The end of the year is fast approaching, and because of that, I thought it would be good to do a little bit more reflecting. Now, it is safe to say that overall it has been a great year for anime, but it has also been good amazing for anime openings. Time to talk about some of my favorite openings of 2019.
3. Promised Neverland – Touch Off by UVERworld
It did not take long after I started watching The Promised Neverland that its opening became one of my favorite parts about the show. This is not to say that the show is bad, it is actually phenomenal. However, the more energetic nature of the music, combined with the visuals that foreshadow the events to come, make it one of my personal favorites of the year.
2. Dr. Stone – Good Morning World! by BURNOUT SYNDROMES
Dr. Stone honestly has two very good OP’s, but for the purpose of this list I decided to go with the first one, because to me, Good Morning World not only looks more interesting visually, but musically has the same sort of fast paced, fun energy that is present in the series itself, at least for the first half anyway.
1. Carole and Tuesday – Kiss Me by Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann
Carole and Tuesday was probably the best musical experience I have had all year with an anime, and no I do not just mean that because it was centered around music. It could have been very easily messed up or made haphazardly without any thought and come out terribly. Luckily, sitting at the helm of direction for the show was Shinichiro Watanabe, the man behind Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, two other series known for their great musical scores. Kiss Me takes everything that the is great about the show’s music and combines into one animated sequence, perfectly demonstrating just why the show it is attached to is so great.
What were some of your favorite openings this year? Let me know in the comments below.
If you are interested in reading more from me, check under blog to read my most recent stuff, or look below for some related posts. Also, if you would like to support Animated Observations, consider donating on Ko-fi or through paypal, or pledging on Patreon. You can even support by just liking and sharing this post.
If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!
Hello everyone, and welcome once again to my monthly OWLS post. The topic for this month is failure, as described below:
One of the best ways we can learn is through failure. This month we will be talking about the failures of our favorite characters in pop culture media and what we can learn from them. We will also reflect on our own mistakes and failures and how those experiences have allowed us to grow as human beings
As I am the first person going this month, I would encourage you all heavily to check out Megan’s post when it come out on the 7th. For my post today, I thought I would talk about something that I do not often talk about anymore: Trading Card Games (TCG’s) and their related anime. With that said, let us get started.
As I stated above, I have a pretty long history TCGs and their anime, most notably Yugioh and Cardfight Vanguard. However, I do not often talk about either because I have not consistently watched the anime for either in a long time, and since this is not really a blog related to card games, I tend to avoid that subject as well. Still, there is no denying that both of these franchises have had a big impact on me, and have taught me quite a few things in my time watching them.
The first of the card game anime that I spent a long time with is Yugioh. For many reading this post, that probably is not surprising, considering just how popular it was for so many growing up. The show has thus far had six different iterations, with roughly one new game mechanic being introduced with each series. Despite the change, however, each one has roughly the same story line and central focus for its main characters, that being wanting to become the best pro duelist.
The one I think does the best job with this concept is Yugioh 5ds, which tells the story of Yusei, a young duelist who grows up on an island disconnected from the mainland of Domino City. After finding his way off of the island, battling the security and riding his bike through a garbage shoot all the way to the mainland, Yusei attempts to connect with his former friend Jack Atlas, who betrayed him in order to get off the island and make it as a pro turbo duelist.
One of the biggest character traits among Yugioh main characters as well as Shounen protagonists more broadly speaking is a sense of unwavering confidence. No matter the situation they find themselves in, whether it be fighting against a powerful opponent, or trying to solve a difficult mystery about their identity, they generally take on everything with a smile. This is even more true in shows aimed at kids where the stakes are much lower story-wise. Because of this, the franchise’s many iterations do not often deal with the concept of failure. Rather, through the main characters’ confident exteriors implies that the best cover against failure is to shield one’s self with, well, confidence.
However, other card game anime, like Cardfight Vanguard, take an opposite approach when it comes their main characters. Cardfight Vanguard centers around Aichi Sendou, a middle school student with a passing interest in the game of Cardfight. Aichi is fairly shy and timid, and often does not stand up for himself. Morikawa, his school’s bully, recognizes this and uses it to steal Aichi’s favorite card Blaster Blade. After getting his card stolen, Aichi reunites and plays against Kai, who originally gave him Blaster Blade.
Aichi arguably deals with failure much more throughout the series than any of the Yugioh protagonists did during the course of their series, excluding Yusei. After forming a team with a few other people at a local card shop, Aichi then begins competing in tournaments. However, at first, it does not work out that well. Team Q4, as he, Misaki, Kai, and Kamui are then known, do terribly at the first regional event they participate in, and as such, are unable to qualify for the national tournament. Even after initially qualifying for team Q4, Aichi is only a stand-in member, and does not play much.
Still, instead of giving up, Aichi takes note, and learns from both his teammates matches and his own. He eventually is able to compete among the best in Japan, and later on the best in the world. To him, failure is simply an opportunity for learning and improving, and he is not the only one. The other members of Q4 also face their fair share of rivalries and challenges, but do not give up when the going gets tough. Except for Kamui in the beginning, he kinda sucks, lol.
The most important takeaways from these series are, as cheesy as they may be, to always be confident when working towards your goal, but also to be humble and learn from failure. Failure does not have to be scary. In fact, most of the time it is good.
What else is important about failure? Let me know in the comments below.
If you are interested in reading more from me, check under blog to read my most recent stuff, or look below for some related posts. Also, if you would like to support Animated Observations, consider donating on Ko-fi or through paypal, or pledging on Patreon. You can even support by just liking and sharing this post.
If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!
It is time once again for another OWLS post. This month’s theme is Vunerable:
In the month of June, we will be discussing what it means to be vulnerable. To some individuals, being vulnerable could be seen as a sign of weakness, but in fact, vulnerability is actually a sign of strength. In this month’s posts, we will explore what it means to be vulnerable and how certain characters in pop culture glamorize vulnerability. When do we show our vulnerability? How do we express vulnerability? Why should we show vulnerability?
Definitely make sure to check out my other fellow OWLS members, Lyn and Ange and there posts for this months.
Also, since I haven’t done anything for pride month, due to me being on vacation, I figured I would take some time to dedicate a post for that very purpose, which is why the anime I will be talking about for this month is Wandering Son. I know I’ve talked about it before for OWLS, but I think its an important enough show that its worth talking about and sharing again. If you haven’t seen it yet, I would definitely recommend watching it.
With all that done, here is the post:
For almost everyone, there are going to be things that remain hidden behind a certain level of self-consciousness. Some of the things people hide are more innocuous, like an embarrassing habit or a cringe favorite thing. Either way, it is hard for people to talk to others about these things because making themselves vulnerable is often both emotionally and mentally difficult. However, for members of the LGBTQ community, the ability to be vulnerable about their specific situations is much harder due to the history of treatment of that group of people.
More specifically though, transgender people have a harder time due to their being a lot of confusion about what being transgender actually means. Many still have to live in the shadows about their identity, and often times it means that they feel alone.
A good example of this is Wandering Son, an anime that explores the story of two transgender individuals named Shuichi and Yoshino. As it is explained in the show, before the two met, they had no way of talking to others about being transgender and no one to talk to about their experience, because doing so would have likely meant rejection from friends and family. With their friendship, it becomes easier for the two to be more open.
Unfortunately, though, even their journey was not that simple. Despite having Yoshino to talk to, Shuichi still has to deal with his sister, who finds out about Shuichi being transgender, and throughout most of the show is still unwelcoming to his identity. Meanwhile, Yoshino dresses as a guy at school and gets accused of simply doing it for attention. In both of their situations, vulnerability is not something they feel safe enough to show.
It is also important to remember that the ignorance surrounding transgender issues and the treatment of transgender people in horrible ways has real world consequences. A CDC study from 2016 shows that transgender people are much more likely to have attempted suicide, with as many as 40 percent admitting to doing so. Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual people are also disproportionately likely to have attempted suicide. These numbers mean that many of both transgender people and other members of the LGBTQ community still feel like Shuichi and Yoshino.
Sadly, some of this ignorance and often unintended hate can also be seen and felt in the anime community. The word “trap” has come under fire within the past year or so in many online anime communities for being a somewhat bigoted term that has implications about why someone is transgender, the implication being that specifically trans women only dress as women in order to trick men. Some defend the term by arguing that there is no malicious intent, and that it is only used as a joke, but it is still hard to argue against its influence and meaning, especially considering that there have been hate crimes against transgender people which were justified using this same logic. If the word is recognized by transgender people as a slur, it might just be best to stop using it if it makes them feel marginalized.
What’s important is this: Being vunerable around someone means that you feel safe, and feeling safe in the environment you grow up and live in can be important both to one’s mental development and their adult mental health. If people continue to ignore the urgency of these problems, then many more lives could be in danger.
Thanks for reading friends. Be sure to be there for your friends and family, and help them when they need it. Also, have a good rest of Pride Month.
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