Trips, recommendations & more
Ocean Waves is a particularity in Ghibli's filmography. It's an everyday, slice of life story, quite different from Ghibli's other whimsical tales, and was made for television instead of theatres. The story follows Taku, a college boy returning to his hometown and reminiscing about his high school days and his old crush, Rikako. Sound's great,... Continue Reading →
Bending reality, giving life to imagination. Animation is special because anything is possible within the worlds created from scratch. But with superpowers, fantasy and marvelous fictional inventions taking centre stage, contrasting simple scenes hold such immense power in grounding the surreal. In a medium not exactly known for its subtlety, these small, calm scenes stand... Continue Reading →
When enjoying a work of fiction, people seem to be more willing to accept morally reprehensible acts and support deplorable characters even though they would not do so for a real-life counterpart. This is evident in works of fiction where often, villains and other malicious characters come across as likable. This indicates that our ethical... Continue Reading →
Maquia and Wolf Children are both very good movies that use fantasy elements to explore the concept of motherhood and what it means to the mother and her children. While Wolf Children zeros in on the mother-child plotline, Maquia is an epic with the backdrop of war and multiple mother-child relationships being presented. For simplicity's... Continue Reading →
I've always felt that simply striving to be a good person is such an admirable quality for a person to have. This definitely applies to fictional characters too, and there are many great characters that can be summarised as just that- genuine, good people. For this list, I specifically chose characters that made me wish... Continue Reading →
Japan's long history of animation and cute mascots has led to its charming characters not only being iconic within Japan, but widely recognisable all around the world. But which of these characters is the most iconic? In 2018, the Japanese website Goo Ranking asked Japanese netizens what they thought were Japan's most iconic characters. Here's... Continue Reading →
It's no secret that Sora Yori is one of the best shows of 2018. Tightly and smartly written, Sora yori tells a story of four girls who make the journey of their lives, thrust together by fate. At its core is a story of friendship- a theme that has been used, reused, recycled and abused... Continue Reading →
When I was a teenager, I went through a phase where I read nothing but one-shot shoujo manga. They were simple, and got to the point; boy meets girl, strange conflict, they fall in love, conflict resolved. I spent so much time reading these cute short stories that eventually I could predict every possible romantic... Continue Reading →
On the surface, Barakamon and Poco's Udon World are the same anime- A troubled man travels to the countryside where he finds an adorable child. As he looks after this child, funny antics ensue and he goes on a journey of self discovery. Handa and Souta even look the same, making comparisons simply inevitable. However,... Continue Reading →
