The Hawk breaks his rule and writes a post that isn’t a review!! Normally I only post reviews, as that ultimately is what I foresee this site as exclusively containing. But today I make an exception. Thank you 7mononoke for inviting me to do the challenge and breaking me out of my self-imposed rigidity. So hajimimashite and let us talk […]
The Hawk breaks his rule and writes a post that isn’t a review!! Normally I only post reviews, as that ultimately is what I foresee this site as exclusively containing. But today I make an exception. Thank you 7mononoke for inviting me to do the challenge and breaking me out of my self-imposed rigidity.
So hajimimashite and let us talk about colors!!!
#1 Share your favorite stories—movies/books/anime/manga/drama/songs—by classifying them on these seven colors’ traits:
#2 Send this challenge invitation to at least one of your friends. Let them fear your superiority, as you—decide their fate.
#3 Link back to the original post here! And, enjoy!
Ikuzo!
Kaneki Ken is the monster of monsters in anime. Tokyo Ghoul provides the perfect theatre in which this top-tier character is presented. I can’t think of a moment in anime that could be better described as “red” than Ep12 of S1, where Kaneki breaks free, his hair turns white, he mockingly asks his former torturer the most infamous math question in animedom, “What’s 1000 minus 7?”, and the monster rises! I remember knowing about the recognizable white hair, ghastly mask, and single red eye with which Kaneki was presented as I went in to watch this anime. When it took all the way to the last episode of the first season for this thing to appear, and then for it to appear as it did, my mouth dropped open and I stared in awe. I will tell you, it is almost impossible to get a reaction like that out of me. It is the epic moment in anime history.
Some people really don’t like this anime, and I can completely understand that. It is harsh, and it’s more difficult to relate to the characters than in some series. It’s a little foreign to most of us as well, as we’ve never lived to fight for the lives of our friends, staking our own lives daily in the process. But this is what I like most about this series. These people live their lives powerfully, passionately. They embrace life and they embrace death, shying away from neither. And although the characters might not be super relatable, they are the definition of heroic. They are fantastic to watch as they fight and learn and grow and kill and love and die. And this show produces my favorite villain in all anime, the beautiful and monstrous General Esdeath. She brings a level of excitement to this series, and anime in general, that I can’t get enough of. Definitely one of my favorite series all time, and certainly fits any idea of red I can imagine.
I’m gonna highlight a couple of characters that fit the red category. My favorite badass girl all time is Rebecca Lee, a.k.a. Revy, from Black Lagoon. Beautiful, aloof, unshakeable, angry, mean, disrespectful, foul-mouthed, and so freaking beautiful, she is one in a million, no, probably even more than that. I literally watched every part of this series just to watch her. I didn’t care much about anything else that happened in this anime. And I would watch that much over again just to see her more. And those Berettas, whew, so pretty.
Ah, this one fits the red description for so many reasons! She is probably my favorite SAO character, and that’s saying a lot given some of the characters in this series. I love this maniacal, sadistic kind of character! This poor character is a little on the self-destructive side, but everything works out for her in the end, so on a whole it is a completely positive experience to watch her. She mows down her enemies like a chainsaw through sticks. I love the moment she arrays herself with all her weapons late in this series, right before she goes into battle in earnest to hunt down LLENN. It’s so gorgeous!! But her reddest moment comes when she’s trapped in the cabin. I feel that tingling sensation when I even recall that amazing moment when her red plasma blade carves through the wall for the first time. I love SAO’s S2 with all the Star Wars thing going on anyway, and this second appearance of a lightsaber, and the iconic red this time, was fantastic. I just laughed when I saw it, not in humor, but in the invigoration of it all!
I imagine this one’s going to make a lot of these lists, and perhaps not always under the same category. Both times I watched through this show, I spent probably two weeks doing so. And not because I didn’t enjoy it! On the contrary, I enjoyed it so much, I watched just one episode per day usually just so I could experience it for a longer period of time. But on top of that, I quickly realized I could watch this show intermixed with more serious shows, lightening the weight those kinds of shows can lay on you. It’s just really, really sweet and really, really silly and really, really pretty in a way no other anime I’ve seen to this point is. While the scenarios these crazy characters find themselves in can’t often be described as “peaceful,” let alone “calming,” the show as a whole provides a very remarkable break from the more weighty things in life. It’s about as easy to watch as any anime show I’ve ever seen. I am so looking forward to Season 2 later this year!
There’s a ton of choices in this category, as we all know. The romance spectrum is quite large, with lots of nuances even within subcategories, etc. I have three favorites in this category that are all very different. That first is White Album. This is the only music anime I like. I don’t even know what made me watch this the first time. But I didn’t regret it. The characters are amazing and the story twists among them, creating some of the most heartfelt and saddest moments I’ve ever experienced in anime. It is vulnerable to the accusation of being overdramatic, but I don’t mind it in this case. There’s so many tears to shed in this show. I didn’t immediately realize there was two seasons of this series when I watched S1. I almost didn’t want to watch S2 when I learned it existed about a year after I watched S1, because I didn’t think it could possibly top the power of S1. I was so wrong! Go watch it all, have your tissues nearby.
This is the sweetest romance series I’ve ever seen. The two lovers themselves are innocent and sweet together. They act so sweetly towards each other without it seeming silly or put on. The surrounding cast adds a ton of fun to the series. The whole thing is so sweet and pretty. But above all, I think this anime is a perfect example of how you can make remarkable “good” characters. So many writers feel like you have to introduce faults into a character to make them interesting or relatable, “more human.” While I won’t argue about the merits of that here, Tonikawa does a great job bucking that idea. Nasa-kun is probably the nicest male character ever created in anime. Most of the characters are really nice too, but you could probably point to a fault somewhere along the way. It’s not so easy to find one in Nasa-kun! I have nothing but nice things to say about this series. I cannot wait for the next season.
I can’t think of a more heartwarming romantic moment in anime than when Ryuji and Taiga stop yelling at each other and pour their hearts into some of the prettiest kisses you’ll ever see in anime. Taiga asks him to kiss her over and over again, and your heart melts more every time. And yes, they’ve spent all this series basically yelling at each other! It’s very well set up. It’s a lot of comedic fun all throughout, crowned by this beautiful scene near the very end. This anime is legendary for this setup and outcome. And it is completely deserving of its legend. You have to watch the whole thing for it to have this effect, and it is totally worth it.
As one who has spent some time teaching in various forms, I found this anime not only relatable but even educational, and certainly inspiring. Korosensei really does embody a lot of the things we associate with a great teacher. With all the bizarre framework of this show and the shifting storyline, the enduring power of this show is how he impacts the lives of these students. He turns around the lives of every one of these students, setting them on a path of life and fulfillment that they never would have found otherwise. It’s a remarkable work. I would recommend that anybody interested in teaching, or even currently is a teacher, watch this show, that’s how relevant I think it can be to teachers. And it’s tons of fun too!
Why do I love this show so much? Because it will make you laugh and make you cry, in equal parts, with equal intensity. It’s so crazy, yet so beautiful and so heartfelt, you can’t help but love everybody involved. These characters’ situation could be so sad, yet is so hopeful, all while being so zany and ridiculous, it’s quite an experience to watch this crazy set of episodes. When you realize the answer to one of the main questions that undergirds the story, even if you didn’t think too much about that question up to that point, your heart is overwhelmed with feeling. This also is getting a new season this year of 2021, and it’s probably the number one S2 I’m looking forward to this year.
When I started thinking about this category, I had so many shows pop into my mind simultaneously it was kind of weird. And under any other circumstances any of those choices could be listed in this category. But these are not just any circumstances. Not while the Monogatari series hangs over the world of anime.
I know some people really don’t like this show. I get it. There’s things in here that can really put you off. But even those things contribute artistically to this series, in my opinion. This is the best all-around anime I have ever seen, and probably my favorite series all time. Mysterious? Very much so. Thrilling? Every moment. I will run out of words to describe this series at times. I’ll restrain myself here and simply invite you to take a few minutes and watch any conversation from S1 between Senjougahara and Araragi. That will make my point far better than any commentary I can provide.
There’s a handful of whacky animes out there that will make you scratch your head and think “What the HELL is going on? Why am I watching this?” I like to point at FLCL as the best example of that. But even it doesn’t reach reach the WTH heights that Strange+ does. This series is incredibly short, both in total and individual episodes. I don’t think there’s any story. How could there be? But above all, it’s just maniacally ridiculous! I have no idea what’s going on at any moment during this series! And as soon as you recover from your disbelief and close your jaw, it’s over! It’s a little hidden gem.
This anime is a bit edgy, but not in the traditional sense. It’s very artsy, I guess I can say. But it’s so fast paced and weird, it’s wildly entertaining. And upon finishing the whole thing, you can sort of see the thread running throughout it. Again, it’s a little lesser known. The music is a lot of fun in this show as well! It’s a fun experience all around. I definitely recommend it for some of the most unique stimulation you’ll ever see in anime!
Yep, I’ma go out on a limb and pick a show that’s not only currently airing (Spring 2021) but has only a handful of episodes out so far! This show could end up being totally stupid and I might end up hating it. But so far, it’s so much crazy fun! And you wouldn’t expect it to be! I hesitated to watch this initially. It sounded so stupid, and I don’t usually like when anime tries to anthropomorphize animals, since that kind of gets away from what I think is so great about anime. That aside, I thought about it for a moment and I said to myself, says I, “What the hell, I thought the same thing about That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, and I’ve enjoyed that to this day.” So I made the leap. And from the rip-roaring opening sequence to the last moment, it’s one crazy, though somewhat ordinary, event after the other! It feels like it’s over right after it starts, and I find myself wishing for the next episode already! The last time I felt a show fly by like this was when I watched Overlord. It’s so strangely engaging you feel like it goes by super fast while you’re watching. If I didn’t know better I would deny to this day that I’ve watched 39 episodes of Overlord! This show currently gives me that same sense, like it might end up feeling that way. It’s tons of fun! Final opinion pending.
Boom, done!
Oh, wait…
No pressure, I’m not watching over your shoulders to see if you do it! Have fun!
Anteiku Anime Reviews 