[Links] 17-23 January 2018
FRANXX discourse, LGBT coming-of-age, and Taishou fashion.
All Articles
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Chatty AF 38: DEVILMAN crybaby Retrospective (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Chatty AF is back from its winter break, and what better way to kick off the new year than by chatting about the flawed-but-ambitious series that’s been emotionally wrecking the anime community? Vrai, Peter, and special guest Dawn get together to discuss Masaaki Yuasa’s DEVILMAN crybaby!
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My road to finding better Latinx representation in anime
Throughout my ever-growing love for all things manga and anime, there have been a lot of pretty good and some downright horrible portrayals of Latinx people.
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2018 Winter Premiere Digest
Another season of premieres watched and reviewed! Now that we’ve gone through every new show, it’s time to get ’em all in one room and see how they measure.
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[Links] 10-16 January 2018
The premiere season is wrapping up, plus idol culture and unhelpful dictionaries.
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Beatless – Episode 1
Beatless feels largely like a pastiche of genre conventions and other series that came before it.
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DARLING in the FRANXX – Episode 1
This has the potential to challenge cultural and gender norms. It also has the potential to be a queer-erasing mess of cliches. And while I want to believe it’ll be the former, I can’t shake the feeling it’ll wind up being the latter.
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Hakumei and Mikochi – Episode 1
Hakumei and Mikochi, with its watercolor-inspired art, intelligent but not anthropomorphized animals, and chill forest vibe, reminds me of nothing so much as a children’s book.
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Violet Evergarden – Episode 1
There’s an art to premiere episodes, and Violet Evergarden is a masterclass.
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Killing Bites – Episode 1
Remember when this season started, and there were so many good titles with promising characters and unique premises and the world seemed shiny, new, and full of possibility?
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Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens – Episode 1
I’m not sure it’s going to be a classic of the genre, but if you’re looking for an adult-oriented mystery this season and don’t mind the gore and frequent low-key victimization of women that usually entails along with the issues listed above, Hakata is probably worth at least a three-episode test run.
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Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody – Episode 1
The whole thing was so horrifically monotonous, I was hoping he’d stumble onto one of the harem girls from the opening just to spice things up.
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After the Rain – Episode 1
It’s nice to know that if Hollywood ever spines up and kicks Woody Allen out for good, he could still find a very fulfilling career in anime.
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How to keep a mummy – Episode 1
We’ve arrived at the last female-directed series of the season, and it was like watching twenty minutes of cute kitten videos. It’s all but guaranteed to be this season’s entry into Gentle Comedies about Nice Kids.
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Maerchen Maedchen – Episode 1
I think there might be a funny, clever little magical girl show buried in this premiere. I’m not sure, though—I’m still recovering from the episode’s decision to strip its protagonist naked for the third act, blinding me with shiny, shiny moeblob flesh.
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DamePri Anime Caravan – Episode 1
‘Scuse me while I bust out the biscuits, ’cause this premiere was 100% my jam.
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[Links] 3-9 January 2018
A whole mess of premieres, new manga artists, and Aokigahara.
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Anime Matsuri Moves to Silence Vlogger with Cease & Desist
John Leigh, a showrunner for Anime Matsuri—the second largest anime convention in North America—is digging up his own accusations by attempting to silence a vlogger who talked about them. It’s a bad look at any time, but especially during the #MeToo era. It’s also an unusual choice considering this scandal was all but forgotten.
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Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san – Episode 1
Takagi-san is the most “okay” premiere I’ve seen all season. It is utterly harmless. It is profoundly fine. And I have been staring at this stupid post for 15 minutes now trying to think of something else to say about it.
