Hey guys, time for another Lost in Translation! This (short) entry comes from Episode 7 of Fukumenkei Noise where we are treated to a bunch of lame word puns, complete with dead pan delivery, care of Momo. Continue reading
[Side B] Spring 2017 – Week 8 in Review
I feel just as helpless as Hanamori at this point.
Yesterday had me working in the lab for half a day, and today I just spent a good 12 hours on one experiment, only for much of it to be mostly meh. Why does RNA have to be such a finicky molecule?
But yeah, who cares about what happened to me these past few days, all that matters is the animu. Yeah, I know — but at least I can sleep to the fact that the shows this week in Side B were pretty okay in their own right. It’s not enough to make me go “wow” or anything, but it’s enough to make the frown of a bad day do a little uppity-up and make me forget about the worries that bog me down.
So let’s do this, week 8 of the Side B shows, coming right up! Continue reading
Wataru Uekusa: The Existential Crisis and Anime
Remember how I promised I’d bring out more editorials? Well, here’s me keeping that promise.
I’ve always wanted to do a series revolving around the actual creators behind the content we enjoy, and so for these next few editorials, I’ll talk about Japanese artists — illustrators, writers, directors — and the type of influences they bring into the works they create.
For this editorial, I’ll be talking about Wataru Uekusa, a relatively low-profile artist as far as anime is concerned, but a well-known illustrator who possesses a very unique art style that combines deceptively juvenile characters with violently surreal artistic flourishes. So sit back and relax as we explore more about the colorfully chaotic world of Wataru Uekusa.
(NB: this article has a preamble, but future articles will simply head straight into the topic.) Continue reading
[Side A] Spring 2017 – Week 8 in Review
Yeah, just rollin’ along through the week and I’m all like 
It’s stressful enough as it is that my deadlines are fast approaching and I have a f**kton of experiments to do. But at least I was able to carry out the stuff I messed up on last week this week, so I got that going for me… which is nice.
But on a sorta related note, Week 8 for Side A actually did reasonably well compared to its past few attempts. That’s not to say that the shows in general are any much better; rather, I’m starting to get used to their general “temperament” to the point that nothing really surprises me anymore. So yeah, enough chit chat and let’s DO THIS! Continue reading
[Side B] Spring 2017 – Week 7 in Review
I’m such an idiot.
I made another mistake today in my experiment. So I have to move it… AGAIN. This is frustrating. I wish that someone could just hit that fast-forward button and skip to the part where I get my diploma and a trip back home. And then I spend a year preparing for my PhD placement in Japan.
Yes, I want to study in Japan. I DO need the PhD, but I’ve always dreamed of studying in Japan. So I guess that’s the only thing pushing me forward at this point in time… but till then, it’s this shit I have to deal with. So yeah, someone find that fast-forward button, quick.
Speaking of fast-forward, my viewing this week was rudely sped up no thanks to two shows taking a hiatus to post recap episodes, instead. And it didn’t help much that the two shows in question were actually my favorites among this bunch. Thanks, Japan.
But surprisingly, even without those two powerhouses (Tsuki ga Kirei and KADO, if you were wondering) the shows actually did pretty well this week!
Shocking? Yeah, that makes two of us. So let’s move along and run down just what happened this week:
Continue reading
Lost in Translation #14 – Natsume Yûjinchô Roku
Hey guys, time for another Lost in Translation! This entry comes from episode 6 of Natsume Yûjinchô Roku, where we find Kitamoto describing his “otherworldly” experience with Natsume after school thusly: Continue reading
[Side A] Spring 2017 – Week 7 in Review
This week, I facepalmed so hard, I became a woman. 🙂
Kidding aside, this was a pretty weird week for me. I made a mistake in a couple of my experiments, so I have to do them again next week. All the more reason why I’m starting to panic because I need to produce results for the writing of my dissertation. Damn, is this stressful.
So I’m giving an advanced warning that I might suddenly disappear during the end of this season, and maybe up to the first few weeks of summer. That’s just the way it is, I guess. And as much as I’d hate to not post any content, I think I’ll skip writing weekly reviews when that happens in favor of shorter articles, like the Lost in Translation series or some other editorials that I’ve been promising since God knows when.
Anyway, this week in Side A felt pretty much unchanged in terms of my impressions towards the series contained. It’s come to the point that I don’t really care anymore, so let’s just hop on to it and talk about just what happened this week. Continue reading
Spring 2017 – Mid-Season Round Up
Mid-seasons are kinda scary in the sense that, yes, there’s a lot to write about, but at the same time there’s that looming realization that (crap) 6 weeks have already passed.
And that makes me wonder what the heck I’ve been doing with my life. Maybe it’s because I’m currently crunching experiments to write my dissertation, and that’s got me thinking why it feels like I’ve hardly gotten anything done these past five months.
Time is a fickle mistress.
Either way, the Spring 2017 season has been a similarly fickle affair, what with a strange line-up of titles that just basically feels weird in many respects. A big chunk of them are continuing cours, whilst others are long-standing franchises that are gracing the anime format… but regardless of the source, each had their own sort of spat with me, either due to their tendency to get lost in their respective genre tropes, or their general eclecticism. Whatever the case, this is the season we’re dealing with — a strange beast that is neither dull nor terrible. It’s something in-between.
So yeah, same format — general overview with a tl;dr in bold at the end; shows are ranked in descending order. So with that aside, let’s hop right to it! Continue reading
Lost in Translation #13 – Ero-Manga Sensei
Wow, it’s been a while since the last Lost in Translation, but I think I’ve got a real sweet one for you guys this time around. This entry comes from episode 6 of Ero-Manga Sensei where we find Masamune lamenting over the fact that his pseudo-rival Muramasa had beaten him to the punch for a publishing deal at his publishing house. Continue reading
[Side B] Spring 2017 – Weeks 5 & 6 in Review
Give me back my dumplings, and nobody gets hurt.
No seriously, someone jacked my dumplings in the freezer over the weekend. I was planning on saving those for dinner tonight, so I ended up having some instant noodles, instead. Sheesh, what a douche.
Anyway, food grudges aside, the last two weeks in Side B was a bit weird. I know it’s been quite obvious that I’m a bit biased towards this side because the shows contained in it are generally much better than Side A, but the shows that were doing pretty well started to veer off track a little, while the not-so-good ones actually faired a bit better. All-in-all, you could say that each of the shows evened things out, making for a generally satisfying two weeks. Not bad — I was just about to knock one of the shows off of this list, but it actually proved itself worthy of a little more attention.
So yeah, let’s not spoil things and just run straight to it! Continue reading
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