Impressions: Let’s talk about the best or worst show from 2021

One of the hardest things for me to do is to separate my general proclivities from my analysis. See, at heart, I’m a contrarian. When everyone says something is bad, I tend to look at it more favorably. The opposite is true as well. When people tell me how wonderful something is, I will tend […]

Reflections: How do I make a sexy headline about 100 posts?

Hello everybody. Today is Wednesday, so you should be getting my normal mid-week rambling about Galaxy Express 999. But… well… this is a special post. It’s a post that I have been thinking about for probably three months. And after some shenaniganery that happened this weekend, well, it got pushed back from Saturday, when I […]

Puritans, capitalism and hard work in Galaxy Express 999

(Note: I’m going to use U.S. and America interchangeably. I just want to say that I realize this is horribly unfair to our neighbors to the north and south. I’m doing it because it’s easier to write, not because I believe that all of the Americas are somehow one monolithic culture. I apologize if anyone […]

The Otakusphere: Devil’s Candy, moe Zombies and when did Lelouche get this popular?

Good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are out there in Internet land. By my reckoning, it is Sunday in my little corner of the hinterlands, so it’s time to take another trip around and look at what everyone is talking about. This has been a strangely long week for me, and I have a […]

All of the Colours from OUTER SPACE

Huzzah. I am back for another Saturday, and to be honest, I’m kind of wiped out today. I have some ideas for posts. I actually have some ideas that have been sitting around in my brain folder for a long time. But I got to mow the lawn, and I want to catch up on […]

Is it better to kill the babies in Galaxy Express 999?

I’m fascinated by the number of plants, animals, and even microbes that have traveled with people as they’ve moved from place to place. Once I listened to a series of lectures about turning points in U.S. history. One of those moments happened even before the country was founded in 1617 when a great epidemic swept […]

The Otakusphere: Mecha, magical girls and my own shortcomings

Good morning, afternoon or evening where you are out there in internetland. It’s Sunday in my corner of the hinterlands, which means it’s time for another edition of The Otakusphere. It’s been a bizarre week out there in animeland. In particular, a bizarre start-up cropped up and claimed to have a plan to stream anime […]

In My View: When anime isn’t the right word

I remember pretty clearly when I first encountered the word “anime.” I was in a college dorm room in 1996, and I was talking with a couple of people I was in a Rifts game with. I don’t remember how it came up, but I mentioned “Japanimation.” It was a word that I had come […]

In Search Of … Boogiepop Phantom

Hi, all you fine folks out there in the Otakusphere and beyond. It’s time once again for me to take another pick from the anime people have submitted to me as I go In Search Of… my next favorite anime. So what is this feature? Every month, I pick out an anime that has been […]

The Otakusphere: Rooster tails, odd taxis and runic empires

Good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are in the world. It’s Sunday in my corner of the hinterlands, which means it’s time for another trip around The Otakusphere. I’m in the middle of a long weekend. In the states, we’re celebrating Independence Day. Since the U.S. ships its culture out worldwide, I can’t imagine […]