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 Chandler said, “When in doubt, have a man come through…
Confessions of an Overage otaku
May 9, 2022 • Subscribe
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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…
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…
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: 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 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 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 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 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 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…
Tropical Rouge Precure Ep 8 Review: Never Fight with an Empty Stomach!
Hi, Everyone! This is my review of Tropical Rouge Precure Episode 8 and the girls decided to make some Bento lunches for their club activity...
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 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 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…
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 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 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 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 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 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 Meta: Excel Saga
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…
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…
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: 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…
Tropical Rouge Precure Ep 12 Review: So that's why the Aqua Pot is so Important...
Hi, Everyone! This is my Short review of Tropical Rouge Precure Episode 12 and my thoughts about the episode. This episode is the introduct...
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-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…
Otaku Fetish Files: Ikabara, the Sexy Distended Stomach
Who knew distended stomachs could be so sexy?
Tropical Rouge Precure Ep 33 Review: So Precure on Drugs?
Hi, Everyone! This is my short review of Tropical Rouge Precure Episode 33 and I know I have not been doing any reviews but it is due to…
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 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…
Tropical Rouge Precure Ep 6 Review: The Tropical Club!
Hi, Everyone! This is my review of Tropical Rouge Precure Episode 6 and the girls' club is finally set up but what exactly are they suppose ...
Zom 100 #12 — Convenient Cosmetics
Was blush really needed here? Impressions: Since I brought up the shark, it reminds me that the way they fought and defeated it was through an imprompu…
Rumble Garanndoll Review — C+
Mecha pilots try to save their culture from attack by alternate world imperial Japan.
School Rumble “Hello Again”
AstroNerdBoy reviews the extra School Rumble chapters from Kobayashi-sensei that have never been put into tankoubon format.
RUMBLE GARANNDOLL – Episode 1
It’s a by-the-numbers mish-mash of heavy-handed homages that also has cute mini-mecha designs and a fair bit of heart. It sits squarely in the subgenre of “rah rah…
First Impression: Rumble Garanndoll
Akihabara is in flames as giant police dog mechas bear down on panicking people. Suddenly, a metal fist pummels a mecha dog just as it’s about to crush…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 5
By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 2
By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 4
By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices GN 1
Convenient Princess is effectively a case of taking the kinds of escapist fluff you aren't supposed to think more than five minutes about, then thinking about it for…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 3
By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 1
By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by…
Slave of the Elite #04 — Convenient Plot Devices
Oh boy. A training montage. Impressions: Oh boy. The 'rival' group, which we're going to spar with because… one of them is a jackass bully and wants…
The Apothecary Diaries #24 — Convenient Eternally Seeping Wound
Chinese medicine works in mysterious ways. Impressions: And so we sputter to the destined end (announced continuation notwithstanding), attempting nothing, and accomplishing nothing. Lakan reunites with his baby…
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, Vol. 6
By Mamecyoro and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de aru” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by…
Rumble in the Bronx (1995) [Film Review]
Rumble in the Bronx; or, A Fish Out of Water That’s my uncle’s car! Fresh after the success of Police Story 3: SuperCop (1992) and Pro...
Wistoria #10 — Extremely Convenient Weak Point
Writers have really given up, huh? Impressions: I present to you the laziest and most half-assed of the standard shounen acts. Oh no. It's a minor random…