Archives for November 2012

What determines our favorite anime?

I know there are some people who have trouble picking favorite anime, but as for me, I’ve always been particular to favorites and enjoy thinking about what it is that makes me like one anime over another even if I can sincerely say I like both. Most of the anime among what I’d consider favorites have been the same for years actually. So today I’d like to discuss factors common to anime I consider favorites that distinguish them from others I like…

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The significance of the second viewing

I’ve always believed that any great work of fiction that you enjoyed the first time should definitely be watched at least a second time – the first time it’s new to you and a lot of the value comes from surprises and novelty, while the second viewing allows you to focus on things like thoroughly examining the story, characters, and writing, and seeing how well its entertainment value holds up when you already know what’s going to happen. Anime is no different in this respect and there are many titles I’ve watched over the years where my opinion did change for worse or for better upon a second viewing…

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Anime for people who don’t like anime

A recent post on Japan Powered talks about certain anime titles that even people who hate anime could watch and enjoy. The idea it’s bringing out is that, despite how much we love it, we know that all anime – from shonen to slice-of-life – is full of tropes and character archetypes we see over and over again. Many of these cliches we love, some we don’t, but generally what makes us stay fans is that we don’t mind such things in our anime or even have specific tropes we can’t get enough of. But for some people, anime-specific tropes such as bishy guys, moe girls, giant robots, wild fantasy battles, and cuteness for cuteness’ sake, just aren’t their thing. So today I wanted to think about what anime are virtually free of these cliches and seem to cater to universal tastes rather than otaku tastes…

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Six years of anime blogging

Credit to linked pixiv user

A little over a month ago, Mainichi Anime Yume turned six years old. Unfortunately I was too busy in early October with getting settled in my new job to remember, so all I managed to do was a quick tweet about it last week. But I did eventually want to write something about being one of the long-lasting anime bloggers, and since I don’t want to repeat what I wrote about when the blog turned five years old last year, I thought I’d do something a little different and take a brief look at how I got started with blogging in the first place…

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The appeal of trading card games

Credit for photo to linked site
Lucky Star Weiss Schwarz cards

I know trading cards have been around for a while, but if you were a kid growing up in the 90s or later, you’ve most likely indulged in them somewhat, whether it was Magic the Gathering, Pokemon cards, or just regular cards to collect such as baseball cards. Every major anime and other media franchise, especially those aimed at a younger audience, usually has some kind of trading cards fans can buy. Today I want to share my experiences with trading cards and discuss why they have such appeal, especially in our world that’s vastly becoming more digitized…

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