Tag Archives: writing

Initial Results: High Card

March 1, 2023 Jack Scheibelein 4 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Oh wow, I’ve gotten super behind on seasonal (per the usual) and now it is almost time for spring shows. I guess I better check out some of the new stuff before its too la-

oh, ok. Well, so much for that.

Kidding, kidding (kind of). A friend of mine asked me about High Card over the weekend and, not having anything better to do, decided to watch it and get back to them about it. Well, after giving the show a solid three episodes I can confidently say that…uh, its ok ig.

For those who are unaware, High Card is an action focused series which follows Finn Oldman, a high-school age kid who, after finding out about the potential shut-down of his former orphanage, looks for a way to help them out. Snooping around a casino leads him to the discovery of X-playing cards, 52 cards that grant people powers when used, and the various factions looking to collect them.

One such organization, High Card, disguises itself as a car dealership by day while simultaneously collected the X-playing cards for the royal government. The group recruits Finn and he agrees in order to help paying to save the orphanage.

Is it just me, or has this show been done already? No, I don’t mean to say this is a remake or anything, but it kinda feels like High Card represents that same not-an-isekai but “insert action series here” type of story that feels present in basically every season. Some of you, if you have a separate brain space for obscure seasonal shows, might remember Code Breaker from back in 2012. It was one of those series I consumed when I first got into anime and basically watched anything I came across.

At the end of the day, Code Breaker was not bad by anime means, but it also was not particularly good either, and that is the impression I get from watching High Card. It felt like Studio Hibari and the writers who worked on it were trying to create an action series without much thought about the story itself. Maybe that is a bit harsh for three episodes, but it is a feeling I cannot help but come back to.

Still, that is not to say there are not good things worth mentioning. The idea of Finn coming from nothing and entering a more high class society is certainly an interesting angle. That is, assuming they do something with it beyond surfaces level details, though Leo’s character makes it seem like that is going to be more or less unavoidable.

The series’ aesthetic is also fairly unique. The main characters are generally wearing suits, and since the cards turn into gloves when their powers activate, it gives a sense of completeness to their looks. A sort of suave energy, if you will. Like…government butlers. Yeah, that kind of makes sense.

The neon-esque color palette in a lot of the setting and character designs, including the literal casino they go to in the first episode, feel very Vegas. That, in contrast with the suits and playing cards, further distinguish between the have and have not energy in a lot of the interactions between the characters.

I cannot say anyone outside of Finn or Leo have cemented themselves as particularly memorable, but again, three episodes might not be the fairest way to judge that. The opening credits do seem to imply so fairly interesting storylines in later episodes, especially with the secretary who seems to have a fairly wild side to her.

Ultimately, High Card has left me really unsure. Nothing about it on the surface seems particularly special, but a lot of what is hinted to come next might just make it worth continuing. My plan for now is to give it another few episodes and re-evaluate. Until then, my opinion is kind of up in the air.

Are you caught up on High Card? How do you feel about the show? Let me know (without spoilers) down 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.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for the support on Patreon.

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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Anime/Manga

A New Friend? Old Lovers? Welcome Back, Alice Vol. 4

February 12, 2023 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Forget rollercoasters, Welcome Back, Alice is turning into the whole damn amusement park, but not necessarily in a bad way. Every other page is a new layer of drama and internal debate that is seemingly driving these characters insane…ok, maybe it is not that hyperbolic, but it is definitely getting interesting.

Volume four sees the continued aftermath of Yohei’s…intimate outing with Mitani having gone wrong from the last volume. Kei, rather than being upset, not only emotionally supports him but makes him feel better in other ways. The two go back to having a normal relationship, at which point a new potential friend comes into the fray. Mitani must now deal with her own insecurities once again.

Mitani and Yohei’s Complications

Speaking of Mitani’s insecurities, it makes sense for this volume to start at the end, where Mitani, after feeling bad about not getting intimate with Yohei the first time due to his seeming lack of attraction to her, decides to whisk him away after school and try again. The two “do the do,” and Yohei leaves feeling… disappointed.

At this point in the story, it is clear that his emotional investment is with Kei, and sex with Mitani feels like a betrayal of their newly restored relationship, especially after their own episode at the beginning of the novel. However, despite Mitani coercing our awkward protagonist into sex, there is a lot more going on here.

In this situation, she feels bad about not being able to get him hard, because attraction and being erect are automatically linked, which is not necessarily the case a hundred percent of the time. As a result, she feels a need to rectify the situation by trying again, even to Yohei’s and her own discomfort. It creates yet another situation where no one has any absolute moral authority.

The Fourth?

One of the critiques about Kei that stuck with me from initial impressions of the series is about how the character ultimately does embody a lot of hypersexual stereotypes about queer people. Though that is still true to an extent, it is a problem that could be addressed later down the line, either with a serious transformation in Kei’s character or another queer character.

It is unclear whether Ren is actually going to be that, though their mentioning of “understanding Kei’s feelings” on gender issues certainly points in that direction. Still, even if it ends up not being the case, adding a fourth does create new possibilities for potential dynamics, some romantic, some platonic, and even some purely plot-related.

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As of right now, though, it is still mostly speculation outside of her one conversation with Yohei, and also the fact that she saw Yohei and Mitani leave school together. You know, small stuff.

Also, a small addendum: I talked in the last post about how Yohei and Mitani refer to Kei with he/him pronouns, but Ren’s character still uses she/her. This leads me to believe that, rather than Oshimi not understanding non-binary identity, it is more the other characters who are purposely written to do so. It sounds stupidly obvious in hindsight, but given that no other character had previously done this, I had little reason to believe otherwise.

Feelings

The big contrasting element of the story so far is just how much Kei cares for Yohei, but also how much Yohei’s actions seem to waver despite similar feelings for Kei. People who have also read the series or those who have been following my posts on this series might be asking “but isn’t that the entire point?” to which I would answer, “well, yeah.”

I point it out only to further emphasize just how interesting the series writing really is. Despite the two internally wanting to be together, there is a lot of obvious tension in how Yohei is being pressured away from Kei, both in an abstract societal sense but also in a more tangible, immediate social sense by himself and others.

I also point this out because volume four is the last volume currently available in English, and based on when the others were released it seems like there will be at least another few months before the next one comes out.

Predictions

Whatever interaction the cliffhanger was leading on is probably going to be important. Wild guess, I know, but at this point, it is hard to say anything concrete. Ren feels like they are going to be pretty important as well, but in what sense I do not have a clue.

How do you all feel about Welcome Back, Alice? Let me know in the comments.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting us on Patreon.

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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Anime/Manga

The Place Where Shame Goes to Die: Welcome Back, Alice Volume Three

February 1, 2023 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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It seems as though a lot of questions from the last volume have been answered relatively quickly, but maybe that is a bad thing? or maybe it is a good thing and I am just using that sentence structure for rhetorical effect. Either way, let’s talk about it.

In volume three of Welcome Back, Alice, Yohei finally gets what he wants. At least, Yohei gets what he thought he wanted in his relationship with Mitani. However, her prohibition on interacting with Kei at all leaves him with a seemingly much stronger yearning for his childhood friend. Mitani, meanwhile, deals with her own insecurities, most stemming from Kei’s transition, and largely takes it out on her new boyfriend.

Kei’s Identity

Something I have noticed, which was also pointed out by the “Reception” section of the manga’s Wikipedia page, is that Kei’s identity as non-binary feels…well, dismissed. Sure, it is true that everyone, except Yohei and Mitani, is pretty excepting of Kei’s identity in a way that feels genuine.

However, the use of “he” by every character other than Kei kind of undermines that identity and the whole mission statement of the series. Up until this point I had been using “they” to address Kei as a character, which felt more correct given the initial volume. Kei himself says explicitly that he does not identify as a guy.

I do not mean to come across as quick to label the series “problematic,” because that is not my intention. However, it does feel like a big oversight on Oshimi’s part, one that ultimately serves to weaken the message of the story by placing Kei back in the masculinity that he explicitly rejects at the start of his introduction.

Mitani and Heterosexual Attraction

The more of this series I read, the more my theory about Oshimi’s writing style feels correct. If Kei represents a sort of radical sex and queer positive life that might be better for Yohei, Mitani very much represents traditional heterosexuality, with all the pros and cons that come with that.

On the one hand, being with Mitani means Yohei will not have to worry about being judged by his peers. His life remains stable but is maybe not be what he truly wants. On the other, a relationship with Kei comes with the societal stigma of Kei’s identity (and maybe his own but that remains to be seen) but ultimately still feels like the choice that will make him happiest.

There is also a sense of betrayal and manipulation that comes with their newfound relationship. When Yohei tries to kiss Mitani and is rejected, she admits that “[she] thought she could love [him],” implying that her confession was more a way to drive a wedge between him and Kei. The whole thing feels messed up in a way that represents the toxicity present in a lot of heterosexual relationships.

Decision Point

Yohei is clearly under a lot of pressure in the context of the story. Navigating relationships, especially romantic ones that challenge societal norms, is not always the easiest task to handle mentally. However, as mentioned before, he is presented with a serious decision to make.

At the risk of making too many comparisons. the setup is fairly similar to The Flowers of Evil. Both main characters are forced to comply with a set of socially acceptable boundaries, for they risk revealing something that society might deem disturbing. Both even go as far as to comment on young male sexuality. However, Welcome Back, Alice feels more purposeful in its attempts to do so.

Predictions

At this point, it feels hard to say what will happen. Oshimi tends to make pretty sudden plot-related shifts. Still, it seems as though whatever decision Yohei is planning on making, romantically at least, will probably happen in the next volume. If it does not, however, it will likely mean some serious social consequences.

How do you feel about Welcome Back, Alice? Let me know in the comments below.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for the support on Patreon

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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Anime/Manga, Observation Deck

The Observation Deck: Brothers Conflict

November 27, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 6 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary folks, we are gathered here today to talk about an anime. Not just any anime, mind you, but the one, the only, Brothers Conflict. This is a show that is so genuinely awful it is honestly not worth it to even pretend there are redeeming qualities about it, an adaptation so lazy that the cast barely has a workable personality split among its almost 20-something-odd list of characters.

I could sit here and do any amount of research about the development process or its source material, but honestly, I do not care that much and yes, the source material, both the light novel and the game adaptation, are almost certainly better than this garbage. Calling this show Oreimo levels of trash is frankly insulting to Oreimo, because that would imply that anything about it is remotely interesting or worth caring about. With that being said, let’s get started, I guess…

What is Brothers Conflict?

Some-no, most-no, nearly all of you probably read the title of this review and went “huh?” and yeah, that is totally reasonable. In short, Brothers Conflict is a light novel/Otome dating sim adaptation about Ema Hinata, later Ema Asahina, a girl whose rich and famous dad remarries a mom with 13 other sons. As part of this new stage of their life, Ema moves into her mom’s luxurious mansion with room enough for all of them. However, Ema quickly discovers that nearly all of her brothers have some sort of romantic feelings for her…yeah, it is one of those.

Boring Main Character is Boring

Ema is the main character in the same way that your avatar during a multiplayer fps game is technically the main character. Literally, the only purpose she serves is to show you around and get a better view of the brother characters who you are supposed to fall in love with. She is so shamelessly a self-insert that when I did bother to look at the Wikipedia page for this franchise, I was genuinely surprised to find out the light novels were the original source material.

Ema not only has no personality worth mentioning, but the only interests she is given are also to better connect her with the potential relationship matches she might have. Her liking video games? an excuse to get more involved with her brother that works at a video game company and her brothers that work as voice actors respectively. Her interest in flowers? so she can talk to the one that works in their home garden and give a nice romantic background for later romantic encounters. Seriously, how was this not a dating sim first?

Fun fact, I wrote most of this review and almost completely forgot to mention Juli, the talking squirrel character who only Ema and Louis can understand. This is never explained and is treated as totally and completely normal.

Boring Brother Characters are Boring

I could sit here and give you a sentence-long blurb about each of the other main characters and pretend like I care about their development, and yeah, that would probably be the responsible critic thing to do. However, this is an anime blog, and also there are thirteen of them, none of who have any remotely notable personality traits outside of their occupations and their insatiable lust for their 16-year-old step-sister.

I will mention that Louis and Hikaru, two of the older brothers, have mildly more interesting character designs, but that is only because it seems like they were intended to be some flavor of queer, but of course, the anime would never dare to be that interesting. The ongoing antagonism between Natsume and Subaru ends up being the “main” storyline near the final few episodes, but that is only because it is really the only plotline the series bothers trying to resolve.

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Yeah It’s Problematic, But Man It’s Hard to Care

It absolutely should not be overlooked that much of what happens in this series is older, college age and above men going after a 16-year-old girl. It is most definitely weird and creepy and Brothers Conflict should be criticized for it, especially since at no point is this fact ever addressed, let alone framed in a negative light.

At the very least, when it comes to a show like Oreimo, there are points where the weird incest vibes are less distracting because the characters are notably interesting and have conflicts outside of that dynamic. Because this show is only interested in romantics to the point of being one-dimensional, it becomes hard to ignore. So, not only is the show painfully boring, but it is also incredibly gross and creepy.

Animator? I Barely Know Her!

For how much the characters and backgrounds in this show actually move in any dynamic or interesting way, they might as well just have ported over the png files from the Otome adaptation, which I will remind everyone for the third time came after the light novel (seriously wtf?!). The most “well-animated” moments in the series, if one could even call them that, are the sequences at the beginning which only serve to remind you just how interested her brothers are in f***ing her.

This is by no means meant as a criticism of the animators themselves, as they were likely operating with pretty spare time and coordination and thus just had to put something together. Rather, it is pretty clear that Brothers Conflict was only greenlit as a way of selling merch and copies of the existing materials.

Conclusion

I’m sure there were some amount of people who saw this series and genuinely enjoyed it, mostly in the sense that it did something for them sexually. Still, I just do not get it. There are so many other series in this same lane that are not only better at being hot but are also legitimately more interesting from a storytelling and character perspective.

Brothers Conflict is a half-assed, quantity-over-quality approach to making a reverse harem that does not come close to overcoming its problematic and boring execution. I reached some of the highest highs this year when it came to the medium of anime, so I suppose it only makes some sort of weird cosmic sense to torture myself with the lowest of lows.

25/100

Have you seen this abomination? Let me know in the comments.

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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Blog Updates

Sorry For Being Gone

October 9, 2022 Jack Scheibelein 2 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Hey friends, hope all of you have been doing well. As many of you reading may or may not have noticed, I have been gone for about a month.

I genuinely try not to take huge unannounced breaks from blogging for a couple reasons. First, the fact that anyone is willing to read my articles makes me truly thankful, and so I usually try to stay working on something. Second, for me personally, I use this blog as a way to keep my writing skills honed, and so when I’m not writing, there is a sense of personal responsibility.

That being said, I always try and let people know ahead of time that school is going to be my primary focus when the semester begins. Given that it is currently the fall semester, and also the last semester of my undergraduate degree (assuming everything goes ok), I don’t feel as bad for the sudden departure.

Outside of the more obvious reasons, however, part of it is a bit of burnout. Writing two plus decent quality posts every week alongside my normal school assignments can be a bit much sometimes. I don’t mean to complain when I say this, because generally speaking, I enjoy writing those posts. Still, I do tend to experience a bit of mental fatigue when doing that much writing all the time.

This past summer season definitely did not help either. While I enjoyed covering some of the newer shows, keeping up with that many shows was not always easy. I wanted to do the same with the fall, considering how many fantastic series are gonna be airing, as well as the seasons to come. However, trying to do that with all of the other stuff I have going on just did not feel feasible.

As for what that means for this blog…well, mainly just a bit more irregularity. My goal is to finish up the shows from summer relatively soon and write some reviews on them. Outside of that, however, it will be a lot more sporadic. I would like to finish Utena at some point and cover that, plus I will more than likely still be watching things from fall. I just won’t be giving as frequent of updates.

As far as regular content goes, that will probably be back sometimes in December after the semester is done and graduation is over. Probably. I definitely do not want to overpromise and under-deliver, so anybody who cares about this blog at all should consider me still on hiatus for at least the next few months.

Also, I want to clear that this is not the beginning of the end. Probably. As I have highlighted in the past, writing is definitely my preferred method of expression. Still, experimenting with other formats and forms of content is also something I like to do. So, if a video or two pops out on the YouTube Channel or Tik Tok, or Solidly Liquid randomly comes back to life for a bit, that also should be taken without much surprise.

Basically, this is just an extended way of saying I’m taking it easy for a while. Still want to be involved in the community, of course, but content creation just isn’t a priority, at least for right now. That will likely change in the future, though, once I have a steady job and time to work on my passion projects, including this one.

Thank you all for understanding!

As always, special thanks to Jenn for the support on Patreon.

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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Blog Updates

A Quick Update Because I am Incredibly lazy

December 21, 2020 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

Hey friendos! So, I know I haven’t put out any kind of update in a while and I feel really bad about that, because I said that I would make them a regular thing. But, to be honest, every time I establish an actual time window, I never actually find that much to write about. So at this point I think I’m just going to limit update to whenever I have something important going on, which might mean they come more or less often depending on what’s been going on. Speaking of what’s been going on:

Streaming!

Streaming was always something that looked interesting but I never really had the tools to do. Well, now that I have a half-way decent computer, I can do just that, and I have been. I’ve only had a few streams so far, and so far the streams have just consisted of Hearthstone and…well, yeah just that. However, I do have plans to stream other stuff, plus if there is something specifically people would like to see from me, I am more than happy to hear suggestions. Its been more so just something fun to do while I am sitting at home, but if I definitely wouldn’t be mad if you dropped a follow.

Writing Poetry

I have found out something extremely important about myself over the last couple of months. It is something that I think I knew about myself but just did not want to admit: I hate writing longer things. As much as I enjoy writing and will probably continue to do it for the rest of my life, unless I am getting paid to do it, the chances of me finishing a novel are pretty slim. My attention span is not long, so it takes me a while to even finish one project. Poetry works for me because I can spend more time obsessing over specific lines making sure they are perfect, which, if I tried to do with an actual novel, I would literally never finish.

So, because of this, I am spending most of my time writing on poetry and flash fiction. Currently I have plans to enter a number competitions, and I will also be looking for journals to submit to as well. If any of you know of journals that are looking for poetry submissions, feel free to leave those links in the comments as well.

Nintendo is a Trash Company

I know this isn’t as important to most of you reading this, but I want to bring to light to it anyway. For those who do not know, Super Smash Brothers has been around for a long time, and for a large part of its history, there has been a strong grassroots competitive scene for all of its games, even fan modes like Project M. Recently, Nintendo has become a lot more active in shutting down events and organizations it does not like, despite the fact that they have pretty much no infrastructure of their own for a competitive community.

Now, I totally understand that, as the publisher of Super Smash Bros, they have full rights to green light broadcasts and distribution, as well as shut down whatever they do not like, even without any justification. However, apart from being a bad business decision, the shutting down of events related to both Melee and Ultimate because the competitive scene not being how they envisioned people to enjoy the game just feels wrong. Competitive players of these games are usually the most dedicated fans, and many of them have made it their livelihood to play and create content for these games.

Basically what I’m saying is that if you care at all about smash, it might be worth sharing some support on social media. Most people have been using #freemelee and #savesmash. The idea is to just create enough noise that eventually Nintendo will have to address it in some capacity.

Getting Back into Seasonal Anime

While I still do not want it to be the entire focus of this blog, I do plan on getting back into seasonal watching. It is still enjoyable to watch a show while its airing and talk about it with others. Here are some of the shows I plan on watching:

The Promised Neverland 2
Log Horizon Season 3
Dr. Stone Season 2
Beastars Season 2
2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volleyball-bu

So, if you are planning on watching any of these, stick around for coverage.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

OWLS Posts, Series

OWLS May “Happiness” Post: Anime, Writing, and The Endgame

May 7, 2019 Jack Scheibelein 14 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

Hello again, friends! For this months OWLS post, I’ll be talking on a bit more of a personal level, as the topic for this month is Happiness.

Happiness is subjective. We all have different definitions of what happiness means to us and we also feel happiness in varying degrees. This month we will be exploring several questions describing our happiness in our fandoms, communities, and hobbies. Why do we find enjoyment watching anime or reading manga? Why did we decide to join the anime or pop culture communities? Why do we blog about our hobbies or cosplay as our favorite characters? This topic is all about the passions we have for our interests and why they are important to us.

As always, make sure to check out more of the OWLS by looking at some of our other members posts, such as Karandi whose post will be coming after mine.

With that being said, here is the post:

Anime

Most people get to a certain point in their lives where they all start asking each other the same two questions: how and why are we even here? This is no less true in the anime community, a group of people who have come together to bask in the glory of Japanese animation. It seems like most people in the anime community have a fairly interesting story to tell when it comes to these questions, so for anyone who cares, here is mine.

Before I found anime as a hobby, I pretty much did nothing. In middle school, I played games on my Nintendo DS and that was about it. Every day was me finishing my homework and chilling alone in my room. I also did not have many friends at the time, and it seems like the ones I did manage to find were constantly moving away. One day, however, the person who would become my best friend introduced me to two different shows: Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist. This was around the time I got my first computer, so of course, I looked them up and started binging them. Bleach was technically the first show I watched, with FMA coming Immediately after.

After watching these two shows, I was hooked and I wanted more. For a while, I went on a quest to find new shows like Bleach and FMA, watching all manner of YouTube top ten videos and reviews for shows that looked interesting. Before I knew it, I stumbled upon what would be one of my favorite shows for a long time to come: Fairytail. After that, I met a friend in the seventh grade who was also an avid anime watcher and gave me even more great recommendations like Death Note, Fruits Basket (the original Deen adaptation), and Hetalia. With that, anime was a part of my life.

Writing

Writing as a passion for me came much later. It was not until I joined my school’s newspaper that I found out just how much I enjoyed writing. Every week I would find something new to report on and make an effort to deep dive into that topic. Sometimes I would even be opinionated enough to make an article talking about something I cared about.

Later on in high school during my sophomore year, I took a creative writing class, where I met a lot of similarly minded people like me, and we just took time enjoying and creating whatever we wanted. Creative writing is also where I discovered my love of poetry and short stories, so there is that.

It wasn’t until my Junior year of high school, where I was overwhelmed with the amount of work I had going on, that I decided to create a blog for fun. At the time I just needed something to get my mind of all my stress and just have control over something creatively. Quickly, though, it turned from something to do in my free time to a hobby to something I love doing (almost) all the time.

Where Do I Go from Here?

Honestly, I don’t know yet. I still want to try and make this something of a part-time or even full-time job if possible, but I also still have a lot to learn when it comes to being creative on the internet. I’m still not even fully sure if what I am doing with my blog now is what I will be doing in a few years from now. However, I do know one thing, that it is enjoyable for me, and right now that is a lot of what matters. Anime, Writing, and this blog are a lot of what brings me happiness.

What are your guy’s plans for the future? Let me know in 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 the affiliate links below:

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

poetry

To All the People I Could Not Say Hi To

October 24, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 7 Comments

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!

poetry

The Comet

July 29, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 2 Comments

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!

30 Day Anime Challenge, Anime/Manga

30 Day Anime Challenge – Day 7: My Anime Crush

April 29, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 3 Comments

Hello, Anifriends

For the 7th 30 Day Anime Challenge, I’ll be talking about my anime crush.

This one is a category I really had to think about, mostly because I usually just enjoy the relationships between the characters in the show. But there is one character that sticks out in my mind:

Saber from the Fate Series

I’ll be honest, I do not really have a reason as to why Saber is my anime crush. She just kind of is. Through all of the iterations of the Fate franchise, she has always been my favorite part of the show.

One of the reasons might be her fighting. At least for me. the action scenes with her are always the coolest because of Excalibur. Using magic as a way to keep her sword invisible and thereby reducing the ability of her enemies to counter it is one of the things that I feel like is not explored enough by any of the iterations. I assume this is because it was originally a visual novel, and there was not a lot of action scenes to begin with.

Either way, I really enjoy her character. Is she best girl of the Fate series?

eh…

But she is certainly one of the more interesting characters, and that’s why I like her.

What anime character do you have a crush on? 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!