Content Warning—This article briefly discusses sexual assault as presented in both Boys Over Flowers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I love a good redemption story. From the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker to the conversion of Saul, stories about redemption strike a nerve. These tales remind us that our humanity remains beneath our own… Read More Newman’s Nook: Redeeming Evil Flowers
I feel inadequate in so many ways. This feeling is on display each time I write, preach, teach in the church, or try to share the Gospel. While I have advanced degrees, none of them are for those actions, and I sometimes feel like I don’t even have a diploma in writing, preaching, or teaching,… Read More Newman’s Nook: Inadequacy, Depression, and Shinji
The saga of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure crosses many years and multiple generations of the Joestar family, but the stage of all that follows is set very early on by one of the first characters introduced in the series. George Joestar is the father of the first JoJo, Jonathan. His life and actions have a powerful… Read More Newman’s Nook: The Grace of George Joestar
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an ongoing anime/manga series that tells the tale of the Joestar family across multiple generations. Their story involves high adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones with the addition of magical artifacts, musical references, and intense posing. As is fitting of the title, multiple characters are each given the nickname JoJo… Read More Newman’s Nook: JoJo’s Bizarre Family Impact
Are You Lost? is a short-form (12 minutes per episode) series about a group of four girls who are lost on a deserted island. It begins with our main cast waking up on the island following a plane crash. The four girls are together as we pan through pantie shots, their thighs, and their wet… Read More First Impressions: Are You Lost?
Do you like magic or the art of illusion? Our unnamed male main character…doesn’t really, but just entered to a new school and is required to join a club. That’s when he stumbles into a classroom where the school’s magic club is meeting. There he meets the entire magic club. Which is one person—the titular,… Read More First Impressions: Magical Sempai
In my last Newman’s Nook column, I thought I was done talking about Sarazanmai. I was wrong. There are two more characters that merit attention—Reo and Mabu. Reo and Mabu appear to be the show’s antagonists. The duo are serving the otters by creating kappa-zombies when introduced in the series. Through flashbacks, forced reveals, and… Read More Newman’s Nook: The Martyrdom of Mabu
Last time on Newman’s Nook, I examined Kazuki and Toi of Sarazanmai. For the sake of completion, I decided this piece will feature our third kappa-boy, Enta. A complicated character, Enta is a boy in love with his best friend. He is confused about his sexuality and tossed into a world of kappas, zombies, and… Read More Newman’s Nook: Enta’s Dueling Goals
Sarazanmai continues to tackle complicated issues of desire and lust with gorgeous visuals, kappas, and of course, butts. In my first piece on the series, I spoke about secret revelations. This time I want to speak about two of our leads—Kazuki and Toi. Warning: Spoilers from the first five episodes will follow. Kazuki gives the… Read More Newman’s Nook: You. Me. Same.
Sarazanmai is a series that is hard to explain; however, I will try anyway. After a series of very strange events, the three eighth grade boys—Kazuki, Toi, and Enta—are transformed into kappas and forced to prevent zombie kappas from endangering the world. They do so by removing a fictional organ called the shirikodama from a… Read More Newman’s Nook: Secrets Revealed