Getting rich on ecological disaster in Galaxy Express 999

(Note: I apologize ahead of time for any gross oversimplifications of history that are contained in this blog post.) When I was growing up, I remember seeing news stories about W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods and the legacy of cancer they left in Woburn, Mass. Just for context, between the 1960s and 1970s, W.R. Grace […]

The Angriest Planet in Galaxy Express 999

I’ve been thinking a lot about subtlety and nuance lately. Yes, I know that isn’t the most exciting topic, but this is my blog, and I like to think about how people use words and what they mean. When bloggers, reviewers or critics use the terms subtlety and nuance, it’s often together. For example, I […]

The Otakusphere: The XXL version

For the first time in a long time, I binged an anime series. I started watching Bunny Girl Senpai on Friday night after wrapping up Gargantia. Then on Saturday, I kept watching it. And I kept watching it. When midnight rolled around, and I figured I only had three episodes left. So I finished it. […]

In My View: Why do I like trashy shows?

I started to think about trashy fiction when I was talking with some folks on Jon Spencer Reviews’ discord. In particular, Voyager, Redblinky, Scott and I were talking about Akudama Drive. As we talked about it, it became pretty clear that the general consensus on the show was that it was OK. The characters are […]

Skeletons, murder and tragedy? More Galaxy Express 999

Sometimes a show hits me with a conundrum that I don’t have an answer to. Typically, this comes when I’m hit with a concept or an execution that is way smarter than I am. I can see that the creator intended for a theme or a message to come through, but I’m just not capable […]

The Otakusphere: Burning justice, long titles and eyebrow judging

So here we are at the end of another week and at the end of my vacation. Overall, I give this vacation a B+. I managed to finish rewatching Solty Rei and Ergo Proxy. I got a lot of the barn shoveled out, but I didn’t finish. I listened to all of the Fall of […]

In My View: Anime and gaming media

Since I started really paying attention to the anime space again in 2019, I’ve noticed, in general, people don’t like it when gaming websites blunder their way into talking about anime. And don’t get me wrong, they most certainly blunder their way around. Even as a mildly invested fan, I can see the inherent flaws […]

Odds and Ends of Galaxy Express 999 (Part 1)

Normally, I do these odds and ends posts right before I do my wrap-up post for the series, but Galaxy Express 999 is different. This show is long. I’m 25 episodes into the show. In a typical 12-episode show, I would have finished it a long time ago. Even in a 24-episode series, I would […]

The Otakusphere: Shinsengumi, old news and pining for an acorn

It’s a bright, shiny Easter morning, and I have been gifted with chocolate and a week off from work. The start of my vacations always have so much promise. I’m going to watch anime. I’m going to blog. I’m going to get caught up on the 50 bagillion games that I have in my backlog. […]

Reflections: Reviewing the stuff you hate

You are getting this post because I didn’t like the post I planned to put up this week. It veered a bit too personal, and I wasn’t really comfortable with that. So instead, I’m going to talk about opinions. A couple of weeks or so ago, Yomu put up a writing prompt that asked an […]