Roberta's Blood Trail and The End of the World – God, I Love Violence

Black Lagoon is one of the few shows I marathoned in 2008 that I can still remember quite, well in spite of only rewatching half of it (and reading the first volume of the manga a couple times). I remember it because Black Lagoon was a turning point in the kind of stories that interested me, as well as in the kind of stories that I wanted to create.

The show had been recommended to me a number of times in the year before I watched it, but I was always scared to because it sounded ‘dark and gritty’. Back then, I couldn’t handle stories that featured extremely dark or violent situations and wanted to be taken seriously. Now mind you, I’ve always loved violence; but at the time, I was scared to get emotionally involved in it. In early ’08, two of my favorite anime were Mnemosyne and Baccano; both shows are ridiculously turbo-violent, but handle it in a lighthearted and fun way. (Not to mention half the cast of either show is immortal anyway.)

THIS PARTY'S GETTIN' CRAZY!

Sometimes, Your Self-Righteous Dumbass of a Male Lead Shits All Over Everything

It’s common practice for an anime to feature a male lead whom the audience can easily relate to, and therefor usually holds to society’s moral compass. It’s also common practice for that male lead to have one or more female love interests, and not uncommon for one of those love interests to follow a conflicting moral compass. This creates a “Defrosting the Ice Queen” situation, wherein the lead tries to bring his love interest over to what he views as ‘the side of righteousness.’

Being as I’m at ends with society’s moral compass and have a deep hatred for self-righteous people, I’m always wary of this trope. However, surprisingly, I often find it to be justified. For example, take Revy, the Ice Queen from Black Lagoon. The male lead, Rock, tries to change Revy and create some sort of moral base within her, but he does so because her attitude and actions are self-destructive. He gradually admits that while he doesn’t approve of her criminal way of life, he understands it, and he makes it clear that he wants Revy to change for her own sake, so that she can find happiness instead of wasting her life.

Defrosting Ice Queen done right. Art by nilitsu http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=nilitsu

Night of the Servants OR How Anime Ingrained the Awesomeness of Maids And Butlers Into Our Minds

art by hoppege http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=hoppege

Tonight I argued with my mum while making dinner (don’t worry, it’s like a sport for us) about butlers. I had remembered reading somewhere that Butlers were the head chef in a household as well as chief of staff. My mom refuted this as ‘bullshit’ because she had evidently grown up with TV shows about butlers and thought that she knew them better. Well, I know how inaccurate US TV shows from the 70s are, and I was pretty sure that my precious manga authors knew a lot more, so I, too, was confident. (Of course, I could not find any information online regarding butlers being chefs, so I guess I lose. I’m sure someone with a ridiculous knowledge of butlers will comment with the answer.) But after the debate, I had to ask myself – since when was I so defensive about butlers?!

200 (+) Anime Worth Taking With Us Into the Next Decade

100 Characters For 100 Otaku (Part Fourteen: 35-31)

The fourteenth post in “100 Characters For 100 Otaku.”

Can you believe it’s been two whole weeks since “100 Characters For 100 Otaku” began? Neither can I! But it’s still a’runnin and heading on towards the finale! We’ve still got a good week more before that, though, so keep on stickin’ around! Today we have numbers 35 down through 31 to play with, so let’s get into it!

100 Characters For 100 Otaku (Part Seven: 70-66)

The seventh post in “100 Character For 100 Otaku.”

It’s part seven of “100 Character For 100 Otaku!” Have any of your favorite characters appeared yet? If so, did you like their pictures? If you did, make sure you click them to see the full sized versions! Today I look at number 70 through 66 of my favorite characters as I determine why I like them, how they reflect the true nature of otaku, how the parallel my own otakudom, and how they are like the first episode of Crest of the Stars. Let’s rock n’ roll!

Canaan vs. Black Lagoon: A Battle of Battles – Don't F This Up (1)

A post in the “Don’t Fuck This Up” series. In reply to comment number 8, by Ghostlightning.

Canaan and Black Lagoon are without a doubt two of the most badass gun-slinging action anime ever produced. The two series have some similarities such as their high production values, dark urban setting, mostly female-dominated action, and, of course, boatloads (u-boatloads, even) of violence. That all said, the action scenes in both shows feature very different choreography from one another, which I will now explore.

The Anime I Just Never Talk About

Ghostlightning did a post yesterday on shows that he finds difficult to write about in spite of the fact that he is a huge fan of them. I have shows like this myself as well as shows I just… never really brought up, even though I enjoyed them so much. Looking back, I didn’t used to really talk about shows much after the initial ‘I finished it’ post, and it was really only near the end of last year that I started not only to post about my impressions upon completion, but to really offer up discussion and thoughts on the show. That said, there are still shows I just never managed to mention.

Mai Waifus – Because Anime Made Me a Polygamist

Every blog needs a Mai Waifu post, and ever since Ghostlightning delivered one of the best I’ve read a couple months ago, I’ve been wanting to do my own. I wanted to make sure it was a very perfect and specific post. Not just about women I find attractive (would take millions of words) but true women that I really think would make good wives. I know I’ll have fun with this, so lets roll!

Digitalboy's Shipping – Anime Relationships I Support

Baka-Raptor posted recently about 10 heterosexual relationships that he supports to prove that he doesn’t only support lesbians (just primarily). I, as a person with similar tendencies toward lesbians, decided I also wanted to post about relationships I support (heterosexual or otherwise.) This list is all-inclusive. If a pairing is missing from the list it means one of a few things. A. I don’t like both characters  B. I don’t think they go well together, or C. I just don’t give a damn. So here’s a list of every single relationship I actively support (i.e. would write fanfiction/porn about) and why. In no order.