Our Little Sister Analysis— The beauty of the subtle everyday life

Japanese Director Hirokazu Kore-eda has been an examiner of how relationships are formed even from the smallest everyday events around us for the last twenty years. Our Little Sister is not a film that follows traditional plot structures; in fact, the most significant moments in the movie take place in the first twenty minutes of …

Extensive Analysis of Bakemonogatari: What makes it so unique? – Hitagi Crab 1

This series will be an analysis of Bakemonogatari, attempting to look at every single element of the show, frame by frame, for me to truly understand why I find this show so fascinating. Quick warning that this post, and those following in this series, is going to be closer to an analytical essay looking at …

Why Kyoani’s Yamada Naoko is the greatest director of our time: Part 1 — K-On

I’ve talked throughout this blog about Yamada Naoko — Kyoani’s poster director. Throughout the years of watching anime or media in general, I’ve come to grow immensely attached to this relatively young director's work. Through an explanation of Kyoani, Yamada Naoko, her style, and her masterful works, I will attempt to briefly fill in the gaps about …

Yamada Naoko’s Liz and the Blue Bird (And A Silent Voice) — Emotions Through Camera

Through A Silent Voice, Yamada Naoko established herself as one of the greatest anime directors of our time. What followed after was her more experimental piece, Liz and the Blue Bird, the film which I consider the best that anime has produced. In this post, I will be running through the choices that Yamada Naoko …

Garden of Sinners 1 – How to Build Atmosphere

I have always had a hard time explaining why I like the Kara no Kyoukai movies (or Garden of Sinners from now on) to the extent that I do. To me, the Garden of Sinners movies have been one of the strangest series I have watched. While I see the movies as sometimes confusing, indirect, …

Crimson Gray 1&2: Great Stories for Different People

Crimson Gray and its sequel, Crimson Gray: Dusk and Dawn are wonderful visual novels. I had a fantastic time going through them and despite both of their short lengths, they quickly became some of my favorite visual novels as I read them back to back. Surprisingly, the two games have a lot of differences, despite …

Why Kyoani’s Yamada Naoko is the greatest director of our time: Part 2 — The Tamako Series

I’ve talked throughout this blog about Yamada Naoko — Kyoani’s poster director. Throughout the years of watching anime or media in general, I’ve come to grow immensely attached to this relatively young director's work. Through an explanation of Kyoani, Yamada Naoko, her style, and her masterful works, I will attempt to briefly fill in the gaps about …

That time I only read isekai mangas for a month

I have been pretty much gone for the last month on this blog. But unlike previous times, I have a reason.  I have been reading isekai manga lately. By that I mean a lot.  It all started when I read Mushoku Tensei for me to write a comparative essay on it with the show. But …

Rambling thoughts on 「I’m In Love with the Villainess」

Thoughts that I had while reading a new favorite light novel.

Thoughts on Yamada Naoko Leaving Kyo-Ani (why I like slice of life better than action)

On one hand, I’m glad to see that arguably my favorite director is not just anime but cinema returning with a new show. On the other hand, I am extremely disappointed to see her departure from a studio that has her marks left all over their shows.  For those of you who don’t know yet, …

Tone Shifts are Really Cool (Rambling on about Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

It’s no secret that video game stories are kind of terrible. Rarely do you find a phenomenal story in a video game, and oftentimes, the story instead takes a backseat, merely acting as a  support for the gameplay. (This changes a little if you consider visual novels video games, but let’s not get into that …

Flaws of a first time director in Siesta’s show

Directing is a rough skill to master. It takes years of experiences and build up of lower positions from key animation to episode directing — in the case of animation — for someone to become as great as they are. Yamada Naoko started off as a key animator to Air and episode director and storyboarder of …