Jazz is an odd choice in Christmas music, don’t you think? Perhaps a carol or a classic piece that everybody in the family knows, one that speaks of childhood and adulthood, of ages past and future, of shepherds and angels, of holiness and joy—a song like this may be more appropriate for this time of… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 4: Kids on the Slope and the Christmas That Went Wrong
Everyone is going to die—everyone on this Earth is going to die. That’s not exactly news. But to have this notion in some corner of your mind is very different from actually seeing the day come, like a spinning roulette in which your number may just come up next. To know that, before the moment… Read More Bokurano: And thus we face Death
Cthullu has come and gone, and now it’s summer in the city. Young Leonardo Watch wanders through the crowded streets of Hellsalem’s Lot (formerly New York), which some years ago experienced a sudden and catastrophic erruption from the “other side” and amidst great destruction, was invaded by all sorts of horrors, magic, strange creatures, aliens,… Read More Kekkai Sensen: Chivalry in NYC
I was fourteen years old, Shinji Ikari´s age, when A Bridge to Terabithia made its movie debut. Like his fated stay in Misato’s house, only in time have I come to realize the influence it has had on me. Leslie Burke, the imaginative and courageous adventurer played by AnnaSophia Robb, did not only unveil a… Read More Shoujo and the Bride of Christ (I): Kimi ni Todoke and Ao Haru Ride
What does it mean to truly arise from the tomb, from everything the tomb implies? That is, death not only (only!) of the body, but of certainties, of hopes, big and small, of innocence, virtue and long-sustained efforts, of wisdom, of connections, of memories, of meaning, of the past and the future, of the entire… Read More Holy Week 2021 [Arise]: Arising from Angel’s Egg Deluge
Glass no Kamen (2005), one of the adaptations of Suzue Miuchi’s 1976 manga, has recently brought me back to the joys of my time as an amateur theater actor at university. The anime gets it right—the audience, the lights, the bonding and the rivalries, the last minute changes, the unexpected accidents which require fast improvisation,… Read More Glass no Kamen: Christians of Spring and Winter
“Kyousuke is back!” a voice shouts. And then, everyone in the school dorm runs to goof around a senior year student. Kyousuke is the idea guy, the visionary leader, the creative force and the acting big brother of a group of five called the Little Busters, known and loved throughout the school. Soon to graduate,… Read More Kyousuke Natsume and Meeting the Crucified Christ (I)