What makes a good introductory anime?

A common question among anime fans is what titles would be good for introducing someone to anime. It’s actually something I haven’t given much thought to since all my friends are into anime themselves or at least familiar with it. So, for the person who doesn’t have a clue about anime but is willing to watch, what would be good titles to show them?…

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My top 10 anime animal mascots

Time for another favorites list, and one that I’ve surprisingly never done before. Anime is full of cute animal mascots, whether they’re integral to their respective series’ plot or not. Even if they don’t serve a major purpose in the anime, they’re great for creating a simple, iconic image to associate with it, as well as opportunities for cute merchandise ;) So, out of the 300+ titles I’ve seen, what would be my top 10 favorites of these mascots?…

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The appeal of original anime films and my top 5 of them

Original anime movies, “original” meaning their content isn’t based on an existing series, don’t seem to get as much attention or produce as big a fan following as other forms of anime among English-speaking fans. The obvious reason for original anime films being less spotlighted than anime TV series is simply because much fewer of them are produced, so there’s just a lot less of them in total. But wouldn’t having less make each one more valuable?…

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6 things that have increased in anime over the past decade

A few months ago I wrote a post about six things that have disappeared from anime over the past decade. Today I’m doing a follow-up to that topic with six things that have increased in anime over the past decade…

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My 50 favorite anime series of all (2011 version)

It’s been close to two years since I made a list of my 50 favorite anime in January, 2010. Since then I’ve seen quite a few new series and my current tastes are a bit different. So I figured it’s time for me to update my list of favorite anime, seeing what new favorites I have and how my feelings for old favorites have changed…

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Should any anime be called a “classic”?

Just as there are numerous books, movies, songs, and other cultural works considered “classics” by many, I’ve often wondered if certain anime should be labeled in a similar way…

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My top 5 anime of the season

For lack of a better post today, I decided to try something new and pick my current five favorites amongst the seasonal anime I’m watching (with inspiration from kevo’s ongoing “Anime Power Rankings” project)…

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6 things that have disappeared from anime over the past decade

Being the form of media that it is, anime, like all things, can’t help but change along with the times. There are many things that were common in the anime world a decade ago that have more or less disappeared nowadays. Today I feel like taking a look at six of those things and figuring out why they’ve become so rare…

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What are your top online presences?

There’s no denying that anime fandom could not have developed as much as it has, nor would it be what it’s been the past decade, without computers and the Internet. Because of this, it’s no surprise that the average anime fan is an active member on at least a few web sites. What would these online presences be, and what do they all add up to as far as our identity?…

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My top 10 anime endings

*Notice: For some strange reason, commenting on my blog was not working from roughly 1pm yesterday to 1pm today (PST). If you left a comment on the blog during that time, your comment has been lost. I sincerely apologize for this – I don’t know how it happened, but luckily my fellow blogger chikorita157 was able to fix it. Commenting should be back to normal now but please let me know if you experience any problems.*

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I recently counted down my top 10 anime openings, so now it’s time to move on to endings, as difficult as it was…

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