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 […]

In My View: It’s not censorship, it’s editing

A long time ago, I watched the first section of Sword Art Online. My wife had started the series on Netflix and I viewed it over her shoulder. Overall, the show was acceptable. As someone who suffered through the BeeTrain-disaster that was .Hack//Sign, it was miles ahead of that. But a cat that’s been dead […]

The Otakusphere: Censorship, cultural exchange and reckless fire

Good morning and welcome to another beautiful day in the Otakusphere. Today is a great day. First of all, we had snow. I was worried we were just going to have three months of pre-spring instead of an actual winter, It’ll be gone by next week, but for now, I will enjoy it. The other […]

Is Haruhi a manic pixie dream girl

Talking about the character of Haruhi Suzumiya is downright infuriating. Some things are obvious about Haruhi. For one, she serves the same role as an earthquake or a hurricane in a disaster movie. She is an act of God for the plot to revolve around. That is what characters do, they react to her. Whether […]

The Otakusphere: Independent art, island blogs and let’s get this started again

Some may have noticed that I skipped The Otakusphere last week, and for that, I apologize. It was a rough one last week, and by the time I got done with my work week, I just wanted to turn on No Man’s Sky and go cruising through the stars. So that’s what I did. I […]

The Otakusphere: Coronavirus, coronavirus, coronavirus everywhere

I usually try to make these Otakusphere openings snappy and quick, but this week it’s all about the novel coronavirus. I worry about being too flip about a disease that is costing people their loved ones. It seems inevitable that talk about COVID-19 would come to The Otakusphere. Here in the states, it’s sending people […]

I may just get you Haruka Shitow

Do you ever have relationships with characters? I don’t mean the “this is my waifu or husbando” kind of relationship, or the “that guy/gal is super cool and I’m infatuated with their coolness” type of relationship. No. What I’m talking about is that friend who you’ve known your entire life. The person that you knew […]

The Otakusphere: Love, love, love and loneliness

It looks like I’m doomed. I simply can’t escape Valentine’s Day this week. Love (or at least cards and romance shows) is in the air across The Otakusphere this week. I even got my own Valentine’s Day card specifically done by Jon Spencer. It’s all about Chirico Cuvie. Jon says it’s his come hither look. […]

Reflections of an old anime fan: On gatekeeping

For the last couple weeks I’ve been thinking about gatekeeping, inspired mostly be Irina’s post about why she doesn’t participate in it. Here’s the thing. There was a time when the people that liked video games, roleplaying games, Magic cards and anime were the outsiders. These were the people nobody else wanted to know. They […]