It seems like friendship comes easily to some people. They appear confident, they understand social rules, and they have people to confide in and hang with. Meanwhile, many of us feel lost—especially in the teen years. I couldn’t help but reflect on that as I watched the first several episodes of A Place Further Than the… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Teen Friendship in A Place Further Than the Universe
If I want examples of condemnation and judgment, I only have to log into social media. But, frankly, I’ve had more than enough of these examples lately. I’m tired of reading Tweets and Facebook statuses that declare wicked and/or foolish people subhuman. Because, yes, condemnation has its place—but it’s not the whole story. So today,… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Redemption Stories in Naruto
Assassination Classroom (Ansatsu Kyoushitsu) is one of the more ridiculous shounen anime to air in the past few years. In it, a bunch of middle school students are tasked with assassinating their teacher before he destroys the world. The assassination assignment gives this class of outcasts purpose and confidence. And the teacher, despite his plans… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Who Pulls Your Strings?
I’m only following a few anime this season, each carefully chosen to keep me from thinking too hard during my limited free time. One of them is Nana Maru San Batsu, or 7O3X: Fastest Finger First. It centers on a high school first year, Koshiyama Shiki, who gets sucked into his school’s Quiz Bowl Circle.… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Fastest Finger First and Unknowledgeable Knowledge
Welcome back to my corner, folks! First, let me apologize for just disappearing. I even stopped replying to comments, something I feel a bit bad about. But I needed a break more than I realized. In addition to aniblogging, I kind of abandoned anime itself—not completely, but mostly. Including the sports anime DAYS and All Out!!. They’d… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Not Just a Freak! Aoyama-kun and Assumptions
I’ve written about love and community many times. This is partially because these themes show up so much in anime, and partially because I’m always learning more in these areas. Sometimes, relationship themes come across as cheesy and overdone. Such anime have an overdramatic “friendship is magic” or “moral of the story” feel, and they do… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Why Community Is a Repeated Theme
“No matter how I try to wipe it away, your love continues to cling to me.” —Eight Generation Yakumo, Descending Stories: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu episode 8 Yakumo, formerly known as Kikuhiko, formerly known as Bon, has never been the most cheerful of men. He has a lifelong habit of pushing people away, only letting them… Read More Annalyn’s Corner: Rakugo Shinjuu and Life-Giving Love