Anime Blog Tracker

[Anime News Network] “Roleplaying in Re: Zero, the Dark Souls of Isekai”

Non-management: Re: Zero partially inspired that Dark Souls fanfic I wrote a while ago, an influence that lives on in all the Dark Souls comparisons I made in…

therefore it is

Mar 18, 2024 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “The Ultimate Madoka Recap and Homura’s Lost Paradise”

Non-management: I know it’s been so long since the film came out (and just thinking about it gets me thinking “God damn, that was literally over a decade ago-OW…

therefore it is

Feb 18, 2024 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “How Anime Helped Save Superman”

Non-management: I’ve been getting very busy with my new full-time job. It been demanding more of my time and focus than my previous one, which has unfortunately led me…

therefore it is

Feb 16, 2024 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “Starting Over: Regrets and Redemption in Reincarnation Isekai Anime”

Management: The idea for this article has been drifting in and out of my head for a while since last year, and it’s only now that I’ve had…

therefore it is

Dec 12, 2023 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “Everything Changes in Folktales and Frieren”

Management: Hi, it’s been another while since I’ve written something. After 5 years, I’m back from Japan and back in America. I felt melancholic about leaving, feel melancholic…

therefore it is

Nov 29, 2023 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “Hunter x Hunter and Dragon Ball Z: the Fall of the Shounen Hero”

Non-management: Hi. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything anime-related, but I’ve been busy with my day job and Japanese studies, and now that Japanese test day is…

therefore it is

Aug 21, 2022 • Subscribe

Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Hunter x Hunter

[Anime News Network] “Home is the Battlefield for the Young 86”

Non-management: Scrawny as I was, then and even now, I used to fantacize a lot about playing soldier. With an escrima stick or two in hand, I’d imagine myself…

therefore it is

Dec 29, 2021 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “A History of Takarazuka Revue Influences in Anime”

Non-management: I’ve always been fascinated by the intersectional synthesis of cultures, which partly explains why I find the Taisho period such an aesthetic delight. Western culture meets Ja…

therefore it is

Sep 16, 2021 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “Vivy: a Robot Ode to Life Vividly Lived”

Non-management: I love me a good story about existentialism, and Vivy is one of the better written ones in anime. Most people don’t usually think about why they…

therefore it is

Jul 27, 2021 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “The Enemy Within in the War of 86”

Non-management: Japan is fairly experienced with making anti-war stories, given the sheer devastation it suffered in the Pacific War and the pacifism it adopted afterwards. It is not so…

therefore it is

Jun 9, 2021 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “Urobuchi, History, and the Wuxia Hero of Thunderbolt Fantasy”

Non-management: “Urobutcher” is a name that’s stuck onto Gen Urobuchi, for better or worse. One of his earliest camps of detractors accuse Urobuchi of torturing idealistic hero ch…

therefore it is

May 31, 2021 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “Through One Piece, the Golden Age of Piracy Lives On”

Non-management: So I really did, at first, wonder why pirates were such a beloved icon in American culture. Small kids have traditionally dressed up as pirates for Halloween…

therefore it is

May 7, 2021 • Subscribe

One Piece

[Anime News Network] “Log Horizon, Undertale, and the Tales Game Mechanics Can Tell

Non-management: I really don’t have that much time for the older hobbies I enjoyed back in college, what with  newer priorities like Japanese and a full-time job. I…

therefore it is

Apr 21, 2021 • Subscribe

Log Horizon

[Podcasts] One Piece and A Silent Voice… with The One Piece Podcast and Manga Mavericks

Non-management: Towards the end of last year and the beginning of this one, I had the privilege of being invited to two separate podcasts, one on A Silent Voice…

therefore it is

Apr 20, 2021 • Subscribe

A Silent Voice, One Piece

[Anime News Network] “The Horror and Romance of Rural Higurashi”

Non-management: Before coronavirus really took off in Japan and everyone started taking it seriously here, I was able to manage a trip with a friend to rural Shirakawa-go in…

therefore it is

Mar 12, 2021 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “History and Momotaro in One Piece’s Wano Country Arc”

Non-management: I think it was one of my Japanese language college courses when I first got acquainted with the actual story of Momotaro. It was told in kami shibai style,…

therefore it is

Aug 27, 2020 • Subscribe

One Piece

[Anime News Network Article] “‘Gekokujo’ and Revolution in Ascendance of a Bookworm”

It’s a recurring trope in history and fiction: outsiders are salad tossed into a pre-established society. Due to a whole world of difference, these immigrants arrive with fresh…

therefore it is

Jul 5, 2020 • Subscribe

Ascendance of a Bookworm

[Anime News Network] “How Similar is Beastars to Zootopia, Really?”

As more and more people watch, come to like, and recommend 

therefore it is

Jul 4, 2020 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “A Song of Refugees and Fire”

Non-management: I work at a school in Japan, at the moment of this writing. I assist in teaching English, and one of my English teaching colleagues here loves…

therefore it is

Jan 26, 2020 • Subscribe

[Update] Japanese Blues and New Year’s Progress

Non-management: Since I first arrived in Japan, I’ve been lying to myself. The public face of thankfulness and gratitude I’ve been wearing for a year now in reality masked…

therefore it is

Jan 14, 2020 • Subscribe

A Silent Voice: The Adults Aren’t There

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains spoilers for both the anime and…

therefore it is

Dec 13, 2019 • Subscribe

[Update] Past Articles and New Re-writes

Non-management: How many years has it been since my first article on this blog? It was my 1st or 2nd year as a college undergraduate in… 2014, huh? …

therefore it is

Nov 23, 2019 • Subscribe

Danganronpa: Guilt, Propaganda, Asociality, and Despair in Anime

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains spoilers for Danganronpa. This essay is…

therefore it is

Nov 13, 2019 • Subscribe

An Open Taisho Secret: Demon Slayer and Fashion History in Taisho Era Japan

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains plot spoilers for the Demon Slayer…

therefore it is

Nov 8, 2019 • Subscribe

Fate/Zero and Lord El Melloi II: Fakers Chasing Their King’s Shadow

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains plot spoilers for both the Fate/Zero…

therefore it is

Oct 19, 2019 • Subscribe

[Update] About a Year, a Month, and a Week into Living in Japan

Non-management: I was asked by a colleague one day of the places I’ve traveled to during my vacation days. I don’t keep an active bucket list of where I’ve…

therefore it is

Oct 12, 2019 • Subscribe

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: The Hidden Reason Behind Sports Day

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains plot spoilers for the Miss Kobayashi’s…

therefore it is

Sep 21, 2019 • Subscribe

Instrumentalism, Masculinity, and Humanity in Dororo

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains plot spoilers for the Dororo anime.…

therefore it is

Aug 2, 2019 • Subscribe

[Update] Seeing #PrayforKyoAni

Non-Management: This post is partly meant for me to exorcise my demons out of this whole  sad event. I ended up describing in somewhat graphic detail what I…

therefore it is

Jul 30, 2019 • Subscribe

Higurashi: It Takes a Village to Make Change

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains plot spoilers for the Higurashi anime,…

therefore it is

Jun 15, 2019 • Subscribe

[Update] Letting Go and Blog Rec

Non-management: During my latest trip to Tokyo, or I guess it’s more accurate to say the Kanto, there were two kinds of Buddhist temples that struck out to me:…

therefore it is

Apr 23, 2019 • Subscribe

[Update] Graduations and Spring in Japan

Non-management: I’d like to say that the cherry blossoms are in full bloom now and the seasonal warmth has returned like a lover’s caress, but it’s still freaking cold…

therefore it is

Apr 5, 2019 • Subscribe

[Anime News Network] “The History Behind Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo”

Non-management: I wrote before in a previous article that I thought Land of the Lustrous had the makings of a modern Buddhist classic. Well, I got a second story…

therefore it is

Apr 1, 2019 • Subscribe

Dororo: Buddhism and a Spider Girl’s Thread

Management: This essay is meant to be less of a review and more of analysis of the show being examined. It contains plot spoilers for the Dororo anime,…

therefore it is

Mar 18, 2019 • Subscribe