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Rebuild of Evangelion Has Redefined a Classic
I have made my dislike of Neon Genesis Evangelion abundantly clear. Across two essays and a flurry of Tweets, I have stood firm that the anime which is…
How Anime Excels in Making You Care
There is a phenomenon within anime that I refer to as the “niche genre”. You don’t have to go very far in order to stumble upon it. It…
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back is Life-Changing
Chainsaw Man is the first manga I reviewed (and also the only one), accidentally coinciding with the series’ unexpected end last December. In it, I discussed how its…
What Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop Has to Do Right
The live-action anime adaptation is the rightly shunned corner of film adaptations. Books are regularly made into successful and critically-acclaimed films and television series, while even video g…
Danmachi is Fun Fantasy Done Right
I did not intend for this to become a series. If I’m being perfectly honest, Dororo: Dark Fantasy Done Right was a title I devised simply because it…
Shonen is Ready to Grow Up
In the world of manga and anime, battle shonen indisputably reigns supreme. Of the top ten most popular anime on MAL, seven are specifically battle anime, not counting…
How Haikyuu Does Character Growth on the Court
Haikyuu is in many ways the definitive sports anime. Not the first, but no sports manga since Slam Dunk and Eyeshield 21 has had this level of influence…
The Tragedy of Tokyo Ghoul
Tokyo Ghoul is one of my favorite manga of all time. It’s dark, filled with rich characters, possesses philosophically complex themes, and has some of the best and…
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part Three: Stardust Crusaders Retrospective
There was a longer gap between these retrospectives than I intended, mostly because I’ve been trying to keep a part or two ahead of schedule. Having to rewatch…
Is Being Faithful to the Manga Even Important?
It might feel like this comes as a direct sequel to my essay on the original Fullmetal Alchemist. There, I defined the merits of a series that played…
Why I Still Love Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
If you became an anime fan in the last couple of years, you have it pretty good. In the early 2000s, a hot shonen manga would receive an…
Re-Main Review: Does MAPPA Sink or Swim?
Studio: MAPPA Director: Masafumi Nishida Streaming on: Funimation For better or worse, MAPPA has become one of the most dominant studios in the anime studio, and a household…
Skyward Sword HD Review: The Best-Worst Zelda Takes Flight Again
It isn’t exactly a hot take to say you don’t like Skyward Sword. It is the single-most maligned game in a beloved franchise. It suffers from a series…
Remake Our Life! Review: Where Have I Seen This Before?
Studio: Feel Director: Tomoki Koboyashi Streaming on: Crunchyroll One of the weird and strangely enjoyable things about anime is that there are distinct types of genres that are…
The Case Study of Vanitas Review: Behind Blue Eyes
Studio: Bones Director: Tomoyuki Itamura Streaming on: Funimation Longtime readers will know of my great weakness for the bishonen subgenre, the pretty boys. SK8 The Infinity, Banana Fish,…
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Review: A Paperwork Anime? I’m In!
Studio: J.C. Staff Director: Takashi Watanabe Streaming on: Funimation We have gotten a lot of isekai over the last decade. And I mean a lot. Considering the genre…
Girlfriend, Girlfriend Review: That’s Just Polygamy with Extra Steps
Studio: Tezuka Productions Director: Satoshi Kuwabara Streaming on: Crunchyroll If you’ve seen my essay where I praised Rent-a-Girlfriend for being an ecchi harem comedy with excellent writin…
The Detective is Already Dead Review: No Spoiler Warning on That Title?
Studio: ENGI Director: Manabu Kurihara Streaming on: Funimation I have been an earnest fan of the classic detective stories for most of my life. My personal library is…
Persona 5: Living an Anime
For the sake of abandoning all objectivity, I will admit that Persona 5 is one of my favorite games of all time. That’s a problem with writing about…
The Perfect Slice of Life Spin-Off
Slice of life is a real hit or miss. On the one hand, stories reflecting everyday life can be as important and as emotionally stirring as any other…
The Best Protagonist in Anime
Code Geass is one of the most popular anime of all time, and more than that, it’s a personal favorite. It reinvigorated my interest in mecha, especially when…
I Hate The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is my favorite game franchise of all time, which is a position you only get to claim if I hate many of the games…
Atmosphere in Games (Hades and Hollow Knight)
The opening scene or sequence in a game is the most important, more so than any other medium. A film or an anime can wait to draw you…
The End of Evangelion Deserves to be a Classic
The first installment in the “Does X Anime Deserve to be a Classic” series was a collection of my thoughts on the original Neon Genesis Evangelion, and how…
Beastars, or the Troubling World of Allegory
When I first wrote about Beastars, which you can find here, I tried to focus on its character writing. Don’t get me wrong, Beastars has an excellent story…
The Hands of Time
Hi, everyone. This is a little different from my regular content, but My Anime List recently partnered with the web novel site HoneyFeed for a writing contest. I…
Vinland Saga: How to Kill Off a Character
At the start of the 2010s there was this fascination with ‘lethal’ media. The type of television that had dominated in recent decades: sitcoms, game shows, reality TV,…
Devilman Crybaby: Resurrecting a Story
Devilman is one of the most influential manga ever written. You cannot understate the impact that Go Nagai’s initially simple story of a boy forced to house a…
Record of Ragnarok Review: The Best Slideshow Ever
Do you like anime? If so, what exactly draws you to it? If you’re on this blog, you at least have a passing interest in it, if not…
Persona 5: Living an Anime
For the sake of abandoning all objectivity, I will admit that Persona 5 is one of my favorite games of all time. That’s a problem with writing about…
Does Toradora Deserve to be a Classic?
I love romcom anime. Kaguya-sama and Horimiya rank among my favorite manga of all time, and I even came around on Oregairu when it recovered from a disappointing…
Processing Grief Through Anime Part Two: Anohana
I began the first part with an explanation of tearjerker anime, the ones that wring tears out of you. Not that I would ever cry over a silly…
Processing Grief Through Anime Part One: Your Lie in April
Everyone should be familiar with the tearjerker anime, or at least I assume they are, as they’re frequently ranked among the best anime of all time. Tearjerker isn’t…
Kaguya-Sama: The Anime That Demands To Be Watched Twice
I Have already given my thoughts on the story of Kaguya-Sama, it’s the second essay I wrote on this blog. However, that was mostly about praising the strengths…
Backflip!! Review: Not Just Another Haikyuu Rip-Off
Studio: Zexcs Director: Toshimasa Kuroyanagi Streaming on: Crunchyroll You cannot overstate the importance of Haikyuu, and the impact it has had across spheres of influence. It catapulted the…
Those Snow White Notes: Getting The Band Together
I said it about volleyball, I said it about rakugo, and now the new hobby I find myself burdened with an undue fascination for is the shamisen. There’s…
Shadows House: I Never Knew I Wanted This
Studio: CloverWorks Director: Kazuku Oohashi Streaming on: Funimation I don’t like moe. I am not immune to the charms of cute anime girls starting a band or taking…
Tokyo Revengers: Erased Meets Goodfellas
Studio: Liden Film Inc. Director: Koichi Hatsumi Streaming on: Crunchyroll I have a fondness for gangster flicks. Back in my days of being a real film snob, I…
To Your Eternity Review: This Is Going To Leave Me a Sobbing Mess
Studio: Brain’s Base Director: Masahiko Murata Streaming on: Crunchyroll This season is full of adaptations and new projects from established authors. Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song was writ…
86 – Eight-Six Review: Oh, Great, More Child Soldiers
Studio: A-1 Pictures Director: Toshimasa Ishii Streaming on: Crunchyroll If you are mourning the end of Attack on Titan Season 4, I think I found an adequate replacement…
Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song Review: I Can Finally Stop Talking About Re:Zero
Sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed with having to put out two moderately sized essays or reviews a week and maintain a substantial backlog, but then I think…
Castlevania: Mourning The First Good Video Game Adaptation
You might wonder why my spring reviews are being interrupted by a show that’s nearly four years old at this point, and is not made in Japan. The…
Higehiro: Are You Sure Shinkai Didn’t Direct This?
Studio: Project no. 9 Director: Manabu Kamikita Streaming on: Crunchyroll Higehiro, or After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, is the kind of…
Genshin Impact: The Unsustainability of FOMO
Genshin Impact is the first game I reviewed on the Otaku Exhibition, although that doesn’t say much, it’s pretty rare I play a game within a month of…
My Hero Academia Season Five Review: What Did Bones Do To You?
Studio: Bones Director: Kenji Nagasaki Streaming on: Funimation, Crunchyroll, Hulu My Hero Academia is actually my favorite anime and manga of all time, though I would not call…
Steins;Gate: A Lesson in Disappointment
Steins;Gate is widely considered to be one of the best anime ever made. As of writing this, it sits at the lofty number nine of most popular anime…
Appare-Ranman!: Steel Ball Run Got an Anime?
In the wake of Stone Ocean’s announcement, there is a significant sector of the JoJo fandom who only care about how this brings us that much closer to…
Rent-A-Girlfriend: My Favorite Dumpster Fire
2020 was a good year for anime, but an unfortunately scarce one. Spring and summer experienced an incredible shortage that left the seasonal selections feeling a bit bare,…
A Notice About The Otaku Exhibition’s Reviews
This notification will not be a surprise to you if you’ve read my review on Mushoku Tensei, in which my first impressions were mostly positive. The first couple…
Violet Evergarden: The 13 Episodes of Grief
Violet Evergarden is a contradiction of an anime; it is easy on the eyes, and yet unimaginably difficult to watch. Kyoto Animation’s exploration of the human condition through…