Spring shines outside as a new school year begins. Yukko Aioi, a schoolgirl of fourteen or so, is resting over her desk, groaning and grumbling. She has no motivation to do anything, she says. So Mio Naganohara, her best friend, suggests that she finds one. “But I lack motivation to do even that!” Yukko complains.… Read More Nichijou, comedic hope and my own ordinary life
Moriking is a new manga series from Shonen Jump by Tomohiro Hasegawa. The first chapter introduces elementary school student Shota Aikawa and his high school-aged sister sister, Shoko. In the first few pages, Shoko joins her brother to watch as his pet beetle Moriking begins to emerge from its pupal form. Instead of a normal… Read More Manga First Impression: Moriking
Teasing Master Takagi-San has been a joyful surprise for me. This slice-of-life school comedy about the excessively self-conscious Nishikata and his clever and humorous female deskmate, Takagi-san, is full of color and light and small moments in which I could find myself—and God—went much further than I thought it would, and really pulled me along… Read More Teasing Master Takagi-san, and an Easter after Lent
In the greater world, though I would say particularly within the anime community, Christians often gain a bad rap for being “prudes” (those who are unable to take the occasional sexual joke or two, though this definition often also colloquially extends to profanity and other topics deemed “unsuitable for a Christian audience”). Much of this mindset is… Read More Jesus Would Probably Like Nichijou (and Yotsubato… and Azumanga Daioh…)
For many of us, Christmas is a day on which wishes can be granted. Perhaps even wishes we thought were impossible to grant. That surely must have been the case for Kawagoe Haruma, futsuu na koukousei and protagonist, whom Santa Claus herself (!) awakens on Christmas morning to deliver a package for him through his bedroom window. The package… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 5: Chocotto Sister
As with being a fan of any media, being an anime fanatic can be simultaneously an extremely fulfilling experience and also a very frustrating one. This season is no exception. Amid the fourteen anime I am watching this season*, for every moment I spend enjoying an anime, I spend perhaps an equal moment being conversely… Read More Anime Today: Taking a Break with Seki-Kun