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Currently playing: A Space for the Unbound, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Balatro, Smash Ultimate (got 75 characters into Elite Smash and got my first tournament win!), and Pump it Up Phoenix on my private dance game. Less often: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Ring Fit Adventure, Splatoon 3.
Still practicing piano and playing a piece every month.
Not playing now but have started and want to finish later this year: Resident Evil 2 Remake, Metroid Dread, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir.
Not playing much now but might play again sometime (where possible): F-Zero 99, Them’s Fightin’ Herds, Knockout City, Fall Guys, Hades, Soul Calibur VI (made it out of pools in an online tourney), DJMax Respect, Hatsune Miku Future Tone, Puyo Puyo Tetris.
Recently finished and may return to later to get more secrets: Inscryption, Persona 3 Reload, Pizza Tower, Catherine Full Body, Cattails Wildwood Story, Kirby and the Forgotten Land (92%), Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Rayman Legends, Ai the Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Neon White, Stray, The House in Fata Morgana, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Papers Please, Yakuza 0, It Takes Two, Mad Rat Dead (two Hards left to S+), Spiritfarer, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Forgotton Anne, Until Dawn, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Furi, Celeste (up to B-side 5), Dead Cells, 428 Shibuya Scramble, Hollow Knight, AI the Somnium Files, Life Is Strange, Nier Automata, Super Mario Odyssey.
Recently finished and probably won’t return to: Meg’s Monster, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Animal Well (got all eggs and the true ending), Pepper Grinder, Firewatch, Cocoon, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Tunic, Cuphead DLC, P5 Strikers, Telling Lies, Return of the Obra Dinn, Danganronpa v3.
All good stuff.
I love anime. I've loved it ever since I was a little kid, but I think what truly drove me to start watching anime as a source of great inspiration and passion was seeing Princess Mononoke in theaters at the age of 13. Even before that though...it was playing Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (a SNES RPG) starting from the age of 10, which had such an incredibly beautiful storyline and soundtrack that it truly taught me that video games and Japanese fictional works could have some of the most incredible stories out there...stories that could truly move and inspire me for life. These are the works that even inspired my piano playing, and helped transform me from a tinkerer into someone who loved the works of Chopin, Beethoven, and Debussy.
Having said that, I really love to call myself a passionate viewer, gamer, and musician. I love it when anime and video games have epic stories that move people to no end - many of my favorites are often the ones where I could tell the story or talk about them to friends and family who can't tolerate watching anime or playing games, and they still say by the end, "wow...that's really awesome."
So I love it when anime doesn't conform to norms, breaks boundaries, and just wows me with its insight and passion...but now and then I also enjoy anime as just a silly piece of entertainment too.
Favorite anime movies: Princess Mononoke, Wolf Children, Castle in the Sky, Perfect Blue
Favorite anime series: Clannad (& After Story), Angel Beats, Shinsekai Yori, Gunslinger Girl, Baccano, Shirobako, Katanagatari, Gurren Lagann, Cowboy Bebop, Stein's Gate, Death Note, Made in Abyss, March Comes In Like a Lion (particularly Season 2), Odd Taxi, Chihayafuru (all three seasons)
Favorite Japanese/anime inspired video games: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy VII, Super Smash Brothers (mainly 4 and Ultimate), Persona 4 and 5, Ace Attorney series, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, Soul Calibur IV-VI, Danganronpa (1 and 2), Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates (Conquest), Tales of Symphonia (and Abyss, and Graces), Harvest Moon (64, Friends of Mineral Town), Sakura Wars V: So Long My Love, rhythm games (Pop'n Music, Taiko no Tatsujin, Hatsune Miku Project Diva games, Rhythm Heaven games, etc.)
To help explain my ratings:
- I myself choose to watch almost all the anime I've seen. I naturally admire and appreciate anime as a very respectable form of art - even comparable to literature when it's at its best - so I almost always choose anime I really want to see. That's part of the reason why I tend to leave high scores...if it looks to you like I seem to shower high scores often, well, it just means that I love and appreciate lots of anime, and I've had many experiences with anime that I'm truly grateful for.
- I don't generally have a baseline for an "average" score, because no two animes are the same and so many animes can be so great in so many ways. I also don't rate by starting at the top and docking points - I tend to rate for the experience itself, and how it truly left me feeling by the end. Besides, how can you love an anime for all its worth if you're constantly looking for ways to criticize it?
- Most animes that I generally like I rate as a 7. An 8 or 9 means something especially impressed me about it. Starting from a 6 and going down, usually that tends to mean that something specifically bugged me about it. As I've said, though, I consider anime to be something I am proud to truly love and appreciate in many forms.
- I tend to go for movies and short series, mainly because I like to say I've seen a lot, and because I tend not to like it when a series doesn't seem to have a lot of direction. Also, if I have to watch something subpar (and hey, I will sometimes...I see it as helping me appreciate true art more when I do see it), I'd prefer for it to be short.
- All my ratings are of shows I've finished, and I don't see myself changing that even for a really long series where I saw lots of episodes as a kid or something. I've also spent time as a movie critic, and I generally feel that I can't really say I've seen a movie or an anime unless I've seen the whole thing (or at least a good portion plus the ending).
On that note, I don't like to drop shows. I've had to drop a couple really long ones that I watched on TV when I was younger, but I'm only listing them to account for what I've seen. To me, there's no way to rate a show or a movie properly unless I've actually finished it - until it's done, I feel no review of an anime can be finalized. I'll use my feelings throughout an anime as "first impressions" or as ways to summarize my review and score and experience at the end, but I'll never form a defined judgment on an anime unless I've seen it all.
This also means that nowadays I will not start an anime series unless I am sure I am going to watch it through to the end.
- A "10" doesn't necessarily mean an anime is perfect, but it does mean I love it so much and I'm so incredibly happy for having come across it, that it has literally changed my life and has helped inspire me on a day-to-day basis. Or, it is such a masterful piece of work and has so many lovely details everywhere, that it literally gets better every time I see it. I don't give 10s often, but I only save it for the ones that I truly love the most.
- As for a "1"...I'm never one to hate anime. I don't WANT to hate any anime, and I don't believe I've ever seen an anime that's a total zero. However, for me to rate an anime a "1", I'd have to actually HATE it to the point that I'm angry it even exists at all, or I'd have to be utterly baffled as to how or why it could.
What else can I say about myself?
- I graduated from Cornell with a linguistics degree, but now I'm an accountant with a masters from Indiana University.
- I love all sorts of music, and I love rhythm and music games (as mentioned above, but my favorite is Pump it Up). I once performed Chopin's Ballade no. 1 in G Minor on the piano, which plays a pretty strong role in a very popular anime series :)
- I've created over 60 original characters in Soul Calibur V for the PS3 - they all have their own ethnic names and they represent over 20 countries. Dasha Anastasia Krylova (from Russia), Biancaneve Beatrice Cacciamatti (from Italy), and Alouette Genevieve Devereux (from France) are just a few. They all have stories too (some more developed than others), and their timeline covers two generations.
- A few of my favorite movies that aren't anime-related include City of God, The Matrix, American Beauty, The Pianist, October Sky, Goodfellas, 12 Monkeys, Inside Out, Toy Story 3, The Iron Giant, and Whiplash.
- The cat in my profile picture is Polo - my feline brother for over 14 years. He passed away in 2011, and his brother Marco passed away in 2016 just before turning 19 years old.
50th full-length (~1 cours) anime series completed: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
75th full-length anime series completed: Love Live! School Idol Project (Season 1)
100th full-length anime series completed: Tsuki ga Kirei
150th full-length anime series completed: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu S2
200th full-length anime series completed: To Your Eternity (Season 1)
250th full-length anime series completed: Honey and Clover II
50th full-length (40+ minutes) anime movie completed: Goku: Midnight Eye (if I'd been counting real-time I'd have made sure it was a better one lol)
100th full-length anime movie completed: KonoSuba the Movie: Legend of Crimson
150th full-length anime movie completed: The Boy and the Heron
Thanks for reading - I know I'm not that interesting a person! I'm always happy to be surrounded by such passionate anime fans.
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All Comments (1610) Comments
I have played Hollow Knight - in fact, I’ve played it about 4 times over the years and would gladly do it again! Each time it's held up very well. Such a strong and polished total package that understands the strengths of its genre, in addition to being incredibly slick and acrobatic to play and having one of my favourite senses of atmosphere in all of gaming. Amazed it was made by such a small team. Can’t decide if that or Super Metroid is my personal #1 Metroidvania, although my love for Super is probably boosted by playing the earlier Metroid games first in order, and thus getting to appreciate firsthand all the things it established and/or perfected for the entire genre. It’s the giant upon whose shoulders so many others stand, and I respect it to no end for that, but if measuring against today’s landscape, I think Hollow Knight wins.
Hopefully Silksong lives up to its pedigree, no matter how long we have to wait.
Something else I’ve seen from Kon is his short film Ohayo, a much lighter affair which was probably my favourite entry in the Ani*Kuri15 collection. In addition to seeing his other works, I might rewatch Paprika as well sometime to see if I get more out of it. I honestly don’t remember much about what actually happened in it, outside a jumble of surreal imagery and basic concepts that stuck. I do recall a few neat things done with the line between the real world and dreams, though not nearly as flooring as Perfect Blue’s reality-blurring. But again, perhaps that’s a reflection of just how strong and well-suited each part of Perfect Blue’s big picture was.
By the way, I see you're playing Metroid Dread. Haven't gotten around to it yet but I've caught up on all the prior 2D Metroid games in preparation. How is it?
I indeed LOVED Perfect Blue, so much so that when the credits rolled, after some time to reflect on what I'd just witnessed, I immediately watched it all over again to pick up on details I missed. First viewing had me transfixed, tense, eyes locked and mind racing to follow and predict its spiral of insanity! Both times around I was taken aback by the mad masterwork unfolding onscreen. Truly an unforgettable experience!
And with that, I guess I can finally stop awkwardly parading around a 10-less anime list lol. I really do think it earns it though; it perfectly blends a thrilling and inventive mile-a-minute mind trip with thoughtful ideas to chew on both during and after - ideas that remain as relevant as ever, especially the dissociation between avatars/personas and the true self. It's not just great; it's great on many levels!
Suffice to say, I'm eager now to explore the rest of Kon's filmography, as well as other well-known works that draw inspiration from it. A shame the world lost him so soon. :(
I've been fine. Just wrapping up my semester, which ends this week. I've also been watching the Monogatari series, which is something I've been enjoying.
God I wish I had a work at home job, but I’m an “essential worker” so to speak. I’m alright. I’m watching Cardcaptor Sakura and I’m playing Okami lately.
https://twitter.com/Crunchyroll/status/1265319418546065411
https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=333264
https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=333300
- I saw Werty comment about how it was a bit unsatisfying to see Kizu nominated three times for the best-looking film and not win, and I'd have to agree lol, but Promare is a very fair choice. The film is absolutely carried by its audiovisuals.
- Glad that you can enjoy Evergarden's visuals, even if the script left you wanting.
- Yep, fantastic soundtrack for Kids on the Slope. For me it'd probably be between that and Terror.
- Boy, I was listening to Kaguya's OP on loop while the show was airing. Nice to see some Monogatari noms, I love the show's openings as well as their sheer quantity.
- ... On the other hand, I didn't care for Kaguya's dance ED as much as the internet collectively did haha. Haven't gone back to watch or listen to it even once.
- Oh man, my own favorite insert song of this bunch without question would be Kakusei in Promare.
... frankly, I forgot how many categories there would be, so I think I'll stop there with the individual comments. I've gotta get around to Barefoot Gen.
"I don’t want to make Texhnolyze sound like it’s just episodic sob stories though"
Texhnolyze isn't actually episodic at all as there's very much a central narrative, but your general impression of the series starting at the metaphorical bottom and just going further down is more or less correct.
My feeling on Demon Slayer is that it's a relatively stock shonen story brought to life with fantastic music and animation, and your mileage will vary appropriately. On my end the audiovisuals really helped me get into the series; as early as like episode 4 or 5 I felt they lent the fights a strong sense of dread or atmosphere in certain situations, elevating them above the actual written material. But yeah, Episode 19 blew up (for good reason in my opinion, as I feel its climax is handily the most impressive sequence of the show). You can even see it in the MAL episode threads, where the number of replies for Episode 19 dwarfs any other episode.