So Overlord wasn't my thing. It’s not even the OP protagonist, thinly veiled harem cast, or overt wish fulfillment. None of those elements inherently make for a bad story. What it all really comes down to is the execution. The smaller failings of a story early on can really cascade into outright awful moments that... Continue Reading →
Mecha is cool. This is the one universal constant. Even the lamest giant robot you can think of is still cool and how could it not be? There’s a specific kind of itch that mecha scratches with the way these robots can go from slim, agile, and flashy to slow, lumbering, and destructive across different... Continue Reading →
Back in my Re: Creators essay, I talked about how thoughtful character designs convey layered meanings, especially considering the genres being referenced. I find this same thematic attention to detail is also present in Revolutionary Girl Utena. Like with Re: Creators and all of its uniquely tropey character designs, the amount of thought that went... Continue Reading →
Writing isn’t easy and writing fiction is especially hard. Writing fiction, especially within genres like fantasy and Sci-Fi, requires care. Immersing an audience in a world and asking them to buy into these characters, their arcs, and the creative scope of the story is notoriously difficult. Audiences stop watching within a couple minutes and agents... Continue Reading →
Aspiration to one’s ideal self, or at least the perception of that ideal, is a time tested and very compelling character motivation. Often times, the desire for this perfected self manifests in ambition to be a hero, which makes sense, right? Heroes have always stood for the kind of people we could only try to... Continue Reading →
As far back as I can remember, my unashamed fanboying over Evangelion and its characters has pushed me to no shortage of dumb debates. The most frequent of which is over the disdain many seem to have over Shinji not being in line with hot-blooded shonen-esque protagonists. For me, Shinji’s personality and refusal to embrace... Continue Reading →
Isekai is a genre that doesn’t need a legitimate introduction. It’s become so ubiquitous with the current trends of contemporary anime that you wouldn’t need to go far to find one that’s become insanely popular or is just outright good. Sword Art Online, Konosuba, Log Horizon, Now and Then Here and There, Inuyasha, and the... Continue Reading →
Thoughtful character designs aren’t easy to make. Meticulously crafted characters communicate volumes just by design alone, and I wanted to take a look at just what makes the character designs in Re: Creators work so well. Re: Creators is a show that understands its intended audience and leverages the audience’s knowledge of various shows to... Continue Reading →
Julian Harmon 