When Soma Kisa is introduced in Fruits Basket, she has been facing bullying and, traumatized by the situation, stopped speaking. She also quit going to school, and so eventually she receives a letter from her teacher asking her to come back. Fortunately for the audience, we have Soma Hatsuharu and Soma Yuki around to read… Read More Finding Love in the Face of Self-Loathing
Leading up through Easter Sunday, Beneath the Tangles will be running a series of posts based on a theme with the hopes that it will lead our readers to consider the meaning of this week and especially of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our theme this year is loneliness. In order to… Read More Isolation Leads to Desolation: The Bullying of Shouya Ishida
Shouya Ishida is a lanky, handsome teenager attending high school in Tokyo. He’s smart and does well in school. He has a supportive family, and there are people in his life that he cares deeply about. Shouya is respectful and kind, and works diligently at a part-time job, helping to support his family. And tomorrow,… Read More Review: A Silent Voice
March Comes in Like a Lion continues to move forward with its bullying arc, which has been presented so vividly in the way we’d expect of Shinbo and Shaft. The length of this arc is significant—the bullying isn’t quickly resolved in one or two episodes. It’s slow and spreading, a complex organism that isn’t easily… Read More How Did the Bullying Stop for You?
As March Comes in Like a Lion progresses, so does Rei, who is growing through his pains and insecurities due to direct and constant exposure to two elements: shogi and the Kawamoto family. The first has been challenging him, through its players and the game itself, to think about who he is, what he values,… Read More Bullies, Bystanders, and the Cost of Love for Hina Kawamoto
Clione no Akari is a short (literally nine minutes including a full OP) based on an online novel about two students who befriend a bullied girl. The first episode introduces us to Takashi and Akari, two students who don’t participate in the bullying of the sickly Minori, but aren’t strong enough to prevent it. As… Read More First Impression: Clione no Akari
In the midst of all the fighting in episode 36 (and other than those terrible, off-speed horses, the actions was amazing), we’re inching closer to the central question: what are the titans? There are many pieces that once put together, will present that answer, and one has to do with Reiner and Bertholdt. We know… Read More Attack on Titan, Episode 36: Theirs Not to Reason Why
I’ve mentioned this before, but to me, Shirobako feels like family. There are some members that annoy me, some that I embrace, but regardless, I care about them all. I want to know what’s happening with everyone – a week seems too long to wait to catch up with the cast. I streamed the first… Read More Destroying Seiichi Kinoshita: Shirobako and Murderous Words
Mekaku City Actors is pretty much all I ask for from an anime – it’s engaging, stylish, fun, has a plethora of terrific characters, and features some connections to religion, too. The story of the monster, which began as a bookended theatrical piece for early episodes and was later revealed to be a significant part… Read More Witch Hunts and the Modern Day Mekaku City Monster
I claim that this blog covers anime and manga, but in reality, we do little of the latter – mostly because I don’t read much manga. But yesterday, my attention was drawn to a captivating gif on Tumblr for a manga that I just had to check out. Entitled Koe no Katachi, the one shot… Read More Are You Deaf (to Real Love)?!