Anime Philosophy: The Morality Question

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Since I haven’t been posting regularly on the blog as of late and don’t feel quite up to catching up to all of my reviews right away since there’s a pretty huge pile of series I’ve completed in the past half a year (more than that probably), I decided I might as well go ahead and try something new.  So basically, every once in a while (ideally it’d be once a month, but I’ll have to see) I’ll make a post about different aspects of anime, be it the themes, community, presentation, or perhaps something else that catches my interest.  I figure this could explain more of how I think as well as what I personally value in anime and I hope that I can bring up some interesting discussion topics.  I decided to start with an element that I find very valuable and one that certainly piques my interest: the issue of morality. Continue reading →

2014
09/22
CATEGORY
Anime Philosophy
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Summer 2014 Anime: Halfway Impressions

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Summer’s really been flying by for me, and before I knew it, the halfway point for the summer anime season came by.  I guess maybe it’s not my place to say summer’s gone by too quickly since a lot of people are going back to school around this time (the perks of going to college now I guess?) but I will say the months have gone by far more quickly than I’d anticipated, and with them a whole bunch of new anime too.  Don’t enjoy the thought of some of these ending, though there are quite a few that are either two-cour or split cours so I still have a good amount to look forward to for some of these.  In any case, this season has proven to be pretty enjoyable with some series that display a lot of potential.  At the moment, I would say I enjoyed spring season’s more personally and I expect the fall anime to surpass these if they manage to live up to my expectations, but depending on how these stories progress they too could become something fantastic.  I think it’s too early for me to make any decisive conclusions about most of these series but here is my opinion on the ones I’ve been keeping up with this season: Continue reading →

2014
08/18
CATEGORY
Anime
Ongoings
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Japan Vacation

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Oh man, it’s already been a month since my last post.  I was hoping it wouldn’t be such a huge gap, but I guess that’s how it ended up anyway.  July was a really busy month for me and the biggest reason for this was my 2-week long trip to Japan with a fast-paced tour that went all sorts of places.  It was quite an unusual experience and in many ways very different from America so it was strange to get used to, though it was certainly worth it.  In any case, my Japan vacation was pretty long and there’s far too much for me to make any sort of detailed account of each day so I’m going to stick with some pictures and me giving some of my thoughts on it all.  I’d like to say in advance that I’m a very, very lazy picture taker so there really aren’t as many pictures as there could be and my lack of enthusiasm to take pictures by the end of the trip means no Akihabara pictures, sadly…..in retrospect it would’ve been a good idea to have at least a few, but most of those electronic stores look identical and a vast majority of shops with figurines and the like (honestly, a lot more stores than just those throughout Japan) won’t let you take pictures either so I couldn’t have gotten too many great pics anyway. Continue reading →

2014
08/15
CATEGORY
Other
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Anime Expo 2014

So this past weekend has been spent on my yearly Anime Expo trip, and I could definitely say it was a largely enjoyable experience.  Truth be told, I enjoyed this year’s more than last year’s and while it may not have been perfect, the more enjoyable events certainly made it worth it and I had a great time overall.  My anime watching has been slowed quite a bit with Thursday through Sunday being spent on AX but it was definitely worth it, behind though I may be. Continue reading →

2014
07/09
CATEGORY
Convention
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Spring 2014 Anime: Final Thoughts

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It seems the spring anime season has pretty much come to an end, as all of my one-cours have finished and all but one of my two-cours have reached the halfway point.  For the most part I’d say the spring season was an enjoyable watch, and while there were some series I found to be pretty disappointing, there were also many others that proved to be phenomenal watches and I can definitely say that I was entertained by quite a few of the ones I watched.  Considering I have an insanely huge backlog (which, given the fact that I have Anime Expo and a trip to Japan ahead, will take a very long time to get through), it will definitely take me a while to actually get to the individual reviews for each of these series so I’ll try to give a good idea of my opinion on each one.

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2014
07/02
CATEGORY
Anime
Ongoings
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Monogatari Series: Second Season Review: Conclusions, Shifts, and Self Discovery

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Since I had watched through the rest of Monogatari last summer, it’s no wonder that I decided to pick up the (at the time) ongoing second season (which, in actuality, is more like the fourth season given the weird release nature of the other installments) when it was only a few weeks in.  Keeping up with Monogatari weekly for the first time had been quite a bizarre experience and I was quite impatient since I had gotten so used to being able to watch the previous seasons at my own pace without having to wait every week.  In spite of that setback, however, Monogatari S2 proved to be an absolutely fascinating watch that built tremendously upon the foundations of previous seasons and truly made the most out of a majority of its characters.  Monogatari S2 ultimately proved to be by far my favorite installment of the series and impressed me in a variety of ways.  While there are some complaints I have about some parts of S2, they are quite minimal in comparison to the great enjoyment and fantastic developments I received from the watch overall, and I’d say there’s no doubt in my mind that those who enjoyed previous installments of Monogatari will find something to love from this season.  Monogatari S2 remains one of my favorites of 2013 and there is but one 2013 anime that I enjoyed more (and I do plan on writing about that as well in due time).  Monogatari S2 has so many merits and it’ll be difficult for me to explain just how much love I have for this season of the series without giving spoilers, but it must be said that Monogatari S2 really is a brilliant story and, in my opinion, the epitome of the Monogatari experience as of yet. Continue reading →

2014
06/24
CATEGORY
Anime
TV
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Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya Review: The Struggles of a Magical Girl and Accepting a New Life

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Since I was planning to complete the rest of the Fate/stay night visual novel (which I’ve long since finished and can hopefully write about soon), I figured it would be a good idea to jump into some of the other Fate material beforehand.  As such, one of the installments I ended up watching was the Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya anime, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  Prisma☆Illya definitely feels like the magical girl series it seems to be, though that’s not to say it is a completely lighthearted story.  While it may not be as dark as, say, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, it can definitely be a serious story when necessary and gets pretty intense at times.  I’m no expert on magical girl stories so I can’t say whether Prisma☆Illya is lighter or darker than most other stories of its kind, but it’s definitely a fun watch even for people not accustomed to magical girl series and as a Fate fan I’d say Prisma☆Illya is very much worth watching. Continue reading →

2014
06/21
CATEGORY
Anime
TV
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Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu Review: The Disappearance of Rintarou Okabe and Kurisu’s Time Travel Endeavors

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Steins;Gate is among my favorite anime, and as such, I was incredibly excited about the idea of a new movie installment, Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu.  All the more so because it was not one of the great many recap films but rather a new story, a sequel to the TV anime.  While I was worried about how such a thing could be done considering how well the TV series had concluded, I couldn’t help but anticipate the release of the movie, and I remember watching the trailer many times, excited about the great potential the movie had.  The wait lasted many months, and eventually, come winter break (which now seems so long ago), the movie was subbed and I at last had the opportunity to watch the movie I had been so excited for.  Ultimately, the movie proved to be a very worthwhile watch and a strong sequel to the series, and while it didn’t entirely live up to its full potential and could have added a bit more to contribute to the quality of the story as a whole, it was still an incredibly enjoyable experience and far from being a disappointing flop that drags down the rest of the series.  It should be mentioned that it is necessary to watch the Steins;Gate TV anime and its special episode sequel to understand much of what takes place in this movie, and S;G in general is such a fantastic series that it should be watched regardless of this movie.  While I don’t intend to give massive spoilers, it is almost impossible to describe the foundation of the movie’s story without alluding to the ending of the series and specific events leading up to it, so do keep that in mind if you plan to read the rest of my review (and if you haven’t already, go watch Steins;Gate since it’s such a fantastic story). Continue reading →

2014
06/19
CATEGORY
Anime
Anime Movie
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BlazBlue: Alter Memory Review: Time Rewinds and Jumbled Perspectives

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Another series I kept up with during the fall 2013 season is BlazBlue: Alter Memory.  While there were a great many I enjoyed keeping up with, I honestly can’t say the same for this.  There are a great many words I could use to describe my experience with the BlazBlue anime, most of which simply aren’t positive.  To begin with, video game adaptations have a tendency to be frowned upon by the anime community, and finding out that this would only have 12 episodes certainly did not help.  From what I’ve heard, the anime covers two 20 hour (if not more than that) games in that amount of time, and this definitely shows in the rushed pacing and very confusing storytelling.  People seem to complain a great deal about adaptations, though I find it difficult to think of an adaptation more disappointing than this one, and this comes from someone who has never played the BlazBlue games. Continue reading →

2014
06/17
CATEGORY
Anime
TV
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