Maybe it's from playing classical piano as a kid, but I've always been fascinated by movie, TV and game soundtracks. A lot of artistry and craft goes into writing the perfect piece to stir and audience's heartstrings, and often these composers don't get the credit they're due. So today I wanted to talk about one... Continue Reading →
So I’ve been playing Tales of Vesperia…
Final Fantasy VII Remake is finally out, and it's absolutely beautiful. But I can't play it, cause I don't have PS4! So I've been playing a different classic JRPG, Tales of Vesperia on the Nintendo Switch. I'm not super familiar with the Tales games: I played Tales of Symphonia way back on the GameCube and... Continue Reading →
Re:Zero Light Novel – How Does It Compare To The Anime?
Re:Zero is one of my favorite anime of all time. I love the dark story, strong thematic development, and, of course, all the beautiful female characters. But hardcore fans say the anime doesn't come close to the original light novel! I had to know more, so I read the first nine light novel volumes, which... Continue Reading →
Character Arcs: Gon Freecss, the Shonen Antihero
"Being able to cry for his companion. I was thinking you couldn’t cry, nor did you have a heart. But in that case why… even a little… don’t you share that feeling… with all the people you kill!" The 2011 anime Hunter x Hunter is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest TV shows... Continue Reading →
How Anime Uses Surrealism To Tell A Story
Disclaimer: This post contains minor spoilers for Paprika, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Revolutionary Girl Utena. There's nothing that would ruin your experience if you haven't seen these anime yet, but I just wanted to give a heads up. Anyway, let's talk about some avant-garde shit! Anime is weird, in a good way. It can... Continue Reading →
An Ode to Final Fantasy
When I was six, my best friend was a boy named Mike went to my elementary school. We'd spend every afternoon together holed up in his mom's basement playing Super Nintendo. I loved Super Mario World and Pilotwings, but the game I always wanted to play was a weird little ditty called Final Fantasy IV.... Continue Reading →
5 Anime Guaranteed To Make You Smile
Even at the best of times, life can often be exhausting, unpredictable, and needlessly cruel. And in times of crisis, we all could use a pick me up! There are tons of deep, compelling anime that will blow your mind and fuck up your life, but there are also some cute, beautiful, and inspiring series... Continue Reading →
Top 5 Ways to Stay Sane During Quarantine
Everything is fine. And by “fine” I mean “the world is under quarantine, every day is a waking nightmare, and I can’t even buy toilet paper anymore!” It’s been a rough time for all of us, and we could all use some ways to stave off the simultaneous boredom and existential dread of social distancing.... Continue Reading →
Mari (tries to) explain the Fate series
One of the biggest questions that anime fans have regarding the medium, besides "Why is their hair like that?" and "What the hell happened in End of Evangelion?", is "How should I watch the Fate series?" There are so many different Fate anime out there, many of which are alternate timelines, that it's hard to... Continue Reading →
Re:Zero Is Actually Amazing
HEAVY SPOILERS for Season 1 of Re:Zero in this post, if for some weird reason you clicked on it and haven't seen the series already Modern life kinda sucks, doesn't it? Capitalism disenfranchises entire populations and exploits the poor to make the rich even richer. Technology has made us alienated and miserable. Politicians and the... Continue Reading →