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Remembering Love II – Madoka Magica – Part I – Make a Contract with Me!

May 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Artist: masara (acgarts)
Back in 2012, a now retired blogger named trzr23 have created an Anime Blog project called “Let’s us Remember Love.” Apparently, Justin at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses will be doing the second year of it and I will be participating.

For this year, I decided to take a look back at Madoka Magica since two movies has already released for the franchise. When I watched this back in 2011 with a group of people online when it was airing, it felt like a different magical girl show filled with despair. This is mostly contributed to Gen Urobuchi’s writing, the person who is also behind Fate/zero and Gargantia. His stories are filled with tragedy and a lot of character deaths. While shows like Lyrical Nanoha have girls fighting for survival to maintain peace, Madoka completely deconstructs the genre, which is already a good reason to take a look back. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Community Projects, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
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Disney Princesses vs Females in Anime – The Problem with Damsel in Distress

April 20, 2013 by 7 Comments

Artist: mi-ra

Last weekend, I have watched Nostalgia Critic’s video on the princess hate. After watching it, I think he has a point since this trope exists in all types of media. The problem lies with Damsel in distress, which became a negative stereotype for females because it’s over usage. In particular, Disney Princesses tend to play this trope a lot, which is a bad representation of how women are portrayed in real life.

In Anime, it’s the opposite most of the time since some female characters take a bigger role. This is the main difference compared to Disney Princesses. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Editorials, Fate/zero, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Mouretsu Pirates
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The Art of Reviewing and Scoring Anime

March 29, 2013 by 10 Comments

Artist: mattari yufi

Before we end off the season, I wanted to share my thoughts about reviewing Anime and grading since they are highly subjective. In general, people will have different opinions based on personal experiences and tastes. While people on Social Networking and Anime Forums tends to share a few thoughts on what they saw, Anime Bloggers are different as we tend to be more critical on what we see. This is because we take the time to share our thoughts to make a more detailed review and for the fact that opinions aren’t necessarily the same.  Because of this, I like to share how I write reviews and go into a few scoring systems Anime bloggers use. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Editorials
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Chikorita Cast – Episode 2 – State of the AniBlogosphere (AniBlog Tourney Edition)

February 26, 2013 by 2 Comments

Artist: swordsouls
It has been a while since I did a podcast, but it’s finally alive, for now at least. Since I don’t feel like writing about this subject in written form again, I’m doing it in video podcast form. Also, I got a new microphone, which is another reason I want to record one. However, I’m not perfect because I don’t make podcasts on a frequent basis.

In this episode, I will analyze some data I gathered about the state of blogging in the Aniblogosphere. The contains all the blogs participated in the first round with a few dead ones in the second round. So enjoy and feel free suggest other topics I should focus on in future podcasts.

Also, all the data that I compiled is here in PDF form. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Podcast
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Challenges of Localization: The Never-Ending Debate

January 19, 2013 by 6 Comments

Artist: 05 (passelclow)
While I have talked a bit about the subtitles and dubbing debate early in my anime blogging career briefly, there is something that caught my attention regarding localization. Just this week, there has been news that Tecmo Koei won’t be having dual audio to the English version of Atelier Ayesha. As you would expect, the whole fandom blew up in rage just like that and advocating boycotts. However, there have been recent instances in Anime where licensing companies such as Sentai Filmworks excluded the Japanese Audio from Blu-rays, most notably the Persona 4 The Animation to make the release unattractive for reverse importation. Of course, that too had repercussions.

In general, localization and the whole sub vs. dub debate is a never-ending controversy for many reasons that I will explain. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Editorials
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Kyoto Animation and Why They Remained Successful

November 16, 2012 by 2 Comments


Believe it or not, sometimes a studio that animates a particular show sometimes brings appeal to a work. As seen with the likes of Studio Shaft, Production IG, PA Works, Sunrise and Kyoto Animation, they add something unique. Most notably, Kyoto Animation from the past several years has gained a lot of praise for its production values. This is more so with the airing of Hyouka and now Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai this year.  I felt that they do deserve the praise for various reasons as they pay attention to detail, bringing appeal to the characters and their ability to make faithful adaptations. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Editorials
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A Year of Self-Studying Japanese – Some Experiences

October 2, 2012 by 9 Comments

It’s almost a year since I started teaching myself Japanese and I think it would be best to share some of my experiences in certain aspects. Obviously, learning a second language takes a lot of commitment and it’s not easy like buying Rosetta Stone (which is a big waste of money) and expecting instant gratification. It took a lot of effort since it’s learning by doing.

On the surface, Asian languages tend to be difficult since most of them use logograms, also known as Chinese Characters along with different grammar rules. With practice and constant studying, it’s just like learning any other language, except it takes a bit more time to have a basic understanding

Aside from that, here are some observations I had after one year of studying.
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Filed Under: Editorials, Japanese Self-Study Progress
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Tiger Moms and Eagle Dads – Strict Parenting in Anime

September 1, 2012 by 4 Comments


Just recently, something has come into my mind about how parents raise their children in Anime after watching the 8th episode of Tari Tari. With the stereotype of Asian parents wanting their children to succeed such as the Tiger Mom and Eagle Dad, some of these stereotypes are also present in Anime. This is because Asian countries typically value education a lot, which is why they tend to rank high on science and math. For that, I’m going to explain what these terms mean with examples from various shows. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Editorials, Fate/zero, Hanasaku Iroha, Ore No Imouto, Papa no Iukoto o Kikinasai, Tari Tari
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Dog Days and the Power of Escapism in Anime

August 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment


While watching Dog Days, something came into my mind for another topic to write about from Anime regarding escapism. Although I analyzed Iyashikei’s escapism along with friendship and healing last far, of course adventure/fantasy shows such as the one I have mentioned and Sword Art Online has many elements of escapism though it’s setting, characters and their abilities. I’m just fascinated how they accomplish this aspect for these genres in general, which want me analyze them and share some thoughts about it focusing on a fantasy world called Flonyard. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Dog Days, Editorials
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Journey of Self-Studying Japanese – Honorific Expressions

July 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment


Since I’m close to finishing all the lessons in my Elementary Japanese textbook for my self-study, I may as well share one of the most interesting aspects of the Language. (Image Source)
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Filed Under: Japanese Self-Study Progress
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