My 10 most unforgettable anime tunes

Even though art and storytelling quality is what brings us to anime, there’s no denying that anime is full of music too, some tunes being solid and memorable, others being average and forgettable. While we all have our favorite anime openings, endings, BGM, and other songs, I thought I’d go beyond those today and think of the anime music that’s most “unforgettable” to me – not necessarily favorites of mine, but tunes that are so unique and catchy to my ears that I won’t forget them even if I haven’t watched their respective anime in years…

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Knowing an anime’s story beforehand

A recent post by Marth brings up the idea of how our perception of an anime adaptation can be greatly influenced by our prior knowledge of the anime’s original source material. This can apply to all forms of media really, such as book-to-movie adaptations or movie retellings of TV series. In anime fandom, there’s strong opinions among those who intensely care about faithfulness to the source material and those who don’t know or care…

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What it means to be nostalgic – a tribute to old anime

As I’ve grown out of student-hood these past few years and moved on to being what the Japanese call a “shakaijin” (person of society), I’ve been taking the word “nostalgia” more to heart. I’ve often wondered, “How old does one have to be in order to feel nostalgic?” And while pondering this questions, I’d like to pay tribute to some old anime that hold particularly nostalgic memories for me…

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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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There are two types of character development in anime…

When asked what one of the most appealing aspects of anime is, fans will usually mention character development. However, I’ve often wondered exactly what defines character development, at least in terms of anime narratives. Over the years, I’ve come up with two prominent types of anime character development, though I’m still debating whether that’s what they should both be called…

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The common themes of anime songs

One (of many) things about anime that’s always stood out to me since I became a fan is the songs. No matter what the nature of the anime in question is, with relatively few exceptions, the majority of anime opening and ending songs, more often than not, have common themes…

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Nostalgia: my ten favorite 90s anime songs

Lately I’ve been listening to some of my favorite anime songs from the 1990s. Even though I’ve only been into anime since 2000, I watched a handful of 90s anime during my early years of fandom, and some of those songs are still among my favorites…

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Teaching an anime enrichment class: first session complete

Back in September, I got hired as an after school enrichment teacher for the local YMCA, with my topics being Japanese and anime. Each week I go to a few different elementary schools in the area and give lessons to the kids. Last week I finished my first eight week session of the enrichment…

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Autobiography of How I Became an Anime Fan (2009 edition): chapter 3

Chapter 3 of my newly revised anime autobiography…

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The strangeness and ambiguity of love in anime

From what I’ve observed in the many anime titles I’ve watched over the years, the concept of love, especially compared to most Western TV shows and movies, is much more ambiguous, and sometimes downright strange…

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