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Rie Matsumoto at the End of All Things
“Myoue, I’ve been wondering, can we stay together a little longer? We’ve come all this way, and even came back to life and all. I can promise I’ll finish everything off. Let’s stay together just a...
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The Cinematography of The Perfect Insider Episode 1
As the recognizable arpeggiated chords of Bach’s Prelude from Suite No. 1 for the cello deliberately and slowly play, the premiere episode of The Perfect Insider introduces us to two women. The first,...
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The Secret in the Old House: A Sodachi Oikura Mystery
“When you think about what is scary in this world, those that despise you for some incomprehensible reason and attack you are the scariest. There’s no way to deal with it, because you don’t know the...
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Comparing and Contrasting Moe Nishinosono and Dr. Shiki Magata of The Perfect...
Strong visual direction doesn’t simply look beautiful, although that’s certainly an aim. The strongest of visuals lead one’s eye down a specific path, telling a story just as well as any dialogue or...
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The Visuals of a Locked Room Mystery: Owarimonogatari and The Perfect Insider
A tradition of detective fiction, the locked room mystery requires very little at its core. There are no exotic locales required, nor are many props or even people required. At its essence, a locked...
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The Castle and the Girl: The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls
There are certain accepted truths in respective fandoms that one simply does not challenge, lest they draw the ire of nearly every other fan. In 2011, The Idolm@ster was brought to the small screen –...
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Raise Your Flag: The Emblem of the Iron-Blooded Orphan
Before watching a single Mobile Suit Gundam property, the franchise was initially described to me in the immortal three words of American General William T Sherman: “war is hell.” It was subsequently...
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To All of You: The Time of Concrete Revolutio
I’ve never needed much sleep. Even as a child, sleep was an obnoxious fact of life that stopped me from doing things. However, as a child, I was unable to choose when I was supposed to sleep, and...
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Knowing What She Knows: Tsubasa Hanekawa
“You’re not happy because you’re not trying to be happy. Nobody can make someone who isn’t trying to be happy into someone that’s happy.” -Tsubasa Hanekawa to Sodachi Oikura, Owarimonogatari, Episode...
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Knowing Shiki Magata: Four Perspectives
Often in murder mysteries, narration is meant to give the reader or viewer pause, be it truly unreliable or simply filtered through the respective lenses of others. If the property desires the viewer...
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Media and Propaganda in Concrete Revolutio
Present day journalism, advertising, and marketing has been forever altered by social media. Breaking news is found through Twitter updates while commentary is immediately broadcast from one’s...
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Princess Nine: Calling Ryo’s Pitches
What makes a truly great catcher is unfortunately tricky to identify with statistics. There are the obvious things like caught stealing percentages, and the offensive side of the plate is covered the...
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Princess Nine and “Tradition”
When I first started Princess Nine, I was warned by others that it wasn’t overly concerned with baseball as it was with drama. Part of this is correct, as nearly all of the girls’ individual...
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Yuri Kuma Arashi: Constructing a Wall of Severance
Let’s talk construction – snazzy hard hats, ubiquitous cranes, winches, and the existing status quo. That is sexy. Shabadadu. Yuri Kuma Arashi‘s skyline is constantly under construction. Unfinished...
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The Sodachi Riddle
“I felt that something might be there, that something might change.” -Sodachi Oikura, Owarimonogatari, Episode 6 Sodachi Oikura says the above during the waning moments of her time in Owarimonogatari....
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Shinobu Mail and Suruga Kanbaru’s Turn
Previously, on Owarimonogatari, the Sodachi Lost narrative arc provided Tsubasa Hanekawa with a perfect opportunity – the opportunity to show just how much she’s changed both over the course of the...
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[Twelve] The Rolling Girls in potentia
A few years ago, a certain anime blogger had a few choice words over social media on the rampant overuse of the “p-word.” Potential, he so succinctly pointed out, is partially ascribed by the viewer...
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[Eleven] She’s a Teacher, After All: Gakkou Gurashi and Megu-nee’s Guilt
Had Gakkou Gurashi simply been about its one “plot twist” – shown in the final moments of its premiere episode – it likely wouldn’t have held my attention. However, its third episode delivers a...
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[Ten] For the Love of Lulu Yurigasaki and Societal Structures (or, that one...
I don’t remember the first time I realized an inherently unfair societal norm or institution. The closest anecdote that comes to mind is a silly debate that divided my fifth grade class by the...
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[Nine] “I want to improve!”
“I want to be better than everyone!” A surprisingly nuanced take on the teenage experience and being part of something – in this case, concert band – presumably greater than one’s self, Sound!...
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