I've received a few complaints that my profile was too bare, so here it goes, for what it's worth. Why anyone should find all this interesting is beyond me, but there's no accounting for tastes.
Apparently in my previous life I was a 14 year old schoolgirl that got killed by a stampede of rheas. I have no proof of that, but it sounds reasonable to me. Then I got isekai'd as this MAL account.
I've been watching anime on and off since the Middle Ages, back when we thought Macross was called Robotech. With big gaps due to studying, working and life in general. In the last few years I took it up again more seriously, trying to catch up. I found that many genres that I liked before now bore me: as a kid I enjoyed action, then I thought Satoshi Kon was the best, then there was a time when I only watched Ghibli and drama, and now practically the only thing I can watch non-stop is SoL + comedy. Also, I prefer my girls cute.
I re-watch a lot: practically every anime that I enjoy I'm sure to revisit sooner or later. There's so much happening in any given good scene that you just can't appreciate it all in one go.
The re-reader is looking not for actual surprises (which can come only once) but for a certain surprisingness. The point has often been misunderstood. The man in Peacock thought that he had disposed of 'surprise' as an element in landscape gardening when he asked what happened if you walked through the garden for the second time. Wiseacre! In the only sense that matters the surprise works as well the twentieth time as the first. It is the quality of unexpectedness, not the fact that delights us. It is even better the second time. Knowing that the 'surprise' is coming we can now fully relish the fact that this path through the shrubbery doesn't look as if it were suddenly going to bring us out on the edge of the cliff. So in literature. We do not enjoy a story fully at the first reading. Not till the curiosity, the sheer narrative lust, has been given its sop and laid asleep, are we at leisure to savour the real beauties. Till then, it is like wasting great wine on a ravenous natural thirst which merely wants cold wetness. The children understand this well when they ask for the same story over and over again, and in the same words. They want to have again the 'surprise' of discovering that what seemed Little-Red-Riding-Hood's grandmother is really the wolf. It is better when you know it is coming: free from the shock of actual surprise you can attend better to the intrinsic surprisingness of the peripeteia.
--- C.S. Lewis, "On Stories"
Watched/dropped/PTW: I've never got around to updating these, out of SHEER LAZINESS. I give everything that comes out each season a try, and stick with a few (only 3 as of the moment of this writing - Summer 2020). So everything counts as either "watched" or "dropped".
Favorites: It's hard for me to pick, because whenever I think about it my list is too fluid. The only thing that stays in every possible list is K-On! so there it is, but in the end I added the ones I re-watch most often. I also believe that adding a "Favorite" tag or even a score means practically nothing, so here are a few thoughts on each show.
K-On!: Anything I could say about it you've already read or heard elsewhere. I should mention that I actually liked S1 even more than either S2 or the movie. Sketchbook: Full Color's: This show is perfect, and is below K-On! only because the latter with its flaws (which are several) is more ambitious, and covers a wider range of themes. Sketchbook is simplicity itself, a sort of low-budget Aria - both made by the long-gone studio Hal Film Maker. But what it does it does perfectly. The characters are unique, the acting is perfect, the music is mesmerizing, and when you thought it couldn't get any better they introduce Kate. Nichijou: The best criticism I heard about this series was simply that you could tell all the love they put into making it. That goes beyond the humor, animation, music, acting and direction, all of which are top notch. Gingitsune: This a very simple story concerning a shrine maiden, her family and friends (including the resident fox spirits), and provides a charming portrait of the place the shrine occupies in the lives of the characters and their small community. It ends leaving all its plot lines (mostly romantic) unresolved, and replaces the dénoumement with a local festival where they all get together. How is that a virtue? Well, it works for me.
(Some time ago I was excited to learn that the manga had resumed publication after a 3-year hiatus, which meant there was at least the possibility of a new season, but then it was interrupted again - Jan 2021.)
More when time allows.
Favorite characters: Only a few minor characters I'm fond of. I'm not saying they're the best out there, or even the ones I could watch all day, but they did have some memorable scenes and quirks that stuck in my memory. It's like asking you who is your favorite NBA player. You can answer MJ, but that's doesn't really say anything about you, other than that you know who was the GOAT. Instead, if you say Manu Ginobili, we know exactly how you like your basketball. That's why Yui Hirasawa isn't there - she's the MJ of anime.
And to make things worse, now I've been and started a blog.
Favorite forum thread: this. Exercise your memory and your creativity, and if all else fails your googling skills. And you get to read about new stuff that may catch your fancy. Also this, although the audience is more select.
Forum signature: This used to be just "Fun things are fun", but after the 2019 KyoAni arson attack I felt that it was good to emphasize that we shouldn't let that destroy also the joy that the studio had created for everyone.
Fun in the forums: I like making dumb threads for a laugh, in the hope that others will find them funny too. If you think any of these offensive, maybe you're taking them too seriously; and even if the posts aren't always particularly hilarious, the replies are often priceless, so you may want to check them out. They usually come with a poll full of preposterous options, and the last one more or less means "OP you're a moron." For some reason this one always wins. These are my favorites:
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Religion in Japan (2018 NHK research)
No religion (62%)
Buddhism (31%)
Shinto (3%)
Christianity (1%)
Others (1%)
No answer (2%)