Basing my entire personality on this one Genshiken manga page
By this point, I was already too far gone; my eyes were glazed over and the only thing left on my mind was the fantastic content within. I called over a staff member and they started to check me out. I don’t even know how many volumes I had stacked or what the total would be. But to me, these were priceless. These were my holy grail doujinshi and no price could come between me and the books that were there when nobody was. Total: inconsequential. Over-budget? Yes, very much so. But alas, I was only perfecting the ultimate technique and the weekend has only just begun. Continue reading
Catching cicadas in the summertime
Yosuga no Sora is a series I unequivocally love. It captures a memory from a time I have longed for since I was a teenager and perhaps dates back to a time before I even knew what anime was. It’s an anime that feels very familiar and welcoming despite what the melodramatic story might suggest. I find myself lost within its setting even now. Continue reading
A case study of the Reitaisai 19 Fumo incident
I wasn’t around for the previous sales on AmiAmi EN but I heard the horror stories; site crashing constantly, cart not saving items, pages not loading, everything sold out. So I knew it would be getting myself into, but I was still suspiciously optimistic about the matter. Oh, if only I knew how bad things really were. Continue reading
Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu is brilliant you fools!
I initially was interested in Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu simply due to its surface-level similarities with the previously enumerated list of “meta” anime. Though I mostly wanted some fun otaku meta-humor and perhaps some self-degrading humor if I was lucky. After a bit of Wikipedia deep-diving I discovered that this inconspicuous little one-cour seasonal anime with a 6-point-something rating on MyAnimeList was actually a multimedia franchise that never reached the heights it aspired to. Continue reading
Tokyodrift
My childhood appreciation for cool shiny cars and my teenage love for fast music had finally come together in a fated meeting. I sought out the anime Initial D and quickly fell in love with everything it offered. Continue reading
Meditation on aesthetics in Witch Hunter Robin
I watched the anime Witch Hunter Robin with the intention of serving myself a nice helping of 2000’s mall goth grunge, and was reassured of my decision once the opening started playing. The anime seems to take some influence from stylish movies of the late-90’s like The Matrix with the cool-looking characters wearing dark trench coats billowing in the wind, or Mission Impossible’s popularization of slick Hollywood espionage thrillers. Witch Hunter Robin was released in 2002 and was evidently taking some level of inspiration based on movie trends at the time. While Sunrise was looking westward, it is important to remember the Japanese roots that directed the gaze towards a more interesting aesthetic that would retroactively define this era. I would say that Robin is part of the new wave of anime that are reimagining the hyper-violent and hyper-sexual demon OVA of the late-80’s and early 90’s, much more in-line with other series like Vampire Hunter D and Hellsing. Continue reading
Unfinished Requiem (103,000 Grimoires)
To get a better understanding of what exactly is “chuuni-kei” let’s examine music for a moment. Chuuni-kei within music is more so an inspiration and a visual element over a defined sound. Though these groups tend to share the same admiration of rock and metal arrangements. I call this “Gothic Lolita-core,” or, music that Gokou Ruri would undoubtedly listen to. That is, music by a self-proclaimed “emotionally dissonant” teenager who likes vampires, dark clothes, and draws magic circles in their school notebook. I am unsure where or when this “Gothic Lolita” music movement began, and if it was strictly speaking a “Japanese” thing, or if it was a Japanese re-interpretation of other Western acts. I would wager that it was the latter since that is likely the case due to the popularity of other “goth” artists like The Cure, Siouxsie and The Banshees or possibly Nico. Continue reading
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Artificial Night Sky 