I could end up watching a lot of anime come April.
Spring 2019 anime preview
A warm heart in the grim worlds of Dororo & Rurouni Kenshin
Watching Dororo has helped me realise that Kazuhiro Furuhashi is one of my favourite anime directors. He is the man responsible for directing the breathtaking Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku-hen) which is a marked departure from Kenshin’s much lighter TV series and tonally has much more in common with Dororo. In short, both anime are grim as heck.
A light inside the darkness: The Great Passage (Fune wo Amu)
The Great Passage (Fune wo Amu) is about creating a dictionary. The people involved invest decades of their lives into its singular craft, which is no small feat. The series begins as Mitsuya Majime joins the dictionary’s editorial team. He’s a weird guy, introverted, but fascinated by words. Switched from a different job that he was struggling with, it’s like something has finally clicked for him. This is the job he was born to do, but every now and then, he has nightmares about being lost at sea. The water rises about his legs as a flood of words threatens to sweep him away.
The swirling nothingness: Shuzo Oshimi’s vampire manga Happiness
Shuzo Oshimi’s Happiness is a beautiful clusterfuck that I can’t get enough of, but let’s get one thing clear: there’s absolutely nothing happy about Happiness.
It all begins when high-schooler Okazaki is bitten by the vampire Nora. She grants him two choices: either live like her, or die.
Really, he has no choice.
The (Anti) Shonen Hero
When Dororo begins, Hyakkimaru’s at his strongest. Without nerves, he cannot feel pain, and without pain, what is there for him to fear? He can jump higher and fall harder than any man because there are no bones in his legs to break.
In many shonen anime, characters like Naruto and Izuku begin at the other end of the scale. Weak and untrained, their stories are about developing strength, yet Hyakkimaru’s is about developing weakness. Isn’t that weird? For each demon he kills, another part of his body is returned, but with that there is a price to pay.
January status update
January was a good month for this here anime blog. I published 6 posts, which may not seem like a lot, but for me, it’s the most I’ve published in years. This was reflected in the blog’s views, which went up for the first time since November. I don’t know if I can maintain this pace going into February, but I’ll give it my best shot.
It helps that anime just seems really good at the moment. This is a cracking season, with Dororo and The Promised Neverland leading the way, and Run with the Wind carrying over from last year too.
Manga, sweat and tears: Run with the Wind
Run with the Wind is at a point now where every episode explodes with such a cathartic resonance. The boys are a mere qualifier away from the Hakone Ekiden and to get even this far, they’ve all had to work so hard: some more than others.
Changing your destiny: Dororo
Before he was born, Hyakkimaru was sold to demons.
Winter 2019 impressions
When it came to writing up my top anime of 2018 list, I realised that there wasn’t much from 2018 that I could really recommend. I would even go so far as to say that 2018 was a poor year for anime. However, in comparison, 2019 is already looking good.