I didn’t have this one ready for Pride Month. Sorry about that. But I wrote it during Pride Month. Does that count? One of the things that routinely bugs me is the treatment of transsexual characters in anime. Now, it might be hard to believe about a country that created a medium full of yuri […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Lili Hoshikawa"The Orbital Children is one of those things that snuck up on me. I was like, yeah, kiddie sci-fi, I’m going to like that (sarcasm), but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. To give you some idea, I watched it three times through across two days. And they built it out of […]
Read more "How to Cook a Series: The Orbital Children"Welcome to the NHK is one of those things that should remind you of how a medium people think is for children – I mean, it’s a CARTOON, right? – can be used to explore some really ugly things. In Welcome’s case it’s mental illness. What’s interesting to me is what it reveals about the […]
Read more "How Not to End a Series: Welcome to the NHK"Ergo Proxy is one of those things you can stare at for a long time. It’s deeply grounded in philosophy and puts together a look and sound that matches its bleak world view. At its center are the three main characters, Vincent Law, Pino and Re-L Mayer. Together they form a really warped Father/Mother/Child trio, […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Re-L Mayer"WARNING: This discussion violates my rule on not talking about anime that are just out. It contains spoilers! Be warned. In a lot of ways Thermae Romae Novae is what you get if you write a paper for your sociology class comparing and contrasting Japanese and Roman baths, get an A on it, and decide […]
Read more "How to Build a Series: Thermae Romae Novae"My original character analysis of Asuka Langley Soryu is the most read post in the history of this blog. This doesn’t especially surprise me. For one thing, it’s really old and it’s still out there, so people have been able to find it for three-plus years. For another, it’s related to Neon Genesis Evangelion and […]
Read more "Character (Re)analysis: Asuka Langley Soryu"The premise of “The Power of Three” series of posts is that we’re going to be looking at some kind of three-way relationship to see how it works. You know, going beyond kicking the tires and popping the hood. We’re going to try to figure out how the electronic ignition works, or something like that. […]
Read more "The Power of Three: Sankarea"Man, it’s been a long since I talked about animation. I mean, by now I probably have to remind everyone that when I look at anime I look at them not just from my perspective as a writer but from my twin perspectives of a writer and a trained animator. Yes, I am a trained […]
Read more "Effects Animation: Ergo Proxy"I’m a writer so I can say this: There are a lot of gimmicks writers use to keep the story moving. For instance, the great crime writer Raymond Chandler said, “When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.” Sure. Why not? I wrote a whole story with […]
Read more "Oh, So Tropical: The Convenient Stomach Rumble"Isn’t Kotaro Lives Alone so cute you just can’t stand it? That brave little boy, living alone, living up the ideals of the noble knight, making all the people around him better because of his faith in them, is an almost perfect hero. Of course, it all revolves around Kotaro, and Kotaro is a character […]
Read more "How to Cook a Series: Kotaro Lives Alone"
Confessions of an Overage otaku 