It is day 27 of the second 30 Day Anime Challenge.
#27: Character Archetype I Never Get Tired Of
Kuuderes are usually pretty similar between shows, but they can also be pretty unique depending on how they are written. Unlike, say, tsunderes who are only going to have on reason for their personalities, Kuuderes can have a large variety of backstories and character arcs. Because of that, they stay interesting between anime.
What archetype do you not get tired of? Let me know in the comments.
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!
Cmon, don’t look at me like that, life is hard, okay.
But, seriously, I apologize for the lack of serious updates outside of random tweets in the last couple of months. To be honest, for the first couple of months missed, I had thought I already posted updates. In only occurred to me last month that was not the case. So, since there is a little bit more to cover, this one is going to be longer. With that being said, here is what’s been happening.
Starting a Column at my University
Despite being able to write basically whatever I want on this platform, I do miss the days of being able to write for another organization. That is why I decided to join The Daily Beacon, my university’s newspaper, as an anime columnist. So far it has been fun, and I have a few more ideas for things I want to write. Plus, it always feels nice getting someone to edit your work and give feedback. Actually, one of the reason’s I had not joined before is because I did not realize they had open columnist positions. I am looking forward to writing more in the future. Speaking of writing for organizations,
Writing for KawaiiPaperPandas
You guys might have also seen that I have been writing weekly for Ayano’s blog Kawaiipaperpandas. Some of it is a little different from the stuff I have been publishing on here, so I would highly recommend you check it out. My last post on the blog focused on a Ghibli film that many might have forgotten about.
Lack of Motivation and Free Time
If I’m being honest, the main reason I haven’t been able to write a lot is a because of school taking over my life. I am pretty much always working on something and I have had very little time for personal writing.
However, another reason is just a lack of motivation. It has been hard to finish or even start new shows. It’s been a lot easier to just lie in my bed and watch YouTube. This has also lead to a lack of motivation to write anything anime related.
Taking a Break
Because of all of this, I will be taking a break from personal blogging for a little bit. I don’t want to force myself to try and write with no inspiration and burn myself out.
I will still be writing for Kawaiipaperpandas and my column, as well as OWLS, but other than that the blog will mostly be empty. My plan is to finish the challenge I started recently and then go silent for a while. I will still be checking my email and social media regularly, so if you need to get in contact with me than feel free to do so.
What have you all been up to recently? Let me know in the comments.
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!
While I do not know if I could say this is the best plot twist overall, at least for me, “The Promised Neverland’s” plot twist hit like a ton of bricks. The way the show spends the entire first episode building, leaving little clues and foreshadowing sprinkled throughout makes it hit so much harder. In fact, writing this out now makes me want to finish writing that script I had for a video. Well, maybe at some point.
What do you all think is the best Plot Twist? Let me know in the comments.
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 day 21 of the second 30 Day Anime Challenge.
#21: Anime Everyone’s Seen, But You Haven’t
The most recent fan favorite I have yet to watch is Vinland Saga, which, even from just its promotional art and pv’s has looked incredible. The only reason I have yet to watch is a combination of laziness, busyness and general lack of interest. I will definitely check it out at some point, but as of right now I have a lot of other stuff is I want to watch.
What anime have you all not seen but everyone else has? Let me know in the comments.
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!
Card games have been a huge part of my life for a long time, almost as long as anime, and most of the people who I would now consider my best friends I met while playing TCGs like “Yugioh” and “Cardfight Vanguard.” More recently, since I have had less time and interest in playing cardboard based card games, as well as losing interest in games like “Hearthstone,” I have been in a bit of a card game dry spell. That is, until I found “Slay the Spire.”
For those who have not yet been acquainted with this indie game darling, “Slay the Spire” is a rouge-like card that now features four different characters on their way to the top of the spire. Each character has a different play style and set of cards used to build a deck and defeat enemies on each floor.
As of the writing of this post, I currently have about 90 hours dumped into the game, and by the time this post comes out it will likely be more. The reason for that is because “Slay the Spire” has an incredibly addictive design. Each of the characters starts with a certain number of their class cards locked, and those cards tend to be a lot better for future runs. However, even after unlocking all of the cards for each of the game’s four classes, the challenge of actually making it all the way up the spire probably still remains.
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Because each run starts with a brand new set of options, the deck a player receives will always be slightly different each time. The challenge then becomes making a deck consistent enough to make it through every fight.
Even after making it through the spire with all four characters and unlocking every card, players are still left with another option. They can choose to climb the spire again using ascension rules, which make the game harder. Combine that with daily challenges and customizable runs, there is a lot of ways to play the game.
There is also a lot to love about the game design wise. Each character plays in a totally unique way, and their play style is reflected in their character. For example, The Ironclad seems to be based on a fiery warrior, which comes through in his card options, which has a fairly balanced pool of good offense and defense cards. Similarly, the newest addition to the game, The Watcher, seems to be based on a religious warrior, and because of that can switch stances between attack and defense.
The game admittedly does not have a lot to speak about musically, though. The main track of the game is the one that will be heard for about 90 percent of any given play through, and while it is a nice song, it does get boring after a while.
“Slay the Spire” is a fun game, plain and simple. It has an incredibly addicting format with tons of replay value, along with a unique set of characters and different modes for various different runs. Those who have yet to give the game a chance should rectify that immediately.
How do you all feel about “Slay the Spire?” What are your initially impressions of it? Let me know in the comments.
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 day 18 of the second 30 Day Anime Challenge.
#18: Favorite Character Transformation Theme Song
Ok, so I guess the prompt meant literal transformation. Hmmm… Well, if I’m being honest, very few true transformation themes have ever actually resonated with me, but speaking of resonance, I think I would have to go with “Psychedelic Souljam” from “Soul Eater.” While it can be argued about whether or not Soul Resonance is a transformation, I think it still fits broadly in that category because both Maka and Soul power up tremendously.
On top of that, the song itself is really incredible. Just like its name implies, it starts out with a very psychedelic feeling, but then slowly begins to build pase, just like how Soul Resonance actually works. Overall, the song is really fun and representative of the show it comes from.
What is your favorite transformation song? 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 day 16 of the second 30 Day Anime Challenge.
#16: Character Death You Didn’t Care About
Alright, listen, I honestly do not know if this is worth even explaining, but I will try. Basically, its not that I do not care because Neji was a bad character, as that is far from true. The reason I would say I did not and do not care about his death is because it honestly was not surprising. “Naruto” always had a bad habit of randomly killing up characters during slow parts of the series as a way of making things interesting, and in that respect Neji’s death just was not interesting.
What character death did you not care about? Let me know in the comments.
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 day 14 of the second 30 Day Anime Challenge.
#14: Anime That Was Better Than the Manga
I’ll be completely honest, I still don’t read that much manga. The most I have read in the last year or so is a few chapters here and there of a few series that I am not even sure I could name if you asked me. One that I did read a decent amount of though was “Seven Deadly Sins.” The manga was fine enough, but I think for a series as filled with action as this one is, it feels a lot more satisfying to simply watch the anime.
What anime was better than the manga for you? Let me know in the comments.
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!
In the three years after the worldwide success that was “Your Name,” director Makoto Shinkai spent his time hard at work on yet another film, or at least that is what he said in an interview shown after “Weathering with You’s” premiere in U.S. theaters this week.
“Weathing With You” tells the story of Hodoka, a high school boy who runs away to the city of Tokyo, only to find out it is a little more than he bargained for. After finding a stable place to live Hodaka meets Hina, a girl who has the power to control the weather. Soon, the two decide to start a business, only for things to go horribly wrong.
The film certainly has a lot of interesting things about it, and so here are my final thoughts.
Weathering With You as a Message About Climate Change
Another thing Shinkai mentioned in the interview is that stuck out to me was that part of what inspired him to writer the film was the ever-looming threat that is Climate Change. Initially, I thoughts this was kind of posturing, and was something he only said to make the movie feel deeper than it really is.
However, the more I thought about it the more it maid sense. After all, the story focuses on a coporation (Hina and Hodaka) using the earth for profit at the expense of those around them (The people living in Tokyo), and Hina is almost made to pay for it. I suppose its fair to say, though, that this interpretation is a little mean, and that the message is much more general.
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The Guest Cameos
If you were not paying attention much at all while watching the movie, it would be pretty easy to miss the fact that the two main characters of “Your Name,” Mitsuha and Taki. While it is not super weird to see the two in the new movie, given that they are set in the same place at roughly the same time, it still kind of messes with my head a bit. Speaking of “Your Name,” though…
The Legacy of Makoto Shinkai
“Your Name” was an incredibly successful movie in every sense of the word. Not only did it become one of the highest selling Japanese films of all time, it also has had a cultural impact far beyond just the borders of Japan. It is certainly an epic tail that will be remembered well past 2016.
However despite the experience that “Your Name” was, I find myself gravitating much more towards “Weathering with You.”
Shinkai’s newest film actually feels like a departure in a lot of ways from his previous films. While movies like “Your Name” and “5 Centimeters Per Second” focused largely on the experience of the film, i.e. the overall atmosphere and feeling, “Weathering With You” feels a lot more grounded in its characters, which makes them feel a lot more human and not just random actors in a modern TV commercial.
Conclusion
Despite not feeling that great when going to watch it, “Weathering with You” managed to bring me on the emotional roller-coaster that only Shinkai films can, while also briging fresh ideas and interesting story lines as well. While maybe as ambitious as previous Shinkai films, the feelings it brings are real just the same.
How do you all feel about Weathering With You? Let me know in the comments.
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!
In the weeks following the “Steven Universe’s” four part conclusion to season five titled “Change Your Mind,” there was a good amount of speculation about what the future of the show would look like, given that it seemed like an almost perfect ending. Fans of the series got their answer late last year with the release of “Steven Universe: The Movie,” a film set two years after the event of season five.
After what most considered an incredible movie, many thought that “Steven Universe: The Movie” would be the last of it. As it turned out, they were wrong again. In December of 2019, “Steven Universe’s” Sixth, and likely final, season began airing, appropriately titled “Steven Universe Future,” given that it is also set two years after the events of the last season.
It focuses on Steven’s life after ending the reign of the diamonds, where gems are free to live there life as they choose. The first ten episodes thus far have followed Steven’s endeavors with Little Home-world, a school designed to reorient gems towards being able to live alongside humans. Steven leads the organization in hopes of helping gems learn to be themselves.
Up until season six, “Steven Universe” had already been known for tackling darker topics, such as abuse, war, imperialism, etc., and did so in a way that showed an understanding and appreciation for those going through them. Each arc of the series had added either a new character or a new dimension to the overall story of Steven Universe, while also building on its core themes of love and acceptance, even when it did not necessarily make the most sense plot wise, such as during the arc with Jasper and Lapis.
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“Future” leaves a lot of that behind in favor of focusing more on Steven, at least more than previous seasons had already. Specifically, season six not only focuses on his time running Little Home-world, but his character and psyche after saving the universe.
As it turns out, Steven has had a lot rougher of a time emotionally after the confronting the diamonds than before. During the last five seasons, Steven always had a purpose, that being to help the Crystal Gems and to find out more about his mom and her relationship to the diamonds and the war on earth. Each episode, and consequently each new adventure was a step towards that goal.
Now, in season six, Steven has to confront the reality of changing times. Connie, Steven’s best friend and who only appeared briefly in “Steven Universe: The Movie,” has so far not made an appearance. Meanwhile, his other to friends, Lars and Sadie have started to move on with their lives as well. Sadie has quit her band so that she can be together with her new partner Shep, and Lars has quit his position at his bakery in order to travel back out into space with his gem crew, as shown in the episode “Little Graduation.”
Meanwhile, scars from his mothers past are still rearing their head. In the episode “Volleyball,” the pearl that served under white diamond wants to fix her scar. However, when Steven takes her to get the scar fixed, it is revealed that the scar on her face is not a crack in her gem, but rather an internalized pain from when Pink Diamond hurt her physically.
All of this has left Steven a bit out of wack, to say the least, as shown in the last episode to come out as of the writing of this post “Prickly Pair,” which shows Steven after his decision to step down from Little Home-world and focus on himself. He decides to take up gardening, but while doing so accidentally brings one of his cactus’s to life. Soon the cactus is able to speak, and learns from Steven. However, the cactus has also heard Steven talk about his true feelings about his situation, and how he thinks the gems have been annoying as of late. The cactus then eventually goes wild, and repeats all of the things Steven told it.
And with that the show was left on Hiatus, with more episodes likely coming later on this year to finish out the series. The turmoil present in “Future” for Steven has already led to some pretty dark places, even without the threat of another gem war. In the first ten episodes alone the show has had stories about losing friends, getting over the trauma of abusive relationships, and finding purpose after losing it.
It is unclear what the exactly is going to happen next, whether Steven and Connie will reunite at all, what his relationship with the gems will look like after “Prickly Pair,” or even what Steven plans do next.
All that can be said for sure is that “Steven Universe Future” is an incredible continuation for the series. More than anything, though, it is an unique look at life for Steven after the saving the Universe, and it is likely that the series will continue to build in a strong direction during its next round of episodes.
What do you guys think of Steven Universe Future? 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!
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