Happy International Women’s Day, everyone! In honor of the day, we here at BtT are excited to celebrate some of our favorite women working in anime, manga, and light novels. This is our second year marking the holiday in this way. When I started this project last year, I was under the impression that these… Read More Celebrating the Women of the Anime, Manga & Light Novel Industries
Crown Prince Siegwald can hear the voices of the gods. And all they ever want to talk to him about is someone else. If you were in the prince’s shoes, would you listen? It’s pretty common in Christian circles to talk about God speaking to us or hearing God’s voice. It’s a vital part of… Read More Endo & Kobayashi Live! Part II: Sieg Listens, & It Changes His Life
One day after school, Aoto Endo and Shihono Kobayashi become gods. One minute they’re playing Kobayashi’s beloved otome game Love Me Magically! (Magikoi), fangirl-and-boying over the tsundere villainess Lieselotte, and the next, they are being hailed as gods by the in-game male lead, Crown Prince Sieg, who can suddenly hear their voices. Fun premise for… Read More Endo & Kobayashi Live! Part I: God Speaks Like an Otaku!
Folks, we finally have it—a tsundere origin story! Endo & Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte tells all in episode 6, and what it reveals is quite surprising. It turns out that tsunderes are not born; they are made. But what’s more, not only do genetics have nothing to do with the matter,… Read More Hope Deferred & the Tsundere Heart: Endo & Kobayashi Live! Ep. 6
There’s a meme going around these days featuring Miorine, Suletta and the caption: “Daddy issues make you a people pleaser. Mommy issues make you, like, a sociopath.” And after the post-credit scene of the final episode, things kind of look that way. In a few short moments, Suletta Mercury—that lovable ball of social anxiety in… Read More Suletta Mercury, Part II: Of Maxims, Mothers, & Murder
Suletta Mercury is stuck in the Old Testament. I’m not talking about the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth revenge plot stuff, though the mecha dueling system runs on that kind of logic; nor do I mean the smiting and wiping out of enemies, though we definitely see that too in all its… Read More Suletta Mercury, Part I: Stuck in the OT
The feeling of helplessness is among the worst experiences in life. The complete, utter lack of control. The despair that leads to resignation. It’s an awful emotion. But it’s also a learned one. It arises when we are faced with the perceived inability to make a choice, and it’s this perception that Hitori “Bocchi” Gotoh,… Read More The Courage of Bocchi the Rock, Or Free Will & How to Use It Well