Day 11: Victory May all of our dear readers be enjoying a happy and penitential Advent in preparation for the feast which—to quote the carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen—”all others doth deface.” For my “12 Days of Christmas” post, I have chosen to reflect on episodes 10 and 11 of Patlabor, which occur on… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime: Patlabor
The story is rapidly coming to a climax in Dororo. Hyakkimaru realizes that slaying random demons no longer helps him regain powers and parts of his body, his brother Tahomaru has vowed to put an end to him, and his traveling companion Dororo has been kidnapped by Daigo’s retainers. The fight between Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru… Read More Dororo and Child Sacrifice–Ancient and Modern
We have to remember that since the Angelic way of thinking is so different from ours, so is their quality of choosing. We are often influenced by passions, circumstances, incomplete knowledge, conflicting motivations, and so on; we can reevaluate our choices and reasoning, alter our conclusions, and even repent of our malice. But, angelic malice… Read More Of Socialites, Stupid Dogs, and Distraction
I perceived a fascinating juxtaposition in the new arc of Boogiepop and Others. Boogiepop refers to herself as a shinigami or the Reaper, aka Death, but what are we to make of the Imaginator? The Imaginator is obviously the villain, but I wondered why a villain should be referred to as “he who imagines”? While pondering… Read More Death vs. the Devil in Boogiepop and Others
Seasons greetings to our dear readers! Gintama ranges four seasons and 367 episodes at the present time and includes quite a few Christmas episodes. I have already written about the Christmas story told in episode 200. The present post concerns an earlier Christmas episode from season one. Gintama might be described as a science-fiction, samurai… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 4: Gintama
A.I.C.O. Incarnation found itself on my watch list very late in the season. Netflix is one of the last video streaming companies I look at—especially since they sometimes stream an anime after it’s aired. One nice bonus with Netflix, though, is that it has interesting options for a lover of foreign tongues like me: I… Read More Finding the Culture of Life in A.I.C.O. Incarnation
Gasaraki is one of the classic mecha anime. “If it’s a classic,” you ask, “why have I never heard of it before?” Despite the great animation (at least, to a connoisseur of 90’s anime like myself), many layers of intrigue, a unique plot, and great mecha battles, the dialog can be very abstruse–so abstruse that… Read More Gasaraki: the Collective, Conscience, and Freedom
May all of our dear readers be enjoying a blessed Advent! Having watched the original Irresponsible Captain Tylor anime, I thought that I would be writing about justice and mercy and the need to balance the two. However, while watching the “White Christmas” episode of the OVA, a blasphemous mural of the Madonna and child… Read More 12 Days of Anime Christmas, Day 6: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Reverence for the Sacred
Houseki no Kuni, also known as Land of the Lustrous, does a great job of crafting a mysterious and complex world with very few people. One of the most interesting developments in the world building comes from Phos’s digestion by a giant snail. After they get this monster under control and reconstitute Phos from the monster’s… Read More The Real Place of Phos’s People in Fractured Humanity
Recently, I gave the Read or Die manga a chance. The OVA and TV series have been great favorites of mine from my first years as an anime junkie. And so, I hoped for good things from the manga, which derived from a light novel–back when light novels had no special stigma against them. If… Read More The Laws of the Flesh and the Spirit in R.O.D.