of my heart-on-sleeve thematic pieces. If this works out, I’ll likely be able to write more consistent essays in the future, so here’s hoping they give a damn. Like those poor souls in Shirobako, I’m basically doing anything I can here to keep writing, but it’s not easy! Feel free to comment there or right here, and let me know if you have any concerns about me shipping some of these to ANN – I was somewhat anxious about it, but this will ultimately hopefully allow for more writing altogether, which I’m guessing is what people want the most. So here’s one more set of lyrics, playing in my newest piece, on that most heartwarming of dramas.

“I keep my head up tight / I make my plans at night / And I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep til it’s light / Some folks float, some are buried alive.”

– Shine a Light, Wolf Parade

Shirobako and the Struggle

Shirobako

No Politics: Media and Identity

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We’ve been hearing a lot of it lately, at least from the more gurgly and questionable-smelling corners of the internet – a demand for “objective reviews.” Reviews that leave politics at the door, and simply give audiences an untainted appraisal of some media property. If you read my stuff at all regularly, I’m sure you can take a guess as to my thoughts on the validity of this request – given how often I stress the variability of personal experience, art experience, and critical evaluation, it should come as no surprise that I find this demand pretty misguided. But it keeps coming up, and it actually reflects on a number of more interesting elements of both how we parse media and how media is constructed, and so I figured I’d take my own shot at the topic. So let’s get down and dirty with objectivity in criticism!

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Fullmetal Alchemist and the Promise of Power

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Management: This piece is about the 2003 series. Please refrain from or at least clearly mark spoilers regarding Brotherhood in the comments!

Alchemy is the promise of power.

That doesn’t sound particularly profound – it sounds obvious, actually. Clearly stories of alchemy are stories of men of science attempting to harness the unharnessable, to make the laws of the universe bend to their will, to achieve great things. But in the case of Fullmetal Alchemist, “power” doesn’t necessarily mean “strength” or “possibility.” Power can simply mean knowing your strength exists, and the world is a place you have the chance to affect.

Alchemy is the promise of control.

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Cross Game and My Father

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I’ve never been much of a sports guy.

Shocking, I know. Somehow, my appreciation of boys kicking or throwing various projectiles could never quite match my love of writing, videogames, and Japanese cartoons. I stayed inside, I played Zelda, I chortled while talking about the “jocks” playing sportball. I was above all that.

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The Flowers of Evil – Review

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Oh man, this was something. This was actually the first work I was assigned to review on ANN, but it took me a while to get around to it and a while to get through it. Flowers of Evil is a heavy, oppressive thing, but it’s so, sooo good. I did my best to capture what makes it such a rich experience in my review, and would recommend anyone who’s heard mixed things to at least give it a shot. It’s a pretty tremendous show.

Here’s my full ANN review. My copious episodic notes are below!

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Plots Twists and Other Parlor Tricks

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Look at this rabbit in my hand. See the rabbit? Surprise! It’s actually a turtle.

Pretty impressive, huh?

Alright, maybe that one didn’t work on you. How about this one. Look at this character – she’s just a mild-mannered high school student, right? Surprise! She’s actually an evil wizard.

Still nothing? Hm.

Okay, one more. Look at this upbeat, slice of life story. Got a good picture of it? Surprise! It’s actually a dystopian sci-fi drama.

Alright, you get the picture. Let’s talk about plot twists.

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