Tag Archives: blog writing

Aniwriter Update #15: New Collaborations and Announcements

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

While we’ve all been enjoying the fruits of what looks to be a pretty good anime season, at least for the past two weeks, I’ve actually been pretty busy. I finally started hashing out some of the details on my book idea with my friend and have gotten to writing it, and I’ve also been working on some collabs, which was one of my new year’s resolutions.


Collab with KawaiiPaperPandas

You guys might have seen it already, but in case you haven’t, I did a fun collab with Ayano from KawaiiPaperPandas in which we talked about which anime characters would best represent different zodiac signs. I did the regular zodiac signs, and she did the Chinese zodiac, so if that interests you at all you can click the link above.

Future Writing on Another Blog?

Another thing you might have seen these last two weeks is an announcement from Sam over on A Nerdy Perspective on her new site called Sounds of the Rising Sun, where she is going to be talking about Japanese music and things related to it. In her original post describing the project, Sam also asked for contributors, and so now I am going to be one. I will be writing a series of posts, most likely weekly, where I talk about the music behind different anime openings and what makes them unique and awesome or maybe not so. So, if you want to see more writing from me in the future on a different site, be sure to give it a follow.

The Last Two Weeks of Aniwriter

Kaguya-Sama: Love is War Episode One Reaction

Steps

Riveting Writing Prompts #9: People of the Deep

One of the Important Conditions for a Good Isekai

Drums


What have you all been up to recently? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you would like to support The Aniwriter or are just feeling generous, consider donating on ko-fi or using one of my affiliate links below:

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

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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Riveting Writing Prompts #6: A Time Traveling Savior

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter

So, most of the time when I go through different sources looking for writing prompts, I spend a decent amount of time looking. But this time I picked the first one I came across. Not because I am doing a challenge, but because I really like this prompt from u/papahardt.

You and friend agree that if one of you invents time travel, they will come back to this very moment. As you shake on it, an older and injured you shows up and shoots your friend in the head.

It is not super complicated, but it leaves a lot of room for detail. So, with that being said, here is another short story.


As sun’s slow departure from the sky signaled the day’s end, I turned to my partner in crime Eric and asked, somewhat randomly, “Could you imagine if we had time travel?” In his usual, much more relaxed manner he replied: “that would be pretty cool.” “Hey, if one us invents time travel, we should come back to this very moment reminisce.” Eric got somewhat uncomfortable. “I don’t know, don’t they always warn about messing with timelines in Sci-Fi movies?”

His question was quickly interrupted by a loud noise coming from behind us. As we both turned our heads to identify the source of the noise, what looked to be a large portal appeared out of nowhere. It had a glowing, purple outside ring with a clear, almost reflective middle. Eric then got up and began to walk toward the portal. “Hey, be careful, okay.” As I finished my sentence, a hand holding a small pistol emerged from the portal’s center, and fired at Eric. Immediately, he fell dead on the ground. Without thinking about my surroundings, I rushed over to pick up his body. He soon became covered in his own blood.

While sitting on the ground reflecting on what just happened, I felt a hand appear on my shoulder. I immediately turned to see who it was only to find a man much older than myself crying, seeming barely able to hold back his own whaling. “Who… are you?” Confusion quickly turned to anger as I noticed him holding the same gun that moments ago had taken down Eric. “I… am… you” he managed to get out while still choking on his own sadness. “I’ve come here in order to save the future. Eric may have been your best friend, but I found out very quickly just how evil he can become.” My anger only continued to grow as he spewed utter nonsense. Without thinking, I took a swing at his face. The man did not react and simply excepted the punch without hitting back. At that moment, part of me understood that he knew what my reaction would be.

After leaving something of a mark on the man’s face, I lay Eric’s body on the ground, sat back and asked: “Why? What did Eric do?” “Eric became stuck in his ways, and his insanity drove him to wipe out most of the human race.”

“…huh”

“I will explain. Spoiler Alert: you and Eric both get your dream jobs. Eric finds a job working with a private company studying epidemics, and you pursue your dream job of studying the possibility of time travel. However, Eric began obsessing over the idea of natural selection. Eventually, he decided to manufacture a disease so powerful it could wipe out the planet. Around the time he told me about his plan, I had recent build a stable time machine and decided to do what needed to be done. Believe me when I say that none of it was within your control.”


What kind of story would you guys tell with this prompt? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

To All the People I Could Not Say Hi To

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter.

Sometimes my introvertedness gets the better of me, so here is a poem about that.


Isn’t it amazing how much work goes into saying just a few words?
First, the mouth takes in air,
then the brain sends signals to fire thousands of neurons.
The mouth must then reopen and with the help of vibrating air,
words then flow seamlessly out, or so we would all like to think.
There is actually a lot more to saying a few words than that.
Speaking is actually a lot like cooking,
because every ingredient is chosen carefully and used in a specific way.
If you leave a sentence in the oven too long it might burn,
but take it out to early and it becomes cold.
Saying “hi” is hard, not because of the ingredients but because
every time I try to cook with that word it always goes missing.


How do you guys feel about this poem? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

Aniwriter Update #5: Hiatus Accomplishments and Future Plans

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to another update.

It’s been about two weeks now since I’ve gone on hiatus, and it has been great. I’ve had a lot more time to relax since taking a break, and it’s allowed me to focus more on some of the things that I’ve wanted to do. So, I thought I would use this post as a way to catch you all up on what exactly I’ve been doing.


Playing Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Sky

Dragon Quest is one of those games that I started a while ago and just never really got around to finishing. As such, I started a whole new play through, and it’s been going relatively well. Honestly, I’m not sure whether it’s the pathing I took around the map or not, but the enemies after a certain point in the game get pretty ridiculous. Even having four characters in my party doesn’t protect me from just getting randomly crit by an enemy just walking around.

Still, it is a super fun game, and I can’t wait to finally finish it.

Watching Re:Creators

Do you ever get that feeling that a show was just made specifically for you, or at the very least it speaks to a certain idea that you can understand because you know people who are in somewhat similar situations? Yeah, that was me with Re:Creators, which has become one my favorite shows that I’ve watch this year.

Admittedly, sometime around episode four, I was ready to drop the show entirely. The first episode was fantastic, but episode two, three, and the first 20 minutes of episode four felt a bit lacking. Then, when the reveal at the end of episode four happened, which I won’t spoil, the show takes not a fairly drastic turn.

I’ve probably said it one too many times already, but Re:Creators soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal, and Hiroyuki Sawano deserves a lot of credit for putting together a great collection of very fitting musical pieces for the show. Overall, it was fantastic.

Future Endeavors: Made in Abyss

Ever since I got ahold of my mom’s Amazon Prime account, I’ve pretty much been going through there catalog of exclusives that I’ve been wanting to watch. I started with “The Great Passage” not to long ago, then of course “Re:Creators,” and now I plan on watching Made in Abyss, which I am super excited about. The amount of good things that I’ve heard about this show honestly makes me wonder why it didn’t beat out My Hero Academia at the anime awards. (JK I know exactly why My Hero Academia won). Definitely excited to start it soon though.

Also, before I end this post, I wanted to inform you that I will more than likely be on hiatus for about another two weeks or so, and I plan on spending my last week working on posts so I can come back better than ever! Anyway, I will see you all soon.

Untitled, or not, I’m not sure

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter.

A poem about titles, because why not. Here ya go:


When I thought about what to write for this poem,
I didn’t start with a title.
Despite this being my usual working style, something told me to forgo it.
Titles are often just short summaries, a fraction of a fraction.
They can tell you everything, and nothing.
In that regard, they’re quite useless, aren’t they?
Titles also make us think about what it is we’re about to read, watch, etc.
For example, the title “Death of a salesman” might get us thinking, both in a literal
and figurative way.
People make judgments based off of titles, and no matter how often you tell somebody
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” it won’t change the fact that its a lot easier to read the
cliff notes version than a whole book.
Most often when I think of titles, I think of what the author thinks of that thing.
It is easy to engage with a piece of art and come away with a completely different
idea of the work than even the author, similar to how everyone jumping into a pool
will always have a slightly different splash, or maybe a very different splash.
Titles are often the rival of expectations, and much like a pool, expectations can often be
surface level, until you splash further down.


How did this turn out? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

The Comet

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter.

Today, a poem titled “The Comet.” Enjoy!


The night sky shines beautifully.
The moon glimmers and brings light to the dark.
But, while the stars clash, blasting their light at one another, somebody else arrives.
Like a dance through cluttered terrain of the clashing stars, in comes the comet.
This rare specimen makes its presence known, gallantly gliding into the center of attention.
The comet sticks around only for a little bit, then retreats.
Just as quickly as it came in it leaves, with the stars and the moon all having felt its presence.
Sometimes, I wish I could be a lot more like the comet.


What do you guys think of this one? I know my poems have been a little bit shorter lately, but that’s largely because of a lack of inspiration. Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

Riveting Writing Prompts #3: The White Room

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter

I’ve definitely been enjoying doing this series, so here comes another one. I might try and do these even more frequently than I said in the last one, like potentially once every one or two weeks. If you guys like reading them then let me know because then I try even harder to do them on a consistent basis.

With that being said, this week’s prompt again come from r/WritingPrompts by a user named gameon123321:

You wake up in a white room, with only a computer sitting in the far corner. A tab is already open.

Without further ado, here is my story:


Trying to open my eyes was like trying to stare directly into the sun. As I wiped away the crust from around eyes, I noticed something strange. The room appeared to be nothing but a white box.

The floor felt soft like it was an all-white carpet. My fingers ran through it so easily. The room was also fairly large, about as big as the first floor of a house. A clock ticked slowly on the other side of the room, showing the time 4:55. The ticking got louder and louder as I approached the clock, and before I knew it my heart was beating just as loudly.

After waking up from my semi-trance, I also noticed a small, turned on a computer sitting at a bright white desk. There was no chair, so I was forced to sit on my knees. A singular tab was already opened, and it was a google document. The document said, “Trevor, we’ve been waiting for you.”

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The tremors nearly knocked me completely to the ground. The computer remained perfectly still, almost as if it and the desk were completely nailed to the ground. A bed that I had otherwise not noticed was also shaking violently, moving from the opposite corner of the computer towards the center.

As the tremors slowed down, the bed settled in the middle of the room. I looked back at the open Google document, which now read “go lay down.” Not knowing what else to do, I obeyed. The bed looked extremely uncomfortable, almost like it was made for torture.

When my whole body was on the bed, the floor underneath opened, and the bed and I slide down what had the appearance of a waterslide. Before the bed and I hit the ground a tube filled with caught me, and leg the bed out onto a strange conveyor belt.

A strange man was operating a series of levers and buttons when suddenly he hit one that appeared to say autopilot and then turned to me. “Welcome, Trevor, to my farm!”


Well, What did you guys think of this one? Better than my last attempt? Worse? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 Episode 1 Reaction: It’s Back!

If the title makes it sound like I’m excited, it’s because I am. March Comes in Like a Lion is arguably one of the best shows to come out in the last few years, for a multitude of reasons – good characters, fun episodic storylines that still culminate in a powerful overarching story – and now its second season is finally out.

I’ll admit, the first episode isn’t what I thought it was going to be, but looking back at the first season it makes a lot of sense. The first episode picks off where the first season ended, with Rei now being a member of the newly formed Shogi Science club and teaching the former science club members how to play.

Throughout the episode, Rei comes to terms with his current situation and looks back on the progress he’s made towards coming out of his shell as a person. While in the lab at school the former science club members and Rei watch an important Shogi match between Souya and another famous player. During Souya’s match, Rei realizes that his newfound clubmates and his teacher Takashi are not only having a good time with Shogi but are also interested in his well being.

In the second half of the episode, Rei finds himself making Ramune in the science Lab after they see Souya and his opponent eating snacks during their match. Rei, being a recluse who doesn’t know how to do much for himself, needs help from Noguchi in making the snack. The episode ends with a much appreciated happy note for Rei: that he has friends.


So much of the story of the first season was Rei battling with his tendency towards loneliness and not relying on others for help, but now it seems that has changed for the better. Rei has found a lot of people who he loves and considers family. His days of being lonely are, for the most part, over.

Even though I’m going to say it here, it goes without saying that this was a strong start. The first episode was everything fans of the show expect for a show of its quality.

The animation from Shaft and Akiyuki Shinbo were exceptionally expressive, and on the same level of quality as the first season. The colorful art style combined with Shaft’s unique storytelling style is present for this first episode and will likely continue to be here.

The opening and ending theme were both phenomenal, as was the case with the first season, being performed by YUKI and Brian the Sun respectively.

 

Inuyashiki Episode 1 Reaction

If there was one show that I was giddily excited to learn was airing this season, it was this one. Well, aside from the second season of March Comes in like a Lion season two. I had heard about it after watching Gigguk’s video about underappreciated  manga, and then I saw that Studio Mappa was handling the production and there was much to be excited for.

I went into this one also mostly blind, aside from the explanation of the manga, and I feel a lot better that I did. 

As far as episode one goes, there wasn’t to much going on. We are introduced to the main character Ichirou, a 58-year-old man with a family that seems to walk all over him. His wife yells at him, and his kids don’t seem to care at all. He finds out from a terrifying doctor visit that he has developed cancer and has just three months to live.

With this news, Ichirou is all but ready to give up on life, when out of no where he is crushed by alien spaceship, and he wakes up to find his body is now made of a machine.

This episode mainly focuses on Ichirou and his immediate reaction to his newfound powers which, as you might suspect, isn’t exactly a calm one. Ichirou also remembers seeing a young man in the crash, and decides that it would be worth it to find him.

It’s important to note that this is just a setup episode, and the real action will come afterwards, but I am already excited. There was a lot of potential in this show, especially with the studio behind it. The animation is a good mix of 2D and 3D that works extremely well, with Ichirou’s robot body being a clear highlight.

The Music was also a treat. The opening song “My Hero” is really good for getting hyped, but that’s not surprising given that the band behind the song, Man on a Mission, also did the opening for Log Horizon.

With an opening episode like this, there looks to be a lot worth looking forward to. Hopefully the show doesn’t waste its potential, but for now it is worth being hopefully. Check it out if you haven’t.

My Favorite Things – 10/15/17

Back in July of this year, YouTuber Super Eyepatch Wolf released a video talking about his favorite things of 2017. It was a well structure video where he talked about all of the things he was enjoying this year, and I thought it was a cool concept. As such, I decided I would do something similar, and list everything I’ve been enjoying as of late.

Anime

March Comes in Like a Lion:

March-Comes-in-Like-a-Lion-CoverI started March Comes in Like a Lion during the summer of this year, and I have been in love with the show ever since. Shaft’s vividly expressive art style combined with the depressingly somber tale of Rei Kiriyama’s journey to find happiness in his current situation makes for one of the best shows to come out in recent years. It takes everything I love about a good slice of life, mature themes, diverse and deep characters, and cranks it up to eleven.

As I somewhat ramblingly documented in another post, I can also very much relate to Rei’s sense of being unsure as to what he wants out of life. His journey is one that, while not many people are likely to go through themselves, many can find comfort in because of the similarities to situations that we all have. For Example, even though Rei has been playing shogi his whole life, he doesn’t really enjoy it the way many of the people he plays against do. The only reason Rei even plays shogi in the first place is because of his late father. Rei plays shogi because it reminds him of his father, not because he has fun with it.

With the start of the second season just recently, My interest has been thoroughly renewed. I’m eager to see if the show’s second iteration will do it as much justice as the first.

Log Horizon:

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While I haven’t actually watched the show in over a year, Log Horizon has continually held my interest because of the large cliffhanger that concluded the show’s second season. After ending the show in the middle of a vital point of the story, I got more than a bit mad. Of course, I later found out that there wasn’t any more material to adapt, as the light novel author had been thrown in jail for tax evasion, and proceeded to get even madder.

Regardless, Log Horizon is a show that is very much worthy of praise. Many have called it the smarter version of Sword Art Online, but I don’t think it should have to cast in the shadow of a show that came before it. Log Horizon takes the premise of being in an MMO and does it very accurately, from the leveling system to the cooldown on abilities and the combat, and in that way exceeds SAO, with maybe a few exceptions.

I hope that in the future Log Horizon will get the continuation it deserves. There is no reason of this high a quality should be left by the wayside to be forgotten.

Phi Brain:

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One of my favorite shows of all time and a show that will never not be one of my favorites, Phi Brain: Puzzle of God takes what is possibly one of the stupidest premises of all time and makes it entertaining as hell. Kaito, an orphan whose parents died while on a trip for work, has always loved puzzles. One day he discover’s that a group called P.O.G. wants to solve the puzzle of God, and obtain all of the immense power that comes with it.

The show immediately becomes a game show like battle series where the characters are fighting against in each other in a puzzle of the week format for a majority of the show, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun.

Most of the writing in the show is admittedly quite basic, and most of the characters, aside from Kaito and some of the villains, are a bit one-dimensional. Phi Brain is a show that really focuses on the things it does well and gets by doing the bare minimum with other elements. However, I still love it to death.

Video Games

Divinity:

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I am a man with many interests, and video games are very much one of those interests. In Fact, I like a lot of different genres, from shooters to MOBAs to, especially, RPGs. Divinity is a game that I discovered only recently after it was recommended to me by a good friend, and boy am I a fan.

Divinity is a turn-based RPG focused around your customizable characters known as “source hunters” who help fight evil in the world. Your first mission is investigating the murder of a council member in a small town, and in there, you discover your destiny.

Despite the somewhat cheesy story, the game is both challenging and innovative in the gameplay department. Unlike other RPG, the enemies in the game do not respawn, so you can’t level grind in any one area. This makes it much harder to level up and progress through the game, but not to the point where it becomes frustrating, as there is an abundant number of side quest made available to you as the player.

Divinity has been critically acclaimed as being one of the best games in recent years, and I can’t say I disagree. With fun and challenging gameplay, it is definitely one of my favorites.

Smite:

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Not exactly a niche game, but still worth mentioning as being one of my favorites. I remember the first time finding out about it and then realizing I had no experience with MOBA’s whatsoever. Even so, I dived in and gave it a try. I eventually got my immediate friend group into the game, and we spent hours upon hours practicing and having a great time.

Aside from personal enjoyment, Smite has a few elements that make it fairly distinct. The third person view, as opposed to an overhead view, is one that is very often cited, but Smite also has a much lower barrier to entry, as you can buy all of the characters, and any future characters, for just 30 bucks, and there are a ton of characters in free rotation at any given time, which makes it much more accessible to an average player.

What I enjoy most about the game is its lore. Smite is based on the ancient gods of different Mythos, which most recently has included gods from the Celtic Pantheon. Getting to read about the characters and realize that these were deities that people believed in at one point is kind of surreal.

Gwent:

cards1

Based off a game within a game from the well-received Witcher 3, Gwent is a card game that plays somewhat like poker. Each player puts a card on the board each turn, trying to put more power on the board than your opponent. This happens in a two out of three style match, but aside from drawing a few cards after each round, you only play with whats in your hand.

Gwent is, for the most part, a well-designed card game that brings a lot of new ideas to the table. It combines the well-crafted card are of a game like Hearthstone with a completely different game structure to make something new and fun.

Not having played Witcher 3 before, almost all of the cards go over my head, but the lore of the game is still interesting, and even though I haven’t played as much recently, It’s a game I will likely continue to play for a while.

YouTubers

Spectrum Pulse:

Being someone who listens to just about everything when it comes to music, there a few places where I like to go to get recommendations for what to listen to. Spectrum Pulse, run by Mark Grondon, is a Music, Movie review channel that also reviews just about everything, be it pop, rock, jazz, country or whatever.

His reviews are well researched and often times he’ll bring up things that I didn’t even know about the artist and/or movie he’s reviewing. Mark also does a series called Billboard Breakdown where he looks at and talks about all of the activity of the weekly hot 100 list. This series is where I get a lot of my news about popular music and also some things to listen to as well.

LeeandLie:

In a somewhat similar vein, and also pertaining to anime, LeeandLie is a channel run by Amanda Lee who does fantastic covers of anime and video game songs. She does almost everything, from Angel Beats to the recently aired Re:Creators, all with a fantastic voice.

Conclusion

And that’s everything I’ve been enjoying recently. I might start doing a smaller version of this list on a more regular basis. If you guys enjoy anything here let me know in the comments. Until next time, see ya.