Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks (2014) Route 1 Alternative – Should You Start Here?

The Age Old Question

As with any larger franchise, this question always seems to come up:  where should I start? It’s a seemingly simple question without an equally straightforward answer. If you have been following my Fate journey thus far you’d notice that each has a “route” in the article’s title and wondered why I bothered putting it there. In part this is to help you, the reader, navigate the articles in a sensible way as to have my thoughts presented more cohesively, but even more so it acts as a general watch order suggestion. That brings us back to this article which you may have noticed is labeled “route 1 alternative” much like the review of the 2006 and 2010 Deen adaptations, so what gives?

Found in Translation – A Discussion on Accessibility in Media

We’ve ALL Heard the Sub VS Dub Debate…

When it comes to anime, the conversation surrounding accessibility in the community is a weirdly contentious one. I don’t just mean the usual sub VS dub debate either, as the conversation goes well outside that but for several reasons, supposed “fans” of the medium are quick to dismiss these ideas all too often. The weird thing though, it’s not really an issue in live-action media. That’s why I’d like to take a moment to talk about two recent things I watched:  Amazon Prime’s Cinderella and Netflix’s Squid Game. What do these two experiences have in common when it comes to accessibility, and why anime licensors and distributors should be taking a page from their books? Well, you’ll have to read on to find that one out.

Fall 2019 – 3 Disappointments

You Can’t Win Them All

It’s taken me a lot longer than expected to work my way through the remaining Fall 2019 anime, but now that I’ve finished most of the shows, it’s time to get to some reviewing! Today I’m going to cover 3 shows that disappointed me the most during the season. I chose to do so in this format as opposed to my typical one-show-one-review style as I either have said a fair bit on the show or didn’t have much to say in the first place. With that, let’s get to it!

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest – Finalizing the Production Discussion

People Clearly Liked This, it Received a Season 2

Last week I covered two series where I discussed how production values and writing quality can impact the enjoyment of the series. These two series were Demon Slayer and Cop Craft. In the case of the first anime, I discussed how the fantastic visuals and sound meant little in the end due to obnoxious characters and poor writing. Production values made it watchable, but not much else. Cop Craft, on the other hand, had tons of issues in the production department. Still, this managed to be enjoyable for fun characters and (mostly) decent writing. So how does this all relate to Arifureta?

Cop Craft – This Deserved Better

Oh, What Could Have Been…

You may recall earlier this week that I reviewed the fan favorite series, Demon Slayer rather poorly despite its great visuals and other production values. What it came down to was unlikable characters and some pretty poor writing at key moments. However, Cop Craft is almost the exact opposite of that. Lacking in terms of production but the cast was good fun with a story that managed to wrap itself up rather nicely in spite of itself.

Demon Slayer – Production Values Only Take You so Far…

At One Point, I Dreaded Watching Each Week

I’ve been putting off writing about Demon Slayer because it is a really popular show, but one I really struggled with watching. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals are amazing, it has excellent music, and there are moments of brilliant direction. However, all of that doesn’t mean much when the show has an unlikable cast and problems with its writing. If you can look past that, it’s probably going to be one of the best anime of the year, but for me… Demon Slayer just falls incredibly flat.

What I’m Watching – Summer 2019 Impressions

Summer is Stacked!

I’m watching way more than normal for the Summer 2019 season so I thought I’d put up a list of everything I’m watching and give a little bit of a first impression for each show. Held off on doing this for a week because I added a few more shows that hadn’t started airing. The list is 10 shows long with one held over from the last season, so let’s dive right in!