The best anime—really, the best stories in any medium—capture a little bit of what it means to be human. The characters wrestle with themes like freedom, death, family, love, and corruption, whether in dialogue or action, and the audience relates, because we’re trying to figure out how and why these themes play out in our… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: What is Freedom?
I love how sports anime portray different strengths and weaknesses. In Haikyuu!!, for example, Hinata Shouyou enters high school volleyball majorly lacking in two areas: height and experience. People consistently underestimate him because of this, and no one would blame Hinata if he gave up—at the very least, they’d expect him to envy his taller peers. Instead,… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Valuing Strength that Lasts
In anime, insults are often represented by arrows that stick straight into a character. Depending on the anime, a barrage of insults might knock the character onto the ground. The offender might not even realize what he’s doing—often the hurtful words are said out of ignorance and carelessness, rather than ill will. The effect is… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Your Words Have Influence
This weekend, I found Zombie-Loan on Crunchyroll. I loved it about five years ago, so I decided to see what I’d think of it now. As expected, I’m no longer a fan. I’ll knock my rating for it down at least 25% by the time I finish re-watching. And yet, there are some nuggets of truth to… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Living like a Zombie
It’s still the middle of the school year for most students. But I know from experience that the anxiety about the future can start long before graduation day. I started dreading growing up way before the college hunt began, and I think it contributed to my anxiety, especially by senior year. College played out differently for… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: When It’s Time for Change
This week, Hinata and the other first-year volleyball players in Haikyuu!! 2 impressed me with how they seek and accept the advice of more experienced athletes. This isn’t a new thing; they’ve been getting help from peers and coaches pretty much since day one, and over the past several episodes especially. But this time, it’s drawing a… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Seeking Advice from Peers and Rivals
Tomorrow, I’m giving a presentation on “The Theology of Death Note” in one of my classes. I was reluctant to choose Death Note, because a lot of people have already written about its connections to Christianity (including Casey here at BtT, just a couple weeks ago). I wanted to write about something new… but I also wanted… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Kira of Death Note vs. the God of Life