The critical evaluation of anime (and media in general) is driven by comparison. This is only natural since we base all our opinions off of previous experiences. If this wasn’t the case we’d have t…
Jan 25, 2018 • Subscribe
DARLING in the FRANXX, Sword Art Online, The Seven Deadly Sins
More like this
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: 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…
P.A. Works: My Favorite and Least Favorite Studio
There’s no easy way to start this given how much P.A. Works as a company has influenced me in this medium. They’re a unique studio, a studio who’ve…
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 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…
Review: Frau Faust vol. 1 – In which I really, really try to not compare it to The Ancient Magus’ Bride
Frau Faust is real good. It’s an enjoyable read, and it scratches a different itch…
Ladies on Top – Is it wrong to get done by a girl?!
I’m still on the fence if manga Instagram is the best or worst thing I’ve ever chosen to get myself involved in. That’s neither here nor there since…
Witch Craft Works. Directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, created by...
Witch Craft Works. Directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, created by Studio J.C.Staff. Art directed by Tomonori Kuroda.
Why It Works: Hope Lights the Way Through Desolation in To Your Eternity
For this week’s Why It Works piece, I wrote a response to To Your Eternity’s phenomenal first episode. I haven’t been cross-posting my Why It Works pieces, since…
Is Two-Timing Fair and Square worth reading?
Two-Timing Fair and Square is a rom-com doujin from Irodori Aqua. But is Two-Timing Fair and Square worth reading?
Yu Yu Hakusho (Netflix): Somehow, It Works
I haven’t talked about this in a while, but Yu Yu Hakusho to this day remains one of my favorite shonen battle series of all time. I do…
Obscusion B-List: Games Ported Over to the Same System... Multiple Times... By Different People
Game development & publishing has, more or less, long become a rather standardized thing over the decades. If you see a game released on a p...
Dragon’s Dogma: Compare And Contrast
Dragon’s Dogma, Episode 2 By: Krow Smith | @coffeewithkrow Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is a game I hold near and dear to my heart. It is a Japanese…
Darwin’s Game is not the same as King’s Game
Genre : Action, romance, violence, Bottle Royal Episodes: 11 Studio: Nexus Mobile games are turning into a real bane. You think it’s all lighthearted casual fun,…
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,…
Kill la Kill. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Created by Studio...
Kill la Kill. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Created by Studio Trigger. Art Direction by Shigeto Koyama and Yūji Kaneko.
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: 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: 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: 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: 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…
Manhwa Review | Rent Boy by Studio Stellas
Anton Arnault has finally come of age. Unfortunately, his celebration isn’t all that fun. Since he is a child of mixed blood, most attendees (the upper crust) don’t…
Top 5: Anime by Studio J.C.Staff (updated)
Studio J.C.Staff have a lot of big name anime out there. Choosing just 5 is quite the challenge.
Why It Works: Kaiju Are Making a Comeback!
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…
Ark class (Fair Lady)
General Information Unit type: battleshipShips of the line: Space Ark, Fair LadyCaptain: Randy Hawkins Lineart N/A
Did Anime ‘Ex-Arm’ Censor a Same-Sex Kiss, or is it Just Completely Incompetent?
Visual Flights’ television anime adaptation of Shinya Komi’s Ex-Arm has been making waves in the industry recently with bold choices like putting a poorly animated 3D CGI character…
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: 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…
Is It Wrong To LOVE This Anime?
Download for FREE: https://operagx.gg/BonsaiPop Join the millions of gamers optimizing their setup with the Opera GX browser. Sponsored by Opera GX! Is it Wrong to Try to Pick…
This is Why All Schools in Anime Look the Same
FULL VIDEO: https://youtu.be/3w43EKQRxtQ Have you ever wondered why all schools in anime look the same? The main reason is simple: they all basically look the same in Japan, and…
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 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: The Beauty and Excitement of Exploring New Art
I’ve got a big Why It Works piece this week, all about the benefits of expanding your artistic horizons. I feel like people often see this process as…
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works- Lost it at the end
I’ve talked about ufotable’s Fate franchise before way back when I reviewed Fate/Zero. This one came out in ’14 and ’15. I’ll be looking at both series together…
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: 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,…
Double mints; Love taken to the messed up extreme and how it works for Mitsuo Ichikawa
{Content warning for an extremely messy relationship and dark themes; such as murder and mutual abuse} Double mints is like the jack of all trades compared to other…
![Featured image for [Otome Watch] JACKJEANNE “Global Version” considered in the works by Broccoli](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20210317/1616012260.6450.29706.jpg)
[Otome Watch] JACKJEANNE “Global Version” considered in the works by Broccoli
This is just an impromptu post as I am getting ready for work and typing this on my phone lol but rejoice fans who were excited to play…
Studio Ghibli Announces Surprise Acquisition by Nippon TV
Animation giant Studio Ghibli, fresh off a new film, is now announcing its acquisition by Nippon TV following decades of independence.
Aya to Majo: Is it actually the worst Ghibli film?
I’ve reviewed a lot of Ghibli films in my time. Not all of them, but definitely most of them. This one has a score on Rotten Tomatoes that’s…
Ghiblioteque Studio Ghibli Poll is Open
Ghibli Blog is the home for fans of Studio Ghibli, animation and the movies. We feature the latest news, reviews, essays and more.
Fifth Impact: What Is Studio GAINAX?
“In the Yonago dialect of Tottori, the word ‘Gaina’ means ‘big’. …Both Akai [Takami] and Yamaga [Hiroyuki] knew about this gaina word, and… they each inde…
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 …
How To Fight Fascism By Giving It Everything It Wants And Then Complaining About It, Part 1
On the radio the other day, I heard two reporters discussing the campaign strategy of California gubernatorial hopeful John Cox. Cox, a businessman and the Republican Party’s candidate…
How To Fight Fascism By Giving It Everything It Wants And Then Complaining About It, Part 5
Read part 1 hereRead part 2 here Read part 3 hereRead part 4 here “[The tenants of fascism are] the ideal of life as art, the dissolution of…
How To Fight Fascism By Giving It Everything It Wants And Then Complaining About It, pt. 3
There’s another reason the Biergarten scene from Cabaret makes a great example of the political and cultural dynamics of fascism in action, and another example of Liberalism’s impotence…
How To Fight Fascism By Giving It Everything It Wants And Then Complaining About It, part 4
When Talking Points editor Josh Marshall took his swing at Spencer, Spencer had already gotten into a back-and-forth with foreign policy journalist Eli Lake. Lake kicked off what…
How To Fight Fascism By Giving It Everything It Wants And Then Complaining About It, Part 2
Read part 1 here There’s a scene in Cabaret (1972, dir. Bob Fosse), the film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name, that perfectly captures how…