Anime Expo 2016, new anime, and a long overdue update

Credit to linked pixiv user

Hi all, it’s certainly been a while. As most of you know (if any of you are still following this blog), since I started working full-time about a year ago, my free time has been very limited, so I’ve been taking a break from consistent blogging. Rather than having the pressure of a blogging schedule like I had for many years, I’m now only writing new posts when I feel like it. And today happens to be one of those days, since I’m on a mini-vacation until Wednesday and have a few things to report…

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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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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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Another look at the trend of frequently changing anime OPs and EDs

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about how many recent anime series have had openings and/or endings that change frequently in song, animation, or both, sometimes as often as every single episode. Though it’s happened in a few cases for older anime, it seems like the trend has really taken off this year…

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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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Autobiography of How I Became an Anime Fan (2009 edition): chapter 1

Back in early 2005, I wrote a “condensed” autobiography of how I became an anime fan. It detailed all the stages I went through, starting from when I was a little kid watching cartoons, to creating my own anime web site and watching all kinds of series. I recently reread this old work of mine, and I have to say that not only is it outdated, my writing skills back then kind of sucked. Now, almost five years later, after watching much more anime and graduating college, I figured it’s finally time to rewrite my 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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Nostalgia: what anime did you used to watch on TV when you were little?

I used to love Samurai Pizz Cats! ^.^

It wasn’t until I became an anime fan around 1999/2000 did I find out what anime really is. However, unbeknown to myself at the time, I used to watch some anime and anime-related shows on TV back when I was a kid in elementary school, despite the fact that I didn’t have cable TV back then (and anime like Voltron, Robotech, and Kimba were before my time). Lately I’ve had a wave of nostalgia these past few days thinking about and missing some old cartoons I used to watch. So I felt like sharing four of the old anime TV shows I used to adore when I was a little kid…

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