This article begins a week of articles that examine blogging tips and other writing information. ChatGPT and other language processing models will shift how we interact with the Internet. Such models are already being folded into search and may well replace search as the main way people seek information online. The models can produce coherent…
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…
The Declining Population of Japan
By 2060, Japan will have a population of 86.7 million, from today’s population of 125 million (Yamaguchi, 2022). The population will also grow older. This trend has been going on since the 1970s, when experts first began to write about the decline (Date, 2007). Why is this a problem? After all, fewer people means more…
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…