It seems a little odd to describe a locale or setting as a character. I mean, in college, it could get your paper marked “-5 Anthropomorphism” or something like that. If your professor was feeling nice, that is. And could spell “anthropomorphism,” which I couldn’t until I looked it up. But let’s stop to think […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Roanapur"All right, you know who Marin Kitagawa is. She’s – depending on how you look at it – the Dress-up Darling of My Dress-up Darling. You can fight me on that one, if you want and you think about it. Wakana, the boy she’s sweet on in this rom-com, makes her cosplay costumes. So he […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Marin Kitagawa"You know it seems like in a lot anime you never really see the antagonist unless there’s big fight. Look at Sailor Moon, right? The antagonist appears in like scene two or three, giving orders to some underling, and then disappears for the rest of the episode while the underling is getting whupped in the […]
Read more "The Antagonist: Ragyo Kiryuin"It seems bizarre that one of the anime I write about a lot is Toradora. I mean, compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya it’s a piece of lightweight fluff. Well, fluff it may be, but here we’re looking at writing (and sometimes animation, when I can think […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Ryuji Takusa"Haruko from FLCL is another character who is really easy to analyze. She’s a Look at Me woman. Boop. That’s it. That doesn’t make her a bad character, or, even worse, a forgettable character. One hundred percent the opposite! Haruko is without question the single most UNforgettable character from the entire FLCL franchise, and the […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Haruko Haruhara"Okay, yeah, I know you never heard of Toshiko Tamura. Let me lay down some backbeat here. If you ain’t heard of Osamu Tezuka, you’re probably reading the wrong blog. I mean, he’s the dude Mangajin magazine called “The God of Manga,” because they decided other titles he’s also been given, like “The Father of […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Toshiko Tamura"Watching Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is like watching Teasing-Master Takagi-san but without the innocence. The kids of Teasing-Master are, well, kids; the kids of Miss Nagatoro are high schoolers, and, I remind you, the age of consent in Japan is thirteen. There’s nothing explicit about it; it’s clearly PG-13. But Nagatoro’s teasing of […]
Read more "The Power of Two: Nagatoro and Hachioji"Back when I last wrote about Taiga Aisaka – she’s a quivering bundle of tropes instead of a real character – I got into a really good discussion with a reader. His (excellent) point was that a) the light novels had come before the anime and b) author Yukuko Takimiya had started by inventing the […]
Read more "Medium Matters: Toradora!"And Yet the Town Moves is one of those silly little slice of lifers built around a slice of the life of Hotori Arashiyama, and her friends, family, high school, and pet. Cutely, mostly it revolves around the maid cafe where Hotori works. It’s run by a local old lady (called a grandmother, as is […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Hotori Arashiyama"You know what Wonder Egg Priority reminded me of? Interviews with Monster Girls. Let me tell you why. The deal with the demi-human girls of Interviews is that while they are explicitly monsters, deep down they actually represent common high school stereotypes: The girl with ADD, the girl who gets her boobs first, the girls […]
Read more "How to Cook a Series: Wonder Egg Priority"
Confessions of an Overage otaku 