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Evolution’s Hand Book 2: Dying Breath is Now Available!
Evolution’s Hand Book 2: Dying Breath is now available for purchase! It’s available as an ebook or paperback from Amazon. It’s also available as an …Evolution’s Hand Book…
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,…
How To Build a Series: Spy X Family
Okay, repeat after me: Stories don’t need conflict if you don’t want people to pay any attention to them. Of course, if you DO want people to like…
How to Cook a Series: Wonder Egg Priority
You know what Wonder Egg Priority reminded me of? Interviews with Monster Girls. Let me tell you why. The deal with the demi-human girls of Interviews is that…
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…
The Power of Three Plus Two: O Maidens in Your Savage Season
When you’re dealing with characters in writing, I mean seriously, do I have to say this? The more you have, the harder it is to keep them straight.…
Medium Doesn’t Matter?: Joshi Kausei
There’s something we keep coming back to here, and that is that manga and anime are very different media, and the ways they are different influence the ways…
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…
Medium Matters: Welcome to the NHK
In the beginning, there was a novel called Welcome to the NHK. I haven’t read it. Now that it’s a collector’s item you have to pay like $60…
The Power of Three Minus One: Spy X Family
One of the things that gets me about Spy X Family is how layered it is. It operates at so many layers of reality in its fictional world…
Oh, So Tropical: The “Nice To Meet You, Ms. Ayanami”
There are some anime you watch – I’m looking at YOU What Are You Doing Here Teacher – where you watch it and all you take away from…
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…
Oh, So Tropical: The Chosen One
The essence of The Chosen One trope is that there is someone out there in the universe who has been Marked by Fate (or the Gods, or whomever)…
Full Animation: Zombie Land Saga
I do this so infrequently that I feel obligated to remind people that I analyze anime and manga from my twin perspectives as a writer and also as…
Character Analysis: Momoka Oginome
As weird as it is, there is A LOT A LOT to like about Penguindrum. The main trio of characters, Shoma, Kanba, and Himari, are really well-constructed characters…
How to Build a Series: Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is one of those things that looks like a delightful piece of fluff but is actually a masterclass in story construction when you look at it…
The Power of Two: My Dress-Up Darling
My Dress-Up Darling was one of the breakout hits of the last season. I thought it was pretty good. Did you think it was pretty good? In a…
Oh, So Tropical: The Pre-pubescent Horndog
As a writer I love tropes. Tropes are tropes because they work in telling good stories. Sure. Take the “Hero-Sidekick-Girlfriend” trio, right? You can use that interrelationship to…
How Not to Cook a Series: Michiko and Hatchin
Look, let me lay it out here: I don’t call this blog “The Overage Otaku” because I’m 19 and all my manga friends are like 16. I’m an…
Character (Re)analysis: Haruhi Suzumiya
It’s been a while since I wrote about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but what astonishes me about it is that every time you think about it, you…
Computer Animation: Ghost in the Shell SAC 2045
Whenever I start a post about animation I say that animation is something I talk too little about here. I mean, the deal here is that I’m looking…
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…
How to Cook a Series: The Orbital Children
The Orbital Children is one of those things that snuck up on me. I was like, yeah, kiddie sci-fi, I’m going to like that (sarcasm), but I was…
How Not to End a Series: Welcome to the NHK
Welcome to the NHK is one of those things that should remind you of how a medium people think is for children – I mean, it’s a CARTOON,…
Character Analysis: Re-L Mayer
Ergo Proxy is one of those things you can stare at for a long time. It’s deeply grounded in philosophy and puts together a look and sound that…
How to Build a Series: Thermae Romae Novae
WARNING: This discussion violates my rule on not talking about anime that are just out. It contains spoilers! Be warned. In a lot of ways Thermae Romae Novae…
Character (Re)analysis: Asuka Langley Soryu
My original character analysis of Asuka Langley Soryu is the most read post in the history of this blog. This doesn’t especially surprise me. For one thing, it’s…
The Power of Three: Sankarea
The premise of “The Power of Three” series of posts is that we’re going to be looking at some kind of three-way relationship to see how it works.…
Effects Animation: Ergo Proxy
Man, it’s been a long since I talked about animation. I mean, by now I probably have to remind everyone that when I look at anime I look…
Oh, So Tropical: The Convenient Stomach Rumble
I’m a writer so I can say this: There are a lot of gimmicks writers use to keep the story moving. For instance, the great crime writer Raymond…
How to Cook a Series: Kotaro Lives Alone
Isn’t Kotaro Lives Alone so cute you just can’t stand it? That brave little boy, living alone, living up the ideals of the noble knight, making all the…
Story Drop!
Yay! It happened again! I sold a story! Shh … this is an ugly secret, but I knew this months ago. They’ve even already paid me. Anywho, here’s…
How to Start a Series: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of those concoctions, like Neon Genesis, that is sometimes so deep it seems like the creators outsmarted themselves trying to show themselves how…
Character Analysis: Asako Yaeshima
Sweat and Soap is one of those things that when you describe it to someone sounds either sickly sweet or more than a little creepy. I mean, it’s…
The Power of Two: Nana
Man, I like Nana. It’s grown-up, right? Well, at least they try. The gimmick is that both main characters are named Nana, Nana Oosaki and Nana Kumatsu. They…
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…
How to Cook a Series: Silver Nina
Every once in a while I fall into a rabbit hole and can’t climb out. So I have a subscription to Crunchyroll, and there’s an app that gives…
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…
What’s in a Name: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Can anyone really honestly say they know what’s going on inside Hideaki Anno’s head? There’s a cute manga out there written by his wife Moyoco about their life…
Oh, So Tropical: The He-Can’t-Love-Me Woman
In a lot of ways romance animes are some of the dumbest on the air. I mean, seriously? You have Person A and Person B and everyone knows…
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…
Okay, I Get the Joke: Gleipnir
Gleipnir is one of those things that manages to use a story to hide something in plain sight, and that is that it’s thinly-veiled pornography. And let me…
Character Analysis: Justy Ueki Tylor
A long winter storm and a Comic Book weekend (which requires only reading and watching cartoons, including manga and anime) led me to the delight that is The…
The Power of Three Squared: Fruits Basket
Okay, I’ll be honest: Fruits Basket is not exactly in my wheelhouse in terms of what I want to see, right? I mean you take the rom-com thing…
Medium Matters: Komi Can’t Communicate
If you read back in this blog – oh screw it, here’s a link – I was really unthrilled with the manga version of Komi Can’t Communicate. Y’see,…
The Power of Three Minus One: The Dirty Pair
Scott over at Mechanical Anime Reviews has been going through The Dirty Pair recently, and I think he had the same goofy fun I had with it. So…
Oh, So Tropical: The Family Princess
I started out wanting to do a character analysis of Rea Sanka, the main female character (and namesake) of Sankarea, Undying Love, but I ran into a little…
The Power of Three: Penguindrum
Penguindrum is one of those thing, like Wonder Egg Priority, that people have been recommending to me, like, forever. Really. Seriously. For ever. A Certain Retailer had two…
Oh, So Tropical: The Soul Girl
I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at a trio of characters and seen them forming a classic Mind-Body-Soul trio. Sure. How about Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles,…
Medium Matters: Sankarea, Undying Love
What is it with Japanese anime boys and kinky fetishes? First we get Yamazaki from Welcome to the NHK, who prefers his women 2-D, and now there’s Kuruya…