Devilman Crybaby is one of those things a lot of people like. I should like it, too, because it’s for grown-ups. I mean, it’s explicit in its explicitness, in its themes, in its text and its subtex…
Confessions of an Overage otaku
Jun 22, 2020 • Subscribe
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Character Analysis: Ritsuko
One of the ways you can tell what the target audience for some media message is is to look at the main character. Right? As a rule one…
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Character Analysis: Roanapur
It seems a little odd to describe a locale or setting as a character. I mean, in college, it could get your paper marked “-5 Anthropomorphism” or something…
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Character Analysis: Kino
I liked Kino’s Journey even though the main character, Kino their own self, was so … well … neutral is the best way I can describe them, that…
Character Analysis: Legoshi
Whoever dreamed up Beastars dreamed up something that is like the perfect storytelling cookbook. Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “No conflict, no drama.” (George Bernard Shaw)…
Character Analysis: Edward
Sometimes when you’re just walking around thinking about nothing you think of something. Like, I mean, think about Ed from Cowboy Bebop, right? What a great character! Why…
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Character Analysis: Zero Two
Darling in the Franxx is one of those things that popped onto the radar because it tried to do something we’d seen a million times – a mecha…
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Character Analysis: Kaguya Shinomiya
Kaguya-sama Love is War is one of those shows that knows what it is and isn’t any more than that. Dude it’s a rom-com, with emphasis on the…
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Character Analysis: Isaki Magari
Let’s be frank here: Insomniacs After School is so sweet it could be named High-Fructose Corn Syrup. That’s not necessary a bad thing. When you’re making an anime…
Character Analysis: Gene Starwind
You know, there are characters that are hard to figure out, and you can stare at the screen for hour and hours saying, “Wow. This is working and…
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Character Analysis: Honey Kisaragi
Let’s start with this: Honey Kisaragi, the android star of Cutie Honey, is an artifact of her age. She was born back in ’73. That was a turbulent…
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Character Analysis: Toshiko Tamura
Okay, yeah, I know you never heard of Toshiko Tamura. Let me lay down some backbeat here. If you ain’t heard of Osamu Tezuka, you’re probably reading the…
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Character Analysis: Yui Hirasawa
My writer friend Kate (look, she’s a girl and a friend but she’s not a girlfriend) declared a comic book and comic book movie weekend. The object is…
Character Analysis: Konata Izumi
Konata is one of my favorite characters ever. I like Lucky Star, as silly and pointless as it is, and watch it over and over, possibly because it’s…
Character Analysis: Sawa Nakamura
Flower of Evil is one of those things that when I read a summary of the manga I said, “I got to get me some of that.” Now,…
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Character Analysis: Hotori Arashiyama
And Yet the Town Moves is one of those silly little slice of lifers built around a slice of the life of Hotori Arashiyama, and her friends, family,…
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Character Analysis: Ringo Oginome
You may or may not like Penguindrum – it’s certainly weird, that’s for sure – but as I watched it I was struck by how many characters with…
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Character Analysis: Yoshika Miyafuji
Strike Witches is like a guilty pleasure. It’s a dumb story about characters who are largely one-dimensional by design whose flaws are painted over with constant action and…
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Character Analysis: Yasu Takagi
Nana’s one of those things that just about everyone knows about and has an opinion about. Since it’s supposed to be the best-selling shojo title in history (yeah,…
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Character Analysis: Chise Hatori
I enjoyed The Ancient Magus’ Bride until Kore Yamazaki decided to change the direction of the story by sending Chise to college. Now I still like it: I…
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Character Analysis: Takeo Goda
If you look at My Love Story!!, the first temptation is to look at the main characters, Takeo Goda and Rinko Yamato, as a pair. For instance, she…
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Character Analysis: Hayase Nagatoro
Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is one of those things that I wouldn’t ordinarily bother to write about. I mean, it’s an older, smuttier version of Teasing-Master…
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Character Analysis: Rea Sanka
You know, in a certain way Rea Sanka, the titular character of Sankarea, is one of the saddest characters in anime. Sure, there are characters who are supposed…
Character Analysis: Shinji Ikari
It’s easy to dislike poor Shinji. He’s passive and males are supposed to be aggressive. He’s supposed to love Rei but he’s fascinated with Asuka. He’s supposed to…
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Character Analysis: Faye Valentine
I have said before and will say again that Shinichiro Watanabe treats his female characters more fairly than just about any director either of us can name. Well,…
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Character Analysis: Lili Hoshikawa
I didn’t have this one ready for Pride Month. Sorry about that. But I wrote it during Pride Month. Does that count? One of the things that routinely…
Character Analysis: Rikka Takanashi
There was something powerfully cute about Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions. It’s about kids with delusions of having super powers (yeah, chunibyo), which puts them on the extreme…
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Character Analysis: Toph Beifong
There’s a meme making the rounds these days that says – and this is an exact quote – “If a show was released today where a disabled girl…
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Character Analysis: Taiga Aisaka
I think Toradora is a really well-constructed story, and I think I’ll write about why sometime in the not-so-distant future. But here’s part of it: it’s a classic…
Character Analysis: Lisa Mishima
I’ve generally liked the way Shinichiro Watanabe handles female characters. He seems to find a way to avoid simple tropes. Cowboy Bebop: Faye Valentine is seriously hot but…
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Character Analysis: Eikichi Onizuka
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Character Analysis: Fuu Kasumi
I have said it before and I will say it again: one of the things I like about Shinichiro Watanabe’s work is that he treats female characters with…
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Character Analysis: Haruko Haruhara
Warning: This post contains spoilers for FLCL: Grunge and FLCL: Shoegaze. If you haven’t seen them, read on at your own peril. The advent of two more seasons…
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Character Analysis: Tsukimi Kurashita
Princess Jellyfish is one of those things that’s just so cleverly constructed that you have to wonder whether it was planned or it just worked out that way,…
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Character Analysis: Haruko Haruhara
Haruko from FLCL is another character who is really easy to analyze. She’s a Look at Me woman. Boop. That’s it. That doesn’t make her a bad character,…
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Character Analysis: Momoka Oginome
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Character Analysis: Madoka Kaname
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Character Analysis: Ryuji Takusa
It seems bizarre that one of the anime I write about a lot is Toradora. I mean, compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop or The Melancholy…
Confessions of an Overage otaku
Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Toradora!
Character Analysis: Usagi Tsukino
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Character Analysis: Tohru Honda
Okay, I admit it: Fruits Basket is an anime I could easily have found to be annoying and Tohru Honda is a character I could easily have found…
Character Analysis: Misaki Nakahara
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Haruhi Suzumiya Character Analysis
A character study for the infamous and eccentric Haruhi Suzumiya.
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Character Analysis: Asako Yaeshima
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Character Analysis: Li’l Slugger
Okay, let’s get it out of the way: Satoshi Kon was a dude with a very interesting mind and perspective on the world, and one of the things…
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Character Analysis: Yui Ikari
Happy holidays to everyone who is celebrating a holiday anywhere. May the season be kind to you. Certain storytelling techniques absolutely fascinate me. One is meta, the use…
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Character Analysis: Marin Kitagawa
All right, you know who Marin Kitagawa is. She’s – depending on how you look at it – the Dress-up Darling of My Dress-up Darling. You can fight…
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Character (Re)analysis: Rei Ayanami
Happy holidays to all of you who recently celebrated, are celebrating, or will soon celebrate a holiday. It’s that time of year! One of the saddest (for me)…
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Character Analysis: Mari Illustrious Makinami
Okay, I hope everyone has seen Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 by now. If you haven’t, please do. It’s really good. It’s really good even though it changes the…
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Character (Re)Analysis: Tohru Honda
This may be the shortest time ever between me analyzing a character and then coming back to look at them again. I mean, it’s not like I got…
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Character (Re)analysis: Shinji Ikari
Sometimes you go back a look at a character you’ve looked at before because you’ve noticed something new about the character. And sometimes you have to go back…