Worth Reading: Links, news, and views. 9/21-9/27

Welcome to this week’s edition of Worth Reading!  Yes the photo is related to one of this week’s links – but it’s so scrumptious looking I just had to post it first.

Photo courtesy of 5th Luna at Flickr

I seem to keep concentrating on articles about older shows and then this week
Tsuyuki at Anime Corps posts this very relevant article – Rewatch Dilemma.  He discusses the experience and the pros and cons of various approaches to rewatching anime you loved the first time through.

Also on the topic of ‘looking back’ , Ace at Humble Ace talks about The (not so) Small Ways Attack on Titan Appealed to 16-y/o Me.  I don’t think anyone is surprised that Eren is noticeable by his absence…  I can’t think of any other wildly popular anime with a lead character so widely loathed.

Jon at Jon Spencer Reviews takes a look at Summer 2016’s outstanding Planetarian.  For me Planetarian was my AOTS that season, a significant vote of confidence considering that Orange and Sweetness and Lightning aired the same season.  At only five episodes, it’s a quick watch and well worth seeking out.  It’s still available on Funimation and VRV.  I’ve had the VN sitting on my computer for months now (Steam had it on sale back in late winter) and I really need to play it soon.

The Weekend Otaku takes a different look at an older series – comparing the anime and live action version of Your Lie in April.  He examines how the a slightly different story emerged from the choices made to fit the long and wandering tale into a much more limited run time.

So far we’ve looked at an adaptation of a VN and a live action adaptation…  And continuing on that theme, Karandi at 100 Word Anime reviews the first volume of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.  There’s not many comparisons with the anime, but she does shed some light on the differences between the two.

Earlier in the week, the announcement that One Punch Man 2 would have a new director and be animated by a different studio caused quite a stir.  Scott at Mechanical Anime Reviews posts in response how he is worried about sakuga culture – basically he’s bothered by the concentration on the ‘look’ of the show.

I’ve been dreaming of visiting Japan for years, long before getting into anime…  (I refuse to use the term bucket list, it sounds so mechanical and I loathe it.)  While there are a few anime pilgrimages I’d like to make, much of what I want to do are either standard touristy stuff or off the beaten path touristy stuff.  (Such as visiting Basho’s grave, and other sites associated with haiku and haiku poets.)  With that in mind, Yukinocake at The Only Shinyuu Site posted a couple of interesting pieces:

• Why You Should Visit Japan During Autumn!  The reason of course is obvious, fall colors!  As a photographer and a Japanophile this ticks two major boxes.

• Anyone who knows me well, knows why the next article catches my eye…  5 Quintessentially Japanese Autumn Foods You Must Try.  Food and cooking is another of my central interests, and if you’re exploring the season in a country you should go all in and try the associated foods.

Hit the jump for this week’s ‘below the fold’ material and a look forward to my posting schedule for the next few weeks.

Other Stuff

On Twitter I subscribe to a number of people who publish short fiction, complete stories that fit within Twitter’s character limit.  This one caught my eye because of the pop culture references, but many of them are indeed Worth Reading.  Look for more of them to appear in the future.

Site News – a reminder:

There will be no weekly review on Fri, it’s delayed until Sun-Mon so I can include the Abyss and Academia 2 finale reviews.  With a small amount of luck, I’ll have the first part of my season reviews up in its place, with the balance (and the remaining finales) appearing next week.

The first premiers for Fall are next Wednesday, and as usual I’ll post as soon as I have enough material for a decent post.  Once the schedule starts to shake out, I’ll figure out where the weekly post will fit.