I love Claymore so very very much. But probably I won't ever own it.
Category: Full-length Essays
Content before Fall 2019, posted exclusively to This Thing is Neat
Hidamari Sketch x OST and Background Music
A lot of people will swear by working to music. I've personally found "slow noise" to be the way to go, and the soundtrack(s) to Hidamari Sketch fit this job to a 'T'.
Cardcaptor Sakura and Well-Roundedness
Magical Girl anime exist in this weird space as a subgenre. On one hand, there’s a clear public conception of the sparkly, sugary-sweet Saturday-morning goodness they bring to the table. On the other hand, very few of those most recognizable to your neighbor’s mom’s cat completely line up with this conception of the genre.
Rewrite and Misconstruction
Even after Key’s writing contributions to the oddly-paced and hardly-affecting Charlotte, though, I still held out some measure of anticipation for the following season’s Rewrite. But it turns out that missing the point did the series even more damage than what repair it was positioned to do.
Final Fantasy IV-VI and Characterization
Many games were evolving the genre with the fidelity offered by the SNES, but Final Fantasy’s overwhelmingly successful reception set the tone for how JRPGs would play themselves thematically for years to come.
Vinland Saga and Embellishment
More than the harsh-but-grounded depictions of war and destitution that immediately provide it with gravity, perhaps Vinland Saga’s greatest strength as historical fiction is in its carefully-chosen boundaries with respect to how it envisions 11th-century Scandinavia and Danish England.
Hidamari Sketch and Fluff Media
Slice-of-life shows like Hidamari Sketch are in a weird position where they don’t truly have many equivalents in Western-based markets, outside of anime and manga.
Yuru Camp and Hobbyism
Among the new anime television series airing last season, my personal favorite of the bunch was something relatively understated. Yuru Camp△ exemplifies its exact niche beautifully.
Final Fantasy XV and Vision Alignment
Sidestepping the divisive highs and lows of the concept direction, narrative choices, and distribution model of Final Fantasy XV, there’s one dungeon in particular that sticks out from all the others for how it showcases the game's uniqueness. As a brief one-off, I’d like to delve into that level in particular on a point-by-point basis.
Slime Rancher and Conflict
Slime Rancher this adorable, feel-good, sunshine-y atmosphere that likens the experience of playing it to receiving a warm hug. And possibly the most notable contributor of all to this feeling is that there’s next to no violent confrontation in the entire game.
Monster Hunter and Conquering Barriers
And after iteratively improving itself over the course of the following decade, Monster Hunter has turned out to be the seven-million-players-and-counting hot juggernaut of this year’s first quarter. That’s something that honestly never would have happened if the game’s designers weren’t going back to the drawing board with each release, weeding out the problem points for players, and expanding their scope in include better approaches and new tools. And that, in its way, is amusingly on-brand for the series.
Inuyashiki and Wary Optimism
During its relatively brief existence, Amazon’s Anime Strike “channel” (now rolled back into the rest of their Prime Video offerings) had a knack for consistently snatching up the license for a poignant, would-be sleeper-hit anime of each season. , Inuyashiki Last Hero gave all of the joint Netflix-Marvel projects a run for their money, if not frequently one-upping them.
Asian Pop and Appeal
Asian pop is catchier than the measles. To be fair, you could say that about just about any variety of popular music. But there’s something about Asian pop music in particular that feels like the strong elements of the medium have been reverse-engineered in a way that new compositions can have as wide an appeal as possible, making it stand out from almost anything else in the medium.
Keijo and the Gag Curve
Keijo!!!!!!!! gives off a very strong impression from the word “go”. If only that same front lasted throughout the entire series.
Kino’s Journey and Moral Neutrality
Kino’s Journey is one of those shows that, despite appreciating it very much, I watched just a sampling of and only finished up some months later. But coming back felt in every way like I never missed a beat, which is exactly the right effect for this sort of show.
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