Forever

There’s something wrong with this fever. It attacks me from the inside and keeps changing in size.

Slow Starter Homes

When your friends are buying starter homes with their accomplishments,
Drinking at a house show can feel childish and embarrassing.

— “Get Old Forever” | Jeff Rosenstock

The general premise of Slow Start feels oddly specific. A little shy, Hana Ichinose starts her first year of high school and makes some friends, Tama, Eiko, and Kamuri. However, she starts high school a year late and keeps that a secret. It can feel almost superficially light – that a little gap year can be considered such a big deal. However, the weight of her secret and shame continuously hovers over Hana.

A Place Further than the Twitter Discourse

If there’s a general theme among the anime I’ve been watching this season, I think it’s “earnestness.” That’s perhaps one of the aspects of any sort of media that I find most appealing, and why I’ve been drawn to children’s series like Precure and Aikatsu. As I’ve withdrawn into presenting myself into a personable emotionless husk, I’ve simultaneously grown frustrated with “takes,” shameless marketing, brands, the intermingling of the sorts. It’s the normal path of the way these things go, amplified by the internet age. Sing the refrain “I’m too old for this” as while searching for some kind of punk rock authenticity within a capitalist system I’ve foolishly emotionally invested.

Big Blue Bedroom

For Aoi, everything is big. She is the frontman of her band Wild Azur. Her personality is loud a brash to go with that role. As a Precure, she even boasts outsized strength. At home, her world grows to be larger than life. Aoi bears the life of an anime staple, an heiress of a major company, living in a mansion staffed by an endless number of servants.

Everything is big – except for her bedroom.

Waiting for it

The poetics of making the villain just as relatable as the hero.

Lightning Round

Ain’t No Twitter in Heaven

Part of the problem is there is a tendency in the media to demonize politics to the extent that it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whether with Jon Stewart or House of Cards or The Big Short. It basically tells people, “Everybody stinks, they’re all no good,” and that’s one of the reasons people don’t participate.

–Barney Frank

In the first season of Iron-Blooded Orphans, Kudelia originally becomes a leader of the Mars movement out of a mix of naivety, determination, and hope. The first results in her being manipulated by other powers in the interplanetary political realm. With the second, she chooses to participate in the and fulfill the role others had set out for her. For her own goals, she takes that calculated risk and becomes the third, a symbol of hope.

Deer Diary

I watch Anige 11 pretty religiously. I’ve missed only one episode, and I did so intentionally out of principle (because what’s the point of being religious is you don’t disagree with one of the basic tenets). The show is hosted by Yurika Kubo, also known as “Shikaco” because she’s from Nara. It has a mascot named Jeshika because of Nara and also puns. The show primarily involves Shikao interviewing various people from the industry, with some extra content sprinkled throughout of various anime and game related events. At the end of each episode, Shikaco draws a horrendous portrait of her guests.

The show is entirely fluff. Fun fluff. But Fluff nonetheless.

Friends in Kouhai Places

I think about the older kids that influenced me often. Now that I’m well into adultdom those sorts of people are largely absent from my life. Just a year or two in greater hypothetical wisdom, and they seem superhuman. There’s just enough distance to give an image of perfection. The Asuka model of upperclassman.

Natsu Tori

ヴィーナスフォート教会広場でのミニライブ
「ただいま。」
応援してくださった皆さまありがとうございます！！すごく、すごく、すっごく幸せな時間になりました。嬉しかった…！
本当に、ありがとう。これからも頑張ります！！（愛） pic.twitter.com/RwS9SqgAub

— 中島 愛 official (@mamegu_staff) December 11, 2016

Oh hey y’all Megumi Nakajima is back.