Why I Love Anime: Ghost in the Shell

There are a select few anime that I regard as being a must-watch for any anime fan. There are even fewer that I would say are must-watch for anyone, regardless if you like the genre or not.

This is one of those rare few that belongs at the top of both lists, and came out in that wonderful golden age of anime.

Why I Love Anime: Aldnoah Zero

I guess since we're talking about recent stuff I absolutely love, I should definitely take time to address the show that managed to pull me back into anime.

To this day, I have no idea how this show ever managed to make it to production. It came out in a time when the state of anime was hotly contested, and in my opinion is one of the shows that really helped 'save' anime.

Let's talk about Aldnoah, and just why I love it.

Why I Love Anime: GATE: Thus The JSDF Fought There

I don't usually start these things off by giving the premise of a show away right at the start, but this is a WILA and frankly, this is too damned good to avoid mentioning.

Imagine the modern day JSDF fighting Fantasy Rome.

Fantasy Rome is f***ed.

Anime Watch: Flying Witch

Generally speaking, I try not to follow too many shows at the same time during a given season. It gets pretty exhausting trying to keep up with it all.

But this season, I'm making an exception, because there are so many great shows airing.

Spoiler alert: This is one of them.

When the person who kindly suggested that I start watching Shimoneta says "you should probably take a look at this", one immediately gets defensive. Fortunately for my sake, this was exactly what I needed to remember there is still good left in the world.

Anime Watch: Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto

Sakamoto is one of the dumbest design pitches for a show ever.

And yet, I love this stupid shit.

I can only imagine what the design pitch for this must have been. Seriously. Just a bunch of people standing around looking dumbfounded as someone tries to sell the execs on a show where a guy is just unflappingly good at anything and everything.

Yet somehow, it got the green light.

Sit back, and let me tell you about why you should have heard about Sakamoto.

Why I Love Anime: Space Battleship Yamato

I watch a lot of crap around here.

No, seriously. Just take a look at some of the shit I've had to put up with. With as much vitriol as I spew, a classic anime title should be ripe for the pickings, right?

F**k no. Space Battleship Yamato is among one of the best f***ing things I've ever watched. So sit back and let me tell you why.

Anime Watch: KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!

If you've been paying attention to certain corners of the Internet over the last few months, then this should come to you as no surprise. But why is Konosuba under Anime Watch, and not Why I Love Anime?

Well, technically it isn't complete yet. Even though I absolutely adore this show, we are still waiting on an OVA to drop before season one is really 'complete' - and it is definitely going to get a season two, which I am very excited.

So let's get into this.

Why I Love Anime: Rune Soldier Louie

As you may have gathered from my previous post, I'm a huge freaking fantasy nerd. I love magic and stuff. It's kind of hard to find someone that doesn't these days.

But while I was writing about The Slayers, I was reminded of another great show that's always held a special place in my heart: Rune Soldier. Let's have a look.

Why I Love Anime: The Slayers

In keeping with the grand tradition of attempting to ensure a stream of content continues its way to you lovely folks who read this thing, today I'm going to talk about another one of my favorite things ever. Well, two really. It'll make sense, I promise.

Am I going to make this yet another theme week? Maybe I will! Or will I? You'll just have to wait and find out.

Anime Watch: Macross Delta

Hopefully, by now, you understand my love for Macross. If you don't, then you should read about that here, and then look at my lunatic ravings over Macross 7. Only then will this truly make sense to you.

If you've already read those, or you just want to see me rave like some kind of crazy person, then read on, friends.

Why I Love Anime: Macross 7

As I mentioned yesterday, I freaking love Macross. But across the entire series, one in particular stands out as a black sheep among the rest: Macross 7.

Most people hate Macross 7, and it isn't hard to see why. It takes everything that made the original material so amazing, and tells it to piss off. The original was chock full of military might, and the movie (which is basically an in-universe retelling of the first series) retains that. Macross Plus continues this, and hell, even the second movie, which portrayed a pacifistic main lead, still had plenty of military action.

A lot of people hate this series, but me? I f***ing love it, and today I'm going to tell you why. SO LISTEN TO MY SONG!

Why I Love Anime: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

I've probably mentioned this a few times in the past, but I am a HUGE Macross fan. I f***ing love this series to death, and with the release of Macross Delta, I've wanted to gush about why I enjoy it so much.

But before I can do that, I have to talk about Macross Seven. But before I can do that, I have to explain what makes Macross great to begin with. Which leads me to now.

Let's take a look at one of the series that, next to Gundam itself, helped define the Space Opera genre.

Anime Watch - Twin Star Exorcists

I wasn't entirely sure what show I wanted to cover next. This season has some pretty decent offerings, but after seeing the first episode of this show, I knew it had to be covered.

Generally speaking, I try not to spoil myself prior to watching a show. Most times, I love going in blind, and I think in this case it probably served me very well.

Anime Watch: Kiznaiver

It is figuratively killing me that I have been unable to put out content lately. To help combat this, I figure I should probably start talking about some of the shows I'm watching. Someone said at some point that was a thing they'd like me to do, so I figure, why the heck not?

Let's begin with one of the latest offerings from my mancrush Studio Trigger, and the bizarre show that is Kiznaiver.

Maken-Ki! Episode 09 - Tempestuous Water Riding Battle

Part of me wishes that perhaps I had saved that other show for the end of the week instead of this. But you know, I'm starting to think that this is for the best. It's like ripping off a bandage - sure, it's gonna hurt like hell, but anything that comes after really doesn't matter as much.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm minimizing the damage done to my psyche by maximizing the amount of damage done to my psyche in one go.

... either that made sense or I truly have gone crazy.

Shimoneta Episode 09 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Masseurs?

Every week rolls around, and some part of me forgets about Shimoneta. I start my week with bright, wild-eyed enthusiasm as I dive into Sailor Moon, and all the wackiness that entails.

And then I pick up Shimoneta, and my soul recoils in abject horror, screaming for Cthulu to save it.

When you would rather have a lovely little chat with the King in Yellow than watch a particular anime, you have some issues.

But I have been given a task. And much as it pains me, it is my burden to carry. Let us get on with it.

Sailor Moon SuperS Episode 22 - Mirror of Dreams! Amazon's Final Stage

I begin writing this at a rather fortuitous time. Why, you ask? Because Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 was just teased.

All in all, I am definitely excited for it. Seriously, I know a lot of people hate Crystal, but it is, in my opinion, much, much better at almost everything than the original was. I've said it before, but all of my gripes with Sailor Moon have been fixed with Crystal. Now, that's not to say it's perfect mind you - I'm not a huge fan of the CGI transformations, but I understand why they did it - but for the most part, I give it a solid pass and a hearty recommendation.

So wouldn't you know it, it's about that time I ought to be watching the original series, right? Enough shitposting on Twitter, I have real work to do!

Maken-Ki! Episode 08 - Syria's Everything in Your Hands

As usual, we end this week with the wonderful midair collision that is Maken-Ki!.

It has the trappings of being a good show. The OP isn't completely annoying, the animation is pretty decent, and it has some actual good character designs. It's just. If they bothered to give people personalities, and didn't go out of their way to say that the only important attributes of the entire female cast are their butts and their boobs, this would be an okay show. Watchable even.

But no. They have to pander to the horny teenage boy demographic, and that is what makes this show an absolute piece of shit. So it's time to dive into this mess, and catalog everything wrong with this episode in particular. Let us begin.

Shimoneta Episode 08 - The Devil Blows His Own Trumpet

Few things in this world fill me with quite so much hate as Shimoneta does. I realize that at times this may sound like hyperbole - I get pretty angry around here. But when it comes to this show?

All of it is true, I promise you.

Every time I tell you that it leaves me shaking with rage, every time I say that I need to go to a happy place, every time I tell you I cry in anguish because of something I witnessed in this show? It's absolutely true.

This show is f***ing horrid. That is the only word to describe it. If you have a choice between marathoning this show and getting some molars extracted, you'd better damn well go with the molars.

Because at least with that one, the pain is only temporary.

Sailor Moon SuperS Episode 21 - Shadow of Great Evil! The Trio is Cornered

I don't always have something super clever to say. Shocking, coming from a guy whose favorite words are "goddamnit", "Japan", and "f**k", in no particular order.

But I'm still reeling from the fact that Chibi-usa is in love with a f***ing unicorn.

Spoilers for last week by the way. I'm just going to dive right into this week's episode in the hopes that it will be over quickly.

Maken-Ki! Episode 07 - Goddesses Descended to Tenbi.

You know something is very incredibly wrong when my first thought is "oh thank god it's Maken-Ki! and not Shimoneta".

I am not okay. Not in the least. But somehow, I get the distinct impression that no matter what happens in today's episode, it will be vastly easier to slog through than that other show.

What have I done to myself?

Shimoneta Episode 07 - What SOX Created

During the time I was taking a break from watching horrific excuses of animation from Japan, I kept an eye on the stats, to gauge how traffic is in these parts.

It's mostly a curiosity thing. But every now and then, it provides some rather illumination information. Like the fact that Shimoneta has basically be the most popular series here since Idol Wrassling.

And it continues to dominate the weekly picks.

So basically what I'm saying is, you guys really love making me watch this.

I'm going to go cry in a corner now. I'll meet you after the cut when I've collected the broken remains of my soul and buried them in a pine box.

Sailor Moon SuperS Episode 20 - The Fated Partner? Makoto's Innocence

Oh Sailor Moon. The show that started it all. The one thing in every weekly lineup I look forward to, because it's the kind of bad I've grown sort of attached to.

It took me a very long time before I finally understood why people love this show so much. It's bad, and they know it's bad. But it's the kind of so predictably bad and outright ridiculous that you can just look back and laugh at it, and then forget whatever message it was they were desperately trying to push across because you can't take very seriously an enemy that is a giant freaking ball.

It's Sailor Moon. The hell were you expecting by now?

Maken-Ki! Episode 06 - Descending to Tenbi Like Rain

Ah, Fridays. While most people would be celebrating the start of a weekend, here I am going over this godawful show that is somehow shoving more butts in my face per minute than a show about little girls who never wear pants.

I'm still baffled by this, mind you.

Utterly baffled.

What else is left to say? I'm watching Maken-Ki!, so let's dive right in.

Shimoneta Episode 06 - Handmade Warmth!

Of all of the shows I have watched around these parts lately, I find that few fill me with quite the same sort of dread as Shimoneta does. We're talking KnJ levels of "oh god I really don't want to watch this".

And I think everyone can agree that when I compare your series to a show about little girls trying to get their teacher to get it on with them, THIS IS NOT A GREAT THING.

So with that in mind, let's get this over with, shall we? People keep egging me on to continue watching this, and by god I may as well commit.

Sailor Moon SuperS Episode 19 - Holiday in Juban City! A Carefree Princess

I promise you, I was going to post something incredibly witty and/or insightful here.

But then I watched the preview for today's episode and... oh sweet merciful f**k I missed this show.

I will laugh. I will cry. I will beat myself in the chest until I break something. It'll be a great time for everyone.

Maken-Ki! Episode 05 - Tenbi's Strongest Woman

I wish that I could make some kind of joke about Determination, or simply not knowing when to stop. But let's just get real here for a moment.

Part of me, somewhere deep down in that twisted, dark valley of magma that is my heart, missed this.

By 'this' I mean writing this blog. Not Maken-Ki!. But on the bright side, this episode is the only thing standing between me and the next episode of Sailor Moon. Which I will not lie about - that I have legitimately missed, and keep wanting to get back to utterly destroying.

But first, I must finish what I stared. So today, we break the hiatus. We begin anew... with Maken f***ing Ki.

Why I Love Anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena

It seems only fitting that I would talk about one of my favorite genres of anime finally: Magical Girls.

I would have thought that I'd cover something near and dear to my heart, like Nanoha, or maybe even Cardcaptor Sakura. Yet, in the end, working on the blog again made me think of Utena, and it struck a chord with me. As much as I love those other shows, Utena perfectly encapsulates many things I f***ing adore about anime.

Oh, and you didn't misread that by the way. Moonlight Punishment is coming back again. This Friday even? You should probably look forward to that.

But for now, let's take a look at the wonderful work of art that is Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Why I Love Anime: Cowboy Bebop

Still on hiatus around these parts, as my non-work time is still considerably stretched for some reason. I've been spending a good amount of time catching up on modern anime via that Crunchyroll thing (not an advertisement, don't worry!). I've missed some good stuff lately.

But y'know, it's made me think about the stuff that got me into anime. Which I've covered a few times in the past. Today I want to focus on something a little more mainstream: Cowboy Bebop.

Why I Love Anime: Digimon

I thought very long and very hard about which anime I wanted to cover this week. And for a good part of the day, I figured it was going to be about something very near and dear to my heart: Pokemon. (Guess who just found out they're giving away Mythics this year oh god what this is a great time to be alive.)

Yet, as much as I love Pokemon, and as much as I will always say only wonderful things about the show (go see my April Fools' from last year!), I realize that it was really Digimon that affected me more - at least in terms of the anime.

Why is that? Well, it's kind of a long story, so settle in.

Why I Love Anime: Voices of a Distant Star

Maybe this is a weekly thing I will do. Sound good to you? Sounds good to me. Okay.

I feel like this is another one of those under-appreciated things. It's also not in my usual genre, despite seeming to be exactly in my genre.

Anyways, enough of this, let's get right to the nitty gritty, shall we?

Why I Love Anime: Suzuka - A Race For Love??

Yeah, so shitty title is shitty. It's a thing I'm not used to doing, but maybe this little segment will make for some interesting reading around these parts.

Today marks the first Why I Love Anime segment. Or WILA if you're into acronyms (I'm not judging here). And today, I wanted to start with one of the weirdest possible choices for why I enjoy anime so much: Because it consists of two genres I actually hate.

So what got me thinking about this segment, and why this show in particular? Well, that's an interesting story...