For this week’s Why It Works, I took stock of just how generous our current era is in terms of kaiju productions. We’ve got the Anno-Higuchi films, Legendary’s surprisingly good M…
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Why It Works: What Are the Best Anime About Anime?
This week I’m once again diving into Eizouken-adjacent articles, as I use the show’s unique production focus to shamelessly promote some of my other favorite anime, like Shirobako…
Why It Works: What Are Your Favorite Musical Cues in Anime?
This week on Why It Works, I dug into the power of a great musical cue, something I personally am an absolute sucker for. Nearly all of my…
Why It Works: What Are the Fundamentals of Great Horror Anime?
This week in Why It Works, I capitalized on Halloween’s approach to write a general article about how tricky it is to make animation scary, and what tools…
Why It Works: Worldbuilding, Storytelling, and Weaving a Song
For this week’s Why It Works, I pulled together an old-fashioned “philosophy of storytelling” essay, centered on the relationship between worldbuilding and dramatic structure. As …
Why It Works: Worldbuilding, Storytelling, and Weaving a Song
For this week’s Why It Works, I pulled together an old-fashioned “philosophy of storytelling” essay, centered on the relationship between worldbuilding and dramatic structure. As …
Why It Works: Let’s Celebrate the Birthday of A-1 Pictures!
Welp, it’s A-1 Pictures birthday, and I think you all know what that means: time to shamelessly plug every single artistically interesting thing they’ve ever been involved with,…
Why It Works: A Lifetime of Competition: Growing Up in Chihayafuru
With the spring season rapidly approaching, it felt like about time to write some sort of thematic wrap-up for this season of Chihayafuru. I’ve been thrilled by Chihayafuru’s…
Why It Works: Animating the Impossible, the Breathtaking Works of Kou Yoshinari
This week, I actually took my Why It Works inspiration from an airing show, though not one I’m actually watching. It turns out Kou Yoshinari showed up to…
Why It Works: Prepare Yourselves for a Superb, Sequel-Packed Spring Season!
Along with my own personal list of shows that appeal to my snooty critical sensibilities, this week I also wrote up a more general preview piece for Crunchyroll,…
Why It Works: Chihayafuru and the Makings of a Great Tournament Arc
I finally got to write about Chihayafuru for Why It Works this week, which I’m sure you all saw coming the moment season three was announced. Chihayafuru is…
Why It Works: What Does It Truly Mean to Be “Over 9000?”
I had a whole lot of fun with this week’s Why It Works article, as it fell into one of my favorite categories of criticism: thorough explorations of…
Wrong Every Time
/ 7 months ago
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Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z
Why It Works: Let’s Explore the Fundamentals of a Great School Festival Arc!
This week’s Why It Works column is pretty self-explanatory, as I use the convenient approach of My Hero Academia’s school festival arc to talk about why these festivals…
Why It Works: Why You Absolutely Need to Check Out Pokemon: Twilight Wings!
As is often the case for Why It Works posts, the title says it all here. The new Pokemon shorts they’ve been producing to promote Sword and Shield…
Why It Works: Who Defines Justice in My Hero Academia?
This week’s Crunchyroll article returns us to My Hero Academia, as I explore the central question presented by Gentle Criminal’s addition to the narrative. Gentle’s actions aren’t legal,…
Why It Works: My Hero Academia’s Most Terrifying Team-Ups!
Today I’ve got a pretty silly Why It Works feature, mostly prompted by how much fun the new My Hero Academia movie was. Inspired by that film’s generous…
Why It Works: Gen Urobuchi’s Puppet Masterpiece Returns This Spring!
Hey folks. I think you can figure this one out by the title – Thunderbolt Fantasy’s on the way back, and so I am conscience-bound to hype it…
Why It Works: Gen Urobuchi’s Puppet Masterpiece Returns This Spring!
Hey folks. I think you can figure this one out by the title – Thunderbolt Fantasy’s on the way back, and so I am conscience-bound to hype it…
Why It Works: Fabulous Hair, and Other Character Design Fundamentals
For this week’s Why It Works, I leapfrogged off Ninny’s absolutely fantastic hair from Burn the Witch, in order to discuss the nature and importance of character designs…
Why It Works: The Madness of Hunter x Hunter’s Hero
Hey everyone! For this week’s Why It Works, I dove back into Hunter x Hunter, that seemingly infinite well of potential storytelling topics. This time, I explored the…
Why It Works: The Quiet Lessons of Laid-Back Camp
Laid-Back Camp is friggin’ back, meaning I can once more wax rhapsodic regarding the meditative, life-affirming qualities of the best slice of life anime. That basically covers this…
Why It Works: One Perfect Moment – Atmosphere as Drama in Anime
For this week’s Why It Works, I discussed anime’s laudable focus on atmospheric storytelling, and its ability to convey emotional truths or the precise tension of a moment…
Why It Works: Introducing the Incredible Director of the Horimiya Adaptation!
This week (well, last week, technically), I ended up springboarding off the Horimiya anime announcement to ramble about Masashi Ishihama. Ishihama is one of the industry’s unsung greats,…
Why It Works: Ojamajo Doremi and the Magic of Children’s Animation
Heck yeah, writing about Doremi on Crunchyroll. I’d likely never have gotten the chance if not for this upcoming film, so count that as another reason I’m so…
Why It Works: How Eizouken Embodies the Messy Thrill of Storytelling!
I am sure it could not be less surprising that I’m favoring Eizouken in this season’s Why It Works columns, but you only get so many chances to…
Why Asobi Asobase’s Comedy Works
After finishing Asobi Asobase this week, it is safe to say that it is definitely one of the better comedy anime to come out in the last few…
TheOASG Podcast Episode 109: The Domesday Duplicator is a Thing AND Conan is Making a Comeback?!
Show Notes 0:00: Justin and Helen discuss what they’ve been up to over the past two weeks, which may or may not include Justin tackling a light novel…
Why It Works: How Princess Connect! Re:Dive Captures the Spirit of Konosuba!
The title pretty much says it all with this one! Featuring the same director and a variation on the same premise as Konosuba, Princess Connect feels like a…
Why It Works: Let’s Explore the Finer Points of Anime Power-Ups!
I’ve got another fairly breezy Why It Works column for you all this week, though this one certainly plays into a fair number of storytelling and conflict-building fundamentals.…
Why It Works: Here’s Why You Should Be Excited for Josee, the Tiger and the Fish!
Welp, the title kinda covers it, right? BONES’ upcoming film Josee looks phenomenal in basically every regard, so it was a no-brainer to write a rundown of its…
Build A Harem Tag! (Comeback!)
It’s been almost about a year since I last posted in this little anime blog of mine, so why not come back with at least a grand comeback…
Why It Works: Sing “Yesterday” For Me is this Season’s Must-Watch Drama!
The title for this one pretty much covers it – Yesterday’s premiere was fantastic, and also happened to be on Crunchyroll, so today I wrote an expanded article…
Why It Works: How Eizouken Embodies the Messy Thrill of Storytelling (Part Two)
Today on Crunchyroll, I conclude my early breakdown of how Eizouken explores the genuine fundamentals of creating stories generally, and producing anime specifically. The show’s progression actually ended…
Oregairu 3 – 05 – Making It Work
After enduring a heartbreaking ending last week, Yui doesn’t appear in this episode, which is just as well as Hiki, Shizuka, Iroha and Yukino are more than sufficient.…
Why It Works: Here’s Why You Absolutely Need to Catch Up on My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU!
With the summer season nearly upon us, this week’s Why It Works ended up being unsurprisingly dedicated to singing the praises of Oregairu, one of my very favorite…
Wrong Every Time
/ 10 months ago
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My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
Why It Works: Not Born to Be a Hero: My Hero Academia and the Road to Greatness
Today I’ve got a fresh My Hero Academia article for you all, largely inspired by the show’s recent provisional license retakes, as well as Mirio and Nighteye’s additions…
Code Geass – A Comeback with a Bang!
Announced were new series entitled Code Geass: Fukkatsu no Lelouch and a movie trilogy which will recap the original TV series
Why are you embarrassed?
Another idea has crossed my mind in a similar vein to the last blog post I wrote about life and how anime stories can alter our perspective /…
Why are Shonen Heroes so Dense When it Comes to Love?
Shonen brims with love-dense heroes and the females that try to get their attention. The MO of these characters involves unawareness of flirtation, female emotions, and the inability…
Why It Works: Fighting With Impact: The Brilliance of Hunter x Hunter’s Nen System
With the already-limited spring season now experiencing a necessary wave of delays and cancellations, my Why It Works columns are at last able to assume their final form:…
Why It Works: What Anime Should You Check Out After Avatar: The Last Airbender?
With the spring season largely cancelled by COVID, the anime-adjacent thing I’ve most enjoyed recently has undoubtedly been the utterly fantastic Avatar: The Last Airbender. And fortunately, …
Why It Works: Chihayafuru is Back! But Where Do Its Heroes Go From Here?
Did you really think I wouldn’t also be rambling about Chihayafuru over on Crunchyroll? Considering it’s easily the platform’s strongest pickup of the season, I expect to be gushing…
Why Kaguya's Season Finale is Perfect: Fireworks Are Only Half of it!
As I was looking back on my favorite anime from 2019, Kaguya kept coming to mind - and I realized that the ending which was critically acclaimed was...perhaps…
Rent-a-Girlfriend – 01 (First Impressions) – This Is How It Works
I’m not usually enthusiastic about scenarios involving “fake” boyfriends and girlfriends. They can really only go two ways: the “fake” relationship gradually becomes r…
Why are Harem Anime Popular?
Most harem anime I’ve watched follow a template. A gaggle of various girls chase a guy with little personality and an aversion to making decisions and touching female…
Why It Works: The World is the Game: Designing Worlds After Breath of the Wild
For this actual week’s Why It Works post, I ended up writing an article I’ve been meaning to write for years, and gushing a whole lot about how Breath…
Why It Works: The Young Titans and Ailing Empires of Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Today on Why It Works, I dove once more into Legend of the Galactic Heroes, to explore the fascinating contrast of Reinhard von Lohengram and Yang Wen-li. Each…
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – 04 – Making It Work
This week, the OP theme is played, but this time over a beautifully somber sequence of the Greyrat household is steeped in the winter of discontent inside while…
Kaiju Transmissions podcast: Kaiju Video Games
Oh, wow! I was on the Kaiju Transmissions podcast again! Go listen to Byrd, Matt, and I chatting about kaiju video games. Find out what we think should…
Kaiju Transmissions podcast: Obscure Kaiju Movies
Kaiju Transmissions just had their 100th episode! Not ones to do anything special for such a milestone, they instead decided to chat with me about the book and…
Why are anime boxsets so horrible?
This week’s piece doesn’t have much to do with Canaan in particular, but is a burning question that has been on my mind for a while now. I am…