Tag: Drama

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Backlog Busting: “Mob Psycho 100 III”

Back in 2022 there were a lot of things going on in my life. Among other things, after dealing with infertility for multiple years, late that year I got pregnant with my one-and-only child. Probably because of that, mainly the immense fatigue that came along with it, I didn’t have a lot of energy to watch anime. I was really happy that the final season of Mob Psycho 100 was coming out, but I was chronically sleepy and had trouble finishing the episodes I was watching. Around episode 5 I reached a point where I felt like I’d have to re-watch episodes and that’s a difficult prospect for me even in more typical circumstances. So the series sat unfinished from that point on until I picked it up again in early April 2026.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Backlog Busting – “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End”

I wrote recently about my shameful anime backlog situation. To keep myself accountable, I thought it would be good to document what I finish within a reasonable amount of time. This is the first of those.

I have a real issue with finishing the anime I start, which as I’ve mentioned previously has more to do with how and when I’m watching it than the actual quality of the series. With Frieren in particular, I watched the first half of the first season pretty readily (which, looking back, was a miracle considering that I’d just had a baby a couple months prior to when the broadcast started and just wasn’t really in my right mind due to broken sleep and such). I caught up at the midpoint and, unlike previously when it was easy for me to watch a bunch of anime from week-to-week, I lost my momentum and had to prioritize other more pressing matters.

This was always a small point of shame to me; I really enjoyed what I’d already watched, so why couldn’t I just sit down and finish the first season? I think a big part of why it wasn’t that simple and the main reason why a lot of my hobbies suffered at that time was that I’d gone from having some decent coping mechanisms for my lack of executive function (a life-long issue) to suddenly suffering from having both my guts and my neurons rearranged through the experience of pregnancy. My priorities were different and my ability to focus had really changed as well. A lot of my mental energy was being spent caring for my little one and making sure his needs were met, and so most everything else fell to the wayside.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Shiny New Anime Prep – “Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master”

Title: Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

Episodes: 20

Streaming: Crunchyroll

I’m trying something a little different this year – right now I’m prepping for an upcoming convention, and part of that involves catching up on anime from the past year that I think I may want to include (either featured, or included on our more extensive recommendation list). I’m hoping writing about what I’ve been watching will help me collect my thoughts a little bit better, and treat the media as less disposable – even though I’m watching a lot of in a relatively short time.

The Kingdom of Yamauchi is led by the Kin’u, or golden raven, a singular emperor among a race of Yatagarasu, or three-legged ravens. Though the title is often bestowed down a heriditary line, when the kingdom finds itself in need a true golden raven may be born to help protect Yamauchi and its people.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 20: Shinsekai Yori (From the New World)

There are some anime each season that I watch, enjoy, and then mostly forget about after a few months. There are many fewer anime that I watch and never stop thinking about. Shinsekai Yori (From the New World) is one such anime series. Part of why I think it’s remained so front-of-mind for me is that my experience of watching it was very intense; it was fairly late at night on a weekend when I made it to the third act of the series, and I chose to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning to finish it. However, in despite any sleep deprivation that may have been involved, I think the truer reason why I’ve always felt a connection with the series is that it ends on such a shocking note that I would dare anyone who’s finished watching it to ever forget it.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 19: Golden Kamuy Episode 11 “Everybody, Get Together! It’s a Murder Hotel!”

I’m sure this goes for most fans of any type of media, but it’s a fact that there are certain anime series that I really enjoy that I have a difficult time recommending to anyone. In some cases, it’s because the material they cover is so extreme that to adequately warn for all the content would rightfully drive away most folks (I’m looking at you, Made in Abyss). In other cases, it’s more that the tone is so specific that it’s often tough to get a read on whether or not someone else might actually enjoy them.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 17: Aoi Bungaku Episodes 11-12

When one hears the phrase “blue literature,” one might first believe that the phrase describes literature with a lot of inappropriate humor. However, the adjective blue or “aoi” in this context refers symbolically to youthfulness. Aoi Bungaku or Blue Literature then refers to stories considered evergreen classics within the Japanese canon, and this is what the series contains.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 13: Mars Red

I felt like it was about time for some more vampires, so I wanted to revisit an interesting series from a couple of years ago that I really enjoyed. Mars Red is an animated interpretation of a live-action stage read (I’m not sure what makes this distinct from a typical play, but it’s how the source material is specifically described) and takes place in Japan in the early 20th century.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 5: Vampire in the Garden

I feel like I’m starting to get into the groove with parenting my baby (now that I’ve said that, he’s going to start crawling and none of this will be accurate anymore, of course). This week, while I was holding him during his nap, I managed to actually watch some anime! And, of course, because it’s October, I wanted to watch something from my list that I could include on this list. Enter yet another poorly-advertised Netflix exclusive, titled Vampire in the Garden.

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 4: Adam by Eve: A Live in Animation

When I think of Halloween, I don’t always immediately think of music. While Christmas has its share of iconic carols, Halloween’s contributions to the musical canon are somewhat fewer and farther between. Once you get past “Monster Mash” or the soundtrack of A Nightmare Before Christmas, it gets much more difficult to name specifically Halloween-appropriate tunes. If you’re in the mood for a few of my own suggestions, might I recommend “Ghosts n Stuff” by deadmau5, the soundtrack to Over the Garden Wall, and today’s spooky selection, Adam by Eve: A Live in Animation

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Favorites Special Features

Five Anime to Watch if You’re Short on Time – Round 1

I used to think that I was too busy, and then I went and had a kid. Now I truly know the meaning of not having the time I want to indulge in my various extracurriculars (right now my spouse is out with the baby so I can have some time to myself, and I still spent the first hour of this precious time taking care of house chores instead of settling down to write – I have problems). Along those same lines, the thought of trying to keep up with several seasonal anime series like I’ve done in the past is truly laughable, and I haven’t been current with very many anime series over the last several seasons at least. I’m sure some of you out there reading can share in my frustration.

Luckily, there’s good anime out there for people in our situation. While I definitely won’t be digging into anything of the magnitude of One Piece any time soon (or ever), I know of plenty of bite-sized anime treats to enjoy while carving out some precious free time in between other obligations. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites over several upcoming posts, to hopefully provide something of a lifeline for others just looking for a quick fix rather than something that would take half a lifetime to watch.

Please note: while I encourage folks to seek out official sources for these titles (I’ll be listing availability as appropriate) not everything may have an official US release. Unfortunately, this is simply the nature of being a long-time anime fan who’s watched various series become more and less available over time.

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