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The Year of the Bear
I still find it hard to believe that we’ve had a whole year of Polar Bear Café. I think it’s fair to say that it was a sleeper hit, rewarding those who were willing to forgive a somewhat repetitive beginning to the show. What I never expected was for Polar Bear Café such a heart. … Read more
Psycho-Pass ends not with a bang but a whimper
That title is referencing a poem by T.S. Eliot, by the way. Y’know, just in case you didn’t notice. After all, you can’t expect the general public to understand a literary reference without namechecking the author, can you Gen? I thought the finale of Psycho-Pass was a little underwhelming. For several weeks I was left … Read more
Lists Are Lazy Journalism, So Here’s My Top 10 from 2012
Firstly, two caveats for my list. My list is comprised of shows ending in 2012. That regrettably means no Polar Bear Cafe and no JoJo, but bar an outstanding year of anime they should appear on the corresponding list in twelve months’ time. And shows with two seasons finishing in 2012 are grouped together. This … Read more
Anime Club Through the Ages: The Evolution of the Shared Anime Experience
Anime club. For many it’s the place where their interests in anime were really piqued; for others it’s an unpleasant, weeaboo-infested hive of adenoids and sub vs. dub elitism. In the days preceding cheap, fast Internet, the anime club at one’s alma mater was usually the first point of contact for more, shall we say, … Read more
gg’s Bizarre Adventure
For the franchise’s 25th anniversary, the first proper TV anime of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was announced to air this autumn, and last night the first episode was released on various torrent websites. One of the first groups to sub the episode was gg, and I have a few problems with their release. I’d like to … Read more
Fantasy Anime League: Omnishambles F.C.
So because all the cool kids are doing it, I’m jumping onto the Fantasy Anime League bandwagon. And in lieu of any actual posts on my humble corner of the anisphere, what with Humanity Has Declined having ended, let’s wax lyrical about FAL instead. Firstly, my picks: 1. Chuuniblahblah 2. Little Busters 3. Bakuman 3 … Read more
Humanity Has Declined #12: Satyrrhic Victory
Humanity Has Declined was cynical to the very end. Over the course of twelve weeks the show has directed its ire at everything from the publishing industry to religion. The final arc was – superficially, at least – very light on the social commentary, seemingly more concerned with Watashi’s backstory. As a result it’s been … Read more
Black Lagoon: The Art of Character Development
Rokuro Okajima is a nobody. When a ‘business trip’ goes wrong and he is taken hostage by the Lagoon Company, his employer has no hesitation whatsoever in forfeiting his life. Stockholm Syndrome is a cruel mistress, however, and he soon finds himself embroiled in the group’s activities. Rock, as he is christened by Lagoon company … Read more
Humanity Has Declined #11: Back to School
For the last ten weeks I’ve been wondering why Watashi chose to become a mediator to the fairies, and episode eleven would seem to give us the answer. At the not-exactly-tender age of ten she begins to attend school, starting from first grade, but soon finds herself on the end of bullying. She focuses 100% … Read more
Humanity Has Declined #10: Ceci n’est pas un dieu
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins sets out his idea of concepts that spread between people within cultures. Ideas, behaviours and styles that are to the cultural analogues to self-replicating genes. The meme. Evolutionary principles do a very good job of explaining the spread of cultural phenomena, and so the meme was coined as that … Read more
Humanity Has Declined #9: God Save the Queen, the Fascist Regime
As you may (not) have noticed, I didn’t make a post about episode eight of Humanity Has Declined. That’s because in between studying for an exam, watching House and nearly dying on a train I barely had any time to write. By the time I did have a spare moment no one would actually have … Read more
Humanity Has Declined #7: A Clone Again (Naturally)
The Japanese concept of a salaryman has been prevalent since the post-war period. It used to be that to become a salaryman was seen as the gateway to middle-class stability, but in modern times it has transformed into a quasi-insult that carries a number of negative connotations. Today’s salaryman has a lifestyle devoted to the … Read more
Humanity Has Declined #6: Space Oddity
Two kindred souls… hurtling through space at thousands of miles per hour? I feel fairly confident in claiming this is the first time that space exploration probes have been portrayed as star-crossed soulmates. However, today’s post concerns itself not with this tale of anthropomorphised spacecrafts, but instead with what seems like a throwaway line from … Read more
Mike ‘n’ Sam’s Summer Anime Funstravaganza 7: Gambler’s Fallacy
Zawa… Zawa zawa… Kaiji is fucking awesome and you should watch it right now. “We don’t need your rules / We don’t need your morals” shouts Masato Hagiwara in the OP, yet his character is arguably one of the most moral anime has ever seen. Kaiji Itou is in massive debt, but is given the … Read more
Blaming moé for the AKB48 controversy is short-sighted
On January 31st 2013 tabloid newspaper Shukan Bunshun reported that a woman had spent a night at a man’s apartment. The woman happened to be Minami Minegishi, a founding member of AKB48, the world’s largest pop group. AKB48 have made headlines before over their rule prohibiting members from having relationships, but not to the extent … Read more
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