Tag Archives: anime

Cartoons for Grown-ups…Gen Urobuchi and the Art of the Bromance

I feel conflicted about Urobuchi’s work, too, but in a very different way from Ōkubo’s. Urobuchi and I don’t have any political disagreements to speak of—on the contrary, I think our world views mesh. He’s just willing and able to spend more time in dark places than I am. He’s undeniably a phenomenal storyteller, notContinue reading “Cartoons for Grown-ups…Gen Urobuchi and the Art of the Bromance”

Cartoons for Grownups: A Deep(ish) Dive into the Universe of Ōkubo Atsushi (Soul Eater, Fire Force)

I can’t think of another writer whose work I feel this way about—loving it and hating it at the same time. I can think of writers or composers whose work I love and whose politics I hate, sure. But Ōkubo Atsushi is the only one whose *work* I both love and hate. That’s why it’sContinue reading “Cartoons for Grownups: A Deep(ish) Dive into the Universe of Ōkubo Atsushi (Soul Eater, Fire Force)”

Cartoons for Grownups: Catchup Post

We’ve got some action anime here, some cozies, and yes, kids, I watched K-Pop Demon Hunters (see above). These are all going to be super-quick rundowns covering what it’s about (in X meets Y form if apt), what I liked, and what I didn’t like or would change in roughly one sentence each, ending withContinue reading “Cartoons for Grownups: Catchup Post”

Cartoons for Grown-ups/I Have Notes for…Fena: Pirate Princess

Honestly I don’t know why I even have notes for this show, it was so bad. Yes, I do: just look at those guys! They’re the Goblin Knights, and they are awesome. And, Production I.G does know how to make a pretty anime. So, let’s give this a shot. Fena: Pirate Princess follows Fena Houtman,Continue reading “Cartoons for Grown-ups/I Have Notes for…Fena: Pirate Princess”

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)”

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”