The premise of “The Power of Three” series of posts is that we’re going to be looking at some kind of three-way relationship to see how it works. You know, going beyond kicking the tires and poppin…
May 23, 2022 • Subscribe
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The Power of Three: Nana
Like a lot of media, not just anime, love of various sorts plays a large role in Nana. Well, it could hardly not, after all. You can call…
The Power of Three: Penguindrum
Penguindrum is one of those thing, like Wonder Egg Priority, that people have been recommending to me, like, forever. Really. Seriously. For ever. A Certain Retailer had two…
The Power of Three: Tokyo Godfathers
The late Satoshi Kon was famous for playing sleight-of-hand with his characters. They were always existing at two or three different levels of reality or slipping around in…
The Power of Three: Steins;Gate
I was thinking about Steins;Gate for a different reason when I hit on why it works narratively. Because it shouldn’t, you know. Steins;Gate is really kind of a…
The Power of Three: Millennium Actress
Satoshi Kon was the original flim-flam man. Well, probably not. The original flim-flam man probably dates back to about five minutes after the invention of portable currency. If…
The Power of Three: Princess Jellyfish
I briefly ran out of reading material … no, that’s not quite right. You all know it’s been a rugged time for a lot of us and I…
The Power of Three: Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is one of those things that’s so unique in construction that it’s hard to see the pieces it’s built out of. That’s one of the reasons…
The Power of Three: Flowers of Evil
While I was waiting for the Flowers of Evil manga to go on sale I picked up the anime to tide me over, and BOY, was I glad…
The Power of Three: A Silent Voice
One of the nice things about A Silent Voice is that it’s about kids growing up, and it treats the kids honestly as characters in that it lets…
The Power of Three: Amagi Brilliant Park
For REASONS (that I no longer remember), I keep thinking about Eternal Triangles, and it occurs to me that I’ve mentioned the degenerate form of the Eternal Triangle…
The Power of Three: Komi Can’t Communicate
Komi Can’t Communicate is one of those stories that chaps my ass when you get right down to it. You see Communication is my racket. I is a…
The Power of Three Squared: Fruits Basket
Okay, I’ll be honest: Fruits Basket is not exactly in my wheelhouse in terms of what I want to see, right? I mean you take the rom-com thing…
The Power of Three: Welcome Back, Alice
I’ve made my appreciation for the work of Shuzo Oshimi very plain at times. Oshimi is the magaka behind The Flowers of Evil, Inside Mari, and Blood on…
The Power of Three Minus One: Promare
The movie Promare came around a while ago and I missed it. I read the previews and said, “Meh. Mechas,” which is about what I say about any…
The Power of Three: Carole and Tuesday
Elsewhere I’ve written about the way Shinichiro Watanabe treats female characters, which is to say for the most part much more fairly than most anime writers and directors.…
The Power of Three: Darling in the Franxx
Everyone loves a good mecha story. Well, at least the manga/anime target audience – slightly-nerdy teen-aged Japanese boys – loves a good mecha story. Consequently, there are lots…
The Power of Three Minus One: The Dirty Pair
Scott over at Mechanical Anime Reviews has been going through The Dirty Pair recently, and I think he had the same goofy fun I had with it. So…
The Power of Three Minus One: Spy X Family
One of the things that gets me about Spy X Family is how layered it is. It operates at so many layers of reality in its fictional world…
Sankarea
We try to carry on as much of a conversation as you can about a weird zombie waifu story. 2:39 - Sankarea 16:52 - My Hero Academia 370 29:20 - Undead…
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, Naruto, One Piece
The Power of Three Plus Two: O Maidens in Your Savage Season
When you’re dealing with characters in writing, I mean seriously, do I have to say this? The more you have, the harder it is to keep them straight.…
The Power of Trust
The Promised Neverland is an anime that discusses the idea of trust through its main characters, Emma, Norman, Ray, and Isabella. Here’s a whole video essay analyzing The…
Sankarea: Undying Love (Discussion 7) – Tease of the Dead!
Rea’s father has finally given up on trying to control her life… er… undead life! This means that it’s now up to Chihiro to look after her and…
The Power of Two: Nana
Man, I like Nana. It’s grown-up, right? Well, at least they try. The gimmick is that both main characters are named Nana, Nana Oosaki and Nana Kumatsu. They…
The Fanservice Debate: Sankarea Episode 8
Can fanservice ever be justified in anime or is it a disturbing and unnecessary aspect of the genre? In this occasional series we look at the rights and…
The Three Legends of Lake Biwa
These three stories combine to create a single legend. I kept the original 1918 spellings and grammar. I find them charming and interesting examples of how language can…
The Three Legends of Lake Biwa
These three stories combine to create a single legend. I kept the original 1918 spellings and grammar. I find them charming and interesting examples of how language can…
the power of a stupid game
A silly game can be the thing that makes your life Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon are two of the most nostalgic properties of the 90s and 2000s, surely topping any…
'Chihayafuru' and the Power of Connection
Connection is the driving force behind everything in the narrative of Chihayafuru. With each connection stemming Chihaya's love of karuta and the poems in the game. 0:00 Intro 2:33 Disclaimers 3:45…
Episode 202, "The Power Of Love"
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast we have the crew on to discuss some classic manga, some current anime, some late-breaking video game trailers, and a…
The Power of Tears in Anime
How does anime use tears and the visuals of crying characters and why do I like it so much!
The Power of Soundtracks in Anime
Here’s something I haven’t written about, but I would like to. I’ve brought up soundtracks a few times in my reviews, but really, it’s not that often. For…
Kiyohimé or the Power of Love
Kiyohimé was written down around 1887 and contains dated language and spellings. This period brought many stories from Japan to the West. I left the language unchanged; I find…
Kiyohimé or the Power of Love
Kiyohimé was written down around 1887 and contains dated language and spellings. This period brought many stories from Japan to the West. I left the language unchanged; I find…
Episode 202, "The Power Of Love"
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast we have the crew on to discuss some classic manga, some current anime, some late-breaking video game trailers, and a…
The Power of Two: Princess Jellyfish
I never know how much to summarize about a series when I start these essays. I mean, stuff like Cowboy Bebop I know everyone’s seen; on the other…
Macross 7 – The Power of Rock
I write this post with lots of happiness and yet, lots of sadness. Both for the same reason. By watching Macross 7, I have officially watched all the…
The Definition of a Power Fantasy
There are a lot of power fantasy who claim to have a strong protagonist, but 95% of them don't even come close to the power that Anos possesses.…
The Power of Two: Golden Kamuy
I’m reading the manga for Golden Kamuy when I get around to picking up a new issue every so often, up through volume four by now, and I’m…
OtakuGeneration (Show #522) Sankarea
Shownotes :: (show 522) :: (website) :: (podcast feed) :: (direct download) :: (direct iTunes link) With Sankarea, recorded live June 7th, 2015. This we a show called…
Knights of Sidonia, My Little Monster, Spirited Away, xxxHOLiC, Hayate the Combat Butler
Sankarea: Undying Love (Ranko Saouji) – The Curse of the Girl Next Door!
Unlike most romances, Ranko Saouji fell for Chihiro the moment she met him. Little did she know that she was doomed to watch as another staggered into his…
Three Days of Headaches
Uuuugh. Ive had a headache for three days now. It seems like just when I think its about to go away, bright sunlight right in my eye causes…
A Psycho-Pass Retrospective, Part Three – Sinners of the System & Season Three
Last week I looked at the divisive continuations of Psycho-Pass, both the second season and the movie. The latter marked the end of what I consider the first…
The Performance of Power: The Saga of Tanya the Evil
Power is one of those topics that pops up over and over in writing and in life. For instance, power underlies a lot of the relationship stuff I’ve…
The Three Invaders
When three aliens, disguised as escaped human convicts, descend upon unsuspecting manga artist, Osamu Tezuka, and devour his brain, they expect to acquire all his thoughts and knowledge. …
The Three Invaders
When three aliens, disguised as escaped human convicts, descend upon unsuspecting manga artist, Osamu Tezuka, and devour his brain, they expect to acquire all his thoughts and knowledge. …
The Beauty of Fire Emblem Three Houses
Fire Emblem Three Houses is a tactical role playing game released on July the 26th, 2019. It follows Byleth, the player avatar who works as a teacher at…
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Three
Imagine my surprise this morning when I settled in to work and found that Nickelodeon was running a Legend of Korra marathon. So as I worked, I watched…
The Low-Key Power of 'The Portrait Studio'
Plus: animation news.
The Power of Two: Yuta and Rikka
Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions was one of those things that was just so dang cute I watched it all the way through. Then, since my tolerance for…
The Power of Four Plus One: Toradora
I haven’t done one of these in a while. This could be fun if I can keep track of the mess. But then again, that’s the point. Toradora…