In which it’s never too late to turn your story into a CW drama (love triangles free with purchase).
Click here for an explanation of the watch party, and an invitation to chime in with your own thoughts (Tumblr tag: #Utena Watch Party).
For Returning Viewers, Vrai’s episode analysis is here for your reading pleasure:
And my own newbie-friendly commentary is below the jump.
Moonlight and love shrimp, never out of date…
Love is in the air again this week on Sailor Moon, as our gals consider what makes a kiss “special” and one young couple tries to clumsily convey how they feel about each other. These episodes do a nice job of portraying many elements of early relationships, such as the amount of importance placed on a first kiss, the feeling that you need to PROVE your love (not just to your partner, but to the general public as well), and the insecurities and anxieties you feel when you reeeeally like someone and worry that they might not feel the same (or worse, that you might not be “good enough” for them). Sailor Moon captures the worries, the awkwardness, and the excitement of first love, and it’s good fun watching it play out (though you sure couldn’t pay to relive it).
How to improve your spring anime? Just add cherry blossoms!
Two full meet ‘n’ greets in this one, huzzah! One was exactly what I expected, while the other was something of a pleasant surprise (although we’ll see if it can hold up over multiple episodes). Also, apparently if you throw an exclamation point (or two) into your title, good things happen. Take note, aspiring writers. Then hit the jump for some sweet music, some sweet cakes, and a little bit o’ bland.
A romantic comedy so adorable its title needed TWO exclamation points!!
I’m guest blogging this series over at Anime Evo this season. I’ll go ahead and include the full posts here too eventually, just so I have my own copies, but for the first several weeks I’ll only be providing a quick blurb and a link to the AE page. But yes, I am planning to do episodic posts on this one, so you’ll get to hear all my reactions and analysis as they come.
…Oh, and just so you know, these will have anime (but not manga) spoilers since I’ll be discussing plot points and character beats in the episodes themselves. I’ll have a spoiler-free meet ‘n’ greet up tomorrow for anyone who just wants to get the basic stats and find out if it’s any good (hint: it is). The rest of you can hit that jump and get ready for one delightful little shoujo.
I spy with my little eye… two new recurring characters!
Four episodes in and it’s already Sailor Moon Shaping up to be a more fun season than the last one. With the plot little more than a vague outline at this point, it’s important that SM be able to let its characters wander around and goof off and just be entertaining together. And boy, did they manage to do that this week.
I’ve never been so sad to see the end of winter.
Real talk, dear readers: This was the best anime season I’ve experienced since I started regularly watching simulcasts a few years ago, positively jam-packed with not only quality adaptations but also tremendous original works (a relative rarity these days). As a result, creating this list was torture, because there were simply too many great or good series, full of tightly woven plots, provocative themes, and captivating characters. So take the numbers with a grain of salt and, if you’re looking for a new show to watch, pay closer attention to the grades and premises.
I like to talk season trends in these retrospectives, and Winter saw a couple fascinating ones: Well-written female characters, and an exploration of binaries (male/female, life/death, Madonna/whore, geeky/sporty, etc.) and seemingly irreconcilable cultures and social groups. The top seven shows all feature diverse, layered lady protagonists; in five of those shows said protagonists are the main character; and two of them (Yurikuma Arashi and Maria the Virgin Witch) are overtly feminist works, portraying and challenging society’s expectations/treatment of women in both reality and fiction.
There’s a mess of complicated, morally gray, thought-provoking stuff here, but more impressive still, these ideas are generally paired with complex characters and compelling stories, leading to a gripping cocktail of the intellectual and the emotional, a winning combo of Dem Thinks and Dem Feels. In short, Winter was a damn good season, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Hit the jump for some spoiler-free mini-reviews, final grades, and Totally Arbitrary Rankings.
Let’s go, Miss Kureha! To the outside world!
I thought I’d start this with a spoiler-free review, for those of you scrolling past and wondering if you should give this strange little series a try. Hit the jump to read on, and I’ll let you know when the spoilers kick up again.
In which sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but an egg is never just an egg.
Click here for an explanation of the watch party, and an invitation to chime in with your own thoughts (Tumblr tag: #Utena Watch Party).
For Returning Viewers, Vrai’s episode analysis is here for your reading pleasure:
And my own newbie-friendly commentary is below the jump.
A “more better” finale pushes Cute High out of a mid-series slump and easily justifies the journey—but is it a trip for everyone?
Mild spoilers below the jump.
Don-don-don’t you just wanna watch it all over again?
I did my ample best to keep the spoilers mild and vague, so if you’re coming into this show for the first time, you’re safe to hit the jump and check it out. I swear it’ll be worth your while.
The Josei Next Door 