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March 25, 2016

Review/discussion about: Dance with Devils

Dance with Devils / Episode 1 / Ritsuka in her all-blue wedding dress

Like stepping on one’s own feet

Dance with Devils describes itself pretty well. There are devils and there is dancing. Less dancing than devils but still.

I cannot speak much about devils. (I have already talked at length about the Divine Comedy.) As for dancing, I also cannot speak much. There is one detail about dancing, however, that will always stick with me: my father’s “signature move.”

He told me that, if you cannot dance, or if you want to but want to avoid embarrassment, you simply do the “cabbage patch.” It is rather simple, really. Make fists out of your hands. Put them together – still as fists – as if you are creating one giant fist. Finally, bob your shoulders and gyrate your fists. There. You are doing the cabbage patch.

The question becomes, which is better, Devils or the cabbage patch?

My money is on my father’s advice.

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March 20, 2016

Review/discussion about: Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry / Episode 4 / Stella and Ikki confess their love for one another

Love perseveres

Holding the door open for others. Pulling the chair out for your date. Saying “please” and “thank you.” Common actions that you (hopefully) do for others. A code of conduct that the Medieval knights originally created.

I am talking about chivalry. I am talking about chivalry because I am talking about Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry. (Yes, “cavalry” and not “chivalry.”)

I try to be as courteous as possible to others, and I do not usually get bothered when others are not. Except for one example: holding doors. More specifically, when I am behind someone and he or she walks through a door in front of me, and he or she does not look back to try and keep the door open, I get slightly irked. No doubt trivial, but I cannot help it.

In Cavalry, holding doors open for others is not a motif. Still, the anime keeps its own doors open for others to witness just how strong it happens to be.

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March 19, 2016

Review/discussion about: Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid / Episode 2 / Mamori is saved by Mirei, her "prince"

Yuri to the rescue

Picture a mermaid.

Most people imagine a beautiful woman whose lower body is that of a scaled, green fish. Maybe she can sing real swell and maybe she is longing for love. But regardless, she is two halves that make up an entire whole.

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is the same. Mermaid is one half sex and one half tale, making it one not-as-bad-as-you-may-imagine anime.

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March 15, 2016

Review/discussion about: Comet Lucifer

Comet Lucifer / Episode 8 / Sogo, Felia, Kaon, Roman, and Otto looking at a pot of curry

Dante had it easier

(WARNING: This review spoils various parts of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, an epic poem that he constructed in the 14th century. His work is regarded by many as one of the greatest pieces of literature ever created. If you do not wish to have Dante’s magnum opus spoiled, read no further. Or, as Dante may write, “turn back to see your shores again.”)

Comet Lucifer is like Satan.

Before completing that simile, we need to define Satan first. In Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece, Divine Comedy, and, more specifically, the Inferno, Dante travels through the depths of Hell and (surprise surprise) he encounters Satan.

Long story short, Satan is eating specific souls (three to be exact) who have committed the most egregious of sins. But this is Satan we are talking about. Instead of simply eating them right away, he gnaws on them. He crunches on them. He bites on them. For eternity.

Back to the simile. Comet Lucifer is like Satan. When it catches you in its maw, it feasts and feasts and feasts until your brain is crushed and your sanity vanishes. Yet, even then, it feasts.

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March 13, 2016

Review/discussion about: Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

Episode 4 / Gakusen Toshi Asterisk / Ayato and Julis gently drifting

Not worth warring over

When I went to Disney World – that is the one in Florida (the good one) and not the one in California – for the first time, it was around my birthday. If you do not know, at Disney, they pamper you to no end. They make sure that every move you make and every event you experience fills you with nothing but happiness. It is pretty scary how good they are at keeping you smiling.

So there I was, at Disney World, the happiest place on Earth, and it was my birthday. True to Disney form, they made me happy by giving me a special, green badge to wear. Wearing it around the parks meant skipping the long lines, extra signatures from the characters, and the regular restaurant staff giving me kind words and free desserts. Needless to say, I was a supremely happy kid.

I speak of badges because Gakusen Toshi Asterisk gives badges to its characters, too. (Also, finding a tangentially relevant anecdote was pretty difficult for this one.) But Asterisk could learn a thing or two from Disney about how to make its audience happy.

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March 11, 2016

Review/discussion about: Selector Infected WIXOSS

Selector Infected WIXOSS / Episode 1 / Ruuko's first nightmare

Not your kids’ card game

Have you ever played a trading-card game like the one in Selector Infected WIXOSS?

I used to play the Pokemon TCG, and by “play” I mean I liked collecting the cards and putting them in binders. I did not understand the rules (and I never took the time to learn them), so I simply collected. Dark Charizard, Ancient Mew (the one from the first movie), and the various Gym cards were my calling.

I also played Yu-Gi-Oh, but, again, “played” is just another word for “whining to our parents to buy my brother and me cards for collecting.” I remember during one Christmas (and I kid you not that this is a true story) when my brother got an extra, random pack of cards from my parents that they had bought on a whim. Inside was a card called the “Thousand Eyes Restrict,” the rarest card in existence at that time. I was so upset (and immature) that I started crying. I ran downstairs to wail in torment – not the proudest moment of my life.

Selector Infected WIXOSS is certainly about ultra-rare cards that make one cry. But the crying comes about for an entirely different reason.

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March 8, 2016

Banjo’s Top 10 Summer 2015 Anime

Rokka no Yuusha / Episode 1 / Adlet declaring his need to be one of the Braves

Who are the winners this Summer 2015?

I finally finished reviewing every anime (that I was watching) from Summer 2015!

What this five-month-long journey has taught me is that anime is timeless. It does not matter when you watch an anime. Be it while it is airing, several months after it finishes, or ten years down the line, that anime will still be itself. An anime about a boy trying to become king or an anime about a world where everything lewd is censored will not change. They will still hold the same stories, the same characters, and the same messages. And that is pretty awesome.

Today, however, we are concerned with the best of the best from Summer 2015. After reviewing twenty-nine different anime, ten have proven their worth more so than the rest, and only one has earned the title “Best Anime of Summer 2015.”

Before diving into the list, it is important to know two ideas: what counts and the reasoning behind everything.

First, I am an advocate of an anime “counting” in the season in which it completed. Meaning, whether it is fantastic or not, something like God Eater has no place here despite starting in Summer 2015. On the opposite end, an anime like Kyoukai no Rinne does have a shot since it concluded in Summer 2015 despite starting the season prior.

So, if you do not see Kyoukai no Rinne here on my list, that means I either did not see it or it was not good enough to make the list. (It is the latter!)

Second, each anime has a personalized review that demonstrates why it deserves to be here in the first place. Simply click on an anime’s name to be linked to its review to read my complete thoughts on it. For every review that I wrote for this season, follow this link to my Summer 2015 Reviews page!

With all of the introductions, formalities, and rules out of the way, it is time to get to my Top 10 Summer 2015 Anime!

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March 8, 2016

Review/discussion about: Non Non Biyori Repeat

Life incarnate

Non Non Biyori Repeat almost makes me feel bad about myself.

To Renge and the gang, a cell phone is a sign of luxury, and “dot com” is a mysterious concept. To me, I cannot live without the Internet. I cannot go a day without using a computer or checking out /r/anime or playing a video game. I do not consider smartphones and e-mail anomalies; I consider them necessities.

But Repeat does not make me feel bad for too long, for quickly afterwards it provides a superb experience with a lot of heart and a lot of soul, forcing me to realize that life’s most important parts are the ones that have been nearby all along.

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March 3, 2016

Review/discussion about: Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai

**** *** *********

Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai (Shimoneta from here on out because that title is ridiculously long) reminded me of a tale. It is a tale from my childhood, back when I was a spry young boy with strict parents.

Their strictness should not be underestimated. Growing up, I was disciplined to never swear. This has carried over into my adult life; I very rarely swear while out in public. (In private, however, all bets are off.) One day, we visited the family cottage. That day, I was there with my cousins and my brother.

Probably due to that rebellious stage of our lives, we decided that enough was enough: We were going to swear. But we were not just going to say a bunch of curse words in the living room. Instead, we decided to take our behavior to the trampoline on the side of the house. The second we got onto the trampoline, our mouths and brains started working. The jumps-to-dirty-words ratio quickly became imbalanced; the pine trees turned into scarlet oaks from all the blushing they were doing.

Our swearing escapade eventually ended. We were never caught, but that feeling of freedom has never been matched since. And considering Shimoneta, I know now that Kajou and the rest of SOX felt exactly the same.

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February 28, 2016

Review/discussion about: Jitsu wa Watashi wa

Secretly fun

Jitsu wa Watashi wa loves its secrets. Many people (myself included) like secrets. It does not matter which side, either keeping or having them. Keeping them is all about trust between the parties, because once one person reveals the secret then it is a secret no longer. (This brings into question how many have to know a secret before it is no longer a secret, but that is a conversation for another day.) And having them is all about knowing who, if anyone, to tell.

There is actually a third side: the people not in the know. I found myself on this side once. For one of my birthdays, my parents and siblings told me that we were meeting up with my grandparents for a small dinner. I thought this was perfectly normal given we have done this in the past.

But when we arrived at the restaurant, my entire family – uncles, aunts, and cousins – were waiting for me. Yes, a surprise birthday party. I was baffled that they were able to keep it a secret for so long. I will never forget that feeling when it first dawned on me what had actually happened: a weird, happy feeling of betrayal.

In my case, the secret was ultimately harmless. In Jitsu’s case, the secrets it holds are more important than any birthday party could hope to be.

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