The villain from Sherlock Holmes is re-framed as a righteous young avenger out to deliver his own delivish brand of karmic justice, the law be damned.
It’s fair to say I didn’t come away from The Gymnastics Samurai feeling inspired by feats of physical mastery.
An edgy, Western-media inspired “all villains” story that is as fun and violent as it is vapid.
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An Autumn Update
The beginning of Autumn (in the UK) is one of my favourite times of year. There’s just something about the colour of the sunlight, especially in the mornings, like a momentary pause in time, that puts my mind at ease and invites introspective feelings (not to mention, the snoring cat curled up beside me). So, naturally, over a late lunch on this rainy October Sunday afternoon, my mind inevitably drifts to anime, and therefore this anime blog. It has been my muse for so long, after all.
Like Parasyte and Devilman before it (and I suppose you could even lump Naruto in here too), Jujutsu Kaisen is the story of a boy losing control of his own body.
Deca-Dence is an anime of dueling aesthetics: a gritty human world akin to Attack on Titan being bossed by a society of walking toys. Sounds weird? Well, that’s why I’m watching it!
I’ve read more than a few people describe this anime as a “dumpster fire”, but I don’t think that’s fair. In my opinion, it’s one of the best anime of 2020, but one thing’s for sure: it’s now definitely the most underrated. I’ve already talked about how it wasn’t made for anime fans by contrasting it directly with anime du jour Re:Zero, but let’s dig into the complaints a bit more. What exactly is it about this series that anime fans hate?
A few weeks ago, I made a second attempt to watch Re:ZERO. It’s not exactly an unpopular show, so I figured that maybe the first time around it just caught me at the wrong time. People often speak about it with a sense of reverie, suggesting that it “may seem like just another isekai fantasy, but it’s actually a much deeper story than that!”. I’ve even seen it compared to Berserk, which to me is the highest praise one can laud upon an anime series, and from then on I was like, “Okay, I must’ve been wrong about this!”.
12 episodes later and…
For me, a personal anime golden age is any consecutive run of 3 years in which the highest number of your favourites are gathered. 3 years may seem arbitrary, but I’ve chosen this specific range because, at least from my experience, the vast majority of anime fans tend to live and die in that time, leaving behind their lists and blogs as if time suddenly stood still, their scribblings, once filled with such joy and passion, now mere archives for the future generations of warbling young otaku to laugh at and build on, and so it continues. Anyway… before this all becomes a bit too existential, let’s crack on, shall we? Hi, I’m your local anime ghost, also known as bateszi, and here’s my personal anime golden age.
The ending of Sing “Yesterday” for Me was a betrayal. I know that sounds dramatic, but allow me to explain.