And here we are for this week’s edition of Worth Reading… Sorry it’s a bit late, forgot we had to take two of the girls to the vet yesterday afternoon, then didn’t feel well when we got home. (Then went to bed early and got up gawdawful early all slept out… and am now finishing this up pre-dawn.)
Hit the jump, and let’s dive in!
Busy, busy week… lots of shows and a new format for my weekly post…
All that after the jump!
Wow… it’s been a busy two weeks with all the finales and premieres. But things are generally returning to an even keel, and so I present this week’s edition of Worth Reading.
This writing thing isn’t always easy. Even good shows can be hard to write about – back in the Spring season, it was so hard to find something to say about Tsuki Ga Kirei that didn’t boil down to “so sweet, so good, so sweet”. Karandi at 100 Words Anime addresses these problems with from the point of view of writing series reviews in Reviewing Mediocre Anime.
Pasta at Plain Pasta and Plain Rice posted an update to his Anime Tracker Comparison. MAL seems to be the most popular and practically the default, but it’s far from the only service out there and his comparisons tell you a lot about the good and the bad of each service. Personally, I stumbled onto Anime Planet (link goes to my profile) early on and haven’t seen anything to convince me to switch.
Dave at Slow Anime presents an interesting take on the potential American adaptation of the insanely popular (and deservedly so) Your Name. (The announcement of which produced an enormous tempest-in-a-teapot on Twitter.)
Remy at The Lily Garden posted an interesting and timely essay – What Makes You Instantly Drop an Anime Series? Instant drops (partial episode drops) are so rare for me that it’s hard to make generalizations about causes. I think most of them are cases where the show is just egregiously bad or cringe-y. First episode drops… there’s a variety of potential causes, but most of them boil down to “this pisses me off or annoys me” or “my time is too valuable to watch this sh*t”. A significant percentage of my first ep drops are basically shows that I don’t necessarily dislike, but which I never manage to find the time, energy, or motivation to watch the remaining episodes of.
Then there’s also the (in)famous Three Ep Rule and the (unique to me I think) Mid-Season Gut Check… But those are topics for another time or maybe down in the comments.
I found Marthaurion‘s post on picking and choosing blog post formats pretty interesting, mostly because I’ve never really thought about it. I don’t think my style is a fixed one, I just sit down and let fly with whatever seems to work that week for that episode… Maybe I should think about it and try for a more consistent style.
And last but not least… ANN has released it’s Streaming Reviews Schedule for this season. Not gonna lie, I read a lot of other reviews, blogs, and forum posts when I’m working on my weekly writeups. Partly for inspiration, partly because I often do my best work when I have somebody to react to. What I never do is read in advance of watching an episode of a series I’m watching. I don’t mind having my perceptions altered afterwards, but I refuse to allow others to direct and control my experience. I specify “series I’m watching” because sometimes those writeups lead me to discover series that I wasn’t going to watch or I thought I wouldn’t like.
Hmm… More editorial comment this week than usual. But actually, I’m liking this format because it lets me talk about things that don’t fit in my episodic review post or which aren’t big enough (or my thoughts aren’t complete enough) to warrant a feature post of their own.
Anyhow, let me know what you think down in the comments. And don’t forget to like or comment on the posts you visit!
OK, a quick look at three shows this week to sync up with this seasons posting schedule. But first, an important message:
So, let’s hit the break and talk about WUG, SideM, and Love/Cocktail.
Continue reading “Fall 2017 – Week 1”
Man, the hits just keep coming! This season is so full of promise I don’t know where to begin. Of course, it has its share of meh and clunkers too but let’s not dwell on those too much.
Hit the jump and let’s dive into all the yummy goodness!
Continue reading “Fall 2017 – First Impressions Part III (Finale)”
The next batch of premieres… Just Because!, URAHARA, and Confessions of an MMO Junkie.
No big excited blurb this time… Not because I’m not excited about any of these shows, but because this is the second post I’ve written today and I’m tired.
Let’s hit the jump and take a look at the shows!
The just premiered anime Just Because! features Ena, whose hobby is photography… and her character and the photography details the anime’s staff put into the show caught my eye. (As I’m an enthusiastic and experienced amateur photographer.)
A new series in which I talk about photography and photographers in anime. I hope both photographers and anime fans find it useful and interesting.
Originally, this was part of my first impression post for Just Because… But it got to be very long and very nerdy and made more sense standalone because of the potential for a series of such posts. Plus, having spent over three hours researching, thinking, and writing it deserves the spotlight on its own.
Continue reading “Photography in anime – Just Because! Episode 1”
Well folks, buckle up and keep your hands and feet inside the ride! We’re going to take a look at the first few shows of the season (no turkeys so far) and their prospects.
After that, a quick look at my near term schedule, how I expect the fall season to shake out, and some goals for next season.
Hit the jump and let’s dive in! Continue reading “Fall 2017 – First Impressions Part I”
Doesn’t it seem odd to have multiple parts of final thoughts? To me finality implies a definite ending. But it’s a necessity to keep the post length down and get some content out. Some shows are easy peasy to wrap up, others not so much. Today, I’m going to tackle the easy ones.
That being said, let’s hit the jump and talk about this first batch!
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.
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:
Hit the jump for this week’s ‘below the fold’ material and a look forward to my posting schedule for the next few weeks.
Continue reading “Worth Reading: Links, news, and views. 9/21-9/27”
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 