The first conveyor belt sushi restaurant I went to was in L.A., in the middle of Koreatown—BYOB. They definitely didn’t have their liquor license. Conveyor belt sushi, if you’ve never had the pleasure of trying it (the first such restaurant opened in Higashiosaka sixty years ago), is an experience as much as a meal. My… Read More Voice Actress Elizabeth Maxwell on Sushi, Screams, and SXSW
Though only about three hours drive from both Dallas and Houston, cities with bustling Asian populations and excellent matching cuisine, it’s only been recently that Austin’s Asian food scene has grown in prominence. Restaurants and retail centers with Taiwanese, Japanese, and Korean roots are popping up, presenting a perfect opportunity for a couple of the… Read More Visiting Kinokuniya with Voice Actress Elizabeth Maxwell
We’re living in the social media generation, and voice actors have embraced it fully—it’s an opportunity to market themselves while sharing their interests. Some have growing families and are involved in their community. Others like to travel. And then there are those who not only voice anime characters, but personally love anime and other geeky… Read More Geeking Out with Voice Actress Elizabeth Maxwell
I feel that all too often the media portrays femininity in a bad light. Either a woman is written as weak and pathetic, or she is a ridiculous OP for the sake of fan service. Where is the balance of being a fierce woman who retains her feminine identity without being an object of lust?… Read More Anime’s Fierce Femininity
Anime, especially in the dark fantasy/dystopian genre, thrives on the concept of freewill. Death Note shows the futility of forcing the world into a mold to which it cannot conform. Kiznaiver reveals that shared adversity and duty-driven empathy aren’t enough to keep people (or the peace) together. Psycho-Pass… well… you get the picture. At least as far… Read More Something More: Fullmetal Anti-Semitist, Re:Samaritan, and Ultimate (Idolatrous) “Harmony”
As 2015 draws so an end, so does the anime season. In the coming week or two, we’ll give our reviews for Fall 2015 anime, but today, we’ll wrap up the year by giving our selections of the year’s best anime. Kaze, Japes, and myself give our top five picks below, and we also have… Read More Best Anime of 2015
My wife and I are both watching Noragami right now: she’s watching season one and I’m keeping up with season two. We’re roughly around the same point of each season, around episode eight, as I glance at what my wife is viewing (basically Yukine being super spoiled and almost destroying Yato), I’m getting a good… Read More Becoming Yukines: Regalias and the Path From Sinner to Saint
There’s always been a lot of transition at my church. We were once comprised of about 80% college students, and though there are more older folks (like me!) attending now, it’s still largely a “college church.” Because of this characteristic, year in and year out, I see students leave, finishing their four or five years,… Read More Nora and the Demons that Tempt Us
Noragami Aragoto isn’t a graphically violent anime, but in episodes five and six, gruesome events are occurring (though off screen). In episode five, these horrible deaths are affecting Bishamon; in episode six, they affect us. While one of Kugaha’s phantoms is being fought off by Yato after the god of calamity attacks the doctor, the… Read More Noragami Aragoto, Episode 6: The Pain of Being Human
So your name’s Chihiro? What a pretty name…and it belongs to me now. – Yubaba (Spirited Away) In the west, we’ve largely destroyed the art of naming children. Parents scramble to discover a name that’s unique (but maybe not too unique), memorable, beautiful, and timeless, but in searching for an aesthetically pleasing name, most will… Read More Sen to Chihiro, Control to Freedom: The Significance of Names, Here and Forevermore