Category Archives: magpie

Cartoons for Grownups: What Does it Mean to Win? (Solo Leveling and Hell’s Paradise)

It’s a structure that’s common to a lot of shonen (teenaged boy) anime series, video games, fantasy novels, and heck, classical epics (Dante’s Inferno, anyone?): it probably has a name already that I’m too lazy to look up, so I’ll just call it a Tower Quest. A Tower Quest is where the protagonist works theirContinue reading “Cartoons for Grownups: What Does it Mean to Win? (Solo Leveling and Hell’s Paradise)”

Cartoons for Grownups: What Does It Mean to Be Human? (Kaiju No. 8 and NieR: Automata)

A lot of the anime I watch poses this question, probably because I tack toward sci-fi and cyberpunk shows. But it’s hard to think of recent shows that orbit around it more than these two–one of which is about a near-future monster-fighting task force (Kaiju No. 8) and the other, about Humanity’s attempts to reclaimContinue reading “Cartoons for Grownups: What Does It Mean to Be Human? (Kaiju No. 8 and NieR: Automata)”

Cartoons for Grownups: What Does It Mean to Be a Woman? (Apothecary Diaries and Raven of the Inner Palace)

These two shows have a lot in common: they’re both based on light novels written by Japanese women authors; they both follow quirky harem residents in an alternate/fantasy version of Imperial China; they both have an episodic mystery structure where the heroine plays detective; they both build romantic tension between the heroine and the EmperorContinue reading “Cartoons for Grownups: What Does It Mean to Be a Woman? (Apothecary Diaries and Raven of the Inner Palace)”

Gosha Update! Plus Honey Cake and Lamb’s Ear Tea

Not only does Gosha get to ride around on Hormat’s shoulder and be fed cherries in this episode, but he also seems to have adopted another baby chick like he did last year. AND, big news, there may be a Mrs. Gosha…. She only shows up in a few frames–she seems a little more shyContinue reading “Gosha Update! Plus Honey Cake and Lamb’s Ear Tea”

Letter of Recommendation: FOOD⭐️STAR

Ever since we lost Japanese Style Originator from Netflix, I’ve been missing their deep-dive videos into traditional ways of making and doing things. Fortunately, I found FOOD⭐️STAR, which fills part of that gap for me. They’re particularly strong on artisan bakeries in Japan, both traditional and Western style ones, but they also feature wagashi (teaContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: FOOD⭐️STAR”

I Have Notes…for “First Love (Hatsukoi)”

Jen reminded me about this one. We’re both big fans of Satoh Takeru of Rurouni Kenshin fame, so when “First Love” appeared on Netflix, I gave it a shot even though rom-coms are not generally my jam. I’m not sure I would even say that Satoh is a great actor. He’s good, but not great;Continue reading “I Have Notes…for “First Love (Hatsukoi)””

Cartoons for Grown-ups: My Happy Marriage and Delicious in Dungeon

I’m starting another series on the blog to log the anime I watch because I’ve watched and continue to watch a lot of it—ever since (a) I discovered Tranzor Z on TV in middle school and (b) Blockbuster opened in my neighborhood in 1988 and I could start renting VHS tapes of anime. I’ve alreadyContinue reading “Cartoons for Grown-ups: My Happy Marriage and Delicious in Dungeon”