Nakatani Nio’s most recent series, God Bless the Mistaken, is a manga that provides an excellent example of an analogy done right. While the setting and experiences of the characters are fantastical, they were still able to resonate with me and my own lived experiences.
Jun 22, 2024 • Subscribe
More like this
God Bless the Mistaken Volume 1 Manga Review
Bloom Into You's Nio Nakatani is no one-trick pony as she takes on a gentle slice of magic realism life tale in God Bless the Mistaken.
Bless
By: Yukino Sonoyama Disclaimer: This review is based on volumes 1 (Chapters: 1-3) Summary: At a young age, Aia Utagawa was scouted as a model, but his real…
Reader’s Corner: WcDonald’s (Ch. 1), Villains Are Destined to Die (Vol. 6), Mint Chocolate (Vol. 1), and God Bless the Mistaken (Vol. 1)
February may be a short month, but it was still packed to the brim with new releases! We cover a bunch in our reviews below (and a few…
Seeing the World in Color
Today’s guest post is from a longtime friend of the blog, Micah. A former anime blogger for Otaku Collision, Micah is an aspiring writer from Tennessee who has…
Seeing the Future in Japanese
I was in The Japan Times with one of my favorite Bilingual page articles I’ve ever written: “Focus on sentence endings to ‘see the future’ in Japanese.” This…
Forcing Yourself for Love: Hotaru, Sailor Moon, and “Overcoming Disability” Narratives
Hotaru’s story is driven by the tension between our desire for comforting narratives of disabled people healing and the reality of disabled life.
Neptune Frost: Bless the Hackers Down in Africa
I have sworn off live action movies for a number of reasons, well really just one reason: the mainstream. In my experience as a consumer, you do not…
Reading The Duke of Death and His Maid as disability allegory
The Duke of Death and His Maid takes what could be a cheap device for titillation and, intentionally or not, transforms it into something far more emotionally powerful.…
Seeing Music
How 'Peter and the Wolf' brought visuals to Prokofiev.
Tune of the Week: Higurashi SOTSU’s Analogy
I’m fully on board with the new season of Higurashi now. After running around with no real idea for at least half of GOU. The back half of…
[Feature] The Demons Are in the Details: Disability representation in Dororo
Dororo is a complicated work to parse from a disability studies perspective. The story is set somewhere in the early- to mid-fifteenth century, was written by “godfather of…
Don’t See Yourself as a Cuckoo
I started reading Chica Umino's March Comes In Like a Lion after years of hearing about its great outlook on characters dealing with a variety of emotional issues.…
In/Spectre, Violet Evergarden, and Invisible Disability
We continue our Holy Week series on anime and disability with an article about two recent popular shows featuring characters with disabilities—Violet Evergarden and In/Spectre. If there’s one…
Seeing Too Much Influence In Older Anime?
For the longest time, I’ve tried figuring out to fill out some gaps in my personal log of anime history. I mean, I’m an anime fan that has…
[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…
Weathering With You is Worse if You Read it as a Climate Change Analogy
(Spoilers for Weathering With You and Makoto Shinkai’s other works in this post.) Weathering With You is set in a Japan where the rain doesn’t stop, and only a young girl’s prayers…
Disability and Power Through the Cyborg in One Punch Man
Genos' characterization explores media representations that contribute to discussions about disability through negotiations of humanization and pathways to power. Although Genos retains able-bodied functions, he shows experiences associated…
Powerful Weirdos: Seeing my Neurodivergence in Shonen Protagonists
On top of shōnen heroes' potential for deep, powerful storytelling in their undying determination, fighting-against-the-world narratives, they also serve as a fantastic source of neurodivergent representation.
Pick of the Week: Lose Yourself in London
SEAN: The me that knows I should be interested in worthy, intellectual manga that’s won awards knows that I should be picking Lost Lad London, even as the…
Ironmouse, Opera, and a Kung Fu Analogy
Sometimes, the perfect analogy to explain something can come from an unexpected place. For me, I recently found a way to organize some thoughts I’ve been having about…
The Strangest Strange Cartoon
Plus: 'Genius Loci' and global animation news.
The Strange Production of the FATE/STRANGE FAKE Anime | Animation Spotlight
I refuse to talk about anything except Fate/Strange Fake right now. Support the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheCanipaEffect Video edited by penlum and U.N. Owen. Additional editing by Canipa Sources and Further Reading: Type…
The Iceblade Sorceror #10 — I’m Seeing Red…
Wrong haemolacria. Impressions: I guess it's nice that they finally decided to give a second member of the harem an arc… ten episodes in and a few…
Re: Zero – 47 – Seeing the Job Through
There’s action on all fronts, such that we don’t even check in on Ram and Puck’s fight with Roswaal. What we do see is that for once, an…
Saboru: The Strange Origins of “Cutting Class” in Japanese
The creation of the 8-hour workday, an early 20th-century vogue for foreign words - all led to the most popular Japanese word many don't even realize is foreign…
Visiting the Pediatrician in Japan: Seeing the Doctor When Your Kid Is Sick
Did your kid wake up with a fever, rash or an awful cough? It's time to bring them to the pediatrician in Japan. Here's what to expect...
The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent – 09 – The Selfish, Mistaken Prince
For her role in saving everyone from the horde of monsters with her purification magic, Sei is rewarded by being teased by Grand Magus Drewes, much to Albert’s…
Gangsta. Review | Disability Pride Month
Today we take a look at Gangsta., the last work by acclaimed animation studio Manglobe.
Holy Week: Anime and Disability
Of the many positive outcomes that results from a focus on diversity is this: Diverse thoughts and inclusion of many peoples opens individual minds, helping us all to…
“Fate/strange Fake” Anime Coming in 2023!
AstroNerdBoy talks about the recent announcement of the newest entry in the "Fate" franchise, "Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn".
Otakon in 2020 Was Fun but Strange
Whether it was in Baltimore or DC, part of the Otakon experience for me has always been the trip there and back, for better or worse. It could…
A strange way out: hikikomori in anime
For decades in Japan, people have been disappearing. Coming home one evening, they have drawn the curtains or gone to their bedrooms and stayed there ever since, as…
Engage Kiss – 13 (Fin) – Bless This Mess
Shuu, Ayano and Sharon are fighting as a cohesive unit, but against Kanna the best they can do is maintain a stalemate. Enter Tabula Rasa Kisara, who despite…
SHY, Stardust, disability, and the double empathy problem
Shy’s embrace of a Double Empathy Problem framing reveals larger tensions in the struggle for autistic self-determination, both allowing a deeper understanding of the process of Stardust’s self-conception…
Psychic Phenomena Expert Declares Girl Ghost Photo Real
1. Apparently there’s a girl eating candy leaning against the pillar. 3. Not too long ago, if you concentrated on The post Psychic Phenomena Expert Declares Girl Ghost…
So I Watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Still have no idea what the fuck the appeal of this superhero is supposed to be.
The Promised Neverland – 14 – Bless Us for These, Thy Gifts
This week the kids catch two key breaks. First, they weren’t captured or killed by the farm trackers or the wild forest demon. Second, Mujika and Sonju, the…
Summer 2023 Anime Week 5: The Phenomena of Increasingly Longer Monikers
August 5th, 2023 We’re finally getting close to the halfway mark of the season. It’s at this point when I’m really starting to feel the toll of watching…
Strange Times Indeed
Hi readers, how have you been holding up? I hope everyone out there is able to stay healthy and that any quarantines, work-from-home measures, or shelter-in-place orders aren’t…
A Strange Aside
I’ve been looking at transgendered characters this month, since in the US it’s LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, and sure, why not? It’s not like we don’t have a ways…
Hen: Strange Love
Strange… Fate must be that because it led me to stumble upon this obscure and strange OVA title, Hen: Strange Love. The synopsis seems iffy and doesn’t say…
Anime Feminist’s Recommendation Backlog: Girls in Strange Worlds
Let's take a trip back into the 2010s and highlight some of our favorite fantastic(al) speculative fiction with lady leads.
Princess Principal, Snow White with the Red Hair, Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~, Girls' Last Tour, GRANBELM
10 Types of Videos I Hate Seeing in my YouTube Recommendations
I am so fed up with YouTube recommendations right now, and the YouTube recommended section is filled with things that I hate, just like the Twitter “For you”…
The Strange Story of Creamy Mami
She was pretty big in the 80s to the point where modern anime wouldn't be the same without her. The butterfly effect is real. If this didn't exist…
The Strange Tale of Panorama Island
A manga about a struggling novelist who steals successfully steals identify of a recently deceased friend and uses his wealth to build an extravagant island amusement park. Continue…
The Strange Situation of Ayakashi Triangle
While anime and manga have never been more popular in the US and other English-speaking nations, it’s only reached that point because of several turning points. The first…
Spiraken Mini Movie Review: Dr Strange In The Multiverse of Madness
In this episode, Xan and Gretta Review the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the unofficial sequel to Wandavision and Dr Strange. Is it a worthy sequel and…
Lazy Farming in Narnia #01 — Do It Yourself!
The endless monologue of an empty mind. Four down. Taking a short break before I get to Ars and Lieselotte (which had their broadcasts both delayed, but…
Do It Yourself!! #04 — Engaging in Multiple Felonies
Still torturing pigs for some reason. If you're wondering about the cheat power harem thing that's supposedly a satire, he was tortured while internally declaring he was…
Do It Yourself!!
Do It Yourself!! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll....