Reflections on Fall and Pick that Voice!!

Just made it! Had to sacrifice something I probably shouldn’t be sacrificing…but I’ll make up for it over the 12 day break I’ll be getting! In any case, this season, I again watched far more old shows than simulcast ones. But this time, at least, I actually finished two series, one of which might be a surprise, since I haven’t ever tweeted about it!

Reflections on Spring and Pick that Voice!!

Well…this sure is late, though there are reasons for it. The biggest one—and this may come as a surprise to some—is that I pretty much stopped watching anime towards the end of the season, and it took me a while to finish even the two spring shows I’d been watching. I’ll discuss the main reason why when I do another of my “where I’ve been” updates, hopefully sooner rather than later. But for the moment, let me just look at the shows I watched before I took off on my li’l US trip.

Reflections on Winter and Pick that Voice!!

Of course, there is one show that will not show up here, because it deserves several essays of its own. But even if we hadn’t had the wonderful story that is Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, winter wouldn’t have been so bad. In fact, the season that has just began looks to be even drier for me. Well, I’ll gladly take the opportunity to keep watching Yamamoto Sayo’s previous offerings, whilst also savouring a bit more of The Eccentric Family!

But before I get to those, here’s most of my winter 2017 viewing experience!

Reflections on Fall and Pick that Voice part 3!

Another season gone, another seasonal post…it’s insane how time just flies, especially at this time of year. Unfortunately, with a busier Christmas than I’m used to, I’ve got just 45 minutes left to begin my 12 Days of Anime series—I have the theme and the first series planned out, but I have to get through this post first!

Thankfully, given the quality of the shows I was following this season, I only need to cover three shows here. And one of them, I’d dearly like to devote an entire blog post to, if only I could!

On stray dogs, co-worker relationships and the wonder of words

Bungou Stray Dogs

Reflections on Summer, and Pick that Voice!! Part 2

Do you know what’s the worst thing about being in Japan as an anime fan? No access to Crunchyroll. As a couple of friends there keep pointing out, overseas fans—particularly those in the States—have no idea how good they have it. A lot of anime in Japan is shown at ungodly hours, and whether and when you get any particular show depends on where you live. Viewers outside of Tokyo often have to wait several more days before they can join in the discussion. Worse, if you miss the show and forget to record it, it’s arguably not as easy to find a streaming service to let you catch up. And of course, if you need subtitles, good luck to you! Japan may be king for character goods and special events, if you’re lucky enough to get tickets, but there are some serious downsides, too. And that’s why I didn’t finish most of these shows until I got home earlier this week. So let me take a look at my summer watchlist, which—putting aside the idols—was dominated by the mafia, teenagers discovering what they are living for, and a father and a daughter bonding over food. Getting them all out of the way just as we dive into what looks to be a brilliant fall season!

91 Days

First up, let me look at 91 Days…which really should not be in this post.

Reflections on Winter and Spring, and Pick that Voice!! Part 1

“You really are an idiot!” Yes, I suppose… Indeed, yes, I am…which is why I’m interrupting my regular content to bring you something of a stopgap post…

Last year, I finally stopped writing ‘review posts’ for each and every series I’ve seen. With the way I’ve engaged with the shows I’ve watched over the past few years—a heavy focus on one or two to the detriment of all the others—it just did not seem appropriate or fair. However, because I am quite selective about the shows I watch, I want to remember them more than simply as a rating in MAL. That’s why I gave myself a couple of posts about all the other stuff I saw last year, and was intending to do the same this year.

But then I also gave myself a little game to play for this year: Pick That Voice!!. I have since picked out more than twenty seiyuu, which made me realise that it’s probably more useful to post these results after each cour. So, from here on out, I’ll be writing these short summaries and the results of my little game at the end of each of the Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall blocks of Japanese programming. If I ever get myself down to just one or two series per cour, I expect that I’ll only be posting about the game…but in that case, then I hope some of you will share some of your own Pick that Voice!! results, too!

On special powers, fantastic creatures, sextuplets and zombies!

A game for 2016: Pick that Voice!!