Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is one of those things that I wouldn’t ordinarily bother to write about. I mean, it’s an older, smuttier version of Teasing-Master Tagaki-San, and it lacks the emotional heart of that other series. But we have the same elements: the forward, assertive girl expressing her affection for a shy, […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Hayase Nagatoro"As a writer I love tropes. Tropes are tropes because they work in telling good stories. Sure. Take the “Hero-Sidekick-Girlfriend” trio, right? You can use that interrelationship to create tension in lots of ways, especially if Sidekick and Girlfriend don’t get along. The two of them squabble between themselves and can be used to force […]
Read more "Oh, So Tropical: The Pre-pubescent Horndog"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"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"In a lot of ways romance animes are some of the dumbest on the air. I mean, seriously? You have Person A and Person B and everyone knows they will be in luv L-U-V by the end of the show and you have to make TWELVE FRICKIN’ EPISODES out of that. More if the audience […]
Read more "Oh, So Tropical: The He-Can’t-Love-Me Woman"I was trying to stay away from this one, but Cowboy Bebop has been canceled and the really bad second week numbers made it pretty clear that anyone who wants to see the live action Bebop has seen it. So I can go there. I’ve already talked about two ways the series changed the story […]
Read more "Medium Matters: Cowboy Bebop II"Okay, it shouldn’t be news to anyone that there’s a live action Cowboy Bebop series on Netflix. Everyone has an opinion on the matter and the opinions are certainly mixed. Me, I kinda liked it, although the anime is better BUT … watch my lips now … That’s not what I do. I’m an analyst, […]
Read more "Medium Matters: Cowboy Bebop I"For REASONS (that I no longer remember), I keep thinking about Eternal Triangles, and it occurs to me that I’ve mentioned the degenerate form of the Eternal Triangle a couple times. Y’see, the Eternal Triangle is when you have two suitors vying for the hand (so to speak) of a third character, typically two guys […]
Read more "The Power of Three: Amagi Brilliant Park"It seems like, as much as I love it, I complain about Cowboy Bebop a lot. To me, from a writing standpoint some of the characters are under-used and the ending is full of holes. But at the same time it’s brilliant and you know it’s brilliant and I know it’s brilliant. It looks and […]
Read more "Building a Beginning: Cowboy Bebop"One of the ways you can tell what the target audience for some media message is is to look at the main character. Right? As a rule one thing the main character is supposed to be someone the audience can identify with. I mean, that’s why you see Admiral Babies all over the place. Teen-aged […]
Read more "Character Analysis: Ritsuko"
Confessions of an Overage otaku 