Best in Season – Spring 2021

Too Much Anime!

Alright, the Spring 2021 season was stacked, and after taking a closer look, I realized I watched a pretty big chunk of the shows. Rather than do a bunch of individual reviews, I thought it’d be fun to do a best and worst of list featuring five shows for their respective categories. Today I’m looking at the cream of the crop, along with why I thought they were great. Keep in mind some stuff I didn’t watch on purpose (looking at you Fruits Basket finale) or it just may not have interested me, so if your favorite show is missing that’s likely why. Let me know at the end of the article what would have made your list.

Koi Kaze – This is Controversial?

Love is Complicated

After I covered School Days, I decided it was high time I explored some other “controversial” titles with comparable reputations. While today’s show, Koi Kaze has a better reputation in the more versed anime circles, the 2004 series still garners a lot of of negative discussion and criticism due to the subject matter it explores. Anime is no stranger to the siscon scenario, but what happens if we play it totally straight? Today, I’m here to tell you why it’s well worth your time, and for reasons you probably won’t expect.

My Top 20 Anime of The Decade

The 2010’s Were Full of Great Titles!

There were so many great titles in the past decade, in fact, that I had a hard time only picking 10 of them. So, since we are entering 2020, I thought I’d expand the list to 20 titles! Before we dive in, I need to state that only shows I actually watched to completion were eligible for the list, so if a title is missing, I probably just didn’t watch it yet. Additionally, films will be included on this list as well since there were a few that came out and I saw that I really liked, but not enough for a separate list. Finally, these are my picks, so if you disagree, just make your own list, I’d love to see it!

Hikaru no Go – A Rare Kind of Show

Seriously, You Should Watch This

It’s incredibly rare for a show to follow its characters over the course of several years, really letting you see how they grow and develop. That’s exactly what you get with Hikaru no Go. If I had to compare the 2001 title to anything, it would be March Comes in like a Lion, but where that show is about the game of Shogi, placing more emphasis on events outside the game, this is about the ancient game of Go with a more traditional sports anime format. Spanning 75 exciting episodes, you’ll find yourself deeply invested even if you don’t know a thing about Go itself.

When an Anime Shows & Tells – A Discussion Ft. Waiting in the Summer and Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu

Seeing is Believing

Have you ever watched a show where the main character is supposedly some kind of genius or master at a thing, but the show kind of skirts around actually showing them, well, doing it? I hate that, and it happens a lot more often than you might think! Thankfully, some shows go out of their way to not only tell you these details, but show them as well. Today I’d like to celebrate two such recent examples I witnessed from the shows Waiting in the Summer and Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu.

Onitama – Simple & Fun

Chess has a Deep History

A game that has existed for some time now, chess, is a game that many of us are familiar with. It’s a game that evokes intelligence, strategy, cunning, and something that a lot of people just don’t have any interest in frankly. Despite how much I enjoy the game, it is something I’m pretty willing to admit about chess. With any game like this, you are bound to see variations across different cultures and evolutions as time goes by. Today I’ll be looking at one such game:  Onitama. Don’t worry though, this is one game you’ll want to play!