I’ve always been interested in things that are self-referential, or meta, if you prefer. This goes back to my college days, where we studied cybernetics. Sure. The Basic Cybernetic Model is self-re…
Jul 15, 2024 • Subscribe
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Oh, So Meta: Lucky Star
There’s just something so addictive about Lucky Star. I don’t know about you, but I can watch it over and over. And I have. And it cracks me…
Review: EXCEL SAGA
Older comedy manga don't always age well, but here's a rare example of one that has. EXCEL SAGA ( Ekuseru Saga ), by Rikdo Koshi. First pu...
Review: EXCEL SAGA
Older comedy manga don't always age well, but here's a rare example of one that has. EXCEL SAGA ( Ekuseru Saga ), by Rikdo Koshi. First pu...
OtakuGeneration (Show #485) Excel Saga
Shownotes :: (show 485) :: (website) :: (podcast feed) :: (direct download) :: (direct iTunes link) With Excel Saga, recorded live September 21st, 2014. This week we finally…
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Zombie-Loan, Attack on Titan, Bleach, Ghost in the Shell
Quack Experimental Animation Excel Saga | Monthly Retro Recommendations
You can also check out the article we wrote on Excel Saga here: https://www.retroverse.net/2022/05/10/quack-experimental-animation-excel-saga-1999-2000/ Are you into weird over-the-top parody anime from the 90s? Well you're in luck because…
#39 - ACROSS the Universe with Excel Saga! A Quack Experimental Podcast
Way back in the year 1999, a young girl named Excel Excel and the secret organization of ACROSS arrived and destroyed the world of anime as we knew…
Oh, So Trope-ical: Pinocchio
Yeah, yeah, you’re saying to yourself that Pinocchio wasn’t an anime. First of all, that’s not entirely true. In fact, there have been TWO Pinocchio anime series, one…
Oh, So Trope-ical: Pawn Queens
There’s a really great character trope out there if the writers are careful in how they deploy it. You know what it is. The title says it. I…
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 Oh So Fun Blog Update
Hello, everyone. I hope you all are doing well considering the circumstances of the world. I am writing this update to inform everyone that my output will be…
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,…
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)…
Oh, So Tropical: The Nose Bleed
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tropes exist because they work. If you’re a writer like I am, tropes is your friend. Here’s a question…
Meta: Formatting Weirdness
Hi all. We had a forced Wordpress update that may have affected some of the formatting on older posts
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Ugly Duckling
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Ugly Duckling Okay, you know the story of the Ugly Duckling and I know the story of the Ugly Duckling. It’s from Hans Christian…
Oh, So Tropical: Avatar: The Last Airbender
I had a date with a nice lady whose only experience of anime was Avatar: The Last Airbender. “I wonder what you think of it?” she said. Well,…
Oh, So Tropical: The Princess in Peril
You know that the Princess in Peril is one of the oldest tropes in film, let along anime, right? I mean, seriously, The Perils of Pauline was made…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Metastable Relationship
I’ve talked about metastable relationships in passing so many times it occurs that there’s something bigger going on there. And sho ‘nuf … The term metastable comes from…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Broken Girl
It sure seems like the number of anime where the kids belong to/come from a complete nuclear family with a mother and a father is pretty small. There…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Big Brother
For storytelling reasons heroes often have sidekicks. Sure, right? A sidekick can do a lot of things, like be comic relief, or have some skill that the hero…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Superhero Doctor
Regular readers know I bring a few perspectives to these posts. Published writer looking at writing. Award-winning animator looking at animation. And yeah, I can do the critic/critique…
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…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Hair Bra
The point of manga and anime is to get eyeballs onto content, whether it’s paid for directly (by buying manga) or indirectly (by ad sales during anime). In…
Oh So Mysterious! The Mystery Blogger Award!
Well Curtis, aka ospreyshire, nominated me for this oh so mysterious award and all I can say is thank you! Check out his post HERE. Honestly it surprises…
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…
Oh, So Trope-ical: Raised by Wolves
Well, no, I don’t literally mean raised by actual, you know, wolves, since, you know that doesn’t really happen, the myth of Romulus and Remus aside. But what…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Idol Girl
There are a lot of idol girls in anime. It’s almost unavoidable, right? The purpose of anime is to get eyeballs on the screen, and a key way…
Oh, So Tropical: The Stupid Harem Protagonist
You’ve seen harem shows. Just admit it. Admit that you are powerless, and put yourself in the hands of a higher power. No, wait. That’s for alcohol. But…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Gamer God
There are certain tropes that are so obvious it’s almost a waste of time to look at them. Oh, man, what’s the point of the Princess in Peril…
META – Chat Box Update
This post isn’t about anime, but about the little chatbox on the right of the site. There’s nothing wrong with it, but this is 2021, so we’re trying…
Saga of Tanya the Evil Episode 10 – So Close, Yet So Far
Saga of Tanya the Evil Episode 10: Tanya's battalion performs well behind enemy lines. Then they run into their old friend Col. Anson Sioux.
I’m watching Vinland Saga, and so should you
What do you usually think when somebody tells you a particular anime is based on some more or less true historical events? Chances are that it’s…
Oh- SO CLOSE. Black Clover Chapter 317 BREAKDOWN
THAT reference comes from everyone’s Favorite whipcracking Flash animated show- Johnny Test. Maybe I’ll do a “Nostalgia Corner” on it someday. But don’t hold me to tha…
Oh, so Trope-ical: Too Cool for School
One of the things you typically look for in kids’ media … and remember, the target audience for most anime is slightly nerdy Japanese high school boys ……
Oh, So Tropical: The Look-at-Me Woman
You know what? I think I may have discovered a whole new trope. Okay, let’s start with this fundamental fact: Anime is a medium largely created by Japanese…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Sexually Aggressive Gal
Yeah, I started spelling it Trope-ical. There’s no point in a pun no one gets. But yeah, there are a lot of tropes in storytelling. That’s not an…
Oh So Trope-ical: Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Tropes are one of those things that I’ve mentioned about a zillion times but never actually talked about. There’s probably a formal definition, but a trope is basically…
On the Road to Meta
Week 4 of Murakami Fest Year 14. Previous posts: Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short…
On the Road to Meta
Week 4 of Murakami Fest Year 14. Previous posts: Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short…
The Seven Levels of Meta
“Meta,” or self-reference, is one of those things that fascinates me and has since I learned about recursion in computer programming. A subroutine that calls itself! Ye gods!…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Infantilized High School Girl
The Law of Tropes #1: Tropes is tropes because they work. Right? Certain characters/situations/relationships are common because users recognize them and understand them, and because they do somethi…
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…
Oh, So Trop(e)ical: The Dirty Old Man
It seems like just about every anime comedy with a romantic plot or subplot has at least one dirty old man. Well, not ALL of them. Those that…
Oh, So Trope-cal: I Can’t Say “I Love You”
Look, if you’re writing a popular romance manga, or an anime made from a popular romance manga, you often have a big problem: How do you keep the…
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…
Sengoku Nadeko Part 7: Meta Metaphors
Of course, on the most basic level all of this discussion is completely ridiculous.
Shonen Meta Dominates Crunchyroll Awards Again
And will continue to do so for all eternity.
More like Gundam oh oh Oh Oh! OHHHH!
This week: Saji “docks” his “riser” on Setsuna from behind. Setsuna’s balls drop (pictured).
Tutorial: Change UPPERCASE words to Title Case in Excel
Here’s my quick tutorial on how to change uppercase to title case in Excel (and Sublime Text). A typical reason is to convert UPPERCASE English translations into corrected…
IDLM and Celina Sharma are oh so sleek, sexy, and smooth.
I Don’t Like Mondays enlist Australian/British songstress Celina Sharma for a sleek, sexy, and silky smooth song, What’s going on? I gotta say, this track came across right…