The Flowers of Evil is one of those anime that creates powerful responses in people, and not all of them are good. For one thing, in tone and content it’s manifestly adult even though the characters are kids. And the protagonist, Sawa Nakamura – I said the protagonist, not the central character – is a […]
Read more "Rotoscope and You: The Flowers of Evil"It’s pretty common knowledge that my favorite rock and roll bands in the glorious history of rock and roll are the Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls. I have a vivid memory of the death of Velvets founder, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Lou Reed. One evening I got an email telling me I had […]
Read more "Irrelevant Post: RIP Sylvain Sylvain"Welcome to the NHK is one of those things I like a lot in part because it’s about grownups with real problems instead of kids with robot suits or magic wands. Not that there is anything wrong with robot suits or magic wands. They can make for good stories, too. They just usually aren’t my […]
Read more "The Power of Two: Tatsuhiro and Misaki"I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tropes exist because they work. If you’re a writer like I am, tropes is your friend. Here’s a question for you: WHY do they work? Well, in certain ways a trope is the equivalent to a symbol in the linguistic (as opposed to the artistic) sense. […]
Read more "Oh, So Tropical: The Nose Bleed"I’m relatively new to anime/manga fandom, and School-Live! is the first series I’ve managed to follow “traditionally.” You know: waiting for weeks or months for the next issue, knowing the last one was coming and anticipating what was coming next. And it’s been known for a while that School-Live! was ending with volume 12. And […]
Read more "How Not to End a Series: School-Live!"
Confessions of an Overage otaku 