#1: Natsuiro Kiseki – 12: I usually use Media Player Classic to watch episodes, but I watched Natsuiro Kiseki’s finale on Windows Media Player (on my crappy laptop I have experienced that it’s the best in terms of smoothness). Unknowingly I had the player settings stand on repeat. So yeah, I got quite a scare when suddenly the episode started looping, ESPECIALLY with this kind of episode. Apart from that, what can I say about it? Wonderful idea for a final episode and a really heart-warming finale. – ** (Excellent)
#2: Hunter X Hunter – 36: Yes, Madhouse: this is how you do action scenes. With lots of dynamic movements instead of frames that look like they have been directly copied and pasted from a manga. This episode did drag on a bit too much, but hey: this definitely is a start. Up next will be the arc that I found to be the single most boring of the 1999 series, so this is really where this show can make the difference. – ** (Excellent)
#3: Nazo no Kanojo X – 12: This episode yet again was chock-full of teenaged hormones, though they were used well. The tension between two lead characters is what makes this show fun, and this episode had more than plenty of that. – *+ (Great)
#4: Kimi to Boku – 25: Kimi to Boku goes with the “random episode”-ending, but it’s a fitting one: it’s about the future of the characters, it had a ton of Chizuru being annoying, and instead of being the most dramatic episode of the season it ended on a mellow, yet charming note. Well done. – *+ (Great)
#5: Jormungand – 12: So much for the interesting trio of last week. As for the other antagonists in this episode: the guy who killed off all of Valmet’s comrades was just another snarking bad guy who kept smiling even though all of his subordinates got killed. I know he’s a killer himself too, but wouldn’t he at least be annoyed or something? I like the guy with the many nicknames, though. That scene where we first see him with his family is exactly the thing that the other villains in this series lacked. Also, who did they get for that one great song that popped up in the middle of the episode? There is no way that that guy is Japanese. – *+ (Great)
#6: Sankarea – 12: Well, that was inconclusive… this episode definitely had its char in nothng happening, but having nothing happen also is a bit of a dwnside for an ending. I’m sure Studio Deen are going to milk this into a second season and all, but still this was a strange way to leave. – *+ (Great)
#7: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 25: Great to see that Poyopoyo seems to continue for another season. This episode perhaps tried a bit too hard with the slapstick, but it still had quite a few inventive jokes. – *+ (Great)
#8: Shirokuma Cafe – 13: Okay, so for episode 13, this series dedicates itself entirely on to Handa and the comedy takes a much less prominent role. I think that that’s one of the main issues with this series: it dabbles tooo long on one particular subject, because Handa already was a main focus of last episode, and this episode only established that he wants to date Sasako, yet can’t muster up the courage. This episode did have its charms with the Tanabata, though. Also, Mr Tortoise’s wish had me in stitches. – * (Good)
#9: Saint Seiya Omega – 13: The fight of this episode was boring in which the main cast had to take down some strange fly guy, but I do like that the creators at least went itno his motivation for being evil (being unhappy with Athena). Oh, and Aria finally did something. – * (Good)
#10: The Legend of Korra – 11 & 12: Ouch. Amon’s background was good and all, but the ending… that was not good. Not only was it a huge Deus ex Machina ending, but it also rendered so much of the earlier episodes useless. I really found the idea to take someone’s bending away forever a great idea and it’s part of what attracted me to this series. But yeah, as soon as Korra lost her bending it became obvious that the creators were trying to look for a way to cancel all of that. And really? By having a bunch of dead people show up from out of nowhere? – – (Disappointing)
Okay, now so to wrap things up:
Number of series consistently covered: 11
Series that made the number one spot in these rankings: Natsuiro Kiseki (4x), Another’s OVA, Kimi to Boku (1x), Legend of Korra (1x), Hunter X Hunter (1x), Nazo no Kanojo (1x), Shirokuma Cafe (1x).
Series with the highest average rankings: Natsuiro Kiseki, followed by Kimi to Boku, Legend of Korra, Nazo no Kanojo and on place 5 there is Shirokuma Cafe.
Series with the lowest average rankings: Saint Seiya Omega, followed by Sankarea and Medaka Box.
Biggest improvement: Hunter X Hunter’s latest episodes. Sankare and Medaka Box also improved.
The Best Week: Week 23; every series delivered there and there were many awesome episodes to be had.
Worst Week: Week 26; endings are hard to do really well.
My plans for the next season.
Overall, I really enjoyed these posts, so next season I’m going to do them as well. There are six series that look interesting enough to weekly blog. The rest of the series will be summarized in these Kaleidoscope posts. Now, there is only one thing: Phi Brain doesn’t deserve an entire post dedicated per week anymore after what it pulled for the past arcs, so that series will too be delegated to the Kaleidoscope serie. So what should I replace it with? I’m currently toying with a few too many ideas, so I need a bit of guidance.
I know you havent seen Korra’s finale yet, but I have to say this:
I must say, I was severely disappointed in the season finale of Korra. It was hastily done and executed and lacked much of the passion and inspiration of what we had seen before, and instead highlighted its greatest flaws even more.
I wish the creators had decided to use writing teams like they had in ATLA, instead of writing all of it themselves, because you can see how badly the dialogue and execution has suffered. I know what these guys are capabale of from what I saw in ATLA, and its amazing finale, so its saddening to have Korra end so sloppily.
I hope next season they get they’re better writers to return, and they dont use the small amount of episodes given as an excuse for bad pacing and no character development as they have been for this season.
Korra had so much promise, its sad.
Overall, I think it was a great season. I’m sorry you didn’t like the season finale, and I recognize it was far from perfect, but perhaps the write-up at the AVclub will help you see it in a different light.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/skeletons-in-the-closetendgame,81693/
It may cheer you up to know that some of the original ATLA writing team will be back for the next season and that there will be 14 episodes.
Honestly, the first season of ATLA was it’s weakest (and in my opinion, weaker than the first season of Korra), but the second and third seasons really made ATLA the series we all love. Hopefully, Korra will smooth out all the problems it had this season and really grow in the seasons to come.
I agree with some of the stuff there, but i also hold my stance. I saw so many idea/concepts that just weren’t executed as well as they should have been. They were trying to do too much and so in the end that made everything more disappointing and couldn’t go to its full potential.
Its still a great show compared to other american cartoons, but i don’t think it will ever be able to reach the heights of ATLA, unless the second season proves me wrong.
I agree with your reply. It feels like the creators missed a lot of golden opportunities to really delve into some of the storylines. From my understanding (though I could be wrong) this ending was written before the creators got the green light to do a second season, which explains why the ending was so rushed/forced.
The ending was bad, but I am anticipating the second season. I’m hoping that the second season is better paced than this one. If there is one thing I am not looking forward to, it’s the romance (I don’t know if I was the only one or not, but I really just did not feel the connection between the romantic pair in this series as opposed to Katara-Aang).
I also agree that the show had so much potential and I really enjoyed the first few episodes, but the ending really killed what was good about the show. We know nothing about Mako and Bolin’s story on the streets that could have explained why Mako is obsessively over-protective and why Bolin constantly resorts to humor. We also aren’t shown how non-benders struggle and are forced to become equalists. Even the big spirituality theme was thrown out the window (along with Amon) when Korra unlocked her airbending in order to protect her crush Mako rather than as a result of her fixing the overly-forceful flaws in her personality.
We are told Mako had a hard life, that non-benders are oppressed, and that Korra has become more spiritual, but none of these are ever shown and require big theories and speculation to justify. The fact that they only had 12 episodes is no excuse. If they completed writing most of the first season before the second season was greenlighted, the writers should have put that much more effort into making this would-be 12 episode miniseries stand strong by itself. Hell, Madoka Magica did it in twelve episodes.
“By having a bunch of dead people show up from out of nowhere?”
And here lies one of the issues of not having watched Avatar.
The Avatar State hasn’t been explained at all in Korra, has it? Not almost anything about the spirit world.
Which is a shame, as I felt it kind of appropriate for the ending. But yeah, it seems even more plucked-out-of-the-air if you don’t know the history of it.
I agree it had its flaws as a finale, and definitely rushed, but it was also still ambitious and quite bold for a childrens show.
I mean, the last Tarrlok and Amon scene took me by surprise and really impressed me.
And the issues of Korra’s identity outside of being the Avatar, were possibly dealt with in too subtle a way at times, in a show that was often quite brash and forthcoming with its points.
But the hints of her possibly preparing to commit suicide, very good indeed.
Without her bending, she was redundant as an Avatar, and the only way to solve it was through her own death so a new one would be born.
And having been raised for that purpose, her whole identity had been taken from her.
All in all, I liked that part. Though I agree that it was far from perfect. Felt let down to an extent, but it was still entertaining.
And the second seasons’ focus will determine if all the flaws stand-up. If the imbalance in society is just abandoned, then I really will feel cheated.
I agree with limewarrior, the AV club write-up made me feel a lot more positive about the finale than I did straight after.
As I said in the shoutbox I have no problems with Korra being able to regain her Avatar powers through the use of Avatar mode. That has been at least somewhat foreshadowed that she would use this later. But WHY can she give people’s powers back?! That is complete deus ex machina that FORCES a happy ending when it could have been much more complex than that. I like PSgels loved the idea of people losing their bending forever and it makes all the build up of people losing their powers pointless. They really messed up in a few minutes of the show
That said i do agree that the Tarlock and Amon ending was Daring, surprising and very fitting chararcter wise. It was impressive. I wonder if the second season will be able to remedy the problems with this truly lacking ending.
An Avatar can return it for the exact same reason an Avatar can take it: both taking and giving it is Energybending.
The avatar could probably use energybending to undo the effects of energybending victims such as Yakone or the Firelord however, the point is that Korra is using energybending to cure the victims of bloodbending. From what was established in season three of ATLA, bloodbending is specifically moving the water in someone’s body around and has nothing to do with energy. This means that Amon’s technique does something physical or biological using the water in a person’s body to take their bending away. Why would energybending reverse an affliction that only involves water? Amon wasn’t even shown to be a healer, so he did not even touch his victim’s energy. If Katara or Korra used their waterbending/healing to reverse Amon’s own waterbending it would make sense, but that isn’t what happened.
@Psgels: In ATLA the avatar had the ability to talk to his past lives and enter the spirit world, a place that has not been talked about in Korra. The avatar can use its past lives to gain great power in times of need, with the risk of if they die during it, the avatar cycle will be broken.
therefore, while it is a deus ex machina, its not very out of the blue since it shows korra finally making the spiritual connection that all avatars have.
Although i agree, it was still disappointing.
I didn’t like the ending to Korra at all either but the “bunch of dead people” was definitely not a deus ex machina. The Avatar has always had the ability to communicate with his/her past lives in the way Korra did in that last scene.
Anyone watching the original series would know this but it was also mentioned several times in Korra as well.
That being said I didn’t like how Korra got her bending back so easily either.
Endings like this remind me that I am watching a series geared for a younger audience. There are other reminders – the romance, the dialogue, and some simplicities here and there, but I tend to enjoy those rather than chaff against them. The ending, on the other hand, was different. The pups won’t mind but the older audience watching for the story – or like me, for the animation, will still be disappointed.
Amon wasn’t an avatar taking someone’s bending away, he was using some manner of blood bending to somehow block off the chakras or the elements or whatever metaphysical stuff the show wants to get into. Korra could have learned to reopen herself in the second season. They didn’t have to return everything in the last minute. A disappointing last few minutes to what was otherwise a good episode.
Man, the subbers really must have had a blast with this episode of HxH, translating everything in the most suggestive way possible. It’s episodes like this that make me glad that I stopped watching raws.
The korra ending was disappointing. Though considering that fact that I have seen the Avatar: The Last Airbender, the part where Aang, as well as her past incarnations, showing up at the end is not a huge surprise. The only problem is that they could have focused more on her exploration of her spiritual side, instead of just placing it right at the end of the series. I understand how confused and frustrated you were since you have no prior knowledge. I find it annoying too.
The writers need to learn that The Legend of Korra is its own show, and while they may reference their previous show, they still need to explain crucial plot devices that were presented in the previous series and brought over to Korra. The avatar state is an obvious example. It doesnt take long to explain what it is, and yet they’ve failed to do that.
The ending could’ve easily been saved if they perhaps added one more episode, or even cut off some of the romance sub-plot.
Psgels, you may have heard this many times, but please check out the first show. The characters are more fleshed out, the setting is more expanded, the writing is overall better (has more writers), and the ending is phenomenal (4 episode finale). The first season is a bit childish, but it really picks up in the 2nd and 3rd season. The only thing is the animation and fight choreography may not be as good as The Legend of Korra.
I agree with almost everything you said, except for the fight choreography in Korra being better than ATLA. The animation and production values are indeed lower in ATLA, but almost every single fight in ATLA is beautifully choreographed, and you can recognize the different fighting styles for each element where as in Korra I feel like a lot of the style and flare in the fighting was lost. Korra’s fights were amazing at times, but ATLA fights were consistently great or just fantastic (ex the last fight scene with Zuko, Azula, and Katara)
The fight choreography in Korra is really well done. I was awestruck when I first saw the firebending examination scene.
It just got really old when every fight was done “pro bending style”. By using boxing punches and kicks for everything, the martial arts lose their identity and style. While the firebending was done nicely, Earthbending became extremely simple and stale while Waterbending lost all of its grace beyond what little Tarlok did.
Completely agree with you, the Korra season finale was disappointing for me as well but reading the comments here made me feel better. I can’t believe I missed the suicide though the idea did cross my mind. She’s still connected to the spirit world through the air element so reincarnating with all her abilities will work. The emphasis on the tear drop down the cliff didn’t connect on first view but realizing that now of redeemed some flaws but it was still one of the weakest endings of the series.
Hopefully the second season will make up for it. I would hope for less romance because it’s just so badly portrayed the show would be so much better without but I don’t see that happening. The way Amon was handled in the end just didn’t sit well, all that build up and then he’s just another villain on the list. He may survive but that won’t change anything unless there is more behind the scene. Korra getting her power back in that way could have been better realized as well because without a clear explanation, it just looks like a cop out clean ending.
Going to watch the last season of ATLA to remind myself that the series can still be saved….
Where can they go from here?
Major villain with a very reasonable cause is dead, a lot of secondary villains along with him.
Quest to become a true avatar, kind of done with Korra unlocking her air bending and gaining all her bending back in one fell swoop. Well not really, but all that’s left is for her to “hone” her skills, which isnt exactly riveting.
Even the cheesy romance with Mako seems to be resolved.
It took Aang pretty much the entire series to master the Avatar state, and the end made it look like Korra already got the hang of it already. Avatar state was also not explained, but it was meant to be the end all be all Deus Ex Machina of the show. Deus Ex Machina isnt a bad thing, plenty of shows used it effectively, but this particular use of it really cheapens it
It felt like an ending written to end the series rather than the season. It’ll be a fresh start next season, and maybe that’s what they are trying to accomplished. It certainly wasted a lot of good material that was established this season.
It’s really no surprise Korra got her bending back, though I was convinced for a moment that she was just going to be an Airbending Avatar as reference to the prequel. However, it did make sense for me all the same – this is the Avatar we’re talking about. Whatever Amon did to take away bending is an inferior technique to Energybending, which the Avatar is completely capable of.
I admit that the impact has been mostly overshadowed by what happened with Amon and Tarrlok. It was a rushed ending but it’s not just a “bunch of people showing up.” It’s the fact Korra finally got in touched with her spiritual side after the hardships she’s been through. This would make sense when compared to Aang, the previous Avatar, who easily went to the Avatar State. Not only was Aang more spiritual but his entire situation put him in on the edge and Korra, who has been sheltered all her life, didn’t know that feeling.
It was disappointing but it was still really good.
We noticed that Urabe is a lot more animated and expressive in this episode, especially when she learns Oka has a naked picture of her, and when she realizes she accidentally cut Tsubaki. For a long time, she held back the storm on the horizon she feared the slightest physical contact with Tsubaki would bring, but that discipline finally breaks down.
She recognizes she’s horny, Tsubaki’s horny, and they both need a release valve (e.g. the occasional embrace) to avoid going mad. In this regard, Tsubaki accidentally seeing her naked in ep 11 was a crucial catalyst to this, not simply the throwaway fanservice gag it often is in rom-com series.
I second this, NnK has prove itself to be quite the cliche buster, even this episode had akira tripping over Urabe and I fully expected him to fall on her as with 90% of anime, yet he moved and avoided the cliche. (granted he was afraid of her reaction)
Urabe showing up and getting naked wasn’t even such a surprise as she already did something similar in the earlier episodes, albeit with more subtlety. She does resolve thing in a very strange/contrived way but that’s the point of her character: the weird way of rationalizing things, like not smiling for a picture because “it’s a fake smile”.
At heart this is a romantic story that deals with how much can two people connect… Notice how Ueno and Oka are there to show the contrast of a more “normal” high school relationship: they are already kissing yet their bond is not even close to Akira’s and Mikoto’s.
The ending was sloppy however I was half expecting the Deus ex Machina ending since this is what they used to end the Last Airbender series, which I had felt sort of ambivalent towards. This is a series where the spirit world and the physical world are very much connected. With the spirits being pretty much limitless in their abilities to an extent, it allows them to end up being the go-to beings for problem solving. Though, just because they can be the problem solver doesn’t mean they should be.
The ending of Korra felt like the creators were not sure that they were getting the second 14 episode series because they literally tied up every plot thread and gave no teaser hints about what the second season would entail.
There was so much room for improvement but all-in-all this finale was done much better then the first series.
lol dead people show up from no where dude u should really watch season 1 <.< somethings u say are so hilarious when u havn't even watched the first avatar 😀
after watching the old version of Hunter X Hunter Gon vs Hisoka, i would say the old one did better. the move pretty much a copy from the old one, the lack of creativity …..
We were also surprised how quickly the three assassins were neutralized, and how no one in Koko’s team was killed. She let them go so hopefully they’ll be back sometime, but keeping them around too long and telling their stories would have taken precious time away from Roberta…er…Valmer’s kick-ass one-woman (and one-boy!) mission to free her comrades’ souls. And was it just us, or was that song in Finnish? Nice touch either way.
Seeking out more shows that aren’t about teenagers in high schools, we got into Jormungand only two weeks ago and blasted through the first season, and enjoyed it immensely. It’s got a fascinating lead in Koko, an amiable supporting cast, and managed to portray a nice variety of situations arms dealers might find themselves in.
The lack of supernatural elements keeps the series grounded in reality, and even if some of the action gets a little stylized, credulity is always maintained. It’s also hard for us to hate anything scored by Taku Iwasaki; from Soul Eater and Katanagatari to [C], his music really lifts any series that use it. Looking forward to season 2.
The lyric is in Portuguese (BRAZILIAN Portuguese)!
Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN9vp24LXkw&feature=plcp
Name: Meu Mundo Amor (My World Love)
so im not sure how many people have explained this already, but the ending to korra makes sence if you have seen the original series.first of all korra using airbending to save Mako is a direct shoutout to how ang learned earthbending in the original series.he spends an entire episode trying in vain to master it (it is the one he has trouble with much like korra and airbending) but when his friends are in danger he just forces himself to get it right, cheesy perhaps, done before, yes, but completely out of place for either shows, no.
second, the “dead people comming out of nowhere”. well in the avatar world, there is a spirit world where all of the deseaced avatars, as well as several actual spirits dwell. by connecting to it, and as an extension all the past avatars, you go into whats called the avatar state, as your body esentially beacomes a vessel for all the knowledge and power of every single past avatar, Ang learned how to take bending away from a lion turtle spirit at the end of the first series, its not too much of a streatch to assume that he figured out how to restore bending as well, so when korra goes into the avatar state (shown by the glowing eyes, and increadibly powerefull bending) she gains angs knoweldge of taking away and (presumebly) restoring somebodys bending.
was it a tad rushed, perhaps, could they have figured a way to give you this information in this series, yeah, but it was defintly NOT a case of dues ex machina.
personally i really enjoyed the entire series including the ending, but i also got more out of it having seen and loved the original series
What should I do next season?
Cover Manga
Yes, read more mangas Psgels. You have no idea of how much hidden gems can be found at the manga field.
I wish we could vote on more then one thing. I would say cover manga first, then do rec posts, irc/forum, games, etc.
Psgels, I think you should cover more obscure anime. There’s so many out there that need you to expose to the world, and believe me, I know a LOT of obscure anime that definitely deserve to be reviewed by your discerning eyes!
COVER MANGA. They’re quick to read, enjoyable, and offer you a new perspective. You can just pick whatever mangafox has on the first page, or go with recommendations, which is more iffy (Amatsuki! Amatsuki!).
Though I WOULD like to see you cover some games, like Persona or various Tales of, those take ungodly amounts of time to finish and are addicting to boot. You’d have cut down your anime activity by a lot to fit that in.
And won’t you be having too many series to blog weekly if you take another two series up?
A proper IRC channel would also be nice, though I remember that your last attempt failed with only two or three people frequenting it. Maybe now that the blog has gotten more popular?
You really should cover manga! Since most good anime’s are manga adaptions, but then to me most of the time the original manga is much more enjoyable.
I’ve been following your blog since you reviewed the adaption of Monster, and I’m very confident that there are lots of manga out there that will suit your taste.
I would say cover mangas and visual novels XD
I say don’t bother with a IRC or a forum. They will just become ghost towns. They may start off active but I have seen more than one Forum just become barren eventually. I was a moderator for one after all. It’s a waste of effort. The comments and Shoutbox are fine.
If you are going to expand on what you write about I say manga, visual novels and light novels are the way to go. These would help with making your impression of the anime lineup for a season more informative though to do that you would need to keep up with the latest stuff. Of course instead you could just check out great manga like Pluto, Lucfier and the biscuit hammer and Parasyte.
Though if you are looking for a lighter workload you could just do visual novels as manga and light novels would require posts about various volumes were as Visual novels would only require one review post per game. If you are thinking of trying one then the best recommendation I can give you would be Sharin no kuni. Easy on beginners and has an excellent storyline. The only issue would be the setup.
I agree with Aidan. maybe an IRC because it doesn’t require much maintenance. but forums are pretty old hat now and no one really bothers going on forums anymore.
as for next season, i’d suggest covering games like aidan suggested if you have the time. personally, i think reading manga is far less time consuming to do in one sitting, but a lot of manga are either ongoing or don’t have complete scanlations. so if there’s a series that’s completed that you want to cover, i think that’d be the best choice.
i think recommendation posts would be good too sparingly, as i believe it’d allow you to get some views down that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to express, especially with the studio spotlights.
I voted for the choice to put in a forum based on how crowded the shoutbox gets but I think reviewing manga, actually reading a manga alongside watching anime of it would allow you to give way to more comparative reviews. You’ve said before much anime goes the read the manga ending so I think reading manga would be very beneficial to you.
Also psgels you mentioned your disappointment toward the shojo demographic post the early 2000s before I think you might find theres alot more shojo manga out there worth your time.
Oh yeah, and if you’re going to cover visual novels, do Saya no Uta first. It doesn’t fall into the standard premise of harem high school hijinks that plague many a VN, its really short by VN standards (3~4 hours) and it has few choices with only three separate endings. It’s also one of Gen Urobochi’s earliest works. It does have a lot of gore in it, if you’re turned off by that.
Also IRC channels over forums, forums are quickly becoming more obsolete these days.
Starry, I think Saya no Uta is a bit extreme for Psgels first Visual novel. True it’s short but I say that’s a VN for someone with a bit of experience with them.
Besides Gore isn’t the biggest problem. The problem is those…awkward sex scenes…
if you end of tweaking the site, and possibly if not, could you add the review index by rating pages to the top bar?
Cover Games
what does this mean exactly, Visual novel ? JRpg ? Rpg ? platformer ? fps ?, all those or more ?
Definitely the Recommendations posts/Top Lists/Studio Spotlights! One of the best things about this blog is psgels’ knowledge about different studios which would be great to see in that format. Top Lists are always great and everytime you make one they always get tons of attention.
I hope you don’t take this the wrong way Psgels, but I would like to air a few grievances I have about some aspects of your blog of late. Instead of just doing something new for next season like in the poll you asked, I’d be glad if you could rectify some of these problems I have with your blogging at the moment. I would like to state that this is just my opinion and its not like I can force you to do it or anything.
Firstly, I notice that nowadays your posts seem to be littered with spelling and grammar mistakes. I know this looks like I’m just nitpicking here, and you’re not a native English speaker, but the amount of mistakes in your posts these days are just too much to ignore. It doesn’t help that I’m one of those people who are very particular about grammar, sentence structure and spelling when I’m reading, although I don’t claim my English is perfect. Maybe you can give a more thorough than usual review of your posts before you post it from now on, perhaps?
Secondly, your weekly episode reviews seem to be less detailed or well thought out compared to in the past. I know that you’re a working man now and the time you can spend on anime is limited compared to your student days, yet I kind of miss your insightful weekly episode reviews. I used to anticipate reading your reviews of an episode I just watched to gain a new perspective or angle to what I got out of a particular episode, or read up on your theories on what or where the plot or show is heading in. I’m not saying your posts aren’t insightful these days, just less so compared to in the past, imo.
Thirdly, is how you tend to forget characters names or places in some of your episode reviews, especially when you’re watching too many shows at a time. For example, in Fate/zero you mentioned you forgot the name of the bug guy (Kariya) and Rin’s father (Tokiomi). Instead of googling it, you just mentioned you forgot their names in the post and left it at that. Also, you sometimes forget about some of the plot points in previous episodes when they’re touched upon in a new one. Again, I noticed this problem from Fate/zero, although I admit the plot is complex and hard to follow if you’re not well versed in the Nasuverse. I’d suggest you jot down all the important info you get after watching an episode of an anime you’re blogging. That way you can easily refer to anything you’ve forgotten after you watch a new episode, and you wanted to write about it in your new episode review.
Well, that’s about all I wanted to say for now. I’m not trying to criticize or shame you by highlighting this. I’m just a fan of your blog and I’ve been an avid reader of your posts for more than 5 years now, and still counting. You may not agree with some or even all of what I said, but then I’m just stating my own personal opinion. I feel privileged to have been able to follow your writing on anime these past 5 years, and I would be more than delighted to keep following you for 5 years more, or beyond.
It’s of course fine if you state your opinion, of course. A few comments:
The spelling errors mostly are me trying to type too fast. And to be honest, I’ve always had these. Some of my earlier pots and reviews are also littered with them, but I also admit that at the moment, I’m putting out posts more and more in a hurry, which unfortunately doesn’t give me the time required to pull out every spelling error.
As for me not looking up the names: there is a very conscious reason for this: distraction. I do try to look up names, but I have noticed that when I do, I completely lose track of my thoughts and get disctracted with something competely different. I’ve often wasted entire hours this way, which was not fun.
As for being insightful, I’ll try to be this more, especially in my posts covering multiple series at the same time. The reason I’m actually doing these is because lately I noticed that I love being able to cover a huge amount of series, and for now I want to put a bit more emphasis on that. The challenge will now be to bring this insight into all of these short entries, yes.
Covering some manga could be quite a nice change and also quite interesting, so yeah, I am voting for that.
If you’re interested in picking up more Western animation, allow me to make a few suggestions. Gravity Falls is the most promising show on air right now, sort of like Twin Peaks if it were an animated comedy. There’s also Motorcity, a great racing-action show. Almost gives Redline a run for its money at times. Green Lantern the Animated Series, if you can get past the CGI, is also very good, though I’m not sure when Season 2 starts.
I think you should do the recommendation stuff. It can cover other options like covering the obscure but interesting projects and other mediums like manga and games. Bit of a blanket but at least, you can also have control on what you can post.