12 Days of Anime, #4: Hunter x Hunter Breaks Me

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I’m not really much of a crier. This used to be pretty much a hard rule – basically nothing would move me to cry, regardless of how personal or how tragic. This has started to change over the last few years, starting with Katawa Shoujo and my reintroduction back into anime. And I’m actually grateful for this – my favorite media is the stuff that makes me cry, and I wish I did it more often. It happens rarely enough that I can still easily say any show that makes me cry is among my favorite shows.

Well, Hunter x Hunter made me cry. God damn did it ever.

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Sword Art Online II – Episode 24

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It’s over. Dear lord, it is finally over. I know that it’s not actually over – I still have to review Extra Edition for ANN, and the looming threat of a third season always hangs overhead. But for what it’s worth, SAO ended on about as high of a note as the show has ever reached – not only was this episode sharp aesthetically, it actually legitimately tied this arc’s themes together in a graceful way. I’ve had problems with SAO, I am very sure you know, but even with a couple serious dud episodes, Mother’s Rosario has turned out to easily be the show’s best arc. Plenty of reasons for that – a lack of Kirito, an actual character focus, a new perspective on the show’s central ideas – but the sum total of it means I can’t really complain. It’s been quite a ride, Sword Art Online. Now get the fuck out of here, you little scamp.

My full ANN post is here. Notes below!

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12 Days of Anime, #5: Alien Flamenco

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Of course you’d introduce an alien villain, Samurai Flamenco. Of course his name would be Alien Flamenco.

Samurai Flamenco

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12 Days of Anime, #6: Shounen Hollywood Goes For Broke

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I am well aware of the fact that I am one of maybe seven people who watched this show. I am equally aware that I never would have watched it myself if I weren’t being literally paid to do so. Maybe Shounen Hollywood knew these things. Maybe it was aware it had no audience to impress, and thus no audience to disappoint. Maybe that’s why it decided to be one of the most secretly ambitious, balls-to-the-wall concept-happy productions of the year.

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ANN’s Top Five Anime of 2014

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ANN just posted their big top five anime of the year retrospective, which includes the results of their reader poll and lists from a bunch of their staff, including yours truly. This list was based on full-length shows that started in 2014, meaning no Hanamonogatari or Samurai Flamenco, while shows like Shirobako are eligible. Meaning the list I submitted there is actually fairly different from the top ten list I’ll be posting here in a week or so, but it still offers a fine preview of my thoughts on the year, and actually highlights how badly I think this fall season pulled everything together. This was a weak year in anime, but the silver lining is that fall’s continuing shows (Shirobako, KimiUso, Parasyte, FSN) are almost single-handedly ensuring 2015 will be better. And the other ANN writers highlight a whole bunch of other compelling stuff, so clearly animeland will survive. Here’s to 2014!

Shirobako

12 Days of Anime, #7: Going Pro

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I don’t know what I’m doing here, guys. Don’t have a goddamn idea. I started out on friggin’ reddit with a post about Nisemonogatari, and now I’m ANN’s official Monogatari analyst. That’s worth noting, right? I’m happy about how things have turned out, but am generally too stressed and busy to actually revel in it, which I guess is how this writing thing goes no matter how you’re doing? I hope?

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12 Days of Anime #8: The Pain and Triumph of William Massachusetts

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In all the awful roar GamerGate has created, it’s sometimes hard to remember that the angst at its core is actually a real and tangible thing. Many people do come to games because they feel the world “isn’t fair,” or that they have no talents relevant to it – and shows like Sword Art Online or Mahouka tap into this unhappiness, and to the desire for control it creates. Log Horizon is smarter than both of those shows, and so when Log Horizon addresses the fundamental sadness at the heart of “gamer pride,” it does it with both empathy and a larger scope of understanding. William Massachusetts knows what he is, though his view of the larger world is fractured and flawed. And William Massachusetts is proud.

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Fall 2014 – Week 11 in Review

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This was a somewhat hit or miss week in animeland, with the usual top tier turning in great episodes, but everyone else varying from solid to blargh. Amagi Brilliant Park, Chaika, and Bahamut are looking like they’ll fall somewhere under my initial expectations, the top four of Shirobako, KimiUso, Parasyte, and FSN are all keeping it together in solid form, and the MMO contingent are both doing their best to end the season on a high note. Let’s see what we got!

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12 Days of Anime #9: Kakyoin Doesn’t Trust Babies

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I certainly had my issues with Stardust Crusaders, but whatever my quibbles with the narrative structure, I can’t deny that no other show featured one of its protagonists desperately trying to outwit a killer baby. Well, except for that one scene in Cross Ange, but let’s not go there. There’s not much to say about this event – I know what I like, and what I like is apparently Kakyoin staring daggers at infants as they plot murder in their crib.

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12 Days of Anime #10: The Rise of Ask Bobduh

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So I guess I’m a narcissist, or something? I dunno how it happened, but my ask.fm profile has somehow become one of the central parts of this whole internet-personality gig I’ve got going on. Answer a couple thousand questions, and suddenly everybody wants to know what you’ve got to say!

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