Category: News

Categories
Site News

January 9-15, 2022 Week-in-Review

Hi all, and happy Sunday (or whenever you happen to read this). I thought I’d try something new this season – weekly posts to gather in one place what I’ve written the previous week. Not only do I hope that this will remind interested folks of posts they may have missed, but also that it will remind me of the things I’ve accomplished, which is always something I could stand to do a little more of.

Though I didn’t get to as many premieres as I would have liked this week, I’m choosing to give myself a little bit of leeway since I returned from a weeklong vacation right back into the thick of a hefty work project and some other “real-life” deadlines. I also took an evening to go see Belle in theaters, which was a great experience! I’m sure I’ll have some more to say about it soon. In any case, as much as I’d like to construct a life that revolves almost entirely around anime, I’ve unfortunately had to face the fact that it’s just not a realistic goal 😉

Below are links to posts from last week:

  • Winter 2022 First Impressions – Sabikui Bisco – This is probably the most interesting premiere I’ve watched so far. The first episode accomplishes a lot with its worldbuilding. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that I like mushrooms? I find them very cute and *aesthetic*, so there’s a lot for me to love here!
  • Winter 2022 First Impressions – World’s End Harem – This series’ reputation preceded it, and having been delayed from its initial premiere date I became even more curious. The opening beats of this story following one of the last men on Earth is significantly less offensive than I would have expected, at least in the manner I would have expected. But why did all the scientific expertise disappear when the men did? I’m only asking questions here.
  • Winter 2022 First Impressions – Rusted Armors – Anime’s use of CG character animation continues to go through growing pains, and this series is a prime example of why many of us are still not entirely convinced that this technique will ever replace 2D hand-drawn animation.
  • Winter 2022 First Impressions – Futsal Boys!!!!! – This series revolves around Futsal, a variation on soccer/football. That’s all well and good, but some of the character relationships already feel a little bit manufactured to me.

Have you had time to check out any of these series yet? What did you think of their premiere episodes? Let me know in the comments!

Categories
Meta Personal Site News

Upcoming Material at S1E1

Hello, this is Jessi speaking to you from the recent past. By now I’ll be out-of-town on a vacation that’s been in the planning for almost a year. But in the meantime I thought I’d make a post about what you can expect from Season 1 Episode 1 in January.

The first order of business are seasonal first impressions. Unfortunately, I’ll have little access to watch new anime or update the site until January 10th, so those will be on a delay until after I get back to my computer to watch them and do write ups.

Continue reading “Upcoming Material at S1E1”
Categories
News Site News

Taking a Break

Hi everyone! I know the title of this post might seem a little bit ominous, but please don’t take it that way. If you’ve been a frequent reader of the site, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been on a one-post-per-day streak for a little bit over a month, which I’m really proud of. That said, without a constant barrage of new episodes to take in and comment on, it’s difficult to keep up that pace and remain the thoughtful writer I strive to be. So even though this is typically the pattern for the blog, this time I’m stating formally that I’m going to be dialing things back for a while to probably a couple of posts per week. This ought to give my brain a break and give me a little bit of time to gather my thoughts and notes on some longer pieces I’ve been thinking of writing, but haven’t had the time or energy to do so.

This is by no means me stepping away from the blog like I’ve had a tendency to do on occasion and by surprise – I’m feeling good about my writing and don’t feel like taking an extended break. But I’ve also got other things to do in “real life” and a big work deadline coming up fairly soon, so I wanted to be realistic and avoid burnout.

My priorities in the near future are to catch up with my Odd Taxi episode reviews (there should be another up in the next day or so) and to finish a couple of full-series reviews/essays that are sitting partly completed in my drafts at the moment. I’m also planning for some future entries in the “Anime Club no Densetsu” series, because those are a lot of fun to write and have been a great way to revisit some fond (and maybe no-so-fond) memories from my many years attending anime club.

I hope everyone is enjoying this season’s new anime – there are so many great series, I’m not quite sure if I’ll be able to drop any of the ones I was initially interested in! So I’ll be using some of my extra time keeping up with those and catching up on some unfinished business from prior seasons, too.

Thanks, as always, for reading and making anime fandom a great place to be.

Categories
News Site News

Frequently Asked Questions

Hi Friends, I know it’s been a while. I’m sure you’re probably here looking for new reviews, and there should be some very soon. In the meantime, since things have been a little sad in the anime fandom over the past couple of weeks, I switched gears a bit and worked on developing a FAQ for this website. I don’t get many questions online, but I have gotten some in “real life” so I thought I’d try to answer some of them.

You can find the FAQ here, or navigate to it via the “About This Website” menu up above. If you have a burning question, you can ask it via Curious Cat. Maybe it will be immortalized in the FAQ someday!

Categories
Industry News News

When the World Makes Little Sense at All

Apologies for the sparse updates the past week or so. Being online has been a little bit emotionally challenging for me lately, due to some upsetting anime fandom-related occurrences both local, and now international.

By now I think many/most people are aware of the tragedy that took place at Kyoto Animation’s building 1. In short, an arsonist attacked the production office and set it on fire, killing 33 people and injuring several others. As of this time there’s been no confirmed motive from the perpetrator (who was captured and arrested), although I doubt any sort of reasoning could possibly even begin to make sense of such an inherently senseless act.

Continue reading “When the World Makes Little Sense at All”
Categories
Industry News News Site News

Unavoidable Down Time

By now you’re likely aware of Anime News Network’s down time, the result of some kind of hack. As many of my readers will realize, Anime News Network, specifically the site’s encyclopedia, is where I get a lot of my supplementary information about anime, especially when it comes to staff and production info. I waited a few days to see if the site would be restored at its original location, and that seems to be in flux at the moment. They’ve set up a temporary(?) mirror at www.animenewsnetwork.cc for the time being, with all of the same information, updates, etc. Unfortunately, though, a lot of my prior links to their site don’t currently work, as for pretty obvious reasons they aren’t auto-forwarding to the alternate domain.

While I could spend a day to update the links, it would be a pretty large undertaking and I would rather be writing, so for the time being I’m going to leave the old ones, link to the alternate site in any new posts, and then update the newer posts whenever the main/original site is back online (or, if it never comes back online, then I’ll go and update at that time). The links will still work if you change the “.com” to “.cc” manually in the address bar, so if you’re really needing to read the supplementary material I posted weeks back, that should work as a temporary solution.

As far as the reasons why someone would want to hack an anime news website, it’s difficult to say because it’s never a road I would travel. From what little I’ve researched, it seems that there are some people butthurt about the website specifically putting voice to some opinions that fall in line with social justice movements, and putting effort into moderating their message boards of posts that go against a code of common decency. Speaking as someone who’s been a target in the past of people who are against feminism (and probably just women in general) and racial/sexual equality, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone were to take out their anger about those things in a wholly non-productive, useless, and inappropriate way, just to cause a problem for some people with a different opinion. As much as I enjoy being a fan of anime, I’m constantly reminded that, like most fandoms, it has its segment of people who just want to watch their cartoons without being reminded that fictional media can have many real-life implications, that human beings different than they are deserve to live free of harassment, and that they aren’t entitled to be unquestioned in their privilege. Judging by what’s going on in the world today, though, getting those people to grow up, understand, and change their minds for the better isn’t going to happen any time soon.

In any case, sorry for the minor inconvenience and the posting delay. And thank you for reading!

Categories
Conventions News Special Features

Anime Detour 2017 AMV Contest – Finalists and Winners

Hi all. As some of you know, I run the AMV contest at my local anime convention, Anime Detour. I’m posting the list of finalists and the results here in order to have them in a public place (many popular AMV forums require registration to access the posts, which makes it difficult for those who are less interested/passionate about the fandom).

We had a ton of great submissions this year, and I had to narrow things down to about 1/3 of the total entries (not an easy job).

Trailer
“Your La La in April” by 1jasmineb
Audio: “La La Land” trailer audio
Video: Your Lie in April Trailer Audio – Lionsgate
“Someone on the Ice” by Miikitouu
Audio: Epilogue, Another Day of Sun, Credits, Someone In The Crowd – Justin Hurwitz
Video: Yuri!!! On Ice
“Sailor Mars” by MinetChan – WINNER: Best Trailer
Audio: “Wonder Woman” trailer audio
Video: “Sailor Moon Crystal”
Action
“Warriors” by xIkuna
Audio: “The Warriors” by Imagine Dragons
Video: “One Punch Man”
“This Illusion” by Opus Productions
Audio: “Progress” by Ayumi Hamasaki
Video: “Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works”
“Angel With a Shotgun” by Hikaru Kin
Audio: “Angel With a Shotgun” by The Cab
Video: “My Hero Academia”
“Destiny” by Trevor Ericksen
Audio: “Ignite” by Zedd
Video: “Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works”and “Fate/Zero”
“Never Give Up!” by SliceofLife – WINNER: Best Action
Audio: “Never Give Up” by Extreme Music
Video: “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann”
“Art is an Explosion” by Aleina M.
Audio: “Wishmaster” by Van Canto
Video: Various
Drama
“Save Me” by animewriter10
Audio: “Demons” by Starset
Video: “Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East”
“Ambition” by Celia Phantomhive – WINNER: Best in Show
Audio: “Life Itself” by Glass Animals
Video: “Yuri!!! On Ice”

“Pretty Void” by Rei Palmquist – WINNER: Judges’ Choice
Audio: “Pretty Void” by 4th Curtis
Video: “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”
“Stay With Me” by AMV-X
Audio: “Stay” by Poets of the Fall
Video: “The Garden of Words”
“A Better Place” by Studio le Croc – WINNER: Best Drama
Audio: “Better Place” by Rachel Platten
Video: “Ponyo”
Comedy/Dance/Upbeat
“Gundam Life Sucks” by Heroes of Nowhere
Audio: “Life’s Gonna Suck” by Dennis Leary
Video: “Gundam 00”
“The Marathon” by James Blond – WINNER: Best Comedy/Dance/Upbeat
Audio: “I Wanna Get Better” by Bleachers
Video: “Redline”
“What’s Kyousougiga” by Astroydya of Arcade Angels
Audio: “Entertainment” by Hercelot
Video: “Kyousougiga (Capital Craze)”
“Yato and Yukine (But Mostly Yato)” by joycescookie – WINNER: Judges’ Choice
Audio: “You and Me (But Mostly Me)” by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells (From “The Book of Mormon”)
Video: “Noragami”
“#TalkSkatingToMe” by Gina Nelson – WINNER: Judges’ Choice
Audio: “Talk Dirty” by Jason Derulo
Video: “Yuri!!! On Ice”
Categories
Links News

Awesome Reads – Week of 1/17/2016

IconI spend a LOT of time on the internet. Sometimes in my travels I read and watch some fascinating and informative things. Sharing is caring, so here are some of my favorite things from the past week or so:

 

Links

Anime and Mental Health: The Connection – There are a surprising number of anime that feature characters with various mental illnesses. PTSD and depression seem to be the most common mental ailments, but there are others and one of the things that I like about anime are the variety of characters with which I can identify as someone who suffers from anxiety and depression.

I agree with the author’s choice of Shinji Ikari as an expression of depression and I think Shinji gets unfairly hated by people who don’t have a lot of real-life experience with depression. Some examples I might add to the discussion are Mirai, the main character of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, who loses a close family member during a huge earthquake and spends the back half of the anime series struggling with accepting their death, and Yuki from Tsuritama who deals with social anxiety.

The Rise of Masashi Ishihama: From the New World to Garakowa – Kevin Cirugada has written some great articles so far at Anime News Network that focus on the actual animators that help bring our favorite  series to life. This article focuses on Masashi Ishihama who directed the TV anime adaptation of From the New World, one of my favorite anime series, and has a new movie called Garakowa which is avialable at Crunchyroll. I haven’t watched Garakowa yet, but being reminded of From the New World makes me want to carve out some time.

Minnesota Conventions to Cosplay at in 2016 – Are you a cosplayer local to the Twin Cities? Here’s a handy-dandy list from Twin Cities Geek of all the local conventions coming up this year.

An Unbiased Look at the Best Picture Nominees of 2016 – I’ve been making an effort to see all of this year’s Oscar nominated films, but this article sums up a lot of my feelings about the one’s I’ve seen so far, as well as some I haven’t.

Innocent World is having a Winter Sale! – Any other fans of lolita fashion out there? Innocent World is in the midst of their Winter Sale at this very moment. They had a couple of flash sales prior to this, but I’m guessing this sale page will stay up now until things are sold out. I grabbed a few accessories earlier in the week, and there are still some dresses/coats/larger pieces left too!

Videos

Cooking With Dog makes homemade cheese from yogurt, milk, and cream – This is one of my favorite Youtube channels, and not just because it features a cute dog as a narrator. In this week’s cooking video, Chef creates fresh cheese spread from some very basic ingredients.

Maangchi’s Korean Fermented Soybean Paste and Soup Soy Sauce – Maangchi is a Korean home cook with a great Youtube channel. She’s also come out with a really excellent cookbook, a copy of which I received for Christmas. In this video, she demonstrates how to ferment soybeans to create both soybean paste and soup soy sauce. The process took a year to complete, and this video (which clocks in at nearly half an hour) recounts the whole thing and contains some nice video of places in and around New York City, where Maangchi lives.

Princess Jessie-Kate’s Review of Yumetenbo (Dream V) purchases – Lolita fashion can get expensive, but Dream V (a Rakuten Store) contains some really cute, loli-able items that won’t break the bank. Vlogger and lolita fashion enthusiast Jessie-Kate reviews some of her recent purchases from the store.

Categories
News Site News

Site Relaunch

IconWell, this has been quite a while coming, but welcome back to Season 1 Episode 1!

If you’re reading this, you might be wondering exactly what happened to me and why the site was defunct for so long. The obnoxiously vague answer is that I went through a lot of depressing personal stuff and didn’t have the bandwidth to keep up with my hobbies, one of which was writing about anime. It took me quite a long time plus a heavy dose of introspection and professional therapy to get back to where I wanted to be, and it took me even longer to feel confident enough to set up this website again. Previously I’d had help from others to bring this blog to life; this time I’m doing it on my own.

Prior to this relaunch I’d made it my duty to post lengthy impressions of all the new anime being released each season. While that type of writing has its benefits, it’s also incredibly exhausting and takes up a huge chunk of my time. This time around I’m making a point to prioritize posting about things that I like and think are worth celebrating, including things which fall outside of the umbrella of Japanese media (even American television and movies, which I do enjoy to some extent despite still being kind of a weeb). That doesn’t mean that there won’t be a rant every once in a while, but most of the time it’s just more satisfying to talk about stuff you like (and it draws a lot less abuse – the other reason I abandoned blogging for a while was the tone and frequency of some of the comments I was getting).

So what can you expect to see here? There will definitely be reviews, including those written specifically for this blog and those posted elsewhere. I’ll also talk about my broader interest in Asian pop culture including films, music, manga and fashion. I’m hoping to eventually have a regular column about cooking, especially common food items and treats we see all the time in anime and manga.

Additionally, I’m hoping to branch out and write a bit more about American TV and films, as well as Western graphic novels that I happen to be into (I’m a bit more choosy there, but I do own a decent selection of graphic novels). I also occasionally play video and computer games, so those might pop up from time-to-time as well. And, as always, I will continue to be informed by my history as a fan, a feminist, and a woman.

I hope that there are some of you out there who will have the chance to rediscover the site, and I’m excited to meet all the new readers who stop by! I hope you find something to like here.