I’m not a fan of magical girl anime. I’ve watched a little Sailor Moon and read a few issues of the manga a few years ago so I could write about it. I enjoyed Kill la Kill, but on the whole the genre just isn’t my thing. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (PM3 from here on) languished in…
Category: Anime
Restaurant to Another World
The premise of Restaurant to Another World struck me as odd at first, but I gave the show a try anyway and found it surprisingly charming. The story lacks depth. You really don’t get to know the visitors or characters of the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant is confident, capable, and mostly unshakeable–other than…
Dogged Determination: One of Anime’s Favorite Themes
Determination sits at the top of anime’s favorite themes. When I first considered writing about this, the obviousness of determination made me wonder what I could say about it that wasn’t, uh, obvious. Anime heroes are determined to achieve their goals. Full stop. They aren’t any different from heroes in other stories. But there is…
Anime for the Brokenhearted
If you are brokenhearted, anime can offer some reprieve. Relationships can be rough, and they often end. If you are like me, when I’m brokenhearted I want to watch relationship stories. There’s something comforting in seeing people work through their relationship problems. Of course, sometimes you also want something cathartic. Anger and frustration remain part…
Arifureta and the Not-So-Common Protagonist
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest runs as a common power-trip isekai. Hajime Nagumo and his classmates transport to a fantasy world modeled after the usual RPG tropes. Hajime doesn’t stand out. He’s not strong, fast, or proficient at anything except material transmutation. When they go into a labyrinth, Hajime is separated from the rest and plunged…
Seneca, Anime, and Time
In recent months, I’ve been thinking about time and reading Seneca and other Roman thinkers. We treat time as something of little value. If someone broke into our home and stole a television or anime collection, we’d feel violated and angry. Yet, we often allow advertisements, bad anime, and other people to steal our time….