(800) Days of Fuzakenna! And Eight Awesome Eighth Episodes of Anime

I tend to miss my blog’s benchmarks. I realized in June that my third anniversary had passed in April, and I’m not sure when I broke 300,000 hits, but I’m already halfway to 400,000. But most of all, I’ve missed my specially-numbered posts, or realized after the fact that I’ve made them. Well, today I was lucky and noticed that this will be my 800th published post! It’s a great mark to have, because 8 has always been a special number to me (I was born on August 8, weighing 8 pounds and 8 ounces) so to mark the occasion, I’ll be listing 8 of my favorite ‘episode 8s’.

8 tends to be an important episode number in anime. In a lot of 26-episode shows, the 8th episode marks the transition from plot set-up to actual movement of events, and will often feature a shocking twist or revelation that changes the way things will happen from there on out. This is a common enough practice that I could make a list of just transitional eighth episodes, but of course, being an important episode doesn’t necessarily qualify as being a memorable and awesome one, so this list will take eighth episodes from any series. The requirement for consideration on this list was that the eighth episode wasn’t just great, but was one of the most memorable or amazing episodes in the entire series. Oh, and you can count on there being spoilers for each episode.

10 Badass Anime Swords

Back in 2003 when I was fairly new to anime, I was all about swords. The shows that introduced me to the medium usually involved samurai and lots of fighting, so I considered the blade to be the ultimate weapon. I had always wanted to own a samurai sword back then, but my two younger brothers were cause for my mother to disallow it. I own a (rusty-ass) samurai sword now, and while I’m a bigger fan of guns these days, I still have a great love for the good-ol’ badass blades. I also just figured out how to break my posts into multiple pages and wanted to do a cracked.com-style post with it, so here goes my top 10 Badass Anime Swords!

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

Why I Love The Endings That Everyone Else Hates

I think that one of the biggest things that separates me from most anime fans is that I see storytelling very differently than they do. In general, I really don’t give a damn about the actual ‘plot’ of a show. To me, everything is staked on the presentation. What are the characters saying, who are they, what does the show look like, how is it paced, how is it directed, how does it sound, and most importantly, how do I react to it? This core of my perception of a show pretty much explains my favorites list and my ability to love so many shows that make other people cock an odd eye at me.

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.

Episode of the Month – Mai-HiME Episode 15 – School Girl ☆ Through the Galaxy

To make up for obviously not posting anime moments weekly, here’s an anime episode for the whole month. More specifically, it’s about 2 particular moments from the episode, neither of which I wanted to miss out on talking about. There are spoilers for Mai-HiME, and if you haven’t seen it, this isn’t a show you want to be spoiled on, though I wouldn’t say anything truly big has happened at this point compared to the episodes that come later.

Much like Gurren Lagann, Mai-HiME sort of has two climaxes – one in episode 15 and one in episode 26. The first climax takes out the first major villains in the series, though ultimately the whole villainous force was probably just a thing to push along the set-up part of the story. I’d go so far as to say the whole first 16 episodes are just set up for the stuff that happens later, but extremely well-written set up done in ingenious ways. Therefor, the first climax, while exciting, doesn’t hold all that much weight in light of the act that the overall plot and drama just breeze right by it, barely paying attention to it. However, not wanting to be just a throwaway plot, the first climax makes a point to be doubly exciting and fun.

Minor Characters That Deserve Their Own Anime

This post on Low On Hit Points inspired me to do a post about my favorite minor characters. I won’t be defining it necessarily by pure screentime, as some will be more minor than others. However, these are all characters that were around, but had little focus. They might have done something really useful once or twice, but when all is said and done, they don’t get a huge place. They are characters who most people would forget all about once the show is over, but a select fanbase will never forget them.