In Confessions, Saint Augustine contrasts the love of learning with the love of spectacle. His friend Alypius disliked the gladiatorial games of Rome. One day Alypius’s friends convinced and bullied him to join them for a round of games. The excitement of the bloodsport captured him. As Augustine wrote: “Without any awareness of what was…
Category: Anime
More Than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers
More Than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers begins with a reality-TV premise. Shiori, Jiro, and Akari’s high school has implemented a couples-training practicum, which aims to have students develop their social skills by simulating heterosexual marriage. While on the surface this appears to be the usual manga-anime contrivance, as population levels decline, something similar…
Do It Yourself!
Do It Yourself! is another cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime. In this one, the girls join a Do It Yourself Club. The main character, Serufu Yua is a complete klutz and gets hurt just walking across the street. But her heart and willingness to try and improve no- matter-how-many-bandages-she-earns inspires the other girls. The other members of the…
Bocchi the Rock!
Bocchi the Rock! teems with experimental animation that captures the social anxiety and catastrophizing the anime’s namesake character experiences. It’s a fun ride. Bocchi the Rock! follows the members of Kessoku Band: Hitari Goto (better known by her nickname Bocchi), Nijika Ijichi, Ryo Yamada, and Ikuyo Kita. Each of the girls fall into different psychological…
Raven of the Inner Palace
Raven of the Inner Palace wowed me on many levels when I gave it a watch. While the animation is stiff, especially compared to the experimental animation of Bocchi the Rock! and the lovely fluid animation of Do it Yourself!!, it is beautiful. The detailed stiffness works well with the guarded feel of the characters…
Hanasaku Iroha
Anime often does character studies and coming-of-age stories well. Hanasaku Iroha centers on Ohana Matsumae who is sent from Tokyo to live with a grandmother she had never met. Her grandmother runs a hot spring inn called Kissuiso. Her grandmother, at first, comes off as stern, uncaring, and harsh. She slaps the faces of the…