Cowboy Bebop

My 10 most unforgettable anime tunes

June 8, 2013 by Yumeka 32 Comments

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…

Mixing drama and comedy in anime

March 22, 2013 by Yumeka 20 Comments

A common element of anime – or any TV show or movie for that matter – is the mixing of comedy in an otherwise dramatic story. Usually the overall story and themes are serious, but the show also has its share of comic relief and slapsticks to break up the tension. For me, the mixing of drama and comedy can either greatly hinder my enjoyment of a show if done poorly, or can greatly raise my enjoyment if done well…

The significance of the second viewing

November 24, 2012 by Yumeka 27 Comments

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…

Anime for people who don’t like anime

November 17, 2012 by Yumeka 39 Comments

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…

Anime tastes I’ve acquired

September 10, 2012 by Yumeka 36 Comments

A recent post by Leap250 talks about how, through our years of being anime fans, we often acquire tastes for certain genres and tropes in anime that we didn’t originally have. Even though I’ve always been pretty open-minded as far as the types of anime I watch, there were a few I was hesitant about back in the day that I like now…

Anime’s three “building” categories

April 22, 2012 by Yumeka 19 Comments

An interesting thought occurred to me recently in terms of how anime series are structured. It seems that most anime series focus on “building” one out of three narrative aspects – either building the story, building the characters, or building the world. Some focus on two out of three, a few manage to focus equally on all three – but it’s intriguing to think about which of the three each series is most concerned with…

My top 10 anime animal mascots

November 17, 2011 by Yumeka 24 Comments

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?…

How “real” should anime characters be?

July 11, 2011 by Yumeka 20 Comments

As fans, we often praise anime for its realism – how it gives its characters human emotions that are easy to relate to and presents its stories and settings in very believable ways no matter how fantastical they are. But if you think about it, do anime characters really act that much like real people? A recent post by Myna got me thinking more about this…

The two types of friendship in anime

June 6, 2011 by Yumeka 40 Comments

We all know that friendship is a common theme in all kinds of anime, from its more preachy examples in kids anime to its more subtle ones in otaku-aimed anime. But although “friend” is the term in English for these cases, in Japanese there’s actually more than one word to describe friends…

Searching for good anime quotes

February 25, 2011 by Yumeka 31 Comments

ビバップ by アカ

I’ve been a fan of quotes for many years. I regularly visit sites like The Quote Garden and The Quotations Page, and often take note of quotes I like in things that I read. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at remembering anime quotes and haven’t been keeping track of my favorites other than in my head. However, the site Anime Quotes has a good amount of my favorites…